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NEW IRISH PULPIT,
GOSPEL PREACHER.
We preach Christ crucified—
Christ, the power of God, and the. wisdom of (Jod." — 1 Cor. i. 23, 24,
VOLUME IV
DUBLIN :
PUBLISHED BY THE PROPRIETORS, T. R. AND R. DUNCKLEY,
NEW IRISH PULPIT OFFICE, I, SAINT ANDREW STREET.
JOHN ROBERTSON, 3, GRAFTON-STREET.
\VM. CURRY, JUN. AND CO.; R. M. TIMS; WM. CARSON; D. R. BLEAKLEY.
LONDON, SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO.; EDINBURGH, WHYTE
AND CO. ; GLASGOW, SYMINGTON AND CO. ; CORK,
TRACT REPOSITORY; DERRY, CAMPBELL ;
AND ALL BOOKSELLERS.
1840.
GEORGE FOLDS, Printer, 1, Saint Andrew-street, Dublin.
PREFACE,
THE REV. HUGH WHITE, A. M.
CURATE OF ST. MARY S, DUBLIN.
Having been requested by tbe Proprietors of the New Irish Pulpit to
write a preface for the forthcoming volume, I have willingly complied
with their request, as affording me an opportunity of bearing my
humble but cordially-approving testimony on behalf of a work, which
appears to me most deserving of Christian patronage and support, as
being calculated to advance the glory of God, our Saviour, and the
everlasting salvation of immortal souls. For, if preaching be God's
appointed instrument for promoting His own glory in the salvation
of sinners, what reason can there be to restrict the promised blessing
of tbe Holy Spirit (without which all preaching must be utterly in
vain,) to the proclamation, by a living voice, of the message of re-
deeming love, and to suppose that that blessing will be withheld from
the announcement of the very same message, when embodied in a
printed form, as originally delivered by the ambassador of Christ.
I am well aware of the great difference, both as to pleasure and
profit, between listening to a preached, and reading a written sermon ;
and how much, both of attractiveness and impressiveness, the best
iv PREFACE.
composed discourse must lose, in being read, by the loss of all that
almost undefinable charm, which the preached sermon derives from the
living eloquence of the eye, the voice, the whole countenance and
deportment of the preacher, as he is seen kindling into the fervor of
a glowing animation, imparted to his own soul by his glorious theme,
and imparting a kindred animation to the hearts of all who hear !
Still, I would contend, that there is no assignable cause why the
sermon, which, when originally preached, was honored as the instru-
ment of drawing sinners to the Saviour, or building up believers in
their most holy faith, should be stript of all its persuasiveness and
power, when its spirit is transfused into a printed form.
If this be admitted, it will not surely require any lengthened or
laboured demonstration to prove the value of a volume, which con-
tains such a number of the faithful, energetic, and affectionate addresses
and appeals of so many of the most devoted and distinguished minis-
ters of the Irish Church ; addresses and appeals, which, we doubt not,
were abundantly blest in the delivery to the souls of many hearers,
and which, we cannot but cherish the hope, have been and will be
blest to the souls of many readers.
There is one circumstance, which stamps a peculiar value on this
volume, in my estimation, and that is, the unity of doctrine, on all vital
points, connected with the glory of the Saviour, and the salvation of the
sinner, which pervades the whole work ; so that it can safely be recom-
mended for family reading, to those who are providentially constrained
to absent themselves from the sanctuary on the Lord's day, and to con-
duct the services of the Sabbath at home. The sermons, which compose
this volume, exhibit the harmonious testimony of many witnesses to the
same saving truths — all agreeing in faithful adherence to that apostolic
exhortation and example, which forms the motto of the work, " to
preach Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, as the wisdom of Cod and
the power of God, unto salvation, to every one that believeth !" Yes !
il is emphatically the charm, the value of this volume, that in it, as in
PREFACE. v
4
Scripture, " Christ is all, in all !" — the Alpha and Omega — the sum
and substance of the sinner's trust and confidence — of the believer's
happiness and hope ! The essential deity, the gracious offices, the
divine character, the glorious salvation of Jehovah-Jesus, are here
faithfully exhibited, and, in many instances, most eloquently enforced.
His all-sufficient sacrifice is here uniformly set forth as His believing
people's exclusive ground of trust, for the pardon of their sins — His
infinitely meritorious righteousness, as their exclusive title to eternal
glory — His all-prevailing intercession, as their exclusive plea for the
acceptance of every service, and the bestowment of every blessing !
His love is here declared to be their sweetly constraining motive to a
life of holiness and devotedness — His example, the pattern, which in
all things they are to follow — His character, the model, to which their
own is, in every feature, to be conformed — and His glory, the object,
which, in every word and action of their life, they are to desire to
advance !
Thus, however the various witnesses in this volume may differ as
to style or illustration, they all agree in those great fundamental truths,
which ascribe all the glory of man's salvation, from first to last, unto
Him that sitteth upon the throne — unto the Lamb that was slain — and
to that Spirit, who sanctifieth all the elect children of God ! thus ren-
dering equal honor to each Divine Person of the adorable Trinity, by
showing, that salvation, in its full sense, is equally the work of God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost; and leading
the pardoned and purified sinner to concentrate all his affections
on his Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, as the triune God of his
salvation.
If, then, the exhibition of the love of God the Father, as mani-
fested in not sparing His own Son, but delivering Him to death, even
the death of the cross, as a propitiation for our sins — of the love of
God the Son, even " His exceeding great love in dying for us," " the
just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God" — and the love of
God the Holy Ghost, as displayed in enlightening, sanctifying, and
comforting the children of God— if this exhibition be, as Scripture
vi PREFACE.
i
uniformly declares that it is, the most effectual means for subduing
the natural enmity of man's alienated heart against God, and con-
straining him, by the irresistible attractions of redeeming love, to
cast down the arms of his rebellion at the foot of the cross, and to
devote himself to the service of Him, who has bought him with His
blood — then must the value of a volume of sermons, in which this
stupendous display of divine love is faithfully and affectionately
exhibited, be at once appreciated and acknowledged by all, who believe
that the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is heaven's own appointed
instrument for promoting the " glory of God in the highest, and on
earth peace, and good will amongst men !"
Nor is it unworthy of observation, in speaking of the value of this
volume of sermons, that, while the Divine Saviour is herein exhibited,
in all the fulness of His grace and glory, as the only sanctuary, where
the transgressor can flee for safety, from the pursuing vengeance of a
broken laAV — while the convinced sinner is directed to confide, un-
doubtingly and undividedly, in that atonement for sin, offered up on
Calvary's cross, by which a brighter flood of celestial splendor is
poured around every divine attribute, and the salvation of man is
made to redound to the glory of God — there is an equally faithful
exhibition, within the compass of the volume, of the necessity and
nature of that " holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord,"
and which is here delineated, in its scriptural character, as consisting
in conformity to the character of the Son of God, and represented,
even as the Scriptures set it forth, as the seal of the Spirit on the
believer's soul, stamping it with the image and superscription of God —
as the infallible evidence of a saving trust in the imputed righteous-
ness of the Redeemer — and as the essence of meetness for an inherit-
ance among the saints in light, for the enjoyment of a holy heaven,
and the presence of a holy God !
Now, when all these considerations are combined together, and it
is further remembered, that, but for the instrumentality of this volume,
most, if not all, of the sermons it contains, would have been lost to the
PREFACE. vii
Christian Church, instead of being, as they now are, preserved as a
permanent and precious depository of scriptural truth, enforced with
all (he faithfulness and earnestness of Christian love, glowing in the
hearts of devoted ministers of Christ, surely I cannot but feel fully
warranted in most cordially recommending the New Irish Pulpit to
the patronage and support of all, who desire to be instrumental in
spreading abroad the saving knowledge of " Christ crucified," in the
full scriptural meaning and extent of that glorious doctrine, viewed
both as the only foundation of a sinner's hopes, and the most powerful
incentive to a believer's devotedness of heart and life to the service of
the God of his salvation !
One further claim on the approval of the Christian public, possessed
by this volume, I cannot forbear noticing, namely, that this valuable
periodical is the means of preserving for the benefit of the Church of
Christ, and extensively circulating, those soul-stirring appeals to
Christian philanthropy and zeal, on behalf of the various missionary
and other religious societies, which are annually delivered in our metro-
polis, during the period of the anniversaries of these societies, and
thus spreading throughout the length and breadth of the land, and
even to distant countries, that sacred flame of holy fervor, energetic
exertion, and self-denying liberality, in the missionary cause, which
these appeals have so often kindled in the hearts of those, who have
heard them from the preacher's lips.
When it is remembered that the work, possessing such strong claims
on Christian approbation and support, while executed, in point of its
editorial arrangements, in the most creditable manner, is sold at so
moderate a price, as can scarcely repay the proprietors for their
expenditure in bringing it out, I feel that I may legitimately call
on my beloved brethren in the ministry, whether in this or in the
sister country, to extend towards it their cordial and influential
patronage; and on all its friends and subscribers to increase their
exertions on its behalf, that it may be more widely circulated, and more
liberally supported.
viii PREFACE.
And, in conclusion, I would express ray earnest hope and prayer,
that the divine blessing may abundantly accompany this volume ; and
that the Holy Spirit may vouchsafe, in His infinite condescension, to
honour its instrumentality, by making it, through His own divine
power, the means of drawing many a sinner to the Saviour's feet,
and stirring up many a child of God to adorn the gospel of His
grace by a more consistent exhibition of the Christian character — a
more faithful discharge of every Christian duty — and a more entire
consecration of soul and body, time and talents, to the advancement
of a Saviour's glory !
HUGH WHITE.
CONTENTS OF VOL. IV.
No. LXXIV.
Page
Introductory Address. I
Sermon, • • { T ^ ati ^ lic Hymn ou the St. Luke ii. 13, 14. Bishop of Vermont, .. 5
Sermon, .. The Promise of a Saviour, Isaiah vii. 14. .. Rev. H. Verschoyle, a.m. ,. 11
No. LXXV.
Sermon, .. A Plea for the Poorer Brethren, 2 Cor. viii. 23,24. '.. Rev. F. Ould, a.b 17
NoTEsonDo 30
No. LXXVI.
Sermon, -.f^SSf&SSSSSSS£ St John ix. 35, .. Rev. C. M. Fleury, a.m. .. 33
Sermon, .. The Humanity of Christ, .. Ditto. .. Rev. C. M. Fleury, a.m. .. 40
Miscellan. Thoughts suggested by .. .. Isaiahxli.il, .. Rev. Peter Roe, a.m. .. 47
The Tide of Time, 48
No. LXXVII.
Sermon, .. The Divinity of Christ, .. .. 1 Tim. iii. 1C. .. Rev. R. T. P. Pope, .. 49
Sermon, vf^rfSSSS^ Titllsii - 13 ' " Kev.F.Hewson,A.M. .. 59
No. LXXVIII.
Sermon, .. Salvation by Grace, .. .. Acts xv. 11. .. Rev.W. Le PoerTrench, b.d. 65
Sermon, .. Church Missions, .. .. Isaiah iii. 7. .. Kev. C. Caulfield, a.m. .. 72
No. LXXIX.
Address } On the Death of Lord Norbury, Rev. John Lever, a.m. .. 81
Sermon, .. Christian Unity, 1 Cor. i. 13, .. Rev. P. Pounden, a.m. .. 87
Miscellan. ^Thoughts suggested by the death K> D 86
t, of Lord Norbury,
Humility •• •• 96
No. LXXX.
Sermon, . . { T su P 52?[ ain * nt -°. f . the L ° rd '? St. Luke xxii. 19, Rev. R. S. Brooke, a.m. .. 97
Sermon, .. Terror and Persuasion, .. 2 Cor. v. 11. .. Rev. G. S. Smith, a.m. .. 104
Miscellan. Thoughts on Eph. vi. 13, .. Rev. Peter Roe, a.m. .. Ill
No. LXXX I.
Sermon, . . { °Sf^Snf* 0f th * Archbish »P I Thess. iv. 13, 11, Rev. J. D. Sirr, a.m. . . 113
CONTENTS,
No. LXXXII.
r Comparative Glory of the Jew-
Sermon, ..-J ish and Christian Dispensa- 2 Cor. iii. 15, 1G,
I iton,
c „_«, CThe Blood of Christ more ex.
Sermon, . . £ ce iient than that of Abel, . .
Miscellan. The Everlasting Gospel,
Heb. xii. 24,
Rev. xiv. 6,
No. LXXXIII.
Sermon, .. { T n1t^ reCi ° U ! neSS . .° f °f. portu ; Gal. vi. 10,
Sermon, . . Sunday School Teaching, . . 1 Thes. i. 3,
Page
Bev. E. D. Rhodes, d.d. . 129
Rev. E. D. Rhodes, b.d. . 137
A. M. G 144
Rev. Hugh Stowell, a.m. .. 145
Rev. Thomas Drew, A. b. .. 155
Sermon,
Sermon,
LXXXIV.
The travail of the Soul of Christ.
Farewell Sermon,
Isaiah liii. 2,
Acts xx. 32,
Rev. Hugh Stowell, a.m. .. 165
Rev. C. Seymour, a. b. .. 174
Sermon, .. The Ascension, ..
Sermon, . . The Omnipresence of God,
Miscellan. Portfolio,
LXXXV.
.. John xx. 17,
.. Psalm cxxxix. 7,
Rev. H. Woodward, a.m. .. 181
Ven. Archdeacon of Raphoe, 187
195
Sermon, . . The Resurrection,
Sermon, . . Man's Fall and Restoration,
Miscellan. Mortality and Immortality,
LXXXVI.
.. Anth. for East Day, Rev. R. J. M'Ghee, a.b. ..197
.. Gen. iii. 24, .. Rev. Henry Hardy, a.b. ..205
No. LXXXVII.
e Occasional Mysteriousness of
Sermon, ..< Christ's Teaching— Christ our John viii. 51,
1 Life.
CThe Character and Duties of 9 Pnr vi .
Sermon, .. [ the Ministry, 2 Cor. vi. 4,
No. LXXXVIII.
Sermon, .. Love, .. .. ••
Sermon, .. Believers only truly Happy,
Miscellan. Final Judgment, ..
__ Comments on
Rev. Wm. A.Butlerj a.m.
Rev. C. Seymour, a.b.
1 John iv. 7, .. Rev. W. Balfour, a.m.
2 Cor. vi. 10, .. Rev. George Ross, a.m.
Rev. J. Harvey,
Ps.xxii.xxiii.&xxiv.Henricus
213
222
229
237
243
244
No. LXXXIX.
Sermon, .. Grace and Providence, .. .. St. Luke i v. 25,26, Rev. C. M. Fleury, a.m. ..246
Sermon, •• {^o^Sofof Manf" " ?f St. Matthew xv. 13, Rev. W. K. Tatam, b.d. ..252
Sermon,
Sermon,
CThe All-sufficiency of the
I Scriptures,
The Lord's Supper
No. XC.
2 Tim. iii. 16,
St. Luke xxii. 12,
Rev. Wm. Dighy, a.m. .. 261
Rev. Joseph Baylee, a.b. .. 268
No. XCI.
ST.TffiuiJKT S rhe Restoration and Conver-
lNT, t sion of the Jews,
(, MUM Ut IMU JdHB, •• ••
Iiscellan. { Li s n a e | m on the Church at Jeru ; Psalmcxxii.4,5, .. C.
Rev. J. S. C. F. Frey,
Sermon, .. Conscience
Sermon, . . Salvation by Grace,
Miscellan. Thoughts suggested by
XCII.
Actsxxiv. 16, .. Rev. J. N. Lombard, a.m. .. 291
Eph. ii. 5 Rev. E. D. Rhodes, B.D. ..299
Ps. lxxiii. 24, and Rev. P. Roe, a. m 307
xlviii. 14.
CONTENTS
Sermon,
Sermon,
Preparation for Eternity,
t Claims of the Lost Sheep of the
House of Israel,
Ununiformity of Christian
Graces no discouragement to
the Believer,
XCIII.
Amos iv. 12,
John xv. 12,
Page
Rev. Hugh Stowell, a.m. .. 309
Rev. Wm. M'lhvainc, a.b. 318
Bishop Hall, 324
rGod Glorified in the Deliver.
Sermon, ..4 ance of Israel, and Destruc-
C tion of Antichrist,
r Unchangeableness of God mani-
Sermon, . . ■} fested in the Preservation of
L Israel,
XCIV.
Exodus ix. 16, .. Rev. Hugh M'Neile, a.m. .. 325
Malachi iii. 6, .. Rev. M. S. Alexander, ..336
Sermon,
Sermon,
Sermon,
xcv.
Justification by Faith, .. .. Romans iii. 28, .. Rev. C. M. Fleury, a.m.
fOn the Moral and Consoling „ „ ,„ „ „ ,, „,
1 influence of Faith, .. .. Romans v. 12, .. Rev. C. M. Fleury, a.m.
f Against false modes of justifi- •>____ ... „, nn „~ D <-. „, t-,
I cation .. .. Romans m. 21, 22, 23, Rev. C. M. Fleury, a.m.
341
350
356
XCVI.
"The Perils of the Christian's
Sermon, . . ■? Conflict and the Pledge of the Romans viii. 38, 39,
Christian's Victory
Sermon, .. Hezekiah, or Prayer in Trouble. 2 Kings xix. 14, ..
"I
Rev. R. C. Dillon, d.d.
Rev. B. Jacob, a.m.
361
370
XCVII.
Sermon, .. National Education, .. .. Romans viii. 8,
Sermon, .. The Danger of Self. Deception, Galatians vi. 3,
31 isc ell a, Simeon's Death,
Rev. James Kelly, a m. .. 377
Rev. H. Verschoyle, a.m. .. 385
Bishop Hall, 392
Sehmon,
Sermon, ,
Address,
XCVIII.
The Fire upon the Altar, .. Lev. vi. 12, 13,
The Epiphany St. Matt, ii. 1, 2,
C" Invitation to United Prayer for
i 1840.
Rev. H. Hardy, a.m.
Rev. Hugh Hamilton, a.m.
Rev. J. H. Stewart, a.m. ..
393
400
XCIX.
Sermon, .. Rich Blessings of the Gospel, Romans xv. 29—33,
Miscel, .. Thoughts suggested by Genesis, iii. 4.
. . Thoughts suggested by 1 Cor. xiii. 13.
Rev. R.J. M'Ghee, a.b. .. 409
Rev. P. Roe, a.m 419
Rev. P. Roe, a.m 420
GENERAL INDEX.
. Address, Introductory, 1
Altar, the Fire upon the, - - 393
Antichrist, God glorified in the
destruction of, - - .- 325
Believers only truly Happy, - 237
Christ our Life, - - - - 213
the blood of more excellent
than that of Abel, - - 137
the Divinity of, - - 49
the Divinity and Humanity
of, practically considered, - 33
the Humanity of, - - 40
the travail of the Soul of, 165
's Teaching, occasional mys-
teriousness of, - - - 213
Christian's Conflict, the perils of the, 361
Unity, ... 87
's Victory, the pledge of the, 361
Church at Jerusalem, Lines on the, 290
Missions, - - - 72
the hope of, under the Gos-
pel dispensation, - - 59
the plantation of God, and
not of Man, - - - 252
Conscience, .... 291
Disjiensation, the Jewish and Chris-
tian, comparative Glory of, 129
Education, National, - - - 377
Ephesians vi. 13, thoughts on, - 111
Epiphany, 400
Eternity, preparation for, - - 309
Faith, justification by, - - - 341
the moral and consoling in-
fluence of, ... 350
Fall and Restoration of Man, - 205
Farewell Sermon, - - - 174
Fire upon the Altar, - 393
Gospel, the everlasting, - - 144
Grace and Providence, - - 245
Salvation by, - - -65
- - *- 299
Graces, Christian, ununiformity of,
no discouragement to the
Believer, ...
Hezekiah, or Prayer in trouble, -
Humility,
324
370
96
Hymn, Angelic, on the Nativity, -
Isaiah, li. 1 1, thought ssuggested by,
Israel, claims of the lost Sheep of
the House of, -
deliverance of, and destruc-
tion of Antichrist,
preservation of,
47
318
325
336
Jewish and Christian Dispensation,
comparative Glory of the, 129
Jews, Restoration and Conversion
of the, - - - - 277
Judgment, final, - 243
Justification, against false modes of, 356
Lord's Supper, the Sacrament of the, 97
268
Love, 229
Man, his Fall and Restoration, - 205
Ministry, Character and Duties of, 222
Mortality and Immortality, - - 212
Norbury, Lord, the Death of, - 81
thoughts on the
Death of, ... 80
Notes to Sermon for " Distressed
Protestants," - - - 30
Opportunity, the Preciousness of, 145
Plea for the Poorer Brethren,
Prayer in trouble,
invitation to united,
Psalms xxii. xxiii. and xxiv. Com-
ments on, -
lxxiii. 24. and xlviii. 14.
thoughts suggested by,
Resurrection, the, -
Salvation by Grace, -
17
370
405
244
307
197
65
299
Saviour, the promise of a, - - 11
Scripture, the All-sufficiency of the, 261
385
392
155
104
48
113
87
Self-deception, the Danger of,
Simeon, the Death of, -
Suwday School Teaching, -
Terror and Persuasion,
Time, the Tide of, -
Tuam, on the Death of the Arch-
bishop of, ...
Unity, Christian, ...
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
GOSPEL PREACHER.
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS FOR 1839.
The Proprietors of the New Irish Pulpit have no apprehension of
reproof from those who take an interest in the Work, which, at the
beginning of a new year, they have again the privilege of submitting
to their patronage, when they say, that they consider the path of duty in
which they feel themselves called to labour, marked out by the highest
authority which the Christian acknowledges upon earth.
The Holy Prophets and Apostles, inspired by the Holy Spirit to
proclaim the word of the living God to men, were also taught to
commit to writing the testimony which they delivered, to which we
are indebted for the lively oracles of our salvation ; and it seems but
an effort of Christian fidelity, to follow in the path prescribed by
eternal wisdom, when the faithful expositions of the everlasting
Gospel are rescued from the evanescent lot of extemporaneous
pulpit eloquence, and preserved, it is humbly hoped, as a means of
durable, diffusive blessings, when the faithful witnesses of truth from
whose lips they have proceeded, have passed away from this transitory
scene of earthly labour, to rest with Him whose salvation they have
proclaimed to men.
Vol. IV. a
2 INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS.
The Proprietors entreat their readers to recollect, that they not only
present to them, in these volumes, the faithful testimony of men
who preach the everlasting Gospel — who maintain the principles of
our holy, apostolic Church, in opposition to the falsehoods and
delusions of Socinian and Popish ignorance and apostasy — but that
they present to them that testimony which, but for their labours,
would, in all human probability, be lost to the Church and to the
world. The sermons printed in these volumes are either contributed
by the preacher himself, or taken down by the Editors from the lips of
those who preach the truths which they have not committed to
writing, and of which, however the substance may remain impressed
by the Holy Spirit on the hearts of those who hear them, the records
would otherwise be lost for ever to all others ; and thus, not only
would the labours of faithful ministers be restricted exclusively to their
own congregations, but even these very congregations would be
deprived of the privilege of recurring to instructions from which they
have derived peculiar blessings to their souls.
By the humble exertions of the F,ditors of these volumes, not
only are the valued labours of many beloved and zealous Ministers
preserved to their own flocks, but, instead of being confined to the
exclusive sphere of their own ministry, their invaluable testimony is
diffused in the simplest, cheapest, most accessible and instructive form
to others who are sunk in ignorance and error, and who are thus
enabled to hear and read that word which is able to make them " wise
unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." And they have
this peculiar advantage, that these sermons are never published without
the revision of the Ministers who have preached them.
Thus the Proprietors humbly trust they may be the favored
instruments of sending faithful preaching through the land, and
pouring into the ears and consciences of many of their fellow sinners
the blessed balm of peace and everlasting salvation.
They finally hope they might confidently appeal to the judgment of
TNTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 3
the Christian public from the very names of those whose sermons
appear in their volumes, that they have published the discourses of
men whose characters stand high in the estimation of the Church, as
men of true piety and talents. And they commence the present year
with two faithful Ministers of Christ, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Hopkins,
Bishop of Vermont, and the Rev. Hampton Verschovle: the one,
although a native of Ireland, labouring in a distant land ; the other in
a no-less important field of exertion at home — both in the Lord's
vineyard. But they would rather appeal to the Word of God as
the standard by which they trust their work will be judged and
scrutinized, and to this standard they confidently do appeal, that
they have published only those sermons which bear the stamp of
Scriptural truth engraven on every line — the image and superscription
of a crucified, risen, glorified, and coming Saviour.
It is on this they desire to rely — from this alone they seek the
patronage and encouragement of all truly pious men ; for on this they
look with humble confidence, and hope for the favor and blessing of
their great and glorious God.
To Him they commit their work, and trust it will be accompanied
by His blessing for this year, as they humbly hope it has been in
those that are gone by.
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
GOSPEL PREACHER.
" We preach Christ crucified —
" Christ, the power of God, aud the wisdom of God." — 1 Cor. i. 23, 24.
No. LXXIV.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 5th, 1839.
PaicE 3r>.
Rt. Rev. J. H. Hopkins. Rev. H. Vekschoyle.
THE ANGELIC HYMN ON THE NATIVITY.
A SERMON
PREACHED IN THE CHAPEL OF THE MAGDALEN ASYLUM, DUBLIN,
ON CHRISTMAS DAY, 1838,
BY THE RIGHT REV JOHN H. HOPKINS, D.D.
Bishop of Vermont.
Luke ii. 13, 14.
" And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and
saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good.will towards men."
These were the words, my brethren, of
that sublime doxology with which the
birth of the Saviour of the world was
welcomed, by the congregation of
angels. What more appropriate passage
could be chosen for our theme, in
addressing a congregation of Christians,
on that festival which the Church, from the
earliest ages, has set apart in solemn
regard to the nativity of her Redeemer ?
Let me, then, ask your attention to a few
plain remarks upon it, taking in their
natural order the several topics which it
presents to the reflecting mind. We
shall promise you no stores of learning,
no attractions of novelty, no display of
ingenious argument, no force of eloquence
or oratory ; for these, the subject is too
familiar, and the preacher is too weak.
May the God of truth, who is able to
bless the humblest instrumentality, so
direct us, that we may explain the
revelation of his love with all simplicity —
" not with the enticing words of man's
wisdom, but with the demonstration of
the Spirit, and with power."
The first topic which our text presents
to us, is the statement that a multitude of
the heavenly host praised God, saying,
" Glory to God in the highest." What
was the cause of this angelic hymn of
grateful adoration ? The answer is con-
tained in the annunciation just made to
the shepherds of Judea, — '"To you is born
this day in the city of David, a Saviour
which is Christ the Lord." But how, it
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
may be asked, did this affect the heavenly
host, and why should they unite in this
chorus of acclaim, saying, " Glory to
God in the highest ?"
To understand this aright, we must
remember that the character, the de-
signs, and the actions of God, are the
most important and interesting subjects
to the whole universe. He is the Creator
of heaven as well as earth, of angels as
well as men. The thrones, the prin-
cipalities and powers of the heavenly
hierarchy are the work of his Almighty
hand. In him, they all live, and move,
and have their being. To what do they
owe their felicity, but to his benevolence ?
On what do they rely for its continuance,
but on his wisdom and his love ? What
security do they possess for their own
bright heritage of glory, except that
which is derived from the unchangeable
perfection of their Creator's attributes?
And therefore, how plain does it seem
that every new manifestation of his
goodness must affect them most sensibly,
since on that goodness the safety and the
happiness of themselves and of all
creation must necessarily depend ?
Now, the spectacle which drew from
the angelic host the ascription of " Glory
to God in the highest," was the most
marvellous instance of divine compassion
and love that they had ever known — yea,
more marvellous than they could have
conceived possible. They had seen our
earth created pure and good, " when the
morning stars had sung together, and all
the sons of God shouted for joy." They
had seen the fair and beautiful Paradise
which God had planted for the dwelling
place of his favored creature, man.
They had seen our first parents fall into
transgression, sentenced to death, and
expelled from their habitation. They
had beheld the awful pestilence of
iniquity spreading over the wretched
posterity of Adam, until the sweeping
destruction of the deluge was appointed
to purify the world. The saving of
Noah in the ark, the repeopling of the
earth, the recurrence of wickedness, the
call of Abraham, the deliverance of the
Israelites, their marvellous history, their
rebellion, their punishment, their cap-
tivity, their return — all had passed before
the eyes of the angels, because the Lord
had employed them as his ministers to
man, from the beginning ; and they had
been the sorrowful witnesses of his sins,
his wretchedness, his subjection to the
powers of darkness, his enmity against
the will of his Creator and his God, until
the weary round of forty centuries had
passed over the history of a ruined world.
We may reverently conceive, that
during all this time, the angels must have
been often led to wonder what the end
should be. They had indeed heard the
promises of mercy, first, obscurely sug-
gested in the assurance that the seed of
the woman should bruise the serpent's
head ; and afterwards more clearly re-
vealed, as prophet after prophet made
known the assurance of divine compassion
to the children of mortality. And we
cannot reasonably doubt that the angels
understood, with considerable clearness,
the general purpose of their glorious
Sovereign, to bring redemption to man-
kind. But it may well be questioned
whether they were minutely acquainted
with the marvellous details of the system ;
since the Apostle Paul, even after the
completion of the Redeemer's sacrifice,
speaking of the wonders of the Gospel
plan, saith, " Which things the angels
desire to look into." Hence, when the
fulness of the time had come, and God
sent forth his Son, made of a woman,
made under the law, to redeem them that
were lying exposed to its awful penalty,
we may well suppose that the angels were
struck with astonishment and admiration.
Wonderful, of a truth, must that mani-
festation have been in the sight of the
celestial host — God manifest in the flesh —
the Creator united to the creature — the
infinite Majesty of heaven linked with
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
the weakness of earth — the eternal and
only begotten Son of the Most High,
made one person with the infant offspring
of the virgin mother. Oh, mystery of
love ! Miracle of mercy ! worthy to
inspire, not only the multitude of that
heavenly host, but the boundless universe,
with the utmost amazement, that pity and
tenderness towards the ruined family of
man could bring the King of kings and
Lord of lords to such an act of surpassing
humiliation.
But the angelic host did not close their
hymn of praise by ascribing " Glory to
God in the highest." They proceeded
to the gracious object of the incarnation
of the Son of God, " on earth peace,
good will towards men." These ex-
pressions intimate clearly the condition
in which the infinite love of Christ Jesus
found mankind, and from which he de-
sired to redeem them.
Man had abandoned the service of his
Creator, and had become the servant of
sin — led by him who is emphatically
called Satan, or the enemy of God ; and
fallen, utterly fallen, from his original
righteousness. By nature and by prac-
tice, the human heart was hostile to the
Almighty, at war with his holiness, his
justice, his purity, and his truth. These
divine attributes were all arrayed against
our rebel race, and the ingenuity of men
and angels must alike have failed in the
attempt to reconcile them. But although
impossible to all others, the task was not
impossible with God. Christ Jesus came
to bring peace : and to effect this blessed
purpose, three things were necessary,
which claim our best consideration.
First, an atonement was required to
the justice of the violated law, which
should bear some just proportion to the
awful amount of human guilt, and to the
majesty of the Divine government. But
what created being could render it?
Could a mere man be accepted as a
substitute for the countless myriads of
the human family ? Surely not ; for
I there could be no proportion between
the temporal sufferings of one man, and
the eternal punishment of millions. Could
an angel or archangel be received to
render satisfaction on the part of fallen
humanity ? By no means ; and this for
a double reason. On the one hand, the
atonement offering must needs possess
our nature ; for none but man could be
the representative of man. The original
head of the human race was human, and
the second Adam must be human too.
On the other hand, the highest arch-
angel possesses the same spiritual nature
as the human soul ; and one created spirit
could in no way be an equivalent for a
whole world of spirits. The atonement
which our ruined condition required,
therefore, demanded a union of characters
which seemed impossible. The victim
must be man ; and yet possessed of
majesty sufficient to be an equivalent for
all the posterity of Adam : and who
could render this peace-offering but Jesus
Christ — God, the Son of the Almighty
Father — man, the offspring of the virgin,
united in one person — the Prince of
Peace ? Here was the majesty of the
infinite God, giving all dignity to the
sufferings of Christ's humanity, and
presenting a Redeemer sufficient to atone,
not only for a world, but for an universe.
But, secondly, the offering of the great
atonement could only avail to satisfy the
justice of God for sin. It could not
abrogate the law, it could not do away
the necessity of man's obedience. How-
was the sinner to have peace on the
indispensable condition of righteousness ?
Who should stand for him in the judg-
ment of that sacred Lawgiver who had
said, ' ; Curseth is every one that con-
linueth not in all things written in the
book of the law to do them ?" Grant
that the blessed Lamb of ( God appointed
to take away the sin of the world, had
redeemed him from destruction, where
should he find the perfect conformity to
the divine law which should account him
8
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
worthy of heaven? That law might
remit the penalty of his transgressions
again and again, through the blood of the
everlasting covenant, but could never be
said to be at peace with man until
perfect obedience was yielded to its
most just requirements ; and alas ! that
perfect obedience, the sinner — fallen,
weak, helpless, and totally incapable of
himself to do any thing aright — could
never render. Here, then, again, Christ
Jesus became the gracious substitute of
our ruined race, and as our head — the
second Adam — worked out for us a per-
fect righteousness. In him, human
nature possesses both the peace offering
of atonement, and the merit of obedience ;
so that God may now be just, while he
justifies the sinner.
Still, however, all was not done which
the condition of poor humanity required.
The penalty of sin might be remitted
through the sacrifice of Christ, the ad-
mission to the kingdom of heaven might
be secured through his perfect righteous-
ness, but how was the sinful child of
mortality to be made fit — meet for the
inheritance of light ? And what would
it avail, at last, to gain the threshold of
celestial joy, and then be thrust down, by
reason of our unholiness, from the throne of
God — the dwelling-place of glory? Grant,
that his love was infinite — his desire to
save us most absolute ; he could not
change his own divine nature in order to
accommodate iniquity, nor- could he
destroy the happiness of heaven by suffer-
ing the abiding presence of what is unholy
and impure. Nay, even if such a change
in God were possible — which but to
suppose is almost profanation ; even if
such a change in the character of heaven
were possible — which is altogether ab-
surd ; it could avail men nothing : be-
cause a sinful being cannot be made
happy, even by Omnipotence itself.
The corrupt and depraved nature of man
produces certain wretchedness on earth ;
how much more would this wretchedness
be of necessity increased, if such a nature
became immortal ? Were sin allowed in
heaven, God would no longer be its
sovereign — and heaven itself would be
destroyed.
Here, then, is the third great requisite
in the system of the Gospel. The sinner
must be changed, changed in his very
nature, created anew, made like unto God
himself, and through this likeness, be
qualified for the glory and the happiness
of the life to come. And just as at the
first creation, darkness covered the deep,
until the Spirit of God moved upon the
face of the waters, so, in the new creation
of the pardoned sinner, the same blessed
Spirit descends upon the benighted soul,
and brings the moral chaos out of dark-
ness into light. To obtain for us this
high and glorious privilege is again the
blessed work of Christ the Lord. He
is the Word, the revealer of wisdom and
truth to man. He called his Church, and
appointed its ministry and sacraments.
But above all, he sends to us the Comforter,
the Spirit of truth, by whom the faithful
are sanctified, and made meet for the
inheritance of immortal life and joy ;
and thus is perfected the work of -peace
on earth ; that peace which truly passeth
understanding — that peace which the
world can neither give nor take away.
The concluding clause of our text, my
brethren, will need but little illustration.
" Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace, good-will towards men."
Good-will, benevolence, or love, was
indeed displayed in the incarnation of
the Saviour to a degree beyond all com-
parison. " God so loved the world,"
saith the apostle, " that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
on him should not perish, but have ever-
lasting life." " Greater love than this
hath no man," saith our Lord himself,
" that he should lay down his life for his
friends." And in the affecting language
of the prophet, " When thy father and
thy mother forsake thcc, the Lord taketh
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
9
thee up. Can a mother forget her child
that she should not have compassion on
the son of her womb ? Yea, they may
forget, yet will I not forget thee." Glory
to God, that to us is born such a Saviour.
" Glory to God in the highest ! on earth
peace, good-will towards men."
Can there be a heart which recoils
from the angelic annunciation ? Can
there be a mind which seeks to cavil
against the blessed message of redeem-
ing love ? Can there be a soul which
chooses to cling to earth, to sin, to con-
demnation, rather than surrender itself to
the glorious sovereignty of the Son of
God ? Oh, is there among you, my
brethren, a single individual so infatuated
as to feel no interest in the nativity of
his Redeemer ? Shall the multitude of
the heavenly host rejoice in the mercy
offered to man, and shall man himself
despise and reject the inestimable bless-
ing ? God forbid ! God forbid ! Rather
listen to the warning voice of his great
forerunner, " Repent ye, for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand.'' With earnest
supplication beseech the gracious Saviour
to have mercy upon you ; and cease not
until you can appropriate to yourself the
kind and tender assurance of his own
blessed word, " Son be of good cheer,
thy sins be forgiven thee."
But to us, my brethren in Christ, the
return of this day should be indeed a
festival of joy and gladness. To us that
holy Child is born — to us that marvellous
Son is given, on whose shoulder the
government is laid — whose name is called
" Wonderful, Counsellor,the Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father, the Prince of
Peace." And is he so to us? Does he
rule in our hearts without a rival ? Does
his blessed advent and wondrous cha-
racter excite our adoring admiration ? Is
he the chosen Counsellor of every thought
and action ? Do we acknowledge him
to be the Mighty God — one with the
Everlasting Father? Oh, if it be thus of
a truth, then' will he be also to us the
Prince of Peace ; peace with God —
peace with men — peace in the empire of
our stormy passions — peace in the
heavenly purity of our desires — peace in
the very pangs of death — peace in the
paradise of the just made perfect — and
peace in the high and holy refuge of his
love, when the final day of the great
account shall wrap the world in flames,
and plunge the wretched hosts of his
revilers into the abyss of horror and
despair.
Yes, my brethren, he shall come again
to judge the. world which he has re-
deemed with his own precious blood.
" Every eye shall see him, and they also
that pierced him," and all those who have
since pierced him afresh, by an unholy
life and conversation. He shall come,
not in the guise of the infantof Bethlehem,
but in the glory of the Father. Oh,
where shall be our place in that fearful
day ? Shall we stand on the right hand
of the King of kings, clad in the spotless
robe of his perfect righteousness, bearing
aloft the palm of victory, and hearing-
addressed to us the gracious words,
" Come ye blessed children of my Father,
receive the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world." Or
shall we be found on the left, over-
whelmed with confusion and anguish ;
and be driven away by that dreadful
sentence, " Depart ye cursed into ever-
lasting fire."
Beloved brelhren, the time is short.
Let us be sober and watch unto prayer.
It is good that we should work out our
salvation with holy " fear and trembling ;"
and it is also good that we work it out
with sacred confidence, " for it is God that
worketh in us both to will and to do of
his good pleasure." In that holy fear —
in that sacred confidence — with true
repentance, with lively faith, with sted-
fast hope, with fervent charity, with warm
and grateful adoration — let us celebrate,
this day, the surpassing love of our onlv
Master and Saviour, in the blessed
10
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
eucharist of his own appointment. May
we think of him not only as Christ "born
in the city of David" — but as Christ,
"formed in our hearts, the hope of glory"
and thus may vre sympathise with the
heavenly host, which hailed the precious
day of his nativity — sympathise, did I say ?
Nay, brethren, that word is not appro-
priate. The angels had not fallen — they
needed no Redeemer — it was not for
them that the eternal Son of God became
an infant of days, and a man of sorrows,
and at last bowed his sacred head upon
the cross. With emotions, then, of far
deeper intensity — with feelings of adoring
gratitude beyond what even the angels
could have known, should we utter the
words of their celestial thanksgiving —
" Glory to God in the highest !
Glory to God in the highest ! on
earth, reace, good-will towards
MEN."
A SERMON
PREACHED ON CHRISTMAS DAY, 1838, IN THE EPISCOPAL CHAPEL
UPPER BaGGOT-STREET, DUBLIN.
BY THE REV. HAMILTON VERSCHOYLE, A. M.
Chaplain.
Isaiah, vii. 14.
; The Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and shall call his name Immauuel.
A period of four thousand years elapsed
between the giving of the first promise to
fallen man, and the performance of it
when the Son of God was manifested in
the flesh. Although all the hopes of a
guilty world were suspended on that
promise, it would have been buried in
utter oblivion, if God had not again and
again repeated it, and revived the recol-
lection of it on sundry occasions. The
passage before us furnishes an example
where there is a striking reiteration of
the promise made to Adam. We shall
only refer to one other former occasion,
when this promise was repeated, and
especially, because the occasion on which
the promise was then given, forms a striking
contrast with the present. The case to
which I refer, is in Genesis xxii. 16, 17,
18, where Abraham had pleased God by
an act of signal obedience, which is the
wonder of the world, where he " offered
his only begotten son" at the command
of God ; and to reward him for this act of
signal devotedness, God renews the
ancient promise, " By myself have I
sworn, saith the Lord ; for because thou
hast done this thing, and hast not with-
held thy son, thine only son, from me :
that in blessing I will bless thee, and in
multiplying I will multiply thy seed as
the stars of the heaven, and as the sand
which is upon the sea-shore ; and thy
seed shall possess the gate of his enemies :
and in thy seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed ; because thou hast
obeyed my voice." Now, there the
promise was repeated on the occasion of
Abraham's remarkable act of obedience.
But how very different is the occasion on
which it is repeated here. Ahaz was
threatened with an invasion by the kings
of Samaria and Syria ; as befals ungodly
men when they hear of any evil tidings,
his heart failed him, as you read in verse 2,
" His heart was moved, and the heart of
his people, as the trees of the wood are
moved with the wind." Nevertheless,
the prophet Isaiah is sent to him with a
promise of deliverance, at the same time
requiring him implicitly to believe the
word, verse 9, " If ye will not believe,
surely you shall not be established." And
then, to confirm the promise, " the Lord
spake again to Ahaz, saying, ask thee
a sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either
in the depth, or in the height above."
But Ahaz, determining to abide in unbe-
lief, refuses to ask the sign, under the
pretext that it would be tempting God,
(as if it would be tempting God to do
what he commanded,) and answers, " I will
not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord ;"
and then mark, at the moment of this
act of disobedience, the Lord renews the
ancient promise, for he says, " Behold,
a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,
and shall call his name Immanuel." So
that you observe, when Abraham sig-
nally obeyed God, God repeated the old
12
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
promise of redemption through Christ, to
which nothing could be added, for in it
God declared that he would give all that
he could give to the sons of men ; and
then again, on so signal an act of Ahaz's
disobedience, God makes the same pro-
mise, without diminishing ought from it ;
for man's disobedience cannot disannul
the grace and promise of God, because
his mercy flow-s freely and richly out of
" the good pleasure of his will," and is
entirely irrespective of man's good or
evil. But though the promise was the
same, the individuals were in very differ-
ent circumstances, for Abraham, through
faith, received into his bosom all the
riches of this covenant promise, whereas
Ahaz came short of it through unbelief.
Now this promise was made, as you
perceive, by reference to the chapter, as
a pledge of the deliverance which God
would vouchsafe them from the hands of
the kings of Syria and Samaria. But
how was it a pledge of this deliverance ?
How could it be a pledge to the house of
Israel, that they would be delivered from
this impending danger, to have the pro-
mise, that Messiah should come in the
fullness of time? Dear brethren, it was
a pledge on that broad principle which is
contained in Romans viii. 32, and you
will find that that principle is one which
pervades the whole Scriptures. " 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,'' as if
the prophet had said to the men of Judah,
God will give his own Son to deliver
your souls from all spiritual enemies,
much more will he give this temporal
deliverance from the hands of the Syrians
and Samaritans.
Look more narrowly into the promise
itself, " Behold," your attention is called,
God, as it were, points his finger at this,
as something very extraordinary, and de-
manding all your devout attention. And
may God the Holy Ghost prepare your
heart to attend ! May God quicken my
soul and yours, that I may speak rightly,
faithfully,_ and lovingly, concerning this
great salvation, and that you may hear
with profit and edification, that sinners
may be converted, and that the people of
God may stand fast in Christ Jesus.
The promise is this, a son shall be
born, but this son must not be bora in the
ordinary course of nature ; if he had been
thus born, he could not have been a
Saviour, he must himself have been a
sinner. When we search the Scriptures,
we discover clearly that the corruption
which was in our first parent, when
he sinned, is transmitted to all his
descendants in the ordinary course of
generation. In Genesis v. 3, it is thus
written, " Adam lived an hundred and
thirty years, and begat a son in his own
likeness, after his image." Here Adam's
corruption was transmitted to his son
Seth ; and then look at verse 6, you
read again, that " Seth lived an hundred
and five years, and begat Enos." Now,
it is not there expressly said, that Seth
begat Enos in his own image, that he
transmitted original corruption to him,
but it is implied, and so to be understood
by those who read the passage. And
then, that we may not delay you by
tracing down the generations of men
from Enos to Abraham, let us come to
Abraham ; look at St. Matthew i.
" Abraham begat Isaac." It is not ex-
pressly said that Abraham begat Isaac in
his own image, but it is implied. The
corruption of man's original sin was
transmitted from Enos to Abraham, and
from Abraham to his son Isaac. Look
again, at verse 16, " And Jacob begat
Joseph," (we are coming down to the
birth of the holy child Jesus,) it is not
indeed, there said, that Jacob begat
Joseph in his own image, but this is to be
understood. Then mark what follows, if
it were said that Joseph begat Jesus, he
would have been a sinner and no Saviour,
but the current of corruption is broken
off, the taint of the blood is arrested, for
it is said, " Jacob begat Joseph, the hus-
band of Mary, of whom was born Jesus,
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
13
who is called Christ." Here, I say, the
bitter stream is cut off, and here the
fountain of pure water, the river of the
water of life, clear as crystal, springs up
to give life to the nations ; here, out of a
dry branch of a dry tree, springs forth the
branch of renown, whose fruit is for food,
and whose leaves are for healing ; here,
in the midst of darkness, through the
tender mercies of our God, the day
spring from on high visits us, and Jesus,
the virgin's son, conceived by the Holy
Ghost, shines forth in the midst of a dark
world, and grows up as a root out of a
dry ground in the midst of this wilderness ;
and thus, the promise of God in our text
was fulfilled, " Behold, a virgin shall con-
ceive and bear a son."
It is evident, therefore, dear friends,
that the passage in Psalm li. 5, does not
apply to Christ, " Behold, I was shapen
in iniquity ; and in sin did my mother
conceive me." This I mention, because
some, without sufficient consideration,
adopt a theory, and are tempted in sup-
port of it, to wrest the Scriptures from
their true application. Some persuade
themselves that every verse of the psalms,
where the psalmist speaks of himself,
expressly relates to Christ. Now, that
theory falls to the ground, when you
compare the verse I have quoted with
what has been said concerning the gene-
ration of Jesus Christ.
Here then, we have a perfect man —
a sinless, spotless man — a man indeed,
because made of the substance of a woman,
" Bone of our bone, and flesh of our
flesh," but yet a sinless, spotless man,
because conceived, not according to the
ordinary course of nature, but by the
Holy Ghost, so that the infinite holiness
of the Holy Ghost encircled the infant
Jesus around, and kept original sin at an
infinite and eternal distance.
Let us endeavour to set clearly before
our eyes the necessity for this perfect man
Jesus, the holy child Jesus, the spotless
Son of God. I think it will help us to
form an adequate conception of this, by
considering what he came to accomplish.
It was to make reconciliation for the
sins of the guilty, to make an end
of sin, and to bring in everlasting right-
eousness. Now, under the law, in the
sin-offering which God ordained to be
offered, there were three things to be re-
garded ; first, the victim to be offered ;
secondly, the offerer ; and thirdly, the
place where it was to be presented.
If you consider the thing which, the
person by whom, and the place where, as
regarded the legal offering, you will see
at once the weakness and inadequacy of
the law for the salvation of man, as well
as the suitableness of the child Jesus.
First, With respect to the thing which,
the victim — the appointment was, that it
should be without blemish ; but what a
multitude of questions would naturally
arise as to what degree of blemish would
constitute the victim unfit for the pur-
pose. In Malachi i. 8, God reproves the
people for offering unfit sacrifices, " If ye
offer the blind for sacrifices, is it not evil ?
and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not
evil ? " Now, I put it to your under-
standings, was there not an open door for
uncertainty here ? What degree of blind-
ness, sickness, lameness, would make the
victim unfit to be offered ?
Again, suppose the victim to be per-
fectly blemishless, and this fully esta-
blished; consider secondly, by whom this
victim was to be offered ; by a priest that
had similar infirmity, such as Aaron had,
who was easily turned away from the
service of God, and offered sacrifice to
devils in Horeb. Suppose the victim to
be a perfect one, here was another indi-
cation of weakness ; the priest was imper-
fect, and consequently, there was some-
thing defective in his service. But
suppose the priest, as well as the victim,
were perfect, another difficulty remained
as regarded the place where. Now, this
was in the tabernacle while it stood, or
afterwards in the temple. But with
respect to these places, although they
were comparatively holy, yet they were
14
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
not absolutely holy ; for you find in
Leviticus xvi 16, that the priest was
there to make atonement for the pollution
of the tabernacle, because it stood in the
midst of a polluted people, and was
polluted by their sins. First, it was built
by the hands of a polluted people, and
every work of man's hands is unclean ;
and as the tabernacle abode among a
polluted people, it was polluted, and con-
tracted defilement. If the victim and
the priest were perfect, yet the tabernacle
was polluted and imperfect, and conse-
quently, unfit as a place where effectual
sacrifices might be offered.
Now, my dear brethren, see how Christ
meets every demand, see how there is an
all-sufficiency in him, and how there is
strength in him in contrast with the weak-
ness of the law ; for first, consider him as
a victim, he was absolutely perfect, with-
out spot from his birth, without taint of
original or actual sin. Oh, there can be
no question, sinner, whoever thou art,
that desirest to disburden thy heavy laden
soul, there can be no question in laying
this hand on the head, the dear head of
the Lord Jesus, he is the spotless victim,
without question approved by God and man.
Again, he is the spotless high priest, " the
word of the oath maketh the Son a high
priest, who is consecrated for evermore,"
" holy, harmless, undefiled, seperate from
sinners ;" so that not only is the victim
perfect, but the high priest is absolutely
and eternally perfect, and altogether
sufficient to perform such a service, and
to offer an acceptable sacrifice to God.
But, besides this, the place in which
the offering was offered up, is most holy ;
for Christ's body is the tabernacle, the
temple, in which the priest offered the
victim. He himself is the priest, the
victim, the tabernacle ■ and you will
observe that these three things are brought
together in one passage by St. Paul,
Hebrews ix. 11, 12, " Christ being made
an high priest of good things to come, by
a greater and more perfect tabernacle,"
(his own body, not tainted by corruption
of birth or practice,) "not made with
hands, that is to say, not of this building ;
neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by his own blood ; he entered in
once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us." You see,
then, that there was a necessity that there
should be a perfect man, that he might
be a perfect victim, a perfect priest, a
perfect tabernacle or temple — and Jesus
is that man, and no other.
And now, what is his name ? for we
must have something more than man for
this work of everlasting redemption.
What is his name ? "His name shall be cal-
led Immanuel," his name was called Jesus,
why ? because his name was Immanuel ;
for, if he were not Immanuel, God with
us, he could not be Jesus the Saviour;
man alone, though never so perfect,
never could save ; the Saviour must be
God and man.
But you will ask, was not God with the
fathers ? Was he not with the church of
old — the church of Israel? Yes, truly
he was, but yet he was there in figure, he
was there in shadows and representations.
The difference now is this, that in the
person of him who was born of a virgin,
dwelt " all the fulness of the Godhead
bodily." Under the law, there was a
figurative representation of God, but here
we have the real presence of God in the
man Christ Jesus. For what could the
victims under the law do for the removal
of sin? Its life was no equivalent for
the life of man : you might as well think
to discharge a debt of a talent of gold, by
a talent of lead, as think of discharging
men's sins by the blood of bulls and of
goats, " it is not possible that the blood
of bulls and goats could take away sins."
But when we consider that our victim is
Immanuel, that all the fulness of the
Godhead bodily dwelt in the Lamb of
God, then we see there is a full equivalent.
It was said of David, by his faithful
people, 2 Samuel xviii. 3, " Thou art
worth ten thousand of us," and may we
not say of Immanuel, thou are worth ten
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
15
thousand thousand of us. When we see
Jesus die, we see death abolished, our sin
blotted out for ever, and eternal redemp-
tion obtained for us.
And then again, as a priest, all the
fulness of the Godhead bodily dwelt in
him, which stamped his services with
infinite value, especially when he offered
himself. Here was God for a victim, and
God for an offerer, and nothing less than
God will make satisfaction for man's
transgressions.
And more than this, Jesus was our
tabernacle, " in him dwelt all the fulness
of the Godhead bodily," as the shekinah
dwelt in the tabernacle of old, Christ
offered himself in the tabernacle of his
own body, out of which the Divine pre-
sence will not remove, through the count-
less ages of eternity, so that a place
gives a value to a service. Oh, what a
glorious assurance is here for the sinner
that repents and receives Jesus, that,
" though his sins be as scarlet, they shall
be white as snow, though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool." He has
abolished death, he brings life and im-
mortality to light, through the Gospel, he
brings the sinner near to God, he opens
a wide door, he says, " behold I am the
tabernacle, enter in here and abide
for ever. " And is this tabernacle
without a priest? He says, "lam the
great High Priest of thy profession, dwell
with me in the secret of my tabernacle
for ever.'' And is this tabernacle and
priest without an offering ? "I also am
the Lamb for a burnt offering."
Now, dear friends, what shall we say
to these things? Jesus Immanuel is in
the midst of us, God and man, one
Christ, is here before us, with open arms
to embrace us, to save us from all our sins,
to sanctify us, to make us like himself,
and receive us to glory.
I will tell you a story that was related
by one of our holy reformers, who after-
wards suffered at the stake.
He was preaching a sermon on the
nativity of our blessed Lord. (It is
merely a fable, but still the moral of it is
very instructive, I felt it when I read it,
bringing conviction to my soul, and I
hope it will to yours.) The devil once
came into a church, where there was a
large congregation, and he heard the
minister repeating these words of the
creed, " who for us men, and for our
salvation, came down from heaven, and
was incarnate of the Holy Ghost, by the
virgin Mary, and was made man, also for
us." And he looked about him to see
whether any was greatly moved, whether
any eves were filling with tears of grati-
tude, whether any man cast himself down
on his knees to give thanks; — and when
he found no man was much effected, he
turned and said to one beside him, 'oh, if
we devils were to hear that the Son of
God had taken our nature, we would
have more gratitude than you, sons of
men, have.'
Take care, lest the devil be your
accuser this day, of ingratitude to the
incarnate Saviour. My dear friends,
there is great danger of this. Alas, how
many hearts are like the crowded inn of
Bethlehem, having no room to admit the
Saviour. Look into your hearts, and see
what they have been filled with to-day !
Have your thoughts been set on the fes-
tivities and amusements which are usual
at such a season as this ? Oh, has there
been nothing in your soul but the
bustle and confusion of the world, and
worldly pleasures, and carefulness about
entertaining your friends, and such things?
Oh, that the Lord may suddenly come to
the temple of our hearts, and drive out
the multitude of intruders, till at'last, he
is left alone in the temple. Oh that Jesus
may be daily driving out worldly lusts,
worldly cares, worldly desires, worldly
affections, that Christ may dwell alone in
our hearts by faith, that it may be written
on the heart of every one of us — the
Lord is here.
Dear brethren, I must speak a word in
conclusion to those who do embrace him
by faith. Let me remind you, how the
16
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
faithful people of God in the days of
unbelieving Ahaz, embraced the tidings
and rejoiced in this great salvation ; for
it was a time of trouble with the church
in those days, as we see in the next
chapter, (viii. 7.) that great troubles
were coming on the church, " therefore,
behold the Lord bringeth up upon them the
waters of the river, strong and many,
even the king of Assyria, and all his
glory, and he shall come over all his
channels, and go over all his banks : and
he shall pass through Judah, he shall
overflow and go over, he shall reach even
to the neck ; and the stretching out of
his wings shall fill the breadth of thy
land, O Immanuel." The church of God
always has her head above water, the
waters may come up to the neck but they
will never drown her. So the ch,urch is
in deep waters, in trouble, and dis-
tress, and perplexity and temptation, but
what sustains her ? Listen to her trium-
phant challenge of her enemies in verse
9, " Associate yourselves O ye people, and
ye shall be broken in pieces ; and give
ear all ye of the countries, gird yourselves
and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take
council together, and it shall come to
naught, speak the word, and it shall not
stand," why? " for God is with us." She
takes hold of the name Immanuel. Oh
take hold of Him, let every heart take
hold of that name to-day, and dwell upon
it. The Gospel is in that name, the
riches of divine grace is in that name,
the treasures of God are in that name,
" Immanuel, God is with us !"
Let me speak then to the troubled
soul, " when thou goest through the
waters, He will be with thee ; and through
the rivers they shall not overflow thee,"
I am thy Immanuel, thy Jesus, the waters
may come up to thy neck when thou
passest through the river, but they shall
not overflow thee, yea, more than this,
" when thou passest through the fire, thou
shalt not be burned," and why ? because
God is with thee.
But besides the trials and temptations
thou hast to encounter, thou hast duties
to perform. Will God be with you in
these duties ? Yes, he will, he will be
with you, he is Immanuel still. When
he went up to heaven, at his ascension,
it is written, that when the Apostles went
forth to preach the word, " God worked
with them," Jesus was with them still.
Well then, he is with you in every duty,
if you set your hearts to serve him, he
will not forsake you, his strength will not
be wanting to you : if you desire to be
devoted to Jesus, to such a high priest
who gave himself for you— --if your heart
is intent on this, you will have grace suf-
ficient, for Jesus is Immanuel, God witli
you ; in every act of service, in every trial
and temptation, God with you ; in every
conflict he maketh you " more than con-
querors through him that loved you ;"
" therefore, my dearly beloved, be ye
steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding
in the work of the Lord ; forasmuch as ye
know, that your labour shall not be in
vain in the Lord."
Dublin : New Irish Pulpit Office, 1, St. Andrew-street — John Robertson :
W. Curry, Jun. and Co.; R. M. Tims, W. Carson, D. R. Bleakley. London,
R. Groombridge, J. Nisbet and Co. ; Liverpool, H. Perris ; Manchester, Pratt.
Chester, Seacome ; Cork Tract Repository ; Drogheda, F. Collins; and all
Booksellers.
GEORGE FOLDS, Printer, 1, Saint Andrew-street.
^Oppaeite Trinity-Dtitet, Dublin.)
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
GOSPEL PREACHER.
" We preacli Christ crucified—
" Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God." — 1 Cor. i. 23, 24.
No. LXXV.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 19xh, 1839.
Price 3d.
"a plea for the poorer brethren."
A SERMON
PREACHED IN ST. MARY'S CHURCH, DUBLIN,
ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30th, 1838,
ON BEHALF OF THE
"ASSOCIATION FOR THE RELIEF OF DISTRESSED PROTESTANTS,"
BY THE REV FIELDING OULD, A.B.
Incumbent of Christ Church, Liverpool.
2 Cor. viii. 23, 24.
" Or our brethren be enquired of, they are the messengers of the churches, and the glory of
Christ. Wherefore shew ye to them, and before the churches, the proof of your love, and of
our boastiug on your behalf."
It is not without many misgivings,
brethren, nor much anxiety, that I ascend
the pulpit for the discharge of the preach-
er's office this day. And I can truly say,
without the faintest affectation of humility,
that " I am with you in weakness and in
fear and in much trembling." When I
think of the occasion on which we are
now assembled, and of the cause that
solicits our attention ; when I think of
the illustrious names which have preceded
me in its advocacy, and feel my own
unworthiness to wear their mantles ; when
I reflect on the important interests that
are at stake, and consider into ic/tuse hands
they have been intrusted, — I do confess
that I am overcome with feelings of un-
feigned embarrasment, and constrained
to throw myself on your indulgence,
while I earnestly entreat the assistance of
Vol. IV.
your prayers. And yet, when I received,
across the waters, the invitation to lift up
my feeble voice on this behalf, though
for many reasons unwilling to consent,
I could riot bring my purpose to refuse.
" An association for the relief of Distressed
Protestants'' had, almost in its every
word, an irresistable appeal to the ten-
derest emotions of my heart ; and when
summoned to do for it what the Lord
might enable my limited ability to accom-
plish, I struggled against every feeling of
diffident repugnance, and resolved once
more to re-visit my native shores on an
errand as interesting as ever caused in-
voluntary exile to seek again the land of
his fathers !
The peculiar character and complexion
of the times in which we live, imparts to
this charity a degree of interest which it
18
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
would not, under other circumstances,
possess. The principle of genuine cha-
rity is too expansive to be ordinarily
confined and limited within the bounds
of party or religious denomination. The
eye of charity, like that of its Inspirer and
its Lord, as it traverses the fields of human
misery, is not " partial" in its choice of
the recipients of its bounty, nor a " res-
pecter of persons" in the distribution of its
alms. Whether the cry of distress is borne
to its ear from the poor wounded traveller
on the highway to Jericho, from the Cen-
turion grieving for his diseased servant, or
from the woman of Canaan, mourning
over her " grievously vexed" daughter —
its heart of kindness is ever warm with
sympathy, its hand of power is ever open
with relief. That, then, which, in a dif-
ferent state of things, would operate, not
unjustly, as an objection to the principle
of this Association, is just the consideration
which makes it, as matters now are, ap-
peal with irresistable force to the hearts
of all who know what true charity im-
plies. For, on whose behalf is the ap-
peal of this day ? On behalf of our poor
Protestant brethren. And if we live
in a day when to be a Protestant is to be
deemed worthy of slight and discourage-
ment, and to be a poor Protestant is a
sure passport to " liberal'' contumely and
" enlightened" neglect, then do I consi-
der it the bounden duty of those who
love and glory in the name, to supply
" the lack of service" of those official
philosophers, whose own Protestantism
being but of base coin, has but slender
affinity with that of genuine metal. It
would seem, I say, your bounden duty, not-
withstanding the taunts against your one-
eyed charity, to rally round those who
are special sufferers for principle at the
present day, and at least to take care that
they starve not, for want of " the bread
that perisheth," nor thirst, unrefreshed,
for the waters of everlasting life.
The chapter from which the words of
our text are taken, contains the Apostle's
appeal to the Christians at Corinth for
fine relief of the necessities of the poor
saints in Jerusalem, and throughout
Judea, who were, at that time, suffering
under the combined miseries of war, famine
and persecution. Although Paul was spe-
cially the Apostle of the Gentiles, and
was now addressing a Gentile church, he
had still a tender regard for those among
the Jews who were converted to the
Christian faith ; and although the happiest
feelings did not always subsist between
the Jewish and Gentile converts, the
Apostle puts forth all his energies to
press on the Gentile believers the impe-
rative duty of assisting those who were
brethren in Christ, without reference to
any circumstances that might be calcu-
lated to create disunion, or interrupt their
christian brotherhood.
Now, I desire to borrow from this
portion of Scripture, an illustration of
those two principal points to which the
subject of this day's appeal directs our
attention, viz. the character of those for
whom we plead, and the duty of those with
whom we plead. And may the gracious
Lord vouchsafe to us the assistance of
his Holy Spirit, in order that the word of
truth may be preached and heard to godly
edifying, and that an abundant measure
of success may crown the cause whose
interests we are assembled to promote,
for our blessed Saviour's sake !
I. The character of those for
whom we plead. What, then, is the
character of the clients for whom I plead
this day ? They may be described as
1. " Our brethren.^ " If our brethren,
be, &c." It was the surly reply of the
first murderer to the righteous inquiry of
the " Avenger of blood," " Am I my
brother's keeper?" It is in a spirit too
similar to this, that many a Cain in our
own day, answers the touching appeal on
behalf of a brother's necessities and a bro-
ther's wrongs. But what says our blessed
Lord himself, by his beloved disciple, to
the church ? " Whoso hath this world's
good, and seeth his brother have need,
and shutteth up his bowels of compassion
from him, how dwelleth the love of God
in him ?" 1 John iii. 17. This was not
the way in which He acted towards us.
He was possessed of all the treasures of
heaven, for " the Father had given all
things into his hands ;" he saw our need,
that it was a deep and awful necessity, a
depth of misery and danger that no
created intelligence could fathom, unde-
stroyed ; and He " shut not up his bowels
of compassion" from us. No ! He opened
them wide as the circumference of the
human family, and embraced within their
gracious membranes the whole race
of the fallen. For, the love of the
Father, and the love of souls, resided in
his bosom, and became the pinions on
which he flew from heaven to earth, to
be the great instrument of salvation to
the lost, and of life to the dead! And
when he had finished his work, and burst
the cerements of the tomb, and come
Oil GOSPEL PREACHER.
19
forth on the third morning's dawn from
the astonished grave, in what affecting
language does he describe the close and
intimate relation subsisting between Him
and his dear people !
Oh, it was astonishing condescension,
when the Redeemer of mankind ad-
dressed his disciples as his servants. " the
servant is not greater than his Lord;"
when he sainted them as hisfriends, "ye
are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I
command yon ;" but, oh, how infinite
the condescension which calied them bre-
thren ! which said, on the day when he
had become '"the resurrection and the
life,'' " Go to my brethren, and say unto
them, that I ascend unto my Father and
your Father, and to my God and your
God." (John xx. 17-) The Lord Jesus
Christ became our " brother" by his as-
sumption of our nature and by his suffer-
ing in that nature as the propitiation for
our sins. We become "his brethren"
by faith in his sacrifice, and love to his
redeemed. It is impossible to love the
great Brother of Jehovah's family without
leving the brethren of the household; and
accordingly he hath constituted a sympa-
thy with their sorrows, and a relief of
their distresses, a test or criterion of true
affection for Himself, " I was an hungered,
and ye gave me meat ; I was thirsty, and
ye gave me drink ; I was a stranger, and
ye took me in ; naked, and ye cloathed
me ; sick, and ye visited me ; I was in
prison, and ye came unto me." —
(Matt. xxv. 33. 36.) On this rule will
proceed the process of the last great
assize. We desire then, that you would
recognise brethren in those for whom we
are anxious to excite your sympathies this
day. We beseech you to look through
the veil which separates you — the rich
from the poor — and behold through that
thin transparency, the lineaments and fea-
tures of those who are " bone of your
bone, and flesh of your flesh," fellow-
citizens, fellow-subjects, and, we trust,
in many instances, fellow-heirs of the
grace of life. Let their Protestantism be
permitted to establish this relationship,
and let not their poverty be allowed to
silence the voice of its claims. Should
any demon of discord ever seek to kindle
the flame of jealous separation between
you, — imagine that you hear the touching
appeal of the man of God borne to your
ears on the wings of the Spirit, " Sirs,
ye are brethren." Acts vii. 26. Should
any arch enemy of our Protestant insti-
tutions, acting on the ancient policy,
" Divide and govern," seek to estrange
your affections from those who have
proved themselves your best friends,
whether they be in high station, or
whether they be in the ranks of the poor, —
should any such enemy strive to induce
you to look with cold indifference upon
the success of such an appeal as this, tell
him that this appeal is for brethren, —
' brethren dearly beloved and longed
for," and cannot therefore be otherwise
regarded than with an interest the liveliest
anil most intense; and that, while Popery
can afford her £ 15,000 a year in sympa-
thy with those who are bound up with the
glory of her cause, Protestantism may
well afford as many hundreds, as the ex-
pression of her regard for those who are,
under God, the basis of her greatness,
and the sinew of her strength.
2. — But, secondly, they are " the mes-
sengers of the Churches." The Christians
to whom these words originally applied,
were employed, as appears from the con-
text, and parallel passages, (see Phil. ii.
25,) in visits of sympathy and condolence,
to various members of the general body,
who were suffering from the violence of
Jewish or Pagan persecution. They
were thus " messengers" appointed to
convey to the more distant brethren, the
expression of their fellow believers' com-
passion for their sorrows, as well as to
impart substantial manifestations of their
readiness to relieve and diminish what
they could not altogether remove. Being
poor themselves, these " messengers" had
nothing to excite the cupidity, or provoke
the jealousy of those who lay in wait to
plunder and oppress God's heritage ; and
so they were enabled to move abroad
upon their charitable excursions, approv-
ing themselves, wheresoever they journey-
ed, a refreshment to the souls, and a
rejoicing to the hearts, of their separated
brethren.
Nor is this title altogether inapplicable
to those poor brethren in whose behalf I
am solicitous to fire your sympathies this
day. Frequently compelled by the de-
preciation of particular branches of trade,
and by want of employmeut, to change
their local situation, I ask, is it not
eminently desirable that they should be
prepared in the use of such judicious
means as this Association employs, to be
practical evangelists in their devious wan-
derings, so as to leaven the population"
throughout the range of their itinerancy,
with the principles of our holy religion ?
It is notorious, that a large proportion of
20
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
the poor Protestants of this country, visit
and pass through the metropolis, some-
times remaining here in hope of em-
ployment, sometimes making occasional
excursions to England, with asimilar object
in view, and sometimes, alas ! on their way
to the American continent, banished by
a cruel and much deplored necessity,
from the land of their birth and their
affections !
Here, then, in the capital, is situated
the fountain head of Protestant poverty
and wretchedness, from whence the
streams return-in many a winding, through
the provinces, spreading sadness and de-
solation in their course. From hence, as
from the broken heart of Ireland, the
various veins and arteries are continually
pouring along their tide of wretchedness,
backwards and forwards, from the centre
to the extremities of the land.
How important, then, is it, how ne-
cessary, how indispensable, that Christian
benevolence should make an effort to
assuage the severity of this deluge of
troubled waters, and either dry up its
bubbling well-spring, or purify the con-
tents of its discharge ? Look to it, I
beseech you, that your brethren, if sta-
tionary among you, be at least decently
clothed, fed and lodged, or at all events
rescued from the cellar and garret of
starvation, the prey of misery, the victims
of disease ; — and if intinerant, see that
they carry with them a boon to bestow,
far richer than that they receive ; see to
it, that while they beg the " bread that
perisheth," they may be able to give in
return for it the " bread that endureth to
everlasting life, and that, if they must
travel, like " the tribes of the wandering
foot and weary breast," they approve
themselves " the messengers of the
churches," that they may be " the glory
of Christ."
How many of our poor Protestant
brethren, in this dark and evil day, are
reduced to their present condition of
poverty and suffering, through the severe
pressure of Papal persecution ? Yes !
they have had the misfortune, somehow,
to offend that tyrant power that never
forgets nor forgives an insult, — it may be
by the steadiness of their adherence to
their protesting creed, or by their con-
sistent perseverance in refusing to identi-
fy themselves with the anti-christian ma-
chinery around them. They are marked
— they are watched — they are denounced
— they are cursed — in one word, they are
persecuted; and if they would not brave
the blow of the highway murderer, or
ihe fire-brand of the midnight incendiary,
they must fly from the country, and often
find themselves but half safe in the me-
tropolis ; while they are frequently obliged
to cross the seas, as if nothing but " a
great gulf fixed" could effectually screen
them from the rage of the " harlot drunk
with the blood of the saints" ! Yes,
even in England, I have myself known
the poor Irish Protestant emigrant pur-
sued by the ruthless malignity of Popish
hate ! As it is possible to have a martyr's
spirit without a marty's sufferings ; so is
it possible to have a martyr's sufferings
without a martyr's spirit. Are there any
who would say, that these defenceless ones
should stand their ground, and be pre-
pared to meet the death for their princi-
ples which the adversary threatens to
inflict ? If there be, I would only say,
that it is easy for those who are not them-
selves thus exposed to the peril, to argue
on abstract principles, however just, on
the duties and behovements of those who
are actually within reach of the fangs
of the serpent, and within audience of
the lion's roar. Though our poor brother
be " weak in the faith," this is surely no
reason why we should refuse to " receive
him ;" though he have not a spirit worthy
to rank him amongst the devoted soldiers
of the Christian martyrology, it is no
reason why he should be left to perish
in silent misery, rotting away his exis-
tence upon a handful of damp straw, un-
consoled by the prayer of Christian
faith, uncheered by the hope of being
hereafter " comforted," as he is now
" tormented." In order to show that
this is not an over drawn picture of our
poor brethren's present condition, let me
read for you a short extract from the
last published Report of the Association.
'' The experience which perhaps every
individual member of the committee has
had as a visitor, enables the Committee
here to state, in a manner the most
unqualified, that no description, however
vivid, that nothing, in fact, but actual
acquaintance with the cases, can give an
adequate idea of the extremely deplora-
ble state of wretchedness, to which a
large number of our poor Protestant
brethren are reduced. It is a matter of
quite ordinary occurrence to meet with
family after family without bed or bed-
ding, withotit chair, table, or any one
article of furniture ; without any provi-
sion to meet the necessary wants of the
day, and divested of all articles of raiment
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
21
except such tattered rags as are insuffi-
cient Ji>r the purposes of decency, to say
nothing of warmth and comfort. The
inmates of wretched abodes have been
found stretched together upon the frag-
ments of what was once an armful of
straw, reduced by long continued use to
something like chaff and dud. In those
cases some one individual has been kept
in such a state, as to be able to go out,
in order to make the endeavour to dis-
cover some precarious provision for the
rest. Incredible as it may seem, such
cases have not been uncommon, and this
destitution has existed when the commit-
tee have not been able to fasten any
improper conduct on the ■ victims of it,
when the only discernable causes seem
to have been inevitable misfortune, taken
in connexion with sickness and an utter
inability to procure employment ; under
such circumstances, article after article
has been sent to the pawn office, until at
length, the results above mentioned have
been produced." — (Report, page 10.)
Is this the true state of the case ? Let
us then, by all means exert ourselves,
even at some personal sacrifice, to pro-
cure for our suffering brethren those
common necessaries, without which, ex-
istence itself is but a sad and intolerable
burden ; remembering, that every pains
are taken to nourish them for eternity as
well as for time, not only to remove a few-
thorns from the pathway of life, but. to
strew with roses and lilies — with the rose
of Sharon, and the liliy of the valley — |
the path that leads to a blessed immortal-
ity, that they may not only be examples
of the church's liberality, but "messengers''
of her pious beneficence through the
length and breadth of the land.
3. — They are, further, the "glory of
Christ.' In what, my brethren, may
we suppose, does the especial glory of
our blessed Lord consist? Is it, think
ye, in the height of his exaltation, tl.e
homage of angelic worshippers, the songs
and hallelujahs of an adoring heaven ? No!
the grace of the Lord is the glory of the
Lord ; and " ye know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was
rich, yet lor your sakes he became poor,
that ye, through his poverty might be
rich." 2 Cor. viii. 9. " I beseech thee,"
said Moses to the Lord Jehovah, " show
me thy glory?" And what was the ans-
wer to the sublime prayer ? " I will
make all my goodness pass before thee;''
(Exodus, xxxiii. 18, 19,) because the
goodness of the Lord was the glory of the
Lord. Yes ! our Immanuel glories more
in his crown of thorns than in his crown
of gold, in his cross of agony than in his
throne of triumph, in the prayers, and
tears, and sighs, of penitent transgressors,
than in the acclamations and hosannahs
of archangel choirs. He is more glorified
in the love of the saints, than in the
adoration of the seraphim — has more
honor from the tear-dewed anointing of
Magdalene, than from the loftiest saluta-
tions of Gabriel himself! It is not difficult
then, to ascertain the sense in which this
expression applies to the objects of our
present solicitude. Are they poor? The
Sa'iour has himself dignified the condition
of human poverty, by having become, not
only a man, but a poor man, and by
having purposely surrounded himself,
during the season of his humiliation, not
with the rich and the noble, the vain-glo-
rious Herods, or the pompous Caesars ;
but with the obscure and the despised —
the fishermen of Galilee, and the publicans
of Gennesareth. When asked to give
evidence to the disciples of the Baptist
that his mission was divine, did he not de-
clare as the mostconvincing demonstration
that "to the poor the gospel was preach-
ed ?" Yes, beloved friends, the pious
poor are "the glory of Christ," more than
the rich with all their splendour, even
when grace gives fresh dignity to their
ei mine, and adds new lustre to their
coronets and crowns. With the pious
poor, Jesus, in a special manner, delights
to sympathize ; to them, he, in a special
manner manifests himself; from them,
he derives special revenues of glory. He
is honored in their patience, exalted
in their unmurmuring resignation to his
afflictive dispensations, glorified in their
confiding trust in him " when the fig-tree
does not blossom, and there is no fruit in
the vine." Hab. iii. 17. He goes with
them to their ciark abodes of suffering and
privation, to dry the starting tear, to
siienee the bursting murmur, to bind up
the bleeding heart. He presides in their
solemn assemblies, when gathered in his
name in the lofty gallery or along the
crowded aisle, that he may break for
them the bread of life from the lips of
the preacher, and cause the tidings of his
d)ingloveto ring their melodious peal
through the gladdened recesses of their
souls. He visits them in their seasons of
distressful emergency, in tne persons of
his dear ministers and servants, and turns
the cup of cold water, which they present
in his name, into a draught of refreshing
22
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
wine for the sustainment of their souls.
And when they come to die, how gently
does he lead them through the dark and
dreary valley — how softly close the glazed
eye, and still the hurried pulse, and
whisper within, those inexpressible con-
solations which bow the very heavens,
and anticipate its joys, and cause the poor
believer to feel hjmself, even before he
has become " absent from the body," to
be already " present with the Lord !"
And if our dear Redeemer thus regards
his people when they are poor, how does
he feel for them and towards them when
they are persecuted too ? If he esteems
them " his glory," when deprived in his
providence of needful provision for the
body, how does he look upon them when
in the furnance of affliction, and played
around by the fires of the enemy and
oppressor ! If Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego were " the glory" of the Lord
merely as captive exiles in Babylon, how
much more did they glorify him in the
light of Nebucadnezzar's fire ? It cannot
be denied, that our poor Protestant
brethren are, and have been, for years,
undergoing a fierce and unrelenting
persecution in this country. Their reli-
gious zeal has been termed bigotry —
their devoted loyalty stigmatized as poli-
tical partizanship, their assertion of Pro-
testant principle and exhibition of Pro-
testant practice construed into a studied
insult to the favored disciples of the " man
of sin." The public grants have been
withdrawn from the schools in which their
children received a Scriptural education,
in order that the stream of Treasury favor
might flow in! o the capacious reservoirs of
Maynooth and "the Board;" — and while
the Churches are in many places tumbling
to the ground for want of repairs, and in
many others affording insufficient accom-
modation, especially for the poor, — thou-
sands of pounds have been either granted
or lent by the Board of Public Works
for the erection or enlargement of the
Mass houses of the Papacy.*
And not to speak of the studious over-
sight of Protestants in the appointments
to official situations in the various depart-
ments of the public service, and of the
equally studious preferment of men
whose only claim to that preferment was
their treason to the Protestantism which
they professed and beira, el ; I say, not
to speak of those thi.igs, the notoriously
unprotected state of Protestant life and
property in many districts of the country,
amounts to a sufficient demonstration
that the clients whose cause I advocate
this day, are, and have been, to all intents
and purposes, for some time past, a per-
secuted body, There are some among
them who are even now beginning to
echo the cry, " How long, O Lord, how
long ?" And we do trust that the time
is not far distant, when a favourable change
will ensue, and. the dawn of a happier
day will gild the horizon of our land.
But meanwhile, it is needful that those
who are " the glory of Christ" should be
borne upon the hearts of their Christian
brethren, and affectionately plied with
that Christian instruction which will fur-
nish the most effectual discipline against
the troublous times — the storms and tem-
pests that will most probably precede the
return of tranquil days. And while it is
most painful to contemplate any of our
brethren in a pure profession, as the cap-
tives of the devil and the slaves of sin,
ignorant of their own principles, unimbued
with the sacred and holy character of the
truths revealed in the Bible, which it is
their privilege to search, and exhibiting
themselves in their ignorance, their
drunkenness, their vicious dissipation,
rather as the shame and reproach of Christ
than as " his glory," while it is painful to
contemplate this state of things, it is on
the other hand, delightful to know, that
when prayerful students of his Bible,
regular frequenters of his sanctuary, holy
reverers of his name and his day,
"abhorring all that is evil, and cleaving
to all that is good," they shall be found
safe in " the evil day ;" and when the
overflowing scourge shall come, the
banner over them shall be love, the ram-
part around them shall be omnipotence,
and the glory of the Lord shall be their
rereward ! As ihe glory of their Lord was
the chief desire of their souls, so will
they have become " the glory of Christ,"
when he comes to " see of the travail
of bis soul," to " make his enemies his
fooi stool," and "to be admired in all
them (hat believe !"
Having now laid before you the
character of those for whom I plead to-
day, I next proceed to consider
II. The ditty of those with whom
we plead " Wherefore show ye to them,
and before the churches, the proof of your
love and of our boasting on your behalf."
1. The first duty is, then, io give proof
of your professed love to the brethren.
When our Lord Jesus Christ was asked
See Note, No. 1.
Oil GOSPEL PREACHER.
23
upon a certain occasion, "what was the ,
first and great commandment of the law ?" I
He answered thus, " Thou shalt love the j
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy strength :
and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt
love thy neighbour as thyself." I ask you, !
beloved friends, do you profess to love
God ? Would any of you be offended, if
we were to say, that you do not love
Him ? But, says the apostle,( 1 John i v. 20)
" If a man say, I love God, and hateth
his brother," — what is he ? — " he is a
liar !" That is, it is impossible that love
towards God can reside in your bosoms,
if you do not love your neighbour also ;
and as " he who is not with the Lord is
against him," so he that practically loves
not his brother -practically hates him —
Selfishness is the bane and curse of our
corrupted nature ; the man who wraps
himself close in the mantle of self-love,
and regards not the sorrow that comes
willing from the heart of a brother in
adversity, though he may have it in his
power, by a very slight sacrifice, to dry
up the fountain of his sorrows, or at least
to assuage their bitterness, — such a man
cannot have the love of God in him. If
he love not the members whom he does
see, how can he love the head which he
does not see ? Nay, more, he cannot be
a Christian, however loudly he may pro-
fess,—^ man that loves not his brother
caimot be a child of God. So the Lord
tells us by his apostle John, as you may
perceive, upon reference to 1 John iii. 14.
where we thus read, " we know, that we
have passed from death unto life because
we love the brethren ; he that loveth not
his brother abideth in death." Christ
has given us a standard of morals, a
standard of feelings, a standard of prin-
ciples, a standard of action ; and we are
not entitled to call ourselves by the name
of Christians, unless we endeavour to
arrive at that standard.
Now, beloved friends, let me refer you
to a few specific instances of the misera-
ble condition of those for whom I plead,
and to these details I have especially to
request your patient attention. The fol-
lowing extract from the last published
Report of the Association to which I have
already alluded, will set before you a
general view of the condition of our poor
brethren ;—
" They are intimately mixed up with
the Roman Catholic population ; you will
find one or two poor Protestants living in i
a lodging room with six or seven Roman
Catholics ; again, you will find a single
room tenanted by a poor Protestant
family in a large house where all the
other inmates are of the adverse faith.
A very moderate acquaintance with scrip-
tural truth, and the formation of habits,
will suffice to show, what an injurous
effect this state of things must have on
the religious character of our poor; they
are constantly brow-beaten and insulted
as heretics, their ears are habituated to
profaneness and blasphemy, they are
compelled to witness drunken broils and
fightings. Under these circumstances how
great are the hindrances to prayer, medi-
tation, and the study of God's word?
hindrances, which alas, are often but too
successful in separating the poor Protes-
tant from his God and Saviour ; thus he
becomes an easy prey to the tempter,
loses all courage in the maintainance of
his principles, and is in a degree assimi-
lated as to moral practice, with those
w hose principles he professedly renounces.
In a word, he imbibes habits of conduct
ivhich are calculated to degrade and im-
poverish, he neglects his place of worship,
disregards private and family religion, and
loses every thing of Protestantism, but the
name. Indeed cases have come to the
knowledge of the Committee, in which
under the influences just described, even
the name has been ordinarily renounced." —
( Report, p. 11.)
What an affecting case is the following :
" A poor woman E. B., with an infant
child, had been deserted by her husband.
Previously to her marriage she had lived
in good places, with credit to herself.
But when her confinement drew nigh she
was obliged to relinquish service. When
she came out of the Lying-in-Hospital
with her baby, she could get no situation.
By degrees every article of clothing was
disposed of, and, as her destitution made
progress, she became less and less likely
to be employed. At length she was turned
out of her lodgings because unable to pay
the rent, and was obliged to pass her
nights generally in watch houses, or on
landing-places. Her character having been
found blameless, the Committee entrusted
£[ for her benefit, to a benevolent lady,
who was acquainted with and took an in-
terest in her case. By these means she
was provided with clothes, her child was
put to nurse, she herself put into a place
where she is now giving satisfaction, and
earning bread for her own support and
that ol her child." — (Report, p. 15.)
Let me read a passage from a descrip-
24
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
tion of this miserv, also calculated to place
it in a striking manner before you : —
" Numbers with large families are
crowded into a cellar, or into a garret,
and even there they are compelled to
participate with others in houses, where
every room is the abode of misery similar
to their own, in some of those wretched
habitations, to be found in whole districts
of this city, which are a scandal, I will
not say to the benevolence of Christianity,
but a reproach to the very name of civili-
zation itself. Here are to be found hun-
dreds of your poor Protestant brethren,
who have not as much as even straw to lie
on ; who have been compelled to pledge
not only the bedclothes that kept them
warm, to satisfy the agonies of hunger,
but even the wearing apparel of all but
one or two members of their families,
whom they may not send in a state of
nakedness into your streets to beg a dole
to protract the miserable existence of the
rest."* — {Rev. R. J. 3I l Ghee's Sermon,
p. 19.)
Ye are men — and ye have hearts, and
these hearts are not made of that stern
stuff which is wholly impervious to the
dews of kindliness. Just think, then, of
the multiplied misery and sorrow which
are spread around through the lanes, and
courts, and garrets, and cellars of this
great city — a misery endured by your
own brethren in the faith — and tell me
whether your spirits are not harrowed up
within you. If there be men who can
sit unmoved, or throw their stinted shil-
ling into the plate which should have
received their pound — while they hear of
emaciating famine, with its dire compa-
nion disease, wasting down the strong
and the robust into premature ripeness
for the coffin and the worm ; — while they
hear of the aged Protestant pilgrim, from
long want of employment or from what-
ever cause, writhing in unpitied pain and
privation on his cold earthy bed ; — while
they hear of the tender female and her
infant charge, travelling houseless and
forlorn at this inclement season, under
circumstances that usually surround her
sex with delicate care and tenderness ; —
1 say, if there be such men, I can under-
stand and appreciate, in some degree, the
severity of the Apostle's denouncement,
" If any provide not for those of his own
house, he hath denied the faith, and is
worse than an infidel.' 1 Tim. v. 8
Away with the heartless selfishness that
would point to the already overthronged
Mendicity, or the parochial asylum, or
the prospective workhouse, and plead
these as apologies for the disregard of
such an appeal as this ! The poor Pro-
testant has generally a spirit, (whether
often extravagantly indulged or not, I
stop not just now to enquire,)' of inde-
pendence and self-respect, that would
rather persevere even to the last extremity
of endurance, than become the recipient
of parish bounty, or the inmate of a
charitable Institution. Can ye make no
allowance for these feelings, and provide
no means whereby the pressure of your
poor brother's woe may be alleviated,
while due respect is manifested towards
the sacred sensibilities of his nature? —
Will ye insist that he be dragged forth
from the obscure chamber where he seeks
to hide his sorrows and necessities, and
forced to expose himself and his perhaps
once affluent family to the gaze of a
heartless world, or, it may be, the official
insolence of some parish authority? O
surely you will not. I tell you that there
are instances of individual suffering with
the details of which I have been furnished,
which can scarcely be parallelled in the
gloomiest annals of human misery. I
have no wish unnecessarily to excite your
feelings by details of this distress; but
I do wish, that just enough should be
communicated to make you bestir your-
selves at the cry of the indigent and the
dying. " How many hired servants of your
father's houses have bread enough, and
to spare, while these perish with hunger !"
Oh ! arise then, and go to your Father,
and pray him to shed abroad his love in
your hearts, and make it to shine forth
in rays of heavenly liberality on all those
numerous sons and daughters of sorrow
who require your aid. Pray him to give
you grace to svveep off the needless lux-
uries from your tables, and to retrench
the superfluities of a lavish expenditure,
that you may pour forth liberally on your
brethren — in many instances ground down
to all the gauntness and ghastliness of
utter destitution — some portions of the
plenty which, in his rich providence, he
hath showered upon )ou !
Ye cannot resist the app,eal, and call
yourselves Christian ; ye cannot resist,
and call yourselves human. Oh, I should
fear, — I should tremble for this land, if
the cry of the poor should roll unheeded
through the streets of its capital, and if
all your professions of brotherly love were
proved to be but the unmeaning lip-
service of a convenient hypocrisy. How
much, according to the last Report that
For some other cases of surpassing interest and wretchedness, selected out of many,
bee kotes, No. 2.
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
25
has been published, — how much has been beyond their ability, to minister to their
subscribed to enable the friends of the
Protestant poor to proceed in their hu-
mane and Christian enterprise ? 1 am
informed, that the total receipts of the
present year do not exceed .£696, and if
I mistake not, this is more than double
the amount that had been subscribed and
contributed during the preceding year.
Now. it is true, blessed be God for it,
necessities, and supply their wants. Now,
I would have you "justify" this good
opinion by the liberality of your contri-
butions to this most interesting charity.
When we stand as sinners before the pre-
sence of our God, then boasting is, by
the Gospel for ever excluded. Rom. iii. 27.
In that awful presence, '•' every mouth
must be stopped, and all the world be-
that a very considerable number have | come guilty before God." Rom. iii. 19.
been relieved through the instrumentality i From every brow must come down every
of these contributions. Independently of ' crown, the dust and the ashes are the
the relief given in the way of loan, I bed which best becomes the prostrate
understand that out of 2,151 applications j sinner, when drawing nigh to Him, who
made during the past year, 1766 families I is " Holy, holy, holy !" while if he do
have received aid, and that altogether, I venture to speak, (though Magdalene
the number of individuals relieved has break not the silence) the only sounds
been 5,302. It, is true, and we are ! that are heard to issue from the cavern of
thankful for it, that much suffering has [ half despair in which the conscious de-
been alleviated, and that very many indi- ! linquent has hidden himself, are, " I abhor
viduals have derived relief; but when so
much has been effected through the
means of so small an outlay, is it not de-
plorable that there has not been more to
lay out? — That more funds have not
been placed at the disposal of the Com-
mittee, and that they should be obliged
to tell us now, " that their funds are
nearly, if not altogether exhausted, while
the pressi?ig nature of the claims made
for relief are increased by the season
and other- causes .'" A single stroke of the
pen from those whose tables are covered
with plate, and whose drawing-rooms are
decked out with useless ornaments, would
scatter plenty and happiness among those
suffering thousands, while the resources
which remained would scarce give evi-
dence that one iota had been abstracted.
Oh, give to your poor brethren then,
" the proof of your love," and let it not
be said, as far as you are concerned, that
the luxury of the land, and the licentious-
ness of the land, amid prevailing poverty
and crime, are drawing down upon it the
vengeance of the Lord.
2. You are to justify the good opiriion
that is entertained of you, " And of our
boasting on your behalf.' This is immea-
surably lower ground than that on which
we have just been standing ; but still, I
am rejoiced to stand on any legitimate
ground from which I may hope to move
you on this mournful behalf. The inha-
bitants of our native land are generally
reputed warm in their national affections,
patriot lovers of their country and its
citizens, and constitutionally, (if I may
so speak) kind to the poor, willing and
ready, as far as their ability, yea, and
myself, and repent in dust and ashes."
(Job xlii. 6) — " Woe is me; for I am
undone.'' (Is. vi. 5.) — " God be merci-
ful to me a sinner." (Luke xviii. 13.) —
But when standing as specially in the
presence of our fellow-men, and with
reference to their good opinion, if the
sound of boasting be permitted to pro-
ceed from our lips, it were well that it
should not seem to be a groundless boast-
ing, and that its language come not
under the severe censure of the apostle,
as " great swelling words of vanity."
(2 Pet. ii. 18.) Give "proof" then,
brethren, " of our boasting on your be-
half;" show that you are patriotic, gene-
rous, tender-hearted, as it is generally
reported that you be ; and let the unpre-
cedented amount of our collection prove
that " our boasting of you has not been
in vain." 1 need not stay on this point
to stimulate your charity. Eloquence,
even if I possessed any, would avail no-
thing, if the cry of famishing brethren
did not prove a thrilling oratory. Any
pathos that I might be able to command,
would be an idle weapon, if you are not
moved with the tale of brothers and sis-
ters, and parents and children of the same
household of laith, pursued and overtaken
with misfortune, broken-hearted with
disappointment and sorrow, and pining
away in want and destitution, almost be-
fore your eyes. I shall only further
state on this head, that the case is so pe-
culiar and so pressing-— I say it with all
solemnity and seriousness — I believe the
case to be so peculiar and so pressing,
that every shilling now illiberally with-
held, may be connected with the misery;
* Luke x. 30, 34.
26
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
and possibly with the death of a fellow-
creature ! Yes, it is literally for the life
of many that I plead, and he who gives
not to the full measure of his ability, I
venture to tell him, that he tampers with
human life, does his part towards encreas-
ing the sum of human misery, and aug-
menting the spoils of the last enemy of man.
3. Become exemplars of brotherly love
to the churches. — " Wherefore show ye
to them, and before the churches, the
proof of your love."
Our Lord Jesus is himself the great
exemplar of his Church ; but it is his
will that each member of his mystical
body should be so fashioned in spirit,
after the likeness of the head, as to re-
flect continually his pure and holy light
amidst the darkness of surrounding apos-
tacy. Now, what is the example which
our blessed Lord has given us in this
matter ? His first command, after the
resurrection, was, that the proclamation
of his Gospel should " begin at Jerusa-
lem," Luke xxiv. 47, — that the Gentile
world should wait until the brethren of
the house of Israel should have the first
offer of salvation made to them : that,
although they were of all men the most
unworthy of it — the men who were the
murderers of the prophets, and who had
imbrued their sacriligious hands in the
blood of the Lord of glory — should re-
ceive the first proffer of salvation through
the blood they had shed, while Tyre and
Sidon, and all the cities of the Gentiles
should wait until they had first received
the message of glad tidings, — " beginning
at Jerusalem."
Let your bounty, then, commence,
henceforward, with our Protestant Zion.
Let this dying year record the death of
your past apathy and supineness in the
discharge of this most solemn duty to
those of your own household ; and let
the new year witness such an increase of
love and zeal, and Christian determina-
tion, as shall put it beyond the power of
the enemies of the Protestant name to
taunt you with neglect of obligations so
sacred, or to point to your poor brother
in the flesh and in the faith, rotting away
a miserable existence, and feeding on the
husks of the swine, amid your rank and
wealth and luxurious enjoyment.
Oh ! that we had one half of the zeal
and sympathy cementing the ranks of
our Protestant community, which are to
be found knitting together the bands of
the adversary as one man. They could
well afford to spare us, and we to borrow
from them, a coal from the altar of
their brotherly love. Wherever else they
are deficient, here at least, with few ex-
ceptions, they are worthy, I had almost
said, of our admiration. And why should
the name of Catholic be a stronger bond
of union than the name of Protestant?
why should the name and number of the
beast prove a chain of fiery sympathy
around the idolatrous and enslaved, while
the name and principles of the Lamb in
whom we glory, are but as a rope of
sand ? When will Protestants awake to
the danger of neglecting that which is,
under God, the ark of their strength —
of sleeping in the harlot lap of a blan-
dishing and luxurious world, while the
spiritual Philistines are watching every
opportunity and straining every nerve to
sever the lock of their greatness, nay,
almost of their life ?
We live in a day when every thing is
carried by the will of a numerical majo-
rity. Time was, when principle and
truth and justice had some voice iQ deter-
mining the public measures affecting the
interests of the Protestants of Ireland.
Now, all legislation proceeds according
to the tyrant will of a majority. It is
not only duty, therefore, principle, love,
— but self-interest, too, that demands
from you a present sacrifice, if not for
the comfortable maintainance, at least
for the prolonged existence, of those who
are identified with the best interests of
our country. Set an example worthy of
imitation to your wealthy brethren, who
inhabit the provinces, and impress on
them, by your own conduct, the sacred
duty of encouraging a Protestant te-
nantry — of protecting them from the
oppression of their barbarous neighbours,
and of seeing that their children are
carefully trained by a Scriptural educa-
tion, in the pure principles of the Gos-
pel of Christ. The cause of modern
Popery is being worked with an energy
almost superhuman ; and why should
there be a less expenditure of zeal and
effort on behalf of the very best cause
in which immortal man was ever enlisted?
Various associations of Roman Catholics
have been formed of late for the silent
and secret, but not the less effective,
dissemination of the tenets of the Romish
faith. There is, at this moment, a most
formidable society of the kind in this
very city, though invisible to the Pro-
testant eye, which is secretly sending
forth its emissaries throughout the whole
country with the same never forgotten
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
27
propagandaism in view. Popery* like
the mole, works underground ; lier's is a
system of spiritual freemasonry. Every
thing is done under the secrecy of a vow,
if not of a formal oath, when it is
deemed advisable to conceal matters from
the public eye. And I repeat, that there
is a unity of purpose, a brotherhood of
feeling, where the interests of Rome are
concerned, which may well cause the
blush of shame to mantle on the Pro-
testant cheek. The Papists' zeal has, in
these latter days, carried them so far
beyond the boundaries of their ordinary
prudential decorum, as to lead, in France
and elsewhere, to the actual establish-
ment of prayer meetings at stated inter-
vals, for the special purpose of suppli-
cating, it is presumed, the Virgin " Queen
of Heaven," for the reconversion of
England to their repudiated faith.*
In short, it cannot be denied, and
it ought to be made generally known,
that there is at present a most extensive
machinery at work in England and Ire-
land, and on the continent, with a
view to the extinction of Protestantism
and the re-establishment of Popish
supremacy in the British Isles.
I call then, on the wealthy and respect-
able Protestants of the metropolis to
arouse themselves ; and as one of the
chief causes of this state of things has
been the systematic discouragement and
oppression of the humbler class of our
body for whom I plead with you to-day,
show by the munificent contributions
with which you burthen the plates of the
collectors, that you are sensible of the
value of your loyal and irust-ivorthy
brelhren to their country and their kind,
and that you are determined as one man,
to keep their ranks from diminution, and
preserve them from being forced into a
reluctant emigration, or consigued, be-
neath the pressure of a wasting famine,
to a premature grave. And while, under
the present regime to be a Protestant is
the same thing as to have an inscription
over his forehead " Ineligible to office,
and unworthy of protection for liberty or
life," set the example of a noble resolve
to stay this monstrous injustice, and com-
pensate for the criminal neglect of others
by the generous fidelity with which you
discharge the great duty of this day. And
if this marked partiality to Popery has
produced a powerful impression on the
minds of its subjects in these lands, as if
the time was at hand when that baneful
superstition was about to consummate its
triumph ; give them evidence this da\
which cannot be mistaken, that their ex-
pectations are unfounded, that their
aspirations are doomed to disappointment
that the spirit of Protestantism is not
" dead but slcepcth ;" and that it will
soon rise in the vigour of "a refreshed
giant," "earnestly to contend for the
faith once delivered to the saints," Jude 3,
and never to pause in its victorious career,
until its ears shall have been saluted with
the united cry of prophets, saints, and
martyrs — " Babylon the great is fallen,
is fallen !" (I\ev. xviii. 2.)f
(1) Let me now, in conclusion, ad-
dress a few words to the Poor Protes-
tant : My poor brother ! amidst the
various trials and distresses with which it
has pleased the Lord to visit you, there is
one great blessing which you enjoy, and for
which you can never be too thankful, —
and that is, that you are a Protestant ;
that the word of the living God is placed in
your hands; that you have the privilege of
attending the public service of God, con-
ducted in a language you understand, so
as to be " a reasonable service ;" — that
you are not the slave of any tyrant, whe-
ther ecclesiastical or civil ; that you are
at liberty to worship the God of your
fathers, according to the dictates of a
Scripturally enlightened conscience.
My poor brother! we feel for your
temporal distress, and are resolved, nay,
we pledge ourselves in this sacred pre-
sence, and through the blessing of the
Most High, to exert ourselves persever-
ingly till you are relieved. But we
would not disguise from you that there is
j a worse than earthly poverty, a worse fa-
mine than that of bread, a more shameful
\ nakedness than that of filthy rags and
bared limbs. There is the poverty which
consists in the absence of " unsearchable
riches." (Eph. iii. 8.) There is the
famine which is occasioned by the priva-
tion of that " spiritual bread which en-
dureth unto everlasting life. "(John vi.27. )
And there is the nakedness that presents
the soul in uncovered bareness before
the gaze of that all-searching God, " in
whose sight the heavens are unclean, and
who charges his angels with folly." —
Rev. iii. 18.
This Association has a special regard
to these more fearful, though less pal-
pably experienced wants under which
you labor, and it has accordingly taken
measures to press them on your attentive
consideration, with a view to their per-
manent removal. Its proceedings are
* See Note No. -i.
f See Note No. 4.
28
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
conducted in the spirit of prayer ; it
provides for at least a decent attendance
on the outward means of grace on the
part of all who shall be recipients of its
ministrations in things temporal ; and it
can do no more than supplicate the God
of all grace, that being poor in this
world's good's, you may become " poor
in spirit," that you may be " rich in faith,"
and so "heirs of the kingdom." Cheer
up, then, my poor Protestant brother, and
remember that the Bible is the poor
man's book, and Jesus is the poor man's
friend. Only become his servants through
faith in his atoning sacrifice, and you need
not fear for the worst calamities that may
threaten you, or the fiercest persecu-
tion that may be directed against you.
" Consider," says the Lord, " the lilies
of the field ; behold the birds of the air:
are ye not much better than they?"
Matt. vi. 26—33. The one is bounti-
fully fed ; and the other is so beautifully
clothed, that " even Solomon in all his
glory cannot be compared with it."
Wh}' does the Lord employ these exqui-
sitely expressive metaphors? It is that
his people may have confidence in him,
that they may not repose on an arm of
flesh, but on the arm of their beloved as
they journey through the wilderness ;
(Cant. viii. 5.) and he will in due time
cause that wilderness to rejoice, and the
desert of their travail to blossom as the
rose." (Is. xxxv. 1.) May the Lord give
you patience to endure the severities of
your lot ; may your wives and little ones
be sustained and comforted by Him,
" whose is the earth and the fulness
thereof," and may He put it into the
hearts of your richer brethren this day,
so to give of the abundance wherewith
God has blessed them, that ample means
may be provided for supplying you,
through the inclemency of the ensuing
winter, with all needful support, and
" satisfying God's poor with bread."
(2) Let me next address the rich
protestant. Have you ever considered
the weight of responsibility which attaches
to the possession of wealth, especially in
such times as these, and under such cir-
cumstances as those in which I now address
you ? You have heard the statement
which has been made concerning the
necessities of the poorer brethren, do you
think it is an exaggerated statement ?
that the picture has been too highly
coloured ? You have heard but a very
small portion of what might have been
submitted to you, indeed 1 have purposely
abstained from wearying you with minuter
details. But, if there be still a doubt, I
invite you to go and examine for your-
selves into the accuracy of the likeness
which I have faintly sketched, and then
act as the Lord shall dispose your hearts.
But assuming for a moment that the
picture is correct, I ask you, will you
leave this church to-day without giving
anything, or such a mere trifle as you will
never miss, just to save yourselves from
present reproach, and steel your con-
science against the future clamours of the
accusing voice within ? Will you allow
this most righteous cause to lie, like
Lazarus, at your gate full of sores, while
you are clothed with purple and fine
linen, and fare sumptuously every day,
without troubling yourselves to inquire
whether the poor beggar be really, or
only desirous to be fed with the falling
crumbs? Luke xvi. 20,21; or will you
suffer distressed Protestantism to be ex-
posed, like the wounded traveller on the
highway, while you, like the priest or
the Levite, pass by, in dignified indiffe-
rence, on the other side, rather than fly
like the good Samaritan, with your oil
and wine to its relief?* — If so I would not
share your responsibility, under this abuse
of the gifts of Providence, for ten thou-
sand times the wealth that calls you lord.
Oh, think what a tremendous thing it
will be in the hour of death, and in the
day of judgment, to have the cry of the
famished ringing in your ears, and to have
the terrible consciousness fixed, like a
mountain of lead on your souls — that you
might have given relief, and that you re-
fused ; that you hnew your Lord's will,
and did it not, and so deserve to be beaten
with many stripes !
Go home then, to your luxurious halls
and sumptuous feasts, and enjoy, if you
can, the recollection of the shilling or
half crown, that was extorted from you
by the voice of the preacher, while it
may be, five hundred times the amount
is squandered on some wretched bauble
that ministers to your vanity, or marks
your caprice ! Oh, that the words of
the Lord Jesus might sink deeply into
your hearts — " It is more blessed to give
than to receive." Acts xx. 35."
(3.) But, for a moment more, let
me address the Christian Protestant.
I know, beloved brethren, how you will
act on this trying occasion. You may
not be rich, but you know how the Lord of
the heavenly treasury watches as he sits
over it, the mite which falls from the
* St. Luke x. 30—34.
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
29
heart, rather than the hand of him who
loves his Lord. You will not disappoint
your Saviour's expectations from you to-
day. These brethren for whom we
plead are " hungry, and you will feed
them ; they are thirsty, and you will
give them drink ; they are naked, and
you will clothe them ; they are sick, and
you will visit them ;'' and then, the Lord
whom you serve, will stand prominently
forth before the eye of your souls, and
say — " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto
one of the least of these my brethren, ye
have done it unto me."
I will confess, that my chief hopes of
success this day are from you — for I well
know the self-denying generosity of a
truly Christian heart ; and I know also,
that those who have depended their all
for salvation upon the finished sacrifice of
Jesus, are ever ready to dedicate them-
selves upon the altar of spiritual sacrifice,
to the promotion of his glory, and the
well being of his redeemed !
1 commend this cause specially to your
hands, not, I confess, without some
trembling anxiety for the result; but still
in the spirit of humble prayer, that the
tveafnwss of the advocate may not be per-
mitted to damage the justice of the cause ;
that while his zeal for it has been lively and
consuming — God is witness! his success
may be, in the same proportion, abundant
and complete, to the glory of Him " from
whom all blessings flow," and to the
I benefit of our dear brethren, who are
" the messengers of the churches, and
the glory of Christ."
30 THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
NOTES.
Note 1, Page -'2.
"The Board of Works (Ireland) have published their Annual Report,
exhibiting in detail, the monies advanced up to the 31st December, 1837. The
following items are amongst the rest : — Rev. J. Bryan, P. P., completion of Roman
Catholic Chapel of Brurce, .£150; Rev. C. Buckley, P. P., completion of Roman
Catholic Chapel of Buttevant, £600; Rev. Thomas Barry, P. P., completion of
Roman Catholic Chapel at Bantry, £600 ; Rev. T. Matthew, Roman Catholic
Chapel at Cork, £1000 Dublin Evening Mail, November 26th, 1838.
Note 2, Page 24.
Case 1 " A mother and daughter, No. 1, Longford-street, in a very small
apartment, without food, furniture, or fire ; the mother a very old woman, the
daughter sickly — unable to procure employment, and all parted with, had been
fasting from the past day on a portion of gruel, being then near night. They both
burst into tears and said they had just been considering and saying to each other,
how happy they would be, could they both die then together, as no relief was near,
and had been observing each other suffering so much. They expressed great
thankfulness to some benevolent ladies who had occasionally sent them supplies of
broth and meat. Visitor administered relief, and procured occasional employment."
Case 2 " This case before reported to Committee, as advanced in consumption —
since dead, leaving a wife and six children and a mother ; visitor frequently called before
the death, and felt much interested in this poor man's case, and his very interesting
narration of facts during the late war. He first commenced his military career in 1803,
in the Dublin yeomanry, subsequently joined the 87th, in which regiment he shared
their sufferings and renown, till the termination of the war, when he was discharged
without pension, the sufferings and cold in the retreat from Burgos, first broke down
his constitution, which was never so strong after.
The author of the Subaltern, in one of his tracts has said, ' British soldiers may
have suffered in the field of battle ; but never did soldiers endure any sufferings so
severe as the retreat from Burgos, forced marches in heavy rains, across the
country, being cut off from roads.' " There, said this poor man, I have carried my
blanket all day, and wrung the wet from it, to sleep in at night."
Relief was administered to him as far as the regulations of the fund would admit,
which in some degree mitigated his sufferings on his straw pallet. The day he died
his poor wife called to thank visitor for past kindness, and said she hoped, and
thought he was gone to enjoy a kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world."
Case 3. — "Two females supported themselves by knitting and sewing, both in very
delicate health, their first acquaintance was formed in Mercer's Hospital, where they
had both been under medical treatment ; being discharged, and both equally friend-
less, they agreed to go lodge together, to share each others earnings, and attend each
other when ill ; they had been recommended to a free lodging, with one condition,
that they would conduct a poor blind woman, the proprietress of the room, to
different religious meetings through the week. When visitor called, the first Sabbath,
he found one lying in a very sickly state, on an earthen floor, without any nourishment
or means of getting it ; the other had been to conduct the poor blind woman to
church. The following Sabbath found her lying in the same state, attended and
comforted by her companion. Relief was administered to them, the t Rev. Mr. F.,
Chaplain to the Hospital, recommended their case for consideration."
Case 4 " This family was in very comfortable circumstances, the father holding a
high and lucrative situation, but at his death left his family unprovided for, and after a
OR GOSPEL PREACHER. 31
short time, when the Committee found them, they were absolutely without the common
necessaries of life. The second son had been apprenticed to an apothecary, hut
had not passed his examination or lectures, but the visitor procured him a situation
in the country, and the Committee furnished him with means to accept of it, where
he still remains; and the remainder of the family have been assisted as far as the
society could-"
Nole 3, Page 27.
The following is an extract from the speech of the Honourable and Rev.
George Spencer, (brother to the present Earl Spencer,) on the occasion of his
health having been given at a dinner which was held at West Bromwich, in the
month of December last, to celebrate his return from the Continent in improved
health.
" I was presented to the Archbishop of Paris. While I was with him the conversa-
tion turned, as might be expected, on the state of religion in England; and I said,
what I always say, that the prayers of the faithful are what we mainly must depend
on for success, and that it would be of immense benefit, if the Catholics of France
would unite in praying for us. I spoke thus, not to the Archbishop himself, but to
the Grand Vicar, and without an idea of making a distinct proposal for such an
association as was afterwards established. The Grand Vicar, however, at once made
me speak to the Archbishop, who took up the suggestion with an earnestness and
charity which surprised and delighted me. He was to receive, two days after, an
address from sixty or eighty of the clergy of Paris. He appointed me to meet him
in their presence. After the affair for which they were assembled was concluded, he
presented me tothem, explaining the cause of my appearance, and concluded by
himself, requesting that they should undertake to pray for the conversion of England,
and that Thursday of every week should be the day peculiarly assigned for this
object.. They all accepted the proposal with great alacrity. A few days after
I was told by a priest whom I met, that though not present at this meeting he had
heard of the archbishop's wish, and that he and twelve other priests who lived
together in community in one house, had all offered mass for this intention on the
first Thursday which had occurred. You may conceive how this encouraged me in
my proceedings. I accordingly obtained from the Grand Vicar a circular of intro-
duction to the superiors of religious houses in Paris, and visited about twenty of
the principal. They all undertook to make the conversion of Enyland the
special object of their prayers every Thursday, and to recommend the same
practice to all the sister houses through France. The General of the order of
Lazarists, the Provincial of the Jesuits, undertook to recommend it to all their
brethren. I met besides, several other distinguished prelates in Paris, who
all hailed with extreme joy the thought of England returning to the faith,
and promised to recommend the holy work of praying for her, to all their
subjects. I was everywhere assured that I should have all France united with
us. Do you think, said they, we can refuse our prayers for that country which
once was the Island of Saints ; and we trust will be so soon again ? You would be
delighted to hear me read to you the letters which I have received from several
quarters, in answer to my subsequent applications. I cannot refuse myself the
plfsaiuvr e eoging you an extract from that written to me by the Bishop of Amiens :
' Sir,' he says, • I associate myself, with my whole heart to your holy enterprise.
Bossuet used every day to implore God that this Island of Saints, this highly-gifted
England might return to the faith of St. Augustine, her first apostle. So many holy
martyrs as that church has produced, so many holy and noble families as have in
that country kept the faith at the cost of their political existence — so many holy
French priests as have there found such generous hospitality — the prayers of former
days, the prayers now recently inspired by religious gratitude, all make me believe
that this great and noble nation will once more find the road in which her fathers
walked. I will embrace every occasion to recommend to my clergy so good a work,
in which I feel myself peculiarly interested ; and I thank you, Sir, for having given
me this good opportunity of expressing my sentiments upon it.' Like these were the
terms of ardent charity in which all those holy people spoke of our country. And
now 1 must tell you with what honor I was received, as the agent of this undertaking,
32 THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
on my return to Dieppe, where my friend Mr. Phillips and I established ourselves
for the two months we were spend together in France. It does not become me to
rejoice in receiving honours, or to speak of them myself; but these honors I delight
in, as tokens of the warm-hearted attachment of these good people to this great
cause. The same day that I had related my proceedings to the priest of the princi-
pal church in the town, he spoke in our behalf most eloquently to his flock, and the
next Sunday he requested me to give a solemn benediction in the church, and to
preach in French to the congregation, who, though I spoke with the accents and
expression of a foreigner, received my address with extraordinary kindness. To
show you farther the interest which this object has excited in France, I have to tell
you that the Archbishop of Paris, and the rest who had supported it, saw fit that
6,000 copies of this discourse, which I submitted to their judgment, should be
printed and distributed through France, so that every bishop and priest in the king-
dom should be thus distinctly solicited to enter the association ; and the work will
not be confined to France. / saw enough while there to convince me that ere long all
the nations of Europe ivill be joined in one great society of prayer for the conversion
of this kingdom. Such (he proceeded) was the mission with which I found
myself charged in France, and, being returned to England, what do I wish but to
propose this undertaking to every Englishman."
Notz 4, Page 27.
The following extracts, are from a work which has recently appeared from
the pen of a thorough Liberal, the author of " The Great Metropolis," and
other works, which prove him an accurate observer of the times. This gentleman
has lately published two highly amusing volumes, under the title of " Travels in
Town," in which the following passages occur : —
" In some of the Roman Catholic chapels in London, there are from four to five
priests regularly set apart. There are five in Duke-street Chapel, Lincoln's-Inn-
fields, and I believe there are four in Finsbury Chapel.- In Duke-street Chapel
there is service four or five times every day.
'' The Roman Catholics are rapidly increasing in London, as well as in every other
part of the country. It is an astounding fact, nay, it is one which may well alarm
Protestants, that there are at this moment half as many chapels in the metropolis
alone, as there were fifty years ago in the whole of England, Wales, and Scotland
put together ! The number in the country has, in the short space of half a century,
increased from 50 to 500. And here as elsewhere, they are continuing to increase.
Several have been built within the last few years ; one was erected at St. John's
Wood, two or three years ago, by two maiden ladies residing somewhere about Ha-
nover-square. They gave 10,000/. for the purpose of building and endowing the
chapel. They caused one wing to be made into a house for the priest, and another
to be made into a house for themselves, in which, I believe, they have vowed to live
and die. I was present at the opening, or, as it is called, consecration of this chapel,
and a more imposing spectacle it has never been my lot to witness. The Roman
Catholic Bishop of London, assisted by another bishop, officiated on the occasion.
There were no fewer than thirty -two priests present, all in full priestly dress. High
mass was performed amidst a magnificence of show, of which no one could have had
any previous conception. But my chief object in referring thus particularly to the
erection and opening of this new Roman Catholic chapel is, to mention that the
unusual display made on this occasion — for it was admitted to have surpassed any
thino- hefore witnessed in this country — was in a great measure caused by the high
spirits which the Romish priesthood are in at the rapid progress which their
religion is making in England. Dr. Griffiths, who preached on the occasion,
after having told the two ladies who built the chapel, that they had thereby purchased
a right to heaven, proceeded to speak in exulting terms of the extent to which
Catholicism prevailed on the Continent, and of the rapidity with which the people
of England were returning to the religion of their for ef other s^the religion, to wit, of
the Church of Rome."
DUBLIN:— NEW IRISH PULPIT OFFICE, 1, St. Andrew-street.
J. Robertson, and all Booksellers.
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
GOSPEL PREACHER.
" We preach Christ crucified —
" Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God." — 1 Cor. i. 2S, 24.
No. LXXVI. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2d, 1839. Price 3d.
THE DIVINITY AND HUMANITY OF CHRIST, PRACTICALITY CONSIDERED.
TWO SERMONS
PREACHED IN THE CHAPEL OF THE MOLYNEUX ASYLUM, DUBLIN,
ON SUNDAYS, 13th & 20th JANUARY, 1839,
BY THE REV. CHARLES M. FLEURY, A. M.
Chaplain.
FIRST SERMON.
THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST.
St. John's Gospel, xi. 35.
" Jesus wept."
In all our meditations on the character
and works of Jesus of Nazareth, we are
to keep steadily in view his proper and
essential divinity. Shorn of that divinity,
Jesus of Nazareth is for us no Saviour.
Without that divinity, we, professing
Christians, must all perish in our sins.
What is Jesus without Deity ? A man
'tis true, according to the description
given us in Holy Writ, of excessive
virtue, excessive amiability, excessive
sensibility — all that is kind, all that is to
be commended ; but, being not God,
incapable of answering for the sins of
another man, much less for the sins of a
world. To give effect to the Christian
dispensation, there must be the divinity
of Jesus clearly proved, in order to stamp
value on his ministry in all that we pro-
fess to believe of his atonement ; because
there is in every human soul, however
much man may endeavour to hide it from
his own detection, a desire to be free
from all iniquity, to transfer all guilt to
some other being. Thus was it with the
heathen, they laid their hands on the
beasts prepared for immolation, believing
the imputation of guilt. Thus is it now-
a-days with the Romanist ; he imputes
his sin to the priest, or to the sacrifices
Vol. IV.
34
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
that are offered by the hands of that
priest. With those alone who profess to
deny the divinity of Christ in the present
age of Christianity, that is with Socinians
or Unitarians, there is something that
seems to contradict the assertion that man
yearns to be free from the incumbrance
and weight of sin. They stand to answer
on their own responsibility alone, and be-
lieve that they can reason with God for
their righteousness or unrighteousness.
This exception to the general desire, the
instinctive desire of men to transfer their
guilt to another being, arises from blind-
ness and pride of heart — pride which
stifles down conviction of sin, which leads
them to believe that they are far superior
to other men in all that is called moral,
benevolent, honourable, or virtuous. —
While life lasts, while there is health,
strength, prosperity, and the incense of
ministerial flattery offered by those whose
interest it is to win a party, and establish
a faction, by the sacrifice of every right
truth and Scriptural revelation, there
may be an unconsciousness of guilt; but
when all are past away, and man is left
to reason with his conscience alone, then
must he look to some object, being or
individual to whom he may transfer his
iniquities, and become saved.
When we consider our race, all the
members of the human family, we are
compelled to confess that man is a monster
of sin. In every rank, every class, every
nation, every state, man is a monster of
iniquity. His crimes are fearful, they
press his soul down to the very nethermost
hell, and therefore, do we desire and
long for the proof of Jesus' divinity. —
It may sound harsh and unjustifiable to
say, that man is, in every class and state
and nation, a monster of iniquity. What
is your work in watching over the educa-
tion of man in his infancy? Is it not to
counteract and crush the instinctive and
precocious love of sin that dev elopes
itself in that infancy? You find the chil-
dren committed to your care as parents,
guardians, or teachers, ready for theft
and falsehood ; and your labour is, to
train them up, in self-restraint, and en-
sure them the mastery over their own evil
passions.
When the days of childhood are de-
parted, what is youth? The same in
moral disposition. Whenever the restraint
and control of parent or guardian are
removed, you find, that youth, liberated
from every impediment to indulgence,
rushes forth to the free gratification of
sensual passion, to revel in the enjoyment
of long desired but forbidden pleasures,
withering and blasting many a fond hope
once formed of better things, of happier
results from early moral discipline ; alas !
all that promised once so fair has passed
away, and all that is libertine and profli-
gate alone remains. And why ? because
" the heart is desperately wicked," and
the disposition of man's nature is to evil,
and to evil continually. Of the few who
retain some sense of virtue for a while,
after emancipation from the discipline of
schools, who go to mingle with Jhe
world, how rarely do any prosper to the
end in goodness ! The great proportion
of that few, mixing with the world, with
an evil world, with a corrupt, a selfish,
a covetous world, a world exercised to
cunning, crafty, and accursed practises,
learn all its wisdom, grow formed into its
ways and habits, are bound up with it ;
and after having embraced its maxims as
their creed, spend their dayscommercially,
or professionally, or politically, in the
accumulation of wealth, the increase of
popularity, and the advancement of self,
— self,- — self for ever; the idol Mammon,
or rather that idol self is worshipped,
and then, when the Gospel is preached,
when the love of God in Christ is exhi-
bited to such subjects of cool, deliberate
worldliness, they contemn it. Imagine
to yourselves now, one of accomplished
manners, as well as most amiable life, —
bring such an one, for the first time into
contact with the Gospel of Christ — open
to him the riches of God's love — he
starts from you with shuddering abhor-
rence, as if a serpent had risen in his
path, or as if Satan had stood before
him : and that abhorrence too, has often
extended to bitter persecution — and why?
Because the soul hates all the tender
mercies of God, because it is fearfully
and hellishly corrupt : and where this
violence of persecution, this rage of ab-
horrence does not show itself, you observe
a cool indifference, a scorn of all the
statements, all the arguments, and all the
entreaties of Holy W T rit ; so that man, in
his every condition — find him as you may,
and visit him as you please, search
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
35
for him through the whole world — is a
monster of iniquity.
Because of this truth, how desirable
is it that the divinity of Christ may be
clearly proved ; that we may know him
to be in all things adequate to bear the
weight of our iniquities ! Hence then,
we shall proceed to the examination of
Christ's divinity, not in the form of
controversy, (this is no place now for
controversy,) but for the purpose of
comfoit and instruction. We shall turn
merely to the passage before us given in
John xi. and from the whole occurrence
there reported, deduce certain strong
proofs of Christ's divinity, abounding
with consolation to those who tremble
lest that divinity should be merely an
imagination, or theory, or fanciful vision,
and abounding also with most extraordi-
nary warnings and heart-searching de-
nunciations against any continuance in
sin.
We open this chapter, and the first
proof of Christ's divinity that breaks on
us from it, is the fact of his prescience
and providence. When the disciples
told Jesus that his friend Lazarus was
sick, he replied, (v. 4.) " this sickness is
not unto death, but for the glory of God,
that the Son of God may be glorified
thereby." You find here foreknowledge
and providence. The Lord did know
beforehand, that that sickness of Lazarus
should not hold him in the bands of
death ; the Lord knew before hand that
his distress or disease should eventuate in
bringing glory to God, and glory to the
Son of God ; and it would also seem from
the whole context of the passage, that by
his providence Jesus had arranged, that
the sickness should befal him at such a
time, and take its regular course ; for
when he afterwards informed the disciples
that Lazarus was dead, he added, " I am
glad for your sakes that I was not there
to the intent ye may believe, nevertheless,
let us go unto him." We reason on the
allowed ground, that this is the Word of
God, that it is a true report ; and as
there is no question between us and
Socinians as to the verity of this revela-
tion, so, there is no question between us
and them as to the integrity of Jesus of
Nazareth. Socinians allow that he was
an honest man. Then the whole point
3t issue is resolved, for Jesus speaks in
his own proper person, and pronounces
himself to be God. There see, in his
own language, an assertion of his provi-
dence and foreknowledge, " this sickness
is not unto death, but for the glory of
God, that the Son of God might be glo-
rified thereby." And thus, in other
psasages of Scripture, and in this same
book of John, we find our Lord Jesus
Christ, in controversy with the Jews,
saying, " before Abraham was, I am,"
assuming the title of the Supreme God.
Granting this Jesus then, credit for
veracity for common honesty, having
asserted indirectly or directly that he was
God, we are bound to believe him such,
and recognise in his foreknowledge and
providence the attributes of the true
Jehovah.
Having thus looked over hastily this
first evidence in favor of the divinity of
Christ, let us, for a moment stay and
turn our thoughts to the consolations that
may be hence derived. There was a
power of providence, you perceive, here
engaged : — " Lazarus sleepeth," said the
Lord, " but I go that I may awake him
out of sleep." He speaks not there as a
deputy. He might have learned as an
agent, a prophet, or an inspired man, fa-
vored with visions from heaven like
Elijah ; he might have learned, 1 say,
that Lazarus was sick, that Lazarus
should rise again by his instrumentality ;
but he does not use the language of an
agent, he speaks in his own proper
person, as an independent actor, as free,
"I go, that I may awake him out of
sleep." This is the language of conscious
divinity alone.
Now, this Lazarus was sick, that sick-
ness had not fallen on him fortuitously, it
had not reached him in the common
course of events. It seems to have been
directed by the finger of God, and ruled
by the providence of Jesus Christ. From
that sickness Lazarus was subsequently
delivered, after it had been consummated
by death, and that sickness did end in
bringing honor to Christ, proving his
deity, confounding Christ's enemies and
comforting his disciples. What was
Lazarus ? No more than a believer, a
follower of Jesus in faith ; we take him
merely for an example of divine mercy,
compassion, and providence ; and we
have the assurance from the whole history
36
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
before u«, that the same Jesus who loved
Lazarus, loves every one here present
that believes in his truth, acknowledges
his perfect divinity, and his 'perfect hu-
manity ; who has cast on him the burden
of his guilt, and confessed his sole power
to save.
Now, there is not a single circumstance
which has been ordained from the foun-
dation of the world, that has not been
ruled and regulated by the providence of
Jesus Christ. If it is said, that he " up-
holds all things by the word of his power,"
and that " by him all things consist," in
proper order and form, well may we be-
lieve that he exercises special providence
over his people as his people, his brethren,
as those whom he loves. In sickness or
health, riches or poverty, the multiplying
of enemies, or the bereavement of our
friends — in all these circumstances, we
may know that the Lord will be with us.
Here then is comfort to the mourning
believer. Have you fallen into troubles?
Are you laid on the bed of languishing,
and brought down to the gates of death ?
In all this, remember that Christ is at
hand, and that your sickness shall not be
a sickness unto eternal death, but the
mere means of conveyance to a life of
eternal joy. Count, not yourselves, in
that weak and debilitated state, out of the
service and beyond the power of bringing
honor to your God. Your meek sub-
mission to his providence brings him
honor. Recollect, though there may not
be fixed on you, in the time of patient
suffering, the eye of any mortal, yet the
apostle says, " we are made a spectacle
to angels," the eyes of exalted intelli-
gences are on you, when you submit
without a murmur, saying, " the Lord's
will be done."
We go on then, and the second proof
of Christ's divinity is opened to us in his
own saying, v. 25 " I am the resurrection
and the life." In Romans i. 4- St. Paul
adduces Christs resurrection as a full
proof of his divinity ; for he says, he was
" declared to be the Son of God with
power, according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead.'' —
Mark you, the phrase Son of God does
not derogate from the divinity of Christ,
but proves it. What does Son of man
signify ? his proper humanity, that he is
part and parcel of our being; so the
expression Son of God shows that Christ
is part and parcel of the Divine Being,
essential God.
Now what is resurrection ? It is not
merely re-animation such as was con-
ferred on Lazarus, it is re-construction,
re-creation, it is the taking up of the
dissipated atoms that once composed the
human frame, placing them together,
joining every member, casting life into
every function, restoring the equilibrium
of mind, and filing the spirit once
more in its habitation — this is resurrec-
tion. And it means something more, it
means beside, restoring and reviving the
glorifying of man. Such is resurrection
from the dead, that resurrection of which
Jesus was the first fruits, and Jesus too
the author. Now, if resurrection, which
is the overturning of the realm of death,
the destruction of the power of death, be,
as it most plainly is, a re-construction, a
re-creation, is not this an evident proof
of Christ's essential divinity ? Satan may
marr the fair works of God, and death
may produce havoc among us, scattering
the visible elements of our body, dissi-
pating its several parts and portions. —
But Satan, death, and every change that
takes place in this world cannot annihi-
late, cannot destroy. To him alone
who created, belongs the power really to
destroy, and to him who made, at the
first, man in all his fair proportions, be-
longs the power to remake and to restore.
Thus then, Christ comes before us as
the mighty Creator, as Jehovah, with all
his power to restore all things as at the
beginning of the world. If we turn to
Revelations, we shall find it said there,
" behold, I make all things new," a new-
heaven and a new earth, when the re-
deemed of the Lord will be brought
together in new and glorious order.
What comfort is there in this second
evidence of Christ's divinity ! It tells us,
beloved friends, to fear not death, nei-
ther the slow wasting of our present
tenements, or the sudden crushing of the
world ; it tells us that the God who
intended man for an eternity of bliss, an
immortality of soul and body, hath
determined that that intention shall be
fulfilled ; he will raise the corrupt body
of man to incorruption and immortality,
and glory ; no part of his plan, not one
of his purposes ever could, or ever shall
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
37
be thwarted. Furthermore, you have
here the promise that you shall never
die — *■' he that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live ; and
whosoever liveth and believeth in me,
shall never die." Never shall the believ-
ing soul lose its consciousness, lose its
enjoyment of Christ, lose its assurance
of eternal peace, and favour with God.
When we are taught that an extraor-
dinary alteration is to take place on death
and resurrection ; that our whole form
shall be changed, that identity shall be
lost, that wife shall not recognise husband,
nor brother brother, nor parent child, we
must feel troubled, and tremble on the
eve of another state of being for which
we have no preparation made in our
accustomed feelings and affections here.
But no, the Scripture tells us on the
contrary, that we are to see face to face,
that we are to know as we arc now known,
that our identity will remain, that our
denominations will remain, and that
while those ties of relationship that are
inconsistent with a state of perfection
shall vanish away, that every obligation
of affection, »jvery bond of attachment,
every relation that can add to happiness
shall continue with us for ever. So then,
our essential being, our marks of identity,
our peculiarities are to be sanctified and
glorified ; and we are comforted in the
thought that we shall not wander in a
region of uncertainty, but shall rest with
the family of God, knowing and known
to each other, rejoicing with each other,
and above all, praising with one conscious
mind our great Covenant Head, the
Author of resurrection.
3d. This chapter, from the text,
" Jesus wept," opens to us the divinity
of Christ. You might imagine perhaps,
that the phrase is descriptive rather of
his humanity. On the subject of his
humanity, I purpose addressing you next
Sabbath morning from the same text ;
but here, at present, I do think that the
text shows us much of the deity of
Christ. Whenever you read in Scripture,
that Jesus did weep, it was with sorrow
for the sins of his people. Thus, in
Luke xix. " when he was come near
Jerusalem, he beheld the city and wept
over it, saying, if thou hadst known,
even thou, at least in this thy day, the
things that belong unto thy peace, but
now they are hid from thine eyes.'' —
Again, when you pass tin, in the 11th
chapter of John, you find the surround-
ing multitude objected against the divinity
of Jesus saying, what ! " could not thin
man who opened the eyes of the blind,
ha\e caused that even this man should
not have died ?" And the Lord ,l again
groaning in himself, cometh to the grave."
This insinuation against his power
and against his Godhead, this expression
of infidelity it was, that wrung the heart
of Jesus with grief, and caused him to
groan and to weep afresh.
There is in this sorrowing of Christ
only an agreement with what is said of
God the Father : for instance in Deute-
ronomy, v. 29, where the Lord is
delivering his instructions to the people
through the mediation of Mose?, when
he suddenly breaks out into sorrow over
the ignorance and apathy of his people,
" Oh, that there was such an heart in
them, that they would fear me, and keep
all my commandments always, that it
might be well with them, and with their
children for ever." Such is the language
of Jehovah's sorrow ; with the same
sorrow Jesus wept over the infidelity of
the multitude around him, who insinu-
ated against his power and his divinity.
Such sorrow proves the divinity of Christ,
does it not ? Take any case from scrip-
ture of an ambassador from God into
whose power it was put to speak for the
divine majesty, and to plead the cause of
heaven against sinners ; and where he is
brought face to face with the blaspheming
multitude, you discover, in most cases,
yesi almost always, that natural indig-
nation predominates, rather than sorrow
of heart and anguish of spirit such as
Jesus betrayed, — "Master," said the Lord's
disciples, e\eu James and John who were
of the tenderest aud mildest natures,
" wilt thou that we call down fire from
heaven upon them ?" because they did
not receive Jesus of Nazareth, and did
not acknowledge him as the Saviour —
You find even Paul, zealous as he was,
and forward in the cause of the Gospel,
speaking at times with severity and in-
dignation rather than exhibiting a tender-
ness of spirit that could weep over
hardness of heart and unbelief. Angels
show not this same tenderness. They
are righteous, because consecrated by
38
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
God and preserved by his grace and
power, they are God's host, they are God's
warriors against the spiritual powers of
the air, their language is, " The Lord
rebuke thee ;" Christ's language was
tears of sorrow. This, therefore, speaks
to us with more eloquence than man was
ever endued withal, upon the danger,
upon the ruin that must involve every
unbeliever. If God mourned over this
world in iis defection and rebellion, if he
compassionated it so, as to send his Son
to be its Redeemer ; if God, in human
form, visited this world, inspected every
scene of woe, and ministered to every
affliction with his own hand, gave honor
to whom honor was due, censure to whom
censure, and tears to whom tears ; then,
Christ's lamentation over unbelief, does
testify to us that unbelief is the last, the
deadliest condition of crime. There is
for that, at the final state of man, no
remission, no salvation.
There is a form of address suited to
every state of man, in this Holy Word of
God. The persons around Jesus were
infidel, as to his divinity, because of their
ignorance ; they had not searched the
Scriptures, they had not observed the
correspondence between the prophetic
accounts of Scripture and Jesus, there-
fore they were ignorant or unbelieving,
and the Lord mourned over them, as
lost.
Now, are there among us this day, (as
in so large an assembly there may be)
some who know not God, and obey not
the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ ?-*-
who passing along the common course of
time, and mixed up with the cares of
this world, are content with a bare no-
minal profession of Christianity, and with
the formal assemblies and services of
religion from Sabbath to Sabbath, and
who have not yet rolled the burden of
their sins on Christ, made the transfer of
faith, and given themselves wholly up to
the Lord — what is your state ? Why, that
the Lord weeps over you as lost, that the
Lord expresses your condition to be of
all conditions most miserable. Oh, be-
loved sinners, who have hitherto stood
aloof from God, and have not embraced
his salvation, can you withstand the tears of
the Son of God ? Can you resist that
argument ? Here is a God of all tender-
ness and compassion, and I would beseech
you to approach him, to make one wilh
him through faith ; to become, through
him, saved, that he may rejoice over
you, as he did in the conversion and
salvation of others, — " now is the Son of
man glorified, now is the prince of this
world cast out."
Lastly, we find Jesus at the grave
of Lazarus speaking as conscious God,
when he uttered the words " Lazarus
come forth !" Immediately, he that had
been dead rose up from the tomb in his
grave cloaths, and came forth in the
perfect possession of all his mortal powers.
Observe the whole circumstance of this
miracle, it was not tentative, a mere ex-
periment ; it was not the resuscitation of
one whose life might have been for a time
only suspended ; four days had Lazarus
been dead, corruption had set in, and
sealed him for its own. Jesus stood
among his enemies and friends, com-
manded the dead to rise, and the dead
came forth ; corruption was put back,
all injury sustained in the person of
Lazarus was removed, he was restored
completely and was received into the
arms of those who had mourned him as
lost for ever. This was a full proof of
Christ's divinity, on his own authority
he commanded the grave to give up its
possession, and it obeyed.
It is said in Scripture, that " the hour
is coming and now is, when the dead
shall hear the voice of the Son of God "
That was a word of mercy ; for the Lord
lived among them that were dead in tres-
passes and sins, and, preaching to them
the Gospel of salvation, conveyed to
them the life of his Spirit. There is a
day coming again however, " when the
dead in their graves shall hear the voice
of the Son of God, and they that hear
shall die for ever for the Lord shall des-
cend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of the archangel and with the trump
of God." It shall be the last day, the
day of judgment, the day when mercy
shall have ceased, the day of the second
resurrection when the sea and the earth
shall give up their prey, when all the
uubelieving and ungodly and blaspheming
shall stand before the judgment seat of
Christ. There are two appeals, one
now is, and the other is yet to come, to
the dead. Christ now speaks to you
from his word. Oh, hear him and your
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
39
»ouls shall live. Hear him not, and
when he speaks the second time you must
both hear and obey ! That is a time of
vengeance to the ungodly and to the unbe-
lieving, when he shall shake the heavens
and the earth, and drag forth the tenants
of the tomb to his judgment seat. —
" Come forth" shall then be the summons
to damnation ; and why ? because they
who shall receive that summons, shall be
they who knew him not on earth, who
believed him not, who received not his
testimony, who would not confess him to
bring glory to the Father, and who re-
jected his salvation. Aye, we may triffle
with Christ's summons of mercy now,
and say, on to-morrow, or at a more
convenient season I will receive this word
and give myself to the Lord. But to-
morrow, the convenient season, may
never come, and if it should come, it
will find us one degree more hardened
against heaven ; and next year may come,
and years may roll on while we procras-
tinate and carry on (he hardening pro-
cess of the heart, till we go down to the
grave steeled to the very soul against
mercy ; and then — what then ! why we
shall hear the voice of Christ at the last,
whether we like it or not, and we must
rise at his call ; and stand shivering,
defenceless, self-condemned and des-
pairing before his throne to receive that
sentence, " Depart from me ye cursed,
into everlasting fire prepared for the devil
and his angels."
May God of his infinite mercy cause
all who are here present no longer to
trifle with the day of salvation, but to
receive his favour with devout thanks-
giving, ascribing all honor, glory, and
dominion and majesty to Jesus of Na-
zareth — God and man combined, world
without end, Amen.
THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST.
SECOND SERMON
PREACHED IN THE CHAPEL OF THE MOLYNEUX ASYLUM, DUBLIN,
ON SUNDAY, 20th JANUARY, 1839,
BY THE REV. CHARLES M. FLEURY, A. M.
Chaplain.
St. John's Gospel, xl. 35.
" Jesus wept."
Bt the Lord's good mercy, we are per-
mitted to resume the subject opened on
the last day of our meeting together, and
to consider the second great doctrine
that may be deduced from the verse be-
fore us, or rather from the chapter gene-
rally, out of which it is selected. We
have briefly examined the perfect divinity
of Christ, we go now to consider His
perfect humanity.
It might appear to you almost absurd
to broach such an undoubted doctrine as
the humanity of Jesus Christ ; but there
are several reasons that should induce us
to take up the subject seriously, as one
of importance. As for instance, in former
days, immediately after the apostolic age,
we read in ecclesiastical history, that
some heretics who prevailed rather ex-
tensively, in their preaching and doctrine
denied altogether the humanity of Christ ;
they asserted his divinity, and, in con-
nexion with this assertion, did declare,
that on the cross hung suspended only a
phantom body, or if a real being of flesh
and blood was there crucified, it was
Judas Iscariot, or some other traitor sub-
stituted by the miraculous power of God,
in the place of his Son. Now if such
an extraordinary heresy did prevail, why
may not the same heresy appear again,
and disturb the peace of the church ? —
But there is another reason why we
should look to the humanity of Christ.
Do you not recollect, that but yesterday our
own spiritual realm was invaded by strange
doctrines, which urged on, by infatuation
and enthusiasm, went to dishonour Jesus,
to deny his perfect manhood ! and when,
we thus find, that even in our own day,
the church is not exempt from error, at
least that we are not secured against the
introduction of error amongst us, should
we not stand prepared, with full, clear,
and determinate knowledge of the hu-
manity of Christ, to rebut and confound
all such heresies ?
And again, why ought we not to un-
derstand the humanity of Christ, when it
is on that humanity that every thing
relating to the grand scheme of redemp-
tion depends. Recollect, that God did
not suffer ; recollect, that God is inca-
pable of suffering, without body, parts,
or passions ; we cannot inflict on him
injury; nor can God endure wrong, or
pain, or agony. It was God in Christ
that suffered, it was the perfect humanity
of Jesus that underwent the curse for us,
supported by the fulness of the Godhead ;
which fulness of the Godhead did enable
that humanity to hold, and bear up, under
the wrath that ought to have crushed the
church of God for ever. Unless we
comprehend the full humanity of Christ
which was supported by divinity, we
cannot know the value of the atonement,
we cannot know the consolation afforded
in the doctrine of redemption, we cannot
know the security of the redeemed
through the all-perfect offering made for
them once for all.
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
41
Lastly, it is imperative on us, in con-
sequence of the age in which we live, to
know clearly the doctrine of the humanity
of Christ, because that doctrine shall be
denied by the last heresy that shall
trouble the world. It is against the in-
carnation of Jesus Christ that Antichrist
shall raise up all his opposition. If you
turn to I John ii. 22. you find there
written, " who is a liar, but he that de-
nieth that Jesus is the Christ ? He is
antichrist who denieth both the Father
and the Son," and (iv. 3.) "every spirit
that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is
come in the flesh is not of God, and this
is that spirit of antichrist whereof ye have
heard, that it should come, and even
now already is in the world." Take with
you then the revelation of Sacred Writ,
as a rule for detecting what antichrist is,
and as we have not found in the world
yet, any person, or any prevailing sys-
tem that denied the incarnation of God,
that denied the humanity of Christ, so
shall you be guarded against all the
infatuations and deceivableness of un-
unrighteousness that shall be hereafter
propagated by antichrist.
Now, what is this antichrist? You are
told he is such a being as the world
never yet saw, one that exalts himself
above all that is called God in heaven
above, or in earth beneath, that he shall
work signs and miracles to deceive, if it
were possible, even the elect, the saints
of God, and that he is reserved for a
destruction which Christ in person shall
inflict on him, and on all his enemies that
know not God, and obey not the
Gospel.
Perhaps you believe, that antichrist
has already come, that the antichrist, the
emphatic antichrist of Scripture, has
already appeared — then the doctrine I
would wish to deliver about antichrist at
this time must be to you a stumbling
block. Mark, how smooth the course of
your prophetic history is to run. You
believe that popery is the antichrist, that
all the pestilences, troubles, wars, woes,
famines, earthquakes, persecutions which
Christ said should come before the end
of the world, that all these have passed
away, and that now the evil spirit that is
embodied in popery is to give place and
depart before the breath of the Lord and
the brightness of his coming, that is to
say before the brightness of his spiritual
presence, which shall banish from the
world the darkness of the apostacy, and
all the despotism of Rome. You have
thus got out of all the difficulties and
troubles and fears of the last days, and
you are waiting patiently till that which
is now the dawn of religious morning on
the world, shall become the perfect day ;
when the Son of righteousness shall rise
to his meredian glory with healing in
his wings.
Observe, how this erroneous view of
the future history of the church vanishes
before the truth. Antichrist is described
as one, that shall deny the incarnation of
Jesus Christ. Did Rome ever deny the
incarnation of Jesus Christ ? Never ; on
the contrary, the blasphemies and errors
of Rome have been based on the incar-
nation of Jesus Christ. Is it not, on the
fact, that God was born into the world,
that God was enrobed in flesh, that the
romanists build up the deity or divinity
of the Virgin Mary ? Is it not on account
of the incarnation, they call her the
mother of God, and then worship her ?
Is it not on the incarnation that romanists
have established the extraordinary doc-
trines of the sacrifice of the mass, and
transubstantiation, with the blasphemous
and idolatrous adoration of the con-
secrated wafer? Thus you find that
Romanism is the very reverse of antichrist
in this particular; at all events, that nomi-
nally, Romanism has upheld the incar-
nation of Christ to prop up its damning
doctrines, while antichrist shall deny the
incarnation of Jesus altogether.
Notwithstanding all that has been said,
and without any contradiction to what has
been said, permit me to turn back. I
have spoken to you of the antichrist that
is to come, this does not hinder in the
least degree, that the passages applicable
to antichrist literally, may be, spiritually,
and therefore properly levelled against
popery. You have in Scripture frequent
evidences that many prophecies have a
double application, or a double fulfilment.
You are told, for instance, that before
the great and terrible day of the Lord,
Elias shall come. Of John the Baptist,
Jesus said, " if you are able to bear it,
this is Elias who was for to come." But
when John was asked personally, " art
thou that prophet ? art thou Elias ? he
answered no." " Who art thou, then,"
said they, he said " I am the voice of
one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye
the way of the Lord, make his paths
42
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
straight." In John the Baptist then,
there was a spiritual fulfiment of the
prophecy, while the literal fulfillment, the
literal advent of Elias is yet to be known.
So the Psalms give us a literal fulfilment,
and a spiritual fulfilment in describing
the experience of David and the expe-
rience of the Son of God, as we shall
presently have occasion to observe by a
reference to Psalm xl.
Were this view of the prophecies
generally received, namely, that there
is a spiritual application and a partial one,
a literal and a full one, would it not put
an end to that strife, that unfortunately
exists at present among brethren and
ministers of our church, while they should
wield every legitimate weapon, and draw
out from the great depository of God
every form of holy artillery to confound,
and overturn that iniquitous system which,
in this country, has produced so much
misery ? If it is said in Scripture, that
antichrist shall come, work miracles,
exalt himself above all that is called God
and worshipped, and that he shall be
destroyed by the breath of the Lord and
the brightness of his coming ; spiritually,
do not these texts apply to Romanism ?
Has not the papacy assumed divine right ?
Has not the title, God on earth been
given to the pope ? Popery has claimed
the power of working miracles, or asserted
it was vested in the church, popery has
changed times and laws ; and will not
these verses apply spiritually to overturn
this iniquitous system ?
This should form the subject of earnest
and serious entreaty from every one of
you, who value Protestantism in this
country, to our champions of Protestant-
ism, no longer to waste their strength in
mutual conflict, but, all agreeing that
this is the word of God, that it denounces
the apostacy of Rome, and marks it out
to perish at the last day before the Lord
in person ; they should be bound together
in love to God and faithfulness to the
service of the Lord Jesus Christ, to raise
all their powers against that iniquitous
system which has covered our land with
idolatry, stained it with blood, and des-
troyed, for ever, the souls of millions of
our people.
To come now to our text and the sub-
ject of this day. We have to examine
the humanity of Jesus Christ. The
chapter before us opens with an indirect,
yet I think, full testimony to the humanity
of Christ, xi. 5, " Now Jesus loved Mary,
and her sister, and Lazarus." There is
a specification here you perceive of a
particular attachment to these individuals,
that attachment of course does not belong
to divinity or deity, because God feels
not to man naturally and essentially any
particular attachment. God, high raised
above man, and seeing into the heart of
man, observes only one mass of crime.
" God," we are told in Scripture, " is
no respecter of persons. " All this belongs
to the character of Jehovah. Man alone
distinguishes his brethren, unites with
those to whom he is drawn by any assi-
milation or by any sympathy ; and so,
particular attachment or peculiar friend-
ships are a part of humanity. If you
allow this, then the notice of Christ's
particular attachment to the family of
Bethany is a notice of his humanity
That attachment was not a secret one, it
was published to the world, and known
of all men, insomuch that when Lazarus
was ill, the sisters, having no stronger
arguments to use, to beseech and procure
the assistance of the Lord for their relief,
having no extraordinary virtues to re-
hearse, nothing to urge his haste, sent to
him, saying, " Lord, he whom thou
lovest is sick ;" they rested emphatically
on that attachment which Christ had
permitted them to know. Similar was
the attachment of the Lord to John, the
brother of James, who laid his head on
his master's bosom — all this you will
allow belonged to the humanity. Of
what character was this humanity ? Like
our own, stained, polluted, corrupt and
fallen ? No, no, it was a holy thing, a
perfect thing, as perfect, and more so
(if we can make degrees of perfection)
than that of Adam when he came forth
from the hands of his Creator.
Recollect, every moral disposition in
the descendant is derived from the sire,
" as your fathers did, so do ye." Jesus
of Nazareth, born of Jehovah himself, in
his moral nature inherited no sin, and
was spotless and without blemish. The
prince of this world sifted him to the
heart's core, and found in him nothing,
he was pure, even to death. And while
Jesus was pure and perfect, without fault
or error, or trace of iniquity, he was a.
man that formed friendship, showed
peculiar attachment, and a man who once
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
43
engaged in love, a friendship to any
human being, never failed and never
deceived.
For one moment, look to the great
advantage resulting from this view of the
humanity of Christ. It affords you every
possible consolation, whatever be your
misery or affliction in this life ; if you
are fatherless, childless, friendless, for-
saken, the outcast of all men — here is
Jesus of Nazareth, the same Jesus that
" loved Mary, and Martha, and Lazarus,"
that hastened at their call to relieve dis-
tress, and alleviate woe, ready to solace
you, to wipe away every tear from your
eyes, and relieve you in all your adversi-
ties here below, because God has given
to him " all power in heaven and in
earth." Here is this Jesus, ready to
come forth at your summons, and to show
you the same tender attachment and
kindness he did to the family of Bethany.
Only believe ! We cannot go beyond the
bounds of the Gospel, we cannot go on
the American heresy of Universalism,
that Christ has died equally for all men,
that Christ has loved all men equally,
that Christ will protect all men, and will,
at the last, glorify all men. No, no, —
ours is a Gospel, derived from the word
of revelation. In that Word we are told,
that Jesus lived and died to bring his
people to glory. He hath counted his
believing people in this world, and not
one of them shall be lost, not one of
their sorrows shall lack his sympathy
Such is this Jesus, he is prepared to
meet with the least in this congregation,
and bless that least, when the world has
frowned on him, and every earthly con-
solation has failed.
Considerthe advantage of contemplating
thus the humanity of Christ, — Christ ate
with the family, drank and associated
with the family, sat down with them as a
iriend. In his communication and converse
with this family, you observe that the
Lord never once lowered his dignity, or
lost sight of his commission ; whenever
occasion did offer, the Lord was prompt
to administer salutary instruction, and to
advertise them, that " one thing was
needful," and that whosoever had chosen
that good part, should find, it would
never be taken away. Christ is now your
example ; from his intercourse and inti-
macy with the family of Bethany, learn
that he has sent you who believe, out
into the world as his ambassadors ; he has
commanded you to glorify God by stand-
ing up in defence of his truth against all
hazards and enemies ; he has also charged
you to be his missionaries to all men, to
plead with them, to exhort them, to warn
them, and entreat them to have mercy
on their own souls. I do not mean to
say, that the world scoffs at the idea of
the great importance of making sure of
eternal life. No, the world has very many
excellent moral sayings, and will allow,
that religion is a needful thing. But
while the world is smooth and eloquent
in its moral maxims, it is devilish and
unceasing in all its efforts to carry away
the heart from these maxims, to make
the heart a victim to its power and its
prince, by vanity and pride. Therefore,
while the world is the great scene of
temptation to bring man from serious
reflection on the things of eternity, — you
are to beseech men, and warn them, and
win them by a word fitly spoken, to sal-
vation. Think not that the Lord Jesus
would have you go forth in a spirit of
moroseness, or uncharitable harshness to
warn men, as ascetics from the desert. —
No, no, — he commands you to be meek
and lowly, not to break the bruised reed
or quench the smoking flax, but in all
things to order yourselves in his likeness,
and commend his doctrine by love to
your fellow-sinners.
Look again, at this development of
the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It teaches you to put on the very cha-
racter of Christ ; this family enjoyed his
society. Now, it is not a matter of pro-
bability, that this was an amiable family,
but it is almost a certainty ; there are
traces of amiability in their history ; they
were united in the truest attachment ;
they loved each other ardently, and they
had many friends to sympathize with
them ; for many of the Jews came to visit
the sisters on the death of Lazarus. If
they were not an amiable family, they
would not have met with this amount of
tenderness, kindness, and respect from
their acquaintance. We find that John
was a man of great amiability, and
judging from his style of composition,
we would say, that he originally received
from the God of nature much suavity of
spirit, as well as from the God of grace
much true amiability ; there is nothing
more probable than this, that the strong
regard which Jesus showed to this John
the brother of James, was founded on a
44
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
sympathy arising from a resemblance
between their characters. If you value
the society of Jesus, if you would par-
take of his sympathy in your affliction, if
you would have him your friend in all
things, I would beseech you, " by the
meekness and gentleness of Christ," " be
not conformed to this world, but be ye
transformed by the renewal of your
minds," put on the Lord Jesus in lowliness,
in meekness, in kindness and courtesy,
in all graciousness, that you may prove
suited to his companionship.
However, to go on with the proofs of
Christ's humanity. We see in the second
place, that Jesus urns exposed to suffering
and exposed to death. In v. 7. we are
informed that he said to his disciples,
" let us go into Judea again, his disciples
say unto him, the Jews of late sought to
stone thee, and goest thou thither again'?
Christ was thus liable to suffering, and
open to every injury and agony that
could be inflicted, even to death. Now,
it is this very liability to suffering that
provides us with a full sacrifice in Jesus.
Were he altogether divine and incapable
of suffering, there would be no redemp-
tion in him, no sacrifice, no shedding of
blood, and therefore no remission of sins.
I know full well, that among some of
the blasphemies that have been poured
out with impious daring, one of the
most horrible made by those who
call themselves rationalists or deists
against Christianity is, that it represents
God as a sanguinary monster, who gloated
over the bodies of slain beasts, and at
the last, was satiated only with the blood
of his own Son. It makes the flesh creep,
and the blood run cold to hear these
blasphemous allegations against our God,
and against our covenant of redemption.
Oh, the irrationality, the wantonness of
these blasphemers. These men, these
rationalists do all allow, that the beasts of
the field are given to man's hand for his
use and consumption ; now, we ask, if
they are given to man for his use and
consumption, were these slain beasts
better applied of old in the garnishing
of an entertainment for the pampering
and indulgence of the gluttonous, sensual
appetites of men, than they were, when
applied to exhibit, in the most vivid
manner, the redemption of God in Christ
Jesus, than when they were made the
emblems of our salvation, and the tokens
of eternal life, to convey to man, not
temporary enjoyment but to be to him a
permanent and eternal blessing by the
increase and support of faith ? Can that
God be called a sanguinary God because
he gave his Son to die for sinners, who
has sworn over the world, " as I live,
saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the
death of a sinner ?" Is that a sanguinary,
cruel God who pitied the world, who
sent his Son to rescue us, and in that
Son, lived out, and acted out, and suf-
fered all that was necessary to purchase
our peace ?
We have here before us, in the christian
dispensation, a perfect Saviour, a perfect
sacrifice, a perfect redemption. Does it
trouble you to understand this redemp-
tion — this matter of sacrifice ? Does it
cause in your minds any doubt or diffi-
cully, how the shedding of blood can
take away sin ? The matter is simple ; it
is altogether the business of substitution,
that one word explains the mystery, a
mystery which God has revealed. God
declared, that " the soul that sinned
should die ;" we are to die or our sub-
stitute must die ; our substitute has died,
Jesus died for us, that we might live par-
doned and saved. This is the doctrine
of redemption, of atonement, and let
me observe to you, that this unravelling
of the mystery of atonement is that
which God has given to us in the very
law of social life. The world is governed
by substitution, there is not a single pro-
ceeding in which we are occupied in this
life but is a proceeding of substitution.
A man befriends his fellow, by substitu-
tion ; he raises his companion to prosperity
by the substitution of his own interest,
by his own property, his own person ;
man relieves, and sometimes rescues from
the afflictions of this life, his fellow-
creatures, by substitution ; — and so it was
I by the substitution of himself — the Lord
Jesus came to save us from eternal wrath.
Having shown, thus briefly, from the
\ humanity of Christ the complete substitu-
j tion of a perfect Redeemer, let me charge
you to hold fast by the cross of Christ,
to say " God forbid that I should glory,
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by which the world is crucified unto me,
and 1 unto the world." Oh ! were the
last words of the dying Saviour written
on man's heart, " it is finished,'' — were
these words written in indellible characters
on his soul, could he rnarr the fair pro-
portions of Christianity by super-adding
OK GOSPEL PREACHER.
45
to them his own righteousness ; or destroy
the liberty and freedom of divine grace,
by entangling it with his own conditional
performances ? Believe, that the work
is finished, that Christ has accomplished
all that is necessary for your redemption,
and the glory of God shall rest upon you.
Lastly, as an evidence of Christ's
humanity, look to the text, " Jesus wept.'"
It is true, that the tears of the Lord |
were much produced by his divine com- j
passion for the unbelief of the surrounding
multitude, who insinuated against his
divinity, because Lazarus died. But, j
when we read the verses as they follow
in natural order, we percieve that the
tears of Christ, also flowed from human
sensibility. For it is written, " when
Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews also
weeping, which came with her, he groaned
in the spirit and was troubled ;" and
having faultered out the enquiry, "where
have you lajd him ?" burst into tears.
Though we live in a miserable, fallen,
and degraded state, though our sensibili-
ties and passions are embarrassed, and all
but extinguished by the prevalence of sin,
yet we know this same passion, sympathy ;
we have experienced what it is to " weep
with them that weep," and " rejoice with
them them that do rejoice." This sympathy
came from the humanity of Christ — it
was the humanity of Jesus wept. In the
divinity, he sa*v, that all the sorrows of the
sisters, and all the sorrows of the Jewish
relations were to pass away in one
moment ; as he was about to restore
Lazarus to their arms, he knew that all
their sorrows should be converted into
acclamations of joy. But he felt, in his
humanity, compassion for those who wept
around him, and he could not forbear to
mingle his tears with theirs. Thus then,
Jesus, as man, sympathized with the
sisters and relatives of Lazarus.
What a blessing is opened to us in the
consideration of this text, " Jesus wept !''
Jesus will weep with his people, Jesus
ever does sympathize with his disciples.
Could he do no more for us than this,
namely, to partake our sorrows, and
share with us in our troubles, it would
go far to diminish the burden of our
earthly woes. We count that man alone
truly and perfectly wretched, who has no
friend, — no comforter, — no kindred spirit
from whom he may receive compassion.
But now, you can believe, as if you had
seen Jesus standing at the grave of
Lazarus, that he will weep with you,
share with you your afflictions, and
thus lighten the load of your distress.
But Scripture is express on this point,
Paul tells us in the epistle to the Hebrews,
that this sympathy of Christ was a neces-
sary ingredient to compose his priestly
office, as mediator, Heb. iv. 14. " See-
ing then, that we have a great High
Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus
the Son of God, let us hold fast our
profession ; for we have not an High
Priest which cannot be touched with the
feeling of our infirmities, but was in all
points tempted like as we are, yet without
sin, let us therefore come boldly unto
the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy and find grace to help in time of
need." Your consolation is this, that
you may go now from all the troubles of
this life to the throne of grace, to pour
out. your sorrows into the bosom of Jesus,
and receive from him every consolation.
And better still, we go on in this epistle
to the Hebrews, and we find that Christ,
feeling for us in all our infirmities does
more than console us by the deed of
sympathy ; he pitieth our infirmities and
pleads for us with God. In ch. vii. 24,
25, this mediation of Christ toward God,
is thus expressed, " But this man, because
he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable
priesthood, wherefore he is able also to
save them to the uttermost, that come
unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to
make intercession for them ;" and thus,
the mediation of Christ is complete,
sympathizing with us, feeling with us,
sharing with us in our sorrows, and then,
rising up to plead for us, that we may
receive blessing from on high : there is
not a care, there is not a calamity that
can come on you, but the Lord will pity
you and aid you ; when you approach
him in the power of faith, and in the
confidence of a friend and brother.
You may say, perhaps, this is conso-
lation for what we may call sufferings in
this life, but is there any consolation for
us in our sins ? Can Christ sympathise
with us, when we experience the bitter-
ness of remorse, the tortures of an
accusing conscience, when the flames of
hell seem to prey on our very vitals ? —
Aye, even here, Christ can feel for us.
He never sinned, it is true, never did
guile proceed from his mouth, no stain
of iniquity ever was in his heart ; if so,
the hopes of men were dashed to earth.
46
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
But though Christ was spotless, yet we
do read, that as he was our substitute,
God laid on him, as if he were guilty,
all the consequences of our crime, and
he had then to wither under the curse,
and then to writhe under the agony and
remorse of sin. To prove this, look to
psalm xl., it contains some undoubted
prophecies of Jesus Christ in his first
coming ; as for instance in verses 6 and 7,
" burnt offerings and sin offerings hast
thou not required, then said I, lo I come."
This is Christ, as Paul tells us in the
Hebrews, concurring with the Father in
the covenant of redemption. Read on,
and you have the experience of Christ
when he, as our substitute, did cry to
heaven, " withhold not thou thy tender
mercy from me, O Lord, let thy loving
kindness and thy truth continually pre-
serve me ; for innumerable evils have
compassed me about : mine iniquities
have taken hold upon me, so that I am
not able to look up, they are more than
the hairs of my head, therefore my heart
faileth me.'' There was Christ suffering
under the imputation of sin, and under
all the horrors of remorse. If Christ
tasted all this, can he not feel for you ?
Oh brother in the faith, who hast been
betrayed into transgression, recollect,
that this Jesus reproved Peter after his
base denial, after his ungrateful and
cowardly desertion of his master in the
last extremity, with no more bitter cen-
sure than this, " Simon Peter, lovest
thou me." Your blessed and divine
Master is ready to pity and pardon you in
your transgressions, apply to him, he ever
liveth to make intercession for you, pray
| to him, that you may go and sin no more.
Are there among us yet, any that have
not gone to Jesus, that have never sought
an interest in his intercession, or en-
treated him saying, " Lord, save or I
perish ?" You may think your iniquity is
too great to be forgiven, and that the
amount of your crimes is too heavy to
be removed by any act of divine mercy ;
God has told you, " as far as the east is
from the west, so far hath he removed
our transgressions from us." God has
told you that his Son died for the chief
of sinners. Are you the chief of sinners ?
Are you a blasphemer, an obstinate,
daring infidel ? No, well then, come
now to this Jesus, who " ever liveth to
save to the uttermost those who come
unto God by him." Place the greatest
monster the world ever saw under the
teaching of the Gospel, and if he is
brought to believe it, as sure as God is
in heaven he shall be saved ; for God
has said, " whosoever believeth shall not
be confounded."
Beloved brother sinners, there is but
one crime unpardonable, and it is the
entire, enduring, obstinate rejection of
Jesus. If he was a mere brother beloved,
a brother born for adversity, full of sen-
sibility, sympathy, tenderness, why your
coldness towards him is an aggravation of
all past sins, and if continued to the end
it is the only blasphemy against the Holy
Ghost which is now possible. Cast not
away then the gospel of pardon and sal-
vation, but draw near to him who ever
liveth to make intercession for lost
sinners, who can save to the uttermost,
and your souls shall live.
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
47
THOUGHTS
SUGGESTED BY ISAIAH li. 11.
" The redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting
joy shall he upon their head; they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning
shall flee away."
The return of the light of morning after the
darkness of the night ; of a fine summer
after a cold and cheerless winter ; of health
and strength after a season of sickness
and pain ; is refreshing and delightful,
and demands the gratitude of the heart.
The deliverance of a nation from tem-
poral slavery or subjection, has often
kindled a fire in the breast of the patriot,
the painter, the poet and the historian ;
but, what are all earthly blessings when
compared with those which are spiritual
and eternal ? What is the comfort of the
body to the peace and rest of the soul ?
What is a deliverance from any earthly
bondage to the opening of the tombs,
and the resurrection of the just at the
last great day ? To that day our thoughts
ought continually to be directed, just
as we may suppose the minds of the
captive Jews in Babylon waited and
looked out for, not occasionally but con-
stantly, the day of their redemption. —
They remembered Zion, when their harps
hung upon the willows, and although
they found how difficult it was to sing
the Lord's song in a strange land, yet
they comforted themselves by the thought
that they would sing it with rapture when
restored to the land of their fathers.
The text brings before us both a tempo-
ral and spiritual deliverance — and the joy
consequent upon both. Idolatry was
long a besetting sin of the Jewish people,
and they were sorely scourged for it by
the Almighty ; and we are not to be sur-
prised at this, for idolatry in a people
professing to know the Lord, is the sin
which, above all others, aims a direct
blow at the authority and sovereignty of
him who has declared that he is " a jea-
lous God," and " will not give his glory
to another, nor his praise to graven
images.'' Isaiah, styled the evangelical
prophet, was commissioned to foretell
the invasion of the Assyrians under Sen-
acherib, and also to record their utter
destruction, which was an evident answer
to the prayer of Hezekiah.
But he was also commissioned to
declare the release of sinners from the
captivity of sin and satan, by the Lord
Jesus Christ, " the author of eternal
salvation to all them that obey him."
Those who are partakers of that salvation
by faith are here styled, " the redeemed
of the Lord," for they are bought with a
price, not of corruptible things as silver and
gold, but with the precious blood of
Christ as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot." The blood shed, doubt-
less issued from a human body ; but a
body perfectly free from every principle,
and spot, and stain of sin : and in which
dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead. This
is a great mystery, but one that while it
appears utterly incomprehensible to the
denier or doubter of revelation, is full of
inexpressible delight to the true believer.
The redeemed of the Lord are em-
ployed by a new master — are engaged in
a new service — and live no longer unto
themselves, but unto him who died for
them, and rose again. Their destination
is the heavenly Zion ; the prospect of it,
so distinct to the eye of faith, cheers them
on their way — and soon shall every one
of them appear in it before the Lord.
Here their days of joy are succeeded by
nights of sorrow — they are doomed to
sow in tears, but on their entrance into
Zion they will commence a song of praise,
Rev. i. 5. 6. the notes of which will swell
louder and deeper throughout the revolv-
ing ages of eternity. Then will they
see as they are seen — know as they
are known — and be for ever with the
supreme object of their love. Here
their pardon is complete ; but their
peace does not always flow as a river — here
they are enabled through the Spirit to
mortify the deeds of the body, but they
are liable to be overtaken of a fault, and
too often their footsteps slide ; but in
Zion they will be released, not only from
every danger, but also from every fear.
They will be there recognized as the
children of God ; as those who have a
48 THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
right to the tree of life, as those who can . alteration in the measure of its existence,
without intermission comprehend the j How great then is the obligation under
height, and depth, and length, and J which we are laid by a knowledge of this
breadth of the love which passeth know- I fact, to live no longer unto ourselves,
ledge. If all the saints have this honour, but unto him who died for us and rose
" what manner of persons ought we to be in again ? The cross is doubtless the way to
all holy conversation and godliness, look- i the crown, but the glory, and honour,
ing out for, and trusting unto the coming [ and blessings attendant upon the crown,
of the day of God." The soul was created I will throw a covering of light over the
immortal, and although by the fall its
affections have become depraved, and
its faculties brought under an influence
that St. James describes as " earthly,
sensual, and devilish ;" yet there is no
cross, so that there will be no unpleasing
recollections of the sorrows and trials of
which it was the author. May our por-
tion be with the saints in both worlds.
Kilkenny. P. R.
THE TIDE OF TIME.
My years roll on in silent course,
Impell'd by a resistless force ;
Awake, my soul, awake and sing
Glory to thee, my God, my King.
My years roll on, — then let me know
The great design for which they flow ;
And as the ship floats o'er the wave,
Thy vessels, Lord, in mercy save.
My years roll on, — the tide of time
Bears me through many a changing clime :
I've summers, winters — heat and cold,
Winds, calms, and tempests, ten times told
My years roll on, — but here's my hope,
And this my everlasting prop,
Though seasons change, and I change too—
My God's the same, for ever true.
My years roll on, — and as they roll,
Oh may they waft my ransom'd soul
Safe through life's ocean to yon shore,
Where sins and sorrows grieve no more.
My years roll on, — and with them flows,
That mercy which no limit knows,
'Tis mercy's current makes me glide
In hope of safety down the tide.
My years roll on, — my soul, be still —
Guided by love, thy course fulfil ;
And my life's anxious voyage past,
My refuge be with Christ at last.
DUBLIN:— NEW IRISH PULPIT OFFICE, 1, St. Andrew-street.
J. Robertson, and all Booksellers.
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
GOSPEL PREACHER.
" We preach Christ crucified —
" Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God."— 1 Cor. i. 23, 24.
No. LXXVII. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16th, 1839. Price 4d.
Rev. R. T. P. Pope. Rev. F. Hewson.
THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST.
A SERMON
BY THE
REV. RICHARD T P. POPE,
I Tim. iii. 16.
" God was manifest in the flesh.'-'
Christ has been the theme of prophecy
from the fall of Adam. The various
dispensations with which God has been
pleased to favour guilty man, were but
introductory to the advent of the Lord of
glory. The rites and sacrifices of the
Mosaic economy more especially, pointed
to Him who suffered on Calvary. Does
not reason, therefore, justify the conclu-
sion that He to whom prophets and dis-
pensations referred, was a Being of no
ordinary character ? On the present
occasion, I purpose adverting to some
of the evidences which support the essen-
tial divinity of the Son of God. And
Vol. IV.
may that Eternal Spirit, who has under-
taken to glorify Christ, manifest Himself
in the plenitude of His enlightening
power ; that so, on the one hand, I may
not " darken counsel by words without
knowledge;" and, on the other, you may
" receive with meekness the engrafted
word, which is able to save your souls."
And here, I would remind you of the
vast distance between the divine mind
and our puny intellect. " We are but
of yesterday and know nothing" — we
cannot explain the union existing be-
tween our souls and bodies — we cannot
understand the growth of the meanest
50
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
blade of grass which springs beneath our
feet. I would press upon you, therefore,
the solemn duty of submitting to the
decisions of God as set forth in the Scrip-
tures of truth — of coming as little chil-
dren to the volume of inspiration — and of
learning from God Himself the revelation
He has given concerning his Son.
In the first place, I would remark that
Divine Attributes are ascribed to the
Saviour. Of these, the first to which I
shall call your attention, is Omnipotence.
In Psalm cii. 25, 26, we read, " Of old
hast Thou laid the foundations of the
earth, and the heavens are the work of
thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou
shalt endure : yea, all of them shall wax
old like a garment; as a vesture shalt
Thou change them, and they shall be
changed.'' Now, these verses are quoted
in Hebrews i. 10, 11, 12, and applied to
Christ. I turn to John's Gospel, i. 1, 2,
3, and read, " In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. The same was in
the beginning with God. All things
were made by Him ; and without Him
was not any thing made that was made."
In this passage, I need scarcely observe,
the sacred penman ascribes the creation
of the world to " the Word" — the Lord
Jesus Christ. Again : in Colossians i.
15, 16, 17. The apostle thus speaks of
the Redeemer: — "Who is the image of
the invisible God, the first born of every
creature. For by Him were all things
created that are in heaven and that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether
they be thrones, or dominions, or princi-
palities, or powers : all these were created
by Him, and for Him. And he is before
all things, and by Him all things consist."
Here it is plainly stated that " all things
were created by the Lord Jesus, and
for Him." Now, compare this passage
with Revelations iv. 11 : " Thou art
worthy, Lord, to receive glory and
honour and power ; for thou hast created
I all things, and for thy pleasure they are
I and were created." If this latter verse
be applied to the Father, it identifies the
Saviour with God ; for in the former
passage we read, " all things were created
by Christ and for Him ;" and in this
verse it is written, " all things for thy
pleasure are and were created." On the
other hand, if you interpret the passage
in Revelations as referring to Christ ;
then, it supplies an additional confirma-
tion of the position that the attribute of
Omnipotence is ascribed to the Redeemer.
Now, it is distinctly affirmed in Romans
i. 20, that creation is a proof of "the
eternal power and godhead" of the
Creator : " The invisible things of Him
from the creation of the world are clearly
seen, being understood by the things that
are made, even his eternal power and
Godhead." But, according to inspired
authority, created nature was called into
being by the Lord Christ. Therefore
" his eternal power and Godhead are'*
thereby " clearly seen."
The Saviour is represented in Scrip-
ture as Eternal in his existence. In
Micah v. 2, we read, " But thou Bethle-
hem Ephratah, though thou be little
among the thousands of Judah, yet out
of thee shall he come forth unto me
that is to be Ruler in Israel ; whose
goings forth have been from of old, from
everlasting." Now, this passage is quoted
in answer to the question of Herod,
" where Christ should be born ?" and
applied to the Saviour. You will find
it, Matthew xi. 6. The declaration of
our Lord claims especial notice, as it is
recorded in John s Gospel, viii. 57, 58 :
" Then said the Jews unto Him, Thou
art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou
seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, before
Abraham was, I am." This announce-
ment not only points out the prior exis-
tence of the Redeemer, but shows, that
His existence is one everlasting present
THE NEW HUSH PULPIT.
51
one eternal now. Christ did not say,
" Before Abraham was, I was" — I existed ;
but " before Abraham was, I AM." Can
an expression be conceived, moredistinctly
pointing out the eternal existence of the
Messiah ? But this declaration acquires
additional force from a comparison with
Exodus iii. 13, 14 : " And Moses said
unto God, Behold, when I come unto the
children of Israel, and shall say unto
them, The God of your fathers hath
sent me unto you ; and they shall say to
me, What is his name ? what shall I say
unto them ? And God said unto Moses,
I am that I am : and he said, Thus shalt
thou say unto the children of Israel, I
am hath sent me unto you." When Christ
affirms, "Before Abraham was I am;''
and when Moses, as you observe, was
commanded to say to the captive Israelites,
" I am hath sent me unto you," 1 shall
leave it to your judgment to determine,
whether the similarity of expression em-
ployed in both cases, does not prove the
God of Moses and the Lord Jesus to be
one and the same ?
Immutability is ascribed to the Saviour.
In Psalm cii. 26, 27, already quoted, we
read, " They (the heavens and the earth)
shall perish, but thou shalt endure ; yea,
all of them shall wax old like a garment ;
as a vesture shalt thou change them, and
they shall be changed ; but. thou art the
same, and thy years shall have no end."
These words, as I before observed, are
applied to Christ in Hebrews i. 11, 12.
In Hebrews xiii. 8, it is written -. " Jesus
Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day,
and for ever." Surely, stronger expres-
sions than these cannot be employed, to
denote the immutability of the Redeemer,
" Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to-day,
and for ever."
Omnipresence is ascribed to Christ.
In proof of this position, I would call your
attention to Matthew's Gospel, xviii. 20 :
" Where two or three are gathered toge-
ther in nay name, there am I in the midst
of them.'' In the same connexion may
be ranked part of the 20th verse of the
28th of Matthew : " Lo I am with you
alway, even unto the end of the world.''
If the Lord Jesus were not omnipresent,
could such promises as these have been
made by him.
Under this head may also be classed
those passages, in which the Redeemer,
though on earth at the time he uttered
them, speaks of himself as at the same
moment in heaven. For example, we
read in John's Gospel iii. 13 — " No man
hath ascended up to heaven, but he that
came down from heaven, even the Son of
man which is in heaven'' — or, as it is in
the original, " even the Son of man
being in heaven."
OMNisciENCEisascribed to the Saviour.
The power of searching the heart will be
admitted to be a proof of Omniscience
In Jeremiah xvii. 9, it is stated : " The
heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked;" and the inquiry is
made, " Who can know it ?" To this
question the an?wer given is — " I the
Lord (Jehovah) search the heart, I try
the reins, even to give every man accord-
ing to his ways, and according to the fruit
of his doings." Here, the prerogative of
searching the heart, is claimed by Jehovah.
And yet, in Revelations ii. 23, Christ
asserts his title to the same right and
power. Thus he speaks — " And all the
churches shall know that I am he which
searcheth the reins and hearts ; and I will
give unto every one of you according to
your works." In this passage, you will
remark that the Saviour does not merely
say, " I search the reins and hearts," but,
" / am he that searcheth" them. Is not
the Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, identi-
fied with the heart-searching Jehovah ?
In the second place, I would observe,
that divine worship was offered to ihr
Redeemer and received by him. In prooi
of this position, let me remind you that
the Lord Jesus was again and agaio wor-
52
THE NEW HUSH PULPIT,
shipped. One single instance may suffice.
When he was ascending to the right hand
of the Majesty in the heavens, we read,
Luke xxiv. 52, " they (the apostles) wor-
shipped him." Now, they uniformly re-
pudiated any worship offered to them-
selves. Peter refused the worship which
Cornelius was desirous of rendering him.
Acts x. 26. " Stand up, (said he,) I
myself also am a man." An angel, too,
as we read in the Apocalypse, xxii. 9,
refused the worship about to be paid
him by the Apostle John. " I am thy
fellow-servant, (said the angel) and of
thy brethren the prophets, and of them
which keep the sayings of this book :
worship God."
On the other hand, no instance can be
produced, in which the Lord Jesus de-
clined homage paid to him. The first
martyr, Stephen, worshipped Christ. At
that solemn hour, when the soul was about
to wing its flight into eternity, amidst the
agonies of a violent death, after he had
been favoured with a vision of glory, this
was Stephen's departing prayer: " Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit." " And he
kneeled down, (continues the sacred his-
torian,) and cried with a loud voice, Lord,
lay not this sin to their charge!" Acts
vi. 59, GO. After he had so faithfully
witnessed for God, in the midst of a
stubborn generation — after he had been
specially blessevl with the approbation of
heaven, visibly vouchsafed to him — can
it be supposed, that in the hour of disso-
lution, marked with all the holy calmness
of a dying saint, Stephen could have been
permitted to fall into the grievous sin of
idolatry ? And yet, if Christ be not God,
Stephen was guilty of this fearful wicked-
ness — he offers a solemn act. of worship,
and commits the keeping of his soul, to a
created being — "Lord Jesus receive my
spirit!"
But, under this head it may be shown,
that worship was rendered to the Saviour
in accordance villi the divine commovd.
It is written in John's Gospel, v. 23 —
" That all men should honour the Son,
even as they honour the Father."
Is worship an honour, which the Great
Supreme has a right exclusively to claim
at the hands of his intelligent creatures ?
All will answer in the affirmative — then,
that same honour should be paid to Christ,
for as we have seen," All men should honour
the Son, even as they honour the Father."
In Hebrews, i. 6, the apostle writes thus:
" When he bringeth in the first-begotten
into the world, he saith, And let all the
angels of God worship him." Accord-
ingly, in Revelations v. 11, 12, 13, 14,
we read, " And I beheld, and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the
throne, and the beasts and the elders ;
and the number of them was ten thousand
times ten thousand, and thousands of
thousands ; saying with a loud voice —
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to
receive power, and riches, and wisdom,
and strength, and honour, and glory, and
blessing. And every creature which is
in heaven, and on the earth, and under
the earth, and such as are in the sea, and
all that are in them, heard I saying, Bles-
sing, and honour, and glory, and power,
be unto Him that sitteth on the throne,
and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.
And the four beasts said, Amen. And the
four and twenty elders fell down and wor-
shipped Him that liveth for ever and ever.'
Here, in strict obedience to the divine
behest, the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God,
is the object of adoration to the angelic
world. Worship, I need scarcely say, is
the profoundest expression of homage
which rational intelligencies can pay to
their Creator. If, then, divine worship
was rendered to Christ by angels and
men — if it was commanded by the Father
to be paid to him ; and if Scripture declare
that " the Lord is a jealous God, and will
not give his glory to another" — is it not
manifest that the Redeemer is, indeed,
i incarnate Deity ?
OK GOSPEL PREACHER.
53
In the third place, I would refer to
proofs of Christ's oneness and equality
with the Father. " The grace (writes
Paul) of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the
love of God, and the communion of the
Holy Ghost, be with you all." 2 Cor.
xiii. 14. In this passage, "the grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of
God," are invoked on the church which
the apostle addresses ; and can it be
imagined that he would, in supplication
unite a creature with Jehovah, placing, at
the same time, his name before that of
the Father? Again: in 2 Thess. ii. 16,
17, Christ is, in a similar manner, allied
with the Father — " Now our Lord Jesus
Christ . himself, and God even our
Father, which hath loved us, and hath
given us everlasting consolation and
good hope through grace, comfort
your hearts, and stablish you in every
good word and work." 1 would also
call your attention to the prophecies
of Zechariah xiii. 7, " Awake, O sword,
against my shepherd, and against the man
that is my fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts ;
smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall
be scattered, and I will turn mine hand
against the little ones." Now, Christ
applies this prophecy to Himself in Mat-
thew's Gospel, xxvi. 31 — " All ye shall
be offended because of me this night; for
it is written, I will smite the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered
abroad." in this connexion I would refer
you to Phillippians ii.5,6. " 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 likenessof men." Turn at
the same time, to John xvi. 14,15. "He
(the Spirit of truth) shall glorify me ; for
he shall receive of mine, and shall show
it unto you. All things that the Father
hath are mine: therefore said I, that he
shall take of mine, and shall shew it
1 unto you." Can any expression more
clearly prove that union and equality
subsist between the Father and the Son,
than this " All things that the Father hath
are mine ?" Would it not be blasphemy
on the part of the most exalted creature
to employ such language ? And yet the
Redeemer affirms : " All things that
the Father, hath are mine." Under
this head I would direct your attention to
Isaiah xl. 13, " Who hath directed the
Spirit of the Lord ?" Here a question
is asked, but no answer is given. In the
prophetic writings, it is not unusual to
propose queries of this nature, and to
leave them without reply, in order to
magnify the character of the Great
Supreme, and show that His nature
cannot be controlled by any created
being. Instead, therefore, of furnishing
an answer to the enquiry, " Who hath
directed the Spirit of the Lord ?" The
prophet proceeds, " or being his counsellor
hath taught him," " With whom took he
counsel, and who instructed him and
taught him in the path of judgment, &c. ?"
15, 16. Now is the direction of the
Spirit of God anywhere attributed to the
Lord Jesus? I turn to John xvi. 7, and
read, " Nevertheless I tell you the truth
It is expedient for you that I go away ;
for if I go not away, the Comforter will
not come unto you ; but if I depart, /
will send him unto you." Here the
Redeemer plainly assumes control over
the Spirit of God, " I will (promises
the Saviour) send him (the Comforter)
unto you." Does not Christ, therefore,
prove that he is one with the Father, or
in other words, that the Spirit of God is
the Spirit of Jesus ?
In the fourth place I would observe that
the name of God is giren to the Re-
deemer. In Isaiah, ix. 6. we read, " Unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is given ;
and the government shall be upon his
shoulder, and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God,
54
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
t he Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace."
In St. John's Gospel i. 1. it is written,
" Inthe beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was
God. After Thomas had been per-
mitted to thrust his hand into the pierced
side of the Redeemer, he exclaims, " My
Lord and my God !" his doubtings con-
cerning Christ's identity were removed,
and he discovered in the glorious person
before him " his Lord and his God."
Christ, too, you will remark did not
censure Thomas for the avowal he made,
but observed — " Thomas, because thou
hast seen me, thou hast believed ; blessed
are they that have not seen, and yet have
believed." John 20. 29.
Again, in Romans, ix. 5. speaking of
the Jews, Paul says, " Whose are the
fathers, and of whom as concerning the
flesh Christ came, who is over all, God
blessed for ever. "
In the fifth place I would remark,
the name Jehovah is given to the
Saviour. The appellation, Jehovah,
belongs to God (we speak with reve-
rence) as existing in himself, and
without reference to creation. In Psalm,
Ixxxiii. 18, it is written " That men may
know, that thou whose name alone is
Jehovah, art the Most High over all the
earth." Now this incommunicable name
is applied to the Lord Jesus. In Psalm
lxviii. 1. 4, we read, " Let God arise, let
his enemies be scattered ; let them also
that hate him flee before him. Sing unto
God, sing praises unto his name ; extol
him that rideth upon the heavens by his
name Jah, and rejoice' before him."
The psalmist then proceeds to give a
glowing description of the power and
goodness of Jehovah, and continues thus :
" The chariots of God are twenty thousand,
even thousands of angels ; the Lord (or
Jehovah) is among them, as in Sinai, in
the holy place." Thou hast ascended on
high ; thou hast led captivity captive ;
thou hast received gifts for men ; yea,
for the rebellious also, that (he Lord God
might dwell among them." Now, this last
verse is applied to Christ by the apostle
Paul, in Ephesians iv. 7, 8. " Unto
every one of us is given grace according
to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Wherefore he saith, When he ascended
up on high, he led captivity captive and
gave gifts unto men." On these extracts
I shall therefore simply again remark, that
that quoted from the Psalms clearly speaks
of Jehovah, and that it is applied to Christ
in the passage taken from the Epistle to
the Ephesians. — In Isaiah vi. a sublime
description is given of Jehovah's glory.
In it, "the Seraphims" are represented
as crying one to another " Holy, holy,
holy, is the Lord (Jehovah) of hosts."
Now, the Jehovah whose glory is there
described, we assert on inspired authority,
is the Lord Jesus. In John xii. it is
" written these things spake Jesus and
departed, and did hide himself from
them. But though he had done so many
miracles before them, yet they believed
not on him." The Evangelist goes on to
remark that the unbelief here spoken of,
was in fulfilment of two predictions —
" That the saying of Esaias the prophet
(continues the sacred narrative) might
be fulfilled which he spake, Lord, who
hath believed our report ? and to whom
hath the arm of the Lord been revealed ?
Therefore they could not believe, because
Isaias said again, He hath blinded their
eyes and hardened their heart, that they
should not see with their eyes, nor under-
stand with their hearts, and be converted,
and I should heal them. These things
(adds John) said Isaias, when he saw his
glory and spake of him. Nevertheless,
among the chief rulers also many believed
on him, &c." The plain construction of
this passage requires that " his glory" be
referred to the glory of him of whom the
Evangelist is speaking, even Jesus — and
that glory being, according to the quota-
tion from Isaiah, the glory of the "Jehovah
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
55
of hosts," Christ is, by the pen of inspi-
ration, identified with Jehovah. I might
refer you to other passages in proof of
this position, that the name Jehovah is
bestowed on the Redeemer ; but these, I
conceive, may suffice. I have then
endeavoured to show from the sacred
volume, that divine attributes are ascribed
to the Saviour — that he is an object of
worship to men and angels — that he is set
before us as the controller of the Spirit of
God ; as equal to the Father and as one
with him. I have shewn you, that the
name of God is bestowed on the Lord
Jesus— that he is called " God" — " The
mighty God" " over all, God blessed for
ever." I have proved that the name
Jehovah, which exclusively belongs to
the Deity as existing in himself, is applied
to Christ. If you will allow, therefore,
inspired testimony to determine your
opinion on this momentous subject, you
must " confess that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father." Let
then, all the proud reasonings of human
intellect fall to the ground — let us take
our proper place in God's creation — let
us feel ourselves as nothing before " the
high and lofty One that inhabits eternity,"
and render unreserved obedience to the
record which God has given of his Son.
Cogent, however, as are the direct testi-
monies which the word of life supplies to
the Deity of Christ, I would observe, in
the sixth and last place, that the Godhead
of the Redeemer is a truth essential to the
value of the work, for the accomplishment
of which he became incarnate. I would
remark, then, — the office which the Re-
deemer sustains between heaven and earth,
demands that hewhoJUlsit, should be God
as well as man. In the adjustment of a
difference between two earthly empires,
he who is properly qualified to mediate
between the parties, is one (I submit it to
you) who can form just views of their
characters and claims, and who possesses
due influence over them. Now, there
must eternally exist an immeasurable
distance between the Creator and the
most exalted creature. I affirm, there-
fore, that the highest archangel is incom-
petent to entertain adequate conceptions
of the unbending righteousness of the
Great Supreme ; and, by inevitable
consequence, of the magnitude of human
guilt. And, contracted as our views must
necessarily be of the glories of the divine
character, I would ask, is any created
being able to come between the nature of
God and our polluted race — to make
atonement for the sins of transgressors
commensurate to the claims of divine
justice, and to the majesty of Heaven's
administration? In answering this question,
bear in mind the fearful consequences of
sin, as exhibited in the records of truth.
One transgression severed a world from
the enjoyment of divine favour. One
single act of disobedience deranged the
moral constitution of man — introduced
death among the inhabitants of earth
has been the fruitful source from which
all our misery primarily flowed. One
single act (inasmuch as it ushered moral
evil into our world) has peopled hell with
myriads of immortal beings. What then
must be the justice and holiness of that
God who has demonstrated the intermi-
nable contrariety of his mind to sin, by
annexing to a single transgression conse-
quences so tremendous and overwhelming!
Could, therefore, I would again ask, a
propitiation, equivalent to the demerit of
human guilt, have been offered by any
created nature however exalted? The
highest angelic intelligences are bound
by the law of their own existence,
supremely to love their Maker, and to
love each other as they love themselves.
Rendering such an obedience they only
do what it is their duty to do — there is no
merit in their services — they cannot
transfer them to the account of another.
If, then, the Lord Jesus Christ be a
created being, perfect obedience was re-
56
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
quired from him by the law of his own
creation — his services cannot be imputed
to the credit of others, and no atone-
ment has been made ! In this case,
therefore, "our faith is vain ; we are yet
in our sins." 1 Cor. xv. 17.
Again : suppose that the highest
created spirit had become incarnate, and
had yielded its assumed humanity unto
death ; what value, I would ask, could
belong to the sufferings of such a being ?
Could they possess an efficacy sufficient
to maintain the honour of the divine
government — to ransom myriads of never-
dying souls from an undone eternity, and
restore them to the enjoyment of heaven's
favour ?
On the other hand, admit that the Lord
Jesus is " God manifest in the flesh ;"
and you discover in Immanuel, One, who,
while he was man and could feel for man,
could also as God take a just view
of the holiness and claims of the Divine
nature — One, who, as God, was not
bound to fulfil the law, but who, yet, by
his obedience, has " magnified it and
made it honourable." Surely, in the
righteousness of such a glorious person-
age, there has been laid, even according
to the glimmerings of reason, ample
ground for affirming, that, through the
work of redemption, divine wisdom has
been transcendently displayed in recon-
ciling the apparently contradictory attri-
butes of justice and mercy. Eph. iii.10.
But, if the deity of Christ be denied, the
very key-stone of the Christian system is
removed, and the whole arch crumbles
into dust — Ichabod may be inscribed on
the Bible, for its glories have indeed de-
parted — it becomes little else than a mere
code of ethics — it loses its grand and
distinguishing features — it ceases to an-
nounce a pardon, either worthy of the
character of God, or suited to that of
man.
Accordingly, in the preaching of those
who would strip the Redeemer of his
essential godhead, you look in vain for
the great peculiarities of the faith of the
gospel. The sacred page avers, that man
has fallen — that " all have sinned, and
come short of the glory of God" — that
by nature we are " alienated from the
life of God, through the ignorance that
is in us" — that "the heart is deceitful
above all things, and desperately wicked."
The scriptural doctrine, however, of man's
utter depravity is in vain sought for in the
writings of those who would rob the
Saviour of his Divine nature.
Again — the Redeemer affirms, " Ex-
cept a man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God." John iii. 3.
In the system, however, to which I
advert, you find this important truth ex-
plained away. Instead of the renovation
of the soul — instead of the heart being
brought into communion with its maker
instead of the mind being illuminated
by the knowledge of the Divine cha-
racter — instead of the views being so
changed that " old things have passed
away and all things have become new" —
instead of these blessings being set forth
as essentially connected with " the new
birth unto righteousness," you find the
doctrine of regeneration softened down
and treated of, as merely relating to the
outward reformation of life and cha-
racter.
Again : inspired authority asserts —
" Cursed is every one that continueth not
in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them:" and that " by
the deeds of the law there shall no flesh
be justified in his (God's) sight."
My friends, what view does the creed
against which I am protesting, give of the
foundation of the sinner's hope ? It bids
him, I reply, look to his own services and
the Divine mercy, in the expectation
that God, in the exercise of his com-
passion, will make allowance for the
infirmities of his creature, and at last
graciously receive him into his kingdom.
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
57
But, my dear hearers, this scheme of
salvation but ill accords with that solemn
truth, borne witness to by the history of
our world, our own consciousness, and
the declarations of the sacred page — that
there are other attributes in the divine
nature beside that which we designate
mercy, or with this undeniable position,
that one attribute of Deity cannot be
exercised except in strict accordance with
the rest. Look, on the contrary, to the
word of life, and you find that the substi-
tuted nature of the sacrifice of Christ is
continually dwelt on. Christ, we are
told, "died the just for the unjust that
he might bring sinners unto God" — he is
pointed out as " the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world." " God
(we are assured) made him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him'' —
that " other foundation can no man lay
than that is laid which is Jesus Christ."
Numberless other passages might be
quoted, shewing the vicarious character
of the sufferings of Jesus, and exhibiting
the work which he finished on Calvary,
as the exclusive foundation on which the
sinner can stand accepted at the bar of
God. But in the system which I am
canvassing, the Lord Jesus is held up as
a mere teacher sent from God — a divinely
commissioned prophet — the peculiar fea-
tures of his mission are overlooked — he
is not described as " the Rock of ages,"
the only basis on which man can be
justified in the presence of his Maker.
I would, therefore, solemnly ask those
who have adopted the faith to which I
allude, whether their creed is capable of
emancipating them from the love of the
world, and from the dominion of pride
and of the objects of time and sense ?
I would put it to them, can they draw
near to God with child-like confidence
and holy joy, in the assurance that their
sins have been blotted out ? Do they
enjoy real peace with their Maker ? I
would ask them these momentous
questions, and implore them, as in the sight
of God, to answer them with truth to
themselves. In John's I. Ep. v. 10, it
is written : " He that believeth on the
Son of God hath the witness in himself ;'
it is elsewhere declared, that the " faith"
of the Gospel " overcometh the world,"
" purifies the heart," and " works by
love" — it is said of the believer, that " the
love of God is shed abroad in his heart by
the Holy Ghost given unto him" — that
he has " a building of God, an house
not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens" — that he is enabled to address
God in the endearing language of " Abba
Father." But, can any scheme of reli-
gion which leaves man in uncertainty,
with regard to the all -important consider-
ation, whether God really views him as a
friend or an enemy, bring the soul into
communion with the Great Father of
lights? Now, the Gospel of the blessed
God is proclaimed for this among other
purposes, — in order to establish fellowship
between the Deity and man. (Uohn i. 3.)
That system, therefore, which is inade-
quate to the accomplishment of this great
design, cannot be regarded as the glorious
" Gospel of the blessed God."
In conclusion, I would leave those few
considerations with the Socinian. God's
law being, like himself, unchangeable — a
perfect transcript of his mind, any system
of religion which virtually goes to alter
that law, cannot be "of God." Now,
that law is opposed by any scheme of faith
which directs man to look to his own
doings as constituting, in whole or in part,
the ground of his dependence. For the
individual who places his hope on his own
works, cannot really expect to be judged
by God's perfect law which condemns
him, but by one which will lower its
requirements to meet the imperfect ser-
vices of man. Again, agreeably to the
constitution of the mind, the basis of our
hope becomes the mould of our character.
58
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
In the case before us, therefore, works
being the ground of dependence — works
confessedly sinful and corrupt, — the
spirit which rests on such a foundation,
can derive from it only a polluted and
polluting influence. On the other hand,
the faith which embraces the Deity of
Christ, does not " make void" but " esta-
blishes the law." For it bids man look,
not to his own services, but to a divine
obedience — an obedience rendered by
the Legislator himself to his own law, as
the exclusive foundation of hope. In
unison also with the principle already
adverted to, in the work finished on the
cross, unfolding at once, the love, the
truth, the justice, the holiness, the wisdom
of God — effectual provision is made for
the sanctification of the Spirit which rests
upon that work. " We all, (says the
apostle) with open face beholding, as in a
glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed
into the same image from glory to glory,
even as by the Spirit of the Lord.'' —
2d Cor. iii. 18.
THE HOPE OF THE CHURCH UNDER THE GOSPEL DISPENSATION.
A SERMON,
PREACHED IN CARBERRY CHURCH, DIOCESE OF KILDARE,
ON ADVENT SUNDAY, 2nd DEC, 1838,
BY THE REV. FRANCIS HEWSON, A.M.
Curate.
Titus, ii, 13
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour
Jesus Christ."
Dear Brethren — There is, perhaps, no
principle that exercises such an influence
over the conduct and actions of men as
that of hope. Hope is in fact the main-
spring that keeps the human machine in
motion. Take away hope, and you deprive
man of all motives or incentives to
exertion, with respect either to this world
or the world to come.
Without this animating, all-pervading
principle, none of the various operations
upon which, not only man's comfort, but
his very existence as a social being
depends, would be carried on any longer.
Without hope, the labour of the husband-
man would cease, the occupation of the
artizan would be laid aside, the engage-
ments of the manufacturer would be
suspended, the traffic of the merchant
would be at an end ; — in short, the whole
of the present social order and course
of things would be broken up, and all
the different classes of the human family,
abandoning their several pursuits, and
leaving all their various duties and engage-
ments neglected and undischarged, would
sit down to pine and perish in despair.
Now, dear brethren, hope is, in spiritual
things, just as in temporal, the grand
motive to exertion ; without it the soul
would be paralyzed in spiritual apathy or
despair. Hope is so essential to religion
that where there is no hope there can be
no religion); for the very form of religiof
would expire with hope. This ruling
principle .of our nature has been uni-
formly recognized and acted on by God,
in all his dealings with mankind. When
the creation was first made subject to
vanity — when, upon the disobedience of
the first Adam, death and Satan seized,
as it were, on the world as their prey,
what was it but hope that prevented our
guilty parents from sinking into utter
despair ? The only circumstance in their
disastrous condition that could sustain
their minds amidst the overwhelming
calamities in which they had involved
themselves'and the creation, was the hope
of deliverance, that deliverance which it
was even then intimated, the woman's
seed — the second Adam — should effect.
Yes, my brethren, a gleam of hope gilded
even the dark horizon of the fall. God
was pleased to reveal to the guilty pair,
whose disobedience was productive of such
fatal effects, his eternal purpose of raising
up a deliverer who would bruise the
beguiler's head, who would destroy the
works of the devil, and restore a ransomed
creation " from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the children of
God," as the Apostle informs us, Rom.
viii. 20. " the creature" or (as the word
more properly signifies) " the creation
was subjected in hope ;'' its condition,
60
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
however deplorable, was not hopeless.
It would appear, that sacrifice was insti-
tuted immediately with the fall : when
God clothed Adam and his wife with
skins that were taken from innocent
animals, which, there is every reason to
believe, he had instructed them to offer
in sacrifice to him, he shadowed forth
that great atonement by which, in the
fulness of time, divine justice and holiness
were to be satisfied, and a way opened in
which, through aboundinggrace, his guilty
and alienated creatures may be again
locked in the arms of his infinite com-
passion. Now, dear brethren, that hope
which first dawned in Eden, which sup-
ported and comforted our disconsolate
progenitors in the midst of their shame,
and at the commencement of their sorrows,
has never been extinguished in the
darkest and most cloudy seasons which
have befallen the Church — it has waxed
brighter and brighter to the perfect day.
This anchor, by which the Church has
clung, through the fiercest storms of trial
and adversity that have ever tossed her
ark, has never lost its hold, it has remained
sure and steadfast, and affords increasing
ground of security and comfort to all
who will flee for refuge to lay hold
upon it.
I purpose this day calling your atten-
tion, in connexion with my text, to the
blessed hope which, under the gospel
dispensation, is revealed to the Church of
Christ. And in doing so, I shall consider,
1st. What this hope is — 2d. Who are
those entitled to this hope. And, lastly,
the influence which this hope must exercise
ivhenever it is lealized in the soul. O
may the God of hope be with us in the
consideration of these interesting and
important subjects, enabling me to speak,
and you to hear, in such a way as may
tend to the glory of our God, and the
salvation and edification of our souls.
I. — What this hope is. The coming
of the promised Saviour has, under every
dispensation, formed the grand hope and
expectation of the Church. Everything
that could form an object of desire or
hope to God's people, in former dispen-
sations, was always connected with this
event — their hope of pardon, their hope
of acceptance with the Father, their hope
of the Heavenly inheritance, a habitation
freed from every vestige of the curse,
and fitted for the reconciled children of
God of the promised seed ; all were
connected with the appearing of that
mysterious child, whose name was to be
called " Wonderful — Counsellor— the
Mighty God — the Everlasting Father —
the Prince of Peace!" Dear brethren,
the expectation of the ancient saints of
Jehovah has been realized, he has come,
the desire of all nations, the hope of all
the ends of the earth. The promise
made by God to man has been wondr-
ously kept. God has sent his only
begotten Son to be the Saviour of the
world. In Jesus, or as his name implies,
" Jah," the Saviour, the eternal " Word
was made flesh and dwelt amongst us ;"
our " help was laid on one who was
mighty." " God was manifest in the
flesh ;" our divine Redeemer — our second
Adam, taking on him the seed of Abraham,
becoming, as it were, bone of our bone and
flesh of our flesh, has accomplished all
that was necessary for the redemption of
our fallen race. He has satisfied all the
demands of infinite justice and holiness
on man's behalf ; he has fulfilled all the
conditions required, in order to make man
an heir of God and exalt him to ever-
lasting life ; he has, in short, repaired the
breach that was made by sin ; he has " put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself;'' he
has abolished death ; he has brought
in everlasting righteousness ; he has
"brought life and immortality to light by
the Gospel."
Dear brethren, the Church is already
" saved in hope :" " there is now no
condemnation to them who are in Christ
Jesus," " they are heirs of God, joint
heirs with Christ ;" as members of
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
61
his mystical body they arc " raised toge-
ther with him, and made to sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." But
though now " blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus,'
there is still something wanting to the
Church, " we are saved by hope,'' but
" hope which is seen is not hope," the
thing hoped for, the possession of the
inheritance has not yet been attained —
the children of God are still sojourning
in a strange land, they are living in a
world where their Lord was crucified, and
a usurper reigns, and, carrying about with
them a body of sin and death, even those
" who have the first fruits of the Spirit,
groan within themselves, waiting for
the adoption, to wit, the redemption of
the body."
The period to which the Church now
looks forward as that which shall terminate
her trials and consummate her hopes, is
the second advent, the glorious appearing
of the great God, even our Saviour Jesus
Christ: the blessed hope now revealed
to sustain and animate the followers of
Christ, in a world in which they are fore-
warned of persecution and tribulation,
is the return of their Lord in the power
and glory of his kingdom. The Church
no longer looks for a suffering Saviour,
for one who is to come in humiliation,
shrouding his divine majesty under the
form of a servant, and covering the beams
of his eternal glory, so as to be despised
and rejected by those, whose eyes were so
blinded, that they could see " no form
nor comeliness" in him " who was the
brightness of his Father's glory, and the
express image of his person." She looks
for the return of her glorious spouse, at
whose presence " every knee shall bow
and every tongue confess, that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father." Yes, my brethren, when the
Heavenly Bridegroom returns to con-
summate the espousals of his blood-
bought bride, the Church, he shall appear
in all the glory, majesty and power of
incarnate Deity ; it shall be said in that
day, " Lo, this is our God, we have
waited for him, and he will save us : this
is the Lord ; we have waited for
him, we will be glad and rejoice in his
salvation."
I shall here mention some of the bles-
sings which the saints are warranted to
expect, at the glorious appearing of the
great God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ.
It is then, that they who are Christ's,
" shall have their perfect consummation
and bliss in his eternal and everlasting
glory ;" not only those who are alive, and
remain unto his coming, but " those
likewise, who have departed in the true
faith of his holy name, shall appear with
him in glory." Col. lii. 4 ; 1 Thess. iv.
14 — 17- It is at the second advent " the
glorious appearing of the great God, and
our Saviour, Jesus Christ," that "the
kingdoms of this world become the king-
doms of our Lord, and of his Christ."
Rev. xi. 15. He comes not, as some
suppose, at the end of the thousand years
to give up his kingdom ; but at the com-
mencement, " to take to him his great
power and reign." What a blessed
state of things may be expected when
Christ is universal king ! (Zac. xiv. 9.)
and his saints under him, shall " execute
judgment and justice in the earth." Is.
xxxii. 1 ; Jer. xxiii. 5. The course of
this world shall not be then, as it is at
present, after " the prince of the power
of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience," Ephes. ii.
2. "The usurper shall be then dethroned ;
the old serpent shall be bound ; the saints
shall have the ascendancy on earth," Dan.
vii. 26, 27 ; Rev. xx. 1—4 ; Nothing
contrary to the will of God shall be any
longer allowed ; "the nations shall learn
war no more." Isaiah xxiv. " The earth
shall be filled with the knowledge of the
glory of the Lord, as the waters cover
the sea." Isaiah xi. 9; Hab. ii. 14-
Dear brethren, we can form at best, but
a dim and shadowy conception of the
blessedness to be obtained by the saints,
at " the glorious appearing of the great
62
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ."
" We now see through a glass darkly," but
when we shall behold the King in his glory,
when we shall see him as he is, we shall
be constrained to acknowledge, that how-
ever great the report that had reached us
in his word, not one half was told of the
greatness of his glory, and the blessings
of his reign. Well may this blessed hope
comfort and support the Lord's servants,
amidst whatever trials or sufferings to
which they may, for a brief season, be ex-
posed — " their light affliction which is but
for a moment, is not worthy to be com-
pared with the glory that shall be revealed
in them :" they may now have sorrow, but
" their sorrow shall be turned into joy;"
" yet a little while, and he that shall come
will come, and will not tarry." The
desire of the bridegroom is toward his
mourning bride, he will come bounding
on the tops of the mountains, to comfort
her, to deliver her from all her adversa-
ries, and to betroth her to himself for
ever, with loving kindnesses and tender
mercies.
II. I shall now consider who are
THOSE ENTITLED TO LOOK FOR THE GLO-
RIOUS APPEARING, AS A BLESSED HOPE
to them. He is to be revealed (as we
learn in 2 Thess. i. 7, 10,) in " naming
fire, taking vengeance on them that know
not God, and that obey not the Gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ," at the same time
that he " comes to be glorified in his
saints, and admired in all them that
believe," — It is then his saints, his be-
lieving people, who can alone look
forward, with joyful and longing hope, to
the glorious appearing of the great God.
even our Saviour Jesus Christ ; and none
but those " who have fled for refuge to
lay hold on the hope set before them,"
who are abiding in Christ as the Lord
their righteousness who has delivered
them from the wrath to come, and who
are living as Christ's faithful soldiers and
servants here, have any reason to desire
the coming of the Son of God from
heaven. " We find the apostle in the verse
that immediately follows my text, speak-
ing of those who should be looking for
this blessed hope, as redeemed from all
iniquity, and purified by Jesus to himself
as " a peculiar people zealous of good
works. ' Dear brethren, unconverted sin-
ners — all those who are workers of
iniquity — all those who are living after
the course of this world — all those who
are neglecting the great salvation which
has been already effected for them by the
Saviour at his first coming — so far from
looking for the second advent, or glorious
appearing of the great God and Saviour
Jesus Christ, as an object of hope or
desire, have reason to tremble at the very
mention of the subject ; it is to such that
the prophet Amos says, v. 18, " Woe
unto you that desire the day of the Lord !
to what end is it for you ? the day of the
Lord is darkness and not light ;" yes,
the day of the Lord, the day of the
glorious appearing of the great God and
Saviour Jesus Christ, shall be a terrible
day to ungodly and merely nominal pro-
fessors ; for they shall be " cast into outer
darkness;" they shall be " punished with
everlasting destruction from the presence
of the Lord and from the glory of his
power." When the sign of the Son of
man shall appear in the heavens, then
shall all the tribes of the earth mourn
and those who have despised his mercy and
neglected his salvation " shall begin to
call on the mountains and rocks to fall on
them and hide them from the face of
Him that sitteth on the throne, and from
the wrath of the Lamb."
Dear brethren — I would ask you what
would be the feelings of your minds, were
the trump of the archangel now to sound.
and were you now to behold the Son of
Man coming in the clouds of Heaven ?
could you, knowing in whom you had
believed, lift up your heads with joy,
looking for your perfect consummation
and bliss both in body and soul in the
presence and glory of your Lord ; or
would you be filled with the consterna-
tion and alarm that must in that day over-
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
63
whelm those who are conscious that they
have been but dissemblers with God, and
whose own hearts condemn them, as
having the form of godliness, but desti-
tute of its vital and transforming power ?
My unconverted hearers, take heed " lest
that day come upon you unawares ; for,
as a snare shall it come on all them that
dwell on the face of the whole earth."
You have no time to lose — death and
judgment are swiftly and certainly closing
upon you ; when the midnight cry is
heard, it will be then too late to think of
making preparation — " Now, while it is
called to-day, harden not your hearts,"
'•' Seek the Lord while he may be found ;"
" Kiss the Son lest he be angry," while he
is waiting to be gracious, before he has
put on his garments of vengeance ; before
he has left the mercy seat, and come out
of his place to punish the inhabitants of
the earth for their iniquity ; flee into his
outstretched arms, and embrace the salva-
tion which he freely proffers and urges
you to accept.
III. It now remains that I should
bring before you in the last place the
INFLUENCE WHICH THIS BLESSED HOPE
MUST HAVE ON ALL WHO ARE REALLY
possessed of it. We learn from the
verse which immediately precedes my
text, that those who are looking for this
blessed hope will be found " denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, and living
soberly, righteously and godly in this
present world." This agrees with what
the Apostle John says (1 John, iii. 3,)
where, speaking of the same hope, he
adds " and everj man that hath this hope
in him purifieth himself even as He is
pure ;" and to the same effect the Apostle
Peter, addressing those whom he supposes
were looking for and hasting unto the
coming of the day of God, emphatically
asks " What manner of persons ought ye
to be in all holy conversation and godli-
ness ?" Dear brethren, those who are
realizing, who are looking for this blessed
hope, must be anxious not only to preserve
a decent exterior before man, but far
more, to approve themselves to the Searcher
of hearts, Rev. ii. 23, who is " ready to
judge the quick and the dead at his
appearing andhis kingdom:" to be ''found
of him in peace, without spot and blame-
less," must be the aim of those servants
who are really looking for and expecting
the return of their Lord. It will not be
sufficient that the blood-bought saints of
Christ, be found living as moral and
amiable worldlings, " soberly and right-
eously in this present world ;" they must
also live godly — they must be manifest
even here as the children of God, " a
peculiar people zealous of good works."
The first thing that our Lord represents
himself as doing when he comes, having
received his kingdom, is summoning his
servants to an account, see Luke, xix. 11,
&c. ; and those who are realizing this,
must, in proportion as they do so, labour
that they may be accepted of and approved
by him. Further, nothing lam persuaded,
can raise the heart and affections from
earthly things, like this hope when realized
in the soul. It is the want of this that
mainly produces the conformity to the
world, and deadness to spiritual things
that prevails to such a lamentable extent
in the Church. With the declension of
this hope the Church has lost sight of
her true position in the world — that of
waiting for the Son of God from Heaven,
and only looking for her rest when her
Joshua shall appear, who shall overthrow
her adversaries, and shall turn her militant
into her triumphant state.
Dear Christian brethren, we have no
right to expect oifr happiness, or look for
our enjoyment in this present evil world ;
we are left like the servants among the
hostile citizens, to attend to the interests
of our absent Lord — to "occupy until
he comes ;" and in proportion as we are
faithful to our trust, and are witnesses for
Christ, we must expect to suffer all that
the world, the flesh and the devil can
inflict upon us.
<>4
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
In conclusion, I would ask you, my
Christian brethren, are you living in the
way you would desire to be found of
Jesus at his coming ? Are you exercising
and improving the talents committed to
you ; and of which you must so shortly
render an account ? Is your time, your
property, your influence, employed in that
way, that you think in your circumstances
most in accordance with the will of your
Lord, and most calculated to promote his
glory ? Is your conversation in every
respect as it becometh the gospel of
Christ, so as " to adorn the doctrine of
God your Saviour in all things ?" Are
you " mortifying your members which
are upon the earth, cleansing yourselves
from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit
perfecting holiness in the fear of God ?"
If you would be ready for that blessed
event — "the glorious appearing of the
great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" —
if you would be free from all misgivings
of mind, and have confidence, and not
be ashamed before Him at his coming,
you must sit loosely to the things of this
life, having your treasure in Heaven,
standing with your loins girt ard your
lights barning in the attitude of watchful-
ness and prayer, that whensoever your
Lord comes, " whether it be at evening,
or at midnight, or at cock-crowing, or in
the morning," you maybe ready to receive
Him being found watching.
Dublin: New Irish Pulpit Office, 1, St. Andrew-street. — John Robertson ;
W. Curry, Jun. and Co.; R. M. Tims, W. Carson, D. R. Bleakley. London,
R. Groombridge, J Nisbet and Co. ; Liverpool, H. Perris ; Manchester, Pratt.
Chester, Seacome ; Cork Tract Repository ; Drogheda, C. F. Collins ; and all
Booksellers.
GEORGE FOLDS, Printer, 1, Saint Andrew-street
(Opposite Trinity -ntl'eel, Dublin.)
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
GOSPEL PREACHER.
" We preach Christ crucified —
" Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God." — 1 Cor. i. 23, 24.
No. LXXVIII.
SATURDAY, MARCH 2nd, 1839.
Price 4d.
Rev. W. Le Poer Trench.
Rev. C. Caulfeild.
SALVATION BY GRACE.
A SERMON
PREACHED IN ST PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL, AT AFTERNOON SERVICE,
ON SUNDAY, 3rd OF FEBRUARY, 1839,
BY THE REV. WILLIAM LE POER TRENCH, B. D.
Rector of Killareran, Diocese of Tuam.
Acts xv. 11.
" We believe, that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved, even as they."
Even were the Gospel to be regarded
merely as a system calculated to benefit
us in our temporal concerns, it should
arrest our attention, interest our feel-
ings, and command our warmest admi-
ration ; for experience, as well as revela-
tion teaches us, that it is the fruitful source
of " whatsoever things are true, whatsoever
things are honest, whatsoever things are
just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever
things are lovely, and whatsoever things are
of good report;" and consequently, so long
as those social ties exist, which bind man,
in a state of civilized society, to his fel-
low-man, so long will the Christian religion
and the Gospel which teaches it, be respect-
ed, if for no other cause, at least for its
practical and ameliorating effects upon the
state of society at large — yes ! so long as
truth, honesty, justice, purity, and a proper
Vol. IV
respect for public opinion are regarded,
as conducive to domestic virtue and
national prosperity, so long must the
Gospel be respected, if not loved, as the
source from whence these national and
domestic virtues flow in the purest, surest,
and most unsullied stream.
But we do not stand here to-day to
recommend the Gospel solely on account
of the beauty and perfection of its ethical
system, and its consequent tendency to
promote the temporal welfare of mankind ;
we are aware that it has far higher objects
in view, that it addresses man not only in
his social but in his spiritual capacity; and
regarding him (as in truth he is) a sinner,
lying under the curse of God, it offers
salvation, and, raising the veil that hides
eternity from mortal eyes, it dispels the
uncertainty and gloom thai hangs about the
66
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
future, brightening the dark chambers of
the tomb, and presenting a cheering pros-
pect of eternal glory beyond the grave. It
is in this character (as that grace of God
which bringeth salvation) that we desire
now to recommend the Gospel to your
notice ; and may that Holy Spirit, which
was promised, to guide us unto all truth,
enable me so to speak, and you, my
brethren, to hear, that we may receive, and
adorn the holy doctrine taught by the
apostles of our Saviour Christ, "believing
that through the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, we shall be saved even as they."
We have in these words,
1st. A notice of the peculiar blessing of the
Gospel — Salvation — " 'We shallbe saved."
2ndly. The channel through ivhich
that blessing is conveyed to us — namely,
" through the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ ;'' and,
3rdly. We have an intimation of the
extent to ivhich that blessing reaches,
" We shall be saved even as they."
I. In the first place then, consider the
peculiar blessing of the gospel
Salvation.
This implies a previous state of slavery
and bondage, and in this thraldom the
whole human race, without distinction
and without exception, are uniformly re-
presented by the Scriptures as involved.
Sin sits enthroned over a fallen and en-
slaved world, and man, enfettered from
the very womb, bows in abject, voluntary
degradation, beneath its iron sceptre !
Yea ! not content with exercising an un-
bounded sway over both body and soul
in this world, sin pursues the unrepenting
sinner even beyond the grave, and,
grounding its claims for future empire,
upon the past exercise of power, it
enlists divine justice on its side, and fixes
its victim in its soul destroying grasp for
ever ! " All" says the Apostle Paul,
" .4// have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God ;" " They are all " says
the Psalmist, "all gone aside, they are
altogether become filthy, there is none
that doeth good, no not one ;" " the
whole world" says St. John, " lieth in
wickedness;" " the whole head is sick,"
says Isaiah, "and the whole heart faint,
from the sole of the foot, unto the crown
of the head ; there is no soundness in it,
but wounds and bruises and putrifying
sores ;" in the midst of this universal
corruption, over the wide expanseof this
deluge of iniquity, the voice of the
Eternal (re-echoed too by the conscience
of the sinner) rolls in irrevocable male-
diction and woe — " The soul that sinneth
it shall surely die," saith the Lord
Almighty, " Cursed is every one that
continueth notin a// things, that.are written
in the book of the law to do them."
And oh ! is not this a bondage ? is not
this a yoke, from which deliverance is
desirable, needful, nay, absolutely essen-
tial ? Yes ! and from this intolerable
yoke, from this present, future, and
eternal bondage, the Gospel proclaims
deliverance and salvation ; " Christ has
redeemed us from the curse of the law
being made a curse for us ;" and his
disciples are emancipated, not only from
the guilt, but also from the power of sin ;
" For" (says the Apostle,) " sin shall not
have dominion over you, for ye are not
under the law, but under grace." I am
aware that when we thus speak of sin as
bondage, and of the Gospel as liberty,
we are liable to be misunderstood by
some, and to be thought fanciful and
visionary by others. By the great mass
of mankind, the captivity of sin, is con-
sidered no captivity at all ; indulging their
lusts, engrossed in their worldly cares and
anxieties, or pursuing the phantoms of their
worldly ambition, they hug their chains,
and call it liberty ; but oh ! these sleeping
draughts of pleasure, these shadows of
ambition, these dreams of wealth, are
only so many delusions of Satan, to blind
his votaries to their real interests ! Heed
them not my dear brethren ; heed them
not ; they are whited sepulchres, built
over a mass of putrifying corruption, and
sure to fall at last and crush those who
trust in them, beneath their ruins !
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
67
I say then that it is bondage, virtual
bondage, to hi the captive of sin, even
though you seem to walk the earth in
freedom, and freely choose the broad
road that leadeth to destruction ; it is
bondage, shameful bondage, even though
like galley-slaves, the victims of it, herd
together in droves ; it is bondage, shame-
ful, degrading, debasing bondage, to be
the servant of sin; even though the
smiles of pleasure, the pomp of ambition,
and the splendour of wealth, unite to
gild and decorate the chain ! Aye !
bondage, from which Christ, and Christ
alone, can make you free.
Come then, my dear friends, come
to Christ — and you shall obtain at his
hands the peculiar blessing of the
Gospel, even the salvation of your souls.
Come to Jesus, and continue in his word,
and " ye shall know the truth, and the
truth shall make you free ;" say not, as
the Jews of old, " we were never in
bondage to any man, how sayest thou,
then ye shall be made free ?" Our
Saviour himself tells us, that whosoever
committeth sin is the servant of sin ; and
as we have before shown that all have
sinned, so now we say, all need salvation.
It matters not what is our rank, we need
salvation ; it matters not what is our
occupation in life, we need salvation ; it
matters not what are our mental acquire-
ments, we need salvation ; it matters not
what is our character before men, we
can have but one character in the sight of
God — that of sinners, sinners who need
salvation ! Oh ! then, let us seek (under
a deep conviction of this, our great need)
for the peculiar blessing of the Gospel,
even the salvation of our souls : let us
thankfully accept the proffered mercy of
our God, and let us " take the cup of
salvation and call upon the name of the
Lord."
Having thus noticed the peculiar bless-
ing of the Gospel, namely, salvation, and
having attempted, in some degree to ex-
hibit our need of it ; 1 shall now proceed
to consider,
II. The channel through which
this blessing is conveyed to us,
namely, " through the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ."
Salvation, my dear hearers, is not the
reward of merit, but the gift of grace ;
not the purchase of man's desert, but the
unearned bounty of God's free favor ;
" By grace are ye saved, through faith ;"
" As sin hath reigned unto death, even
so, grace reigns through righteousness,
unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our
Lord." Yes! blessed be God, he has
not left mankind, as he did the fallen
angels, who kept not their first estate, to
reap the wages of their sin, in hopeless,
cheerless, comfortless despair ; but by the
unearned, unmerited, and undeserved
love, wherewith he loved the world, he
planned, proclaimed, and perfected sal-
vation, for the meanest and most guilty
of mankind. True, we are shut up in
sin, even from our mother's womb ; true,
we are conceived in sin and shapen in
iniquity ; true, we are both by nature and
by practice, obnoxious to Gods ven-
geance ; " being by nature the children
of wrath," and by practice, " fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind ;"
but still, strange as it may seem, wonder-
ful as it may seem, paradoxical as it may
seem ! the most guilty of the human race,
is offered salvation freely, by God's grace,
through " the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus." But, as it is freely offered, so,
must it be freely accepted. No unbelieving
doubts and hesitation, on account of the
magnitude of the gift, and our own
unworthiness to receive it — no raurraur-
ings (in the pride of our intellect) at
imaginary defects, which our mole-eyed
wisdom may fancy it discovers in the plan
— no Pharisaical standing-out upon con-
ditions, which, if required, could never
be fulfilled — but, a humbling sense of
our own unworthiness, coupled with a
grateful sense of God's undeserved mercy
— a laying of the hand upon the mouth,
and the mouth in the dust, and a crying
before him, unclean ! unclean ! And a
68
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
believing, confiding, grateful acceptance
of salvation, through the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ ; he and he alone, is
" the way, and the truth, and the life,
and no man cometh to the Father, but
by him," and so long as this simple
announcement forms part of the inspired
record, so long will a self-righteous
dependence on our own efforts end in our
condemnation ; and a self-loathing trust
in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
terminate in our salvation. Grace, free
grace shines conspicuous throughout the
whole plan of man's salvation from first
to last ; it was grace that planned the
remedy, ere yet the disease was felt ; it
is grace that renders that remedy effectual,
" through sanctification of the Spirit, and
belief of the truth" — the foundation stone
of God's spiritual temple, the church,
was hewn out by grace ; by grace all the
members of that church are, as lively
stones, built into a spiritual temple unto
the Lord, and when the whole edifice
shall be perfected, and shall stand forth
in all its fair and just proportions, the
head-stone thereof shall be brought forth
with shoutings, crying, grace ! grace !
unto it. Proud and unhumbled men
will, doubtless, be offended at this, and,
rejecting salvation as a gift, will endea-
vour to earn it as a reward, by seeking
to establish some distinction between
themselves and more scandalous, or it may
be, only more vulgar sinners ; but this is
all labour in vain; — it has pleased Almighty
God to pronounce on the one hand, that
" by the deeds of the law there shall no
flesh be justified in his sight ;" and on
the other, that man is " saved by grace
through faith;" and whatever the self-
righteous Pharisee, or the infidel Sadducee,
may object to the contrary ; salvation
through the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, is the only salvation recognized in
the Bible ; the only salvation that will
either exalt the holiness, vindicate the
justice, and magnify the merer/ of the
Divine Being, or speak peace to the
sinner's conscience, and assure him of
acceptance with his God.
The Apostle Paul (Rom. iii.) asserts,
that this mode of salvation was expressly
adopted by God, in order to manifest his
own attributes of righteousness, j ustice, and
forbearing love, it " being set forth" (as
the apostle declares,) " to manifest the
forbearance of God in the remission of
sins, and to declare his righteousness,
that he might be just, and yet the justifier
of him that believeth in Jesus." Where
then is the force of that infidel reasoning,
which grounds its rejection of salvation
through the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, on its supposed contrariety to the
attributes of God ? Where is the boast
of the Pharisee, that salvation through
grace is inimical to the moral precepts of
the law ? " Do we then make void the
law through faith ? God forbid ! Yea i
we establish the law." But here I must
say a word, as to the way in which the
Lord Jesus Christ effected this salvation
for his people.
This he did, by taking upon him their
nature, becoming their substitute, and
undertaking to answer for their sins. —
He who " thought it not robbery to be
equal with God, emptied himself of his
glory, 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 became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross ;" thus he suffered for
sins — " the just for the unjust, that he
might bring us to God." And this he did
as the sinner's substitute, for " all we like
sheep have gone astray, we have turned
every one to his own way, and the Lord
hath laid on him, the iniquity of us all.
He was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities, the chas-
tisement of our peace was upon him, and
with his stripes, we are healed." Yes! the
vicarious sacrifice of the Son of God
forms a peculiar and distinctive feature
of the Christian religion ; remove it, and
all the other awakening and comforting
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
69
truths of God's Word would fall to the
ground along with it ; the corruption of
the human heart, the love, the wonderful
love of God to sinners, the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and the renewing, and
life-giving operations of the Holy Spirit ;
all the threatenings that would withdraw
the sinner from sin, all the truths that
would win him to his God ; all the pro-
mises that would comfort him amid the
various changes and chances of this
mortal life ; and all the hopes that shine
around his future prospects ; all ! all
would fade away ! into a dim, dark,
doubtful obscurity ; and leave Christianity
as cold, as cheerless, and as hopeless, as
the unsatisfactory speculations of the
ancient heathen philosophy : but it cannot,
ought not, must not, be lost sight of
thus. No ! no ! the vicarious atonement
made upon the cross, is the foundation
which God himself has laid, and we
know that " the foundation of God stand-
eth sure." It was decreed from eternity
an the counsels of the triune God —
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, were
alike pledged for its security ; it was
announced at the gates of Eden as the
charter of man's salvation ; and when itwas
perfected upon the cross, agloriousimmor-
tality was sealed for ever to all who believe.
But a word as to the way in which this
•salvation is applied to the sinner's soul.
This is through the operations of the Holy
Spirit ; it is peculiarly his office, to " take
of the things of Christ, and to show
them unto us ;" to direct the understand-
ing, enlighten the conscience, interest
the affections, and thus influence the will.
Thus our Saviour Christ comforts his
disciples, under the prospect of his
approaching sufferings, by the promise of
the Holy Ghost; "When he the Spirit
of truth is come, he shall guide you into
all truth; for he shall not speak of
himself ; but whatsoever he shall hear, that
shall he speak, and he will show you
things to come : he shall glorify me; for
he shall receive of mine, and shall show
it unto you."
Such, then, is the peculiar blessing of
the Gospel. A salvation altogether of
grace, decreed by the grace of God the
Father, wrought out by the grace of
God the Son, and applied and rendered
effectual by the grace of God the Holy
Ghost. Yes ! We believe that " through
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we
shall be saved."
III. Let us now consider, in the last place,
the intimation which is given in the text,
of THE EXTENT TO WHICH THIS ULESSED
SALVATION REACHES J " Wl SHALL BE
saved, even as they." In order rightly
to estimate the full force of these words,
it will be necessary to examine briefly
the context in which they stand. It ap-
pears that certain Judaizing teachers, who
had gone down from Jerusalem to An-
tioch, had endeavoured to pervert the
infant church in that place, by mixing
up the doctrine of justification by works,
with the doctrine of salvation through
"the grace of the Lord Jesus Ch fist :"
teaching the brethren, that except they
placed themselves under the yoke and
bondage of the law, they could not be
saved. Paul and Barnabas however, who
were at that time at Antioch, steadfastly
opposed the errors of these people ; but
not having, in themselves, sufficient
authority to decide the question, it was
referred to the apostles and elders assem-
bled in council at Jerusalem. They
accordingly came together to consider
of the matter, and after much discussion,
we are told that Peter stood up, and
reminded the brethren, how God
(through his instrumentality) had dealt
with believing Gentiles in the case of
the conversion of Cornelius and his house-
hold; that on that occasion, God him-
self had manifested his acceptance of the
Gentiles by miraculously pouring out
upon them the gift of the Holy Spirit,
simply on their believing ; and that even
the apostles and elders themselves, who
had been born Jews, looked for accept-
ance in no other way, — " But we be-
lieve " (he says in the words of the text,)
70
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
" that through the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as
they."
From this we gather the universal ap-
plicability of the gospel salvation ; there
is no longer any national distinction be-
tween Jew and Gentile, between Greek
and barbarian, between bond and free.
But " the same Lord over all is rich
unto all that call upon him.'' Our com-
mission, as ministers of the gospel, is as
extensive as the globe on which we live.
" Go ye into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature," is the di-
vine command, and to every individual
of the human race is the word of this sal-
vation sent. We can carry it to the
Greenlander, who builds his habitation
amid the everlasting snows, and equally
can we offer it to the African, who pants
beneath the more sultry suns of tropical
climes. The civilized inhabitant of Eu-
rope, and the wandering Arab of the
desert — the luxurious and effeminate Asi-
atic, and the hardy and robust. Indian of
the west, are alike embraced within its
comprehensive grasp ; and to every na-
tion under heaven we can go and say,
" repent, and believe the gospel," and
" we believe that through the grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall be saved."
And this is true also of the various de-
grees of affliction and of crime. The
cold and formal moralist — the half re-
pentant, hesitating, occasional transgressor
— and the unblushing, hardened, aban-
doned sinner, are each and all interested
in this " grace of God that bringeth sal*
vation." Go to the hospitals of disease,
visit the various abodes of affliction, pe-
nury, and crime. Let one be found, (if
it were possible) on whose head were
heaped all the woes that have been expe-
rienced, and all the crimes that have been
committed since the days of Adam until
now, and we do not hesitate to assert
that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
is sufficient to comfort even such an one,
under all his afflictions, and to cleanse
hiin from all his sin. God forbid that we
should dare to limit the grace and mercy
of Christ, or set bounds to his free and
unsearchable love. Oh ! No, " He is
able to save to the uttermost, all that
come unto God by him." " Come now,
and let us reason together, saith the
Lord : though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow ; though
they be red like crimson, they shall be as
wool." Yes! the afflicted may lookup
from the midst of his griefs — the prisoner
may attend from his dungeon — and the
malefactor may hearken from the very
gibbet ; and if they believe our message,
they may one and all adopt the language
of the text as the charter of their salva-
tion, and say, " We believe that through
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we
shall be saved even as they."
Such, dsar friends, I conceive to be
the scope and import of the text. You
have seen that it leads the mind to reflect
upon the peculiar blessing of the gospel,
even the salvation of the soul ; that it points
out the channel through which that bless-
ing is conveyed to us, namely, through
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ ; and,
lastly, that it intimates that that blessing
is equally needed and equally applicable
to all, high and low, rich and poor,
" Barbarian, Scythian, bond and free."
And now let me ask, have you ever
reflected upon your own want of this sal-
vation? have you ever felt sin as a burden,
and sighed after deliverance from it as for
liberty ? Have you ever thought of the
danger of trusting to your own works for
salvation, and refusing to accept it through
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ ?
Some there may be, even among my pre-
sent hearers, who either disregard or dis-
sent from the doctrines we have been
attempting to establish — and to such I
would now address myself. Look, my
fellow sinners, look at that glorious, happy,
ransomed assembly which surround the
throne of the eternal God. Look at
that " great multitude which no man can
number, saved out of all nations, and
kindreds, and people, and tongues, which
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
71
are before the throne of God, and serve
him day and night in his temple" — Do
you expect to join that ransomed host,
to share their glory, and partake their
bliss ? Do you hope to be saved even as
they ? Then must you seek salvation
through the same channel through which
they obtained it; they sought salvation
through the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ ; they " washed their robes and
made them white in the blood of the
lamb ;" and be assured, dear friends, and
I say it as one who shall hereafter give
account to God for every word he utters
here this day, — be assured that unless
you believe that "through the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ you shall be
saved," you never can be saved, " even as
they." I pray you, therefore, not to
rush into the presence of your God with
the filthy robes of your own imagined
righteousness upon you ; that would be
sure to provoke the startling inquiry,
" Friend, how earnest thou in hither, uot
having on a wedding garment ?" But re-
nounce all dependance upon self, trust
only in the free mercy of your God ; be-
lieve " that through the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ you shall be saved," and you
shall enter into the joy of your Lord. I
trust, however, that a large proportion of
my present hearers have thus been led to
seek and to obtain salvation through 'the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
brethren ! by the grace of God you are
what you are; take heed, therefore, that
his grace, which is in you, be not in vain,
but see that you labour more abundantly
than all those who have so much of good
works in their mouths, and so very few of
them in their lives. Remember, dear
brethren, that the eye of the world, as
well as the eye of God, is upon you, and
inasmuch as "ye are the light of the
world," so let your light shine that the
darkness of the world around you may be
enlightened, and sinners be led, through
your instrumentality, to trust in the grace
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen.
CHURCH MISSIONARY SERMON.
A SERMON,
PREACHED IN CHRIST CHURCH, CORK,
BY THE REV. CHARLES CAULFEILD, A.M.
Vicar of Kilcock, and Domestic Chaplain to the Earl of Charlemont.
Isaiah, lii, 7.
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that
publisheth peace ; that bringeth good tidings of good ; that publisheth salvation ; that saith
unto Zion, thy God reigneth."
The Word of God, communicated by the
voice of his holy apostles and prophets,
brings tidings of mercy and forgiveness.
This communication is the free giftof God,
flowing from his unbounded love. Man
would have imagined that if a message
came from the throne of a pure and holy
God to a fallen and guilty world, that it
would have told of wrath and woe, of the
speedy vengeance of an offended God ;
but " God's ways are not man's ways, nor
God's thoughts, man's thoughts: as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are
God's ways higher than man's ways, and
God's thoughts than man's thoughts."
When he spake to his fallen and sinful
creatures, it was not in a voice of wrath
and terror, but of pardon and peace.
The only knowledge which we can have
of this mighty God " in whom we live,
and move, and have our being," before
whose dread tribunal we must stand when
the pilgrimage of life is over, must
be received from that revelation of his
will, which in mercy he has communi-
cated to us ; and in that word, all that is
needful for man to know regarding his
comfort here and everlasting peace here-
after, is fully revealed ; so that the
language of the 6th Article of our church,
is fully borne out by the blessed experience
of every believing child of God — " The
Holy Scriptures contain all things necessary
to salvation ; so that whatsoever is not read
therein, or may not be proved thereby, is
not to be required of any man that it
should be believed as an article of faith,
or be thought requisite or necessary to
salvation.'' Now this revelation, God
requires that his people should be ac-
quainted with ; he has not given and
wonderfully preserved it, that his people
should neglect and despise it. We must ac-
quaint ourselves with him, before we can be
at peace — with that way of acceptance
whereby, though our " sins be as scarlet,
they may be made white as snow, though
they be red like crimson, they may be
as wool.''
If the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
be hid, the apostle informs us, " it is hid
to them that are lost," whom the God of
the world blinds; and if it be a legitimate
conclusion from this statement of St. Paul,
that those ignorant of the Gospel of
Christ perish, what an awful prospect
does it open before us, of the ruined and
hopeless state of the hundred of millions
of the heathen by whom we are sur-
rounded ! — " bone of our bone and flesh
of our flesh," yet " aliens from the com-
monwealth of Israel, strangers from the
covenant of promise, having no hope, and
without God in the world !" If the one
and only way of acceptance before God,
if the only fountain opened for sin and
for uncleanness be unknown, and the
great majority of our fellow-creatures live
and die ignorant of the way of salvation,
surely we may say with the ancient
prophet, in the contemplation of" the
awfu! state to which man has been
reduced by Satan, " Oil that my head
were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of
tears, that I might weep day and night for
the slain of the daughter of my people !"
The object of the Society, in whose
behalf it is my privilege to address you this
day — the Church Missionary Society —
is, to make known the salvation of God to
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
73
those nations of the earth, that sit in
darkness, and the valley of the shadow
of death, to send forth among them,
heralds of divine loveand mercy, testifying
of peace on earth to man, — peace, through
the blood of the everlasting covenant, and
"glory to God in the highest;" to tell the
wondrous tidings, " that God is just, and
yet the justifier of him that believeth in
Jesus ;" that " mercy and truth are met
together, righteousness and peace have
kissed each other." How precious is the
thought, that notwithstanding the vastness
of the promises of God, notwithstanding
their exceeding greatness, in his own
good and appointed time, he will assuredly
fulfil them all, heaven and earth may
pass away — yea they shall pass away — but
one jot or tittle of that which God hath
promised, cannot fail of its fulfilment.
All that God bath spoken he will fully
accomplish. In the bringing to pass,
that which he has determined, God uses
instruments, weak and feeble in them-
selves, each efficient to perform that
which he has ordained ; he uses men as
his instruments in making known his
Gospel, the feeble potsherds of the earth,
to testify of everlasting glory, and Christ's
redeeming love ; and he makes them
efficient to the salvation of many souls.
So also we may look on this Society, as
one of the many instruments, highly
honored in this instrumentality, for the
diffusion of the knowledge of a Saviour's
love, and the preparing, and making
ready the way of the Son of God, that
at his second coming to judge the world,
a people may be found acceptable before
him.
1 The primary meaning of that por-
tion of the Word of God, to which your
attention is now more immediately
directed, deserves consideration for a few
moments. In reading the Word of God,
we lose much of the force and beauty of
many of its passages, if we are ignorant
of the circumstances under which they
were written, and those of the individuals
to whom they were addressed. The passage
which forms our text, is supposed to refer
to the sending forth the heralds of the
conquering Persian to proclaim liberty to
the Jews that groaned under captivity in
Babylon — "thus saith Cyrus king of
Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath
the Lord God of heaven given me, and
he hath charged me to build him an
house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Who is there among you of all his
people ? His God, be with him, and
let him go up." In order fully to under-
stand the joy and gladness which such
a proclamation as this, must neces-
sarily bring to the poor Jew mourning in
captivity, we must have some conception
of their condition, and the feelings that
swelled in their hearts during that period
of degradation and suffering. Of this,
some idea may be formed, from the
lamentations of Jeremiah, which speak
the language of the believing Israelite,
mourning over the fall of Zion — " Is it
nothing to you, all ye that pass by ?
Behold and see, if there be any sorrow
like unto my sorrow, which is done unto
me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted
me, in the day of his fierce anger :" and
again in the 137th Psalm, we find the
captive Jews, thus describing their bitter
sorrows, " By the rivers of Babylon,
there we sat down ; yea, we wept, when
we remembered Zion ;" the insulting
language of the conqueror is next de-
scribed ; " For they that carried us away
captive required of us a song ; and they
that wasted us required of us mirth,
saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
How shall we sing the Lord's song in a
strange land ? If I forget thee, O
Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her
cunning. If I do not remember thee,
let my tongue cleave to the roof of my
mouth ; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my
chief joy." Here is the language of sor-
row under deep affliction : here we find
yearning of heart for the glorious land of
promise, which God chose out of all
nations of the earth for his peculiar peo-
ple ; mourning in slavery, dragged from
their happy home, and much loved
country, at the proud chariot wheels of
their triumphant conqueror ! Place for a
moment before your view, one ol the no-
bles or princes of Zion, a slave, a captive,
doomed to toil day after day,on the banks of
the river Chebar, gathering around him
the evening his little ones ; and as his heart
swells, and the tear trembles in his eye,
at his present degradation, and the ruin
and misery of his house — telling them of
the fertile fields and grassy slopes of
Canaan, of the rich possessions once
their own — and the marble palaces in
which their fathers dwelt — of gushing
streams, and vine clad hills — of the
mighty things that God had done amongst
them in ancient days — of the beauty of
74
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
Jerusalem, surrounded with the everlast-
ing hills — of the glory of the temple of
the Lord : — conceive him thus engaged,
while he looks forth from his hut of
reeds, on the unwholesome marshes
along the banks of the Chebar, and while
thus employed, he starts at the blast of
the brazen trumpets that strikes upon his
ear ; he leaps up, and rushes forth, and
the joyful tidings contained in the procla-
mation of Cyrus, falls upon his astonished
ear, he hears it indeed with joy —
excessive joy almost overpowers him, and
he can scarcely comprehend the intelli-
gence ; at length in all its full and happy
truth, he receives the message ; he stands
no longer a slave but a freeman, not only
free, but restored again to his long forsa-
ken but much loved home — again to
stand in the hall of his fathers, to take
his place among the princes of Israel, to
bow before the Lord, and worship
Jehovah on the hill of Zion ! This may
give us some faint idea, of the joy which
the message of Cyrus brought to the
captive Jew, beautiful, indeed, on the
mountains were the feet of those who
carried such joyful tidings.
Even as the prophet Isaiah foretold,
this deliverance came to the people of
God, great and sudden ; but God had
promised, and he surely brought it to
pass. In vain the might and power
of Babylon interposed ; in vain her lofty
walls and brazen gates stood forth, tower-
ing to heaven, and to all appearance,
invincible in strength ; when the day
and hour came for the diliverance of the
Israel of God, the might and power of
Babylon was like the dust of the summer
threshing floor, and passed away before
the breath of Jehovah. The vast and
noble river was dried up, the brazen
gates were burst, and the blood-stained
soldiers of the conquering Persian, like a
fiery flood of wrath, burst into the palace
of the fallen and defenceless king of
Babylon ; and the dominion and empire
of Babylon fell for ever, even in one
hour, because the day for the redemption
of Israel was fully come.
2. — But if this passage had a meaning
full of hope and comfort to the believing
Israelite when in captivity, we are warrant-
ed by the Apostle St. Paul, who quotes
this passage as applicable to the preaching
of the Gospel, by those whom the risen
and triumphant Saviour, victorious over
death and hell, sent forth with this com-
mand, " Go ye into all the world, and
preach the Gospel to every creature."
It has therefore a secondary fulfilment,
far more glorious and extensive, in the
sending forth those who shall preach
good tidings of salvation to all the ends
of the earth ; and the message thus
conveyed has an analogy with that pro-
claimed by the heralds of Cyrus ; for it
bears to man — fallen and degraded, the
captive of sin, fast bound in slavish
chains — the tidings of deliverance, "Cap-
tivity is led captive," and at the sounding
forth the trumpet of the Gospel, the
chains fall from the hand of the slave of
Satan, and the doors of the dark prison
house are thrown open to him, and he
hears the joyful sound. Although an
alien from his home, and far away from
Canaan, the blowing of the trumpet of
the Gospel, tells of restoration to the
forfeited inheritance. It proclaims a full
and yet the only mode of deliverance to
enslaved man ; the only mode of recon-
ciliation with an offended God ; the one
only way of justification before Him ; for
" there is no other name under heaven,
given among men, whereby we can be
saved."
The state, then, of the multitude of
the heathen as beings responsible before
God, with immortal souls, formed for an
eternity of happiness or woe, and yet
ignorant of this message of pardon and
peace, should excite our earnest atten-
tion, and rouse our warmest sympathies.
We are not to judge their state hereafter,
by our own hopes or expectations of the
manner in which God shall deal with
them ; or how they may be justified
before him, to whom they have to answer •.
we can only tell what God hath spoken.
He tells us, " That the imagination of the
thoughts of man's heart is only evil con-
tinually," that the nations ignorant of the
Saviour, " dwell in the land of the
shadow of death," that saints and faithful
in Christ Jesus at Ephesus were, when
heathens, " dead in trespasses and sins,
wherein in times past ye walked, accord-
ing to the course of this world, according
to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience," that were, when thus led
by nature, "the children of wrath even
as others." Now, the state of men,
ignorant of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus,
differs nothing in the present day, from
that of those who were alive, when the
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
75
Apostle wrote. To the same God who is
unchangeable, and before the same dread
tribunal, must they give an account for
the deeds done in the body, whether they
be good, or whether they be evil.
3. — The mode which God has been
pleased to appoint for making the joyful
sound known to man, is by the preaching
of the word of God by his fellow man.
The Lord might command the angelic
host that stand around him in glory, those
ministers of his will, who rejoice to do
his pleasure, to convey from shore to
shore, and from pole to pole, the glad
tidings of pardon and mercy— and ten
thousand times ten thousand would spring
forth to obey the glad command. The
everlasting Gospel might be written with
a sunbeam on the sky, that all earth
might behold it ; but such did not seem
good in his sight, who is infinitely wise ;
and God hath taught us in compassion
to our weakness, why he has not thus
acted, " we have this treasure in earthen
vessels," says the apostle, " that the
excellency of the power might be of God
and not of us." The decree of Cyrus
which gave liberty to the nation of Israel
might, if it had been rolled up, and laid
aside in the archives of the palace of
Babylon, have become quite ineffective :
until the tidings it conveyed were made
known, the captive Israelite could not
avail himself of the freedom which it
conferred. What punishment, think you,
would the officers of the generous king
have deserved at his hands, had they
kept back, or concealed from Israel, the
decree which gave them deliverance ?
You will immediately denounce against
them the severest penalty that could be
inflicted, if they had thus rendered
ineffective the mercy of their king. I
charge that same crime on the professing
Christian nations of Europe and America.
Their king, even the king of kings, hath
issued a decree, proclaiming " liberty to the
captive, and the opening of the prison to
them that are bound," proclaiming life, and
glory to the believing and penitent child
of man ; and this heavenly decree has
been kept back, concealed, and rendered
of no effect, by those who profess to be
his servants, to whom he entrusted it, and
to whom he gave commandment to
publish it to all nations.
The labours of the various societies,
which have sprung up, having for their
object the spreading abroad the knowledge
of a Saviour's love, within the last fifty
years — many of them much more re-
cently — affords a proof that at length
after a sleep of centuries, the professing
people of God have awakened to a sense
of their responsibility, and the obligation
under which they lie, to fulfil this plain,
simple, unrepealed command of the Sa-
viour to his people. Among these soci-
eties stands forth the Church Missionary
Society, not the least either in the extent
of its operations, or the blessings it has
been made the instrument of conferring.
If we attempt a brief survey of its various
missions and stations, we must take a
circuit of the globe : — we must pass from
the frozen regions of North America,
where the indians dwell " amid the thrill-
ing regions of the thick ribbed ice;"
where we could show you, on the sabbath-
day, three churches crowded with wor-
shippers, and drinking in, from the lips
of their pastors, the glad tidings of sal-
vation ; to the burning and pestilential
shores of Western Africa, — the earliest
scene of the Society's labours: — here we
could point out to your observation the
liberated negro, not long since thrown
forth an outcast on the shore, scarcely
elevated above the beast of the field, a
thoughtless shouting savage, now changed
into an orderly and devout worshipper of
the God of Heaven. We could show you
above three thousand little children,
taught to sing the praises of redeeming
love, and trained up according to the
apostolic precept, " in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord." We must then
take you along the classic shores of the
Mediterranean, and the smiling islands of
the Greek Archipelago, and ask you to
sail with us up the broad stream of the
Nile, and view the operations of the So-
ciety among the ancient Coptic church
in Egypt and Abyssinnia ; and the fol-
lowers of the false Prophet of Mecca, by
whom they are surrounded. We must
then pass over the rich plains and fertile
vallies of Hindoostan, whose teeming
millions call aloud, " come over and help
us !" Here the Society has three missions
established, Northern, Western, and
Southern India, where the native popu-
lation have begun to throw their idols to
the moles and the bats, and to view with
horror and loathing the blood-stained and
soul-polluting rites of their false gods.
Their worship is full of abomination, that
could not be repressed, and the altars of
76
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
their idols are defiled with human blood. I that one great prevailing cry of inter-
They call for help to the Christians of
Europe ; they ask for heralds of mercy,
to proclaim glad tidings ; but alas, they
call in vain ! Oh Lord! awaken a mis-
sionary spirit in the hearts of thy people
at home. Verily we are guilty concerning
the blood of our brethren ; we see the
anguish of their souls, and yet we have no
pity. Lord pardon us ! Oh Lord, forgive
the coldness and deadness of our hearts !
From India we must pass on to Ceylon,
perhaps the loveliest land in all the earth
that the sun beholds when he runs his
race of glory ; a land of hills and vallies,
of forests and mountains, of lakes and
rivers, a glorious and beautiful land,
where —
" All save the spirit of man is divine."
Yet even here, amid the thick
gloom and almost palpable darkness that
broods over the moral horizon, a few
gleams of joyous light burst forth, a few
beams of mercy from the sun of righte-
ousness enlighten the surrounding dark-
ness. Here are Christian churches and
congregations ; and the poor blind idolater
has been taught to know that " the blood
of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin."
Turning from this land of loveliness, we
must spread our sail and visit the mission-
ary settlements in Australia; where man,
once formed in the image of God, ap-
pears in the lowest state of degradation,
scarcely endowed with an idea beyond
his instinctive wants. Again, on the
shores of the blood-stained and cannibal
New Zealand we can point to the victory
of the cross over heathen darkness ; and
can show, on the sabbath-day, the rising
generation assembled, and reading in
their own tongue, the wonderful works
of God. We can show the savage war-
rior, casting aside his blood-polluted war
club, and sitting down at the feet of the
missionary, to be instructed in " the
things which belong to his everlasting
peace." On the shores of South-eastern
Africa the heralds of heavenly love have
gone forth : amid its hills and vallies an
effort has been made to plant the standard
of the cross, and sound abroad the silver
trumpet of the gospel. Where the my-
riads of China swarm, where man is found
highly civilized, yet ignorant of the God
tliat made him, a messenger of peace has
been despatched by our Society. We
trust that the hearts of God's faithful
people at home may be awakened, and
cession may burst forth from the whole
universal church before the throne of
God, that he may be pleased in his mercy
to open a safe and effectual door for the
introduction of the Gospel to the long,
long neglected millions of Chnia. And
now, sweeping more than half round the
globe, again we come to the luxuriant
and beautiful islands of the West Indies ;
where, under the sanction of the bishops
there established, the Society has entered
on an important field of labour. Intense,
indeed, is the desire of the liberated
negro for instruction, and God has been
pleased to endow those once degraded
and oppressed children of Africa, with a
quick and lively intelligence ; an earnest
desire is manifested among them for
instruction, and they only require those
who can teach them.
Such are the missions, which, over the
face of the whole earth, the Society has
been able to occupy, and these are car-
ried on under the superintendence of
sixty-eight English clergymen, and eleven
Lutheran and and five native Christian
clergymen. There are about four hundred
and sixty catechists and schoolmasters,
who conduct four hundred and forty
schools, containing above twenty-one
thousand scholars ; and about twenty
thousand attend public worship in the
various places which have been opened
for that purpose. When we consider
these things, we may well say, " What
hath God wrought?" all this mighty work
achieved in the space of thirty-eight years,
the greater portion within the last twenty
years ! and yet this is nothing compared
with that which remains to be done. —
There is room for a thousand times such
an increase, and room for a thousand
fold more would remain ; and yet the
brethren are all crying out, — one universal
call comes from India, and Africa, from
China, and America, and from the South
Seas, — " come over and help us !"— And
why do not the Society respond to this
call ? Alas ! the answer they are with
sorrow compelled to give, is, " we have
not men who are willing to go, we have
not the means to send them." The trulv
good and great man who is at the head
of the Christian church in Northern India,
as its bishop, lately wrote to the Society,
saying, that a great and effectual door lay
open for the introduction of the Gospel
into Northern India ; that the old religion
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
77
or superstitions of the country were tot-
tering to their fall, that the heathen were
beginning to inquire concerning this new
religion, and that if a thousand mission-
aries were sent out, they would be wel-
comed with open arms in every part of
Northern India. The appeal was made,
the above intelligence, this important in-
vitation, was circulated among the four-
and-twenty thousand professing Christ-
ians of Great Britain, and what was the
result? Five hundred preachers went
forth ? alas, not one hundred ! Did fifty
hear the call and go forth ? Did twenty ?
did ten ? did five ? Not even Jive ! Alas,
alas ! the hearts of the professing people
of God at home are cold and dead.
Yet the heathen are daily perishing, " the
harvest truly is plenteous, but the la-
bourers are few; pray ye therefore the
Lord of the harvest that he may send
forth labourers into his harvest."
The message sent by these ministers of
the King of heaven is worthy of a God
of holiness and love, and must be re-
received, (for there is no other mode by
which it is possible to receive it) by faith.
It is truly joyful news, " glad tidings of
great joy," telling of pardon and for-
giveness to man on earth, consistent with
God's glory in heaven ; joyful tidings —
for they are suited to man's understanding,
simple and plain, easily comprehended,
" God so loved the world that he gave
his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life." It tells man that
though he has sold himself, and become
the slave of sin and death, that Christ
can make him free, that it was for this
purpose he was anointed of God, "to
preach good tidings unto the meek, to
bind up the broken-hearted ;" that though
he is poluted and unholy, " the blood of
Christ cleanseth from all sin ;" that this
glorious salvation, that this fulness of
glory thus promised, is freely given to all
who seek it, that every longing heart and
parched tongue may freely drink of the
water of life. " Ho, every one that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he
that hath no money ; come ye, buy and
eat, yea, come buy wine and milk,
without money and without price." Like
the prophet Baptist on the banks of the
Jbrdan, it is the high privilege of the
preacher of the everlasting Gospel, to
direct the inquiring soul to lift her
eye of faith, and "behold the Lamb of
God that taketh away the sins of the
world." This message is very glorious,
opening up to the eye of the believer,
the glimpse of the kingdom of heaven,
the rich and fertile fields, the gushing
streams, and waving palms, of the hea-
venly Canaan — the ransomed and re-
deemed of the Lorcr^ an innumerable
multitude whom no man could number,
having golden crowns upon their heads,
standing before the throne of God. Yes,
blessed be God, though man be vile and
sinful, God " hath made him to he sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in
him:" yes, "the Lord hath laid upon
him the iniquity of us all," and though
in that day " the iniquity of Israel shall
be sought for, there shall be none ; and
the sins of Judah, and they shall not be
found."
As in ancient times the servants of
God, by faith received the promises, so
now this people by the same instrumen-
tality, are made partakers of his grace.
Of the noble company, who each in
their day and generation, adorned, on
earth, the doctrine of God their Saviour,
mentioned in the 1 1 th of Heb. it is affirmed
" these all died in faith. ' Now, " faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God." and how can they hear
without preachers? our simple object is
to send forth to the heathen, those who
will testify unto them of the grace of
God. And now let us look above — by
the eye of faith, we may behold the
throne of the Lamb, the company of his
redeemed people around him, they are
gathered from all nations, and among
them stand many who first heard of the
efficacy of a Saviour's blood, of God's
pardoning love, of the Spirit's sanctifying
influence, from the lips of the poor,
humble, struggling missionary.
Many instances of the power of divine
grace, triumphing over the darkness and
pollution of idolatry, might be mentioned ;
but one instance of triumphant faith in
death will be at present sufficient — it was
after a day of missionary toil, at Broughton
chapel, that Mr. Davis was requested to
visit a dying native in the neighbourhood :
he found him lying in a verandah, covered
with a dirty garment, and resting his
head on a mat rolled up as a pillow. He
was an old man, his beard was grey, he
was fully tatooted, his countenance had
been remarkably fine, but it was becoming
78
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
fixed in death — he knelt over him with
deep feelings of regretand sorrow. Surely,
he thought, this poor man's glass is run out,
and he is about to appear in the presence
of God, alas ! alas ! what could then be
done for him ! he spoke to him ; the
dying savage tried to speak, but was
unable — at length his eye, that was glaring
in death, brightened, the muscles of his
lips relaxed, he raised his feeble arm, and
letting it fall on his breast, he exclaimed,
" my mind is fixed upon Christ as my
Saviour." " How long," cried the
missionary in astonishment, " have you
been seeking Christ ?" " from the first,"
he replied, " Christ is in my heart, and
my soul is joyful." He requested him
to keep a firm hold of Christ; he said, " I
have no fear, Christ is with me." The
missionary read part of the 14th of John,
and prayed with him ; he told him how
he blessed God for having sent messen-
gers with the message of salvation, that
he was dying, and longed to be with
Christ. " Oh," said he, " I shall die to-
day, this is the sacred day." Here was
a poor bloodstained, murderous idolater,
changed by the grace of God, and enabled,
filled with lively and triumphant faith, to
take up the language of the sweet
Psalmist of Israel and say, " Though I
walk through the valley of the shadow
of death, I will fear no evil ; for thou
art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they
comfort me ;" " many shall come from
the east, and from the west, from the
north, and from the south ; and shall sit
down with Abraham, and Isaac, and
Jacob, in the kingdom of God." Oh
who can tell, or who can count the value of
one immortal soul ? the sun that shines
in glory, and " comes forth as a bride-
groom out of his chamber, and rejoice as
a giant to run his course," shall sink in
darkness and fade aivay ; but the immortal
soul of man shall endure for ever ; the
salvation of one soul, bought and redeem-
ed by the blood of the Lamb, would a
thousandfold repay all the toil, the labour,
and expense of the Society. The number
brought to a knowledge of Christ the
Lord, as the Saviour of sinners, by the
preaching of those sent forth by this
Society, will be fully known "in that day
when the Lord of Hosts shall make up his
jewels."
5. — We have also brought before us
in this passage of the Word of God, the
important truth, that the character of the
preacher should correspond with his
message, that he should show forth in his
life and conversation, that the glorious
tidings he was commissioned to convey to
others, had been received by himself, and
the incorruptible seed of the Word sown
in the heart, had produced the fruits
corresponding in life. In all periods of
the church of Christ, and in all places,
this has been necessary, in order that
the tidings borne may have their full
and blessed effect; but above all things
it is necessary, especially among the
heathen — there above all places — the
preacher of the Gospel should shine as
a light in a dark place, should stand forth,
so separated from the pollutions, the many
and unutterable pollutions of heathenism,
and all the defilements and abominations
of idolatry ; that those who behold him
may take note of him that he has been
with Jesus. Oh, pray then that the feet
of the missionaries in foreign lands may
be beautiful in holiness and love. None
can tell the trials and sorrows, the temp-
tations and struggles, of the missionary,
save those who have stood on the mission-
ary field, when in the midst of storm and
conflict, he essays to plant the standard
of the cross in an enemy's country ! How
can he hope to stand — " without are fight-
ings, and within are fears?" He can only
stand by looking continually unto Christ
his Saviour, " who for the joy that was set
before him, endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is set down at the right
hand of God ;" by looking continually and
steadfastly unto the end of his earthly race,
and having "his conversation in heaven."
Much injury has arisen to the cause of
the Gospel, from the inconsistent life of
its preachers ; the devil and the world
are ever on the watch, and seize with
eagerness, on the slightest deviation from
the straight path of rectitude in the child
of God. May the knowledge of this fact
keep us more and more watchful, least
we bring discredit on the truth that we
profess, and do dishonor to Christ our
Saviour; and make us more earnest in
our prayers, that aid may be afforded to
our brethren in heathen lands, exposed to
severe and peculiar temptation ; that God
may keep them safe, " that the everlasting
arms may be underneath them," and that
they may " hear a voice behind them,
saying, this is the way, walk ye in it,
when they turn to the right hand or when
they turn to the left.''
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
79
Great difficulty, as may be conceived,
has been found in procuring properly qua-
lified men, to undertake the duty of
missionaries, and perhaps the more pecu-
liarly suited a child of God may be for
this important and particular sphere of
duty, the less he is conscious of his fitness.
If a detail were made of the necessary
qualifications of those who would seek to
glorify God in this part of his vineyard,
the most experienced servant of God
would be found to shrink back from the
responsibility. Fervent piety, great zeal,
an holy boldness and courage in the
Christian warfare, unblemished purity of
life and heart, with deepened, sincere
humility, and self abasement, are some
of the leading requisites in him, who
would head the forlorn hope (shall we
call it,) in the combat of the armies of
God. Oh, then pray that zealous, able,
faithful men, may be raised up to go
forth to the missionary work — men who,
like the apostle of old, can say in the con-
templation of sufferings, reproaches, and
shame, " But none of these things move
me, neither count I my life dear unto
myself, so that I may finish my course
with joy, and the ministry that I have
received of the Lord, that I may fulfil
it."
Having thus considered the message
alluded to in our text, and the mode ap-
pointed for making it known, with the
character of the bearer of these joyful
tidings, let us briefly consider —
II. The authority on which this pro-
clamation is made. It was the conqneror
of Babylon, the victorious Persian, that
gave liberty to the captive Jews ; it is the
conqueror of death and hell, the risen
and triumphant Saviour, the God who
reigns in Zion, the King of Kings, who
gave commandment thatthe Gospel — glad
tidings of great joy — should be proclaimed
to all people. " All power is given unto
him in heaven and in earth, "and by virtue
of that power committed to Immanuel,
pardon and forgiveness of sins is pro-
claimed to every creature. Sound,
sound abroad, then, these glorious tidings,
— let the earth, the sea, and the ever-
lasting hills take up the joyful strain, and
cry aloud and shout — Salvation ! salvation
to the fallen and guilty child of Adam's
sinful race ! Redemption's work is done !
The Lord shall be king over the whole
earth; he reigns now as a king in the
hearts of his believing people, and this
spiritual kingdom began to be established
here in the days of John the Baptist ; and
it is set up on earth wherever the Gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ is preached
faithfully, and joyfully received. True,
the kingdom is yet small, and the band
apparently feeble, but the Lord of Hosts
is with them, the God of Jacob is their
refuge ; his word is pledged, and his
power exercised for their preservation and
deliverance, and " He will guide them
by his counsel, and afterwards will receive
them into glory."
In faith and hope we look for the ex-
tension of this kingdom ; we know that
Christ shall have the heathen for bis in-
heritance, and the utmost part of the
earth for his possession — " That the
earth shall be filled with the knowledge
of the glory of the Lord as the waters
cover the sea ;" and we believe that in
extending the field of missionary labours,
we, however feeble and unworthy, are
preparing the way for that glorious dis-
play of the power of Jehovah. All the
prophets tell of these blessed times ; all,
with one harmonious voice, conclude
their inspired songs by telling of man
redeemed from sin and death ; and that
long expected day, when the name of the
Lord shall be known from the rising of
the sun to the going down of the same,
and when "the Lord of Hosts shall reign
in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and
before his ancients, gloriously."
Have you, my brethren, heard these
glorious tidings contained in the Gospel
of the Lord Jesus ? Have you by faith
received them, and made them your own ?
Have they brought to you the deliverance
foretold, freedom from the condemnation,
the love, the power of sin ? or are you
still in bondage? the slave of Satan,
" the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience ?" If you follow the prac-
tice, or love the indulgence of sin, you
cannot be the servants of Christ, made
free by his Spirit, from the law of sin and
death. Corruption may struggle in the
breast of the child of God, and pollute
his holiest services ; but he loathes and
abhors sin, and is thus free from its pre-
vailing power, so that it has not dominion
over him. Search, then, and try whose
subject you are, and whom you obey ;
ascertain if you have come out from the
pollution of a world that lieth in wicked-
ness, and are growing in grace and the
80
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
knowledge of the love of Christ your Sa-
viour ; andthereby progressively becoming
more and more " meet to be partakers of
the inheritance of the saints in light:"
and, finally, remember that the citizens of
Christ's kingdom are a loyal people, that
they believe in, obey, and love their
king.
How glorious is the Gospel ! How
exceedingly precious the promises of
God ! Even as by the eye of faith we
now behold the Saviour, crowned in
glory, so we shall see him eye to eye,
and face to face. Yes, "every eye shall
see him !" but in that day one immense
shout shall burst from the lips of his vic-
torious people. " Lo ! this is our God,
we have waited for him, and he will save
us ; this is the Lord, we have waited for
him, we will be glad and rejoice in his
salvation ."
In conclusion, I commit the cause of
the Church Missionary Society to your
prayers and your consideration. If you
value the Gospel of the Lord Jesus
for yourself, if you have experienced in
your own soul its saving power and holy
influence, you will be more anxious to
extend its blessings to the poor benighted
heathen. The principle of the Gospel
is expansive ; it embraces the world. All
can aid in this glorious work ! Are there
any here who will go forth, who, not
counting " houses or lands, father or
mother, brethren or sisters, dear unto
them, "will go forth and engage in this work
of faith and labour of love ? Oh that God
would awaken a spirit of tender pity in
the hearts of his people for the perishing
heathen ! Will you aid usby your prayers ?
The Lord himself hath taught us to pray
for the extension of his kingdom, that
his name may be hallowed, that his king-
dom may come, that his will may be done
on earth as it is in heaven. Let me in-
treat, then, that when you bow your
knees before the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, on the Sabbath morn
or evening, in social or private prayer,
that the cause of the missionary may not
be forgotten ; that God would bless, and
support, and comfort them in their ardu-
ous warfare. Again, give us your coun-
tenance and support ; and in order that
you may do so effectually, make yourself
acquainted with the details of the Society,
and the particulars of their operations in
the various stations established amonf
the heathen ; and the more you inves-
tigate the transactions of the Society, 1
am safe in affirming, the more they will
meet your approbation and deserve your
encouragement. Again, you may aid us
by your wealth, by giving to the spread
of his Gospel a portion of that abundance
which God hath bestowed upon you, by
dedicating to his service, freely and cheer-
fully, part of your property, remembering
that " God loveth a cheerful giver."
Is it necessary that I should speak of
the spirit in which you should assist this,
and every other society or individual
who may be engaged in ttte service of
the Redeemer? Let the love of Christ
constrain you, — act from the pure motive
of love to him, and believe me, you will
never regret, in time or in eternity, in
the hour of death or in the day of judg-
ment, any proof of love you may have
ever exhibited to the Lord Jesus. What
is done unto the least of his brethren
he counts — oh ! wondrous love and conde-
scension ! as if done unto himself, —
" inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of
these my brethren, ye did it unto me."
There is a day of light and knowledge,
and glory, just coming on the earth, when
God will fulfil all that he hath spoken.
Hasten, Lord, that day in thine own
good and appointed time! that day which
Isaiah foretold, and concerning which the
Prophet Baptist took up the joyful strain,
and on Jordan's bank proclaimed, " that
all the ends of the earth shall see the sal-
vation of our God." Amen, Amen.
Dublin : New Ikish Pulpit Office, 1, St. Andrew-street — John Robertson ;
W. Curry, Jun. and Co.; R. M. Tims, W. Carson, D. R. Bleakley. London,
R. Groombridge, J. Misbet and Co. ; Liverpool, H. Perris ; Manchester, Pratt.
Chester, Seacome ; Cork Tract Repository ; Drogheda, C. F. Collins ; and all
Booksellers.
GEORGE FOLDS, Printer, 1, Saint Andrew-Street,
(0| 1 Cor. xii. 3F, Matt, xvi. 18. I John iv. 2.
() I Cor. xi. 31.
(r) Rom. xv. 1.
{d) 1 Cor. ii. 2.
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
93
we discern inconsistency in many of the
members thereof.
When Paul rebukes the divisions with
this strange and strong inquiry, " Was
Paul crucified for you ?" he intimates
that these framers of sects had come down
from their respect to God, and put man
virtually in his place — that they descended
from the lofty elevation of the platform,
and the place that was settled by Christ
for the standing of his church, and that,
devising what expediency suggested as an
improvement, they carved and hammered
and fitted the invention of their own with
planes and nails and compass and line —
and then setting it in its place, called
their ingenious theory a model of the
Church of God.
The Romanist says, " I am of Peter ;"
he lifts his church above the Bible, and
makes the commanding power of God
of none effect by his tradition — he is
severed from us by his admission of an
idol into the temple of God — by " teach-
ing for doctrines the commandments of
men ;" and we but obey the word when
we beware of false prophets — when we try
the spirits — and " cease to hear the in-
struction that causeth to err from the ways
of knowledge." The dissenter who de-
nies not our principles, but dislikes our
persons, is not so much a dissenter from
ourselves as from the whole spirit of the
Bible on the subject of the church — from
the practice of the Apostles, as well as from
the principles on which the unity of the
visible church is fixed by its founder and
its head. If, then, we thoroughly maintain
that it was not man but God — not Paul
but Christ, that bought the Church of
God with his own blood — let us carry
out the truth into all its branching details,
and never lie subject to that spiritual
thunderbolt contained in the Apostle's
interrogations, " Is Christ divided ? was
Paul crucified for you ?"
But St- Paul follows up his questions —
he further demands, " Were ye baptized
in the name of Paul ? This came more
within the reach and power of an innova-
tion than either the dividing of Christ or
the suffering of crucifixion. The baptiz-
ing in another name was literally possible,
and therefore Paul labours to disabuse
their minds of such a supposition — he
avers it as a reason of his baptizing so
few, lest persons should give out that he
baptized in his own name ; and he em-
ploys the comparative negative so often
used in Scripture — " Christ sent me not
to baptize but to preach the Gospel"—
i. e. sent me rather to preach than to
baptize.
The question of the Apostle, " Were
ye baptized in the name of Paul ?" implies
that whoever baptized them, they were,
every one of them, baptized ; that being
baptized in the name of Christ, they were
not their own, not Paul's, not man's, but
avouched as the servants of Jesus, and his
only. We cannot enough feel desirous
to adopt correct opinions on the much
canvassed and much misunderstood sub-
j ect of baptism.
If I read aright the Saviour's words of
institution, they are as follow. They are
these — " All power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth — go ye, therefore,
and make disciples, (as all Bibles with
marginal readings have it,) make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded you,
and lo, I am with you always, even unto
the end of the world." Matt xxviii. 19, 20.
94
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
Such is the commission — cramped
and curtailed neither as to time or
place or person. The Saviour claims
all power ; and in order to reassume his
dominion over earth, as he ever enjoyed
it in heaven, he commands that by bap-
tizing in his name all nations should be
discipled — and being discipled, should he
fully taught his word — and being fully
taught his word, his presence is promised
to the teaching to the end of time. To
attach oneself to a party, to assume ano-
ther's name, even though it be of Paul or
Cephas, is to limit Christ's claims over
the nations of the earth, and to narrow
the bounds of his jurisdiction — it is to
contract when he expands, and to circum-
scribe the limits of his authority and
power. The whole church is baptized,
and baptism is analogous to Jewish cir-
cumcision, In one place it is called the
circumcision of Christ, or Christian cir-
cumcision. The Church of Corinth was
also baptized, and so every church of
which mention is made in the New Tes-
tament ; and when we reconsider the sad
declension, irregularity, and inconsistency
of many of the members in Corinth, may
we not inquire — What advantage, then,
had such a Christian, and what profit was
there in baptism ? We reply, " much
every way — chiefly that unto them are
committed the oracles of God ; for what
if some do not believe ? shall their unbe-
lief make the faith of God of none effect ?"
The soldier who is unfaithful, the servant
who hides his talent, the subject who is
disaffected — are all left without excuse,
simply because the claim and rightful
authority of commander, master, and mo-
narch remains the same. The respon-
sibility of the one, and the authority
of the other, are undiminished by
such delinquency. The attempt, there-
fore, to disunite the enlisted soldiers
of an army, is an act of revolt against
their general. To divide the subjects of
an empire is treason against a king.
" Each to his own master stands or falls.''
When Paul asks the dividers at Corinth
"were they baptized in the name of
Paul," he remembers that the baptized
belong confessedly to another Master —
another Sovereign — and that casting
division and disunion among their ranks,
is but helping the cause of rebellion, and
impairing the extension of Christ's supre-
macy throughout the world.
To me, brethren, and I well know, to
you it is a far more welcome and gratify-
ing task, instead of protecting the out-
works of our Zion from external invasion
or domestic strife, to abide within her
sanctuary, and dwell upon the wonders of
redeeming love. The text, too, sweetly
suggests that not only Christ was crucified,
but that he was crucified for us. That
his atonement was a work undertaken in
our behalf, and that it stands forth the
one, sole, effectual, unchangeable satis-
faction for our sins : and yet you see the
apostle so brings that sacrifice into con-
trast with our divisions, that he charges
upon a dividing spirit, the fatal offence of
a practical denial of it. Is then a dividing
spirit the spirit of Christ and of his apos-
tles ? Is there a passage from first to last
in the whole Bible, that being fairly and
faithfully interpreted, infers it? Does the
Lord suffer the servant to gather up the
tares ? Does the apostle suffer the Corin-
thians to say, " I am of Paul, and I of
Apollos?'' Is there an instance of his
remedying the errors or offences of a
people by calling them to quit a church
where the gospel is preached and the
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
95
sacraments duly administered ? Is there
on record an instance of even one being
finally excluded from visible communion,
or a case of separation enjoined except
from Baal, his temple, his unclean sacri-
fice, and his idolatrous worshippers ? The
causes of division contrary to sound doc-
trine is to be avoided, (a) the false pro-
phet is to be shunned; but a people bap.
tized in the name of the blessed Trinity,
under a true ministry, teaching the truth,
are inexcusable in their divisions ; and if
the truth be told, as St. Paul has told us
before, are following the flesli under the
delusion of the great tempter of mankind.
Let me then, beloved brethren, call on
you to prize the truth that is amongst us,
and to make the acknowledgment of that
truth the bond of our union, and to act
up to our privileges. I would caution
you against the crude and partial state-
ments that by means of tracts and pam-
phlets are attempted to be diffused
amongst us. Garbled texts torn from
their connexion, and placed in juxta posi-
tion with other texts similarly treated,
give a show of Scripture as a warrant for
the sentiments of the writer. That person
must be little aware of the sensitive and
susceptible character of the human mind,
that so far trifles with it, as to subject it
either to the sophistries of infidel pub-
cations, or the plausibilities of those that
are super-scriptural. Thank God we
have our Bibles and can read them as well
as they. We dare uot virtually mutilate
them by stating that the Acts, Epistles,
and Revelations are the directory of the
present dispensation to the exclusion of
the Gospels and the Old Testament; or
that the Spirit of the Lord so abides in
the church as to furnish additional revela-
tions as supplemental to the written word.
Now we can freely expatiate through a
whole and a sufficient Bible, and while
we deny the need of adding, or the right
to detract from it, we supplicate the Holy
Ghost to enlighten us upon all its con-
tents — and blessed be our God, we ex-
perience his grace and illumination to
the full extent that we are warranted to
expect. Believe me then, brethren, that
they best in this respect, follow the mind
of the Spirit, who abide in the counsel of
Paul , and let all them who differ from it try
to answer his solemn interrogations — " Is
Christ divided? is Paul crucified for you ?
or were you baptized in the name of
Paul?"
May the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that
great Shepherd of the sheep, through the
blood of the everlasting covenant, make
you perfect in every good work, to do his
will, working in you that which is well
pleasing in his sight, throngh Jesus Christ
our Lord. — Amen.
(«) Rom. xvi. 17.
96
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
HUMILITY.
The ancient philosophers, amidst all
their panegyrics upon virtue, and inqui-
ries into the elements of moral excellence,
not only valued the grace of humility at
an exceedingly low estimate, but reckoned
it a quality so contemptible as to neutra-
lize the other properties, which went, in
their estimation, to the composition of a
truly noble and exalted character. These
sentiments have been adopted in modern
times by the great majority both of the
vulgar and of the philosophers, differing
from their predecessors chiefly in this
circumstance, — the more complete ab-
sence of that humility and modesty which
would have adorned them, and in their
determined and obstinate rejection of
that true standard of character, after
which the ancients so eagerly sought. By
the touchstone which Christianity applies
to the human character, it is found that
pride and independence, which the world
falsely dignifies with the epithet honour-
able, are really base alloy ; and that of
every character formed upon proper
principles, and possessed of genuine
worth, humility is at once a distinguish-
ing feature, and the richest ornament.
And on this subject, as well as on all
others, Christianity accords with the sen-
timents of right reason, — that it is un-
questionably the duty of every intelligent
creature to be humble; for " they have
nothing that they have not received," and
are indebted in every movement they
make to an agency infinitely superior to
their own.
It has been generally and justly sup-
posed that pride impelled Satan and his
confederates to a mad " defiance of the
Omnipotent to arms," for which they
were expelled from heaven, and taught,
in their bitter experience, that " God
resisteth the proud." And what is it that
prompts those high Intelligences who
surround the throne of the Almighty, in
the full effulgence of celestial glory, to
cast their crowns at his feet, crying, that
he " alone is worthy,'' but humility — a
feeling of their unworthiness to appear
in the presence of uncreated excellence !
But if humility enter so largely into an-
gelic worth, what might be expected to
be the character of man ? Created origi-
nally lower than the angels, is it unwor-
thy of his character and dignity to be
humble ! Fallen from his innocence —
become a sinner, a rebel, a child of
wrath, an heir of hell — is it a disgrace to
be humble ? Preserved from utter de-
struction only by the long suffering and
rich mercy of Jehovah ; redeemed by
the precious blood of the eternal Son of
God ; indebted to Him for his present
comforts, and his hopes of future enjoy-
ment, — does it detract from man to be
humble ? Or rather, where can an object
be found more fitted to move pity, and
make an angel weep, than a proud man !
A man may be proud, however inconsis-
tently with his real condition ; but a
proud Christian is a paradox. A Christian,
in proportion as he is proud, is ignorant
of his own character, and deficient in
his resemblance to Him, who, combining
in himself every thing great, and good,
and lovely, " was meek and lowly in
heart." The more humble a Christian
is, he is the more exalted and worthy ;
and it will be found for ever a truth, that
lowliness of heart is real dignity, and that
humility is the brightest jewel in the
Christian crown.
Dublin: New Irish Pulpit Office, 1, St. Andrew-st. ; John Robertson and Co. ;
W. Curry, Jun. and Co. ; R. M. Tims, W. Carson, D. R. Blf.akley. London,
R. Groombridge, J. Nisbet and Co. ; Liverpool, H. Perris ; Manchester, Pratt.
Chester, Seacome ; Cork Tract Repository ; Drogheda, C. F. Collins ; and all
Booksellers.
GEORGE FOLDS, Printer, 1, Saint Andrew -street,
v 0|. ; . .in. Trinity-ltrut, Dublin.;
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
GOSPEL PREACHER.
" We preach Christ crucified—
" Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God."— I Cor. i. 23, 24.
No. LXXX.
SATURDAY, MARCH 30th, 1839.
Price 4d.
Rev. R. S. Brooke. Rev. G. S. Smith.
THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
A SERMON
PREACHED IN THE MARINER'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, KINGSTOWN,
BY THE REV. RICHARD S. BROOKE, A.M.
Chaplain.
Luke xxii. part of 19th v.
This do in remembrance of me.'
I have chosen this text, which refers to
our Lord's last supper with his twelve
Apostles, as a fit subject for this peculiar
season. . I am aware that many of the
youthful members of my congregation are
coming forward to the Lord's table for the
first time at the ensuing festival ; and as I
trust I shall see all those among you who
are of God's dear family flocking up to
that happy ordinance at the same time, I
am anxious to set before you, as far as I
am able, the nature, obligations, warnings,
and consolations, which this sacrament of
the Lord's Supper holds out to every
mixed congregation.
In considering the text, we find it in-
volves two things for examination —
First — A Direction from Christ, — " Do
this."
Secondly — An explanatory motive —
41 In remembrance of me."
I. A Direction from Christ. — Now
to whom was this direction addressed ?
Vol. IV.
manifestly to his twelve Apostles. I will
not now go into the mystery of Judas, the
apostate and traitor, the liar and hypo-
crite, devil and murderer, being received
as a participator of that feast — which
thing is manifest from this very chapter — .
his coming to the supper being declared
in the 14th verse — and his remaining till
after the cup had been given, appearing
from the 20th and 21st verses. This is a
great mystery to the people of God ; but
by and by, when " we shall know as we
are known," God's wisdom in this and
every other difficulty will be justified. In
the mean time let us draw a lesson
from this occurrence, which our church
would inculcate in her admirable service.
If there be a Judas among you — a hypo-
crite — a traitor to God — an evil worker,
or one living in any grievous sin, " come
not to that Holy table lest after the tak-
ing of that Holy sacrament the Devil
enter into you, as he entered into Judas,
G
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
and fill you full of all iniquities, and
bring you to destruction both of body
and soul." (See exhortation in Commu-
nion Service. ) Oh let such not come
forward lest they eat and drink their own
damnation, and kindle God's holy indig-
nation and righteous wrath against you.
" This do in remembrance of me." As
this was directed to the Apostles then, so
it is addressed now to the Church of
Christ. But who are the Church of
Christ ? If we ask the question from
man, each christian and unchristian cor-
poration of worshippers will bring forward
their peculiar claim. " We are the true
church," says the false and idolatrous
harlot of Rome ; " no," say the Plymouth
Schismatics, " we are the only perfect
church ;" " no," say the Irvingites, " you
have not the gifts among you, we are the
Body of Christ ;" while other bodies ad-
vance their claims more moderately, but
as decisively. Let us cease from outward
churches, and to seek a solution from
man, and inquire at God's oracles and
testimony. We shall find the believing
Catholic Church of Christ defined in two
Scriptures. First, in Philippians iii. 3,
" We are the circumcision, which wor-
ship God in the spirit, and rejoice in
Christ Jesus, and have no confidence
in the flesh." Secondly in Rom. viii. 1,
" There is no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not
after the flesh but after the Spirit.'
To such is the exhortation addressed —
" This do in remembrance of me."
But let us not be over exclusive as to
who are the fit recipients of these holy
mysteries — let us not discourage the
feeble and too sensitive Christian, while
we seek to deter the rash, the ignorant,
the careless, and the cold. As Christ
never yet put back a broken-hearted
sinner from coming to him, neither should
we repel one bruised reed from his table.
Let this be our test — a godly grief jor
sin, and a sincere solicitude for sulfation,
based on an intelligent conception of the
word and work of Jesus. This is abso-
lutely necessary, for zeal without know-
ledge is not grace, as knowledge without
zeal is not grace either ; they must be
combined. If our understanding, then,
has received the doctrines of the Gospel,
and approved of them, and our heart,
however misdoubting itself and clouded
by its own fears, would cordially desire to
unite itself to its Christ — why, then, come,
to you is the word sent — Jesus would have
you, and such as you, at his table, to
strengthen and refresh, you.
" This do." Now, these words are
spoken emphatically as a friend to his
friends ; as if he had said, " at least do
this." Here is no hard service, to eat
Lmy body and to drink my blood — " be-
hold I stand at the door and knock; if
any man hear my voice and open unto
me, I will come in unto him and sup
with him, and he with me." " 1 am
come into my garden, my sister, my
spouse ; I have gathered my myrrh with
my spice ; I have eaten my honey-comb
with my honey ; I have drank my wine
with my milk ; eat, oh friends, drink, yea,
drink abundantly, oh beloved."
And these words, " This do," are like-
wise spoken instructively. As our Prophet,
he would teach his people by this sacra-
ment ; and as his preached Gospel is
addressed to the outward ear, so the
Lord's Supper is addressed to the out-
ward eye. Let us see what is to be
learned from this outward sight.
Three things especially the Lord would
teach you in this ordinance.
First — That Christ is the bread of
your soul, and wine of your soul, ap-
proached unto, received, and fed upon in
this ordinance ; that as you feed on the
outward sign of creature elements sensibly
and corporeally, so you feed on the in-
ward grace or thing signified faithfully
and spiritually to the strengthening and
refreshing of your souls, as your bodies
are refreshed and strengthened by the
bread and wine.
Seco?idly — Christ, as your Prophet,
would teach you how in this ordinance
your union to him as your glorious living
head is not merely outwardly typified by
the sensible reception of the elements,
but actually and inwardly increased and
strengthened ; for as you eat, drink, and
incorporate the elements, they passing
into and blending with your physical
being, so in like manner your spiritual
man takes in, and as it were incorporates
the body and blood of Jesus, thereby
becoming more deeply bound up in his life,
and identified with him more intimately
as " bone of his bone, and flesh of his
flesh," and members of his mystical body.
And Thirdly — Christ, as your Prophet,
would teach you by this ordinance that
his New Testament was now in full force ;
for, dear friends, these svmbols are not
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
99
the symbols of a Jiving but a dead Jesus —
his body wounded to death for our trans-
gressions, and his last life-drop poured in
blood from his heart to purge our sins
away. Now, this his Testament had been
of no force had he never died. But he
has died — here are the broken and bleed-
ing records of his death ; survey them by
faith as setting forth his death until his
coming ; therefore is his Testament — the
testator having died, see Heb. ix. 16, 17,
18 — in full force; and in that Testament
remember his people have the " promise
of eternal inheritance." Heb. ix.16, 17,18.
And these words, " This do," are like-
wise spoken by Christ as our King autho-
ritatively.
" If I be a father," says the Lord,
" where is my honour? and if I be a
master, where is my fear ?" Your great
Captain expects you to keep this your
military oath with him ; and if an earthly
commander had but to say to his servant,
" go," and he went, and " come," and
he came, how much more " ought we to
be in subjection to the Father of spirits
and live." " See then, oh believer, that
ye refuse not him who speaketh. ' If ye
love him ye will keep his commandments,"
and this is his commandment to you to-
day — " This do in remembrance of me."
Do it then, dear Christian friends, as
unto the Lord and in his Spirit ; and oh,
ye who are coming forward this day, take
heed to yourselves with what mind ye
approach these sacred mysteries. Do not
come to this table formally — for mere
form — to fulfil an outward ceremony.
Oh, it is too awful. Would you offer
the shell of your heart to God, and deny
him the substance ? Remember when
you come formally you come as hypo-
crites ; for what is formality but uninten-
tional hypocrisy. Oh, do not wear a
mask at the table of your God — do not
come with a lie in your right hand to him,
and another in your left hand to your
neighbour.
Do not come " grudgingly or of neces-
sity" — many do so, and need I say that
such are unworthy recipients ; many say,
" I want to get home to open my letters,
to read my papers — the service is so long
— but my family and my neighbours are
remaining, and so I must stay also." Oh,
with such a mind it were better for you to
go home, not to break the Sabbath, but
to read your Bible and seek your God.
Do not come Popishly. Dear friends,
when I designate the members of the
Church of Rome as Popish, I do it, God
knovveth, from no political bias or bitter-
ness, for such I most unfeignedly dis-
claim, but simply from the idea that it
best expresses what they are. What else
can we call them ? If we term them
Catholics, which is their presentyas/(«'o«-
able name, I admit that I and my church,
the true Catholic Church, who are pledged
before God to protest against Popish abo-
minations, are Schismatics, which would be
a lie in God's house. If I call them
Romanists, I express nothing ; if I term
them Roman Catholics, I use what appears
to me a contradiction in terms, for I blend
together to express the one thing a parti-
cular and universal term ; I Catholicize
particularity — I individualize universality ;
I generalize a mere locality — a speck on
the great features of Catholic geography.
Dear friends, do not make this blessed
sacrament a Popish mass ; do not make
it your Christ, as many do, not merely
for sins past but for sins to come. Is not
this the case ?
Come forward humbly, with a deep
sense of your own unworthiness, and a
heart crushed beneath the twofold weight
of your God's love and your own sin.
How beautifully is the spouse represented
at supper in Cants, i. 12, " While the
King sitteth at his table my spikenard
sendeth forth the smell thereof." Now,
the spikenard is a very small plant, with
slender stem and slender roots, and very
humble and lowly in appearance. Come
then to the Lord's feast with the spike-
nard of true humility ; wear it in your
heart — the broken heart which Jesus loves,
and in which he will dwell. This grace
will be sweet to your God and your King
as he sits at his table to meet his guests.
Come reverently to this ordinance.
Some excellent Christians object to the
posture we churchmen use at the Lord's
table — they find fault with our kneeling ;
but we do not kneel to the elements but
unto Christ. Surely, if our Lord made
the people sit down when he was feeding
their bodies, how much more should we
kneel down when he is feeding our souls.
And if he himself knelt when receiving
the cup of wrath, oh should not we much
more when taking the cup of blessing,
which is the seal of our salvation.
Again, come Faithfully. Eating,
drinking, praying, receiving, enjoying,
and being refreshed in faith through the
100
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
Holy Ghost. Approach this tahle look-
ing unto Jesus ; shut your eyes upon the
outward world ; open your eyes upon the
inward world of your heart — the upward
world of your hope ; do not be looking
at your neighbours, or forming judgments
in your own mind, as certain Schismatics
do, as to their fitness to partake. " What
is that to thee, follow thou me," says
Christ. It is not thou who art to decide
in such a matter, " Who made thee a
judge ?" When the " King comes in to
see the guests," He, not thou, will see who
has or has not the wedding garment on ;
" therefore judge nothing before the day
of the Lord come," " when the day will
declare every man's work, for then shall
every man's work be made manifest."
II. We will secondly consider the Ex-
planatory motive contained in the words
of the text — " In remembrance of me."
The Lord's Supper is an act of remem-
brance ; for as often as the faithful eat
and drink thereat, they " do show forth
the Lord's death till he come. ' We
must not exalt unduly this holy sacrament,
nor ought we to depress it unduly. There
is no Transubstantiation or change of the
substance of the elements in this sacra-
ment, as the Popish Church rashly sets
forth ; there is no real presence, though
the Lord is spiritually present ; nor does
our pure Reformed Church hold the
monstrous blasphemy that the Great God,
whom the heaven of heavens cannot con-
tain, is circumscribed and bound up in a
wafer of paste at the bidding of an idola-
trous priest.
Nor is there Consubstantiation in this
sacred rite, as the Greek Church fondly
imagines — asserting that Christ is actually,
though invisibly, incorporated with the
creature elements, and his human nature
and divinity blended up and concealed
under the bread and wine.
No ; the bread and wine are as they
appear — bread and wine, consecrated to
be sure in this ordinance for God's service,
but mere creatures before that consecra-
tion as after, and receiving no intrinsic or
essential holiness in that consecration ;
which is to be understood as a setting
apart, as the vessels of the temple in days
of old were set apart, which were holy
unto the Lord by an outward consecration
for God's service.
" In remembrance of me." Yes, in
remembrance of his broken body — sym-
bolized bv the broken bread. Let us
pause to consider that body. We are
told it was prepared of God, Heb. x. 5 ;
and though to outward eye it had no form
or comeliness, yet it must have been
exquisitely strung, like a fine instrument —
no sin to blunt its sensitiveness — no sen-
suality to deaden the refinements and
harmonies of its construction. And was
this a body to be marred and broken
more than any man's? Yes, surely thy
people will remember thee !
We can gather, too, that his was a deli-
cate and feeble body. The Prophet saw him
as a " dry root out of a barren ground,"
in his human feebleness — in no other way
could he have been a dry root. We read
of him " asleep on a pillow" — we read of
him " being weary" — the zeal of God's
house so consumed him that premature
age settled on his brow, John viii. 57 —
he fainted under his agony — he fainted
under his cross. Was this a body to
endure the shameful and bloody process
of the stripes and the smitings — the nails
and the thorns — the vinegar and the gall,
and the spear? Yes, surely we will not
forget — we will remember thee !
" In remembrance of me." Yes, in
remembrance of his poured out blood —
symbolized by the wine poured into the
cup. Let us pause to consider that
blood : — how universally it was shed from
every part of his sacred body — from his
august temples, where he wore the thorns
of mockery, that he might pluck the
thorns of sin and sorrow from his people's
hearts — from his sacred hands, with which
he had blessed little children, the blood
fell, that he might cleanse and bless the
whole family of God — from his divine
face the blood followed the savage blows
inflicted by the armed hands of the sol-
diery — that. " face was marred" and swollen
that we " might lift up our faces without
spot unto God;" his back was torn by the
scourge, his shoulders galled by the cross,
and his feet, which had borne their blessed
burthen as he went about doing good,
were lacerated and transfixed with the
iron nails. The iron entered into his
side, that it might not enter into our
soul ; then his blood was poured forth on
the earth — the blood of a brother — an
eldest brother — not that, like Abel's, it
might cry unto God for vengeance, but
for pardon and pity ; it is " the blood of
the covenant, and speaketh better things
than that of Abel.'' His blood was his
life, and the last words of his life were
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
101
words of blessedness and love, " Father
forgive them for they know not what
t hey do."
" This do in remembrance of vie.'''
Come ye who love the Lord Jesus Christ,
come forward and partake ; behold with
your natural eye these sacred symbols —
behold with your spiritual eye the things
signified. " Oh, may the body of our
Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for
thee, preserve thy body and soul unto
everlasting life. Take and eat this in
remembrance that Christ died for thee,
and feed on him in thy heart by faith
with thanksgiving. Oh ! may the blood
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is shed
for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto
everlasting life ; drink this in remembrance
that Christ's blood was shed for thee, and
be thankful !"
In summing up the subject, we would
do well to consider two or three matters
in reference to this sacrament.
First — The characteristic of those to
whom the message in my text is sent, is,
that they remembered Jesus. Now, in
order to remember a person, we must
know him first. " Then they know him,
and are known of him" — "they know
him whom to know is life eternal," and
by that knowledge they are justified :
they know him by the hearing of the ear,
for faith cometh by hearing ; they know
him by the seeing of the eye, for "they
look unto him and are saved." And
these outward symbols are incentives to
awaken their memory as they drink, and
say with the spouse in the Canticles,
" we will remember thy love more than
wine."
And again, there is a practical useful-
ness bearing upon our life and conversa-
tion, in beholding these symbolic evidences
of a dying Saviour. Here Jesus Christ
is manifestly set forth crucified among us.
Oh ! let us not crucify him afresh, but
say whenever we partake, in the spirit
and language of David, " I. have set the
Lord always before me, therefore shall I
not be moved."
And again, we should consider a fur-
ther motive involved in these words, " In
remembrance of me." Oh, believer, you
should remember him, because he re-
membered and remembers you. He
remembered you in your low estate, for
his mercy endureth for ever ; he remem-
bered you when you were a bondsman in
Egypt — your " hands were delivered
from making the pots," and mark what
glory he heaped upon you. Go back in
thought along the whole shining line of
your redemption, and see how on every
link and articulation of that long chain,
God's remembrance of you — the poor,
unworthy sinner, is legibly stamped. Go
back to his counsels of old, and see him
mindful of you in the matter of election ;
you were then present to his mind ; he
wrote you upon his book, and predestinated
you to eternal life. Go back to the day
in which you were first " made willing,"
when the Lord gave you the call, and
taught you the answer : he remembered
you in the matter of vocation. Go back
to the time when, as a sinner and a cast
away, you lay unwashed in your blood
before your God ; he remembered you in
the matter of justification ; he washed
you in his own blood ; he spread the
robes of his righteousness upon you, that
he might present you faultless in himself
before his Father, a justified sinner, with
exceeding great joy. Go baek to the
sweet hours of your union and commu-
nion with your God, when you stood in
spirit on the mount with Christ, and said,
" It is good to be here ;" when you heard
the gracious whisper in your heart, and
felt the peace that passeth all understand-
ing, and tasted the deep repose of that
happy joy which the world can neither
give, or touch, or take. Oh ! to whom
are ye indebted for these hours of bless-
edness ? even to Him who remembered
you in the matter of savctification. Go
forward to the time when your body
shall return to the dust, and the spirit
unto God who gave it ; he will not forget
you then — he will remember you in the
matter of glorification ; and you will find
that though " to live" here in faith was
" Christ," yet " to die was gain." Ah !
but you say, I feel I am dying — I am
wearing away — I shall shortly go down
to the dust — "there is no remembrance in
the grave." Who shall give him thanks
there ? when earth is mingled with earth,
ashes with ashes, and dust with dust.
Oh ! doubt him not ; he will still remem-
ber thee, and not a hair of your head
shall perish ; for this poor body of yours,
" sown in corruption, shall be raised in
incorruption ;" yea, what was " sown in
dishonour shall be raised in glory ;" yea,
" what was sown in weakness shall be
raised in power ;" yea, " what was sown
a natural body shall be raised a spiritual
102
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
body ;" when death shall become life,
and mortality shall be clothed with im-
mortality, and the bondage of the tomb
shall be no more, and the darkness of
the grave shall dissipate before the light
of heaven at the coming of the Lord
Christ. Oh ! then how we shall remem-
ber him in all his wondrous acts towards
us, from first to last ; when we shall cry
and sing, " Oh ! death where is thy sad-
ness and thy sting — oh ! grave where is
thy gloom and thy victory?" " Thanks
be unto God who hath given us the vic-
tory through Jesus Christ our Lord ;"
and glory and power, and honour and
might, and riches and blessing be unto
the Lamb for ever and ever.
Dear friends, bear with me a short
time longer, whilst I address you practically
on this matter. If there be a disobedient,
rebellious, and avowedly wicked person
in this church — if there be one living to
the world, or living for sense or self — I
beseech of such not to imagine for a
moment that the words of the text are
addressed to him ; God does not, and
man ought not, to invite you to this ordi-
nance. Christ wants you not here ; but
God, and men — God and God's minister
do invite you cordially and fervently to
come to the Gospel feast, to the Cross —
to come to the fountain ; and then, when
all your sins are purged away in a Sa-
viour's precious, holy blood — then, and
not before, come to the feast, and sit
down with Christ and his Disciples, a
welcome and wished for guest.
And you, oh ye careless professors,
come not to his feast, but take a lesson
to your general profit from these words —
" In remembrance of him." Remember
me, says Jesus — a necessary caution to
you — alas, to us all ; for how soon — how
oft do we forget him. Oh, what a picture
of the church s weakness, and wandering,
and oblivion, and neglect is set forth in
the necessity which produced this cau-
tionary precept — " This do in remem-
brance of me !"
Is there a self-accusing Christian here,
who though the writing of ordinances
which was contrary to him is taken away,
will still persist in writing bitter things
against himself, and in bringing forward
causes and reasons more appertaining to
a legal than a Gospel dispensation, why
he should not come forward and partake ?
Suffer me to address you, dear friend —
in one word, what is your objection ? I
anticipate your answer will be, my own
unworthiness. Alas, if that were to sway
and actuate all Christians, not one in this
congregation would come forward. Yes,
you are indeed unworthy, but Christ is
worthy For the sake of that dear elder
brother, in whom you trust, your God will
receive you ; and the darkness of your
short comings will be swallowed up in the
light and the lustre of him who sits at
meat with you.
Oh, but, you say, I am so ignorant !
Yes, indeed, you are ignorant ; but this
must not keep you back. The Holy
Ghost is he who alone can " teach you all
things," and " guide you into all truth."
Come here, then, and meet him — he is
here to day in this ordinance. Come
here and renew your vows to him, and
sit at his feet, and knit your soul more to
him, and know him better, and learn of
him more of his life, and light and hea-
venly love. Oh, do not stay away be-
cause conscience makes you cry, " I am
ignorant."
Ah, but you say, " I am so ungrateful
to my good God and loving Lord — so
thankless a wretch, that I fear to tread
the courts of this holy ordinance, or look
my benefactor face to face in the breaking
of bread and pouring of wine." Oh, say
not so, however true and just the charge.
Suffer it not to keep you this day from
supping with your Lord. Remember
he is a God of grace — " your goodness
extendeth not to him." God requires no
suitable return from his children — they
are his pensioners — paupers depending
on his grace — looking upward to be led
by his hand. But God does require a
bbunden service and duty, and here it is — .
come eat, drink, " this do in remem-
brance of me." And if you still cry out
with the Psalmist, " What reward shall I
give unto the Lord for all his goodness
to me ?" say with the Psalmist too, " I
will take the cup of salvation and call
upon the name of the Lord, and I will
pay my vows in the presence of all his
saints."
Ah, but you say, " I am sore tempted
and tossed — corruption after corruption
rises like a giant refreshed by wine, and
tries to dim my faith, marring my peace,
and clouding my communion with God."
Well, then, you have the greater need to
be refreshed and renewed in this ordi-
nance. Are there clouds — is there dark-
ness round your soul ? Come forward
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
103
here, and in the night of your mental
misery and disquietude, lay hold of your
Cod with the hand of faith, and say to
him — " Bless me — even me also, O my
father," — bless me, O my Saviour — " I will
not let thee go unless thou bless me."
Ah, but you say, " My enemy is
strong and subtle, and may prevail."
Fear not, neither be afraid, oh dull of
heart, and dead of feeling ! They who
are with you are more than they who are
against you Ah, but your unhelieving
heart may cry, " I shall one day perish
by the hand of Saul ;" but your glorious
God answers, " you shall never perish,
neither shall any one pluck you out of
my hand." Ah, but say you, " My foes
are so numerous, their name is legion ;"
" yes," answers your long-suffering God,
" but my name is Adonai, that is pillar."
Ah, but say you, " My temptations come
with me to church, and throng round me
at the Lord's table ;" yet your victorious
Lord answers, " though the Philistines
be upon you, they shall not prevail — up
and slay them." You can do all things
through Him who loved you and died
foryou — through Him vvhoisyourstrength
and your salvation. Lift up, then, the
hands which hung down, oh thou weak one,
tossed with tempests — and sing to the
Lord, in the receiving of this bread and
this wine, " Thou preparest a table for
me in the presence of mine enemies."
It is the very glory of your God that you
should thus wax strong out of weakness,
and that his strength and grace should
prove sufficient for you in your hour of
greatest need.
Blessed Jesus ! be with us this day in
this thy own ordinance. Come in all the
beauty of thy holiness, and bounty of thy
grace to this feast, and mayst thou be
made known to thy own people in break-
ing of bread. Even so — Amen.
TERROR AND PERSUASION.
A SERMON,
PREACHED IN THE CHURCH OF BOOTEHSTOWN,
ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10th, 1839,
BY THE REV. GEORGE SYDNEY SMITH, A.M.
Late F.T.C.D., Rector of Ag-halurcher, Diocese of Clogher.
2 Corinthians, v. 11.
" Knowing- therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men ; but we are made manifest uutc
God, and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences."
Our attention may be directed in these
words, my brethren, to the motive of the
Apostle, the action to which that motive
leads him, and the spirit in which he
does that to which he is moved. The
motive of his address is this, that he knows
the terrors of the Lord ; one thing which
he seeks to do in consequence of this
knowledge of the terror of the Lord is to
persuade men ; and the spirit in which he
seeks to be found is that of conscious
honesty of purpose, and deep love for
souls ; manifest to God he knows his
thoughts and words are — manifest to the
consciences of sinners he trusts they may
become.
Knowing the terrors of the Lord.' Oh,
my brethren, does not the Apostle speak
as if he saw a blind man standing at the
edge of a bottomless precipice, with no
hand to stay his progress to destruction ;
he sees the wrath of God, the terrors of
judgment — he thinks of an agony that
never shall end, and of a fire that never
shall be quenched — he sees a poor soul
unarmed and unshielded, about to take its
plunge — he knows the terror of the Lord.
The power of God is known and con-
fessed by all who think of a God at all ;
there is not a flower of the field that doth
not shadow forth his power ; there is not
a bird of the air that does not sing its
hymn of glad acknowledgment to that
unbounded influence ; there is not a
spring of life, or an impulse of motion
throughout sea and land, in earth or air,
that doth not proceed from his ceaseless
energy. Every chance is but an instance
of his providence ; every contingency is
a result of his harmonious but infinitely
complicated laws. Human wills, capri-
cious though they seem, follow his bid-
ding ; the thoughts of the good, the high
motives of the faithful, the activity of
love, the self-denial of his saints, are all
the work of his Spirit. This power knows
no exception : while it throws its arms
around immensity, it penetrates all — the
minute, the unnoticed, the evanescent,
are not out of its reach. There is not
one of earth's creatures which that open
hand doth, not sustain ; " yea," saith
Jeremy Taylor, " he guides them with
his eye, and refreshes them with his influ-
ence ; they live on his provisions, and
revere his power, and feel the force of his
Almightiness." If we could ascend to
heaven, and make our bed in hell ; if we
could take the wings of the morning, and
dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
we never should reach one lonely for-
gotten corner in which God was not,
THE NEW IRISH I?ULPIT.
105
with his wise guardianship and his tender
influences. His hand of power is for
ever on the wing — the mantle of his Pro-
vidence is for ever flung over the popu-
lations of his countless w-orlds. And
there is not a household or a home
throughout them all, where his energy is
not present, to guide, to comfort, and to
sustain. And whatever you be in rank,
lowly or noble, great or humble, forget
not this, that at no moment are you with-
drawn from that wake/ul eye — in no
struggle are you abandoned to self — in
no secret trouble is your heart left to its
own corroding loneliness — in no hour of
terror are you too far from God, to ask
for courage and consolation.
But pause now, and consider, my bre-
thren. We have looked but at the bright
side of the picture, at God's power, creat-
ing, sustaining, preserving, adorning,
giving life, and light, and blessing ; but
have we no other proofs of his power ?
Does it display itself only in this way?
Alas ! there are such things as wrath, and
fear, and punishment, and judgment, and
terror ; the sunshine and the thunder-
cloud came from that same hand of power.
Look at the revealed word, and every
now and then in the history of man, 1
there came, as it were, claps of thunder — I
warnings to souls to remember that the {
power of God is to slay and punish as
well as to quicken and preserve. A
storm has lately visited this land, and it
is now to your ears a familiar thing — you
have felt it, and talked of it, and heard
of it, until it is almost forgotten. But a
few short weeks have elapsed, and yet I
doubt not but that it will be looked on as
an exhausted topic, and that the mention
of it now is late, and out of place. And
this is just the reason that 1 like to men-
tion it, that you may ask yourselves, why
it seems now late and out of place ? My
brethren, such will not be the sentiments
of any soul to which it has brought a
blessing ; and if it has not brought a
blessing, is it too late to ask you what
have you done icilh the warning ? The
sky is again serene, and the whole earth
sittcth still and is at rest ; and hearts
which quivered with fear are again calm
and careless. Has the warning thus
indeed died away ? Has the wound which
it may have made in the conscience be-
come only a seared and callous scar?
Which of you has become more holy,
more believing, more godly, more pray-
erful ? It was terror from the Lord ; but
are men persuaded ? The Bible tells us
how often God has ridden the whirlwind,
and laid bare his arm ; and the Bible,
too, tells us why. Why did he command
the windows of heaven to open, and the
fountains of the sea to pour out their
floods, and cover with the resistless tide
of swelling waters the population of the
globe? Noah could tell ; he who warned,
and preached, and testified in vain — it
was human sin. Why did God rain
down a fiery deluge on the devoted
cities of the plain ? why does the traveller
see, where once stood Sodom and Go-
morrah, and Admah and Zeboim, no-
thing now but a lonely lake, and its
shores covered still with cinders, so bitter
that the fish cannot live in it, and the
bird of the air shuns to fly over its
accursed waters? It was human sin.
What was it that shook the heavens and
the earth, when the Lord descended on
Sinai — when the mountain quaked ex-
ceedingly, and the smoke went up from
it, and there was the sound of a trumpet
and the voice of words ? Why did Jeho -
vah give his law in blackness and dark-
ness and tempest ? It was by reason of
human sin. " It was added," saith St.
Paul, " because of transgressions.''' And
look back at the most momentous hour
of this world's history ; look at the black
clouds gathering over Jerusalem ; look at
the veil of the temple rent in twain — at
the rocks of Calvary splitting into frag-
ments — at the earth quaking to the
centre ! Listen to that cry of the Son
of God, when his spirit burst from its
earthly prison and shook the world !
And why ? alas ! it was for human sin.
106
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
But the terror of the Lord which the
inspired Apostle had in his thoughts was
something more terrible still. His eye
was on the judgment seat of Christ — his
vision of the future was as that vision
which his brother Apostle beheld in
Patmos — he beheld the sun black as sack
cloth of hair, and the moon as blood, and
the stars of heaven falling even as figs in
a mighty wind, and the heavens depart-
ing as a scroll rolled together, and the
mountains and the isles moved out of
their places, and princes crying, " hide
us, hide us, from the face of Him that
sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath
of the Lamb ; for the great day of his
wrath is come, and who shall be able to
stand !" And why this scene of terror ?
The sad reply again is — human sin.
Who then can fathom the dark depths
of sin— who can tell the blackness, the
malignant poison, the infinite danger and
evil of sinning against God ? But to
what end is all this ? what can these ter-
rors do for human sin ? Do I expect to
change the sinner's heart by terror, even
the terror of the Lord ? Alas no ! neither
did the Apostle. Weigh well his words —
knowing the terror of the Lord. He does
not say, we alarm men, but, ive persuade
men. The sinner may be terrified and
smitten down with fear, but not persuaded
after all.
Do you ask for proof of this ? Scarcely
had the last surge of the waters ebbed
away from the earth, when men began
again to sin, and to lift their heads against
God. The smoke of Sodom was still in
the air, when the cave of Zoar was defiled
with sin. The echoes of the trumpet of
Sinai had not died away — Moses was still
in the mountain that burned — when the
sinners of Israel broke the law just given
in thunder, and worshipped the molten
calf — and 3,000 men perished that day.
And did the fearful day of Calvary soften
the hearts of the Jewish people, or alarm
them to repentance ? Alas ! they called
down the blood, and the curse came, and
they were broken and dispersed — and this
people is scattered over the world like the
fragments of a mighty shipwreck, but
with hearts still hard and stony, and ma-
lignant and unrepenting. And sure I
am that even in the last and greatest dag
of the terror of God, when the trumpet
shall summon to judgment, and the wrath
of the Lamb be near, that even then, if
God were to stay his hand and give time
to repent, as he did to Nineveh of old —
that even then, hearts would devise a way
of self-deception, and the devil would
teach souls to say, "peace, peace;" and
the great, and the rich, and the mighty,
and the royal, and the bondsman and the
freeman, might be found again without
hope or faith, with no oil in their lamps,
or wedding garment around them !
And let me again remind you of that
visitation which has swept our land, when
the voice of the Lord was heard in the
clouds, and we heard and felt the power
of his Almightiuess. I feel I may
safely say, that there was not a heart of
the millions that cover the face of our
land that did not tremble that night as
the whirlwind of God roared around their
dwellings. And to me the most solemn
thought connected with this calamity is,
that it was universal ; that the hearts of
the careless and the godly, the infidel and
the believer, of the child of God and of the
child of the devil — all, without exception,
as one man, were driven to think of God
that night — all were warned of wrath to
come, of death, and judgment, and eter-
nity .' It seemed as if it needed only
that Jehovah should have increased but a
little the power of his tempest, and the
whole population of our land would have
been left without a roof to cover them, or
a home to shelter them ! And I doubt
not but that the souls of thousands longed
to be able to trust in God, and thought
how precious a thing it would be to be
calm and quiet in those everlasting arms ;
and some thought of their sins, and their
consciences were stung and shaken ; and
some resolved to lead a new life, and to
walk for the future in the ways of the
Oil GOSPEL PREACHER.
107
Most High ; and many tried to pray, and
prayer was strange to them, and when
they lifted up their hands they fell down
again helpless. Ah ! my brethren, it is
in a time of tribulation and fear that the
value of grace is made known, and God's
children are sure to have privileges that
are worth all the world could give, and
the good man's house is known to be on
a rock, I would not believe a man who
told me that at such an hour of peril he
felt no shakings of conscience. The young
man whose God is pleasure, and whose
honie is the world, felt that the world
may pass away, and that pleasure does
not give protection ; and the rich man
mistrusted his gold, and the proud man
thought not of his superiority, nor the
cunning man of his devices. Yes, my
brethren, there are times when immor-
tality casts its long shadow back on the
conscience, and something tells the sinner,
that God will bring him to judgment.
And here comes the important, the
vital, the often asked question, what
avails all this terror, these fears of an
alarmed conscience ? Now, two lessons
are to be learned concerning this matter ;
one is that there may be sorrow for sin,
alarm in the soul, fear of judgment, there
may be bitter remorse — and all of no avail,
not bringing the sinner closer to God or
nearer to faith. And the other, that
until the work of faith is wrought in the
soul, and the sinner becomes a believing
man, there can be no godly sorrow for sin,
none of that mourning for iniquity to
which Christ himself hath promised com-
fort. For there are too mistakes, two
false opinions on the subject of sorrow for
sin. Some think that this is repentance,
that if a man is terrified, and startled,
and in anguish about his sin, that he is
therefore penitent, that this is the neces-
sary beginning and the sure precursor of
conversion ; and the sinner whose soul has
gone through this fear and pain thinks
that he has gone far enough — that he has
repented, and that he has nothing to do
now, but shun sin and lead a new life for
the time to come, ' God is merciful and
will forgive him if he sins no more.' —
I have spoken to such a man of Christ's
word, and of faith in the Redeemer, and
I have found that he does not reject nor
deny them, indeed he admits them to be
excellent things ; but, he makes Christ's
death and merits as a kind of makeweight
to fill up what is wanting in his own per-
formances ; and the power of the Spirit
of God as a valuable help, an useful
assistant to him in his own strivings to
fulfil God's law. Have you ever met
such a man ? They are to be meet with
every day. Repentance without faith is
no better than the remorse of Judas, it
will not cleanse away one particle of sin —
it is only carnal, legal, infidel repentance,
without grace or hope — without life or
holiness.
Others think that a man has no title to
believe until he feels the burden of his sin
to be intolerable ; that when the terror of
the Lord has seized him and laid him
low, then he is entitled to have faith, and
not until then ; that in fact there is re-
quired of the sinner, bitter grief for sin,
and anxious alarm about eternal things,
and sharp feelings and pangs of conscience
as preliminary steps to faith or to pardon.
And when I have delivered the blessed
message of the gospel, and called upon
a sinner to believe and be saved, I have
been told by him that he did not feel the
burden of sin sufficiently to warrant him
to believe, that when he had repented
more and sorrowed more, he might be
entitled to believe, but not till then —
Now, doubtless it is to be allowed, that
unless a man has some concern for his
soul, some fear of judgment, some sense
of his need of a Saviour there is no
motive to faith ; there is nothing to trust
Christ for, nothing to hope from believing
in him — "they that are whole need not
a physician, but they that are sick." But,
before faith there can be no godly sorrow,
and if a man sorrows in a godly manner,
faith has begun ; and repentance is not
a thing that goes before faith ; repentance
108
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
involves a change of heart, and (he
changed heart has faith ; faith is a part
and a great and essential part of that
great change, that new birth, that spiritual
conversion which constitutes evangelical
repentance. And as long as a man is
unbelieving, his grief for sin is but carnal
grief, and is nothing but fear of that
God with whom he is at enmity ; and
that not goodly fear, but defiling fear,
hardening fear ; such fear as is joined to
hatred of God ; such fear as is " cast
out by love." And is this fear (the natural
terror of conscience,) is this a step to
faith in Christ ? Is this a preparation to
believe ? not more than sin and misery
and need are preparations and steps to
Christ.
Call to mind the day of Pentecost,
when the Spirit of God came with the
voice of a tempest and with flames of
fire ; and the superhuman words of St.
Peter told fearfully on the hearts of the
multitude, and their souls were stung
with guilt, and they asked. in alarm " men
and brethren, what shall we do ?" Was
this repentance ? No, for the answer of St.
Peter is " Repent and be baptized in the
name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of sins." Does he mean unbelieving re-
pentance, baptism without faith, remis-
sion of sins without faith ? Does he
not mean rather " repent in faith, be bap-
tised in faith, and receive the ?-emission
(f sins through faith ?" Beware then of
supposing that terror is repentance, or that
repentance can be without faith : — You
mag be alarmed without going to Christ
for protection ; but you never can mourn
for sin until you have gone to Christ.
The terror of the Lord may therefore
act very variously on the soul. Imagine a
man overtaken by a great and mighty
tempest, stricken with fear, and filled
with terror, how great would be his folly
if he heard of a place of shelter and
safety close at hand, and did not betake
himself to it ? or suppose that he preferred
to gather sticks and stones out of the
field, and to build a hut against the
storm ; or suppose that he remained in
his tottering house, and was buried in its
ruins ; or suppose that he were to lie
down in despair and perish ; and yet
great as this folly, far greater is that of
the alarmed and overtaken sinner who
does not turn to God. One man hears
of the message of peace and safety but
heeds it not ; another seeks to raise an
edifice of his own works against the
storm ; another clings to his unholy
dwelling of clay until it falls on him and
crushes him ; another is thrust down
from fear into despair. Blessed i? he
who, even with doubt and trembling,
flees without looking behind him, who
snatches at even the chance of escape,
and goes to Jesus ; and verily " he shall
bs as a hiding place from the wind, and
a covert from the tempest : as the shadow
of a great rock in a weary land, where
the blast of the terrible is as a storm
against the wall."
There is doubtless, my brethren, much
significancy in these words of the Apostle
' we persuade men.' Why does his know-
ledge of the terror of God, lead him to
persuade men ? It was zeal for souls,
love for sinners, love like the love of his
blessed Master and Lord ; " the love of
Christ coustraineth as" saith he. And
think again too of those words " knowing
the terror of the Lord," ivas this all that
he knew ? Was he only acquainted with
God as " a consuming fire ?" Oh ! my
brethren, he might have said, " knowing
the terror of the Lord, and knowing too
the love of the Lord,'' 1 for were it not for
love, there would be no ground for per-
suasion, no room for hope, no founda-
tion for faith. " I know," saith the same
^t. Paid, " I know in whom I have be-
believed, and I am persuaded that he is
able to keep what I have committed to
him until that day." In this knowledge
of the love and of the wrath of God he
seeks to persuade men.
And what is that to which he seeks to
persuade ? what is the object of his per-
suasion ? to what does he exhort and be-
OK GOSPEL PREACHER.
109
seech them ? Does he persuade them to
become alarmed at the terror of the Lord?
Does he persuade them to deepen and
strengthen their sorrow for sin, their con-
viction of iniquity ? No. Does he per-
suade them to follow after that " holiness
without which no man can see the Lord ? '
to depart from iniquity? to "cease to do
evil and learn to do well ?" No, my breth-
ren, these are all essential things — but
there is someting before them all — above
them all — without which they cannot be.
Does he persuade men to make some pre-
paration for putting faith in Christ ?
Dues he persuade them to do any thing to
win the favour of God? Does he per-
suade them to seek for, and wait for some
voice from heaven to the ear of the heart
— some light from above to shine unto
the soul ? Does he persuade them to
strive after inward convictions of sin,
and inward feelings of forgiveness, before
they come to Jesus ? No, none of these
things : he persuades them, — he be-
seeches men, to be reconciled to God ;
to receive Christ as the ground and surety
of reconciliation ; to take pardon and
salvation as a free gift; to become the
righteousness of God in Christ ; to accept
of the work of Christ as a finished work,
wanting no preparation, no preliminary
step, but perfect, full and accomplished
n itself; a work of salvation, coming
/rom Christ, begining in Christ, ending
in Christ; a work comprehending all that
is needful for a sinner's soul — nothing
can go before it to prepare for it; nothing
can follow after it to complete it. Look
at the remainder of his address, in the
same chapter, give ear to his entreating
cry, " Be ye reconciled to God" — and
he that is thus reconciled to God in Christ,
is said to be in Christ ; and "if any man
be in Christ, he is a new creature, old
things pass away from him, and all things
become new," and all these new things;
the new heart, the new man, the new
birth — all these are of God who hath re-
conciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,
and hath committed unto us the ministry
of reconciliation. These are the glori-
ous topics of the chapter ; the grounds
and the ends of the persuasion of men.
And the holy apostle has left to the min-
isters of Christ through all the ages of
the church the echo of his message of
love — ■' As ambassadors for Christ, as
though God did beseech you by us, we
pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled
unto God." And woe unto him who
qualifies, or restricts, or corrupts this
message, who makes conditions or chan-
nels of salvation which God hath not made,
who shuns to declare the whole council of
God. When the ministers of God's word
seek to persuade men, their prayer should
be to remember in the spirit of Paul,
that they are made manifest unto God —
and to pray that they may be made mani-
fest to the consciences of men — that their
words may come from the fountain of God's
word, and go home to the consciences
and the hearts of sinners. And men do
not think of this when they speak of the
addresses of the ministers of religion, as
they often do, with levity, or irreverence,
or unfairness. How often is a discourse
spoken of as long, or dull, or tedious, or
deficient — in a spirit and tone which
proves at least that the judgment passed,
whether it be true or false, is not "a for-
bearing, a godly, an affectionate, a spiritual
judgment? that "wherein a man judgeth
another he condemneth himself." When
you feel disposed to criticise the style, or
the doctrine, or the manner of a preacher,
think first, and let the thought solemnize
your judgment, whether his words may
i not have been uttered after many prayers ;
and whether he hath not called on the
Spirit of God to accompauy those words;
and whether your prayers should not
rather go up for him that his words may
be the words of truth ; and that his mes-
sage may be the message of God ; and
his embassy may be an embassy for
Christ, that he may be made manifest
unto God, and also made manifest to your
consciences.
The embassy of Christ is therefore to
110
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
beseech you by the terrors of God, and
by the love of God, to be reconciled
unto God. Now this means and implies
that you are enemies, and that unless this
enmity is removed, the judgment seat
will be to you a scene of terror, and not
of love. If you are not conscious of this
enmity, if your heart now demurs and
doubts this assertion that you are by na-
ture enemies of God, even from the
womb — if you are not aware of this
enmity, neither can you know of His love.
You cannot feel love to God unless you
feel that there is in your bosom a natural
principle of hatred and enmity against
the Holy One and the Just. This enmity
began in Paradise, and ever since those
words fell from the lips of Adam, " I
heard thy voice hi the garden, and I was
afraid," man has feared and shunned the
presence of God, and felt a bar and an
obstacle, and an hindrance between him-
self and the Almighty. This enmity on
God's part is removed and gone ; it is
slain in the death of Jesus ; the door is
open, and the seals of the book are loos-
ened. We beseech you then by the fear
of judgment, and by the hopes of glory,
by the love of Christ, and by the wrath
of the Lamb, be ye reconciled unto .God ;
receive remission of sins ; accept the
righteousness of Christ ; lay hold on
eternal life. This hope shall not make
you ashamed; this "hope is an anchor of
the soul, sure and stedfast, and which
entereth into that within the vail," and
come what may of terror or tempest,
it shall not be shaken, for it is upon the
rock. We know the terror of the Lord ;
a storm is coming, when the Lord shall
shake terribly the earth — the sea and the
waves roaving, and the stars^falling from
the heavens. Who shall count the souls
lost in that last and greatest calamity ?
or who shall set a price on the peace, the
security of those, who, while earth is
shrivelled up, and sea and sky confound-
ed, shall be found in the desired haven,
upon tranquil waters, in a place of broad
rivers and streams ? This is the portion
of those who are persuaded ; who have
been reconciled here and now — who have
not put off their souls' welfare, until the
day when account shall be demanded of
the steward, and the doom of the sinner
be fixed for ever ! " Seeing then, that all
these things shall be dissolved, what man-
ner of persons should you be in all holy
conversation and. godliness ?" May the
terror of the Lord, from which we warn
you, and the salvation to which you are
all invited, and the love by which we
would persuade you, be made manifest to
your consciences by the power of the
Spirit of God. Amen.
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
Ill
THOUGHTS
SUGGESTED BY EPHESIANS, vi. 13.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of Rod, that ye may be able to withstand
the evil day, aud having done all, to stand.
When the sonnd of the archangel and
I he trump of God will be heard in the
day of Christ's appearing to judge the
quick and the dead, it will at once be as-
certained who confessed him upon earth,
and who denied him — who were his real
followers, aud who rendered him merely
a lip service — who were the intrepid sol-
diers of the cross, and who were ashamed
of it. Then every latent motive will be
brought to light, every influencing princi-
ple will be developed, and every charac-
ter exhibited in its true colours. All the
subterfuges of lies resorted to by vain
man will then be swept away, and nothing
will abide but the word of the living God,
which he now tells us is full both of mer-
cy and judgment — mercy for all who be-
lieve — judgment for all who reject it.
If this be so, is it wise to neglect the
soul, to make light of salvation, to give
to the pleasures of time and sense the
precious hours which ought to be em-
ployed in doing the will of Him whose
service is perfect freedom ? Is it wise to
be satisfied with any hope, save the " good
hope through grace," which springs from
saving faith ?
To make known this hope, the Apos.
ties received a commission from their
Divine Master, and faithfully did they
execute it — " not handling the word of
God deceitfully, but by manifestation of
the truth, commending themselves to
every man's conscience in the sight of
God." In doing this they endured a great
fight of afflictions, and knew by expe-
rience what it was to endure hardness as
good soldiers of Jesus Chsist, and to
encounter the devices of Satan ; and hav-
ing both fought and conquered in conse-
quence of being upheld by the arm of
the Lord, they have left for our instruc-
tion the amount of their conflicts and
triumphs.
In the Epistle to the Ephesians, St.
Paul dwells much upon the admission of
the Gentiles into the Church of Christ,
and reminds them of the great blessing
they enjoyed in being sealed with the
holy Spirit of promise ; but aware of the
deceitfulness and desperate wickedness
of the heart, he employs the knowledge
which he possessed in warning them
against the dangers to which they were
exposed, and the conflicts in which they
might be engaged. The condition and
circumstances of the children of God in
this world are in their general features
so much alike, that the counsel which is
salutary and suitable at any one period is
equally so at every other, and we ought not
to try and elude the force of plain precepts,
by maintaining the opinion that they had
reference only to the apostolic times —
God's word is not thus to be frittered
away. If a command enjoining a moral
duty be of limited obligation, it will fol-
low that a promise must be limited also,
and this would at once reduce to very
narrow limits indeed both Christian
obedience and Christian consolation. In
all ages divine truth has had to work its
way through the determined opposition
and inveterate prejudices of this sinful
world, and the lovers of it have, like
11:2
NEW HUSH PULPIT.
their Divine Master, been despised and
calumniated, and frequently persecuted
even unto death. They all have learned
more or less by experience, that " if any
man willbe a disciple of Christ, he must
deny himself and take up his cross and fol-
low him." The warfare in which the true
Christian is engaged, is arduous, danger-
ous, and incessant. It commences with
the very first conviction of sin by the Holy
Spirit, and it does not terminate till that
awful hour in which the separation takes
place between soul and body. It is main-
tained against a desperately wicked heart,
a deceitful world, and all the fallen
angels. Who, by the exercise of his
natural powers, could carry it on ? Not
an individual of the human race. But
the will to do it is as much needed as
the power ; and if the great head of the
church did not vouchsafe both, we could
have no hope.
He then who calls to the conflict pre-
pares the armour which is as complete as
infinite Wisdom can make it. There is
no joint in it through which a poisoned
arrow, or fiery dart may enter and inflict
upon the combatant a mortal wound. As
in ancient times the warrior was protected
by a helmet, a breastplate, a girdle, a
shield, and a sword, and no exposed part
left undefended; so it is now with the
servant of Christ, whojhas' 1 only to come
to the divine armoury, that he may freely
and at once receive righteousness, salva-
tion, truth, faith, peace, and the sure
word of promise. No one piece t of ar-
mour was ever sufficient to protect the
whole body ; and as the soul is exposed
to assaults from every quarter it becomes
indispensably necessary to wear " the whole
armour of salvation ;" no individual was
ever fool enough to imagine that a por-
tion of the armour would afford security
like the whole, and when God provides a
complete suit of armour for the soul,
thereby proving its insecurity without it,
shall any man act as if he thought him-
self wiser than his Maker, and make a
choice of his own, vainly hoping that he
will stand in the evil day — in the day
when God will judge the world in righte-
ousness? Are we engaged fighting the
good fight of faith? Are we covered
with the whole armour of salvation? Are
we upheld in every hour of conflict? Do
we hope and expect to be more than
conquerors through him who loved us?
P. R.
Kilkejwy.
Dublin: New Irish Pulpit Office, 1, St. Andrew-st. ; John Robertson and Co,' ;
W. Curry, Jun. and Co. ; R. M. Tims, W. Carson, D. R. Bleakley. London,
R. Groombridge, J. Nisbet and Co. ; Liverpool, H. Perris ; Manchester, Pratt ;
Chester, Seacome ; Cork Tract Repository ; Drogheda, C. F. Collins ; and all
Booksellers.
GEORGE FOLDS, Printer, 1, Saint Andrew-street.
lU|<|>uaite Trinlty.ntreet, Dublin.)
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
GOSPEL PREACHER.
" We preach Christ crucified —
" Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God." — 1 Cor. i. 23, 24.
No. LXXXI.
SATURDAY, APRIL 13th, 1839.
Price 4n.
A SERMON,
ON THE DEATH OF HIS GRACE THE ARCHBISHOP OF TUAM,
PREACHED IN CLAREMORRIS CHURCH,
ON EASTER SUNDAY, MARCH 31st, 1839,
BY THE REV. JOSEPH D'ARCY SIRR, A. M.
1 Thessalonians, iv. 13, 14.
" I would not have you to he ignorant, brethren, concerning- them which are asleep, that ye
sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose
again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."
We are furnished with no mean evidence
of the truth of divine revelation, when we
are led to perceive the wonderful power
of adaptation it possesses to all the vary-
ing circumstances of man. Viewed only
as an intelligent creature, it enlarges his
understanding by satisfying his lofty and
ardent aspirations after wisdom ; viewed
as a moral and responsible being, it meets
him in his guilt which it removes, and in
his corruption which it controuls ; finding
him bowed down under the weight of
many infirmities, it raises him above them,
and when oppressed with nervous impo-
tence, and he seems a ready prey for the
manifold temptations that encompass him,
Vol. IV.
it endues him with superhuman strength,
and enables him to resist them ; it sobers
him in joy, and comforts him in sorrow —
no system of philosophy, no code of
ethics, ever thus adapted itself to the
whole constitution of man.
There is no doctrine of Scripture to
which this feature of adaptation more
strikingly belongs than the doctrine of
the Resurrection. In every aspect in
which we view it, mark how wonderfully
it adapts itself to our condition. I take
it for granted that you are all persuaded
of the fact, that Christ arose from the
dead, and became the first fruits of them
that slept. It is a fact established on such
114
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
incontestible evidence, often adverted to
here, that we need not pause to produce
it for your satisfaction anew — let us rather
view the subject in its moral aspect, in
its power of adaptation to man, in every
possible condition in which he can be
placed.
I. The Resurrection of Messiah
proves his Divine Sonship, and in
proving it, ennobles all who partake
in the adoption. The Apostle of the
Gentiles describes the Gospel of God to
relate to " his Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
which was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh, and declared to be
the Son of God with power, according
to the Spirit of holiness, (or his divine
nature,) by the resurrection from the
dead." Rom. i. 3, 4. Not for a moment
will we yield to those, who regard his
title as Son of God, merely as a name of
office; nor even to those, who pronounce it
to be given to him only by reason of the
miraculous conception. At the annuncia-
tion indeed it was said, " therefore also
that holy thing which shall be born of
thee shall be called the Son of God ;"
but it was likewise said with reference to
the resurrection itself, "thou art my Son,
this day have I begotten thee." As well
might we assert, he only bore the title
because he was raised from the dead, as
affirm that it solely belonged to him,
because of the miraculous conception.
He was the Son of God because the
power of the highest overshadowed the
Virgin ; he was the Son of God, because
he was begotten from the dead ; but far
beyond all these circumstances, which
were only earthly indications of the fact,
he was the Son of God, or ere the Virgin
was born, or the worlds were framed —
how did the wise man ask, when speaking
of Jehovah, " what is his name, and what is
his Son's name if thou canst tell ?" With
man it is impossible to find out God unto
perfection. The only begotten, who is
in the bosom of the Father, (that is his
locality from everlasting), he hath de-
clared him — the Only Begotten of the
Father was known to be such by the dis-
ciples, not by the excellence of his man-
hood, but by the glory of the Word,
which they beheld, full of grace and
truth, on the mount of the transfiguration.
Cling to this blessed truth, for hence it is
we become allied to deity — as one with
Christ, the only begotten of the Father,
we, as sons, receive the Spirit of adop-
tion, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
The resurrection of Christ establishes the
sonship of all who receive him, who are
born not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible, even by the Word of God,
who abideth for ever. Contemplate their
dignity — " Behold, what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us, that
we should be called the sons of God." —
Let such walk worthy even of their high
original, and remember that the resurrec-
tion of the Redeemer is that, which,
taking them out of their low estate, brings
them into this intimate relation with the
God of heaven.
II. The Resurrection of Christ
ASSURES US OF THE COMPLETE REMOVAL OF
sin. If he died for our sins, he rose
again for our justification. Being raised
in power he gave abundant proof that by
one offering he hath perfected for ever
them that are sanctified. If voluntarily
laying down his life as a ransom for the
ungodly, he had been brought under the
power of death, and been therefore
unable to reassume his life, no value
could have belonged to his sacrifice. It
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
115
had been a vain thing to undertake the
task of reversing the curse, if the curse
could have abided on him. But it was
impossible for him to have been holden
of the pains of death — he who had the
power of death, found nothing in him.
The purified nature of the Son of man must
first have been overthrown, as was the
nature of Adam in innocence, before he
could have been retained in the tomb ;
but over him neither the law, for he
obeyed it, nor the curse, for he endured
it, nor Satan, for he overcame him, nor
death, for he subdued it, could exert or
acquire any jurisdiction. As a personal
offender, or one incompetent to save,
however boldly he might have under-
taken the task, he must have seen cor-
ruption ; but being infinitely pure, and
therefore, able to save, his soul could not
be detained in hell, or the region of
disembodied spirits, and accordingly he
rose, even as he said, on the third day.
the successful champion of the lost, the
rifHer of the grave, the conqueror of hell,
the scape goat of the church, the Saviour
of the world.
Know then, poor sinner, that in the
resurrection of Christ, assurance is given
unto us, that redemption is accomplished;
the hand-writing of ordinances, which
was contrary to us, and which was nailed
to the cross, put away; the law vindicated;
justice satisfied ; truth maintained ; the
debt due by transgressors cancelled ;
iniquity forgiven ; and the kingdom of
heaven opened to all believers. Believe
then and be saved ; wash in the purple
tide that flows from his wounded side and
be clean. Herein surely is consolation
for the criminal ; and the doctrine of the
resurrection is proved to be adapted to his
wretched case — all the clamours of a
broken law, by which conscience was
terrified, and despair increased, are
silenced, and the soft and soothing accents
of a love stronger than death, succeed to
soothe and tranquillize the wounded spirit.
III. The Resurrection of Christ is
THE TYPE AND PLEDGE OF A SANCTIFIED
manhood. With chilling force was the
inquiry made of man, " who can bring a
clean thing out of an unclean ?" What
is impossible with man is possible with
God ; he has changed the Ethiopian's
skin. When the Son of God assumed a
representative portion of our fallen nature,
though the flesh he took, he took of a
fallen woman, yet rendered it pure and
spotless as his own Godhead — mortal it
was, yet made he it immortal ; corruptible
it was, yet no corruption was it permitted
to experience : its essential holiness
secured it from temptations, and failure,
and ruin ; its sanctification throughout
life was complete, therefore was it that
death could not master him, and that by
the energy of his very holiness, he arose
from the sepulchre.
Now remember, that in fulfilling all
righteousness, and maintaining all purity,
he as much secured the sanctification of
the church, as by the shedding of his
blood he paid her ransom. It were a
small thing had he only removed the
guilt, and averted the punishment, due to
sin ; this might have been all done, and
yet the ransomed criminals have been left
in irremediable wretchedness ; to what
end is it to open the prison doors, if you
devote the criminal to perpetual starva-
tion, and wretchedness ? In personally
enduring the sentence against sinners, and
being made a curse for us, he provided
also that every pardoned blood washed soul
should not only have fellowship with
116
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
him in his sufferings, but experience also
the sanctifying power of his resurrection.
If we be buried with him by baptism into
death, it is only that being made partakers
of his nature, we may walk in newness of
life ; in his last intercessory prayer he
expressly said, "for their sakes I sanctify
myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the truth ;" if without holiness
no man can see God, so also without
holiness can no man be happy. It was
the desire of the Saviour's heart not only
to save us from wrath, but also from
sin, that, in saving us from both, he
might make us supremely happy. Behold
then in the risen Saviour the assurance of
a sanctified felicity — is not this assurance
adapted to thy case, poor contrite soul,
conscious of thine infirmities and corrup-
tion ! Resolutions made in thine own
strength are nought, then look thou to
the Holy One, who has arisen from the
grave. Know him as thy life, thy strength,
thine all. Thy life once hid with him in
God, thou shalt be brought into the
blissful experience of that divine life,
which descending from the Head, circu-
lates with assimilating power, through all
the spiritual members of this body.
IV. The Resurrection of Christ
CONFERS ON THE CROSS ITS RECONCILING
power. In vain had the Redeemer been
offered up, had he not arisen from the tomb.
In bursting the bands of death it was at
once seen he could have been no pre-
tender ; direct proof was afforded of the
truth of the Centurion's exclamation,
" Truly this was the Son of God ;" and
the love, and benignant purpose of Deity
towards rebellious man was established.
Knowing now that he did arise, even as
he predicted, we are prepared to enter
into the import of his promise, " I, if I
be lifted up, will draw all men unto me."
The attraction of the cross is great only
because the attraction of him who was
crucified in weakness, and was raised in
power, is so efficient and resistless. Now
that he is risen he is able to appeal to the
feelings of a regardless world, and to ask
them can they look upon the cross where
he endured such excruciating and untold
agony for them, and retain their indispo-
sition to the God of love ; indulge the
sins, which pierced him ; and doubt any
longer the love he bears them ? Callous
is that heart which can hear unmoved so
affecting an appeal. The touching and
thrilling accents of the compassionate
Saviour \ibrate through all the recesses
of their hearts, who give a willing
audience to the voice of him that speak-
eth from heaven. Well may the Christian
minister take up, and reiterate the lan-
guage of the Apostle — "All things are
of God, who hath reconciled us to himself,
by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the
ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that
God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto himself, not imputing their tress-
passes unto them, and hath committed
unto us the word of reconciliation. 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
to God.''' Resist not this urgent entreaty ;
withstand not such demonstrations of
divine affection ; let your eye but repose
on the risen Saviour, all enmity to Him,
and to the Father who sent him, and to
the word he has written, and to the ordi-
nances of his house, and to the precepts
he has given, must cease. No one
doctrine of Scripture is so adapted to
remove the carnal enmity of man's heart,
as that which brings before us the winning
grace of a risen Saviour,
j V. The Resurrection of Christ
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
117
ESTABLISHES THE VANITY OF ALL THAT
IS EARTHLY AND CARNAL. Ill the light
of his glory alone can we truly discern
the real vanity of all, for which man
now disquiets himself. His whole life
presents to us but one scene of disinter-
ested rejection of all the creature most
values; and as the light which breaks
forth from his risen person, justifies the
moral wisdom of his self-denying course,
so also does it serve to disperse the
dense mist, which obscures our vision,
conceals our path, and gives a temporary
importance to the unsubstantial and airy
nothings which we fondly grasp. When
Scripture describes man as walking in
vanity, it pictures him, according to the
beautiful image of the Hebrew tongue,
as walking in a vapor — so dense, so thick
the mist, he is unconscious of the perils
of the way — terrific are the precipices
before him, but they are unseen — under
the constant influence of optical delu-
sions he mistakes substance for shadow,
and shadow for substance. His horizon
is only then gilded, the relative propor-
tion of all objects is only then ascertained,
his path is only then cleared, the dangers
which threaten him discerned, the reality
of divine things clearly seen, and the
vista of a bright and happy futurity
opened through the deceitful haze, when
he gets a believing view, like Stephen,
of the heavens opened and of the Son
of man in his risen glory, seated at the
right hand of the Father. Then is that
saying fully realized, which is written.
" The people which sat in darkness saw a
great light, and to them which sat in the
region and shadow of death, light is
sprung up." The resurrection of Christ
is thus that fact in the Gospel history,
which has most abundantly brought light
to bear on life and immortality. Oh !
that men were wise, that they considered
their latter end, that they viewed present
objects, present pursuits, and present
duties in the light of the resurrection.
Thus would danger be avoided — vain and
unsatisfying courses be abandoned, and
a happy career secured.
VI. — The Resurrection of Christ
ASSURES THE BOND SLAVES OF SaTAN
OF THEIR TYRANT'S DEFEAT, AND OF HIS
UTTER IMPOTENCE WHEN OPPOSED TO
the Lord of life and glory. Be
the earthly condition of man what it
may, so long as he continues under the
power of the devil, so long is he the
most miserable of beings. Into this sad
and wretched state did the fall of the
first Adam reduce us all. In yielding to
the God-denying temptation by which he
was first solicited to renounce his inte-
grity, he relinquished voluntarily to
Satan the sceptre of this lower world,
which he had himself received to exer-
cise for God, and became at once the
vassal of the blinding Tempter. The
poison was infused into his nature — it
has been transmitted to us. Still does
Satan as the substituted God of this
world, blind the minds of those who
believe not, and lead them captive at his
will. Alas ! that his degrading and pe-
rilous service, should by any be preferred
to that of Jehovah. But blessed be the
name of our redeeming God, he has
subjugated Satan. The second Adam,
the Lord from heaven, has overcome
the subduer of man. He met him in
the wilderness, defied and put him to
flight. He met him in all the agony of
the garden, in all the tremendous sorrows
of the cross — and the prince of darkness
was routed in the very hour of apparent
118
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
success. He had compassed the betrayal
and crucifixion of our Lord, but in
compassing his death secured his own
overthrow and ruin. Messiah met him
finally in the realms of the dead, and
wrenching from him the sceptre of the
grave, led him captive as he rose, and
made a show of him openly — triumphing
over him as a prostrate and vainly malig-
nant foe. In the risen Saviour arrayed
in glory, I thus behold my nature re-
stored to more than its original condition
and dignity. When first formed, the
complex creature man conditionrlly bore
the likeness of God. In his moral na-
ture he was holy, and in his very person,
created after the image of the predesti-
nated God-man, he shone in glory like
unto that which was seen on the mount
of transfiguration ; but possessing no
natural, no permanent right, no uncon-
ditional possession of the glory, he no
sooner sinned than he was disrobed of it;
and the consciousness of nakedness led
him to resort to an idle subterfuge to
conceal his degraded appearance. When
I look now on the Son of Man, however,
as risen and ascended, I see him robed
in enduring glory, in the full possession
of unconditional, because essential bles-
sedness — I see him at the right hand of
the Father invested with power and
honor — I see him as a quickening Spirit,
quickening whom he will, infusing life
into those who were dead in sin, destroy-
ing the evil virus that Satan had commu-
nicated, and as the new Head, the new
Root, the virtual Progenitor of a holy
and ransomed family, transmitting to all
the sons, whom he begetteth unto God,
his own uncontaminated nature. In his
resurrection, therefore, I find all that is
adapted to my wants as a descendant of
fallen Adam. He has regained the sove-
reignty, the glory, the purity which was
lost — and more than regained it. But
this leads us further to consider —
VII. — The Resurrection or Messiah
AS THE PLEDGE OF OUR'S, THE ASSURANCE
or glory to come. It were a small
matter to us that Christ had overcome
Satan, risen from the grave, acquired
sovereignty, obtained glory, were we to
possess no share in his triumph. But
seeing that in all this he was our repre-
sentative, we are furnished with the
transporting evidence, that as he is,
so shall we also be — " For if the dead
rise not, then is Christ not raised." But
as his resurrection can admit of no doubt,
no more can ours — " Now is Christ
risen from the dead, and become the
first fruits of them that slept. For since
by man came death, by man came also
the resurrection of the dead. For as in
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all
be made alive." To this blessed truth
our text also directs us — " If we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so,
them also, which sleep in Jesus will God
bring with him." Yes, in the morning
of the first resurrection, the Lord my
God shall come, and all his saints with
him, in the full possession of glory and
of sovereignty, to reduce the world anew,
to the divine allegiance, exercise righ-
teous rule over its renovated, but still
mortal inhabitants ; put an end to the
evil power of Satan, and establish uni-
versal peace. Thus shall God be vindi-
cated in all his ways — all his works shall
praise him — the glorified church, faithful
to her trust, and acting with her head,
shall not only enjoy ineffable blessedness
herself, but be the happy agent in com-
municating that happiness to others. So
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
119
shall she fulfil the original design of the
Creator when he constituted man the
lord of earth, and gave him dominion
over the creatures around him. And so
also, shall the malignant purpose of
Satan fail. Oh, what a prospect is this !
a prospect capable of affording enjoy-
ment of the most enlarged description to
all those whose minds are taught of God
— to comfort them under the depression
of present sorrow, and pain, and trial,
and temptation ; to fill them with joy in
the expectation of entering themselves
into the rest prepared for the people of
God ; and with the most benevolent de-
light, while they contemplate the pro-
mised opportunity of engaging in such
satisfying and diffusive beneficience. To
the mourner in Zion, who grieves over
the moral evil around him, it brings con-
solation of no ordinary kind, because it
affords him the persuasion that sin, and
sorrow, and sighing shall cease, and his
beloved Redeemer be honoured by all.
To the tempted Christian it speaks of
temptation overcome, and ceased for
ever ; and to him who weeps over the
funeral urn of departed piety, it speaks
of bliss already enjoyed by the deceased
saint, and of that rapturous hour, when
they who sleep in Christ shall return with
him, be joined by every living believer,
and enter on the perfect fruition both in
body and soul of the glory to be revealed.
But this remark leads us directly to the
consideration of that peculiar practical
feature of the doctrine referred to in the
text.
VIII. The Resurrection of Christ
IS THE TRUE GROUND OF CONSOLATION
WHEN AFFLICTED WITH SORROW FOR THE
LOSS OF DEPARTED SAINTS. " I WOuld not
have you to be ignorant, brethren, con-
cerning them which are asleep, that ye
sorrow not as others, which have no hope ;
for if we believe that Jesus died and rose
again, even so them also, which sleep in
Jesus, will God bring with him." They
have only departed for a season in
order to return in glory. However
eminent they may have been in service,
or eminent in position, we are not to
sorrow as those without hope. He who
endowed them for the work in which they
were engaged, can never be at a loss for
fitting instruments, and hope of blessing
cannot with them expire ; their felicity is
sure, and their return certain, and hope
for them cannot become extinct. On no
occasion did the sustaining power of this
conviction more commend itself to our
judgment than at the present period of
the church's sorrow. We now feel that
the resurrection of Christ has a power of
adapting itself to our circumstances under
the pressure of a recent bereavement.
I fin d peculiar solace at this moment in
reflecting on this consolatory topic —
I cannot but bless God that in his wisdom
and mercy he selected so solemn and
animating a season for inflicting so severe
a stroke upon our national church. The
gracious and supreme disposer of events,
in administering judicially so bitter a cup
to us, in common with the whole church,
was pleased to choose such an epoch of
hope and comfort, as might at once re-
mind us of the supreme happiness of the
deceased, and comfort us with the con-
viction that the chief bishop and shepherd
of our souls, will not fail to accomplish
in his own way, at his own time, and by
his own means, all those blessed results
for his church which moved him to
undergo for her the death of the cross,
and to arise from the dead. The venerated
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THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
and beloved Primate of this province,
having with a wonderful presentiment of
his approaching end, set his house in
order, was allowed to continue with us
till the arrival of that holy and profitable
season, which reminds us of atoning love
and covenanted glory ; which abases us
at Calvary only to exalt us at Olivet ;
which reads to our mind all the agony of
the cross, that we may enter into all the
joy of our risen Master ; which brings us
within the view of death in its most ap-
palling form, that we may behold him
effectually disarmed of its sting ; which
conducts us to the gloomy grave, that we
may behold its darkest caverns illumined
by a sudden flood of glory, which brings
us into the very presence of the tyrant of
the brethren, that we may be the actual
spectators of his discomfiture, see him
trampled beneath the feet of Messiah,
and learn to rejoice in the signal triumph
which has been achieved over death, and
him that had the power of death, that is
the devil. When I contemplate the
death of the sainted Prelate, who has
been so lately called away from the
church below, I am compelled, even as
1 am admonished by the sacred period of
the year when it occurred, to contem-
plate it in the light of the cross, as
illumined by the glory of the resurrec-
tion. With all the ardor of his noble and
renovated spirit had he' learned to repose
and feed upon the sacrifice of the death
of Christ, and with a hope full of im-
mortality did he view his own approach-
ing dissolution, confident that He who
rose from the dead would cause him to
share in the glory of his resurrection. —
The very season, in which our bereave-
ment has occurred, tends to enforce on
us the exhortation not to sorrow as those
which have no hope, for them who are
asleep, " for if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again even so them also,
which sleep in Jesus, ' as our beloved
and respected brother doth,' will God
bring with him." If his natural body
has been brought low, and committed to
the ground, " earth to earth, ashes to
ashes, dust to dust," yet from the dust
shall he arise, and in his renewed and
glorified flesh shall he see God, when he
shall stand in the latter day upon the
earth. If the Church he loved be
also depressed under this visitation, and
be reduced either by internal declension
or external injury, to a low estate, yet
shall she also arise and triumph over all
the difficulties of her way, and all the
enemies by whom she may be oppressed.
Well may she take up her proverb and
say, " Rejoice not against me, O mine
enemy ; when I fall I shall arise ; when
I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a
light unto me ; I will bear the indigna-
tion of the Lord because I have sinned
against him, until he plead my cause,
and execute judgment for me ; he will
bring me forth to the light, and I shall
behold his righteousness." The afflictive
event to which I have referred, and
which has cast such a gloom over the
whole church is one which demands im-
provement. I would now endeavour to
point out some profitable considerations
connected with this deeply affecting pro-
vidence.
1. — Gratitude becomes us token we
remember the mercy ice enjoyed in having
possessed so exalted and devoted a ruler
over this portion of the church. We are
not to forget the past. It would ill
become us to be unmindful of the grace
that was bestowed on us, in having been
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
121
placed under the episcopal guidance of
one, who was so eminently qualified,
both by natural endowments and by
gracious properties, for the faithful dis-
charge of the apostolic office. He was
a man, whose very presence commanded
reverent homage — whose courteous and
benevolent demeanour won the respect
even of the passing stranger, while his
uniform and considerate kindness secured
the attachment of more intimate acquain-
tances. Adorning the Gospel of God his
Saviour, both in public and private, he
was a burning and a shining light. —
Happy, thrice happy, was the church
while she possessed so admirable and
distinguished a Prelate. She was able
to refer to him, as to one in whom her
principles were exemplified, her purity
embodied, her episcopacy illustrated, and
her discipline duly but leniently main-
tained. And shall she forget to praise
God for having conferred on her such a
boon ! Let it not be said that " the righ-
teous perisheth and no man layeth it to
heart." Many gracious manifestations
of the Divine favor have we received
through his honored servant, much good
has been wrought by his means, many
important objects have been accomplish-
ed under his presidency. Praise to God
most high should ascend for past favors,
or, insensible to our mercies, further
chastening may reach us.
2. Gratitude beomes us still, and its
accompanying responsibility belongs to us
also, for ivhat we continue to possess.
If our shepherd has been removed, he
has bequeathed to us an example bright
as Christian rectitude can make it. He
is not dead, he sleepeth — he is embalmed
in the grateful recollection of the servants
of God, and shall continue to be em-
balmed in their remembrance. The
memory of the just is blessed — and
blessed for ever shall his memory be. —
For our better direction in discharging
the duty which devolves on us now, and
in exercising the grace of gratitude for
what we still continue to possess, 1 must
entreat to pause on some few features of
that bright and holy example he has
left us.
His zeal for God and Christ was of no
ordinary fervor. In him in it burned with
an intense and holy flame — if of any
mere man, it could with any approxima-
tion to truth be said, that zeal for the
house of God eat him up, it may safely
be affirmed of him ; knowing the grace of
God, in truth he burned with devout
ardor to cummunicate the knowledge of
that grace to others. Afflicted by the dis-
honor done to the God of heaven by the
profligacies and profaneness of the age,
by abounding iniquity and superstition,
he was zealous in promoting every pro-
ject that promised, with any reasonable
hope of success, to stem the tide of evil,
and reduce a rebel people to the obedience
of Christ, knowing both from his own
experience, and from the divine testimony,
that Holy Scriptures are ''able to make men
wise unto salvation, through faith, which
is in Christ Jesus," he endeavoured to
procure for them the widest distribution ;
persuaded that " it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them
that believe," he labored to multiply and
extend preaching of the Word ; where
the church failed, he provided himself
for the support of the ministers he em-
ployed, and some whom he thus enabled
to live while they were endeavouring to
extend the knowledge of Christ crucified,
and Christ risen, are by his lamented
122
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
demise deprived of all means of live-
lihood ; remembering the precept, " train
up a child in the way he shall go,
and when he is old he will not depart
from it," he exerted himself to secure
a Scriptural education to all the children
of the poor ; princely were the contribu-
tions which he placed for this purpose, at
the disposal of diocesan committees.
Time would fail me to follow his Grace's
footsteps in all the zealous labors of love,
in which he was actively engaged for the
promotion of the divine glory, and the
real substantial good of accountable and
immortal souls ; suffice it to add, that
his views of good were not confined to
his own country. He embraced in his
regard the distant heathen and the
scattered Jews.
His intelligent attachment to the Church
of England was a marked feature in his
character. Some adhere to the establish-
ment, and happy it is they do so for any
reason, from a bigotry that early preju.
dices have engendered, clinging to rites
and forms of whose origin and value they
are alike ignorant, and superstitiously
reposing all their hopes of heaven on
their rigorous adherence to the mere
ceremonies of religion ; others, alas,
neither acquainted with the doctrines of
our holy faith, nor feeling any concern
for our ordinances, can only be regarded
as mere partizans, priding themselves on
their hereditary churchmanship, as though
it were a patent of nobility, and glorying
in the senseless maintenance of a name,
as though it were enough to despise
others, and to cry, Lord, Lord, in order
to secure the approbation of Him who
loveth all that he hath made, who trieth
the hearts and the reins of the children
of men, and who is not to be mocked by
the flippant speech of professed friendship,
when the heart is far from him. We
would fain hope that both these classes
of men are decreasing amongst us; to
neither of them did the sainted Prelate
for whom we mourn, belong — the pure
and evangelical doctrines of our church
were the very joy and rejoicing of his
heart ; her devotional services did but
express the fervid piety of his spirit; and
her mild and wholesome discipline was
endeared to him from its correspon-
dence as well with the general scope of
Scripture, as with the usages of a pure
and primitive antiquity. It was impossible
to be present when he engaged publicly,
in any of his official ministrations, without
being persuaded of the spiritual earnest-
ness, with which he surrendered himself
to the the discharge of his episcopal office.
You yourselves were witnesses of the
impressive solemnity, with which he threw
his whole soul into the service, at the
dedication of this house to Almighty God.
Few amongst us, I believe, remained un-
moved, when he administered with suchaff-
ecting piety, the sacred rite of confirmation
to our children — a more touching scene
was never witnessed — who could observe
the visible emotion of his spirit, without
some corresponding emotion in their own,
as he breathed out his ardent supplications
for those on whom his hands were laid ?
Oh ! may the God of mercy and love yet
fully answer his devout petitions for all
the youth, on whom, in no light, formal,
or perfunctory manner, he implored the
descent of the Holy Spirit.
His inflexible integrity, one of the
rarest virtues, was perhaps manifested
beyond any other in the noble character
of this distinguished man of God. Some
who did not enjoy the opportunity of a
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
123
close observation, might have confounded
hisu nbending firmness of principle with
obstinacy ; yet grossly would they have
misapprehended the tone and temper of
his mind — a man who is truly obstinate
finds his highest gratification in the singu-
larity of his course, and his opposition to
the judgment and advice of others. Never
did his Grace, I believe, without pain and
anguish of spirit, find himself campelled
to dissent from the views of those w'hom
he respected, or to decline the adoption
of those expedients which they recom-
mended. I have seen him oppressed with
grief when unable to aquiesce in their
suggestions ; once persuaded in his con-
science of the path which duty enjoined,
not the whole world combined, not the
solicitations of friendship, nor the fear of
consequences, could cause him to swerve
from it, either to the right hand or to
the left — his eyes looked right on, and
his eyelids straight before him — where
priciple was involved, no earthly induce-
ment could persuade him to admit of
compromise ; all evasion was his abhor-
rence ; he knew, that truth and rectitude
required not the aid of subtlety. When
most I may have had the misfortune to
differ, I have been the most constrained
to admire and revere — his bold and unde-
viating assertion of what he deemed the
principles of righteousness was but an
oral expression of the genuine and Stirling
quality of mind to which I have adverted
— as he was firm in the pursuit of what
was right, so also was he bold in its
avowal. Even the frowns of power could
not restrain the fearless utterance of his
honest judgment — of this, his conduct at
the trial of Queen Caroline, furnishes us
with a memorable example. It is gratify-
ing to find from the posthumous expression
of his mind, that such an experienced
Christian senator as Mr. Wilberfore
entered fully into the judgment which he
gave — " I myself," he wrote, "see Matt,
v. 32 precisely in the same light with the
Archbishop of Tuam" The natural
result of such a disposition, leading per-
sonally to such straightforward conduct
was, to produce- in him —
An abhorrence of error in principle,
and of evil in practice. He remembered
under how solemn an obligation he
was "with all faithful diligence to banish
and drive away all erroneous and strange
doctrines contrary to God's Word ; and
both privately and openly to call upon and
encourage others to do the same ;" he
had pledged himself, by vows of no
ordinary sacredness, to pursue such a
course, and the vows he thus undertook
accorded with his enlightened sense of
duty — he was therefore never backward,
however painful the exertion, to his
meek and loving spirit, openly to repress
false teaching : diligently did he labor to
prevent its occurrence in the pulpits under
his own jurisdiction ; and as a peer of
parliament to prevent its sanction in the
land. He pitied the deluded victims of an
erring faith, and no sacrifice would have
been too great for him to make, to have
delivered them from their delusions. The
same generous and compassionate feelings
led him, not only to rebuke vice, but to seek
the reclamation of the offenders; but where
there is an absence of true principle we
must expect a corresponding declension
from the path of virtue — in seeking to cor-
rect the one, he must have endeavoured to
reform the other. The tree is known by
its fruits. — It rarely happens that a censor,
however amiable, escapes the temptation of
pride — but never in mortal did I observe —
124
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
Such deep humility. He knew the cor-
ruption of the human heart, and deplored
it in himself. He knew the ignorance
of the creature, and he was fearful of his
own judgment. He listened, like a child,
to all his clergy had to offer, and was ever
ready to hesitate when his previous deci-
sion seemed to militate with theirs. He
was ever ready to learn from the humblest
curate in his diocese. Often have I been
amazed at his forbearance, his modesty,
and humility, when the crudest thoughts
were expressed before him by men every
way his inferiors. He never ventured to
pronounce till after he had duly weighed.
His personal simplicity corresponded with
the lowliness of his mind. His habits, by
taste, by inclination, and by grace, were
all simple. Self-denying in all things,
he hated ostentation. Formed by nature
to command respect, he only sought it
for his office' sake. Ennobled by birth,
ennobled by station, and still more en-
nobled by character, he deemed himself,
notwithstanding, the lowest of all, and
the servant of all.
But how shall I speak of his boundless
but discriminating charity ? It was known
of all — it was lauded of all. To prevent
the effect which such incredible liberality
might have produced on the neighbour-
ing objects of his bounty, it was insidi-
ously reported, by those who could not
enter into the spirit of so enlarged a
heart, that the streams of his generosity
were supplied by resources which reached
him from the state. How little likely he
was to be thus aided and supported in his
benevolent designs, by political oppo-
nents, the dupes of such a rumour never
paused to inquire. But as he never
sought for human applause, he was never
moved from his purpose of well-doing by
the unworthy aspersions which a crooked
and sinister hostility stooped to propa-
gate. It was obvious to many, that if
secret means of beneficence could thus
have been acquired, it was impossible
that any secret agency could have led to
his personal activity in visiting the dwell-
ings of the poor. Never slothful nor
loving to slumber, I have known him to
go forth, two or three hours before day-
light, in inclement weather, in a dreary
winter, with a tinder-box or lantern alone
provided, that he might, by a personal
inspection of their habitations, and a sur-
vey of the actual bed-clothes they had in
use, ascertain how far the poor around him
stood in need of blankets and other ne-
cessary comforts. It were easy for a man
of wealth to extend eleemosynary aid, by
ordering monies to be given to certain
needy applicants ; but a higher principle
is demanded when a bed of down is to be
forsaken, and a careful personal inquirv
into the amount of actual want instituted,
before the dawn of day. In the distribu-
tion of his charities, it is scarcely neces-
sary to say, he knew no distinction of
persons. It was enough for him to know
that real penury existed, to induce him
to relieve it. True to his consecration
promise, he shewed himself, by God's
help, " gentle and merciful, for Christ's
sake, to poor and needy people, and to
all strangers destitute of help," without,
regard to their religious profession.—
Though he was an opposer of error, he
was the anxious generous friend of the
erring sinner. It was his earnest soli-
citude for the real welfare of those who
erred — a solicitude evinced by his readi-
ness to share with them of his abundance,
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
125
which most powerfully moved him to
oppose their errors. When, therefore,
famine or contagious fever was abroad,
or when real want, more or less widely
extended, arose — he showed himself, by
many incontestable proofs, to have a
heart feelingly alive to the distresses of
his fellow-creatures — a true patriotic anxi-
ety for their good. He felt for them, he
laboured for them, he devoted his time
to them, and he communicated largely
to their necessities. How monstrous the
perversion of mind, which could discern
an enemy in so bountiful a benefactor !
As allied to this disposition of mind, we
must notice —
His affectionate consideration and care
for others. I cannot trust myself to speak,
or even to think at present, as I would
desire, on this topic. I dare not take
you to the domestic circle ; I dare not
speak to you of my own personal expe-
rience of his indescribable attentions to
the least deserving of those who were
permitted to approach him. He possessed
an intuitive sense of what would prove
most gratifying in attention, and most
soothing in manner, and most courteous
in demeanour, to all. All difference of
rank was forgotten in his desire to make
others feel at ease, and to afford them
enjoyment. Truly, he had a tender
heart. ; and if it beat with kindly feelings
towards any, it did so towards his clergy
at large. He was their father and their
friend — their counsellor and their guide.
He aided them by his purse, his advice
and his encouragement. To the most
dependent class amongst them this was
especially the case. He was, emphati-
cally, the curate's friend. He laboured
earnestly to improve their condition. He
was ever ready to protect them from op-
pression, and to secure them in the en-
joyment of their rights. They had only
to open their minds to him in order to
obtain the most effective sympathy. Dis-
appointments did not discourage, and in-
gratitude did not diminish his zeal for
their welfare. He endeavoured, with the
most scrupulous anxiety, to provide the
province with pious and devoted labour-
ers ; and it was the very joy of his heart,
to promote them. Connected with these
remarks, I may observe —
How scrupulous he was in ordaining,
sending, or laying hands upon others. At
one period, I believe, he was so sensitive
on the subject, that he avoided the direct
exercise of his functions — but never did
he lay hands suddenly on any man. With
him it was not enough to have obtained a
collegiate testimonial, or certificate of
theological attainment, or what is techni-
cally called a title to orders ; he endea-
voured to acquire a real knowledge of the
spiritual character of every candidate that
approached him. Much as he admired
great learning and great talents, it was
not these, but great piety he sought. I
say not that he was always eminently suc-
cessful, but this I say, he was always
eminently faithful in his search. It was
his prayer and anxious earnest desire to
commit the ministry of the word to such
men only as were worthy of the office.
1 have thus endeavoured to draw a
brief and general sketch of this exalted
character. Imperfect must necessarily
be the ablest description, and peculiarly
imperfect so meagre an outline as mine.
But who is competent to infuse life into
any oral or written delineation of such a
man ? I am unwilling, however, to lose
126
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
such an opportunity of proposing for imi-
tation not indeed in his official relation,
for with that you can have no concern —
but in his Christian attainments, the vir-
tuous example of this eminent servant
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Follow him
as he followed the Redeemer : emulate
him in his zeal for his Master — in his at-
tachment to the Church — in his inflexible
integrity — in his abhorrence of error and
of sin — in his deep humility — in his ex-
emplary charity, and in his consideration
and care for others. So shall a suitable
improvement be made of the distressing
dispensation. Well may we be grateful
in having such a spirit-stirring example
placed before our view. But,
3. Humiliation also becomes us under
the grievous pressure of such a judgment.
" A great man has fallen in Israel," and
displeasure to the church is evinced in
his removal. If when a standard-bearer
fainteth the host is disordered, and con-
scious at once of calamity, how much
greater the disorder, how much more
distressing the calamity, when the standard
bearerfalleth. Never were the armies of
Israel smitten, or discouraged, or filled
with mourning, but by reason of disobe-
dience to God, or forgetfulness of him.
The funeral pall which now covers the
church has been spread over her, in like
manner, to correct her for mercies
slighted, opportunities neglected, duties
forgotten. Therefore is it meet that we
should humble ourselves before God, in
dust and ashes, acknowledge our sin, re-
pent of our own personal misdeeds, and
bewail the evils of the church, which
have thus provoked the Lord to afflict
her. Not without cause, at such a crisis,
when the church is so violently assaulted
without, and so treacherously abandoned
within, has she sustained so heavy a loss.
Be it ours, then, to mourn in secret over
our declension and unfaithfulness — to re-
member from whence we have fallen, to
repent, and do the first works, or else —
it is the Chief Bishop and Shepherd of
our souls who gives the warning, " I
will come unto thee quickly, and will re-
move thy candlestick out of his place,
except thou repent." Alas! alas! that
we should have needed such correction ;
that the church herself should thus have
struck the blow ! A star of glorious
brightness, in the- right hand of our great
high priest, has been quenched in night,
and on our darkened path its mild and
chastened light no more can shine. Yet
the gloom occasioned is not total. Though
judicial, the mournful dispensation is
corrective — " As many as I love I re-
buke and chasten ; be zealous, therefore,
and repent." The very notion of cor-
rection, however, is such as to imply a
restoration to favour when its end is
answered.
4. Encouragement and hope, there-
fore, are offered in the very chastening.
The Lord chastens always with a salutary
end in view. We may not discern the
end, we may not know the way by which
we are led ; but herein may we be con-
fident, that he who in wrath remembers
mercy, will never leave nor forsake his
church — will never permit the rulers of
the darkness of this world, graphically
pictured under the symbol of the gates of
hell, to prevail against her. She may be
debased and humbled — she may be af-
flicted and tossed with tempests — she may
be deprived of her most distinguished
sons — her mariners may all quail, and for
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
127
many days neither sun nor stars may ap-
pear to cheer and guide her — no small
tempest may lie on her, and all hope of
being saved may be taken away — and yet
shall a deliverer arise, as from a long
slumber, and in her extremity, when the
glory of her preservation shall palpably
be all his own, put forth his voice of
power, rebuke the winds and waves, and
great shall be the calm. Faithful and
true is the Church's Head — his promises
all yea, and amen. His constant lan-
guage is, " be not dismayed nor discour-
aged, O ye of little faith ; lo, I am with
you always, even unto the end of the
world." To him, then, with a strong and
realizing faith, does it become us to look
up ; to him should we have recourse in
our sorrow ; to him appeal — which leads
us at once to this final consideration —
5. Our prayers and intercessions should
abound. Prayer should abound, that
help may come from the Holy One, that
mercy may be extended ; and the cor-
rection may produce its salutary design.
If no trial for the present seemeth to
be joyous, but grievous, and yet after-
wards yieldeth the peaceable fruit of
righteousness to them that are exercised
thereby, how urgent ought we to be in
supplication to Him who answereth prayer,
that being exercised aright by the afflic-
tion, we and the whole Church may re-
ceive abundant profit. Our God, whom
we serve, is able of himself, and, without
the intervention of human agency, to
supply all our need for us in Christ Je-
sus. To prayer should ardent interces-
sion be added. We should intercede for
our rulers, that He who has the hearts of
all men at his disposal may direct them,
in so trying a moment, to lay aside all
private and political regards, and to se-
lect some suitable and holy man of God,
on whom the royal choice may fall. On
them; in the providence of God, devolves
the task of providing an overseer now,
for this important diocese. But though
they think not so, yet resteth the decision
with Him who sitteth in the heavens. He
laugheth to scorn the schemes and devices
of men, and accomplishes his own wise
and benevolent designs, both by frus-
trating the evil that is at any time con-
templated, and by rendering even the
most obnoxinus proceedings of his crea-
tures, the instrumental occasion of bless-
ing. Not to man, then, but to the
Ruler and Disposer of all, should we
have recourse in the present bitter emer-
gency — " He giveth the word, and great
is the company of the preachers." How
consolatory the reflection, at such a mo-
ment, that " the lot is cast into the lap :
but the whole disposing thereof is of the
Lord." As for our rulers, so also for the
object of their choice, should our inter-
cessions ascend to heaven. An election
apparently unprofitable may be made, —
yet may a double portion of the Spirit
descend upon Elisha. Even the prophet
of Moab may be compelled to abandon
his deceitful habits, and his lust for gold,
and refuse " to go beyond the word of
the Lord his God, to do less or more."
Be therefore the present character of the
ecclesiastic, who may be appointed to
govern this portion of the church, what
it may, and little as he may be inclined to
walk in the footsteps of so godly and
virtuous an example, every property of
mind, every feature of character, that
might render him unmeet to feed
the flock of Christ, may be corrected,
128
NEW IRISH PULPIT.
and such a change pass over the spirit of
his mind, as may constitute him at once
a noble and polished pillar in the temple
of our God. Let us then plead earnestly
with the Lord, that whosoever may now
be elevated amongst us to the apostolic
office, may also with the office obtain,
through the bounteous mercy of the Most
High, the apostolic character, and be
endued with apostolic grace.
It only now remains, dear brethren,
that I should inquire how far you are
prepared to enter into the practical con-
siderations I have brought before you.
Are you able in any wise to enter into the
moral power of the truth, that " Jesus
died and rose again?" Have you ex-
perienced the benefit of his precious
death and passion, been quickened to-
gether with him, and blessed with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in
Christ Jesus ? Is the life of Christ ma-
nifested in your mortal bodies ? Being
crucified with Christ, have you also been
raised with him, through the faith of the
operation of God? Be not contented
with the possession of a correct creed, but
let all its blessed truths become abiding
principles of action within you " Seek
those things which are above, where
Christ sitteth at the right hand of God,"
and " be diligent, that you may be found
of him in peace."
Dublin: New Irish Pulpit Office, I, St. Andrew-st. ; John Robertson and Co. ;
W. Curry, Jun. and Co. ; R. M. Tims, W. Carson, D. R. Bleakley. London,
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Booksellers.
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(Opposite Trinity-street, Dublin.)
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
GOSPEL PREACHER.
" We preach Christ crucified —
" Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God." — 1 Cor. i. 23, 24.
No. LXXXII.
SATURDAY, 27th APRIL, 1839.
Price 4d.
COMPARATIVE GLORY OF THE JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN DISPENSATIONS.
A SERMON,
PREACHED IN ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH, DUBLIN,
ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7th, 1839,
ON BEHALF OF THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIANITY AMONG THE JEWS.
BY THE REV. E. D. RHODES, B.D.
Rector of Earmington, and Curate of West Teignmouth, Devon.
2 Cor. Hi. 15. 16.
"Even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when
it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away."
The parallel which is drawn in the
chapter from which my text is taken, is
well worthy our deepest and most serious
attention. There is a parallel there, both
of resemblance and contrast, — of resem-
blance, in that the law and the Gospel
are both spoken of as covenants, both
dictated by God, both ordained for man,
both administered by man, and each of
them had a glory of its own, — the glory
on the face of Moses, the glory on the
face of Christ.
But, if there be a resemblance between
them, the contrast is more striking. The
one is in the letter, the other is in the
spirit, one ministering unto death, the
other unto life ; the one is written on
tables of stone, the other on the fleshy
tables of the heart ; the one a ministra-
tion of condemnation, the other, a minis-
tration of righteousness ; the one had a
Vol.' IV.
glory which pa3seth away, the other had
a glory which remaineth ; the one was a
veiled dispensation with a veiled teacher,
the other, is the open manifestation of
God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ.
I cannot, at this time, enter at length
into all the particulars either of this re-
semblance or contrast : I would therefore
confine your attention to that part of the
subject which the words of my text bring
before us, and especially in connection
with that people for whom we are to
speak ; for it is particularly, in reference
to the promotion of Christianity among
the Jews, that I would ask you with me
to consider the meaning of these words
of the apostle, " even unto this day when
Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart,
nevertheless, when it shall turn to the
Lord, the vail shall be taken away."
Let us then, with the Lord's blessing,
130
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
consider, first, the veiled, and then the
unveiled glory . secondly, inquire into
that condition of men which is represented
by having the vail upon their heart, and
then, into that better state which is des-
cribed by the heart being turned to the
Lord, and the vail taken away. And
may the Lord bless these truths to our
souls, and quicken our hearts in conside-
ring them.
I. You are probably familiar with the
remarkable story to which the apostle
alludes in this text, — you are familiar
with the occurrance of the vail on Moses'
face, it is found in Exodus xxxiv.
After that, Moses had been with the Lord,
after the Lord had caused his goodness
to pass before him, had revealed his
,name to him, had spoken to him as a man
speaketh with his friend, then Moses
came to declare to the people, the things
that God had spoken to him, and " it
came to pass, when Moses came down
from Mount Sinai with the two tables of
testimony in Moses' hand, when he came
down from the Mount, that Moses wist
not that the skin of his face shone while
he talked with him. And when Aaran
and all the children of Israel saw Moses,
behold, the skin of his face shone ; and
they were afraid to come nigh him. And
Moses called unto them, and Aaran, and
all the rulers of the congregation returned
unto him : and Moses talked with them.
And afterwards all the children of Israel
came nigh, and he gave them in com-
mandment all that the Lord had spoken
with him in Mount Smai. And till Moses
had done speaking with them, he put a
vail on his face. But when Moses went
in before the Lord to speak with him, he
took the vail off until he came out. And
he came out and spake unto the children
of Israel that which he was commanded.
And the children of Israel saw the face
of Moses that the skin of Moses' face
shone. And Moses put the vail upon
his face again, until he went in to speak
with him." Now, brethren, there is much
meaning in all this. It does not apply
merely to the circumstances of that time,
or to the persons who then had intercourse
with Moses, but it applies evidently to
the whole dispensation which Moses was
introducing. It is very evident, that the
character of the Mosaic dispensation is
represented under the form of this vail
on Moses' face — its glory was veiled, and
what was its glory? Glory, in reference
to God, I believe generally means the
manifestation of God. In whatever mea-
sure, and in whatever way the perfections
of God are made manifest, in such a
measure, and in such a way, God is
glorified. " The heavens declare the
glory of God," because the visible crea-
tion shows forth his power and godhead ;
and all the works of providence and all
the supplies of his bounty, manifesting
his care and goodness, bespeak his
glory too ; and when the whole work of
God shall be completed, and when he
shall be beheld by his creatures face to
face, and when they shall rejoice before
him, brethren, then it shall be glory, full
glory, an ever present, fully manifested
God.
Therefore I say, just in proportion
to the degree in which God is shown, in
such proportion is God glorified ; and just
as the attributes and perfections of God
are made known in any dispensation, just
such is the glory of that dispensation ;
and therefore, whereas God, in his law,
has made known his righteousness to man,
whereas he unveiled the form of his per-
fect justice, and declared the fixed rules
of truth by which the universe should be
administered continually, therefore God s
righteousness was the glory of the law,
God's perfect justice, integrity and truth
which ruled and ordered all things — this
was that which God made known in the
law, and called on men to behold it, and
they could not behold it, they could not
bear it, it was too bright for them, it was
intolerable. Oh brethren, why was it so ?
Why was it, and how is it that when God
reveals himself to us, man turns himself
away from God ? How was it, that Adam
hid himself when he had sinned, among
the trees of the garden, from God? How
was it, that Isaiah cried out, " woe is me !
for I am undone, because I am a man of
unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of
a people of unclean lips ; for mine eyes
have seen the King, the Lord of hosts,"
when he beheld the glory of the Lord
Jesus, and spake of him ? Why was it,
that Peter was overwhelmed at the sense
of the present power of. his Lord, and
said, " depart from me, for I am a sinful
man O Lord" ? It was sin, brethren, sin
in the life, sin in the heart, sin in the con-
science ; — an ever present sense of cor-
ruption, not perhaps realized in the
understanding, but still felt at the heart's
core — it is this that makes a man a coward
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
131
before his God. Yes, therefore it was,
that when Israel heard the voice of God
speaking from the mountain, in, clouds
and darkness and tempest, they exceed-
ingly feared and quaked, and asked not
to hear it again, lest they should die; and
this it was, which, when Moses, their
chosen leader, came down from the moun-
tain, and spoke with a portion of the
brightness which the Lord had given him
there, this it was which made them fear ;
the glory of God's righteousness shone
on them, and their sinful heart was afraid.
Such, brethren, was the need that God's
glory should be veiled: this was the cause,
why God in condescension to his people,
permitted Moses to put a vail on his face,
and accordingly to hide the righteousness
of the law under a covering, and under
vails which might render it tolerable for
man.
And what is the vail ? A vail is that
which conceals; and therefore, that which
answers the character of a vail in Scrip-
ture, must be that which conceals God,
which, in a measure at least, hides his
glory. And what is it, that hides God
from man, what is it that can conceal the
perfections of the great God from the crea-
tures made afterhis own image? What is
it that can enable his creatures to live in the
earth he has made, in the universe he has
formed and fashioned, insensible and
ignorant of him ? What can cause them
to be alive to all other things, and not
to desire or feel the glory of their God ?
What is this ? Oh, it is the things of
sight and sense, it is the visible things
of the creation whereby we are surrounded,
it is the material things with which we
are conversant. Brethren, it is the flesh
in which we dwell. The word of Scrip-
ture is plain. The Lord Jesus Christ our
great High Priest, he hath opened for us
a way to God, " a new and living wey,
through the vail, that is to say, his flesh."
The flesh, brethren, in which the word
of God dwelt, this it was which veiled his
godhead, this it was which rendered it
possible, that man should have contact
and converse with him, and yet should
live. This it was that enabled the eter-
nal God himself, to make a full, clear,
large manifestation of all his glory, and
yet, present it so that sinful man might
bear it, the vail of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the vail in the true temple, his body was
his flesh, and therefore I say, the flesh in
espe ct of God, or the flesh in respect
of man, and all the material and visible
things that are represented and character-
ized by the name of flesh, this is the
vail which Moses put on, this is that
vail which the Lord Jesus Christ put on.
In what form, then, was this vail assu-
med under the law? How did Moses put
the vail over the glory of that revelation ?
Brethren, the vail of the law was, all the
carnal ordinances and services, all the
ceremonies and rites, all the sacrifices of
the earthly tabernacle, and all the forms
of the priesthood, all these things by which
man in the flesh should pay fleshly ser-
vice and worship to God who is a Spirit,
these means and methods by which God
shadowed forth the way in which the
sinner should return and be brought nigh
to his Lord. This was the vail, this it
was which hid the glory of God's perfect
and God's intolerable righteousness, con-
cealed and softened it down, so that man
could bear it. A vail is that which con-
ceals, but we must remember, that a vail,
in reference to God, while it conceals,
reveals also ; it is so arranged as to make
known that which it hides, to make it
known as far as man can bear it. This
very vail of carnal ordinances and cere-
monies which hid the brightness of God's
righteousness, and took away the terror
and fear with which the Jewish heart
was overwhelmed, revealed that which
it hid, yea, and all these types and shadows
were preachers of the true Gospel of
Jesus, they were all formed after the pat-
tern of things in the heavens, they all
made known, darkly indeed, but still
savingly and completely, the sinner's
state by nature, and his hope by grace.
But, brethren, this was not to be always,
the glory of that dispensation was to pass
away before the glory that excelleth, it
was only as a preparatory to something
that was to come after, as a schoolmaster
to lead us to Christ. And, accordingly,
all this vail which we are speaking off,
the apostle says, was done away in Christ.
II. Dear brethren, surely we know some-
thing of the glory of the Gospel, we know,
how here we find the substance of all that
which was, shadowed forth in the law — we
know, that here we find the reality of all
that which was dimly promised and vainly
hoped for — and we know, that here, not
only is there a partial manifestation of
God, not only is there a shining forth of
one attribute clearly, and another imper-
fectly, but here is a full united declaration
132
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
of all God's perfections, even the full
glory of the living God in the face of
Jesus Christ, and this, brethren, is the
unveiled glory of God. It does not, like
the law, overwhelm the sinner with its
brightness; it does not, like the law ter-
rify the imperfect with its perfection, but
it speaks of hope, it speaks of life, it speaks
of resurrection, it speaks of glory. Oh,
friends, the law was in the letter ; but this
is in the Spirit ; the law made sinners to
know their sins, the Gospel tells them
where to obtain deliverance from them ;
the law declared wrath, the Gospel de-
clares pardon ; the law proclaimed God's
justice, the Gospel proclaims God's mer-
cy; the law required full unerring obe-
dience, but it provided no help whereby
that obedience might be performed ; the
Gospel not merely lays down the rule,
but supplies the ground to walk therein ;
it not only opens a way to God, but it is
itself the living way ; it not only guides
but it strengthens, yea, it makes us " meet
for the inheritance of the saints in light,''
which Christ has purchased with his blood ;
therefore, whereas the revelation of right-
eousness was a terrible thing to the sinner,
the revelation of God's love in the Gospel
is a comfortable thing to the sinner :
and as there was needed then a veiled
dispensation that men might be able to
bear the burden laid on them, every cover-
ing is taken off in the Gospel ; — " the
Word was made flesh, and dwelt among
us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as
of the only begotten of the Father, full of
grace and truth." And this is the glory
which the apostle is speaking of in the
text, he says, '* now the Lord is that
Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty, but we all, beholding,
as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are
changed into the same image from glory
to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord."
Oh, brethren, mark the distinction be-
tween the naked revelation of God's
righteousness and the free declaration of
God's love. Whereas the righteousness
of the law only drove the sinner farther
from God, shut him up in greater dark-
ness and deeper despair, caused him to
tremble more insufferably, and made him
anxious to be delivered from the presence
of his God ; — instead of this, the glory
of God's love draws the sinner to him,
conforms him to his likeness, works him
up after his own image, and changes him
" into the same image from glory to
glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
in the reading of the old testament, which
And this is the contrast which the apostle
draws between the veiled and unveiled
glory, between the ministration of death
and the ministration of life, between the
teacher who talked with a vail on his face,
hiding the glory that w as to be done away,
and the teacher that came in the likeness
of men, calling on man to draw near to the
Father in him, and to become like him. at
his appearing, when they shall see him as
he is.
" The vail is done away in Christ ," —
sin is taken away, the curse is taken away,
the righteousness of the law has been ful-
filled, the bondage of the law has been
removed, the claims of death and hell are
cancelled, the claims of God upon the
conscience are discharged ; — the Lord
Jesus Christ has encountered all, he has
fulfilled all, has accomplished all, — him-
self becoming the surety, he has paid the
debt, himself encountering the enemy,
has brought out the deliverance, himself
coming and meeting the strong man arm-
ed in his own palace, vanquishing him
there, and spoiling his goods, has opened
the prison house, carried away the gates
on his shoulders, and led captivity cap-
tive ; he has claimed, that the kingdom
of heaven shall be opened to sinners as
the representative of man, he has asserted
a place for man at God's right hand, and
demanded for us a place and a portion in
the presence and enjoyment of God ; —
and this, brethren, is his glory. It is
done, the work is done, it is completed,
the salvation is accomplished, the vail has
been taken away, the full revelation has
been made, God has declared himself to
man ; — he has shown righteousness, but
righteousness in the form of love ; he has
shown his love, but love underthe character
of righteousness ; he has shown that " he
can be just, and the justifier of him that
believeth in Jesus." Brethren, the work
is done, the revelation has been made.
III. I spoke of a vail just now, a vail
on God's countenance, and a vail on the
face of the minister of God. There is
another vail which the apostle speaks of
here, it is the vail on man's heart, — and
he says, that although the Lord hath taken
away the vail of the law, although all the
shadows and types have passed away, and
the substance hath been manifested, yet
the Jews have still the vail on their hearts ;
their minds are blinded ; for unto this
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
133
day remains the same vail untaken away
vail is done away in Christ ; — " even unto
this day, when Moses is read, the vail is
upon their heart." And what, brethren,
is the vail on the heart ? I said, just now,
that the vail on God's face was a material
thing, the things of sight and the things
of sense, through which God was mani-
fested and made known to his fleshly and
earthly creatures ; and as earthly things
are the vail on God's countenance, so
earthly things are the vail on man's heart;
as when God uses an earthly figure in
order to reveal the truth, he speaks as a
veiled teacher, so, when man loves earthly
things rather than the truth which God
reveals, then he hears with a veil'd heart ;
when man rests in the form rather than the
substance, in the sign rather than in the
thing signified, when the world is upon
the heart, and the flesh is upon the heart,
and the mind of man becomes a carnal
mind, then the vail is there : and then,
brethren, it is all in vain that God speaks
plainly, and shows himself in a plain man-
ner — it is all in |vain that thunder should
sound from Mount Sinai, and mercy
should speak from Mount Calvery — that
there should be a revelation of terror and
a revelation of goodness, which the heart
cannot conceive or tongue express — it is
in vain that God's goodness should pass
before us, and that he should come among
us with treasures of mercy, and treasures
of grace, and treasures of glory, too, for
his weak and miserable creatures — Oh, it is
all in vain, that Christ should be crucified
plainly in our midst, — all is nothing worth,
while the vail is on the heart. Let us
look at all the false religions with which
the world abounds, let us look at the Jews
and their deep and inveterate obstinacy
and prejudices, let us look on the heathen
nations who are changing the invisible
God into the form of a visible creature,
and worshipping the creature rather than
the Creator ; — let us look on professing
Christendom, on the Romanist who is in-
venting false mediators and false gods,
who is trusting in lying vanities, and de-
ceiving himself with vain and false depen-
dencies, — let us look on the formal and
nominal protestant, on those who main-
tain a pure faith and pure worship, and
yet "hold the truth in unrighteousness;"
let us ask, why should this be ? let us ask,
why they should know God and yet not
honour God ? why they should profess to
believe in Christ, and not live according
to that faith ? why they should speak well
of the law and not love the law and keep
the law ? why they should profess christian
faith and christian hope, and yet be of
the world, and in the world, and have
their portion and treasure here ? Let us
inquire, how it is, that man is blind to
the light of nature and reason, deaf to the
pleadings of conscience, insensible to the
light of revelation, and turns a deaf ear to
the voice of God though it charm never
so wisely ? — let us ask the question and
we shall get the answer — the vail is on
their heart, their heart is a carnal heart,
the love of the flesh, the love of the world,
the love of the creature, is there ; — self-
confidence, self-dependence, self-right-
eousness, all the various forms of self-
idolatry are there, but God is not there.
Oh, he has been cast down from his
throne, he has been put out of his own
temple, a false god has been enthroned
in the heart of man, and all the noble
faculties of our nature, and all our heaven-
derived principles are blighted, and the
life that was breathed into man by the
breath of God himself is all become
in bondage to the flesh, it is all compelled
into the service of sin ; and, therefore, it
is, that the glory of the living God may
pass before us, but we have neither eyes
to see, or ears to hear, or hearts to feel
it.
Brethren, the apostle says, '' If our Gos-
pel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost,
in whom the god of this world hath blind-
ed the minds of them which believe not,
lest the light of the glorious Gospel of
Christ who is the image of God should shine
unto them ;" — and if in the midst of this
darkness and misery, if under this bondage,
the man is still at peace, if there should be
no cry for mercy, no desire of better
things, and no struggle for deliverance,
if there should be comfort in the present
and security for that which is to come, —
Oh, it is all for the worse, it only shows
how dark the vail is, and how entirely it
presses on the heart. The apostle Paul
says, " I was alive without the law once,"
and how was he alive without the law ?
He was alive in his own fancied goodness,
in his own boasted self-dependence, in
his own carnal privileges — this he account-
ed life, and knew not that it was death in
the sight of God, the vail, brethren, was
upon his heart, he saw not the spirituality
of the living law, he trusted and rested in
the letter, and knew not that " the letter
134
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
killeth," "when the commandment came,"
he adds, " sin revived and I died, and
the commandment which was ordained
unto life, I found to be unto death." And
so it is, when God's word asserts its power,
when the heart is quickened to a right
feeling, when the voice of conscience
startles, and the suggestions of reason are
listened to, — then it is, that death begins
to be felt in the heart, peace is disturbed,
confidence is put away, all vain depen-
dencies are cast aside, comfort is no more
heard of, hope is as a mocker, all is fear
and trembling, and the awakened man
begins to know how it is with him, and he
begins to confess, "the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, sold under sin," the law
is righteous, just, and good, altogether
perfect, and altogether holy, but I am
miserable, and I am unclean, Oh woe is
me !
Then comes the change which the
apostle speaks of, he says, " when it (the
heart) shall turn to the Lord, the vail
shall be taken away." And when, bre-
thren, the soul is awakened thus to a sense
of its own darkness, and when there is a
consent in the inner man to the righteous
law of God, accompanied with an utter
impotence in the inner man to keep that
law, and when there is a struggle and a
conflict within us, and we feel that " the
good we would, we do not, and the evil
that we would not, that we do," and when
we are constrained to the bondage of sin
and corruption, against which our heart
rebels and our soul struggles, and when in
the midst of this darkness and bondage,
we cry out, " Oh, wretched man that 1
am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death ;" — it is then that the vail is
taken away. Brethren, what is all this,
it is just the moving of God's Spirit on
the disturbed elements of the choatic
universe, it is just God's Spirit brooding
on the darkness and shapelessness of crea-
tion, it is just the quickenings of life in
the unformed and un fashioned heart,
and then God says, " let there be light,
and there is light," " God, who com-
manded the light to shine out of darkness,
hath shined into your hearts, to give the
light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ." Oh,
brethren, when your heart is really turned
to the Lord, when it knows what sin is,
and wants deliverance from sin, when it
knows the wrath of God, and cannot rest
under the thought of his displeasure, when
it feels what the condemnation of the law
is, and is terribly afraid, when it is earnest
and urgent in seeking for pardon and de-
liverance, when it is seeking for peace,
and will know no rest till it be satisfied,
Oh, then it is that the Lord meets the
anxious and inquiring heart, and God lifts
up his light on the darkness, God unveils
the face of his love, and the troubled
sinner says, •' thanks be to God through
Jesus Christ our Lord." And then, bre-
thren, for disturbance there is peace, for
trouble there is ease, for mourning there
is the oil of gladness, for sickness there is
health, for weakness there is strength, for
bondage there is liberty, for terror there
is hope, for subjection to death and hell
and vanity, there is an entrance into God's
kingdom, god's glory, and " an inheri-
tance incorruptible and undefiled, and
that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven
for us," and then it is that we know what
the glory of God is, then, brethren,
although the vail still rests on the crea-
tion, and although the flesh still presses
upon and burdens the spirit, although in
all outward things we are still hid from
our God, and in the flesh can have
no communion with him, still the vail
is taken away from the heart, we have
direct communion inspirit with our God,
direct access in soul to our God, continual
enjoyment in heart of our God, andthen
unseen things appear as if they were seen,
and we live by faith, and rejoice in hope
as those " seeing things which are invisi-
ble," — yes, the words of the apostle become
words of instruction and power to us,
" whom not having seen we love, in whom
though now we see him not, yet believing
we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory."
And now, brethren, may I not press home
on you this question, whether or no this
vail has been taken away from you ? may I
not beseech you to make this a personal in-
quiry, and just to ask your own hearts,
whether they do indeed answer to the
truth of God, whether there be an echo
within you to all the words, the living
words of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
Dear brethren, let me pray you to con-
sider it as your own matter. Oh, do you
just inquire, whether you have felt the
power of God's law, whether you have
known the sinfulness of sin, whether you
have struggled for deliverance, whether
you have gained pardon and peace, whether
tiie Spirit of God has given you liberty,
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
135
whether you are walking in newness of
life, whether you are passing through
things temporal, as those who are looking
for things eternal, whether you are quick-
ened with Christ, raised with Christ,
whether you he ascended with Christ,
and your affections set on things above,
and looking for, and hoping for the time,
when the Lord shall come again, and
when you shall live and reign with him
in glory. Let me press on your hearts,
this first, and most important matter, and
let it not be said of you as it is said of
Israel, that though the Lord hath taken
away the vail from Moses' face, yet that
it still rests on your hearts.
And if, brethren, you have tasted, your-
self, that the Lord is gracious, may I not
with confidence call on you to consider
the state of the poor Jew.
And may I not with especial confidence,
advocate the claims of that society for
which I would speak this day. May I
not ask you to look on the dispersed of
Judah, and the outcasts of Israel, and may
I not show you in them, evidences of
God's truth, and the terrors of God's
justice, and are you not ready to testify,
that it is really so as the apostle speaks,
that the vail is yet on their hearts? Do
you not see, how they hear the law, and
yet do not understand the law ? How
they read the prophets, and yet do
not understand the prophets ? Do you
not see how they are aware that God is
angry with them, and yet know not why
he is angry with them? Is it not plain,
that they are living monuments of a
mysterious dispensation, and yet they
cannot perceive why it is, or wherefore
it is, and is not the cause plain to others,
while it is hid from them ? And all this
blindness and ignorance on this matter,
does it not show how deeply and settledly
the vail is upon their heart ?
But there is hope for them. There is
no part in the whole word of God, which
speaks plainly and fearfully of the punish-
ment of Israel, which does not speak as
plainly and as strongly of Israel's redemp-
tion. There is no curse which is not
followed, and that speedily, with a more
powerful word of blessing, there is no
darkness that is not to give way to a light
more clear, and far more blessed. We
see now, "the vail is on their heart, but
when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail
shall be taken away ;" and many, brethren,
are the promises in Scripture, that the
heart of Israel shall be turned to the
Lord. Turn to Deuteronomy xxx., and
you will there learn, that when they shall
remember themselves, and return unto
the Lord their God, that then the Lord
will bring them back into the land which
their fathers possessed, and gather them,
and give them new and circumcised
hearts. In Acts iii. we read, that there
are times of refreshing, in store for Israel,
times of refreshing from the presence of
the Lord, and that the Lord Jesus Christ
is even now at the right hand of God,
" exalted a Prince and a Saviour, to give
repentance unto Israel, and remission of
sins." Read Jeremiah xxxi., and you
will find there, that when Ephraim shall
bemoan himself, and (urn to the Lord,
and shall say, turn thou me, and 1 shall
be turned, that then, when Ephraim
turns to the Lord, the Lord will turn to
Ephraim, God will give him a new
heart, and put in him a right spirit, will
take away the heart of stone, and give
him a heart of flesh, forgive his iniquities,
and remember his sins no more. Look
again to Zachariah xii. and there you
have the promise, that the Lord will "pour
upon the house of David, and upon the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of
grace and of supplications: and they shall
look upon me whom they have pierced,
and they shall mourn for him as one
mourneth for his only son, and shall be
in bitterness for him, as one that is in
bitterness for his first born," and in chap,
xiii. we read, "in that day there shall be
a fountain opened to the house of David,
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for
sin and for uncleanness." And in Isaiah vi.
which perhaps more clearly than any
other, speaks of the misery which Israel
is to endure, speaks too of blessing — .
" make the heart of this people fat, and
make their ears heavy, and shut their
eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and
hear with their ears, and understand with
their heart, and convert ai\d be healed.
Then said I, Lord how long ? And he
answered, until the cities be wasted without
inhabitant, and the houses without man,
and the land be utterly desolate, and the '
Lord have removed men far away, and
there be a great forsaking in the midst
of the land." What then ? " But yet
in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return,
and shall be eaten as a teil tree, and as
an oak, whose substance is in them when
they cast their leaves, so the holy seed,
136
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
shall be the substance thereof." And
then, with respect to the especial subject
of my text, we read in the 25th chapter
of this prophecy, " in this mountain shall
the Lord of hosts make unto all people
a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on
the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of
wines on the lees well refined. And
he will destroy in this mountain the face
of the covering cast over all people, and
the vail that is spread over all nations ;
he will swallow up death in victory, and
the Lord God will wipe away tears from
off all faces, and the rebuke of his people
shall he take away from off all the earth,
for the Lord hath spoken it."
Brethren, the vail shall be taken away.
The covering and vail shall be taken away
Oh we may now stand afar off from God,
we may hide ourselves in the bushes and
trees of the garden, which the Lord God
hath planted, and fancy that we are hiding
ourselves from God : we may close our
eyes against the truth, and harden our
hearts like the nether mill stone — but
the vail shall be taken away. Aye, you
and I, each of us — all of us, we shall all
stand with unveiled faces before an un-
vailed God, our eyes shall see him, in
our flesh we shall behold him, we shall
stand face to face, and await his judg-
ment ! Oh how shall it be with us ?
Oh let us see that the vail is taken away
now, let us labour to see God's face now
in righteousness, that then we may awake
up after his likeness, and rejoice before
him,
Therefore, I say to you now, because
it is by God's word, and God's Spirit,
that the vail is removed from us, oh
let us, by the same word and the same
Spirit, seek to remove the vail from
others. Let us, brethren, in respect to
Israel, send out the word to them, and
pray to the Spirit for them. Second the
means of this Society for which I am
speaking, and ask God to prosper her.
God has prospered her, she has done
much. Now in the sixteenth year of her
full operations, she can bless God, that
there are more than three thousand
Jews converted, and baptized through her
ministry. She can bless God, that these
are men of all classes, and all conditions,
that there are among them, Jewish Rab-
bies, and Teachers, who are now pastors
in Lutheran, and reformed churches
abroad, physicians, jurists, tradesmen,
mechanics, wise and simple, rich and poor,
have all by God's blessing been brought
to know the Lord. The word of God
has circulated widely among the Jews,
the old and new testament has been spread
greatly, as widely as she had funds to
effect it.
She can say, that schools are esta~
blished, that the work of instruction is
going on, a spirit of inquiry is excited •.
there are discussions and controversies
maintained, all which tend to dissipate
the darkness, and by the Lord's good
pleasure, remove the vail. She can
point you to the most interesting object
of all her labours, to the spot most be-
loved of the whole earth, after which
every Jewish heart must yearn, and to
which the christian heart turns — Jeru-
salem. She can speak of her mission-
aries established there, she can point you
to a church building there, she can say,
that in a few years, if the Lord will bless
her, and you will help her, she will
establish the pure christian worship of
our church in Jerusalem, where Israel
may assemble to worship God in spirit
and in truth. These and such as these,
are the labours of the Society, and this,
and such as this, is the measure of the
blessing with which the Lord has blessed
her, and it remains for you, it depends
simply and entirely on you, to support
her. On you rests the responsibility of
helping on this work.
As you have tasted of God's mercy,
as you have beheld the Lord's counte-
nance, as you have rejoiced in the light
of his grace, and hoped in the light of
his glory, so, brethren, help on this work
and labour of love, so make mention of
Israel in your prayers, so consider Israel
in your benevolence and charity, so seek
to realize for yourselves the special and
assured blessing, " blessed is he that
blesseth thee." " Pray for the peace of
Jerusalem, they shall prosper that love
thee."
THE BLOOD OF CHRIST MORE EXCELLENT THAN THAT OF ABEL.
A SERMON,
PREACHED IN ST. GEORGE S CHURCH, DUBLIN,
On Sunday Evening April 7th, 1839.
BY THE REV. E. D. RHODES, B.D.
| Hebrews xii part of 24.
" The blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel. '
For the right understanding of the new
testament, it would be well to consider to
whom the writings are addressed, whether
to Jews or to Gentiles. We cannot read
the acts of the apostles without noticing
the remarkable difference there is, between
those addresses which are spoken to the
Jews, and those which were delivered to
the Gentiles. We cannot but feel, that
those addresses which were delivered by
Peter at Jerusalem, were different from
those which were spoken by the apostle
Paul at Athens. We cannot but perceive
a striking difference between what was
spoken before Festus the Roman gover-
nor, and what was spoken before Agrippa
the king of the Jews. And this differ-
ence which exists so plainly in the
preaching of the apostles, is no less evi-
dent in their writings. If you compare
those epistles which are addressed to Jews,
with those parts which are addressed to
Gentiles, you shall discover a difference
in the mode of reasoning, as well as in
the general subjects brought under con-
sideration — you shall find for instance, in
the epistle to the Romans, which, for the
most part was addressed to Jewish chris-
tians then at Rome — in the epistle to the
Galatians, which, although addressed to a
Gentile church, was written to Gentiles
under Jewish teaching — we shall find, I
say, in these epistles, as well as in those
of James, of Peter, and of John, which
were almost all of them written to Jewish
churches, from the way in which they are
handled, the arguments advanced, the
mode of reasoning prosecuted, the con-
duct referred to, the faults exposed, and
the encouragements given, from these and
other peculiar features, we shall discern
a marked difference between them and
the other epistles, which were addressed
exclusively to Gentile churches. And
perhaps if there can be any instance given
where this difference is more marked than
another, it is the epistle to the Hebrews,
which was distinctly and especially ad-
dressed to the Jewish church. Here
we meet more especially with Jew-
ish peculiarities, and although its de-
sign and principles are truly catholic,
— although from it, believers of every
country may derive consolation and
blessed instruction, still we have Jew-
ish arguments, Jewish reproofs, Jewish
corrections, — all the warnings, threat-
enings, encouragements, and blessings
which it contains, have their peculiar
bearing on the state and destiny of
the Jewish nation. So much and so
plainly does this appear, that if I were to
use any portion of the word of God, to
enlighten and to instruct an Israelite who
was seeking for the light of divine truth,
I would take up for this purpose the epis-
tle to the Hebrews — I would call his
attention to that letter, for conviction and
138
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
instruction; that he might learn thence at
once the meaning of the law, the interpreta-
tion of the prophets, and the truth of the
gospel.
Now it may seem that the words
which I have chosen for our in-
truction this evening, have little of this
peculiarity in them, little, apparently, of
an Israelitish bearing ; but I hope to be
able to show that it is not so, that what-
ever else be their meaning, they have a
distinct and particular reference to Israel
— to Israel in its present and its future state;
that although the blood of sprinkling, and
the blood of Abel, may speak to all, yet
they speak to the Israelite in particular.
Our text reads, " The blood of sprink-
ling which speakethbetterthings than that
of Abel. " There isa contrast, you perceive,
presented to us, between the blood of
Christ and the blood of Abel, but where-
ever there is a contrast, there is a resem-
blance also. We never contrast things
which have not in some point a connexion ;
a resemblance. If there be not some par-
ticulars in which they are alike, we can
iind no profit in pointing out those
particulars, in which they differ. If the
blood of sprinkling speak better things
than the blood of Abel, we must infer
that in some respects it speaks the same
things as that of Abel's. Let, then, our
present inquiry be, what the particulars
are in which these two speak the same
things, and in what particular the blood
of sprinkling transcends the blood of
Abel — in what respect it speaks generally
to all, and in what respect it speaks par-
ticularly to that Jewish church, to whom
the apostle has written the epistle, in
which these words occur.
We are at no loss to know what the
blood of Abel speaks. It speaks of
sin, it speaks of guilt, it speaks of
vengeance. Does notthe blood of
sprinkling speak the same ? If we
want a proof that man was a sinful
fallen creature, if we want evidence, that
"sin has come into the world, and death
by sin ;" have we not proof Gen. iv.
in the murder of Abel — have we
not the evidence there ? there we
read that there were two brethren in
the world, and but two ! conceived in the
same womb, born of the same parent,
nursed at the same breast, brought up in
the same house, with the same nurture,
the same admonition ; they walked toge-
ther, they lived together, they were the
sharers of each other's labours, cares, and
toils, participating in each other's joys
and sorrows ; they were companions one
of another ; they had no other friend ;
no rival ; and yet one rose up against the
other, and slew him ! Now were you
present there, and could you but look on
that murdered corpse, weltering in blood,
— could you but look on the face of the
murderer, and mark the characters of hell
which were written there, would you need
further proof, that man was a fallen crea-
ture? would you ask any other evidence,
to prove, that what was spoken has come
to pass ? " I will put enmity between thy
seed and her seed," enmity even unto
death. Oh, brethren ! surely here is proof,
that man has fallen ; here is proof of
man's deep corruption ; and yet there is
other and clearer proof than this. When
we look on Him who was all righteous
and all pure, when we look upon Him
who did all things well, who endured the
contradiction of sinners against himself,
while he upbraided none ; when we see
the Just One lifted up on the tree, nailed
to the cross — and when we ask who did all
this ? and when we are informed that it
was his brethren — " that he came unto his
own, and his own received him not," but
that they rose up against him, and cruci-
fied him ; when we consider all the varied
ways in which human guilt was shown in
that transaction ; surely we must see that
man has fallen. When we know what it
was which caused the death of the Holy
One of God, that it was sin which blotted
the sun out of heaven,; that it was sin
which hid his Father's countenance in the
hour of agony ; that it was sin which
I pierced and crushed him ; which caused
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
139
him to sweat as it were great drops of blood ;
that it was sin which pointed the thorns
which pierced his head, and aimed the spear
which was thrust into his side, and caused
the Holy One to die — when we know all
this, and are told that man's ruin is so
complete, his destruction so entire, and
his guilt so fearful, that nothing else
could suffice for his redemption but the
blood that was thus shed — is there not
here proof that man has fallen ? does not
the blood of sprinkling tell us this more
emphatically than the blood of Abel?
does it not tell us that " all have sinned,"
and that " The wages of sin is death !"
But the blood of Abel speaks not only of
man's fall in general, but of the sin of
his murderer in particular, not only pro-
claims the fearful ruin which was wrought
in human nature, but it cries to heaven
against the peculiar and aggravated guilt
of Cain his brother. Every sin calls for
condemnation; all are partakers of this
universal corruption ; guilt and ungodli-
ness are universal in fallen man. But
there was a special lesson taught us,
concerning the peculiar guilt of the first
murderer — a special condemnation was
attached to that particular crime : what then
was the peculiar guilt of the first mur-
derer ? and what peculiar working of evil
concupiscence was it which led to that
transgression ? It was no ordinary cause
— it did not merely arise from pro-
faneness or profligacy of character : this
is not the aspect which Cain's guilt pre-
sents ; there is something peculiar about
it. Cain was a religious man, as men
call religion ; he was not careless in the
worship of God — he gave great heed to
it ; he brought to God the first fruits of
the earth as an offering ; he was not in-
sensible of the favour of God — he felt
much about it ; it was because God did
not favour him, that he was so much pro-
voked ; he was not indifferent to the
blessing of God, and the reward of right-
eousness ; for because he did not obtain
that blessing, and because he feared he
might not receive the inheritance, " his
countenance fell." Then Cain must not
be classed among the profane and openly
ungodly. Among whom, in the present
day, are we to look for those who resem-
ble him? We are to look among the proud,
among the self-righteous, and the self-
dependent ; we are to look among those
who are boasting in their own resources,
priding themselves in their own works,
rejoicing in their own strength, glorying
in themselves, and despising others.
Among these we are to look for the
character of Cain. It was from this
seW-righteous spirit that he acted, when
he brought to God, as a sacrifice, the fruits
of a fallen world, as if unfallen ; he came
before God with the works of his own
hands, claiming from Him their accep-
tance, forgetting that he was a sinner,
forgetting that himself and all his were
unclean ; he came to God as if there was
no such thing as sin, as if there was no
need of a Saviour, no need of a sin offer-
ing; not bearing in mind, that "without
shedding of blood there is no remission ;"
he came, not pleading for mercy, but ex-
pecting acceptance as a right; and because
he was not accepted, " his countenance
fell. And then, instead of taking the
matter into consideration, instead of look-
ing within for the fault, and the cause of
his rejection, instead of searching his
ways, to see if there was any way of
wickedness in him, he began to charge
his God with unrighteousness, and was
angry with him ; but God in mercy points
out to him his transgression, and the way
of escape — " if thou doest well, shalt thou
not be accepted, and if thou doest not
well, sin (or a sin offering) lieth at the
door." God tells this proud and pre-
sumptuous man, that he would be accep-
ted, if he approached him in the appointed
way ; that he was to draw near to him in
repentance, and in faith ; and if he did
he would be blessed, and "have rule over
his brother ;" but he would not do so ;
it was the pride of his heart ; it was his
selfishness and confidence in self; it was
self-idolatry in the highest form which
140
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
urged him on in his career, which led him
to boast against his God — to envy, to hate,
and to slay his brother ; " and wherefore
slew he him ? because his own works were
evil, and his brother's righteous." Thus,
then, does the blood of Abel point out
the grievous iniquity and the monstrous
offence of man's boasting in the flesh.
And does not the blood of sprinkling
speak the same thing? It was self-
righteousness which moved Cain to murder
Abel ; and what was it which moved the
Jews to kill Christ? Was it Pilate the Ro-
man Judge? Was it the Roman Soldiers?
Was it the poor ignorant multitude?
Were these the murderers ? No ! they
were merely the instruments in the hands
of others ; they were actuated not by their
own free will, they were moved by the
will of others — by the will of the Chief
Priests, the rulers of the people, the
Scribes and Pharisees ; they were direct-
ed by the learned and distinguished,
by those who bore rule and authority, by
those who were esteemed for their high
character and sanctity ; it was these who
stirred up the people, who overawed
Pilate's conscience ; these are they who
delivered Christ to be crucified, and
nailed him to the cross. And as it was
with Cain, " he slew righteous Abel,
because his own works were evil," — so
was it likewise, with those proud and
hypocritical Jews ; because the Lord
reproved their hollowness and hypo-
crisy, because he exposed the vanity of
their false hopes, and false pretensions,
therefore they rose up and slew him ;
nor does the parallel end here between
the Jews and Cain. Follow that wretched
man through the remainder of his story,
see him touched with no remorse, hard-
ening himself in his iniquity, standing up
against God, and answering him again
with stubborn heart and insolent impiety,
and is not this a faithful picture of the
character and conduct of the Jews?
After slaying Christ, did they not put
that apostle in prison, who charged home
upon their heads the blood and murder
of Jesus, " who with wicked hands they
crucified ?" Did they not stone Stephen,
who charged them as being the betrayers,
and murderers of the Just One, and the
persecutors of the prophets ? they rose
up against him like wild beasts, and fell
upon him and stoned him. Is there not
in this, the same hatred, bitterness, ob-
stinacy and impenitence, which was ex-
hibited in the character of Cain ? and if
they resemble Cain in their guilt, do they
not also in their punishment ? Was
Cain driven into all nations, and sent
forth as a vagabond over the whole earth ?
and do we not know those who are scat-
tered into all nations, and to be found
in every place throughout the whole
earth ? Do we not know of those who
are peeled and scattered, who are a bye
word and a proverb, who are wandering
in every country, and find a home in
none, who are ever speaking of Jeru-
salem as their home and ultimate hope,
and yet who are never returning to Jeru-
salem ? who are recognised by no nation,
yet forming a part of all ? who are reserved
by God in every place, as a testimony of
his wrath and judgment? If a mark
was set on Cain, and a sign in his fore-
head, that none should hurt, or slay him,
is there not a mark also put on the
Jewish Nation, by which that people is
kept distinct, marked, and separated from
every nation ? Have not that people been
persecuted, abused, and evil treated ?
has not every man's hand been raised up
against them, and yet are they not still
preserved, multiplied, and increasing in
number ? truly, according to their prayer,
the blood of Christ is upon them and
upon their children. Thus far then, is
there not a parallel of resemblance ?
Does not the blood which was shed on
Calvary, speak the same things with
the blood of Abel, concerning the
corruption, guilt, and punishment of the
murderers ? But there is a parallel of
contrast also — " the blood of sprinkling
speaketh better things than that of Abel."
Abel's blood cried and was heard, it
called for vengeance ; but, blessed be
God, the blood of Christ speaketh better
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
141
things. In Abel's death, man lias an
universal lesson taught him, of human
corruption ; in the death of Christ, there
is proclaimed the universal hope of par-
non — " his blood cleanseth from all sin."
Does not the blood of sprinkling speak
good things to every defiled conscience,
to every sinners heart ? Does it not tell
you, brethren, that if guilty — as indeed
you are, if you be sinful — as in truth you
are, if your sin hath separated you from
God, and that you are deserving of death,
and of hell — as verily you are — if the
sinfulness of sin be revealed by the death
of Jesus — if the power of death, of hell,
be revealed by it, remember also, that
it not only reveals sin, but contains the re-
medy — it speaks good things — " behold
the Lamb of God that taketh away the
sin of the world." Did he not bear our
sins in his own body on the tree, that we
being dead to sins, should live unto right-
teousness ?" If he tasted death, if he
drank the cup of bitterness which his
Father put into his hands, did he not do
so, that he might taste death for every
man ? did he not take the poisoned cup
out of our hands, that they who believe
in him, might never taste of death ? If
the cross of Jesus speaks painful things
to the heart of man, and opens up fearful
thoughts of sin and corruption — does it
not speak hope to the heart of man also ?
does it not tell of sin pardoned — of God
reconciled — of death and hell conquered —
of Satan bruised — of heaven opened — of
lioht and immortality being brought to
light ? Does it not tell of that glory which
is unspeakable and eternal — are not these
better things ? things which were spoken
not to Jews only, but also to Gentiles?
Yes, here is mercy and grace as large as
the universe, commensurate without our
misery. Yes, here is plenteous redemp-
tion for the sins of the whole world —
surely the blood of sprinkling speaketh
better things than that of Abel."
It speaks to us, but more especially
does it speak to those Jews, to that nation,
to those murderers who slew the Lord.
Deep and awful was their guilt, peculiar
their sin, in setting up their own right-
eousness, and rejecting the righteousness
of God — grievous was the punishment,
and peculiar the curse, which came upon
them and their country, all in fulfilment
of their own imprecations — " Let his
blood be upon us, and our children !"
Yet there is hope of pardon for the Jew ;
Christ himself prayed for them — " Father
forgive them, for they know not what
they do ;" — there is forgiveness through
his blood, even the remission of sins, for
he is *■ exalted a Prince and a Saviour, to
give repentance to Israel, and forgive-
ness of sins." Although they have not
repented — although they have not sought
forgiveness — although the times of re-
freshing are not yet come upon them
from God — although they are still in
hardness of heart, and darkness of mind,
yet there is mercy in store for them,
even for them. Read the prophecies of
these things, read those passages of Scrip-
ture, which speak of Israel's guilt, and
punishment, study all the particulars
of those curses which were announced
against them ; follow on the record, and
you will find, that blessings follow the
curse, as surely as the light succeeds the
darkness, as surely as the summer follows
the winter — the succession of the seasons
is not more certain, than that God will visit
his people — Jeremiah, 31. v. 35. 36.
Hear what the Lord says — Zee. xii. 9. 10.
" It shall come to pass in that day, that I
will seek to destroy all the nations that
come against Jerusalem ; and I will pour
upon the house of David, and upon the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of
grace and of supplications ; and they
shall look upon me whom they have
pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as
one moumeth for his only son, and shall
be in bitterness for him, as one that is in
bitterness for his first born." There,
brethren, we are told that the guilty nation,
the murderers, they who have imbrued
their hands in a brother's blood, " they
shall look upon him whom they have
142
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
pierced, and they shall mourn," God
will give them repentance, the spirit of
grace and supplication shall be poured
on them, they shall inquire into the cause
of their dispersion, they shall look into
the reason of their misery, and of their
awful situation God : will meet this inquiry,
he will reveal himself to their hearts, he
will open up to them the cause of their
misery, and he will make known to them
their remedy; and so the prophet conti-
nues, " in that day there shall be a foun-
tain opened to the house of David, and
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin
and for uncleanness." When the soldier
pierced the side of Christ, there came
out blood and water, " this is he who
came by water and blood, even Jesus
Christ, not by water only, but by water
and blood." This water and this blood is
" the fountain opened for all sin and all
uncleanliness" — it is opened not for us
Gentiles only, but it is opened specially
" to the House of David, and for the in-
habitants of Jerusalem." There is, bre-
thren, water to cleanse — there is blood
to atone — water to wash away our sins —
and blood to deliver us from the guilt of
sin — water to renew man, and make him
holy — blood to expiate for human guilt,
and reconcile to God. — Water, which is
the emblem of the Holy Spirit's work
blood, which is the emblem of the work
of Jesus — "this is he that came by
water and blood, even Jesus Christ ; not
by water only, but by water and blood ;"
the water and the blood, you see, are
united together, and together they must
be used in cleansing the soul that is de-
filed by sin. Let us have them together,
or let us not hope to use them at all. It
is in vain we go to Christ to be made
holy or righteous, that we look to him
as a teacher and guide, unless we look to
him as a Saviour also ; and on the other
hand, in vain do we look for the pardon
of sin — for deliverance from the curse —
in vain shall we expect to escape hell —
in vain do we anticipate an entrance into
heaven, unless we be delivered from the
dominion of sin, and by personal holiness
be made meet for the kingdom of heaven.
To look to the water without the blood,
to seek holiness without an atonement, is
to frustrate the grace of God ; to look to
the blood without the water, to expect re-
demption without sanctification, is to turn
the grace of God into lasciviousness.
Each are alike abominable before God ; let
us then use hoth together, the water and
the blood ; let us wash ourselves from all
sin and all uncleanness. Believe, bre-
thren, the precious things which the blood
of sprinkling speaks to you, and believe,
also, what it speaks to Israel ; it says —
" blindness in part is happened to Israel,
until the fulness of the Gentiles bt come
in ; and so all Israel shall be saved."
Surely the Lord remembers Zion."
lsaih, liv. 4 — 14. Yes, brethren, Zion
may say — "The Lord hath forsaken me,
and my Lord hath forgotten me, but God
makes answer, " Can a woman forget
her sucking child, that she should not
have compassion on the child of her
womb ? yea, they may forget — yet
will Inotforget thee." — Isaiah xlix. 14,|15.
Brethren, the blood of Jesus speaks better
things than that of Abel, and it pleads for
Israel. Oh, then, shall we also not care
for Israel ? shall we question the efficacy
of Christ's blood pleading for them ? see-
ing its power to cure, shall we doubt its
efficacy to bless also ? knowing that the
salvation of Israel is the fruit of the tra-
vail of our Lord's soul, shall we make light
of that salvation ? shall we cast from our
hearts those interests which are so near
and dear to the heart of Jesus? The
blood of sprinkling speaketh. Brethren,
take heed how you refuse to hear him how
speaketh — Oh, beware how you refuse to
hear what the blood of Jesus saith to you.
Does it speak of guilt and corruption ?
Oh, let it prick you to the heart — learn
not your ways from the world — flatter
not yourselves in your iniquity — give
heed to the divine testimony — know your-
selves to be sinners — repent you in dust
and ashes — " seek the Lord while he mav
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
143
be 'found — call upon him while he is
near." Does the cross of Jesus tell you
of love — of love unspeakable — love im-
measurable, even of that love of God which
was manifested in the gift of his well
beloved Son, "he spared not his own
Son, but delivered him up for us all."
Does the blood of sprinkling speak of
this, and will you not hear ? Will you
not answer in love, and will you not yield
yourselves to him? Will you not give
your hearts to God ? Will you not follow
the Lamb, and verify in yourselves, the
power of his redemption, by living unto
him who died for you, and rose again ?
Does the blood of sprinkling speak to us
of crucifying the flesh, of crucifying the
world ? And will you not take up your
cross and crucify the flesh, and crucify the
world ? Will you not follow Jesus ? Will you
not partake of his shame here, that you
may share his glory hereafter? Does the
blood of sprinkling speak of charity ?
Remember, " the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that, though he was
rich, yet for our sakes he became poor,
that we through his poverty, might be
made rich." Will you not learn from
this a lesson, to love those whom your
Lord loves? Will you refuse to yearn over
those, whom the Lord yearns over?
Will you not pray for those whom the
Lord has prayed for ? Shall not his agony
and bloody sweat, his cross and passion,
his precious death and burial, and all the
marvellous story of his redeeming love —
shall not all these prevail with you, to
endeavour to win souls to Christ — that
" he may see of the travail of his soul,
and be satisfied" to endeavour especially
to try the power of his blood, on those
to whom that blood speaks, even the
outcast people of the Lord ?
I might speak much on the particular
state and prospects of the Society whose
cause I am called on to plead, but, bre-
thren, I rest not the cause of this Society,
on the working of its plans, the character
of its operations, the variety of its means,
the peculiarity of its opportunities, the
extent of its endeavours, or the measure
of its succes — I rest it rather, on the
sure word of promise which the Scriptures
recite, concerning Israel, and above all,
on Christ's dying love pleading for them.
Brethren, he is now in the midst of you, he
has been evidently set forth crucified among
you; answer the call that is now made
upon you, as you must in the day of judg-
ment. Acquit yourselves of the claims of
his love, as you expect to be acquitted at
the judgment seat: just act as if the Lord
were present here this evening: just act
as if Christ were speaking to you in per-
son — do what you can to promote the
cause of God, but do all in prayer, in
love to Jesus, in love for those for whom
Christ died ; having this object in view,
your labour shall not be in vain in the
Lord ; it shall abundantly return in
blessings to your souls: you shall be
blessed, more in what you give, than in
what you receive — the blessing of the God
of Israel shall descend upon you, and
when he visits them, he will remember
you.
THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL.— Rev. xiv. 6.
Glorious Gospel of Salvation !
Boon of love to fallen man !
Reach thy utmost destination —
Perfect Jesu's gracious plan.
Spread thy radient wings of morning —
Rend in twain the veil of night ;
Bear thy Spirit's chaste adorning
To the souls devoid of light.
Break their chains — unlock their fetters —
Bid the ransom'd souls go free ;
Show them where in crimson letters,
Jesus says, " I've bled for thee."
Show them streams of consolation,
Flowing from the smitten rock ;
Bid them hear the proclamation —
Jesus says, " I stand and knock."
Holy Book of inspiration !
What a tree of life thou art ;
Yielding fruits for ev'ry nation,
Healing leaves for ev'ry smart.
Stretch thy branches tow'rd the river —
Wave thy boughs across the sea ;
Those whom Jesus would deliver,
Languish till thou set them free.
May thy blossoms wide expanding
Bud and bloom like Aaron's rod ;
Fruits of heav'nly growth commanding,
For the drooping child of God.
May thy spicy clusters, bending,
Drop their myrrh and cassia round ;
Truth and mercy sweetly blending
Consecrate it holy ground.
Go, ye messengers of Jesus,
Fraught with tidings from above ;
He is with you, and it pleases
Him to see your work of love.
Soon the harvest's ripening bounty
Waving on the mountain top ;
Shall reward the lab'rers duty,
And insure a glorious crop.
Blow the trumpet of salvation,
Till the list'ning isles attend ;
And in deep humiliation
Ev'ry knee to Jesus bend.
Hear, ye scatter'd tribes of Zion !
God's belov'd of Israel's stock ;
Sion's Lamb, of Judah's Lion,
Jesus says, " I stand and knock."
A. M. G.
NEW IRISH PULPIT OFFICE, 1, ST. ANDREW-STREET.
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
OR
GOSPEL PREACHER.
" We preach Christ crucified —
" Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God." — 1 Cor. i. 23, 24.
No. LXXXIII.
SATURDAY, 11th MAY, 1839.
Price 4d.
BEY. HUGH 9T0WELL, A.M.
REV. THOMAS DREW, A.B.
THE PRECIOUSNESS OF OPPORTUNITY.
A SERMON,
PREACHED IN ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH, DUBLIN,
ON SUNDAY EVENING, APRIL 21st, 1839,
ON BEHALF OF " THE SUNDAY SCHOOL SOCIETY FOR IRELAND,"
BY THE REV. HUGH STOWELL, A.M.
Of Manchester.
Gal. vi. 10.
" As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who
are of the household of faith."
We are furnished in this passage of Holy
Scripture with an exceedingly wide field
for illustration and instruction. We
might take occasion from it to dwell on
the condescending grace of God, in that
he makes man not only the recipient but
the communicator of good. We might
enlarge on the ennobling nature of this
distribution, constituting the people of
God fellow-workers with God ; and we
might dilate on the importance of that
distribution in the exercise of our love,
which is here pointed out, in that, while
the circumference of it is to be the world,
the special centre of it is to be the house-
hold of faith ; while we are to encompass
the human race in the arms of our cha-
rity, we are to take nearest to our hearts
those that are brethren in Christ Jesus.
But it would be impossible, in the com-
pass of one discourse, to grasp so much,
Vol. IV.
besides that it would lead us apart from
the more immediate and interesting object
that this evening bespeaks our special
attention. We rather, therefore, select a
single feature in the passage, and that
feature is contained in the broad expres-
sion, "as we have, therefore, opportu-
nity ;" and the subject on which we shall
more immediately enlarge is, the pre-
ciousness of opportunity in relation to
individuals, and in relation to communi-
ties. And may God, in whose house we
are assembled, vouchsafe his blessing on
this hallowed opportunity.
By opportunity we understand, that
juncture or concurrence of circumstances
when something may be best done, when,
probably, it can alone be done, which
once passed cannot be recalled. And if
time be as the grass, opportunity is as the
flower of the grass, more fading as it is
K
146
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
more fair. It has pleased God, in the
order of nature, and in the course of pro-
vidence, to compass man about with
natural circumstances of a critical kind,
calculated to excite his watchfulness, and
keep alive his diligence. Thus, we find,
in the course of the seasons, if the hus-
bandman neglect the season of seed time,
the hopes of his harvest are blighted, the
prospect of his toil is in vain : and thus,
if the mariner allows the favouring wind
and the friendly tide to pass, it is likely
that the whole result of his voyage may
be defeated, and danger and shipwreck-
may await him. In the ordinary inter-
course and concerns of life, we conti-
nually find a juncture of this critical kind.
There was, perhaps, a period when the
fire that folds a city in devastation and
ruin, was but a solitary spark, that one
drop of water might have quenched ;
there was a moment when the pestilence
that ravages a nation, and spreads death
and affright on every side, was but a gar-
ment spotted with the plague, that the
least possible effort might have destroyed —
but the juncture was allowed to elapse,
and then water became vain, and effort
became unavailing. Who is there that
looks back on his early history, and marks
the course he has pursued, but can trace,
to his deep regret, many seasons of use-
fulness lost for want of diligence and
watchfulness? There are many stranded
on the bleak shores of disappointment who
distinguished themselves among their
fellows, and grasped at the richest fruits
of fortune, — they allowed the tide to turn,
the day to elapse, and nothing remains
for them now but bitter and bootless
regret.
But, men and brethren ! it is not in
relation to the trifles of time, but in rela-
tion to the stupendous realities of eternity,
that we desire to press it home on your
understanding and conscience — how pre-
cious is opportunity. Take, then, the
broadest view of the subject : time is to
the sinner his opportunity for eternity.
We are placed here for a brief season,
that we may determine how we may be
placed hereafter, for ever. We are now
making an election by which we must
abide when time shall be no longer. We
are every day sowing the seed which will
produce hereafter a harvest that must be
for ever reaping, and for ever to be reaped.
We are now digging up that gulf, that
shall hereafter be fixed, and across which
we can never pass — every thought, every
act, every word is big with consequences,
telling on eternity. We are here, bre-
thren, to choose the world or Christ —
salvation or damnation — heaven or hell ;
and every man is ripening daily the moral
lineaments of his soul, which, ere long, will
have the stamp of the intelligibleness of
eternity upon them. Would to God that
we were alive, every one of us, to the
critical position which we hold in this
narrow span — that we felt on what a ledge
we are standing — that we felt what a
fearful abyss was before us, and that it is
now or never we must escape for our
lives ! View life, as most of us view it,
merely in reference to its own interests
and concerns — its narrow round of sor-
rows, joys, disappointments, expectations,
successes, and griefs, — and life is the
vainest of all vain things, a vapour, a
feverish dream, acting by fits and
starts, and then we awake, weeping
and rejoicing, and — it is gone, as
a dream when one awaketh out of
sleep, it is altogether a mass of contra-
diction, an inexplicable paradox, an in-
tricate labyrinth. But look at time in its
true light, in the light of revelation —
regard it as God represents it to us, as
conscience intimates it to us, — look at
time as the vestibule of eternity ; consider
that we are here determining our destiny
hereafter, and then, indeed, this brief,
uncertain span, rises up into an impor-
tance that no finite mind can overrate —
then, indeed, man begins to feel and
see, that he ought to live in intense
apprehension that every day and every
hour may land him in that eternity where
there will be no more a mercy seat to
approach — no more a mediator to inter-
cede — no more blood of infinite efficacy
to cleanse — no more ambassadors of peace
to beseech him to be reconciled to God —
no more overtures of reconciliation — no
star to rise on the midnight of eternal
despair : " now, therefore, is the accepted
time — now is the day of salvation,'' and
with some of us the shades of eternal
death may be thickening around, and
the day of mercy may be half closing,
and there is but a step between us and
an irreversible doom !
Let me, with all faithfulness and
affection, press it on all those here who
are trained in Sabbath schools, that as
time is the opportunity for eternity, so
youth is the opportunity for time. How
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
147
beautiful is every thing in season ! God
has ordained the seasons in lovely rota-
tion, each has a bearing on the other,
and he who sows at an improper season
must reap disappointment ; the stupid
husbandman who attempts to scatter his
seed in the autumn will sow his seed in
vain ; and so, in life has God placed the
beautiful order and succession of the
seasons, that youth is the seed time for
life and for life eternal ; and the young
penitent who then sows the seed of faith in
Christ Jesus, and love through the Spirit,
that begins betimes to sow for eternity,
he may expect, if spared to after life, that
the seed will mature in the summer, will
ripen in autumn, and that he shall come
with joy in the harvest day, bringing
abundant sheaves with him. Besides,
my dear voung friends, remember that
though it is all of grace, sovereign grace,
that any man repents, yet, speaking after
the manner of men, (and we are speaking
in the way God condescends to speak in
his word,) there is an affection, a tender-
ness in youth that is suitable for the
reception of the Gospel ; your conscience
is tender, your habits are unformed, you
have unsophisticated ideas which a wicked
world will not let long abide with you ;
your conscience becomes more seared,
your habits more intwined to the world,
your bondage to the world becomes more
intense, and alienation and estrangement
from God more tremendous, and there-
fore to you emphatically I say, " now is
the accepted time, now is the day of sal-
vation." Besides, let me remind you,
that these tendrils of your affection that
are seeking something to cling around,
if they are not taught to cling round the
rock of ages, will get so twisted and
entangled with the briars and thorns of
the wilderness, that it will require a dou-
ble effort of omnipotent grace to raise
them from their grovelling, and elevate
them back to God. Besides, let me call
it to your minds, that even, if peradven-
ture you should have a late repentance —
that God should allow you to find grace
and mercy in his sight, — yet, alas ! how
would the golden season of life be gone
by, and you will have sown to the flesh
when you might have sown to the Spirit ;
Satan will have had your best and bright-
est energies, and your Saviour and your
God will have your fading and withering
powers ; you will give the cup of spark-
ling to Satan, and the lees and dregs of
your cup to Him who drank the bitter
cup, that it might pass away from you.
A river that pursues a short channel to
the ocean can leave little verdure and
bloom along its banks: but the river that
flows on, expanding as it flows, and wind-
ing its silvery train through many a valley
and along many a plain — that river will
leave, a rich beauty and bloom along its
borders, refresh many a weary traveller,
and gladden many a scene, ere it empty
its waters into the ocean. So the Chris-
tian who betimes consecrates his faculties
to his Redeemer, he shall go through the
world blessed and being made a blessing,
increasing in usefulness and increasing in
beneficence ; and when at last he merges
into the waters of eternity, there will be
a beautiful track, as it were of greenness,
that will tell the course he pursued. Oh,
what an exalted and noble object for
Christian ambition, for a young man, not
to" live to himself, but to Him who died
for him and rose again, to consecrate all
he is, and all he has, to set forth the
glory of God, and set forward the salva-
tion of all men.
But, men and brethren, if time be the
opportunity for eternity, and youth be the
opportunity for time, there are also in the
history of every sinner, and, above all, in
the history of every baptized man, we
hesitate not to say, special opportunities
of mercy, special opportunities of repent-
ance, known, it may be, but to his con-
science and to his God, but that were
decisive and critical of his condition.
Yes, we believe, there are strivings of the
Spirit in every baptized man, there are
visitations of conscience, and there are
relentings of heart and periods when
almost every baptized man, like Agrippa,
has almost been persuaded to be a Chris-
tian. We believe, that whether it may
have been that a mother poured the ten-
der accents of truth into his young ear,
or a grey headed father entreated and
conjured his son to " remember his Cre-
ator in the days of his youth," or whether
it may have been, as that son in maturer
life has listened to the powerful, thrilling
influence of the word of truth, that as a
two-edged sword has persuaded him, and
he has trembled like Felix, and like Felix
he has delayed — or it may be afterwards,
on the bed of sickness, when in the
silence and solitude of that scene, behind
the curtains of his retirement he wept,
and prayed, and pledged himself, that if
148
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
restored, he would serve God — or it may
have been, as he stood by the grave side
of one dear to him as his own life, and
heard the words, " earth to earth, ashes
to ashes, dust to dust," that he felt in his
own mind, " it is high time to awake out
of sleep" and seek my God ; or it may
be the result of spiritual reflection, or the
rebuke of a Christian friend, or a hair-
breadth escape when it seemed as if the
hand of God was stretched out to rescue
him from the jaws of hell — but however
it may have been, it was the turning point
in that man's history, the decisive hour
when the balances of the sanctuary were
trembling with his immortal destiny, when
we might say he was almost in the narrow
way, almost crossing the threshold : — if he
had but pressed on a little further, if he
had called on Jesus for strength which is
made perfect in weakness, made one de-
cisive effort, and laid aside every weight
and whatever sin did most beset him, had
he struggled, in the strength of Omnipo-
tence, to conquer and overcome the obsta-
cles that were in his way — devils would
have gnashed their teeth, for their prey
was gone ; and angels would have strung
their harps to the anthem of triumph that
they sing to the returning penitent : but
he faultered, he paused, he looked back,
and, looking back, he became fixed in
more than former stoney insensibility.
Yes, I may appeal to the consciences of
many, whether they who are steeped and
insensible and hardened in evil habits,
cannot look back with bitter and hopeless
regret on circumstances such as those re-
presented ; whether they do not exclaim,
*' Oh ! that it was with us as in days past,
when our consciences were tender, and
our hearts subdued, that there were in us
these aspirings after good, and this feeling
and longing after God that we strangled
when they were working into being ; but
now, alas, ' the summer is past, and the
autumn is ended, and we are not saved,' "
" Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or
the leopard his spots, then may they do
good who are accustomed to do evil."
May God preserve us from ever knowing
that palsy of the spirit, that anticipated
hell, that, death in life, that condemnation
ere sentence be pronounced !
Brethren, we believe that the day of
grace may be passed before the day of
life is closed — we believe that God may
say of the sinner that is joined to his
idols, " let him alone," and then, indeed,
though no mortal eye can discern it, the
seal of doom is on his soul, the unresist-
ing victim of Satan is led captive at
Satan's will, the devil enters into him as
he entered into Judas, and fills him full of
malice, desperation, recklessness, and
perhaps, utter despair. Who shall say,
how many a suicide has rushed madly on
his doom, in the desperate conviction
that his doom was fixed, that he would,
as it were, challenge and see the worst !
Dear brethren, let us thank God, that we
are not yet given up to a reprobate mind ;
but let no sinner despise the solicitations
of his conscience that may now be warn-
ing him, or thrust away that hand of mercy
that may now be drawing him — that
warning may be the harbinger of aban-
donment, and that entreaty of the Spirit
of God may be its last. " Behold," says
Christ, " I stand at the door and knock,
if any man hear my voice, and open the
door, I will come in to him, and sup with
him, snd he with me." Brethren, he is
knocking at some of your hearts now,
Oh, let us throw wide open the door, and
welcome our blessed Master with all his
pardon, his peace, and his grace.
Beloved brethren, if we have proclaim-
ed the Saviour — if he has taken up his
dwelling in our hearts — if he has translated
us from the kingdom of darkness into
the kingdom of God — if he has made us
of rebellious children, of aliens, members
of the commonwealth of Israel — if he has
renewed us that we may be his servants
and soldiers, and that we may consecrate
ourselves members of him as those alive
from the dead — then let me remind
you, that the opportunities that follow the
conversion of a sinner are opportunities,
tenfold precious and tenfold hallowed.
The man that has begun to enter on his
Christian course, looks back, and what
a dreary retrospect meets his eye ! — he sees
talents, but they have been prostituted to
ambition and vanity , he sees day s of strength
and health, but they have been expended
in debauchery and sensuality, squandered
in frivolity and mirth ; for they have been
spent for that which is not bread, and
for that which satisfieth not — and " what
fruit has he in those things whereof he is
now ashamed, for the end of those things
is death." ' Oh ! that he could recal the
past, that he could undo the mischief he
has done, and have the golden season he
has squandered' — but in vain are regret
for the past, save as they humble and
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
149
stimulate for the future. But, now
brethren, that you yourselves are awaken-
ed, now that you see things in the light
of truth, now that you know " whose you
are, and whom you serve" — Oh ! " pre-
sent your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable to God, which is your reason-
able service" — " as ye have yielded your
members servants to uncleanness, and to
iniquity unto iniquity ; even so now yield
your members servants to righteousness
unto holiness." Let your head and heart
and hand — let time, and talent, and
tongue — all you have, and all you are, be
devoted without hesitation and reservation
to your Redeemer and your God, and
remember, this to you is the seed time of
your glorious harvest. Life is yours no less
than death, and life has opportunities that
heaven will not possess; and the Christian
may well prize life and wish to remain
here below, because it is here he can
glorify his Master — it is here he can pre-
eminently testify his loyalty and love — itis
here he may bring forth much fruit that the
living vine may be glorified thereby; for
in heaven there will be no lusts to deny,
no adversary to overcome, no wicked
world to triumph over, no powers of dark-
ness to conflict with, no fatherless and
widows to visit in their affliction, and no
sad and sorrowful spirit to be cheered and
comforted, no reprobate sinner to be
warned, no lost world to be pitied and
prayed for — there will be no children,
lambs of the flock, to be taught and
trained, no blessed opportunities of reap-
ing plentifully what we have sown — and,
it is no infringement on the freedom and
sovereignty of divine grace, that though
our rewards are irrespective of our works
as to merit, they are not irrespective of
our works as to measure — though from
first to last we need pardon for our best
services, it is no less true we shall be re-
warded according to, not for, our works.
In the very passage which precedes, the
apostle says, " Be not deceived, God is
not mocked, for whatsoever a man sow-
eth, that shall he also reap. For he that
soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap
corruption, but he that soweth to the
Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life ever-
lasting" — and he says again, " he that
soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly,
and he that soweth bountifully shall reap
also bountifully."
It is not to be imagined that the thief
on the cross, though rescued bv sove-
reign grace, shall have so lofty a seat and
so bright a throne as the apostle Paul,
who laboured more abundantly, notwith-
standing that he renounced all depen-
dance on works, and said. " of sinners I
am chief." Yes, notwithstanding, we
doubt not, that as the man who improved
his five pounds was made ruler over five
cities, and as the man who improved his
ten pounds was made ruler over ten
cities, that so, while all shall be full of
happiness up to the measure of their
capacity, yet, " as one star differeth from
another star in glory" in the canopy of
heaven, so will one glorified spirit differ
from another in the measure and amount
of his glory. As it has been well ob-
served by an old divine, " Though the
vessels shall be all full to the brim, and
would not contain one drop more, there
shall be divers compass in the measures ;
and therefore the one will contain more
than the other, though that one will not
contain a drop more as to actual fulness
than what the smallest vessel possesses."
Therefore, we may say, without any
diminution of happiness, without any
want or deficiency in the happiness of
any individual, there may be a greater
plenitude and abundance of happiness
superadded to the faithful servant, not of
merit but of grace — not for his works,
but according to his works ; " their works
do follow them," not go before to justify,
but follow to testify — to testify the truth
and reality of their faith in Christ.
Therefore, let me arouse you to a sense
of the highest purpose for which your
Saviour has spared you here below ; —
he spares you, not that you may accumu-
late more wealth, or achieve more honor
for your own sakes — that you may just
train up your family for this world, and
provide for them abundantly, to be mill-
stones about their neck to sink them
deeper into destruction — but that you
may traffic for your Master, as he has
given you talents severally as he will ac-
cording to your several ability : one ta-
1 lent or ten must be trafficked for by you
for your Master, " that at his coming he
may receive his own with usury." Were
we alert and alive we should find precious
opportunities occurring. How many
seasons are there to drop a word for our
Master, that we lose through false shame,
or as we would selfishly designate it,
worldly prudence and wisdom ? How
often does discretion hide dastardliness —
150
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
that we speak when we ought to be
silent, and are silent when we ought to
speak ? How fast are opportunities flit-
ting away ! We come in contact, in
trave', with an individual to-day — there
is an opportunity to testify for our Mas-
ter — through false fear, though we term
it sound discretion, that opportunity
passes — we never meet again, till we
meet at the bar of God. There is a
magnetic attractive power, that will not
let man to have much to do with another,
but he leaves some impression for good
or evil, that he knows not how it may
extend to eternity. Yes ; we are so con-
stituted, so knit together, one with another,
that no man can go alone to heaven or
hell — but downward to destruction, or
upward to eternal life, through the power
of his influence. " You are the salt of
earth," " the light of the world ;" let the
salt ever be diffusing its savour, be " hold-
ing forth the word of life," that it may
give light to those who are in the house ;
and let me remind you that there are
many lost opportunities that we can re-
collect with bitter sorrow and regret —
that we can call to remembrance, but
not to improve them. There is many a
child who weeps over the grave of his
parent, not that he has lost his parent,
but at the remembrance of the many
unkind words, the disobedient looks, the
want of tender consideration for which
he intended to make amends — to make
reparation — to repay with interest his
love to his parent ; — but he put it off to
a future day, and that parent is beyond
the reach of his kindness, sorrow and
contrition. How many a friend stands
beside the grave of his friend — what in-
tensity of anguish wrings his mind ! not
his friendship is reproving him, but his
conscience is upbraiding him — ' thou
didst intend to be faithful, to warn him ;
you put that off till some future day,
and now he is gone, and gone for ever !'
Men and brethren, we are verily guilty
concerning this matter ; and as it was
said by a great moralist, that ' the path to
hell was paved with broken resolutions,'
we might add, ' with lost opportunities.'
Aye, in the path to hell how many
lost opportunities are strewed around.
Let us mention a fact. There is a dis-
tinguished divine foremost in literary at-
tainments and scientific intellect, but far
more distinguished for his beautiful and
child-like simplicity of faith and humility
He loves to sit at the Saviour's feet, and
count all the knowledge he possesses,
" as dung that he may win Christ and
be found in him ;" but on one occasion
he was unfaithful to his Master : having
spent the night under the roof of a man
distinguished like himself for science and
intellect, but science unconsecrated by
grace, they were drawn out into the
highest and most intellectual commu-
nion, and passed on from one topic to
another till the night had worn far. The
Christian philosopher and divine forgot
or feared, or thought there was not a fit-
ting season to put in one solemn word of
warning for his Master. They parted at a
late hour — they went to their respective
chambers ; but the Christian minister had
scarcely laid his head on his pillow till
he was raised by the sound of sudden
bustle and alarm in the dwelling ; and
hastening to his door to ascertain the
cause, he was thunderstruck at hearing
that his host had been stricken with
apoplexy and was in the agonies of
death. It came over his mind as over-
whelming — ' I have lost an opportunity,
and I have lost it for ever!' and he re-
solved in the strength and power of God
that he would never let an opportunity
slip again.
Men and brethren ! may it rest on our
minds — " whatsoever thy hand findethto
do, do it with thy might ; for there is no
work nor device, nor knowledge, nor
wisdom in the grave whither thou goest,
Ecc. ix. 10." If you have put off the
faithful letter, write it this night — if you
have put off going to warn thine ac-
quaintance, whom it has been on your
conscience you aught to warn, let not
to-morrow's sun rise till you have dis-
charged your conscience ; and if to-
morrow's sun should see the sun of your
life going down, you should have that
less to burthen your conscience and dis-
quiet your last hour. Oh, seize each
opportunity as it flies, and let it not be
sent to the master of the vineyard with-
out bringing back fruit meet for him that
dresseth it.
We hasten from opportunity in rela-
tion to individuals, briefly to illustrate
opportunity in regard to communities. —
We may trace the same ordination of
providence in regard to communities that
we have traced in regard to individuals.
Yea, as far as communities can, in a poli-
tical capacity, exist only in this world ; in
OR GOSPEL PR2ACHER.
151
this world they have their retribution. —
Their opportunities are especially of im-
portance; and if you take the history of na-
tions, and compare it with the history of the
nation which is recorded and chronicled in
the book of God — if you take the politi-
cal and civil, and ecclesiastical history of
Israel, and take it as a key to unlock the in-
tricaciesofothernationsin all ages, you will
be able to perceive with wonderful preci-
sion, that nations have risen, come to their
climax and declined, just as they have
known or passedby the opportunities that
God gave them, being gracious unto them,
that he does after threaten them, and give
them, by his providence, though not by
his prophets, save as the prophets and the
law speak from his lively orracles, warning
of approaching destruction, and leisure
and space to repent if they knew the day
of their visitation.
Take two illustrations — the one of a
bright, and the other of a dark character.
Take, for a bright illustration, the history
of the repentance of Nineveh, that
mighty city, whose cry was come up be-
fore God, and whose sins seemed ripe
for destruction, in so much that God
determined that he would visit Nineveh
with utter desolation ; but in wrath he
remembers mercy, he would not smite
till he warned : he commissioned Jonah,
and constrained the reluctant prophet to
lift up his voice — " yet, forty days and
Nineveh shall be overthrown." There
was no intimation that Nineveh might
repent and be spared — that there was
mercy with God. Happy for Nineveh,
she knew the day of her visitation — she
took the solemn warning, the king on
his throne — and however our national
Atheists would denounce the interposi-
tion of a monarch and not have him to
interfere with religion at all, because the
kingdom of Christ is not of this world,
the king of Nineveh was a better philo-
sopher and a better divine than they ;
and he issued his royal proclamation,
enforced it by his own example, clothed
himself in sackcloth, and covered himself
with ashes ; the people followed the ex-
ample, and obeyed the mandate of their
monarch, young and old, children and
mothers — and the bridegroom went out
of his chamber, and the bride from her
closet ; the very flocks and herds deprived
of their wanted meat, mingled their bleat-
ings and lowings in the lamentation and
intercession that went up from Nineveh.
It was a stupendous scene of wondrous
contrition on which angels, no doubt,
looked down with unutterable delight ;
for if they rejoice over one sinner that
repenteth, how much more over the
mighty nation lying in dust and humilia-
tion ? and the result was (for God is
ready to forgive ; and while his anger
moves with limping pace, his mercy flies
to meet the repenting sinner), the sword
that was half unsheathed returned to its
scabbard, the cloud, dark with vengeance,
that impended, cleared away, and the sun
of mercy and prosperity shone again on
penitent and pardoned Nineveh. Happy
was that city that knew her opportunity
and took advantage of it ere it was past :
forty days gone, her dessolation would
have been upon her, and her ruin great !
Take a dark illustration. Look at the
favored people of God, exhibiting a series
of transgression and repentance — for-
giveness on God's part, and renewed
rebellion on theirs ; opportunities were
lost, and opportunities ceased, and mercy
again proclaimed. But after they had
stoned one messenger, and beaten ano-
ther, and killed a third, the Lord had one
son, and he said, — " I will send my son,
peradventure, they will reverence him."
He came in human form — " he came to
his own and his own received him not" —
" he was in the world, and the world was
made by him, and the world knew him
not ;" and he travelled through their vil-
lages, and came and lift up his voice of
warning, " repent or ye shall all perish"
— he looked on Jerusalem with deep com-
passion when he saw her hardened in her
iniquity and said — "if thou hadst known,
even thou, at least in this thy day, the
things which belong unto thy peace — but
now they are hid from thine eyes, for the
days shall come upon thee, that thine
enemies shall cast a trench about thee,
and compass thee round, and keep thee
in on every side, and shall lay thee even
with the ground and thy children within
thee ; and they shall not leave in thee
one stone upon another that shall not be
thrown down, because thou knewest not
the time of thy visitation." — " how often
would I have gathered thy children,
even as a hen gathereth her chickens un-
der her wings, and you would not, behold
your house is left unto you desolate."
They filled up the cup of their iniquity
to overflowing, by shedding the blood of
God's own Son — they invoked in their
152
THE NEW HUSH PULPIT,
infuriate infatuation that blood on them
and on their children ! and let the dark
record of their woes and wanderings tell
the fearful result. Their city became
their sepulchre — they were driven to
every corner of the earth — they were
butchered and slaughtered till there was
none to slay them, and sold till there was
none to purchase them — they have been as
vagabonds on the face of the earth — their
look bespeaks them outcast and dispica-
ble ; yet, thank God, they are not without
mercy, not without hope, there shall be
another day, a blessed day of visitation for
Israel, that she shall know, and when God
shall know her again. But, brethren, how
tremendous the downfal of a nation that
passes by the day of her visitation, that
knows not the things that belong to her
peace till the night come and provoke the
wrath of God to the uttermost ! Oh, our
country, our country, the rock of our
strength ! — is there christian faith and fide-
lity? — if that be shorn, she shall be beaten
as was the champion of Israel, and the day
of her glory and prosperity shall be pass-
ed. May God lead her to know the things
that belong to her peace, for they are fast
hastening to be hid from her eyes.
But if there be opportunities to com-
munities in a civil point of view, there are
no less opportunities to these communi-
ties in a spiritual point of view. The
churches of the living God have their
opportunities no less than the civil powers ;
churches have their occasions given them
to repent, and if they fail to repent their
doom must be on them. It is most true,
that the Church of Christ, as a whole,
can never have the gates of hell to prevail
against her ; and if every form of church
polity were swept from the earth, there
would be a professing and spiritual
Church of Christ yet remaining — there
would be a remnant, as there was in the
deepest midnight of Papistical darkness
that never was swallowed up, which we
may trace, visible to the eye of man, as
well as be assured that it existed invisible
in the sight of God for many thousand
years. But, brethren, for any branch of
the Catholic Church, for our beloved
branch, that branch in this country that
God hath made so strong for himself, we
have no guarantee of their perpetuation
but their faithfulness to the high charge
that her Master has given her ; and,
therefore, let us take one or two illustra-
tions that may serve for admonition and
instruction. To the Church of Ephesus
that was become unfaithful, He that walk-
eth among the golden candlesticks said,
" Repent, and do the first works, or else
I will come unto thee quickly, and will
remove the candlestick out of his place
except thou repent ;" and to the church
at Pergamus, " Repent, or else I will
come unto thee quickly, and will fight
against thee with the sword of my mouth ;"
and to the church of the Laodiceans,
'' So then, because thou art lukewarm,
and nether cold nor hot, I will spue thee
out of my mouth.'' And where now are
the churches at Ephesus, Pergamus, and
Loadicea? There are but a few scat-
tered fragments left of these flourishing
cities, and scarcely a solitary nominal
Christian, that, like a single shrub, tells
where the garden of the Lord once
bloomed. See how a branch may be
broken off unless it be faithful, as it was
said to the Gentile Church, in reference
to the Jewish, when they were ready to
be lifted up, " because of unbelief they
were broken off, and thou standest by
faith, be not high minded but fear." And
where now are the churches in Africa,
that once flourished when the swarthy
Cyprian presided over his conclave of
four Archbishops? Gone, like the splen-
did cities in which they flourished, passed
away like a dream, and not a vestige left
behind ! They knew not the day of their
visitation, they were unfaithful to their
master, and their master removed from
them their candlestick. It is not the bright-
ness and brilliancy of the candlestick,
unless there be light in the sockets, that
reflects lustre ; and so, however beautiful
a national church may be, however fair
her proportions, admirable her discipline,
or pure her doctrines, if they be not
carried out practically and effectually,
she is unfaithful to her master, and has
reason to tremble. True it is, that the
Church in this country has not betrayed
(and thank God for it) the truth — we
have the truth in her articles and formu-
laries, and she has been a pillar and
ground of the truth, and has been a wit-
ness against Popery on the one hand, and
Socinianism and infidelity on the other ;
yet still, if her members and ministers do
not imbibe that spirit of her articles and
formularies, and breathe that spirit on the
world around them, the day of her visi-
tation shall soon be passed, and the day
of vengeance shall soon come.
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
U
Now, to wind up the subject, we would
say to any unbelieving man that lias been
led to come within these walls — Man,
mortal man ! another opportunity is granted
to you this night — thou hast been told,
in the name of God, that " now is the
accepted time, now is the day of salva-
tion," — thou art told, that Christ says,
" ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye
shall find, "knock and it shall be opened
unto you ; for every one that asketh
receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth,
and to him that knocketh it shall be
opened. ' " Wilt thou be made whole ?"
Jesus says to thee, as he did to the dis-
eased man of old. If you be willing will
he be unwilling ? Do not allow self-
righteousness, and the fear of being pre-
sumptuous to come in between you and
your Master •. look to him who is lifted
up to draw all men unto him ; because
vou have obtained mercy, obey and love ;
not to deserve eternal life, but because
eternal life is bestowed on thee : " the
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God
is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our
Lord."
Christian brethren, have you that be-
lieve in Christ, been slothful and faithless
in improving your opportunities ? Have
you to bitterly remember many occasions
lost by you ? Be more watchful senti-
nels, more faithful stewards — be more
continually on the alert to embrace every
passing occasion, and improve it to the
uttermost ; let not another day pass with-
out doing what you ought to have done,
and acquitting your conscience.
Let me plead with you, on behalf of
the Protestant population and church of
our country. Is not the present opportu-
nity, in the history of both, a juncture big
with consequences ? Is it not the turning
point, when she must either go down to
destruction, or upward to renovated peace
and prosperity ? When we may see the
gathering of the hosts of darkness on the
one hand, and the hosts of truth on the
other, — if the soldiers of Christ be not
more valiant, and zealous, and active than
the soldiers of Satan, what must be the
result, but that in just punishment, vice
and wickedness shall triumph, and truth
and virtue be fallen in the streets ? Surely
we live in a day when worldly politicians
and earthly philosophers must be asto-
nished at the signs of the times. The tide
of events is rolling on with surprising
velocity ; neutral ground is passing away ;
men must become one thing or the
other — men must choose principle or
expediency — the world or Christ. Need
I remind you that, emphatically it is the
day of our visitation and the season of
our opportunity. How long has the vol-
cano been heaving and threatening to
send forth its fiery eruption, burying all
things in its flood, and almost ready to
burst ; but God, who stilleth the ragin
when all that are in their graves shall hear
the Judge's voice, and shall " come forth,
they that have done good, unto the re-
surrection of life, and they that have done
evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."
— As the first impulse of the offending
Adam was to hide himself from the all-
pervading Deity, nor did the knowledge
which he had purchased at so dear a rate
teach him the utter futility of attempting
concealment from God, so the last im-
pulse of those who have trifled away all
opportunities of grace and salvation, will
be, when they are quickened, by the peal-
ing trumpet, into sudden and unwelcome
light, to say to the mountains, " fall on
us," and to the rocks, " cover us, and
hide us from the wrath of Him that sitteth
upon the throne." Vain hope in either
case, for " can any hide himself in secret
places," saith the Lord, " that I shall not
see him ? Do not I fill heaven and earth,
saith the Lord? whither wilt thou go,
then, from my Spirit, whither wilt thou
flee from my presence ?"
I do not propose, however, brethren,
to consume your invaluable time, by
dwelling upon a proposition which no sane
person will dispute, that God is every
where present, and observantof all through-
out the universe. We could more easily,
at least less unnaturally and unreasonably,
incur the presumption of denying, than
the absurdity of limiting, the Holy One of
Israel. It is not, then, to the abstract
doctrine of God's omnipresence, generally
considered, that we would require your
attention at this time ; it is to the personal
application of the enquiry, " whether shall
I go from thy Spirit, or whither shall
188
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
flee from thy presence?'' — It is but too I lie. The fearful and wondrous media-
easy and too common to deny in facts,
that which we acknowledge in words, and
therefore should we be reminded, that the
judgment will be according to what we
have done, not to what we have proposed,
or professed, or resolved to do. May we,
then, so consider the subject, under the
teaching of God's holy and pervading
Spirit, that, to us, without the sad alter-
native it conveys, may be applied the
solemn saying of the Redeemer — " If ye
nism of his own frame is a voice that
speaks without ; while an inward convic-
tion of folly, a latent anticipation of
punishment, which he cannot wholly stifle
and suppress, even while he is uttering
the great swelling words of vanity and
blasphemy, testify as forcibly and as une-
quivocally within. No, let him seek, as
he may, to banish the unwelcome, the
appalling consciousness, all nature is alive
with symbols and memorials and witnes-
know these things, happy are ye if ye do ses, of the presence of the Eternal. God
them." i beams in the sun, whispers in the breeze,
We shall, then, in applying the text, sparkles in the ocean, and thunders in the
describe two classes of characters. Those
who practically deny the Omnipresence
of God, and those who practically acknow-
ledge it.
We speak only of those who deny prac-
tically, deny in act, this divine attribute —
with such as openly and presumptuously
deny it in words we have no concern in
this place. In the world around us, there
may be here and there an unhappy wretch
who shall pass all his days in struggling
ineffectually with reason and conscience,
in hope to disguise from himself th% truth,
by which he must be condemned ; but we
cannot believe that there are any in
this assembly, who would give ut-
terance to the self-refuting absurdity,
' ' there is no God." — I call it self-refuting,
because he who should utter it, would be
encompassed, on every side, with witnes-
ses to his own falsehood — the very heaven
on which the unbeliever looks, gives him the
lie — the very earth on which he treads,
gives him the lie — the very heart that
beats within him, and the very blood that
fills his veins — the very mind that con-
ceives the blasphemy, and the very tongue
that exprcssess it— all — all give him the-
storm ; nor can light pervade the scorn-
er's dwelling, nor the wind fall upon his
cheek, nor verdure clothe the plains, nor
the stars adorn the sky, but a Voice goes
up from universal nature, which tells him
God is there Nay, not only so, but his
own heart responds, ' God is here,' and his
own understanding confesses, ' God is
here,' and his own conscience denounces,
'woe, woe unto thee, the God whom thou
deniest is here.'
It is one thing, however, to stifle or re-
sist the utterance of the voice within,
another, and a very different, and, it is to
be feared, a much more common thing,
to put it off with a feigned attention and
a dissembling reverence, when it speaks.
The perverse ingenuity of man, in devis-
ing means to impose upon himself, is
indeed such as to vindicate the emphatic
declaration of the prophet, that "the heart
of man is deceitful above all things." Is
it not a matter of experience, that there
are some, worshippers only in name, who
seem ostentatiously to display, in the house
of God itself, how little they fear God, or
regard man? Are there none, who go
through the whole of what ought to be a
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
189
reasonable and spiritual service, without
being once impressed with a sense of the
Divine Presence, the glory of which, in-
visibly, pervades his temple ? Are there
none of whom it may be said, that, by
the deliberate admission into their minds
of all worldly and frivolous thoughts, and
the intentional exclusion of all sounds
that might fall heavily upon the ear of
conscience, they almost seem here, even
here, where God is specially present, as
if they were attempting to go from the
Spirit, and to flee from the presence of
the Judge ? Are there not idlers, who
come to dose, if not fools, who come to
mock ? Are there not formalists, who at-
tend the service of God's house as a
penance, if not hypocrites, who do it as a
pretence ? Are there not some, who, in
repairing to the courts of the Lord's
temple, neither expect, nor desire, any
spiritual good, but who only show them-
selves among God's people, and tolerate
God's service, that they may, with greater
semblance of decency, and quickened zest
of appetite, return to the follies, and to
the pleasures, and to the vanities of the
world ? — who, while they draw near with
their lips, leave purposely their hearts afar
off, and never, during their whole lives?
have entered the sanctuary with the so-
lemn consciousness that ' God is there,' nor
closed the door of the secret chamber of
prayer, with the reverential acknowledg-
ment — - God is here ?'
We will, however, trusting that in this
case, charity is not credulity, believe, that
those who offer not, and intend not to
offer worship, even in God's own temple,
constitute the great minority. And we
will pass from the few, who neither realise
the divine presence in the house of prayer,
nor out of it, to speak of others, who
do, indeed, in a qualified sense, approach
God on the " Sabbath, so far as outward
ordinances are concerned, who do, while
within the precincts of the sanctuary, seem
to attain a more lively and immediate re-
cognition of Him than at other places,
and at other times, who are not in the
church, what they are in the world, be-
cause there, if no where else, they feel
themselves beneath the glance of an eye
that is all pervading, within the grasp of
a hand that is irresistible. But has that
eye lost its keenness, or is that arm wi-
thered of its power, when the sun rises on
the secular portion of the week, on the
other six days which God allots to man ?
Does the dense and turbid atmosphere of
the world impede or perplex the vision of
God, as it confuses or intercepts our own ?
" He that formed the eye shall he not see?
He that planted the ear shall he not hear ?"
Such, you might almost imagine, is their
belief, could you follow into the scenes of
active and busy life, too many of those
who have yet spent a fair proportion of
the Sabbath in the apparent worship of
God. You might almost imagine it,
could you behold their recreations and
amusements, their convivial parties or
their domestic relaxations ; could you
listen to their conversation, which, from
morning perhaps, until evening, will not
breathe a syllable to evidence that they
are living for any better or worthier pur-
pose, than to lay up much goods for many
years, to take their ease, eat, drink, and
be merry. Alas, were we to trace the
congregation, the decorous, attentive con-
gregation of the Sabbath, throughout the
week, and amid the world, how much
should we be constrained to witness of
entanglement in the pollutions of a world
that licth in wickedness, what utter disre-
190
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
gard, by some who are called Christians,
of the great end and object of their being !
what entire forgetfulness of that strict and
solemn account, which must be rendered
at the judgment-seat of God ! what frivo-
lous, intemperate, uncharitable, unchris-
tian speeches uttered in the hearing of
Him, who remembers and records them
all ! what covetous and inordinate desires
9
cherished in the view of Him, who looks
upon the heart, yea of whom, it is awfully
testified, that there is not a thought in the
heart but he knoweth it altogether? Surely
such inconsistent persons, whatever atten-
tion and interest they may evince, in the
performance of Sabbath duties, cannot
form a right estimate of Him, who is an
everpresent God, who is with them at
their going out and coming in, at their
lying down and rising up, who is " about
their path, and about their bed, and spieth
out all their ways" — surely these cannot
set God alway before them? Ah, if
they did, how many of those vipers of
sin, which will, in the end, entwine their
pestiferous and loathsome folds around
the late awakened soul, crushing it into
irremediable despair, would be stifled in
the moment of their birth — how many
would be spared, in the hour of impending
death and judgment, that exceeding great
and bitter cry, which heaven and earth
may hear, but cannot answer ; ' ' whither
shall I go from thy Spirit, whither shall I
flee from thy presence ?" earth cover me
mountains hide me, hell conceal me in
thy deepest recesses, from the kindled
wrath of God tmd of the Lamb !
But we gladly turn from this appalling pic-
ture — a description, alas, too often substan-
tiated, and embodied in the experience of
tha departing sinner, too late to profit him
self, and often, alas, too secret to advantage
others, to consider — Who they are that
practically realise God's omnipresence.
All the value and the virtue of expe-
rimental religion may be regarded as
embodied in this simple position, that
while it is impossible to fly from God, it
is possible to fly to God — that his pre-
sence is itself the safest covert from its
own terrors, and that the Spirit, from
which none can go, may thus be trans-
formed from an accusing, disquieting,
condemning spirit, into a messenger of
mercy ; into a dove of peace ; into a
herald of salvation. The whole ten-
dency of corrupt nature is to draw
men away from God ; the whole tendency
of grace that bringeth salvation, is to draw-
man more closely towards Him ; and
accordingly it will be found, that the
farther men recede from God, the more
awful and appalling become the terrors
with which he is invested ; and the more
nearly we approach towards Him, the
more conspicuously do we discern the
milder attributes of love and mercy, gen-
tleness, forbearance, long suffering, tem-
pering the otherwise unendurable bril-
liancy of those perfections, which tend
alike to the humiliation of the human nature
and the exaltation of the divine. God
beheld from afar, is a consuming fire.
God, to those who find access to Him,
through Christ Jesus, is a reconciled
Father in Him. The very attributes of
the divine nature, which man unrepen-
tant, unrenewed, unsanctified, recoils from
and trembles to behold, are those which
man, penitent, regenerated, justified by
the blood, and sanctified by the Spirit of
OR, GOSPEL PREACHER.
191
Christ, hails as the pledges, the assuran-
ces, yea, the very agents and instruments
of his own salvation. How could it ever
have entered into the heart of man, un-
taught, unenlightened from above, to
cite the divine attributes of justice and
faithfulness, as combining to accomplish,
and to certify the salvation of the return-
ing penitent ? Does not justice, it
might be asked, the justice of a God, all
holiness, demand the punishment of sin ?
Does not faithfulness, the faithfulness of
a God, all true, enforce the execution of
the sentence denounced upon the sinner
from the beginning ? Yes, would be the
reply, did reason alone return it, but what
saith the Scripture ? " God is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. "
Here then, is one instance out of many,
by which it might be proved, that only a
close contemplation of God, could impart
an accurate perception of what He is in
reality, to those who have been enlight-
ened by the Spirit, to behold " the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God, in
the face of Jesus Christ." The persons
then, of whom I have in my second des-
cription spoken, are those who have
discerned this, and who act daily upon
the knowledge which has been imparted
to them from above. They are those,
to whom the language of the psalmist is
the language of experience ; who have
not only asked with him, as in the text
" whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or
whither shall I flee from thy presence ?"
but who have been enabled to say, with
him, " O God, my God, early will I seek
thee, create in me a clean heart, and re-
new a right spirit within me : restore unto
me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold mo
with thy free spirit, — mine iniquities cer-
tify against me, but I flee unto thee to
hide me. O let me so dwell in the secret
place of the Most High, that I may abide
under the shadow of the Almighty.
Plant me in the courts of the Lord, that
I may flourish in the courts of the house
of my God."
Doubtless there is a portion of those
who hear me, I trust that it is a large,
and I pray that it may be an increasing
proportion, who have thus attained to a
practical knowledge of the omnipresence
of God, who may thus be said, to " set
God alway before them," in that they
rise with Him, and walk with Him, and
rest with Him ; not only acting daily
upon the example of the psalmist, " thy
voice shalt thou hear in the morning O
Lord," while, with every evening their
prayer rises before Him as incense, and
the lifting up of their hands is an evening
sacrifice, but, who likewise maintain a
continued, though tacit intercourse with
Him throughout the day ; who can say
with the psalmist, " after thee do I seek
all the day long," and of whom it may
be said, in the emphatic words of the Apos-
tle, they " are sober and watch unto
prayer." —
And I would fain believe that these
are not only the quiet and the contem-
plative, and the secluded; not only the
minister of Christ, whose best prepara-
tion for public duty, is the loneliness of
meditation and prayer ; nor the man of
easy and independent circumstances, who
may devote, if he will, all his hours, ex-
cept those which are demanded for the
necessary refreshment of the body, and
a just attention to domestic claims, to
acquainting himself with God, that he may
be at peace : nOr the christian female,
whose duties and engagements rarely lead
192
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
her beyond the hallowed circle of her home,
and whose very sphere of life, let her be
thankful for it, is such as to favour and
facilitate access to God — for surely those
must themselves repair to the Good
Shepherd who are desirous to feed his
lambs. But they are, we would believe,
to be traced and identified, also, in the
walks of active life, that we may discri-
minate the Christian mechanic, the con-
scious disciple of an Omnipresent Saviour,
while labouring in his craft; the christian
tradesman or merchant while occupied in
his commercial concerns ; the christian
philosopher, while exploring the secrets
of nature, and fathoming the mysteries
of science ; the christian student, while
selecting from the great storehouse of
antiquity, weapons to wield in the chris-
tian warfare; we trust that wherever
there is an individual corresponding to
these various grades and classifications, to
be found amongst you, that they are to
be distinguished from others who follow
he same pursuits^but not on the same
principles, who are alike in all respects,
to man's judgment of outward appear-
ances, but different to God who looketh
upon the heart, different in this, that with
the one, toil, of whatever kind, is both
sweetened and sanctified by God's pre-
sence, whilst with the other it is undertaken
only with worldly views, prosecuted in a
worldly spirit, and directed to a worldly
end.
And in what does the distinction con-
sist. . Is it that those, who are habitually
conscious^! of the divine presence, and
controlled by the Divine Spirit, are more
remiss, more slothful, more negligent in
business, more heedless of employing all
lawful, equitable, and consistent means to
bring their undertakings to a prosperous
issue, more impatient of the station in
which it has pleased God's good provi-
dence to place them, and more ready to
abstract from the hours of occupation,
shreds and fragments of the time, which
they cannot honestly call their own, under
pretext of seeking Him who is ever nigh?
No, the distinction between him that
serveth God, and him that serveth Him
not, consists not, in the superior assiduity,
ability, and faithfulness, with which the
latter serves man, but, in the consistency
uprightness and devotedness, with which
the former serves God — in the compara-
tive calmness and composure, with which
a true believer, in whatever condition,
aecounters opposition, receives disap-
pointment, endures trial, bears up under
provocation ; in the readiness with which,
time and opportunity permitting, his lips
will utter of the fulness of his heart, in
things relating to God and his own soul ;
in the promptitude, the earnestness, with
which he will avail himself of every
suitable occasion, to promote the best
interests of others, whether by the ex-
pression of christian sympathy, or the act
of christian kindness; by the contented
cheerfulness with which he will be pre-
pared to do, or to suffer, or to sacrifice
whatever God may require, concerned
only to do his duty in the state to which
God's allwise providence has called him,
and as one who is not his own, but bought
with a price, to glorify God in his body
and his spirit which are God's.
It may be objected, that we have
pictured Christians as they ought to be,
rather than as they are. Brethren, we
have at least described them, such as the
word of God has a tendency to make
them; yea, such as they certainly would
be, did they but rightly apprehend and
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
193
apply the single attribute of the God whom
they serve, of which they are so empha-
tically reminded in the text. What duty
would require a stimulus, we may ask, or
what sin would be without a check ; what
holy and lovely dispositions would not be
cultivated, what root of bitterness that
would not be cut down, at its first appear-
ance above the soil of the heart, did we
but bear about with us the conviction
" Thou God seest me ;" thou seest in me
the purchase of the blood of thy dear Son,
thou seest in me, one, whom thine own
Spirit condescends to sanctify ; thou seest
in me, a candidate for, an aspirant to, an
inheritor of immortality ; thou seest in
me, a natural born enemy, yet now a child
of adoption ; one who was alienated by
wicked works, and estranged by evil cour-
ses, yet now, made by grace, a dear son,
a pleasant child, a child pleasant to a
Father's eye, dear to a Father's heart.
And can I knowingly commit iniquity,
which thou art of purer eyes than to be-
hold, while encompassed by thy presence ?
Can I omit the duty, yea, rather the pri-
vilege, which brings me nearer to thee,
while surrounded by thy Spirit ? O turn
away mine eyes from beholding vanity,
that they may be fixed more steadfastly
upon Thee ! — let thy Presence, which
is my safety from danger, be also my pre-
servative from sin ; and while discharging
all my duties beneath a Parent's eye, and
receiving all my blessings from a Parent's
hand, should the question be asked of
me by the wicked, or the worldly, by the
enemy without, or the traitor within
" Wilt thou also go away?" O let the
prompt answer of my soul be returned,
not to them, but to Thee, " Whither
could I go from thy Spirit, whither could
I flee from thy Presence — Thou hast the
words of eternal life — with Thee is the
fountain of life, and in thy light shall I see
light — whom have I in heaven but Thee,
and there is none on earth that I would
desire in comparison of Thee — when my
flesh and my heart fail, Thou alone canst
be the strength of my heart, and my por-
tion for evermore."
Brethren, this subject has a voice for
all. We imist see God, sooner or later,
we must see him face to face. In this
stage of weakness and mortality, who can
say how soon? — and when we once see
Him, as he is manifested to the disembodi-
ed spirit, we shall never lose sight of Him
again — whether the light of his counte-
nance beam on us, "with joy unspeakable
and full of glory," or whether it be an-
guish that cannot be expressed, yet agony
that must for ever be endured ! — O then,
while you may, take shelter from God
with God ; approach the majesty of the
Father, protected by the righteousness of
the Son, prepared by the purifying of the
Spirit; let the presence of God become
your glory, the Spirit of God your de-
fence. This it will be, if you only
come to God through Christ, humbling
yourself by reason of your manifold ini-
quities, and desiring to carry hence in
your hearts such a sense of his presence,
that wherein you have done iniquity, you
may do it no more.
But, if there beamongst us here a mind
still unenlightened,a conscience still una-
wakened, a heart still unimpressed, with
what words shallwe take leave of him ? Go,
we say, but whither wilt thou go from God's
Spirit ? Fly, but whither wilt thou fly from
God's presence? Ascend to heaven — He is
there; make thy bed in hell — He is there
also. Take the wings of the morning,
and remain in the uttermost part of the
194
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
sea, even there His hand shall lead thee,
and His right hand shall hold thee ; and
oh ! if, from that crushing grasp of omnipo-
tence, revealed to judgment, Christ do not
set thee free, who shall ? and how wilt
thou bear the fiery arrows of his indig-
nation, if thou art unprotected by the
shield of faith ! — But now is the time to
seek and to find a refuge against the day
of wrath — God willeth not, the death of a
sinner — oh how is it to be deplored even
in tears of blood that the sinner should
be determined on his own !
" Cast us not away from thy presence,
and take not thy Holy Spirit from us."
Brethren, you have heard these words to-
day before, would that again, before you
leave the sanctuary, and mingle with the
things of earth, the prayer which they em-
body might be breathed on high by every
heart that throbs within these walls, and
mount as incense to the throne of Heaven.
Now is the time to press home to our bo-
soms the solemn truth that every time
when, in the sins, or the vanities, or the
cares of earth, we have sought a hiding
place from the Spirit, or an oblivion of
the presence of our God, we have been
treasuring up wrath against the day of
wrath — for there is a treasury of ven-
geance on high, and hour by hour, and
day by day, we have been casting in our
sins to augment its fearful stores. Perhaps
with some of us, the night of this frail exist-
ence is far spent, and the day of immortality
is at hand — a day of undying remorse or of
unutterable joy. Perhaps this warning
may be the last which the long suffering
of God may ever vouchsafe to some of
our souls ; but of this, at least, be certain,
that the next time, by deliberate sin, we
vex and quench God's influence, we shal 1
desperately challenge him to cast us away
from his presence, and take his holy
Spirit from us.
O may we then, as we value the souls
our Redeemer bought, as we would at-
tain to the harmony and glory of the
mansions of light, as we would escape the
weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of
teeth of those once warned by God's
ministers, but now for ever lost, come
to Christ the Saviour ; let his Spirit be
as a lamp unto our feet, his presence a
light unto our paths, that " when He shall
come again in his glorious majesty to judge
both the quick and the dead, we may rise
to the life immortal, through Him who
liveth and reigneth with the Father and
the Holy Ghost now and ever." Amen.
Amen.
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
195
PORTFOLI O.
" As (he men of the world do live on
their earthly portions, so a man that hath
God for his portion, lives upon his God.
Look how the poor man lives upon his
labours — the covetous man on his bags —
the ambitious man on his honours — the
voluptuous man on his pleasures ; — so
doth a Christian live upon his God : in
all his duties, and in all his straits and
trials, and in all his contentments and
engagements, he still lives upon his God.
When he is under the frowns of the
world, then he lives upon the smiles of
God ; when he is under the hatred of
the world, then he lives upon the love of
God ; and when he is under the reproaches
of the world, then he lives upon his credit
with God ; when he is under the threat-
enings of the world, then he lives upon
the protection of God ; and when he is
under the designs and plottings of the
world, then he lives upon the wisdom
and counsel of God ; when he is under
the crosses and losses of the world, then
he lives upon the fulness and goodness of
God. God is always watchful and wake-
ful to do his people good ; he never
wants skill or will to help them. — Brooks
on U2d Psalm, A.D. 1662.
" When so few are saved (as God's
word saith) what cause have we to shake
ourselves out of ourselves, and to ask our
souls, whither goest thou ? where shalt
thou lodge at night ? wbere are thy char-
ters and writs of thy heavenly inheritance ?
Alas, security is the bane and wreck of
most part of the world ! Sleep not sound
till you find yourself in that case, that
you dare look death in the face, and durst
hazard your soul upon eternity. Oh !
make your heaven sure, and try how you
came by conversion ; that it be not a
white and well-lustred profession. Many
are beguiled with this, that they are free
of scandalous and crying abominations ;
but the tree that bringeth not forth good
fruit is for the fire. The man that is not
born again cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. Ah ! that men, who never had
a sore heart for sin, should ever think
they met with Christ.
" Woe, woe, be to them, that put on
Christ's name, and shame his love with a
loose and profane life ; their feet, tongue,
hands and eyes, give a shameless lie to
the Holy Gospel which they profess.
Alas ! that the holy profession of Christ
is made a stage-garment, to bring home
a vain name." — Rutherford's Letters.
" Begin the Christian race from the
cross, and whenever you faint or grow
weary look back to it." — Thos. Adam.
" Mercy is like the rainbow, which
God set in the heavens, to remember
mankind. We must never look for it
after night. It shines not in the other
world. If we refuse mercy here, we
must have justice to eternity." — Jeremy
Tat/lor.
" He that cannot reason is a fool ; he
that will not reason is a bigot ; but he
that dares not reason is a slave."
196
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
" Study without prayer is atheism ;
prayer without study is presumption." —
Bishop Saunderson.
" Prayer requires more of the heart
than of the tongue, of sighs than of words,
of faith than of discourse. The eloquence
of prayer consists in the fervency of desire,
in the simplicity of faith, and in the ear-
nestness and perseverance of charity. The
abundance and choice of fine thoughts,
studied and vehement motions, and the
order and politeness of the expressions,
are things which compose a mere human
harangue, not an humble and Christian
prayer." — Quesnel.
" No cloud can overshadow a Chris-
tian, but his faith will discern a rainbow
in it." — Bishop Home.
" Happy the stones that God chuseth
to be living stones in his spiritual temple !
though they be hammered and hewed to
be polished for it, by afflictions and the
inward work of mortification and repent-
ance. It is worth the enduring all, to be
fitted for this building ; for all other
buildings, and all the parts of them, shall
be demolished and come to nothing, from
the foundation to the cope-stone ; all
your houses, both cottages and palaces,
the elements shall melt away, and the
earth with all the works in it shall be
consumed ; — but this spiritual building
shall grow up to heaven, and being come
to perfection, shall abide for ever in per-
fection of beauty and glory. In it shall
be found no unclean thing nor person,
but only they that are written in the
Lamb's book of life." — Leighton.
" This is the comfort of a child of
God, that though he brought sin with
him into the world, yet he shall not carry
it with him out of the world. God hath
so wisely ordered and appointed it, that
as death came in by sin, so also shall sin
itself be destroyed by death." — Bishop
Hopkins.
Dublin : New Irish Pulpit Office, 1 , St. Andrew-st. ; John Robertson and Co. ;
W. Curry, Jun. and Co. ; R. M. Tims, W. Carson, D. R. Bleakley. London ;
R. Groombridge, J. Nisbet and Co. ; Liverpool, H. Perris ; Manchester, Pratt,
Chester, Seacome ; Cork Tract Repository ; Drogheda, C. F. Collins ; and all
Booksellers.
GEORGE FOLDS, Printer, 1, Saint Andrew-street.
(Opposite Trinity -street, Dublin.)
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
OR
GOSPEL PREACHER.
" We preach Christ crucified —
" Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God."— 1 Cor. i. 23, 24.
No. LXXXVI.
SATURDAY, 22hd JUNE, 1839.
Price 4n.
RF.V. ROBT. J. M'GHEEj
RF.V. HENRY HARDY,
A SERMON,
PREACHED IN HAROLD'S CROSS CHURCH, DUBLIN,
ON EASTER SUNDAY, 1830.
BY THE REV. ROBT. J. MGHEE, A.B.
Chaplain.
The Anthem for Easter Sunday.
'• Christ our passover is sacrificed for us : therefore let us keep the feast ; not with old leaven,
nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness : but with the unleavened biead of sincerity and
truth. 1 Cor. v. 7,8.
Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more : death hath no more dominion over him.
For in that he died, he died unto sin once : but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Like-
wise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin ; but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord, Rom. vi. 9.
Christ is risen from the dead: and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by
man came death : by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die : even
so in Christ shall all be made alive." 1 Cor. xv. 20.
These are blessed truths which are ex-
tracted from the word of God by our
Church, for the anthem instead of a col-
lect, and brought forward here for our
solemn consideration on this day. Each
text here might form an instructive ser-
mon, the whole might furnish an inter-
esting series of discourses on the resur-
rection of our blessed Lord, and the
blessings it conveys to his people.
My difficulty is not to enlarge on the
subject, but to condense the truths I pre-
you to examine, more at large, when you
return to your homes.
I will call your attention to the glori-
ous view that is presented to us of the
Lord Jesus Christ in each portion of the
Scripture here, and to the practical infer-
ence which this is made to bear on the faith,
the hope and conduct of the believer.
Now, in the first extract, we read, 1 Cor.
v. 7, 8. "Christ, our passover, is sacrified for
us, therefore let us keep the feast ; not with
oldleaven.neitherwith the leaven ofmalice,
sent to you, which I trust the Lord will, by and wickedness, but with the unleavened
his Spirit, write on your hearts, and enable ' bread of sincerity and truth." In this first
VOL. IV. m
193
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
passage, the death of Jesus is set before
us as a deliverance from condemnation , and
also its practical influence on the heart
and life of the believer.
In the second passage, (Romans, vi.
9, 10, 11,) " Knowing that Christ being
raised from the dead dieth no more ;
death hath no more dominion over him.
For in that he died, he died unto sin
once; but in that he liveth,heliveth unto
God. Likewise reckon ye also your-
selves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our
Lord." There, the resurrection of our
glorious Redeemer is set before us as a
pledge and assurance of present deliver-
ance from sin and death to all his believ-
ing people, and the present resurrection of
of our souls from spiritual death to spiri-
tual life.
In the third passage, (1 Cor. xv. 20,
21,22,) " But now is Christ risen from
the dead, and become the first-fruits of
them that slept. For since by man came
death, by man came also the resurrection
of the dead. For as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive."
Here the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ is given to us as a pledge of the
fulfilment of all the blessings that are set
before us as purchased by his death and
■resurrection. We have a pledge of the
fulfilment of all these blessings to our-
selves, in our own actual resurrection from
the dead. Now, may the Lord apply these
truths to our hearts and consciences for
Christ's sake.
I. In the first passage, the death of
J-ESUS IS SET BEFORE US AS A DELIVER-
ANCE from condemnation This is pre-
sented to us in the declaration, that the
Lord Jesus is the anti-type of the pass-
over; that the passover, the history of
which you heard to-day, (Exodus xii.)
was a type of our blessed Redeemer, and
that the Lord Jesus Christ is the fulfil-
ment of this ; " Christ, our passover, is
sacrificed for us, therefore let us keep
the feast."
Now, we shall briefly consider the paral-
lel between the passover and Christ. The
wrath of God had gone out against the
whole land of Egypt, which we see in
his tremendous judgments. This last he
poured outon the land, previous to the de-
liverance of his people and the destruction
of Pharaoh and his hosts, this last of these
judgments by which he denounced the
first-born in every house in the land to
death, " from the first-born of Pharaoh
that sat on his throne, to the first-born of
the captive that was in the dungeon."
There was one mode of preservation
from this destruction which he appointed
for the Israelites; that they should take a
lamb for every house, that they should
slay the lamb, and take the blood, and
strike the lintel and sidepostsof their doors
with it, and the Lord said, v. 13, " the
blood shall be to you for a token upon
the houses where ye are, and when I see
the blood, I will pass over you, and the
plague shall not be upon you to destroy
you, when I smite the land of Egypt."
Wherein is there a parallel between
this and Christ? God's wrath has gone
forth, not against houses or nations, but
against individuals, against every indivi-
dual sinner upon the face of this earth.
The wrath of God is proclaimed, " the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteous-
ness of men," but the glorious Gospel
commands a guilty world to lift up its
eyes and " behold the Lamb of God
that taketh away the sin of the world."
" Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for
us." Whenever a guilty sinner depends
upon the atoning blood of the Lamb, that
blood is sprinkled on him, as the blood
of the lamb was on the door posts of the
houses of the Israelites ; — and when
judgment shall be poured out on an un-
godly world, when the wrath that is pro-
claimed shall be revealed, he shall be
passed over in that day, being sprinkled
with the blood of the Lamb. Oh ! what
it shall be to be passed over ; when the
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
199
trumpet shall sound, and the wrath of
God shall be revealed from heaven !
There was no deliverance whatever
from that wrath throughout the land of
Egypt but by the blood of the Lamb.
There is " no name under heaven, given
among men, whereby we must be saved,
but the name of Christ," — there is no
deliverance for any sinner, but in the
blood of " the Lamb of God, that taketh
away the sin of the world."
No Israelite was protected because he
was an Israelite, there was no deliverance
in the land of Goshen to any individual
because he was an inhabitant of that land ;
there had been no deliverance even for
Moses and Aaron, if they had neglected
God's command, to strike the blood of the
lamb on the door posts of their houses,
the destroying angel dare not have passed
over them, no more than he could have
disobeyed the command of God, — there
was nothing for them but the sprinkling
of blood. There is no deliverance in
outward privileges for men that are called
christians — there is no deliverance in the
Protestant church no more than in the
Popish church, or in the Pagan temple,
— there is no deliverance for any sinner,
unless he is sprinkled with the blood of
the Lamb. No outward privilege, no
outward form of worship, no repitition of
it, nothing whatever, nothing can save
but the blood of the Lamb — if you are
not sprinkled with that, you cannot be
passed over in the day of wrath.
The Lamb was to be " roast with fire."
If you look to mount Calvary, if you see
the fierceness of the wrath of God poured
out upon the blessed Jesus, you will see
the force of that command.
All the Israelites were to eat of the
Lamb, and they were to eat it with bitter
herbs, and with unleavened bread. All
those who are saved must feed' upon the
Lamb of God ; — except ye eat the flesh
of the Son of man, and drink his blood,
ye have no life in you." — (St. John, vi,
53.) You understand what the meaning
of that is ; — it is not eating carnally, as
you eat your food, but our blessed
Lord explains it, " I am the bread of
life, he that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me
shall never thirst," (John, vi. 35.) you
must feed on him in your heart, it can-
not be more beautifully expressed than
in the communion service, " feed on him
in thy heart, by faith with thanksgiving."
They were to eat it with bitter herbs,
and with unleavened bread. Christ must
be eaten with the bitter herbs of repent-
ance for sin, there must be a conviction
of our own guilt and misery, and there
must be a sympathy of sorrow in behold-
ing the Lamb of God, who " bore our
sins in his own body on the tree," who
" became a sin-offering and a curse for
us." We cannot really think thathell isour
individual portion, and that the only re-
fuge we have is to look to him who died
for us on Calvary, without feeling some-
thing of that compunction which is ex-
pressed in the words of the prophet,
" they shall look upon him whom they
have pierced and mourn ;" — while we
rejoice in the glorious redemption which
Christ accomplished, we cannot but feel
sympathy for the sufferings by which it
was achieved.
They were to eat it with unleavened
bread. You have that explained by the
Holy Ghost in the passage before us, —
" Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for
us, therefore, let us keep the feast, not
with the oldleaven, neither with the leaven
of malice and wickedness, but with the
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
Leaven, you know, is that which, by be-
ing put into bread, makes it seem different
from what it really is ; — a portion of flour
and water, without barm or leaven, pre-
serves its natural size, and seems to con-
tain only what it does contain ; but when
leaven is put into it, it is puffed up and
assumes a different appearance from what
it really is ; the genuine quantity of mat-
ter it contains is not seen, because it is
200
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
puffed up with barm. This is, therefor, a
term used as an emblem of hypocrisy in
Scripture, — having a different appearance
from the reality ; " beware," says our Lord,
" of the leaven of the pharisees, which is
hypocrisy ;" — and here, in opposition to
that, " the unleavened bread of sincerity
and truth." We must have a sincere,
honest, genuine conviction of our own
guilt and misery. No mock professions,
no form of words, no form of godliness,
where there is not power, sincerity, ge-
nuine religion in the heart — nothing of
that kind will do ; — we must be sincere ;
— there may be a lamp, but, if there be
no oil in the vessel, the lamp will go out
when the cry is made, " behold the bride-
groom cometh, go ye out to meet him."
II. From the second passage, ( Romans
vi. 9, 10, 11,) I would deduce, that the
resurrection of our glorious Redeemer is
the pledge and assurance of present de-
liverance from sin and death, and the
present resurrection of our souls from
spiritual death to spiritual life.
See how the church provides instruc-
tion for us in the service of this day. In
the first place, we have the apostolic tes-
timony, that Christ is the anti type of the
passover, and in the first lesson, we have
an account of the passover. Then we
have the second lesson, (Romans vi.)
and we have taken from it the great and
eternal truth that is deducible from that
chapter, concerning the resurrection of
our blessed Lord and Saviour ; — *' Christ
being raised from the dead, dieth no
no more ; death hath no more dominion
over him, for in that he died, he died
unto sin once ; but in that he liveth, he
liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye
also yourselves to be dead indeed unto
sin, but alive unfo God through Jesus
Christ our Lord."
Now, I would just mention two things,
Christ has died — died to sin — and Christ
has risen, and risen to God. Now, to
what have his people died? they have
died to sin and risen to God. He has
died to sin, they have died to sin, he has
risen to God, they have risen to God —
" In that he died, he died unto sin once, but
in that he li veth,he liveth unto Godjikewise
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead in-
deed unto sin, but alive unto God through
Jesus Christ our Lord." Now observe,
God does not command us to reckon a
lie, God does not command his people to
reckon themselves what they are not-.
Consider that, therefore, when he says —
" reckon ye also yourselves to be dead
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God,
through Jesus Christ our Lord" — you have
God's authority to reckon yourselves so
and so. Now, there is a great mistake
on this subject in the minds of many
persons who call themselves Christians,
and who are Christians. They do not see
the great blessedness, the glory that is set
before them in this and other similar
passages — " to be dead indeed unto sin,"
they do not know the meaning of that —
they make great mistakes on this subject
— they think it is a total insensibility to sin,
so that sin is to have no strength, or power,
or energy within them — they think it is
attaining to a certain state in which they
are, as it were, completely shut out from
sin, and as insensible to the approaches of
temptation, and as insensible to the allure -
ments of sin as if they were dead. That
is what a great many Christians under-
stand by this. What is the result ? They
are very unhappy, and the reason is this,
because they do not feel this to be the case
in themselves — they think this is a state
set before them to which they ought to
attain, but they do not feel that they have
attained or can attain it, and therefore
they are very unhappy — and well they
may, because if they expect to attain that
state, they expect what Scripture does
not warrant them to look for — they ex-
pect to attain that which no man on earth
ever did attain but " the man Christ
Jesus ;" there is no such thing, for the ex-
perience of the believer runs quite the
contrary way — the experience of the be-
Oil GOSPEL PREACHER.
201
Never is, not that he is dead to sin, but
terribly alive to it, he feels terribly the
power of sin in his own heart, he feels
daily more and more the corruption that
is within him, and he grows in humility,
for the very reason that he grows in ex-
perience of the evil and corruption of his
own heart — this was the experience of St.
Paul, Romans vii. " I know, that in me,
that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good
thing; for to will is present with me, but
how to perform that which is good I find
not ; for the good that I would 1 do not,
but the evil that 1 would not, that 1 do."
And so believer you find it. " Now, if I
do that 1 would not, it is no more 1 that
do it, but sin that dwelleth in me, I find
then a law, that when I would do good,
evil is present with me; for 1 delight in
the law of God after the inward man, but
I see another law in my members, warring
against the law of my mind, and bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin which
is in my members." That is the experi-
ence of the apostle Paul, and your ex-
perience, believer. There is not a be-
liever in this church, that if you ask him,
and he tell you the truth, will not say,
that is my sad experience, and that is the
reason that every sinner who comes into
church must take up the language of our
confession as the language of his own
heart — that " there is no health in him,"
that he is a "miserable sinner! ' There-
fore you see that is a gross misrepresenta-
tion of the text; for if the sinner was to
reckon himself in that state he would be
blind and ignorant.
I have met persons who held the doc-
trine of perfection ; and I remember well
a poor dear friend of mine, telling me
that he lived without sin; but thank God,
he was brought to see afterwards how
blind he was. But that is the blindness
and ignorance of the sinner who thinks
he could attain to such a state — " If he
says that he has no sin, he deceives him-
self, and the truth is not in him" — but a
lie is in him — he believes a lie — he is
blind and ignorant.
But what is the truth set before us here?
that as Jesus died to sin "so likewise reckon
ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin."
Now : the question is, How did Jesus die to
sin? He never died to it in (hat sense —
he could not do so, because sin never
lived in him in that way — he could not
become insensible to the temptations and
the lusts that you feel and that I feel, be-
cause he had them not — he was " holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sin-
ners" — the Lamb of God, the spotless,
holy Lamb of God even from the womb:
he could not become dead to a principle
that never existed in him, but still the
Scripture asserts he did die to sin — and
as he died to it so are you, in that sense
" likewise reckon yourselves to be dead
indeed unto sin." How then did he die
to sin? he died that he should "finish
transgression and make an end of sin" —
he made an end of the curse, and the
judgment pronounced against sin by God:
" he bare our sins in his own body on the
tree." Let the believer in Christ Jesus —
let the sinner that depends on his blessed
Saviour, reckon himself to be completely
dead unto sin, so that his sin is cancelled
and made an end of for ever. Now to
illustrate this: when Jesus died, his hands
were dead, his feet were dead, his eyes
were dead — every nerve and muscle were
dead: when man is dead, every single
part of his body is dead. Now how are
Christ's people dead ? how are they con-
sidered dead? (they are called throughout
the whole Scripture, members of Christ's
body) as Christ was dead, every one that
believes in him, was not only dead in
Christ but dead with Christ — that is, as
sin could not be charged against the
blessed hands of Jesus which had been
pierced on the cross, for sin — as sin could
not be charged against the blessed feet of
Jesus which were nailed to the cross for
sin, so sin can no more be charged on the
sinner who believes in Christ than it
could be on Christ himself; for there, sin
is made an end of. cancelled, atoned for,
finished — there is the blessinyf of the
202
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
rich salvation finished in Christ Jesus.
Look to 1 Cor. vi. 15 — " Know ye not
that your bodies are the members of
Christ." Then again — the xii. chap, of
the same epistle, you see this image most
remarkably set forth (12 and 13 verses.)
" For as the body is one, and hath many
members, and all the members of that
one body being many are one body, so
also is Christ." Christ is there spoken of
in his glorious capacity as the head of his
church, and all the members of his church
are there spoken of as members of his
body — " for by one Spirit are we all bap-
tized into one body, whether we be Jews
or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free,
and have been all made to drink into one
Spirit." And in the 27th verse he uses
the same expression—" Now ye are the
body of Christ and members in particu-
lar." " Reckon ye yourselves, to be
dead indeed unto sin" — as Christ is dead
to it, reckon yourselves to be dead to it —
"but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ
our Lord,'' or as the original expresses it,
in Jesus Christ our Lord, dead in Christ,
and risen in Christ, that as his heart was
dead when he was dead, and beat with
life when he arose, so, his people who be-
lieve in him are alive unto God in Christ
Jesus — he has life, they have life, and
their life is in Christ their living head.
What is the life of my soul ? It is not
this animal life — that life wherewith I
speak to you, by which I breathe, by
which I move these limbs — that is the
animal existence that will perish; but the
life of my immortal scul, what is that?
Christ. Jesus, my glorious Lord and Mas-
ter. Look again, how you have this
truth set forth in the Epistle of the day,
(Col. iii. ) " Ye are dead, and your life is
hid with Christ in God." I do not see
the life of my immortal soul, I feel my
animal life : I do not see the life of my
soul — why ? it is "hid with Christ in God"
— and is it ever to be seen ? Yes, " when
Christ who is our life shall appear, then
shall ye also appear with him in glory;"
then the glorious life that Jesus has
bought shall be manifested to his believ-
ing people, then " when Christ who is
our life shall appear, ye shall also appear
with him in glory."
You have the pledge of this given in
the next passage of this anthem : " Christ
is risen from the dead, and become the
first fruits of them that slept ; for since
by man came death, by man came also
the resurrection of the dead. For as in
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all
be made alive." You have there the
pledge that in the resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ there will be the actual
resurrection of the bodies of believers.
Here, in Romans vi. he is speaking of
the spiritual resurrection of the soul ; in
Cor. xv. he is speaking of the actual
resurrection of the body. In Romans vi.
he gives us the resurrection of Jesus as a
present pledge and assurance of our
eternal life. He tells us that we are
privileged by God's eternal truth to trust
with the full assurance of hope, that as
our glorious Lord died to finish trans-
gression and make an end of sin, so all
believers' sins are cancelled for ever, and
they have eternal life in him ; as if
Christ had said — I am with thee, and
give you the blessed pledge, " because I
live, ye shall live also." "Tis not because
you are any thing — not because you de-
serve any thing — that there is any good
in you — not because you are righteous or
fit to come before the presence of God ;
for in yourselves you have no fitness ; —
you would be cast away if God were to
enter into judgment with you; but since
Christ, your glorious surety, has paid
your debt, therefore, " because he lives,
you shall live also," and when you see
him you shall be like him, O believer,
for you shall see him as he is. O blessed
hope! let us then be "looking for that bless-
ed hope, and the glorious appearing of the
great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ."
We have, in the third passage, our
resurrection in the resurrection of Jesus.
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
203
We have a fact set before us — we shall
rise — "even so in Christ shall all be
made alive." Of course you ought not
to confine yourself to the mere context
of this anthem. Look to verse 23 :
" Every one in his own order ; Christ
the first fruits : afterward they that are
Christ's at his coming, &c." There is
the glorious resurrection of the body —
they shall rise in glory ; — yes, they shall ;
there is the blessed hope for you j in
the midst of all your conflicts and all
your trials, that poor body of sin and
death shall rise in glory, that same
body shall be changed and raised in that
blessed day when your Lord shall come.
You shall be raised, as you find in the
44th verse, " It is sown a natural body —
it is raised a spiritual body. There is a
natural body, and there is a spiritual
body ; and so it is written : The first
man Adam was made a living soul — the
last Adam was made a quickening spirit."
There you have a blessed pledge of your
resurrection in that of your glorious
Lord ; then you shall be raised like him,
as the same Apostle says in Phil. iii. 21.
speaking of Christ, "who shall change
our vile body, that it may be fashioned
like unto his glorious body, according to
the working whereby he is able even to
subdue all things unto himself." Again,
as the Apostle John says, 1st Epistle, iii.
1,2. " Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God : there-
fore the world knoweth us not, because
it knew him not. Beloved, now are we
the sons of God, and it doth not yet
appear what we shall be ; but we know
that when he shall appear, we shall be
like him, for we shall see him as he is."
Oh, look at this blessed privilege, " now
are we the sons of God." This is a sub-
ject of faith, " dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord."
" It doth not yet appear what we shall
be," that is a subject of hope ; " but we
know that when he shall appear, we shall
be like him, for we shall see him as he
is;" as. David savs, "when I awake after
thy likeness, 1 shall be satisfied with it."
We shall rise to meet him : so you have
in 1 Thessalonians, where the Apostle is
consoling his believing brethren, for those
that have fallen asleep in Jesus, " I would
not have you to be ignorant, brethren,
concerning them which are asleep."
Think how important to you and me —
how soon shall we be asleep ! The be-
liever falls asleep in Jesus ; it is a sleep,
— it is not the death of the ungodly — it
is not that death of the body which is but
the transition to the eternal death of the
immortal soul, preparatory to the tremen-
dous resurrection of body and soul, when
the righteous judgment of God shall be
revealed against it, to cast it into outer
darkness, — that is not the death here
spoken of. Well, what have we con-
cerning those that sleep ? You that are
looking to fall asleep in Jesus, and to
awake up after his likeness, and you who
are mourning, not as those who have no
hope over those who have fallen asleep in
Jesus, hear what he says concerning the
glorious resurrection, — " I would not have
you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning
them which are asleep, that ye sorrow
not, even as others who have no hope;
for if we believe that Jesus died and rose
again, even so, them also who sleep in
Jesus shall God bring with him." You
may sorrow indeed, but not as those
who have no hope ; — you may sor-
row, and you must sorrow, but you
have a sweet hope, a blessed hope,
and a hope founded, not on ignorance
but on knowledge, — " for if we believe
that Jesus died and rose again," — well,
and do not we believe this? Don't we
believe that Christ died and rose again ?
is not our glorious Lord risen? Even
so, as surely and as certainly, " them that
sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."
Oh, sweet expression ! observe, what
millions of indirect passages of Scripture
testify the glorious Godhead of Jesus, the
glorious Godhead of Immanuel : what
would it all be, if he was not Jehovah ?
If he was but a mere creature, there
would be no hope, no salvation for us —
204
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
none but God could be the Saviour of
the world. " For this we say unto you,
by the word of the Lord, that we which
are alive and remain, shall not prevent
(or go before,) them that are asleep;'
those that are alive on the earth, they shall
not be one second before those who have
fallen asleep in Jesus. " For the Lord
himself shall descend from heaven with
a shout, with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trump of God," what a
glorious time ! " thy kingdom come," —
do you say amen, even so, come Lord
Jesus? Oh. look at the hope set before
you, and you will be able to say, "the
Lord shall descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trump of God, and the dead
in Christ shall rise first, then we which
are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds, to meet
the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever
be with the Lord." Oh, blessed day,
happy day for the Lord's people, — oh,
what a day to those who belong to the
Church of Christ !
If there be any of you who are looking
to this blessed hope, ah, think of it, —
" comfort one another with these words."
Oh, if any of you be careless and dead
in trespasses and sins, look at the salva-
tion and glory of the Lord's people. O,
look at the hope set before sinners — turn
to the stronghold while yet you may,
and look unto Him, that you may be saved.
And you who are believers, and yet have
your hands hanging down and your knees
weak, lift them up, lift up your eyes and
hearts — your blessed Lord is near. Now,
is not this a blessed portion of Scripture?
May the Lord enable us to meditate on
it, — may he bring it home to our hearts !
Then consider the practical influences
that are by this means to be produced on
the mind, life, and conversation, — "there-
fore let us keep the feast, not with the old
leaven, neither with the leaven of malice
and wickedness, but with the unleavened
breadof sincerity and truth." Goback for a
moment to Rom. vi. where the apostle urges
them to reckon themselves to be dead to
sin, and alive to God, — " Likewise reckon
ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto
sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus
Christ our Lord." Verse 12 — " let not
sin, therefore, reign in your mortal bo-
dies, that ye should obey it in the lusts
thereof." Observe, because you are dead
to it, let it not reign in your mortal
bodies -.. — that implies, that it is in your
bodies- — it will attack you — it will press on
you — it will endeavour to drag you cap-
tive, " there is a law in your members,
warring against the law of your mind,"
but do not let it " reign in your bodies,
that you should obey it in the lusts
thereof." Why? — because you are dead
to it, you have the victory, Christ has
vanquished it, it cannot condemn you.
Holiness is not the way to pardon, but
pardon is the way to holiness, — holiness
is not the way to forgiveness, but forgive-
ness is the way to holiness, — holiness is
not the cause of eternal life, but the gift
of eternal life is the cause of holiness ; —
holiness is not the way to eternal life in
that sense, as the means of obtaining it.
In another sense it is: holy influences
must be produced on the life and conver-
sation, before we can attain eternal life;
and, therefore, the Apostle says, " With-
out holiness no man shall see the Lord,"
none can be a believer in Christ, who is
living an unholy, an ungodly life, — " Let
not sin therefore reign in your mortal
bodies, that ye should obey it in the lusts
thereof. Neither yield ye your members
as instruments of unrighteousness unto
sin, but yield yourselves unto God, as
those that are alive from the dead, and
your members as instruments of righteous-
ness unto God."
Now, my beloved friends, think of
these things, and may the Lord bring
them home to all our hearts. May the
blessed Spirit enable us to rejoice in the
rich salvation that is in Christ, and to live
to his praise and glory. Now, unto Him
that hath loved us, and washed us from
our sins in his own blood, unto him be
praise and glory, ever world without
end.
MAN'S FALL AND RESTORATION..
A SERMON,
TREACHED IN THE CHURCH OF ST. ANNE's, SHAN DON, CORK,
ON SUNDAY, THE 17th MARCH, 1S39,
BY THE REV. HENRY HARDY, A.B.
Curate of Carrigaline.
Genesis iii. 24.
" So he drove out the man : and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim, and a
flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life."
The Bible, like the emblem of eternity,
reverts upon itself: the path which its
revealed intelligence describes from first
to last is the completion of a perfect
circle : Paradise forfeited and man ba-
nished by divine justice, is the sad
announcement at the very outset of reve-
lation ; while Paradise re-opened and
man recovered by divine grace, is the
blessed consummation at its close. When
man blindly fell from an obedience that
could hardly be called a trial, grace, like
a gushing spring, poured forth from Para-
dise in living streams upon the moral
desert to which he was driven, and ever
since, it winds its healing course among a
multitude of " banished ones," " whom
no man can number of every kindred,
and tribe, and tongue, and people," till
springing up within their hearts unto
eternal life, it finds its own level in Para-
dise again. When man by unprovoked
transgression brought down the heavy
judgments consequent upon God's vio-
lated law, grace, like a seedling from the
tree of life, was borne by the breath of
mercy beyond the forbidden sanctuary of
Eden, upon the world's waste wilderness,
where, guarded by love, nourished by
righteousness, and watered by blood, it
struck its roots into the soil of this fallen
earth, and spread its branches into the
atmosphere of time ; in growth advanc-
ing ever, till it possess the whole earth
with its roots, and purify the whole hea-
ven with its boughs, and do eventually
change creation into Paradise again —
every leaf endued with healing efficacy —
every fruit with vivifying power — blessing
the immortal spirits of men with salvation,
and crowning their restored inheritance
with kindly shade, and rest as blissful as
secure, till grace, begun in Paradise is
perfected in Paradise, and creating good-
ness merges into re-creating love.
The Bible is, in truth, the history of
our fall, the matter of our faith, the char-
ter of our restoration ; it is the exposition
of one precept — the elucidation of one
promise : the precept — " Believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ ;" the promise — " thou
shalt be saved." Every avenue of hope
which the Bible lays open to the spiritual
wayfarer bears straight on Christ, " the
restorer:" the laio " is a schoolmaster to
bring us to Christ;" "to Him give all
the prophets witness," and the Gospel
testifies of " the grace of God, which is
by Jesus Christ." Whether, therefore,
we turn to the simple and unpretending
worship of the Patriarchs, the solemn
ordinances and inspiring ceremonies ot
206
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
the Mosaic ritual, the exalted predictions
of the Prophets, or the doctrines, pre-
cepts, and promises of the Gospel, with
the duties, principles, and motives, which
it inculcates— they all, like rays converg-
ing on a focus, are concentrated upon
Him, who is the sun of righteousness —
the source and centre of all life and light,
and heat, and sweet attraction. Hence
the Paradise of God with its living streams,
refreshing fruits, and sacramental tree of
immortality, will not unaptly illustrate
the Holy Scripture, abounding as it does
with plenteous food for the hungry, and
copious draughts for the thirsty, " without
money and without price ;" while centre-
wise conspicuous and free to all, the
sinner's tree of life — the Lord and Saviour
Christ affords such shelter, sustenance
and shade, that every time the child of
God is led to " feed on him in his heart
by faith with thanksgiving," he can re-
joicingly exclaim, "I sat under his shadow
with great delight, and his fruit was plea-
sant to my taste ; he led me to his ban-
queting house, and his banner over me
was love."
Let us now, under the Lord's guid-
ance, approach the text, and in our pur-
posed exposition endeavour to justify the
general remarks which have been made.
It is unnecessary, brethren, to enter into
the details of that solemn truth — the fall
of man ; they are familiar to every Bible
reader; nevertheless, some remarks in
immediate connexion with the fact are
proper to my object.
Adam, in Paradise, created in the
divine image, was endowed by his Maker
with a threefold character, which he was
called upon to sustain in holy obedience
to Him whose law was life : in this com-
plex official character, in which he was
" a figure of Him that was to come," he
acted as Prophet, Priest, and King. As
a Prophet, he was gifted with inspired
wisdom — he was possessed of the know-
ledge of all the properties of the creature
— capable of appreciating their excel-
lence, and understanding the laws of their
being, and competent to judge of the
harmony and adaptiveness of the curious,
the costly, the minute, and magnificent
objects with which the earth was fur-
nished, and which spoke to his all-informed
mind the power, wisdom, and love of
Him whose word called them into being.
As a Prophet, he walked daily with God,
and daily read his lessons in the ample
page of nature : as a Prophet, creation
was to him one vast volume of truth —
one mine of intellectual richness, which
the deeper he expolored the more did he
discover; while, as a Priest, he conse-
crated in praise what he acquired in wis-
dom. As a Priest, creation was to him
one vast temple — the earth one spacious
altar, on which he heaped the incense of
his holy thanksgivings. And lastly, as a
King, he ruled the earth, as heaven's
delegate, invested with dominion over
every living thing that moveth upon the
face of the earth. In an evil hour he let
go his hold upon eternal life, and bartered
it for death — he threw away the blessed-
ness of obedience, and incurred the pe-
nalties of trangression — he thought to be
independent of God, and he became the
slave of sin, and the servant of sorrow.
That heart which was a well-spring of
holiness unto the Lord, became a foun-
tain of impurity ; and having reproached
his Maker with his own bounty, and
turned his blessings into the excuse for
disobedience, he was expelled from Para-
dise — the crown fallen from his brow —
his robe of purity gone — poor and mise-
rable, and blind and naked — debased in
spirit — a homeless wanderer upon a world
cursed for his transgression, which threw
up beneath his advancing footsteps its
briars and its thorns, in bitter emulation
of the sins, cares, and sorrows, which were
already thickening in the soil of his dege-
nerate heart — and, " so He drove out the
man." Gladly would he have lingered
within those holy retreats, where he had
once walked in singleness of heart, as
OR, GOSPEL PREACHER.
207
unto the Lord, but it may not be ; per-
sonal communion with God cannot be
where there is personal defilement by
sin — happiness and sin must dwell apart,
and where God vouchsafed the blessing
of his presence, evil can no longer stay.
— " So He drove out the man."
By that fall, in which he ruined him-
self, and which involved the ruin of his
race, man has lost the wisdom of the
prophet, the functions of the priest, and
the supremacy of the king. Once en-
lightened by the pure and perfect wisdom
from above — man, " vain in his imagina.
tions, having his understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God,
through the ignorance that is in him, be-
cause of the blindness of his heart," —
once a minister of holy sacrifice, now
imbued with rooted " enmity against
God," " unthankful, unholy," and minis-
tering in sensual sacrifice to the world,
the devil, and the flesh, — once endowed
with kingly exaltation, now a slave to his
fellow, or a tyrant to himself, and fallen
from that supremacy over nature and the
elements, which God entrusted to him on
the morning of his creation. Well, has
the bitterness of his experience brought
mankind back to Eden's gate in penitence
and tears ? Far from it — " the wicked
in the pride of his countenance seeketh
not after God, God is not in all his
thoughts" — " there is none that doeth
good" — " there is no fear of God before
their eyes" — No, but conscious in some
degree, perhaps instinctively, of all he
lost, he has ever since been aiming at the
restitution of his once exalted office but
in the spirit of the devil, and by the pre-
sumptuous exercise of his unhallowed
intellect and his perverted powers. Still
does he challenge to himself the wisdom
of the Prophet; though all the accumu-
lated learning, the vaunted philosophy,
that ever shone the brightest in the hea-
then schools, was at best but splendid
ignorance and ingenious folly, " for the
wisdom of this world is foolishness with
God :" and all that putting .forth of scien-
tific genius — its novel theories, and their
grand results, is but the groping after
that prophetic gift — the moving over the
ruins of his early greatness — the putting
forth his desperate endeavours to recover
that first and lowest of his birthrights —
the " ever learning but never able to
come to the knowledge of the truth."
The Priestly office he would also grasp,
and, like Cain, he would present his
proud thanksgiving as though he had
never sinned, and his heart was clean,
and he had a claim on God. All those
unholy rites and superstitious offerings —
all those impure inventions, and those
vain oblations, which turn the truth of
God into a lie, and which man would
offer on an altar of his own erection, and
thereby fit himself to approach his God,
are but the laying his unhallowed hands
on that which He alone can claim — " our
great High Priest, who hath passed into
the heavens, Jesus the Son of God."
Dominion, too, his unsanctified ambition
thirsts for : hence the cruelty and op-
pressions, the slavery and despotism,
the crime and bloodshed, which have
tracked his footsteps since the fall
" destruction and misery are in their
ways, and the way of peace they have
not known."
Thus, brethren, original transgression,
like a germinating seed, has ripened into
wide-spread and abounding iniquity has
sent up harvest after harvest of guilty
terrors, blind incredulity, senseless super-
stition, desolating oppression, and bitter
woes — has filled the earth with its long
train of weeping families, and marred and
broken companionships, and blighted
hopes and blasted joys, till it has turned
the world into one wide all-comprehend-
ing tomb, gathering generation after
generation within its capacious chambers,
and consigning indiscriminately both
young and old to the darkness and cor-
ruption of the curse.
Oh ! and what a value there must be
L>08
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
in that offering which couhl shield such a
world from the consuming judgments of
a holy Cod ! When I think what wilful
blasphemy, what premeditated iniquity,
what systematic impurity proceeds daily
and nightly under the eye of heaven, and
that it has ever been so since the fall ; it
would almost stagger me in my faith that
there is a God in heaven " whose eyelids
try the children of men," did I not know
and believe the infinite preciousness of
that most holy sacrifice of Christ, which
was accepted from the foundation of the
world. And what a blessed prospect
opens on us through this avenue in the
very face of a world's abominations — that
this deluge of sin shall at length subside
that the slimy path of the serpent shall at
length be cleansed out of all nations —
that the alloy of hell shall at length be
burnt out of the elements of this solid
globe — and that the kingdoms of this
world shall become the kingdom of our
God and of his Christ. Blessed and most
hopeful expectation ! — that this renovated
earth, peopled with the bodies and souls
of the redeemed of God, shall be pre-
sented before the Father with exceeding
joy — shall be given up to the Father as a
pure and holy oblation — and remain for
ever the most glorious monument of his
almighty power to save, according as he
hath declared — " Behold I create all
things new."
" He drove out the man" — but he
drove him out in hope. He drove him,
doubtless, from the garden to the wilder-
ness ; but if he did so, he drove him from
the garden to the Cross — from Paradise
to Calvary — from the curse to the pro-
mise — from the abode of righteousness to
the blood of the atonement — from the
presence of the Father to the mediation
of the Son — from the corruptions of the
fall to the renevvings of the Holy Ghost :
" So He drove out the man."
He had the promise of God to cheer
him in his banishment, and the mystical
mercy-seat at the gate of Eden at which
to plead the promise ; for " He placed
at the east of the garden of Eden che-
rubim and a flaming sword, which turned
every way, to keep the way of the tree
of life." Now observe the word cherub
is compounded of the particle che, signi-
fying as ; and the noun rub signifying
majesty ; im, a plural termination : the
word therefore, as it stands, conveys this
idea — " the similitude of the majesties :"
and a very general conclusion to which
Biblical critics have come is, that the
cherubim symbolized the Blessed and
Holy Trinity, with the manhood of the
Saviour taken in. Indeed the whole
passage admits of this more significant
version — " He set in a tabernacle, at the
east of the garden of Eden, the cherubim
with a flame of fire, turning on itself, to
preserve the way of the tree of life !"
Therefore was it a standing symbol of the
covenant of redemption entered into from
the creation of the world, by Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost, to regain Paradise, and
restore his dwelling-place to man. It
was set up in a tabernacle to teach the
precious truth, that God would indeed
dwell with men ; first in his humiliation,
as Emmanuel, " God with us ;" and
finally, at his second coming in majesty
and glory, when " the Tabernacle of
God shall be with men, and He will
dwell with them, and they shall be his
people, and God himself shall be with
them and be their God." The flame
turned inwardly upon itself, and thus
represented the averted justice of the
Father sheathing itself in the bosom of
the Son ; and what said it ? — " Awake,
O sword, against my shepherd, and
against the man that is my fellow, saith
the Lord of Hosts." And this was done
" to preserve the way of the tree of life ;"
not hopelessly to exclude man, but in
the full assurance of hope, to present
Christ as the " way" without deviation,
" truth" without a cloud, aud " life"
without end — as " the restorer of paths
to dwell in," and the covenant guardian
of "the paradise of God." (Rev. ii. 7.)
Here, brethren, before the mercy seat,
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
•209
at the gate of Eden, we may imagine our
first parents, daily to plead the promise —
daily to sacrifice the lamb, with penitence
and tears : here too, Abel's offering of
faith was accepted; and from this pre-
sence it was, that Cain was driven out
for despising the blood of atonement,
and shedding the blood of a brother.
The mercy seat with its incumbent Shec-
hinah subsequently tabernacled among
the seed of Abraham — in their wilderness
marches, at once their glory and defence ;
again it filled the temple of Solomon
with the splendors of its presence, till
eventually, when the fulness of the time
had come, " the Word was made flesh,
and tabernacled amongst us; and we be-
held his glory — the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth" — " whom God hath set forth to be
the Mercy Seat for our sins ;" for God
hath made Him to be the Sin-offering for
us, who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him."
And now there is provided full pardon of
sin ; for " the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanseth from all sin:" there is a robe
of righteousness wherewith to clothe us,
for Christ magnified the law and made it
honorable, and by him all that believe are
justified from all things, from which they
could not be by the law of Moses ; and
shall be presented " without spot or blem-
ish" — faultless and perfect in Him before
the Father with exceeding joy. There
is sanctification of heart, for " a new heart
and a right spirit will I give them," is the
gracious promise — and " I will put my
Spirit within them, and cause them to
walk in my statutes," and then glory to
crown all, for whom he justifies them He
glorifies, and the Spirit of glory and of
God rests upon them, and " when He who
is our life shall appear, then shall we also
appear with him in glory." Thus is
God the just God, and yet the justifier
of the ungodly that believe in Christ
Jesus — thus is* He "glorious in holiness,"
yet " rich in mercy" — thus, though the
law of justice hath written us — 'children
of wrath,' " having no hope and without
God in the world ;" the superscription of
the law of grace, aye, and written in the
Saviour's blood is — " children of God,"
"joint heirs with Christ," and "temples
of the Holy Ghost." " But now in Jesus,"
says St. Paul, "ye who were sometimes
afar off, are made nigh by the blood of
Christ." Behold our expulsion — "afar
off" by justice: behold our restoration —
" made nigh,'' by grace ! This is God's
own work — to bring the " far off" —
"nigh;" no power short of that which
called forth Lazarus from the grave,
could bring the ' far off 'nigh, or raise
the spiritually dead, to life ; the human
hand may roll away the stone ; the ministry
of man may pour a stream of light into
the dwelling place of death ; but if not
followed by the inward call of Christ —
the inward demonstration of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus, he stirs not. It is
God's prerogative, for, after all, it is God
alone who can drive out the old man, and
God alone who can implant the new.
And now, brethren, blessed be his name,
he is exalted to the right hand of God
— a Prince and Saviour, to give repent-
ance and remission of sins through faith
in his name — our great High Priest,
charged with innumerable blessings for
the children of adoption — the great bond
of union between heaven and earth.
Like a golden cord let down from the
sanctuary above, among the sinful men
that are below ; with every sinner that by
faith lays hold on him, he proves the
bright conductor along which the peace
of heaven and the holiness of heaven
descends into the heart. He saves with a
thorough salvation — "to the uttermost."
He saves not only from the judgment of
the law upon sin, but from the power of
sin upon the heart. He "forgiveth all our
iniquities;" he "healeth all our diseases."
He came not only to throw the robe of
his unsullied righteousness over our un-
cleanness and infirmity; but, like the good
210
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
Samaritan, to probe, that he might heal —
to bind up our wounds — to pour in the
oil and wine of heavenly strength and
heavenly consolation. Yes, and he has
won back all we lost: the earnest, now;
the lull possession and reinvestment when
" He cometh to judge the world in
righteousness, and to be the glory of
his people Israel." The lost image of
God — He restores it by " renewing us in
the spirit of our minds," and causing us
to " put on the new man which after God
is created in righteousness and true holi-
ness." A forfeited immortality — it is reco-
vered — " for this is life eternal to know
thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent," and " when Christ
who is our life shall appear, then shall we
also appear with him in glory." A home
of peace and blessedness — this also is se-
cured — " wait on the Lord and keep his
way, and He shall exalt thee to inherit the
land; when the wicked are cut off, thou
shalt see it" — " He will beautify the meek
with salvation," and " the meek shall in-
herit the earth." Observe also how the
children of God are, by virtue of their
adoption in Christ, reconsecrated to the
office and calling of a royal priesthood :
thus the apostle Peter says — " Ye are a
chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, a peculiar people." When
Moses ordained Aaron and his sons to the
office of the Levitical priesthood, he act-
ed in the name of his heavenly Master,
and a mediator of the covenant then be-
ing; and as such (Exodus xxix.) he
brought them to the door of the taberna-
cle, he washed their bodies with pure
water, he led them to confess their sins
over the head of the sin offering, he
applied the blood of the burnt offering to
the right ear, the right hand, and the
right foot, to denote the appropriation of
their best energies to God, and he
sprinkled their garments with oil mingled
with blood from the altar. Now, if Moses,
a mediator of the old covenant, washed
their bodies with water, Christ, as the me-
diator of the new, "loved the church and
gave himself for it that he might sanctify
and cleanse itwith the washing of waterby
the word" — " The washing of regenera-
tion and the renewing of the Holy Ghost."
If they made confession of sin on the
head of the burnt offering, " God hath
made him to be the sin offering for us" —
and " he that confesseth and forsaketh his
sins shall find mercy." If they were de-
voted by the application of blood, " we
are not our own, we are bought with a
price" — the precious blood of Christ " as
of a lamb without spot or blemish" —
wherefore should we " glorify God in our
bodies and our spirits which are his."
If they were sprinkled with the oil and
blood, we are addressed as " elect accord-
ing to the foreknowledge of God the
Father, through sanctification of the "
Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of
the blood of Christ" — and "we have an
unction from the Holy One." If they,
thus consecrated, were admitted to the
ministrations of the tabernacle service,
we, thus consecrated, are invited to " draw
near with a true heart, in full assurance
of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience, and our bodies washed
with pure water." They daily ministered
at the altar, and washed at the laver before
entering the tabernacle sanctuary — daily
must we plead the sacrifice, daily must we
wash at the fountain in our approaches to
the throne of grace — daily must we look to
the cross — daily must we seek for the
Spirit — the one as the ground of our
confidence, the warrant of our hope, and
the sign of our admission: the other as
the inward witness of our acceptance, the
quickening parent of holy fruitfulness and
the sweet earnest of heavenly joys. They
beheld their threefold calling in the sanc-
tuary — to the ivorld— the church — the
Lord : we are called on to " let our
light shine before men, that they may see
our good works and glorify our Father
which is in heaven ;" " but to do good
and to communicate, forget not, for with
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
211
sucli sacrifices God is well pleased;" and
by " Him therefore let us offer the sacri-
fice of praise to God continually." Thus
consecrated as the royal priesthood of
God, by the spirit, water, and the blood,
we fulfil an high and holy oifice, by shin-
ing as lights in the world, and holding
forth the word of life — by bearing one
anothers' burdens, resting on one another,
yet all resting on Christ — and by the un-
ceasing ascription of praise to the God of
our salvation, " not only with our lips but
in our lives" — as prophets, taught by His
Spirit and guided into all truth — as kings,
mortifying corrupt affections, subduing
sinful desires, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ ;
and as priests, consecrating our prophetic
gifts and our kingly conquests unto God.
Thus, my brethren, should we live, as
prophets growing in wisdom, as kings en-
larging our conquests, and as priests aug-
menting our daily sacrifice! This is in-
deed, to live — this is to walk with God —
this is to be exalted to sit in heavenly
places — to have our conversation in hea-
ven — our fellowship with the white-robed,
palm-sceptred and crowned elders before
the throne above ! This is in fine, " to
know the love of Christ which passeth
knowledge, and to be filled with all the
fulness of. God !"
Oh ! the love of Christ! the restoring,
sustaining, cherishing, sanctifying love of
Christ ! it is the life of the soul — it is the
coal of living fire which kindles on the
altar of the heart the sacrifice of the
affections — it is the substance of all joy —
the wellspring of all holiness — the foun-
tain of all benevolence! it lifts the soul
above the billows of this stormy existence
into the pure sunshine and peaceful calm
of heaven, and flings a brightness over
the most perplexing and desolating dis-
pensations. Like Paul at Philippi, it calls
forth thanksgiving in the very midnight
of its tribulations — like the Macedonian
Church, the " abundance of its joy,"
though coupled with " deep poverty,"
abounds unto the "riches of its liberality."
Touch but the heart with the love of Christ,
and selfishness re treats before its influence ;
captious objection and sordid calculation
fly before it. Touch but the heart with
the love of Christ, and a chord is struck
which vibrates ever to the call of mercy
and to the cry of destitution. These are
times when the necessity of acting up to
our profession as Christians in all matters,
is peculiarly called for; but particularly
in the matter of Bible instruction : they
are trimming times; and if we truly be-
lieve the whole Bible as a basis of national
education, to be essential to the produc-
tion of that righteousness that exalteth a
nation : now is the time to prove our
professions, and testify to their sincerity by
conformable practice.
212 THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
MORTALITY AND IMMORTALITY
There ia a sound of passing fear, that comes with chilling pow'r
On sinning, unregen'rate man— as mildew on the flow'r,—
That steals unbidden on his mirth, lik»the dread midnight cry
" The Bridegroom cornea, go meet thy God!"— THE THOUGHT
THAT MAN MUST DIE.
Hon is all human pride brought low by such a truth as tliis !
How does it mock all worldly joy, and "that sole earthly bliss
That still survives the fall of man"— that pearl within the heart —
For earthly links must be dissolv'd, and friend from friend
3
And we must tread this vale of tears in solitude and gloom.—
Yet what is that which we call life ?— a journey to the tomb.
And what is death? the path to life; since that alone can give
Emancipation to the soul,— for know, that MAN MUST LIVE!
Oh! if the sound of DEATH can wake the slumb'ringsinner's fear.
How should the thought of endless LIFE sound in hia frighted ear !
For life without the God of life, is one of deep despair,
Where hope may never cast a beam upon the darkness there.
But there's a word beyond compare, that decks the sacred page.
Which smiles on cradled infancy, and guards unfriended age.
That springs from Heav'n'sall sacred fount, and falls upon the earth
Like dew upon the wither'd grass, to give it second birth ;
'Tis LOVE— divine, eternal love— that attribute of tight—
The theme of HeavVs bright Seraphim, who, in Jehovah's sight
Sing endless praises to the Lamb who left His throne above
To ransom man from sin and death, and prove his boundless love.
7
What are your earth-born hopes? — false lights that burn but to
Short-lived delusions — that must flit, like morning dream away,
Soon as eternity has dawn'd upon the worldling's sight-
Showing the past — one cheerlesa void; the future— endless night!
8
But, child of God ! death is to thee the prelude to repose
That ends thy pilgrimage, and stills life's ebbing tide of woes.
The Portal to " thy Father's Halls"— thy long sought happy home
Where hope can frame no higher bliss, and sorrow never come.
9
O God, Moat High ! who from the dust created living man,
And suffer-d him to fall from Thee in thy mysterious plan ;
That by one wond'rous act of grace on Calvary's cursed tree.
Sin's penalty might be atoned, and man brought back to Thee, —
10
Hear thou from Heaven ! protect and bless each erring child of clay ;
Save us from sin, and lead our steps into " the narrow way ;"
Teach us to know Thee— God of love 1— our Father— Saviour—
Friend-
That we may love Thee, and be found in faith unto the end !
Dublin: New Irish Pulpit Office, 1, St. Andrew-st.; John Robertson;
W. Curry, Jun. and Co. ; R. M. Tims, W. Carson, D. R. Bleakley. London ;
R. Groombridge, J. Nisbet and Co. ; Liverpool, H. Perris ; Manchester, Pratt,
Chester, Seacome ; Cork Tract Repository ; Drogheda, C. F. Collins ; and all
Booksellers.
GEORGE FOLDS, Printer, I, Saint Andrew-street.
(Opposite Trinity-etrcet, Dublin.)
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
OR
GOSPEL PREACHER.
" We preach Christ crucified —
" Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God." — 1 Cor. i. 23, 24.
No. LXXXVII.
SATURDAY, 6th JULY, 1839.
Price 4d.
REV. W. A. BUTLER,
REV. C. SEYMOUR.
OCCASIONAL MYSTERIOUSNESS OF CHRIST'S TEACHING— CHRIST OUR " LIFE."
A SERMON,
PREACHED IN ST. STEPHEN'S CHURCH, DUBLIN,
ON SUNDAY, 30th JUNE, 1839.
BY THE REV. WILT J AM ARCHER BUTLER, A.M.
Rector of Clondehorka, and Professor of Moral Philosophy, T. C. D.
John, viii. 51.
" Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep ray saying, he shall never see death.'
I. The Scriptures of God, ray Brethren,
are not to be practically interpreted without
the Spirit of God. It is perfectly true
that much may be done in the field of
critical argument and exposition without
any supernatural aid. It is quite certain,
that a vast and elaborate commentary
upon these Scriptures may be written, and
read, and understood, without the influ-
ence of the Holy Spirit. It is supposable
that a man may declaim with an over-
whelming energy, and a force of genius
altogether astonishing, upon the majestic
mysteries of God's providence and grace;
— that he may have power to arouse feel-
ings, whether of tenderness or terror, that
long lay slumbering in the lowest depths
of the natural human heart, and with a
potency like the fabled miracles of magic,
to call them out at his bidding ; — and yet
that neither he, nor any one of his audi-
ence, have ever known, in any sense that
VOL. IV.
shall tell to their eventual salvation, one
breath of the effectual Spirit of God, one
pulsation of the genuine Spiritual life !
There is absolutely nothing to prevent
the intellect from exercising itself upon
the Christian Revelation, more than upon
the contents of any other printed book ;
or the reason from estimating it, or the
imagination from building on it, or even
the gentler affections from softening at its
details. It is thrown in the midst of the
world exactly like any other volume
around it, — printed with the same types,
read with the same eyes, heard with the
same ears ; — and the faculties and feelings
of man will of course act upon it as they
do upon any other history. But (if the
Book itself may be allowed to declare its
own claims and prerogatives,) all this ex-
ternal similarity is accompanied with a
total internal difference ; and this book
I differs from every other, in requiring — so
N
214
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
to speak — an organ specially prepared, to
receive its real purport. These things are
" spiritually discerned."
And yet, while we uphold this awful
distinction, we must balance the account
by another principle, which seems intima-
ted with equal clearness, and which, I
believe, it would be fatal to all right views
of religion to overlook. The change
which takes place in each individual soul
under the mysterious agency of the Spi-
rit, is vast, but it is not unlimited. What-
ever real fanaticism, (in some ages of the
church,) or unintentional but injudicious
exaggeration, may have urged, — it does
not appear that the office of the Spirit of
God is to supply us with affections in
themselves substantially new, — to bestow
a something which is neither Love, nor
Fear, nor Hope, nor Desire, — but simply
to direct the old affections to higher objects,
to employ the former mechanism for more
exalted purposes. The whole array of
the human affections, under their old
names and in their old characters, are
brought out in strong relief in every page
of Scripture ; the object of the apostolic
preaching, and teaching, and warning,
and example, is manifestly not to anni-
hilate, but to " direct, sanctify, and go-
vern them," upon better principles and
under higher guidance. But we have
spoken of a great and necessary change :
with these elements preserved unaltered,
where, then, is the scene of the work of
the Spirit? where is the field on which
this mighty revolution is wrought? Un-
questionably, in the object revealed, and
in the corresponding attraction of the
heart to that object. He who is super-
naturally gifted sees not with other eyes,
but he sees what other eye's cannot see,
and loves what other hearts cannot love !
When the first martyr, "full of the Holy
Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven,"
his visual organ was itself, doubtless, un-
changed ; but while others looked upon
the common skies, and saw but clouds or
sunshine, he alone " saw the glory of
God, and Jesus standing on the right
hand of God." Head and heart, the re-
generate is still the same man; but in a new-
world of bright and eternal realities: —
and though " every thought," — his whole
intellectual organ — remains unmutilated,
yet every thought is " brought captive to
the obedience of Christ." Thus God
conciliates his worlds of nature and grace,
and evinces that nothing was made in vain.
Sin itself is an element in discipline ; and
as for the affections enthralled by its des-
potism, they are sinful not in themselves
as affections, but in their depravation ;
they are meant to be not the bond slaves
of evil, but the liberated " servants of
righteousness ;" they are born for eter-
nity and for God !
Let us then, ever maintain for the Spirit
of Truth— and more than ever in these days,
in which we are wont to hear the gravest
truths of revelation questioned, or dilu-
ted, or overlooked — His Own unparticipa-
ted right to illumine man ; — not indeed by
making man no longer man, but by feed-
ing the affections with holy food, by in-
viting them to holy objects. In this
work he is alone. " It is the Spirit that
quickeneth." The old and the new cre-
ation are alike exclusively divine. The
Revelation of God itself, as delivered in
books, dare not dispute this honour with
the Everlasting Spirit. That revelation is
written in a language familiar to our daily
thoughts and converse ; it speaks of Life,
and Death, and Faith, and Hope, and Love,
— all household words which in their
earthly acceptation every man can speak of
and define : — but to pass from the earthly
term to the heavenly purport — from the
natural object to the supernatural — from
the " Life" of the flesh to the life of the
Spirit— from the " Faith" which trusts
in the brother-man to the faith which
trusts in the " First-born among many
brethren" — from the Love and Hope that
are entangled among creatures of clay to
the Love and Hope that are busy among
the immortal realities of heaven — this is
an art which the Spirit that inspired the
Scriptures alone can teach to the man
who reads them !
Reflections of this kind, my beloved
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
215
Brethren, are naturally prompted by the
passage before us, taken in connection
with the singular dialogue of which it is a
part. They are among the first which
will occur to meditative students of our
Lord's habitual teaching; (in which there
was at all times a striking similarity of
style and method) — but perhaps on no
occasion does this profound lesson of the
necessity of spiritual enlightenment meet
us more forcibly than upon the perusal of
this remarkable discussion, recorded in
the eighth chapter of St. John.
The Divine Instructor is in the midst
of his Jewish audience. They surround
him, half awed by his dignity, half pro-
voked by his calmness. Undisturbed,
and as if he felt himself more truly ad-
dressing ages to come — as if he stood in
the presence, not of a few contentious
disputants, but of the Church he was to
found, and to redeem,- — yea, as if he spoke
in the presence of " an innumerable
company of angels" and the " spirits of
the just," whom He was to "perfect," —
in such a tone as this he replies to their
cavils. His words, while they sufficiently
answer the objections of his adversaries,
yet answer them upon principles which
they cannot yet comprehend ,- and though
these weighty sentences seem at first sight
designed for present and immediate use,
they are now known to be really pregnant
with the deepest mysteries of the spiritual ,
life, and only to be understood by those :
who have had experience in that life. |
Christ spoke to futurity, and presupposed
a spiritual illumination not yet bestowed, j
He would evince the necessity of a divine
interpreter to unfold and explain his own
words; and therefore he speaks — truths in-
deed, but truths whose deep purport he
knew those whom he addressed were
wholly unable to penetrate. What are
the topics of this solemn discourse ?
" Truth" — "freedom" — "life" — "death :"
— all intelligible terms, surely ; but, in
their spiritual import, to the unspiritual-
ized mind, dark as the counsels of God,
fathomless as eternitv !
Two important uses can be made of
this peculiarity in our Lord's method of
address, combined with this view of its
object. The first we have in some mea-
sure seen. Such a discourse as that to
which I am calling your attention, shows
us Christ himself proceeding on the ne-
! cessity of the supernatural illumination he
was afterwards to bestow. He speaks as
it were in cypher ; the Spirit of God is
to furnish the solution. He teaches, then,
! by example, no less than precept, that
that Spirit alone can unfold the things of
the Spirit : his very obscurity to the audi-
ence who heard him is a perpetual
assumption of the principle. To the
Christian Believer, therefore, the adoring
contemplation of such a discourse sug-
gests something over and above the pur-
port of each separate passage. It urges
him to pray for a lamp of heavenly light
to read it by ! It bids him not be con-
tent, in this or any other portion of Scrip-
ture, with words; but to covet earnestly
to be familiar with things — truths — reali-
ties. It impresses the lesson so perpetually
forgotten, that as in all subjects we can un-
derstand language only as far as we have
some experience of the things it imports ;
so in religion (by the very same principle)
the spiritual heart alone can understand
the language of the Spirit. Think of it
for a moment, and you will find that in
every book whatever, it is the mind of the
reader that puts meaning in the words ;
the language of the new covenant is a
celestial language, and they who will give
their fulness to its blessed words must
have caught their secret from heaven !
But again, —
To the /«/K/e/impugner of Christianity,
this view of the special design of the ap-
parent obscurity of discourses such as
this, and the refusal of our Lord to de-
scend from his own lofty strain in order
to meet on a lower ground the ignorance
of his assailants, — obviously resists a po-
pular objection to his method of instruc-
tion. But it does more than this. Let
us but suppose that St. John has truly
216
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
reported the discussion before us. What
then are the facts? Language is here
employed unintelligible to the unenlight-
ened Jew, in effect unprofitable, as far as
we can see, for any immediate purpose ;
certainly little calculated to conciliate
temporary popularity : yet this very lan-
guage, which then dropped from those
divine lips, neglected or despised, except
by a few humble followers, becomes after-
wards treasured, published, known uni-
versally, and, even by those who partially
disregard it, admitted to be stamped with
the impress of a great and exalted mind.
Who, then, was this Being, that thus,
wandering among the suburbs of Jerusa-
lem, could afford to lose the present in
the future ? and not this only, but to count
upon a future which so perfectly reali-
zed his calculation ? Does not the whole
strain of the discourse evince the calm
prescience of one who was familiar with
the secrets of time to come, who knew
that he would be, though he was not yet,
appreciated ; and is not, therefore, the very
obscurity, and the very reserve, which the
assailant of the divine mission of Christ of-
fers as an objection, itself, as facts and his-
tory have now established, an inward indica-
tion of a knowledge supernaturaland divine?
So far, brethren, we have spoken of the
general character of this momentous dis-
course, which, as the most prominent in-
stance of our Lord's mode of meeting his
adversaries, deserves deep and patient
study. We have seen, that he speaks a
mysterious language of which he declines
to offer any immediate explanation. We
have seen a strong reason for his adoption
of this course — to impress the paramount
necessity of spiritual enlightenment; and
we have seen how forcibly this seeming
neglect of the perverted and petulent
Jew that heard him, for the higher inter-
ests of the church that was to succeed his
ascension, demonstrated his inward know-
ledge of futurity.
II. Let us now, for a while, rest upon one
of those many mysterious phrases of the
discourse, the expression recorded in the
text — " If a man keep my saying, lie skull
never see death." You cannot fail to re-
member how fatally the Jews misunder-
stood this mighty declaration, in imagin-
ing that our Lord, promised to his follow-
ers the doubtful blessing of an earthly
immortality ; and how they objected to
him the death of their greatest ancestor,
as a sufficient evidence of the supposed
arrogance of him who offered to give that
which Abraham could not keep.
That there is an inseparable connexion
between " Christ" and " Life" no student
of the New Testament can overlook.
" The Life was manifested, "says St. John,
in his first epistle, " and we have seen it."
The Life thus "manifested," was, doubt-
lessChrist Himself,conformablytothesame
Evangelist's record of his divine Master's
proclamation, that He was "the resurrec-
tion and the life," "the way, the truth,
and the life." Christ is "the life," plainly
because — by what process I do not now
inquire — the cause of life, as he is said to
be our "peace" and our " sanctification,"
because he is the source of these bles-
sings; or as dying Simeon, in his parting
hymn, designates him the " Salvation" of
which he was the Author and Securer.
The purport of the expression, (as attri-
buting to Christ the production of life,)
is more directly given in that title which
St. Peter employed in the third of Acts —
" Ye killed the Frince, (Author, Leader, J
of life" — a form of phrase evidently in-
tended to heighten the atrocity of the act
by the force of the contrast.
So far there can be little doubt, or dif-
ference of opinion. But when, from the
mere fact of the intimate connexion of the
Lord of life, and the life he bestows, we
advance to estimate more precisely the
nature or extent of this " life,'' we find
among those who undertake to speak of
these matters, much uncertainty and vari-
ence. (1) Some will tell you that the phrase
ascribes to Christ the power of immortal-
izing human souls ; (2) others, in a higher
and truer strain, that it attributes to Him
the spiritual resurrection from the death
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
217
of sin, which takes place in every regen-
erated soul ; (8) others again, that it pro-
nounces Him the author and bestovver of
an eternity, not merely of existence, but
of happiness in heaven. These are indeed
mighty gifts; they all alike pre-suppose a
power nothing below divine ; for if crea-
tion be divine, the re-creation, whether to
existence, to righteousness, or to bliss, of
God's noblest earthly creature, surely
partakes of the same supreme character
of power. But nobler still it is to look
upon them all as issuing from the same
eternal Fountain. Here then is the solu-
tion of the difficulty. These opinions are
separately true, but separately imperfect :
the Messiah unites in himself all these
offices — offices themselves essentially con-
nected with him and with each other !
1. 2. " In Christ all shall be made alive"
— but that the depth aud extent of the
Scriptural term " life " can never be lim-
ited to the mere revival of the soul from
death or unconsciousness, seems obvious
on the most cursory inspection of the sa-
cred volume. So far is mere immortality
from answering to this gift of Life, that
there is a species of immortality to which
the title of death — "eternal death,' and
" the second death," is Scripturally giv-
en. Accordingly Christ himself expressly
terms the passage to the future state of
glory, the " resurrection of life' in con-
trast to "the resurrection of damnation,''
(John v. 20,) and he is said to have
brought not merely " immortality," but
"life and immortality," to light. The
same St. Paul who assigns him this high
office, declares that the Gospel promises
to those who seek " honour, and glory,
and immortality" — eternal life, evidently
considering that this eternal life involves
them all; for surely the prize (in a land
whose blessedness •' the heart of man" is
declared unable to conceive) will not be
inferior to the aim which its votaries can
here propose to their conceptions. It
appears hence that this " life," as well as
the " death" spoken of in the text, is es-
sentially a moral, not a merely physical,
state or notion ; that it is a blessed and
spiritual vitality. To express his highest
spiritual bestowments no term is more
frequently employed by our blessed Lord
than " light" — now this light is itself per-
petually connected with his descriptions
or intimations of the life he was to bestow,
and that in a manner which indissolubly
combines the two. " My follower shall
have the light of life," he declares to the
Pharisees (John viii. 12); while "the
shadow of death" is, as you know, the
constant type of a state of hopeless spiri-
tual ruin. It was to those who " lay in
the shadow of death" that " the Day
Spring from on high came to give light.''
And surely this use of " life'' to express
"blessedness" was, in the mouth of our
Redeemer, perfectly natural. His very
existence was one long impulse of holi-
ness; to him to live was to live in holiness ;
and he naturally and habitually spoke of
that eternal life with which alone he was
familiar, as identical with eternal holiness.
He borrowed his language from that celes-
tial dialect, where there is but one term
for existence, and that term is " glory !"
When he promised life, he promised all
that was unchangeably associated with it
in his oivn divine experience. Nothing
short of a transcendent and abiding exalta-
tion of nature deserved the title of that
life which he was to communicate to his
followers.
The "life" then of which the New
Testament reveals to us the story, is be-
yond and above the mere consciousness
of existence, or its indefinite prolonga-
tion; "the water of life" which, as we
are told, flows so liberally in the Paradise
of God, is more than a physical elixir;
the "fruit of the tree of life" is more
than a physical sustenance. And in like
manner, he who (as in the text) is pro-
mised security from " death for ever," is
rescued from a fate far more terrible than
annihilation ; he is rescued from the mise-
ries of death protracted into eternity !
2.3. We cannot, then, have much embar-
assment in setting aside this undue liniita-
218
THE NEW HUSH PULPIT,
tion of the "eternal life," whichChrist has
purchased for his followers. But greater
difficulty has sometimes been found in
appropriating to their respective passages
the other significations which I have men-
tioned — the spiritual life of holiness in
the soul, and the eternal life of happiness
hereafter. Of both these Christ is equally
the author; and while we know that St.
Paul found it necessary (2 Tim. ii. 18.)
to repress a notion which, even in his
days, had gained votaries, that the resur-
rection to life, of which the Redemer had
spoken was a purely spiritual exaltation of
the soul, and, as such, accomplished in this
world ; perhaps we may sometimes be in
danger of falling into the opposite extreme
The truth is that these things are essen-
tially and for ever united — and this is the
reason why the same phrase is employed
to characterize them both. Let me ask
you to consider this a little more deeply.
We know that even in the ordinary exer-
cise of the moral faculty in men, there is
usually included a consciousness of desert ;
and thence, in minds at all trained to
carry out their own conceptions, a strong
anticipation of some yet unrealized attes-
tation of the ineffaceable distinctions of
good and evil, in the form of recompense.
We are not, therefore, to wonder, that,
through almost every region of Heathen-
ism, human nature bore and bears witness
— faintly indeed but truly — to this mighty
connection of the present with the future;
and that some were even found among
ihe unbaptized world who could boldly
tell the servant of virtue, that though the
reason of man had no hand to unweave
the tangled web of Providence, it had an
eye to look through it, and a voice to
pronounce with infallible certainty — that
the power that rules the universe, rules
Himself, and it by the immutable Law of
Right. Now Christianity is the Law of
Right in i(s fullest action ; and with a clear
and constant apprehension of the true
character of God as proclaimed in Reve-
lation, such anticipations of the future de-
velopment of his government cannot hut
brighten into a belief, that becomes indisso-
lubly associated with a course of earnest
virtue — cannot but, by the inevitable oper-
ation of habitual reflection, be so bound up
with it as to become a part of its very idea
— so that the service here and the glory
hereafter become perpetual companions in
the thoughts, each supposing and demand-
ing the other. And if this be so, which all
experience confirms, surely it is not diffi-
cult to conceive, that the child of God may
so feel his future inheritance realized in his
present graces, as at length to identify them
in conception and in name ; the prepara-
tory life of this world, and the consum-
mate life of the next, being the two in-
separable elements — mutually inclusive —
of the office of the quickening Spirit in
relation to the soul of man.
But this identification becomes infinitely
more natural, when we reflect on the sub-
stantial sameness of the inward state in
both these stages of being — a sameness
of which this phraseology isat once the con-
sequence and the proof. If that ineffable
gift — Christ received into the heart of
man by faith — be indeed a principle whose
developements are to make the history of
immortality, why should we disjoin the
principle from its results? If it be in-
deed " a well of water springing up into
everlasting life," why should we seek a
separate title for the Fountain and the
River, that, issuing from its silent depths,
flows away into eternity ? If it be a
"seed" whose bloom is to be an amaranth
— the immortal flower,— shall we not name
it from its period of perfection, and love
to lose the feeble present in the glories
of the unfading future ? And surely,
could we look upon Death as Christians
should look, — could we see it in a myste-
rious Baptism — an Infant Baptism of the
" little children" of God — from the Church
Suffering into the Church Triumphant, far
less startling than that Baptism of old
which was our mystic transit from the
world into the suffering Church — it is with
feelings and language such as I have de-
cribed, thai we would feel and speak of
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
219
that " Holy Spirit of promise which is the
earnest of our inheritance," of that Spirit
which already "bears witness with our
spirit that we are the children of God,
and if children, then heirs" — in short, of
the substantial oneness of the spiritual
life, from the first hour of the incorpora-
tion into Christ, wheresoever wrought,
on unto very eternity !
Nay, 1 know not if even yet we have
reached the deep truth of this matter.
We all know how the Spiritual and the
vitally Eternal are united in scripture
phraseology, whenever it has occasion to
speak of the Haw of the Spirit of life,"
of that " Spirit" which " is life because
of righteousness, " of that " spiritual
mindedness" which " is life" as well as
" peace." The more you rest upon these
profound sayings, the more you will feel
that they speak of some mystic intimacy
of inward connexion, which answers to
all that we can conceive of an absolute
unity of nature ; and that, had we facul-
ties to see these things, we might perceive
that a deathless permanence belongs to
the Spiritual Thing inherent in ihe rege-
nerate mind — if it indeed evidence its
genuineness by there through earthly life
abiding and fructifying, — in virtue of a
natural necessity as real as that which per-
petuates any of the unalterable laws and
relations which reason apprehends in the
universe of God. The spiritual is essen-
tially eternal. In the theory of Christi-
anity, (if I may use that formal name for
the glimpses which we gain in the New
Testament of the mighty mysteries of God)
they are not two Ideas, but two aspects of
one and the same Idea ; and they are
thence used so as to imply each other.
" Whoso drinketh my blood and eateth my
flesh hath eternal life, and I,'' who thus
abide in him, "will raise him up;" he
hath within him the Principle which will
afterwards manifest itself (as in a natural
reappearance,) in glory. '' Hethat be-
lieveth in me hath passed from death unto
life;" "he that hath the Son, hath life."
Christ, then, and his sacred interpreters,
seem to have intimated that in sanctity there
is essentially comprised a germ of immorta-
lity ; that holiness is so far necessarily con-
nected with that universal scheme of per-
fection of which it is a part, as to partake
of its inherent eternity, and inherent hap-
piness, of nature. Feeling thus, they
could regard the indwelling of Christ's
eternal Spirit noiv, to be not so much (one
might say) the condition, as the first stage
of glory ; — and thence, to speak of the
" life'' bestowed by Christ in inward ho-
liness in time, and the " life" bestowed by
Christ in perfect happiness in eternity, was
not to speak of two lives, but of two forms
of one incorruptible, uninterrupted, un-
changeable Gift of Everlasting Life.
Such views as these, then, (which if
I were not afraid of taxing your atten-
tion unduly, might be carried much
farther,) seem to show how closely con-
nected are the three forms of Life— phy-
sical, spiritual, and eternal — of which
" Christ who is our Life," is the Almighty
Author. The more you reflect upon
this mighty theme, the more you will see
that his office, instead of being limited to
any, grasps them all ; — that he must
raise the dead as Judge and Saviour, that
he may punish and that he may save ;
that he bestows a quickening principle of
spiritual life upon the soul, which must
pass the grave, for nothing holy can
perish, it " partakes of the Divine na-
ture," it is "incorruptible seed," and
must flower in paradise ; — finally, that of
this last consummate state, he is also Lord
and Donor, and in love shall rejoice as
he beholds the same light which once
was dawn, hereafter settling in that noon
which knows no sunset !
Of this Life Divine, it is but to be said,
that it is traceable to an unfathomable
fountain in the infinite essence of God
the Father : " the Father hath life in
himself." From Him it is declared to be
eceived by his Son, yet received with a
certain mystic independency ; " even so
hath he given to the Son to have life in
himself:" and from Him it flows abroad
220
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
upon mankind, according to the inscruta-
ble laws of the Divine purpose ; — " even so
the Son maketh alive whom he will," —
" as I live by the Father, so he that eat-
eth me shall live by me," — " because I
live ye shall live also ;" a purpose of
which we only know that it directs itself by
the practical belief of the receiver — for
" he that believeth" it is who " hath ever-
lasting life," or as the text expresses it —
" he that keepeth my saying shall never
see death." Thus is every believing
child of God — no matter in what earthly
bondage groaning, in what earthly misery
sunk — bound by a chain of adamant to
the very throne of the ever blessed
Trinity. There is that in him which
hath its birth-place in the bosom of the
" High and lofty One that iuhabiteth
eternity ;" the life of Him who bids the
universe live, is enshrined in his inmost
spirit ! " He shall never see death," for he
is one with Him who cannot die ! He has
entered within the portals of glory — he
has laid his hand upon the Ark of God.
Dungeon may confine him — death may
threaten him ; but the dungeon-bolt can-
not exclude the risen Saviour, and death
itself is but the seal and passport of his
immortality. Brethren ! how is it that we
awake not to these transcendent claims ?
How is it that, with such an image and
superscription upon us, we can bear to
mingle with the dull alloy of earth?
How is it that, with all these awful as-
surances of the mighty thing the spirit
of a man indeed is, when bound in ever-
lasting unity with the Spirit of Christ,
wa can live unthoughtful of such an he-
ritage, — as if this world with its melan-
choly mockery of hope and happiness,
were meant to fill the heart that a God
has once deigned to visit and to sanctify ;
or as if the curtain that hung upon the
grave had never been indeed withdrawn
by the triumphant Conqueror of sin and
death !
" He that keepeth my saying shall
never see death !" Many a dark century
has passed away, since the walls of the
temple echoed these glorious words ;
words, one would deem, that, uttered
from God to man, might well change the
face of the world, — might arouse from
one end of earth to the other, a high
and holy ambition to join the bright band
of immortals thus summoned to the
courts of God's own palace by God's
own voice ! Oh, sad reverse of reality !
The people of God — the keepers of the
saying of Christ — far from filling all
lands, and glorifying every clime, are a
scattered race, often a destitute and per-
secuted race ! Doubtless, our Faith is
yet to hold the earth in fee ; ultimately
it shall take in the whole wide family of
man ; — but at the present period, and
ever since its foundation, it is vain to
deny that if " without holiness no man
shall see the Lord," it has been as truly
partial in its actual results upon the eter-
nal state of mankind, as Judaism itself
upon their temporal condition. Age
after age, a few hundreds or thousands of
cotemporary believers are collected into
the treasure cities of immortal happiness,
gathered from various spots in the wide
Christian world ; — and there the opera-
tion ceases ! " Many are called," but it
is still too melancholy a certainty, that
"few are chosen." It is as if mankind
formed a vast garden of diversified plants,
out of which the great Florist selects
here and there a few promising shoots
upon which to exhaust all the resources
of Divine art — to show how holy a thing
human nature may be made, and to fit
for transplanting into his own special
conservatory. Into this awful mystery,
— the most tremendous in all the Divine
government — I dare not intrude. I trem-
ble at my own insignificance when 1 stand
before this cloud that covers the mercy-
seat of God ! A voice from the sanctu-
ary declares that " God is Love" and it
is enough, — I believe the voice. 1 leave
it to the secret alchymy of Divine Wis-
dom to convert evil into good, — and (as
even in our own limited experience) out
of destruction to bring forth life. But
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
22 i
while I leave, and would bid you leave,
in faith to the Eternal Father, the dis-
positions of his own boundless empire, I
cannot abandon the right, and high privi-
lege of the minister, to summon all who
hear me to ponder the practical instruc-
tion that this appalling mystery im-
presses. When the disciples once en-
quired " who then can be saved ?" the
answer was consolatory, that, " with God
all things are possible." When, on
another occasion, a similar question was
proposed — " are there few that be saved ?"
the answer was severe, practical, and im-
perative — " strive to enter in at the nar-
row gate !" And such should be the
mingled web of our conclusions on the
subject ; — a combination of confidence in
the absolute goodness of God, and of
earnest resolution to be warned by the
terrors of his threats.
" He that keepeth my saying, shall
never see death!" Mark, brethren! it
is no momentary adoption of the faith and
law of Christ to which eternal life is the
promised recompense. It is no transient
emotion of passionate grief — no occa-
sional sympathy with martyred virtue —
no evanescent enthusiasm in the cause of
the Gospel — that forms in the heart of
man the germ of future glory ; it is " to
keep the saying of Christ." Our Chris-
tianity is momentary, because its princi-
ple is momentary ; we turn to religion
to diversify our life, not to be our life.
But, oh ! as you would indeed be the
sealed and reserved inheritors of glory,
remember this — that God will not con-
descend to take his place among the
fashions of the day ! remember, that
Christianity is not a new system of theo-
logical reasoning, nor a new assortment
of phraseology, nor a new circle of ac-
quaintance, nor even a new line of
meditation, — but a new life. Its very
being and essence is inward and practi-
cal : it is not the likeness or the history
of a living thing — it is itself alive ! And
therefore to examine its evidences is not
to try Christianity ; to admire its mar-
tyrs is not to try Christianity ; to compare
and estimate its teachers is not to try
Christianity ; to attend its rites and
services with more than Mahometan
punctuality, is not to try or know Chris-
tianity. But for one week — for one day
— to have lived in the pure atmosphere
of faith and love to God, of tenderness
to man ; to rejoice in the felt and real-
ized presence of Him who is described
as " coming up from the wilderness,"
supporting his beloved ; to have beheld
earth annihilated and heaven opened to
the prophetic gaze of hope ; to have seen
evermore revealed behind the compli-
cated troubles of this strange mysterious
life, the unchanged smile of an eternal
Friend, — and every thing that is difficult
to reason, solved by that reposing trust
which is higher and better than reason, —
to have known and felt this — I will not
say for a life, but for a single blessed
hour — that, indeed, is to have made ex-
periment of Christianity, — that is to
know the imperishable work of the Spirit
in preparing souls for eternity, — that is
to " keep the saying" which shall keep
from death, — that is to have a glimpse of
the meaning of those mystic wotds which
I will not dare to paraphrase or amplify,
but which are in themselves all, and more
than all, 1 have attempted to express-
that " our life is hid with Christ in
God."
*%
THE CHARACTER AND DUTIES OF THE MINISTRY
A SERMON,
PREACHED IN THE CATHEDRAL OF DERRY, AT THE VISITATION OF THE
UNITED DIOCESES OF DERRY AND RAPHOE,
ON JUNE 13, 1839.
BY THE REV. C. SEYMOUR, A.B.
Rector of Killea, and late Curate of Derry Cathedral.
(Published at the request of the Bishop and several of the Clergy.)
2 Con. vi 4.
"In all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God."
An eminently holy and successful minis-
ter desired that this sentence might be
written in his heart. As it obviously sug-
gests the principal topics connected with
the consideration of the Christian minis-
try — as it points to the office, as well as
to the duties, to which we, my brethren,
are called, it is selected as a motto for
the reflections suitable to the present oc-
casion. It is good in the midst of those
public questions which are now agitated,
involving the interests of religion in these
countries — in the midst of the conflicts
in which our church has of late years
been embroiled — it is profitable to with-
draw our minds for a season from these
views which have a tendency to secularize
them, and to consider our sacred office
itself, with the due discharge of it, apart
from the political circumstances with
which it is so mixed up.
In directing the attention of my re-
spected brethren to this great subject,
there will be no attempt to offer any thing
with which they are not thoroughly con-
versant, which they do not already know,
and in which, I trust, they are well estab-
lished. I do not forget that I occupy this
pulpit now, not as heretofore, to feed the
flock entrusted to me, but to address my
fellow-labourers on the subject of our
common work in the Lord : not now aiming
to instruct but to " stir up minds by way
of remembrance ;" and as it is found in
Christian experience that true edification
is promoted, not solely or chiefly by origi-
nality or novelty, but by the repetition and
digestion of the old truth—so I trust that
the end of our assembling will not be the
less answered, though nothing new or
original be offered. Ought not that end
to be — the having of the momentous re-
alities connected with our ministry so
vividly presented to our minds, that we
may be stirred up to greater encourage-
ment and devotedness. May the Holy
Spirit own the present weak instu men-
tality, by imparting to us at this time,
realizing views of the ministry to which
He has appointed us.
In treating the subject of the Christian
ministry, two departments naturally occur
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
223
— the same as are found in the words
quoted from the apostle Paul — " In all
things approving ourselves as the minis-
ters of God." The character of the min-
istry is suggested thus — " The ministers
of God." The duties are comprehended
thus — " In all things approving ourselves"
— and the mutual connection and depen-
dence of both parts is seen when the
whole sentence is read together — " In
all things approving ourselves as the min-
isters of God.'' He reminds of the dig-
nity of the office, with a view of enforcing
the duty — He points to the character of
the ministry, as stimulating to a suitable
and consistent discharge of the duty.
I. The character of the ministry.
We learn the character of our ministry
by remembering the origin of its institu-
tion. It is of Divine appointment. The
disputes which have prevailed in the
universal Church respecting the proper
channels for conveying, and the legitimate
mode of investing the office, are so far
from weakening or obscuring the evidence
of this truth, that they may be considered
as establishing it — since all who differ on
these points allow, that the Christian
ministry is an ordinance of God, appoint-
ed for the improvement of mankind, of
His devising, and supported by His autho-
rity — an ordinance distinguished from the
Pagan priesthood, in that it is not appoint-
ed for the performance of ceremonies,
but for the inculcation of truth, not to
conduct the pomp of showy unmeaning
observances, but to watch for souls, as
those that must give account. This ordi-
nance is peculiar to Christianity. Its in-
stitution is traced to the mediation of the
Son of God. It is one of the gifts which
he received for his church, as the reward
of his suffering unto death, and which he
communicated upon his ascension —
" wherefore he saith, when he ascended
up on high, he led captivity captive, and
gave gifts unto men; and he gave some
apostles, some prophets, and some evan-
gelists, and some pastors and teachers ;
for the perfecting of the saints, for the
work of the ministry, for the edifying of
the body of Christ." It is thus the gift
of the Son: so is its fountain also God
the Father — " all things are of God, who
hath given unto us the ministry of recon-
ciliation:" yea it is moreover emphati-
cally " the ministration of the Spirit."
It is the great instrumentality employed
by the Spirit in his operations on the
souls of men. It is his authority, that
calls to the work — as we have testified,
when at ordination we solemnly avowed our
trust, that we were " moved by the Holy
Ghost to take upon us thisoffice and minis-
tration." It is His guidance also that directs
in it, and His influence that bestows the
needful supply of gifts and graces : so
awful is the sanction — infinitely above all
human authority, which is stamped upon
the sacred office.
The character of the ministry which
we fulfil, is also ascertained by con-
sidering the end of its institution. If, in
examining the origin of our office, we
have traced it beyond all measurement,
even to the footstool of the Eternal
Trinity, so in tracing the end of its insti-
tution we shall climb to other heights of
infinity — for the end of the Christian
ministry, is found in eternity itself. It is
conversant with the interests, and entrust-
ed with the charge of immortal souls. It
is the chief instrument for the renovation
of the world, and the building up of the
Church. Its design is, to recover man to
his original purity and happiness, to en-
lighten his understanding, to communi-
cate such truth, and to generate such
principles, as will bring forth fruit unto
everlasting life. It is the instrument,
whereby that mysterious process is con-
ducted by which men are converted unto
God, and by which the work of progres-
sive sanctification is carried on, " till we
all come unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fulness of
Christ." It deals with men. We are
sent to man — the sinner — not the partial,
but the total sinner — not the impoverish-
ed, but the ruined — not to man hurt by
224
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
sin, but to man dead in sin — not man to
be repaired, but to be made — not to be
rectified, but to be created. That work-
manship which is disfigured and ruined
by sin, it is ours to be employed for its
recovery and renewal : that understanding
which is blinded by the god of this world,
and is turned from its noblest exercise,
our ministery is for enlightening: those
passions which are defiled and in the bon-
dage of corruption, the sacred office is
appointed to rectify, " telling the prison-
ers to go forth, to them that are in dark-
ness, show yourselves," and more, the con-
science that testifies of guilt, and is filled
with fear, is thus to be directed to the
blood of the atonement — " the Lamb of
God which taketh away the sin of the
world," and all this with a view to eternity
— looking to man's eternal happiness,
which consists in the exercise of all those
restored powers of mind and soul, which
are imparted by the Spirit, through the
ministry. How poor, how empty, is every
other pursuit compared with his! " The
end of all things is at hand" — the mate-
rials, the instruments and the objects of
every earthly pursuit will alike perish —
religion, the renewed mind, is the only
work that remains unto glory — this is the
mystic enclosure rescued from the empire
of change and death — this is the field
which the Lord has blessed ; and the word
of the Gospel which we minister, is the
seed which alone produces immortal
fruit — the very bread of life with which
the Lamb in the midst of the throne will
feed and replenish his people throughout
eternal ages. So glorious, so solemnly
responsible is that function with which
Christian ministers are invested.
II. The duties connected with our office
forms the second branch of the subject.
The holy Scriptures exalt the Christian
ministry, not to excite vanity which feeds
even upon sacred things, or to promote
self-exalting — but to awaken responsi-
bility — to ''stir up the gift that is in us,"
that we apply ourselves to our work with
becoming resolution, and anticipate, inde-
pendence on the divine blessing, import-
ant results, as it is well expressed — ■
' The moment we think lightly of the
Christian ministry, our right arm is
withered.' Bishop Burnet refers to a
counsel given him at the commencement
of his ministry — to the effect, " that the
argument in favour of the church, how-
ever clearly made out, would never have
its full effect upon the world, till we could
show a primitive spirit in our administra-
tion, as well as a primitive pattern for our
constitution." " This advice," he adds,
" made even then a deep impression on
me, and I thank God the sense of it has
never left me in the whole course of my
studies." And again, " Let the clergy
live and labour well, and they will feel as
much authority follow as they will know
how to manage well ; they will never be
secured or recovered from contempt but
by living and labouring as they ought."
In a reference to the duties belonging to
the office of a minister, personal holiness
claims the first place. This is the position
given to it in the best of all descriptions
of ministerial duty — Paul's Epistle to
Timothy — " Take heed unto thyself and
to the doctrine." " Be thou an example
of the believers, in word, in conversation,
in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."
So the great Head of the church himself
makes it one of the great points of inter-
cession for his apostles — " Sanctify them
through thy truth" — -the practice of the
priests under the law showed this, who
offered first for their own cleansing, and
then for the people's. Instead of satisfy-
ing ourselves in the aquisition of holiness
with the attainments of a learner, we must
aspire to the perfection of a master, and
give to our life the correctness of a pat-
tern. We, brethren, are called to such a
conquest over the world, and such an ex-
hibition of the Spirit of Christ, as shall
not merely exempt us from censure, but
excite to emulation. As those to whom
the conduct of souls is committed wc
cannot make a wrong step without endan-
gering the interests of others, ' ours is
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
225
the misconduct of the pilot who is denied
the privilege of perishing alone.' Bishop
Taylor's views on this subject are strik-
ingly put — " You may be innocent, and
yet not zealous of good works ; you must
be excellent, not tanquam unus tie jiopulo,
but tanquam homo Dei — not after the
common manner of men, but after God's
own heart. — not only pure but shining —
not only blameless, but didactic in your
lives ; that as by your sermons you preach
in season, so by your lives you may
preach out of season — that is, at all sea-
sons and to all men, that they seeing your
good works may glorify God on your be-
half, and on their own." If we consider
the power and authority which should
characterize our preaching — this is im-
parted by personal godliness, which
Leighton calls the 'rhetoric of life:' or
if we consider our capability for the work,
and our success in it, how can we hope
to teach, if we have not experienced the
power of the Gospel ? what but the ex-
perimental conviction of our own sinful-
ness can enable us to expose the defor-
mity and deceitfulness of sin ? how can
we encourage or guide, except as the
consolations and truths of the Gospel
have been received into our own hearts?
how can we exhibit the love of the Saviour,
the faithfulness of his word, the beauty of
holiness, the prospects of eternity, if we
cannot say, " we also believe, and there-
fore speak?" It is when we have proved
our armour, we may venture to recom-
mend it.
The most important part of the duty
in which we are to approve ourselves as
the ministers of God, consists in our pub-
lic mini&lrations : of these the work of
preaching is the most responsible. Jt is
on such occasions that the body of the
church appears seeking the law of the
Lord at our mouths — and this ordinance
we are assured is the 'grand instrumen-
tality of our people's salvation ; for "how
shall they believe in him of whom they
have not heard, and how shall they hear
without a preacher?" Hooker's judgment
may be noticed — " So worthy a part of
divine service we should greatly wrong,
if we did not esteem preaching as the
blessed ordinance of God — sermons as
keys to the soul, as spurs to the good
affections of men, unto the sound and
healthy as food, as medicine unto dis-
eased minds." Such an ordinance calls
for no slight study and preparation. If
the pulpit be the seat of usefulness, if
souls are to be converted and built up
there — then, whatever we do should be
done with a design to make this more
effective. The demands that are daily
made upon us for knowledge and wisdom,
to direct and to control, to establish and to
uphold, to comfort, reprove, and exhort,
are drawing upon our present resources,
and call for increasing supplies to be
poured in to meet the increasing exigen-
cies : we must keep pace with the advanc-
ing knowledge of the day — we must ac-
quaint ourselves, first of all, wi'h the en-
tire range of revealed truth — the whole
counsel of God : we should also search
human writings on sound theology, bring-
ing forth from these treasures the wisdom
and experience, and the fruits of the labours
of those in whom the Spirit of God was :
we should be conversant with the chief
controversies of the day; for our office is
that of watchmen and soldiers, as well as
shepherds — to defend the truth, in all
meekness of wisdom, as well as to feed the
flock, to be able to bring forth, against those
who differ, sound doctrine which cannot be
gainsayed ; and this not in the indulgence
of a vain-glorious angry spirit, but in the
spirit of true charity, and in the fulfilment
of the pledge which we made at our or-
dination, when we solemnly engaged
" with all care and diligence to banish
and drive away all erroneous and strange
doctrines." If the admonition, " Give
attendance to reading," were requisite in
the apostolic age, when the extraordinary
gifts of the Spirit were superadded to the
ministry, how much more now, when
these are withdrawn, and a Jike necessity
exists? But while we thus bring forth the
226
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
results of meditation and extensive read-
ing into our pulpits, we must not be
tempted to keep back the doctrine of
Christ and him crucified — we must ever
hold this forth, in all the clearness and
simplicity of the Bible. If this be kept
out of sight, with all our reading we do
but " darken counsel by words without
saving knowledge." By the doctrine of
Christ crucified, is meant not the contin-
ual mention of his name, or the continual
statement of his justifying death, but the
entering into and opening his various
offices and characters ,the glories of his
person and work, his relation to us, and
ours to him, having all the lines centering
in Him. It was well observed by Arch-
bishop Seeker to his clergy — " We have
in fact lost many of our people to secta-
ries, by not preaching in a manner suffi-
ciently evangelical — and shall neither re-
cover them from the extravagancies into
which they have run, or keep more from
going over to them, but by returning to
the right way, declaring all the counsel of
God, and that principally not in the words
which man's wisdom teacheth, but which
the Holy Ghost teacheth." But this may
be carried to an extreme — doctrines may
be too nakedly, too exclusively enforced
— they must be presented with the expe-
rience, and with the holiness of the Gos-
pel ; for this is the end, the fruit of out-
work — a holiness of which the love of
God, and a devoted attachment to the
Redeemer are the soul, which, pervading
every limb, and expressing itself in every
feature of the new man, gives it a beauty
all its own. Let the acquirements of reli-
gion be associated with its privileges. On
the whole, brethren, when we consider
the honourable position given to the insti-
tution of preaching by the Scriptures,
and the great end designed by it, we must
conclude that he who makes little prepar-
ation, tempts God to come out of his or-
dinary way to his assistance, and he that
depends upon his preparation, makes a
god of his gifts.
While we thus give the first place to
the pulpit, because the Bible and the
Church do so, we must not undervalue
the importance of the other ordinances of
our public ministrations — the worship of
God, and the sacraments. We are not
ignorant of the value of these ordinances
— tfie advantage and blessing with which
the promise of God has connected the
right performance of them — and we know
too, the excellency of the "form of sound
words," in which these ordinances are ad-
ministered by us, its spirituality, its Scrip-
tural correctness and unction — its suita-
bleness to the edification of our assembled
people. But are we mindful of the dan-
gei to which we are liable, of bringing
an unprepared spirit, a spirit of formality
to these holy services? are we alive to the
hazard of losing a prayerful, believing
frame, through the familiarity of oft
repeated ordinances? we should watch
against this — a devotional mind, while it
ensures the minister's own refreshment
and strength, gives a power and an effi-
ciency to the worship in which he is enga-
ged. It shows the people, that they are
about a serious work — it quickens atten-
tion, it makes them feel — this is prayer —
"this is none other than the house of
God — this is the gate of heaven." We
are not sufficiently aware of the power
which we wield in the administration of
public worship and of the sacraments.
Two causes mar their usefulness — the
ignorance of the people, and the absence
of a spiritual mind on the part of the
minister. As long as deadness and for-
mality are found in our religious assem-
blies — as long as ignorance, and supersti-
tion, and error, prevail with regard to the
sacraments, we cannot look with confi-
dence for a blessing upon the administra-
tion. Let us instruct our people in these
things, let us bring the unction of a de-
votional spirit, along with us, to these
duties, and we shall, with God's blessing,
witness an improvement amongst our
people.
The other branches of ministerial duty
may be included under the head of Pri-
OR, GOSPEL PREACHER.
227
vu'te ministrations. And hero, brethren, 1
desire again to remember, I am not
teaching — I profess not to show you what
you ought to do ; but I desire to have my
own mind as well as yours drawn with
serious thought to those things which,
though we knew them before, we need
to be established in, that " in all things
we may approve ourselves as the minis-
ters of God." The Scriptures, the mir-
ror of the Christian ministry, make large
allusion to the pastoral department of the
office. The terms shepherds, watchmen,
overseers, stewards, import not a mere
general superintendence, but an acquaint-
ance with individual wants, and a distribu-
tion suitable to the occasion. The great
apostle neglected not, when in a settled
ministry, to go " from house to house,"
when occasion required. I have often
thought upon the words of a pious min-
ister, whose' writings are well known —
" My heart does not upbraid me with
having kept back any thing profitable to
my people, but I fear I have not follow-
ed them sufficiently with domestic and
personal exhortations." Bishops Burnet
and Leighton enjoin it on the consciences
of their clergy; the former, in remarking
on the question in the ordination service,
upon this point, says — " This is as plainly
personal and constant as words can make
any thing, and in this is expressed the
so much negleeted but so necessary
duty which incumbents owe their flocks,
in a private way, visiting, instructing,
and admonishing them, which is one
of the most useful and important parts of
their duty." It is, brethren, a part of our
duty to which perhaps the most reluct-
ance is felt, and in which perhaps the
greatest difficulty is found. We may gra-
tify our vanity by preaching, but diligence
in private can scarcely arrive from any
thing but a sense of duty. Have we not
found the advantage of such private dili-
gence, in giving greater efficiency to our
pulpit instructions, in giving an impulse
to our reading, in making us acquainted
with the ways of the human heart, and
with the particular cases which call for
counsel — in preventing schism, and direct-
ing the awakened conscience to sound
and wholesome truth ? How else can we
have the mind of the apostle, " who is
weak, and 1 am not weak — who is offend-
ed and I burn not ?" There is one part
of the pastoral work whose ^importance
we cannot overrate — I allude to the in-
struction of the young. We know and
lament the great ignorance which prevails
amongst many of our people, and what
little instruction they derive from pulpit
discourses, even though we use as we
should do, "great plainness of speech :"
we grieve over their unintelligent and
loose attachment to the church, while we
see them almost unalterably fixed in
wrong and pernicious habits of thought
and life. Much of this is to be traced to
the defectiveness of religious education.
It is in the morning of life that the seeds
of spiritual knowledge should be sown —
then the principles which we would wish
to observe directing and influencing them
in after life should be implanted ; where-
fore we ought to rejoice in the wide spread-
ing of Sunday school institutions. We
should value them as combining many
blessings — as the means of impnarting
saving and sanctifying knowledge to chil-
dren, and of engaging the gifts of the Chris-
tian portion of our laity, in the promo-
tion of their Redeemer's kingdom. But
should they not be under the vigilant su-
perintendence of the minister? should
they supersede his catechetical, and (where
numbers do not hinder it) individual in-
struction according to the wise provision
of the church — " these ought we to do,
and not to leave the other undone?" By
this the minister is enabled to give those
special instructions, which he best knows
them to stand in need of; he is thus secur-
ing their attachment to the church, and
laying the foundation for their adherence
to it in future life. In the valuable biogra-
phy of Doddridge, his mind is thus re-
corded — "Oh! could I spend more of
my time in catechizing children, in ex-
228
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
horting heads of families, in addressing
young people !" The important rite of
Confirmation may be made valuable as a
point to which all religious instruction is
more immediately to lead, being the ordi-
nance in which, by their own act, the
young of the flock confirm their baptis-
mal engagements, and devote themselves
to the Lord.
But to conclude, brethren, when we
survey this our work of unspeakable dig-
nity, of awfully important and continually
pressing duty, have we not cause to pray
that we may realize our responsibility —
responsibibity in regard to our care and
diligence, our talents, our preaching, our
example ? It is the conviction of the ex-
cellency and the difficulty of the work
that will operate as a check to indolence
and carelessness, prepare us for the im-
provement of all gifts and graces, call forth
a spirit of prayer, and exercise an entire
dependence on Christ: it will preserve
against being diverted from our work,
and make us deeply solicitous about suc-
cess. Let us feel that we cannot singly
ruin or save ourselves. Do not our con-
sciences tell us that did we but realize the
value of the soul — were we suitably im-
pressed with the love of the Saviour, or
with a sense of our obligations, we should
not minister as we do, that we have rea-
son to be ashamed of every sermon we
preach, and to tremble at every death
amongst our flock, which tells us that ano-
ther account is carried before the Judge
— an account linked with our own, and
crowded with sins of ministerial omission
and unfaithfulness, compelling us to cry —
" Deliver us from blood guiltiness, O
God." " Who is sufficient for these
things?" Let us remember for our com-
fort, that our ministration is preeminently
the ministration of the Spirit. It is He
who qualifies and sends forth ministers —
He sustains them also, and gives them
success. By keeping close to the foun-
tain of grace, we secure a large measure
of this influence — we go forth to our
work with seriousness and* power — we
converse with eternity — we are preserved
from the snares which compass us on
every side, and we will behold too the
pleasure of the Lord in the advance-
ment of his kingdom to prosper in our
hands.
Dublin: New Irish Pulpit Office, 1, St. Andrew-st. ; John Robertson ;
W. Curry, Jun. and Co.; R. M. Tims, W. Carson, D. R. Bleakley. London ;
R. Groombridge, J. Nisbet and Co. ; Liverpool, H. Perris ; Manchester, Pratt,
Chester, Seacome ; Cork Tract Repository ; Drogheda, C. F. Collins ; and all
Booksellers.
GEORGE FOEDS, Printer, 1, Saint Andrew-street.
(.Opposite Trinity-street, Dublin.)
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
OR
GOSPEL PREACHER.
" We preach Christ crucified —
" Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God."—.! Cor. i. 23, 24.
No. LXXXVIII. SATURDAY, 20th JULY, 1839. Price 4d.
BEV. W. BALFOUR.
hev. ceohc.e Ross.
A SERMON,
PREACHED AT ASKEATON CHURCH, CO. LIMERICK,
BY THE REV. WILLOUGHBY BALFOUR, A.M.
Late Rector of Askeaton.
1 John, iv. 7.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God."
This epistle of St. John is full of power
throughout : of the power, if one may so
speak, of Love.
Of all those that attached themselves
to the service of the Lord Jesus, when on
earth, St. John seems to have caught most
of the spirit and temper of his Divine
Master. There is a tone of simplicity
and heavenly mindedness, of calmness and
energy about all he writes, that commends
itself to us, as what was naturally to have
been expected from " the disciple that
Jesus loved." We have in his gospel
more of the mind of Christ than in any
VOL. IV.
of the others. Our Lord's words seem
to have made a deeper impression upon
him than upon his fellow evangelists.
Whilst they give facts, he records con-
versations : it is from him we have our
Lord's farewell discourses — His most
touching promises, and endearing expres-
sions.
Love only understands love. He
whose love is strongest will enter best
into the spirit and meaning of him he
loves. From the tone, therefore, of this
apostles' writings, we should gather how it
was that he was singled out as the espe-
230
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
cial object of Christ's regard. He dis-
cerned in him a kindred spirit; would
we inherit this spirit ? would ive enjoy
something of the same happy fellowship
that existed between the beloved disciple
and his Lord ? let us tread in St. John's
footsteps — let us follow him, as he followed
Christ — let us trace, as he did, his mas-
ter's character, and dwell, as he did, upon
his master s words, till our whole souls
come under their healing power, and take
the same heavenly stamp and colouring
with his.
And can I choose words that breathe
more of Heaven — of the spirit of Heaven
than those I have just now read to you —
" Beloved, let us love one another ; for
love is of God, and every one that loveth
is born of God, and knoweth God."
The apostle is writing to the church of
God — the children of God, as he had just
before termed them — " ye are of God,
little children." He, therefore, calls upon
them to be like God, as if he would say —
" Show something of the spirit of your
Father — His is a spirit of love ; — love is
His character, — love is his nature ; — ye
that partake that nature, bear ye love one
towards another ; — in thus loving ye shall
know that ye are His ; " for every one
that loveth is born of God, and knoweth
God;" to love, is to have the life of God
in the soul — ye cannot have love, but
from Him — if ye have it, ye are His — you
bear his image and superscription — you
are of the true vine — your fruits declare
it.
Such seems the line of the apostle's ar-
gument : and now to apply it to yourselves.
My brethren, shall I say that you have
veed of such an admonition ? or, rather,
may I not take up towards many of you
the language of the apostle Paul to the
Thessalonians, " as touching brotherly
love ye need not that I write to you, for
you yourselves are taught of God to love
one another ; and indeed ye do it toward
all the brethren ; but we beseech you that
ye increase more and more." Yes, this
would be to be indeed increasing " with
all the increase of God," to be shining
indeed unto the perfect day.
What a parish would not that be, iu
which all thus walked, in which all were
found thus growing up to the full measure
of the stature of Christ ! would not the
voice of joy and health be heard then in
its dwellings — the voice of the soul's joy
— the music of healthful affections ? In such
a pLce as this, if in any, it is, as David
speaks, that God has promised His blessing
— yes, he himself would dwell there, " for
he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God,
and God in him."
But what does the apostle mean by
love ? Do we not all know his meaning ?
not in some sense to know it, would be to
be strangers to the deepest and purest
feeling of the human breast. The love
of friends — the love of home — the love
of country — do we not know what these
mean ? yet is the love of which St. John
speaks a higher principle than any of these
all. It rises far above their level, and
finds its own only in the bosom of God.
It is a sharing of the Divine nature, — a
partaking of that fulness which goes out
through the universe, communicating its
own happiness, and rejoicing in the hap-
piness that it bestows ; it lives for others;
it yearns towards them, still spending
itself, in acts of kindness, and living
only thus to spend itself more and more.
To turn to the portrait of it as given by
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
231
St. Paul, by him who was himself the
living personification of what he pour-
trayed — this is the love that " suffers long,
and is kind, that envieth not" — is not jea-
lous, — that is — of the preference given to
others — " that vaunteth not itself," — is
not ready to put itself forward, but con-
siders all claims before its own; *' is not
puffed up" — with a high opinion of its own
good qualities ; no, but rather loves the
shade ; — " doth not behave itself unseem-
ly," — knows, that is, the respect due to
its neighbours, and yields it, — " seeketh
not her own,"— her own credit, interest,
elevation, either at the expense or to the
exclusion of others. This is the love
that is not " easily provoked ;" no — for
it is ready to bless its enemies- — " think-
eth no evil," — harbours no evil thoughts
of any man, — that " rejoiceth not in ini-
quity, butrejoiceth in the truth," — grieves
over evil, and delights in good,- -that bear-
eth or draws a veil over all things to the
disadvantage of its fellows, — hiding their
faults, instead of blazoning them, — "be-
lieveth all things" favourable of them, —
still hopes, where it may not believe, and
where it can neither hope nor believe,
bears patiently and sweetly, what it can-
not remedy, but might revenge.
Such is St. Paul's delineation of this
master principle of the renewed soul : but
to place it in a yet stronger light, let us
contrast it, as we have it in a still more
winning aspect — every touch and trait of
it, as here given, exemplified in the cha-
racter of our Lord ; let us contrast this, I
say, with the spirit that is its opposite, —
the spirit of the world, — tiie spirit that
meets us, turn where we will, in our
streets and markets, ave, or, it mav be, in
our own homes, and we shall then be best
prepared to feel its value.
Take a family, for instance, where the
apostle's admonition is unknown, or dis-
regarded ; and watch the behaviour of
the children, as they go and come upon
their different employments through the
day. Is all gentleness and sweetness in such
a family? — no cross words, or sour looks,
or angry tempers ? — no tears ever on the
cheek, or clouds upon the brow, but all
peace and sunshine ? — all cheerful obe-
dience to a father's orders ; all ready
compliance with a mother's wishes ; tones
of love, and looks of love, and acts of
love ; a hand at the service of all, and,
what is more, a heart at the service of all ;
longing to make all as happy as itself?
Ah ! I am thinking, I fear, of a far dif-
ferent home from those we are accustomed
to ; — the home of one, of whom we are
emphatically told, that " He was subject
to His parents," — of one who, whilst He
might have had legions of angels to wait
upon Him, was found lightening those
parents' labours by His daily toil.
But what would it be to have every boy
and girl amongst us thus treading in the
footsteps of the Holy Child Jesus ! He
had brothers and sisters we are told, —
how would he act by them? would they
ever have to complain of His roughness,
His peevishness, or His setting himself
up over them ? nay, but do we not find
that He had made Himself of so little con-
sequence among them, that His own
brethren would not believe of Him, that
He was the Son of God ! Oh, my chil-
dren, pray to the Lord Jesus to make you
such as He was, to teach you how to be in
your own homes, as He was in His home in
232
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
Nazareth — the light and ornament of that
home : happy those who are thus taught
of Him to love one another !
But again, in the case of parents and
teachers, those whose charge it is to form
the mind, and mould the character, to
train up children, either in the hours of
the sabbath or throughout the week, —
what shall we say, is in general the spirit
in which they train them ? oh ! is it in
the nurture and admonition of the Lord?
as the Lord would himself train them — as
He trained His disciples when on earth —
bearing with their dulness — making allow-
ance for their infirmity — drawing them
forward by the cords of love? Is ours,
I ask, thus the charity that suffers long,
and is kind ? can we, each uf us in our
degree, take up His language, as, in con-
trasting His own manner of teaching with
that of the scribes and lawyers, He ex-
claims — " Learn, learn of me, for I am
meek and lowly of heart,''— there is nothing
in me to repel or to discourage you ?
Or is there nothing at times of petu-
lance or impatience — no want of forbear-
ance — no provoking to wrath — (as the
apostle terms it) — and then perhaps se-
verity in correcting what we have our-
selves drawn forth ? oh, have we not
reason, such of us, to pray often for the
same love to one another, that our Lord
is day by day exercising toward us ?
In rebuke, again, that most difficult of
duties, how is it that we acquit ourselves ?
Are we careful to lean always to the side of
mercy, uniting with the love that reproved
the worldly-mindedness of Martha, the
kindness which would find an excuse for the
disciples, when they could have hardly
found one for themselves? and above all, in
intercourse with others, are we slow to
censure, and swift to approve, — have we
learned of Him who was ever on the watch
to cherish the first dawn of promise within
the soul — to reward the feeblest efforts —
to fan the smoking flax into a flame — who
so rarely remarked upon a fault in those
who followed him, whilst the whole lan-
guage of His life to them was that of the
apostle Paul to the Corinthians, — " Yet
show I unto you a more excellent way."
Oh for that love of Christ that grieved
too deeply over the faults it witnessed, to
make them the subject of remark or ridi-
cule ! which wept, whilst others would
have scorned — which would not put to
shame even an adulteress, as she stood
trembling there before Him — no, but
would breathe into her soul, in still small
accents of persuasion, the hope that there
was yet mercy for her — " neither do I
condemn thee, go and sin no more !"
But how endless are the instances in
which the example of our Lord comes in,
either in the way of instruction, or of silent
condemnation.
Have we authority over others, either
as masters or mistresses, as magistrates or
landlords, what a reproof to the haughti-
ness of temper, that is so natural to us all,
to an undue or uncharitable exercise of
power — the grace of Him who, whilst
Master and Lord, would wash the feet
of the very disciples that acknowled-
ged him as such ; who was amongst them,
as one who served, who would, by
his own example, teach us, that the true
worth of power lies in opening to us
a wider scope for the ministry of love.
Again, we are perhaps in danger of
party spirit in religion, of valuing our-
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
233
selves above our neighbours, on the
score of higher privileges, or a purer
creed. But the stranger, who sat by
Samaria's well would remind us, that
whilst we know what we worship, our
knowledge is best employed in imparting
itself to others — true love will delight
itself^as much in the conversion of a
Samaritan, as a Jew.
But we are in pain or in depression —
disposed, it may be, to dwell upon our
own sorrows, and to cloak onr apathy
toward others, under the pretence of
being overburthened ourselves : and do
those words that fell fromthe Redeemer's
lips amongst the agonies of the cross,
read us no lesson — when, forgetting his
own sufferings in the thought of his
mothers' uncheered helplessness, he sets
himself to supply his place to her, as far
as might be ; commending her to the
affection of the disciple he loved best —
in that simple expression, " Behold thy
mother," uttered at such a time, we have
what may surely put us to the blush for
our past heartlessness, whilst it sets
before us a model of happy imitation
for the time to come ?
Or is it possible, that we may be dis-
posed to envy another his advantage over
us? Is there anything of this dark leaven,
this root of bitterness, working within
the secrecies of our breasts, and have we
not cause to print on our remembrance
those words of Him too, who had not where
to lay his head — how he said " It is more
blessed to give than to receive ?' Ob
should we not have them sounding con-
tinually in our ears? Should we not
pray to be taught to enter into their full
depth and meaning ? If there be one
temper tenfold more the child of hell
than another, it is surely that, which leads
us to repine at our neighbours' welfare,
or success.
On the other hand, how lovely is that
spirit which shares alike in the joys and
sorrows of those around it — bearing their
burdens with them, and seeking in such
holy exercises of compassion, its own
proper and healthy play — a spirit that
finding this world for a while its home,
though tending by a kind of new instinct
to that which is beyond — sets itself to the
happy work of winning, if it may be,
many souls to glory. This is its travail
for this it thirsts, it prays, it labours :
what other business should it have in a
scene such as this ? What more noble
work should it be engaged in, than in
helping forward that, which drew from
the skies the Son of God?
For those skies it is fast ripening — it is
already one in spirit with their inhabitants ;
for love is the very atmosphere of heaven,
love is the life of angels, of the spirits of
the just made perfect — of God himself:
and in proportion as we grow in love, we
partake of God's similitude and power.
Transformed ourselves, we become the
instrument of transforming others ; it is
by means of this great principle, God
chiefly works.
As in the restoration of the widow's
son to life, the prophet had to lay himself
upon the child, to put his mouth upon
his mouth, his eyes upon his eyes, his
hands upon his hands, to impart, as it
were, the vital energy anew ; and as again,
in the incarnation, God came thus in
immediate contact, so to speak, with man,
meeting in the human nature every
234
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
faculty of his understanding, and every
feeling of his heart — so we must work
under God, in seeking to recover souls
to Him — we must touch them at all points,
be all things to them — unlearn our own
prepossessions— do violence to our own
inclinations, and strive to enlist all the
resources of their nature, on the side of
God— and what but love can hope to
accomplish this? Love has all quickness
of discernment, it is all eye, all ear, all
instinct; it, and it alone, can lay its hand
among the chords of human passion, and
draw out what melodies it will. It is
thus that it is the very power of God to
raise the dead. What is it that binds
the quickened soul again to Him ? The
love revealed in the atonement : and how
should the disciples of the cross go forth
into the world to fight their Piaster's bat-
tles unless the banner over them is love ?
This is the weapon by which they con-
quer, the badge by which they are known,
the link that binds them together. The
Church is to edify itself in love, to grow
up in love unto its head, and it is to grow
thus through eternity. And shall I need to
press on you further, my brethren — on any
of you — the exhortation of my text —
"Beloved, let us love one another?" I do
need it, for the human heart is a stubborn
thing, and there are those amongst us
surely, who are yet strangers to the first
principles of the gospel of Christ. How
should those, who neither know, or love
God — love one another, in the sense at
least, in which the apostle uses the term ?
And yet, my brethren, you may begin
to-day, what you have so long, and so
madly deferred. Yet, am I sure that I
can with truth say so? I am rot. There
is such a thing, I believe, a3 a callousness
of conscience, with which the Spirit of
God declines to work — a searing of the
soul tinder long and repeated trifling with
convictions, at first strong — a sealing up
to condemnation before the spirit quits
its earthly habitation — hell, in short,
begun upon earth. I do believe, the
Scripture bears me out in this assertion ;
I do believe that there are those who
have sinned themselves, in this world,
past, not the -power of the Spirit, but the
ivill of the Spirit, to renew them—to
whom repentance is impossible! And if
there is a truth on earth that ought to
startle you, my brethren, such of you as
1 now address, it is this. Some of you
have long heard, and heard in vain — you
have determined to go on a while longer
in sin, or you are perhaps half forming
again now, this same desperate determi-
nation ; but beware — I am giving you
warning. When I sat down to prepare
to address you, I prayed to the Spirit to
speak by my mouth, to give me a message
to vour souls. I believe He is now speaking
by me. He may be making with some of
you a last farewell effort : if you resist
the strivings of His grace to day, He may
let you alone for ever! By your own
souls then, I conjure you, to arise without
delay, and seek after God. If you will
seek Him in real earnest, it does not
signify with what ignorance or imperfec-
tion, He will be fond of you — He loved
you enough to give His own Son to die
for you. He will uphold you with his
whole heart ; only pray to Him, take
Christ for your Saviour, read your Bibles,
and struggle against your sins — if you
fall back into them, go back to Christ for
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
286
fresh pardon — fresh strength, and He
will give it you; but, as you value Heaven,
beware of trifling another hour with eter-
nity thus at stake.
There are those of you my brethren,
to whom the greater part of what I have
said to day, has been addressed, who love
God — your Saviour — one another — yes,
and the whole wide world : to you I would
say a few words more — you will bear with
me, whilst I would stir you up to renewed
and more untiring zeal. Ah! my bre-
thren, do we pray as we ought ? Do we
love as we ought ? Do we labour as we
ought ? I appeal to your own hearts, and
let your Saviour hear their reply ; yet
I should not be speaking in my Master's
spirit, did 1 seem to undervalue your
service — no, but I would have it abound
more and more. Ah ! yes, let us indeed
be, as a city set upon an hill, our lights
shining far and brightly : let us be as
living Epistles, to be seen, and read of
all men — our lives proclaiming whom we
serve. Let our thoughts be more toward
heaven — our intercessions more unwea-
ried — our faith stronger — our love in
fuller flow : to strengthen our principles
we must act upon them ; love itself,
unless brought into action, decays and
dies ; but we have every hour the oppor-
tunity of loving not in word, but in deed,
and in truth. Every hour we may be
denying ourselves for the sake of others,
and of our Master Christ — dying more
to self, and living more to God. Be this
our happy aim, it will bring with it its
own reward; for love is the life, the fire,
the true joy, and strength of the soul —
and yet to keep it in true exercise and
vigour, there is more than action necessary.
We must meditate on the great truths in
Scripture, we must be in communion with
the Father and the Son, and this, not
only in prayer, but praise. In Prayer,
the soul is perhaps too much occupied
with the thing asked for, to attend enough
to the character of the giver ; but we
cannot praise unless our minds are occu-
cupied with God himself. It is as we
draw near Him thus in child-like confi-
dence; as we think of that grace that
still rejoices over us, the unworthy chil-
dren of the dust, to bless us, and to do
us good ; as we remember the forbear-
ance He has shown us — the lengths he
has gone to save us — the kindness that
is every moment playing about us — the
yearning of his soul towards us; it is as
we have the Lord Jesus before us in all
the endearing relations in which Scrip-
ture reveals Him, as our Shepherd —
Intercessor — Brother — Husband — Friend
— and the soft and winning Spirit, in His
gracious offices of Comforter, and Puri-
fier — the spring of holy desires in us —
the pulse of our spiritual life — the quick-
ener of our renewed affections, minding us
andcherishing us, as a nurse cherishes her
own children ; it is, as we thus draw nigh to
God, and see God, as we know Him as
the only fountain of joy throughout the
universe, as delighting in the joy He
thus imparts — the happier, if we may so
speak, for making all around Him happy ;
it is, I say, as we thus come close to God, and
feel his presence, and rejoice in it, there
goes forth from it a healing and transfor-
ming influence upon our souls, " Be-
holding thus, as in a glass, His glory, we
are changed from glory to glory by His
Spirit," till we rise up by degrees in His
own pure and holy likeness. Then, the
love of the Father, abiding in our hearts,
236
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
overflows towards all with whom we hold
intercourse — born of God and knowing
God, we naturally love one another with-
out effort or constraint. We • are one
with God, and God with us, because we
have received of Him of His Spirit ;
and we love, because love is the
natural movement of our new and
spiritual life.
Let us but cling to his promises
in more child-like faith — let us act
more steadily on our principles —
let us follow Him more closely — let us
expect more largely from Him : thus,
opening our mouths wide, He will fill
them — He will satisfy us with his mercy
He will cause his glory to pass before us
— He will transfuse into us His own Spirit
— and having trained us here by holy
discipline to something of our true growth,
He will remove us to that better country,
— love's native home and element, —
where, far from the storms that shake
these lower skies, amid the airs of the
eternal clime, with her twin sister joy,
she sits and sings her fill amongst the
branches that overshadow the ^Paradise
of God.
RELIEVERS ONLY TRULY HAPPY.
A SERMON,
PREACHED IN RATHCORMAC CHURCH,
BY
THE REV. GEORGE ROSS, A.M.
Curate of Rathcormac.
2 Cur. vi. part
"As sorrowful, yet
Brethren — Self denial and severe trial
to flesh and blood, have been at all times
the lot of the Christian soldier. If you
have felt the way invariably smooth and
easy to be travelled, there is every reason
to think you have yet mistaken the road,
whieh I am assured is straight and thorny,
though still attesting the truth of Scrip-
ture, is also a path of pleasantness and
peace ; and the pilgrims who are^found
upon it are " sorrowful yet always re-
joicing."
It would be well just to repeat briefly
some of the causes which make the be-
liever sorrowful, ere we go on to consi-
der what is the subject of this day's dis-
course — the joys which are attainable, and
make up for the troubles to be endured
on the way to heaven ; for, while I show
the rocks as the xeay marks of the hea-
venward road, that souls may not be de-
ceived, I must not conceal the green
banks, lest they be discouraged. While
I would declare to you from God's Word,
that as surely as you have been travelling
across the wilderness to the shores of
heaven, you must inevitably have felt
of 10th verse,
always rejoicing."
the briers of the country. Yet, believe
me, many a blossom sheds its fragrance
on the atmosphere of a religious course :
all who have travelled it, and are now
passed into the holy city, tell us so in
the record of their journey — the Bible.
In the Christian bosom, the corrupt na-
ture still remains, with this difference,
that where it once held the sceptre, it
now is trampled on. This nature will
induce you at times to make some com-
promise with the world. It will ask you
to omit a duty now and again, on a
trifling cause ; or, by some specious rea-
soning, to absent yourselves from the
house of prayer: by gentle approaches
you may be gradually drawn back into
the world : Satan does not generally
tempt so much to gross sin as to little in-
fringements ; one wily act of his is to
lead you to do that of which you enter-
tain some doubt — you do not think it
is wrong, and you are not perfectly sure
that it is right. The feeling that says,
"do it, notwithstanding," is your enemy,
urging on your evil nature ; though
leaving the same thin;/ undone would be
•238
THE NEW HUSH PULPIT,
the safer and the religious part. True,
some loss may be sustained — some grati-
fication foregone — some gain diminished ;
but see how such sacrifices increase the
tender delicacy of the conscience, and
refine the soul to a higher purity. 1 do
envy the individual, if 1 may be allowed
such an expression, who can say in such
cases, " I think it almost certain this
thing will not displease my Heavenly
Father ; yet, as there may be a possibi-
lity of so doing, I will not engage in it."
Oh ! if one thing more than the other
attracts the complacency of heaven, it
would be such a state. The person who
is living daily and habitually thus denying
himself in every doubtful case, may,
during the moment of struggle — during
the sacrifice of what he desires — suffer
keenly ; but the gloomy night of struggle
is succeeded by a joyous morning. May
he not be said to be "sorrowful yet re-
joicing?" But then the Christian is also
called to deny himself frequently of that
which in itself is innocent and lawful: to
co-operate with God, he is called §n
to help on the cause of charity ; with his
money to bring the messengers of peace
on their way to peaceless lands ; this he
cannot well do, as he has only sufficient to
support himself in the condition in which
he is placed ; — but if he has made his
calling and election sure, he will be
found limiting himself — depriving his ap-
petite of what borders on necessity rather
than keep back his mite from the Lord's
treasury. He will also be devising how
he may make out something for his
Master's cause, by diminishing personal
expenditure. Thus he goes on, looking
around him where he may curtail for
God's glory, without sinking the condi-
tion in which the providence of God has
placed him ; — for observe, you are not to
draw a contrary conclusion from these
observations ; much, very much can be
done without merging the station which
each is called on to fill.
Such a course of self-denial — such a
watchful stewardship, is the believer's ;
and I cannot but instance them as a part
of the trials which human nature has to
bear, though mingled with such mental
gratification as to justify the application
of the text to more than the Apostle, so
that though " sorrowful," the believer is
yet " rejoicing."
Then there is the scorn of the world —
the imputation of bad motives — the
charge of pharasaic pride. When the
christian stands aloof from former com-
panions, and discountenances the levity,
or condemns the practice of those brought
into contact with him, the contempt
which such an unflinching course brings
upon the followers of Christ Jesus is
painful to him ; he is accounted beside
himself, presuming, forward, righteous
over-much ; though, if his inward feel-
ings were known, it might be perceived,
that it is with a fainting heart many a
believer stands up for his Master, to speak
the truth or reprove sin — that if a warning
conscience would be quiet, he would be
silent. O yes — it is a painful duty to raise
the solitary voice against the united ridicule
or inidignation of the circle with whom you
may be. The single and feeble remon-
strance for God is drowned by the loud si-
multaneous voice of the dissenting many.
The man who thus, if he is found among
those who love not the Lord, condemns
by his gravity, or looks, or words, the
canduct of others, will be shunned and
avoided. To escape such an end, the
believer will be tempted to conform in a
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
239
measure apparently with what goes on
around him, provided it be not downright
gross, while his secret heart is pained
that he treads in the steps of Peter, and
" denies the Lord that bought him." The
charges of absurd singularity, injudicious-
ness, forwardness, and so forth, are among
the troubles which distress the Christian,
who, while he is faithful, endeavours to
be so in the least offensive way. In sor-
row that he is thus mistaken, he may say
within himself of the gainsayers — ' ah !
how little do they know, that if I but con-
sulted my own nature and ease, I should
have desisted from the duty.' So he is
" sorrowful, yet rejoicing," as he lifts the
eye of faith and sees an approving smile
beaming from the skies — one worth all
the smiles of a wide world.
When, in retired meditation on these
things he is enabled to say — ' thou, God
seest my motive, Father, if thou ap-
prove let the world condemn' — surely
there is joy in the midst of sorrow ; aye,
joy chasing away the sorrow, and more
than satisfying the tempted child of God.
The chastisements which the Christian
suffers are often severe and afflicting.
He is in heaviness through manifold
temptations When he follows Jesus afar
off — when he loves an earthly object too
much — when he is deriving his satisfac-
tion from secondary blessings, and it is
doubtful how long God may be his chief
joy, — then He that will not give his place
to another, or suffer the first step to his
throne to be ascended, will visit his
people's iniquities with stripes, but will
not remove his loving kindness from
them. How boundless is the love of
our Father, who, where he might cast off
his short coming children, mercifully
sends his chastisements to bring back the
heart in undivided affection to himself;
to remove the cause of our slow
growth in the tempers and feelings
of true religion. These " chastisements
for the present are grievous, but after-
wards they jield the peaceable fruits of
righteousness." Oh ! these stripes of love
are not the least cause of that deep grati-
tude which swells the Christian bosom,
as he perceives the effect of these trou-
bles. The consolation and joy of closer
union with the Saviour is not obtained at
too dear a rate by the deepest trials we
are subjected to. The mariner to the
shores of heaven can cry out, ' give
me the billows with my Pilot rather than
the smooth sea without him ; give me
sickness, want or woe — but, Lord, leave
me thyself —
" The dearest idol I have known,
Whate'er that idol be ;
Help me to tear it from thy throne,
And worship only thee."
So far it is evident that the Christian
in this life is subject to sorrows from
various causes, some of which I have in-
stanced. These hot conflicts between
grace and the opposition of our evil
nature — between self-pleasing and self-
denial — are not so severe after grace has
had frequently the mastery ; but, though
weakened and wounded, the enemy is
still in the land, nor will he leave you to
perfect rest until you have chased him to
the banks of Jordan ; — there, oh, the
happy parting — the happy meetiny : there
you part with sin for ever — there you
meet with Jesus, to spend with him the
long for-ever!
It may be thought by many, that
the various requirements of Chris-
tianity, the self-denial, the decided sepa-
ration from the world, the refusal of every
240
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
unholy compliance, whatever be the loss,
the close, and watchful, and delicate
observance of the law of God in its true
spirit I say these may be thought a
bondage from which one would shrink.
True : without a changed heart and a new
nature it would be a sore burden ; but
this very distate ought most palpably
convince you of the entire want of pre-
paration under which man lies, till God's
Holy Spirit renews his soul by His effect-
ual agency. Yet, let it not be supposed
for a moment, that with all the troubles
peculiarly attendant on true religion, that
the Christian passes a cheerless existence,
or bids farewell to joy when he enters the
straight gate. Ah ! no, my brethren,
for believe me, if there were no soft skies
beyond the grave, no green fields of
Paradise for the traveller's weary foot to
tread, as he reaches the end of his hard
road, he would not go back to his former
course. Is it nothing to have the troubled
passions bound down, the rankling of
revenge, the fever of resentment quieted,
and bitter disappointment deprived of its
sting? — the anxious love of the world —
Oh ! what a devastation of peace in the
bosom where these stormy passions know
no restraint; — what a haven, what a
delightful calm, where these are daily
dying away ! But the child of God has
greater joys than these, though they, it is
evident, are sufficient to make a religious
course pleasanter in this life than the ways
of sin. There is an inexplicable joy, a
joy in which a stranger meddleth not, it
is the sense of being beloved by one who
is all that is pure and lovely — by one who
is the same to day in the Heavens as
when he wept in the house of mourning
on earth. Oh ! we are too apt to look
upon all this love of God as the benevo-
lence of a good king rather than the
very tender affections of a fond father,
a husband, or bosom friend. If you
looked upon it as something more fami-
liar, more like real love, it would touch
your affections with greater power. Can
we forget that the disciple whom Jesus
loved, rested his head upon his Saviour's
bosom, and knew that he was welcome
there? Oh! what must have been the
heaven of the disciples soul, as he felt
that the pillow beneath his head was fore —
love for him I for it is not so much that
God loves, as that God loves me, that
speaks to my affections, and leads me on
to duty. Such deep draughts of joy as
must have been experienced at these
moments, more than compensated for the
taunt, and the scorn, and the exclusion to
which the disciples of Jesus were exposed,
" In sorrow they were yet rejoicing."
When their Master passed into the
skies, the remembrance of those holy
meetings, now no more, may have saddened
their hearts, yet it brought the joyful
assurance that he " still lived to make inter-
cession for them."
Now why should not we appropriate
all this to ourselves? Let it not be answered
that we are too unworthy ; for be it re-
membered, that no Christian is more
shortcoming or defective than those very
disciples were. The road to the fountain is
open to all tvho will ; the virtue of the
waters will overcome the scarlet sin spots,
•'the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth
from all sin," and loudest is the angels'
joy when a monster of iniquity approaches
the healing waters of salvation ; for, as
the greater the disease, the greater credit
to the physician's skill in the cure, so,
the deeper the depravity, the more glory
to the "race that overcame it. If you
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
241
really desire to be freed from every sin
of every kind and degree, though yon
had the accumulated sin of the world,
you might lean with perfect security on
this limitless promise of Jesus, "whosoever
cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast
out — "you might lean on it, and plead it
to day, and depart with the pulse of im-
mortality throbbing in your soul : you
might ask, and expect, and receive anew
heart from Christ this morning — you
might go home rejoicing at having found
Him of whom Moses and the prophets
spake, and well might you be of good
cheer when the Spirit has whispered to
your conscience, " thy sins are forgiven,"
when the arms of the Deity and love are
around you, which neither angel nor
principality, nor power, can separate or
disunite.
Oh ! brethren, is not all this happy
hope, this happier assurance, enough
to verify the test, that though " sorrowful
the believer isalways rejoicing?" Yes, there
may.andhasbeenjoy, though the Christian
be as the persecuted writer of this epistle,
deprived of every earthly comfort, though
the fire of martyrdom Hashed around him.
Oh ! the prospect is something to reach
the home of happy spirits, to see there,
love in every face, and purity in every
breast, to sit down with some redeemed
group by the still waters, and talk over
the wonders of redeeming love — and all
this holy converse in the Saviour's glad-
dening presence! No wonder that Jesus
should say to his sorrowing dirciples,
" your sorrow shall be turned into joy,
your joy no man taketh from you."
Your fellow man can deprive you of
property, friends, life; but all his inge-
nuity cannot touch the immortal part
or take the Christian's joy from him.
In all the persecutions which the subtlety
of the devil or man worketh against us,
the perception of God's favor may be
clearer, the presence of the Saviour be
little short of sense; And when the peo-
ple of the Lord who once felt this presence
and have lost it by some negligence or un-
faithfulness, though to the world they
may be in circumstances of ease, so
long again for Him, they would be satis-
fied to obtain Him in affliction, to go witli
Him through the flood, to say with Peter,
' bid me walk to thee even on the waters. '
Oh ! brethren, the joy of a close walk
with God is inconceiveably great; as an
instance of which, allow me to mention
a striking case : some years ago, (as Mr
Abbott informs us in one of his works,)
a little boy in America was so powerfully
under the influence of religion, that the
praise which his sweetness of disposition
drew forth from those who could only
see to admire him, would pain the boy.
It could hardly be thought that one so
matured for glory, would be suffered to
remain long in this world, and accordingly
the lovely plant was carried to the para-
dise of God; but e're he closed his eyes
in Jesus, a disease of peculiar torment
afflicted this lamb of the Saviour's flock :
the physician, looking with amazement on
the silent sufferer, said, ' Nathan, are
you happy?' The boy, fixing his half
closed eyes, said, 'oh ! yes, very happy, for
" Jesus can make a dying bed
Soft as downy pillows are."
And now, my brethren, have I not pro-
ved that there is an extraordinary power
in religion? The flock of Jesus at the
time of his death had joy — the sickly
occupant of the straw pallet has joy —
the Christian family pinched with poverty,
have joy. Oh! shall I now in ^ain urge
242
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
upon you to proceed on through every
sacrifice in the path of religion, to make
sure by your life of obedience that you
have been united to Christ? For these plea-
sures are not tasted by the half religious,
no, nor by the compromising, worldly
Christian, nor by the man of little prayer,
nor by the hurried and forced reader of
the Bible, nor by the usurious, who tread
almost on the skirts of honesty.
Live then close to God, thus shall you
be happy here : I never said if you
are converted, you shall drink deep of the
waters of comfort ; you must be a pecu-
liar people separate from the world in
your aim and in your spirit, dying daily
to sin, growing in grace, increasing in
christian duty and christian feeling. Oh !
pursue after these, and sigh not at your
weakness to ascend this lofty eminence
Christ is your strength your shield; the
battle is the Lord's, lean upon Him, lean
alone upon Him, then assay to climb the
steep ascent to heaven —
" And tho' sill and death endeavour
From his love, your soul to sever
Jesus is your strength for ever."
FINAL JUDGMENT.
Resurrection will be no privilege to
them ; (the ungodly,) but immortality
itself their everlasting curse Would
they not bless the grave, " that land where
all thing? are forgotten ;'' and wish to lie
eternally hid in its deepest gloom ? But the
dust refuses to conceal their persons, or
to draw a veil over their practices. They
must also awake ; must arise ; must appear
at the bar : and meet the Judge : a judge
before whom "the pillars of heaven
tremble, and the earth melts away ;" a
judge, once long-suffering and very com-
passionate, but now unalterably determin-
ed to teach stubborn offenders, — what it
is to provoke the Omnipotent Godhead,
what it is to trample on the blood of his
Son, and offer despite to all the gracious
evertures of his Spirit.
O ! the perplexity ! the distraction !
that must seize the impenitent rebels,
when they are summoned to the great
tribunal ! What will they do in this day
of severe visitation ! this day of final
decision. — Where? how? whence can
they find help ? — To which of the saints
will they turn ? Whither betake them-
selves for shelter or for succour ? Alas !
it is all in vain ; it is all too late Friends
and acquaintances know them no more ;
men and angels abandon them to their
approaching doom ; even the Mediator,
the Mediator himself deserts them in this
dreadful hour To fly, it will be imprac-
ticable ■. to justify themselves, still more
impossible ; and now to make any sup-
plications, utterly unavailable.
Behold ! the books are opened ! the
secrets of all hearts are disclosed ! the
hidden things of darkness are brought to
light ! How empty, how ineffectual now,
are all those refined artifices, with which
hypocrites imposed upon their fellow
creatures, and preserved a character in the
sight of men ! — the jealous God who has
been about their path, and about their
bed, and espied out all their ways, " sets
before them the things that they have
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
•243
done." They cannot answer him one in
a thousand, nor stand in the awful judg-
ment. The heavens reveal their iniqui-
ties, and the earth rises up against them.
(Job. xx. 27.) They are speechless
with guilt, and stigmatized with infamy
before all the armies of the sky, and all the
nations of the redeemed — What a
favour would they esteem it, to hide their
ashamed heads in the bottom of the ocean,
or even to be buried beneath the ruins of
the tottering world !
If the contempt poured upon them be
thus insupportable, how will their hearts
endure, when the sword of infinite indig-
nation is unsheathed, and fiercely waved
around their defenceless heads, or pointed
directly at their naked breasts ! How
must the wretches scream with wild
amazement, and rend the very heavens
with their cries, when the right aiming
thunderbolts go abroad ! go abroad with
a dreadful commission, to drive them from
the kingdom of glory ; and plunge them
— not into the sorrows of a moment, or the
tortures of an hour, but into all the restless
agonies of unquenchable fire, and ever-
lasting despair !
Misery of miseries ! too shocking for
reflection to dwell upon. But if so dismal
to forsee, and that at a distance, together
with some comfortable expectation of es-
caping it O ! how bitter, inconceivably
bitter, to bear without any intermission,
or any mitigation, through hopeless and
eternal ages !
Who has any bowels of pity ? Who
has any sentiments of compassion ? Who
has any tender concern for his fellow
creatures ? Who ? In God's name, and
for Christ's sake, let him show it by warn-
ing every man, and beseeching every
man, to seek the Lord while he may be
found ; to throw down the arms of rebel-
lion, before the act of indemnity expires;
submissively to adore the Lamb, while he
holds out the golden sceptre Here let
us act the friendly part to mankind ; here
let the whole force of our benevolence
exert itself: in exhorting relations, ac-
quaintance, neighbours, whomsoever we
may probably influence, to take the wings
of faith unfeigned, or repentance unde-
layed, and flee away from this wrath to
come.
Upon the whole, what stupendous
discoveries are these ! Lay them up in
faithful remembrance, O my soul.
Recollect them with the most serious atten-
tion, when thou best down, and when
thou risest up. When thou walkest ;
receive them for thy companions ; when
thou talkest, listen to them as thy promp-
ters ; and whatever thou dost, consult
them as thy directors Influenced by
these considerations, thy views will greater),
thy affections be exalted, and thou thyself
raised above the tantalizing power of
perishing things. Duly mindful of these,
it will be the sum of thy desires, and the
scope of thy endeavours, to gain the ap-
probation of that sovereign Being, who
will then fill the throne, and pronounce
the decisive sentence. Thou wilt see
nothing worth a wish, in comparison of
having his will for thy rule ; his glory for
thy aim ; and his Holy Spirit for thy ever
actuating principal.
Wonder, O man ; be lost in admira-
tion, at those prodigious events, which
are coming upon the universe ; events,
the greatness of which nothing finite can
measure ; such as will cause whatever is
considerable or momentous in the annals
of all generations, to sink into littleness
or nothing ; — events (Jesus prepare us
for their approach ! defend us, when they
take place !) big with the everlasting fates
of all the living and all the dead. — 1
must see the graves cleaving, the sea
teeming, and swarms unsuspected, crowds
unnumbered, yea, multitudes of thronging
nations, rising from both I must see the
world in flames, must stand at the disso-
lution of all terrestrial things : and be an
attendant on the burial of nature. I
must see the vast expanse of the sky wrapt
up like a scroll ; and the incarnate God
244
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
issuing forth from light inaccessible, with
ten thousand times ten thousand angels,
to judge both men and devils. — I must
see the curtain of time drop ; see all
eternity disclosed to view, and enter upon
a state of being, that will never, never
have an end !
And ought I not (let the vainest ima-
gination determine ; ought I not) to try
the sincerity of my faith, and take heed
to my ways ? Is there an inquiry, is there
a care, of greater, of equal, of compara-
ble importance ? — Is not this an infinitely
pressing call, to see that my loins are
girded about, my lamp trimmed, and my-
self dressed for the Bridegroom's appear-
ance : that, washed in the fountain opened
in my Saviour's side, and clad with the
marriage garment, wove by his obedience,
I may be found, in peace, unblameable,
and unreproveable ? Otherwise, how shall
I stand with boldness, when the stars of
heaven fall from their orbs ? How shall
I come forth erect and courageous, when
the earth itself reels to and fro like a
drunkard? (Isa. xxiv. 20.) How shall
I look up with joy and see nay salvation
drawing nigh, when the hearts of millions
and millions fail for fear?
Rev. J. Hervey.
Psalms — xxn. xxin. and xxiv.
It is not (I think) generally noticed,
that these three Psalms set forth in the
clearest and most explicit way, and in the
regular order of succession, the crucifix-
ion, the death, and the ascension of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That the first of
these refers to His crucifixion is clear
from internal evidence; and in this opi-
nion, our Church has concurred, having
selected it as one of the proper Psalms
to be read on Good Friday. And that
the last of these refers to His ascension,
it has also determined, having selected it
as one of the proper Psalms for Ascen-
sion Day. Having then, made sure of
the truth of the 22 and 24 having a
reference to His crucifixion and ascension,
we will find on examination, that the 23rd
as clearly sets forth His death, where we
have the Spirit of our Great Redeemer
walking through the dark valley of the
shadow of death. But it is not in this
fact alone, that the beauty of these con-
sist, as there are many others of the
Psalms of David which speak as patheti-
cally of the sufferings, and as glowingly
of the exaltation of Christ ; but it is that
harmonious order of regularity and suc-
cession in which they are presented to us,
and which, on examination, we will find
to be neither fanciful or imaginary. For
in the 22 we see the sweet Psalmist of
Israel, the great antitype of Christ, strike
from the strings of his sacred harp the
plaintive notes of sorrow, so touching,
so highly wrought with pathos, that it
seems to be the outbreak of a bursting
heart — follow out that Psalm, and the
same air of melancholy runs throughout
all. Then in the 23rd the sacred musician
slightly alters his strain, it it not so plain-
tive — not so fraught with pathos as the
former; but assumes an air of solemn gran-
deur, like the deep toned requiem which
we sometimes hear, it speaks to us of death
— and represents the soul when walking
through that dark and benighted valley,
confidently resting on the arm of its God.
Then, a great change takes place — the
angel of sorrow has suddenly passed
away — a new spirit seems to animate the
harpist, and in the 24th, he breaks forth
into that magnificent and sublime descrip-
tion of the ascension of our Lord, and in
the wild extacy of spritual delight, addres-
ses himself to the very portals of the
angelic world — ■' Lift up your heads O
ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting
doors, and the King of glory shall come
in!"
HENR1CUS.
Dublin: New Irish Pui.tit Office, 1, St. Andrew-st. ; John Robertson,
W. Curry, Jun. and Co.; R. M. Tims, W. Carson, D. R. Blf.akley. London,
R. Groombridgf, J. Nisbf.t and Co. ; Liverpool, H. Perius ; Manchester, Pratt,
Chester, Seacomf. ; Cork Tract Repository ; Drogheda, C. F. Collins ; and all
Booksellers.
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
GOSPEL PJREACHER.
We preach Christ crucified —
Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God."— 1 Cor. i. 23, 24.
No. LXXXIX.
SATURDAY, 3rd AUGUST, 1839.
Price 4d.
REV. C. M. FLEl'RY.
REV. W. K. TATAM.
GRACE AND PROVIDENCE.
A SERMON,
PREACHED IN THE FREE CHURCH, GREAT CHARLES-STREET,
DUBLIN,
ON SUNDAY EVENING, JULY 21st, 1839,
BY THE REV. CHARLES M. FLEURY, A. M.
Chaplain of the Molyneux Asylum.
( And published at the request of the Congregation.)
Like, iv. 25, 26.
; But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven
was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the laud ; but
unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was
a widow."
Prom the context of the chapter we learn,
that the reference in this passage was made
by our Lord, to illustrate and prove the
sovereignty of God, and his predestinating
mercy. By sovereignty, we understand
that free, arbitrary, and uncontrolable
power and right, inherent in the Almighty,
to do with his creatures according to the
Vol.. IV.
good pleasure of his will : it was with
such sovereignty he acted, when it pleased
him to decline exhibiting in Nazareth
miracles, like those which he had dis-
played at Capernaum. And it was with
such sovereignty he passed over the
legitimate decendants of Israel, in the
days of Ahab, and caused his favour and
P
246
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
preserving mercy to rest on the habitation
and person of a gentile widow. " Known
unto God, are all his works from the
beginning. " It was his everlasting design,
then, to hold back the display of omni-
potence at Nazareth, as it had been the
everlasting purpose of his grace in the
midst of sinners, to select the widow
of Sarepta, and cause all blessings to
descend on her alone.
Why should we quarrel with this
doctrine of predestination ? Alas ! it
is our ignorance and our pride, that
induceus to condemn as cruelty, the
predestinating mercy of God ; to
which mercy, predestinating mercy
alone, is ascribable the salvation of
any sinner in this rebel world. True,
God has given his Son to die, that who-
soever believeth in him should not
perish, but have eternal life. Now, who
will believe ? Fling out the proclamation
of redeeming love wide upon the world —
sound the tidings of salvation over the
whole globe, and who will naturally
draw near to plead the proclaimed
pardon? Not one! Our hearts are at
enmity with God, and when he con-
descends even to importune the sinner
to repentance and life, the ingrate and
desperate monster man, turns from God's
merciful entreaty with abhorrence. There-
fore is it written, " as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God, who were born not of
flesh, nor of blood, nor of the will of man,
but of God" — of God's overruling grace,
which gently leads the will captive, and
effectually brings the sinner into peace.
Such is the course of mercy, and such
course has been known to, and decreed
of God, from everlasting. Shall we
quarrel then with predestinating love,
when, were it not for such love, neither
you, nor I, nor any mortal should ever
see the face of God and live ? God
forbid ! — may we learn to prize and bless
that love, which, extending beyond the
mere form of entreaty and admonition,
turns man to salvation, according to the
eternal purpose of the God of love.
Come now to the history referred to in
the text, which you will find in the 1st
Lesson for this evening's service, and
there, beloved friends, you have a most
edifying exemplification of divine grace
and mercy, in the brief account of the
widow of Sarepta.
In the first place, we learn from this
17th chapter of 1st Kings, that God is no
respecter of persons ; that is to say, is a
sovereign in dispensing mercy : or, in
other words, you learn that mercy is not
limited to class or party, to tribe or
kindred, but that whoever believes in
the name of the Lord Jesus, without
distinction of any earthly character, is
saved for ever. To this agree the words
of the Apostle Peter, as you read them
in Acts x. 34, 35, " Of a truth I perceive,
that God is no respecter of persons ; but
in every nation, he that feareth him and
worketh righteousness, is accepted with
him." This poor gentile widow, having
no claim by kindred or country on the
God of Abraham, found grace through
faith, and all and every earthly objection
hindered not the free and copious decent
of mercy on her household. This you
ought to understand thoroughly, and
assert firmly. You, beloved, are naturally
strangers to the house of Israel — gentiles —
abhorred of literal Israel, and looked
upon by all of that once chosen race, as
outcasts and reprobates for ever. But God
has removed the middle wall of partition ;
and the words of his prophet are in
course of fulfilment, " It is a light thing
that thou shouldst be my servant, to raise
up the tribes of Jacob ; I will also give
thee for a light to the gentiles, that thou
mayest be my salvation unto the end of
the earth." You think little, perhaps, of
this observation ; yet consider for one
moment, that while the prophecy and its
fulfilment give you a hope of eternal
mercy, on which you previously had,
and even now have, no national or in-
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
247
herited claim ; that the doctrine of pecu-
liar favour belonging to certain families,
sects, or classes, is one most prevalent
in the world. You are aware of the
power of caste in India, and of the estima-
tion in which each caste is supposed to
stand with the God of heaven. At home
you have the same persuasion strong and
deep, and boldly avowed amongst the
Roman Catholics ; they tell you, that
out of the church (meaning Home) there
is no salvation ; and they would thus
exclude you, as heretics, from life. Here
is your comfort, given in the assurance,
that whosoever worketh righteousness is
accepted of God ; this righteousness is
the righteousness of faith. " What shall
we do," said the opposing Jews to our
Lord, " that we may work the works of
God." " This is the work of God," did
he reply, " that ye believe on him whom
he hath sent." Faith is in man the
earnest and the seal of God's own righ
teousness, conferred on us by Jesus ; —
and faith is the principle and power,
morally speaking, by which righteous-
ness, acceptable unto God alone, can be
accomplished. Believe ye, therefore, in
the Son of God, and a righteousness,
never dreamed of by the ignorant Ro-
manist, is yours — the righteousness of
God himself. And here, let me beseech
you not to treat the assertion of the
Romanist with uncourteousness, as if he
intended to triumph maliciously in your
exclusion from divine regard ; — pity
him rather in his ignorance, and explain
to him the truth. Were his assertion
justified by truth, it could be uttered with
the greatest kindness and love. For
when men are perishing, and know not
where to find a refuge, then the declara-
tion, that the church of Rome was the
only refuge (if true) would lead to the
escape of all who fled eagerly to her
bosom. Teach the Romanist that his
proposition is true, " that outside the
church is no salvation," but show him
that his application of it is false : he
would assert the true church to be Rome,
show him that the true church is that
alone which Jesus loved, and washed
with his blood ; that all who rely on that
blood belong to that church, and all who
trust their own works, or merits, or
penances, belong to the foul apostasy.
The church of Christ is the pillar and
ground-work of truth ; but the church of
Rome, replete with traditions of men,
and built on lies and blasphemous
deceits, is and must be Babylon, doomed
to perish with all her victims and slaves,
under the burning wrath of the Almighty
God, when he comes to take vengeance
for the slaughter of his saints. Maintain
this proposition in its truth firmly, even
that " there is no name under heaven
given among men, whereby we can be
saved, but the name of Jesus." Fear
not the charge of bigotry, when men
object to you that such an exclusive
doctrine dooms the heathen to perisn. If
there be another revelation extant, which
declares the heathen to be as safely
circumstanced as the instructed Christian,
then may you endure objections ; or, if
the heathen, who know nothing of
Christ, exhibit a degree of moral worth,
that deserves respect and praise, then
may you justly fear the charge of bigotry.
But while the only revelation under
heaven declares salvation to be limited
to the faith of Christ, and your daily
observation assures you, that the uncon-
verted heathen are " liars, men stealers,
murderers of fathers, and murderers of
mothers," guilty of infanticide, and every
horrible crime, then rise up like men
and plead for the salvation of the gospel,
which is the sole salvation for our fallen
race, and urge on the progress of that
gospel, till every tongue on earth " has
learned Messiah's name."
The second particular which we should
infer from this 17th chapter of Kings is,
that God oft-timss, if not always, severely
chastens his people and afflicts their
souls, that they may not perish with the
248
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
ungodly. This widow, it appears, had
known the Lord before the prophet's
visit, for God had said to him, " I have
commanded a widow woman there to
sustain thee." And again, on the pro-
phet's arrival, she salutes him as one whose
religion she appreciated: " As the Lord
thy God liveth." She was involved with
others in a common calamity ; yet her
affliction was peculiarly severe — her
chastisement almost extreme. Remember
she was a lonely being — a widow ; and
while the common calamity had driven
all men, by the natural love of life, to
strain every nerve for existence, she,
left husbandless in the world, had none to
share her sorrows, or labour for her
support ; — nay, more, she was burdened
with an helpless babe, and thus em-
barrassed, incapable of such personal
toil as might secure her maintainance.
And that babe, too, was an additional
cause of misery ! When accosted by the
prophet, she told out in the language of
true poetry — the language that rises
from the heart — fraught with meaning,
and rich in pathos, she told out all her
woes. Reduced now to her last morsal,
and hopeless of relief, she said, " I have
not a cake, but an handful of meal in a
barrel, and a little oil in a cruse, and,
behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I
may go in and dress it for me and my
son, that we may eat it and die." Here
was sorrow upon sorrow ; the mother, a
lonely widow, friendless, amongst an
unfeeling and uncivilised people, her
heart bound up in the life of her poor
child, she beholds the approach of death,
and believes that she is called to watch
over the last agonies of that child perish-
ing with hunger. This was fearful
suffering — but it was over. Divine
mercy had commissioned the prophet to
bring relief — and child and mother were
preserved from want.
" Count it all joy, beloved, when you
fall into diverse temptation," and pass
under God's chastisement — they are de-
signed to work in you the comfortable fruits
of righteousness. Let such chastisements
assure you that God loves you, and wills
not that you should perish with the wicked,
who have no bands in their death, whose
houses are called by their names, and
who leave the residue of their substance
to their babes. You are chastened for
your eternal good ; and grieve not
under your afflictions, as if they were
extreme. You have not yet come to
famine, and widowhood, or loneliness;
you have not yet been reduced, in a
savage land, to your last morsel, and
there called to gaze upon the pale and
withering features of a starving babe.
Your lot hath been a milder one ; never-
theless, "through much tribulation (such
is the general rule) you must enter the
kingdom of heaven." Be ye ready
then for the time of trial ; watch in
faith — look with faith upon every mys-
terious event of providence, and while
to sight and sense there may appear
every thing lowering, and destructive,
and cruel, by faith you shall recognize
the hand of Almighty love ruling in the
storm — governing the affliction, and ap-
pointing all things to work together
infallibly for your good.
Thirdly — From this instructive and in-
teresting passage, you may learn the
blessedness of Christian hospitality. " Be
not forgetful to entertain strangers, for
thereby some have entertained angels
unawares," is the command of the Apostle
to the church at large. Such hospitality
the widow of Sarepta had learned to
offer, and she met her reward. You might
suppose 'hat she had received an express
command to entertain the prophet, but
the confession of her poverty and of her
despair, show plainly enough, that the
command given her was but the general
command of the gospel. — " Love one
another." It was a time of dreadful
distress — her own means were reduced,
as we observed, to the last morsel, never-
theless, at the stranger's call for aid, she
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
249
prepared to share with him even that
morsel. This was, you may well say,
rare benevolence — extraordinary gene-
rosity ; — it was more, it was gracious
generosity ; — it was the result of that
faith, which taught her to recognize in
every servant of God a brother — a brother
for eternity, and therefore she not only
hastened to bid him welcome to her
scanty meal, but we can easily suppose
she rejoiced in the opportunity afforded
of relieving, even in the least degree, a
suffering brother, and rejoiced to find in
the hour of extremity, a kindred soul
with whom she might hold communion,
and with whom, in holy fellowship, she
might offer up her dying prayer. What
an accumulation of mercies was now be-
stowed. Her trial is over — her wants are
commuted for abundance, and her
solitude exchanged for the society of
God's chief embassador. All this oc-
curred, too, in the way of recompense,
for God rewards each act of faith, obe-
dience, and patience, performed by every
soul that he has saved through grace.
Let us apply the matter before us here
to our own condition and duties. The
service of hospitality is as much bounden
on us now as it was when the brethren
wandered abroad in search of a retreat,
fleeing the calamities or persecutions of
the world. Our Master has enjoined
upon us, that we should study hospitality
— but not the hospitality of the uncon-
verted. When their feasts are prepared,
and their tables laden with sumptuous
fare, it is that pride may be gratified, and
their wealthy, or wealthier friends, may-
be entertained. With us the entertain-
ment is to be spread for the poor and
needy, who cannot reward us. Not,
beloved, that we should literally provide,
like our unconverted fellow-creatures,
sumptuous and unsuitable banquets for the
poor, or throw open our houses literally
to receive the wandering mendicant, or the
distressed of an inferior rank, rendering
them uncomfortable by a state and
ceremony, to which they were not
accustomed, and cutting off by one
extravagant meal, the means of affording
them, in their own homes, or in proper
asylums, entertainment and comfort for
weeks or months to come. We are called
by our Lord's command to vie with the
children of this world in wisdom ; and
while they economise, and retrench, and
prepare with all diligence for the enter-
tainment of their friends, we should
economise, retrench, and provide, with
every earnest exertion, for the support
and comfort of our friends, the followers
of Christ. I cannot say to you that,
perhaps, in the exercise of such righteous
hospitality, you may entertain angels ;
but you may, and will certainly, enter-
tain the God of angels, who, while he
said, " Whosoever shall give to drink
unto one of these little ones, a cup of
cold water only in the name of a disciple,
shall in no wise lose his reward," like-
wise said, " Whosoever receiveth one
such little child in my name, receiveth
me." And is this a trifling recompense,
that the Lord of angels — the God of
gods should be our guest? It is the
recompense and the honor, at which we
should ever aim; for our true happiness,
and true holiness, can arise only from
fellowship with the Lord of peace, who
dwells with, and shall be with his faithful
people always.
Lastly, from this edifying history, we
learn a solemn lesson against spiritual
idolatry — against the power of besetting
sin. Time rolled on, and the widow
and her son rested under the shadow of
the Almighty's wings, till every danger
and trouble were overpassed. But there
was an evil growing up in her heart,
which threatened the destruction of her
happiness, and were it possible, the des-
truction of her salvation, and that was
spiritual idolatry. The object of her
adoration was this only child ; the object,
observe, was a natural one, and the
danger of excessive affection for that
250
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
object therefoie the greater. Now, the
God who had called her to his blessed
kingdom, and had once given her a good
hope through grace, was determined that
his subject should not be lost, nor her
hope disappointed, nor that Satan should
triumph in her final ruin ; therefore, by a
single stroke, the desire of her eyes is
removed — her idol falls — the child is
dead ! Hear now her language of agony,
of conviction, and remorse, " What have
I to do with thee, O thou man of God !
art thou come unto me to call my sin to
remembrance, and to slay my son ?"
While her leaf was green, and prospertiy
smiled on her habitation by the Lord's
providence, her soul was weakening in
piety, and turning from an heavenly, to
an earthly object — her declension was slow,
gradual, unperceived, and unfelt, till the
day of her sudden and poignant tribula-
tion. When the divine arm inflicted the
judgment, she awoke to consciousness,
and broken into sorrow for the bereav-
ment, recognised, for the first time, the
sin into which she had fallen. Yet see
here, beloved, the work of merciful judg-
ment was effected — it had achieved its
destined purpose, and that was, to bring
home to her heart the conviction of her
crime, and with conviction, repentance ;
therefore the judgment was reversed at
once, and by the prophet's ministry the
child is restored again in life and
health to her arms; and that maternal
love which had clashed with the love due
to God alone, now chastened and sanctified
by the visitation, rejoices safely and happily
in the recovery of her son. Such was
the way of providence with David : his
sin deserved death, was unfelt and un-
repented till the prophet's reprehension ;
his immediate conviction and acknow-
ledgment, reversed the sentence and
elicited the answer, " Thou shalt not
die, God hath put away thy sin ! " But,
oh ! how long and obstinate was the con-
flict between the heart of Jacob in his
idolatry, and the rebuke of providence ?
he idolises Joseph, and Joseph is taken
from him, yet he repents not. His
excessive affection is transferred to Ben-
jamin ; and while Simeon is removed,
Benjamin is demanded. Then, in the
heat of controversy between his erring
affections and the judgment of heaven
he declares, " Me have ye bereaved of
my children ; Joseph is not, Simeon is
not, and ye will take Benjamin away ! —
my son shall not go down with you ! But
Benjamin must be given up — the sin of
the aged patriarch must be eradicated —
the famine continues — death stares him
in the face, and at last subdued, broken
and contrite, he yields to God, sends
Benjamin to Egypt with his brethren,
prays a blessing on their departure,
and with folded hands sits down meekly
and submissively under the will of God
saying, " If I be bereaved of my children,
I am bereaved."
" Little children, keep yourselves from
idols," is the last sentence in St. John's
first epistle — his last charge to the
church ; to you, beloved, is that sentence
addressed ; and though it suits principally
the early stage of the believer's life, yet
in his more matured estate you may
observe, from the cases cited above, he
is still open to the peril of false affection —
the undue and disproportionate love of
the creature. To preserve yourselves
from spiritual idolatry, it is needful that
you consider well both the judgments
which.God pours out on all declensions of
heart, and the supreme loveliness of God's
own character. As a holy and jealous
God, he will not receive divided homage,
nor accept the service of a heart that is
but partiallyengaged to him. His demand
is " give me thy heart" — thy whole
heart. The rejection of this claim, brings
down on us his sad rebukes, and they
are oftimes bitter rebukes, in proportion
to the enormity of our sins ; he will not
spare wife, or child, or husband, the
dearest pledge of life, if we become
backsliders from that whole and perfect
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
251
service once professed. As you love
those pledges — as you would shun the
fearful chastisements of heaven, flee all
idolatry, and let God alone rule Lord of
your affections. And why should he not
thus rule ? Consider the loveliness of his
character, and you have all that can and
should command your best and strongest
regards. Is he not the God that has
carried you from the birth through all
the troubles, and trials, and dangers of
life, safe to this hour — who fed you and
nourished you in health, and watched
over your sickness, with unslumbering
eye-lids — provided you with all the com-
forts of home now possessed — the friends
notv prized ? Is he not the God who
spared you, when your iniquities deserved i
death — endured, with all long-suffering,
your impenitence — and has collected you
this evening to hear of his mercies, and call
to mind his compassions through Christ ?
Surely, this God of unbounded goodness,
who spared not his own Son, but freely
gave him up for the redemption of men—
of sinful men, whether we view his
bearing towards ourselves, or his great
and glorious work, done for the recovery
of our lost rebel race, is the God, whose
every act and revelation of character
fairly entitles him to our highest and
holiest love. To him then, the God of
all grace and providence — the God of
love, be ascribed and rendered up for
ever all praise, honour, and sincere re-
gard, world without end. Amen.
THE CHURCH, THE PLANTATION OF GOD AND NOT OF MAN.
A SERMON
PREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN,
ON SUNDAY, 30th JUNE, 1839,
BY THE REV. W. K. TAT AM, B. D,
Incumbent of Oswaldtwisle, Diocese of Chester, and late Assistant
Chaplein of Bethesda, Dublin.
Matthew, xv. v. 13.
"Every plant which my heavenly Father bath not planted shall be rooted up."
We may observe, (except perhaps in some
to whom the revelation of the gospel of
Jesus Christ hath never come even in
word,) that notwithstanding the depravity
of human nature in its fallen state, there
is, in a greater or less degree, a theory of
the truth in the understanding, and a tes-
timony of the truth in the conscience.
Whatever remains of original righteous-
ness is to be found in the understanding
and the conscience. Thus, in the in-
stances of Agrippa, Herod, and Felix, it is
recorded, that on hearing that truth there
was a reflection of it in the partial and
temporary conviction of their understand-
ings, and a response in the alarm of their
startled consciences: — if one was almost
persuaded to be a Christian ; if another
heard the word gladly, but, on his relapse,
was so terrified as to take Jesus for
the Baptist, whom he beheaded, risen
from the dead ; if the other trembled on
his tribunal and amid his guards, before
his helpless prisoner, reasoning of righte-
ousness,temperance,and judgment to come
we must conclude, that as the gospel did
not come to them in saving power on these
occasions, there must have been some-
thing in the understanding and conscience
of those educated heathen that could be
affected by the simple majesty of the truth
of God as it is in Jesus.
It is not so with the heart ; there is no
good in it by nature ; ' it is deceitful above
all things, and desperately wicked :" if
the faculties of the mind and the powers
of conscience , are in some degree of
healthy exercise, it is not so with the feel-
ings and affections, they are entirely fallen
— and it is the uneasy consciousness of
this alienation of the heart from God —
the loving of the creature more than the
Creator — yea, the more than alienation
of the affection — the active carnal enmity
that has in every age and nation led to
the invention of some kind of religion,
and the almost universal adoption of
sacrifices by way of expiation ; while
among those to whom a revelation of the
truth has been given, but who have not
received it in the love of it, there has been
always an attempt to seek refuge and re-
pose in something that will either obscure
this lingering light of truth in the under-
standing, or stifle the witnessing of that
truth in the conscience — the former flash-
ing on their souls occasional glimpses of
their real character before a Holy God,
the latter affrighting them with fearful
forebodings of his retribution as a righte-
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
25$
ous God, who will by no means clear the
guilty ; we find no device more common
than that of resting on traditional outward
ordinances, and hereditary religious privi-
leges. In different dispensations of the
professing Church, there may have been
variations dependent on national and other
circumstances, or the alteration of ecclesi-
astical ceremonies and customs ; but the
spirit is the same, and just, because that in
man with which it is so congenial, is ever
unchanged except by the Spirit of God ; —
the proud, carnal, self-sufficiency of the
natural man is its element, and it is agree-
able to flesh and blood to be persuaded
that an inward principle of holiness and
character, necessarily issuing in self-denial
and painful mortification, may be dispen-
sed with, or compensated for, by the pos-
session of ecclesiastical privilege : and the
system that in any way espouses such a sub-
stitution of name, form, and ceremony
for the vital power of godliness, is eagerly
embraced as a sedative or palliative for
the troublesome stirrings of that inward
witness which, more or less, in every man
corresponds with the evidence revealed in
the word of God, as the apostle says, "by
manifestation of the truth commending
itself to every man's conscience," and it is
felt to be a kind of relief from painful and
unpleasant convictions, when the under-
standing can be so darkened, and the in-
ward monitor so silenced, that an appeal can
be made to the less exacting testimony of
human tradition, from the strict searching
inquisition of God's holy word, which is
" quick and powerful as a two- edged
sword, to the dividing asunder of soul
and spirit ; a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart," an instrument
" mighty to the pulling down of strong
holds, casting down imaginations, and
every high thing that exalts itself against
the knowledge of God, and bringing into
captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ." The very fact of an appeal
to another standard than that of scripture
is an evidence of the absence of divine
illumination in the heart. — " To the law
and to the testimony, if they speak not
according to this word, it is because there
is no light in them."
Early in the history of the Jewish
Church, we find the prophet Jeremiah
commissioned to denounce this spirit in his
countrymen, " Trust ye not in lying words,
saying — the temple of the Lord, the tem-
ple of the Lord are we : '' and our Lord had
to contend with the same in the days of his
ministry — it was then the abounding and
besetting corruption of the Jewish Church,
cancelling all moral obligation, nullifying
every holy commandment, exhibiting itself,
at one time, in the self-righteousness of
the man who thanked God that he was
not as other men, and said to his sin-
stricken neighbour, " Stand by, for I am
holier than thou ;" at another time, in the
ceremonial exactness that would " strain
at a gnat and swallow a camel," that would
" pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cum-
min, omitting the weightier matters of the
law, judgment, mercy, and faith ;" at ano-
ther time, in the excited zeal that would
compass sea and land to make one prose-
tyte; at another in that affected reverence for
the memory of ancient martyrs that would
build the tombs of the prophets, and gar-
nish the sepulchres of the righteous — in
that ostentatious charity which, when it
gave alms, caused a trumpet to be sounded
before it — in that vain display of ecclesi-
astical costume that made broad the
phylacteries and enlarged the border o f
their garments — in that love of pre-emi-
nence and authority in the church that
sought the chief seats in the synagogue,
and greetings in the market place, and to
be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi — in that
mock devotion which prayed, standing in
the market place, and made long prayers
for a pretence — in that feigned mortifica-
tion that put on a sad countenance, and
disfigured the face, that they might appear
unto men to fast — in that profane reve-
rence for the services of the sanctuary that
swore by the gold of the temple and the
gift on the altar — in that vain worship that
was occupied with meats and drinks, with
the washing of cups and pots, brazen
vessels and tables — with the observance
of days, and months, and years — with the
signs instead of the things signified — with
the external and not the internal — with
the carnal and not the spiritual — with the
shadow instead of the substance — with the
letter and not the spirit, ending in that
consummate hypocrisy which our Lord
described a making clean the outside of
the cup and of the platter, while within
they were full of uncleanness, extortion,
iniquity, and excess, and to which he ap-
plied the appropriate epithet of a whited
sepulchre ; this was the canker that eat
nut all the spirituality of the Jewish
254
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
Church, until her rituals, ceremonies, and
ordinances were utterly abolished by the
introduction of another and a simpler dis-
pensation. That this was the prevailing
corruption of the Jewish Church, and of
every professing Church, is further evident
from the unqualified way in which the
apostle Paul repeatedly rebukes it ; thus,
" in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision
availeth any thing nor uncircumcision, but
a new creature." "Behold 1, Paul, say unto
you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall
profit you nothing ;" and again — " He is
not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is
that circumcision which is outward in the
flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly,
and circumcision is that of the heart, in
the spirit and not in the letter, whose
praise is not of men but of God." After
he had, with a holy sarcasm, enumerated
their boasted privileges of " Behold thou
art called a Jew, and restest in the law,
and makest thy boast of God, and knowest
his will, and approvest the things that are
more excellent, being instructed out of
the law, and art confident that thou thyself
art a guide of the blind, a light of them
which are in darkness, an instructor of the
foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the
form of knowledge and of the truth in the
law," — what is the obvious inference, but
that the highest external privilege may
consist with the profoundest practical ig-
norance of God — that true religion is a
plant not of earthly but of heavenly growth,
r.ot of human but divine propagation ?
The great design of Christ and his apostles
being to inculcate that the essence of true
religion was a change of heart, which,
making us partakers of the divine nature,
elevated the fallen affections to their pro-
per objects — things above, and that purity
of character and of life were the result of
the possession of an inward principle of
sanctity, not of the possession of any out-
ward privileges, or the application of
outward signs or sacraments, or the obser-
vance of ceremonials, however ordained
or sanctioned by divine authority, and
this was the same in the new dispensation
as in the old, for a similar caution is ad-
dressed to its subjects in reference to
baptism, as the counterpart of circum-
cision — " not the washing away of the filth
of the flesh, but the answer of a good
conscience towards God,'' while the great
rule of apostolical teaching, after our
Lord's example was to show the connex.
ion between this inward sanctification,
and the written word of God, in contra-
distinction to the testimony of human
tradition, however venerable for its anti-
quity ; the truth and true holiness being
inseparable, at the same time urging the
indispensableness of divine agency to effect
this sanctifying change, and ascribing the
whole work to God as to its author, a doc-
trine no less unpalatable to man with his
affections estranged from God, than the
necessity of this change itself; so that
whatever may be a man's outward privi-
leges as a professeing member of the visible
Church, whatever may be his favourable
position in the vineyard of the Lord,
although planted by human instrumentality
in the midst of the means of grace, ordi-
nances, ceremonies, sacraments — it avail-
eth nothing, even though a Paul plan-
ted, and an Apollos watered, it is God
alone that giveth the increase — " every
plant which my heavenly Father hath not
planted shall be rooted up.'' — In the
context of this passage we have a power-
ful illustration of the whole subject. The
occasion was the captious question of the
Scribes and Pharisees to our Lord, why
His disciples, contrary to the tradition of
the elders, " washed not their hands when
they eat bread ?" to this our Lord re-
plied, that they had so overlaid the truth
with the dicta of human authority, and
human testimony, that it was either neu-
tralized or nullified, and as is the case of
the obligation of the fifth commandment,
that tradition was made a pretext for its
flagrant violation, under the mask of a
most sanctimonious regard for the glory
of the sanctuary ; — our Lord, to show that
with all their rigid scrupulosity as con-
cerned the interest of the temple, their
services and devotion were unavailing,
refers them to the prophesy of Esaias —
" This people draw near unto me with
their mouth, and honoureth me with their
lips, but their heart is far from me ; in
vain they do worship me, teaching for
doctrines the commandments of men." —
Out of their own prophet, he charges them
with empty formality in their worship, and
hollowness in their profession ; one thing
they lacked — inward, heart-religion— their
affections were still estranged from God ;
and our Lord, solicitous to impress em-
phatically that inward character was the
essential of religion, turns to the multi-
tude to explain it by a familiar illustration,
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
255
" not that which goeth into the mouth
defileth a man, but that which cometh
out of the mouth, this defileth a man ;" —
there is an issue for what goeth into the
mouth, but what cometh out of the mouth
is the characteristic of what is within, the
index of the heart, whether it is pure or
polluted, — " those things which proceed
out of the mouth come forth from the
heart, and they defile the man ; for out
of the heart proceed evil thoughts, mur-
ders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false
witness, blasphemies, these are the things
which defile a man, but to eat with un-
washen hands defileth not a man.'' A
doctrine such as this must necessarily be
offensive, for it pronounces a blessing only
on the puie in heart, carries religion away
from all outward things into the in-
nermost recesses of the bosom, exploring
the motive of every action, and detecting
even the hue of every thought, while it
insists on a renovation of it by the Spirit
of God, before there can be, in the cha-
racter, a conformity to the divine image.
This was the effect of our Lord's statement
— " Then came the disciples and said
unto him, knowest thou not that the Pha-
risees were offended after they heard this
saying ?" The disciples seem surprised,
but their master expected it as a matter of
course, by simply implying that they were
yet strangers to the work of sovereign grace
in its converting and sanctifying power ;
that though planted in the vineyard of the
visible Church, they were not planted by
his heavenly Father — he declares that such
religion cannot abide — " every plant which
my heavenly Father hath not planted shall
be rooted up ;" — and as if he intimated
that there would be always many ready
to teach the system which he denounced,
and many as willing to be taught, he
adds, in words that pourtray, with almost
graphic distinctness, one of the most
awful groups that can be found in the
broad way that leadeth to destruction —
" Let thc-m alone, they be blind leaders
of the blind, and if the blind lead the
blind, both shall fall into the ditch.''
This plantation is God's husbandry, and
the process by which the trees of righte-
ousness are planted — the work of the
Father, — the planting of the Lord, — sets
forth the written word as the instrument,
Christ as the truth, the.) ground on which
the tree is planted, and the Holy Spirit
as the agent. The apostle, speaking of
the Church, says that it is sanctified and
cleansed with the washing of water by the
word ;" — connecting the word with the
sacrament of baptism as the rite of intro-
duction to, or planting in the Church.
Again, in Titus, iii, 5, " saved by the
washing of regeneration and renewing of
the Holy Ghost," — plainly declaring the
instrumentality of the word and the agency
of the Spirit as indispensable accompani-
ments of a true planting by baptism into
the Church of Christ. In Peter, 1, 22,
23, we have the purification of the soul,
and a purity of heart, connected with
regeneration, and this with the written
word — " the truth" — " Seeing ye have
purified your souls in obeying the truth
through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of
the brethren, see that ye love one another
with a pure heart fervently, being bom
again, not of corruptible seed, but of in-
corruptible, by the word of God, which
liveth and abideth for ever;" and then in
Romans, vi. 5, we have the fundamental
doctrines of the gospel in the practical and
experimental reception of which the sin-
ner issaid to^' be planted in Christ, rooted
and grounded by a living faith — " if we
have been planted together in the like-
ness of his death, we shall be also in the
likeness of his resurrection ;" — where the
leading facts of the mystery of the holy
incarnation are represented as typical and
significant of the mighty change wrought
by the Spirit, whereby they may be said
to have died unto sin, but to be made
alive unto God, raised up by the Father,
as a tree rises from the ground, to walk in
newness of life. In this sense the apostle
James makes the word the instrument of
salvation — " the engrafted word which is
able to save your souls." The figure of
a plantation is employed by our Lord in
John xv. not merely to show that He is
the root of strength and nourishment to
the true Church, but that the written word
is the great instrument of an abiding
sanctifying union between Him and the
Church — " I am the true vine, and my
Father is the husbandman,'' — " Now ye are
clean through the word." — " If ye abide
in me, and my ivords abide in you." '' If
a man abide not in me,'' — that is, if he be
not planted in me, by the instrumentality
of my word, by the power of the Holy
Ghost — " He is cast forth asabranchand
is withered, and men gather them and cast
them into the fire, and they are burned,"
256
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
—an awful parallel with the text — " Every
plant which my heavenly Father hath not
planted shall be rooted up."
We have a remarkable instance also in
John, 8th chap, where our Lord emphati-
cally connects inward character with the
outward written word, verse 31- " If ye
continue in my word, then are ye my
disciples indeed." This was spoken to
those Jews who are said to have believed
in him, but with that belief which results
from a conviction of the understanding,
on the evidence of miracles — not the as-
sent of a heart regenerate by the power
of God — not the faith which " obeys from
the heart the form of doctrine into which
it is delivered." Our Lord continues,
" and ye shall know the truth, and the
truth shall make you free." What was
their answer ? — "We be Abraham's seed,"
as if patriarchal succession implied spiri-
tual succession, or the transmission of
spiritual character by genealogical des-
cent ; or, as in the case of Nicodemus,
who thought that it was conveyed by na-
tural generation, until our Lord surprised
him by the, to him, novel and extraordi-
nary statement that " that which was born
of the flesh was flesh, and that which was
born of the Spirit was Spirit : marvel not
that I said unto you, ye must be born
again" — Ye Jews, with all your church
privileges, andallyourdivine ordinances —
and even you, Nicodemus, a ruler in
Israel, with all your legitimate hereditary
authority and dignity, sitting in Moses'
seat (our Lord admits their natural and
national relationship to Abraham, but he
denies that they had the inward character,
the distinguishing spiritual qualities of
Abraham, for he detects murderous
thoughts passing in their hearts) " I
know that ye are Abraham's seed, but ye
seek to kill me because my word hath no
place in you," — " if ye were Abraham's
children ye would do the works of Abra-
ham ;" and in several subsequent verses
our Lord ascribes their want of Abraham's
spirit and temper, to the non-reception of
the truth of the revealed word in their
hearts — "He that is of God heareth
God's words." How remarkable, too,
that in the scene which our Lord dis-
closes from the eternal world — we find,
in the colloquy between Abraham and
Dives, across the impassable gulf, the
interchange of acknowledged relation-
ship, father and son ; while the condem-
nation of the lost is, that the Scriptures
were not the rule of his life and the
standard of his faith — "he believed not
Moses and the prophets."
The great point we aim at in our dis-
course on this passage is to show that
the plantation of a sinner in the true
Church of Christ is the work of the Fa-
ther — " No man cometh unto me except
the Father which hath sent me, draw
him" — and that the invariable mode by
which the Father draws a sinner is through
the ivritten word, which he has himself
given — the record of his Son. That the
Father instructs the sinner with his own
w r ord, " 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," and that every doctrine and
system of human teaching, by which a
man may be planted in the visible church,
as also he who is planted by such teach-
ing, shall be rooted up ; it is " the wood,
hay, and stubble," that will not abide when
the day shall declare and the fire shall
try all false teachers, and their delusive
and fallacious theories; and it will be
seen that " other foundation can no man
lay than that which is laid, Christ
Jesus."
This subject has at the present day
become of supreme importance. The
great controversy of this generation is,
not merely the plenary inspiration of the
Scriptures, but their sufficiency to make
wise unto salvation : it is the great point
at issue on the much agitated question of
national education. The open enemies
of the Bible contend that secular learn-
ing is sufficient to make men truly wise.
But what does the voice of history pro-
claim? that the experiment has been
tried : in Egypt, where the learning that,
built the pyramids was associated with
that prostration of intellect which bowed
in adoration to the most loathsome rep-
tiles ; — in Greece and Rome, and other
famous states of antiquity, where almost
every branch of human learning was
cultivated with a success that furnished
posterity with examples rather to be
wondered at than imitated, monuments
rather than models of colossal genius —
and yet the people of these countries
were debased by the most senseless my-
thology and the most abominable crimes ;
— in France, where the reign of terror
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
257
was ushered in by the circulation of the
magazine of useful and universal know-
ledge — the famous Cyclopaedia ; — and
now, as then, the march of intellect, un-
guided by revelation, must lead either to
the Dagon of Popery, or the Baal of infi-
delity. It is the emphatic statement of
Scripture, " that the world by wisdom
knew not God." What can human phi-
losophy do for man ? — it is perfectly use-
less in that most important of all studies,
himself; — it cannot teach him his own
total ruin, and thus guide him out of
himself to the only Mediator and Saviour.
In a worldly sense, philosophy, like the
tree in Eden, may be desired to make one
wise ; but without the softening influence
of revealed truth, taught by the Spirit of
truth, it has a hardening property, and
like the fabled river of Thrace, petrifies
where it flows. We must leave, then, the
education of the masses of the people to
Him who can enlighten without inflaming,
and who can subdue the proud spirit of
man at the same time that he takes him
by the hand, and leads him up to the
heights of the sublimest knowledge.
The professed but false friends of the
Bible maintain, that the Scriptures are not
sufficient without the learning and tradi-
tional interpretation of human authority ;
and they are to be found searching amid
the rubbish of the fathers and ancient
commentators on the Scriptures, for the
beggarly elements of a traditionary theo-
logy, which is a mixture of Paganism,
Judaism, and Popery. There is not the
shadow of authority in the word of God,
for such a doctrine. Were all the tomes
of the fathers irrecoverably lost to-mor-
row, the Church would never miss them,
as long as she had Christ and the Scrip-
tures ; — as Peter said to our Lord, "thou
hast the words of eternal life, to whom'else
shall we go?" and it was on the occasion
of this same Apostle confessing the fun-
damental truth of the Gospel, and deli-
vering a faithful testimony to Christ, that
our Lord declared, " Blessed art thou,
Simon Barjona: flesh and blood hath not
revealed it to thee, but my Father which
is in heaven." It cannot but be observed
how invariably our Lord would decide
every controversy with the Jews by an
appeal to the Scriptures — " it is written"
— "search the Scriptures" — "if ye be-
lieve not his (Moses') writings:" and he
ascribes their errors to the want of an
affectionate reception of the Scriptures,
through the operation of the Spirit —
" how can ye believe my words ?" — " Ye
do err, not knowing (not the tradition of
the fathers, but) the Scriptures, and the
power of God;" and we know no
more striking passage, than where our
Lord gives his mysterious apology for the
few learned of this world who were
brought to the knowledge of the truth— r-
" Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven, and
said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these
things from the wise and prudent, and
revealed them unto babes ; even so,
Father, for so it seemed good in thy
sight." It is a notion deeply fixed in the
nature of man, that superior wisdom and
learning can know and apprehend God.
The same question asked by the learned
among the Jews, is now repeated, " Have
any of the Scribes or Pharisees believed
in Him ?" But God's word decides the
question, " Where is the Scribe ? where
is. the disputer.of this world ? Hath not
God made foolish the wisdom of this
world — God hath chosen the foolish
things of this world to confound the wise,
and the weak things of the world to con-
found the things which are mighty; and
base things of the world and things which
are despised, yea, and things which are
not, to bring to nought the things which
are;" and this is because "the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God, for they are foolishness to him —
neither can he know them, for they are
spiritually discerned." Not that we un-
dervalue the stores of human learning,
but prize them highly when made tribu-
tary to the truth of revelation — and not
that we altogether discard the testimony
of the fathers, or cannot appreciate the
erudition, the eloquence, the piety, the
profound research to be found in the
pages of some — but we say of all beside
the Scriptures, " What is the chaff to the
wheat ?" and the best are but chaff
mixed with a few grains of the incor-
ruptible seed of God's word. We con-
tend that the great doctrine of the Scrip-
ture is, that the Bible is its own com-
mentary, and God His own interpreter —
the Holy Ghost, and not the Church, the
great teacher of all inspired truth ; that
Christ has committed the tuition of his
Church to the Spirit of all Truth.
When we assert the Bible to be its
•258
THE NEW HUSH PULPIT,
own commentary, we do so without
abating our reverence for the creeds and
confessions of our Church. We think
them powerful for the preservation of truth
within, and the detection of heresy and
error without; but they derive their power
from the Scripture, and it is just as they
embody Scripture that they possess this
influence ; — but we protest against as-
cribing to them more than the Church
herself demands. She duly honours the
revealed word when she declares, " Holy
Scripture containeth all things necessary
to salvation ; so that whatsoever is not
read therein, nor may be proved thereby
is not to be required of any man that it
should be believed as an article of the
faith, or be thought requisite or necessary
to salvation." She only assigns the pro-
per importance to the creeds, when she
requires them to be received, because
they " may be proved by most certain war-
rant of holy Scripture," and she strictly
defines her own authority, when she de-
clares herself "a witness and keeper of
Holy Writ" — and when we say the Bible
is its own commentary, we simply mean
that it is in the humble study of God's
written Word that we hear the voice of
God saying, " This is the way, walk ye
in it ;" that it is by reading or hearing
that Word, that faith cometh, that " the
blind are brought by a way which they
knew not, and led in paths that they have
not known — darkness made light before
them, and crooked things straight:" but
it is in the hearing or reading of God's
written Word that all the light comes down
from heaven on the soul, showing the
way to the Lamb — the way of holiness in
which the way-faring man, though a fool
in other things, shall not err, and every
one who is taught thus savingly, effectu-
ally, infallibly, is taught so immediately
by the Spirit of God, who enlightens the
understanding, renews the will, sanctifies
the affection, and renews the man in the
image of Him who created him. All
such "are born not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God."
If it be objected that the Scriptures
may be wrested, that the word of God
may be handled deceitfully, and so per-
verted that different and opposite mean-
ings be tortured out of the same passage,
we do not hesitate to answer, that the
final appeal must be made to the Holy
Spirit, and the only safe, because infal-
lible, interpretation must be the result of
His teaching. It is not the church, it is
not the fathers who can give spiritual dis-
cernment, " the things of God knoweth
no man but the Spirit of God," " God hath
revealed them unto us by the Spirit, for
the Spirit searcheth all things, yea even
the deep things of God,'' " now we have
received not the spirit of the world, but
the Spirit which is of God, that we might
know the things that are freely given to
us, (or given to us by grace of God,)
which things also we speak, not in the
words which man's wisdom teacheth, but
which the Holy Ghost teacheth, com-
paring spiritual things with spiritual,"
and the apostle reminds the Corinthians
that his " speech and preaching was not
with enticing words of man's wisdom,
but in demonstration of the spirit and
power."
Our Lord, anticipating the error and
ignorance with which his disciples would
have to contend, plainly directs them to
the Spirit's teaching, "He the Spirit will
guide you into all truth ;" and his answer
to the inquiry of the Jews marvelling
at his doctrine, " How knoweth this man
letters, having never learned ?" is very re-
markable as showing a connexion between
the knowledge of the truth, and holy
submission and obedience — " my doctrine
(and learning) is not mine, but his that
sent me, if any man will do his will he
shall know of the doctrine whether it be
of God." The Apostle John in the first
epistle, at a time when many professors
had apostatized and fallen into the
heresies of the antichrist of that day,
ascribes the security of the true believer to
the preserving influence of the Spirit —
" But ye have an unction from the Holy
One, and ye know all things," the Spirit
of truth alone guarded them from all
error in the midst of so much defection
and seduction. " These things have I
written concerning them which seduce
you ; but the anointing which ye have
received of him abideth in you, and ye
need not that any man teach you, but
as the same anointing teacheth you
of all things, and is truth, and is no lie,
and even as it hath taught you, ye shall
abide in him." And the apostle Paul
speaking of some points in which the
Philippian Christians differed from the
truth, and acknowledging how incflec-
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
259
tual was human persuasion without divine
teaching, does not press on them the
weight of his apostolic, yea even his
inspired authority, but simply adds, " and
if in anything ye be otherwise minded
God shall reveal even this unto you." —
We might adduce many other scriptures
to the same effect, but we think these
are abundantly conclusive ; we fear that
with some, an undue attachment to tra-
dition and human testimony, may have
so biased their judgment as to abate that
reverence for the authority of God's
word, which is necessary even at the
threshhold of so important an inquiry ;
and we do think it of infinite importance
that it should be clearly understood, that
divine truth — all in fact that is empha-
tically entitled to the name of truth — is a
principle that can only be implanted by
God himself; that while the Scriptures
are sufficiently profitable for instruction
in righteousness, God alone is sufficient
to apply the instruction, effectually, in-
fallibly, and therefore savingly. We do
not think it important merely as a theory
that may be received or rejected without
peril, we are persuaded that eternal con-
sequences depend on it, and we know no
doctrine more practical than that which
tends, as this pre-eminently does, to
throw man out of himself upon the in-
exhaustible resources and omnipotent
energies of the Holy Spirit of God : we
are persuaded, that the practical denial of
this, either that the Bible is its own com-
mentary, or the Holy Ghost his own
interpreter, is at the foundation of all
the monstrous abominations 6f Popery
and every other corruption of Christianity ;
and the plantation of every church that
departs from these principles shall sooner
or later receive the doom pronounced by
our Lord, it shall be taken away root
and branch, while the vine-yard of the
Lord's right hand planting, whether in-
dividuals or communities, though ravaged
by persecution and cut down almost to
the very roots, shall yet be visited by a
spring time of divine favour, and shall
nevertheless send forth from its hewn and
trampled trunk branches of richest fruit-
fulness and living verdure, until the hills
are covered with the shadow, and the
boughs thereof like the goodly cedais.
Nor is the question evaded by distinguish-
ing between the intellectual and moral
teaching of the Spirit ; it is most unscrip-
tural and irrational : the Spirit illumi-
nates but to sanctify ; the light is mar-
vellous because it is holy. When God
who commands the light to shine out of
darkness, shines into the heart, he gives
" the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ." When
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of Glory, gives us the spirit of
wisdom, and revelation in the knowledge
of Christ, — it is " that the eyes of our un-
derstanding being enlightened, we may
know what is the hope of his calling, and
what the riches of the glory of his inhe-
ritance in the saints" — " the entrance of
the Word giveth light" — opening the
eye, that we may behold wondrous things
out of thy law. It is true, that to the
natural man, the volume of revelation is
a sealed book. The vision of all is as
the words of a book that is sealed — but
it is the same seal to the learned and un-
learned — and none can remove that seal
and open the vision but the Spirit of
God. The result is, that all whose hearts
are thus opened, their fear towards God
is not taught by the precept of men ; yea,
they see it to be a marvellous work and a
wonder; "the wisdom of the wise pe-
rishes — the understanding of the prudent
is hid ; in that day the deaf hear the
words of the book, and the eyes of the
blind see out of obscurity and out of
darkness ; they that erred in spirit come
to understanding, and they that murmured
learn doctrine." Nor will it avail to
object that men holding opposite views of
essential truth, have also professed to
have sought and obtained the teaching
and direction of the Holy Spirit. There
is but one answer to this, and it is tre-
mendously solemn : the final decision of
such a dispute is reserved for that day
which shall try every man's work, of what
sort it is — " Judge nothing before the
time — until the Lord come, who shall
bring to light the hidden things of dark-
ness, and make manifest the secrets of
the heart." Whatever may be apparently
irreconcileable, one thing is certain, we
must not make the dispensation of infin-
ite wisdom responsible for the conse-
quences of human unbelief — " Let God
be true, but every man a liar." We
contend for a principle which puts honour
on the Word of God> and honour on the
work of the Holy Spirit — which exhibits
the mystery of godliness as indeed a
^00
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
great mystery, and exalts the religion of
Jesus as something infinitely above na-
ture's reach, making true godliness the
effect of the independent operation of
Almighty God — His workmanship a new
creation, wherein the old nature is eradi-
cated, and a new nature implanted, even
to the very root from which " all holy
desires, all good counsels, and all jus;
works, do proceed."
We have an illustration in the con-
trasted penitence of two Apostles : their
apostolic privileges did not preserve the
one from betraying, the other from deny-
ing, his Master. We doubt not, that after
Judas cast down the silver in the temple,
his mourning was more vehement than
that of Peter, when, after his Master
looked on him, "he went out and wept
bitterly ;" and that the agonising reflec-
tions of Judas were more intense than
those of Peter — and yet Judas was a
cast away, and Peter was finally and for
ever reinstated in the favour of his Lord.
Where lay the difference, but in the
inward character ? The penitence of one
was the gift of God — that of the other
was the product of natural feeling ; the
sorrow of the one was a Godly sorrow —
that of the other the sorrow of the world,
working death : one was a plant, planted
by the Father, and which stood the most
winnowing temptation when Satan sifted
him like wheat — the othsr had but an
external connexion with the Church, and
was rooted up. Oh ! these things are
written for our learning, and they are
written for our admonition ; that we should
examine ourselves, and see what is the
ground of our hope — whether the Gos-
pel 'has come to us in power, or in word
only — whether our faith stands in the
power of God, or in the wisdom of
man. They are designed to lead us, child-
like, to the feet of the great Prophet,
and to pray, " Lord, what I know not,
teach thou me !"
Oh ! that the Holy Spirit may vouch-
safe to make Christ this hour a savour
of life to many ! May Jesus lift up the
heart for the outpouring of his wisdom,
power and holiness ; for it is only the
Spirit of the Lord God on a preached
Christ, that can bring to the sinner's heart
the blessings of the giorious Gospel, in all
their felt and apprehended reality — "good
tidings to the meek, liberty to the cap-
tive, opening of the prison to them that
are bound ; — giving beauty for ashes, the
oil of joy for mourning, the garment of
praise for the spirit of heaviness ; that
they might be called trees of righteous-
ness, the planting of the Lord, that He
may be glorified." Amen.
Dublin: New Irish Pulpit Office, 1, St. Andrew-st.; John Robertson,
VV. Curry, Jun. and Co. ; R. M. Tims, W. Carson, D. R. Bleakley. London,
R. Groombridge, J. Nisbet and Co. ; Liverpool, H. Perris ; Manchester, Pratt,
Chester, Seacome ; Cork Tract Repository ; Drogheda, C. F. Collins ; and all
Booksellers.
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
GOSPEL PREACHER.
' We preach Christ crucified —
Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God." — 1 Cor. i. 23, 24.
No. XC.
SATURDAY, 17th AUGUST, 1839.
Price 4d.
REV. WILLIAM DIGBY.
REV. JOSEPH BAYLEE.
THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF THE SCRIPTURE.
A SERMON
BY THE REV. WILLIAM DIGBY, A.M.,
Rector of Templeton, Diocese of Ardagh.
2 Timothy iii. part of I6th verse.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God."
" All Scripture is divinely inspired." So
says our text, itself forming a part of that
heavenly document, which, if it ha9 man
for its editor, has God Himself for its
author — its sole author.
Let us consider what the text asserts.
" All Scripture is divinely inspired" — it
is the word of God, communicated by
the breath of God, that is, by the Holy
Ghost, to those holy men of old whom
he has selected and separated from their
mother's womb to be his amanuenses, or
inspired penmen. Such were Moses and
the prophets ; and such were the apostles
and evangelists of the New Testament.
They were all men whose private mind
was wholly unable to supply them with
either the matter or the words which they
were directed to bring forth ; who wrote
therefore, not by their own will, or by the
will of man, but as they were moved or
compelled, as it were, by the Holy
Ghost. This is the testimony of St. Peter,
in harmony with our text — see his 2nd
Epistle, i. 21.
This honor is claimed for " all Scrip-
ture." Now, as to the Scriptures of the
Vol. IV.
Old Testament, we may safely consult the
Jews to know what books did, and what
did not belong to its canon. They were
foi the time then being, the appointed
witnesses and keepers of " the oracles
of God." This duty they performed with
the utmost care and fidelity — their care
extended to their numbering the very
words, and marking that word which stood
in the middle of each book. And the
number of the books corresponded to the
number of letters in the Hebrew alpha-
bet, being twenty-two. Our Lord indeed
taxes them, and taxes them most heavily,
with misunderstandingand misinterpreting
those lively oracles in which they thought
they had eternal life, but never with
having been unfaithful as witnesses and
keepers of them. They made the word
of God void, indeed, through their tra-
ditions ; yea, they believed neither Moses
nor their own prophets, which were read
in their synagogues every Sabbath-day ;
but still the witness of Moses and of the
prophets remained unto the Christian
era, uncorrupted by them, presenting to
the eyes and the ears of the Jewish
Q
262
THE NEW IRTSH PULPIT,
people a correct fac simile of tlie original
autographs of inspiration.
To this fact our Lord himself bears
testimony when, in that memorable saying
of his to the disciples after his resurrec-
tion, he referred to the well-known three-
fold distribution of the Old Testament
into the law, the prophets, and the
psalms, which every Hebrew Bible still
preserves, and called the whole, compre-
hending these twenty-two books, and
excluding the whole of the Apocrypha,
by the sacred name of the Scriptures, or
writings which testified of Him. We
need go no further than this, to ascertain
the canon, or to prove the inspiration of
the Scriptures of the Old Testament.
And for proof that they have come
down to us, since the invention of the
art of printing, in the main as uncorrupt
as they were in the hands of the Jews at
the commencement of the Christian era,
it may be mentioned, that after Doctor
Kcnnicott had taken the greatest pains to
collect and collate such a multiplicity and
variety of ancient manuscript copies of
the Hebrew Scriptures, as are noted in
his printed Hebrew Bible, he was charged
(very unjustly indeed) with having ac-
complished almost nothing! — so small
and so very trifling were the discrepancies
between one copy or codex and another.
Now, for the Scriptures of the New
Testament, which equally deserve that
sacred name of divinely inspired writings
with the old, and of which the Christian
Church is the appointed keeper and wit-
ness ; I will observe, that, like her Jewish
predecessor, she has been most unfaithful
in the interpretation of these books ; she
too has made void the gospel of Christ,
by the traditions of her elders, but she
did not, for indeed she could not, corrupt
those writings themselves.
They fell into too many hands from
the moment they were edited, to admit
of being corrupted, and the different
parties into which the church, from the
beginning was split, exercised too close
and scrutinizing a watch upon the pro-
ceedings of the other, not to detect and
expose the attempt, whenever, or by
whomsoever it might be made — and
thus, out of divisions in the Church,
which in themselves are evil, a wonder-
working providence educed this great
good. In fact, the attempt was beset
with so many difficulties, that it does
not seem to have been made at all ; and
the correspondence, upon the whole,
of codices of the New Testament, col-
lected after the commencement of the
revival of letters, which preceded the
reformation, from all parts of the world,
confirms this fact — that we have a Greek
Testament now, which mainly exhibits
a faithful transcript of the autographs of
the writers of the respective books com-
posing the canon of the New Testament.
And the canon is itself determined for
us by no fallible church authority ; but
by the fact which was known, at the first,
to the particular churches to whom the
several portions of the New Testament
were severally addressed, being commu-
nicated by degrees, from one to the other,
until it became a matter of universal
notoriety, that the several detached parts
of the New Testament be they a Gospel,
or an epistle, or the acts, or lastly, the
apocalypse, were really written by the
men whose names they bear, and that
these men were inspired. So that the
doubt of some churches for a time res-
pecting the canonical character of certain
portions of the New Testament, (as the
'2nd Peter, the Hebrews, that of James,
and lastly, of the Apocalpse,) issued,
(like the incredulity of Thomas, res-
pecting the resurrection of the Lord,) in
a greater — amounting to an absolute cer-
tainty, and only proved the extreme
caution of the early church, in receiving
any thing for the word of God, which
once so received, is for ever after to be
held sacred. For if the doubts of any
churches upon such a subject, in the pri-
mitive times, were forced in time to give
way to evidence, there remains for us,
brethren, now, no room or liberty to
doubt.
When we contend for the inspiration
of Scripture, (or rather, when the Scrip-
ture itself asserts its own inspiration), it
is a verbal inspiration that is contended
for. The words are the words of God,
and the writing is the writing of God, as
truly as was the law.
When God will vouchsafe a revelation
to mankind, he reveals himself by words,
he gives ideas by giving words, used ac-
cording to their well-known signification.
Man thinks in words ; the association be-
tween words and ideas he cannot break —
and ideas detached from words presently
become a mass of confusion, and vanish
into air. Is it not so, brethren ? Try to
think, for a moment, without words, and
you will experience the truth of my
position — you will not be able to think at
all. Fitly, then, was the new dispensation
introduced with a gift of tongues — not
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
2G3
the senseless jargon of Irvingism, but i
with the power, by inspiration, gi\en to I
those assembled with the apostles, fitly to
speak in all the languages of the then
known world, "the wonderful works of
God."
It was not that God did a part, and
man the rest (according to a too common,
but most mistaken and dangerous idea,)
it was not that God gave ideas, and then
man clothed them with words as he best
could: but in one sense God did all, and
in another sense man did all : " God gave
the ivord and great was the company of
the preachers." God worked in giving the
word, and man acted in speaking or writ-
ing, infallibly and exactly that word. So
that it is truly and at the same time, both
the word of God, and the writing in his
own proper style, of the individual whom
the Holy Ghost was pleased to employ as
an instrument.
Thus it is a pipe or a harp that utters
its own proper and peculiar sound, while
it is the player upon that pipe or harp,
that gives the distinction or meaning of
the sound. The epistles of Paul, of
James, of Peter, and of John, and all
the other integral parts of the Bible, are
each written in the style peculiar to their
respective Scribes or writers, so that they
may be plainly perceived to be theirs, and
thus their genuineness may be manifested
in contradistinction to various productions
that might be sent forth under their names,
while the whole is the word of God writ-
ten, or the word dictated by the Spirit of
God. So says St. Paul to the Corin-
thians, ''we speak not in the words which
man's wisdom teacheth, but which the
Holy Ghost teacheth."
Hence appears the utter impossibility of
our receiving any of the alleged tradi-
tions of the church, as a part or parcel of
the rule of our Christian belief, or neces-
sary Christian obedience. For even if
the subject matter of these traditions were
more clearly developed, discovered, or " re-
covered,'' than it is — even if from a more
laborious perusal of the ponderous and
musty writings of the so-called fathers of
the church, (a labour and weariness to
the flesh, truly this would be) something
in the shape of a doctrine could be eli-
cited, more exactly and tangibly than we
have yet heard : still, would this be a
revelation, in words, of the will of God ?
would it be, like all the Scriptures, a
verbal communication from Him ? a di-
vinely inspired writing ? No — by no
means. It would be nothing of this
character. It would be a statement in
the words of man, confessedly " in words
which man's wisdom teacheth," of some-
thing, which in another form or manner,
is alleged upon hearsay, and long before,
to have been taught to the church by
apostles or apostolic men, who handed it
down unwritten to their successors in
office, as a part at least of the deposit of
the faith which they taught, but which
unaccountably has been left unrecorded
in Holy Scripture !
Now what divine faith can we repose
in these religious stories? We can place
none. They are presumptuous additions
to the word of God ; in their character
totally incongruous to that word. In it
we may repose a certain faith, and " know
the certainty of those things in which we
have been (by the church) instructed.''
For faith is not an opinion but a certainty.
Being founded on facts, (all the arti-
cles of the apostles' creed are facts)
it "is the substance of things hoped for
and the evidence of things not seen."
And the miracles recorded in the Bible
are a divine seal to the doctrines therein
taught. But they are, or can be no seal
to unwritten traditions never so much as
alluded to in the Bible, except with a
solemn caution against our receiving them.
It is impossible so to seal these fugitive
reports, as the Scripture doctrine is sealed.
When I am required to adopt a senti-
ment or a practice in religion, as neces-
sary to my salvation upon the plea of
tradition, I demand to have that tradition
delivered and proved to me, to be a reve-
lation from God in the very words of
God himself, spoken to one of his known
and recognised prophets. If this can
not be done (and it never can be done,)
then I say, away with it. According to
the law these teachers of fables were to
be put to death — according to the gospel
they are carefully to be avoided — as Paul
says to Timothy, " from such turn thou
away.
Now, brethren, the fundamental error
of the Church of Rome consists in her
placing these unwritten traditions upon a
level with the written word of God. She
admits with us, the Scriptures to be the
word of God, but she adds " not the
whole word of God." For there is, she
says, also a word of God unwritten, to
wit, the traditions of the church. And
having laid down this false principle, (oh!
brethren it is a perilous downfall to err
in principle,) then her doctors have ad-
vanced from one monstrous impiety to
264
THE NEW HUSH PULPIT,
another, speaking lies (under pretence of
their being these very traditions,) in hy-
pocrisy, having their consciences cauter-
ised, teaching doctrines of demon, that is,
devil mediators, " for there is no mediator
between God and man but the man Christ
Jesus," and who ever pretends to such an
office is not a saint of God, nor a holy
angel, but an impure devil, personating
and foully abusing the name of that saint
or angel,) vvhereunto they add, that it
might be impossible to mistake them,
" forbidding to marry, and commanding
to abstain from meats, which God hath
created to be received with thanksgiving
by them that believe and know the truth."
Now, brethren, it would be impossible
with any success, to broach these impie-
ties among the protestant and church
going populations of these islands, (once
so happily reformed) by the direct and
visible instrumentality of the professors
or ministers of the apostate Communion
of Rome. And this the devil well knows ;
he knows that the open attack would but
create an alarm in our camp, and perhaps
a re-action that would only retard or de-
feat his object, which is to seduce Pro-
testant Britain once more, and involve
her in the approaching ruin of the Catho-
lic apostacy, when great Babylon, together
with all her helpers, shall sink down into
the abyss of liquid fire in the centre of
the earth. For let it never be forgotten,
that the grand object of the devil is to
procure the damnation of as many human
souls as possible.
Therefore the devil takes another me-
thod conformably to his character of
subtlety. First of all, and to prepare
the way, he raises up good but mistaken
men, to impugn and call in question in
our day, the Protestant interpretation of
prophecy respecting the papacy, and boldly
to deny what the reformers unanimously
and to their last gasp maintained, that as
Jesus is the Christ, so the Pope is the Anti-
christ, or man of sin, whom, (because as Lu-
ther well observed, he deserves no gentler
judgment) the Lord Jesus shall con-
sume with the Spirit of his mouth, and
destroy by the brightness of his second
coming.
After this preparatory hurtful impres-
sion has been made upon men's minds,
(and it is now made,) that the reformers
here went too far and were mistaken :
then the devil's next step is to raise up in
the bosom of our church and in our seats
of learning, (and principally at Oxford,
as the most celebrated of our Universities,
founded by the good King Alfred,) as
apostles of tradition, a body of men dis-
tinguished by talents and learning, of
pious and blameless manners — men of
mortified habits, ascetic in their way of
living, and clothed (in externals at least,)
with the appearance of ministers of right-
eousness. As individuals I do not judge
them, to their own master let them stand
or fall. But if they be men of piety,
however mistaken, they are only the fitter
for this his work, who never shows
himself to men in the blackness of his
real character, but, (as St. Paul says to
the Corinthians,) " is transformed into an
angel of light." Let it not seem strange
to any of you, that a good man ever
should be found doing a work of the
devil. Remember that it was once said
unto Peter, by him who at the same time
well knew Peter's real character, aye, and
had just before pronounced him blessed —
" get thee behind me Satan, thou art
an offence to me, for thou savourest not
the things that be of God, but those that
be of men."
And what are these men doing ? Why,
as Protestant divines, they are attacking
the grand principle of Protestantism,
which is the sufficiency of Holy Scripture,
and introducing among us once more, the
worst of all the errors of popery, and
that which is the prolific mother of all
her other abominations, a respect for the
traditions of antiquity. They are deny-
ingthesufficiency of the Holy Scripturesto
make a man " wise unto salvation, through
faith which is in Jesus Christ;" and send-
ing us to the writings of men to discover,
or to recover as some of them say, the
long lost deposit of the faith, which ac-
cording to them, the Scriptures do
not, (perfectly at least) contain, nor were
they intended to teach. They speak
great swelling words of vanity, about
apostolic succession, (coming to usthrough
the most corrupt channel, observe, of the
Popes of Rome,) about episcopal grace,
about life giving sacraments, and for
proof of all this, they send us not to
Scripture but tradition, and the volumi-
nous works of the Christian Fathers !
But, brethren, what were these Fathers,
most of whom lived in ages of deep su-
perstition, and were deeply tinctured by
it — what were they but children in compa-
rison with the men whom God raised up
at a later period to reform his church ?
And what is the so called antiquity of the
church, but its real infancy. Let anti-
quity have its due praise; but this the
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
265
truth concerning it — the church was then
but young. And so we speak of the
primitive church as the infant church,
which indeed saw some things clearly as
we do ; but we, standing upon their
shoulders, have made progress, and do
see more. The " Article of a standing
or falling church" is justification by faith,
(a tenet which the Oxford divines, who
are now troubling us, hold by no means
clearly, if indeed they can be said to
hold it at all) and upon this all-important
subject there is more of sound and in-
structive divinity in one page of Luther's
writings, than in all the volumes of the
fathers put together.
These men admit with us, in words,
the inspiration of the Scriptures ; but
then, against the articles of religion re-
ceived amongst us, and their own ordina-
tion vows, they deny their all-sufficiency.
Now the question is, can any man really
hold sound views respecting the in-
spiration — the verbal inspiration of the
Scriptures, and at the same time deny
their sufficiency for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, and for instruction in
righteousness? I think it is iinpossible.
No man can really hold the verbal inspi-
ration of the Bible (without which it is
not the word of God, properly speaking,
at all) and at the same time, place in
juxta-position with it, and as possessing
the same authority over our consciences,
those vague, or hearsay traditions, con-
cerning doctrines winch have been above
alluded to. Whether these alleged
rumours of doctrines, I say, be recon-
cileable, in any degree, with God's word
written, or be irreconcileably (as generally
is the case) opposed to the same, it
matters not ; the divinely inspired writing,
and what is never alleged to have
been delivered in a form of words, which
words are not exactly preserved at all,
never can be placed upon the same level,
or admitted as possessing a co-ordinate
authority with it over our consciences.
1 suspect, then, that the ideas of these
modern sticklers for tradition, who have
arisen in the university of Oxford, will
be found to resolve themselves into some-
thing very loose and vague, and tending
at last to infidelity itself. I say not that
they are at heart infidels, no more than
papists ; but their notions tend to both
one and the otiier of these evils. They
would first have us to believe too much,
and they would end, by leaving us be-
lieving nothing at all. This the devil
well knows.
Neither would I consent to these men,
that tradition, or the works of the ancient
ecclesiastical writers, were necessary, or
very helpful to explain to us, or interpret
the Scriptures. In general, the fathers
are poor expositors of the sacred text —
this is a fact well known to all sound
Biblical scholars. The gold is thinly in-
terspersed with much mere rubbish — a
thousand vain and foolish origenic fancies,
for one sound Christian sentiment simply
and sensibly expressed Heiein there is
a striking contrast between the works of
the fathers and of the reformers.
But the best, and indeed the only
interpreter of inspired Scripture is its
own divine author. When he will
speak to man, he will speak so as to be
understood, and to need no intervening
interpreter. To demand, or to bow to
any interpreter of the voice of the Lord
among fallible human beings — call it the
church, or whatever else you please — is
already to depart from the faith, and to
take the first step that leads at last to
Popery. The church is "a witness and
keeper of the Holy Scripture," but not
the judge of Holy Scripture — on the
contrary, Holy Scripture judges her.
The church has a certain authority or
weight in controversies of faith ; but to
the faith itself not only the church, but
the angels in heaven are subjected. " Call
no man master upon earth," for no man
has dominion over your faith, which
stands, not in the wisdom of man, but in
the power of God. God's plain word,
and it alone, gives the certainty of faith.
We prove our doctrine, in our books and
sermons, by Scripture — the Scripture then
is our interpreter, not we its. Outwardly,
the word, and the word alone, interprets
itself — so that what is darkly spoken
in one place, is more clearly spoken
in another ; and inwardly, the only
interpreter of the mind of God in the
Scriptures, is the Spirit of God, or the
Holy Ghost, who, by the entrance of that
word giveth light and understanding unto
the simple, revealing to them the simple
and literal meaning of Scripture, to be
generally the truest and best; so that
they become wiser than their teachers;
and being possessed of " the unction that
is truth and no lie," they have no need
that any man teach them — " For he that
is spiritual judgeth all things, and he
himself is judged of no man."
Here, then, with all their learning, and
ability, and devoutness, and strictness,
and blameless morals, none of which it is
our object or wish to deny (for we would
wrong no man), we apprehend that these
i>66
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
" Oxford divines" (as for distinction's
sake we must call them), will be found
sadly, if not entirely wanting. They
want divine teaching, connected, as it
ever is, with that inward humility of soul,
which alone can make Christ and his
true doctrines precious ; they want evan-
gelical experience ; they have never
been in the deeps ; they have never cried
from thence, " Save, Lord, or I perish !"
Living in the quiet of a collegiate life, they
are unacquainted with spiritual conflicts
and temptations; and therefore they have
no savour, or spiritual perception of
truth. This is the rule for trying the
spirits, which the vigorous christian in-
tellect of Luther once suggested to the
more cautious and timidly conscien-
tious mind of Melancthon, with refe-
rence to the fantastical Anabaptists, who
were then troubling Germany, and
with whose extravagant pretensions the
latter felt himself puzzled and confound-
ed. " Ask them," says Luther, " were they
ever in the deeps ;" and he concludes
by reminding his friend, " that we are not
to believe even a glorified Jesus, unless
he was first crucified."
Let Dr. Pusey, Mr. Newman, Keeble,
(the author of the Christian Year) and
Co. be weighed in these balances ; and,
casting into the scale all their erudition,
and all their real moral excellence, be it
what it may — aye, were they very angels
from heaven — and we have no doubt that
they will be found to kick the beam.
Let us conclude with a practical and
close application of this important sub-
ject, the fact that all Scripture is divinely
inspired, to ourselves. And may the
Spirit, who breathed that word once,
breathe now upon us, making the
same to come to us in power, and in
much assurance, and experimentally to
know how profitable it is for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, and for instruction
in righteousne9, that the child of God,
who is of that word born again, may be
perfected, and throughly furnished unto
every good word and work.
Oppressed by real evils, brethren,
which are all the effects of sin, and by
sin, which is itself the greatest of them all —
and with death, its wages — and an undone
eternity, which that death naturally in-
volves, spread before us, we want a real
religion — a " substance of things hoped
for, an evidence of things not seen ' —
to elevate us from our ruin, and to sustain
us. Such a religion we have in the
Bible ; for they have not followed cun-
ningly devised fables, who have preached
I unto us this Gospel at the first ; for they
were eyewitnesses of the majesty of
Him, who once was made a little lower
than the angels, for the suffering of that
death, whereby he became our almighty
Saviour.
Our faith is founded in facts, the im-
perishable record of which is contained
in the inspired Scriptures — a record,
against the existence of which, both in
pagan and papal times, the utmost fury of
the great red dragon has been directed ;
yet he has not succeeded, and never
shall. The church of Christ, how many
unworthy traditions soever she may con-
tain in her outward communion, never
has betrayed altogether this sacred trust
or deposit, and she never will. It remains
written with us, as with a pen of iron and
lead in the rock for ever— as it is written,
" the word of the Lord abideth for
ever ; and this is the word, which by
the Gospel is preached unto us. 1 '
" He, then, that believeth hath the wit-
ness in himself — and this is the record,
that God hath given to us eternal life, and
this life is in his Son. He that hath the
Son hath life." Brethren, we want the
authority of a certain warrant from God
for all that we believe, and all that we
do. Without this we are wretched —
without this our intellect is amazed with
endless doubt, and our energy paralysed
by the same. We cannot serve an un-
known God — we cannot in ignorance
find in ourselves either strength to suffer
(as we must), or a will to serve (as we
ought), even if we would. Without a
written revelation from God (now that
there are no more inspired living pro-
phets in the world) we cannot run the
road of wisdom — we cannot overcome
the fear of death, or endure the thought
of our immortal spirit returning to God
who gave it.
But " all Scripture is divinely in-
spired." And this Scripture among the
rest, that " God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son, that who-
soever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life." And this again,
" It is a faithful saying and worthy of all
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners." And this
again, " If any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ,
the righteous, and he is the propitiation
for our sins." Here, then, we can plant
our foot securely. We know whom we
have believed, and that what he has pro-
mised he is able to perform. And " this
is our righteousness" before him, that we
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
267
count him faithful that has promised, as
did our father in the faith, the patriarch
Abraham. We are then upon the rock.
We can then lift up our hearts ; yes,
" let us lift them up unto the Lord — let
us give thanks unto our Lord God ; it is
meet and right so to do — it is very meet,
right, and our bounden duty, to give
thanks unto thee, O Lord God — heavenly
Father — Almighty, Everlasting God ;
therefore with angels, and arch angels,
and all the company of heaven, we laud
and magnify thy glorious name, evermore
praising thee, and saying, Holy, Holy,
Holy, Lord God of Hosts, heaven and
earth are full of thy glory — glory be
to thee, O Lord, most high !"
Perhaps, I address some — perhaps,
more than a few, in this assembly, who
have never yet experienced the power of
the divinely inspired Word ; that is, the
religion of the Bible, in their own souls.
I must speak a word to these : for they
have their portion, too, to be given them
in due season. God grant, that that
season may be now.
Perhaps, the cause why you have never
yet felt, as Christians do feel ; why you
have never yet felt the power of god-
liness, and have therefore nothing but its
form, is, that this fact of all Scripture
being given by inspiration of God, so
that to read the Bible is to read the
ipsissima verba, the very words of the
Lord God himself, there speaking to us
from heaven, has never been brought duly
before you, or duly considered by you.
Hence, when you read, or hear the Bible
read, you read it not, nor hear it read,
with reverence or fixed attention; you
know it not as yet, as "the law of the
Lord," that you should have your " de-
light in it, and meditate therein by day
and by night" ; and hence you despise
it, as containing, perhaps, like the Ma-
hometan Koran, or the Hindoo Shasters,
a mixture of truth and falsehood, of fact
and of fable.
And when you hear sermons — faithful
sermons — preached by faithful men, (not
a few of whom are, blessed be God, now
to be found,) you regard the matter as
well as the manner of the preacher, as a
subject for sceptical and scoffing criticism,
perhaps for profane and indecent ridicule.
The warmth of Christians you account
fanaticism ; you can tolerate any other
enthusiasm but theirs.
Then we advise you, and we pray you
this day to consider what has been spoken ;
and to reflect that the written word,
whereof we are only witnesses, is in-
spired ; " he therefore that despiseth,
despiseth not man, but God," and he
shall answer accordingly before Him,
who now standeth ready to judge the
quick and dead.
Believe, O ! believe in our Lord Jesus
Christ, and you shall be saved, as well as
we. Why not ? — " come with us, and we
will do thee good." " It is a faithful saying,
and worthy of all men to be received,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners," — But perhaps, I may speak
hero to some in a still more dangerous
state, who know well that the Scriptures
are divinely inspired, and that Christians
are in the right way ; and yet they are not
themselves persuaded to come to Christ
that they may have life, nor to yield
themselves to the sweet violence of his
constraining love.
Your case is most dangerous, I am
bound to tell you plainly ; for you stand
on the very verge of sinning against the
Holy Ghost. Beware of doing despite
to the Spirit of Grace any longer. He
will not always strive with man now, no
more than before the flood. There is
such a thing as a hardening influence
from God, upon such "as receive not the
love of the truth that they might be
saved : a spirit of drunkenness — not with
wine, but with the fury of the Lord, the
intoxicating effect of which no sleep shall
remove — " a strong delusion to believe a
lie, to the end that they all may be damned,
who believed not the truth, but had plea-
sure in unrighteousness."
Your case is dangerous — aye, des-
perately so : yet do not despair — that were
indeed to sin against the Holy Ghost, for
yet there is a remedy for you — even for
you. And behold it is here — "it is nigh
unto you, in your mouth and in your
heart, that if ye shall confess with your
mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in
your heart that God hath raised him from
the dead, you shall be saved." Amen.
May he that willeth not the death of a
sinner, but rather that he should be con-
verted and live, now graut you repent-
ance unto the acknowledging of the truth,
and that you may recover yourselves
from the snare of the devil, who have
been captivated by him at his will.
THE LORD'S SUPPER.
A SERMON
PREACHED IN SANTRY CHURCH, DIOCESE OF DUBLIN,
ON SUNDAY, 9th JUNE, 1839,
BY THE REV. JOSEPH BAYLEE, A.B.
St. Lukb xxii. 19.
' This do in remembrance of me.'
The Lord's Supper is the most affecting,
as well as one of the most important
ordinances of the Christian religion. The
apostle speaks of it in such terms as have
kept many persons from observing it,
from false views of his meaning — " He
that eatethand drinketh unworthily, eateth
and drinketh damnation to himself, not
discerning the Lord's body.'' It is an
ordinance which, rightly viewed, is full
of importance and blessed instruction to
the souls of sinners who believe in Jesus.
Its importance results from its being a
channel of blessing, and also from the
declaration we make in it of what we are,
and what we believe we shall be, what
our faith is in this life present, and what
our hope is in the life to come.
If we consider the circumstances under
which our Lord spoke the words of our
text, we shall see in them much of im-
portant and blessed realities, well calcu-
lated to enlighten our understandings,
warm our affections, and guide our feet
in the way of peace.
With a body worn down by fatigue and
anxiety, so that he could say " I am poured
out like water, all my bones are out of
joint," a countenance "marred more than
any man, and his form more than the
sons of men" — with a mind harrassed by
the multitudinous events of the preceding
week — sensibilities that were wounded
by the neglect of those whom he came
to serve — " refuge failed me and no man
cared for my soul," — with feelings like
our own, which naturally shrunk from a
painful death, constraining him to say,—
" If it be possible, let this cup pass from
me," — with moral sympathies which were
wounded by the treachery of one of his
disciples, and by the selfishness of all —
" it was not an enemy that reproached,
then I could have borne it," — in retire-
ment from the world, in the seclusion of
an upper chamber, surrounded by the
disciples whom he loved, himself a living
exhibition of divine love, and of humanity
made perfect, the Saviour, taking bread
and wine, and blessing them, left his
dying charge in those few but impressive
words — " This do in remembrance of
me."
From these words we shall consider :
1. The institution of the Lord's
Supper.
2. The purpose of it.
3. The persons who ought to partake
of it-
4. Lastly, the duty of observing it.
1. The institution of this holy
rite. " This do," — that is, do what lam
doing. To do what Jesus did we are to
take bread and wine. " The Lord Jesus,
the same night in which he was betrayed
took bread, and when he had given
thanks, he brake it and said, Take, eat,
this is my body which is broken for you,
this do in remembrance of roe. After
the same manner also he took the cup,
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
2G9
when he had supped, saying, This cup is
the new testament in my blood, this do,
as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of
me."
We are to take bread and wine, not for
an ordinary meal, for they " had supped"
and the apostle says " if any man hunger,
let him eat at home," — but for a sacra-
mental feast, a means of feeding in our
souls upon the body and blood of Christ
our Saviour. Nor was it for the worship
of the elements, for he did not command
them to make an image of the bread, nor
do we read of any elevation of either it
or the cup, or of any prostration before
them — it was, as we have said, a
sacramental feast, which the Lord
instituted when he said, " This do in re-
membrance of me." Again, if we would
do what Jesus did, we must, before we
eat that bread and drink that wine, have
them consecrated. In Matthew xxvi. 26.
the evangelist informs us that Jesus took
bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and
gave it to the disciples, and said " This
is my body." In 1 Cor. x. 16. the
apostle notices this as of permanent ob-
servance — " The cup of blessing which
we bless, is it not the communion of the
blood of Christ." He thus teaches us,
that it is bread and wine blessed or conse-
crated, that is, solemnly set apart for the
Lord's service, as a memorial of his dying
love, and a means of partaking of the
body and blood of Christ.
It has the Lord's name inscribed upon
it — " This is my body, this is my blood."
It is sacramentally his body and blood ;
not really, but as "an outward and visible
sign of an inward and spiritual grace," for
after the consecration, it is called " bread,"
and " the fruit of the vine."
Yet it is not common but consecrated
bread and wine. They have undergone
a consecration similar to that which took
place in the Jewish temple, when the
shew bread was solemnly set before the
Lord and eaten, not by the common
people, but by the Lord's priests, and by
them only in the Lord's house. It is in
this Scripture view of the subject, that
our rubric commands that the consecrated
elements shall not be carried out of the
church, "but the priest, and such other
of the communicants as he shall then
call unto him, shall, immediately after the
blessing, reverently eat and drink the
same." We find this consecration of
certain matters to God taught us, both in
the Old and New Testament. In Exodus
xiii. 12, 13, we see, that the first-born
peculiarly belonged to the Lord. In one
sense, " the earth is the Lord's and the
fulness thereof," — but there is a peculiar
sense in which the Lord challenges some
things in the world for his own, — " Thou
shalt set apart unto the Lord all that
openeth the matrix, and every firstling
that cometh of a beast which thou hast,
the males shall be the Lord's And
every firstling of an ass, thou shalt re-
deem with a lamb ; and if thou wilt not
redeem it, then thou shalt break his
neck, and all the first-born of man among
thy children shalt thou redeem." Here
we see the consecration of the first-born to
the Lord, as his peculiar property.
There is an interesting circumstance
connected with it — the redemption of an
unclean beast by a clean, pointing to the
redemption of the unclean sinner by a
clean offering, " the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world." In
Leviticus xxiv. 9, we have the con-
secration of food to the Lord and to
his priests, where the shew bread is
commanded to be eaten by none but
priests, to be consecrated in the Lord's
house, and eaten alone in the holy place.
In the New Testament our Lord recog-
nises the same principle as belonging to
the things that are set apart to the Lord.
In St. Mark xi. we read, that he went
into the temple, cleansed it, and over-
threw the tables of the money-changers,
and the seats of them that sold doves ;
adding, as his reason, these remarkable
words, (as the margin renders it,) " My
house shall be called a house of prayer
for all nations," thus teaching us, that
when consecrated to the Lord's service,
it is his, and not ours. Any thing once
given to the Lord, cannot be used for
purposes otherwise lawful, for merchan-
dize, or any thing but for the Lord's
service.
Here then, we see, that when Jesus
said, " Do this," he taught us to take
bread and wine, and solemnly to conse-
crate them.
Next, we are to have a minister to
consecrate them. We do not find that,
any disciples meeting together could con-
secrate the elements, for in Matthew we
are told, that " Jesus blessed it and brake
it, and then gave it to the discii les and
said, take, eat, this is my body." In
Acts, ii. 42, we find the same ministerial
270
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
consecration of the Lord's Supper, where
we are told, that those who were baptized,
" continued steadfastly in the apostles'
doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking
of bread and in prayers," that is, they
continued steadfastly in the apostles'
teaching and communion, and in the
apostles' breaking of bread and prayers —
whatever their public services were, they
had the apostles, the Lord's ministers
with them. And thus it i* as the apostle
says, the cup of blessing which we bless,
becomes the communion of the blood of
Christ.
Again we find, that in doing this, our
Lord accompanied itwith prayer. We have
a beautiful and instructive portion of that
prayer recorded in the 17th chapter of
St. John's gospel. We find he accom-
panied it with hymns, for we are informed
by the evangelist, " when they had sung
an hymn, they went unto the Mount of
Olives." He accompanied it with a most
instructive sermon — the fourteenth, fif-
teenth, and sixteenth chapters of St. John,
are the sermon which he preached at the
institution of his own supper. There
are other matters connected with doing
this that Jesus did, such as time and place,
and order of prayer and posture, and
such like, and these are left to the discre-
tion of the lawful authority in the church.
The xi. of Corinthians which gives such
important directions respecting the obser-
vance of this ordinance concludes by
saying, " the rest will I 6et in order when
I come." The apostle had delivered
some things as the fixed institution of the
Lord's supper — they were to take bread
and wine which were to be blessed, they
were to tarry one for another, &c. but he
implies that the minuter regulations res-
pecting it, were to be regulated by lawful
authority, " the rest will I set in order when
I come.'' This power of setting in order
the details of Christian worship and
Christian ordinances is committed to the
bishops, as we find in Titus i. 5. " for
this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou
shouldest set in order the things that are
wanting," not that thou shouldest make
inventions of men in the worship of God,
but that thou shouldest regulate those
things which God has left to thy discre-
tion. We thus fivA that the details of
Christian worship were to be regulated
not by popular clamour or popular will,
but that the presiding minister in the
Lord's church should have the regulation
of matters such as these. We now come
to-
ll. The purpose or the Lord's sup-
per, " do this in remembrance of me," in
remembrance of Jesus. The apostle
says, " the Lord Jesus, the same night
in which he was betrayed, took bread."
Oh, how should this remind us of Jesus?
The night in which he was betrayed, the
night in which sinful men betrayed the
Saviour — the night in which the Saviour
was content to be delivered up into the
hands of sinful men — the night that ex-
hibited in one view the blackness of
human depravity, and the brightness of
the Saviour's love — the night that proved
in the face of angels and men, the con-
stant unchanging love of him, who forgot
not his disciples in their waywardness and
ingratitude, in their forgetfulness and re-
nunciation of him — the night that re-
minds us that Jesus does not forget us,
however we may forget him !
The remembrance of Jesus may be
considered actively or passively, " this do
in remembrance of me," that is to remind
Jesus of us, or to remind us of Jesus.
The expression may be applied both ways,
and may be profitably considered in either
view. We have need of reminding Christ
of us, of our necessities, our wants, our
joys, and our sorrows, as in Isaiah xliii.
26, " put me in remembrance, let us plead
together, declare thou, that thou mayest
be justified, 1, even I, am he, that blot-
teth out thy transgressions for mine own
sake, and will not remember thy sins."
Here we have indeed a bleeding Saviour
exhibiting himself to us as blotting out
our transgressions, and because he will
not remember our sins, encouraging us
to put him in remembrance of us, in re-
membrance of all we need at his Almighty
hand. In Numbers x. 9, we have the
same truth of reminding God of us, set
before the Jews, " if ye go to war in
your land against the enemy that
oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an
alarm with the trumpets, and ye shall be
remembered before the Lord your God,
and ye shall be saved from your enemies."
Here then, in the day of danger, were
the people with appointed trumpets, put-
ting the Lord in remembrance of them,
of their dangers and necessities, and by
thus putting the Lord in remembrance of
them, obtaining the help they needed, —
" ye shall be saved from your enemies : '"
and so again, in Malachi iii. 16, 17, we
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
271
are told that " they who feared the Lord,
spake often one to another, and the Lord
hearkened and heard it, and a book of
remembrance was written before him, for
them that feared the Lord, and that
thought upon his name ; and they shall
be mine, saith the Lord, in that day
when I make up my jewels, and I will
spare them as a man spareth his own son
that serveth him."
In this view of these words, we have
then this truth set before us, that, in that
holy ordinance, we remind Jesus of his
covenanted mercy, of his dying love, the
price it cost Christ to purchase our souls,
the greatness of his promises, the reality
and truth of our faith in him, the ne-
cessity we have to bring before him our
weakness and our woes. We remind
him that we do indeed believe in him,
and that, believing in him, we cling to
his precious covenant. In taking of the
memorials of his dying love, we remind
him that we are those of whom he has
said, " he that believeth on me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live, and
waosoever liveth and believeth on me
shall never die."
But again, the remembrance of Jesus,
taken passively, implies that we remember
Jesus; our remembrance of Jesus im-
plies, not merely a remembrance of
one act of the Saviour, of one truth, or
one fact connected with his Gospel or
his life, but a remembrance of himself.
He does not say, do it in remembrance
of the cross — do it in remembrance of
the garden, but, do it in remembrance of
me — my person — my offices — my quali-
ties — my whole being — Christ Jesus our
Redeemer — our friend. Remembrance
of Jesus must vary in intensity, and affec-
tion, and character, in proportion to our
knowledge of his love, his grace, his
kindness, and his truth, and of our
habitual abiding in him in our own souls.
What would the remembrance of Jesus
imply to the apostles ? How manifold
the recollections that would crowd into
their minds, when they remembered
Jesus ! How various the emotions that
would be excited within them, when they
assembled at his table, in remembrance
of him ! The remembrance of Jesus to
them would be the remembrance of the
companion, whose intimacy they had
enjoyed through the whole period of his
■ministry ; seeing him in his most secret
hours — in his private intercourse — in his
public character. Going in and out
with them, they had become acquainted
with the emotions of his heart, with the
thoughts of his mind, with all his words,
and actions, and works. They would re-
member him, who spoke as never man
spoke — the friend that bore with their
waywardness, instructed their ignorance,
enlightened their darkness, had forgiven
their ingratitude, had corrected their
selfishness, and fulfilled in every respect
that most endearing relation. They
would remember the prophet, who pre-
dicted his country's ruin, and forewarned
his countrymen of their impending danger,
setting before the mind of his church, the
great events that were to happen in it.
They would remember the true patriot,
who was not seeking the applause of the
giddy multitude, who, while he mourned
over, rebuked the sins of his people, who
pointed out to his nation their danger, as
well as to the house of Judah, their sins ;
the teacher who set himself against popu-
lar prejudices, while he meekly bore with
popular waywardness ; the churchman
who was scrupulously submissive to all
the ordinances of divine appointment,
while he was faithful in testimony against
the corruptions of that priesthood, whose
office he recognized, and to whose autho-
rity he submitted ; the preacher of the
Gospel to the poor — the binder of the
broken hearted — the giver of sight to the
blind — the announcer of mercy to the sin-
ner ; they would remember him, in whom
they saw fulfilled all the relations of life —
his conduct, as a guest, when he sat in
the house of the pharisee, recognizing
the poor penitent, one who " came and
washed his feet with tears, and wiped
them with the hairs of her head," acknow-
ledging her love, and accepting her
gratitude, while he rebuked the proud
and haughty, and rich one, in whose
house he was at the time. They would
remember the wondrous worker of mira-
cles, who was seeking, not his own glory,
but the glory of him that sent him ; who
was compassionate to the weak, pardon-
ing the sinner, raising the dead, unmindful
of himself, and attending only to the
glory of God, and the good of souls.
Could they remember Jesus, and forget his
dying love ? Could they forget the garden
of Gethsemane, where they had seen their
beloved Master in his hour of agony ?
Could they forget the place of a skull,
where he was nailed to the accursed tree ?
272
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
Could they forget the drops of blood that
flowed from him, when the weight of the
world's sins and woe was upon him — the
agon}' of mind and body, in which they
saw him prostrate ? Could they forget the
fervency of prayer in which he supplicated
the assistance and presence of his God
and their God, his Father and their Fa-
ther ? Could they forget the submissive
prayer, by which he bowed his own will
to the divine will, saying " nevertheless,
not my will, but thine be done ?" Could
they forget the gentle rebuke, with which
he reminded Peter of his former self-
dependance — " couldst thou not watch
with me one hour?" Could they forget
the care of his disciples, when in the
midst of his own distress, he sought their
safety saying, " let these go their way ?''
Could they forget his discourse at the
last supper, when they remembered
Jesus, when they thought of that counte-
nance full of sorrow and love which they
saw before them, and heard his words,
" let not your heart be troubled, neither
let it be afraid ;" forgetting himself and
thinking of them, encouraging them, and
encouraging us to the latest posterity, to
put their trust and faith in him? Could they
remember Jesus, and forget his cross ?
Could they forget the sympathy that he
felt for the daughters of Jerusalem, ac-
cepting their love, and reminding them
of their own suffering, " daughters of
Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for
yourselves, and for your children ?''
Could they forget the filial sympathy that
he exhibited to his sorrowing mother,
when he committed her to the care of his
beloved disciple ? Could they forget
the scoffs he endured when spit upon,
and crowned with thorns ? Could they
forget the scenes their eyes witnessed,
when the penitent thief had said to him,
" Lord, remember me when thou comest
to thy kingdom ?" Could they forget the
acceptance which their master gave to
that penitent sinner, " this day shalt
thou be with me in paradise?" Or could
they forget, as he was about to leave the
world, his last prayer, " Father into thy
hand I commend my spirit ?" Such
would be part of the feelings that would
occupy their minds, when they heard the
words addressed to them, " do this in
remembrance of me."
Could they remember his dying love,
and doubt the reality of his atonement ?
Could they remember his personal affec-
tion for themselves individually, and
doubt whether they themselves were ac-
cepted, and their salvation secured by
him ? This remembrance of Jesus
would bring home to their bosoms the
assurance that their sins were pardoned,
that their souls were saved, that, having
been blessed with the love of him, who is
" the same yesterday, to-day, and for
ever:" — his love is an unchangeable love,
and therefore their safety is endless
security. Could they remember his
dying love, and doubt his living affec-
tion ? They had seen him crucified
through weakness, and raised by the
power of God ; — they had heard him say,
" I go to prepare a place for you;"
Could they in after life, doubt their
own adoption ? Could they suppose
that he would have gone to prepare a place
for them, and not secure the preparation
of them for the place ? Could they
doubt, that he who had so often, when
alive, forgiven their sins and ingrati-
tude, would continue to forgive them still?
Could they doubt, that he was their shep-
herd who would follow them with good-
ness and mercy all the days of their life ;
and, notwiihstanding all their failings,
sins, and infirmities, would cause them to
dwell in the house of the Lord for ever ?
They who had seen the blood of the
eternal covenant shed, could not remem-
ber Jesus, without being assured that he
became the shepherd of the sheep — they
could not forget, that he was now appear-
ing in the presence of God for them —
securing their safety, pleading their cause,
and while he owned their sins, and ac-
knowledged their sinfulness, could present
the merits of his own blood, and obtain
eternal redemption for them Heb. xiii.
20. My brethren, could they remember
Jesus, and forget themselves ? Could
they forget the contrast between his
character and theirs, that flashed so con-
stantly on their minds ? Could they not
say, as one of old did, " Mine eye seeth
thee, wherefore I abhor myself and repent
in dust and ashes?" 1 hey would thus,
indeed, be powerfully reminded when they
remembered Jesus, of their own sinful-
ness, their own* selfishness, their wayward-
ness, their ingratitude, their own tendency
to go astray, like lost sheep ; and, remem-
.bering Jesus, they would cast themselves
into the arms of his love, and with the
deepest humiliation and the most repen-
tant feelings, they would entrust them-
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
273
selves, body and soul, for time and for
eternity to him. Let us imagine with
what feelings his apostles would approach
that holy table, where they saw exhibited
before their eyes, in emblems indeed,
and yet, in some sort, in emblems full of
reality, the memorials of their Master's
dying love. Could they come with cold-
ness of heart to that table, that reminded
them of his broken body, and his poured
out blood ? How would the sight of them
animate them to consecrate themselves
to such a Master, and teach them to "count
all things but loss, for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ JesustheirLord?''
And is it the apostles only, that have
cause to remember Jesus? Was it only
for the apostles that he lived and suffered
and died ? Was it for the apostles alone,
that "he bore our sins and carried our
sorrows ?" Was it they only whose re-
bellion he had forgiven, whose ingratitude
he had forgotten ? Was it they only who
received his bounties, abused his good-
ness, despised his mercy, and obtained a
place in his blood bought church ? Is it
they alone whose names he now bears for
a memorial on his heart before the Lord
continually ? Was it for the apostles
alone that he stooped to the cross of Cal-
vary, and now appears in the presence of
God?
My brethren, let these considerations
come home to our best affections. What
does the remembrance of Jesus imply to
you ? Do " you know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was
rich, yet for your sakes he became poor,
that ye through his poverty might be rich ?"
Let us not forget, that the remembrance
of any person must be deep in proportion
to our value of that person, our acquaint-
ance with him, the habit of intercourse
and friendship we have had with him.
Let the depth of feeling by which you
remember Jesus, or the coldness of heart
by which you can turn away from the
holy table to which he invites you, be the
measure this day, of your experience of
the love of Christ that passeth knowledge,
and of your estimate of its value.
When you think of Jesus, how do you
remember Him ? Do you think of the
friend that gave himself for you, as " the
Lamb of God that has taken away the
sin of the world?" Do you believe him
to be the shepherd and bishop of your
souls, whose eye is ever on you, whose
heart beats with affection for you, whose
tongue is ever occupied in pleading your
cause before the Lord, whose wisdom and
skill and energy are exercised in making
all things work together for your souls'
and bodies' eternal good ? When you
remember Jesus, oh do you remember
with shame, your own waywardness, your
own forgetfulness, your own ingratitude,
your own slowness of heart to believe all
that the prophets have spoken ; your slow-
ness to trust in all the promises he has
given, to believe in the assurance of the
love he has left on record to every one
that believeth ? Do you believe the re-
cord that God has given of his own dear
Son, and this is the record, that we have
eternal life through him ? May we be
enabled rightly to hear, and rightly to
observe the Saviour's parting words, " do
this in remembrance of me!"
This leads us to other purposes of the
Lord's supper. By partaking of this
ordinance, we declare ourselves to be the
disciples of Jesus, for the evangelist tells
us, that when he had broken bread, he
gave it to the disciples — it is not said to
the apostles, but to the disciples — and
said, " do this in remembrance of me."
These disciples were the taught ones of
Jesus, those who were under his instruc-
tion, they were sinners, but they were
pardoned sinners, they were sinners, but
they were accepted in that accepted time,
they were sanctified by the power of
God's Holy Spirit, they were redeemed by
the precious blood of Jesus, redeemed
from all iniquity, and purchased unto him
to be for him " a peculiar people, zeal-
ous of good works." By partaking of
this ordinance, we declare our belief, that
it is a cup of blessing, the source
of spiritual blessing to those who rightly
partake of it. The very name, " cup
of blessing," implies, that there and then
God meets us in blessing, Christ comes
to feast with us, and we with him ; it is
not merely a memorial of the Saviour's
love, merely a will expressive of our faith,
it is one that is accompanied by his own
presence, and one that is an abundant
cup of blessing to the souls of those who
in it feed on him. It is there that we
meet with the once crucified, but now
risen and glorified Saviour, it is there
that he makes that cup a source of bless
sing to our souls, accompanying the be-
lieving use of that ordinance, by the
power and energy of his own Holy Spirit.
It is called the communion of the
•274
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
body of Christ, the communion of the
blood of Christ, — " the cup of blessing
which we bless, is it not the communion
of the blood of Christ ? the bread which
we break, is it not the communion of the
body of Christ ?" One purpose, then,
of that holy ordinance is to make us par-
ticipants of the body and blood of Christ
our Saviour. The apostle, explaining
this communion, teaches us that it is the
communion of the Spirit, because of the
close connexion in the ever blessed Tri-
nity. In Philippians ii. 12, the apostle is
appealing to the experience of the in-
dwelling of the Spirit, the experimental
knowledge of Christian doctrine and
Christian truth which the Philippian
church had, and he says, " If there be
therefore any consolation in Christ, if
any comfort of love, if auy fellowship
(or communion) of the Spirit, if any
bowels and mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that
ye be like-minded, having the same love,
being of one accord, of one mind."
That communion of the Spirit is thus
described in Colossians i. 27 — "To whom
God would make known, what is the
riches of the glory of this mystery among
the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the
hope of glory."
In coming to that holy ordinance, we
should come to it with the fulnesss of faith
that it is indeed the cup of blessing, that
it is the communion of the body and
blood of Christ, — that while into our
body we take the bread and wine, into
our souls we take that which is declared
to be the body and blood of Christ ; we
feed on Christ's body, and drink into
Christ's blood — and thus he communicates
himself into the souls of his believing
people.
It is also a declaration of our state, of
our faith and hope, a declaration of these
things, not only to the church, but to the
world, — " as often as ye eat this bread
and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's
death till he come." As it was instituted
for Christ's disciples, we, by coming to
it, declare, that we are the disciples of
Christ, that we have separated ourselves
from all false systems of religion ; that
we are purchased by the blood of the
Son of God to be in his true church ;
that we believe ourselves to be his people
and the sheep of his pasture, and we
declare also what we believe to be the
privilege of his people ; " we do show the
Lord's death,"wedo show the Lord's com-
ing again ; we believe the bread and wine
visibly set before us, that blessed One who
has borne our sins in his own body on
the tree — that atonement by which " we
have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of sins ;" we declare our faith
in all the blessed results that are the con-
sequence of the blood-shedding of
Christ our Saviour, and our hope of our
personal interest in that blessed hope of
the glorious appearing of our great God
and Saviour Jesus Christ, " who gave
himself for us, that he might redeem us
from all iniquity, and purify us unto him-
self a peculiar people, zealous of good
works. " Our time would not permit to con-
sider other purposes of the Lord's supper,
we shall therefore briefly consider —
111. Who are the persons that
OUGHT TO PARTAKE OF IT. This is a
solemn inquiry — if we partake of it un-
worthily, we are " guilty of the body and
blood of the Lord," and if we dare not
partake of it, we are giving solemn judg-
ment against ourselves, that we are not
Christ's people, that we dare not enrol
ourselves amongst the number, that,
though we have the name of Christ upon
us and are Christian professors, our hearts
condemn us as hypocrites in professing
the Christian name, and we, by our own
act, cast ourselves out of the Christian
church, and throw ourselves back into the
heathen world. It is then a solemn thing
to come up to the Lord's table, and a still
more awful thing to stay away from it,
At the institution of it we are told, he
gave it to his disciples. Now, by baptism,
we are all disciples of Christ, and there-
fore we are, by baptism, entitled to the
holy ordinance, unless we exclude our-
selves from it. In St. Matt, xxviii. 19. 20.,
Christ says, (marginal reading,) " go ye
therefore, and make disciples of all na-
tions, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost, teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever 1 have commanded you, and
lo, I am with you always, even to the
end of the world." By comparing this
passage, with Galatians III. 27, we find,
" that baptism makes us Christ's disciples."
As many of you as have been baptized
into Christ, have put on Christ ; but
while we are thus by birth-right entitled
to that holy ordinance, yet the apostle
tells us, " let a man examine himself, and
so let him eat of that bread, and drink of
that cup."
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
275
Now, what is the examination that we
are to make of ourselves ? It is not, are
we sinless ; — for then, none could come
to it. It is not, have we ever sinned ; —
for the very ordinance is a remembrance
to us of the Saviour who died for sin-
ners. If those who never sinned were to
come up to it, it would be a useless ordi-
nance ; " for all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God." If those
only who are now sinless were to come
up to it, it would be equally useless,
because, " if any man say he has no sin,
he deceives himself, and the truth is not
in him." Those who are really entitled
to come to that holy ordinance are those,
who, having been baptized in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Ghost, do now believe in Jesus, for
the salvation of their souls — those who
believe that their sins were nailed to his
cross — that their debt has been cancelled
by his dying love — that their souls have
been renewed by his Holy Spirit — that,
while they feel within them fleshy lusts
that war against the soul, yet feel within
them joy in the Lord, enabling them to
say, " I delight in the law of the Lord,
after the inner man, but I see another
law in my members, warring against the
law of my mind, and bringing me into cap-
tivity to the law of sin which is in my
members." Those who are entitled to
come to that holy table are those believ-
ing sinners, who, while they bear about
with them a body of sin and death, feel
that sin is their burden, sinfulness is their
grief — who, " forgetting the things that
are behind, and reaching forward to
those things that are before, press toward
the mark for the prize of their high call-
ing of God in Christ Jesus." Oh, my bre-
thren, those and those only are entitled
to come to that holy table ; and if you
diligently scrutinize the motives that
keep many of you away from it, you will
find it is carelessness about it, that you
think you will find a more convenient
season to commune with a dying Saviour
or with a risen Lord ; or else, it is consci-
ence that keeps you away from it — you
find that sin is so dear to you tbat
you cannot part with it. You find, that
he only is the disciple indeed who en-
deavours to cleanse himself from all fil-
thiness of the flesh and spirit ; and yet
your conscience tells you, that you have
some sin that you cannot leave, though
asked to do it by a crucified Saviour !
It cannot be too often impressed on us
that it is not the sin of yesterday, not the
sin of to-day, but the sin of to-morrow,
that keeps thousands away from that holy
table. Remember, that Jesus came not
to call the righteous but sinners to re-
pentance. The very vilest are welcome
to him. He does not ask you to hesitate
one hour. He only asks you to give
yourselves to him now, now to trust in his
love, to rest on his atonement, to re-
joice in his salvation, and thus at this
moment to begin the life of a believer in
him at his own holy table. Can you
refuse him ? will you still prefer the
pleasures of sin, and again turn your
back upon a crucified Saviour, who so
freely invites you ? We now come to —
IV. The duty of observing it. It
was given for disciples. Now, in exter-
nal things, every one is a disciple who is
baptized and under Christian instruction.
In Saint John's Gospel, vi. 66. people
who went away from Jesus, and walked
no more with him, are called Christ's
disciples — " from that time, many of his
disciples went back, and walked no more
with him;" and, therefore, as far as ex-
ternal discipline goes, the minister of
Christ is not to exclude any person from
that holy ordinance whose outward con-
duct is clean. As professing Christians
we have no liberty of observing it or
not as we please. Christ instituted it
for his disciples, and therefore no dis-
ciple ought to refuse it ; it was to them
he said, " do this in remembrance of
me." We are shut up in the danger of
damnation, if we receive it unworthily ;
and in the danger of casting off the pro-
fession of the Christian faith, if we do
not receive it at all ; — there is no choice
between these two. Like the condition
of the sinner who has heard the Gospel,
he is shut up into Christ. The law
comes with its condemning power, telling
us we are under the curse of the law,
and pointing us in this way to a crucified
Saviour. It tells us, if we hear not his
voice, if we receive not his salvation by
faith, we must be eternally ruined. And
so does this holy ordinance tell us the
same. It tells us of sin and its danger j
it speaks to us of the Saviour — it invites
to him — it asks us to become his disciples,
that we may rightly receive it — it tells
us to examine ourselves, and see whether
we are his disciples indeed, and then it
tells us that we are bound to leceive it;
276
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
because he says, " do this in remem-
brance of inc."
Now, what would we have thought of
the apostles, if, when they saw the table
spread before them, and heard him say,
" This do in remembrance of me," if
they said within themselves, well ! he did
not tell us when to do it — how often to
doit; and though the table is spread,
and though our Master is here with us,
and every thing ready prepared, we will not
come now ? Would we not feel that they
were guilty of great ingratitude, of a
crying sin ? Would we not turn from
them with abhorrence and disgust at
hearing, that they were neglecting the
blessed pledges of the" love of Christ?
Now, the Lord says, " he that receiveth
you, receiveth me ; and he that despiseth
you, despiseth me ; and he that despiseth
me, despiseth him that sent me ;" and
therefore when he has appointed a lawfully
ordained ministry, and when the minister
stands at that table, and consecrates the
bread and wine, making it a cup of bles-
sing, and, in the Lord's name, exhorts
the disciples to come to the holy table,
you are guilty of the same sin that the
apostles would have been guilty of, if
you dare not, or will not come, and you
are guilty of another sin, if you go
unworthily.
May we be enabled to do it in remem-
brance of him with a safe conscience ; to
do it believing, that our sins are pardoned,
our blessings secured, and our necessities
supplied by the unspeakable love of
Christ, that passeth knowledge ; that
when we do it in remembrance of him, we
mav do it with the proper feeling with
which we ought to approach the holy
table ; that we may do it with that faith
and confidence, which those ought to
have, who are coming to feed on a
crucified Saviour, and to commune with
a risen Lord ; and thus doing it in
remembrance of him, we shall, indeed,
find it to be an ordinance of blessing, a
means of grace, a source of abiding in
him ; so that we who feed on him,
may, indeed, live by him in the power
and presence of his Holy Spirit, and be
with him in the hope of glory throughout
eternal ages.
May the Lord, the Spirit, carry home
his own truth to each soul now before
me, enabling us now and ever to do this
in remembrance of Him who gave him-
self for us, " that we being rooted and
grounded in love, may grow up into him
in all things," and be ripened for his
service here, and for his presence and
blessedness hereafter.
We have much pleasure in announcing: for an early number a Sermon by the Rev. J. N.
Lombard, of Cork.
Dublin: New Irish Pulpit Office, I, St. Andrew-st. ; John Robertson,
W. Curry, Jun. and Co. ; R. M. Tims, W. Carson, D. R. Bleakley. London,
R. Groombridge, J. Nisbet and Co. ; Liverpool, H. Perris ; Manchester, Pratt,
Chester, Seacome ; Cork Tract Repository ; Drogheda, C. F. Collins ; and all
Booksellers.
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
OR
GOSPEL PREACHER.
" Wo preach Chrl6t eruciflod—
" Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God."— I Cor. 1. 23, 24.
No. XCI.
SATURDAY, 31st AUGUST, 1839.
Price 4i>.
THE CONVERSION AND RESTORATION OF
THE JEWS,
wiTn
A STATEMENT OF THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS
OF THE
LONDON SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIANITY
AMONGST THE JEWS."
AND
THE ARGUMENTS, MOTIVES, AND ENCOURAGEMENTS TO SEEK THE
SALVATION OF ISRAEL,
SPECIALLY ARRANGED FOR TI1IS WORK,
BY THE REV. J. S. C. F. FREY.
Being requested to give a statement of
the present circumstances of the Jewish
nation, and of their future restoration
and conversion to Christ, and also a
history of the origin and progress of
Christian efforts to promote the con-
version of the Jews, and the unparalleled
effects produced, it will be necessary for
me to give, first, some account respecting
myself, and afterwards state the objects
of my present agency.
I was born of Jewish parents, and
educated strictly in the Jewish religion,
and 1 afterwards sustained the office of
teacher in Israel, and reader in the
synagogue for seven years. In 1795,
while travelling in a stage coach with a
Christian, he first mentioned the name
of Jesus with reverence, and said, that
Messiah has come, and to prove it, quoted
Vol. IV.
Jeremiah xxsi. where God had promised
to make a new covenant with his people.
This produced the first impression on
my mind, " perhaps the Christian religion
is true;" and I resolved to search the
Scriptures, and after three years, 1 made
public profession in the Lord Jesus Christ
by baptism. In 1799, I originated a
missionary seminary in Berlin, where I
was one of the students. In 1801, a letter
was received from the London Mis-
sionary Society, requesting that three of
these students should be sent over to
England, and the society would forward
them to Africa as Missionaries among the
Hottentots. I was one of the three that
was sent. On my arrival in London, the
directors, finding that I was a descendant
of Abraham, proposed that I should stay
and preach to ray Jewish brethren. Not
R
278
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
knowing the English language, they sent
me to Gosport, in Hampshire, into their
missionary seminary, where I stayed four
years. In 1805, I returned to London,
and commenced preaching to my Jewish
brethren. Here I met with no little op-
position, not only from Jews and infidels,
but more especially from professing
Christians, who thought that there was
no necessity or utility in doing any thing
for the Jews, that they had every oppor-
tunity of knowing the Gospel, but were
obstinate, stubborn, and unbelieving. Ac-
cordingly, I travelled through England,
Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, to give
information respecting the state of the
Jews, to show that they had no more
opportunities of hearing the Gospel in
their own language, than Christians have
of hearing the Mahomedan religion in
their places of worship. I was twenty-
five years of age before I heard a sermon
of any kind ; for there is no preaching
whatever amongst the Jews, nor have the
Jews the New Testament, how then could
they become acquainted with the true
character of Jesus Christ ? Hence they
continue in the belief imbided from
their childhood, that Christ had been a
deceiver, an impostor, and a blasphemer ;
and although they profess to believe the
whole of the Old Testament, yet few Jews
have ever seen the prophetical writings,
the characteristics of the true Messiah.
The Jews are said to be an obstinate,
stubborn, unbelieving people ; ' strange,
that the Jews should continue for 1800
years believing that Jesus was an im-
postor and a deceiver, while Christians
believe, that he was the promised Messiah,
that he was the Saviour of the world, and
the Son of God!' This has been the
language of Christians — I have heard
them for thirty-eight years charging the
Jews as obstinate, stubborn, unbelieving
people, because they will not believe as
Christians do. What would you think
of me, if I were to put into a newspaper,
that you were very obstinate, stubborn,
unbelieving people, because you did
not believe what took place in France
an hour ago ? Why do we not believe
it ? Not because we are obstinate, stub-
born, and unbelieving, but because, until
we hear what has taken place, of course
we cannot believe. But suppose we
should read, that in France a certain
river, always known in geography to have
run from north to south, had changed its
course in one night, and now ran from
east to west, and up hill for 100 miles,
would you not say, ' I will suspend my
judgment, till I have good evidence that
I have been in error;' — and who would
say, you were obstinate, stubborn, and
unbelieving? — who would not approve
of your prudence ? — And why should we
condemn the poor Jews as obstinate, stub-
born, and unbelieving, because they
believe only what they have heard, and
do not believe what they have not ?
From my childhood, before I was five
years of age, I heard from my teachers
and my parents, that there had been such
a person, called Jesus of Nazareth, but
they also told me, he had been a deceiver,
that ■ he had been an impostor and
blasphemer — and a thousand other blas-
phemies I read in a little book called
" The history of Jesus," written by the
Rabbies : — well, was I not bound to
believe it? Are not your children bound
to believe what you teach them, till they
consider for themselves, and find out
that you are in error ? If they do, they
ought to renounce their error, and follow
the truth. But how are the Jews to find
it out ?
But Christians say, do not the Jews
know the Gospel ? — do they not harden
themselves against it ? — have they not
places of worship ? Very true ; — it is to
the credit of my Jewish brethren that I
say, when there are ten Jewish people in
a district, they have a place of worship :
there may be fifty or one hundred Chris-
tian families without one place of worship;
my Jewish brethren are more zealous: —
but to say, that, because they have a
place of worship, they therefore hear the
Gospel, that is a false conclusion. The
premises are true, they have places of
worship — the conclusion is false, strange,
and unreasonable, that because they have a
place of worship, they hear the Gospel ; —
who ever went to a Christian place of
worship to hear the Mahomedan religion ?
How would it shock your ears, if a
Christian minister was to preach Maho-
medanism, and preach the false prophet?
Just so, would it shock the ears of a Jew
in his place of worship, if a Rabbi were
to "preach Christ and him crucified."
How could it be expected? Besides this,
the Rabbi must first know the Gospel
before he can preach it, and where is he
to get that knowledge ? How is it that
the Gentiles did not believe in the coming
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
279
of the Messiah, when the Jews expected
his coming ? Had the) - not preachers —
philosophers that instructed them, who
delivered lectures in the arts and sciences,
and morality ? Why did they not preach
to them the coming of the Messiah ?
Because their teachers did not know it
themselves ; — they themselves did not
know the Gospel— how could they preach
it?
But, it has been said, the Jews have
the Scriptures, and that is the only way
to find out, whether Christ is the Messiah
or not. I agree to it, there is no other
way to ascertain whether or not Christ is
the Messiah, but by comparing the Old
and New Testament. This is the rational
way — this is the way in all civilized
nations. Suppose a gentleman had left
a large estate to a certain individual, and
described that individual in such a manner,
as to render it utterly impossible to mis-
take a stranger for him : when the
gentleman dies, a thousand persotis pre-
sent themselves at once, each says I am
the rightful heir, the only one: who is to
know it, who is to decide ? No one but
the executors ; and the executors have
no right to decide it by any other rule
except by the will, whoever does not agree
with the will must be rejected. There
is no difficulty in the matter — it needs no
inspiration — no dreams or visions — no
superior judgment — they have nothing to
do but look to the will, and ask, " Well,
Sir, what is your name ?" " My name is
Solomon the son of David." " No, that
is not the name" — and he is rejected.
Another one is asked — his name is Isaac,
the son of Abraham. That agrees with
the will ; but there may be another Isaac,
and he is asked, " Where were you
born ?" " In Scotland." That does not
agree with the will. Another is Isaac,
the son of Abraham, and he is born in
France — that agrees with the will — so far
much better ; — but there may be a second
Isaac, the son of Abraham, in France, too;
they look again to the will and ask, " How
old are you ?" He answers, " 1800
years old." He is also rejected — and so
must every one be rejected till he is
found in whom every thing stated in that
will agrees ; and then justice requires
that he be proclaimed the rightful heir.
Now, in the Old Testament, which we
will call the will of the testator, God pro-
mised four thousand years before Christ
came, at different times, and in different
places, what kind of a person he would
send as the Messiah. He tells us he is to
be a man of the human race, that he is to
be of the "seed of a woman" — " Abra-
ham's seed," — of " the tribe of Judah" —
of "the family of David" — " born in
Bethlehem" — that he should appear while
the second temple was standing — before
the seventy weeks are accomplished —
before the sacrifice should cease, and
a thousand other characteristics. Who-
ever comes and says, I am the Messiah,
we must look into his history, whether all
things agree with him : if they do, then
he is to be pronounced the Messiah,
whether they like him or not. They
have no right to reject a man, be-
cause he is blind of one eye, or lame,
and choose another — they have only a
right to judge and pronounce a verdict.
Whoever agrees with the will, whether
they like him or not, they must pronounce
him to be the Messiah. The Jews are
not to be blamed for not having come to
the conclusion that Jesus is the Messiah,
because the Jews, as a nation, have never
had the New Testament, and not one Jew
in ten thousand has ever seen it; how then
can he know the character of Messiah ?
He only believes what his parents told
him, that, He was an impostor and a
deceiver, — he was, according to the Old
Testament, to be a good man, and there-
fore the Jew concludes he cannot be the
Messiah, because his parents tell him he
was a wicked man. Let the Jews then
have the New Testament, before we con-
demn them as an obstinate, stubborn,
unbelieving people.
But it has been said, why did not the
Jews go into Christian places of worship,
there they might hear the Gospel ? Now,
there have been almost insurmountable
difficulties in the way. The fear of man
is a great snare. Why did Nicodemus
j go to Jesus by night ? Because he was
afraid to go by day — " for the Jews had
made a law, that if any man should con-
fess that he was Christ, he should be put
out of the synagogue." And is it to be
wondered at, that my Jewish brethren
should be afraid to go into a Christian
place of worship ? Is that law obsolete ?
No, it is still in force : when a Jew is
known to become a Christian, he is ex-
communicated and banished — no man
can have any dealings with him — parents,
friends, relations hate him and persecute
him, and if they could take away his
280
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
life, they would do it, for they think lliey
are doing God service. People have
said, oil ! the Jews must be very cruel.
No, not more so than the Gentiles.
Then why do they hate their brethren
that believe in Christ? For the same
reason that Abraham took his son Isaac,
and bound him on the altar. Was he a
wicked, unnatural parent ? No, " I love
him," said the Lord, " he is my friend ;"
lie " has not withheld his son, his only
son from me ;" he has been willing to
offer him up. And must the Jews do
that which they know to be unnatural,
and against the moral law ? Yes, when
God requires it, they have to obey. " If
any wort-hip another God, he shall be put
to death." Now, the Jews look on their
brother who believes in Christ, as an
idolator, and therefore they consider
themselves bound to put him to death, if
they could. This is the reason, why
Paul of Tarsus, a humane and conscien-
tious man, went down to Damascus
to deliver all the Christians he could
find to prison: not because he was a
cruel man ; — remember Paul never
meddled with a single Gentile — we do
not know an instance that he took a
Gentile, and put him to death — they were
idolators, and he did not care what idols
they worshipped, but his own brethren he
considered himself bound to persecute,
till after his conversion.
There is another reason why the Jews
did not go into Christians places of wor-
ship. Suppose a Jew had gone into a
Christian place of worship in Spain,
Portugal, France, Italy, aye, or Britain,
too, and stood up in the midst of the
congregation, with tears in his eyes, like
the three thousand at the day of Pente-
cost, exclaiming, " men and brethren,
what shall I do ?" and suppose the Pope
had been the preacher, what would have
b Jen his answer? Why the Pope, pro-
fessing to be the successor of Peter,
should give no other answer than Peter
did — " repent and be baptized in the
name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of sins, and you shall receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost." But would the Pope
have said so? Oh, no ; either he or his
priests would have said, "go and confess
your sins to the priest, and pay so much
for every mass, for every prayer, and
give much alius to the poor, and fast
often in the year; but remember, that
after all you have done, when you die
the work is not finished — you must go
to purgatory, and the more money you
leave, the more prayers will be offered,
and the sooner the soul will be released
to enter heaven." Would the Jew, think
you, have supposed this to be the Chris-
tian religion, and the speaker the head of
the Christian Church? — or rather would
he not have concluded that he was a
Jewish rabbi, for the rabbies would teach
him the same thing ?
But there is another reason why the
Jew did not go into a Christian place of
worship. Put yourself into his situation,
and consider how you would act. Sup-
pose a person were to invite you to go
several miles to see an extraordinary
novelty — a new sect of men that came
down direct from heaven, and brought with
them a better and purer religion, as they
stated, than what was hitherto known,
and that that religion was printed in
golden letters, would you not have curi-
osity to go and hear and see them ? Well,
then, before the day came, you hear
reports circulated that a great number of
robberies and murders have been com-
mitted by that new sect, by the direction
of their leader, and under the sanction
of his golden bible, — what would you
think of that religion ? Would you wish
to join them, and become a member of
their society ? I dare say you would
judge as your Lord and Saviour directed
you to do — " a tree is known by its
fruit ;" you would say, if their religion
teaches them to rob and murder and
spoil, it must be a bad religion.
Now is this a fiction, or is it an awful
reality ? How have my poor brethren
been treated in every Christian country ?
Have they not been robbed and spoiled
of their property — hunted and persecu-
ted — banished from every country again
and again — tormented in the Inquisition,
shut up in prisons, and massacred by
thousands ? And by whom ? By those
who called themselves Christians, and
wanted them to join their religion ! Are
the Jews to be blamed for continuing to
abhor the Christian religion ? Oh, but
then you say, this is not the Christian
religion, this is not the religion of the
New Testament, I thank God I know it
now, but I did not knoiv it when 1 was a
Jew.
If Christians really wish to see their
prayers answered, let them use the proper
means, let them furnish the Jews with the
OR GOSPEL TREACHER.
281
preaching; of the gospel, let them send
the Scriptures among them, ami let them
act as their Lord and Master did, who
was " meek and lowly of heart,'' and
'' went about doing good." And if the
Jews sec, that Christians are benevolent
and kind towards them, they will begin
to think better of them and their religion,
and when they begin to examine, wc
may expect God will bestow his blessing.
It, was therefore my endeavour to point
out the necessity of furnishing the Jews
with the preaching of the gospel, with
the sacred Scriptures, and to teach them
the conduct and conversation becoming
the gospel of Christ. Notwithstanding
these difficulties, I persevered in preach-
ing for four years. But, in 1809, chris-
tians of different denominations thought
it would be for the benefit of the Jewish
cause if there was a distinct society se-
parated from the mission to the heathen.
Accordingly I left the Missionary Society
and formed " the London Society for pro-
moting Christianity among the Jews," and
continued preaching under its patronage
for six years longer, and God greatly
blessed our efforts to the conversion of a
goodly number. But in 1815, the So-
ciety had involved itself into debt which
threatened the ruin of the Institution ;
when the Rev. Lewis Way, a minister of
the established church, deeming it a pity
that this good cause should sink for want
of money to pay its just demands, pro-
posed that if the Dissenters would give
over the cause to the Episcopalians, he
would pay the whole debt. Two public
meetings took place, and by a unanimous
resolution, the Dissenters gave the cause
up to the Episcopalians, on the condition
that all should be honorably discharged.
Mr. Way was as good as his word, he
paid the whole debt, which was no less
than £ 18,000. The rule was then adop-
ted that all things were to be done accord-
ing to the discipline of the established
church.
1 will now leave the Society, and
state the objects of my present agency. In
1816, I went with my family to America,
arrived at New York, and for four years I
have been a settled pastor in or near that
city. During this period I had little
opportunity of preaching to my Jewish
brethren, I therefore resolved to write
letters to them. Accordingly 1 took the
lectures which I preached in London,
containing every doctrine in the Christian
religion and every prophecy in the old Tes-
tament, to show that the Christian religion
is the same as the Jews' religion as it regards
doctrines, and that in Christ all the pro-
phecies have been fulfilled. I addressed
this letter to one of my own brothers
whose name was Benjamin, and as my
first name is Joseph, I gave the title to
the work, Joseph and Benjamin. When
these two volumes were published, the
reviewers strongly recommended that
they should be circulated among the
Jews in the English language, and also
be translated into the German : accord-
ing to the wish of the Society, 1
immediately sent the two volumes called
Joseph and Benjamin to Hamburgh, to
get them translated in the German lan-
guage, and in May, lf^oS, I went myself
to Germany, found the woik translated
and took the manuscript to Berlin, pre-
sented it to the Society for promoting
Christianity among the Jews in that city,
and agreed that they should publish 5000
copies in the German language, the ex-
penses to be paid out of the money to
be collected by me. The work has since
been printed and paid for. I now com-
menced travelling and have travelled more
than seven thousand miles, visited more
than four hundred congregations, preached
more than five hundred times, and col-
lected all the money necessary to pay
for those printed in the German and
English languages, and all my travelling
expenses. Such is the first object of
my present agency, which is nearly
accomplished.
I shall now proceed to the second
part of my agency, which is to ascertain
the sentiments of the public in this
country and in Europe, respecting the
necessity of a settlement in America, to
furnish the Jews with employment as
well as with Christian instruction, and, if
necessary, to seek the co-operation of
the friends of Israel. To give a clear
statement of this part of my agency, it
is necessary to mention that in I8"20, I
formed a society in America, for melio-
rating the condition of the Jews, by fur-
nishing them in a settlement with em-
ployment as well as with Christian
instruction. 1 have also travelled in
America many thousand miles, and col-
lected more than 10,000 dollars; — but
the society have not been able to carry
the object into effect, having had no
Jews sent over, cither from this country
282
THE NEW LRISH PULPIT,
or from Europe. Accordingly, on my
arrival in London, I opened a corres-
pondence with the Society for the Jews
in Germany, to ascertain their opinion
respecting the necessity and expediency
of such a settlement, and have received
full and satisfactory information in the
affirmative ; and in my travels through
Great Britain and Ireland, I have re-
ceived the signatures of more than a
hundred ministers, recommending the
formation of a Society in London, to
pay the expenses of the passage across
the Atlantic of those Jews who are de-
sirous to join the settlement ; I found it,
however, impossible to form a society in
union with Dissenters and Episcopalians.
I have, therefore, submitted all my docu-
ments to Sir Thomas Baring, president
of the London Society for promoting
Christianity among the Jews, to ascertain
his opinion, and the following is an ex-
tract from his letter : —
" I have not time nor space in this
letter to enumerate the many efforts that
have been made, but all in vain ; but I
will at once proceed to give you my
opinion of your plan of a Society for
facilitating the emigration of Jews to
America, and I will also at once say, that
after giving to it the best consideration in
my power, it has my unqualified favor-
able opinion. The desideratum which
has long perplexed the friends for
affording temporal relief to the Jews,
will, I think, find in it a solution of all
other difficulties. As you have my good
opinion, you shall also have an un-
equivocal proof of my sincerity ; when I
hear that your plan is in a forward
state, I will send you a donation of one
hundred pounds, with my best wishes for
its success."
Sir Thomas has also laid the subject
before the committee of the society, and
I have every reason to expect they will
undertake the expenses of the Jewish
proselytes across the Atlantic.
We will now return to speak of the
unparalleled success that has attended the
efforts of this society.
The Holy Scriptures are put into the
hands of the Jews in the various languages
and dialects, common among them.
Tracts in various languages are also
circulated, amongst which may be par-
ticularly mentioned a series of papers,
under the title of the " Old Paths. '
An Episcopal Chapel, at Bethnel Green,
is opened for divine service, to which
Schools are attached.
Schools have also been established on
the Continent.
Missionaries have been sent to different
parts of the world, to distribute pub-
lications among the Jews, and visit them
from house to house, and the result
has been, that no less than three thousand
Jews have already been publicly baptized!
and not less than forty-three of my
brethren are now preaching the glorious
Gospel in different parts of the world !
An Episcopal Church is being built on
Mount Sion, near the Jaffa Gate, in
Jerusalem.
And as regards the results of their
exertions, the society has reason to be
thankful, for the success with which their
labours, under God's blessing, have been
attended.
We shall now just allude to the ar-
guments, MOTIVES, AND ENCOURAGE-
MENTS TO SEEK THE SALVATION Or
ISRAEL.
I. The superior claims which the
Jews have upon Christians.
1. Their afflicted and degraded condi-
tion demand the tenderest pity and com-
passion.
" To him that is afflicted pity should
be shown from his friends.," Job vi. 14.
Were a man of wisdom to form a scale
of degrees according to which pity should
be shown, he would doubtless write the
Jews upon the uppermost line, as a body
of people who have the most powerful
claim to the tenderest compassion of the
disciples of Jesus Christ. " The recol-
lection of ancient grandeur and glory
tends to enhance the sense of present
humiliation and distress."
Persons who have always been poor
and miserable, have a claim on our pity
and relief; such is the state of the poor
heathen. But when persons who were
once elevated to the throne of dignity,
and stood in the foremost rank of human
exaltation, but have since sunk into the
very abyss of wretchedness, and their
very names serve to express contempt
and misery, their state more forcibly
moves the soul. Such is the case of the
poor Jews. What then must be the
feelings of my dear people, when com-
paring their present degradation and
misery with their former glory and feli-
city ? Formerly they were the people
of God, when none else were his people :
OR GOSPEL PRFACHER.
280
and among them Jehovah dwelt, when
no other nation raised him a habitation.
By them was he honored and adored,
while every one else fell down and wor-
shipped stocks and stones. From the
days of Abraham to the coming of Christ,
they were unto God "a peculiar treasure
above all people, a kingdom of priests,
and a holy nation," Exod. xix. 5, 6.
" To them pertaineth the adoption, and
the glory, and the covenants, and the
giving of the law, and the service of
God, and the promises ; whose are the
fathers, and of whom, as concerning the
flesh, Christ came who is over all, God
blessed for ever," Rom, ix. 4, 5. " What
nation was there ever like unto that great,
nation, that has had God so nigh unto
them as the Lord their God was unto
Israel ?" " But how is the gold become
dim ; how is the most fine gold changed ! "
Lam. iv. 1. " How does the city sit
solitary that was full of people ! How
is she become as a widow? She that
was great among the nations, and princess
among the provinces, how is she become
tributary ! " Lam. i. 1. If her honours
were unparralleled, no less unparalleled
have been her calamities. Having rejec-
ted the Messiah, and called for his blood
on them and on their children, a righ-
teous God has hid his countenance from
them, and wrath has come upon them to
the very uttermost, and that for ages
together without mitigation.
How awfully true the prediction of
Hosea iii. 4, " The children of Israel
shall abide many days without a king,
and without a prince, and without a sa-
crifice, and without an image, and with-
out an ephod, and without teraphim."
And in the language of Asaph, my dear
people may say, " They have burned up
all the synagogues of God in the land ;
we see not our signs ; there is no more
any prophet, neither is there among us
any that knoweth how long," Ps. Ixxiv.
8. 9. Did our fathers sit down at the
rivers of Babylon, weeping and hanging
their harps on the willows, refusing to
sing the song of Zion in a strange land,
although they knew that their captivity
was only to be for seventy years ; how
much greater the affliction of Israel,
which has continued for nearly eighteen
hundred years, and none can tell "how
long." Well may they adopt the bitter
lamentation of Jeremiah and say, " Is it
nothing to you, all ye that pass by ?
Behold, and see if there be any sorrow
like unto my sorrow which is done unto
me, wherewith the Lord had afflicted me
in the day of his fierce anger ; from
above hath he sent fire into my bones,
and it prevaileth against them," Lam. i.
12, 13. With greater propriety than
Job may Israel say, " Have pity upon me,
have pity upon me, O ye my friends ;
for the hand of God has touched me,"
Job xix. 21. But how widely different
has been the condition of my dear people ?
Their cup of afiliction has been unmixed
with a drop of consolation. With the
loss of their country, their city, and their
temple, they have lost all the comforts
and supports of true religion. Sacrifices,
the life and soul of the Mosaic dispensa-
tion, having ceased, their present code
of religion has become a mere dead
skeleton ; so far from comforting and
supporting, it has served them like
" the lamp of the sepulchre, which
serves to discover, whilst, it cannot dis-
perse, the blackness of the surrounding
darkness." My dear people, having
lost sight of the glorious Gospel, the glad
tidings of salvation, of pardon, peace,
and eternal glory, through the all-
atoning sacrifice of the Messiah, and still
clinging to the holy, just, and good law,
which, whilst all-sufficient to condemn, is
neither able to pardon the guilty, nor
cleanse and purify the defiled and pol-
luted conscience of the sinner ; have
found by sad experience the force of that
declaration of God's holy Word, " The
spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity;
but a wounded spirit who can bear." —
Prov. xviii. 14. Hence they are without
spiritual consolation and support under
affliction, and without a joyful hope in
the all- important hour of death. For
seven long years, whilst officiating rabbi
in the synagogue, it was my painful lot to
attend the sick and the dying ; and whilst
I found all of them sensible of their being
sinners, exposed to the wrath of Almighty
God, I never found one saying, like
good old Simeon, " Now, Lord, lettest
thou thy servant depart in peace, for
mine eyes have seen thy salvation !"
Oh, how painful the scene of a dying
sinner without the hope of salvation !
But whilst the spiritual misery of the
Jews beggars description, their temporal
circumstances have not been any better;
scattered through every country, the pre-
dictions of the prophets respecting them
284
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
minutely fulfilled, they have for many
centuries been a by-word and a proverb,
the very scorn and outcast of the world.
What persecutions, what massacres, what
confiscations, what expulsion and banish-
ment have not my afflicted people endured
in all ages of their dispersion ! But
between their spiritual and temporal af-
flictions there is this great difference.
The former was inflicted by the hands of
a righteous God as the just reward of
their deeds, but the latter was inflicted by
wicked men who hated them without
a cause, and persecuted them without
P ity ' . „. ,
2. The injuries inflicted require resti-
tution and satisfaction.
The Jews have been injured both ne-
gatively and positively. Christians are
verily guilty both of the sin of omission
and commission. For ages past no man
cared for their souls ; but the Gospel has
not only been withheld from the Jews,
but various stumbling-blocks have been
thrown in their way. Instead of pre-
senting before their eyes the principles of
Christianity in their divine, heavenly,
and lovely character, the conduct of its
professors has led them to despise and
hate them. For as the tree is known by
its fruit, so the Jews judged of the
Christian religion by the conduct of its
professors. In every country where the
Romish faith exists, and especially where
it is established, the sight of their worship
and of their churches must be disgusting
and revolting to the Jews in the extreme.
The worship of one true God is the
fundamental article of their religion ; but
in the communion of Rome, they hear
prayers addressed to creatures, to the
Virgin Mary and the saints. The adora-
tion of graven images has justly been
held by the Jews in the fullest abhor-
rence. But in every place of worship
they appear in silver and gold, in wood
and stone, and the lowliest adoration is
paid them. When they pass along the
street, and meet a priest carrying the
host, which they will call, in plain lan-
guage, a wafer in a box, and see the
people all kneel down iii the mire with
deepest reverence, and they are told that
this is fie bon DicnJ, the gracious God —
what can be expected of Jews in these
situations ? That they should embrace
such a religion? No! who could wish
them ? But that they should look upon
it with cordial detestation and sovereign
contempt.
Nor are the wicked lives of Protestants
less stumbling to the Jews than the
idolatry of the Romans. Do they not
sec what is as bad or worse ? Do they
not hear blasphemies, and oaths, and im-
precations, coupled with the name of the
blessed Jesus, every hour ascend to hea-
ven ? Do they not behold intemperance,
lewdness, injustice, nay every crime com-
mitted that can offend God, or render
man guilty ? To instance in one sin ;
while the Jews profess, and in general do
actually show much regard for the Sab-
bath, as a day of rest, from business and
from pleasure, do they not see the mass
of those who call themselves Christians,
making it a day of business or of plea-
sure, and treating the divine command
which they profess to reverence, with the
utmost contempt? What ideas can they
form of our religion ? and have they no
claim, that justice should award them a
suitable compensation ?
3. The voice of equity as well as justice
demands our most serious attention. That
we Gentiles, received the Gospel from the
Jews, and are indebted to them for all that
we know of Jesus, and redeeming love,
will be universally acknowledged, for the
Gospel came forth from Zion, and the
Word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and
on this account their debtors verily we
are. What I plead for, brethren, is that
you and I should acknowledge and pay
the debt, by communicating to them that
Gospel which they first communicated
to us.
4. Gratitude for favours received call
for acts of benevolence and kindness. Pub-
lic opinion, in every civilized age, has
always sanctioned the demands of gratitude
by her powerful voice, and holds out her
finger with contempt and detestation at
the man on whose forehead is written
ingratitude; but the Gospel marks ingra-
titude with the hottest brand of infamy,
and it holds up gratitude as one of the
most powerful principles in the Christian's
breast, in which it confides, for the
production of the most powerful and
important effects. Now, if bowels of
compassion foim a peculiar feature in the
Christian character — if ingratitude be a
monstrous sin — if it be our duty to be
just in all our dealings, and whenever we
have wronged others, to make restitution
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
285
to the utmost of our power, then it is our
duty to attend to the present state of the
Jews, and to employ means for their
conversion.
II. Secondly, the cheat encourage-
ment WHICH COD HAS GIVEN US, BOTH IN
HIS WORD AND IN HIS PROVIDENCE. To tllC
man of the world the hope of success is
the sole motive and spring of his actions,
but the will of God is the pure motive,
and the all-powerful spring of action to
(he Christian. Had he the prospect of
gaining a world without the approbation
of his heavenly Father, he would not
attempt the enterprize. But in seeking
the salvation of the Jews, he is sure both
of acting agreeably to the will of God,
and of meeting with success. That it is
the will of God that the Jews shall be
converted will hereafter be proved by the
many precious promises contained in the
unerring Word of God, written and pre-
served lor the encouragement of our faith,
prayer, and action ; and that our efforts
will be crowned with success, is evident
from the remarkable dispensations of God's
providence in the present period.
Our blessed Lord reproved the Jews for
neglecting to observe " the signs of the
time " respecting his kingdom, and shall
we neglect to observe the wonderful signs
of the times respecting the restoration and
conversion of Judah and Israel ? For the
last fifty years, the way for their restoration
to the land of their fathers has been pre-
paring in a manner unparalleled in the
history of the world. When the deliver-
ance of Israel from Egptian bondage
drew nigh, God raised up Moses and
Aaron ; when the captivity of Babylon
came to a close, God called for Cyrus his
servant ; and has God done nothing in
our day to show that the captivity of my
dear people is drawing to a close ? Is it
not a striking fact, that the Jews have
of late years manifested a more earnest
desire, and firmer expectation of a speedy
return to the land of Canaan, than has
ever before been known ?
A general change in the treatment of
Jews, who, till this century, were every-
where " trodden down of the Gentiles,"
is another preparation sign.
The unprecedented interest Christians
have taken in promoting the conversion
of the Jews, is another encouraging sign
of the time. When we see Christians,
not only fervent in prayer, but also
diligent in the use of proper means, we
may safely expect the blessing of God.
Hence, says the Psalmist, " Thou shalt
arise, and have mercy upon Zion ; for
the lime to favor her, yea the set time is
come."
III. THE MANY AND GLORIOUS BENE-
FITS WHICH WILL RESULT FROM THE CON-
VERSION OF THE JEWS.
These benefits, if I am not greatly
mistaken, will rank next to those that
followed the incarnation of the Son of
God. At his birth the angels sang
" Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace, good-will towards men ;"
and when the Jews are converted, God
will be glorified, angels will rejoice, and
men be blessed.
In Psalm cii. a prophecy concerning
the future conversion of the Jews, it is
foretold that " When the Lord shall
build up Zion, he shall appear in his
glory."
if we be Christians, indeed, there is
no one object which we have more at
heart than this, " that God in all things
may be glorified through Jesus Christ."
And how astonishingly will the conver-
sion of the Jews promote it ! Long,
long, have that unhappy people dis-
honoured God by rejecting the Messiah
promised to the fathers. For seventeen
hundred years they have trodden under
foot the Son of God, and accounted the
blood of the covenant, shed for the re-
mission of their sins, to be an unholy
thing. But when the children of Israel
return to the Lord ; when they look upon
him whom they have pierced, and mourn ;
when they believe in him whom God
hath sent, and trust in him for righteous,
ncss and strength ; and when in him the
house of Israel shall seek to be justified,
and glory, God will be glorified in an
eminent degree. To see this people
lying at Jehovah's feet confessing the
heinousness of their guilt in rejecting
Christ, acknowledging themselves alto-
gether in the wrong, and God altogether
in the right, intreating him to pardon
their sins, and be reconciled to them
again ; this is highly honourable to him.
To hear them professing their belief, that
Jesus of Nazareth is the true Messiah ; to
behold them covered with shame and
confusion of face, because they refused to
receive him ; to hear them express their
cordial faith in his name, and their entire
dependence on him for wisdom, righteous-
ness, sanctificalion, and redemption ; and
286
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
their solemn purpose to live no longer to
themselves, but to him who died for them
and rose again, is glorifying God in the
highest degree; for it is a profession
from his own people of their approbation
of his great plan for man's redemption,
and a cordial acknowledgment that God
is infinitely wise, holy, righteous, good
and faithful in the whole of it, both in
the contrivance and execution. When
we add to this, their living in subjection
to the Lord Jesus Christ, and their
zealous labours throughout the world for
bringing the nations to Christ, and the
astonishing display of the Divine dispen-
sations towards that people, presented to
the wondering eyes of the whole Christian
church, we may form some idea of the
vast revenue of glory which will hence
accrue to God.
2. Angels too will greatly rejoice at
the conversion of the Jews. For '•' are
they not all ministering spirits, sent forth
to minister for them who shall be heirs
of salvation ?" When God created the
world, " the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy ;"
how much greater will be their rejoicing
when a whole nation shall be born in
a day ! If there be " joy in heaven
amongst the angels over one sinner that
repenteth," how much greater will that
joy be when "the house of David and
the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall look
unto him whom they have pierced, and
mourn for it (i. e. the act of having
pierced him,) " as one that mourneth for
his only son, and shall be in bitterness
for it, as one that is in bitterness for his
first-born." Zech. xii. 10.
But let us consider more particularly
the beneficial effects which the conversion
of the Jews will have both upon them-
selves and upon the whole human race.
Their conversion to God will be the
commencement of true happiness, the
greatest felicity to their own souls. The
misery of their present state is truly
deplorable, as has already been shown ;
but, by receiving the Gospel of Christ,
and believing in the name of the Son of
God, how happy will they become !
Blessed with the forgiveness of sins,
enjoying peace of conscience, renewed
in the spirit of their minds, and daily
tasting the sweetness of communion with
the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ,
they will be introduced into a new world,
and find, under the dominion of the
Messiah, a happiness unknown to them
before. And to all this happiness will be
added, in the world to come, everlasting
life. Having thus obtained mercy, they
will prove a blessing to others also.
Nor have the Jews ceased from being
a blessing, even in their present captive
state. Their unparalleled sufferings, in
exact fulfilment of the predictions con-
tained in the Sacred Scriptures, have
silenced the Infidel, and convinced many
a sceptic of the truth of Divine Revela-
tion.
Now, if in their present dispersed and
degraded condition, they are still a light
to shine in darkness, how much clearer
will that light be, and how much stronger
those evidences arising from the fulfilment
of those many predictions relating to the
restoration and conversion of my dear
people ? The conversion of a Jew, in
his present abject condition, is generally
ascribed to sinister motives; but, when
the Jews are brought back to their own
land, rebuild their city and their temple,
and enjoy all that for 1800 years they
longed for, and after that, voluntarily
give up all as vanity, and less than vanity,
and believe in the name of that Jesus,
whom they have so long hated and
blasphemed, and trust in his righteousness
alone for salvation, to what other cause
will such a change be ascribed, but to
" the glorious Gospel of the blessed
God, as the wisdom and power of God
unto salvation ?"
What Providence most distinctly in-
timates, prophecy most unequivocally
confirms.
That the Jews, after their conversion,
will prove a greater blessing to the world
at large than they have ever been before,
is clearly and possitively declared in the
Word of God. The Apostle not only
assures us that the conversion of the Jews
is possible and certain, but he also
declares that their restoration will prove a
more extensive means of the conversion
of the Gentiles than their dispersion has
been. For he thus reasons, " 1 say then,
have they stumbled that they should
fall ? God forbid ; but rather, through
their fall, salvation, is come unto the
Gentiles, for to provoke them to jea-
lousy. Now, if the fall of them be the
riches of the world, and the diminishing
of them the riches of the Gentiles, how
much more their fulness? For, if the
casting away of them be the reconciling
OR GOSPEL PREACHER,
287
of the world, what shall the receiving of
them be, but life from the dead ?" Rom.
xi. 11, 12, 15.
I now come to consider the last part of
my subject:
The final restoration and conver-
sion or the Jews. That the Jewish
nation will be delivered from their present
captive state, and advanced to a greater
degree of happiness and honour than they
have ever enjoyed, is acknowledged by
all who believe the Bible. But very
diverse are their opinions respecting the
nature of that deliverance, and the means
by which it is to be effected. Many
divines suppose that the Jews will be
converted to Christ in their present dis-
persed state by the usual means of grace,
and then be mixed with Christians so as
to be no longer known as a distinct people.
Others are of opinion that they will be
converted in their dispersed state, and, after
that, return to their own land, and be still
preserved a distinct people ; but there are
not a few who believe that the nation at
large will return to their own land before
their conversion, and that a remnant will
be converted who will not return with the
nation, but will afterwards be carried " as
a present unto the Lord of hosts of a
people scattered and peeled, and from a
people terrible from their beginning hi-
therto ; a nation meted out and trodden
under foot, whose land the rivers have
spoiled, to the place of the name of the
Lord of hosts, the Mount Zion,'' Isaiah
xviii. 7 ; when the nation will be conver-
ted in a remarkable manner, as was the
apostle Paul, beholding the Lord Jesus
Christ, That the last of these opinions
appears to be the most scriptural, I shall
now endeavour to prove.
There is scarcely anything more fre-
quently foretold than this glorious event.
To quote all the passages relating to it
would be an endless task : I shall therefore
select but a few as a specimen. We will
begin with Moses. ''And I will bring
the land into desolation ; and your enemies
that dwell therein shall be astonished at it,
and I will scatter you among the heathen,
and will draw out a sword after you ; and
your land shall be desolate, and your cities
waste. Then will I remember my cove-
nant with Jacob, and also my covenant
with Isaac, and also my covenant with
Abraham will I remember; and I will
remember the land. The land also shall
be left of them, and shall enjoy her
Sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without
them : and they shall accept of the
punishment of their iniquity ; because,
even because they despised my judgments,
and their soul abhorred my statutes."
Lev. xxvi. 32, 33, 42—45. In the pre-
ceding verses God threatens judgments
to overtake our nation for their sins and
disobedience to his law ; and then pro-
mises that he will not utterly destroy them,
but remember his covenant made with our
fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which
covenant reads thus : " And the Lord
said unto Abraham, after that Lot was
separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes,
and look from the place where thou art,
northward, and southward, and eastward,
and westward ; for all the land which thou
seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy
seed for ever.'' Gen. xiii. 14, 15.
Now, as the essence of the covenant
made with our fathers and their natural
posterity, was the possessing the land of
Canaan literally, and as the Lord has pro-
mised he will remember the covenant
during their captivity, it must mean that
he will bring them again into the literal
Canaan. What else can be the meaning
of these words, " and I will remember
the land," but this, that God would put
an end to its desolation, by restoring it to
its ancient inhabitants, to be cultivated
and replenished by them ?
It is a poor evasion, to say that this
promise was fulfilled at their return from
Babylon, because the restoration to their
own land for a few ages, and a subsequent
dispersion for near four times as long a
period, among all nations, without any
hopes of return, can never be the true
meaning of giving that land to the seed of
Abraham for ever.
I will next call your attention to the
prophecy in Deut. xxx. 1 — 6. " And
it shall come to pass when all these
things are come upon thee, the blessing
and the curse which I have set before
thee, and thou shalt call them to mind
amongst all nations whither the Lord thy
God hath driven thee, and shalt return
unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey
his voice, according to all that I command
thee this day, thou, and thy children,
with all thine heart, and with all thy
soul ; that then the Lord thy God will
turn thy captivity, and will have com-
passion upon thee, and will return and
gather thee from all the nations whither
the Lord thv God hath scattered thee.
288
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
If any of thine be driven out unto the
outmost part of heaven, from thence will
the Lord thy God gather thee, and from
thence will he fetch thee. And the Lord
thy God will bring thee into the land
which thy fathers possessed, and thou
shalt possess it ; and he will do thee
good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.
And the Lord thy God will circumcise
thine heart, and the heart of thy seed,
to love the Lord thy God, with all thine
heart, and with all thy soul, that thou
mayest live." Now, that this is a
prediction yet to be fulfilled in the literal
restoration of my beloved people to their
own land, and that afterward they shall
be truly converted to God, will evidently
appear, if we consider that it has never
had ils fulfilment. It is inapplicable to
their return from the Babylonian capti-
vity, during which time they were very
far from being scattered among all
people, from one end of the earth to
the other Neither can it be said that the
hearts of the people were generally cir-
cumcised, so that they loved God with all
their heart and all their soul, during the
interval of their return from Babylon
and their being scattered by Titus ; for
the rabbins themselves, as well as
Josephus, say, that our nation, at the time
of the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans
were more wicked than' ever, and that
therefore the coming of the Messiah was
delayed until they shall repent; nor has
the other promise been realized, ver. 5,
" to do them good, and to multiply them
above their fathers." Consider next,
that it is allowed by all, that at least
many of the calamities in ch. 27 — 30
were inflicted literally on our nation soon
after their dispersion by Titus, why should
not the blessing of deliverance and res-
toration to the land which "our fathers
possessed, and shall possess," be literally
fulfilled?
It appears then that our people will
return literally to the land in an uncon-
verted state ; for the circumcision of the
heart, or true conversion to God, is to
succeed their restoration to the land. It
is of great importance to remember this
order established by God himself ; for
you must know that there are not a few
who grant that this prediction has not
been fulfilled, but will be accomplished
in the conversion of the Jews wherever
they arc ; and that to be gathered to the
land of Canaan, " the land which our
fathers did possess," is not to be under-
stood literally, but allegorically of hea-
ven ; of which Canaan was a type. True,
Canaan was a type of heaven ; but does
God promise to gather them "out of all
people from one end of the earth to the
oilier, and bring them into heaven ?"
What, before their hearts are circumcised
to love him ? Has Christ changed the
order of things? Has it now become
possible for sinners to enter the kingdom
of God without being born of the Spirit ?
Consider also, that surely the land which
Abraham could " see with his eyes,"
and " in which he was a stranger," the
land in which Isaac " sojourned," the
land on which Jacob " lay," must be the
very land of Canaan itself, and no other
place in heaven or earth. But these are
the terms which the Lord employs to
define the promised land, that land which
he promised to the patriarchs, " and their
seed for ever, for an everlasting pos-
session." Besides, what does it mean
when God adds, " I will multiply them
above their fathers ?" " And the Lord
thy God will bring thee into the land
which thy fathers passessed, and thou
shalt possess it ; and he will do thee
good, and multiply thee above thy fa-
thers." (Deut. xxx. 5.) Is this applica-
ble to the inhabitants of heaven ? No,
it is the Canaan once possessed, which
they shall possess again.
In Ezekiel xxxvi. 25. 27. you will
find a promise of temporal and spiritual
blessings. The spiritual blessings con-
sist in regeneration and reconciliation
with God. " Then will I sprinkle clean
water upon you, and ye shall be clean ;
from all your fillhiness, and from all your
idols will I cleanse you. A new heart
also will I give you, and a new spirit
will 1 put within you ; and I will take
away the stony heart out of your flesh,
and I will give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put my Spirit within you, and
cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye
shall keep my judgments and do them -.''
amongst the temporal blessings promised,
is, first their return to their own land,
which is to precede their regeneration,
agreeably to the order, ver. 25 ; then,
i. e., after having been " gathered out of
all countries and brought into their own
land," ver. 24, then they shall experience
the change of heart promised.
Now, whatever partial fulfilment (his
prophecy may have had at the return of
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
289
our fathers from Babylon, it is very evi-
dent that a far more complete accomplish-
ment of it is to take place in future.
For in verse 1 1 , the promise is that God
would do better unto them than at their
beginning; but it is a fact well known,
that the outward condition of our people
was never so prosperous after the captivity
as it had been before that catastrophe :
the land, instead of being like the garden
of Eden, the admiration of men, has
become the habitation of owls, and the
dwelling place of wild beasts. Further,
the persons to be restored are repeatedly
said to have blasphemed the name of the
Lord amongst the heathen ; but this cha-
racter is not applicable to our fathers in
the Babylonish captivity; instead of being
profane they seem to have been so con-
cientious as not to sing the song of Zion
in a strange land.
Again, in verse 12, &c. it is promised,
that the land should never be bereaved of
its inhabitants ; but, since the destruction
of Jerusalem by the Romans, very few
of our people have lived in the land of
our fathers. Further, this people is to
be gathered out of all countries ; but the
captives of Babylon were chiefly confined
to one country. This prophecy, there-
fore, is in perfect unison with that of
Moses, which we have considered before ;
and they both confirm the sentiment that
our nation, however scattered in all coun-
tries, will return to the land which our
fathers did possess ; then, as a nation,
they will be converted to God, and clothe
themselves in dust and ashes; then the
Lord will do them good, better than
heretofore.
I agree, that the spiritual blessings
promised in these predictions are applica-
ble to the conversion of every sinner,
whether Jew or Gentile ; but the circum-
stances mentioned before and after the
spiritual change, in ver. 25. — 27, ought
to lead us to be just before we are cha-
ritable ; i, c. we ought to apply them
first literally, as a promise to the natural
descendants of Jacob, and then use them
as an illustration of the nature of the
conversion of every other sinner. The
persons to whom the promise primarily
belongs, are such as have dwelt in the
land of our fathers, but have been driven
out for a season, because of their sins ;
but for the covenant made with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, Jehovah will gather
them again, and bring them into their
land, and they are to possess it for ever.
This character, therefore, is not applicable
to every sinner.
Hosca iii. 4, 5. " For the children of
Israel shall abide many days without a
king, and without a prince, and without,
a sacrifice, and without an image, and
without an ephod, and without teraphim :
afterward shall the children of Israel
return and seek the Lord their God, and
David their king ; and shall fear the Lord
and his goodness in the latter days."
That this precious prophecy was not
fulfilled at the return of my people from
the Babylonish captivity, but is yet to
be accomplished, is evident from the
following consideration : —
That by " David their king," is meant
the promised Messiah, is acknowledged
by almost all the Rabbins, and by almost
all Christian divines.
Now, it is a fact too well known to
need proof, that my people, after their
return from Babylon, were so far from
"seeking the Lord their God, and David
their king, and fearing the Lord and his
goodness," that they grew worse and
worse, till they had filled up the measure
of their iniquity in crucifying the Lord
of glory, and rejecting the offers of mercy
through that very precious blood which
they had imprecated upon themselves
and their children, and for which the
wrath of God has come upon them, and
continued to the present day.
Hence, I observe further, that the pre-
diction of their return cannot yet have
been accomplished, because their calami-
ties have not yet ended. How remark-
ably striking has heen the fulfilment of
the former part of this prediction ! For
many centuries past, my dear people have
not been a body politic, having no rule
and dominion among themselves ; they
have no king nor prince of their own :
the sceptre is departed from them ; neither
is any sacrifice offered by them, for their
daily sacrifice has ceased ; and what is
very remarkable, although my people
were once very prone to idolatrous wor-
ship, as their history shows, yet it is well
known that there is not now an image
among them, — and for this reason, many
of my brethren, who, at their conversion,
joined the Roman Catholics, as soon as
they became acquainted with th^ir image
worship, left them and joined the Pro-
testants.
Now, since it must be acknowledged,
290
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
and actually is by most divines, that the
former part of this prophecy has been
fulfilled and is still fulfilling, both with
respect to Judah and Ephriara, it follows
that the second part is also to be fulfilled,
after they return to seek the Lord.
Besides, it is expressly said that the chil-
dren of Israel should be, for many days
deprived of their privileges, and that
they shall seek the Lord in the latter
days. Both Jewish and Christian com-
mentators agree that the latter days refer
to the coming of the Messiah, and there-
fore this could not have been fulfilled
before the coming of Jesus ; and 1 have
already shown that my people did not
receive him as " David their king."
Jer. xxxi. 31. 40. " Behold the days
come, saith the Lord, that I will make a
new covenant with the house of Israel,
and with the house of Judah, &c."
Although this prediction respecting a
New Covenant is applied by the apostle
(Heb. viii.) to the commencement of the
New Testament dispensation, and was
actually made or established by the death,
resurrection, and ascension of Jesus ; and
although the blessings of this covenant
are the same as are enjoyed by every
converted sinner, yet literally and more
fully it respects my nation, with whom
the other covenant had been made when
God brought them out of Egypt. Nor
was this prediction fulfilled in the con-
version of my brethren in the apostolic
time, for, however many of them may
have been converted, they all have been
mixed with the converts of other nations;
but the promise in this prophecy is the
conversion, not of a few or many, " but
the whole house of Israel and the house
of Judah," ver. 31, " the nation," ver. 36,
just as the covenant of Sanai had been
made with the nation — " They shall all
know me, from the least unto the greatest
of them," ver. 34. Further, this promise
was made to the ten tribes as well as to
the house of Judah. Long before the
giving of this promise, my people were
divided into two parts. The one of them,
in a way of distinction from the other,
retained the name of Israel. These
were the ten tribes which fell off from the
house of David, under the conduct of
Ephraim ; whence they are often also in
the prophets called by that name. The
other, consisting of the tribe properly so
called, with that of Benjamin and the
greatest part of Levi, took the name of
Judah, and afterwards was called the
Jews, and with them the promise remained
in a peculiar manner. But whereas they
all originally sprang from Abraham, who
received the promise for them all, and
because they were all equally, in their
forefather, brought into the bond of the
old covenant, they are here mentioned
distinctly, that none of the seed of Abra-
ham might be excluded from the tender
of this covenant. Kence, unto the whole
seed of Abraham according to the flesh,
it was that this covenant was first to be
offered. So Peter tells them in his first
sermon, that the promise was unto them
and their children who were there present,
i. e. the house of Judah, and to them
that are afar off, i. e. the house of Israel,
or the ten tribes, in their dispersion.
Acts ii. 39, It appears therefore plainly,
that the promise is yet to be fulfilled in
the conversion of the ten tribes as well
as the house of Judah. Besides, at that
time " the city shall be built, which shall
not be plucked up or thrown down any-
more for ever," ver. 38, 40.
The last prediction I shall name is that
by the prophet Zechariah, xii. 10 — 14,
" And I will pour upon the house of
David, and upon the inhabitants of Jeru-
salem, the spirit of grace and of suppli-
cations; and they shall look upon me
whom they have pierced, &c. Now it is
evident that no such repentance and
faith, such general and particular mourn-
ing for piercing Christ, has ever taken
place amongst my dear people ; nor has
the preceding part of the chapter, closely
connected with the prediction under con-
sideration, been fulfilled. Jerusalem must
first be rebuilt, before it is beseiged by
the united power of many kings, who
shall then be destroyed in a miraculous
manner. I conclude, therefore, that this
is a prophecy concerning the future res-
toration of my nation to the literal land
of Canaan ; that they will rebuild the city
Jerusalem ; that they will afterwards be
beseiged by many nations, who shall be
destroyed by God himself: and in that
day Judah and Israel shall be converted
unto God.
The wonderful preservation of my
people as a distinct nation, is an argument
in favor of their return to their own land.
It has been foretold by Moses and the
prophets, that though they shall be dis-
persed among all nations, yet they should
not be totally destroyed, but still subsist
OK GOSPEL PREACHER.
291
as a distinct people. Read carefully,
the following passages : Lev. xxvi. 44 ;
Numb, xxiii. 9 ; Jer. xxx. 1 1 ; Amos
ix. 8. My beloved nation, like the bush
of Moses, hath been always burning, but
it is never consumed. And what a mar-
vellous thing it is, that after so many
wars, battles, and sieges, after so many
fires, famines, and pestilences, after so
many years of captivity, slavery, and
misery, they are not destroyed utterly,
and though scattered among all people,
yet subsist as a distinct people by them-
selves. Where is anything comparable
to this to be found in all the histories and
in all the nations under the sun ?
As another argument, I would simply
remind you of the general expectation of
my people to return to the land of their
fathers. This desire is interwoven in all
their prayers for the festivals, especially
on the feast of the passover, when it is
said repeatedly, " This year we are here,
at the next year we shall be in the land of
of Isreal.'' Now, I cannot but hope that
these prayers are "the prayers of faith,"
i. e. believing the many promises of God
on this subject. Consider also that they
are so situated that at the shortest notice
they are ready and able to depart as easily
as when they came out of Egypt. They
have no country they call their own
besides the land of Canaan ; they are
strangers and sojourners as their fathers
were ; they have no landed property to
dispose of; they do not intermarry with
other nations, so as to be detained by
attachments to relations, friends, or pos-
sessions. Thus God makes "the wrath
of man to praise him, and the remainder
thereof he will restrain. " Nay, their for-
mer enemies will become their friends,
and help them in their way to their
original possession.
I shall mention one more argument
in favor of the speedy return of the
Jews to their land, viz. the removal
of the obstacles out of their way. Not
only are they prepared by the remark-
able hand of Providence to return at a
moment's warning, but the way is also
preparing for them. The great river
Euphrates is drying up : the once terrible
Turkish empire is crumbling into pieces ;
and the determined time " for the land
to be trodden under foot by the Gentiles "
is near its close ; and kings talk of be-
coming their nursing fathers, and queens
their nursing mothers.
But if the Jews return to their own land,
will they rebuild the city of Jerusalem ?
Will they have a temple, altar, sacrifice,
and priest ?
First, as it respects Jerusalem, there
can be no reasonable doubt in the mind
of those who will be guided by the plain
Word of God. Almost in every passage,
where the restoration of the Jews to
their own land is mentioned, the building
of the city of Jerusalem, in its own place,
is also mentioned. Read only the follow-
ing predictions: Jer. xxx. 8 — 11, 18;
xxxi. 38—40; Zech. xii. 1—8. Nor
ought we to lose sight of the prediction
of the blessed Jesus himself, who said,
" And Jerusalem shall be trodden down
of the Gentiles until the times of the
Gentiles be fulfilled," Luke xxi. 24 ;
which evidently implies that when the
times of the Gentiles are fulfilled
Jerusalem shall no longer be trodden
down, but be rebuilt and inhabited again
by her own people.
Why should it be thought strange to
believe that my Jewish brethren who have,
for nearly eighteen hundred years, most
conscientiously observed all the religious
rites which God gave to our fathers, in all
countries, amongst all people, and under
all circumstances, as far as the law of
God allows them to observe them in a
strange land, although these observances
exposed them to reproach, hatred, per-
secution, and death itself, would, when
they are brought back by the wonderful
goodness of God, to the land which God
gave to our fathers, build again a temple
for the worship of God, erect an altar
unto the Lord, and offer up their sacrifices,
and observe all their ceremonies which
they observed before their dispersion by
the Romans ? Did they not do so after
their return from the Babylonish captivity?
How strange and unaccountable would it
appear if my people, who, whilst the
chastening hand of God was upon them
for ages, were, notwithstanding, steadfast
and immovable in worshipping that God,
should cast offall their religious profession,
love, and attachment to him, when he has
performed his promises in delivering them
out of their captivity, and brought them
back to the goodly land? Would not
such a supposition charge them with
" having denied the faith, and become
worse than infidels ?
Now, my dear friends, having given
you a historical account of the origin and
290
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
progress of the present Christian efforts to
promote the conversion of the Jews ; en-
forced the duty of Christians to aid in
promoting the salvation of Israel ; answered
the objections generally stated to avoid
this duty ; and proved the conversion of
Judah and Israel : may I not hope that
you are anxiously inquiring, " In what
way n in I aid this good cause?" Your
pecu jary aid, if ever so small, will be
thank ully received; by your conversation,
with a just and kind treatment, you may
be very useful ; but above all, by your
fervent prayer you may bring down the
" Spirit of grace and supplication upon
the house of David and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem."
And when we enter our closet, sur-
round a family altar, or worship in the
sanctuary, and remember that our prayers
must be presented to the Father by the
dear Mediator who is of the seed of
Abraham, and is not ashamed to call the
Jews his brethren, let us not forget to pray
for the poor outcasts of Israel, and the
dispersed of Judah.
We refer those who wish to see a fuller statement of the Missionary lahours of the Rev.
Mr. Frey, and to follow out the arguments more fully, which are glanced at in the foregoing
statement, to two very interesting works published by him — "Joseph and Benjamin," containing
the whole controversy between Jews and Christians — and "Judah and Israel," in which he has
collected all the prophecies from the Old Testament, concerning the future restoration and con.
version of the Jews. Having perused them with much pleasure and interest ourselves, we think
those to whom the cause of Israel is dear, will do so with similar satisfaction. A few copies can
be had at the Office of the " Jews Society," 16, Upper Sackville-street, Dublin.
LINES
WRITTEN ON HEARING THAT A CHURCH WAS TO BE BUILT IN JERUSALEM.
" I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place
for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob," Psa. exxxii. 4, 5.
Oh ! where is the Temple, Jerusalem's pride,
The glory and wonder of years —
That seemed 'mid destruction adorn'd as a bride
And call'd forth the conqueror's tears ?
'Tis stricken — 'tis fallen, and plough'd as a field,
Not a stone on another is left ;
The judgment pronoune'd is on Zion fulfill'd —
" She sits as a widow bereft."
Yet is she all desolate ! hath she no sound —
No songs of devotion to raise ?
Shall the hill of Jerusalem silent be found,
While our Islands are vocal with praise ?
Oh, Zion ! thy hill shall not silent remain
We haste, on that long hallow'd sod
An altar to raise to the Lamb that was slain,
A temple to build to our God —
Where the children of Judah may haply be led
From the error and darkness that shrouds,
To trust in the Lamb that on Calvary bled,
To look for their Lord in the clouds.
Killarney.
C.
Dublin: New Irish Pulpit Office, 1, St. Andrew-st. ; John Robertson,
W. Currv, Jun. and Co.; R. M. Tims, W. Carson, D. R. Bleakley. London,
R. Groombridge, J. Nisbet and Co. ; Liverpool, H. Perris ; Manchester, Pratt,
Chester, Seacome ; Cork Tract Repository ; Drogheda, C. F, Collins ; and all
Booksellers.
THE NEW IRISH PULriT,
GOSPEL PREACHER.
; We preach Christ crucified —
Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God."— 1 Cor. i. 23, 24.
No. XCII. SATURDAY, 14th SEPTEMBER, 1839. Price 4d.
REV. J. N. LOMBARD.
REV. E. D. RHODES.
CONSCIENCE,
A SERMON
BY THE REV. JOHN NEWMAN LOMBARD, A. M.,
Rector of Carrignline, Diocese of Cork.
Acts, xxiv. 1G.
And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God,
and toward men.
Scripture and experience testily of the
depravity of man's heart. The Bible
declares that the heart of man is " de-
ceitful above all things and desperately
wicked," that " every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart is only evil con-
tinually ;" (Gen. vi. 5.) — and experience
sadly proves the same awful and solemn
truth, in all the ungodliness, superstition,
infidelity and vice, which we see around
us. And in proportion as we have deep
or superficial views of the depravity of
man's heart, in the same proportion shall
we have low or exalted views of the Son
and of the Spirit of God ; for, just as
under the reality and danger of a bodilv
Vol. IV.
disease, the need of a physician is felt-
so is the Great Physician estimated, as
we are made acquainted with that spiri-
tual disease which " worketh death" —
death temporal, death spiritual, and
death eternal.
Now, my brethren, in the moral ruin
in which man is involved, by reason of
the fall, conscience presents a profitable
and interesting field of enquiry and me-
ditation ; and on this important subject
we would desire, under the guidance of
God's Holy Spirit, to occupy your atten-
tion, to the glory of God and the spiritual
profit of man, and to seek, in endeavour-
ing " rightly to divide the word of truth,"
s
294
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
to maintain a " conscience void of offence
toward God and toward men."
When St. Paul spoke the words of the
text, he was defending himself against
the false accusations brought against him
by Tcrtullus, before Felix, at Csesarea ;
and in making a profession of the faith
as it is in Christ Jesus, and especially
when pressing the great and glorious
doctrine of the resurrection, (which, in
connection with the second advent of our
blessed Lord, is the bright hope of the
Church,) he says, particularly, respecting
it, " herein do I exercise myself to have
a conscience void of offence toward God
and toward men," thus showing the close
connection that subsists between the
great doctrine of the resurrection and
holiness of life ; and this union we see
maintained in many other portions of
Scripture also, and especially in the 15th
chapter of St. Paul's 1st Epistle to the
Corinthians, and last verse, where the
Apostle, after dwelling fully on the
Lord's second coming, and the glories
of the first resurrection, adds, " there-
fore, my beloved brethren, bo ye stead-
fast, immoveable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord."
We would speak then —
I. — On the Nature of Conscience.
Conscience is that wonderful and mys-
terious principle which dwells in man,
and which has been thus ably, though
concisely, denned by the indefatigable
Cruden, who, like Apollos of old, was
"mighty in the Scriptures" — "Con-
science is the testimony and secret judg-
ment of the soul, which gives its appro-
bation to actions that it thinks good, or
reproaches itself with ^those which it
believes to be evil."
Conscience, however, is not an unerring
guide, as to what is really right or
really wrong ; but when a rule of
right or wrong, be it what it may, be
established, it gives its judgment whether
actions are in accordance with, or op-
posed to it ; and hence we see the value
of the Word of God, as an unerring rule
of duty ; however man may err and
stray, God's Word remains like its great
Author, infallibly the same, and " able
to make wise unto salvation, through
faith that is in Christ Jesus." But as
respects conscience, even when a right
rule is presented to it, it gives no aid in
performing what that rule demands, but,
like the law of the ten commandments,
which announces the will of God, de-
clares the penalties of disobedience, and
there leaves the sinner as helpless as
before.
So conscience testifies against the
soul, but gives no aid in bringing it into
subjection to the rule that has been laid
down for its guidance and its law. And
this shows us the need and importance of
the holy Spirit of God ; for, without his
aid, the Bible would be of no saving
value to the soul. The law might pro-
nounce its thunders, and the gospel
" whisper peace," but without the Holy
Ghost to move upon and within man's
heart, the salvation of the gospel would
be unto him but as " sounding brass or
as a tinkling cymbal." How mysterious
then, is this principle of conscience,
which dwells within man ! It makes the
stoutest heart to tremble. He who does
not dread the cannon's roar, quails be-
fore this secret tribunal. It was its ter-
rifying power which startled and alarmed
the ungodly Felix, when hearing the
address even of the prisoner Paul ; for we
read in the same chapter whence the
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
295
text is taken, that " as he reasoned of
righteousness, temperance, and judgment
to come, Felix trembled," under the
infliction of the truth, and like many a
heart beside, that carries on bravely be-
fore the world's eye, he suffered the
withering pangs of a gnawing and re-
morseful conscience.
We would consider —
II. — The different states of Con-
science in the Ungodly and the Godly.
First, as to the ungodly — they have a
conscience which sometimes they yield
to, and sometimes they endeavour to
quench ; but it haunts them still ; — day
and night it raises its threatening and
warning voice — it speaks in the giddy
vortex of the world's sinfulness and fri-
volity, as well as in the silence and re-
tirement of the closet, when " none but
God is near." Sometimes the conscience
becomes alarmed and convicted, but not
by the Spirit of God, many instances of
which we find recorded in the sacred
Scriptures; as, for instance, in 1 Sam.
xv. 24. where we read, " And Saul said
unto Samuel, I have sinned, for I have
transgressed the commandment of the Lord
and thy words, because I feared the people
and obeyed their voice." Here Saul's con-
science was alarmed and convicted, but it
was not the saving work of God's Spirit
on his soul, for he afterwards fell by his
own sword in the awful act of suicide.
We have another state of conscience
similar to this recorded in John viii. 9.
in reference to the woman taken in
adultery, where it is said, " and they
which heard it being convicted by their own
conscience, went out one by one, beginnino-
at the eldest even unto the last, and Jesus
was left alone, and the woman standing
in the midst." And here we would
observe, that it has been well and forcibly
remarked, that this incident of our blessed
Lord's life powerfully displays the wisdom
of our great Master. Consider the cir-
cumstances under which he was placed.
The Scribes and Pharisees brought a
woman, taken in adultery, for our Lord's
decision on her case, appealing to the law
of Moses respecting this sin, which they
did for the purpose of " tempting him,
that they might have to accuse him." It
would appear that there were but four
ways in which he could deal with her,
viz 1st, to acquit her, and then he
would have been accused as a patron of
sin ; 2dly, to condemn her, and then he
might have been represented as acting
against the authority of Csesar ; 3dly, to
dismiss the matter without comment, and
this might be construed into an indiffer-
ence to his Father's honour ; or, 4thly,
he might have referred it to another tri-
bunal. If he referred it to the Roman
authority, it would have been acknow-
ledging a foreign usurpation — if he re-
ferred it to a Jewish decision, it would
have been said that he was setting him-
self up against the Roman power ; but
he did none of these things ; — and what
did he do ? — he made an appeal to the
conscience of the accusers, which acted
with such power upon them that they all
withdrew, and " left Jesus alone, and the
woman standing in the midst ;" and at
the close of this interesting scene, Jesus
said unto her, " Go, and sin no more."
Sometimes the conscience of the un-
godly becomes perverted. This was the
case with Saul of Tarsus, when he went
" breathing out threatenings and slaughter
against the disciples of the Lord," and
thinking, under the influence of a per-
verted conscience, that persecuting the
29ii
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
Church was "doing God Bervice." It
was this same state of conscience whicli
caused the chief priests to refuse the
thirty pieces of silver, because it was
" (he price of blood," while they made
no scruple of persecuting Christ to death.
The same principle caused the Jews to
be unwilling that " the bodies should
remain on the cross on the Sabbath clay,"
and yet we find no remorse on their parts
after raising the murderous cry, "crucify
him, crucify him !" The heathens show
this state of conscience, in sacrificing
their children, and perpetrating many
acts of iniquity and cruelty, in the cause
of their religion ; and so do many mis-
guided and benighted Romanists who
are scrupulous about meats, and days, and
seasons, while they neglect the weightier
matters of the law, mercy, temperence,
honesty and truth.
Sometimes the conscience of the
ungodly is driven to despair. This was
the state of the wretched Judas, who went
and hanged himself, under the agonising
self-reproach of having " betrayed the
innocent blood."
And sometimes the conscience be-
comes seared; and this state is referred
to m 1 Tim. iv. 2. where we read of
those who had "their conscience scared
with a hot iron ;" and this is a most sad,
awful, and ruinous condition. When
even this natural monitor is altogether
silenced, then the soul runs on headlong
to its ruin, despising all divine authority,
drinking in iniquity like water, neither
fearing God nor regarding man, and
given over altogether to a reprobate mind ;
and though all do not run to the same
excess of riot as other men, yet this
state of conscience may be found amongst
the profane, the sensual, the worldly-
minded, the 6elf-righteous, and the hypo-
critical professors ; and hence the con-
science of the ungodly is called, in the
Word of God, a " defiled and evil
conscience."
Next we would speak as to a good
conscience ; — and what can make the
conscience good ? It only becomes good
as it is influenced by God's " good
Spirit," and " sprinkled by the blood of
Jesus :" then it is that persons really
make a "conscience of their ways" — then
it is that they truly desire to have a
" conscience void of offence toward God
and toward men" — then it is that the soul
becomes attracted to a right object,
namely, a triune God ; regulated by a
right rule, viz., the Word of Truth, and
directed to a right end, namely, the
glory of God ; — then the " conscience
becomes sensitive, like the eye which
perceives the least mote of impurity, and
will not cease to weep until it be washed
away ;" in a word, it becomes the baro-
meter of the soul, which rises or falls in
proportion to the declining 'of the soul
from, or the advancing of the soul to,
a conformity to the will of God. It is
here that Satan makes his heaviest
attacks on the people of God. He
rarely succeeds in drawing them into
cross and open sin, and therefore he
seeks to misguide the sensitive consci-
ence, and, " transforming himself into
an angel of light," sows the seeds of
discord and disunion in the Church of
God, and persuades those whom ho may
succeed thus far in deluding, that they
" cause divisions" for conscience sake,
while, as has been well observed, they
thus " sacrifice unity at the supposed
shrine of purity," and thus also cause
many weaker brethren to offend.
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
297
We would speak lastly —
III. — On our duty towards Con-
science.
As regards the unconverted we would
say, quench not its strivings ; it often
warns you ; seek a right rule for its re-
gulation, namely, the holy oracles of
Cod. Search those Scriptures prayer-
fully, which testify of Him who is " the
way, the truth, and the life," and who
gives this gracious invitation, "come unto
me all ye that labour and are heavy laden
and I will give you rest," and whose
precious Word declares that his " blood
cleanseth from all sin," and that his
righteousness is " to all and upon all that
believe." Yield yourselves to God's
Spirit, who alone can establish faith in
your hearts, (and without faith it is im-
possible to please God,) whose prevent-
ing, sustaining, and comforting power
must begin, continue, and complete the
work of grace in the soul ; and seek by
God's Spirit and God's Word, to have
" a conscience void of offence toward
God and toward men."
And as respects God's people, we
would say, it is your duty to cultivate
a tenderness, but not a sickliness, of con-
science ; a tender conscience will act
like a faithful 6entinel, giving warning
of the enemy's approach, and will pray-
erfully use all God's appointed means
and ordinances for the sanctification of
the soul. A sickly conscience will over-
estimate matters of minor importance
to the subversion of unity, and it will
not give adequate weight to the cardinal
points of Christianity — repentance, faith,
and holiness. If, my brethren, you
be in doubt, as to any path of
duty, or point of doctrine, ask wis-
dom of God, through the intercession
of his dear Son, who has promised
his Holy Spirit to them that ask him :
and as God carries on his purposes
of love through human instrumentality,
ask counsel of his experienced, sanctified,
sober-minded ministers and people ; and
strive, like the needle to the pole, (not-
withstanding its occasional tremulous-
ness,)to have your souls, by God's Spirit,
continually directed to, and guided by,
the great polar star of our salvation,
Christ Jesus our Lord.
Having thus spoken — lsi, On the
nature of conscience — 2nd, On the dif-
ferent 6tates of conscience in the godly
and the ungodly — 3rd, On our duty
towards conscience, in reference both to
the converted and the unconverted, we
would conclude by a few words of —
Address to those who may be care-
less of their souls. Your conscience
is the only assailable ground for the
ministers of the Gospel. If they fail to
affect your conscience, they can make no
impression upon your souls : and as God
is often pleased to use and to bless
human appeals, we would say to you,
look into your souls this day. Have you
not offended God in thought, in word,
and in deed ? Have not your thoughts
been sinful, unbelieving, and impure ?
Have not your words been idle, and
thoughtless, if not profane ? And have
not your deeds of transgression been more
numerous than the hairs of your head ?
Compare this state with the requirements
of God's law, which declares that the
" thoughts must be brought into captivity,
and into the obedience of Christ ;" which
states that " for every idle word, men
shall have to give account ;" and which
298
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
proclaims that " cursed is every one, who
continueth not in all things written in
the book of the law to do them." And
what is left for you to ensure salvation,
under such accumulated transgression of
word, thought, and deed, but. to " repent
and believe the Gospel." How cheering
to the penitent soul, are the glad tidings
of the Gospel ? The Gospel proclaims
a full, a free, and an everlasting salvation
to every believing soul ; though sins be
of a scarlet and crimson dye, they can all
be washed away by faith in a Saviour's
blood ; though the soul could not pre-
sume to stand before the Lord, clothed
in the flimsy garb of man's own righteous-
ness, yet the " robe of Christ is ever
new ;" his perfect, spotless obedience to
the holy law of God, from his first
entrance on, to his departure from, this
evil world, becomes the justifying righte-
ousness of every believing child of God ;
the human obedience of Christ having
been stamped with inestimable value, by
the impress of his divine nature, forms a
title and a garment of salvation, in which
every believer can stand faultless even
before the scrutinising eye of a holy God —
for there is " no condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Come, then, my friends to the foot of
the cross — " behold the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the word" —
" believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved ;" his Holy Spirit is
given without money and without price to
those who seek that saving power, through
faith in his most holy name ; unless the
glorious Gospel of the blessed God illu-
mine our minds and sanctify our hearts,
we can neither be safe nor happy ; but
when " justified by faith, we have peace
with God, through our Lord Jesus
Christ."
May God, by his mighty power*
sovereign grace, and unmerited love, so
influence our hearts and minds, that we
may be enabled to acquire, and when
acquired, to maintain " a conscience void
of offence toward God, and toward men."
Amen.
SALVATION BY GRACE,
A SERMON
PREACHED IN THE EPISCOPAL CHAPEL, UPPER BAGGOT-STREET, DUBLIN,
ON SUNDAY, APRIL, 14, 1839,
ON BEHALF OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY,
BY THE REV. E. D. RHODES, B.D.
Hector of Eaimington, and Curate of West Tcignmouth, Devon.
Ephesi&ns ii. part of 5th verse.
" By grace ye are saved."
There is a peculiar emphasis laid on
these words by the Apostle. He intro-
duces them in the passage before us, once
in the way of parenthesis, interrupting
his statement ; and afterwards in the way
of strong direct assertion, proving and
confirming that statement.
The Apostle is describing the process
of salvation ; he is showing how the
same work which God wrought in Christ
by his mighty power, he was working
also by the same power in the body of
Christ, which is his Church. He is
showing how that the same mighty power
of God which quickened the body of
Christ, hath quickened his Church with
him — that as God hath raised up Christ,
he hath raised up his Church with him —
that as God hath exalted Christ, he hath
exalted his Church with him — that as
God would bring Christ again to display
his glory, so, in the ages to come, the
Church shall show forth the exceeding
grace of God : and, in the course of this,
the Apostle says once, " by grace ye are
saved," and in the conclusion of this, he
repeats again, " for by grace ye are
saved, through faith, and that, not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast."
Brethren, were 1 to select from the whole
Scripture, a word of God which might
serve as a text and motto for a Christian's
life, I would choose these few words,
" by grace ye are saved ;" for it would
be of universal use, of universal ap-
plication, for conviction of sin — for
instruction in righteousness — for conso-
lation and strength — for encouragement
and support in trial — for hope and abiding
consolation.
We are not called on, dear friends,
merely to consider the salvation of the
heathen ; no, by the Lord's blessing,
I would call on you to consider your own
salvation. Only let us properly consider
this ; let us trace it in its cause — in its
operation — in its results ; and we shall
see clearly, that the grace of God is the
cause, and God the working power, and
that the grace of God has the whole
glory of the result. Let us only magnify
God's grace in our own salvation, and we
shall surely labour to extend the blessing
of that grace for the salvation of others.
HVia/, then, is the cause ? To what
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THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
cause do we attribute the salvation of the
sinner ? Surely, the answer is a simple
one — salvation to God. Brethren, I will
not waste words to prove this ; I will not
suspect or suppose it possible that there
can be a person here, who would attri-
bute the work of salvation to any other
cause, or any other origin, but the Most
High God ; it were to deny the very
being of God, to refer this to any other
cause. If we will derive good from any
other source — if we will bring in an
independent origin or independent cause,
for any single blessing we have, besides
the God whom we serve, — in so doing,
we deny that God altogether ; for he is
no God at all, if he be not " God over
all, blessed forever," "through whom,
and from whom, and by whom, are all
things." Salvation, then, to God, and
salvation by grace — salvation, the work,
the entire work of the whole Godhead ;
salvation by the Father — salvation by the
Son — salvation by the Holy Ghost — by
the grace of each, by the grace of all.
It was, brethren, in the counsels of
the eternal God, that the plan of salva-
tion was made and proposed. It was in
the wisdom and the power of the Most
High God, that the whole counsel and
purpose originated ; and wa3 not this the
counsel and purpose of Christ ? for,
when the Father proposed and planned
man's salvation — when he would not that
a sinner should perish, but that all should
turn to him and live — at what a price,
and by what means, did he seek to
accomplish this his purpose, and this his
will ? We are not concerned now,
brethren, to inquire why it was so ; it is
only before us to assert, that so it was ;
that when God designed and proposed
the salvation of mankind, he did not
effect that salvation merely by the asser-
tion of almighty power — by the declara-
tion of his sovereign will — by speaking
and it was done — by commanding and it
came to pass ; — no, for " God so loved
the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son, that we should not perish, but have
everlasting life," — it was by giving up his
own, his only, his beloved Son ; — this
was the method and this was the price by
which the Father contrived, and by which
the Father purchased, the redemption of
the world ; and, brethren, is there not
grace in this ?
Oh ! I would speak to you of God as
of a man ; I would speak of his feelings
and of the movements of his heart, as if
they were human feelings and a human
heart, because it is for this reason that
God has taken upon him a human rela-
tion, that he has called himself a father,
even that he might give his creatures
liberty to understand him in this human
sense, and to think of him as they would
think of their fellow-creature, only alto-
gether perfect. Therefore, when we
speak of God's love in giving his only
begotten Son, and when we estimate the
price of that gift, we are warranted in
accounting for it as we would of a similar
gift on the part of a man like ourselves.
You have heard, perhaps, of a Roman,
in the days of old, who passed sentence
on his child, and ordered him for execu-
tion : and when his son intreated him,
and when his colleague in office impor-
tuned him, and when the people them-
selves besought the father to have pity
on his own child, that father refused
their prayer and said, " Lictors do your
duty." And was it because he loved his
child less than a stranger loved him ? was
it because he pitied him less than others
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
301
pitied him ? — or, was it not rather that
when he loved his eon much, he loved
his country more? and it was at a price
so great as that, and at no less a price,
that he would vindicate that country's
honor, and her violated laws. You have
heard of another father who had one
child, only and dearly beloved ; the
child of many prayers — the child of much
patience — the child of promise — the
child of hope — the delight of his old
age — the joy of his heart ; you have
heard, how that father led out that child
to sacrifice, and when the young man
walked by him in the confidence and joy
of youth, and as they went both of them
together, and as they talked both of
them together, and the heart of one was
as the echo of the heart of the other, —
do you think that the father did not love
that child ? — and when he laid him on
the altar, and when he lifted up his hand
to slay him, was it that he did not pity
that child — or was it not that, whereas he
loved his Isaac much, he loved his God
more ? And, brethren, docs not patriotism
in the heathen, and does not this devoted-
ness in the patriarch teach us the mea-
sure and nature, as far as human signs
and earthly shadows can teach us — and
explain to us the height and depth of
that love which passeth knowledge, which
God the Father showed, when " he
spared not his own Son, but delivered
him up for us all?" and can we think of
this, and question for a moment the as-
sertion, " by grace ye are saved ?"
" Remember," said the Apostle, " the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who,
though he was rich, yet for our sakes
he became poor, that wo, through his
poverty, might be rich."
Brethren, how rich was the Son of
God ! — how poor did he become ! Oh !
we will not dwell on his riches or glory,
which he had with the Father before the
would was, and which he forsook when
he came down on earth to dwell among
us. We will not enlarge or dwell on
these things: thought and time would
fail us for any thing like a right conside-
ration of them. But we will think a little
of his poverty. Oh ! did he not become
poor, when ho was born of a poor woman
in a manger, laid among the beasts, with
none but the angels to care for him ?
Did he not become poor, when he grew
up the child and son of a carpenter,
altogether undistinguished, among the
poor and mean of this world — labouring,
most probably with his hands to gain his
own livelihood ? And did he not become
poor when he walked a houseless stranger
among the families of the earth, when
he could say, " the foxes have holes, and
the birds of the air have nests, but the
Son of Man hath not where to lay his
head ?" And did he not become poor,
when he was despised of all, and the
outcast of all, and when every man's
hand was against him, and when he was
robbed and stripped in his heart and
affections, — when his friend betrayed,
and his friends forsook him, — and when
he was left altogether alone to encounter
the world's spite and the world's scorn,
and the world's cruelty, and all the fiery
darts of the wicked one? And was it
not poverty to be cast out and nailed to
the cross, and accounted as a malefactor,
and spitted on, and reviled in his last
agonies? — Oh! did he not become
poor ?
But, brethren, this was not his poverty ;
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THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
this was but the outward marks and signs
of his poverty : but his true poverty had
a deeper seat than this ; for, when he
foresaw all this — when he had endured
much, and none knew how much he had
to endure — when the last dark hour was
before him, and he had weighed well the
trial, yea, had calculated all the bitter-
ness of the cup he had to drink — when
he knew he should be forsaken, stripped,
and left alone, he said, " yet, I am not
alone ; for my father is with me." And
when, brethren, that Father forsook him,
when God's countenance was hidden
from him — when heaven was closed and
darkened over him — when he called, and
there was no answer, yea, even to God
when he called, and there was no bless-
incr when he was abandoned of his God,
and cried out, "my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me " — Oh ! was he
not poor indeed ? This shows the depths
into which our Lord's spirit went, in
order to lay hold of man's fallen spirit,
and ransom it from death.
And, what was it which brought down
the Lord from heaven ? — What was it
that emptied him of his glory? — what
was it that identified him with the poor
and mean and wretched ones of the
earth ? — what was it that nailed him to
the cross, and separated him from his
God ; that brought him into the grave and
place of departed spirits, when "he bowed
his head and gave up the ghost ?" what was
it that could accomplish this — that had
might and power thus to darken the sun
in the heavens, thus to bring down life
to death, to bring a cloud over the light
of glory ? — what was it ? It was " love
that is stronger than death ;" it was " love
which much waters could not quench,"
and which many floods cannot drown.
Oh ! it was the omnipotence of love
which made the Lord encounter death,
that he might overcome death; which
made him submit to all the floods of un-
godliness and waters of sin, that he
might ransom fallen man, and save him
from perishing for ever. And is it not
then true, that if we are saved by the
Son of God, we are saved by grace ?
The Lord "ascended up on high, and
led captivity captive, and received gifts
for men, yea, for the rebellious also,
that the Lord God might dwell among
us ;" and, brethren, as the fruit of the
Lord's death, and the consequence of
the Lord's ascension, the Holy Spirit of
the living God has come down on earth,
to live and dwell with man ; he is living
in the Church and dwelling in the
Church, and walking in the Church ; he
is the source of all its light, and the
source of all its life, and all its godliness
and comfort j yea, he is building up that
Church, and making it indeed a meet
habitation, a spiritual temple in which
the praises of God shall sound for
eternity.
And, brethren, what does the Spirit
of God expect from those in whom he
dwells ? Are there none who resist him?
— are there none that grieve him? — are
there none that harden their heart against
his motions, and that refuse to obey his
call? — are there none who strive against
his commands, and that quench his gifts
and his power, and that come short of
his grace and blessing ? Are there none
that refuse him the honor that belongs to
him, and that bring not forth the fruit
which he looks for ? Is there, brethren,
no ill return which the Holy Ghost
receives from the Church in which he
dwells ? Has he the honor, the glory,
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
303
the fruitfulness, — has he the abundant
return of life and light and hope and joy
which he ought to have ? Or, is there
not a continual complaint, that he is
vexed, and that he is grieved ; and if he
does not leave us alone — if he does not
forsake his temple on earth — if he does
not cast us off, like salt that has lost its
savour — if he does not give us over to
destruction, and leave us to the power of
the evil one, in utter ruin that we merit ;
— oh ! is it not, friends, again from love,
unchanging, immeasurable love, the love
of the eternally blessed God, the grace
whereby we are saved ?
Let me speak briefly of the way in
which salvation is applied, and the way
in which the work is carried out in us
and among us. If, brethren, you were
to see a poor, silly sheep wandering from
its fold, would you expect that sheep to
return of his own accord to that fold ; or
do you not rather know, that the farther it
goes, the farther it will go ; and that,
unconscious of danger, it will go far
away, and not be heard of long ; and if
brought back, must it not be by the
shepherd going out to seek it, laying it
on his shoulders, and bringing it home ?
And, if you have been as a sheep going
astray, seeking you every one his own
way, and if you have been brought back
to the Shepherd and Bishop of your
souls, is it, brethren, your own doings ?
or is it not rather His who has followed
you into the wilderness, recalled you
from your wanderings, turned you from
your sins, and brought you to your
home ?
Stand, brethren, at the grave of
Lazarus. Think of that man, quickened
there, while he was lying in death-
awakened there to a sense of the dark-
ness that was about him — of the corrup-
tion with which he was surrounded — of
the bondage in which his grave-clothes
held him ; — think how he would groan
under that darkness, loath that corrup-
tion, and struggle against that bondage ;— .
and then think of the change which
called him forth to light and life and
liberty ! And did he do it himself? did
he quicken himself — raise himself — help
himself — free himself? — or was it not
the voice of Almighty power which said,
" Lazarus, come forth !"
Brethren, we read here of a people
who were quickened when they were
dead in trespasses and sins — of a people
who who were raised up together from
their death in trespasses and sins — of a
people who were exalted to sit together
in heavenly places with Christ Jesus;
and do you remember the process of this
work ? — how, when the sintier's eyes are
first opened, he knows his guilt, loathes
his corruption, feels his bondage and
struggles with it ; and how, as the work
of life and salvation goes on in him, he
obtains pardon for his sins, health for his
corruption, deliverance from his bondage,
and comes forth from the death of na-
ture, from the evil of a wicked world,
from the slavery of Satan and the flesh,
into the glorious liberty of the children
of God ? Brethren have you known
aught of this, and will you take the
praise of it to yourselves — or do you not
see that it is, in truth, the work of Omni-
potence — that it is the work of God —
that it is " by grace ye are saved ?"
Oh ! dear brethren, surely it is so.
Follow the work of grace through all its
steps and stages, — from the first anxious
inquiry after pardon and peace, to the
last triumphant expression of joy and
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THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
hope in believing. Take the believer
in any part of his progress, is he walking
in the Spirit — has he crucified the flesh —
has he overcome the world — is he causing
his light to shine before men, that his
Father may be glorified in him ? And,
brethren, not more impossible were it
that Peter on the water, with the winds
howling and the waves roaring, should
have maintained his standing there, and
walked out in peace and security on a
tempestuous ocean, than it were for th's
man to uphold his ways in righteousness
in this troublous and wicked world, unless
the might and power of God had deli-
vered him.
And oh ! then, brethren, look a little
further — look to the results of this salva-
tion we would speak of. Is it a cun-
ningly devised fable, or is it the very
truth and power of God, the hope of
glory which is set before us ? Are we
preserved through faith unto salvation —
ready to be revealed in the last time ?
Is our conversation in heaven, and do we
expect from thence the Saviour who
6hall " change our vile body that it may
be fashioned like unto His glorious body,
according to the working whereby he is
able to subdue all things to himself?" Is
it a true saying, that we are " children
of God ; and if children, then heirs —
heirs of God, and joint heirs with
Christ ?" And if we ask for the nature,
for the riches, for the blessing of that
inheritance, is the answer given, " now
are we the sons of God, and it doth not
yet appear what we shall be; but we
know, that when he shall nppear, we
shall be like him, for we shall see him as
he is ?" Are we, brethren, prepared to
be like the Lord Jesus Christ ? Is his
life to be our life, and his condition our
condition, and his blessedness our bles-
sedness, and his glory our glory ? And
are all the treasures of dominion, and
power, and greatness, and glorious ma-
jesty, which the Father hath emptied into
the bosom of his only begotten and
dearly beloved Son, held in store for us
by that Son ? Has he called us to be
his bride, his wife, yea, the loved one
of his bosom, and will he share with us
all the dominion and all the power, so
that we shall live and reign with him for
ever? Oh! brethren, talk not of the
world's changes, and the vicissitudes of
this life ; speak not of Joseph who was
brought from a dungeon, and chosen and
exalted to sit on the throne of Pharaoh
to be only second in the land ; — speak
not of Lazarus, taken from the dogs and
dust, to be laid in Abraham's bosom ; —
speak not of being brought from the
dunghill to be set among princes; —
these are signs, but nothing more of
that far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory, which our God has
prepared for those that love him."
Why is it ? — how is it ? Is there a
heart so dead, as would venture to bring
its own merits or its own doings, and
present them as the cause, the procuring
cause, the sufficient cause of an issue
such as this? — or is it not plain, abun-
dantly plain, that salvation is of grace ;
yea, from the first to the last — from laying
the foundation to the finishing of the
building — in procuring the materials and
fitting and fashioning the stones, and
placing one on another, and raising up
the structure — in adorning and compact-
ing and completing it; and yet, in
bringing up the top stone, shall we not
now and ever proclaim, " grace, grace
unto it?"
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
X)5
Oli ! yes, it is a plain thing, as a matter of
doctrine, let it be powerful, too, as a mat-
ter of practice and a matter of life. Bre-
thren, remember, that each of you arc saved
by grace, if saved at all ; and oh ! remem-
ber, that if not saved by grace, it were
better that you had never heard of the
grace of God at all ! Think what it
must be to make of no effect this great
salvation that we speak of! Oh! the
Gospel of the salvation of the grace of
God ! — what a blessed sound it is, and
what a blessed privilege it is that you
have been permitted to hear it, day by
day, and week by week ; but, oh !
brethren, better never to have heard it,
than to have heard it carelessly, and but
to forget it ! It is surely either " a
savour of life unto life, or a savour of
death unto death ;" — either it is now
furnishing you with wings, and clothing
you with feathers, whereby you may
leave this earth and all its bondage, and
soar upward into heaven, there to live
And oh! if you ha\c tasted that the
Lord i6 gracious, put your whole confi-
dence in him ; believe, that that very truth
which is sufficient for you is sufficient for all,
sufficient in all cases. Fear not any trial,
keep not back from any duty, neglect not
any service on account of the weakness of
your flesh, or the world, but go on in
the strength of the Lord j go on, know-
ing and confessing your own infirmity,
and in your weakness the grace of the
Lord may be made perfect. Ask largely,
you shall obtain liberally ; ask according
to the rich promises of your God, ac-
cording to the riches of mercy, the riches
of grace, the riches of glory, the un-
searchable riches of Christ, which the
Apostle speaks of in this epistle ; ask
according to the largeness of God's mind,
and he will give you to sit in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. Magnify that
grace — speak well of it — give it all praise,
and all honor due ; talk not of your
merit ; let not man persuade you to look
and dwell with God in life and glory for t0 yourselves, but ever turn your eyes to
ever ; or else, it is fastening a mill-stone
about your neck, and weighing and
sinking you down, down, down into the
gulf that knows no bottom. Oh ! come
not, I beseech you in the name of the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, come not
short of the grace of God, but rather
seek to consider how you may find it.
If you have not answered the call of
mercy, answer it to day ; if you have not
drawn near to the embrace of the Sa-
viour, draw near to it now ; brethren,
now confess your sins, now ask for
mercy, now cast yourselves into the
waiting arms of the God of your salva-
tion ; now arise, and go to your Father,
and be reconciled to your God.
Him who is alone the author and giver of
all good things. Go, as an evidence of
the truth of God's Gospel, — go, holding
forth the light of life, — go, inviting sin-
ners to come with you, that you may do
them good. And then, brethren, if you
pursue this career for yourselves — if you
pursue this career for your friends, and
your neighbours — if you will seek thus
to glorify your Saviour in your own
hearts, and in your families, in your
own neighbourhood and in your own
country, will you not have time and
occasion to enlarge the kingdom of this
grace ? — to send out the glad tidings also
even to the ends of the world, that sin-
ners may turn to their Lord and live ?
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THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
Brethren, I will not detain you with
any details of the Society for which I
plead, I shall not mention the extent or
nature of our labours ; I shall not enter
into the particulars as to what God has
done or is doing ; but I will only tell
you that six hundred millions of your
fellow-creatures are perishing in their
sins ! they are living in ignorance and
darkness and corruption, under the power
of Satan, under the dominion of sin ;
without Christ, without God, without
hope in the world. Brethren, your
neighbour, yea, your brother, for he has
your flesh, and the flesh of the Lord
Jesus Christ our brother, — your brother
has been waylaid by thieves ; they have
stripped him, they have wounded him,
they have left him half dead, and he is
lying in his blood ; — brethren, will you
pass by, and take no heed of him ? or
will you look on him with vain curiosity,
and mock him with unmeaning pity, and
leave him unhclped and uncared for ?
Surely you dare not do it; — Oh! you
cannot do it, if you know any thing of
the grace of God your Saviour. And if
you know nothing of the grace by which
man is saved, dear brethren, your case
is worse than the heathen. But I would
hope better things of you ; I am speaking
to those who have tasted that the Lord is
gracious. I have nothing more to say
to you ; I would only read one word
wherewith your God speaks comfortably,
encouragingly, blessedly, to you, " God
is able to make all grace abound towards
you, that you always, being all-sufficient
in all things, may abound to every good
work, being enriched in every thing to
all bountifulness, which causeth, through
us, thanksgiving unto God."
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
307
THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY
PSALMS lxxiii. 24. and xlviii. 14.
Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory."
This God is our God, for ever and ever : He will be our guide even unto death.
This world is, to a sinner, like a trackless
desart or a wide extended ocean to a
traveller. He needs a guide to conduct
him through the ordinary difficulties of
the way, and a pilot to steer him in
safety through the shoals and quicksands
and whirlpools which surround him, no
matter to what point of the compass he
bends his course. He possesses neither
the skill to avert danger, nor the power
to overcome opposing difficulties. While
he continues in his natural state he may
travel on with a light mind, because his
fears are unexcited, and his desires gra-
tified. It is possible that he may succeed
in a great degree in banishing reflection
and in saying " peace, peace," when
God hath spoken no peace. This false
security may continue to the last, so that
he shall have "no bands in his death."
Such a state, whether viewed with refe-
rence to life or death, is awful in the
extreme ; for it is a state in which there
is no true knowledge of God — no scrip-
tural dependence upon the Lord Jesus —
no looking up for the divine teaching of
the Holy Spirit — no solid support under
present trials — no well-grounded hope
of a blissful eternity. Dear reader, is
this thy'state ? Is thy heart still like the
nether millstone ? is thine eye still
blinded by the dazzling glare of a vain
and deceitful world — are thy desires
earthly, and neither spiritual nor hea-
venly ? — art thou satisfied while hugging
the chains of thy bondage, and willing
to be accounted the slave of sin and the
victim of the delusions and the devices
of Satan ? Can this be so ? At ease in
the midst of danger — secure in the midst
of enemies — bent upon effecting thy
eternal ruin? To you, even to you —
although born in sin and shapen in ini-
quity, although a rebel against God
and an enemy to thy own soul — is
the word of the great salvation sent ;
awake then, " awake, thou that sleepest,
and arise from the dead, and Christ shall
give thee light." Thou ncedest his
counsel, his help, and his example, and
all shall be thine, if he be the portion of
thy soul. This was the persuasion which
bore up David's head above the deep
waters ; and it is the same persuasion
which has ever since upheld and cheered
those who have walked in his steps. A
God all mercy — a God who will not re-
sort to justice — a God who will unsay his
own declarations — a God who will accept
defective and polluted obedience instead
of that which is perfect and holy ; — that
is, in short, a God of his own imagina-
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THE NEW HUSH PULPIT.
tion is the object of worship to the unre-
generato men ; but he who is born of
tho Spirit, loves, adores, and obeys the
God of the Bible — the omnipotent, om-
niscient, and omnipresent Jehovah. Such
a man commits his ways unto the Lord,
and takes for the subject of his supplica-
tions tha " exceeding great and precious
promises" which abound in the sacred
Scriptures. Reconciled to God by faith
in his beloved Son, the only Mediator, —
ho see9 the harmony which subsists
among all his attributes, and with the
utmost confidence can make the lan-
guage of David his own, " O God, thou
art my God" — " This God is our God
forever and ever!" To him he looks
in life, in death, and through eternity :
in life for guidance — in death for support,
encouragement, and comfort — in eternity
for the fulness of bliss and glory. There
is an inseparable connection between a
life of faith, a triumphant death, and a
glorious eternity ; for it is written " he
giveth grace and glory," and both " the
gifts and calling of God are without re-
pentence." Believest thou this ? Art
thou guided by tho counsel of the Lord
or by the devices of thine own heart? Is
the Lord thy satisfying portion — and dost
thou find in Him all that thou canst
desire to make thee contented and happy
here — and blessed for ever hereafter ?
Art thou made wise by his counsel, and
does thy wisdom appear in the preference
which is given to the things of eter-
nity above those of time : — and to
the salvation of the soul which never
dies, above the gratification of the poor,
wretched body, which will soon see cor-
ruption, and then return to its native
dust? Dost thou know whom thou hast
believed ? Dost thou repose upon the
sure word of God? Dost thou fight
against sin as thy greatest enemy, and
art thou perfecting holiness in the fear of
the Lord ? May we, and those dear to
us, have a right judgment in all things.
P. R.
Kilkenny.
Dublin: New Irish Pulpit Office, 1, St. Andrew-st. ; John Robertson,
W. Curry, Jun. and Co.; R. M. Tims, W. Carson, D. R. Bleakley. London,
R. GuooMBiunGE, J. Nisbet and Co. ; Liverpool, H. Perris ; Manchester, Pratt,
Chester, Seacome ; Cork Tract Repository ; Drogheda, C. F. Collins ; and all
Booksellers.
GEORGE FOLDS, Printer, 1, Saint AndreW-street,
Opposite Trinity-streot, Dublin.
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
GOSPEL PREACHER.
" We preach Christ crucified —
" Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God."— 1 Cor. i. 23, 24.
No. XCIII.
SATURDAY, 28th SEPTEMBER, 1839.
Price 4d.
REV. II. SIOVVELL.
REV. W. M'lLWAINE.
PREPARATION FOR ETERNITY.
A SERMON,
PREACHED IN SAINT THOMAS'S CHURCH, DUBLIN,
ON SUNDAY, APRIL 21, 1839,
BY THE REV. HUGH STOWELL, A.M.
Of Manchester.
Amos, iv. 12.
" Prepare to meet thy God."
The first question in the catechism of the
sister church in Scotland, is a question
full of weight and wisdom, it is — " what
constitutes the chief end of man ?" and
the answer to that question is equally so ;
" to know, to love, to obey, and to enjoy
God for ever." There is another ques-
tion, " what is the chief purpose of life ?"
and we find the reply to that interroga-
tory introduced in the solemn proclama-
tion that the prophet of old, in the name
of God, when foreshowing approaching
judgment and impending death, sounded
in the ears of the slumbering and unbe-
lieving Israelite, " The end of life is to
prepare to meet our God." This is the
end and essence of all education, worthy
of the name ; this is the one grand inte-
rest of man here below ; therefore, the
words of God by the prophet, are ad-
dressed to us — even to us, who are
Vol. IV.
assembled within this house at the present
hour. God must be met ; there is pre-
paration to be made to meet him ;
that preparation ought to be the master-
object of our life, — these are the three
momentous positions suggested by the
words, to the importance of which we
desire this day to direct your attention.
May he whose message we bear, accom-
pany his own word, with the power and
demonstration of his Spirit to your
hearts !
God must be met The evidence of
that position is as unequivocal as is the
light of noon ; it is intimated by provi-
dence — it is attested by conscience — it is
demonstrated by revelation. The provi-
dence of God inculcates, and that not
indistinctly, the judgment to come. The
course and order of the divine dealing
with mankind, however there may be
310
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
much in it of perplexity and apparent
contradiction, yet, when closely and can-
didly observed, most evidently leads to
the conclusion, that there is a day com-
ing when God will vindicate eternal
providence, and justify his ways to man ;
for God has more or less connected pun-
ishment with sin, even in this state of
discipline, that man can scarcely trans-
gress and fail to reap the first bitter fruits
of his transgression here below. Take
but a few illustrations from the sins most
prevalent among mankind. Does not
the drunkard find his retribution in his
drunkenness ? Does not the unclean
man in his uncleanness? Does not the
murderer in the blood of his brother,
that peals the vengeance of God in his
ears ? Does not the envious man, that
has a canker at the core of his own peace ?
Does not the discontented and dissatisfied
man, who has a worm at the germ of his
happiness? Does not the proud man,
who exposes his happiness to the smile or
frown of every one around him ? Has
not God, too often signally interposed to
visit the sinner with vengeance, even in
this life ? Have we never heard of the
Sabbath- breaker cut off in the midst of
his iniquity ? Have we never heard of
the liar smitten to the ground with the
lie trembling on his tongue ? Have we
never heard of the blasphemer arrested,
and dragged to the bar of his God while
the oath was vibrating on his lips ? Has
God left himself without witnesses in the
world ? Must not the most profane and
bad man, if he attends to the traces of pro-
vidential government, be forced to learn,
that " verily there is a God that judgeth
the earth," and that the sin of the sinner
shall find him out. And if we turn to
the converse of the dealings of Provi-
dence, and mark how God makes a dif-
ference between the saint and the sinner,
the virtuous and the vicious — how, while
he has bound up punishment with sin, he
has bound up recompense of reward with
obedience and with righteousness, — how
in meekness there is a sweetness that is
its own recompense, — how, in humility
there is tranquillity that gives a present
reward, — how in patience and content-
ment there is a sweet and balmy atmos-
phere surrounding the soul, beyond what
all the riches of the world can purchase,
— that in purity, and sobriety, and tem-
perance, there is for the body and for the
mind a present benefit, that tells that God
has stamped his approval on these things,
— and have we never also heard how God
has interposed on the part of his people,
come to their rescue in time of danger —
to their support in time of oppression —
to their succour in time of temptation ?
Have we never heard that he has fed them
as he did the prophet, employing even
the fowls of the air as his messengers, —
and how he has guarded them, that
though thousands have fallen at their
side, it hath not come nigh them? And
if it be objected to all this reasoning,
that the wicked oftentimes prosper, and
have no bands in their death, and accu-
mulate treasure and leave their wealth to
their babes — if it be objected, that the
virtuous, too, are often afflicted, tor-
mented, distressed, and seem forsaken by
God while they are persecuted by man,
that they are oftentimes reduced to the
last extremity of want and the bitterest
anguish of disease, — if this be objected,
we take up the objection, and convert it
into a corroboration of the argument ; —
because if the wicked were always pun-
ished here, if every sin met with a pre-
sent recompense of reward, we might
imagine that there was no necessity for
an after day of eternal retribution ; or, if
the sinner never met with any measure
of punishment — if sin were the source
of happiness, as it is of wretchedness, —
if it were visited with the signs of the
divine approval instead of signs of the
divine displeasure, we might argue that
there was no God, or that God took no
interest in the affairs of men — that he did
not sit on the eternal throne, or wield the
universal sceptre. But since we find
punishment oftentimes inflicted to testify
that, " there is a God that judgeth the
earth," and yet, on the other hand, we
find sin unpunished, and villany tri-
umph — does it not follow, that there
must be an after day of reckoning, when
God will render to every transgressor the
full measure of retribution that he has
earned. And so, in like manner, if God
never appeared on behalf of his people,
then we might imagine, that God had no
regard to righteoi sness and approved not
virtue, and sent not his favor on them
that practised it ; or if the virtuous had
their full meed of happiness and their
full measure of reward here, we might
infer that there was no room or reason
for further recompense of reward : but,
inasmuch as God often stands forth in
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
311
their behalf, to show lie regards and loves
them, and yet allows them to be oppressed
and to suffer, to show that, this is not
their rest or the scene of their reward,
but the scene of their conflict, and the
theatre of their discipline, it follows that
there must be a future day when God will
render to every man according to that he
hath done, whether it be good or bad.
And that which Providence thus inti-
mates, the conscience of every man gives
its response to, and clearly attests ; —
there is a judge set up in every man —
there is a judge on that tribunal, whose
voice, so far as passion and unbelief will
allow men to listen to it, gives him no
doubt, an anticipation of what will be the
decision of the great day of account.
Why is it that bad men, even in dark-
ness, tremble often as they perpetrate
their deeds of wickedness ? why is it, that
they often fly when no man pursues,
startle at the rustling of a leaf, and are
afraid of their own shadow ? How is it,
that wherever they travel, however they
amuse themselves in profligacy or sensu-
ality, there are oftentimes visitations of
horror that not unfrequently lead them to
rush on suicide, in the mad hope of get-
ting rid of the reflection that there is
this secret witness in man, whose voice
they may for a season silence, but whose
remembrance he cannot stifle, — were it
not that there is a law to which that wit-
ness appeals, and a tribunal to which that
witness points : and so, if the righteous in
Christ feel comfort and confidence while
their consciences witness that they are
doing the will of God — if they feel a sweet
satisfaction from accomplishing that which
is agreeable to the divine will — if con-
science, in the midst of sorrow and suf-
fering and persecution, still leads them
forward in anticipation to some future
bright scene, where every tear shall be
wiped away from the sorrowing eye, —
surely here conscience is pointing to the
day of recompense of reward, and the
man that will listen to the secret monitor,
cannot help quailing and trembling at the
thought, / must meet my God, — the ven-
geance of man I may escape — the return
of my trangression I may avoid — but there !
will come a day when I cannot escape God's j
all-seeing eye, or withstand his omnipo-
tent arm ; I must appear before the judg-
ment seat of both the quick and the dead.
But, brethren, in a truth of such vital
moment and fundamental importance, we
are not left to the indistinct intimations
of Providence, or to the still small whis-
per of conscience ; for we have the more
sure evidence of revelation, that brings
life and immortality to light, draws aside
the curtain that hides the invisible world
from man, and unfolds to us hell in all its
horrors, heaven in all its glory, and
judgment in all its dread solemnities. —
Even " Enoch, the seventh from Adam,
prophecied of these, saying — behold, the
Lord cometh with ten thousands of his
saints to execute judgment upon all, and
to convince all that are ungodly among
them of all their ungodly deeds which
they have ungodly committed, and of all
their hard speeches which ungodly sin-
ners have spoken against him." The
patriarch .Job, in the anguish of distress,
said, " I know that my Redeemer liveth,
and that he shall stand at the latter day
upon the earth ; and though after my
skin worms destroy this body, yet, in my
flesh, shall I see God, whom I shall see
for myself, and mine eyes shall behold,
and not another ;" and the wise man
winds up his lessons of wisdom by saying,
" God shall bring every work into judg-
ment, with every secret thing, whether it
be good or whether it be evil ;" and the
psalmist, anticipating the glorious but
awful event, said, " let the floods clap
their hands, and let the hills be joyful
together before the Lord, for he cometh
to judge the earth ; with righteousness
shall he judge the world, and the people
with equity." And, in the New Testa-
ment, we have tlr's great truth brought
before us with striking prominence : Jesus
said, " the day is coming when all who
are in their graves sliall hear the voice of
the Son of man, and shall come forth,
some to the resurrection of life, and some
to shame and everlasting reproach ;" and
again he said, " when the Son of man
shall come in his glory, and all the holy
angels with him, then shall he sit on the
throne of his glory, and before him shall be
gathered all nations, and he shall separate
them, one from another, as a shepherd
divideth the sheep from the goats, and
he shall set the sheep on his right hand,
and the goats on the left. Then shall
the king say unto them on the right hand,
come ye blessed o( my Father inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world. Then shall he
say unto them on the left hand, depart
ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for
312
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
the devil and his angels. And these shall |
go away into everlasting punishment, but
the righteous into life eternal." And
St. Paul in likewise testifies, " we must
all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ, to give an account of the deeds
done in the body, whether they be good
or bad." Need we multiply testimonies?
— the whole Scripture points forward to
that great day, for which all ether days
were made. The nature of God, as
unfolded in his own revelation, asserts
and demonstrates the judgment. Is he
holy ? — he must hate sin ; is he just? —
he must punish sin and reward righteous-
ness. Is he omniscient? — he must know
sin, and none can escape. Is he omni-
potent? — he can arrest the sinner, and
none can withstand him. Is he immu-
table ? — his threatenings and promises
shall stand, " heaven and earth shall pass
away, but not one jot or one tittle of the
law shall pass away." Men and brethren,
behold how clear and irrefragible the
te.-timonies are, from Providence, from
conscience, and from Scripture, that
" God hath appointed a day in which he
will judge the world in righteousness."
If then God must be met —
II. There is a preparation for man
to meet his Gon. The simple an-
nouncement of such a position ought to
be amply sufficient to commend it to the
reason and conscience of every man, that
hath an ear to hear and a heart to under-
stand. If we were assured at this mo-
ment, that at no distant but uncertain
day, we must leave the land of our nativ-
ity, and set forth for some far distant
shore, and there pass the remainder of
our days — what an immediate effect it
would have on our feelings, pursuits, and
engagements ! We should feel loose
from our present place of residence,
our hopes and our expectations would be
transferred to the future place of our
habitation, we should endeavour to ascer-
tain its character and circumstances, and
provide for its necessities, and to get all
our affairs and concerns in such a posi-
tion of arrangement, that whenever the
summons came, we might be prepared
to set forward. This would become the
absorbing object of our minds. Or
were we arraigned as being under the
guilt, and threatened with the sentence
of the laws of our land — were we im-
mured in a dungeon, and awaiting the
dread decisive day of our trial, what an
immense effect would such a circumstance
have on our minds? The future trial,
how best to prepare for it, would absorb
our thoughts by day, and tinge our
dreams by night — and to secure the best
counsel, to get all our evidence in full
arrangement, and to seek all the influence
we could command in order that the
issue of the dread day might be in our
favor — this would be the one engrossing
subject of our thoughts. And, men and
brethren, we are soon to set forward on
a voyage, and we know not how soon —
not to another land, but to another
world — not to spend a few fleeting years,
but to spend an eternity ! We are
awaiting a trial, a trial where the issue
will not be death or life, but heaven or
hell — the death that ever dying never
dies, or the life that must endure while
the God who gives it lives. We are
within a step of that judgment seat,
there is but the breath in our nostrils
between us and the bar of Christ ! Oh
then, where is our consistency, where is
our anxious inquiry for that land very
far off? Where is our anxiety to learn
the language of heaven, and breathe the
spirit of heaven, and to get the furniture
and adorning that will qualify us for the
presence-chamber of the King of kings?
Where too, if we are going to that awful
trial, where is our anxiety to see, that
our agents be in readiness, and our evi-
dence clear, our acquittal certain, and
the issue of the great day in our eternal
favor ? Oh, would to God, that men
were alive as they ought to be, to that
critical position they occupy in this brief
and uncertain state.
Brethren, there is a preparation to
be made to meet our God, we are
unprepared to meet him. If we came
into the world as Adam came, all spotless
within, as all was fair and lovely without;
if we came into the world without guilt
on the conscience, and without corrup-
tion in the heart ; if we instinctively knew
and loved, and delighted in our Father
in heaven; if his will was as much our
polar star, as the flesh and the world are
now our guide and delight ; — if we as
naturally did what was right, as we natu-
rally do what is wrong, then every hour
we lived would be an hour of perfect
readiness ; whenever our Master came
at midnight, or at cock crowing, or in the
morning, we should be ready to welcome
his voice, and rejoice in his presence ;
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
313
there would be no natural terror, leading
us to seek concealment, as fallen Adam
was led to hide himself among the trees
of the garden. But is it so ? Let re-
velation, let the sacred Scripture say, is
God naturally known, and laught, and
loved ? Is he the fountain of our joy
and the centre of our delight? Do
we indeed feel no apprehension in the
prospect of meeting him, no dread of
death, no dark misgivings of what is to
follow? Is there not in the savage
mind a sense of guilt and ruin ? Is there
not an endeavour at expiation, a self-
inflicted course of torture and sacrifice,
in order, if possible, to make peace with
God ? But we are not left in doubt by I
the word of God, it tells us, that one
man's sin brought death into the world,
and that " death hath passed upon all
men, Cor that all have sinned." It tells
us that we are under the law by nature,
and the language of the law is, " cursed
is every one that continueth not in all
things that are written in the book of the
law to do them," — " the soul that sinneth,
it shall die." It tells us that this curse
and sentence are suspended over every
one of us, for that, " all have sinned,
and come short of the glory of God."
It teaches us too, that there is in us " a
carnal mind that is enmity against God," j
that we do not take delight in his presence,
we are so earthly minded and sensual —
that we do not desire fellowship wkh him,
for " how can two walk together unless
they are agreed ?" And " what fellow-
ship hath light with darkness," or an
unrenewed soul with a pure God ? And
therefore brethren, there is a preparation
to be made, for we ara not of ourselves
prepared. If we go to meet God as we I
came into the world, and continue in the
world, be assured of this, it will be a '
dread interview, there will be guilt un-
pardoned, and corruption unsubdued ;
a holy God and a guilty sinner cannot
be at one. But oh thanks be to God for !
his infinite grace and mercy, in the Gos- I
pel of his Son it tells us, that all things
are ready, that man may prepare to meet
his God ; it tells us that we are guilty,
but that our iniquities were laid on one
mighty to save, who suffered as man, I
and saved as God, and "made a full,
perfect, and sufficient oblation and satis- i
faction for the sins of the whole world." \
It tells us that the blood of that precious
Lamb cleanseth from all sin ; it bids
" the wicked man forsake his way, and
the unrighteous man his thoughts, and
to return to the Lord and he will have
mercy upon him, and unto our God, for
he will abundantly pardon him," through
Christ Jesus. It tells us " that there is no
condemnation to them that are in Christ
Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit," that " being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ." It tells us also,
that as there is a redeeming Saviour, so
there is a renovating sanctifier, that if
the Son died to redeem us, the Spirit
descends to renew us, and that the same
faith that lifts us to Christ for justification,
lifts us to Christ for sanctification ; the
same two fold stream that bursts from his
side, " water and blood," must still be
washed in by all that would prepare to
meet their God, the blood blotting out
the iniquity for ever, and then the water
purifying their souls.
And thus brethren, all things are ready.
God the Father is ready, that lovsd us
when we were yet enemies, and spared
not his own Son, but delivered Him up
for us all. God the Son is ready who,
having poured out his soul unto death,
rose again for our justification, and
ascended as our intercessor where his
intercession immortalizes atonement, and
no poor, weak, sinful mortal can take on
him to present the one great sacrifice
again and again to God; for the one
great High Priest over the house of God
presents his own blood for ever. The
Spirit of God is ready, the promised
Teacher and Comforter, he strives with
your consciences, he softens your heart,
he entreats you, " why will you die ?" *
The saved are ready with all their invita-
tions and precious promises and gracious
precepts. The church of God is ready,
into whose pale you are baptized, and to
whose ordinances you are invited. The
ministers of God are ready, who desire
to welcome the returning penitent The
angels are ready to tune their harps and
strike their sweetest song over the repen-
tant, the returning sinner.
You see, all things are prepared for us
to prepare to meet our God. Let the
sinner seek that Saviour, and take him
for all his salvation, righteousness, peace,
with God ; let him receive him as his
justification and sanctification, and evi-
dence, that he is in Christ, by bringing
forth fruits to the praise and glory of
314
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
God ; let him be made a new creature
in Christ Jesus, let " old things pass
away, and all things become new ;" let
the inward, spiritual grace of baptism be
evidenced and proved in his heart and
life ; let him flee from sin, and rise to
righteousness ; let him walk after the
Spirit, not after the flesh ; let him no
more follow the course of this world but
the godly motions of God's blessed Spirit
in all things ; let the language of his
heart be continually, .not what the world
will have him to do, or what inclination
will have him to do, but what will God
have him to do ? let him see, that whether
he eat or drink he does all to the glory
of God, let him exercise himself to have
a conscience void of offence towards God
and towards man, let him have his eye
turned to the last tribunal, and ask, how
will this appear in the judgment day ; —
in which book of God's remembrance
shall this be written, the black book of
wrath, or the bright book of mercy ? let
him renounce all confidence in himself,
and feel that he is a poor unprofitable
servant, yea, in his own view, he is the
chief of sinners, and Christ is all in all :
let him thus live and thus die, and he is
prepared to meet his God. Blessed pre-
paration ! he may say, " O death, where
is thy sting, O grave, where is thy
victory ? thanks be to God, who giveth
me the victory, through Jesus Christ our
Lord." I have found him on the cross,
and I fear not to meet him on the throne;
I know him as my Saviour, and I can
go, with awful but confident expectation,
to meet him as my judge !
III. Men and brethren, if God must
be met, if there must be preparation
made to meet him, then, that prepara-
tion ought to be the master object of
our lives. Is there a man that can
gainsay, that this is our reasonable service,
to live each day for life eternal — to live
each day for the great decisive day ?
1st. It ought to be the master object
of our life, for it is the very purpose for
which our life was given us. Think you,
that God placed us here, that he con-
tinued our life in this world, just that we
might eat and drink, and indulge our
passions, and amuse our fancies, and
follow our pleasures, and sport ourselves,
and then lie down and die ? Think you
that he placed us here for the strife of
ambition, the frivolity of wealth, the
mad career of licentiousness, the intense
pursuit of gain ? think you, that mortal
minds, like ours, were given us, and
that such opportunities and advantages
as surround us were afforded to us, that
we might act the idiot's part, and give to
time our eternal regard ? that we should
" sow to the wind and reap the whirl-
wind," and squander the precious mo-
ments, big with eternal destiny ? No,
brethren, we are placed here to decide
how we shall be placed hereafter, to
sow the seed which we must reap through
eternal ages, that we may choose salva-
tion or damnation, heaven or hell, God
or Satan, and our choice must be our
own and that for ever.
2. It ought to be the master-object of
life, for life is little enough to accom-
plish that great end. Ah ! many a
thoughtless worldly man puts off and
puts off preparation to meet his God, —
like the poor foolish traveller that sat at
the river side, and thought, it flowed so
fast, it would soon run dry, but it flowed
on and on, and would while the world
lasts ; so many a foolish man thinks, that
there will come a future time when the
torrent of his passions and enjoyments
will run dry, and he shall have leisure to
seek his God. Brethren, that leisure
hour will never come, and every hour of
life spent not to the end of life is an
hour lost, that will cost you bitter regret
here, or eternal remorse hereafter. A
holy and devoted christian, that from
twelve years of age had served her
Saviour to the best of what poor frail
mortality can do by God's strength per-
fected in weakness, whispered to her
husband in life's last struggle, Oh ! the
preparation of the* longest life is little
enough for an hour like this, and there
is not a man living but if he has any
sense and consciousness in that hour,
will feel the same. Men talk about the
grace of God being all in all, the blood
of Christ being all in all. Most true,
and so it is, but not to lead to lascivi-
ousness, not to lead to presumptuous
procrastination, not to justify us in think-
ing, that it is a light and little matter to
be saved. No, brethren, to be sure of
our hope, to ascertain and authenticate
our safety, to have abundant proof that
we are in Christ, to have no dark clouds
brooding over the dark valley, but the
light of life beaming brightly over it, to
subdue the world, the flesh and the
devil, to " fight the good fight of faith,''
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
315
to " lay hold on clonal life," to " run
with patience the race set before us/' to
" wrestle against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the dark-
ness of this world, against spiritual wick-
edness in high places," to employ the
talents intrusted to us as stewards, to
bring forth much fruit, that God may be
glorified — it is a stupendous task, and the
longest life is not too long for us to
accomplish it, " work out your own sal-
vation with fear and trembling, for it is
God that werheth in you to will and to
do of his good pleasure."
3. It ought, brethren, to be the first
grand object of life, because it must be
effected here, or it can never be effected.
Yes, the door will soon be shut, and we
may knock, and knock, but the voice of
our merciful Master may then in justice
be, " I never knew you, depart from
me ye workers of iniquity." There will
be no mercy seat in hell, no Saviour to
shed his blood, no omnipotence to save
there, no minister of mercy to proclaim,
" believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and
ye shall be saved," no blessed sanctifier
to strive with the conscience, and bring
us back to God, — no, but " weeping
and wailing and gnashing of teeth, where
the worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched.''
4. It ought to be the great first work
of life, because it is the happiness, the
security, the joy of life. Many put off
their religion as a bitter medicine, that
they think will poison the stream of
earthly happiness. Oh they should take
it as a balm, which takes from pleasure
nothing but its alloy, and which takes
from the cup of sorrow more than half
its bitterness. Let a man be at peace
with God, and all things are at peace
with him, "all things are his, whether Paul
or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or
life, or death, or things present, or things
to come, all are his, and he is Christ's,
and Christ is God;" any thing but
thine anger, anything with thy love, this
is the language of both reason and
wisdom. Will it spoil man's happiness
to be prepared to meet his God ? —
Will it make him gloomy and sad, to feel
that all is safe, all is right, all is well ?
" all things work together for good to
them that love God, to them that are the
called according to his purpose," that is
happiness, and all besides is as a gilded
similitude of it, and no more to be com-
pared with it, than the crackling of thorns
under a pot, with the steady, calm light
of the evening star.
Brethren, if life be given us to prepare
to meet our God, if life be short enough
for that great work, if that work must
be accomplished here or left undone for
ever, and if to have it accomplished is
the pillow of peace, and the strong hold
of unchanging security, then surely, as
God is to be met, as there is a prepa-
ration required to meet him, that pre-
paration ought to be the one master end
and object of our life.
Suffer, then, the word of faithful and
affectionate admonition and exhortation.
Some have grown up to manhood, some
have advanced into maturer life, some
are descending the hill, and the signs
of age are on their brow ; men and
brethren, many such have never begun
life's business, it is yet to be begun,
when shall it begin ? To day, while it
is called to day, to-morrow is not ours,
the breath in our nostrils is all that is
between us and the state that never
changes, Oh ! then, " now is the ac-
cepted time, now is the day of salvation."
Brethren, if you desire to prepare to
meet your God, begin where alone you
can begin to good purpose, do not daub
the wall with untempered mortar, do not
seek to make yourselves better, do not
go about to make your peace with God,
do not suppose, that striving earnestly to
make yourselves worthy of God, you may
at last trust in Christ, when you are
worthy to trust in him. Oh, this will
never lead to peace, pardon and heaven —
GO AS YOU ARE TO THE SAVIOUR that
opens his arms to receive you, cast your-
selves at his feet, lay hold of his mercy,
cry to him like one of old, " Lord, save
me or 1 perish." Without him you can
do nothing, but you may do all things
through him strengthening you ; your
best deeds are sinful and deserve punish-
ment, but washed in the blood of the
Lamb, they are well pleasing to God.
Oh, do not pass by the Cross in the
way to heaven, or you never can get
to heaven, but begin the race that
is set before you — start from the Cross
to the crown, from a crucified Saviour to
a glorified judge — be found in Christ and
you will be found complete.
Men and brethren, let not the believer
in Christ think that his work is done, he
has every day, every hour, the same great
work in progress, he has still to be fighting
the good fight, to be finishing his course,
316
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
keeping the faith, that when his Master
conies, he may be found with his loins girt,
and his lamp burning, that so an abundant
entrance may be ministered to him into
the glorious kingdom of his Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ,
Dear younger brethren, — ye who are
trained and taught in that little nursery
for heaven, whose advocate I appear
among you this day, — suffer a stranger in
the flesh, but a friend, he trusts, in spirit,
to say to you, Behold the end of all
education, to prepare you to meet your
God ; if that is gained, all is gained — if
that is lost, all is lost. Dear children, I
thank God that your education is not so
much for time as for eternity, — or rather
for time, by being for eternity. There
is no education for time worthy of the
name, that does not set eternity before it
as its goal. Dear children, if you want
to prepare to meet God, it is the book in
your hands, the book in your heads —
Oh, that I might add, that is in your
hearts — that alone can guide you in the
work. It is not the word of man — not
the word of your ministers, however you
may revere and respect them as Christ's
ministers to your souls — but it is the
word of the living God; the voice is
human, but the message is divine.
Dear children, allow me to deliver to
you a message from a dear child now in
heaven, a Sunday-scholar, once like
yourselves. I was sent for to visit that
poor girl in a northern part of England.
She said, she had a sad wicked father,
but she had been taught better things in
the Sunday-school. When I entered the
cottage, the mother said, go up stairs —
you will find a melancholy scene there.
It was indeed a wretched scene. In one
corner, on some straw, lay the father,
groaning in bitter pain ; he had his leg
amputated above the knee, in conse-
quence of a disease brought on by intem-
perance. In the opposite corner lay the
meek sufferer. I spoke to him of coming
judgment and hell ; but I found drunk-
enness had done all its desperate work on
him, and he was harder than the nether-
most mill-stone. I passed to the little
sufferer with somewhat of a trembling
heart, thinking that the child of such a
parent would be like her father ; but she
had been taught by her Father in heaven,
though neglected by her earthly parent.
She was lying in brain fever. I drew
near and said, my dear child, I think
you are going to die; death is a solemn
thing ; are you prepared to die ? Never
shall I forget how sweetly she opened her
eyes, and looking wistfully at me, and
upward to her God, she said,
" There is beyond the sky
A heaven of joy and love,
And holy children, when they die,
Go to that world above."
Do you then, said I, hope to go to that
world above ? — why do you hope it? She
said, Jesus died for me. Who, replied
I, told you he died for you ? My Bible
told me. Her little mind began to falter,
owing to the severity of the disease, and
I could only pray with her then. Visiting
her the day after, I found her quite in-
sensible ; but even then the tone of her
little mind was clearly indicated in her
wanderings, for as I hung over her, she
began to toss to and fro, and she mut-
tered, " father, pray. — you will be lost —
you will be lost ;" and I said, does she
often mutter in her insensibility? — yes,
said the mother, and when she was clear,
she said, ' does father pray ?' and when I
said, I fear not, she said, ' if I should
go to heaven and father go to hell, should
I ever see him again ?' she then became
insensible, and muttered, ' never, never !'
I was unable to see her for two days, and
at the close of that time, about midnight,
she came to herself, and expressed a wish
to see her minister ; but the persons
around her refused, at that hour, to send
for me. She turned to a christian friend
who had first gone for me, and said,
' will you tell the clergyman to tell all
Sunday-school scholars to read and love
their Bibles ; that blessed book has
taught me, that when I die, I shall go to
Jesus Christ ; I am going to him, and I
am not afraid to go, — and with that she
turned her head back on her pillow, and
fell away in sleep, and died as easy as an
infant on its mother's breast. My dear
young friends, there was a child of twelve
years' old prepared to meet her God !
Oh ! take her message — bind it on your
hearts ; let the Bible be the book of your
counsel, the guide of your youth, the
stay of your old age, your life in death,
and the charter of your hope for ever.
Christian friends, I would just draw
one inference more, and that shall be,
what is education ? Education is pre-
paring redeemed immortal creatures to
meet their God ; and any education that
docs not aim at that high end, is an insult
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
317
on man, and an outrage on the truth of
God. What ! shall we think it enough
to teach man how he may get his living —
to provide the meat that perisheth — to
play his part for a few fleeting years on
this gaudy stage, while we believe him an
immortal being, big with the destinies of
eternity ? It were far more wise and
merciful to adorn the convict's cell, and
let music be provided, and every costly
viand be spread before him, while the
next day his cell shall open, and his
chains must clang, and he must go forth
to die a shameful death. No better is
our education, if we prepare not those
that are prisoners of hope, for the glorious
liberty of the sons of God. Will any
man say that he is a secular educationist,
and he only wishes to educate men for
time — let the minister educate them for
eternity ? We answer in reply, taking
you on your own low and groveling
ground, educate man for eternity, and
then you educate him effectually for
time ; make him a man of sound
principles — make him a man of con-
scienciousness, fearing God and working
righteousness, then he will be a good
citizen, then he will be a loyal subject, a
kind and honest neighbour, a faithful
and affectionate father, a tender and
loving brother, he will discharge all the
relations and duties of life in an efficient
manner. You have no guarantee, no
security without religion ; it is not the
head but the heart that makes the man —
it is not the education of the intellect
but moral power, that educates man for
happiness and God — it is not intellectual
but moral — it is not in the head, but in
heart — and God and the devil are sepa-
rate not so much by difference of intellect,
as by difference of disposition — the one
unmingled malignity, the other un-
mingled love; — the one radiant with the
image of God, the other black with the
jet of sin ; and therefore, brethren, there
is nothing to be more deeply deprecated
and deplored in this day of modern in-
novation, than the attempt to separate
secular education and religious. You
may be assured of this, that such educa-
tion, however it may whet the intellect,
will only increase the mischievous power
and tendency of the heart in the mind of
a child ; and for your own land — the
land of so much strife and conflict — the
land of so much dark atrocity, but of so
much that is bright and fair in morals
and virtue too — the grand panacea for
all its evils would be an efficient universal
system of scriptural, religious instruction;
this alone would still the tempest, throw
oil on the troubled waters, and knit man
to his fellow-man, and all to God.
Finally, men and brethren, may God
seal the text on all our hearts and minds ;
may he cause it to sink deep into our
understandings and our affections, may
he proclaim to us, when we awake up in
the morning, when we go forth in the
day time, when we lie down at night — in
prosperity, in temptation, in sorrow, and
in joy, " prepare to meet thy God !"
THE CLAIMS OF THE LOST SHEEP OF ■'THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, oN CHRISTIAN
BENEVOLENCE AND CHRISTIAN SYMPATHY.
A SERMON
PREACHED IN THE FREE CHURCH, GREAT CHARLES-ST. DUBLIN,.
ON SUNDAY EVENING, APRIL 7, 1839,
ON BEHALF OF THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIANITY AMONG THE JEWS,
BY THE REV. WILLIAM M'lLWAINE, A. B.
INCUMBENT OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH, BELFAST,
JOHN XV. 12.
This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you.
It may readily appear, even upon a slight
examination of the subject, that although
the Old Testament dispensation and the
New are parts of the one whole, and so
in their great design harmonize together,
there are, notwithstanding, many points
of difference, amounting even to contrast,
between them. This observation is by
all admitted as applying to the ceremonial
part of the law of Moses. The worship
under the elder dispensation was one of
type and shadow, encumbered with legal
ordinances and sacrificial rites, so numer-
ous as to be in many parts obscure even
to us, who have the light of the New
Testament to guide us in the understand-
ing of them. But while this truth is here
admitted, it may not appear so evidently
applicable to another great division of the
Mosaic law, namely, the moral ; yet it is,
perhaps, equally true here also. The
decalogue, it is admitted, is now, as ever,
of vast importance to the believer as his
rule of life ; but, even thus, its place is
more than supplied under this our better
covenant, by the binding efficacy of one
great commandment, namely, that con-
tained in the text, the law of love : it is
true, that its influence was felt by every
real worshipper of God under the Mosaic
dispensation, as well as ours ; but it was
reserved for the great Teacher of all real
morality, to give its full force to this
precept, and this he does in such an-
nouncements, as that under consideration.
Thus, as the spiritual worshipper under
the Gospel covenant, is privileged to
draw nigh to God by that new and living
way, which Jesus has opened to the mercy-
seat, unimpeded by the cumbersome and
typical ritual of the elder covenant ; so
is it his great privilege to realize the fact,
that the whole of God's moral law is
summoned up in this one command of
love. As it is in the natural world, so in
the spiritual : one great and comprehen-
sive law governs all the external nature ;
it is the simple principle of universal
gravitation, which binds to its sphere, and
regulates in its mysterious movement, the
most stupendous planet, as well as the
merest atom ; so also is it the simple and
glorious principle of love, which regulates
the obedience and spiritual existence,
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
319
both of the highest angelic intelligence in
the heaven of heavens, as well as of the
humblest saints in the church militant here
on earth.
The passage before us is of great im-
portance, inasmuch as it contains a clear
statement of this the Redeemer's great
moral law : " This," he says, " is my
commandment" — or, as it is expressed in
nearly the same form in another passage,
(ch. xiii. 34,) "a new commandment I
give unto you, that ye love one another ;
as I have loved you, that ye also love one
another." From both these texts we
may perceive, that while the new law of
the believer extends to both the tables of
Moses' law, it has, in the connexion of
the text, a special reference to the second,
as summing up in itself all that we have
need to know concerning the great duty
of Christian benevolence. I would desire
on the present occasion, with the Lord's
blessing, to consider it in two points of view,
chielly, first, as containing the principle,
or motion of Christian benevolence ; and,
secondly, the manner of its acting.
1. We have then in the first instance,
THE TRUE PRINCIPLE, OR MOTION FOR
christian love ; and this is simply the
command of Christ — " This is my com-
mandment, that ye love one another."
Do we wish for a still more plain enun-
ciation of this great Christian duty, the
same apostle will furnish it (1 John iv. 9,
10, 1 1) ? " In this was manifested the love
of God towards us, because that God sent
his only begotten Son into the world,
that we might live through him. Herein
is love, not that we loved God, but that
he loved us, and sent his Son to be the
propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if
God so loved us, we ought also to love one
another." Thus, and thus only may this
" new commandment" be learned. Then
alone shall we feel its force and obey its
precepts, when it has been revealed to
the soul and written on the heart —
softened by divine grace — by the same —
the Holy Spirit's influence. \VKen we
have been led to Calvary, and there
behold the manifestation of divine love,
exhibited on the cross of Him who is our
Master, our Lord, and Saviour, thus
dying for us — then, and not till then,
shall our renewed hearts beat with love
to Him, who has "so loved us." Then
is this new precept realized, and we shall
love not Him alone, but those also whom
He commands us to love for His sake.
How vast the difference between the new
law thus enforced, and that which was
given from Sinai : no awful denuncia-
tions, no thunderings are heard, no
lightnings beheld, only ' the voice of love
and mercy,' which commands and con-
strains us to love in return for all the love
bestowed on us ' miserable sinners, who
lay in darkness and the shadow of death.'
Beloved friends, there is however one
denunciation even here — and oh ! may
the Lord avert it from all who listen to
the Gospel proclamation, for it is a
dreadful one — it is this, " If any man love
not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be
anathema." May God, I repeat it, de-
liver all who hear from slighting love
such as His !
But our text not only supplies,
as I have stated it, the motive for
our renewed obedience, it further teaches
us —
2. The manner in which it will
exhibit itself : this occurs in the re-
maining words — " as I have loved you."
This expression, both here and in the pas-
sage above quoted, is emphatic ; in it our
blessed Lord shows us the manner of our
renewed obedience, by proposing himself
as our example. The same look at the
cross of our dying Redeemer, which
subdues the believing soul into love for
Him who has thus loved us, presents us
also in the monument of his bleeding
love toward us, with an object of our
imitation ever after.
In beholding the love of Jesus as our
glorious exemplar, so far as frail, though re-
newed, human nature may approach what
is infinite, there are many features which
must strike our devout attention; I shall on
320
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
the present occasion however, select but
two of these.
1st. I may observe, that the love of
the Redeemer for us is a distinguishing
affection : " as I have loved yoiC He
says; — loved you in preference to many, '
many others. A little reflection bestowed
on the subject will show us the force of
this remark. To extend our view beyond
even our own nature, of which we who
are led to believe in Jesus, are thereby
shown to be the objects of His distin-
guishing grace. We can conceive of
His love being exhibited in other ways
beside that whereby we have become the
objects of it. When about to erect a
monument on which should be inscribed
an everlasting record of infinite love, why
it may be asked, was man selected?
Not to speak of fallen angels, our part-
ners in misery whom Jesus passed by
when He " took upon Him the seed of
Abraham." We can conceive of His
grace resting on such angelic creatures
as had never sinned : the overflowings of
everlasting love might have descended
upon these ; while by raising them in the
scale of being, and exalting them to some
height of privilege never aspired to, or
conceived of even by themselves. He
had given an exhibition of love worthy
of God himself, and which might be
termed infinite : but no ; it was " for us
men and for our salvation,'' that Jesus
thus manifested love passing all know-
ledge, and in so doing He has marked
the discerning character of His affection
toward us.
In holding out to your adoring con-
templation and prayerful imitation, bre-
thren, this feature in our Redeemer's
love, I may just add one remark, although
unable, as we should ever be unwilling
to make any such effort to fathom the
depths of this eternal mind which are
unrevealed to us, yet perhaps, we may
without presumption advance one sup-
position as to the grounds on which such
a selection has been made ; I mean that
your race to be the recipients of God's
infinite love in redemption. It was
doubtless our need which urged Him who
made the choice : we can conceive of no
greater case of necessity in existence,
than was ours, and therefore we can see
one cause at least, why we have been so
graciously dealt with. And now to apply
this observation to the matter under
review, I would say that we have here a
characteristic mark of genuine Christian
benevolence, as distinguished from that
which may be styled natural: the one is
in imitation of its Great Author in the
exercise of His love, of a discriminating
kind; the other is exercised indiscrimi-
nately — the one will ever select the
objects of its choice, and the ground of
that selection will be their need of its
assistance. The other will be bestowed
without such a choice, and therefore
oftentimes without advantage. The one
is as the stream which is guided by the hand
of industry and experience toward its
desired end, to water the fruitful field, or
adorn the garden which has been rescued
from the waste. The other is like the
wild mountain stream which flows along
without guidance and control, to be lost
in the wilderness, or expended on the
barren and dry land of the desert.
Another feature in the Saviour's love is
suggested by the text — " as I have loved ,"
these words are likewise emphatic. The
sufferings of Christ have been termed by
divines vicarious — his love is of a self-
sacrificing kind, and perhaps it is not
beyond the limits of gospel truth to state,
that there can be no real imitation of that
love, no acceptable conformity to His
blessed image, without some measure of
this quality. Observe the conduct of
our gracious deliverer : how far was he from
resting contented with an expression of
His commiseration for our lost condition !
When from the height of His glory He
saw into the depths of that abyss of ruin
in which we lay, He not only mourned
over our state, but He came to our
relief. Even when in the days of his
flesh, He wept over the lost Jerusalem,
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
321
far from being satisfied with that expres-
sion of his sorrow for its approaching
calamity, He entered its deserted walls,
again to urge the lessons of repentance,
again to make the offer of reconciling
pardon to its devoted children, and at
length to seal this testimony with his
blood.
Once more to apply this to the acting
of a believer's love, let me ask of you
friends, to test your benevolence by this
consideration likewise. When the ex-
ample of Jesus is closely followed, there
will be, there must be some sacrifice
made. Unlike natural affection, which,
alas, in many cases, expend itself when
it is sure of meeting a return in kind,
and so proves when narrowly examined,
but a refined species of selfishness, this
truly Christian grace will be bestowed,
not only without such a hoped for return,
but, as the love of Jesus was in full per-
fection exhibited, when loss, and sacri-
fice, and suffering, are the inevitable
attendants of its exercise.
And now Christian friends, to apply
these observations to the occasion which
has brought us together, I have but to
remind you of what that occasion is.
I have undertaken as you are aware, to
plead the cause of the lost sheep of the
House of Israel, and in so doing, to
present you with an occasion for the
exercise of Christian benevolence. I
might urge their claims on many grounds,
but I desire as much as possible to con-
nect my advocacy of them, with the
substance of the observations made in
the text. I might plead with you on the
score of gratitude, and demand at your
hands a recompense for the blessings of
which they have been made the medium
of transmission to us. In taking this
ground I need only to say, that to them
we are indebted for all that is truly valu-
able — for the inspired records of God's
will — " the oracles of God," for the
fathers, prophets, apostles, martyrs of
old, and above all for Jesus, who was and
is, after the flesh, of the seed of Abraham.
I might also take the high vantage ground
presented by a plea to your sense of
justice, and demand retribution for the
wrongs committed against the seed of
Israel by your proposed fathers in the
faith — but I forbear. I would rest con-
tent on the present occasion by just
urging on you one consideration, and
that is the pre-eminence in sorrow and
suffering which attaches to the Jew. And
mark you beloved friends, if the real
Christian philanthropist seeks for such
objects as most need his compassionate
regard with that discriminating wisdom
which attaches to real Christian benevo-
lence, it will not surely be deemed by
any present as a sentiment flowing from
overweening attachment to the cause
which I am privileged to plead, when I
assert, that no other object of Christian
sympathy has, on this score at least, so
high a demand as lost Israel.
In order to make good the assertion,
suffer me briefly to recall your attention
first to their temporal condition. Time
would fail, and the limits of this conclud-
ing address prevent my doing anything
like justice to this mournful subject.
The record of Israel's history is written
throughout " with lamentation and mourn-
ing, and woe." In order to do justice
to it you must make yourselves acquainted
with it. There is, however, one consider-
ation which to the heart of a believer in
revelation, comes home with peculiar
force, when their present abject and
ruined state as a nation, is considered.
The history of their condition at present,
and for many ages, may be found in the
prophet Hosea, (ch. 3. 4.) where it is
stated that "the children of Israel shall
abide many days without a king, and
without a prince." The duration of this
their state of civil degradation and suffer-
ing, may appear from the ages of woe
which have already rolled over them ;
and then is this distressing aggravation
annexed — that although it is stated in the
subsequent verse, that "afterward shall
the children of Israel return and seek
322
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
the Lord their God, and David their
king ;" — yet, until it please the Lord to
issue this His decree for their return to
Him, in the person of that Messiah whom
they have crucified and slain. No Scrip-
tural expectation can be entertained that
they shall be raised to any other condi-
tion than that which they at present occupy
of forlorn outcasts among the nations :
not permitted in the mysterious dispensa-
tions of God to mix themselves, and be
confounded among the other nations of the
earth, nor yet to embody themselves once
more into a people in their national capa-
city, but that thus distinguished only by
the wrongs inflicted on them, the history
of ancient Israel should impress a dark
stain, as often it has been, written in
blood, upon the page of universal history.
And thus while Egypt, though emphati-
cally styled a vile nation, may look for
renovation, and grace may by the per-
mission of God's providence be allowed
once more, after the lapse of ages, a
name among nations ; and even Rome
itself, degenerated and disgraced as she
may be, may yet preserve the relics of a
mighty empire -. no day, until the time
of God's purpose alluded to, shall break
on the night of Israel's captivity. But
her sons are still doomed to the lot of
homeless wanderers over the habitable
world, and how, it might be added, is
this her temporal distress heightened by
a reference to her former state of splen-
dour and prosperity. When we reflect,
that on the testimony of authentic history,
at the time that Rome, the commissioned
instrument of God's vengeance against
rebellious Israel, arose in the plenitude of
her power to accomplish the decree of
the Almighty's retribution, so vast was
the resistance opposed, that scarce could
this, the mightiest empire in the whole
world, with all its collected force and
arms, accomplish its purpose. How
awful now the contrast in the temporal
state and prosperity of Israel, when a
thousand flee at the rebuke of one ; nor
let it be objected to (his view of Israel's
temporal calamity, that among ourselves
and elsewhere, they enjoy comparative
blessings in affluence and protection.
Be it ever remembered, that however the
influence of the blessed gospel, and the
protection of our free constitution may
have provided a shelter for the sons of
Jacob in this our favoured land ; it is far
from being the case elsewhere, even at
the time in which we live. Not to speak
of the torrents of their blood which have
flowed under the influence of papal
persecution, even to this hour, in those
countries where the apostate religion
prevails, the Israelite is degraded not
only below the level of all his fellow-
subjects, but even below that of the very
beast that perisheth ; in illustration of
which, I would only allude to one fact —
namely, the soul-harrowing circumstance
that the name of the Jew is found inscrib-
ed among the cattle which are charged
for passing along the public roads, and
even then, at the gate of the toll-bar
is rated below the very swine.
Let us, however, turn for a moment
from this view of Israel's temporal des-
titution, and consider their spiritual con-
dition : and here, beloved brethren, is the
true point of view in which to learn the
claims of Israel on our sympathy. We
hear much of the horrors of heathenism,
and the half has not been told us ; we
shudder at the delusions which possess
the followers of the false prophet, but
what, I would ask, either in the darkest
record of Paganism, or Mahommedanism,
can compare with the spiritual wretched-
ness of Israel. Oh, there is one feature
in the case of the Jew which has no
parallel in either — it is a fearful one — I
almost shudder to allude to it : he knoies
of the name of Jesus, and yet he hates it.
The victim of Paganism has often but to
be told of the blessed gospel, he has only
to hear the sweet message of mercy and
peace which it reveals, and by the mighty
operation of the Spirit he is induced to
believe it ; and many a blessed instance
is on record, of trophies won to the cross
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
323
from the dominions of Satan when such
ignorance once reigned — where once there
was a desert, but now may be seen to
bloom the garden of the Lord : but alas !
the more plainly you proclaim the gospel
to the Jew, the more you urge on him
the claims of Jesus for his faith and wor-
ship, the more the enmity of his nature
is excited, and he visits with shame and
spitting, the message of the Redeemer's
love, as his forefathers in unbelief once
dealt with the Saviour himself. Yes, I
repeat it, brethren, it is this view of their
spiritual condition which ought to draw
tears of sympathy from the eye of every real
Christian, and induce the mightiest efforts
of Christian benevolence in their behalf:
there is not one of the lost sons of Adam
so disposed, not one in such fearful spiri-
tual destitution. Even the Pagan, though
ignorant of Jesus, will be attracted and
interested by His gospel — the Mahom-
medan respects Him, and ranks Him
next to his own pretended prophet — but
the Jew loathes and abhors that holy
name by which we are called. May I
not then repeat it, that looking thus at
the awful necessity of their case, there is
not among all the fields of Missionary
enterprise, one which so loudly calls for
exertions on their behalf, as that which
is occupied by those for whom now I
plead with you, "the lost sheep of the
House of Israel."
Brethren, if their case thus demands
the offices of Christian benevolence in
its discriminating character, what I would
merely add in conclusion, has it drawn
forth from you in the expression of that
true Christian love which is prepared to
exhibit itself in making saa-ificcs, when
appealed to for those in such deep need ?
The demand which is now made upon
you is perhaps the least of all others —
it is that you would contribute somewhat
of your means to the aid of those who
thus lie in the pit of temporal and spiri-
tual destitution. Remember, I pray you,
the case presented to you for commise-
ration ; to sum up all in one awful word
which best explains it — the curse which
their own lips once pronounced on their
race — " His blood be on us, and on Out
children," lies yet unrepealed upon them :
oh rest not brethren until the Lord re-
peal it, and the Saviour's blood be indeed
applied to lost Israel, not to condemn
and devote to the divine vengeance, but
to pardon and save.
One word, brethren, in conclusion : I
have hitherto addressed those who can
feel for the claims of Israel upon their
Christian sympathy, I can not however
forget, that there may be others present.
And if the case of God's once favoured,
but now unbelieving people, be a calami-
tous one, it is an awful reflection, that
there may be some now within reach of
my voice, whose situation is far more
deplorable : I cannot expect that those
should feel for the wants of Israel, who
have never felt their own spiritual neces-
sities, and I am free to confess, that in
consenting to advocate the cause of God's
ancient people at this time, however
feebly, I did so with the earnest and
prayerful hope, that a word here spoken
might reach, by the efficacy of God's
gracious Spirit, some such persons as
those here alluded to. If there bo any
here of this class, I would entreat them,
though they have no pity for the sons of
Jacob, to have pity on themselves. Oh
if the vials of God's vengeance have
descended thus on His ancient people,
for the rejection of Him who was their
Messiah and lawful King, how much
more shall be the punishment of those
who day after day, and week after week,
year after year, listen to the proclamations
of the gospel of peace, only to make
light of its proffered grace. Dear friends,
if I now address any such, again I say,
have mercy on yourselves, as you would
avoid the anger of a most justly offended
God — the judgments of a Saviour twice
crucified — even now repent ye and be-
lieve the gospel — kiss the Son lest He
be angry, and ye perish from the way !
:J24
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
UNUNIFORMITY OF CHRISTIAN GRACES, NO DISCOURAGEMENT
TO THE BELIEVER.
Whence is this delicate scent in the rose
and violet ? It is not from the root, that
smells of nothing ; not from the stalk,
that is as scentless as the root ; not from
the earth whence it grows, which con-
tributes no more to these flowers, than to
the grass that grows by them ; not from
the leaf ; not from the bud, before it be
disclosed, which yields no more fragrance
than the leaf, or stalk, or root ; yet here
I now find it. Neither is it here by
any miraculous way, but in an ordinary
course of nature, for all violets and roses
of this kind yield the same redolence : it
cannot be, but that it was potentially in
that root and stem from which the flowers
proceed, and there placed, and thence
drawn by that Almighty Power which has
given these admirable virtues to several
plants, and educes them in their due
seasons to these excellent perfections. It
is the same hand that works spiritually in
his elect. Out of the soil of the renewed
heart, watered with the dew of heaven,
and warmed with the beams of his Spirit,
God can, and in his own season doth,
bring forth those sweet odours of grace
and holy dispositions, which are most
pleasing to himself; and if those ex-
cellencies be so closely lodged in their
bosoms, that they do not discover them-
selves at all times, it should be no more
strange to us than that this rose and
violet are not to be found but in their
own months : it is enough that the same
virtue is still in the root, though the
flower be vanished. — Bishop Hall's Cen-
tury of Divine Breathings.
He were very quick sighted that could
perceive the growing of the grass, or the
moving of the shadow upon the dial ;
yet, when those are done, every eye
doth easily discern them. It is no other-
wise in the progress of grace ; which,
how it increaseth in the soul, and by what
degrees, we cannot hope to perceive ;
but, being grown, we may see it. It is
the fault of many Christians, that they
depend too much upon sense, and make
that the judge of their spiritual estate ;
being too much dejected, when they do
not sensibly feel the proofs of their pro-
ficiency, and the present proceedings of
their regeneration : why do they not as
well question the growth of their stature,
because they do not see every day how
much they are thriven ? Surely, it must
needs be that spiritual things are less per-
ceptible than bodily : much more, there-
fore, must we in these wait upon time
for necessary conviction ; and well may
it suffice us, if, upon an impartial com-
paring of the present measure of our
knowledge, faith, obedience, with the
former, we can perceive ourselves any
whit sensibly advanced — Ibid.
Dublin: New Irish Pulpit Office, 1, St. Andrew-st. ; John Robertson,
W. Curry, Jun. and Co. ; R. M. Tims, W. Carson, D. R. Bleakley. London,
R. Groombridge, J. Nisbet and Co. ; Liverpool, H. Perris ; Manchester, Pratt,
Chester, Seacome ; Cork Tract Repository ; Drogheda, C. F. Collins ; and all
Booksellers.
GEORGE FOLDS, Printer. 1, Saint Andrew-street,
Opposite Ti inity-str«t, Dublin.
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
GOSPEL PREACHER.
1 We preach Christ crucified—
Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God." — 1 Cor. i. 23, 24.
No. XCIV.
SATURDAY, T2th OCTOBER, 1839.
Price 4i>.
REV. HUGH MC. NEILE.
UEV. M. S. ALEXANDER.
GOD GLORIFIED IN THE DELIVERANCE OF ISRAEL, AND THE DESTRUCTION
OF ANTICHRIST.
A SERMON
PREACHED IN ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH, DUBLIN,
ON TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL 9, 1839,
ON BEHALF OF THE " LONDON SOCIETY FOR TROMOTING CHRISTIANITY AMONG THE JEWS."
BY THE REV. HUGH M'NEILE, A.M.
(Incumbent of St. Jude's, Liverpool.)
Published at the request of the Society.
EXODUS IX. 1G.
; And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power ; and
that my name may be declared throughout all the earth."
Self manifestation is the chief fur-
pose of God. A moment's reflection
will show you that it could not be other-
wise " of Him, and through Him, and
by Him, are all things," and it follows
inevitably, that to Him are all things.
They all originated fromHim, they are all
supported by Him, and they all minister
to Him — " thou art worthy O Lord, to
receive glory and honor, and power ;
for thou hast created all things, and for
thy pleasure they are and were created."
The history of Pharaoh king of Egypt,
is written to illustrate this grand feature
io the divine Revelation ; and connected
as it stands with the Exodus of the
Israelites, it is fraught with the deepest
Vol. IV.
interest as well as the most important
instruction to every man who reads it.
In Exodus i. 6. 7. we read, that
" Joseph died, and all his brethren, and
all that generation ; and the children of
Israel were fruitful, and increased abun-
dantly and multiplied, and waxed exceed-
ing mighty, and the land was filled with
them." Thus we learn, that during
Joseph's life, and for a period after his
death, so long as his godly influence was
felt in its consequences upon the Egyp-
tian court, the Israelites were kindly
treated, and under the good providence
of their God, increased and multiplied
exceedingly. We then read, that " there
arose up a new king over Egypt which
U
326
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
knew not Joseph." This was not the
celebrated Pharaoh, but his predecessor.
The Pharaoh here mentioned came to
the throne previous to the birth of Moses,
but in chap. ii. 23. we are informed, that
the king' of Egypt died while Moses was
absent iiT the land of Midian. — " It came
to pass in process of time, that the king
of Egypt died," and in chap. iv. 19.
the Lord desires Moses in Midian to
return into Egypt, for said he, " all the
men are dead which sought thy life."
This king knew not Joseph, his character
had not been influenced by the godly
example of that man, and he was altoge-
ther worldly ; he devised his projects
and laid all his plans, and carried forth
all his arrangements according to worldly
maxims, " he said unto his councillors,
behold the people of the children of
Israel are more and mightier than we ;
come on, let us deal wisely with them,
lest they multiply, and it come to pass
when there falleth out any war they join
also unto our enemies, and fight against
us, and so get them up out of the land ;
therefore, they did set over them task
masters to afflict them with their burdens.''
Here is a specimen of his worldly wisdom,
it is what is called ' state policy,' that is,
it is conducted with reference to the con-
venience or supposed convenience of
statesmen, and not to the high and im-
mutable principles of justice and honor
and truth. Under this man's tyranny the
children of Israel groaned in bondage,
as we learn from the 18th and 14th verses
of this 1st chap. — " And the Egyptians
made the children of Israel to serve with
rigour, and they made their lives bitter
with hard bondage, in morterand in brick,
and in all manner of service in the field;
all their service wherein they made
them serve was with rigour." Now it is
of importance, that we remark the dura-
tion of this bondage on the part of the
Israelites ; the incidents of a century
may be read over in a few miuutes, and
unless the reader will make the mental
effort of transferring himself into the
position of the persons he is reading
about, and realizing the duration, as well
as the succession of the incidents, he will
fail to derive that important benefit from
the Scriptures which they were expressly
written to convey ; for " whatsoever
things were written aforetime were written
for our learning, that we through patience
and comfort of the Scriptures might have
hope."
Mark the period during which the
children of Israel endured this excessive
hardship, it commenced before Moses was
born ; it was in consequence of the tyran-
nical decree of that persecuting monarch
that the infant Moses was exposed. Now
in chap. ii. 11. 12. 13." 14. we read —
" And it came to pass in those days, when
Moses was grown, that he went out unto
his brethren, and looked on their burdens:
and he spied an Egyptian smiting an
Hebrew, one of his brethren. And
he looked this way and that way, and
when he saw that there was no man, he
slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the
sand. And when he went out the
second day, behold, two men of the
Hebrews strove together: and he said to
him that did the wrong, wherefore smitest
thou thy fellow? And he said, who
made thee a prince and a judge over us?
Intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst
the Egyptian ? And Moses feared,
anH said, surely this thing is known."
By a reference to the account given
of all this by Stephen, in the seventh
chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, we
learn that at the period here referred to,
Moses was forty years old : — " When he
was full forty years old, it came into his
heart to visit his brethren, the children of
Israel. And seeing one of them suffer
wrong, he defended him, and avenged
him that was oppressed, and smote the
Egyptian. For he supposed his brethren
would have understood how that God by
his hand would deliver them : but they
understood not. And the next day he
showed himself unto them as they strove,
and would have set them at one again.
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
327
saying, Sirs, ye are brethren ; why do ye
wrong one to another ? But he that did his
neighbour wrong thrust him away, say-
ing, who made thee a ruler and a judge
over us ? Wilt thou kill me as thou
didst the Egyptian yesterday ?" The con-
sequence was his flight from Egypt ; and
we read further in this address of Stephen,
that Moses was forty years an exile; —
here, then, we have at least eighty years
of persecution accounted for — the forty
year of Moses' youth — the forty years of
his exile. How long this bitter persecution
commenced previous to his birth, we
cannot exactly determine ; we read of an
effort to exterminate the Israelites pre-
vious to the decree, under the operation
of which Moses was exposed; so that a
persecution was in operation previous to
his birth, and it continued until he was
eighty years old. We may endeavour,
then, to imagine what the children of
Israel must have suffered du.ing that
period — how bitterly they ciied to the
Lord their God — how loudly they com-
plained, as far as they dared to complain ;
and if any of them in the faith of the
promise made to Abraham, ventured to
express their hope that the God of their
fathers would interfere in their behalf,
we can readily imagine the infidel sneer —
the cool despiteful scorn with which the
Egyptians would have treated any such
reference to a God, whom they«knew
not. However, though the Israelites
were so long persecuted, they were not
forsaken ; though they were cast down,
they were not destroyed ; though per-
plexed, they were not in despair — the
time was coming when the faithful God,
though he tarry and appear slow, yet will
prove that he is not slow as men count
slowness, but is true indeed to his word —
the time was coming, long delayed, but
it was sure — it came at last ; and after
Moses had been forty years an exile, the
Lord God of his fathers appeared unto
him, and called to him from the midst of
the bush and, said, " I am the God of thy
father, the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob ; I have
surely seen the afflictions of my people
which are in Egypt, and have heard their
cry, by reason of their task masters, for I
know their sorrows." What an interest-
ing view this presents ! he had seen
their misery — he had heard their cry —
he knew their sorrows — " in all their
afflictions he was afflicted" — entering by
anticipation into the sympathies of the
fore-ordained manhood that he was to
take, that he might feel for his brethren.
Yet though so entering into their feel-
ings, he forebore to help them for a
season, and this is written for our learn-
ing. But having assured Moses of this,
and having commissioned him to go to
the King of Egypt, and to demand the
manumission of the people, he apprises
him of the reception he would meet with,
knowing as he c'id the character of the
King. At the 19th and 20th verses of
this chapter we read, " I am sure that
the K>ng of Egypt will not let you go,
no, not by a mighty hand." And what
then ? — " I will stretch out my hand rid
smite Egypt with a'l my wonders, which
I win do in the midst thereof, and after
that he will let you go." Here we learn
something of the character of this Pharaoh
who was now on the throne ; he wrs a
man who would not yield to entreaty — a
man of obstinate, detei mined character,
ignorant of God, and proud in his ov.i
self-dependence; accordingly we find in
the opening of the fifth chapter, when
Moses went to him and made the demand,
" Let my people go," his answer was,
" Who is the Lord, that 1 should obey
his voice to let Israel go ? I know not
the Lord, neither will I let Israel go."
Now, this character of Pharaoh gave
occasion for the manifestation of God's
power in delivering his people. It would
have been an easy thing for God to have
removed Pharaoh by the secret exercise
of his power — it would have been an
easy thing for him to have smitten him
with disease, and laid him in his grave,
apparently by second causes; it would
328
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
have been an easy thing for him to have
delivered the children of Israel, by some
secret energy, working through second
causes, and if the whole of his design
had been to accomplish this object, such
a mode of doing it would have answered
the purpose ; but that was not the whole
of his design ; part of that design was to
glorify his own name, that his name
should be known and his power should
arrest attention, and therefore he adopted
a different method. To have accom-
plished the removal of the Israelites by
secret power, would have been compa-
ratively a speechless procedure, but God
determined that his procedure should be
eloquent, and his instruments were all
now ready. Moses had been for forty
years attending sheep, and learning
patience in the school which was prepa-
ring him to sustain the amazing honor
afterwards put upon him. Pharaoh in
the indulgence of luxury, self-will and
self-dependence, had been imbibing those
principles of stubbornness which prepared
him also to resist the demand when made
upon him : and thus the elements of the
storm were each collecting in their res-
pective places, ready for convulsion
when God brought them to meet. Moses
prepared in meekness to add deeds of
power to words of truth ; and Pharaoh
prepared in obstinacy to afford opportu-
nity to manifest these wonderful powers.
The process is put into operation, and it
becomes a hardening process — mark the
tenor of it — first there is an appeal with
a wonderful work wrought in the sight of
the king, alarming his fear ; then there
is a pause allowing this fear to subside.
Take one specimen in the viii. chap.,
when the frogs came on Egypt, from the
8th to the 15th verses, we read " Pharaoh
called for Moses and Aaron, and said,
entreat the Lord, that he may take away
the frogs from me, and from my people ;
and I will let the people go, that they
may do sacrifice unto the Lord. And
Moses said unto Pharaoh, glory over
me : when shall I entreat for thee, and
for thy servants, and for thy people, to
destroy the frogs from thee and thy
houses, that they may remain in the
river only ? And he said, to-morrow.
And he said, be it according to thy word;
that thou mayest know that there is none
like unto the Lord our God. And
the frogs shall depart from thee, and from
thy houses, and from thy servants, and
from thy people ; they shall remain in
the river only. And Moses and Aaron
went out from Pharaoh ; and Moses cried
unto the Lord because of the frogs which
he had brought against Pharaoh. And
the Lord did according to the word of
Moses ; and the frogs died out of the
houses, out of the villages, and out of
the fields. And they gathered them
together upon heaps ; and the land stank.
But when Pharaoh saw that there was
respite, he hardened his heart, and heark-
ened not unto them; as the Lord had
said."
This is a very awful process — the
appeal excites the feeling, and the respite
affords time for the feeling to subside :
the appeal awakens the conviction, and
the respite gives opportunity for the
counteraction of the corruptions. Now,
every time that man's convictions yield
before his corruptions, it becomes more
and more difficult again to awaken those
convictions ; the process is a hardening
one,*for though the application at man's
heart continue in itself what it was,
though the invitation from God continue
free as at first — though the knocking at
the door be as loud and as sincere as ever,
yet the door becomes progressively en-
crusted in its hinges, and that which
should have been for its opening, becomes
a bar against the possibility of opening
it — the heart becomes stupified, callous,
unrestrainable — the conscience seared
as with a hot iron, and the man makes
progress to a reprobate mind to believe a
lie, that he may be damned.
Now, my brethren, in such a process,
what is it that God does ? It is of con-
sequence to observe what it is he does ;
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
329
the history of Pharaoh illustrates this
most interesting subject. Pharaoh was —
what 1 need not now take time to enlarge
on, but express briefly — an unconverted
man — a natural descendant of Adam,
dead in trespasses and sins. Concerning
such an one you have all heard — most of
you, I hope, know that, " except he be
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God." When I said, I hope you know
this, I did not mean in the mere percep-
tion of the fact, for so, I suppose, none of
you can be ignorant of it ; but I meant
i n the experience of your own affections —
your own hearts : and in this sense you
are all ignorant, who are not personally
born again yourselves — and no man can
teach you. This is the point concerning
which it is said, " They shall all be taught
of God," every man that hath heard and
learned this matter of the Father cometh
to Jesus, and nt> other.
He was a man, then, who required to
be born again. Except there was this
vital change wrought on his soul, he
could not be saved. Now, there are
three methods in which a sinner may be
dealt with; — first, to bring him under
the means of grace ; and to add, in the
means, the grace itself. So, to convert
him — so, to grant him this new spiritual
birth, and make him a child of the
living God by faith in his truth — that is
one mode. Another mode is, to Have
him without the means of grace altogether
in the unreclaimed waste of heathenism.
There is yet a third mode, to bring him
providentially under the means, and there
to leave him without the grace. All that
God does to man is good. We desire to
extend the means, to circulate the Bible,
to send missionaries to propagate the
preaching of the Gospel, to multiply
means : — we thank God for the increase
of the means — to give the means is to do
men good ; so far as that goes the tendency
of it is good — the direct agency in Him that
grants it is good ; but as good food is turn-
ed into mischief by the disease of him who
eats it, so this good dealing of God to the
unconverted 'man becomes a hardening
process, through the unsubdued corrup-
tions of th.it man's heart. An instance
or two will set it very plainly before your
minds. When our Lord Jesus was on
earth, he wrought wonderful works in the
cities of Gallilee ; Chorazin, Bethsaida,
Capernaum, were blessed with means
beyond all that ever had been given
before, but they were not blessed with
converting grace ; what was the conse-
quence ? " Woe unto thee Chorazin !
woe unto thee Bethsaida ! for if the
mighty works which were done in you,
had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they
would have repented long ago in sack-
cloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it
shall be more tolerable for Tyre and
Sidon at the day of judgment, than for
you. And thou, Capernaum, which art
exalted unto heaven" — how ? Why in
the plenitude of the means bestowed on
it — "shalt be brought down to hell ; for if
the mighty works which ha\e been done
in thee, had been done in Sodom, it
would have remained until this day.
But I say unto you, that it shall be more
tolerable for the land of Sodom in the
day of judgment, than for thee."
Now, was it an unrighteous thing in
God to give means to Chorazin, and
Bethsaida, and Capernaum, and not to
give grace? Nay, is he a 'debtor to give
any man grace ? — " If it be of debt it is
no more of grace, otherwise grace is no
more grace." He is not a debtor ; what
He did was good — He gave the means,
but through the corruption of the unsub-
dued heart of man, the means only
hardened, because they awakened the
feelings, and then the feelings subsided
again.' Means rouse convictions, but
in-dwelling corruption clamouring afresh,
gains the ascendancy, and the last state
of that man is worse than the first. The
means harden, yet it is good to give the
means. God hardened Pharaoh's heart
by sending Moses to him to awaken his
feelings, to raise his convictions ; but
God was not a debtor to him to give him
330
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
grace ; he gave him opportunities — that
was good; but through the wickedness of
man the opportunities were turned into
a hardening process ; and so it is said he
ardened his own heart ; and so it is said,
God hardened his heart.
Look at another instance : there was a
little company of men, who had means
afforded them beyond all that we can
readily conceive — 1 mean the little com-
pany of twelve, who went out and in with
their dear and blessed Lord, who beheld
his works and listened to his words, par-
took of his sympathies, sat at his table,
and dipped in the dish with him— these
men saw the wonders he did, and now,
as their privileges were high even to
heaven, one of them who had not grace
added thereto, became a devil — "Have
1 not chosen you twelve, and one of you
is a devil" — hardened to hell by means
calculated to lift him to heaven, because
the grace was not with the means. Oh !
solemn, solemn consideration for you all !
The law of God was ordained to life ; but
the Apostle says, that he found the law
which was " ordained to life, to be unto
death," because that " sin in him, taking
occasion by the commandment, wrought
in him all manner of concupiscence, for
without the law sin was dead ; when the
commandment came sin revived; yet
the law was good, " holy, just, and
good," and " ordained to life;'' though
through the medium of the material it
met with, when it struck on fallen man,
it turned into death ; just as the lancet,
meeting with a clear vein and a healthy
circulation, encounters sound and pure
blood ; but the same lancet equally
clean, equally pure in itself, a polished
metal as before, coming upon an abscess,
instead of finding pure blood, finds
nothing but a gush of corruption. So is
God's commandment, falling upon the
heart of a holy angel, and commanding
" love," it is re-echoed from that creature
in a healthy circulation, and the echo is
"loved!" but falling upon man and say-
ing, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,"
it raises in him the consciousness of the
idols on which his heait is set, and makes
him to feel that he hates the God who
commands him to love him.
Here is the process then that was set
in operation. See you not how the op-
position occasioned by the hardening of
Pharaoh, gave occasion for the manifes-
tation of God's power? Now see the
manifestation of God's purpose — " And
in very deed, for this cause have I raised
thee up, (brought thee to the throne,) for to
show in thee my power; and that my name
may be declared throughout all the earth."
While that man was in private life, his
character, although ruinous to himself,
was comparatively harmless to others —
but he was a fitting instrument for elevr.-
tion in the rank of society, that he might
stand prominent against the command of
God, and so give occasion to manifest the
power of God on the earth. That this
was the object in view, will be made quite
clear by referring to the xiv. chapter.
The Israelites had gone toward the wild-
erness from Rameses to the Rett Sea,
and they had a clearer and shorter way
toward the place where they were going ;
but the Lord desired them to turn, and
brought them into a defile between the
sea and the mountain. " And the Lord
spake unto Moses, saying, speak unto the
children of Israel, that they turn and
encamp before Pihahiroth, between
Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-
zephon : before it shall ye encamp by
the sea." The reason is assigned in the
next verses — " For Pharaoh will say of
the children of Israel, they are entangled
in the land, the wilderness hath shut them
in. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart,
that he shall follow after them, and I will
be honored upon Pharaoh, and upon all his
host, that the Egyptians may know that
I am the Lord ; and they did so."
There was the object — to show his
poner, and that his name might be known.
He did not make Pharaoh wicked, Adam
made him wicked— he was bom wicked.
I say again, what God did for him in
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
331
sending Moses, in its direct tendency, was
to convince him of Jehovah's power, and
do him good, but He did not add grace
to it, and therefore although good in itself,
instead of doing good, it hardened
Pharaoh's heart, and so it gave opportu-
nity for this splendid exhibition of God's
power in the deliverance of His people,
in the passage through the Red Sea, and
laid the basis of the song of Moses which
was then sung — " Sing unto the Lord for
he hath triumphed gloriously ; the horse
and his rider hath he thrown into the sea!"
Now the process described by the
apostle concerning the great Antichrist,
under whose tyranny the Christian church
and the surviving Jewish nation still
groan, and must groan for a time still —
I say the sarvivivy Jewish nation, for
although the Jewish people was a type of
the Christian church, it has not disap-
peared like other types, it has been pre-
served all through the Christian period,
it has been kept separate from all the
nations ; a standing manifest proof that
something more was intended than a type ;
for if it had only been a type, where
would have been the object of maintain-
ing it in a manifest separation after the
anti-type had come? But it was not only to
be a type in its former history, but to be
itself the subject of another history —
and so, not only the Christian church,
bat the dispersed Jewish nation, are now
enduring persecution of various descrip-
tions, more or less rigorous in different
climes and countries, under different
laws, and different circumstances — some-
times active, sometimes slack, but always
inveterate — opposition and persecution
from the great apostacy of the last times,
against the church and people of God.
The process is thus detailed by the
apostle, 2. Thes. ii. after describing the
mystery of iniquity, he gives this charac-
teristic in this history — " his coming is
after the working of Satan, with all power
and signs, and lying wonders, and with
all deccivablcness of unrighteousness in
them that perish, because they received
not the love of the truth, that they
might be saved. And for this cause God
shall send them strong delusion, that
they should believe a lie ; that they all
might be damned who believed not the
truth, but had pleasure in unrighteous-
ness." " In very deed, for this cause
have I raised thee up, for to show in thee
my power, and that my name may be
declared throughout all the earth."
See Antichrist raised up that God may
show His power in him, and that the
name of God may be declared through-
out all the earth. The church and Jew-
ish people seem to be forgotten, but they
are not. " I have seen, I have seen,"
saith the Lord, " the affliction of my
people," I was a little angry with them,
a little displeased, and ye have helped
forward the affliction. He exposes both
his Jewish people, and his Christian
church, to trials for their discipline ; but
the wicked ones who grind them down
under that discipline, have malicious
pleasure in adding to the affliction. God
knows it, he will not forget it — he
sees it all, he hears the cry of his people ;
for he says, " I know their sorrows" —
" We have one who can be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities" — one,
that while numbers of his people were
persecuted by Saul, cried " Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou me ?"
He is the same now, he has been the
same ever since. He stands aloof and
allows this persecution to go on— he
hath tried the nations what they would do
to His people with whom He is a little
displeased, and they have, oh how fear-
fully ! helped on the affliction, persecuted
the Jews to death, robbed them, impri-
soned them. The great apostacy has
put them by scores into her Inquisition,
and tortured them to death — the blood of
Judah is engraved on Iter forehead, and so
of the saints. The Christian believers
arc also tried in this manner; — and now
you sec the object I had in view in asking
you to consider the period during which
Israel was tried in Egypt — eighty years.
332
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
Tliis sounds a short time — in history it
sounds but little ; but how many of the
Lord's people have fallen asleep during
eighty years ? How many have groaned
and groaned, and so died in their groan-
ing ? — the whole generation of the Jews.
Now, see how the Scripture preaches
patience. I would say to the dispersed
of Judah, in this respect, patience — and
to the Christian believer, patience. It
would be an easy thing for Him to relieve
you by the exercise of his power — it would
be an easy thing for Him to deprive your
enemies of power, by secret causes — it
would be an easy thing for Him to remove
the tyranny of the great mystic Babylon,
by apparently mild and gentle means,
gradually to subdue her, under the
preaching of the word, for instance, and
convert the nations by a sweet, and easy,
and genial process of Gospel preaching ;
this might be — and if this were all — if all
his object were to deliver his church,
and to bring a people out from the
world, doubtless, it might so be done ;
but that is not all his object ; He will
glorify his power — " What, if God, wil-
ling to show his wrath, and to make his
power to be known, endured for a while,
with much long suffering, the vesSels of
wrath fitted to destruction." " In very
deed, for this cause have I raised thee up,
for to show in thee my power; and that
my name may be declared throughout all
the earth." For this was the process to
show his power, and make all see and
know, that it is He that does it ; He will
not leave a vestige of infidelity in the
universe, nor an opportunity for a
hardened or obdurate spirit, to whisper
for an instant that God is not sovereign :
the earth shall rejoice under it — heaven
shall adore Him, and hell shall be con-
vinced of it with terror, that God is over
all, almighty for ever.
He will show then his power ; and in
order to do so, in the grand climax of his
dealings, He is preparing elements of
discord. The great Antichrist is gather-
ing to a head — the great infidel beast —
the great superstitious harlot, are joining
their powers together — growing in im-
pudence and stubbornness, growing into
the language of Pharaoh, " Who is the
Lord that I should obey his voice ? I
know not the Lord, neither will I let
Israel go" — neither will I mind his
Son, or his Bible : — and what shall the
end be ? My dear brethren, in the end
the song of Moses shall be sung, to-
gether with the song of the Lamb —
see them combined in Rev. xv, — a
remarkable fact, why is this ? — the song
of Moses and the song of the Lamb !
The song of Moses was, " I will sing
unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed
gloriously ; the horse and his rider hath
he thrown into the sea. The Lord is
my strength and song, and he is become
my salvation : he is my God, and I will
prepare him an habitation ; my father's
God, and I will exalt him. The Lord
is a man of war : the Lord is his name.
Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he
cast into the sea : his chosen captains
also are drowned in the Red sea. The
depths have covered them : they sank
into the bottom as a stone. Thy right
hand, O Lord, is become glorious in
power -. thy right hand, O Lord, hath
dashed in pieces the enemy. And in the
greatness of thine excellency thou hast
overthrown them that rose up against
thee : thou sentest forth thy wrath, which
consumed them as stubble. And with
the blast of thy nostrils the waters were
gathered together, the floods stood up-
right as an heap, and the depths were
congealed in the heart of the sea. The
enemy said, I will pursue, I will over-
take, I will divide the spoil ; my lust
shall be satisfied upon them ; I will draw
my sword, my hand shall destroy them.
Thou didst blow with thy wind,, the sea
covered them ; they sank as lead in the
mighty waters. Who is like unto thee
O Lord, among (he gods ? who is like
thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises,
doing wonders ? Thou stretchedst out
thy right hand, the earth swallowed
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
333
them. Thou in thy mercy hast led forth
the people which thou hast redeemed :
thou hast guided them in thy strength
unto thy holy habitation. The people
shall hear, and be afraid : sorrow shall
take hold on the inhabitants of Palestine.
Then the dukes of Edom shall be
amazed ; the mighty men of Moab,
trembling, shall take hold upon them ; all
the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away.
Fear and dread shall fall upon them : by
the greatness of thine arm they shall be
as still as a stone ; till thy people pass over
O Lord, till the people pass over, which
thou hast purchased. Thou shalt bring
them in, and plant them in the mountain
of thine inheritance, in the place, O
Lord, which thou hast made for thee to
dwell in ; in the sanctuary, O Lord,
which thy hands have established. The
Lord shall reign for ever and ever. For
the horse of Pharaoh went in with
his chariots, and with his horsemen
into the sea, and the Lord brought
again the waters of the sea upon
them : but the children of Israel went on
dry land in the midst of the sea." And
the chorus of the congregation was, "sing
ye to the Lord, for he hath' triumphed
gloriously ; the horse and his rider hath
he thrown into the sea!" And the song
of the Lamb is, " Alleluia ! Salvation
and glory and honor and power, unto the
Lord our God ; for true and righteous
are his judgments ; for he hath judged
the great whore, which did corrupt the
earth with her fornication, and hath
avenged the blood of his servants at her
hand," and cast down great Babylon,
down, down, down — Babylon is fallen !
Holy, holy, holy — and again they said,
Alleluia !
The Lord hath manifested his glory —
the Lord's name is great over all the
earth — and so shall the two songs go
together. And why peculiarly is the
song of Moses introduced again? Because
at the same time that the Christian
Church shall be delivered from mystic
Babylon, the Jewish nation shall also be
delivered from her captivity. And the
Lord will put forth his hand again to
gather them from Assyria and from
Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush,
and from Elam, and from Shinar, and
from Hamath, and from the islands of the
sea.
" And he shall set up an ensign for the
nations, and shall assemble the outcasts
of Israel, and gather together the dis-
persed of Judah from the four corners of
the earth. The envy also of Ephraim
shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah
shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy
Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
But they shall fly upon the shoulders of
the Philistines toward the west ; they
shall spoil them of the east together:
they shall lay their hand upon Edom and
Moab ; and the children of Ammon
shall obey them. And the Lord shall
utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyp-
tian sea ; and with his mighty wind shall
he shake his hand over the river, and
shall smite it in the seven streams, and
make men go over dryshod. And there
shall be an highway for the remnant of
his people, which shall be left, from
Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the
day that he came up out of the land of
Egypt. And in that day thou shalt say,
O Lord I will praise thee : though thou
wast angry with me, thine anger is turned
away, and thou comfortedst me. Behold,
God is my salvation ; 1 will trust, and
not be afraid : for the Lord, Jehovah
is my strength and my song ; he also is
become my salvation. Therefore with
joy shall ye draw water out of the wells
of salvation. And in that day shall ye
say, praise the Lord, call, upon his name,
declare his doings among the people,
make mention that his name is exalted.
Sing unto the Lord ; for he hath done
excellent things: this is known in all
the earth. Cry out and shout, thou
inhabitant of Zion ; for great is the Holy
One of Israel in the midst of thee.''
334
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
Thus, my dear brethren, all tilings are
getting ready for the end : the time of
captivity is still in being, and the Scrip-
ture preaches patience, " wait on the
Lord, and he will strengthen your heart. "
Oh ! " come my people, enter thou into
thy chambers, and shut thy doors about
thee : hide thyself, as it were, for a little
moment, until the indignation be over
past," for the Lord is coming out of his
place, to punish the wicked ; it shall be
"the time of Jacob's trouble — none like
it, but he shall be saved out of it ; for it
shall come to pass in that day, saith the
Lord of Hosts, that I will break his yoke
from off thy neck" — his yoke, the great
Babylon, the great Antichrist — " and
will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall
no more serve themselves of him ; but
they shall serve the Lord their God, and
David their king whom I will raise up
unto them." He had sworn an oath
that of the fruit of David's loins, accord-
ing to the flesh, he would raise up one
to sit on his throne, that is Christ ; —
" Therefore, fear thou not, O my ser-
vant Jacob, saith the Lord : neither be
dismayed, O Israel ; for lo, I will save
thee from afar, and thy seed from the
land of their captivity ; and Jacob shall
return, and shall be in rest and be quiet,
and none shall make him afraid.'' Ano-
ther description of that grand winding
up, as regards Jacob, is given in Isaiah,
xlix. 25, 26. " Thus saith the Lord, even
the captives of the mighty shall be taken
away, and the prey of the terrible shall
be delivered ; for I will contend with
him that contendeth with thee, and I
will save thy children. And I will feed
them that oppress thee with their own
flesh, and they shall be drunken with
their own blood as with sweet wine ; and
all flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am
thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the
mighty one of Jacob." He will do it so,
that all must know it — it shall not be
done in a corner. This is the consum-
mation wc arc looking for ; most terrible
to all who are found in opposition to God
in that day — and oh ! how precious the
deliverance from captivity to all who know
and love him — who have taken refuge in
that bosom, touched with the feeling of our
infirmity — who have clothed themselves
by faith in that precious Saviour, who is
" the end of the law for righteousness to
every one that believeth."
My brethren, flee to him, he is the
only refuge. When the hand of the
Almighty is lifted up to strike with ter-
ror, that all the earth may know his
power, where is your safety ? Will you
fly to the ends of the earth ? — there his
hand will hold thee. Will you dive to
the depths of the sea ? — will you call
upon the rocks and mountains to fall
upon you and cover you? — in vain, in
vain ! — where is there refuge, where is
there safety from the uplifted arm of the
Judge ? Only within that arm, only in
his bosom, there is safety. He that dwell-
eth in Jesus Christ by faith dwelleth in
God ; he is safe, and there is nothing
else safe in the universe : nothing else
but God's Son, the Son of his bosom,
the Son of his love, can give you safety.
If you are not members of Christ, you
must be dashed into eternal ruin. In
Jesus' bosom there is peace, and none
can make you afraid, — " trust ye in the
Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah
is everlasting salvation." Look at this
view — how it enlarges our hope, places
every thing in its proper nitch, exhibits
to us the character of worldly tyrants,
shows us where • they are, where they
stand in God's dealings ; and when their
power waxes strong, their political oppo-
sition is apparently triumphant, and the
Church of the living God seems scat-
tered and peeled like the Jewish people,
and desponding of all assistance, — yet
have patience. When her treatment is
at the worst — when they talk to her as
the Egyptians did to the Israelites, " Ye
arc idle, ye are idle, make brick without
straw" — wait on the Lord — have patience
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
335
— he will try you for your good. He is
hardening Pharaoh and proving Israel,
his first-born : hardening Antichrist and
proving his dear children in Christ Jesus.
Yet a little while, and he will come forth
from his place, and cause both songs, for
which the music is getting ready, to be
sung for ever, to the praise and glory of
his holy name.
" Great and marvellous are thy works
Lord God Almighty, just and true are
thy ways, thou king of saints ! Who
shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify
thy name ? For thou only art holy : for
all nations shall come and worship before
thee ; for thy judgments are made muni-
fest." And in very deed, for this cause
was Antichrist exalted, that thy power
might be shown, and that thy name
might be declared throughout all the
earth. Blessing and honor, and glory and
power, be unto him that sitteth upon the
throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and
ever! Amen.
Three Sermons on the 11th Article of the Church of England, (justification by
faith only,) by the Rev. C. M. Fleury, A.M. will appear in an early number.
THE UNCHANGEABLENESS OF GOD, MANIFESTED IN THE PRESERVATION
OF ISRAEL.
A SERMON,
PREACHED AT SANDFORD CHURCH, DUBLIN,
ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 1839,
ON BEHALF OF THE LONDON SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIANITY
AMONGST THE JEWS.
BY THE REV. M. S. ALEXANDER,
THOFESSOH OF IlEBREW AND RABBINICAL LITERATURE IN KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON, AND
MISSIONARY OF THE LONDON SOCIETY, FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIANITY AMONGST THE JEWS.
MALACHI, iii. 6.
" I am the Lord, I change not ; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed."
I feel sure, ray beloved brethren, that
in addressing you this morning, I am
privileged to address a congregation,
some of whom, — I trust many of whom,
yea I will hope all of whom, — have
often derived much comfort, consolation
and encouragement from the words just
read ; the unchangeableness of God
being one of the firmest rocks on which
the, Christian builds his hopes both for
time and for eternity. But allow me, in
the outset of my discourse, to ask, did
you ever consider these words in refer-
ence to that people respecting whom they
were primarily and more immediately
uttered? The Christian church has been
verily guilty in this matter, in that she
has appropriated to herself many, if not
all, the promises of God made to His
people Israel. This is an error which,
like every other, is founded upon a truth :
mention is made in the New Testament
of the Israel of God ; they who possess
the faith of Abraham, are said by our
blessed Lord and by His apostles, to be
the seed of Abraham : here has arisen this
error, that wherever a promise is made to
Abraham's posterity, it has been thus
applied to the church of Christ. We
would by no means wish to deprive the
Christian of the comfort, the consolation
and the encouragement, which he may
variously derive from the promises secon-
darily ; but they ought certainly not to
be thus applied to the almost entire ex-
clusion of that people, "whose," as the
apostle emphatically tells us, " whose are
the promises," Rom. ix. 4. Allow me
then, in humble dependance upon the
teaching of God's Holy Spirit, to direct
your serious attention to the words of
our text, in which we have
I. A fact stated—." the sons of Jacob
are not consumed."
II, The reasons assigned — " I am
the Lord, I change not; therefore ye
sons of Jacob are not consumed."
I. That the sons of Jacob, the literal
descendants of that illustrious Patriarch,
were not consumed, was declared to be a
marvellous fact, a*t the time when Malachi
prophesied, which was no less than three
hundred and ninety-seven years before
the coming of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ ; and then already it was
considered an astonishing circumstance,
that the sons of Jacob were existing, and
had not been consumed — and brethren,
well it might, for often previous to that
period were the sons of Jacob brought
into circumstances, when, according to
all human appearance, there seemed no
possibility of their escaping total destruc-
tion. I would just remind you, Christian
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
337
brethren, of the time when they went
into Egypt, few in number, where they
were made to labour hard, and in conse-
quence of their increase, which excited
the envy and the alarm of the Egyptians,
every possible and cruel means were
devised to root them out of the land
altogether. But I ask, were the sons of
Jacob there consumed? No! they cried
unto the Lord in their affliction, and the
Lord heard their cry, and sent them a
deliverer. Moses was commissioned to
go in the name of the King of kings
and Lord of lords, and request Pharaoh
to let the children of Israel go ; and
though it was not till after most awful
judgments came upon Pharaoh and his
people, yet in the Lord's own time, the
sons of Jacob went out of their enemies'
land triumphantly. But no sooner was
this the case, than they fouud themselves
before the Red Sea. Before them was
the impassable deep, behind them the
enemy pursuing them with all possible
fury, surrounded by great and tremen-
dous mountains, and, according to human
appearance, there seemed no possibility
of the few sons of Jacob, their escap-
ing total destruction. But brethren,
were the sons of Jacob there consumed ?
No ! He who is the Lord of all power
and might, could make a way for His
people through the sea, and thus He
gave the command, the sea divided, and
His people passed through dryshod,
whilst they saw their enemies perish on
the shore of this sea. They then were
led on through the wilderness, on their
way to the land of promise, during which
period they often rebelled against the
Lord, and manifested the fallen state of
human nature, that notwithstanding the
many and the signal mercies which they
had so often experienced at the hand of
their God, they still were unmindful of
them ; and on one occasion especially,
when they murmured against the Lord,
and against Moses, it pleased the Lord
to send among them fiery serpents : and
we read in the book of Numbers, that
thousands of the children of Israel died
daily, and it seemed as if the wrath of
God had come down upon them to the
very uttermost, so as to destroy them ! But
again we ask, were the sons of Jacob
then consumed ? No ! they were brought
to repentance. The very end which
God had in view, in visiting them with
His judgments, the very end which God
ever hath in view in visiting any of His
people with His judgments, is to bring
them to repentance, and thus we find
they went to Moses and said, " We have
sinned against the Lord, and against thee,
entreat for us, that this evil might be
removed from us." Moses entreated the
Lord, the Lord was entreated of, and
He granted them a remedy. A brazen
serpent was commanded to be made and
placed upon a high pole, which every
Christian knows, was typical of Him,
who himself explains it in St. John, iii.
14. 15. where he says, " And as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish but have everlasting life."
This remedy was made, and we read
Numbers, xxi. 9. " that if a serpent had
bitten any man, when he beheld the
serpent of brass he lived." They were
finally brought to the land of promise,
out of which seven nations greater and
mightier than they, were driven. They
had possession of their land, they enjoyed
every blessing which a nation is capable
of enjoying — they had their own country,
their own city, their temple, their priest-
hood, their sacrifices, and the Lord him-
self condescended to be their king.
But they soon fell away from Him, and
joined themselves to the idolatry of the
nations, and it pleased the righteous
Lord to punish them, by sending an
invading army against Jerusalem, who
destroyed it, and led the people into
captivity into Babylon, where, as the
prophet Jeremiah tells us, 1. 7. " all that
found them have devoured them, and
their adversaries said, we offend not,
because they have sinned against the
Lord, the habitation of justice, even the
Lord the hope of their fathers." But
brethren, we ask again, were the sons of
Jacob there consumed? No! seventy
years were determined upon them as a
punishment for their sins, but not one
day passed after the expiration of that
period, before the Lord raised them up
a deliverer. Cyrus king of Persia was
made the instrument in the hands of God,
for the restoiation of Israel, and once
more we find them reinstated in their
own land, again possessing the same
privileges, though not to the full extent
in which they enjoyed them before.
Well then may the prophet Malachi
mention it as a remarkable fact, that the
sons of Jacob were then not consumed.
But brethren, if it was an astonishing
fact at the time when Malachi prophe-
sied that the sons of Jacob were then
338
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
existing, and had not been consumed,
is it not an hundred-fold still more mar-
vellous and astonishing, that this should
be the case even now? Even after a
period of more than eighteen centuries
since the commencement of she Chris-
tian era, we can say in all truth,
"the sons of Jacob are not consumed."
This is a fact too notorious to need any
proof. They are known to exist in every
country, almost in every city — and allow
me to say, the individual who is now
privileged to address you is a proof of
this, for " I also am an Israelite, of the
seed of Abraham." And we ask, is it
not an hundred-fold more astonishing,
that this should be the case even now ?
For, soon after their being reinstated in
their own land, they again sinned against
the Lord, and that far more awfully than
ever they did before. The eternal Son
of God left the throne of His Father's
glory, and came into this world, not
taking upon Himself the nature of angels,
but the seed of Abraham — " He came
to His own, but His own alas ! received
Him not," and exclaimed "away with
Him, away with Him, crucify Him ! we
will not have this man to reign over us."
Here was a sin far greater than any, nay
than all that people ever committed in past
ages; and in proportion as the sin was
greater, in the same proportion have the
judgments of God been greater and
heavier upon that nation ; for soon after
that awful event, — their rejection of the
Messiah, — the Lord caused again an
invading army to besiege Jerusalem, who
destroyed it : not one stone was left
upon another of that temple which was
said to be the joy of the whole earth ; her
people were carried into captivity not
or.ly into one country, as was the case
before, into Babylon, but into every
country under heaven, where they have
been a reproach and a bye-word, not
only for a period of seventy years, as
was the case before in Babylon, but for
a period of eighteen centuries, during
which, it may be said still more empha-
tically and truly, " all that found them
have devoured them, and their adversa-
ries said, we offend not, because they
have sinned against the Lord.'* And
would brethren, that we could exclude
the Christian church from this charge,
for she was foremost in this matter, and
during the dark ages of her history, those
who called themselves Christians, thought
they were doing God service by perse-
cuting the Jews, and actually made use
of this language, saying " we offend not,
because they have sinned against the
Lord."
We ask then, is it not still more mar-
vellous and astonishing, that notwith-
standing all their past experience, they
should still be existing and not be con-
sumed? What can be the reason of this?
Surely this is an inquiry which every
reflecting mind ought to make; can it be
because they are so numerous and so
mighty, that therefore they have been
enabled to withstand all the fiery darts of
persecution which have been aimed
against them ? This we know is not the
case : at most, there are supposed to exist
but six millions of Jews, in a scattered
state, never given to arms, possessing
none of those powers by which nations
conquer each other. Or can it be for
want of persecuting hatred on the part
of the nations amongst whom they have
been captives ? This we know likewise
is not the case, for they have been every
where hated and spoken against, no where
did they find a resting place for the soles
of their feet.
II. What then is the reason? The
text replies, " I am the Lord, I change
not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not
consumed." Had it depended upon
the nations of the earth, they would long
ago have been consumed, their existence
would have been known no more, than
that we might have read of them in the
pages of history, as we do of other
nations far greater and mightier than
they, whose existence is known no more.
As there was persecuting hatred enough,
there was power enough, there was incli-
nation enough, to have caused their total
destruction. Or had it depended upon
the nations themselves, they would also
long ago have been destroyed ; for there
was smallness of number enough — there
was feebleness enough — there w r as surely
sin enough, to have caused this total
destruction ;* but upon none of these
things did it depend — " I am the Lord,
I change not ; therefore ye sons of Jacob
are not consumed" — " Jesus Christ, God
manifest in the flesh, the same yester-
day, to-day, and for ever ' — " God is not
a man that he should lie, nor the son of
man that he should repent ; hath he said
it, and shall he not do it ? hath he spoken,
and shall he not make it good ?"
And now I must refer you to a few of
those declarations of the unchanging
God, which account for this remarkable
fact — the existence of the Jewish nation.
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
339
In Leviticus xxvi. a chapter full of the
most awful denounciations delivered by
Moses in the name of the Lord against
Israel, on their disobedience ; yet is he
made to declare in the midst of it, in
v. 44, " and yet for all that, when they"
— the sons of Jacob of whom he is
speaking in the chapter — " be in the
land of their enemies, I will not cast them
away, neither will I abhor them to destroy
them utterly, and to break my covenant
with them, for I am the Lord their God ;"
and in Psalm lxxxix., v. 30 — 34, we read,
" If his children forsake my law, and walk
not in my judgments, if they break my
statutes and keep not my command-
ments" — just as the people of Israel
have done, they have forsaken God's son,
and do not walk in his judgments, they
have broken his statutes, and do not keep
his commandments, well, what then ? shall
they on this account be destroyed ? No !
" Then will I visit their transgressions
with the rod, and their iniquity with
stripes" — just as that people hath been
visited, with the rod of God's indignation,
and with the stripes of his judgments —
" nevertheless, my loving kindness will I
not utterly take from him, nor suffer my
faithfulness to fail ; my covenant will I not
break, nor alter the thing that is gone
out of my lips ;" and what that covenant
is, we have farther from Jer., where the
Lord says, in xxx., 11, (and if you look
to the preceding verse, you will find
Jacob specially addressed) "I am with
thee, says the Lord, to save thee, though
I make a full end of all nations, whither I
have scattered thee, yet will I not make a
full end of thee, but I will correct thee
in measure, and will not leave thee alto-
getherunpunished." But, there is one still
more remarkable passage in the same
prophecy, which accounts for this fact —
In Jeremiah xxxi, 35 — 37 — "Thus saith
the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light
by day, and the ordinances of the moon
and of the stars for a light by night, which
divideth the sea when the waves thereof
roar; the Lord of hosts is his name. If
those ordinances depart from before me,
saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel
also shall cease from being a nation before
me for ever. Thus saith the Lord, if
heaven above can be measured, and the
foundations of the earth searched out
beneath, 1 will also cast off all the seed of
Israel, for all that they have done, saith
the Lord."
These, then, are a few of the declara-
tions of the unchanging God, which alone
are the reasons why the sons of Jacob are
not consumed. God once entered into
a covenant with them, and gave them
great and precious promises ; and though
they, on their part, have broken the cove-
nant, and have shown, that man is a
mutable creature, that he soon turns away
from his God, the Lord on his part
changeth not. And here we would ob-
serve, by the way, there is contained in
this subject, an awful warning to every
sinner, as well as abundance of encou-
ragement to every child of God — an awful
warning to every sinner, who hath not
yet fled for refuge to the only hope set
before us in the Gospel ; for if in the
preservation of Israel, we read as it were
in large characters, that " the Lord
changeth not," we must learn from it,
that God is unchanging in all his decla-
rations; and if He has said, "He that
believeth in Christ shall be saved," this
He will assuredly fulfil to all his people ;
the same unchanging God hath also said,
" He that believeth not, shall be con-
demned." If, therefore, there be any such
one here present, we would humbly ex-
hort him to consider this, and turn to the
Lord whilst it is called to-day, whilst the
door of mercy is still open, and whilst the
Saviour is ready to receive every peni-
tent sinner.
But there is also abundance of encou-
ragement contained in this subject for
every child of God. Many such, I trust,
are within my hearing, and to you, dear
Christian brethren, I would say, this sub-
ject is full of encouragement — you are
ready to' join in the language of Israel of
old, and say " If it had not been the Lord
who was on our side, we should long ago
have become a prey to our enemies, to
the great enemy of souls, who is ever
going about as a roaring lion, seeking
whom he may devour;" but the Lord has
kept us to this day, according to his gra-
cious promise, '' I will be with you." If
then you are in Christ Jesus, we would
humbly exhort you, to abide in Him, as
branches in the vine, aud He has pro-
mised, that none shall pluck you out of
his hands. Abide in Him, and no enemy
shall be able to separate you from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus your
Lord. He will guide you here by his
counsel, and afterwards He will receive
you to eternal glory.
But we have in conclusion briefly to
inquire, what may be learned from this
340
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
subject, in reference to the very people,
whose history we have been considering.
And it must at once appear obvious to
every reflecting mind, that if the pre-
servation of Israel to this day can be ac-
counted for in no other way than, as the
text tells us, " Because the Lord changeth
not," then all the promises made to
Israel by the same unchanging God, and
which have not yet been fulfilled, must
receive their accomplishment ; and in-
deed, brethren, time would fail us to
enumerate the many and the precious
promises, which God has given to his
people Israel — we can only recommend to
your serious and earnest perusal a few
of the leading promises contained in
God's holy word, which cannot be said
to have already received their fulfilment —
see Deut. xxx. 1, 10; from xl. of
Isaiah to the end; Jer. xxx, 10, 22;
xxxi. 7, 14. 28, 31, 34; Ez. xxxiv.
11, 16; xxxvi. 24, 38; xxxvii. 21, 28;
xxxix. 25, 29 ; Hos. iii. 4, 5 ; Zech.
ii. 10, 13; viii. 1,8, &c. &c. These
are a few of the many promises of the
unchanging God, of which the preservation
of Israel even warrant us to expect their
fulfilment. Here we may learn an im-
portant lesson from what isrelated of two
Rabbies, who were one day going towards
Jerusalem, when their attention was
arrested by seeing a fox going across the
mountain of the Lord's house. Rabbi
Joshua wept, but Rabbi Eliezer, his com-
panion, laughed. Rabbi Joshua asked,
" Why do you laugh ?" — and he replied
by asking, " Why do you weep ?" Rabbi
Joshua answered, " So holy was this
mountain, that it was written, he that
touched it should be storied, and now I
see it profaned by an unclean animal,
which brings to my mind the judgments
of God, which have come upon my
nation as they had been threatened ; for
it is written in the book of Lamentations,
v. 18, ' Because of the mountain of
Zion which is desolate, the foxes walk
upon it.'" "Oh!" said Rabbi Eliezer,
"this is the very reason why I laugh" —
he of course meant his laughter as in-
dicative of his inward joy ; " for, if God
had not fulfilled his threatenings upon
Israel, I might be tempted to doubt
whether his good promises shall be ac-
complished ; but when I see with mine
eyes, that God has fulfilled his threat-
nings to the very letter, I have thereby a
pledge, that not one of the least of his
promises shall fail, but they shall all re-
ceive their accomplishment, for," he
very justly added, " God is ever more
ready to show mercy than judgment."
Now, brethren, this Rabbi spoke the
mind of God, who has said, " Like as I
have been angry with this people, so will
I rejoice over them to do them good."
Jer. xxxi. 28.
Now, it was this which first led some
of the servants of God to unite their
efforts in behalf of Israel. They found
this people existing — they inquired into
the reason, and found that it could be ac-
counted for in no other way, than, as the
text tells us, " Because the Lord changeth
not," thev naturally inferred from it,
that all his promises to them must be
fulfilled. They found moreover special
and divine command to preach the Gos-
pel to them, such as " Repentance and
remission of sin should be preached in his
name among all nations beginning at
Jerusalem," Luke xxiv. 47. This may
be said to have been the origin of the
London Society for promoting Chris-
tianity among the Jews, in whose behalf
I have to appeal to yon this morning.
It has now existed upwards of thirty
years, and has endeavoured to make
known the gospel of Christ to the Jews,
by means of sending missionaries to
them. There are at present forty-seven
engaged in this blessed work ; the greater
part of the number are themselves
converted Israelites. The Society also
circulates the Sacred Scriptures among
the Jews ; it instructs the rising genera-
tion, where an opportunity offers, by
means of establishing schools — several
such are now existing in various parts of
the world, supported by this Society ;
and the success which it has pleased God
to vouchsafe to these Schools, is such as
fully to warrant the undertaking. Many
hundreds, nay thousands, of Israelites,
have been gained to the Christian Church
by baptism. We would then call upon
you, Christian friends, to come forward
and help the Society in carrying on this
great work and labor of love. May the
Lord incline your hearts thus to favor
Zion ; and above all, to pray for the
peace of Jerusalem, and may you all
experience the fulfilment of that promise,
" They shall prosper that love thee."
Amen.
Dublin: NEW IRISH PULPIT OFFICE 1, ST. ANDREW-STREET
J. Rorertson, and all B wksellers.
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
GOSPEL PEEACHER.
We preach Christ crucified —
Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God."— 1 Cor. i. 23, 24.
No. XCV. SATURDAY, 26th OCTOBER, 1839.
Piuce 4d,
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH, AS STATED IN THE ELEVENTH ARTICLE OF
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.
THREE SERMONS
PREACHED IN THE CHAPEL OF THE MOLYNEUX ASYLUM, DUBLIN,
ON SUNDAYS, SEPTEMBER, 8 and 15, 1839,
BY THE REV. CHARLES M. FLEURY, A.M.
(Chaplain.)
FIRST SERMON.
Romans iii. 28.
Therefore we conclude, that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law."
The 1 1th Article of the Church of
England, on this question of justification
by faith, you read thus : —
" We are accounted righteous before
God, only for the merit of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for
our own works or deservings. Wherefore,
that we are justified by faith only, is a
most wholesome doctrine, and very full
of comfort ; as more largely is expressed
in the Homily of Justification."
You perceive there are two parts in
the Article, the one is a statement of the
Vol. IV.
doctrine of justification by faith only, the
other is the assertion of the consolitory
power of this doctrine ; and as the whole
matter is important to the very last
degree, we shall take the first part of the
Article which asserts the doctrine, this
morning, and reserve for our evening
deliberation the comforts that flow from
it.
You may observe, that this Article is
a regular logical inference from the two
preceeding ones. The 9th stated, mo?t
consistently with Holy Writ, the perfect
X
342
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
depravity of the human race — the exces-
sive sinfulness of man, so that man's
nature (as it is written in the Latin copy
of the Article,) " qaam longissime distet,"
is very far removed — as far as possible,
from original righteousness. Then the
10th Article declares, that in connexion
with this universal depravity, the will of
man is adverse to God, and whenever it
is consulted by overtures of kindness from
God, it opposes every proposition of
mercy, and turns with disdain — yea, with
indignation, from his love.
Then consequently, if man be per-
fectly depraved in his present nature — if
his will be alienated from God, how is
he to be justified? — Not by works — he
has them not — not by his own act towards
righteousness, for his will is repugnant
to righteousness : it must therefore be
concluded, as in the 11th Article, that,
if man is to be justified before God,
he must be justified freely by grace;
that is to say, justified by faith — justified
by the sovereign act of divine mercy,
exercised in his behalf. Now, precisely
ihe same in matter and in order, is the
Apostle's reasoning in this epistle to the
Romans. The first chapter opens with a
general exposition of the truth, which we
are specially insisting upon, that which
Luther called — " articulus stantis aut
cadenlis ecc/m'ffi".— justification by faith
only ; for when St. Paul shows in
the commencement of the epistle, the
great value of the Gospel of Christ, he
adds, " I am not ashamed of the Gospel
of Christ ; for it is the power of God
unto salvation to every one that believeth,
to the Jew first, and also to the Greek,
for therein is the righteousness of God
revealed from faith to faith," 1 he quotes
from the Old Testament — " As it is
written, the just shall live by faith."
Having thus laid down the very funda-
mental principles of religion, he then
goes on regularly and orderly to exhibit
the condemnation of man when left to
himself, to follow his own devices, or
revel in his own fancied wisdom. He
declares, that the invisible things of God
are clearly seen by the things that are
made, even his eternal power and God-
head. So that by common inference —
by common place analogy, man is pro-
vided with means adequate to attaining a
clear comprehension of the divine nature,
as far as that nature regards the moral
government of the world, and our moral
responsibility. The summing up of the
first chapter is the condemnation of man ;
when left to own his wisdom, he becomes
rebrobate, and God abandons him to
his sins. The second chapter exhibits
the mode and equity of God's judgment —
his judgment on the world at the last,
showing that " God will render to every
man according to his deeds — to them who
by patient continuance in well doing,
seek for glory, and honor, and immor-
tality — eternal life ; but unto them that
are contentious, and do not obey the
truth, but obey unrighteousness, indig-
nation and wrath, tribulation and anguish
upon every soul of man that doth evil, of
the Jew first and also of the Gentile.
But glory, honor and peace to every man
that worketh good, to the Jew first, and
also to the Gentile, for there is no
respect of persons with Ged." And
having thus displayed the mode, and
justified the equity of God's judgment at
the last, he turns to the work of ex-
amining the real state of the case, as it
now stands between God and man, in the
3rd chapter, and he there proves, from
facts, by quotations made from God's
authorised and inspired Word, the
universal depravity of man — his moral
inability to justify himself, and comes at
once, from such infallible premises, to
the conclusion which we have read in
the text, " Therefore, we conclude, that
a man is justified by faith without the
deeds of the law."
You observe therefore how harmo-
niously the statements of our Church
flow in accordance with the inspired
arguments of the Great Apostle of the
Gentiles. When we go into the detail
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
343
of this matter of justification by faith, we
have just three inquiries to make: — the
first is, What is man's present legal posi-
tion before God. 2. What arc the
requisites to make up his justification.
3. How these requisites are furnished in
the dispensation of Christianity.
I. What is man's present legal
POSITION BEFORE GOD ?
We have set before us man's moral
state in the 9th Article, and there we
find man's moral state repugnant to all
good, violently opposed to all virtue, and
every thing peculiar to the Godhead ;
but in this present Article we are forced
to look on man's condition in a legal
light, because we have to do with a
forensic term "justified." We have to
find out the law to which man is respon-
sible, and by which he is to be judged.
Now, that law of God, however various
may be its annunciations, its mode of
discovery to the world, is ever the same
in essence. That law of God, as the
Apostle very admirably, and very power-
fully argues, in Romans 1st chapter, that
law may be inferred, or deduced, from
the survey of God's visible works in
creation. We observe a certain adminis-
tration of justice in the world, flowing
down from the authority of God. We
observe, that though the whole world is
out of course as to righteousness and
equity, there is still a moral government
exercised in it: and while the Apostle
has given us a clue to the discovery of
the divine law, the celebrated Butler has
followed up the investigation, and has
brought out the law of God and truth,
from an anological examination of God's
visible government of the world. The
law of God, as we read it in the face of
the world and in the history of man, is one
that takes cognisance of monstrous acts
of crime, so that from Nero to the hired
assassin, God's judgment overtakes the
criminal at last. The law of God is one
that enters into the minutest inquest of
offences, and consequently, wherever
that law bears on man, though the ex-
ecution of its sentence may, through
purposes of mercy and profers of repent-
ance be delayed, the sentence of God's
law must tell with awful power eventu-
ally against every unrepented transgres-
sion. Again, the law of God may
be deduced from our own instinctive
sagacity ; and here the Apostle has also
led us to this recognition of God's law
from the conscience of man, for he says,
in Romans ii. 14, 15, " When the Gen-
tiles which have not the law, do by nature
the things contained in the law, these,
having not the law, are a law unto them-
selves, which show the work of the law
written in their hearts, their conscience
also bearing witness, and their thoughts,
the mean while, accusing or else, excus-
ing one another." There is written on
man's conscience an abstract of the
divine law, and he who can discern
between his right hand and left, between
moral good and evil in any sense of the
word, may, by deliberate calculation,
come to the inference, that there is a law
of God, by which, at the last day, he
will surely judge the deeds of all men.
Our conscience, before it is seared by
superstition and excessive crime, as with
an hot iron, marks the least iniquity which
we perpetrate, and thus answers as a
countertype of the great law of God, that
shall finally search out the secret interests
and desires of the mind, as well as the
most hidden deeds of the hand.
Or the law of God may come to us in
all perfection upon the page of revelation.
We may read and know God's will sent
down to us from heaven supernaturally ;
and then we find, that our conception of
the law of God from the world abroad,
and our view of the divine law from the
world within, that these- agree exactly
with God's law, when revealed to us
from heaven ; and we read in that law
from heaven what we have before fear-
fully apprehended, that " Cursed is every
one that continueth not in all things that
are written in the book of the law to do
344
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
them," and, " The soul that sinneth, it
shall surely die."
We have thus the law of God open to
us ; how stands the case now with man —
when he is forced to confront that law,
and answer to its claims? Why, that as
a condemned sinner, he must die — as an
accomplished criminal, he must die — as a
rebel and transgressor against the divine
law in every form, he must die.
II. What are the requisites
TO MAKE UP THE JUSTIFICATION OF
MAN BEFORE GOD.
You of course say, first, that all his
sins be blotted out — that the remembrance
of them be annihilated — that they shall
never appear in record against him at the
great day of account. Next, you ob- I
serve, in order to justification, man
requires to have ready prepared a perfect
righteousness, without blemish or fault —
a righteousness that shall answer for his
every position of responsibility, and that
shall correspond to every act that he was
ever called on to perform as a servant of
God — a righteousness equivalent to what
the works of his whole life should have
been. This righteousness, without fault,
man must have in order to justification;
for justification embraces, not only the
pardon of sin, but respects the presen-
tation of the subject in possession of
moral virtue — praiseworthy virtue — virtue
worthy of eternal reward — that is justifica-
tion. And more than this, in order to
justification, man requires to have his
nature so changed, and his disposition so
altered and improved, that the carnal
enmity or hatred which he had to his
Creator shall be deposed, and replaced
by love, and intense devotion to the true
God. These are the three requisites,
that our sins be blotted out — our positive
righteousness be exhibited and proved
faultless, in order that God may esteem,
and applaud, and honor, and reward it
and that our hearts be new formed, or
recreated in love.
Need I delay you to ask, have you
these requisites? Do you not see, that
if these be requisites for justification,
man cannot in himself, or by himself,
with any ingenuity or assiduity, or per-
severance of labour, produce them. Man
is naturally a sinner — practically a sinner
— continually a sinner ■ far from posses-
sing righteousness, he possesses guilt —
he is guilt itself, being a sinner in dis-
position, as well as in every deed of his
life. It is obviously impossible that man
could blot out his crimes from the book
of God's remembrance, and exhibit
innocency of life. Man who commits
sin in his very devotions, cannot by
faultless service atone for past iniquity ;
man who has not the power to create
one single atom of matter,' much less to
create one single original thought — who
has no more power over spirit than over
matter, cannot new create his disposition
and reform his life, cannot remove his
alienation from God, and his hatred of
God. Man is helplessness itself — pros-
trated — perfectly impotent to justify
himself before God, if there be value in
common sense, or reason, or revelation.
III. We now come to the dispen-
sation OF CHRISTIANITY, IN WHICH WE
ARE TO FIND ALL THE REQUISITES FOR
JUSTIFICATION FURNISHED TO US, through
faith in Christ.
The first requisite is, that our sins be
blotted out, and our innocency be esta-
blished before God. This is done
through the intervention of Jesus Christ.
The doctrine of atonement has in it no
difficulty — it is merely a doctrine of sub-
stitution — Christ came for us, " to suffer
the just for the unjust, to bring us to
God ;" he appeared as our representa-
tive — the representative man for our race,
and as the representative man, he received
on himself — he had charged on his own
soul the iniquities of us all — they were
laid on him — imputed, or attributed to
him — he was made responsible for them,
and called upon to suffer the propor-
tionate curse — that curse he endured
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
345
the whole curse of the law, and endured
it, brethren, not by the extinction of his
soul — oh ! believe not that foul heresy —
not by the extinction of his soul, or by
the annihilation of his nature in any
sense : he died, it is true — died under
the sentence of the law, but his soul was
not annihilated. Christ suffered the
sentence of the law — thus, he was a
man — a perfect man — a sinless man ;
but he was also the infinite God, and by
the conjunction of these two perfect
natures, he was prepared to stand, and
was enabled to endure on himself, in one
measured period of time, the infinite
wrath of God, that no finite creature could
have endured in time ; he was enabled to
endure in a measured period of time,
that infinite wrath which we could have
endured only throughout the infinite ages
of eternity.
Then, brethren, when this punishment
was endured, it was terminated, it passed
away, and there remained no condemna-
tion for sin, no punishment for those that
are interested in this great work of atone-
ment, and who are disciples and members
of this same Jesus Christ ; who are one
with him, who are the persons for whom
he suffered, and for whom he was made
in all things, a substitute and representa-
tive.
We want (the next requisite of justifi-
cation,) to haye a righteousness exhibited
for us which God will approve, and co-
extensive with our responsibility here on
earth. Now, that righteousness, Christ
likewise provides. We hold, you per-
ceive, to the doctrine of substitution still,
and if there be truth in that doctrine of
substitution, if there be any truth in the
statements of the Divine Word, we shall
find ourselves warranted to regard Christ
Jesus as our righteousness as well as our
redemption. Now, when it is told in Scrip-
ture, " God made him to be sin for us
who knew no sin," where the doctrine of
substitution is insisted on, it is added, —
" that we might be made the righteous-
ness of God in him." When Christ
stands as our substitute to endure our sins,
he exchanges with us and confers on us
all his righteousness, that righteousness
wrought out by spotless humanity and es-
sential deity united. These two natures
were necessary to render him a perfect
and suitable victim or sacrifice : had he
died in infancy, he would have been a
suitable victim, but he lived out an ex-
tended period before he offered himself
as our propitiation : he was circumcised
as a Jew, and became a debtor to do the
whole law ; and he did fulfil that law, all
righteousness ; for whom — for himself ?
He needed it not — he was innocence in
every work — form and quality. He needed
it not — possessing the intrinsic and eter-
nal righteousness of God. It pleased him
then to live on and fulfil the law, — why ?
simply that his righteousness might be-
come our righteousness. The doctrine
of substitution leads us to conceive that
Christ is our righteousness, and then the
language of Scripture shows, that he is
the Lord our righteousness, the name
given him by the prophet, and it is
upon this the apostle argues, " Jesus
Christ who was made unto us, wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and
redemption." And when the matter be-
came a personal matter with Paul, you
find the anxiety and great desire of
his own heart in his epistle to the Philip-
pians, " to come before God," and be
found in him, not having his own righte-
ousness which is of the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, " the righte-
ousness which is of God by faith," this is
the apostle's own confession of experience,
and statement of doctrine as that doctrine
satisfied his own soul. Thus then, you
cannot doubt, that this is the doctrine of
Sacred^ Scripture that Christ is our righte-
ousness as well as our propropitiation be-
fore God ; and that this is the doctrine
of our church, you will see by turning
to the Homily on the salvation of man-
kind ; —
346
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
" His great mercy he showed unto us
in delivering us from our former capti-
vity, without requiring any ransom to be
paid, or amends to be made upon our parts;
which thing by us had been impossible to
be done. And, whereas it lay not in us
to do that, he provided a ransom for us ;
that was, the most precious body and blood
of his own most dear and best beloved
Son Jesus Christ ; who besides this ran-
som, fulfilled the Law for us perfectly. —
And so the justice of God and his mercy
did embrace together, and fulfilled the
mystery of our redemption."
" And after this wise to be justified,
only by this true and lively faith in Christ,
speak all the old and ancient authors,
both Greeks and Latins ; of whom I will
specially rehearse three, Hilary, Basil,
and Ambrose. St. Hilary saith these
words plainly in the ninth Canon upon
Matthew, Faith only justifieth. And St.
Basil a Greek author, writeth thus ; This
is is a perfect and whole rejoicing in God,
when a man advanceth not himself for
his own righteousness ; but acknowledg-
ed himself to lack true justice and righte-
ousness, and to be justified by the only
faith in Christ. And Paul, saith he, doth
glory in the contempt of his own righte-
ousness, and that he looketh for the righte-
ousness of God by faith. These be the
very words of St. Basil. And St. Am-
brose a Latin author, saith these words ;
This is the ordinance of God, that they,
which believe in Christ, should be saved
without works — by faith only — freely re-
C3iving remission of theirsins. Consider
diligently these words; Without works —
by faith only — freely we receive remis-
sion of our sins. What can be spoken
more plainly, than to say, that freely —
without works — by faith only — we obtain
remission of sins ? These and other like
sentences, that we be justified by faith
only — freely — and without works, we do
read oftentimes in the best and most an-
cient writer : as, beside Hilary, Basil, and
St. Ambrose, before rehearsed, we read
the same in Origen, St. Chrysostom, St.
Cyprian, St. Augustine, Prosper, Pcu-
menius, Phocius, Bernarcus, Anselm, and
many authors, Greek and Latin."
As to the requisite that lastly comes in
to make up our own justification before
God, we have that furnished in the Gos-
pel dispensation by the Lord Jesus Christ'
all in consequence of this great and base-
ment doctrine of substitution. In Isaiah,
liii. 10. it is said, " it pleased the Lord to
bruise him, he hath put him to grief :
when thou shalt make his soul an offering
for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the
Lord shall prosper in his hands ;'' or as it
is translated by Bishop Louth, "he shall
see a seed shat shall prolong their days,
and the pleasure of the Lord shall pros-
per in their hands. When Christ cove-
nanted to offer himself as our substitute,
then the Father covenanted, that Christ
should, in recompense for that substitu-
tion, receive a peculiar people to himself
whom he should sanctify, who should be
called his seed, and in whom the pleasure
of the Lord should be accomplished.
That these were the terms of the cove-
nant ratified in heaven before the world
was made or man had fallen appears from
Isaiah, lix. where it is written in the
last two verses,'' and the Redeemer shall
come to Zion, and unto them that turn
from transgression in Jacob, saith the
Lord. As for me, this is my covenant
with them, saith the Lord, my Spirit
that is upon thee, and my words which 1
have put in thy mouth, shall not depart
out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of
thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy
seed's seed, saith the Lord, from hence-
forth and for ever," so that, by Christ's
convention with the Father, and substitu-
tion to be our surety and atonement, he
obtained the power to confer on our race
his Spirit, that we might be virtually his
seed. In St. John's gospel we read, that
man is to be born over again before he
can see the kingdom of God, must be
born of the Holy Spirit by God's good
mercy, as we find also from the 1st epis-
tle of St. John, iii. 9, " whosoever is
born of God doth not commit sin, for
his seed remaineth in him, and he can-
not die, because he is born of God,"
so that according to the terms of the
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
347
heavenly compact, Christ our Savi-
viour, Christ our righteousness, Christ
our substitute sends down his Spirit to
take away the stony heart from man to
give him a heart of flesh, a heart of affec-
tion, a heart of devotion, to confer on his
immortal soul sinless perfection. Breth-
ren, this is the work that Christ accomp-
lishes for his disciples, and yet we do not
see half of the glory that God has prepared
for them that are interested in Christ
We know now, that the soul of man is
created in righteousness, once more after
the image of him who formed that soul
at the first, while the outward flesh re-
mains in corruption and base lust, the
devoted and willing slave of the devil.
But the time is coming when this mor-
tality shall put on immortality, when this
corruptible shall put on incorruption,
when death shall be swallowed up in
victory, and our outward humanity, our
animal frame shall be made to participate
in the spiritual creation that God has al-
ready conferred on the believing soul.
God shall quicken onr mortal bodies by
the spirit that dwelleth in us, so that the
Lord Jesus Christ affords to man by his
blood-shedding innocence, annihilation of
our sins ; by his righteousness, a righteous-
ness, that is able to stand the scrutiny of
God's law and judgment at the last day[;
and by his Holy Spirit, perfec-
tion of soul now, and perfection of soul
and body at the resurrection when his
saints shall be collected together to par-
take his triumph. And all this, to be had
by faith.
We might ask, why did God connect
with, and limit to faith this blessing of
justification ? The best answer probably
is, " even so, because it seemed good in
his sight.'' But we can find in the scrip-
ture before us, reasons granted to show,
why it is, that God did confer upon us
justification connected with faith only. —
The first reason is, because justification
is to be free, "so we read in Romans iv.
4, 5, " to him that worketh is the reward
not reckoned, of grace, but of debt. But
to him that worketh not, but believeth on
him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness," and in the
lGth verse, " therefore it is of faith, that
it might be by grace, to the end the pro-
mise might be sure to all the seed, not
to that only which is of the law, but to
that also which is of the faith of Abraham,
who is the father of us all." God has li-
mited justification to this one article of
faith, in order that justification might be
a free thing independant of our works.
Again, another reason why God ha3
preferred to unite justification with faith,
rather than with repentance or contrition
or amendment of life, or purity of heart,
or any evangelical act or passion, or vir-
tue, is, because faith is the principle and
parent source of every virtue ; so that if
a man once possesses faith, it is to him
the spring of a new life, it will purify his
heart, it will work through love, it will
work out righteousness, practically and
personally, and make him a devoted ser-
vant of God, and therefore God wisely
and rationally has connected justification
with faith only, because faith is the pa-
rent fountain of all moral and social good.
What is faith ? it is time for us to ask.
Scripture has not defined for us faith. In
Hebrews xi. 1, the apostle says, " now
faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen." There
the nature of faith is not defined, but by
a figure of speech, called metonymy, the
object of faith and the instrument of faith,
are put for faith itself: " faith is the sub-
stance of things hoped for," the object of
faith is here put for faith, " the evidence
of things not seen," the evidence is the
instrument of faith. In the 1 1th chap.
Hebrews the apostle dwells, not on the
nature of faith, but on the power of faith,
to show, that the fathers who went before
us, the righteous in every dispensation,
the prophets and apostles when they con-
sented to endure persecution for the sake
of the cross, did all this, because they
had sufficient inducement ' : to suffer for
the name of Christ, rather than to enjoy
34S
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
the pleasures of sin for a season," the in-
ducement held out to them was strong
and it produced the wise determination
they arrived at, to suffer on earth with
the people of God and rejoice eternally,
rather than to possess relatives and realms
here below, with the applause of all men,
and receive damnation at the last. Scrip-
ture dwells on the power of faith, but we do
not find the nature of faith denned : why?
True religion is not like a modern science
or artt hat man has devised ; in which
science or art it is necessary for those who
have originally invented it or constructed
it, to bring together an accumulation of
proper terms and particular expressions to
signify different agents, instrumental or
mechanical processes used in such arts or
sciences. We find, that the language of
scripture is not like the language of man's
invention possessing peculiar terms and a
set phraseology proper only to itself, — no,
this language of scripture is taken from
our every day discourse, therefore, the
word faith is not defined, being the
same word that is used in every day con-
verse ; it is the term simply meaning con-
fidence, and whenever we possess (on di-
vine things) that same faith which we
daily exercise on the affairs of this world,
there, our justification is secure.
But better still, the word of God gives
us to understand what faith is, by a per-
fect instance. After St. Paul has de-
clared in Romans iii. justification by
faith only, he tells you in chap. iv.
what it is by an instance, and he shows us,
that Abraham was justified not by works
but by faith, and that he was called the
friend of God. Recollect the time when
that took place, and when Abraham
was justified by faith only without the
works of the law. It is written in Ge-
nesis, xv. when Abraham mourned over
his childless estate, God brought him
forth to the tent door, bid him gaze on
the heavens, and " tell the number of the
stars, if thou be able to number them : and
he said unto him, so shall thy seed be.
And he believed in the Lord, and he
counted it to him for righteousness."
There, there was no room for action, no
possibility of obedience. God made a
promise to him, spoke to him, bare wit-
ness to him, and the man believed ; and
by this instance of faith, the apostle has
done more to declare what faith is than
if he had defined it for us in the most
logical terms.
What is faith? Brethren, we may de-
fine what is faith for our further informa-
tion. It is assent to evidence or testi-
mony. Our courts of law are conducted
on the assent given to testimony ; our pri-
vate intercourse is conducted on the as-
sent we give to evidence ; and whenever
the character of a witness is unimpeached,
when his veracity is known and undoubt-
ed, we can no more refuse to receive
his testimony than we can refuse to close
our senses against the admission of light
or sound or feeling.
Faith then is nothing more or less than
our compliance with testimony, or assent
to evidence. What is the evidence in
this case ? It is God, himself, speaking
to you by his sacred word, a word which
he has put out on the world supported by
his own character, commended by his un-
doubted veracity, a word that has stood
for ages on ages, tried, tested, scrutinized,
sifted, searched out by all the ingenious
artifices of men, and by every such in-
vestigation, proved to be absolutely and
truly the word of the living God ; the
evidence brought before us here is the
evidence of Jehovah, which finds in our
consciences, approbation ; the character
of it is approved in our consciences ; there
is not a man so dead, so degraded, so de-
based, when this word is read in his hear-
ing but that his conscience confesses it to be
the word of God ; aye when he hates it,
when he gnashes his teeth against it ; still
his soul feels that it is God's word.
The evidence here (that is, God's
Word,) besides the scrutiny it has under-
gone to its credit, from man's wisdom
and subtle examinations, and the appro-
bation of our own conscience, has within
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
349
it, and connected with it, an increasing
weight and power — every year adds to
this power. The power is prophecy
the fulfilment of prophecy from year to
year, adds to the value of the evidence,
and increases its ability to convince the
soul, and to convert gainsayers. We
appeal to the history of nations, to
the ripening of the storm against the
devoted people of Israel ; and while we
cannot point out when the storm shall
burst upon that devoted people; we can
trace the progress of iniquity through the
nations, and the approach of that period
when the fulness of the Gentiles shall
have come, and Jerusalem shall be raised
from the dust, to sit a queen for ever.
Here there is increasing weight to sup-
port the character of this testimony, and
now deny the testimony who can — who
dare !
Brethren, perhaps this statement of
faith appears to you strange, but read
what the Apostle St. John has written in his
first Epistle, v— 9, 10, 11, 12, " If we
receive the witness of men, the witness
of God is greater, and this is the witness
of God which he hath testified of his
Son ; he that believeth on the Son of
God hath the witness in himself ; he
that believeth not God hath made him a
liar, because he believeth not the record
that God gave of his Son, and this is
the record that God hath given us eternal
life, and this life is in his Son ; he that
hath the Son hath life, and he that hath
not the Son of God hath not life." Oh !
brethren, be not blasphemers of God's
honor, or liars against God's veracity —
receive God's testimony — the testimony
of this sacred, unimpeachable word,
proved to be true against all human and
devilish opposition, each day corroborated
by the events of the world, which fulfil
its predictions ; believe God's testimony
in your own souls, and that testimony is,
that whosoever layeth hold on Christ,
shall have eternal life.
Once more, and but for a moment, to
close this matter, and allow no admission
whatever for man's righteousness in the
business of salvation. I must say, that
if man was left to collect evidence him-
self, through the corruption and par-
tiality of his own natural mind, he would
seek evidence against God ; if this
testimony of God's word were left to
press on his conscience without extraneous
aid or influence, it would fall paralized
and powerless at his feet. Now, we are
told in Scripture, that God, bearing
witness through his word, by the Holy
Ghost to man's conscience, brings home
the testimony to his soul, and when the
testimony is thus advanced and brought
home by the Holy Ghost, then it is, that
man is subdued — that his faith is formed
in the Lord Jesus Christ — that he is
pardoned, justified, and sanctified for
ever. Come, then, beloved, receive ye
the witness of Almighty God, and believe
on the blessed name of his dear Son to
your endless glory ; and when that
witness, even his word, is laid before
you, may the Spirit of truth and power
shine into your hearts, and give you to
discern the light of the glory of God
shining from the face of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
ON THE MORAL AND CONSOLING INFLUENCE OF FAITH.
SERMON II.
ROMANS V. 12.
" Thefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Josus Christ.
" By whom also we have access by faith unto this grace wherein we ^stand, and rejoice in
hope of the glory of God."
The latter part of the 1 lth Article is —
" Wherefore, that we are justified by
faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine,
and very full of comfort ; as more largely
is expressed in the Homily of Justifica-
tion."
This morning, we found how the
requisites of justification are supplied to
us under the scheme of Christianity, and
that, " through faith — faith only, without
the deeds of the law." This evening we are
to consider, in accordance with the latter
part of the Article, the moral influence
and consolatory influence of this doctrine,
justification by faith only. It is pro-
nounced, you perceive by our Article
to be a very wholesome and consolatory
doctrine. But, brethren, it would be
quite impossible for us to dispose in two
discourses of all that could be said on
this great Article ; you perceive it has
the very essence of Christianity in it — of
Protestantism in it, and therefore with
the Lord's blessing, on next Sabbath
evening we shall examine the negative
statements, which conflict with the posi-
tive Article of Faith only, and show
these negative statements to be utterly
fallacious, and insist more distinctly and
prominently on the necessity of our re-
ceiving the mercy of God by Christ Jesus,
in the way he has appointed.
We now address ourselves to the moral
influence of the doctrine, and its con-
solatory influence.
I. The doctrine is most wholesome;
that is to say, most profitable for man's
spiritual health, for the moral health of a
nation or of the world. And if ever
there was a time when some great prin-
ciple, influence, or power ought to be,
brought into effect to regulate society,
and rectify all the corrupt views and
works of men, now is that time.
We have found, that the doctrine of
justification by faith only, has ever been
maligned and calumniated, as a doctrine
promoting licentiousness; and tending
to increase the practical depravity of
man. There is an antagonist party to
Christianity ; and while the doctrine
of Christianity, that is to say, justi-
fication by faith only, is by that
antagonist party censured and con-
demned as a licentious doctrine, there
is a counter-statement, or counter posi-
tion, set up by that antagonist party,
which it is said shall surely produce a
moral and healing influence on society.
They say' preach, that man's salvation —
or justification, depends not in any mode
or sort on personal righteousness, but on
faith only, and you cast away the reins
of lust, and leave man the arbitrary
governor of his own works, and put in his
own will and pleasure, whether he will,
or will not, obey the commands of God ;
you take away obedience as a necessary
ingredient or condition, of salvation, and
loose man to all the licentiousness of
sin. The counter-statement is, in fact,
that justification depends on faith and
works conjointly ; and where this counter-
statement is insisted on, it is asserted, that
necessarily good works must be produced,
and that this statement shall work with
an healing, moral, sanctifying effect on
the world at large. Now, we have not
so much to combat this counter-doctrine
or counter-position, as to its nature and
its unscriptural character, as we shall
have to do it on next Sabbath evening.
We have now only to look on the moral
tendency of this counter-statement, as
compared with the moral tendency of our
Article, " that justification by faith only,
is a very wholesome doctrine, and very
full of comfort."
And first ; suppose we pass over the
unscriptural nature — the unsoundness —
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
351
the untruth of this counter-statement,
and view only its moral tendency. Mark
it produces no new power or restraint
over the corrupt passions of man — that it
brings no new spiritual ascendency over
his vicious inclinations — that it deals with
him as it finds him. Suppose we grant that
the doctrine of justification is, that by
faith and works conjointly, man is saved,
is not the appeal then made to man's
intellect — to man's judgment — to man's
conscience — to man's passions — to man's
hope of heaven — to man's fear of hell?
Is not the dread alternative of heaven or
hell, the grand argument and incentive
levelled against his common sense, con-
science, and passions, to beget in him
righteousness ? and do you not perceive
that the counter position of Christianity is
utterly defective of power to influence
man to righteousness? for it makes an
appeal to what ? to man's darkened in-
tellect, to man's corrupt heart, to man's
vicious passions, depraved faculties — it
treats him as he is, as a fallen creature,
and it produces to him and engenders
within him no new principle or power to
work out righteousness.
If however, it be added, in order to
make this system still more plausible, that
while our justification depends equally
on our faith and personal odedience, that
God has supplied to every man equally
the same measure of grace, and put within
the reach of every man the aid of his Holy
Spirit. We calmly examine this addition,
and we find, the statement is as defective
as ever of spiritual energy or influence to
control man to obedience.
Before we go to examine the moral
tendency of this false doctrine in its new
form, when the aid of divine grace is cast
in as an adjunct — observe, that the position
is self destructive, that there are qualities
in it that neutralize and destroy each other,
and he that looks for justification on the
terms of the statement as it has been re-
ported to you, justification will he never
obtain. Were it allowed that man's jus-
tification is suspended on the righteousness
of Christ, granted to us through faith on
the one hand, and on the other hand, up-
on our personal obedience wrought out
by the aid of the divine Spirit, — or in
other words, suspended on the compound
of Christ's righteousness and our rght-
eousness. On the other hand, Observe
the absurdity which must follow ; we know
the righteousness of Christ is faultless,
spotless, without blemish; we know again,
that man, compassed, as he is, with infir-
mity, depraved as he is in inclination,
wicked as he is in passion, distorted, as
he is in judgment, inhabiting, as he does,
a polluted world, breathing, as he does, a
polluted atmosphere, dwelling, where all is
tainted with sin, — had he the full power of
the Holy Ghost, he could not produce one
single act free from the contamination of
evil; the body weighs him down, the
corrupt flesh embarrasses and impedes
all movement towards holiness, and in
this evil world, his actions, be they never
so much produced by holy desires and
sincere wishes to glorify God, still carry
with them the traces of iniquity — when
presented in the sanctuary and before that
God " who is of purer eyes than to be-
hold iniquity," they would be pronounced
unclean. And what is this doctrine? —
why that our contaminated righteousness
is to be amalgamated with the righteous-
ness of Christ, and that the polluted
compound is to be the purchase of our
justification ! But, we have not now to
deal with the nature or the untruth of this
statement, but with its moral bearing —
the statement is, that the Spirit is granted
to all men, and that, by the use of that
Spirit, righteousness, personal righteous-
ness and obedience being produced and
added to the finished righteousness of
Christ, we obtain justification. — Where is
the moral influence of the doctrine in
this form ? not to be found ; because
though the Spirit of God, though
divine grace be afforded us, as an
instrument to work out and accomplish
righteousness, must not the first appeal be
made, the awful alternative of life or death
be first directed to man's natural con-
science, intellect, passions, his love of life,
his horror of hell — is not the appeal made
in fact to his fallen intelligence; and then,
is he not called on, primarily, to act in
his own personal identity, and extend his
hand to grasp that aid which gives the
promise of justification to life eternal ! —
finally, ultimately, essentially, the appeal
is made to man in his personal identity as
a fallen creature, and therefore, the doc-
trine has not in itself, new energy or new-
spiritual influence to overcome the cor-
ruptions of man in his natural position as
a fallen creature.
But we look to the practical proof that
all false doctrines of men, and especially
these false forms of the Gospel never did,
352
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT
Jo not, and never can possess power to
moralize the human race. We appeal to
the fact, that wherever there is a carnal,
careless protestant, who lives openly and
avowedly in the prosecution of sin, and
the indulgence of his vicious habits, or
who, though he may not be a man of open
and notorious criminality, yet lives in the
pleasures of the world, scorning the practice
of Christianity, such as active benevolence,
and spiritual devotion to God, that wherever
such a character is found, the objection
which that character or personage brings
forward against the Gospel is this very
objection, that the doctrine of justification
by faith only, is a licentious doctrine — he
holds the opposite doctrine, that a man is
to be jnstified by his own righteousness,
and while he holds it, mark his conduct —
mark the practical proof, that his doctrine
produces no moral influence to restrain
him from iniquity, and deliver him from
the pleasures aud sins of the world.
And then we appeal beyond our Pro-
testant, careless brethren, to the Church
of Rome in all ages ; and wherever the
genuine doctrines of Romanism " have
prevailed, we find, that vice has borne
unlimited sway over the votaries of that
system. Now, the doctrine of justifica-
tion by faith only, is condemned in the
Articles of Trent, and the counter-
doctrine of faith and works combined, is
insisted on in the decrees of the self-
same Council, under an awful anathema
against all who should dare to gainsay
the canons of the apostolic church.
This is the doctrine — the decreed doc-
trine of Rome — the taught — the acknow-
ledged doctrine of Rome-- that man is
to be justified by works and faith ; and
what moral influence — what moral effect
has this counter-position to the essential
truth of Christianity produced, since
Rome first raised her head of blasphemy
against Christ ? None ! The people
have been the slaves of iniquity ;
whenever the moralizing restraint of
Protestantism was taken away, there
whole nations sank into licentiousness
and the regular commission of crime, such
as we dare not even specify by name within
these walls. Turn to your own land,
and here, where the religion of Pro- ,
testantism, in its purest form, does exist,
as a certain restraint on the vices of
Rome, still we find our country is in-
famous for assassination — for murders,
committed under the impulse of ferocious
passion — infamous for the gross sensuality,
drunkenness, and debauchery of its in-
habitants, who are the devoted vassals of
that church, whose doctrine is, that we are
to be justified by works and faith together.
Practically considered, then, there is no
moral influence in this false statement,
or counter-position, to the essential truth
of Christianity.
But we can appeal to practical proof
to show, that there is a wholesome moral
influence in the doctrine of justification
by faith only. I will not take you to the
apostolic times, in which we find the
Apostle Paul saying to the men of
Corinth, who were once licentious fol-
lowers of heathen philosophy, " such
were some of you, but you are washed,
but you are sanctified, but ye are justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by
the Spirit of our God," but I will take you
to testimony that came forth after the canon
of Scripture was closed, to Pliny, skilled
in all the accomplishments and science
of his time, who writes to Trajan thus :
" They were wont to meet together on a
stated day before it was light, and sing
among themselves alternately a hymn to
Christ as to God ; and bind themselves
by an oath, not to the commission of any
wickedness, but not to be guilty of theft,
or robbery, or adultery, never to falsify
their word, nor to deny a pledge com-
mitted to them when called upon to
return it." This is Pliny's report, and
it shows that the great doctrine of early
Christianity (as we know it was then
taught, even justification by faith only)
produced a pure and healthy tone of
morals among its professors. I might
take you now to the sister countries,
England and Scotland, to the Protestant
states abroad in Europe, and show you,
that wherever the article of justification
by faith only prevails, there* is righteous-
ness — there is morality — there is purity —
there is a holy health in the deport-
ment and conduct of the people ; and
wherever the opponent doctrine, or works,
prevails, that there — there is an abandon-
ment of all true virtue.
I would appeal to those, who in the
present day bring objections to the
licentiousness of this doctrine, and ask
them out of their own mouth to give
testimony, and answer solemnly, and from
their consciences, is it not a fact, that the
very individuals whom theyu pbraid as
propagators of a licentious doctrine, are
Oil GOSPEL PREACHER.
353
devoted' to good works, while the vast
majority of mankind, who hold a contrary
doctrine, if they be not gross profligates,
are careless in their lives, and indifferent
to the strict rules of virtue as laid down
in the volume of revelation ; that they
live to the world and to themselves, but
not to God?
But, we proceed to the true doctrine,
and you shall see that in this doctrine
of faith, there is a new and supernatural
power to controul the passions of man,
and make him obedient to right. First,
this doctrine does not stand to challenge
man's conscience, or to make an appeal
to his fallen intellect, or the influence
of his corrupt passions ; it places him at
once under a new authority — under a new
influence; it transfers him from a fallen
state into a state of grace, in which
he is not so much the agent of holiness,
as the subject of holiness ; he is now
put into the hand of the Creator, and
he, by his plastic and irresistible power,
forms him and moulds him to righ-
teousness. Observe the text, "there-
fore being justified by faith, we have
peace with God, through our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom also, we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand,
and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."
We stand in this grace, this grace is not
in us or conferred on us, but, we are
placed, standing in the grace of God,
under the influence of divine grace. —
Turn to Ephesians ii. 8, 9, 10, " by grace
are ye saved, through faith, and that not
of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not
of works, lest any man should boast, for
we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in
them :" — "this is the covenant that I will
make with them, I will dwell with them
and walk with them, saith the Lord, I
will be their God, and they shall be my
people." Take an instance — you have
Saul of Tarsus, by the grace of God trans-
ferred from the power of darkness into
the marvellous light and liberty of the
Gospel, once the servant of sin, now
the subject of holiness, able to say, " in
labours more abundant, in deaths oft, I
laboured more abundantly than they all,
yet not I, but the grace of God which
was with me." The glory is there given
tD the grace of God working mightily in
him who had been a persecutor of the
Church till he became the most distin-
guished instance of God's ability to
convert man to holiness, and to His glory.
You perceive, then, that the doctrine
of justification by faith takes man from
his original situation which is corrupt,
and puts him under the iufluence, power,
and dominion of divine grace, he is or-
dained to good works, he is " God's
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
unto good works, which God hath before
ordained, that we should walk in them."
It is as certain then, that while he is un-
der the influence of God, he shall walk
in righteousness, as it is certain that a
man who receives from God the light and
life of nature, shall, while his existence
and faculties remain, exercise himself in
the common usages of this world
Wherever there is grace, there is obedi-
ence, " we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. -
2ndly — This doctrine has in it a prin-
ciple of moral power, because it takes
away from the justified sinner the para-
lysing influence of fear. There is no
more- fear in the conscience of that man
who is justified by faith ; the fear that
hath torment is cast out, "therefore being
| justified by faith, we have peace with
I God," when fear is taken away, the soul
is at liberty in the man, and he bounds
forward cheerfully to serve his God. —
I Furthermore, there is infused into him
i gratitude and love, he trembles not, in
j suspense, whether or not he shall obtain
salvation, it is his, he knows he is justi-
fied, he knows he is passed from death to
life, and he loves that God who loved
I him and gave his Son for his redemption,
he loves that Saviour who suffered for
I him the last agonies of infinite wrath, he
gratefully loves and gratefully adores him ;
and though we may speak slightingly of
the power of love, remember, it is the
only power that keeps our race together,
it is the mother's love that bears with all
the weakness of infancy, and all the care-
lessness and vexations of our helpless
years.
3rdly — There is in this same article of
justification by faith to be taken into ac-
count, that the man who is possessed of
the doctrine in his soul, and is thus placed
under the dominion of God's grace, is sub-
mitted at once to the express, immediate,
and constant discipline of the Most High
God — he who was an alien, a stranger, a
foreigner, is now a fellow-citizen in the
household of God — he who once hated
354
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
God has become God's child, and as
God's child will meet with parental in-
struction and discipline ; the unconverted
who know not God, experience not his
correcting love, while the believer shall
never more pass from under the correc-
ting influence of his tender care. The
righteousness of man then is secure when
man holds justification by faith only, be-
cause the grace of God reigns in him,
because gratitude and love are infused
into his constitution, because fear that
hath torment is taken away, because the
discipline of God is exercised over him in
all its mercy and purity.
II. As we have th us seen that the doctrine
of justification is wholesome, we are to
review its consolitory power. What
consolitory power is there in the counter
doctrine ? We take a case of tribulation
and sorrow, — there is a man whose soul is
distracted within him, through dread of
God's eternal wrath, — the cause of his mi-
sery is the fear that his soul shall be lost.
I remember once being called to visit a
poor dying sinner, an aged woman who
had not attended the means of grace,
and though the words of truth were re-
peated again and again in her ears, though
she was entreated to take comfort, though
urged to believe in Christ and be saved,
the only words she uttered in reply were,
' Oh, my poor soul, my soul, my poor
soul !' — there was the horror, there was
the apprehension of God's eternal wrath.
What comfort is there then, in preachino-
to such a perishing creature justification
by works ? The time is past, the oppor-
tunity is lost for ever, and life is not to
be prolonged. To preach justification by
works is to preach ruin, to preach it, is
to preach the sealing up of vengeance on
the poor soul, — there is no comfort for
the dying sinner in man's false doctrine
of works, but every comfort in this
blessed doctrine before us of justifi-
cation by faith only. When the jailor of
Phillippi said, " Sirs, what must I do to
be saved'?" Paul and Silas preached to
him justification by faith only, " believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt
be saved," — and he, that very night " re-
joiced before God with all his house."
Brother sinner, if now, the voice of
God is on thy conscience, or the terror
of hell hath laid hold on thee, take re-
fuge in this article, and bid fear defiance
for ever, " thou shalt not perish, but have
everlasting life." Is it not true, has not
the Lord sworn it, " Verily, verily, I say
unto you, if a man keep my saying he
shall never see death ?" Shall we gainsay
the spotless and gracious Jesus ? And
then, if there be in us a fear of the law,
or of the vengeance of God because
of any declension, backsliding, unfaith-
fulness, and unsteadiness, since the first
moment of acquaintance with his Christ,
has not the same doctrine abundant com-
fort for us ? Is not the throne of grace
ever open to our address in prayer ? may
we not come now to the altar of mercy ?
may we not come anew to the fountain
of cleansing and applying to Jesus, re-
ceive once more and again, forgiveness
of our backslidings and transgressions, and
return to enjoy that peace which is con-
ferred through faith ? Now, hear what
consolation the writers of our church give
us, as referred to in the article.
" And they, which in act or deed do
sin after their baptism, when they turn
again to God unfeignedly, they are like-
wise washed by this sacrifice from their
sins in such sort, that there remaineth not
any spot of sin, that shall be imputed to
their damnation. This is that justification,
or righteousness, which St. Paul speaketh
of, when he saith, No man is justified by
the works of the Law, but freely by faith
in Jesus Christ. And again he saith, We
believe in Jesus Christ, that we be justi-
fied freely by the faith of Christ, and not
by the works of the Law ; because that
no man shall be justified by the works of
the Law."
There is consolation for the mourning
believer who grieves and laments over his
declensions from his first love.
But if he has fallen into poverty or
sickness or any other distress incidental to
our present state of life, — what consola-
tion can he draw from this great article of
justification by faith only ? It tells him,
he has peace with God, that, though he
be poor, and destitute of this world's
wealth, he has the riches of God within
him, which the price of ten thousand
worlds could not purchase : though he be
poor, perishing with disease and want,
yet, the doctrine assures him, he is really
and absolutely a child of God, and that
God loves him with a Father's affection,
and that all this sorrow is ministered and
measured out to him by divine compas-
sion, to procure for him a far more ex-
ceeding and eternal weight of glory. As
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
355
the child who knows by experience his
parent's kindness and tender affection,
when some occasional restraint is im-
posed, or when some necessary medicine
bitter and unpallatable is administered,
learns to value these proofs of love, so
the believer who has tasted the sorrows of
adversity finds his abundant consolation in
this article, and reads in every affliction a
proof of Gods parental care.
Brethren, let us go to the death-bed
scene of a believer — do we not behold joy
on that believer's countenance ? — shall
we not hear faith whispering, " O death,
where is thy sting, O grave, where is thy
victory? thanks be to God that giveth us
the victory through Jesus Christ my
Lord ?" Or, shall we go to the judgment
seat, and when the assembled world is
brought up, and some — how many or how
few, — we cannot tell — are there silent in
shame, incapable of extenuating trans-
gressions, or pleading in behalf of iniqui-
ties perpetrated in this life — Oh, brethren !
were we to be arraigned at the bar of God's
judgment, and challenged for the deeds
done in the body, — which of us could
endure the trial ? Not one. Where then
is our comfort ? In this doctrine of jus-
tification by faith only. You turn to the
apostle's writings, in Romans viii. 33, 34,
you hear him say, " who shall lay any
thing to the charge of God's elect ? It
is God that justifieth : who is he that
condemneth ? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at
the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession for us." Head the last verse
of the next chapter ix, " behold, I lay in
Sion a stumbling stone and rock of of-
fence ; and whosoever believeth on him
shall not be ashamed." Oh, believer on
the Lord Jesus Christ, in the day of judg-
ment, you shall not be ashamed, there
shall be found none to bear witness against
you for the misdeeds of time, no one fault
shall be alleged against you, you shall be
invested with the righteousness of Jesus,
sanctified in soul and body, prepared and
appointed to eternal felicity, and saluted
with these words alone — "well done, good
and faithful servant, enter thou into the
joy of thy Lord."
AGAINST FALSE MODES OF JUSTIFICATION.
SERMON III.
Romans iii. 21, 22, 23.
" But now, the righteousness without the law is manifested, being witeessed by the law and
the prophets;
" Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them
that believe ; for there is no difference.
•' lor all have sinned, and come short of the glory God "
This text brings us very happily to the
conclusion of our subject. We have al-
ready viewed, in agreement with the 11th
article, the requisites for man's justifica-
tion. These requisites were, as you re-
collect, the pardon of all his sins in the
first place : 2d, the possession and exhibi-
tion of a faultless righteousness, adequate
to the term of his life, and the measure
of his responsibility : and 3d. newness of
nature, spotless, essential, inherent, holi-
ness ; and we saw from the Scripture,
that who that believes in Christ has all
these great requisites of justification sup-
plied him ; his sins are blotted out, the
righteousness of Christ is made his righte-
ousness, and the Spirit of Christ regene-
rates his soul so as to render that soul
holy before God. And we saw also, that
the quality and power of that holiness,
communicated to man by the Holy Spi-
rit, govern and regulate the actions of his
life. Then we examined the last portion
of the article, namely, the great privilege
and comfort which God confers on be-
lievers, such as the peace which passeth
all understanding.
This evening, we have to consider a
series of negatives ; in order to render our
positive propositions still more clear, and
lay before you the immense importance
of knowing and confessing the glorious
fact, that we are and can be justified by
faith in Christ only, or by faith alone in
Christ. The doctrine of the text, "the
righteousness of God without the law (or
without the works of the law) is mani-
fested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of
God which is by faith of Jesus Christ un-
to all and upon all them that believe," is
in intimate connexion with the 20th verse
which says, " by the deeds of the law
there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight ;" and with the farther statement of
free, unconditional justification found in
the 24th verse, " being justified freely by
his grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus."
I. We observe now, that the scripture
insists on it, there is n0si>ch thiiirj as jus-
tification solely by man's personal riyhte-
ousnes or man's obedience. Common
sence asserts the same thing. We know,
that if there be a God at all to investigate
our life here below, and to call us to
answer at the last for the deeds done in
the body, that however eager may be our
efforts in this life to perfect virtue, and
however zealous and indefatigable our
labours, that while we are still conscious
of many infirmities and short comings, of
course, the God of holiness, of wisdom,
and of all perfection cannot accept at our
hands as meritorious of eternal life that
imperfect righteousness which alone we
could present, and exhibit before him. —
We feel, at this moment, our best endea-
vours are failures to fulfil what not only
the law of God but the law of public opi-
nion, and the law written on our con-
science require ; — In our own esteem
we are condemnable, how much more
therefore do we deserve judgment rather
than justification from the God of Heaven.
And while we thus acknowledge our
desert of judgment, recollect that it is quite
impossible for man to be justified by the
works of the law, or personal obedience
to any law that ever was published to
man, when scripture states, that, " by
the deeds of the law, shall no flesh be
justified in his (God's) sight," or while
the sanction of the divine code exists —
" cursed is every one that continueth not
in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them." Surely if we
offer to God a partial service, when his
law claims perfect holiness and entire
service, that we may obtain glory, far from
standing justified, we must stand con-
demned. Yea and when we consult
the spirit and letter of the law, we find,
that for every failure and omission of duty,
for every item neglected in our duties,
there is whole condemnation pronounced
on us as if we had violated every precept,
" he who offends in one point is guilty
of all."
In the very same chapter, in which the
Apostle shows us, that it is hopeless to
look for eternal life through obedience
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
357
to the law of God, because condemnation
is proclaimed against every single offence,
he adds " but that no man is justified by
the law in the sight of God, it is evident ;
for the just shall live by faith." There he
establishes the positive doctrine of justifi-
cation by faith only, and he brings in the
assertion as clearly and distinctly as if it
were the converse of the negative proposi-
tion, " by the deeds of the law no flesh
shall be justified.
Let us understand the Apostle's argu-
ment here ; he quotes from the pro-
phets — he shows, that the whole revela-
tion which God made to man from first
to last, was on this principle of justifica-
tion by faith only, or as the sentence
reads in the original, " the just by faith
shall live ;" that is, not that they who
are already just and righteous, shall
spend the residue of their days in faith,
but, that they who are justified by faith,
shall possess eternal life in glory. The
Apostle, thus quoting, carries us back to
the period when the promises were laid
down, to the very day on which our first
parents became outcasts from the pre-
sence of God. Then was promised the
seed of the woman — the Justifier and
Saviour. By faith in that Justifier, Abel
presented the first acceptable sacrifice,
and by justification through faith, though
dead, he now speaks to us in the most
lively and persuasive language, to adopt
the sole terms of justification which God
has revealed.
II. It is impossible for man to be
justified, by a combination of faith and
works of any sort or character. First,
because this proposition is contrary to
what you may term moral sense, or
common sense, if you will, or man's
moral estimate of things. If it be con-
tended, that the righteousness necessary
to justify the sinner, is the righteousness
of Christ conveyed to us by faith, com-
bined with man's own righteousness
wrought out in obedience to the law of
the ten commandments, then the pro-
position is invalid — is self-destructive.
We know the righteousness of Christ
to be spotless — we know our own righ-
teousness to be foul, spotted, and polluted
with sin ; because it is wrought out in
fallen humanity — because it is wrought
out in a world, where all is unclean —
where our very prayers even need to be
washed and sanctified from sin. Thus,
then, this statement, that the combined
righteousness of Christ and of man pro-
duces justification, is self-destructive,
and contrary to moral sense ; for that
righteousness of ours, which we unite with
the righteousness of Christ, must defile
his righteousness, or render the whole
offering incomplete and reprobate in
God's esteem.
Again, that this doctrine of a combined
righteousness is false, you will find
by considering personal righteousness
either as done in compliance with the
ceremonial law, or with the moral law.
If we take it as ceremonial righteousness,
then this doctrine of compound righteous-
ness, as the justifying cause of the sinner
man, is the old doctrine preached by the
pharisaic sect, that troubled the ancient
church, saying, " except ye be circum-
cised, and keep the law, ye cannot be
saved, the doctrine condemned by the
decree of the assembled Apostles, elders,
and church at Jerusalem, ratified by the
Spirit of God. Or, if we take this personal
righteousness as a moral righteousness,
then the Scripture equally condemns the
tenet. You recollect what the Apostle
writes to the Roman church, a church
composed of Gentile as well as Jewish
converts — of men who never knew the
ceremonial law, and never were placed
under the burthensome yoke of its ob-
servances, as well as of those, who were
from infancy sealed to that yoke by
circumcision ; and most clearly and
strikingly does the Apostle in this epistle
address Gentiles and Jews, equally
insisting on it, that we are to be justified
freely by God's grace through the re^
demption that is in Christ Jesus, without
the deeds of the law -. — what law? — the
ceremonial law ? Yea, and the moral
law likewise ; for he considers the con-
dition both of the Jew who had the law
published to him, with the condition of
the Gentile, who had the law written
only on his conscience. In the epistle
to the Ephesians, the same Apostle of the
Gentiles, addressing a church composed
almost wholy of men who were neverl
circumcised, and never placed under
ceremonial duties, says in chap. ii. 8, 9,
(i by grace are ye saved, through faith,
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift
of God, not of works, lest any man
should boast" — works known to the Gen-
tiles as acts of moral righteousness only.
Now, brethren, if there be any truth
In Scripture, any clearness and per-
spicuity in the Apostle's statement, you
must agree with me, when you consider
this doctrine of compound righteousness
being the procuring cause of justification
358
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
before God, that the Apostle, that is to
say, the Holy Ghost writing by his
agency, has condemned the doctrine as
false, and left you shut up to justifica-
tion by faith only, without the deeds
of the law, whether ceremonial or
moral.
III. We have excluded now, justification
by works alone, by faith and works com-
bined, and lastly, we go to exclude the
doctrine of justification by an act of faith.
Faith itself does not justify man, man is
justified by Christ through faith, that is to
say, man is justified instrumentally by
faith, causatively by Christ We exclude
that false position, that faith or an act of
faith causatively justifies, simply by consi-
dering the nature of faith. I defined
faith to you to be, the assent of the un-
derstanding to evidence. God has given
evidence, has borne witness, and we
assent to that witness, testimony or evi-
dence, this assent is justifying faith — for
the word of God declares, that he who
receives God's testimony, has set to his
seal that He is true, and obtains all the
blessings of the new covenant, including
of course justification. Now faith, or our
assent to God's testimony, is not so much
an act of the mind, as a passion of the
mind. When we exercise our intellect
on an obstruse proposition, the whole
energy of our inward man may be called
into positive action ; but where, without
previous notice, without calling the soul
from its chambers of repose, a proposition
is announced to us abruptly by one whose
character is known and irreproachable,
and whose word is truth, we can no more
refuse our assent to his evidence or an-
nunciation, than we can refuse to believe
the evidence of our common senses when
they witness to us, that there is light in
this habitation, or tone in the voice that
now vibrates within those walls. Faith
then, or assent, is no more intrinsicaly
meritorious than the operation of our
senses, of than any other common opera-
tion, ot change, or effect, produced on
the soul — and being not meritorious,
cannot justify.
More clearly to exhibit to you that
the simple act of faith, or rather the pas-
sion of faith more properly speaking, does
not intrinsically possess a worth that can
stand instead of righteousness, and cancel
our sins, consider for a moment, how
fai h is produced and promoted in the
soul. It is not a giant effort that man
makes in order to comply with the wishes
of his God, which giant effort might be
valuable because of its extreme and ad-
mirable power, because of all the circum-
stances of difficulty and opposition which
it overcomes, faith is really the work of
God, the gift of God, " by grace are ye
saved through faith, and that, not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast." Now
if faith were the work of man, an act or
effort of his soul, the latter part of this
infallible passage would contradict the
former, which is impossible. Faith then
must be a passion, not a work, something
that man suffers, not, what he makes, and
consequently claims or produces intrinsi-
cally no righteousness for the possessor
The Jews said, " what shall we do that we
might work the work of God?" "this"
said Christ " is the work of God, that ye
believe on him whom he hath sent:"
when a man believes on Christ, who was
sent ,l to seek and to save that which was
lost," that belief which he then exercises
in his soul, is God's work within him, is
as much as consciousness, or judgment,
or comparison, or abstraction, or any
other faculty or function conferred on
him by his Maker. These functions re-
flect credit on their author, none on their
possessor, and faith being one of God's
creation, thus gives not credit or justifica-
tion of itself, or from itself to man, how-
ever truly and gloriously it redounds to
the honor of Jehovah. The Holy Ghost
seals up this view of faith saying to us,
" Jesus the author and finisher of our
faith." It is Christ then that produces
faith within us, that promotes faith in us,
continues faith in us, and terminates faith
in glory.
We have thus far examined the nature
of faith, and we have seen, as it is not man's
work, that it possesses no intrinsic merit
to stand instead of that righteousness and
compliance with the demands of the di-
vine law which we are bound to present
before God.
Yet once more, brethren, consider this
truth, and confess, that it is impossible
our justification can rest on the mere act
of faith, when we find the Scriptures po-
sitively shew wholly another thing, on
which our justification do(s rest. St.
Paul, in this 3rd chapter says, (using
prepositions variously to bring home the
abstract truth to our minds,) " therefore
we conclude that a man is justified by
faith without the deeds of the law, seeing
it is one God which shall justify the,
circumcision by faith, anduncircumcision
through faith.'' Then he tells us, in
OR GOSPEL PREACHER,
359
another place, " we are justified by God's
grace;" and in another "we are justified by
the blood of Christ ;" and so, brethren, all
this variety of expression goes to bring
before us the truth, that we are justified
by God's grace, through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus ; that he is righ-
teousness, our justifying righteous-
ness, according to the prophet Jere-
miah xxiii. 6, " this is his name whereby
he shall be called, the Lord our Righ-
teousness." Can this be so ? consult the
xxxiii chap, and you find the same title
given to Jerusalem, " this is the name
wherewith she shall be called, the Lord
our Righteousness." Why transfer the
name from God unto his redeemed ser-
vants ? because God is prepared to
identify himself with his redeemed people ;
and God, the righteous Jesus, confers
himself and all his merits on that people
to their justification, and so, hear the
language of the redeemed people under
the character of Christ's Spouse — Song of
Solomon, vi. 3, " I am my beloved's,
and my beloved is mine," testifying to
this great union or identity that God has
appointed to be between Christ and the
church. Once more, examine the apos-
tle's own confession, recorded in Philli-
pians iii. 9, in which he discards all merit
whether ceremonial or moral, and desires
to be found in Christ, not having his own
righteousness of the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, the righ-
teousness which is of God by faith.
Finally, it is alleged against justification
by faith only, that James declares, man is
not justified by faith only, but by works
also, and that he has instanced the case
of Abraham to show that Abraham's jus-
tification depended not on his faith, but
on his faith and works combined. The
Apostle Paul has quoted the same words
in Romans iv. to prove, that man is
justified by faith solely. In order to
reconcile this apparent discrepancy, re-
member, for one moment, that when Abra-
ham believed in God, and was justified
through faith, that. Abraham stood alone
with God at night, and God challenged
him to count the stars of heaven, " and
said unto him, so shall thy seed be,
and he believed in the Lord, and he
counted it to him for righteousness."
There was there no possibility or op-
portunity of exercising any act of obe-
dience to add to his faith, he was
shut up to faith alone. Look closely and
calmly at the passage in St. James, and
mark, that he cites an occurrence which
took place forty years after the event
ireferred to by St. Paul, even the offering
up of Isaac. When you find so great an
nterval of time between the occurrencest
quoted by the Apostles, does it not strike
you, that there is no clash between the
statements of the holy writers, but thai
the truth really is, that while St. Pau
dwells on justification before God, which
is to be had by faith only, the other
dwells on justification before the world,
which can be had by works only. We
profess to be Christians — we may be such
and stand justified in God's esteem
through faith — tell out to your brethren
you are believers — announce your pro-
fession, and it cannot be accredited or
justified in man's esteem, as sincere, with-
out the appropriate proof of obedience.
Thus, you perceive, that they who
would quote against us this epistle of
St. James, do garble the Sacred Scriptures,
and wrest them to their own destruction.
When we speak thus and say, that the
enemies of God, and the enemies of
man's salvation have done so and so, it is
right to prove that they have done so. You
have only to turn to some of the acts of
the Council of Trent, and read there, as
in the decrees of the 6th Session, doc-
trines on justification contrary to divine
truth, and urged upon the consciences of
men, with all the artillery of imprecation.
Canon xi " Si quis dixerit, homines
justificari vel sola imputatione justitise
Christi, vel sola peccatorum remissione,
exclusa gratia et charitate ; quae in cordi-
bus eorum per Spiritum sanctum diffun-
datur, atque i Ills inhsereat ; aut etiam
gratiam, qua justificamur, esse tantiim
favorem Dei ; anathema sit. "
Canon xii " Si quis dixerit, fidem
justificantem nihil aliud esse quam fidu-
ciam divinse misericordiaj, peccata remit-
tentis propter Christum ; vel earn fidu-
ciam solam esse, qua, justificamur; ana-
thema sit.''
These are not merely the dead letter
decrees of the Church of Rome, but the
doctrine of that Church, preached from
her altars, published in her catechisms,
taught to all her adults and children with
untiring zeal. It is now but right to
hear the voice of our own church on these
two points, that we are justified by faith,
and by faith only, but not the act of
faith, as uttered in her Homilies
In these aforesaid places, the Apostle
toueheth specially three things, which
must go together for our justcation
Upon God's part, his great mercy and
360
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
grace: upon Christ's part, justice; that is,
the satisfaction of God's justice, or the
price of our redemption, by the offering
of his body, and shedding of his blood,
with fulfilling of the Law perfectly and
thoroughly : and upon our part, true and
lively faith in the merits of Jesus Christ ;
which yet is not ours, but by God's work-
ing in us. So that in our justification,
there is not only God's mercy and grace,
but also his justice ; which the Apostle
calleth the justice of God ; and it consist-
eth in paying our ransom and fulfilling of
the law. And so the grace of God doth
not shut out the justice of God in our
justification, but only shutteth out the
justice of man ; that is to say, the justice
of our works, as to be merits of deserving
our justification. And therefore St. Paul
declareth here nothing, upon the behalf
of man, concerning his justification, but
only a true and lively faith ; which never-
theless is the gift of God, and not man's
only work without God. And yet, that
faith doth not shut out repentance, hope,
love, dread, and the fear of God,to be joined
with faith in every man that is justified ;
but it shutteth them out from the office of
justifying. So that, although they be all
present together in him that is justified,
yet they justify not altogether. ' Neither
doth faith shut out the justice of our good
works, necessarily to be done afterwards
of duty towards God — for we are most
bounden to serve God, in doing good
deeds commanded by him in his Koly
Scripture, all the days of our life — but it
excludeth them, so that we may not do
them to this intent, to be made just by
doing of them. For all the good works,
that we can do, be imperfect ; and there-
fore not able to deserve our justification :
but our justification doth come freely, by
the mere mercy of God ; and of so great
and free mercy, that, whereas all the
world was not able of themselves to pay
any part towards their ransom, it pleased
our heavenly Father, of his infinite mercy,
without any, our desert or deserving, to
prepare for us the most precious jewels of
Christ's body and blood ; whereby our
ransom might be fully paid, the Law ful-
filled, and his justice fully satisfied. So
that Christ is now the righteousness of
all them that truly do believe in him. He
for them paid their ransom by his death.
He for them fulfilled the Law in his life.
So that now in him, and by him, every
true Christian man may be called a fulfiller
of the Law : for as much as that which their
infirmity lacked, Christ's justice hath
supplied."
" And therefore we must trust only in
God's mercy, and that sacrifice which our
High Priest and Saviour Christ Jesus, the
Son of God, once offered for us upon the
cross, to obtain thereby God's grace, and
remission, as well of our original sin in
baptism, as of all actual sin committed by
us after our baptism, if we truly repent
and turn unfeignedly to him again. So
that, as St. John Baptist, although he
were never so virtuous and godly a man,
yet in this matter of forgiving of sin, he
did put the people from him, and ap-
pointed them unto Christ, saying thus
unto them, Behold, yonder is the Larnb
of God, which taketh away the sins of
the world : even so, as great and as godly
a virtue as the lively faith is, yet it put-
teth us from itself, and remitteth, or ap-
pointeth us unto Christ, for to have only
by bim remission of our sins, or justifica-
tion. So that our faith in Christ, as it
were, saith unto us thus : It is not I that
take away your sins, but it is Christ only;
and to him only I send you for that pur-
pose ; forsaking therein all your good
virtues, words, thoughts, and works, and
only putting your trust in Christ."
You have heard the voice of our
church now brethren, in connexion with
her articles, and you have examined the
Scriptures of the ever blessed God, on
this great business of justification, and by
all these " I call you to record this day,
I am pure from the blood of all men," I
have shown you, that as sinners, you can
be justified only by God's grace through
faith in the finished righteousness of his
dear Son ; and having done this, it re-
mains for me solely to intreat you, as you
value your own souls, and would be the
accepted children of the Lord God Al-
mighty, to discard your own righteousness
as vile, and cast all your hope, as this,
our homily admirably expresses it, on
God's mercy and that sacrifice which our
High Priest and Saviour Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, once offered for us or.
the cross to obtain God's grace and the
remission of all our sins. Amen.
Dublin: NEW IRISH PULPIT OFFICE 1, ST. ANDREW-STREET
J. Robertson, and all B wk sellers.
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT
GOSPEL PREACHER,
" We preach Christ crucified —
" Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God."— 4 Cor. 1 . 23. 24.
No. XCVI.
SATURDAY, 9th NOVEMBER, 1839.
Paice 4d.
REV. R. C. DILLON.
REV. B. JACOB.
A SERMON
PREACHED IN BOOTERSTOWN CHURCH, DIOCESE OF DUBLIN,
ON SUNDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 27th, 1839.
IN AID OF THE FUNDS OF THE DORCAS SOCIETY,
BY THE REV. R. C. DILLON, D.D.
(Incumbent Minister of Charlotte Chapel, Pimlico; and Sunday Evening Lecturer at St.
James's Church, Clerkenwell, London.)
Romans vni. the last two verses.
" I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creatnre, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
separate i
It was said by an inspired Apostle, that
among the " things" to be found in St.
Paul's writings, were some " hard to be
understood, which they that are unlearned
and unstable wrest, as they do also the
other Scriptures, unto their own destruc-
tion."
Now, some'of these " hard things" are
to be found in this chapter. But whence
arises the difficulty of understanding
them ? Not from any obscurity in the
things themselves, but from the magnifi-
cence, the spirituality, the infinity of the
subject, and the necessary limitation of
our capacities. Why is it that you can-
not fix your eye, even for a few moments,
on that beautiful orb, the great luminary
Vol. IV.
of the day, and then glance at the objects
around you, with a distinct perception of
any one of them ? Is this darkness ?
No, it is excess of light. Your eye is
dazzled with excessive brightness.
And so, in reference to spiritual and
eternal things. I cannot see them as they
are, because the organ which I have di-
rected to them is not capable of receiving
or bearing their overpowering radiance.
The obscurity is not in them but in me.
Take, for instance, that sublime sub-
ject of predestination, as it is touched in
the 29th and 30th verses of this chapter.
" Whom He did foreknow, He also did
predestinate to be conformed to the
image of his Son, that He might be the
V
362
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
first-born among many brethren. More-
over, whom He did predestinate, them He
also called ; and whom He called them He
also justified ; and whom He justified,
them He also glorified." Now what is to
be done with this doctrine ? Nothing but
to receive it, and adore what we cannot
comprehend : to leave God to justify His
own character and to apply to ourselves
the declaration — " Secret things belong
unto the Lord our God, but those things
which are revealed belong unto us and
our children for ever." All we know is,
that the origin of our salvation is in the
secret bosom of Jehovah, lodged in an eter-
nity which our minds have no power to
penetrate. Let us come back, then,
from the secret to the revealed will of the
Lord our God, and rejoice in the assu-
rance, that " He who spared not his own
Son, but delivered Him up for us all, will
with him also freely give us all things.''
For " Who shall lay any thing to the
charge of God's elect ? It is God that
justifieth — "or as it had been better ren-
dered — giving the Apostle's answers to
his own questions in the form of inter-
rogatories — a construction which imparts
to them additional force and spirit —
" Shall God that justifieth ? Who is
He that condcmneth ? Shall (or will)
Christ that died?" If accusation be
brought at all, it should be brought in the
name of God and on His behalf. But
God has justified His people. Who then
can condemn them ? The appointed
Judge (with whom lies the power of pas-
sing sentence) is the Redeemer him-
self. Will Christ then condemn those
for whom he endured the agonies of
death — on behalf of whom, as their sure-
ty, He was raised from the dead and ac-
cepted of the Father, placed at the right
hand of God, invested with all power in
heaven and earth, that he might save to
the uttermost ?
Can it be supposed that He will con-
demn the people, the price of whose re-
demption was His own blood ? So far
otherwise, " He will come to be glorified
in His saints, and to be admired in all
them that believe." " For I am persua-
ded that neither death nor life, nor an-
gels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor
height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love
of God, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord."
There are two things in these verses on
which I shall this morning engage your
attention.
I. The perils of the Christian's con-
flict, and
II. The pledge of the Christian's vic-
tory.
I. The perils op the Christian's
conflict. — And what an immense army
does the Apostle here put before us in
array against the Christian to dispute his
path to eternal life ! Every thing is enu-
merated that may be supposed capable of
effecting a separation between the Chris-
tian and the love of God. The Apostle
mentions four distinct couplets of perils
— death and life, principalities and pow-
ers, things present, and things to come,
height and depth. And every one of
these enemies, determined to contend
every inch of the field with the Christian,
must be overcome, before the crown can
be put on his head.
The first of these formidable adversa-
ries is death — and that death should be an
enemy surprises us not. It came in as an
enemy to man's nature : " by one man's
sin death was brought into our world."
But it is of death in some of its most ter-
rible accompaniments, that the Apostle is
here speaking, " persecution, famine,
nakednesss, peril, sword. " And what, was
the death which some of the first mar-
tyrs died ? Some were stoned, some
were sawn asunder, some were flayed
alive, some were burned, others were
drowned. Every form of cruelty, in
short, which the imagination could de-
vise was resorted to. Conceive, then,
brethren, the strength of that principle
which could say, that even a death like
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
363
any of these could not separate from the
love of God.
But how do we find " life" among the
Christian's enemies ? that which is most
to be desired ? It may be considered his
enemy so far as it interposes delay be-
tween the Christian and his home; as
long as he lives on earth, he lives a dying
life. But the Apostle seems to have " life"
in his view chiefly as it is an instrument in
the hands of the great enemy of our
souls, to seduce us by its dissipations —
life to ensnare as well as death to terrify.
And where is the individual who is always
able to stand firm against the seductions of
this vanishing and vain world ? Who
among us could bear to have his day of
life always bright and unclouded ? A life
of unbroken prosperity is always begirt
with peril to the Christian. And if death
has its terrors, life has its seducements.
And were there none in the life of St.
Paul ? Who was St. Paul ? a man to be
admired, and liable to be flattered — con-
sider what he was in society : what he was
in the sect to which he belonged — living
a Pharisee, after the most strictest sect of
his religion — (I speak of him before his
conversion) a Hebrew of the Hebrews —
his whole life filled with zeal for the
rights and observances of the Mosaic
law — conceive of the combination of
all these bearing on the proud heart
of man, and you will have no difficulty in
believing, that not death with all its ter-
rors was so formidable to such a man,
as life with such seducements ; and yet so
sure was he of being kept by the mighty
power of God unhurt amidst the snares
of life, that he says " I am persuaded that
neither death nor life shall be able to se-
parate from the love of God." He will
uphold his people not more securely
amidst the alarms of the one, than the
blandishments of the other.
But the Christian must conflict with other
enemies besides death and life, "we wres-
tle not against flesh and blood merely, but
against principalities, against powers, a-
gainst spiritual wickedness in high places."
And certain it is that fallen spirits have
access to our minds In a way which our
minds cannot understand. We know
nothing of spirit: — of separate spirits — of
spirits never invested with material bo-
dies. How little can we know then of
the nature of those spiritual unslumbering
enemies, who are always on the watch
to throw in upon our minds the poi-
son of temptation, who walk up and
down the fold, seeking whom they may
devour ?
And yet, St. Paul in the text, throws
down the gauntlet of defiance at the
devil and all his principalities and powers :
against all those powers and authorities of
men which hold dominion over the visi-
ble world, as the devils do over the invi-
sible— all are set at defiance.
The Apostle,moreover,takes into the ac-
count all " present" things : and these are
often so embarrassing as greatly to depress
and perplex the Christian — domestic trial,
Personal infirmities and sickness, langour
in devotion, with a thousand nameless
circumstances of disquietude and depres-
sion. And, brethren, you and I are con-
stantly finding our feelings changing with
our circumstances — sometimes we walk in
darkness having no light. But how de-
lightful to be able to say with St. Paul,
not " present" things shall separate us
from the love of God : and to see the ves-
sel riding safely, even when the storm is
upon her !
The Apostle, however, did not tarry even
here. He takes " things to come" also
into the account, when he is enumerating
the perils of the Christian's conflict, and
he knew there were some dreadful troubles
yet before him. But how does he speak
in reference to them ? " I am now ready
to be offered" — I am just on the point of
being offered — I am quite willing to be
offered, and the time of my departure is
at hand, "henceforth there is laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, which the
Lord the righteous Judge shall give to
i me at that day, and not to me only, but unto
I all them also that love His appearing?"
3G4
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
Surely, these are not the words of a man
speaking from a prison ! Surely, they
come not from the regions of dismay and
sorrow, but from those of light, and life,
and glory. But how comes his language
to have been thus tinctured with the idiom
of immortality ? How ? Because his
thoughts were in heaven — because his
soul was with his Saviour, his heart with
this treasure ; therefore it was that " nei-
ther things present" — neither his unjust
and cruel captivity, as the champion of
the Gospel, nor "things to come" — his
impending fate, as a martyr as well as
champion, could daunt or disturb him.
Therefore, it was, he was able to summon
into view all those terrible forms of dis-
tress enumerated in our text. But for
what end does he muster this confedera-
ted band of woes ? Does he call upon
them to avert the sufferings which they
inflict ? No, he challenges them to sepa-
rate the Christian sufferer from the love
of Christ. He looks at these unequalled
trials only that he may be reminded of
the principle which makes them support-
able, and he presents himself to us as an
instance of the supreme triumph of his love
over all earthly calamity. He, whose
distress abounded, who was pressed above
measure, was yet lifted up by such a
mighty faith as enabled him " to desire
to depart," not in the gentle decay of ex-
hausted nature ; not in the weaning lan-
gour of a sick bed ; not in the calm of a
peaceful dissolution, suffering only the
pains inseparable from an ordinary death ;
but he is prepared to meet the hand of
violence. He is ready to pour out his
blood upon the scaffold, he is longing to
join the souls of them who were behead-
ed for the witness of Jesus, because he
was persuaded that neither death in its
most terrifying forms, nor life with all its
seducing pleasures, nor all the efforts of
principalities and powers, how various
soever their rank, subtile their artifices,
or malignant their rage — " nor things
present" — difficult as they are, "nor things
to come" — extreme as the may be, nor
" heights" of prosperity, nor " depths" of
adversity, " nor any other creature" above
or beneath in heaven, earth, or hell,
would be able (vehemently as they might
try) " to separate him from the love of God
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
We have now to examine —
II. The Pledge of the Christian's
Victory. — And it may be instructive and
useful to us, to see, on what this persuai
sion — this pledge of victory is founded.
The grounds of this persuasion may be
described as two-fold : general, as relating
to others; particular, as relating to him-
self; the one, the general grounds, creat-
ing in him an assurance of faith ; the
other, the particular grounds, as creating
within him the assurance of hope. We
will notice, first, the general grounds.
These are such as are revealed in Scrip-
ture, and are common to all believers.
1. The stability of the covenant which
God has made with us in Christ Jesus,
warrants an assurance that all who are in-
terested in it shall endure unto the end.
It secures to us not only a new heart, but
a divine agency causing us to walk in
God's statutes. It engages that God shall
never depart from us, nor we from Him,
in short, it promises us grace and glory.
Now, this covenant shall not be broken ;
if heaven and earth fail, this shall not :
there shall not be one jot or tittle of it
ever violated. It is " ordered in all
things and sure" — consequently the
believer shall never be deprived of any
of its blessings.
2. The immutability of the love of
God is another ground of assured faith.
He is of one mind and none can turn
Him ? There is with Him no variable-
ness, or even shadow of turning.
We are all of us, verily, guilty of de-
fective contemplations on the attribute of
God's unchangeableness. His power, wis-
dom, and goodness are sounds familiar to
our ears : but His immutability throws a
a brilliancy over all his other perfections ;
for with what hopes would the goodness
of God fill our minds, or what reverence
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
365
would his power command if it were pos-
sible that the plans which goodness had
framed could alter, or that the power of
executing those plans could decrease ?
But in the supreme Jehovah there can
never be the most distant approach to
change. " From everlasting to everlast-
ing " He is the same — influenced by no
power — affected by no accident — impaired
by no time. Of other things some have
been, and others shall be ; but this is he
which is, which was, and which is to
come — " the same yesterday, to-day, and
for ever." And as is his essence, so
are his perfections: " his righteousness
is like the strong mountains : his mercy
is in the heavens; his faithfulness reach-
eth unto the clouds," and those whom He
loveth once he loveth for ever.
Unhinge this great article of our faith,
and you lay the axe to the root of the co-
venant of grace, and cut down, with one
blow, the hope and security of the people
of the Lord. But let believers only rea-
lize the existence of a God of infinite love,
whose power never fails, and whose
goodness cannot change, and they attain
a fortress in every danger ; a refuge
amidst all storms ; a dwelling place in
all generations. Their hearts are fixed,
trusting in the Lord : his immutability is
the pillar of their hopes ; and they are
" persuaded that neither death nor life,
nor any other creature, can ever separate
them from the love of God in Christ
Jesus their Lord."
3. For herein, too, lies the security of
the Church, it is the love of God in Christ
Jesus — the offices of the Son of God, as
well as the unchangeableness of Jehovah
himself form another firm basis for the
persuasion of the text.
Man, in his highest glory, is a poor,
unsettled, uncertain creature, likened to
a reed floating on the stream of time, and
forced to follow every new direction of
the current. But Christ is the "rock of
ages :" there is no vicissitude under which
His people cannot take sanctuary with
Him as a sure and abiding friend ; the
guide of their pilgrimage here, and the
stay of their souls hereafter. All their
patrons may desert them, and all their
friends may die, but the Lord still lives
who is their rock and their Redeemer.
He did not assume the priestly, prophetic,
and kingly offices, merely to put us in a
capacity to save ourselves ; the grand aim
and end was that his work might be effec-
tual for the salvation of all whom the Fa-
ther had given to him. He ever lives to
make intercession for them ; He is con-
stituted Head over all things to His
Church, that none shall be able to pluck
His people out of His hands.
Oh ! much were it to be wished
that there were in all our minds a more
adequate sense of the offices which the
Redeemer holds, now that he is exalted at
His Father's right hand, for then would
it awaken the gratitude which slumbers
within us and is dead. Can any one for
one moment suppose that the Redeemer
has quitted the superintendence of a work
which His own hands reared, and His own
blood ratified ? Has He surrendered the
spoils of that victory for which He bled ?
Will He ever do anything to close that
entrance to eternal life which it cost Him
so much to open ? If, when the gall was
in His mouth, and the crown of thoms
was upon His head, He did not desert the
work which He had come to accomplish,
can it be thought that He ever will de-
sert it ? That what He died to begin He
will not live to carry forward ?
Surely, brethren, there is not a sounder
and a safer basis for every believer's con-
fidence, whatever be his growth or attain-
ments in the divine life — whether he
knows much or little of gospel truth and
grace — whether he is in a state of faith,
or a state of inquiry — whether he is
walking in the broad day-light of ad-
vanced experience, or is groping the
way of deliverance — not a firmer footing
can he get for the assurance of faith, than
that which the present position of the
great Advocate in the Heavens so abun-
dantly furnishes.
366
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
Now we call these the general grounds
of the Christian's confidence, because
he has them in common with others,
creating within his bosom an assurance of
faith.
2. The particular grounds of this per-
suasion which create within the heart the
assurance of hope, are the testimony of
conscience — the inward evidence — the
Spirit's witnessing with our spirits that we
are the children of God.
Now of those who may be anxious for
this strong persuasion, I would ask — are
you not sometimes — and too often —
found looking into a book which does
not belong to you — a book which you
cannot understand — the book of God's
secret will ? — and is not the question fre-
quently putting itself — " Am I one of
God's elect people ? Now you are look-
ing in the wrong book for an answer to
this question : you will never find it in
the records of the divine decrees, but you
will find it in the records of your own
conscience ; and the book of conscience,
though it may not tell you directly in so
many words, whether God has chosen
you, can yet tell whether you have chosen
God ; and if you have, the question is
answered, and all is well with you ; be-
cause if you have chosen God as your
portion, and the Lord Jesus as your Re-
deemer, the testimony of conscience thus
becomes indisputable evidence that God
had before chosen you ; because you never
would have loved Him, if he had not first
loved you.
Oh ! come with me, then, to the foun-
tain of full and overflowing mercy, and
drink at that well-spring of joy and con-
solation which is springing at your feet in
this sanctuary this morning. Take the
comfort to which you have even now full
and free access. Look back on your life,
turn over the pages of your own per-
sonal history, till you come to that me-
morable passage therein — it ought to be
a point of easy reference — when you
were first drawn in your desires towards
God; when you gave up) our heartof hard-
ness and unbelief, and made the transition
from darkness to light. Now who brought
you into even your present feelings ? Who
taught you even the little which you may
at presenl know ? Who awakened you
out of the sleep of nature ? There wa3
a time when the preaching of the cross
was foolishness unto you — when its phra-
seology tired and disgusted you — and
when you could not listen for an instant
to the warnings of maternal counsel, nor
the urgency of ministerial exhortation —
when a mother's prayers and a minister's
entreaties were alike unheeded by you —
when your heart was quite without se-
riousness, and your every day habits quite
without decorum.
Now who put an end to this most
wretched state of things ? By whose
guidance were you led to that book, that
conference, or that sermon ? — that de-
monstration of either the press or the
preacher which first made you think ?
Who sent you that affliction which
snatched away from you the friend dear
unto you as your own soul — weaned your
spirit from earth, and won it over to the
deathless and eternal friendship of hea-
ven ? Who was it that unsettled your re-
pose in worldly dependencies by the disas-
ters of business, or shook your mind
through all its powers by the terrors of
the law, or shone upon it by the light of
his free Spirit ? Was it you yourself that
originated the process of your own salva-
tion ? Yea ! rather was it not that mer-
ciful and ever-loving God who kept by
you in your wanderings from his fold, and
made his designs of grace to bear upon
you — and showed you the extent of your
guilt, with the overpassing extent of the
redemption that is provided for it, and
who has said " I will' never leave thee,
nor forsake thee ? '
Oh ! how I wish that I could send you
away this morning, taking with you the
text as the shield of your poor, doubting,
downcast heart against all its desponden-
cies, for then would it do for you two
great and glorious things : it would fortify
OR GOSPEL PItEACHER.
367
your Jhith, and perfect that which is lack-
ing in your hope.
But methinks 1 see the question
arising in the minds of many now before
me — are we to understand the minister
as urging upon us — (though we have only
lately tasted that the Lord is gracious) —
this assurance of hope ? I will reply to this
question by proposing some others. Can
you glorify God's truth too sooti ? — his
goodness too soon ? — his mercy and love
too soon ? Can you repose on the atone-
ment and righteousness of the Redeemer
too soon ? — on the guidance and teach-
ing of the Spirit too soon ? For what
purpose did the Lord Jesus come into
our world ? Was it not to save sinners ?
For whom did he die ? Was it not " the
just for the unjust ?" For whom did He
pour out his soul ? Was it not for trans-
gressors ? Then if you know and feel
yourself to be a sinner, unjust, and a
transgressor, why will you not take to your-
self the comfort here offered to your accept-
ance ? Why will you not make use of the
privilege here consigned to your enjoy-
ment, and claim the legacy in these
clauses of your dying master's testament,
most evidently bequeathed to your soul ?
Oh ! think you, that you can too soon
rely on your illustrious surety ? — that
you can too soon put your case into the
great Advocate's hand ? — that your dis-
tempered soul can too sooii be placed
under the care of the all-wise Physician ?
Oh ! verily not. Fly, then, to the ark of
his wounds, and make mention of His
righteousness only, and you may take
license from that moment to say, " I am
persuaded that neither the terrors of
death, nor the seducements of life ; nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
— neither the temptations of Satan, nor
the persecutions of men ; nor anything
felt at present, nor feared in future ;
nor height nor depth, prosperity nor
adversity, nor anything else in the
whole creation, shall be able to separate
me from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord ;" for " He
loved me, and gave Himself for me."
And now, brethren, I have barely left
myself time for saying all that could
be said, in commendation of that most
valuable and unostentatious society, —
the Dorcas Depository — whose interests
have drawn us together this morn-
ing. But you know its principles and
its resources. Its principles are founded
on the great command of our blessed
Saviour to " love one another." It is so
entirely actuated by a christian spirit in
all its proceedings, that it dispenses its
food and clothing to the sick and desti-
tute of this neighbourhood, without any
reference to the religious creed. The
only introduction which is needed to its
funds, is that which poverty bestows.
And it is an impressive circumstance,
that in this parish, where there are per-
haps not 300 acres, there should yet be
500 poor ; all of whom are depending for
a livelihood, from the beginning to the
end of the year, on the most precarious
means of support.
The annual visit, indeed, which many
of you are pleased to make to this marine
and sequestered spot, during the summer
months, tells wonderfully on the comforts
of the poor. They get temporary em-
ployment through your kindness, and the
burden of life is materially lessened by
the compassion which you have upon
them. But, Christian brethren, permit
me to remind you, that the summer lasts
not all through the year. We are now
in the days of autumn ; and when we
look round on the leaf-strewn walks, and
see that which once was green and fresh,
now beginning to turn brown and yellow,
we cannot but mark them as the tints of
decay, forcibly reminding us that the
season of winter is at hand.
What, then, is to become of these your
poorer brethren in this vicinity, when
your sojourn among them touches on its
close? To whom are they to look for
relief? Allow me to say, that they will
368
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
deem it a privilege to look to you. And
their hope is, that you will allow them so
to do. They are venturing to calculate
that their friends in the summer will be
their friends in the winter; and that,
through the benevolence which you will
manifest this day, they shall feel no lack
of fuel, and of food and clothing during
the coming winter.
And who shall say what God in His
Providence may intend that winter to
be ? The prospects of a successful in-
gathering of the fruits of the earth are
said to be most gloomy. Much of that
which is to feed and to warm our poor
brethren, is likely to perish. The appeal,
then, which these destitute creatures have
commissioned me to make in their be-
half, is founded on an experience of
your former kindness to them. It has
always been your habit, — and a most
goodly habit with you, — ere you ex-
changed your residence in the country
for the more permanent abode in town,
to leave behind you some token of grati-
tude to Almighty God, for the benefit
you and your families have derived from
residing here. Your question will be
" what shall I render unto the Lord for
all the benefits that he hath done unto
me ?'' And I feel sure that you will not
be the less disposed to open wide your
hearts and hands this day, from the con-
sideration, that before another year re-
volves, some great national change will
be effected by Act of Parliament, in the
mode of administering relief to the poor.
The charity of law is, in a very few
months, to supersede the charity of love.
I wish the experiment may succeed. At
all events, the labours of your Dorcas So-
ciety will then be spared : and what you
hereafter give to the poor will be rated
upon you as a tax, and not as it is now,
solicited from you as a donation.
As this, then, is to be your last Dorcas
Society collection, I trust you have de-
termined that it shall not be your least.
Many a destitute creature in this neigh-
bourhood is waiting to be relieved by
you — many a poor naked creature is
waiting to be clothed — and many that are
hungry are waiting to be fed : and it is
for you to decide this day, whether the
hearth is to be without fire, the table
without food, and the children without
clothing. You know not, indeed, from
what contagious and malignant fever the
dwellings of your poor may be preserved
this winter, by means of the donations
which you present to-day, to the cause of
charity.
I cannot permit myself to believe, that
any individuals here present will allow
the plate to pass them without some sub-
stantial token of love to the Redeemer.
For, it is His cause we plead to-day.
There have been minds indeed, so cool
and calculating, and hearts withal so des-
titute of Christian love, that they never
contribute on occasions such as this, be-
cause they are not quite sure, that all the
cases relieved were really deserving as
well as distressed. O ! if God were to
deal so rigidly with us ; if he waited to
bestow even his ordinary blessings till
we were good enough to deserve them,
ivho would be clothed? who would be
fed? who would have a roof to shelter
him?
Beware, then, my Christian brethren,
as I am sure you will, — that your religion
does not assume that narrow and selfish
character, which would allow you to
pursue your own solitary path to glory,
without any desire to supply the wants,
and comfort the hearts of others. I have
told you how large and liberal is the
principle which governs this Society — It
gives to all without distinction of churches
or denominations. Endeavour, then, to
show to-day, that you are not among
those who " seek their own," instead of
" the things of Christ,'' and of their fel-
low Christians. If happy yourself in that
religion of love, which is the religion of
the gospel, strive, under the divine bless-
ing, to throw wide the flood-gates of con-
solation to those around you. Tell them
I that your God is their God; that your
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
369
Father is their Father ; that the " peace-
able fruit of righteousness," which flou.
rishes in your vineyard, may flourish in
theirs. Lead them, especially, to that
Comforter whom our Heavenly Master
has sent to us. And as the Spirit of God
has, from age to age, cried aloud to the
desolate heart " Come," and " the Bride,"
the Church of the Redeemer, continues to
urge the same invitation, "Come;'' let
all who have listened to this invitation,
and welcomed it to their aching hearts,
adopt the same heavenly language, and
say to every thirsty and famishing soul,
" Let him that is athirst, come ; and who-
sover will, let him drink of the waters of
life freely."
And now with reference to those cor-
ruptible things, silver and gold, permit
me to bespeak the favour — as I happen
to have the privilege of being the last
pleader in behalf of the Dorcas Society
— of a large and liberal collection. " If
thou hast much give plenteously ; if thou
hast little, do thy diligence to give gladly
of that little ;" always remembering, that
" if there be first a willing mind, it is ac-
cepted according to that a man hath, and
not according to that he hath not."
HEZEKIAH, OR PRAYER IN TROUBLE.
A SERMON
PREACHED IN THE BLIND ASYLUM EPISCOPAL CHAPEL, LIMERICK,
BY THE REV. BENJAMIN JACOB, A.M.
Chaplain.
2 Kings, xix. 14.
" And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it : and Hezekiah
went up into the house of the Lord, aud spread it before the Lord."
Three times are the circumstances con-
nected with the text brought before us in
the Word of God, and therefore we may
say three times has the Spirit of God
called our attention to them : may he do
so now, not by the outward letter merely,
but by putting forth his energy and
gracious influence to impress instruction
on our hearts.
Sennacherib, King of Assyria, elated
with his success in various countries, was
persuaded that nothing could withstand
his arms. His father Shalmaneser had
carried away Israel captive, " because they
obeyed not the voice of the Lord their
God, but transgressed his covenant, and
all that Moses the servant of the Lord
commanded, and would not hear them,
nor do them ;" and now the son desires
to follow up his father's conquests by
bringing the kingdom of Judah wholly
under his dominion. Before this,
Hezekiah, in his zeal for reformation
and his people's good, had thrown off"
the Assyrian yoke, desiring to recognise
God only as the ruler of Judah. His
conduct arose, not from a spirit of
insubordination, but from faith. Ahaz
had sinfully, and through unbelieving
fear subjected his people and himself to
a heathen power ; and Hezekiah desirous
to put away the idolatry of his fathers,
and to remedy the evil of their mis-
conduct, " removed the high places
and brake the images and cut down
the groves, and brake in pieces the
brazen serpent that Moses had made :
also he rebelled against the King of
Assyria, and served him not." 2 Kings,
xviii. 4-7. Sennacherib therefore in-
vaded Judah ; he thought not that he
was a mere rod in the Almighty's hand
to execute his purposes ; he acknow-
ledged no principle for his conduct but
himself ; he was his own deity, and his
opposition was not only to Judah, but to
Judah's God. The natural feeling of
Hezekiah was that of fear, he made use
of all possible means to appease Sen-
nacherib ; but submission made his
enemy more unreasonable, he first sent
a blasphemous message, and then the
letter to which the text alludes. Such
overbearing conduct, however, had the
effect of reminding Hezekiah that the
Lord was his refuge and his strength ;
it served to draw him off from the re-
sources of mere human wisdom, and to
bring him in earnestness of soul to that
throne of grace where the text exhibits
him. Have we not reason to say,
welcome are the trials which have this
effect ? Such calamities as lead us to
disburden our hearts before the Lord,
are but blessings in disguise, light and
momentary afflictions working for us a
far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory.
From Hezekiah's conduct let us seek
to learn somewhat profitable to ourselves
by considering,
I. That prayer is the believer's pri-
vilege. Viewing the children of God as
participating in the troubles of life in
common with others, it is indeed a most
important privilege, " Man in general
is born to trouble as the sparks fly up-
ward." This world is the valley of
Baca, its inhabitants " Boehim-weepers."
Disappointment, bereavement, pain and
suffering are the lot of all. Some, no
doubt, let their crosses sit lightly on them,
but this is not heroism, not victory, but
insensibility, callousness, a state far
from enviable. Believer and unbeliever,
child of God, and servant of sin, alike
are subjected to trials. However there
exists a great, an important difference,
the trials of the one are penal — the indi-
cations of sin's desert — the warning that
there is a reality in wrath — the unsheath-
ing of the sword of justice, whilst mercy
too appears, and lifts her voice to arouse
the sinner to his danger, and urge him
to the city of refuge ere it be too late.
The trials of the other are mercies, the
Saviour having drained all the bitterness
of wrath — mercies which flesh and blood
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
371
can never relish, yet mercies most suited
to his present state ; they act the part of
winter frosts, which kill the weeds that
otherwise would rankly grow — they are
the gloom of night which brings to view
the glories of the heavens, which other-
wise had been hid from man ; the storms
which serve to purify the air and dissi-
pate the noxious vapours, yes
" Trials are the fruits of love,
Sent in mercy from above."
They are amongst the " all things that
work together for good to them that love
God." All believers are tried, although
in different ways : 6ome are tried by
temporal prosperity, some by adversity,
according as the divine wisdom sees the
spiritual constitution to require a lower-
ing treatment or the reverse ; sometimes
the most eminent of the Lord's ser-
vants are most tried, as the Saviour
says, " every branch in -me that beareth
fruit, he purgeth it that it may bring
forth more fruit." He will have them
attain to higher degrees of eminence,
and therefore uses those methods which
most effectually weaken earth's hold upon
them. Sometimes too, it requires a
stronger process to bring to light the
more secret workings of sin and self,
which go on in a believer who long has
trod the narrow way ; the purest metal
is said to require most heat to bring the
dross to view. See the scripture history
of the Lord's people, and his treatment
of them ; and if we could read their
history still more closely, we should
find that what things are written are only
striking specimens, amongst many of the
like nature, though not the same degree.
If trials, then, are assigned by a God of
infinite mercy, love, and wisdom to his
people, it is their privilege to spread
their case before him ; look to believers
of old — hear David " I had fainted unless
I had believed to see the goodness of the
Lord in the land of the living ;" " Wait
on the Lord, be of good courage, and
he will strengthen thine heart ; wait I
say on the Lord :" " For this, shall
every one that is godly pray unto thee in
a time when thou mayest be found,
surely in the floods of great waters they
shall not come nigh to him." " Trust
in him at all times, ye people, pour out
your hearts before him, God is a refuge
for us." Hear Job, '' Though he slay
me yet will I trust in him." Look at
Moses, Ezra, Nehemiah ; see Jonah cry-
ing with acceptance from the fish's belly,
and especially see Heaekiah spreading
the letter before the Lord.
What was the resource of these in
trouble ? even what the Psalmist ex-
presses, " God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble ;" " The
Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of
Jacob is our refuge." Oh, my dear
friends, if such was the privilege of the
church of old, how much more clearly
manifest is it in the gospel light? '' We
have not an high priest which cannot
be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, let us, therefore, come
boldly to a throne of grace, to obtain
mercy and find grace to help in time
of need."
Yes, prayer is the privilege of God's
dear children — of the blood-washed fol-
lowers of the Lamb ; a privilege, too,
the value of which is best known as it is
most wanted.
This earth is the ground for prayer,
because here self remains, and the ten-
dency in self to stand independently of
God. The Lord in mercy, from time
to time, reminds his people of their
dependent state, that they may be
aroused to draw supplies from him, their
living head, their source of grace. Not
only before conversion, would man lay a
foundation independent of the Saviour,
but after conversion that tendency re-
mains. It was this which stirred David
to say, " in my prosperity I shall never
be moved,'' but he was taught his utter
weakness, his need of constant depen-
dence, by the hidings of God's face, and
led to see and acknowledge, " Lord,
thou by thy favor hast made my moun-
tain to stand strong."
Prayer has been called " the outlet of
trouble, and the inlet of comfort ;" it
serves as the open window to a heated
room, to remove what isi oppressive, and
admit what is refreshing. Prayer is a
duty — not a mere duty however — but a
precious privilege ; indeed all duties are
privileges and blessings if rightly under-
stood ; God never assigns or commands
anything which is not for the good of
those on whom it is enjoined. Prayer is
the choicest privilege of earth ; it is the
intercourse with heaven — the speak-
ing to God as to a Father and a Friend ;
it is not only conformity to Christ's Spi-
rit, but the joining in very act with Son
and Spirit, at the very time and for the
very object in which they are engaged.
Christ not only prayed on earth, but is
372
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
gone to pray in heaven, and has sent his
Spirit to take his place below. Oh ! let
us look at Son and Spirit pleading,
would they ever have assumed the office,
but that they saw the helpless state of
man, and volunteered to plead in and for
him ? They pray for man ; it is their
pleasure ; and if man be permitted to
conjoin with them in prayer, is it not a
blessed privilege that he may so do ?
It requires no lengthened statements
to convince the believer that prayer is his
privilege : no ! experience tells him.
Ask him when he feels most happy, when
he is most elevated above the things
which tend to lower and distress him ? —
'tis when his heart is most drawn out in
prayer — 'tis when he most feels his own
worthlessness, and yet knows that the
fullness and riches of a Saviour are be-
forehim — 'tis when in the prayer of faith
he claims those riches as his own, whilst
in the spirit of adoption he looks up and
cries " Abba Father." Is it a privilege
to have a end in power — to have him
sympathisefrihelp, and comfort ? then
su rely it , a privilege to have Christ's
ear at all times, and to find him ready to
attend at any moment as though our bu-
siness were his sole concern.
II. Let us consider Hezekiah' s conduct
and prayer as a test of the real state of
the heart.
We are told, 2 Kings, xix. 1. what was
his great resource. Prayer was his habit ;
not the mere exclamation, nor sudden
feeling when danger threatened, which
men have by instinct (even at scoffing
Paine was heard to call on Jesus in a
storm,) no ! we are told " Hezekiah
trusted in the Lord" " he clave to
the Lord ;" such expressions imply the
habit of prayer ; when trouble came he
had not to commence an acquaintance
with God. Oh ! how sad is it in the
day of distress to hear and witness per-
sons writhing under the rod of affliction,
wondering whether there is any use in
prayer ; whether a God so long ne-
glected will now attend : the very awk-
wardness of the attempt, the hesitation
and uncertainty of the manner, witness it
is only fear that brings them to their
knees. But let us see what is our re-
source, what our conduct in difficulty ?
Is our impulse to run to man for his ad-
vice or sympathy ? Is it our wish that
some friend who had before assisted us
by his presence were now at hand ? Is
it our effort to compose our minds by
reasoning with ourselves ? Is it our en-
deavour to put the subject from us, and
so engross ourselves with other things as
to leave no time to think upon it ? Or
do we by a kind of spiritual instinct be-
take ourselves to our closet? Does then the
throne of grace stand out to view as a well
tried refuge ? can we look up with thank-
fulness that no circumstance can preclude
our access there ? and is our_ comfort in
beholding Him who knows experimentally
the feelings of humanity ? Why are
afflictions called trials ? Is it not because
they test our principles ? they prove to
these what the storm does to the strength
and building of a ship — they shew too
whether the anchor of the soul is sure
and steadfast — they indicate to what the
affections are supremely given, whether
to the creature or the Creator. When
trouble and bereavement come, some
seem quite overwhelmed ; Oh ! how
bitter is the cry so often heard at such a
time—" What shall I do ? what shall I
do ?" the very repetition of the question
exhibiting the perplexity and tossings of
a soul whose earthly cords are snapped
asunder, whilst it knows nothing by its
past experience of a rest in God. See
another of a different mental contitu-
tion, but of equal inexperience in the
things of God ; his wordly hopes are
blighted, he has not looked beyond them
— the loss to him seems quite irreparable
— nothing can fill up the void — a deep
seated melancholy which nothing can
dispel has fixed its hold upon him, and
he goes through life mechanically, a weary
wanderer, as though hope and pleasure
had bid farewell to him for ever. Some,
on the contrary, having a natural strength
of mind, make a great effort, and proudly
rise above the stroke ; they are inwardly
distressed, but are too proud to show
their feeling, and so, looking to their own
natural strength, they lose the lesson
which they might have learned, and be-
come hardened and insensible. Others
again murmur, and seem to find their
consolation in repining at God's dealings,
and calling his goodness into question,
forgetful, that the manifestation in Jesus
Christ of his tender compassion and his
love towards sinners should for ever check
all imputation of harshness in his character.
Oh ! how various are the results of the
visitations of God's providence ! here
may be found one nestling himself in his
bed of trouble, as though it were his co-
vering from future suffering, and strength-
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
367
ening himself for a coming judgment in
the persuasion that he is here paying the
penalty of sin's desert : whilst there, is to
be seen an infatuated being clinging with
more eagerness to that world whose com-
forts he has just found vain and fleeting.
But whilst there are many devices in
the hearts of men in their natural state,
the christian's resource is prayer ; if he
had been remiss before, he finds the dis-
appointment of his earthly schemes a call
to remind him that this is not his rest,
whilst it draws him more closely to his
God. He is not like one at his wits' end,
perplexed and despairing — no ! his feel-
ings are as acute, his sense of suffering
quite as keen as other men's, but he
knows the balm, the sympathy of the
Saviour and the comforts of the Spirit are
closest hand. Difficulties may surround
him, but he is taught, there must be some
way of escape ; he takes hold on the pro-
mises which are effectually secured to
him by union with his covenant head ;
he pleads them in the name of Jesus, and
he knows, God cannot deny himself : he
is fully alive to his situation, whether one
of difficulty or danger, but he is com-
posed and tranquil, whilst he stays him-
self on God : he is active as others in
the use of means ; yea, the composure
arising from casting all his care upon the
Lord gives him a decided advantage ;
nothing is omitted which seems right to
be done ; but the God of means is his
resource, as is strikingly exhibited in Heze-
kiah, 2Chron. xxxii. 2 — 8 " And when
Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come,
and that he was purposed to fight against
Jerusalem, he took counsel with his princes
and his mighty men to stop the waters of
the fountains which were without the city,
and they did help him. So there was
gathered much people together, who
stopped all the fountains, and the brook
that ran through the midst of the land,
saying, why should the kings of Assyria
come, and find much water ? Also he
strengthened himself, and built up all
the wall that was broken, and raised it up
to the towers, and another wall without,
and repaired Millo in the city of David,
and made darts and shields in abundance.
And he set captains of war over the peo-
ple, and gathered them together to him
in the street of the gate of the city, and
spake comfortably to them saying, be
strong and courageous, be not afraid nor
dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for
all the multitude that is with him, for
there be more with us than with him,
With him is an arm ol flesh; but with us is
the Lord our God to help us and to fight
our battles. And the people rested them-
selves upon the words of Hezekiah king
of Judah. " Prayer was never intended
to encourage indolence, but to procure
energy for exertion : and what plans are
so effectual as those to which the Lord
vouchsafes his blessing ?
III. Letus consider Hezekiah's prayer
as an example of the manner of "prayer.
There are some who recognize the
duty, and yet are quite ignorant of the
manner; they are satisfied with gene-
ral expressions ; there is no explicit
statement of their wants. Some have
said their prayers from childhood, and yet
have never prayed. The Pharisees made
long prayers, but were they a spiritual sa-
crifice ? No ! Very many conclude their
petitions with the expression, " through
Jesus Christ," who attach no distinct idea
to it, the words seem to come naturally
at the close even as " Amen," and what
was intended to keep continually before
the mind the only ground for a sinner's
access unto God, has degenerated into
a mere form. There are many whose
prayer as they term it is the Lord's
Prayer and the Creed. But, however,
well it may be to repeat the Creed for
fixing in the mind a clear and sound con-
fession of faith, to substitute such a
statement for prayer is to show utter ig-
norance on the subject ; and I am de-
cided in saying that such as use even that
best form of prayer that can be given,
and content themselves therewith, repeat
it as the superstitious would a charm, or
as a bird that hath no understanding a
form it has been taught. Some again
use prayers which are most excellent,
part of the Liturgy, or forms com-
posed by men of God as helps to prayer,
and yet they have comparatively little
profit. Why ? because they confine them-
selves to these, and so are occupied with
general expressions only. One great
reason why souls make so little progress,
why the complaint " my leanness, my
leanness," is applicable to so many, is,
that there is no particularising of wants
and objects. Precomposed forms are de-
sirable for the expression of wants and
feelings in public prayer, because there
the expressions are intended to be appli-
cable to all : such forms may likewise be
exceedingly useful in expressing many,
very many wants of the Christian in pri-
374
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
vate, and in suggesting some which
otherwise might remain unnoticed ; but
they should be used as helps, not as sub-
stitutes for our own particular petitions,
for it may in truth be said, that no prayer
composed by one man can be exactly
what another wants; there must be some-
thing deficient or superfluous ; for as each
has his peculiar features and feelings, so
each has his peculiar circumstances and
wants. There are general wants, such
as the want of pardon, of grace, of spi-
rituality of mind, of deadness to the
world ; but every day, every hour brings
to each Christian some cause for varying
his petitions ; he may hunt through books
to find something suited to himself, but
in the search, the desire of prayer may
quite subside, and the very exigency
which called for prayer give way to some-
thing new.
Some of course are ready to say " Oh
I should feel quite at a loss" — " I could
not find language." Ah ! my dear friends,
in general where there is a sense of pres-
sing want, words come naturally to the
lips ; but granting that they did not, have
we not to do with one who " knows our
necessities beiore we ask, and our igno-
rance in asking''? Does a tender parent
require the infant lips to use expressions
well arranged before he will supply the
wants of his own dear child ? It is desi-
rable we should have fluency of expres-
sion ; but let it be remembered, that
fluency itself is not prayer. Sometimes
too, there may be unutterable wants, and
therefore unutterable desires : and there
are times in the believer's experience
when he finds language quite inadequate
to convey the stretching forth of the soul
in earnest longings after spiritual things :
but we are told that " the Spirit in such
cases helpeth our infirmity and maketh in-
tercession with groanings which cannot
be uttered." " And he that searcheth
the hearts knoweth what is the mind of
the spirit, because he maketh interces-
sion for the saints according to the will
of God." And is there not one who
makes it his business now to plead his
people's cause ? and as he presents, se-
cures, by the incense of his own merits,
the full acceptance of the poor petitions
of his helpless brethren ? Some deem it
presumption to bring their every want
and feeling forward, and a trifling with the
Majesty of Heaven to call his observation
to their every day concerns. My dear
friends, this is the covert language of in-
fidelity ; in seeming to uphold God's Ma-
jesty, it undermines his Providence, it
makes man wiser than that God who
numbers our very hairs, whilst it attempts to
decide on what is suited to his character,
more judiciously than he himself. But
let us look back at things apparently of
no moment, to what momentous conse-
quences have they led ? and then ask
ourselves, are we competent to decide as
to what is important or the reverse. Oh !
to regard his care in all, is not to lower
God, but to elevate our own souls, and as
we should seek, whether we eat or drink,
or whatever we do, to do all to his glory,
so should we ask of Him to "prevent us
in all our doings with his most gracious
favour, and to further us with his conti-
nual help.'' " The Heavens declare the
glory of God, and the firmament showeth
his handy work ;" but we are not confined
to such grand and striking proofs of wis-
dom and direction, but we may turn to
the sparrow, the ant, and the mite, or the
very minutest beings in nature's varied
and extensive kingdom, and behold in
their beauty, in the adaptation of their
parts to the very place and circumstances
of their being, clear indications, not merely
of the divine skill of the Creator, but
likewise of his attention and his constant
care. How then can we admit such
minute care and concern in the works of
creation and of Providen ce, and deny it in
His kingdom of grace, knowing that the
Lord's people are his peculiar portion, the
objects of his especial care.
4. But let us take Hezekiah as a
model for our imitation. How did he par-
ticularize ? " he spreads the letter before
the Lord j" he takes each part, and rea-
sons on it ; and if we compare the parti-
culars of the letter with what is specified
in the prayer, we shall see the meaning of
his spreading the letter before the Lord.
His was not a general prayer for deliver-
ance, but a specifying of particulars, thus
had he abundant matter for his petitions,
thus by opening all his case, he disbur-
dened his own heart, thus he put God in
remembrance, and involved his glory with
his people's safety.
Such should be the manner of prayer,
then there will not be wandering or cold-
ness. Oh ! if there were more consider-
ation of our wants, there could not be
such vagueness in our petitions : then in
confession, we should not only say "we
have left undone those things which
I we ought to have done, and have done
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
375
those things which we ought not to
have done ;" but thinking over the
particular transgressions and omissions,
in order to our specifying them, we
could not but feel more humility,
more loathing of sin, more distrust of
self, more value for the finished work of
Christ, and consequently more life in our
petitions. This is what is so much
wanted ; general expressions are signs of
little feeling, and are soon forgotten, and
so the spiritual strength does not progress :
there is a sameness in the feelings of one
day and those of another, when there
should be an increase not only in Chris-
tian experience, but in Christian grace.
The same may be said of adoration in
prayer ; the Psalmist not only says
" Bless the Lord O my soul" ! but adds
" and forget not all his benefits." It is
well to say in public " we bless thee for
our creation, preservation, and all the
blessings of this life ;" but in private
there should be a marking of the Lord's
gracious dealings, particularising of his
benefits, an acknowledgement of his
goodness in giving us refreshing views of
Jesus, in testifying to our acceptance, and
reviving us when desponding. Yes ! there
should be this recognition of his hand
and gracious care directing us in difficul-
ties, strengthening us under particular
temptations, giving us wisdom in our in-
tercourse with others, restraining our pas-
sions under provocation, subduing our
pride when any thing tended to excite it
and causing us to hear when most required
a voice behind us saying " This is the
way, walk ye in it." Ah ! surely this
would furnish ground for praise, and we
should not so often hasten from our knees,
as though we had discharged a duty, and
not enjoyed a privilege.
But it may be asked, is the believer
authorised to expect his every prayer to
be answered ? Some passages of Scrip-
ture seem to imply this ; but whilst I am
satisfied that God never said to the seed
of Jacob, " seek ye my face in vain," I
think it more than questionable that we
are authorised to expect that all our peti-
tions shall meet with that answer which
we desire. We find Moses praying that
he may be allowed an entrance to the
Land of Promise, but the Lord does not
gratify his request. We have David
pleading for the life of his child, and yet
it died — Paul thrice beseeching for the
removal of his affliction, but it remained ;
aud even the Lord Jesus presenting a
request, which seemed unanswered. The
expressions, then, are not to be taken abso-
lutely asthough every thing, without excep-
tion, were promised to prayer. No ! they
should be explained according to 1 John
v, 14. '• This is the confidence we have
in Him, that if we ask any thing accord-
ing to His will, he heareth us.'' In fact,
considering man's weakness, and his ig-
norance, an unlimited promise would
prove a curse, rather than a blessing;
he knows not what to ask — he would fre-
quently, in the ignorance of a child, call
out for what would be no less than poison
to his soul ; and, in the weakness of his
flesh, shrink from the sharp but efficacious
remedy resorted to by his Heavenly
Father, to prevent the spreading of sin's
deadly cancer. The great point is to
have grace to say in truth, "thy will be
done," even as the Saviour qualified His
petition, by an entire reference to His
Father's will.
Sometimes, desires which seem most
reasonable are denied, but still God's gra-
cious character as a " Hearer of prayer"
is not to be impeached ; if he gives not
what is desired, he gives more than an equi-
valent. " My grace is sufficient for thee,"
was His word to Paul, and is still His
word to such as look to Him in truth.
And surely the child who knows his
father's love and wisdom, may well be
satisfied, and feel assured, his parent is not
unmindful of him, though he gives not
what he asks. Sometimes the believer's
prayer has been earnest for dear friends
and relatives, apparently without effect ; but
no doubt the day of judgment will ad-
duce many testimonies to the efficacy of
prayers for others, which for wise reasons
were not made apparent here helow. The
parent then, may see the prodgal re-
claimed, in answer to petitions which had
seemed in vain: the anxious child may
view the parent whom he had committed
frequently, and it may be with his dying
breath, to the God of grace and mercy,
entered on the same glory with himself :
husband and wife then may meet in a
spiritual union which had not existed
here ; ministers may behold many as
their "joy and crown of rejoicing in the
presence of the Lord," for whom their
toil, anxiety, and prayers seemed un-
availing : and friend may recognise that
friend, whose name and case were graven
on his heart, whenever he approached
the throne of grace.
Still, however, there are cases where
.376
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
there is not left the slightest ground for
hope ; what then has become of prayer ?
it has not been unheeded, it has returned
seven-fold into the suppliant's bosom :
even were it nothing more, it has availed
for this, it has kept up the closeness of
spiritual intercourse, it has drawn out the
heart and affections unto God, and it has
tended to ripen the soul for the enjoy-
ment of its full and heavenly commu-
nion : for surely the experience of the
child of God can testify, that he may be
often earnest in his pleadings for a dear
relative or friend, when he is even cold
and spiritless for himself.
Now it may seem that I have addressed
those only who understand the nature of
prayer ; in order to stir them up to prize
their privilege more highly — I have ad-
dressed the prayerless sinner likewise.
The subject has been prayer — the breath
of spiritual life ; therefore, whatever has
been said on its nature, its fervour, or its
matter, has been a strong though indirect
charge against him whose conscience tes-
tifies he knows not of it. He that lives
without prayer, private spiritual prayer,
"is dead while he liveth," he might
shrink from the company of an Atheist,
but it is practical Atheism, it is worse
than Atheism, to acknowledge God, and
yet live independent of Him. " The
Heathen in his blindness bows down to
wood and stone," but here and there are
to be found those, who, acknowledging
that there is an Almighty Searcher of all
hearts, have no cloak for their neglect,
living without prayer, and therefore,
" without hope and without God in the
world" — Graceless,prayerless beings! what
if you only come to know prayer's value
as death puts forth his grasp to seize your
startled souls ! or if, neglecting it here,
you be doomed to learn it hereafter, in
asking one drop of water to cool your
burning thirst, or in seeking a death to
misery, which must endure for ever !
There are others who go through the
form of prayer in the morning and at night :
in what are you better than they who
have been just addressed? you go on
your knees to God when you have risen
from your beds, and then forget Him
until the night reminds you of the habit
acquired in your infancy, a habit which
is observed, though the real intention is
lost sight of; but what is this? a kind of
compromise, a kind of salvo to your con-
science, for neglect throughout the entire
day ? oh, be assured that God is not
mocked with such lip service, he that
prays aright at one time, is in the spirit,
though not in the attitude or expression
of prayer at another, ready to look up at
any time, and realise God's presence with
him.
A few words more in conclusion.
Prayer has been the subject of this dis-
course; but oh, let 'no one for a mo-
ment think that prayer is in any wise the
foundation for the sinner's hope. No !
in no wise ! prayer is really the language
of a believer ; and who is he ? one who
has in earnest sought, or is seeking now
for refuge to Christ Jesus, the only hope
of ruined sinners. True prayer acknow-
ledges its nothingness, and fixes its
hold on Jesus, even for its own accept-
ance, and therefore it pretends not to do
that for sinners, which it cannot for itself :
even the disposition to pray is not self-
originated; it is communicated from
above ; it owes its own rise, its fervour, its
acceptance, to the free grace of God
alone ; it is the expression of want, of
emptiness, of dependence on another ob-
ject ; its very tone and matter bespeak
incapacity to help. Oh, let none then
rest satisfied with that which acknow-
ledges so continually, it is only for the
sake of Jesus, God can listen to it. I do
not want to speculate, I cannot say what
is the first infusion of grace into the soul ;
how it is the Spirit works; how he effects
faith in Christ ; but I know that prayer,
whilst it is the privilege of believers, is
likewise the duty of every sinner; that
though no prayer can ascend with accept-
ance, but what comes from the Holy
Spirit work's, and is presented through
the mediation of the Saviour, yet are we
to pray for that Holy Spirit : the exact
system will appear hereafter, the duty is
before us now, and with it the gracious
promise that " our Heavenly Father will
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask
Him."
Only, my dear friends, see that in your
prayers you look at Christ Jesus clearly,
lest possibly the privilege be made a
snare, a painted veil to engross you with
itself, whilst it hides the Saviour from
your view.
Dublin : NEW IRISH PULPIT OFFICE, 1, ST. ANDREW-STREET.
J. Robertson, and all Booksellers.
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
OR
GOSPEL PREACHER,
" We preach Christ crucified —
" Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God." — I Cor. 1. 23. 24.
No. XCVII. SATURDAY, 23rd NOVEMBER, 1839. Price 4d.
REV. JAMES KKL1.V.
REV. H. VERSCHOYLE.
NATIONAL EDUCATION.
A SERMON
PREACHED IN STILLORGAN CHURCH, DIOCESE OF DUBLIN,
ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1839,
BY THE REV. JAMES KELLY, A. M.
(Incumbent of the Parish.)
Romans — vm. 8.
" So then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God."
The subject, my beloved brethren, which
comes before our attention this morning,
next only in importance to the worship
of our God and our personal edification
in hearing his word, is that of the edu-
cation of the young. And what is edu-
cation ? Education, I would say, is to
human nature what cultivation is to the
soil : there is a striking analogy between
the two things. In the case of culti-
vating the soil, the character of the soil
becomes a necessary matter for consider-
ation, in order to decide upon what the
cultivation should be. So, in determin-
ing what education we should give the
young, it is a necessary thing to inquire,
what is the character, what is the condi-
Vol. IV.
tion of human nature. If the nature of
the soil be very good, and if it be im-
pregnated with good seeds that will grow
up spontaneously, then the husbandman's
labour need not go farther than manuring
the soil well : but if the soil be such as
to have weeds springing out of it in rank
luxuriance, and no good seed occupying
it, then, methinks (and I am sure you
will all agree with me) that the husband-
man's labour should go beyond manuring
the soil, and that he should aim at era-
dicating the weeds, and sowing good
seed.
Similarly, dear brethren, in education,
if human nature were good — if human
nature had the seeds of good within
378
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
itself, so that it was only necessary that
they should be developed, then all that
would be required would be to give
knowledge, and so increase the prolific
power of that inherent seed. Eut, if
human nature be what God's blessed
word asserts it to be, radically corrupt —
then, our education of that nature must
be very cautiously attended to, and we
must take care that in imparting know-
ledge, we impart that which will be an
antidote to the corruption deplored. It
is, then, because of this portion of the
word of God, describing human nature,
that I have brought it before you this
day ; and may God's blessing aid us in
the consideration of the subject.
If you turn now to the seventh verse,
the verse immediately preceding our
text, you will see the assertion which the
Holy Ghost makes here concerning
human nature. It is this, " the carnal
mind is enmity against God , for it is not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be." " The carnal mind" may be
translated, " the wisdom of the flesh, the
very essence of the flesh." Hence it
may be said, that the best part of that
nutate which we have, the " wisdom" of it
is " enmity against God ;" and observe
it is not merely alienated from God, but
it is positively in itself enmity against
God. This is a heavy count, a heavy
indictment against our nature ; but is it
not capable of being well substantiated.
Let a multitude of men be addressed —
men whose habits are contrary to the
word of God, men living without God
in the world; — let the topic selected on
which to address them be that which is to
be most congenial to them, and which is
to give them most pleasure, and what, I
ask you, will that topic be ? — the non-
existence of God ! ! — and it is not mere
speculation on my part when I say this,
for there are large masses of our fellow
men in England, gathered together on
this very day, for the purpose of hearing
proved that the existence of God is only
a bug-bear, an invention of interested
priests, and that there is no authority for
such belief. Brethren, I am only telling
you the truth when I assert this ; I have
heard it from those who were personal
spectators of the awful scene. A class
of men, called Socialists, meet together
in the large provincial towns of England,
on the Lord's Day, and a lecturer ad-
dresses them ; and this is what he aims
at proving, that religion is altogether the
invention of man, Christianity epecially,
and that there is no God. And it is just
what we should have expected ; for God
is against the transgressor — he is necessa-
rily opposed to sin — and they who are
conscious of sin must dread the thought
of God, must disrelish his character, and
therefore be open to receive the impres-
sion, if it be sought to be made on them,
that there is no such being : and, surely,
the very circumstance of a man not
having congeniality with the character
and existence of God — surely, this is a
proof that he hates God ; when he wants
the congeniality so far as to prefer that
there was no such Being.
Can there be a greater proof than
this given of the deep hatred that is in
the mind, the carnal mind, against God ?
If a fellow creature longed for your
death, and would be most gratified by the
intelligence that you were no more in
the land of the living, would it not be
considered the strongest proof of his
being at enmity with you ? Well, such
proof we have of man's hatred of God
in the fact of the most welcome theme
to him being, " that there is no God,"
But, I need not confine my observa-
tions to that dissolute and licentious class
of men I am speaking of. Dear brethren,
it is the same with all who are not con-
verted by the power of God's Spirit ;
their minds are enmity against God —
not, perhaps, against a God, a God of
their own devising, a God of their own
fancy — but against the God of the Bible.
The God of the Bible is a holy God —
the God of the Bible hates sin — the God
of the Bible is not all mercy — he is not
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
379
weakness or frailty, as many imagine, but
he who is acknowledged by thousands,
even those who call themselves Chris-
tians, is a God of such character as this ;
and if the truth is sought to be pressed
on their minds, that our God whom we
serve is a God that will take vengeance
on the ungodly — that he is one that has
not only loved sinners and given his Son
to die for them, and opened a way of
salvation for them in order to welcome
them to his arms and rejoice over them,
but that he is one who will take ven-
geance on all them that obey not the
Gospel ; that he is a God who cannot
be enjoyed by the wicked, that without
holiness no one shall see him ; — I say
if this truth be pressed on the minds of
thousands, they are repelled from it, and
they will say, as the only loop-hole
whereby to escape, " it is not true, it is
not possible to suppose that God will
sentence his creatures to eternal misery ;
our reason revolts against it." 1 have
heard it from many who call themselves
Christians ; and I say, dear brethren,
this is a proof that that indictment which
you have all assented to as chargeable
against the class of men I have described
to you is also chargeable against the
whole human family, " the carnal mind
is enmity against God."
But not to stop here, the Apostle
draws a conclusion from this, and it is
his conclusion that I have selected for
my text. He draws it from the fact of
the wisdom of the flesh being enmity
against God.; so, then, "they that are
in the flesh cannot please God." And
most legitimate is the inference. If the
wisdom of the flesh be enmity against
God, they that are in the flesh therefore,
cannot please God. And what an awful
thing it is for a man to be in that condi-
tion in which he cannot please God ! " In
his favor is life, and his loving kindness
is better than life ;" " he hides his face,
his creatures are troubled ; he sends forth
his Spirit, they are created;" "in God
we live and move and have our being."
What a fearful thing, I say, dear brethren,
to contemplate, that man should be in
such a condition in which he cannot
please that God ! It is a servant's inte-
rest to please his master — it is the cour-
tier's interest to please his king — yet,
though it be man's interest to please his
God, he cannot do it ; it is not, that man
does not do it, but he cannot do it ; there
is an inability affecting human nature in
this matter — not that this extenuates the
sinner's guilt; — no, dear brethren, state
the case as forcibly as you please, man
necessarily sins, and this is a truth. But
what has necessary sinning come from ?
Necessary sinning has come from volun-
tary sinning. The voluntary sinner has
been our forefather Adam ; he, as it
were, pulled the trigger, and brought
down ruin on all his posterity. He
sinned, and we sinned in him, for we
were in him, and therefore it was a
righteous thing for God to deal with us
thus, to make his offence ours. If any of
us are staggered at this, I say, look at
the analogy of nature : a father sins
against the law of nature — a father con-
tracts a disease, — what becomes of his
child ? — His child is affected by the same.
Now, unless you can demonstrate that
this latter fact is irreconcilable with the
providence of God, you cannot object
to the truth I have put before you, that
we have fallen in Adam, while at the
same time, our God is love.
But to guard against another abuse of
this doctrine, many say, on hearing it
propounded to them — Oh ! if this be the
case, " man is not responsible." But
they forget the fact, that God did not
make man as he is, " God made man
upright, but man has sought out to him-
self many inventions:" God made but
one man, Adam, and he made him holy,
and Adam had the ability of not sinning,
if he would ; but he sinned, and we, the
rest of the species, have been propa-
gated from Adam after he fell. I say,
we are not as God made us ; God made
us in Adam, and made us holy; but we
380
TIJE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
are unholy, essentially different from
what God made us — therefore, our con-
dition is one in which we are responsible.
But, dear brethren, who are they that
are in the flesh ? To consider our text
closely, if you look to Galatians v. 19,20,
you will see. You are all ready, upon
this question being asked you, who are
in the flesh? — you are all ready to point
to the profligate, to those whrj are not
restrained by any law, human or divine ;
you are all ready to say, those persons
are in the flesh — but if you observe this
passage that I now refer you to, you will
see there are other characters who come
underthis denomination. " Now.the works
of the flesh are manifest, which are these,
adultery, fornication, unclcanness, las-
civiousness, idolatry, witchcraft ;'' — these,
you say, are heinous offences, and the
man who is obnoxious to them, he is in
the flesh, and cannot please God. But
the catalogue does not stop here ; the
Apostle proceeds, " hatred,'' and does
not hatred reign in many a heart where
there is outward decency ? " variance,"
and is not variance found in the civility,
accomplishments and elegance of even
refined life? and again, ''emulations,
wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envy-
ings,'' but I need go no farther — you see
what a large class the text contemplates
in speaking of those in the flesh.
But there is an explanation given of
this, immediately in connexion with the
passage before us, Rom. viii. 9. " but ye
are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so
be that the Spirit of God dwell in you."
Who are they that are not in the flesh ?
they, says the Apostle, that have the
Spirit of God dwelling in them : and
the converse holds equally true, that they
who have not the Spirit of God dwelling
in them are in the flesh ; that is, all who
are in their natural state, who are in the
state merely in which they have been born,
they are, in scriptural language, to be
characterized " as in the flesh," and,
therefore, they " cannot please God."
Now, let us see how this statement
holds true, that they cannot please God,
In the first place, they cannot please him,
inasmuch as they have no motive operat-
ing on them to make them desire to
please him. The carnal man, the natu-
ral man, he has no love for God. Do
you ask for a proof of this, — I take an
obvious one, how do you speak of the
service of God? Dear brethren, if there
be any here who are not converted to
God, [ ask you, do you not call it your
duty ? Is not this the word that is com-
mon with you in speaking of religion?
at one time " you attend to the duties
of religion," at another "you are un-
mindful of your duty." Ah, my bicthren,
does love speak of its indulgence as a
duty ? Oh, no ; love makes the service
perfect freedom. Look at Jacob. Jacob
loved Rachel, and served seven years in
order that he might receive her as his
wife, and he found these seven years,
though they were years of severe toil —
in the day time he endured the heat, and
in the night time the cold — he found
them but as so many days. He loved
Rachel — there was the secret. I say,
then, the natural man, being without love
to God, has not the motive to enable
him to please God. He looks on God
as a task master, as an austere person ;
he would get over the duty, whatever it
is, as rapidly as possible, and be done
with it, and he disrelishes any thing that
would bring him into contact with God :
so, then, " they that are in the flesh
cannot please God."
2dly. In the way of success, the pro-
position holds good. The natural man
cannot succeed in pleasing God. Let
him have ever such motives operating on
him, being a natural man he cannot suc-
ceed ; for in whom is God well pleased ?
God himself answers, " this is my belovad
Son in whoml am well pleased." God's
eye of complacency, beloved, rests only
on Jesus and that which stands related
to Jesus; and the natural man, being out
of Jesus, not being united to him, can-
not please God : do what he may, exert
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
381
himself as he may, God cannot be
pleasad with him, for he is out of Christ,
and God's eye of disapprobation rests on
him in every thing he does ; — instead of
being accepted of God, every act of the
unconverted man is a sin before God.
It is necessary to state these things
broadly and plainly — they can be proved,
and therefore stagger not at the recep-
tion of them. I say again, every thing
the natural man does, whether he eats
or drinks or whatever he does, is sinful
before God. Take an illustration : there
is a bowl — you give motion to it — the
bowl has no motion except what it gets
from you, but the particular bias that it
has, causes it to curve, to turn aside from
the course in which you propelled it. In
one respect the bowl pleases you, for it
moves ; but then in its motion, every
yard of ground it covers, it is opposed to
you. Now thus it is with the sinner,
with the natural man. In that he lives
and performs natural actions, he pleases
God, for every faculty and power he has
is from God. But fioiv does he live-
do does he employ his faculties and
powers ? — alas ! he is contrary to God in
every thing ; the evil bias in his nature,
like the unevenness of the bowl, receives
the impulse of God's benevolent hand,
only to pervert it. Therefore, I say, the
natural man cannot please God, but is
opposed to him in every action of his
life. And, dear brethren, I am glad to
be able to bring forward the sober testi-
mony of our Church to thescripturalness
of this statement. What docs the article
of our Church say — the 13th Article —
" Works done before the grace of Christ,
and the inspiration of his Spirit, are not
pleasant to God, forasmuch as they spring
not of faith in Jesus Christ." Our Church
echoes the language of the text, " they
that are in the flesh cannot please God;"
do as they may, as long as they are in the
flesh, they cannot please God. And,
brethren, can I address my own congre-
gation — can I address any strangers that
may have come among us on this occa-
sion — without pressing on them the im-
portance of this truth, that, out of Christ,
God is not pleased with us ; that there is
a relationship between him and us, ne-
cessary, absolutely necessary, before his
eye can rest on us with any approbation.
But, beloved, I should not forget to add,
this relationship may be entered into, and
faith is the means of entering into it ; he
that believeth becomes one with Christ,
and therefore he is regarded, not as he is
in himself, but as he is in Christ, his
head ; just as if you were looking to
recognise a person, you would confine
your attention to the head — it is his head
you behold ; — so God, in looking at his
Church, beholds only Christ, and he sees
his Church united to Christ, members of
his body : this is the reason why God
can look with delight and pleasure on his
people ; for " who can say, that he has
made his heart clean ?" " if any man
says he has no sin, he deceives himself,
and the truth is not in him." How is it,
then, that God can look on such crea-
tures, can love them, can rest on them
with love— rejoice over them with sing-
ing? — only because of their relationship
to Christ, he sees them, not in them-
selves, but as they are in Christ. I say,
then, beloved brethren, haslen to get
into this relationship ; let no other object
divert your thoughts from this. You
may have the applause of men, a good
reputation — but, oh, if the secret of your
character be, that you are not united to
Christ by a living faith, what will the
breath of applause or earthly reputation
avail you in that day when God will
judge the secrets of all men by Jesus
Christ ? Beloved brethren, suffer the
word of exhortation ; and if there be any
of you whose consciences tell you that
though you call yourselves religions, and
engage in religious duties, yet that Christ
does not dwell in your hearts by faith,
Oh ! my brethren, embrace Christ, and
embrace him now; embrace his "great
salvation ;" he has died — he has risen
again, that he might be the Lord both of
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THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
the dead and living ; and the word of
God has said, that every knee shall bow
to him, and every tongue confess his
name. Yield up yourselves, then, to
Jesus, and henceforth live to him ; —
thus you will have the smile of a gracious
Father resting on you continually.
But now, beloved brethren, I would
come to the application of this subject to
the case before us this day, that of edu-
cation. We have seen what the material
is on which education is to work. The
material is very bad. We have seen that
it has no native excellence in it ; on the
other hand, that it is corrupt to the very
core. We have seen this to be the state
of human nature, that it is enmity against
God, and that " they who are merely in
a state of nature cannot please God."
What sort of education, then, should we
seek to give to this nature, under these
circumstances? Is it a literary educa-
tion ? Oh ! dear brethren, what will a
literary education do? It will spread
manure over the soil ; it will give power,
it will give knowledge, which is power,
to an individual ; but the bias of his
heart being alienated from hi6 God, how
will that power be exercised ? if will be
exercised against God, and being exer-
cised against God, it cannot be looked
on as likely to be exercised for his neigh-
bour ; for he that loveth not God, can-
not love his neighbour.
Let us take the case of a ship riding
before the wind : some of her sails are
hoisted, and breakers are ahead. The
proposal is made to hoist more sails, and
there is no accompanying proposal to the
effect that the helm should be adjusted.
What would you say to such a proposal ?
Would you not say that it was diabolical,
that when the ship is turned to the break-
ers, that the power of sail should be
increased, and yet the rudder not turned !
Now, man — the natural man — is that
ship. He has certain resources as a
creature ; he is born with these resources ;
but what is ahead of him ? — perdition,
my brethren, perdition is before every
natural man ; and the tendency of every
natural man, looking at him in himself,
is towards hell. Well, what are we to
say to him who would increase the re-
sources of man — who would crowd fresh
sail on him, and not turn the rudder of
his heart ? Is it not more diabolical than
the conduct of the man who would advise
concerning the ship I have alluded to ?
Is it not as much more diabolical, the
making this proposition, as eternity is of
more awful moment than time ? It can-
not, then, need proof, that a mere literary
education will not suffice for human
nature as it is, to be of any service.
Well, dear friends, will a moral edu-
cation answer ? I ask, what are mere
morals ? a habit of respect and reverence
to the prevailing opinion of the day —
morals, seperated from the only root of
them — the love of God — they are but as
flowers strewn over a dead corpse. And
is this what we are to do with human
nature ; just to hide the process of spi-
ritual dissolution which is going on within
by a veil of morals, to get a man for-
mally to abstain from some things and
engage in other things ; and to be satis-
fied with this, while we leave the core of
the evil untouched ? Why, my brethren,
morals separated from religion, are only
just what their name implies, — usages :
they are ever varying — separate them
from religion, and they have no stability
the breath of man changes them ;
what prevails in this generation will not
prevail the next ; and what prevails in
that generation may not prevail with the
succeeding one. Among the Spartans,
he who committed theft with the most
secresy and success was the most accom-
plished, — such was their morals. There
is no morality separate from religion —
Talk they of morals ? Oh thou Bleeding Lamb,
Thou Teacher of new morals to mankind,
The grand morality is love of thee.
Yes, the love of Christ it is which is the
root of morality, and without the love of
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
383
Christ planted in the soul, there is no-
thing which is to be depended on — no-
thing which will not ultimately show its
spuriousness.
Again, if a mere literary education
suffice not to meet the exigencies of hu-
man nature ; or if a moral education will
not suffice, perhaps a religious education
after a general manner, will ; that is, an
education that will not go into the sub-
ject of religion minutely, that will teach
some common points that all admit, but
will go no farther — perhaps this may
suffice. Now, beloved brethren, this is
the rampant evil we have to contend
with in our day. There is a large class
of men, christian professors, who favor
such an education as this. They say,
" let us give the people a religious edu-
cation as to generals — let the nation give
such an education to her subjects — and
not go farther ; — if there be any thing-
defective in that education — any thing
further to be taught on the subject of
religion — let it be imparted privately by
their own teachers ; but this education,
connected with religion after a general
way, will amply suffice for the ameliora-
tion of the condition of society."
Now, beloved friends, 1 cannot be
faithful to my God in alluding to this
system, without testifying against it. I
would not testify against it by mere de-
clamation ; I would call on you to exer-
cise your minds as to the tendency of
this — yea, more — as to the principle —
the abstract principle on which such an
education must rest. It has been intro-
duced lately into England, and alas, it
has been many years in existence in our
own country. I say then, men and bre-
thren, look to the principle, and attend
to the principle on which this education
rests. It is this ; that in order to extend
religion, the comprehension of religion
may be diminished ; that is, in order to
make religious education prevalent, we
may divest it of all peculiarity, and make
it to consist of generals. This is the
principle, I repeat, upon which the sys-
tem is founded — that the extension of
religion may be effected by diminishing
the comprehension. Men have looked
over this country and observed the mass
of the people alienated from the estab-
lished scriptural education that was being
given to them, and they have said to
themselves, it is very desirable for to get
a religious education among these people,
but we will not succeed in our design if
we do not take something out of that
religious education that has been given
to the people heretofore ; the use of the
whole Bible has been " a vital defect ;"
we will therefore compile a religious edu-
cation of our own — we will take away
from the word of God those portions
which are obnoxious to various classes of
individuals, and in order to do this, we
will have the representatives of Socinians
on the one hand, and representatives
of Roman Catholics on the other hand,
sitting over the Bible, and whatever they
object to we will not let go into (he re-
ligious book to be used for the education
of the children. I say, dear brethren,
this is the principle — this is the ground
of the constitution of the National Board
of Education that sits from time to time
in this land. The design is for to make
this sort of general religious education
prevalent at the expense of certain truths
in God's blessed word. If the whole
Bible goes among the people, then, say
they — the religious part of the education
will not be popular ; therefore, religious
truths not palatable to all, must be ex-
cluded ; and accordingly, volatilizing, so
to speak, the word of the living God un-
der the exhausting process, that a Papist
and Socinian Commissioner puts it
through : the " residuum" that is left,
goes into the book of extracts, and only
this is used in the religious education of
the rising generation.
Now, principles are important things
to attend to, because they can be acted
on in various ways ; and, dear brethren,
how may this principle be acted on ?
I^et us withdraw our attention from the
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THE NEW IRISH PULPIT
contemplation of children, and let us fix
it for a moment on the adult inhabitants
of the country. Is there not as much
division among the adults of this nation
as among the children ? is there not as
much division among adults on the subject
of religious worship, as among (he children
on the subject of education ? and if it be
competent on the one hand for men in
authority — for men wielding the resources
of the nation, in order to effect their
object of the united education of the
children, to waive all peculiar dogmas ;
surely, they may claim competency on
the o'her hand, to abolish all national
sanction of peculiar formularies and
places of worship — substituting for it the
patronage of a general creed — which
would comprise the common tenets of all ;
and what would this lead to as regards the
adult population ? Why, it would lead,
amongst other things, to our holy and beau-
tiful house of prayer, perhaps being en-
larged — and occupied by worshippers of
all kinds — addressing the Deity after a
general form — a form that would have
expunged from it every thing peculiar ;
and that would embrace only that which
was common to all — it would turn the
churches of our land, my brethren, into
so many pantheons, where every man
would come for to worship his God ! I
may have expressed myself indifferently,
but I believe the argument to be incon-
trovertable, if the principle of National
Education be acted out in reference to
adults : the established churches, such
as we have, in which God the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, are worshipped :
the established churches, in which Jesus
is held up as the only Saviour, will be
converted into places of worship in which
all men may mingle together — joining in
those things they admit — and reserving
their peculiar tenets for their private
devotion.
And is it only this latidudinarianism it
would lead to ? Nay, brethren, it would
lead further. Suppose, that Deists be-
came numerous in our land, and suppose
that they said, " we will not join in any
worship that recognises God's revealed
word," what would be necessary to be
done in order to make religious worship
national on this principle ; what but that
— that which is a peculiarity of others
should be abolished — and that the word
of God should be voted null and void ;
and that publicly we should only adore
God as the Supreme Being — the Creator.
And is that all ? Yea, the principle
would go farther. There are Atheists,
as I have been telling you, in England,
and their number increasing. Now, sup-
pose these Atheists would not come to
any worship in which the existence of the
Supreme Being was recognized, — what
would be necessary to be done in order
to have, I say, a religion embracing the
whole country, and to have none paying
for that which they conscientiously object
to, for this also is urged : why, it would be
necessary that the acknowledgment of th-e
existence of God himself should be com-
promised ! ! and it should not be a hard
thing to effect this : there would be only
one solitary article to be thrown over-
board ; — and ought the maintenance of
one solitary truth be adhered to, in com-
petition with the pleasing of perhaps
thousands of our fellow-men ? I say, if
we let the principle 1 have been speak-
ing of, and which is the ground work of
the constitution of the National Board of
Education in this country, proceed with-
out protesting against it, we cannot com-
plain if we are deluged with these ne-
farious views and developments of im-
piety which I have been pointing out.
What is the religious education, then,
which is necessary, and which will only
serve the end in view, of bettering our
fellow-countrymen ? The education that
will bring them to Jesus — the education
that will lead them to the knowledge of
Jesus as a divine Saviour, on the one
hand — contrary to the Socinians ; and to
the knowledge of Jesus as an all-suffici-
ent Saviour, on the other hand — contrary
to Papists. And if we stop short of
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
385
this, in our education of the rising
generation, then we leave them, after
all we may confer on them, in that
state in which the word of God says, that
" they cannot please God ;" I say, if we
stop short, and do not seek to bring the
children of this country to the knowledge
of Jesus as a divine Saviour, and an all-
sufficient Saviour : that is, in other words,
educating them in a full knowledge of
the truth, we leave them in a state in
which they cannot please God. And
ought we to be content, dear brethren, to
act in this way ? — ought the nation to be
content? The nation has a conscience
as well as an individual — and will not
the nation be fearfully responsible before
God, which says, we will give such an
education that will leave the people in
the flesh, that will leave them in their
carnal enmity against God ? Will not
the nation be fearfully responsible that
acts thus ? I admit, there is a difficulty
to be met, in the aversion of the people
of this country to scriptural education —
though I must say, such aversion has
been fostered by the conduct our govern-
ment has pursued. But supposing this
difficulty to exist in all its magnitude,
are we to be diverted from the straight
path of principle and duty ? It is our's
to give a scriptural education, whether
the people receive it or not ; yea, it is
our's to continue offering it to the end,
notwithstanding all their disaffection to
it, looking for the Lord in his own time
to make it acceptable. How should a
Christian parent act with his child, if he
came and said to him, — Father, I am
content to learn from you the arts and
sciences which you teach me, but I don't
want, nor am I willing to receive, the
scriptural instruction which you mix with
it. Why it is plain the parent's answer
should be, — my child, though you may
not relish the religious truth I impart to
you in connexion with literary know-
ledge, yet it is my duty not to give you
the one without the other, — you may not
pay attention to both, only caring for
one, but it is my duty to impart to you
both ; — your sin does not release me from
my obligation. In a similar way, then I
say, should a christian state act towards
her subjects, her deluded subjects, as
the Roman Catholics of this country are,
she should establish scriptural schools for
the young, and proclaim throughout the
length and breadth of the land, that all
are welcome to enter and acquire useful
knowledge ; but that it must be in strict
union pari passu, with instruction in re-
ligion, that the people may be indifferent
on this subject ; but still this does not
absolve the state from the responsibility.
But now, dear brethren, to conclude,
we should feel deeply for the want of
principle that the nation has shown in
this matter, — we should deprecate it con-
tinually, and be humbled before God,
for that such a course is being persisted in,
and the more humbled, because of the
blindness and security, characterizing
those that ought to feel it most.
But should we stop here ? No, my
beloved, we should seek to give an
antidote to the bane as far as possible.
Since there is such a latitudinarian edu-
cation established in this country, we
should diffuse a scriptural education, and
it is in connection with the promotion of
scriptural education — real, scriptural edu-
cation — an education in which, not merely
the generals of religion are taught, but
the important truths of the Bible — every-
one of them — that you are assembled
here this day. And, dear brethren, I do
feel jealous that you should act worthy of
your principles ; that, when these prin-
ciples are being called in question, you
should not merely with your lips, but
with your resources, testify to the value
you set upon them.
And you, my brethren, who compose
this congregation, you are more especial-
ly called on to act thus. You lately, at
my suggestion, signed your names to re-
solutions, one of which was to this effect,
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THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
that if scriptural education was required
more extensively in this parish and neigh-
bourhood, you were ready cheerfully to
come forward and engage in extending
such scriptural education. You have put
your hand and seal, as it were, to this,
and I say, it more imperatively rests on
you to be liberal at this time.
As to our schools, I cannot say much
of them, not having been very long here ;
and their progress having been somewhat
interrupted by a change of teachers ;
but it will suffice to state, there are up-
wards of 200 children on the roll of our
schools, and many of them are Roman
Catholics. Moreover, dear brethren,
if we would have our schools attended to,
and especially in competition with other
schools that are being introduced among
us, we must make the instruction in our
schools as efficient as possible. Counting
on your co-operation, in engaging teachers
competent to their work, I have not he-
sitated to stipulate with them liberally ;
1 expect, -therefore, your more than ordi-
nary help on the occasion.
I will not press the thing farther, it is
unnecessary. I reflect that the Lord has
gifted you with means — and that he has
gifted you with better than means — a wil-
ling heart to use them in his service, —
that according to your measure, — yea,
above your measure, — (some of you) —
have lent yourselves to the service of
the Lord. I would only say, then, be
thankful, brethren to God for having put
it into your hearts to serve him ; — it is
blessed to receive ; " it e more blessed
to give." He who knew what it was to
give, he has affirmed it ; for " He loved
us and gave himself for us."
May this blessedness, I pray, be real-
ized more and more among us all ; and
may we show to all who take knowledge
of us, that we are anxious, that the bless-
ing of scriptural education may be dis-
seminated through the land. — Amen.
THE DANGER OF SELF-DECEPTION-
A SERMON,
PREACHED IN THE EPISCOPAL CHAPEL, UP. BAGGOT-ST, DUBLIN,
ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER, 29, 1839,
BY THE REV. HAMILTON VERSCHOYLE, A.M.
CHAPLAIN.
CALATIANS, vi. 3.
" If a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself."
Among merchants, there is a system of
mutual accommodation. Men engaged
in trade are liable to reverses — they ex-
perience dispppointments and losses, and
hence they are often cast on the friendly
assistance of their more prosperous
fellows.
Christians, dear brethren, are spiritual
merchantmen — they are subject to many
changes — they have their castings down,
as well as their liftings up ; they often
fail, and hence they require to have that
love which " beareth all things," exercised
towards them ; hence the rule laid down
in the 2nd verse, " Bear ye one another's
burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ."
It was a wise and a good saying of a
certain man of God, when he heard of
the grievous fall of a brother, " he fell yes-
terday, and I may fall to-day." But if a
man imagine that he is lifted up out of the
reach of these reverses — if he think that his
mountain stands so strong, that he does
not require the forbearance of his
brethren, and therefore, that he himself
need show no forbearance towards others,
you have a description of that man in
the text, " if a man think himself to be
something when he is nothing, he de-
ceiveth himself." This is the connexion
of the text, with what goes before.
Self-deception, my dear brethren, is
very extensively practised. Every man
is a dupe of it, who has not been taught
by the Spirit of God to know himself.
We know well that all men are very
watchful against impostors, and are very
indignant if others practice deceit on
them. What folly would it be, if we
would passively submit to be deceived by
ourselves ; and the more so, because if
others deceive us, this for the most part
affects only our temporal interests, but
if we deceive ourselves our souls are
ruined — ruined for ever.
Now, while we are preaching, and
while you are hearing, oh ! let us re-
member, that " if any man thing himself
to be something, when he is nothing, he
deceiveth himself;" — let me remember
that I am nothing, and therefore that,
without God's Holy Spirit helping me
and working with me, I can say nothing
to your profit, in the way of detecting
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THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
and exposing the impositions we are apt
to practice on ourselves; and remember
also, dear brethren, that you are nothing —
that you can receive no profit — that you
can understand nothing to any purpose —
that you can lay nothing to heart, so as
really to have your souls benefited, with-
out the continual operation of God's
Holy Spirit, who worketh all in all.
We deceive ourselves then, because
we are in the habit of using false
weights — false balances — false measures
in judging of ourselves : and thus, a man
often comes to the conclusion, that he is
something, when in truth he is nothing.
Now, let us stop for a moment to enquire
the meaning of that word in its con-
nexion — nothing. What is meant when
a ma» is said to be nothing? For an
explanation we look to the 1st epistle to
the Corinthians, viii. 4, " As concerning
therefore the eating of those things that
are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we
know that an idol is nothing in the
world, and that there is no other God
but one." There, an idol is said to be
nothing. But an idol, in a certain sense,
is something — it is wood or stone, or
gold or silver ; but it is nothing to the
purpose for which it is used — nothing to
the man who worships it — it does him no
good, and in that sense it is nothing.
Man, indeed, may be something ; he
may be, in the common sense of the
word, good — a good citizen — a good
father — a good master ; he may have
worldly substance, intellect, learning, and
yet he may be nothing as regards the
kingdom of God — he may have no in-
terest in, or fitness for the glorious and
eternal kingdom of our Lord and Sa-
viour Jesus Christ, and then, in the
Scripture sense, he is nothing, whatever
he thinks of himself.
Having offered this explanation of the
word nothing, let us seek, with God's
help, to detect and expose some of the
methods by which men impose on them-
selves. The first we shall observe on is
this •. men deceive themselves by .com-
paring themselves with their fellows.
Now, this, St. Paul testifies to be a
foolish thing, 2nd Corinthians x. 12,
" We dare not make ourselves of the
number, or compare ourselves with some
that commend themselves; but they,
measuring themselves by themselves, and
comparing themselves amongst them-
selves are not wise." What does their
folly consist in? They look abroad into
the world, which lies in wickedness, and
see the vices of men — they see murder,
drunkenness, uncleanness, envy, strife,
railing, sabbath-breaking, and all other
prevailing abominations ; and then they
come home to themselves and say,
" thank God, I am not as other men,"
I am no gross sinner — no extortioner —
no drunkard — nor unclean person ; and
then they congratulate themselves, be-
cause the comparison issues in their own
favour. But is that any evidence that
they are right with God ? The thief
may say, thank God, I am not a murderer,
but is he the lessamenabletothelaw ? A
man in fever may say, thank God, I have
not the plague, and yet is he less in
danger? And thus, I say, men may be
comparing themselves with others who
are more openly vicious than themselves,
and come to the conclusion that it is all
right with them ; but can any reasonable
man say, that this is a safe standard, or a
safe measure? A dim sighted man, if he
be in the midst of persons perfectly blind,
may suppose himself to be very discern-
ing, but this is no test of his quick
sightedness. Oh ! dear brethren, be not
deceived, do not be satisfied with measur-
ing yourselves by the standard of man,
but come home to the standard of God —
come and examine yourselves in the
light of truth.
II. Another way, by which men im-
pose on themselves is by comparing
themselves with what they once were.
You were once a swearer, you have
given up the habit — you were once a
drunkard, but now you totally abstain —
I you were once a sabbath-breaker, now.
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
389
you no longer work your horses or ser-
vants on the Lord's day unnecessarily ;
you once totally neglected the bible and
prayer, now you are in the habit of read-
ing it daily, and of daily being on your
knees, and this satisfies you — you are
better than you once were, and you con-
clude that it is well with you, Oh ! you
may be awfully deceived. You may be
another man — quite a different person —
and yet not a new creature in Christ
Jesus, and unless you are a new creature
in Christ Jesus, you are as entirely
under condemnation and the wrath of
God as you were in the days when you
were openly profane ; your case is like
that person in consumption who some-
times feels that he has made a rally, and
thinks he is getting well, when his dis-
ease is still consuming his vitals. Sin
unpardoned, and sin unmodified, is des-
troying your poor soul, while there is an
outward amendment, your state is most
dangerous, the more dangerous because
you are less likely to be aroused to a sense
of your danger : you deceive yourselves
— Oh ! may God undeceive you.
Another false measure or balance by
which men deceive themselves is the esti-
mation they are held in by others. I do
not mean to say that a good name is to
be despised ; the Scripture tells us that
it is " better than precious ointment ;"
that is, when a man has a good reputation,
it sheds a sweeter savour around him
than precious ointment ; and so impor-
tant is it, that Saint Paul tells us that
a man is not to be employed as a
Minister in the Church of God unless he
has a good report among those that are
without. But then it is possible for
him to be well reported of by others
while a heavy woe may be hanging over
his head, " Woe to you when all men
shall speak well of you." Therefore, he
should not be satisfied with the good opi-
nion of others, he should take care to be
like Demetrius — 3d Epistle of John,
12 — " Demetrius hath good report of all
men, and of the truth itself." He is well
reported of, not by man only, but by
God ; if man has signed him, God has
countersigned him ; and unless God
countersign our state, character, and
name, my dear brethren, we will never
pass in the judgment. We are warned
sufficiently against this delusion in Psalm
xlix. 18. where the Psalmist is describing
the man who has deceived himself by his
own estimate of himself, and by the esti-
mate that others formed of him — " Whilst
he lived he blessed his soul, and men will
praise thee when thou dost well to thy-
self." But what follows ? " He shall go to
the generation of his fathers ; they shall
never see light,'' — his wicked fathers who
died in sin. The man who basked in the
sunshine of his own approbation, and of
all around him, as soon as he dies, goes
down to the blackness of darkness for
ever. He is perhaps still praised where
he is not, he is tormented where he is.
What an awful fall is this ! — and this is
the result of a man measuring himself by
his own standard, and the standard of
others, instead of the standard of the
sanctuary.
Lastly — Men weigh themselves in false
balances when they weigh themselves not
by the spirit, but by the letter of God's
law. This was the balance in which the
rich young ruler, whom we read of in the
Gospel of St. Mark weighed himself,
(x. 17.) He came to Jesus and asked,
" Good Master, what shall I do that I
may inherit eternal life ? and Jesus said
unto him, why callest thou me good ?
there is none good but one, that is God.
Thou knowest the commandments, do not
commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal,
do not bear false witness, defraud not,
honour thy father and mother. And
he answered and said unto him, all these
have I observed from my youth." The
man weighed himself in the balance of
the letter of the law ; and yet this
man came short ; being weighed in
the balance of the sanctuary, he was
found wanting. One thing he lacked,
and that was the one thing needful, with-
390
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
out which he could not enter into life ;
he had no real faith, no real love. Now,
it is thought by some, that this young
ruler was no other than Saul of Tarsus.
However this may be, we know that Saul
of Tarsus was precisely in the same state
of mind before his conversion. He tells
us in Romans, vii. 9. — (it is a remarka-
ble verse) — " I was alive without the law
once, but when the commandment came
sin revived, and I died." That seems
strange. How could Paul be without the
law ? Surely he was under the law, and
surely he knew the law ; he was a man
acquainted with the Scriptures, and yet
he says he was alive without the law !
Why does he speak so ? Because, my
dear brethren, the mere letter of the law
without the spirit, is not the law. If the
dead body of a man is brought into a
house, you do not say the man is come
into the house ; the spirit is gone, and
there is nothing but the body ; you do
not say the man is there ; and so Paul
carried the letter of the law written on his
phylacteries, and yet the law was not
there ; but he said when the living com-
mandment came, the commandment in
the spirit, then sin revived, I was
" weighed in the balances and found
wanting." When he discovered the law
was spiritual, then he says " I am carnal ;"
the moment you discover that the law is
spiritual, you cry out " I am carnal,
sold under sin," I that was comely in
my own eyes, now I am black when I
view myself in the glass of God's holy
law. This is the right standard.
But to bring this standard before you
more distinctly, I would say, that the
example of the Lord Jesus Christ is a
personification and full expression of all
the holiness of the spirtual law of God :
and perhaps there is no way in which we
can discover our own utter short coming
more fully, than when we look at our-
selves in the light of the example of our
blessed Saviour. We might, by the
means of the rules of art discover the de-
fects of a painting, but if we could set a
perfect painting beside it, this would dis-
cover the defects of the picture still more
distinctly. Now, if you set that perfect
Lord Jesus Christ by your side, you see
what a vile wretch you are — what a thing
of nought you are, when you look at him
who is clothed with righteousness from
head to foot — who is adorned with all the
beautiful ornaments of the grace of the
Holy Ghost, Oh ! then you see how
short you come in every respect ; you
will no longer appear anything in your
own eyes.
But, what wondrous grace is here, that
while the spotless purity of the Lord
Jesus condemns us, at the same time we
see something in him to justify us freely
from all our offences, and make us rejoice
in his perfect righteousness, for it is
written of him 1st John v. — " This is he
that came by water and blood, even
Jesus Christ, not by water only," water,
emblematical of his spotless purity, " but
with water and blood ;" he came with
blood, he is not only white but ruddy,
and this blood speaks pardon and peace
to every believing soul, so that the very
holy example which condemns the sin-
ner, as soon as it is apprehended by
faith, is seen to be a means of justifica-
tion ; for it was by this holiness that
Jesus was the Lamb without blemish and
without spot, and without that spotless
purity he could not have made a full
satisfaction for sin.
But yet, my dear brethren, even after
God has taught us by his Holy Spirit to
renounce our own righteousness altoge-
ther, and to cleave unto the righteousness
of Christ, even after we have been con-
victed by God's holy and spiritual law of
our total depravity and corruption, and
inability to present to God any right-
eousness of our own, even after we have
closed with the offer of the Gospel, and
received adoption into the family of God
and been made his dear children — I say,
after we have gone on by the grace of
God to do some duties in his service, and
to mortiiy some of these evils that dwell
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
391
in our evil hearts, even then this self-de-
ception pursues us, and if we are not on
the watch, we shall be deceived again to
think ourselves something when we are
nothing. Against this device of Satan
our Lord warns and guards us in St. Luke
xvii. JO, " So likewise ye, when ye shall
have done all those things which are
commanded you, say, we are unprofitable
servants, we have done that which was
our duty to do." Our Lord and Master
has never gained any thing by our ser-
vices — we have never made him our
debtor. But when we have gained some
victory over our spiritual enemies, and
have been employed a little in his ser-
vice, we begin to imagine that we have
some strength and goodness of our own,
Oh ! how sadly do we there deceive
ourselves. There is nothing that detects
this spirit so much as that very thing we
were speaking of in the commencement ;
when we see an unfruitful or fallen
brother, we are ready to take up stones
and cast them at him : oh ! this dis-
covers the pride and self-sufficiency of
our vile hearts ; — the right spirit to be
in, is that which is beautifully and scrip-
turally expressed in the following verse :
Perhaps for his name,
Poor worm as I am,
Some works I shall finish with glad loving aim ;
1 then, which is best,
Shall at his dear breast,
As at the beginning, find pardon and rest.
Oh, this is to come out of self, which should
be the continual aim and effort of the
child of God while serving his Master,
that he may, with St. Paul, " Serve the
Lord with all humility of mind."
We would just observe, in conclusion,
that these views of himself do not ex-
clude the Christian from the privilege
of knowing that he is a child of God.
The men of this world, who are some-
thing in their own eyes — who are boast-
ing themselves in their own righteousness,
would think it the greatest presumption
possible for a man to believe, that he is
a child of God. But, do you suppose, that
the holy Apostle St. John, that pattern of
meekness and humility, was uttering a
vain boast with respect to himself and
others, when he writes, in his first epistle,
iii. I, 2, " Behold, what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us, that
we should be called the sons of God ;
therefore the world knoweth us not, be-
cause it knew him not. Beloved, now
are we the sons of God ; and it doth not
yet appear what we shall be, but [we
know that when he shall appear, we
shall be like him, for we shall see him as
he is."
There is then perfect consistency between
man sincerely regarding himself as nothing,
and yet knowing assuredly that he is a
son of God, an heir of glory, honor, and
immortality. Further, a man may be
conscious of his integrity in the service
of Christ his Master, and yet, all the
time, esteem himself nothing ; for in
2nd Corinthians i. 12, we find St. Paul
declaring, " our rejoicing is this, the
testimony of our conscience, that in
simplicity and godly sincerity, not with
fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God,
we have had our conversation in the
world." Here is no glorying in self, but
in the grace of God, who worketh all in
all. And farther still, a man may form
a sober estimate of the gifts and graces
that God has bestowed on him, and yet
not look on himself as any thing, as we
find the same Apostle in 2nd Corinthians,
xii. 11, "For in nothing am I behind
the very chiefest apostles, though I be
nothing."
Oh ! my dear brethren, let us learn
this lesson — let us learn it experimentally
— let it be engraven on the tables of our
hearts — that we are nothing, and that
Jesus Christ is all in all. Paul had
learned it well when he wrote, " But
God forbid that I should glory, save in
tne cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom the world is crucified unto me,
and I unto the world." Thus, in the
faithful servant of Christ is fulfilled the
:392
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
word of the prophet, Jer. iv. 2, " Thou
shalt swear, the Lord liveth, in truth, in
judgment, and in righteousness, and the
nations shall bless themselves in him, and
in him shall they glory."
Oh ! let me ask you, this day, in
whom are you blessing yourselves ? Do
you feel any satisfaction with yourselves,
and with jour own attainments ? In
whom is it that you feel satisfaction ? Is
it in Jesus? — is it in Christ Jesus that
you are glorying ? Oh ! remember the
case referred to in the Psalm : there was
a man who blessed his soul without any
regard to a covenant God and Mediator,
and the curse of God was upon him all
the time, and the curse of God overtook
him. But if you are blessing yourselves
in the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall be
blessed indeed, for God is waiting to
bless you — he will increase and multiply
blessings on your head — he will bless
you with the blessing of heaven above —
blessings of the deep that lieth under,
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ, and at last will bless
you with eternal joy and felicity at his
right hand.
" I cannot but think, with what unspeak-
able joy old Simeon died, when, after
long waiting for the consolation of Israel,
he had now seen the Lord's Christ ;
when I hear him say, 'Lord, now lettest
thou thy servant depart in peace, accord-
ing to thy word ; for mine eyes have
seen thy salvation." Methinks I should
see his soul ready to fly out of his mouth,
in a heavenly ravishment ; and even then
upon its wing towards its glory ; for now
his eyes saw, and his arms embraced, in
God's salvation his own, in Israel's glory
his own. How gladly doth he now see
death, when he hath the Lord of Life in
his bosom ! Or -how can he wish to
close up his eyes with any other object?
Yet, when I have seriously considered it,
I cannot see wherein our condition comes
short of his. He saw the child Jesus but
in his swathing bands, when he was but
now entering upon the great work of our
redemption; we see him after the full
accomplishment of it, gloriously triumph-
ing in heaven - He saw him buckling on
his armour, and entering into his lists :
we see him victorious : ' Who is this that
cometh from Edom, with dyed garments
from Bozrah ? this, that is glorious in
his apparel, travelling in the greatness of
his strength, mighty to save ?' He could
only say, ' To us a child is born, to us a
son is given ;' we can say, ' Thou hast
ascended on high ; thou hast led cap-
tivity captive ; thou hast received gifts
for men.' It is true, the difference is,
he saw his Saviour with bodily eyes, we
with mental ; but the eyes of our faith
are no less sure and unfailing, than those
of sense. Lord, why should not I, whose
eyes have no less seen thy salvation, say,
Now let thy servant depart, not in peace
only, but in a joyful sense of my in-
stant glory?" — Hall's Century of Divine
Breathings.
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
GOSPEL PREACHER.
; We preach Christ crucified —
Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God."— I Cor. i. 23, 24.
No. XCVI1I.
SATURDAY, 7th DECEMBER, 1839.
Price 4d.
BEV. H. HARDY.
REV. H. HAMILTON.
REV. J. H. STEWART
THE FIRE UPON THE ALTAR.
A SERMON
PREACHED IN DOUGLAS CHURCH, DIOCESE OF CORK AND CLOYNE,
BY THE REV. HENRY HARDY, A.M.
(Curate. Assistant.)
Leviticus vi. 12, 13.
" And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it ; it shall not be put out : and the priest
shall burn wood on it every morning-, and lav the burnt-offering- in order upon it ; and he shall
burn thereon the fat of the peace-offerings. The tire shall ever be burning upon the altar ; it
shall never go out."
The inspired authorship of the Bible
is spread over centuries : it is composed
of many portions written at different pe-
riods and by different instruments, under
the suggestion or superintendence of the
one Spirit.
These portions form the close-fitting
sections of the complete structure of re-
vealed truth, and the end of their pub-
lication is one — to point directly or
indirectly to Christ. Like lines con-
verging on a point, they meet in Jesus ;
like rays concentrated in a focus, they
pour their diversity of brightness upon
the Lord.
Vol. IV.
The eye of Faith is taught to discover
the Saviour under one form or another,
in all parts of the word of God : His
complex person, His deity and humanity
His humiliation and glory, like a woven
thread of gold, interlaces and binds toge-
ther those several subdivisions, into one
self-harmonizino; whole. Whether we
stand with a Patriarchal household around
some rude altar with its bleeding and
burning sacrifice, or scan, with Israel in
the land of promise, the solenmn and
significant procession of rite and ordi-
nance that circled with the circling year,
or listen to Prophets as they chaunt sub
-> A
394
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
lime anticipation and triumphant thanks-
giving — or associate with Apostles as they
pour the light of a new dispensation upon
the shadows of the old ; the aim and ob-
ject, the direction and the tendency of
all is one.
Conformably with this view of scrip-
ture, and consistently with the Vllth
article of the church, we are authorized
to expect throughout the Bible an inward
and all-pervading consistency of purpose
on the part of the Most High ; which
may be traced, like precious ore, now
near the surface — now far below ; but
still unbroken though unseen, and ulti-
mately working up to open day in all its
sparkling richness ; and thus, in truth,
we can observe the vein of gospel mercy
(" more to be desired than much fine
gold") throw up anticipative gleams, and
shed some sparkling fragments among
the apparently unprofitable elements of
early dispensations, proving its existence
even then, and giving promise of such
hidden treasure of " life and immor-
tality," as should one day arise and shine
upon a benighted and impoverished
world.
Hence the spiritual dispensation under
which we are placed can no more be se-
parated from the ritual and prophetic,
than the exposition from the text, or the
solution from the perplexing riddle ; for
Moses was but Christ under the veil, and
the law was but the holiness of the Spirit
written upon stones ; the veil was taken
off Moses by the prophet like unto Moses,
and the gospel was discovered underneath ;
and, by the coming of the Spirit, the
writing on the tables of stone was trans-
ferred to the fleshly tables of the heart.
With such acknowledgments of the
broad and significant consistency of the
Divine word, let us approach the text ;
but before immediately closing with it,
let us offer one more remark of a kindred
character with the foregoing, in order to
clear the way fully towards its elucida-
tion. The laws by which Jehovah bound
the Jewish nation to himself were of a
threefold nature, and involved a threefold
relationship •. the moral law regarded
them as the creatures of His hand, and
bound thereby to render Him the service
of heart, soul, mind, and strength : the
judicial law regarded them as subjects in
a political capacity, and bound thereby
to observe the statutes promulged for the
promotion of due allegiance, and the
well-being of the nation : the ceremonial
law regarded them as traiisgressors of
the two preceding, and as helpless de-
pendants upon the merciful arrangements
of His grace ; while the whole economy
of the Jewish system, received as one,
bore witness to the unchanging holiness
of God, the existence of sin, and the
necessity for some adequate though yet
unprovided atonement.
The Levitical dispensation was in the
strictest view, a dispensation of sacrifices
— sacrifices periodically recurring, but
yet insufficient to procure that blessing of
pardon and peace, for which they were
ostensibly provided. The very nature of
the offering, as well as the fact of its re-
petition, is itself urged by the Apostle,
(Heb. x. 1—4) as an argument for their
inadequacy ; and that an insight into this
truth was had by the pious and discerning
Jew, we can adduce the sentiments of
David who, because of his wilful sin,
not being even contemplated by those
sacrifices, was constrained to confess,
" thou desirest not sacrifice else would I
give it thee; thou delightest not in burnt
offering." Ps. li.
Oil GOSPEL PREACHER.
395
To what purpose then, it may be asked,
were they instituted, and in what light
are they to be contemplated ? They were
the monitors of man's sin and God's ho-
liness ; they were standing remembran-
cers of God's gracious purposes in the
coming Saviour ; they were instruments
by which faith was fastened on the anti-
type ; was reminded of the promise and
instructed in the hope : — " which are a
shadow of things to come, but the body
is of Christ," for, " Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to every one that
believeth," and, " God hath made Him to
be the sin-offering for us, who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteous-
ness of God in Him. "
The text draws our notice to one altar
which symbolically testified to God's un-
compromising justice, and to his remem-
brance of the covenant of grace.
None of the ministering servants of
Jehovah could presume to enter the
sanctuary day by day, before supplying
with its appointed sacrifice and fuel, the
brazen altar in the outer court, on which
the fire should be ever kept alive ; while
the great High Priest himself, in entering
once a year into the holiest of all, dared
not to set his foot within the vail without
blood from the sin-offering, fire from
" the altar before the Lord," and incense
beaten small ; that whilst the blood was
being sprinkled before the mercy seat,
the incense cast upon the coals of fire
might rise in cloudy folds, and hide his
imperfections before the mystic presence
of his God. Two altars there were, on
which fire was perpetually burning, the
altar of incense in the holy place, and
the altar of burnt offering in the outer
court ; both, by their unextinguished
flame proving their own inadequacy to-
wards furnishing that expiation and
righteousness which go to constitute
complete justification, but both also unit-
edly acting as an index to " Him who
hath loved us, and given himself for us
an offering and a sacrifice to God, for a
swset-smelling savour."
Now, in reference to the fire upon the
brazen altar, the text speaks in the way
of caution and also of assurance; the
caution being thus expressed — " and the
fire upon the altar shall be burning in it,
it shall not be put out :'' — the assurance —
"the fire shall ever be burning upon the
altar, it shall never go out." That fire
was kindled from heaven, and so jealous
was Jehovah of its preservation as a type,
that when Nadab and Abihu, sons of
Aaron, offered "strange fire," "there
went out a fire from the Lord and de-
voured them, and they died before the
Lord,"
The term "fire" in scripture language, is
commonly employed to express the
judgment of God upon sin, thus Heb.
xii. 29, Fs- 1. 2, Thess. 1, &c. ; and
accordingly, when the Jewish worshipper
(the veil being off his heart) contem-
plated that altar's heaven kindled flame,
and bore in mind the divine edict for its
preservation, he was given to understand
that the judgment of God was held in
abeyance, that the divine arrangements for
turning aside that judgment from the con-
trite sinner though revealed to hope, were
not consummated in fact, and, that as the
fire, day by day, swallowed victim after
victim, and burned still as fierce as ever,
that victim had not yet been laid thereon,
whose blood should quench in mere;/ the
fire maintained injustice.
Well— "God is the Lord who hath
shewed us light ; bind the sacrifice with
cords, even to the horns of the altar"
the victim has been found and accepted ;
:]%
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
" He was led as a sheep to the slaughter ;"
his blood is "shed for many for the re-
mission of sins," and the fire is gone out —
God himself hath "put it out:" "for by
one offering he hath perfected for ever
them that are sanctified," and, " through
the offering of the body of Christ once
for all,*' mercy and truth, righteousness
and peace have met together, and like
the wings of the mystic cherubim, they
shadow the mercy-seat of God — the
throne of divine grace.
" He was delivered (says Scripture) for
our offences, and raised for our justifi-
cation." By the resurrection of Christ
from the dead, his subsequent ascension,
and his intercession at the right hand of
the Majesty on high, the Father pro-
claimed the all-meritorious sufficiency of
Jesus his Son our Lord, as the "one medi-
ator between God and man;" while the
Holy Ghost, one in love, in mind, and
in essence with the Father and the Son,
carries out in application to the souls of
men the righteousness and sufferings of
the latter, that they may be justified,
sanctified, and glorified. " There is there-
fore, now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus ;" no judgment is re-
corded against them — the bond is can-
celled, for, "blotting out the hand-writing
of ordinances that was against us, which
was contrary to us, He took it out of the
way, nailing it to — or rather transfixing
it by the cross," after the ancient method
of cancelling a bond, by driving a nail
through it. Moreover, the quenching of
" the fire " by God's own act, is but the
Old Testament form of expressing the
dying words of the Great Victim, who
in yielding up his Spirit into his Father's
hand cried " it is finished !"
" Finished our righteousness ami peace,
Finished our pardon and release,
The mighty deht is paid j
By virtue of atoning blood,
Our sins against the holy God,
Are in ohlivion laid
While Jesus' dying words we hear,
Blind unbelief or doubting fear
Have nothiug to reply ;
Wherever their objections fall,
" 'Tis finished" still may answer all,
And silence every cry."
" There is therefore, now, no condem-
nation to them who are in Christ Jesus ;"
the very name of the sacrifice bespeaks
our full acquittal ; "his name is Jesus'' —
a name appropriated to him because he
saves his people from their sins ; a name
that falls upon the condemned sinner's ear
like the reprieve of heaven ; a name that
pledges Him to the removal not only of
the judgment of the Law upon our sin,
but also of the power of sin upon our
heart. His name is Christ, the annointed
prophet, priest and king ; as prophet,
having all wisdom to guide; as prophet,'
all-sufficient sacrifice to plead ; and as
king, all power to enthrone himself upon
our affections. As Christ, he stands the
channel of immeasureable blessing to all
who put their trust in him; "like the
precious ointment upon the head, that,
ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's
beard, that went down to the shirts of his
garments," the Spirit of grace which an-
ointed Him above measure, by Him de-
scends upon us, the members of his body,
and " of his fullness have we all received,
and grace for grace."
Well, dear brethren, the fire is "gone
out" — God himself hath " put it 'out," but
in so doing, he hath kindled another.
The overflowings of the blood of the
Lamb, have indeed extinguished one
flame, but the sprinkling of that blood has
lit up another : That temple has not
OR GOSPEL PKEACHEK.
397
" one stone left upon another," the very
foundation has been upturned by the
plough of the Heathen ; but God by his
Spirit, has provided materials for the
erection of another lasting edifice for the
in-dwelling of his glory ; that altar is
dashed to fragments, but a better has
been substituted; that priesthood has been
scattered like the relics of a mighty ship-
wreck, but a more spiritual priesthood is
being collected. (1 Peter ii, 5.) Ac-
cordingly, when the fire of divine justice
died away in the offering up of Christ, the
flame of divine love shot upwards upon
the altar-hearts of the Lord's redeemed ;
it was and is kindled from above, for love
begets love, and, " we love him, because
he first loved us.'' This is the heavenly
fire which kindles upon the altar of the
heart, the sacrifice of the affections ; it is
the fruit of satisfied justice; it is the
movement of divine mercy, besprinkling
the soul with the all-awakening, all-
cleansing blood of Jesus, producing a re-
sponsive movement of the soul to God,
by the drawings of the Spirit of grace,
and lighting up a flame in its divinely
occupied recesses, not to be extinguished
by the deepest waters of trial. Now the
language of the text comes into force here
as in the former case ; and the caution
delivered in respect of the Old Testa-
ment fire, holds good when we transmit
it to the New. How then is that caution
expressed under the bright and spiritual
dispensation of which we are the subjects ?
Thus, "quench not the Spirit:" "■grieve
not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye
are sealed unto the day of redemption" —
" Take heed unto yourselves" — "Be sober,
be vigilant' — " Groiv in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ" — and, "ye beloved, building up
yourselves on your most holy faith, pray-
ing in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in
the love of God, looking for the mercy of
our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."
Thus, the solemn precept of the Old
Law is by the Spirit of God transcribed
upon the pages of the New ; and, coupled
with this caution, will be found also the
assurance of the text : — thus, " work out
your own salvation with fear and trem-^
h\'mg, for it is God which worketh in you,
both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
"He will keep the feet of his saints" —
"My sheep," says the Saviour, "shall
never perish, neither shall any pluck
them but of my hands"--" The water
that I shall give him, shall be in him a
well of water, springing up unto ever-
lasting life" — " Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ" — " All my fresh
springs are in thee," &c. &c. Thus does
the assurance of the text afford itself for
the comfort and sauctification of the chil-
dren of the Lord.
" It shall never go out." In time of
trial and affliction it shall not go out ;
for, " in the time of trouble He shall hide
me in his pavillion : in the secret of his
tabernacle shall he hide me : He shall
set me up upon a rock ; and now shall my
head be lifted up above mine enemies
round about me ; therefore will I offer in
his tabernacle sacrifices of joy : 1 will sing
praises unto the Lord." In seasons of
spiritual depression, it shall not go out ;
" Oh my God, my soul is cast down within
me, . . . deep calleth unto deep
at the noise of thy waterspouts ; all thy
waves and thy billows are gone over me ;
yet the Lord will command his loving-
kindness in the day-time, and in the
night his song shall be with me, and my
prayer unto the God of my life'
398
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
In the hour of temptation it sliall not
go out ; "for God is faithful, who will
not suffer you to be tempted above that
you are able ; but will, with the tempta-
tion also make a way to escape, that ye
may be able to bear it." Again — " The
Lord shall deliver me from every evil
work, and will preserve me unto his
heavenly kingdom." And again — " I will
bring the blind by a way that they know
not, I will lead them in paths they have
not known : I will make darkness light
before them, and crooked things straight :
these things will I do unto them, and not
forsake them." When life too is waning,
and the night of death is setting in, and
the blighting chill is paralyzing the frame
as it enters the deep and dark river, it
shall not go out; for, " love is strong as
death;" and " many waters cannot quench
love, neither can the floods drown it." —
" Yea, though I walk through the val-
ley of the shadow of death I will fear no
evil, for thou art with me ; thy rod and
thy staff they comfort me." Hence, dear
brethren, the smile, the radiance, the holy
exultation, the happy triumph which
lights up the wasted features ; and the
parting soul, recognising in the c on vulsions
of its tabernacle, the shaking of its prison
doors, longs even through death to make
its way to Christ ; and poised upon the
wings of faith and love, and hovering be-
tween two worlds, prepares for the signal
of flight, obeys the summons with joy,
and soars into the regions of rest — the
home of everlasting peace.
But oh ! when eternity dawns upon the
soul, then — even then too — " the fire
shall ever be burning upon the altar ; it
shall never go out !" When much of the
distinctive character of faith and hope
shall be done away ; love shall retain its
character and its pre-eminence. When
faith and hope shall lose themselves in
sight and enjoyment, love shall rise to the
level of its uncreated source. The apos-
tle's eye was upon eternal things, when
he said of love, "it never faileth ;"
and surely if love be the fruit of faith, and
faith be fed by knowledge — and know-
ledge be eternally progressive in the
realms of glory — love shall burn brighter
and brighter throughout the days of
heaven. The more we discover, the
more shall we adore : the more plentiful
the fuel, the higher and brighter the
fame. As fast as obscure things are
made plain, difficulties solved, and appa-
rent contradictions reconciled — as we
learn more and more of the gracious cha-
racter and mind of God — as we dwell
with spiritualized vision and thought
upon the sorrows, the conflicts and the
triumphs of the Lamb ; fresh bursts of
praise shall swell the harmonies of heaven,
and the flame shall shoot higher upon
the altar-hearts of the Lord's redeemed ;
every new disclosure adding new undu-
lations to the many-sounding chorusses —
new peals to the thunders of thanksgiving.
Thus the fire which could but struggle
for existence in the ungenial and heavy
atmosphere of this world of sin and sorrow,
shall be fed and cherished by the very
atmosphere of our eternal dwelling-place.
" They shall go from strength to strength."
Knowledge, love, holiness and joy for
ever on the increase ; for " the fire shall
ever be burning on the altar, it shall never
go out."
What thankfulness of heart, what care-
fulness of life should not be drawn from
the assurance and the caution thus con-
veyed ! One, exhorting us to be " sober
and vigilant, for our adversary the devil,
OR GOSPEL PREACHER,
399
goeth about seeking whom he may de-
vour :" the other, bidding us to " cast all
our care upon Him, for He careth for us. '
One, directing us to look to ourselves in
mistrusting watchfulness ; the other invit-
ing us to lean upon him, in confiding
helplessness.
Every motive is here, to make us vigi-
lant and to make us happy. Our salva-
tion finished in the hands of Christ, our
sanctification progressive by the operation
of the Spirit, have proved his past, and as-
sure us of his present faithfulness and
love. Our condemnation cancelled, our
adoption to sonship in Christ, and to co-
heirship with Christ, sealed by the Spirit
in the Saviour's blood, is the warrant of
our peace and of the hope of glory.
Oh realize this condition by a life of faith
upon the Son of God, and that faith will
surely work by love, overcome the world,
and purify the heart ! Realize this, and
every dispensation is a stimulus to the
flame — a testimony to a Father's holy
promise-keeping love. Come, sickness,
poverty, bereavement — come all ! but if
Christ accompany them by a sense of his
forgiving and adopting love, " we have all
things and abound !" One little drop
from the cup of his mercy not only makes
bitter things sweet, but all other things
comparatively tasteless ! to know Him, to
have communion and fellowship with Him,
is the highest, holiest, and happiest con-
dition on this side of heaven. It is an ex-
panded ocean of calm and undisturbed en-
joyment on which the travel-wearied soul
long beaten by the storms, and buffeted
by the billows of this troublesome world,
can fold its wings and settle down for all
eternity.
Oh my dear brethren, if Cod hath in-
deed kindled that flame upon your conse-
crated hearts, be warned by the caution —
be comforted by the assurance. He will
not be unfaithful to you — be ye not un-
faithful to yourselves. Ye are nothing in
yourselves, but ye can do all things in
Christ; therefore live with-Wim in humble
confiding fellowship — confessing, plead-
ing, praising.
Live on Him, as the branch on the
vine, deriving greenness, sap, leaves, and
fruit — as the wall on the foundation, de-
riving strength and consistency. Live to
Him, in the church, in your families, in
the world ; and let your high and holy
aim be — " as for us and our house we
will serve the Lord." To this end daily
feed the flame. The priest (v. 12.)
burned wood on the altar every mornino- to
replenish the fire : do you replenish the
flame upon the heart-altar with' Christ
Christ in his power, grace, wisdom, love,
sympathy, example, and hope ; these are
the materials with which to heap up the
altar, and stimulate the flame. Thus shall it
acquire strength, and rise higher and
higher towards its eternal source, and its
eternal destination ; and thus " the path
of the just" will be "as the shining
light which shineth more and more unto
the perfect day,'' for
" The fire shall ever be burning on the
altar; it shall never go out."
THE EPIPHANY.
A SERMON
PREACHED IN BENMORE CHURCH, FERMANAGH, DIOCESE OF CLOGIIEfc.
BY THE REV. HUGH HAMILTON, A.M.
St. Matthew ii. 1, 2.
" Now, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of
there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem.
Jews ? for we have seen his star in the east, and
When the fulness of the time came for
sending the Son of God into the world,
the event of his birth was made known
to angels and to men. For when Je-
hovah brought the first-begotten into
the world he said " Let all the an-
gels of God worship Him." By angels
also he proclaimed to the shepherds
the glad tidings of his birth — and at
his Circumcision and Presentation in
the Temple, as well as by the birth of
John the Baptist, and the various, inci-
dents connected therewith, it was abun-
dantly notified to the Jews and all that
dwelt in Jerusalem — that the Son of
God was come ; yet, as far as we
learn, no very great or general attention
was drawn to Him. The news does not
appear to have reached the higher quar-
ters, or if it had, it seems to have called
forth but little notice ; the birth of one
that was to save his people from their sins,
had probably little to attract the attention
of the worldly or profane. A few who
looked (or redemption in Jerusalem would
treasure up these things and ponder them
Judea, in the days of Herod the king-, behold,
, Saying-, where is he that is born King of the
are come to worship him. "
in their hearts ; but for others they had
no attractions. Butastill further notice and
of a different nature, was given in process
of time. Persons of distinction — stran-
gers from a distant land arrive — and their
inquiries produce a general sensation ;
for their questioning refers to matters of
temporal interest. " Where is He that is
born King of the Jews ?" No sooner is
the question made known, than " Herod
and all Jerusalem are troubled." A Sa-
viour may be slighted — a King cannot be
disregarded. Herod's crown appears to
be endangered, and various motives would
rouse at once the nobles and people to
investigate circumstances apparently so
pregnant with consequences of national
interest. The results we know : and it
is not my intention to dwell upon them —
but, having pointed out how this visit of
the wise men to Jerusalem, was calculated
to excite the attention of all classes ; I
would consider the fact, as regards the
wise men themselves — as it bears upon the
grand designs of God, and as it holds out
instruction to us.
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
401
First — as to the wise men themselves :
They appear to have been persons of
much learning in their own land — and to
have used their learning to good practical
purpose. It would seem that they were
skilled in science, and particularly in those
branches which relate to the heavenly
bodies j they were what we term astro-
nomers : and while engaged in observing
the stars, their attention was drawn to a
new and remarkable appearance — which,
by some means, not told to us, they were
led to consider as an intimation, that a
child had been born who should be King
of the Jews. We know from the 12th
verse that they received direct communi-
cation from God, in a dream, and we
may very properly conclude, that infor-
mation had been given them before
in some such manner. However it was,
they were " not disobedient to the hea-
venly vision," but though the way was
very long, aud probably the journey far
from convenient, they followed the inti-
mation given, and, like the Queen of
Sheba, came from the utmost parts of the
earth to see this great and glorious King ;
and truly, Solomon in all his glory,
could not be compared with Bethlehem's
babe.
Thus we see what was their character,
and what their conduct. They were men
of observation, who paid attention to
what they saw — and made good use of
the means of knowledge within their
reach : and they were persons who spared
no pains in following the guidings of
Providence, when the Lord made known
to them the operations of his hands.
But, further, we may collect from
this division of the subject — the fact,
that the Lord was known to others than
to the dwellers in Judca, and that He was
pleased in this manner to prepare the
Gentiles for receiving the Gospel when it
should be preached among them; and in
which they would find fulfilled, those pro-
phesies which were not altogether un-
known in those lands whither the Jews
had been carried, and where portions of
Divine Revelation had been made
known.
Thus we may see the bearing of these
events upon the great designs of God. —
We are now fully informed of that mys-
tery which had been hid from ages and
from generations, that the Gentiles should
be fellow-heirs of gospel-blessings : and
thus we see an early intimation given,
that Jesus was to be " a light to lighten
the Gentiles."
There may be observed a more imme-
diate effect which these circumstances
were intended to produce — namely, to
call attention to the prophesies among the
Jewish rulers, and to call forth an autho-
rative interpretation of scripture, relative
to the birth-place of the Messiah. Those
who are acquainted with the subject must
be aware, that the various particulars of
the Saviour's birth, life, death, &c. &c,
are not set forth in any regular order, in
the Old Testament, but are to be col-
lected from the whole testimony of the
prophets, delivered at sundry times, and
in divers manners ; so that it required
considerable knowledge of scripture, and
much close attention to the word of God,
to discover those several particulars as they
were spread over the entire surface of the
sacred oracles. Here then were two
points of much importance to be clearly
ascertained: the character of the Messiah,
and the place of his birth ; and the in-
quiry of the wise men establishes both.- —
Thev ask, " where is he that is born
402
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
King of the Jews ?" and Herod demands
of the Chief Priests " where Christ
should be born." The Messiah is there-
fore recognised in his kingly character,
for assuming which, Jesus was afterwards
accused before Pilate, and sentenced to
crucifixion : and further, the reply of the
Chief Priests and Scribes, given in a
public manner to Herod, and upon the
authority of those whose office it was to
interpret the word of God, determined
the place where Christ was to be born,
and established this very essential point in
favour of the pretentions of Jesus to the
character of Messiah.
Public attention was called to the pro-
phecy of Micah, declaring Bethlehem to
be the place ; and the subsequent slaugh-
ter of the children, left the interpretation
indelibly imprinted on the memories of
those who suffered in their tenderest feel-
ings, and doubtless on the minds of many
to whom the report of that inhuman mas-
sacre would come.
Let us now consider this history, as
calculated to convey instruction to our-
selves.
We find here two parties concerned —
the Wise Men on the one hand, and on
the other, Herod and the Jewish Priests.
The one eager in their inquiries after
the Messiah — the others, either indif-
ferent — as the priests appear to have been,
for they made, as far as we know, no fur-
ther examination — or hostile as Herod,
who in his anxiety to cut off the new-
born king, sacrificed the infants of an en-
tire region. Now which my brethren,
ought we to imitate ? Whose example
of those do we in practice follow ? To
you my brethren, is proclaimed, more
than Messiah's birth — and far more great
and precious benefits are ofl'ered to you
in the gospel which we preach, than are
contained in the mere announcement that
one is born to reign over the House of
Israel, since the Lord Jesus Christ is
exalted to be a Prince as well as to be a Sa-
viour. But, first of all, and chiefest, and
best of all the tidings brought to sinners,
is the glorious proclamation of pardon,
purchased by his all-atoning blood. John
Baptist exceeded all the prophets that
had gone before, because he preached a
present Saviour, living, moving and teach-
ing among them. But to us, my brethren,
though less than the least of all saints, is
this grace given, that we should preach
amongst you the unsearchable riches of
Christ dying, rising, ascending, pleading,
" able to save to the uttermost, all who
come unto God by Him."
How, dear brethren, do you receive
our testimony? We continually set be-
fore you the ample provisions, and the
gracious invitations of the gospel of
Christ. Oh, how have you treated them?
Has it been like the Jewish priests, who
satisfied to know the letter of the Scrip-
ture, sought for nothing further, and left
the infant Jesus neglected and despised ?
Are you, I would ask, content to knoio
that such and such things have been writ-
ten, and that such and such events have
taken place, and resting in that know-
ledge, seek no further ? Now, to bring
the matter to a plain and simple point —
we at this season celebrate the Saviour's
birth, and some of us commemorate
moreover his most precious death. Let us
inquire of our own hearts to what do
these commemorations lead. Do they
whet, as it were, our appetite for further
knowledge and experience of the Savi-
our's love ? Do we relapse into the same
or perhaps greater indifference than wc
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
403
had felt before? How, my brethren,
shall we think on such indifference when
we see Messiah throned in glory, or
coming in the clouds of heaven to judge
an assembled world ? O, trifle not away
the day of grace, nor suppose that indif-
ference on such a subject can be lightly
thought of by that Saviour, who shed his
blood for our redemption, and has said
"he that is not with me is against me."
The Jewish priests appeared indifferent —
at least they do not seem to have re-
garded the report of the Messiah's birth
as worthy further attention — but not
Herod's wrath was more cruel, than that
exhibited by them and their successors in
the subsequent persecutions with which
they followed the adorable Jesus, and
which they never relinquished, till they
had crucified and slain the Lord of life.
And brethren, let it be remembered that
God regards and estimates our characters,
not only by what may be our actual conduct,
but by what he knows our principles and
feelings would lead to, were we placed in
circumstances calculated to call them into
operation, in all the full developement of
their enmity against his truth. " Say not
in your hearts, if we had lived in their
days, we would not have been partakers
with them in the blood of the prophets."
The Jews so reasoned at that time, and
we know how they behaved, they filled
up the measure of their fathers and
proved that they were indeed the "children
of those that killed the prophets, and
stoned them that were sent unto them."
But let us rather follow the example of
the wise men of the east, who set them-
selves to improve and follow the light
which God vouchsafed them ; and bre-
thren, how far more highly are we fa-
voured ! They had a star indeed to
guide, but we have a more sure word of
prophecy — not glimmering for a time,
and affording us a feeble ray to lead our
steps ; but shining as a bright and steady
light, with all the clearness of meridian
day. Prophecy accomplished, promises
fulfilled — miracles confirming the word ;
and beside all, the Spirit's teaching which
the Lord abundantly bestows on every
humble inquirer after saving truth. With
these advantages, must we not expect the
wise men of the east to rise up against
us in the day of judgment and condemn
us, should we be found neglectful of that
great salvation, so freely, fully, and richly
offered in the gospel of Christ ?
Nor have we like them to leave our
homes in search of this salvation — no
journeys need be taken — no wilderness is
to be traversed, nor ocean to be crossed,
we need not compass sea and land to find
the Saviour — " Say not in your hearts
who shall ascend into heaven ? (that is,
to bring Christ down from above ,) or
who shall descend into the deep ? (that is
to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
But what saith it ? the word is nigh thee,
even in thy mouth, and in thy heart : that
is, the word of faith which we preach."
Oh, my brethren, how little do we re-
flect upon our privileges ! how fearfully
do multitudes trifle with the blessings so
richly heaped around them ! How many
a Bible lies unopened on the shelf, or in
the closet ? How many moments, days,
aye years, are passed with the word of life
lying within the reach, under the very eyes
of many a poor sinner who cares not for
the treasure ? How many are the procla-
mations of mercy sent forth from our pul-
pits, while hundreds are wilfully and per-
severingly absent from the house of God,
where the pardoning grace of our Lord is
404
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
published ; and '' shall I not visit for
these things saith the Lord !"
The very cheapness of the gospel is to
manv a reason for neglecting it ; and oh !
how solemn is that word — may we lay it to
heart ! " All the day long have I stretched
out my hand unto a disobedient and gain-
saying people."
Hear then, dear friends, the Saviour's
words, and let them sink down into your
ears — " I say unto you, many shall come
from the east, and from the west, and
shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, in the kingdom of God."
But all, my brethren, are not guilty in
this respect. Some have we trust, re-
ceived the word with joy, and have fol-
lowed on to know the Lord. Indiffer-
ence in others has not kept them back
from seeking for themselves. Opposition
has not deterred, false lights have not pre-
vailed to lead them astray. Can any of
you say, " I have found him of whom Moses
in the law and the prophets did write
Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph."
Happy are ye, O people saved of the
Lord ! May you be enabled to say, I
have found him whom my soul lavel/i !
and may you hold on your way rejoicing,
till yousee Him inhisglory, crowned with
his many crowns, and receiving the ado-
rations of a ransomed world. Meanwhile,
let us remember, that the wise men, having
found the infant king, fell down before
him with reverential acknowledgments of
his royal dignity, and opening their
treasures, presented their offerings,
gold, &c.
Brethren, let us not fail in dutiful obe-
dience to our sovereign Lord — nor forget
that, while we owe him our love for
having bought us with his blood, we also
owe him our entire and devoted service as
our king : and what can we render ade-
quate to our infinite obligations, or worthy
the acceptance of our God ? nothing
adequate, nothing worthy, yet, let us
rejoice to know, that the tribute of an
humble heart and thankful spirit He
does not despise.
" Vainly we offer each ample oblation ;
Vainly by gold would his favour secure-
Richer by far is the heart's adoration,
Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor."
INVITATION TO UNITED PRAYER,
FOR THE
OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT,
ON WEDNESDAY, 1st of JANUARY, 1840,
BEING THE
FIRST DAY OF THE NEW YEAR.
Dearly Beloved in the Lord,
Again that season approaches in which guided, as
trust, by Him from whom " all holy desires, all good counsels, and
all just works do proceed," I have for these past three years invited the
sincere followers of our blessed Saviour, to unite in a general concert
of prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I would, therefore,
again renew the invitation for a similar concert to be held on
THE FIRST DAY OF THE NEW YEAR; which will be on WEDNEDSAY,
1st January, 1840.
Whilst each revolving year has presented some special reasons for this
devotional union, we are now encouraged to persevere, as the dawn of
the new year appears to approach with some of those delightful streaks
which inspire a hope that " the bright and morning star" may be near
at hand : for answers have lately been vouchsafed to these former
devotional unions which give promise that the day is hastening on when
the Lord will fulfil his gracious word — " Bring ye all the tithes into
the storehouse, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts,
and see if I will not open the windows of Heaven, and pour you out
such a blessing that there shall not be room to receive it."
The happy events to which I refer are — First, the delightful intel-
ligence transmitted by the Bishop of Calcutta, that the inhabitants of
fifty-five villages in Northern India have simultaneously renounced
idolatry. No less than a thousand of these converted heathens having
40G THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
been actually baptized ; whilst double tbat number have declared them-
selves desirous to follow their example. And this as soon as they are
properly instructed and prepared for that holy sacrament.
Surely we may say, " of these tidings from a far country," " the
Lord hath done great things for (hem. The Lord hath done great
things for us, whereof we are glad."
The second event to which I refer, is the remarkable power of the
Holy Spirit accompanying the outward means of grace which has lately
taken place in different parts of Scotland, and more particularly at
Kilsyth. There, according to the testimony of eye witnesses, whose
reports have been examined and fully accredited by sober-minded and
experienced ministers, it appears, that persons of almost all ages, and
of different habits and dispositions, some among them open transgres-
sors, have been brought to that godly sorrow for sin, which leads to
repentance not to be repented of; and this followed by that lively faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ, which has manifested itself by a conver-
sation becoming the Gospel.
These are cheering facts. They are facts, however, which should
only stimulate us to greater earnestness in prayer. For, along with
these favorable signs, the new year approaches too much " as a day of
darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, as the
morning spread upon the mountains." Let the following appearances,
too visible, alas ! to every discerning eye, suffice to show this : — First,
The increasing open avowal of Infidelity. There was a time, when
such sentiments were limited to the writings of self-called philosophers.
These days are passed : and now we see large bodies of men glorying
in their unbelief, publicly assembling together, to worship a god of
their own. Not satisfied with making the press teem with their blas-
phemies, like the frogs in Egypt, entering the 1-03 al palace. There, in
the presence of our Queen and her assembled Nobles, declaring it to
be their purpose, vain as the imagination is, to create a new moral
world, or a state of society in which all reverence to the Lord Jehovah
and to his well-beloved Son, our only Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
should be entirely laid aside. These Infidels have spread themselves
through many of our largest towns. They have their paid missionaries,
their regularly constituted officers, and their periodical blasphemous
publications.
Along with these and other advocates of Infidelity, although of a
different school, we have the adherents of the Church of Rome in full
activity. Their laymen forming themselves into " a Catholic Insti-
tute ;" their bishops charging their clergy to exhort their flocks to pray
for the conversion of Protestant England ; and both spending large
sums in the building of chapels, colleges, nunneries, and other religious
OR GOSPEL PREACHER. 407
houses. No longer disguising their intentions, hut boasting of their
success, and exerting all their influence to bring the unwary under
their dominion.
Whilst the kingdom of our Lord is thus openly assailed, many
nominal Protestants are slumhering, and are thus affording opportunity
to the enemy, whilst they are sleeping, to sow his tares. So that
although we are assured that He who is " King of kings, and Lord
of lords," will finally triumph over every foe, if the Lord does not
effectually awaken us from our slumhers, we know not the evils to
which his church may be exposed. Whilst these lowering clouds
appear ; our own national sins, and the present state of Christendom
generally, lead the observer of the times to fear that the predicted days
of judgment upon the gentiles may be approaching — that the numerous
abominations of Christendom, which might cause the righteous " to
sigh and to cry," are but symptomatic: prognostics of that period
when, " Men shall be lovers of their ownselves, covetous, boasters,
proud, blasphemers, disobedient to jmrents, unthankful, unholy." —
Or forerunners of that day when, as the Propet Daniel predicts, "the
wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand,
but the wise shall understand." These dark shades overspreading the
dawn of the new year should make us consider those streaks of
loving-kindness and tender mercy to which I have referred at the com-
mencement of the invitation, as warnings from the Most High, or as
calls to " redeem the time ;" to avail ourselves of the present moment —
to profit by the showers of blessing now bestowed — to entreat the Lord
to pour upon all who believe in His name " the Spirit of grace and of
supplication." That before these days of vengeance arrive, many may
be led, in answer to their earnest cries, to flee from the wrath to come,
and take shelter under His wings ; who is a refuge from the storm,
and a covert from the tempest ; when the blast of the terrible is as a
storm against the wall.
These are only a very few of the reasons, for the limits of this
address will not admit of enlargement, which should call the Christian
church to united prayer.
The motives which were urged in former invitations, to which you
are referred, abide with increasing force.
It is enough now to say ; — that the Lord has encouraged us to per-
severe in prayer, by His gracious answers — That the increasing activity
of Papists and of Infidels are powerful calls upon his people to awake
from their slumbers, and arouse themselves to their Divine Master's
service : — Whilst the signs of the times, bring his words to our re-
membrance with almost invincible power — " Behold I come as a thief.
Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments."
408 THE MEW IRISH PULPIT.
The following suggestions are respectfully offered to assist those who
are desirous of uniting in this general concert for prayer.
1st. Let Christians follow the example of our blessed Lord (Mark i. 25), who
rose up a great while before day for secret prayer. Let them thus secure the
blessing of him, who says, " pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father
which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."
2nd. Let them call upon the Lord in their families, for his Spirit to be poured
upon themselves and their households, their neighbours, their country, the minis-
ters of the Lord, the Churches of Christ, the remnant of scattered Judah and
outcast Israel, and upon the Gentile world.
3rd, Let the ministers of the Lord afterwards privately meet with their bre-
thren of their own communion, in earnest prayer for themselves, their flocks, the
whole body of Christ, and the world at large ; and then specially consult together
upon the most effectual means for hastening the coming of the Lord's kingdom,
and particularly for the continuance of such a general concert for prayer, that the
year may proceed according to this devout commencement.
4th. Where circumstances will admit of a morning service, let the congregation
be assembled, and in addition to the appointed prayers and a suitable sermon, let
all who are devoutly disposed partake together of the supper of the Lord ; or
5th. As may be more convenient, let the whole congregation meet in the even-
ing for public worship, and let an appropriate discourse be preached.
May the Lord accompany these means of grace, or such others as
may he adopted, with his abundant blessing. Oh ! may it indeed be
a season of special refreshment from the presence of the Lord.
Let this be the prayer of all who read this paper : and as the new
year is now approaching, it would be a great kindness if those who
approve the object, and have influence over the press, would republish
and circulate this invitation, which any one, into whose hands it may
fall, has full permission to do.
Peace be with all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.
Thus prays their affectionate brother and servant in the Lord.
JAMES HALDANE STEWART.
St. Bride's, Liverpool.
Dublin: New Irish Pulpit Office, 1, St. Andrew-st. ; John Robertson,
W. Curry, Jun. and Co.; R. M. Tims, W. Carson, D. R. Blfakley. London,
R. Groombridge, J. Nisbet and Co. ; Liverpool, H. Perris ; Manchester, Pratt,
Chester, Seacome ; Cork Tract Repository ; Drogheda, C. F. Collins ; and all
Booksellers.
George Folds, Printer 1, St. Andrew-street,
(Opposite Trimty-strppt, Dublin.)
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
OR
GOSPEL PREACHER,
'« We preach Christ crucified—
1 Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God."— 1 Cor. 1. 23. 24.
No. XCIX. SATURDAY, 21st DECEMBER, 1839.
Price 4d.
THE RICH BLESSINGS OF THE GOSPEL.
A SERMON,
PREACHED IN HAROLD S CROSS CHURCH, DIOCESE OF DUBLIN,
ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER, 13, 1839,
BY THE REV. ROBERT J. M'GHEE, A.B.
(Chaplain.)
ROMANS— XV. 29, 30, 31, 32, 33.
" And I am sure that, when I come unto you I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of
the gospel of Christ. Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for
the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me ; that
I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea : and that my service which I have
for Jerusalem maybe accepted of the saints ; that I may come unto you with joy by the will
of God, and may with you be refreshed- Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen."
Having been so long providentially
separated from you, my beloved friends,
I have selected this portion of Scripture
which seems appropriate to the return of
a minister to his flock. The passage
which I have selected is from the epistle
of St. Paul to the church at Rome, in his
prospect of coming to them. The cir-
cumstances were these : he had written,
as you find in both of his epistles to the
Corinthians, to make collections for the
poor saints at Jerusalem, as he says in
the 1st epistle, xvi. I, 2. 3, " As I have
given order to the churches of Galatia,
even so do ye. Upon the first day of
the week, let every one of you lay by him
in store, as God hath prospered him,
that there be no gatherings when I come:
and when I come, whomsoever you shall
approve by your letters, them will I send
Vol. IV.
to bring your liberality to Jerusalem."
You perceive, he was commanding them
to make a collection for the poor saints
at Jerusalem, — also in the 2nd epistle
chapters viii. & ix ; in these three chap-
ters, you perceive directions are given to
the church at Corinth to make collections
for the poor saints. With these collec-
tions at Corinth, and another at Mace-
donia, Paul intended to go to Jerusalem.
You will see this in the Acts of the
Apostles xix. 21. " After these things
were ended, Paul purposed in the Spirit,
when he had passed through Macedonia
and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying,
after I have been there, I must also see
Rome."
These little circumstances are im-
portant to attend to, because by these
unintentional coincidences, as Paley has
2 B
410
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
pointed out, throughout the acts and
epistles, in his Horse Paulina?, the au-
thenticity of the Acts and apostolical
Epistles is demonstrated. You will ob-
serve, St. Luke mentions in the Acts,
Paul's intention to go through Macedonia
and Achaia to Jerusalem, and from thence
to Rome. You find Paul in the Acts
xx. 22, at Miletus, on his way to
Jerusalem — " And now," he says, " behold
I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem,
not knowing the things that shall befal
me there, save that the Holy Ghost
witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds
and afflictions abide me ; but none of
these things move me, neither count I
my life dear unto myself ; so that I
might finish my course with joy, and the
ministry which I have received of the Lord
Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace
of God." And in the next chapter, you
find him at Cesarea; and at the 11th
verse a prophet, Agabus, taking Paul's
girdle, and 'binding his own hands and
feet, saying, " Thus saith the Holy
Ghost, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem
bind the man that owneth this girdle,
and shall deliver him into the hands of
the Gentiles." Paul then had great
reason to apprehend the wrath and malice
of the Jews when he should go to Jeru-
salem — and so, this epistle to the church
of Rome was written from Corinth,
stating in this chapter, the very same that
Luke mentions in Acts xix. He says,
verse 25, that he was on his journey to
Jerusalem, to minister to the poor saints :
he mentions, verse 26, the contributions
he was taking from Macedonia aud Achaia,
and his purpose of proceeding from Jeru-
salem to- Rome, thus he introduces the
word of my text — " And I am sure that
when I come unto you, 1 shall come in
the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of
Christ. Now I beseech you, brethren,
for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for
the love of the Spirit, that ye strive toge-
ther with me in your prayers to God for
me ; that I may be delivered from them
that do not believe in Judea ; and that my
service which 1 have for Jerusalem may be
accepted of the saints ; that I may eome
unto you with joy by the will of God, and
may with you be refreshed. Now the God
of peace be with you all. Amen."
Now, the two particular points to which
I would call your attention in these
verses are, first, the blessing which the
Apostle expects to bring to the church
at Rome — " I am sure, that when 1
come unto you, I shall come in the
fulness of the blessing of the gospel of
Christ" — secondly, the blessing which
the Apostle expected from the church of
Rome — namely, the earnest prayers and
supplications of his brethren for the
temporal deliverance and direction which
he needed — the providential mercy that
should guide his footsteps to them, and
the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, that,
when he was with them, they might be
mutually refreshed and strenghthened
together. May the Lord enable us now
to consider these important subjects.
I. The blessing which the apostle
EXPECTED TO CONVEY TO THE CHURCH AT
rome, " I am sure, that when I come
unto you, I shall come in the fulness of
the blessing of the gospel of Christ. " How
did he come to them ? He came to them
as a poor, helpless, guilty sinner. The Gos-
pel, to the unconverted sinner, is like its
blessed Author and Master, when in the
world, " when we shall see him; there is no
beauty in him that we should desire him ;"
there is no beauty — no blessing in the
Gospel to the poor unavvakened sin-
ner.
Now, consider that, the unavvakened
sinner knows no blessing in the Gospel —
he is whole, and needs no physician. I
went to see a poor woman the other day,
who did not care for the Gospel. I
asked her, will you allow me to go for a
physician for you ? No, Sir, she re-
plied, I do not want one. Why ? Be-
cause I am not sick. I said, you do not
wish any one to speak to you of a phy-
sician for your soul, or you do not know
you are a sinner ; — when I ask you to
go for a physician for your body, you
say, no, because I am not sick, and when
I speak of a physician for your soul, you
are just as unwilling to have him — why ? —
because you do not know of your spiritual
disease. Oh ! my friends, " they that
are whole need not a physician," — the
unawakened sinner sees no blessing in
Christ — the worldly man sees no blessing
in Christ — the poor sinner, whose heart
is given to the world and covetousness —
to his profits and pleasures, sees no
blessing in the salvation that is in Christ :
so, when the prophet Ezekiel went, by
the command of God to speak to the
sinners at Jerusalem, whether he spoke
to them of the righteous judgment of
God, or whether he spoke to them of the
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
411
blessed salvation of his God, it was all
the same, he says in chap. xx. 49, when the
Lord had commanded him to denounce
his judgment against them, " then said I,
ah, Lord God, they say of me, doth he
not speak parables?" they did not choose
to understand, they did not choose to
receive it. And again, in speaking of
the riches of the Lord's mercy, the Lord
complains of them, Ezekiel xxxiii. 30,
31, 32, 33, "Thou, son of man, the
children of thy people still are talking
against thee by the walls, and in the doors
of the houses, and speak one to another,
every one to his brother, saying, come, I
pray thee, and hear what is the word that
cometh forth from the Lord. And they
come unto thee as the people cometh,
and they sit before thee as my people, and
they hear thy words, but they will not do
them ; for with their mouth they show
much love, but their heart goeth after
their covetousness. And lo ! thou art
unto them as a very lovely song of one
that hath a pleasant voice, and can play
well on an instrument ; for they hear thy
words, but they do them not." Oh, my
friends, the picture is drawn from nature,
and therefore it is a true representation
of man. Many come, as the Israelites
went to the prophet, and say, • come and
let us hear the word of the Lord, let us
come to church, to lecture, to the means
of grace, let us hear what God says, what
the preacher says.' — they come, and they
hear the word, but they see no blessing
in the Gospel of Jesus themselves, there
is no fulness of blessing in Christ for
their souls ; they may hear, as Herod
heard John, and do many things, but
afterwards behead the prophet that
preached to them : they may hear as
Felix did, and tremble, but say to the
apostle, " go thy way for this time, when
1 have a convenient season, I will call for
thee," his heart was after his covet-
ousness, " he hoped also, that money
should be given him of Paul, that he
might loose him, wherefore he sent for
him the oftener and communed with him;"
or they hear like Agrippa, " almost thou ,
persuadest me to be a christian," but
they are not persuaded after all : — multi-
tudes such as these continue in their
career, and when they come to the last I
alas ! they have to say, " the harvest is
past, and the summer is ended, and we |
are not saved," there is no blessing in the !
Gospel of Jesus for hearts such as these.
But Oh, my friends, when the sinner
feels his want, when he feels himself a
poor helpless, lost, ruined creature, then,
the Gospel comes with a blessing,
yea, fulness of blessing to his soul. The
self-righteous pharisee expects to save
himself; the pharisee, mentioned in St.
Luke vii. wilh whom the Lord Jesus
Christ dined, when the poor woman came
to our blessed Master, and poured her
I tears over his feet, and wiped them with
i the hairs of her head, was indignant, and
, said within himself, "this man if he were
; a prophet would have known who and
what manner of woman this is that
touchcth him ; for she is a sinner." You-
remember our Lord's reply, you remem-
! ber the story of the two debtors, the one
that owed five hundred pence, and the
other fifty, you remember the good news
of forgiveness to both, and yon remem-
ber which of them it was that loved
most. — So, in St. Luke xv. " the
publicans and sinners drew near for to
hear him," they came to Jesus, the
precious physician, the glorious Saviour
of the guilty, — " and the scribes and
pharisees murmured, saying, this man
receiveth sinners and eateth with them."
Blessed be God, he did receive sinners,
and blessed be God, he does receive
sinners, for " he is the the same yester-
day, to day and for ever." When the
fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of
Jesus comes to the heart of the sinner
who knows and feels his own want and
misery, he rejoices to see such a salva-
tion, suited to his deep necessity as that
which is proclaimed by Jesus Christ the
Lord ; aye, not only is the sinner who is
just brought to the knowledge of his
guilt ; glad to hear the Gospel of Jesus,
but the believer, the man who has known
it, who has rejoiced in it, who over and
over again has heard and delighted in the
glad tidings of salvation, again rejoices,
when the sweet sounds meet his ear, for
again and again, he is learning by sad
experience, the guilt, the corruption, the
abomination, the vileness of his own
heart ; — he feels every day, more and
more, that he wants a precious Saviour,
that he wants a full Gospel suited to his
necessity, and Christ grows in preciousness
to him ; — why ? because he grows more
and more in the deep conviction of his
guilt and misery, and of his need of such
a Saviour. It is to these men of whom Paul
says,"their faith was spoken of throughout
412
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
the whole world," that he writes, " I am
sure, when 1 come unto you, I shall come
in the fulness of the blessing of the
Gospel of Christ."
Now consider, it is not Paul who says,
" I shall come in the fulness of the
blessing of the Gospel of Christ," it is
the Holy Ghost speaking by the mouth of
Paul, — do not forget that, let us remem-
ber, we have need to remember, every
time we open the Bible, and every chap-
ter we read, this one truth : " this is the
word of the Holy Ghost, this is the
eternal truth of the eternal God." Oh,
that we could remember that in reading
the Bible ! with what power the word
would come to us, if we remembered,
this is God's eternal truth, " let God be
true, and every man a liar."
Now, the Holy Spirit here calls this
the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel
of Christ. Do you ever find in the Bible,
that, any of the things which the human
heart, the natural heart of man desires
and covets, and accounts great, God calls
blessed? Does he call Nebuchadnezzar
blessed, or Pharaoh blessed? When
Nebuchadnezzar the king of the greatest
empire in the world was walking in the
midst of that great Babylon, and priding
himself on his pomp, wealth, riches,
magnificence, did God call him blessed?
Does God call that man blessed whose
ground as related in the parable brought
forth plentifully, and who said, " I will pull
down my barns, and build greater ?" —
does God call that man blessed "who was
clothed in purple and fine linen, and who
fared sumptuously every day?" Nay,
even the heart of the unregenerate man,
even the heart of the man who is igno-
rant of himself and ignorant of God is
sufficiently enlightened to know that the
term blessed is not to be applied to the
man that has the loftiest and most exalted
condition on this earth. Look at those
who have gone bye, look at those who
have filled the eye of the world in their
day, do you call them blessed ? Can
any of you say, blessed is Alexander the
Great, blessed is Napoleon — take any of
the statesmen, philosophers, orators, poets,
whose names have adorned the literature
of your country, and commanded the
admiration of the world, and do you
call them blessed ? would you apply
the term blessed to any of them ?
would you say, blessed is Milton, blessed
is Shakespeare, blessed are the great
writers of England, blessed is Scott,
blessed is Byron, would you say blessed
is Newton, blessed is Bacon ? will you ap-
ply the term blessedness to these men, in
reference to those talents that commanded
the admiration of the world ? However you
may admire, and however you may envy
the exaltation of such men while they live,
"when their breath goeth forth, they
return again to their dust, and then, all
their thoughts perish." You would not
say, bltssed are they for all their gifts, for
all their fame, for all their mighty talents?
No, " blessed" is not the term which even
the ignorant and unregenerate con-
science dares to apply to individuals such
as these. What is their blessedness ? If
any I have named, or could name, are to
he called blessed, their blessedness can
only consist in this, that God stamps his
blessing upon them — " blessed is the
man whose iniquity is forgiven, and
whose sin is covered ; blessed is the man
to whom the Lord will not impute sin :"
there is the blessedness, my friends, —
there is the only blessedness ; — it is not,
blessed is Nebuchadnezzar, but, blessed
are the three men that in the strength of
their God, rather than abandon their
Lord and Master, went with joy into the
midst of a burning fiery furnace. It is
not blessed is the man " clothed in purple
and fine linen," — no, but blessed is
" Lazarus that was laid at his gate, full of
sores, and desiring to be fed with the
crumbs that fell from the rich man's
table." It is not blessed is Saul, thought
highly of, admired, selected as an instru-
ment of persecution by all the chief
priests and all the scribes, and going
with authority to Damascus, — it is not
blessed is Saul, but blessed is Paul, per-
secuted, friendless Paul, counted the off-
scouring of all things, stoned, " in journey-
ings often, in perils of waters, in perils
of robbers, in perils by his own country-
men, in perils by the heathen, in perils
in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in
perils in the sea, in perils among false
brethren, in weariness and painfulness,
in watchings often, in hunger and thirst,
in fastings often, in cold and nakedness,"
cast away by all men, and counted the
off-scouring of all things, — blessed is
Paid — why ? because when Paul went
forth to his fellow-sinners, to the church
of Rome, or any where else, he could
say, "' I know, I am sure, that when I
come unto you, I shall come in the ful-
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
413
ness of the blessing of the Gospel of |
Christ." Blessed was Saul, cast down i
as a great sinner, and the feet of Jesus, i
and crying, " Lord what wilt thou have '
me to do." Oh! may you know what
this is — may you know what true blessed-
ness is, my dear friends.
But he says, I will come to you, not
only with a blessing, but with the fulness
of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ.
Now, why does he say, the fulness of the
blessing of the Gospel of Christ? Be-
cause the Gospel of Jesus testifies of
Jesus — because Jesus is the alpha and
omega of the salvation proclaimed in the
Gospel of Christ. What was Paul's
Gospel ? — what was the Gospel he spoke
of? He says, 1 Cor. ii. 1, 2. " I, brethren,
when I came to you, came not with ex-
cellency of speech or of wisdom, declar-
ing unto you the testimony of God ; for,
I determined not to know any thing
among you. save Jesus Christ, and him
crucified." There was Paul's Gospel ; —
so he says, in Gal. i. 8. " Though we,
or an angel from heaven, preach any
other Gospel unto you, than that which
we have preached unto you, let him be
accursed."
What was this Gospel, so pregnant
with blessing, and with the fulness of the
blessing of which the Apostle said, he
would come to the church of Rome ? It
was the Gospel, testifying of the Lord
Jesus Christ for lost and guilty sinners,
because it testified of the fulness of
righteousness that was in Christ for sin-
ners. When the sinner is awakened to
see his own lost and ruined state, the
first thing that oppresses him is the sense
of his sins ; — perhaps he has been a
Sabbath breaker, a liar, a blasphemer,
an adulterer, a profligate, a drunkard, —
has lived in some state for which his con-
science tells him God must condemn
him, — he is alarmed, he is pricked to the
heart — like these to whom Paul testified
that they had slain the Lord of glory,
and he asks, " men and brethren, what
shall I do?" But, when his heart is
still farther touched, when he knows
more of his own character, it is not his
sins that distress him, it is not merely
this iniquity that first oppressed his con-
science — no, he begins to find that all
his righteousness is as filthy rags, that
his prayers are an abomination— his
reading the Bible an abomination — his
sacraments an abomination — his cha-
rity an abomination — all he had done
to make his soul fit to appear in his
Maker's presence, and atone for his sins,
an abomination, — all his righteousness,
all that raised his character in the world,
supposing he attained moral estimation
among his fellow men, he begins to feel
to be an abomination ; he begins to feel
that he has no righteousness to stand in,
and that he is " poor, and wretched, and
miserable, and blind, and naked."
The Gospel then comes with fulness
of the blessing of righteousness to his
soul ; it tells him of that precious Jesus
who " is the end of the law for righteous-
ness to every one that believeth." You
have no righteousness — Christ has righte-
ousness, he has accomplished it all, fulfilled
it all ; and do you know whether the Lord
receives this righteousness for you ? —
yes, " the Lord is well pleased for his
righteousness sake," — you feel, God is
angry with you for your righteousness,
he is satisfied for His righteousness, he
will magnify the law and make it honor-
able, it is not the obedience of a creature
but the obedieuce of the Son of God
that magnified and made it honorable.
When Prince Henry, afterwards Henry
the fifth, violated the law of the land, and
the chief justice committed him to prison,
conscious of his own crime, and feeling
how he was bound to respect the law, he
quietly submitted to the sentence of the
court, and did not. dare to repine. —
When it was told to his father, Henry IV.,
he said, " I thank God I have a son that
honors the law, and a judge that is not
afraid to put it into execution." I do not
mean to draw a parrallel, but I say, the
obedience of a Son of a King to the law
magnified the law, and exalted the law
in the eyes of all, and vindicated the
majesty and authority of it more than
the obedience of any poor subject, — and
if such a story is told respecting the law
I of England, what shall we say of the
j obedience of the Son of the King of
' glory to that law which is the rule of his
creatures ? Jesus took on him our flesh,
I Jesus took on him our nature, and yielded
\ the obedience of God in the flesh of
man, to the righteous holy law of his
Father and his God, — he has magnified
the law, — and what is that to you ? why,
if you are a believer in the Gospel of
Jesus, it is not your righteousness or man's
righteousness, but it is the righteousness
of God that is yours, so the apostle says
414
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
2d. Cor. v. 21, — he hath made him to
be sin for us who knew no sin, that we
might be made the righteousness of God
in him." What a blessed thing for the
sinner when he is enabled to say, that it
is not his own righteousness he has to
stand in, but the glorious righteousness
of his precious, ever-blessed Jesus.
Jesus, thy blood and righteousness
My beauty is— my glorious dress ;_
Midst flaming worlds in these arrayed,
With joy I shall lift up ray head.
Oh what a fulness of the blessing of
the Gospel of Jesus does the righteous-
ness of Christ bring to the heart of the
poor unrighteous sinner when he can lay
his hand on the promises of God and say,
it is all mine in Christ Jesus ! What
wonder the apostle said, " I am sure,
when I come unto you, I shall come in
the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel
of Christ !"
But this is not all, it is not merely the
fulness of righteousness, but the fulness of
pardoning grace and mercy, the fulness of
pardoning love. The believing sinner's
conscience is continually harrassed under
the sense of his own guilt and misery;
mark, believer, there is continually a suc-
cession of corruptions rising up in your
heart, and, according to the experience
of thisapustie, " warring against the law of
your mind, and bringing you into captivity
to the law of sin in your members," so that
you are often obliged to say, how is it
possible I can be a believer ? The world
sees nothing in your conduct, perhaps,
inconsistent with your profession, — you
may be enabled, through God's grace", to
walk in the ways of holiness, yet when
you come to look within, and bring the
spiritual law to bear upon your own
corrupt heart, you feel sunk into the very
dust with the sense of your own guilt,
your language is, " in this tabernacle
1 groan, being burthened," — your lan-
guage is, " Oh, wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me from the body of
this death :" Ptomaine says of Paul, "that
"Oh ''came from the bottom of Paul's
heart, for he felt what he was, a sinner."
Well then, the Gospel comes with fulness
of forgiveness, suitable in all its magni-
tude and all its glory to your guilty con-
science, and you are enabled to say with
Paul, with the same breath in which he
says, " O, wretched man that I am who
shall deliver me from the body of this
death," — the Holy Ghost breaks in on
your soul with the fulness of the blessing
of the Gospel of Christ, and enables you,
to say, " I thank God through Jesus
Christ ;" — " there is therefore now no con-
demnation to them that are in Christ
Jesus," The fulness of the blessing of
the Gospel of Jesus meets the deep neces-
sities of the poor guilty sinner, and tells
him of the glad tidings, that "the blood
of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin,"
bids him "trust in the Lord for ever, for
with the Lord there is mercy, and with
him there is plentious redemption, and
he will redeem Israel from all his sins."
Look at the beautiful picture given of
God's mercy in psalms ciii. of the ful-
ness of blessing of the Gospel. Verse
8, 9, 10, 11, 12, "The Lord is merciful
and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous
in mercy, he will not always chide, nei-
ther will he keep his anger for ever, he
hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor
rewarded us according to our iniquities ;
for as the heaven is high above the earth,
so great is his mercy towards them that
fear him ; as far as the east is from the
west, so far hath he removed our trans-
gressions from us,'' — measure the altitude
of the heavens above the earth, the
heavens in which these stars are fixed of
which we cannot measure even the angle
of their disc from this world, and you will
be able to measure the fulness of the
blessing of the Gospel of Christ. Pur-
sue the sun as he goes down in the west,
and every step you take to the west
you leave a step to the east, there is
still the diameter of the earth between
the east and the west, — bring the ends of
the diameter of the earth together, and
then you will bring near the sins of the
sinner which God has put away as far as
the east is from the west ! Oh the ful-
ness, the rich pardoning grace for you,
poor, helpless, needy, guilty sinners. If
you do not know the pardoning love that
is in your God, you know nothing, if you
do not know the salvation that is in Christ
for your soul, you know nothing. Talk
of educating man, of instructing men in
arts and sciences, and leaving them with-
out the knowledge of Christ ; — there are
two latin lines of which this is the trans-
lation, " If you know Christ it is no
matter what you are ignorant of, and if
you do not know him, it is no matter
what you know." Are there any of you,
whose conscience is accusing you, who are
saying, if the preacher knew this sin if
he knew what a hardened wretch I am
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
415
how dead-^show unbelieving 1 am — how
I hate the Bible — if he knew the sins
that my conscience accuses me of — if
he knew these he would not give
such hope as this to me. What does
God say to you in the Gospel ? He
comes in the fulness of mercy, proclaim-
ing pardon to you for all your sins — and
if they were ten thousand times as bad,
" come and let us reason together, saith
the Lord, thoug h your sins be as scarle
they shall be as white as snow ; though
they be red like crimson, they shall be as
wool." Is not that good news? — " The
fulness of the blessing of the gospel of
Christ." The reason why it is so full is
this, that from first to last, the whole
work is of Jehovah — all this blessing is in
Christ Jesus — man has no part in it —
you have no part in saving your own soul ;
if you think you have, you know nothing
of salvation — because the blessing is, that
it is all treasured up in Christ. Now,
let me just call your attention to Colos-
sians i. 14, " In whom we have re-
demption through his blood" (that is in
Christ,) " even the forgiveness of sins."
Who is this in whom we have this redemp-
tion? In him, "who is the image of the
invisible God, the first born of every
creature, for by him were all things
created that are in heaven, and that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether
they be thrones or dominions, or prin-
cipalities or powers, all things were
created by him, and for him, and he is
before all things, and by him all things
consist." Mark this description of
Jehovah Jesus, " God manifest in the
flesh," " He is the head of his body,
the church; who is the beginning, the
first born from the dead, that in all things
he might have the pre-eminence ; for it
pleased the Father that in him should
all fulness dwell, and (having made
peace through the blood of the cross) by
him to reconcile all things unto himself,
by him, I say, whether they be things in
earth or things in heaven, ; and you that
were sometime alienated, and enemies
in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciled" — he is writing to the
Colossians, and he says you. Well, to
how many in this congregation is this
to be applied ? Is it to be applied to
your consciences? Now, think of this —
" you, that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now, hath he reconciled." —
Does that- apply to you ? Oh ! I hope
so — I trust so — I trust you may be
enabled to say, I who was an enemy,
alienated in my mind by wicked works,
yet now hath he reconciled. The apos-
tle proceeds, " in the body of his flesh
through death." Look at the picture of
those reconciled to God by Jesus " to
present you holy, and unblameable, and
unreprovable in his sight, if ye continue
in the faith, grounded and settled, and
be not moved away from the hope of the
Gospel which ye bave heard, and which
was preached to every creature which is
under heaven." Then what are you?
If you are reconciled to God, you shall
be presented " holy, and unblameable,
and unreprovable in his sight." What
fulness of blessing must be in that Gospel,
when the poor sinner can be so recon-
ciled to his God! Well might Paul
say, " When I come unto you, I am
sure I shall come in the fulness of the
blessing of the gospel of Christ." The
next chapter treats on the same thing,
and take this warning, " Beware lest
any man spoil you through philosophy
and vain deceit, after the traditions of
men, after the rudiments of the world,
and not after Christ." That abominable
lying, liberal philosophy was in the days
of Paul, it was at Colosse as well as in
England and Ireland — that vile philo-
sophy — Colossians ii. 8, 9, " Beware
lest any man spoil you, through philoso-
phy and vain deceit, after the traditions
of men, after the rudiments of the world,
and not after Christ ; for in him dwelleth
all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."
Beware, lest lying Socinianism come
into your heart, and take away from the
Godhead of Immanuel, " in whom
dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead
bodily ;" mark the rest, " And ye are
complete in him, which is the head
of all principality and power," com-
pletely washed from all your iniqui-
ty — washed in that glorious fountain,
which is opened for sin and for un-
cleanness, clothed in the righteousness
of your Lord and Saviour, white and clean
in that fine linen which is the righteous-
ness of the saints, " without spot or
wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy and
without blemish." Oh, the glorious ful-
ness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ !
is it not a glorious fulness when the sinner
is enabled to look to Jesus, so that he may
take up the language of Isaiah xii. 2,
416
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
" behold G»d is my salvation, I will trust
and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is
my strength and my song, he also is be-
come my salvation." Oh, what a blessed
thing, that a poor sinner can come to his
brethren in the same way as Paul went to
the church at Rome, in the fulness of the
blessing of the gospel of Christ ; for what
is Paul ? an inspired apostle, it is true ;
but what could Paul teach ? nothing but
what is written in this glorious word, as
he savs himself, " who then is Paul, and
who is Apollos, but ministers by whom
you believed, even as God gave to every
man." The Gospel is the same as it was
in the days of Paul, Jesus is " the same
yesterday, to-day, and for ever," and how-
ever poor or weak we may be, however
mean and contemptible instruments as
compared with such a glorious apostle as
Paul, yet, if we set forth the same Gospel,
the same Jesus, as Paul preached, we
come to you in the fulness of the blessing
of the gospel of Christ. And may the
Lord bring home that precious gospel to
your hearts and mine, my beloved friends.
We might go on through the catalogue
of the glory and fulness of the blessing of
the gospel of Christ ; the fulness of wis-
dom, " in him are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge ;" the fulness
of power, " all power is given to him in
heaven and in earth;'' the fulness oflove,
" I am the good shepherd, the good shep-
herd giveth his life for the sheep," and
all the fulness of the blessings that are in
Christ, conveyed by the fulness of the
Spirit to the sinner, " for all things are
yours," if you are looking to Jesus, " all
things are yours, whether Paul or Apol-
los, or Cephas, or the world, or life or
death, or things present, or things to come,
all are yours, and ye are Christ's, and
Christ is God's."
We shall just pause on one of these, the
fulness of the love of Christ : here comes
in that blessing of the gospel by which the
power of the gospel is manifested in the
Lord's people, " the love of Christ con-
straineth us because we thus judge, that if
one died for all, then were all dead, and
that he died for all, that they who live
should not henceforth live unto them-
selves, but unto him who died for them
and rose again," here is the love of
Christ, bringing obedience into the heart,
" not by might or by power, but by my
Spirit, saiththe Lord of Hosts" — bringing
obedience into the heart, how ? by pour-
ing love — by pouring the love of Christ,
drawing out the affections of the sinner,
giving him new affections by manifesting
the fulness of the love that is in Jesus, to
his heart and conscience ; therefore, saith
this apostle, " I beseech you, bre-
thren, by the mercies of God, that ye
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy
acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service,'' the fulness of the
blessing of the gospel of Jesus comes
from your Redeemer to you, that you
may render to him the fullness of your
hearts, that you may mortify your mem-
bers that are upon the earth, and that
you may be enabled to render these
members to your Lord and Saviour, not
by constraint but willingly, with holy,
happy love to your Master, because he
has taken you from your guilt, aud
washed you in his own blood, and car-
ries you in his arms, and " keeps you by
his power though faith unto salvation."
1 have dwelt so long on this first part of
my subject, that I must shorten the re-
marks on the latter part of it. The apos-
tle says he comes with a blessing to give
them, and then he entreats a blessing
from them.
II. I proceed then to consider,
THE BLESSING WHICH THE ApOSTLE EX-
PECTED froji the Church at Rome.
" I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord
Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the
Spirit, that ye strive together with me,
in your prayers to God for me." Oh,
friends, if the Apostle was to come with
the fulness of blessing to his brethren at
Rome, he entreats from them by the
Lord Jesus Christ and his Spirit, their
earnest prayers and supplications to God
for him. And if we, dear brethren, come
to preach to you the salvation that is in
Christ, what need have we to entreat and
implore your prayers to God for us ! —
Oh, dear friends, if the flock desire a
blessing for themselves, they must pray
for their ministers : if we set forth the
blessing of salvation that is in Christ Jesus
to you, it is all in vain, unless the power
of the Holy Ghost accompanies the word,
" Paul may plant and Apollos water, God
must give the increase." We might as
well preach to the pillars of this church, as
preach to a congregation unless God the
Holy Spirit accompanies the word to their
hearts ; and if it is the power of God that
blesses his word alone to the heart, Oh,
consider, that the humblest member of
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
417
tlie congregation can apply to God for
tliat power and blessing, either minister
or Hock as well as the most influential.
All may not preach, but all, if they are
Christians, can pray ; all may not be able
to use the means of conveying outward
instruction to others, but all can pray for
a blessing to that God who alone can
make that instruction profitable to the
people ; therefore, beloved friends, let
md use that language to you, I beseech
you, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake,
and for the love of the Spirit, that for my
dear brother and myself, you strive to-
gether with us in your prayers to God
for us, that you call on the Lord to send
a blessing on our poor ministrations, and
that he would apply them effectually to
your hearts ; for that is our consolation,
that no matter what our weakness may be
it is our blessed privilege to know, that
it is "not by might or by power," that it
is not by the wisdom of words, but by
the energy of the Holy Ghost that abless-
ing can accompany the word to the sin-
ner's heart, and bringjoy, life, light, peace,
comfort, everlasting salvation to his
soul.
You see the Apostle entreats them to
pray for temporal deliverance from the
persecution of the Jews, " that I may be
delivered from them that do not believe
in Judea, and that my service which I
have for Jerusalem may be accepted of
the saints ;" that the saints might re-
ceive with gratitude and love the contri-
butions he was taking from Achaia and
Macedonia, " that I may come unto you
with joy by the will of God, and may with
you be refreshed." He entreats them to
pray for God's providential mercies, and
providential direction and guidance, and
you see, beloved friends, even in the case
of Paul himself, how entirely indebted to
the Lord he was for his providential mode
of directing and guiding him. I desire
to bless the Lord's mercy for keeping me,
and encreasing my strength, and giving
me the privilege of coming to you to ad-
dress you. Since I left this place, I saw
one beloved friend weeping, in deep sor-
row, over the loss of an only son, and
that son was a pupil of my own, and he
died of the very complaint I had myself.
Death visits all of every age; strength,
health, youth, are no safeguards against
death. Oh, consider this, ye that arc
young ! Oh, think, and ask yourselves
whether you know the fulness of the bles-
sing of the gospel of Christ. It is by
God's providence that we are spared
amongyou, his gracious providence teaches
us how we are depending on his almighty
hand, he can lay us by, or strengthen us
and enable us to speak his word, all must
be his, we must look for his providential
care and direction in all things, and if
we expect a blessing, we must look ior
and receive it all alone from God.
Paul desires them to pray that he may
be brought to them. How was he
brought? See, how the providence of
God brought him ; the providence of
God handed him over at Jerusalem to the
secular power, and he was obliged to ap-
peal to Csesar against the authorities of
Jerusalem, and he did go to Rome ; but
he went, not as a free Apostle, he went as
a prisoner, he went in chains, and there
he finished his course under the persecu-
tion of the cruel monster Nero.
Notwithstanding, he asked their pray-
ers ; and their prayers, no doubt were
poured out to God, and their pray-
ers were answered, but not in the way
Paul chose. The Lord does not answer
our prayers as we choose, he answers
our prayers as he pleases and for his own
glory ; that was the way he answered
Paul's prayer. Look to Paul's persecu-
tion, and the way he was conducted to
Rome ; the providence of God illustrated
his own glory and magnified his grace.
And then he entreats them to pray,
(i that I may come unto you with joy by
the will of God, and may with you be re-
freshed." Mark, Paul might go to
the church of Rome whose faith was
spoken of through the whole world, and
yet Paul could not be refreshed with the
church of Rome, unless God's gracious
Spirit gave to the Apostle and gave to the
flock the privilege and joy of being re-
freshed together. And if it was his case,
is it not ours? you and I may be hearing and
preaching the word of life, but cannot see a
blessing attend that word, unless our God
grants that we may be refreshed. Now,
pray, that we may be refreshed, pray, that
this word may refresh our hearts, that we
may consider the fulness of the blessing
of the gospel of Christ. The apostle
418
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT,
tells them what this refreshing is, " I long
to see you, that I may impart unto you
some spiritual gift, to the end you may
be established," that is, may be comforted
together by the mutual faith, both of you
and me, comforted together by our mutual
faith, strengthened together in speaking
of our precious Lord and Master, the
riches of his grace, the fulness of his sal-
vation, the glorious hope that our souls
have in Him, that we may be comforted
and refreshed together by the mutual faith
of all of us.
Now, let me entreat, that you will pour
out your prayers for my dear brother and
myself, that we may be refreshed, that we
may be comforted, that our souls may be
edified, that we may be lifted up to our
precious Lord and Master, enabled to look
to him, to believe, to rejoice in him, to
walk in holy hope, love and obedience to
him who has loved us, and given himself
for us.
" The God of peace be with you all.
Amen."
OR GOSPEL PREACHER.
419
THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY
Genesis iii. — 4
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die."
For want of examination, the Holy
Scriptures too generally remain a sealed
book : and errors of a very fatal charac-
ter are handed down from generation to
generation: — errors which, while they
oppose the eternal truth of God, and
cause his word and ways to be evil spoken
of, strike at the root of the soul's salva-
tion both here and hereafter. It is very
desirable to have a clear and just percep-
tion of any useful subject to which the
thoughts of man's mind may be directed —
but, the importance of accurate know-
ledge of the things which God has revealed
is incalculably great, inasmuch as the
concerns of eternity outweigh those of
time. When man attempts to find out
and to account for God's dealings by the
exercise of his own wisdom, he but
demonstrates his own folly, and every
step he takes in the investigation, unaided
by the written word, and the teaching of
the holy Spirit from whom its inspiration
proceeds, serves but to advance his pro-
gress in a labyrinth from which nothing
can extricate him but a divine interposi-
tion. The origin of evil is one of the
subjects which has exercised to a very
great extent the ability and ingenuity of
man, and many able and elaborate trea-
tises have been written upon it : but is
it not strange that as it is God alone who
can give the account, they should altoge-
ther overlook or only partially take into
account the brief but lucid statement
which removes all doubts, and is amply
sufficient to satisfy the mind of every
humble inquirer ?
The subject is in itself one of infinite
importance, for if sin do not exist, a
Saviour from it is not needed : if it does
exist, and yet that its character must be
determined by man who loves it and not
by God who hates it, then will it be met
by some worldly expedient which will
prove quite inefficacious in securing the
pardon of it, or victory over it, Here
we at once arrive at the great secret why
the Gospel message is so lightly esteemed,
and the Saviour rejected. Sin is not
regarded as the transgression of God's
holy, just, and good law : it is spoken
of as a light thing — as existing in atro-
cious acts only, but as trivial and venial
when appearing in words or in tempers.
Hence it is palliated — quietly pleaded
for — or boldly defended. It is not the
part of sound wisdom to despise an
enemy, and a good soldier will never do
it. Neither is it the part of sound wis-
dom for an immortal being to risk the
happiness of his immortality, and to make
light of that holy Being who only can
confer it upon him — and who in confer-
ring it will invariably bring honor to his
own truth, wisdom and holiness. Hav-
ing made these few observations I would
entreat you to meditate upon the account
which God gives of the entrance of that
sin which has brought a curse upon this
originally beautiful because perfect crea-
tion — and also upon subjects which the
chapter contains, especially the salvation
which is in Christ. P. R.
St. Mary's, Kilkenny.
420
THE NEW IRISH PULPIT.
THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY
1 Corinthians xiii. 13.
" And now abideth faith, hope, charity , these three ; but the greatest of these is charity.
This verse has, it is to be feared, been
wrested, like some others, to the destruc-
tion of those who, led by sound more
tharusense, have ignorantly or. presump-
tuously put away from them their system
of religion — the only" foundation for the
hope of a sinner — and have vainly at-
tempted to lay some other. Christ is the
sure foundation which infinite wisdom
has laid, and upon which infinite love
places firmly and for ever all the lively
stones which constitute the walls of the
spiritual building. Every other founda-
tion must fail, because it is laid by man's
folly and infatuation. Can any thing
temporal sustain that which is eternal ?
Can the acts of any creature atone for
an offence against the great Creator ?
If there were no deviation from perfect
love on the part of a creature, there
would be unsinning obedience, and con-
sequently no need of a Savionr — no
need of an atonement — no need of par-
don. But in man there is a sad depar-
ture from perfect love, and his own
conscience tells him so ; hence it is that
he sets about to pacify it by a variety of
expedients, all of which prove his enmity
against God and his ignorance of the truth
— for he rejects God's method of justifying
a sinner, and he goes about to establish
one of his own. What a strange thing
would it be for a prisoner guilty of an
atrocious crime to be allowed to set aside
the law which he has broken — to substi-
tute a new one in its place — and with
perfect self-complacency demand from the
Judge a sentence of acquittal? Yet this
would not be half so preposterous, or
absurd, or insulting, as for man, who lies
in the depths of his apostacy, and is a
rebel against his God, to come before
him with any other cry save for mercy,
or with any offering save that of the one
perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.
While we are not to attempt to separate
things which God hath joined together —
neither are we to confound together the
things which it is his will should be kept
distinct. Acceptable obedience must
and can only flow from faith ; and that
which God has respect to in the pardon
of sin, he has respect to in the approval
of those works of righteousness in which
the redeemed sinner delights to abound.
If ever there was a time when this thir-
teenth chapter claimed the diligent and
sober perusal of the Church, it is now,
when there is a sad degree of extrava-
gance exhibited in the interpretation of
many parts of Scripture — when novelties
are sought out and embraced with
avidity, and when it is expected that the
wisdom discernible in the writings of our
venerable Reformers and others should
give way to the shallow knowledge and
very limited experience of mere novices.
O ! that we all possessed the sound mind
and the humble sanctified heart of the
great Apostle of the Gentiles! Well we
may possess these, for they are common
to all the heirs of salvation. The prin-
ciple which influences all is the same,
— the degrees of its operation doubtless
vary. P. R.
St. Mary's, Kilkenny.
Dublin: New Irish Pulpit Office, I, St. ArafeiEw-sT. ; John Robertson,
W. Curry, Jun. and Co.; R. M. Tims, W. Carson, D. R. Bleakley. London,
R. Groombridge, J. Nisbet and Co. ; Liverpool, H. Perris ; Manchester, Pratt,
Chester, Seacomf. ; Cork Tract Repository ; Drogheda, C. F. Collins ; and all
'Booksellers.
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