, ,- --ri^- « , ,• . f ', ■ mrr.^ '"H" - ■— T rf». .,..,. <>t t^« "^^"'^'Simt ^_ ^ '''«/i/^A.. PRINCETON, N. J. Presented by Mr Samuel Agnew of Philadelphia, Pa. Agnczv Coll. on Baptism, No. /^ ^ ^ ^ * Digitized by the Internet Archive Jn 2011 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library http://www.archive.org/details/themesformeditatOObran THEMES FOR MEDITATION, ENLARGED IN SEVERAL SERMONS, DOCTRINAL AND PRACTICAL. BX WILLIAM T. BRANTLY. PHILADELPHIA : C. SHERMAN & CO.. PRINTERS, 19 ST. JAMES STREET. 1837. CONTENTS. SERMON I. THE BIBLE THE WORD OP GOD. 1 Thes. ii. 13. — It is in truth the word of God. - - Page 13 SERMON II. CHRISTIANITY A FACT REaUIRlNG TO BE ACCOUNTED FOR. Acts xix. 20. — So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. 35 SERMON III. GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. 1 Tim. ii. 4. — Who will have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. 49 SERMON IV. NO EQUIVALENT FOR THE SOUL. Mat. xvi. 26. — What shall a man give in exchange for his soul 1 84 SERMON V. THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 1 Tim. iii. 16. — God was manifest in the flesh. John xvi. 13. — When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. - - - - -• - - 97 ^ CONTENTS. SERMON VI. THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. Zech. viii. 21. — Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts. I will go also. - - - - 121 SERMON VIL THE ATONEMENT. Isa. liii. 8. — For the transgression of my people was he stricken. 138 SERMON VIII. LYING VANITIES. Jonah ii. 8. — They that observe lying vanities, forsake their own mercy. - 164 SERMON IX. INSIPID RELIGION. Rev. iii. 15. — I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. 165 SERMON X. THE COMMON ODIUM. Acts xxviiL 22. — For as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against. ...... 203 SERMON XI. FOR A NEW YEAR. Ps. Ixv. II. — Thou crownest the year with thy goodness. - 21*^ SERMON XII. AGAINST LUKEW^ARMNESS. Ps. xxxi. 23. — O love the Lord, all ye his saints. . - - 234 CONTENTS. - „j SERMON XIII. MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL. 2 Cor. viii. 23. — They are the messengers of the churches and the glory of Christ. - - - - - - - - 245 SERMON XIV. THE LOVE OP SUPERIORITY. 1 Cor. i. 31.— He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. - 256 SERMON XV. DANGERS TO WHICH MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL ARE EXPOSED. 1 Cor. X. 12. — Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall. 288 SERMON XVI. THE aUALIFICATIONS OP A GOOD MAN. Acts xi. 24. — He was a good man. - -' - - ' - 292 SERMON XVII. AGE ADMONISHING YOUTH. Psalm xxxvii. 25. — I have been young, and now am old. - 310 SERMON XVIII. JOY IN THE GOD OF SALVATION. Hab. iii. 17, 18. — Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat ; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls : yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. - - 320 SERMON XIX. IMPORTANCE OF ACTUAL PREPARATION FOR DEATH. Matthew xxiv. 44. — Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. ... 335 „:: CONTENTS. SERMON XX. THE WISDOM OF GOD IN SALVATION. 1 Cor. i. 21. — For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wis- dom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. -...-- 354 SERMON XXI. ON ASSURANCE. Lam, iii. 24. — The Lord is my portion, saith my soul. - - 368 SERMON XXIL RELIGIOUS CONVERSATION. Mai. iii. 16. — Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another. 380 SERMON XXin. CONSIDERATIONS ADDRESSED TO THE AGED. Titus ii. 2. — That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. ... - 393 SERMON I. THE BIBLE THE WORD OF GOD. 1 Thes. ii. 13. — It is in truth the word of God. A PLAIN and concise statement of the more important reasons for believing the Bible to be the word of God, will be now submitted to your consideration. You all style it the word of God, you proclaim it to be the word of God ; and I may add, you believe it to be so. But all this you may do, without having reasons to satisfy yourselves and others, that truth is on your side. To believe any thing without reason, is to have a belief which may last as long as the present hu- mour. Our faith will soon totter and fall, un- less it can have suitable supports. What then. Christians, are the supports of your faith? Do you believe, because you have never disbelieved, and are therefore of the same opinion that you always held ? That is the same kind of reason, as for you to say, you believe, because you be- lieve. Do you believe the Bible to be the word . 2 ■I A THE BIBLE of God, because a great number of the greatest and the best men that ever Hved have received it as such, and have published to the wor]d their conviction to that effect ? This is pinning your faith on the robes of others. Do you beheve in consequence of some inward impression of your mind, that the writings styled the Scriptures are the word of God in truth ? How much soever an impression of your mind may satisfy yourselves, it will not satisfy others; besides, the impression which the Bible makes upon your mind, is caused by the previous admission that it is the word of God ; the impression, therefore, cannot be adduced as a proof that it is divine, since that character was attached to it in your mind, before the impression could have been made. But let me cease to question you, and now turn the in- quiry upon myself. Why do I believe that the series of tracts and compositions brought into one book and called the Bible, is the icord of God t I do believe it, and solemnly affirm it — 1. Because that series of tracts and composi- tions, has come down to us, claiming and profess- ing to be the word of God. That is to say, the Bible makes a profession — sets up a claim — puts forth certain pretensions. The New Testament speaks of the Old, as the Scriptures breathed by the Spirit of God into the spirits of men, and the Old Testament almost in every THE WORD OF GOD. ^g part affirms itself to be from God. Now let it be granted at once, that a claim, pretension, or pro- fession is good for nothing by itself. It is only good, when backed by truth ; and it is then good in this view, that the party making it, stands committed to the obligation of trial and verification. The Bible is the party professing this extraordinary qualification; and the doubt- ing souls of men are the party calling it to the verification of its pretensions — putting it upon the the proof. Permit the Bible then to come for- ward in its proper character, and verify its pre- tensions. Let it speak for itself, and address itself to the doubts of all mankind. It can set forth such facts and statements in confirmation of its claims as the following undeniable ones. It says, " I have been for nearly four thousand years the strenuous, untiring, and decided advocate of the doctrine of the unity of God. I have main- tained resolutely and explicitly that there is one God, and only one God, the Maker of all things visible and invisible ; that he is the first and the iast, the almighty, allwise, omnipotent, infinitely good and perfect God; that all homage and adoration are due him from all intelligences and all creatures throughout the universe; that he governs the world, takes notice of the affairs of all ranks of beings, holds converse with the souls ■tC THE BIBLE of men ; that justice, goodness, mercy and love are his attributes; that he abhors all sin, and forbids it even in the thought; and by conse- quence proposes and seeks the holiness and hap- piness of all beings capable of this exalted state." This is the first appeal which the Bible makes to justify its profession — an appeal to a great and central truth. How^ was that truth imparted to the Bible, but by God himself? The oneness of Jehovah is taught, is urged, is reiterated — is indelibly imprinted upon every page. And, should I assert that except from God himself, no idea of his oneness could ever have been impart- ed to the mind of man, I should affirm what all the world cannot disprove. I have then a reasonable right to affirm it — and a consequent ground of belief in it, unless the position can be fairly controverted. There is also this singularity in the Bible representations of the divine unity — it is unity in plurality, simple unity, substantial unity, with a plurality of essence. We are now reduced to the necessity of adopt- ing one of three positions : either the God of the Bible was the invention of those who composed the tracts that make up that book, or it was the invention of other men and adopted by the au- thors of the Bible; or it was communicated by God himself. For, if Moses, for instance, did not originate such an idea of God, and if he could THE WORD OF GOD. J^ have obtained it from no human source, whence could he have derived it, but from a divine source ? That he did not himself make this dis- covery, and that it is not the product of any hu- man skill or genius, may be fairly inferred from the ordinary character and condition of all hu- man inventions. All these are subject to modifi- cations and improvements. Even the exact sci- ences, the principles of w^hich must remain the same for ever, are so variously applied to diver- sified and practical purposes, as to be thereby greatly improved. But it is w^ell known that metaphysical science, and that is the department to which the notion of the divine being must be referred, if it be a human discovery, has under- gone, and is still undergoing changes and im- provements, the history of which would be vo- luminous. The scripture notion of God, however, has undergone no change, has received no im- provement. It is a truth which, in its first mani- festation to the human soul, was entire. It has remained in its full and uniform hold upon that soul ever since. It is therefore the result of in- spiration. And hence also, by legitimate conse- quence, its doctrine respecting the Deity, was undiscoverable by man. But, the appeal which the Bible makes to well known truth, does not stop here. " For," conti- nues that singular and wonderful book, " from 2* \ j Q THE BIBLE the time I was ushered into being, I have fore- seen, and proclaimed most of the great events and occurrences which form the subject matter of his- tory. I foresaw and predicted many of the apos- tacies and the judgments following, of that favour- ed people to whom my oracles were committed. The blessings which would fill their habitations in case of obedience, and the calamitous visitations which would result from defection were all por- trayed. I foretold the dismemberment and utter extermination of the ten tribes, sixty-five years before the occurrence of the event. The seventy years captivity of Judah in Babylon was no se- cret to me, and was by me divulged more than one hundred years before the time. The deliverer of the people from this captivity was named and by me exhibited to the world one hundred and thirty years before the beginning of the captivity, and about two hundred years before his birth. The desolations of Babylon, and Nineveh, of Egypt and Persia, of Moab and Tyre, and of the mighty em- pire of the Grecian conqueror, were all anticipated and depicted on my faithful page. I looked down the lapse of intervening centuries, counting the time by weeks each day of which was a year, and saw Messiah cut off, but not for himself, the ces- sation of the daily sacrifice, and the consumma- tion of the legal economy. The final destruction of the Jewish polity was announced at least thirty years prior to the event." THE WORD OF GOD. "I Q Here then is arrayed before us, a whole class of facts and incidents, in corroboration of the pre- tensions of the Bible. The proof hence derived that this book is the word of God, is to be thus stated. It belongs only to God certainly to fore- know future events, and to communicate the know- ledge to mankind. The persons employed in the composition of the books of Scripture did foresee and predict numerous and great events which to them lay in a distant futurity. Therefore, the persons employed in the composition of the books of the Scripture did receive communications di- rectly from God. That is to say, they were breathed into by the Spirit of God, and their mes- sage is the word of God. The predictions which they uttered were prompted by immediate inspi- ration. I now demand that the profession of the Bible be admitted, upon the vouchers of prophecy. Every prophecy is a distinct voucher, and every event in fulfilment of prophecy augments the cre- dit of such vouchers. From the time when the first prophecy began to be fulfilled to the present momejit, the Bible has been receiving accessions to its credibility. It will continue to the end of time to receive such accessions, because prophecy reaches down to the consummation of all things. In vindication of its credibility, the Bible makes a still further appeal to facts. We are inclined to I THE BIBLE I 20 behave towards the Bible as did the Jews towards the Saviour. They came to him and said, " If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly." Confirm the matter at once, and permit us to see the proof. His reply is worthy of consideration. " Jesus an- swered them, I TOLD you, and ye believe not ; the works that I do, in my father's name, they bear witness of me." After all the proofs of divine in- spiration which have been accumulated before us in times past, we come back to interrogate the Bible, and renew our demand, if thou art the Word of God, tell us plainly. Let us have some one convincing proof that we may never any more doubt, and may always live under the vivid sense of thy transcendent authority. The same answer which Christ made, the Bible makes, "The works that I do, bear witness of me. In marvel- lous and extraordinary works I am abundant. I emanate from a power which has the control of the laws of nature. In confirmation of my divine original he has at different times displayed signs and wonders which have silenced and confounded all gainsayers. The giving of the law at Sinai was attended by preternatural darkness and min- gled sounds ; and had been preceded by the won- ders in the land of Ham, the opening of the sea, the water from the rock, and manna from the clouds, the record of which facts is preserved to this day among the descendants of the very men THE WORD OP GOD, OJ who witnessed them. The pubHcation of the Gospel was accompanied with strange incidents. Diseases were healed by a touch from Him to whom I owe my being, blinded eyes were opened without medicine, the lame and withered were restored by a word, lepers were cleansed, and the dead raised up. Miracles full of mercy to the wretchedness of human beings were exhibited in the view of successive multitudes." The miracles alone which are recorded in Scrip- ture, and which can be proved by incontroverti- ble witnesses, are amply sufficient to attest the divine commission of those who composed that Scripture. After the undoubted testimony of writers not Christian, that there was such a per- son as Christ, that he was crucified — an event in which the Jews of all ages since have gloried, — that he had many followers styled Christians who asserted his resurrection and died readily sooner than retract their assertion. After all this, I say, and much more', who will undertake to deny that the same Christ, according to his faithful historian, brought back to life a dead man? The influence which the Bible exerts where it is believed and obeyed is another pleadable ground of its justification. Is it received and obeyed by an individual ? The whole character of that individual is changed for the better. If he was before revengeful, he now becomes merci- 22 THE BIBLE fill ; cruel ? he becomes humane ; proud ? he be- comes humble ; a disturber of the peace ? he is made orderly and pacific ; a blasphemer ? lo ! he now prays ; a brutal sensualist ? he now cultivates temperance ; a man of the world ? he is now a man of God. Are there orderly families, good husbands and wives, kind parents and dutiful child- ren, good fellowship among neighbours, compas- sion for the miserable, charity for the destitute, hospitals and almshouses ? The Bible is at the bottom of all this. Are there good laws, the en- joyment of equal rights, freedom, happiness, civi- lisation, female dignity and virtue secured by the marriage contract, useful arts and sciences, they are all shoots from this one stem, the Bible. Is there a hereafter to which the human mind may look in the full expectation of retributions for the deeds done in the body, where tried and suffering virtue will drop its load of griefs, and daring wickedness will fall into the coercive hands of justice, the Bible, and only the Bible certifies it, points to it. Must not the Bible, then, be the word of God ? It does profess to be so. It sets up a claim to that character, to that dignity, to that paramount authority above all other books. And is not its profession well supported by facts, and incidents which correspond thereto? You give to man the character which he claims, or professes, provided THE WORD OF GOD, 23 he acts agreeably to his profession. Do the same by the Bible, and I ask no more. It professes to be the word of God, its works and actions corre- spond with the claim, and sustain the profession. Accord to it then the confidence of your hearts, the obedience of your lives, the love and admira- tion of your whole souls. 2. I believe the Bible to be the word of God, because it is the only collection of doctrines and precepts which ever waged successful war upon the corrupt inclinations of men. The world has witnessed many systems of belief and practice very adverse to human convenience, comfort and happiness. Many superstitions and forms of idol- atrous worship have existed and do still exist, seemingly invented to minister to the wretched- ness of their deluded votaries. All these have undoubtedly conflicted with the well-being of mankind ; but not with their corrupt propensities. They have increased the misery of the world, but have not lessened its depravity ; nay, they have greatly augmented that depravity. So that it has become the common observation of history that those nations whose morals were most corrupt and profligate, ordinarily multiplied more than others their superstitions. This I think is univer- sally true and undeniable. There have also existed schools and institutes of philosophy which enforced the practice of the 24 THE BIBLE restrictive virtues, and taught men to deny at least some of their corrupt inchnations; and these systems, it must be granted, proclaimed war with some of the debasing passions of human nature, but their war ended with the proclama- tion. They were never able, nor are they yet able, to effect any thing in practice. They have had no success. The glory is reserved for Bible truth, and for that alone, not only to publish, but to conquer and subdue the evil nature of man. It offends his perverted reason, it offends his self- love, it forbids his resentment, it cries shame upon his sensuality, it raises a weapon to strike dead all the cherished darlings of his heart. And what then? Its adverse requisitions are submitted to. I^ook upon the Bible men of all ages; the truth met some of them while their hearts were burning with rage, its revengeful heat was in a moment cooled. It met some of them with their hands full of unrighteous gain, and with large treasure at home, a thing to which human nature is inseparably wedded : the fruit of their avarice is dropt, and distribution made to supply the necessities of others. It met others while sitting in the seat of the scornful, looking round upon all their fellow men with the air of boasted superiority, it no sooner spoke than, they came down from their fancied eminence, and be- came candidates for the lowest places; it must be THE WORD OF GOD. 25 manifest, that the Bible could not achieve such triumphs over the strong prepossessions of fallen natures, if it vs^ere nothing more than the word of man. Could the word of man stop a temp'est? The Bible calms the moral tempest of the breast. Would darkness fly off and yield to light at the word of man ? At the word of the Bible it is dis- sipated, and light shines victoriously. Can the word of man awe into subjection the whole band of lawless passions which drive and agitate the soul? The word of Scripture tranquillises in a moment all their vehemence. If then the word of man cannot produce the results which the Bible produces, the word of the Bible must be greater than the word of man, that is, it must be God's word. 3. Jesus Christ, a voucher of most peculiar qualifications, informs us that the Bible is the word of God; and this is my third reason for be- lieving it. The qualifications of Jesus Christ, as a voucher for the Bible, would be settled at once, were his true character known and admitted ; but as that book has to be taken as the word of God, before the divinity of Christ can be proved, we are obliged to select some feature or incident in his history which may be proved, or satisfactorily inferred, from testimony other than the Bible. The incident I select is his resurrection. That Jesus Christ was really and certainly put to 3 Og THE BIBLE death, and that he did as really and certainly return to life, and to the observation of numerous witnesses, can be inferentially and indirectly proved by testimony, other than that of the Bible. Here then is the proof. Close the New Testament, and banish the whole evidence of Scripture documents, and still we find ground upon which we may firmly • stand to defend the resurrection. It is ground which even an enemy will not contest — a position strong and impregnable. A Roman historian of undoubted veracity, and a most competent au- thority, since he lived not far from the time of the events which he relates, tells us that in the sixty- seventh year of our era, the city of Rome was set on fire by Nero, who cast the blame of the in- cendiary act upon the Christians, and caused many of them to be cruelly put to death.* An- other authority informs us, that the Christians were so named from Christ, who, they maintain- ed, had been crucified, and had risen from the dead.t And from good authorities, additional to these, it is clearly proved that many of these Christians were executed, with the accompani- ment of cruel tortures, simply for their determined persistence in maintaining that Christ had risen from the dead — that he was God, and to be wor- shipped to the exclusion of all other gods. * Suetonius in Nerone. f Tacitus Annal. xv. 44. THE WORD OF GOD. 27 We thus find, without once looking into the Bible, the following facts. 1. In the sixty-seventh year of our era, there were Christians at Rome, and in many other cities. 2. They were so called from Christ, whom they asserted to be risen from the dead. 3. Very many of them were put to death for their belief in him. Now the sixty-seventh year of our era, is about thirty- four years from the time of Christ's crucifixion. We have then this fact, thirty-four years from the time when the Bible informs us that Christ was crucified, there existed in nearly all the great cities of the Roman empire, communities of men and women styled Christians, and that they constantly and unitedly maintained that Christ had been crucified, but was then living in glory. And when they were required upon pain either of torture or death to retract their be- lief, they were unmoved and seemed to think it a privilege to die in the retention of their confidence that he was still living. The argument then stands thus. Those men who lived so near the time of the alleged death and resurrection of Jesus Christ must have been able to know whether that death and resur- rection were fiction or fact. Had they known it to be fiction, they would not have died sooner than renounce the belief of it ; nay, they would not have died to glorify it, if it were even doubtful. But they did die in large numbers; submitted 2g THE BIBLE cheerfully and without hesitation to the most hideous forms of death — and in dying they con- stantly professed it to be their aim to glorify Jesus and the resurrection. Therefore the resur- rection of Jesus Christ is a certainty. This proof, though inferential and indirect, is tantamount to that which is positive and direct in other cases. If so, we then have the testimony of one who was dead and is alive, and lives for evermore — that the Bible is the word of God. He asserts the divine commission of Moses and the prophets. 4. The great and admirable disclosures made in the Bible is another reason which inclines me to believe that it is the word of God. That it could never have entered into the heart of man to conceive of many of the facts and doctrines of this sacred book, seems to me a clear case. The idea of atoning for sin by blood could, so far as I can see, never have gained access to the mind of man, but by revelation. For, even though it should be contended that some ideas are innate, that is, born with us, this certainly is not one. Still less can it be imagined that reason could produce it, for reason dissuades the shedding of blood ; and still less likely is it, that such an idea could be prompted by fear, or a superstitious dread, or by any want or condition of humanity, since there would always have been a contrary suggestion, namely, that the destruction of animal life might make a bad case still worse. It is THE WORD OF GOD. OQ then next to impossible, nay, wholly impossible, to account reasonably for the origin of the idea, but upon the admission that it came directly from the Lord God. But the use of blood as an atone- ment for sin, is among the most cardinal points of the Bible. It is perceptible in some form or other from the beginning to the end. For with- out the shedding of blood there is no remission ! Since then, the custom obtained from the very beginning, and cannot be a human device, neither can it be a device of Satan, in as much as it pro- poses to do away sin, which he proposes to keep and increase j and since also, atonement for sin by blood is in order to its forgiveness, and for- giveness is in order to the abolition of sin, and it suits God only to forgive sin, therefore atonement by blood is an idea revealed directly from the Lord. The Godhead of the Saviour, the effect of his crucifixion and resurrection in procuring the ex- piation of sin, the effect of his obedience to all the requisitions of the law in procuring pardon and justification, the emission of the Holy Spirit to produce regeneration in the souls of men, the certainty of the soul's existence with the body, after the resurrection, are all matters which must have lain beyond the range of man's perception. But are they not truths? are not all these sublime conceptions in wonderful agreement with 3* QQ THE BIBLE the dictates of enlightened reason? The Bible then is God's word. 5. The Bible may be confidently received as the word of God, because that part of it, which we call the Old Testament, was composed for the benefit of a people who received it at first as the oracles of God ; and who preserved it pure and unadulterated, maintaining at all times and under all their defections that Moses gave the law at the command of God ; that the prophets prophe- sied at the command of God, and that their sa- cred books were all dictated by his inspiration. And farther, because that part of it which we style the New Testament, was acknowledged to be the word of God, by multitudes who lived so near the time when it was written, as to have had it in their power to know certainly the validity of the vouchers and credentials to which it con- stantly appealed : and if these credentials and vouchers had not been such as to certify beyond all doubt the claims of the New Testament, then we should not have read on the page of history of such men as Justin, Ignatius, Origen, Cyprian, Tertullian, Irenseus, and others, in the Christian ranks. These men were sober critics, belonging to the literati of the world, discriminating in judg- ment ; sedate, cautious thinkers, well qualified to detect fallacies, or to discover and appreciate the truth. They, with one consent, embraced both THE WORD OF GOD. Ql the historical, and the epistolary writings of the New Testament, as the word of God. At the same time the early consent of Christian anti- quity, rejected as spurious, many books claiming to be genuine gospels and epistles. This shows that they acted understandingly in the reception of those books received as canonical. The Bible is certainly the gift of God to man, because the wisdom, power, and goodness, put forth and exerted in its production, pre nervation and promulgation, cannot be otherwise than super- natural. But suppose an objector to rise up and say, they are natural. The wisdom, power and good- ness exerted in the production of the Bible, are in no respect beyond the capacity of uninspired man. What shall be said to such an objector? This shall be the series of questions which he may be called upon to answer. Is it natural to man to look into distant times, and see and foretell the contingen- cies of futurity ? The Bible men did this. Is it natural to man to assign the existence of the uni- verse to one eternal, uncreated, underived, and immutable mind? The Bible does this. Is it spontaneous in man to love with all his heart, and soul, and strength, the supreme, invisible God, and to pay him the homage of unceasing praise? Bible men must do this. Is it in the nature of man of his own accord, to go forth and employ himself in acts of lofty beneficence towards his QO THE BIBLE enemies and persecutors? to spend his whole time in heaping mercies upon the unworthy, and at last to die for those arrayed against him in deep hostility ? He who stands as the great subject of the Bible, Jesus Christ, did this. Is it in man to have conferred such success upon the promulga- tion of Bible truth, as that which it has actually gained ? Impossible, impossible, must be the re- ply to all these questions. Then the Bible con- tinues to assert its claim to a divine original — be- cause its contents are supernatural. It must then be concluded that the Bible is the word of God. 1. Because it makes in words, and sustains by deeds, such a profession. 2. Because it is the only code of laws and doctrines that ever yet waged successful war upon the corrupt incli- nations of mankind. 3. Because it has Jesus Christ, who was really put to death, and who as really returned to life, as a voucher. 4. Because of its great and admirable disclosures. 5. Because those who first received it, had signs and mani- festations most convincing and satisfactory, and therefore constantly believed it. 6. Because the wisdom, power and goodness exerted in its produc- tion, preservation and promulgation, could have been nothing less than supernatural, that is, di- vine. In this brief view of reasons for believing the inspired claims of Scripture, I have not noticed THE WORD OP GOD. QQ objections, nor have I descended to particular por- tions of the sacred book. By the Bible, however, I mean the commonly received books from Genesis to Revelation. They must all stand or fall to- gether. A separate argument might be instituted to prove the divine original of each book, and for aught I know, ten thousand reasons in confirma- tion of the claims of the whole might be adduced from the more than ten thousand passages which savour of inspiration. But those who cannot be satisfied with the reasons submitted in the fore- going enumeration, will never be contented with any or all others put together. There are those of you, however, who are satisfied, and who do believe fully and cordially that the Bible is the word of God. Your own belief places it higher in your estima- tion, than any commendation which others can give it. But in some respects, it is a fearful thing to believe as you do. To see and believe the truth, and still to remain unaffected by its import, is a fearful condition. Do you believe in that holy God whom the Bible reveals — in that cruci- fied and risen Redeemer who is the main subject of all its disclosures — in that quickening Spirit sent forth to move into spiritual life the dead souls of sinners ? — then where is your obedience, your love, your befitting worship ? The sacred word assures you, that disaffection to Christ and his O^ THE BIBLE THE WORD OP GOD. Gospel is death eternal to your souls. This you believe, and still remain with unsubdued iniquities, with unsanctified dispositions, with unregenerated hearts. Your own convictions condemn you, and preach more terribly to your conscience than all other monitors. Make your belief effective ; make it the principle of your actions ; conform to divine influence, and learn to rejoice in the abid- ing persuasion that the Bible is the word of God. SERMON 11. CHRISTIANITY A FACT REQUIRING TO BE ACCOUNTED FOR. Acts xix. 20. — So mightily grew the word of God, and prevailed. That Christianity does exist, is a fact which its friends should improve for its confirmation. For let the inquiry be made, how did it come ? How did it obtain such prevalence over the most happy and enlightened portions of the globe ? By what means did it plant itself so deeply in every soil over which the zeal of early propagation dissemi- nated it ? Militating as it does against the most darling and cherished passions of the human heart, assuming to itself no weapons except those that are spiritual, and disallowing to its adherents the in- ordinate pursuit of worldly gains and pleasures in every form, how has it beeii able to grow into such favour, and to achieve such an extension ? How has it found a residence so permanent in an ene- my's country, and a reception so welcome amongst those whose pride it was staining, whose revenge- ful spirit it was curbing into subjection, and to gg CHRISTIANITY A FACT whose love of pleasure it had no incentive to offer other than self-denial and mortification ? Did it creep up into eminence whilst the world was asleep, and take a station too high to be assailed by the hand of opposition ? Not so. The world was awake to its earliest approaches, and sum- moned all the resources of argument, contempt, and persecution to resist and if possible to crush its infancy. Did there come along some conqueror with victorious legions, at the terror of whose name the nations of the earth were struck with dread ; and did he extort from the world a reluc- tant homage to this religion ? Not so. The conqueror, if such he may be called, who came to enthrone Christianity upon the ruins of a fallen world, did not cry nor lift up his voice. So tender, gentle and pacific was he, that He did not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax. Was there some congress of philosophers, who united their wisdom, and brought into requi- sition all their experience and sagacity ; and who thus invented, arranged, and matured the whole plan of Christianity ; and then handed it over to the heralds and apostles whom they had selected to carry it in triumph over the earth ? Neither was this the case. Christianity itself has already passed judgment upon the arts of philosophy. It disclaims all the pretensions of human wisdom, assuming it as a maxim, That the world by wis- REaUIRING TO BE ACCOUNTED FOR. QIJ- dom knoics not God. But though it could have found its way into this world by none of the me- thods supposed, still it is here. It meets us in some shape in every region ; is blended with the customs and literature of many nations ; is incor- porated into the laws and morals of many countries ; and is a part, a most prominent part, of the history of this world. As a fact, or a series of facts, it meets the historian in all his researches; as a wonderful phenomenon, it stands before the phi- losopher and demands his investigation. The very politician finds it constantly in his way in every attempt that he makes to explore the secret springs of government or revolution. It has suf- fered reproach, contumely, and fierce opposition from its enemies : but the most cruel wounds in- flicted upon it, the most deadly fang ever planted in its bosom, have proceeded from the abuses of misguided or pretended friends. Still it is not dead. It yet exists, and to this time is advancing. Christianity is gaining at this very period more genuine conquests than it ever boasted, at any former time. The question then recurs — Hoio came it here ? The Christian finds a ready an- swer to this question. To him it is obvious that God sent it here. But let the Christian avail him- self of the fact, to establish his faith and to con- found gainsayers. Before any man can rationally neglect, or set 4 QO CHRISTIANITY A FACT aside Christianity, it behoves him to account for its existence. Let the unbeliever who chooses to cavil and carp at religion, first tell us how it came into being. If it be of God, you are then most criminal in opposing and neglecting it ; but if it be of man, it is your part to make this appear. You cannot rid yourselves of the obligation to do this. Religion is before you. Its sacred book is depo- sited in every house, referred to in almost every course of education, quoted by parents for the benefit of their children, discussed, expounded, elucidated, by minds of every order from the highest gradation of intellect down to the humble capacity of the ignorant and illiterate. In our own country you see Christianity rising by a spon- taneous growth. There is no law to enforce the observance of it ; no inquisition frowns upon the man who openly rejects and reviles it ; no consti- tutional privileges are secured to the professors and friends of it; and still it is growing up before you into a great and blessed influence. Look at it — examine it — enter fully, freely, and fairly into the discussion of its claims. Is it nothing to you, that such a subject has been placed before you ? Did mere chance, or human contrivance, or the course of nature obtrude it upon your notice ? If upon examination you can rationally satisfy your- selves that it is to be ascribed to the influence of one or the other of these causes, you will be at REQUIRING TO BE ACCOUNTED FOR. gQ least consistent in turning to it a deaf ear. But what kind of a mind must you have, to conduct you to such a conclusion ? What sort of credulity will that be, which can admit the enormous sup- position that Christianity has had any origin other than the immediate interference of God ? We can easily see in the light of history, how the various systems of philosophy which have ob- tained in the world, at different periods, secured success. Their authors and patrons rendered themselves commendable, by means and arts, either useful or specious. The Platonics com- mended themselves to public favour by their skill in the sublime science of Geometry. The pupils of the Peripatetic school devoted themselves to the history of plants and animals, and by their ex- traordinary proficiency in natural science, exhi- bited to the people many of the secrets of nature ; and thus acquired their esteem and admiration. The Stoics were distinguished for their learned subtleties in disputation, and being able to con- found their opponents, gained a reputation for wisdom. The Pythagoreans charmed their hear- ers with lofty speculations respecting the soul, the origin of all things, and with the enchantments of harmony. Besides which, we can perceive even at this day, that the defenders of the several sys- tems referred to, were among the most powerful and eloquent writers that ever lived. Witness Af\ CHRISTIANITY A FACT the transcendent skill and talent in such writers as Plato, Xenophon, and Theophrastus. If you direct your attention to Mohammadism, it will be easy to account for its origin. It has owed its success to the sword — to the skill and bravery of its founders — to the lenity which it has always exercised towards human depravity. Its book is a mixture of fables and absurdities, with moral maxims borrowed partly from the Bible, and partly from other sources. It is easy to ac- count for its progress upon the common principles of nature. It is comparatively modern, and there- fore comes within the scope of authentic history. For the existence of Christianity you cannot ac- count upon any of the common principles of his- torical calculation. Its first teachers made no pretensions to the refinements of speech, nor to the arts of eloquence. Their discourse was most simple ; the facts which they stated were naked and unadorned ; precepts, promises, and threaten- ings are by them laid down, without the slightest varnishing of worldly wisdom. They had a great subject; and that did not require great words. They had no honours to offer to their adherents ; because all important offices were held either by Jews or Gentiles ; and in addition to this, they understood, and made the disciples to understand, that reproach, contempt, poverty and death await- ed them on account of their religious profession. REaUIRING TO BE ACCOUNTED FOR. A -I The example of the great was not held up as an inducement to embrace Christianity; for whilst among its preachers there were but few of the rich, of the noble, or of the wise of this world, among its private members were chiefly the poor and the destitute. Not only were all the avenues of honour and emolument closed against the early Christians, but they were subjected to such penalties as the confiscation of their goods and banishment. They w^ere condemned to the mines, were afilicted and crushed with tortures, than which more cruel ones could not be invented. The historians of that age testify that no famine or pestilence ever destroyed at one time so many human beings, as did the re- lentless persecutions of the early ages. Exquisite modes of torture and death, as far removed as possible from the vulgar kinds of punishment, were sought and employed against the humble flock of Jesus. We have it on the authority of Lactantius, that a celebrated Roman lawyer wrote seven books in which he attempted to define the different modes of punishment with which it was judged Christians should be afflicted. In the annals of what other religion or philosophy can be found such instances of martyrdom, as those which are exhibited in the history of the church? The Greeks and other Pagans, who were accus- tomed to make the most of every thing that be- 4* 4i} CHRISTIANITY A FACT longed to them, enumerate very few who ever suffered death on account of their behef. Socrates and a few others stand out conspicuous on the pages of their history. That they expected to ennoble their names in the view of posterity, can hardly be denied — a vain ambition must be attri- buted to them, by any impartial observer of their characters. But the great mass of Christian martyrs were from the common people. With them there could have been no place for the fond ambition of shining out on the rolls of fame. They had lived unknown, and they must die unknown ; and in thousands of instances unlamented. By a little dissimulation they always had it in their power to avert the threatened danger. Their friends followed them with exhortations to the very jaws of martyrdom, calling on them to yield some slight token of homage to the gods of the country, either by throwing on their altars a little frankincense, or some other equivalent act. Why could they not be induced to save themselves either by recanting their profession, or by the arts of dissimulation ? Perhaps some of you are ready to say that the firmness with which they braved dangers and death, is to be ascribed to their pecu- liar belief, that death in such a cause would of itself ensure heaven to their possession. But how do you know that this was their belief? From what source could they have derived such a be- REaUIRING TO BE ACCOUNTED FOR. ^O lief? Did Paul teach it? Did Peter teach it? Was it the doctrine of any of the apostles? They must have been united in the persuasion that, though they should give their bodies to be burnt, and had not the gracious unction of the Spirit it would profit them nothing. When Chris- tianity first appeared in the world it did not find the minds of men free from other religions. It had to contend with many antecedent institutions to which they had been habituated. The rites of Paganism and of Judaism had pre-occupied the whole field on which it was proposed to spread the Gospel of Christ. Here was, then, a most formidable barrier. A better prospect of success would have opened to the view of man, had there been no prepossessions. Had the way been clear, had the human mind been warped by no prior doctrines, the work of evangelising the world would have appeared more hopeful. But in de- spite of this obstacle, and of all others, Chris- tianity stands erect in the midst of a perverse and ill-judging world. It is wonderful that the sword and the fagot of persecution did not wholly ex- tinguish it. It is still more wonderful that the corruptions which were heaped upon it for succes' sive centuries, by its pretended friends, did not smother it to death. How it survived the dark ages, and lived amidst the corroding damps and mists of papal ignorance and wickedness, is to the 44 CHRISTIANITY A FACT eye of reason wholly inexplicable, but upon the belief that God encircled it with his protection. Imagine if you can some other way for its success and preservation. Place before yourselves the supposition that Christianity originated in a human device, that it was contrived and propagated by a single mind ; or by a multitude of minds ; that all its doctrines, all its precepts, all its characters, were the result of human invention. Or if you prefer the alternative, let the still more extraordi- nary supposition come before you, that it was the offspring of chance ; that it came into the world by some strange concurrence of accidents ; place either, or both of these suppositions before you, and then endeavour to persuade yourselves that you have made a rational disposition of the sub- ject. Believe, if you can, that you have arrived at a correct conclusion. And surely if you can believe it, you will be credulous beyond all exam- ple in the records of Christian belief. 1. The religion of the Bible, then, has a divine original. The benevolence of God sent it into our world to bless the nations, by turning them from their iniquities, and bringing them again to their true and rightful Lord. Have you been taught a high regard for it ; and in cordial admiration of its holy and exalted spirit, have you been think- ing that it deserves to be divine ; that it merits the highest name and dignity that can be conceiv- REaUIRING TO BE ACCOUNTED FOR. ^g ed by the mind of man ; and that it is worthy of being the direct offspring of the eternal Parent ? What you think it deserves to be, it actually is. Its great projector is God. The mysterious and unsearchable Godhead designed, matured and executed the mighty plan. It is wholly impossi- ble that it could have come into existence in any other way. As an effect, no cause on earth could have produced it, much less could it have resulted from the agency of evil spirits. It is therefore necessarily of God, and impresses upon all who receive it, a tendency towards him. Obey its benign influences, yield yourselves in willing cap- tivity to its godlike power, apply your reason to the devolopement of its principles and doctrines, and receive cheerfully the imprint of its sacred- ness upon your hearts. Rejoice in that frankness and simplicity which forms one of the prime ex- cellencies of Christianity. It asks to be sought out and investigated ; proposes to walk abroad amid the habitations and scenes of men ; and re- quests to be conjoined with all the pleasures, ho- nours and pursuits of human life — to all which it imparts a lustre wholly its own. It casts a propi- tious look upon the adversities, sorrows and in- quietudes which infest the paths of life, and they soften into blessings. 2. There is that in the world which bears the name of Christianity, without its essential princi- ^g CHRISTIANITY A PACT pies and doctrines. What the rehgion of Christ is, can be learned only from the faithful record of Scripture. Those sacred writings which compose the canonical books of the Bible, are capable of an authentication full and satisfactory. Attempts have been made to impeach their credibility; but these very attempts have elicited vindications which have placed their character for simple truth and fidelity beyond the reach of successful assault. We may, therefore, approach them as God's lively oracles, as a repository of truth the most suitable to our mental wants, as a light shin- ing in a dark place, the harbinger of immortality. We may approach them as so many streams is- suing from the "sapphire fount" beneath the throne of God. By the clear radiance of these truths, we shall be able to expunge from the annals of Christianity all the spurious matter which has been there enrolled as its constituents. All those systems which have denied the supreme divinity of Christ, and have thus disallowed the doctrine of his atonement for sin and sinners, will wither away before the intense light of inspiration. All those bold blasphemies which have insulted the character of Jehovah, under the proclaimed no- tion that his lenity and benevolence would never allow the exercise of punitive justice even against transgressors, will be rebuked into shame and silence by the authoritative voice of God. The REaUIRING TO BE ACCOUNTED FOR. 4^ corruptions of a church professing to have had Christianity under its pecuUar guardianship, and to be the mother church, must stand out in all their deformities by means of the faithful deve- lopements of Scripture. The extraordinary pre- tensions of its chief bishop, the invocation of dead men and women, the deification of the Vir- gin Mary, the mummery of empty rites and cere- monies, the pretence of Christ's real body and blood in the sacrament ; relics, pilgrimages, cru- cifixes, indulgences, absolutions, and the whole in- ventory of solemn vanities constituting its miscall- ed worship, are the results of its guardianship, inflicted upon the patience of Christianity ; but from which the " ethereal virtues" of true Chris- tianity will purge itself, so soon as it can attain free and unrestrained action. 3. Let us strive to exemplify in our whole de- portment the temper and spirit of genuine'religion. Its divine original, its superiority, and its claims also, upon the belief and obedience of our fellow men, must be sustained and recommended by our consistent and holy lives. You account it to be from God, because its origin has no other rational solution. You must then regard all its precepts as fixing upon you an imperative obligation to fulfil, as far as possible, its benevo- lent instructions. Then love and practise all its AQ CHRISTIANITY A FACT REQUIRING TO BE ACCOUNTED FOR. plain and just requisitions. Judge yourselves by its rules, console your griefs by its promises, ani- mate your hopes by its rewards, invigorate your virtues by its vital energies, and look to its glo- rious Author for the completion of its incipient felicity. SERMON III. GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. 1 Tim. i. 4. — Who will have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. What transcendent mercy is here disclosed I How full of comfort, encouragement and joy, is the gracious annunciation that the Author of our •being proposes and wills the salvation of all men! In such words of kindness and pity there can be no room for misapprehension, no occasion for be- wildering error, — for anxious doubt. They are plain and unequivocal words, intended to convey to our minds an indisputable sense ; to direct our practice and to warm our devotion in one of the most solemn duties of religion. They furnish a strong and cogent inducement to us, to be in- stant and importuning in our prayers for the whole human family, to whom we are taught to wish well, and to show ail benevolence. They should have our prayers for their well being ; for their deliverance from the bondage of sin and death ; for their spiritual illumination and conversion; 5 ^Q GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. for their rescue from the power of darkness, and translation into the kingdom of God's dear Son. In the charities of our hearts we should embrace them, in our plans of usefulness we should respect them, and in our supplications before the throne of mercy, we should not fail to present to the compassion of God all their estates and conditions. " For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth." The benevo- lence of our prayers finds a model in the exalted benevolence of the Father of mercies. I. In the text before us, and in all similar ones in the sacred word, there has been made a diffi- culty, which I shall attempt to discuss and remove. II. Having disposed of this difficulty, I shall proceed to assert and establish the doctrine which the text manifestly contains. III. A direct application will then be at- tempted. I. The difficulty may be thus expressed. If God proposes and wills the salvation of all men ; if his compassion and benevolence are so un- bounded as to render it not only agreeable to him, but even desirable, that all should be saved, and if love be the very essence of his nature, so that in and of himself, he is under a most compla- cent and benignant disposition to prevent all GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. g|^ misery, and to secure all happiness among his creatures, then surely his omnipotence can ac- complish, what his will decrees ; for who can re- sist his will ? Will he not so far please and gratify himself as to carry into full effect the institutions of his own will ? Will not his wisdom foresee and his power obviate any possible impediment which might occur to frustrate his intentions? And may wo not hence conclude that he will ulti- mately save all men ; that it becomes us to cast off all solicitude about our salvation, to give our- selves to the repose of entire security on this sub- ject, and merge in instant oblivion every anxious thought, every painful apprehension, every obtru- sive dread that may agitate the settled security of the soul ? This and much more of an equiva- lent import has been said, and continues to be re- peated. In many cases, when such sentiments are not openly avowed, they may be supposed nevertheless to exist. And it is to their stupify- ing influence that we are to ascribe the moral apathy of a numerous class. They are w^aiting to be saved by power, rather than by mercy ; to be urged by force, rather than impelled by per- suasion ; to be moved by coercion rather than the allurements of goodness and love. They enter- tain some vague and undefined expectation of a final entrance into the kingdom of heaven. But they look for it to be effected by some compulsory g2 GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. measure, by some effort of irresistible grace which will subdue all their opposition by a violence of divine compassion which will drag them away from the jaws of destruction, in spite of their counter exertions, and precipitate them, all unholy as they are, into the full glory of the heavenly state. They are looking for compulsion to drive them to the feet of Jesus. The earth is to quake, the heavens are to gather darkness and tempest, the settled order of the world is to be thrown into sudden commotion, and then, amid the rage of contending elements, they are to have the good fortune to drop into the bliss of heaven. The true position of all such must become evident, so soon as the word of God is rescued from abuse ; so soon as the difficultv now stated shall have been solved. 1. And my first observation tending to obviate that difficulty, is that the grace of God as put forth and exerted in the salvation of sinners, is not irresistible."* If the salvation of sinners were a matter so decided and so fixed by changeless decree, as to leave them no power of resistance, no liberty, no ability to seek and procure perdi- * When I say thai grace is not irresistible, I must be understood to mean, that it does not act upon the soul by any coercive necessity, to the exclusion of rational motives and inducements ; and that it does not so oblige any to be saved, as tliat they cannot procure final con- demnation for themselves, if they please. GODS GRACIOUS PURPOSE. g3 tion for themselves, then the impenitent who de- fer all compliance with the mandate of God, are wise and commendable, because they cannot pe- rish. An invincible necessity determines their lot, and places them beyond the possibility of ruin. But let me not be misunderstood when I affirm that the grace of God is not irresistible. My meaning is this : it offers no violence to the natu- ral dispositions of the human heart. The power which attends it, is not coercive, is not impera- tive, is not an authoritative driving of the soul into a new condition of being. It does not so arrest, and so oblige the sinner by superior force, as to divest him of all personal liberty, and cast him into the imprisonment of an unwelcome custody. The power which grace exerts is the power of persuasion, of illumination, or of attraction. The energy which accompanies it is far from the aspe- rities of constraint ; the efficiency which it pos- sesses, though approaching towards compulsion, yet stops short of it. It calls the soul effectually, moves it by rational inducements, rouses it from the sleepy torpor of unbelief, and informs it by the teachings of the Holy Spirit ; but in all this there is nothing that impairs the freedom of choice, or of action. Allow that the human race can reject the propositions of the Gospel, can spurn the counsel of God, can decline the over- tures and quench the illuminations of the Holy 5* 54 GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. Spirit, and you make ample concession of all I demand. And if this power of resistance belongs to the whole species, it may be predicated of each individual of the species. It is a most necessary consequence, that what is true of the whole, is true of each component part. The denial of this sweeps off at once the whole foundation of all cor- rect judgment, and converts reason into fallacy. The denial of it involves the assertion of the oppo- site, namely, that what is true of the whole, is not therefore, necessarily, true of each part, taken se- parately. And the application of the principle hence derived, would be that whilst the human race as a whole body can reject the propositions of the Gospel, can decline the overtures and quench the illuminations of the Holy Spirit, there are certain individuals who cannot, who find re- sistance an impossible thing, and who accordingly yield to the necessity of being saved, just as they yield to the necessity of dying. Such individuals I am confident, are not to be found among the saints on earth, nor among the spirits of the just made perfect in heaven. Is there now a child of light, who had not originally the power of choos- ing darkness rather than light ? Is there to be found among all the ransomed souls who now swell and gladden the chorus of grateful acclama- tion to the Lamb that was slain, one whose praise is not spontaneous, whose hallelujahs are not the voluntary effusions of grateful love ? But if com- GODS GRACIOUS PURPOSE. gg pulsion had placed one soul amid that company, tlien the case demanded by the interrogatory might be adduced, and a pitiful case it would be. Its forced hallelujahs would be enough to interrupt the harmony of all heaven. But before we consign our minds to the belief that grace is not compulsory and irresistible, let us impartially examine those doctrines, examples, and declarations of sacred Scripture which may appear to countenance the idea that it is. It will be said, that the doctrine of predestina- tion, as connected with the plan of salvation, fa- vours the opinion that grace is irresistible, since all those' events, the existence of which is deter- mined by predestination, must necessarily trans- pire, and nothing short of the application of an irresistible power can ensure their occurrence. And in continuation, if predestination has made certain the salvation of some portion of the human race, then that portion is obhged to be saved, and nothing short of coercion can oblige them. This is in substance the argument of predestinarians in favour of irresistible grace. But there is a de- fective link in this chain, which being touched even gently, the whole falls asunder. For what , is predestination ? Who can define it ? Who can describe its powers, its operations, its limits and its bearings ? Is it something different from God, or is it something identical with him ? Is it fate, 56 GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. necessity, or destiny, as the ancient philosophers maintain ? For my own part, I frankly confess, that I know not what it is. This, however, I do know : It never yet made a unit of the human race, either good, or bad, by necessity. It never yet interfered with the perfect liberty of thought and action. It never yet deducted one iota from the absolute freedom of any intelligent and responsi- ble agent. Long as it has been in the world, po- tent as are its powers, predestination never has in any case so interfered with the volitions and determinations of the human mind, as to impair in the slightest degree the consciousness of ability to act as it pleased. Where then is the violence which grace derives from predestination ? Let the word of unerring truth be consulted, and that will disclose to us, all that predestination effects. Its power in determining with certainty the con- version of sinners, it is thought, has been exhibit- ed in Acts xiii. 48. "And when the Gentiles heard this they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained unto eternal life, believed." Admitting that the term ordained as here used, teaches the doctrine of predestination, yet we cannot detect in the idea the slightest approach towards coercive ne- cessity. Those who were ordained to eternal life, became believers, and thus acted with the perfect consent of their own minds, a thing they GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. g»J' would not have done, if urged on by a force not to be resisted. The mind is perfectly free in be- hoving, for though the evidence may be so strong as to make unbehef impracticable, yet belief it- self is a spontaneous movement. But it may be doubted whether the word in the forecited text means any thing more than that the Gentiles were so circumstanced by the providence of God, as that they should have all the requisite facili- ties for the attainment of salvation through Christ, as well as the Jews ; and that those there pre- sent, so favoured by gracious opportunity, did ac- tually believe. The texts which occur, Romans viii. 29, and Eph. i. 5, 11, are in no sort of hostili- ty to the idea of the soul's unrestrained liberty whilst undergoing the process of regeneration.* Let us examine them : — "For whom he did foreknow, he also did pre- destinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first born among many bre- thren." Rom. viii. 29. The act of pre-ordina- tion which is here said to accompany the divine foreknowledge goes to fix and determine what shall be the future character of the redeemed. — Fellow -conformists to the image of Christ. But surely they are reduced to this conformity by persuasion and illumination, and not by irresistible force. The same observation is fully applicable to Eph. i. 5, 11, where it will be perceived that y Kg GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. the act of predetermination falls upon the ulti- mate establishment of moral and religious charac- ter. " Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will." " In whom we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the good purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we, who first trusted in Christ, should be to the praise of his glory." The most we can make out of these scriptures towards the establishment of the notion of invincible grace, is, that Almighty God has predetermined the character and qualifications requisite to the saints. They must conform to the image of Christ — must have the adoption of children — must possess that holiness which shall express his glorious praise. But all this is to be achieved by influences that are either attractive or impulsive in their dealings with the human soul. To the same leading view must be referred such declarations as, " Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power." — Ps. ex. 3. "God hath not cast away his people whom he foreknew. I have re erved to myself seven thousand who have not bowed the kne(5 to the image of Baal. Even so at this present time," there is a remnant, accord- ing to the election of grace ; and if by grace then it is no more of works." — Rom. xi. 2 — 5. Should it be alleged that the great scriptural GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. :z(\ doctrine of election confers absolute certainty upon the salvation of some portion of mankind, and that the operations of grace must be irresisti- ble, at least upon the elect — I reply : Be the doc- trine of election what it may, it evidently teaches nothing inconsistent with the idea that salvation is so propounded to all men, as to make its accept- ance or rejection a possible thing. This accept- ance or rejection is also made to depend upon the free arbitration of a power within us, and however that power may be influenced, controlled or impel- led in forming its determinations, it is laid under no necessity either of acceptance or rejection, because either is possible, which could not be if compulsion intervened. What I am now insisting upon, is in full view of the fact, that some are converted and some are not; some regenerated and some not ; some are true penitents and others never feel one genuine emotion of the sort ; some love God and bear the impress of sanctity, while others remain under the dominion of unbelief and hardness of heart ; and all this diversity is witness- ed under the same administration of visible means. And what are we hence to infer ? That his elec- tion of some so changes their relations to him, that even before conversion and regeneration they are exempted from condemnation and its conse- quent liabilities ? Few in the present day can be found to defend such an anti-Christian sentiment. ! aQ GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. The saints were all children of wrath even as others, Eph. ii. 3. They were once the children of disobedience on whom the wrath of God Com- eth, Col. iii. 6, 7. The judgment which came upon all men to condemnation, Rom. v. .18, in their natural state, is not revoked by election, but through the atonement of Christ, and therefore the elect, prior to faith and justification, are under the pressure of a full and unmitigated condemna- tion. From all which I conclude, that election is of grace and not of necessity ; that it effects no- thing towards any man's salvation, independently of repentance and faith ; and that it therefore makes no provision for irresistible grace. That the Holy Spirit does exert a greater influence upon some minds than upon others within the pale of the same visible administration of means ; and that this greater influence must account for the conversion of some, whilst others remain uncon- verted, is what I fully believe,. That salvation too is wholly of the grace of God, and that it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do, is a position to which my mind fully accords. But I am equally confident in. the belief that ah this is done without the least interference with the free- dom of the human soul. Hoic it can be done I pretend not to explain. How the soul can be re- novated and created anew, and brought to the re- linquishment of all its old plans and purposes, and GODS GRACIOUS PURPOSE. gj that too by a power not inherent in it, but an en- ergy other than itself, without once throwing the least constraint upon the liberty of its own deter- minations, is that which I believe, but which I can- not explain. The contrarieties, if such they may be called, in my belief, produce no uneasiness ; nor do I feel tempted once to doubt the truth and con- sistency of views apparently at variance with each other. God's free and sovereign grace in the redemption of sinners, and in all the influences by which that redemption is applied, and rendered effectual, is most clear and undeniable. Equally clear and undeniable is man's responsibility. He chooses or declines, yields or resists, loves or hates, believes or disbelieves, just as if his life or death was entirely at his own disposal. And still his impotence and guilt have disqualified him for so small an achievement in the matter of his salva- tion, as the thinking of a good thought. In as- suming these positions I have the broad sanction of Scripture. More cannot be demanded. Its commands, doctrines, and exhortations are ad- dressed to mankind upon the ground of a capa- bility on their part to refuse compliance with the divine requisition. And the requisition is so abso- lute and uncompromising as to make no allowance for any inability to comply. Neither the sinner's disinclination of heart unto, nor weakness of pur- pose in, actual conformity to the will of God, can 6 02 GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. in any degree extenuate his criminality. Turning a deaf ear to the mandates of God, living in sin, because he loves not to live in holiness, and che- rishing his unbelief, because his heart is wholly and obstinately disinclined to faith and its consequent actings, he becomes a suitable expectant of that " indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, which shall come upon every soul of man that obeys not the truth." Surely then the sinner can, and does resist his own salvation — all sinners do this. According to Job, the wicked " Rebel against the light ; they know not the ways thereof; nor abide in the paths thereof." — Job xxiv. 13. " They also rebel against the word of God, and contemn the counsel of the Most High." — Ps. cvii. 11. Jehovah declares, Ps. Ixxxi. 11, "My people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me." And Wisdom utters her complaints, Prov. i. 25 — 30, " Ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof. They hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof" In the Gospel according to Luke, the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, and in John iii. 19, our Lord recognises the power of men to resist and disobey the demands and teachings of the light — men loved darkness rather than light. GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. g3 they exercised their hberty of preference to the one, and rejection of the other. From the Apostle Paul we learn that " The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrigh- teousness of men, who hold the truth in unrigh- teousness." That is, who resist the teachings and claims of the truth. And from the same Apostle we ascertain the dreadful doom of those who " obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness." Should it be asked whether such special and efficacious grace as that which was displayed in the conversion of the three thousand, Saul of Tarsus, the Philippian jailer, and others, could have been resisted ; and whether the grace that is sufficient for the conversion of any soul, can be resisted, I answer: all wilful resistance on the part of sinners ceases after conversion — after regeneration — after saving conviction. The Holy Spirit produces in the hearts of such a new dis- position, a new principle of action, new views and feelings, and they surrender themselves to God, as if overcome by his goodness. But up to the period of their surrender they do resist and oppose his benignant influences, how strong soever they may be. In the very instant of conversion or of regeneration, for I use both these terms to express the same thing, a conquering power is felt. It is, however, the power of light, of love, of persua- sion ; and although resistance then ceases, it does QA GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. not cease in compliance with any coercive neces- sity, but in accordance with the dictates of a re- newed soul. Let us try this view of the case by the word of God. Conversion is there represented as the reception and acknowledgment of Jesus as Saviour and Redeemer; as the soul's near ap- proach to him, and reliance upon him ; as deliver- ance from the power of darkness, and translation into the kingdom of God's dear Son, as a great moral change implying repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ ; and as the application of a sin-sick soul to Christ, the great Physician. From all which it would seem that no soul is obliged to be converted, nor obliged to come to Christ, nor will any at last be obliged to enter heaven. The power which renews and converts the ungodly is divine; is full and suffi- cient ; is not to be frustrated, not to be repelled from the pursuit of its object — approaches near to compulsion, but stops short of it. If, then, it be true that the individuals of our apostate race are in possession of a power which they may exert to their own destruction, and that no coercive necessity insures the salvation of any one of them, it will not be difficult to reconcile the benevolent design of God, touching the salva- tion of all men, with the inevitable perdition of the ungodly; nor will it be difficult to reconcile his equitable impartiality with the certain salvation GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. gg of the elect. Unbelievers are as certainly con- demned ; and, remaining so, will be as certainly cast into an eternal hell, as if coercive necessity obliged them to it. And, on the other hand, be- lievers in Christ must as certainly attain the eter- nal felicity of heaven, as if the same necessity compelled and forced them into the beatific vision. But the certainty in the final retributions to be awarded to each party, though as strong as neces- sity can make it, is nevertheless of a character wholly and essentially different. The sinner's perdition is his own wicked act, the believer's sal- vation is with his own full and joyful consent. I have no reply to make to those who contend, that the same grace which makes of one sinner a true convert, and thus insures his salvation, would make a true convert of another, who is permitted to re- main in sin and unbelief to his own certain ruin and desperation in endless wo. I say, I have no answer to make to such an allegation, and the reason is, I find none in the word of God. But I find in the silent testimony of every unsanctified conscience, the vindication of God. Men are impenitent because they will be so — are blind to eternal interests, because they prefer darkness; are without hope and without God in the world, because they love that condition more than the opposite gracious one ; are strangers to the bless- ings of faith and justification, because they wish 6* jgg GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. to be so. The condemnation and the curse are abiding upon them, not because they cannot be rescued, but because they will not. They are ruined, are lost, are perishing, not because of any defect in the care, or mercy, or efficacy of the Saviour's provisions for their salvation, but because disposed and minded as they are, they could not be carried to heaven, except with their sins. The Saviour who would save them, must be willing also to save their sins. 2. Salvation is attainable only through the KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH. This prCCludcS all idea of a compulsory salvation; and strongly marks the character of the gospel plan of salva- tion. By pre-eminence the Saviour himself is the Truth. Truth came by him, and signalized his life and character. It emanated from him as from a radiant point, and flowed far and w ide over the domain of darkness and error ; and again, all its dispersed and solitary rays met in full concentra- tion in him, so that he was as glorious in truth as in mercy. The knowledge of Christ is, therefore, the knowledge of truth — and this is eternal life, to know the living God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. To come to the knowledge of the truth in the sense of the text, is, I presume, the acquisition of true religion. This consists in the knowledge of GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. g7 the truth, and the heart's conformity to its teach- ings and injunctions. " Ye have obeyed from the heart," says an Apostle, " that form of doctrine which was dehvered to you; and being made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness." Still let it be kept in due remembrance, that a bare knowledge of the truth is not religion. A perfect acquaintance with the whole gospel, and even some zeal for the evangelization of others, coupled with admiration for the beautiful simplicity and gran- deur of its moral precepts, may be often found among those who can make no just pretensions to the Christian character. In coming to the know- ledge of the truth, in the sense of the sacred word, one of the first impressions of the soul is the per- ception of guilt. One of the first lessons which the truth teaches us, is the vile pollution of our own hearts. No sooner are we admitted within the scope of its illuminations, than the whole de- rangement of our inward man appears in woful certainty. Conviction follows light, and self-con- demnation completes the prostration of all the favourable estimates which we may have formed of ourselves. The morality or innocence of life which we may have previously boasted, is no pro- tection against the stern demands of a law which condemns us to unutterable misery for the with- drawal of our hearts from the Lord. Thus the very first salutation with w hich the truth meets us ao GOD S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. is the accusing voice of reproach and reprehen- sion. Our guilt in being aliens from God; our impiety in setting up in our hearts opposing in- terests and affections ; our sullen insensibility to all his past mercies and benefactions; and our indifference to all the calls of his providence and the loving entreaties of his word and Spirit, are arrayed in fearful order before us. It must be expected that truth will deal plainly and faithfully with us. It comes with no soothing flatteries, with no false lenitives ; but with the searching power of a light that pierces the darkness of the soul. To satisfy yourselves that I but echo the voice of Scripture, read — read Rom. vii. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 ; iii. 19, 20; Ps. xix. 7; John iii. 20, 21 ; Acts ii. 37. But that truth which asserts and proclaims our condemnation, also tells of justification. Here is an epitome of it. The very moment my faith embraces Christ and rests upon him, I am a jus- tified soul. The very moment in which I appre- hend the virtue of his atonement, the fulness of his redemption, the sufficiency of his righteous- ness, and the prevalence of his intercession, the law drops its curse, justice ceases its denuncia- tions, and a reconciled God pronounces my ac- quittal. Am I accused after this ? A Saviour's blood pleads for me. Am I reproached and re- viled, a righteousness made mine by faith is my justification. Am I openly and fiercely condemn- GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. gQ ed by the opposing powers of darkness, all Hea- ven rises for my vindication. The faith by which a sinful and condemned soul is made just before God, is an operative prin- ciple, and attended always with a transformation of nature. Conversion is its inseparable attend- ant. From the moment of the soul's believing re- liance upon Christ, it commences the work of sanctification. The leaven of malice, and wicked- ness, and moral defilement begins to be expelled from the heart, which henceforth becomes the seat of holy affections and influences, and the do- minion of grace is there set up. Truth there se- cures an abode, and exerting continually its heal- ing virtues, frets and irritates the conscience while diseased with sin, promotes penitential grief and humility, stimulates all the feeble graces of the new man into life and action, and thus braces and invigorates all the springs of perse- verance. See Ps. xix. 7 — 9. cxix. 9, 11, 104. Luke viii. 11, 15. John xvii. 17. Acts xv. 9. 2 Cor. iii. 18. Eph. v. 26. 1 Pet. i. 22, 23. No more space can be allowed at present, for the discussion and removal of the difficulty with which the text and similar portions of Scripture have been perplexed. The difficulty is, that if God wills the salvation of all men, why is not his will accomplished ? For the removal of it, I have maintained that grace, the only way of salvation, yi step beyond this we are involved inTprofound darkness, and lost amid a thousand absurdities and contradictions. In contemplating the origin of moral evil by this light, we must arrive at the conclusion that it was not only never intended as a part of the system of God's government, but that all requisite precaution was adopted by Him, to hinder and prevent its existence. The Bible surely teaches this, if it teach any thing clearly. If then any one should bring the charge of weak- ness, or of insufficiency upon the administration of the divine government, because moral evil was not intercepted and stopped before it reached ex- istence, it being contrary to the will of God, such a person has a controversy with the Bible, and must settle it as well as he can. And if the same individual should find in the fact, that God makes the sincere and affectionate tender of salvation to every human creature, with the gracious purpose that the tender be accepted; and that, neverthe- less, a large portion of mankind do not and will not accept it, and his will and purpose are there- fore frustrated, the difficulty lies still against the Bible, which is responsible for all its own doc- trines. The Bible shows us a divine Being who discountenances, and forbids all sin, both in the conception and the act. He would not have it to exist, and when it does exist, he would have its existence to cease. The same authority teaches "TO GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. US that sin, with all its possible aggravations, has been in the world as long nearly as man, and that it will never cease. Sin .must be as eternal, as the punishment to be inflicted upon sinners. Here then, we have what to some may appear a strange contrariety of cases : that is, the will of Omnipo- tence disallowing the admission of moral evil into any portion of his universe, and the entrance of that evil into his universe, notwithstanding the dis- allowance. Upon a perfect parity with this is the case of the will of the same Almighty, making a gracious tender of salvation to all mankind, and following up that tender by calls, invitations, and overtures of mercy ; and notwithstanding all the movements of his kind interposition, no small part of those to whom he exhibits such merciful offers are proceeding calmly on towards eternal perdi- tion, and will inevitably abide an everlasting doom of wo. From which it is plainly inferable that, neither holiness is preserved among finite intelli- gences, nor sin excluded from them, by any coer- cive necessity. If then, God's benevolent inten- tion as to the salvation of all men, be not accom- plished, the failure in the accompHshment, is pre- cisely similar to that which occurred in his inten- tion to prevent the existence of moral evil, which nevertheless does exist. In taking this plain scriptural ground we may feel perfectly secure ; unerring truth places us GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. >yg here, and fortifies us on all sides by the strong munitions of revealed light. Its solid consistency, its unimpeachable integrity, its exalted holi- ness, and perpetual harmony, are not now to be asserted, or proved. Its faithfulness is record- ed in the very heavens, and is lighting on towards the great central glory, all who obey the Gospel. The doctrine which I am now prepared to an- nounce and defend, is this, that God would have all men to cease from sin, come to the knowledge of the truth, and thus obtain salvation. My work here is easy and delightful, because there is little else to do, than to furnish the Scripture parallels to the text. Out of the innumerable testimonies which speak to this purpose, I shall make a selection. " A just God and a Saviour, there is none beside me : Look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else." Is. xlv. 21, 22. " And he said, is it a light thing that thou should st be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to re- store the preserved of Israel, I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth." Isa. xlix. 6. "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 with- out money, and without price." Iviii. 1. " Have I any pleasure at all, saith the Lord God, that ^4 GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. the wicked should die, and not that he should re- turn from his ways and live. I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, wherefore turn yourselves and live ye." Ez. xviii. 23, 32. "Say unto them, as I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye from your evil way, for why will ye die?" Ez. xxxiii. 11. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world : but that the world through him might be saved." John iii. 16, 17. The ministry of reconciliation teaches, that God is in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. 2 Cor. v. 19 ; that Christ gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due season ; that he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world ; that God commands all men every where to repent, and that he is no respecter of persons." If it should be said that there is ano- ther class of Scriptures which teach an opposite doctrine, and that these now quoted must be so interpreted as to conform to those which express a different sense, I must say, that I have not found that other class. For to obtain a meaning the opposite of that which the forecited texts ex- GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. i^g press, we must reverse those texts, and make them speak the very contrary of what they do speak; that is, the Lord must be made to say, he has pleasure in the death of the wicked ; he sent his Son into the world to condemn the world, that the world through him might be destroyed. That it is not good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, that prayers and supplications should be made for all men, because he will not have all men to be saved and come to the know- ledge of the truth. If we thus reverse the mean- ing of these Scriptures, we shall find no parallels for them in the Bible. It is conceded without the least reserve that much of the Bible represents the divine Being as acting and proceeding entirely upon his own plea- sure in the bestowment of mercy upon some, and in the withdrawal of it from others. So that many events which fall under the control of the divine government can be only accounted for by referring them to the free and sovereign determi- nation of God. This seems to be the meaning of the Apostle Paul, when he says, " Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth." And in the revela- tion of divine things to babes, whilst they were hidden from the wise and prudent, our Lord re- fers us to the will of the Father. " Even so. Fa- ther, because so it seemed good in thy sight." lyg GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. Still it will be found upon examination, that whilst the merit of creatures is never made the pro- curing cause of divine favour, their sin and de- merit are always made the procuring cause of punishments and calamitous visitations. And hence, though the Lord's mercies depend upon his own will and pleasure, and are therefore unac- countable to us ; yet his judgments are always to be accounted for by reference to the criminal at- titude of those upon whom they fall. 3. Having gained a suitable position, it is now my intention to sound an alarm in the ears of the unconverted. You have succeeded in tranquillising the dis- turbance of salutary dread in your hearts, by per- suading yourselves, that if God intends to convert you, he will yet apply some more powerful means, under the constraining influence of which you will be forced to accede to the terms of salvation. But what means more efficacious do you either expect or wish? Contrive a process of salvation for yourselves, and permit us to see what more you would have the Lord to do. Would you have him to smite you with the rebukes of his justice, until your soul is filled with bitterness and your body with wasting agony ? You would be excused from this. Would you choose rather some con- suming malady, which should diminish and dry up, by little deductions, the very sources of your GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. ^i^ vitality, and leave you pitiful and exhausted skele- tons, instead of healthful forms and active mem- bers ? Such an alternative I am sure you would not adopt. Would you then prefer some more expeditious and malignant distemper, which would soon cut you off, and send you, its lamented victims, to an early grave, with little warning and less pre- paration, ushering your souls into the eternal world ? From such a trial as this, I am sure you would shrink. You would beg a little time, a lit- tle respite ; and would not only pray yourselves, but would request the prayers of others, that you might be spared to recover strength before you should go hence and be no more. Or do you wait to be goaded and lashed by the scorpion stings and whips of a conscience awakened to implaca- ble rage, and unsparing remorse ; and driving your souls, nearly frantic with despair, upon expedients which will aggravate, rather than soften the burn- ing anguish which rankles within? From the horror of such a state, I am convinced you would beg to be delivered. How, then, would you like to be cast upon the waves of affliction, to be re- proached and reviled among men, to be reduced to the pinchings of penury and want, to have to wait for the world's cold charity to relieve your urgent necessities, to see the objects of your affec- tion smitten with death whilst yet in your arms, or near your hearts, to see those who, in nearness 7* ~ tyo GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. and dearness to you, were almost identical with yourselves, covered with the shroud, confined in the coffin, and committed to gloomy darkness ? If you should decline all these helps towards reli- gion, tell me, then, what would be agreeable to you? It is most certain that the spirit of Christ is not reconcilable with your present views, and were you now obliged to accept for your portion, your ALL IN ALL, his religion, in its simple, meek, and self-denying character, you would consider the obligation a most calamitous visitation. You would beg to be permitted to remain a little longer free from such unwelcome restraints and burden- some observances. Yes, ye worldly-minded souls, ye lovers of vanity, ye spirits enslaved to the god of this world, you are this moment shrinking from the offer of deliverance, and falling back into your beloved bondage. This moment you are holding back your hearts from the delights of a reasonable worship, and from the sanctities of regeneration, and from the bliss of a Saviour's love ; and pressing them down to a debasing idola- try of phantoms, or plunging them still deeper into ungodly apathy. This moment you are conscious of the total absence from your breasts of all those holy dispositions which can render God an agree- able theme of meditation, and the joys of salvation congenial satisfactions ; and you are conscious of the presence of those tendencies and leanings of I GODS GRACIOUS PURPOSE. lyO soul, which are completing your captivity to the power of darkness. And yet, when we press upon your attention the necessity of conversion, and entreat you to obey at once the voice of God, to repent instantly, and seek protection under the blood of atonement, you seem to think that some power greater than that which now impels you must be waited for and felt, before you will be reconciled to so great a change. In other words, religion in your view is a thing so dreadful that you can never be persuaded to it. If you are driven to it, are forced into submission, then you will endeavour to be resigned to your lot. Sinners, it is precisely thus that matters stand betwixt you and your eternal Judge. Your earth-born hearts will not relinquish their attachments. Your lovers you have, and after them you will go. That God who takes no pleasure in your death, is the wit- ness and the opposer of your desperation. Not much longer will he resist your madness, not much longer will he endure the insulting infidelity of your hearts. Of one thing, however, you can- not suppress the conviction. Every step you take in your journey towards destruction, is contrary to the will of God. Understand and appreciate this truth now, and do not travel all the way to hell to find it out. Once you are locked up in the eternal darkness, are consigned to the impri- sonment of eternal despair, and tortured with the OQ GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. raging fires of avenging justice, you will feel, when too late, that you are indebted solely to yourselves for the sad doom. So long as forms of horror shall haunt and terrify your spirits, and fierce passions shall prey upon them, and inexora- ble despair shall hold them with its tyrant grasp, and tormenting fiends, nurtured in your own bosoms, shall exult and raven amid the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth in the horrible pit, so long will remain fastened upon your hearts the conviction that your perdition is of yourselves. You mean to remain unjust, ungodly, — unrecon- ciled to your own happiness and salvation. Your- selves, then, are planting the fangs of the viper in your own bosoms. Show some mercy to your- selves, I beseech you, and desist from the bad enterprise of self-immolation to the prince of hell. Look forward a little, and see yourselves in eter- nity with unrepented sins. Light and peace have disappeared. Time's beguiling pleasures and re- curring enjoyments have ceased for ever. Friend- ship's soflening sympathies, and society's cheering smile, and humanity's mitigating touch, have all vanished from the dismal scene. The voice of mercy has ceased, and love's redeeming work has been completed. You are then sad spectacles of hopeless wretchedness; abandoned to your sins, lefl with your tormenters within you, capable of misery and incapable of comfort, you are prepared GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. gj for all the complex sufferings of a ruined soul. The end is one of your own seeking, the bed of sorrow on which you lie writhing, but not reposing, is made by your own hands. All hell resounds with the justice of God. All heaven proclaims his righteousness. The same effort of mercy which has designed and intended your conversion, would have been sufficient to reclaim unto God, sinners of the vilest character in any age. Had Christ been preached to the Cities of the Plain, as he has been preached to you, their men would have fallen at his feet in sackcloth and ashes, with the renunciation of their sins. Had Tyre and Sidon heard the faithful warnings which have resounded vainly in your ears, their reformation would have been secured, and impending judgments averted. All the idola- ters, all the stock and stone worshippers of the heathen world, can afford no examples of impiety to parallel yours. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment and condemn you, for they repented at the preaching of Jonas, " and behold a greater than Jonas is here." The millions of apostate Asia, the millions of imbruted Africa, the mil- lions of all times and countries that have died and will die, without ever having had knowledge of mercy's provisions, will supply no instances of guilt so malignant, nor of a curse so aggravated, as you who reject Christ. But, although so much §2 GOD'S GRACIOUS PURPOSE. has been done for you without effect, yet the mercy of God still procrastinates your doom, and allows you space for repentance. He causes the tender of forgiveness to be renewed to you time after time, and shows it to be his will that you should come to the knowledge of the truth, and obtain eternal salvation. Accept, then, without delay, that mercy which waits for your acceptance. Cast yourselves down into suppliant lowliness be- fore the Lord, and melt into contrition and godly sorrow. Correct your wrong calculations and es- timates as to the things of time ; study and appre- ciate the requisitions of God upon you, acquaint yourselves with the grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and submit all that is most dear to you, to his care and disposal. Have you cavilled at the doctrines of grace ? Have you sought to palliate your criminality in neglecting Christ, by holding before you the pretexts of theological doubt and disputation ? Have you flattered yourselves that because there is a controversy among men respecting free grace and free will, the Lord's work in the hearts of sinners, and their work in conformity with his; predestination and free agency; a partial salvation according to grace, and the indiscriminate proposal of salvation to all men ; you may quietly wait until all these matters shall cease to be controverted? You have devised an expedient most fatal to your salvation. If you GODS GRACIOUS PURPOSE. g^ intend to delay your compliance with the com- mands of God mitil human minds shall cease to perplex them with the boasted refinements of reason, you will never obey. Such a disposition as that, almost foretells your certain destiny. Like an opiate, it stupifies your conscience, and leaves moral sensibility torpid, if not dead. Rouse your- selves from the guilty sloth of perishing nature, shake off the stupefaction of insidious error, and, obey, I beseech you, the voice of God, which cites your souls to the finished redemption of Jesus, as your only hope and refuge. SERMON IV. NO EQUIVALENT FOR THE SOUL. Mat. xvi. 26. — What shall a man give in exchange for his soul ! The soul? what is it? Where does it dwell, what are its parts and properties ? Has any man seen it, or handled it, or heard its voice ? Is it known to exist, and to possess the astonishing ca- pacities here presupposed ? Indeed, this illus- trious guest, which came from the breath of God to sojourn in these fleshly tabernacles, has been so debased by earth and corruption, so disfigured and mangled by the madness of our sin and folly ; that it may be difficult to know it, and hard to identify it, through all the rubbish of fallen nature that surrounds it. At first, God gave it wings to fly back to him, and flight was natural and easy. Upwards was its native tendency. But these wings are pinioned now, and the once lofl;y spirit flutters upon the earth. Here it buries itself in the dust, and its wings, once Hke the eagle's, and its feathers, like the yellow gold, have contracted NO EQUIVALENT FOR THE SOUL. gg a dismal stain, by lying among the pots. Ps. Ixviii. 13. To add to it new wings, and to bur- nish its plmnage for a new flight, was a leading design of the Saviour's visit to our world. He therefore tells how much the soul is worth, lifts up the dejected and degraded wanderer, and urges its escape from the windy storm. He teaches us that there is no equivalent for the SOUL. 1. For it is the seat of the keenest feeling. We have indeed, a corporeal sensation, arising from the surprising structure of our frame. The wise Maker has left the whole body sensitive and ten- der, and hence at every point we are warned of approaching danger. But the keenest feeling dwells not in the body. It may be dismem- bered, and yet endured; its form may be dis- torted with strong pain, and yet patience may bear up under the convulsion ; it may bleed at every pore, and still a lofty fortitude may sustain the shattered wreck of nature; but a wounded spirit who can bear ? Some opiate may lull, some balm may soothe, some emollient may calm the troubled body, but what medicine can reach the soul ? AVhat balm can allay the aching of the bruised spirit? What art of healing can reach the sick and fainting heart which feels with keen anguish its own wretchedness ? In every case it is the soul that feels. That passion which in a 8 Qg NO EaUlVALENT FOR THE SOUL. moment changes a reasonable being into a ma- niac, which confounds and agitates the inward seat of thought and sobriety, and turns up side down the Httle world within us, is one of the piercing sensations of the soul. This is its seat, and dwell- ing-place. That remorse which sometimes seems to gnaw the very vitals of our being, which drives back the fangs of grief upon the most tender parts, which has so often consumed the life of man, dwells in the soul. There, too, reside the wasting cares which eat with incessant corrosion the strength of nature, which irritate with fever- ish excitement all the plans and thoughts of the heart. Pale fear, frantic despair, and sullen discontent, are all inhabitants of the soul. To the same seat must also be referred, whatever is of an opposite character. If the thrill of joy is ever felt, if peace ever soothes, if music ever transports, if love ever warms, if friendship ever charms, the soul is the seat of these feelings. The feeling is not in the eye nor in the ear ; these are only the inlets of sensation, material organs which are incapable of feeling. Our Lord makes an obvious difference between the feeling of the soul and the body, when he for- bids the fear of those who can only kill the body, and enjoins the fear of Him, who after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell. What keen feeling does he demonstrate, to have existed in NO EQUIVALENT FOR THE SOUL. 87 the rich man who lifted up his eyes in hell, being in torment. And he likewise represents the acute and sensible anguish of the spirit, as the worm that dies not, and the fire that is not quenched. In his own sorrows, the compassionate Saviour has exemplified the truth before us. He uttered no complaint about the uncommon sufferings of his body, though these were intense beyond expres- sion; he did, however, utter in relation to his soul, this declaration to be remembered for ever, " My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death." The keen sensation of which the sOul is capable may be further seen by the effects produced on it by causes foreign to itself. What surprising ef- fect may be produced by the simple sound of the human voice. Such a sound representing the feelings, the judgment, the knowledge of him who speaks, may in a moment confound our fa- culties, or throw us into transports, or sink us into dejection, or swell with rapid throbs the tide that rolls through the heart, or allay the inward per- turbation of grief. What is the seat of these as- tonishing changes, if it be not the soul ? On what tables are these impressions engraven, if not on the table of the heart ? Conviction for sin, is a cutting of the heart. The effect of the Spirit of God, is as that of the two-edged sword, keen and piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. Men have OO NO EaUIVALENT FOR THE SOUL. been known to die both of joy and grief, and thus the principle that the soul is the seat of the most sensible and acute feeling, is fully confirmed. The body seems only as a lodge in which the soul is abiding for a night, and very often, its actings and movements convulse the clay-fabric in which it sojourns. 2. The soul is the seat of the most durable feeling. Take as an example the power and du- rability of conscience. A wound once inflicted upon it never ceases to be felt. You that have ever been so unhappy as to wound your con- science can affirm this truth. You may have changed your climate from the parched regions of the south to the wintry scenes of the north, or you may have left the ice-bound north, to dwell in the glowing fields and blooming lands of a more ge- nial clime ; but still the barbed arrow has remain- ed rankling in your heart, and the pain has fol- lowed you through all the changes of your abode. Conscience may indeed be lulled, or seared as with a hot iron, and its feeling may seem to be entirely gone, but it has the surprising power of recovering itself, and of resuming its former vigour and feeling ; it does not so sleep on its myr- tle bed, as not to mark in its faithful diary all that history which in the day of judgment it must read aloud before assembled millions. You who abuse and outrage this faithful recorder of all your NO EQUIVALENT FOR THE SOUL. gg misdeeds, think with yourselves, what surprising horror it will strike into your inmost souls, when you shall be compelled to hear, every page and every line, read as with the voice of thunder in that day when the "books shall be opened?" Think of your approaching dread, and speechless agony, when every act, and every enormity, and every secret sin, and every forgotten abomination, shall be brought up as fresh to your memory, as if committed but at that moment. Think of the scorpion stings with which an angry conscience inflamed by the sins of a whole hfe, will pierce your souls. Think too of the final impossibility of that which, in such despair, can promise any mitigation ; and that will be ceasing to feel ? But how will you cease to feel ? Will you then mix for yourselves a dose, and drink eternal forgetful- ness to all the keen and cutting reflections which shall then torment your spirits? No mixture shall then quiet the baleful stirrings of conscience. Not only is the soul the seat of that conscience which shall be roused from all its slumbers on the last day, but it is also the seat of that power of THINKING which no duration can destroy. It is thought that carries us back to the foun- dations of the world : that loses itself in the im- measurable abyss of a past eternity. Thought can dwell amid the past ages of man, and can 8* Q0 NO EaUlVALENT FOR THE SOUL. trace down his history in the current of time, till lost in eternity's ocean. It can stretch its ar- dent wing into that awful space of endless being, in which we must dwell for ever. Consider this with yourselves, that you cannot cease to think. Your deathless thought must roam and act in the world to come. Thither must fly the winged off- spring of every immortal soul, and there must float in circles of eternal space. Consider what a source of happiness or misery, of delight or wo, of transport or of gloom, the thoughts may now be made. To many, life has not so great burden as the necessity of grave or serious thought. Give them the thoughts in which they take plea- sure, allow them the unhallowed fancies in which it is their joy to wander from object to object, and all is well: — but let the unwelcome thought of other things be forced upon them, and they are immediately wretched. How then can you tell, vain and sinful mortals, of any way to escape the necessity of thinking in the world whither you haste? Peradventure, it may be the plan of the Almighty to punish rational and intelligent natures by means of those very faculties which they so much abuse. Those thoughts which now trans- port you with such rapidity through the immense universe may, for aught you know, be changed into phantoms of eternal horror, may be transformed NO EQUIVALENT FOR THE SOUL. Ql into hideous spectres, which shall congeal your spirit with dread, and affright your soul with the terrors of everlasting darkness. But we have said, as an evidence of the import- ance of the soul, that it is the seat of the most du- rable thought. Such an idea leads you at once to the mysterious and interminable exercise of thought, when employed about eternity. You know how soon reason and intellect are lost in the vastness of such a subject, and yet you will per- ceive that it is a subject about which your thoughts may be eternally employed without finding a con- clusion on which they may pause. The philoso- pher, who being asked what God was, took a day to reflect, and then asked for another day, and af- terwards requested still more time, made it evi- dent that he had begun an infinite work. Thought, like the vitals of the fabled Prometheus, must for ever repair its own waste, and is the only mea- sure of eternity which therefore becomes the the- atre on which it will expatiate without end. What then can be an equivalent for the nature iand essence of that soul which is the seat of such an astonishing capacity? What calculation can ever reach the possible happiness of that spiritual nature which must live through the mighty exten- sion of an endless duration ? What numbers can compute the sum of that blessedness which shall dwell in those delighted thoughts that wander qn NO EQUIVALENT FOR THE SOUL. through immensity, — that blessedness which shall consist in the festal glories of reason, in the har- mony and purity of the passions, in the holy ab- straction of the soul from all sense and sinfulness, — that blessedness which derives its peculiar cha- racter from its perpetuity, and its perpetuity from God. On the other hand, what can be imagined as an equivalent for such a bliss ? What is the consi- deration for which a man might lawfully barter such a happiness ? What could be accepted as a substitute ? The world ? That is the seat of cor- ruptible things, of transient feeling and dull per- ception. Its fashion passes away. But the danger and the difficulty which you must meet, in attempting to find an equivalent for the soul, will not be, that you may get something in lieu thereof, which, though inferior, may yet content your desires, and satisfy your expectations. In this case there is no wide range of objects amid which you can make a choice, no rich varieties on which you may exercise your power of selection. The objects of choice are only two. Only two things can be found in heaven, earth or hell, of sufficient length or breadth to measure the soul. Only two things which may be exchanged, the one for the other. These two things are eternal hap- piness and eternal wo. If you seek a substitute for heaven, hell is the alternative. Hell must be NO EaUIVALENT FOR THE SOUL. QO taken in exchange, and must be the result of your choice. The keenness of feeHng and the dura- bihty of feeUng which you have seen to have a permanent and unalterable seat in the soul, have nothing commensurate, short of endless joy or endless wretchedness. You therefore think at random, when you ima- gine that you may resign the hope of heaven, and yet count upon some lower rank of felicity. No doubt, you worldlings, would gladly take up with the offer of a perpetual title and guarantee for the possession of the life that now is, on the proviso that you would bid adieu to heaven. Even though you had but a small portion of this world, yet if you could think it a fee simple inheritance, you would not long hesitate in abandoning heaven for it. But what am I saying ? You abandon heaven for the short, precarious, and miserable pittance which you are now receiving. For the sake of a few fields or houses, or land, or a little merchandise, you appear to have said, farewell heaven. God, however, allows you but a short hold upon these things, and then you let go for ever, and have, in- stead of the heaven of the righteous, your portion with the nations that forget God. 3. The consequences involved in the being and immortality of the soul, place it beyond all price. So far as we may be allowed to judge, the soul is the most curious and exalted piece of the divine g4 NO EaUIVALENT FOR THE SOUL. workmanship. This may be inferred from its spi- ritual nature, from its effects and operations so manifest, and from its principles and attributes so mysterious ; from its surprising connexion with the body, and its independence of it, from its fitness for the employments of time and of eternity. It forms the connecting link betwixt both worlds, animating and moving this sluggish frame of mat- ter, and stretching forward its spiritual forecast into the invisible world. God has appeared to affix to it his own signature, and to claim it for himself. One of the first grand consequences, then, in- volved in its being and capacity, is the glory of the maker. He has indeed so constructed all his works, as to draw from them' according to the nature of each, a revenue of praise. In the vast, and in the minute, in the order and in the confu- sion of nature, in the high and the low of his works, he has placed a silent meaning which sounds in reason's ear. But none of these things look up so directly to him as the sublime spirit of man. On none has he placed a quality so trans- parent for the showing of his own character. Con- sider with yourselves how many are the ways of glorification by which the soul may go out to God. In gratitude for his mercies it tells the honours of the great Benefactor. For what sight can be more affecting, than that of a feeling heart, bending NO EQUIVALENT FOR THE SOUL. (\^ with humble thankfulness under the sense of God's manifold goodness? a goodness which no created capacity can ever fathom; but which is better understood and respected according to the better sense and reason of those who receive it. The gratitude of the whole creation to the great Maker is, no doubt, a tribute which he graciously accepts ; but no return from the works of his hands can have such significancy as that of the thankful effusions of the human soul. " Bless the Lord, O my soul," is a sound which surpasses in sweetness and magnificence the shouts of the morning stars. Behold, then, O thinking, reasoning man, how much value thy God hath set upon the offerings of thy spirit. God has lefl in thy hands the weighty charge of his own honour and glory. You may, if you please, despise the consideration, and in- stead of sending up to him the returns upon which he has suspended his glory, you may exert the time and the talents which he has given you, in acts of abuse and profanation. You can, if you please, deny him every claim, and affront his majesty in every way which a sin- ful nature would suggest, and he will lose nothing from the grand total of his glory. But it is you that have every thing to lose, and in coming short of the glory of God, you come short of the only salvation. In falling short of his glory, you fall short of happiness, and of the blissful immortality. an NO EaUIVALENT FOR THE SOUL. Nor ought you lightly to reckon such a loss as this. It is a fearful thing to think of, and will be infinitely more fearful to see and feel. How should it rouse your slumbering spirit with anxious dread to think of an eternal separation from God and heaven — to view that pit of pitchy darkness, from which rises the smoke of an eternal torment. To look over that scene of unspeakable horror which the suffering of guilty spirits shall exhibit ; and to hear cries of despair, and wailings of anguish, the clanking of everlasting chains, and the cursing of malignant demons. How will you bear to be shut out for ever from light, and peace, and hope, to breathe in regions of baleful wo, the vapour of smoke mingled with liquid fire? But this must be your portion if the soul be lost. To converse with groans unrespited, to sink in un- abated flames, must be your inevitable doom, if at last found without hope and without God. SERMON V. THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 1 Tim. iii. 16. — God was manifest in the flesh. John xvi. 13. — When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. The unity of God, is the first truth to be re- ceived by one inquiring after rehgion. " The Lord our God is one Lord," is a primary and fundamental proposition, and must be placed first among the principles of the oracles of God. Con- sonant with this prevailing idea of Scripture, is that suggested by the whole order of the material universe. In this there is observable a unity of design, a unity of parts composing the whole, a unity of consent betwixt all the members of one mighty system ; and from all the individual opera- tions of those members a resulting unity of effect. The doctrines of the Bible on this subject, are thus in admirable accordance with the testimonies of reason and nature, and authorise the inference 9 Qg THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. that the Bible itself is true to the constitution of nature.* It must be remarked, however, that the idea of simple unity in the Godhead, is connected in Scripture with that of plurality, or rather of tri- plicity, and that both unity and triplicity combin- ing in ONE, are there asserted without any sup- position of a possible disagreement in the matter of such a conception. To say, as some do, that this triple unity is discerned and appreciated by rea- son itself, is more than we could venture to assert, because we can discover no direct way for arriv- ing at such a conclusion ; but we can safely assert that reason neither forbids nor invalidates it. An overwhelming evidence of Revelation forces it upon the belief of minds unsophisticated by the imaginary demands of reason ; and such minds consider it more reasonable to believe what the Bible clearly teaches, than to yield to those alleged requisitions of reason, which, at best, are doubtful, and, in all probability, are spurious and visionary. For, in sustaining its pretensions to the character of divine yispiration, the Bible does * A modern division of professing Christian?, have, I believe, styled themselves Unitarians; for the purpose, I presume, of avoiding the earlier name of Socinians. But Unitarian is a name to which they are not exclusively entitled, since the orthodox are as much Unitarians as themselves, with reference to the unity of the Divine Being. THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. QQ satisfy the reason of every one whose intelligence is iniperverted. While, on the other hand, those who undertake to sustain their misnamed reason in opposition to the Scriptures, cannot fully satisfy themselves that they are right. To deny the divinity and personality of Christ and of the Holy Spirit, out of complaisance to a reason, manufactured, peradventure, in the murky atmos- phere of impure passion, is doing homage to a phantom, at a fearful sacrifice. There is, indeed, a speciousness in the positions of those who argue against the triunity of the God- head ; but follow them out to their conclusions, and you will detect their unfair dealing. It is alleged by them to be an impossibility, that three should be but one ; that such a proposition is contrary to the common reason of mankind, because it implies a contradiction. The unfairness of this applica- tion of their principle lies here : It charges upon trinitarians the absurdity of maintaining that three is one, numerically and distinctly considered. This they do not assert ; but they do assert, that three is one in the equality and identity of nature and attributes, and that by consequence one are three in the personal relations of the Godhead, to all created beings, and to Deity himself. Before we can prove a proposition to be absurd, it is obvious that we must have a clear perception of«the mutual relations of its component parts. I QQ THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. If, for example, it was asserted, that two parallel lines would meet, if prolonged to a certain point, we have an intuitive certainty that this never can be the case, the mutual relation of these lines is such, that they never cari meet. But if we behold a certain number of lines, running for a considera- ble distance separately from each other, and at length lost in a mist; if, moreover, we had no means of ascertaining with accuracy whether they proceeded in a parallel, diverging, or approximat- ing direction ; nay, if to the very best of our judg- ment, they appeared to be all exactly parallel, we could not prove it to be an absurdity, if we heard it asserted by credible testimony, that, at a remote point, they met together, like so many confluent streams, and formed but one line. Our duty, under such circumstances, would evidently be to admit the fact, and acknowledge the fallacy of our pre- vious conclusion, a conclusion founded upon the imperfection of our visual powers. We readily allow that the doctrine under con- sideration, may be proposed in such terms, and represented in such an order, as to imply an abso- lute contradiction; nor would we deny that its maintainers sometimes view and express it in such an order. When, therefore, this mysterious tenet is formally stated in language which seems best adapted to Scripture phraseology, language at the best very inadequate to the subject, its can- THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. JQJ did oppugners take the liberty of giving their own meaning to the terms employed, and are on the alert with an array of quibbling analogies, by which they pretend to prove its impossibility. It requires no great depth of discernment to perceive, no very superior powers of argumenta- tion to evince, that three distinct beings cannot constitute one, in the same sense, and in the same relation, in which they are separately one. If such a union of persons, is what the champions of reason labour to disprove, if this is the shadow with which our adversaries contend, they may, amuse themselves with much freedom; the de- fenders of the faith once delivered to the saints may willingly recede from the arena, and allow them the full enjoyment of their triumph, until they have learned that the phantom which they had pursued with so much zeal, has never yet been embodied in the judgment of any man of common understanding. But we may be asked what we understand by this doctrine, and how we explain it in consistency wdth sound reason and good sense. It is sometimes legitimate to reply to a question by asking another. When the chief priests and elders of the Jews came to the Saviour, and asked, in reference to his miracles, " By what authority doest thou these things, and who gave thee this authority ?" He retorted upon them by saying, " I will also ask 9# 1 rko THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. you one thing, which if ye tell me, I, in like man- ner, will tell you by what authority I do these things: The baptism of John, whence was it? Of heaven or of men?" Their reply was, "We can- not tell." In reference to the demand to explain what we understand by the doctrine just specified, we may also say to our querists : The principles of attraction and repulsion in the same mass of matter, what are they ? The two polarities of the magnet, how are they to be accounted for? The positive and negative electricities, how are they to be explained ? The infinite diversibility of matter, and time, and space, how is it to be rendered pal- pable to the apprehension, without the danger of absurdity? We strongly suspect that their reply to these, and a hundred more questions relative to things which are believed, and yet very imper- fectly understood, must be that of the Jewish high priests, "We cannot tell." But they will allege, in respect of these points. We have the phenome- na, and we profess not to go farther. And so have we, the believer may answer. Our phenomena , are the explicit statements of him who is the truth, of him who is no less true in his word, than he is in his works, and beyond these we do not venture to advance. If, therefore, it be asked, what we do mean when we speak of three persons subsisting in the essence of Jehovah, without inquiring how far THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. J QQ these terms are best calculated to express the truth, and without fear of compromising our cause, we frankly confess that there is much in this scheme that we do not understand, and some- thing that, without a divine revelation, we should have been inclined to controvert. We have learned that there is a difference between absur- dity and obscurity, between the confined range of our feeble reason, and the boundless expanse of infinity. We know the fallibility of our own judg- ment. We rely on the unimpeachable veracity of the Author of our being. With these views and feelings, we believe that we can discover in the pages of Scripture a clear attestation to these two points. That there is one supreme, infinite Jehovah, indivisible and incomprehensible, and also that, in the essence of this great and glorious Being, there is a threefold distinction, which dis- tinction is expressed in the Bible by the terms of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The appellation of persons is adopted simply because this word appears best suited to convey the idea of a real agent. But the order of combination in which these two apparently discordant points coalesce, we do not profess to understand. We can form some idea of either separately viewed, but how they harmoniously unite, we cannot perceive, just as we can frame some indistinct conception of the eternity that is past, and the eternity which is to \f)4 THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. come, but how both eternities, if we may use such a term, join together, so as to form one boundless circle of duration, unmarked by fore or after, by present, past or future, one everlasting now, we cannot clearly comprehend. We are fully aware, indeed, that there is no analogy in nature, which can give a proper idea of this truth. Analogy, however, is no absolute test of truth, and we enter our decided protest against its being employed as such in the present instance. It has its uses in the illustration and defence of general truth, when applied with observation and judgment.* "The specious exhibition of similitudes, neverthe- less, is accustomed to deceive, and therefore should be used with a sound discretion."t We now proceed to prove the doctrine before us, by citations from Scripture. Its defenders hold the Bible in their hands, and pretend not to produce any absolute proof but from this repository of light. This commends to their faith what reason cannot deny to their understanding. It demonstrates, where reason stands doubting, and supplies evi- dence in which reason may rejoice. The dictates of reason are to be measured and tried by the word of God. If those dictates be true there will * Davies' Estimate of the Intellectual Powers, t Solent tamen, fallere similitudinum species, ideoque ahibendum est his judicium. — Quintillian. THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. JQg be no disagreement ; if fal-e, disagreement between the two will be inevitable. Shall that, then, which reason seems to teach, be opposed to that which revelation clearly teaches? Shall an apparent contradiction, on the part of the former, be relied on, to overturn the established verities of the lat- ter ? Men may imagine that they hear the voice of reason condemning the doctrine of three per- sons in the Godhead. Are they quite certain it is reason's voice they hear? Does not the Bible speak more audibly and explicitly in favour of that doctrine, than reason against it ? and is it not more suitable to unbiased rationality to regard the testimony of Scripture as really and truly the voice of God, than to exalt to that dignity the sus- pected intimations of fallible and erring reason? We have moral certainty that the Bible is the voice of God. We also have moral certainty that true reason never contradicts that voice. When- ever, therefore, there is a contradiction, we must conclude that it proceeds from false, and not true reason. In proceeding to exhibit the Scripture testimony in confirmation of the idea of triplicity in the Godhead, your attention is directed — 1. To those inspired sentences which represent the Deity as subsisting in three distinct persons. These portions of Scripture are not so remarkable for the frequency of their occurrence, as for their full and unambiguous import. It would seem im- JQg THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. possible for words to convey more clearly any in- tended meaning, than that which we find in the commission which Jesus gave to his Apostles, Mat. xxviii. 19; "Teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Those who were taught and who believed the Gospel, were to be baptized, and thus introduced into the full profession of Christianity. By the terms of their initiation, they embraced the triple idea of the Godhead. This doctrine was sounded in their ears at the very moment when they felt the circling wave en- veloping their bodies ; and when they once more regained their erect posture, and stood forth in the similitude of the Saviour's resurrection. To the subjects of baptism it was an epitome of faith, a condensed form of the true creed. It was their solemn recognition of the first principles of the oracles of God, and was consequently to remain as an elementary truth upon which their faith and obedience were to be subsequently established. It .was a sort of cardinal point inscribed upon the vestibule of the great temple into which they were entering to be more fully taught divine mysteries. The threefold notion of the supreme divinity is deliberately stated by the Apostle Paul, in 1 Cor. xii. 4, 5, 6 ; " Now, there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administration, but the same Lord. And there THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. liW are diversities of operations ; but it is the same God, that worketh all in all." The order of the divine persons is here inverted, to accommodate the subject which the Apostle was treating, name- ly, the miraculous endowments bestowed by the Holy Spirit upon many of the early believers. These extraordinary gifts proceeded from the third person in the Godhead, through the merito- rious grace and intercession of the same Lord, that is Christ ; and one and the same God the Fa- ther, was the author of all those gracious inwork- ings by which their hearts were subjected to the indelible impressions of divine truth. It may be proper to remark here, that the forecited passage is of the more value in supporting the doctrine of triplicity in the Divine Being, because connected with those operations and supernatural influences by which the souls of men were qualified for the discharge of the high functions of their Christian offices. The view thus furnished is manifestly practical, and not intended merely for the purpose of maintaining a theory, or of giving effect to a doctrine ; but designed to show to the Corinthian church the grand principle of unity which should pervade and cement all hearts, in consideration of the one source from which all their gifts were derived. The Scripture seldom speaks with a manifest intention of asserting a particular doc- trine, but, as it were undesignedly, blends its doc- 1 f\o THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. trines with its rules of practice, and leaves them to be elicited by the skill of the student from the copious, practical lessons with which it abounds. This remark is strikingly true of the text under review. It was designed as an argument against the pernicious emulations of brethren, and to pro- mote harmony. They are thus reminded that they cannot possess, either separate qualifications, or separate interests, since one Spirit, and one Lord, and one God, three united in one, was the one Author of all their gifts, how much soever those gifts might differ. The same motives to unity are referred to by the same Apostle, Eph. iv. 4, 5, 6, and with the same inverted order of the divine persons. " There is one body and one spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." The ancient Christians under- stood this latter clause of the Trinity, in the fol- lowing manner : — Over all as Father, through all by the Word, and in all by the Holy Ghost. The triple idea of the Eternal and Holy God, is re- cognised by Paul, 2 Cor. xiii. 14, with a care and distinctness which cannot fail to satisfy every can- did mind. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost." If this should lead us to invoke one God under the notion of three persons, and still we are misled, who is he that misleads us ? THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. j qQ By whose authority is it that we make our appeal to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ? Let the inspired Apostle answer these demands, for he it is who has said, " The Son is over all, God blessed for ever," and who speaks of those that are led by the Spirit, as under the guidance and control of God. The Apostle Peter seems to have been a trinita- rian, if an opinion may be formed from the prefa- tory address of his first Epistle — " Elect accord- ing to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." In Heb. ix. 14, the Father, Son, and Spirit are mentioned in immediate connexion, as performing distinct parts in the momentous concern of human redemption, and thus uniting their high func- tions in saving sinners. " How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spi- rit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works?" Christ being raised from the dead by the power of the eternal Spirit, appeared in his glorified body before the throne of God, and there appeared a spotless sacrifice to atone for sin. This sin offering, designed for the relief of guilty consciences, was presented to God the Father, by God the Son, through God the Holy Ghost. To the same pur- pose is Rev, i. 4, 5, where we appear to have an acknowledgment of the three divine persons in 10 ■110 THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. the Godhead. Grace is implored from " Him who is, and was, and is to come, from the seven spirits before the throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, who hath made us kings and priests unto God." The triple idea is not easily overlooked in this passage, and I may add, less easily is it effaced. 2. Another class of Scripture texts, asserts the distinct and separate divinity of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. If each of these be thus proved to be God, at the same time that all Scripture unites in affirming the unity of God, then surely an equal testimony of the divine word will be found to support the doctrine of a threefold sub- sistence in unity. That the Son, who in the first chapter of John is styled the Word, is God, cannot admit a rea- sonable doubt. It never was doubted by any, ex- cept those who make doubting the rule, and be- lieving the exception to that rule, " The Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him, and without him was nothing made which has been made," are expressions which ought to banish from our minds all uncer- tainty as to the character of that Word which was made flesh. Equally clear and positive is the evidence adducible to the same point from Rom. ix. 5 ; " Of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for THE DOCTRINE OP THE TRINITY. 1 1 1 ever." No less direct and conclusive is the word of Scripture, 1 John v. 20 ; " And we know that the Son of God is come, and has given us an un- derstanding that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life." I agree with Beza and others who have followed him, that Ti- tus ii. 13, proves Jesus Christ to be the supreme God. " Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ." The omission of the arti- cle before Saviour in the Greek text, is a very considerable proof that the great God is no other than our Saviour Jesus. The verse would then read ; " Looking for the glorious appearing of the great God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ." That the Son is truly God is incontestably mani- fest from Heb. i. 3, where he is styled the " bright- ness of his glory, and the express image of his person," that is, an effulgence of the Deity, and the exact image of his substance, which must prove that He is uncreated and underived, and is consubstantially one with the eternal Father. To this agrees the Saviour's own declaration ; " I and my Father are one," John x. 30. The proof is nearly absolute, that the writers of the New Testament regarded Jesus as God. In 112 THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. Col. ii. 3, omniscience is assigned to Him with an explicitness which admits of no mistake. In Christ, " Are hid all the treasm'es of wisdom and knowledge ;" while in Rev. ii. 23, He is proclaim- ed as the " searcJier of the reins and the hearth The power of knowing events and of operating, in distant places and persons, at one and the same time, is claimed by Him, Mat. xviii. 20 ; " For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them," and xxviii. 20 ; " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto. the end of the world." Equally incontestable are the as- criptions to Him of almighty power, " All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth, is his own assertion, Mat. xxviii. 18, which Paul thus vindicates, Phil. iii. 21 ; " 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 him- self." Nor is it less characteristic of God, that eternal duration is attributed to Him. His dis- closures to John, in Rev. i. 11, 17, are made with the solemn and emphatic avowal, that. He is the First, and the Last, which read in connexion with Heb. vii. 3, makes the matter clear that these in- spired writers had no doubt of his eternity. His immutability was a tenet upon which they as little doubted. In the dissolution and change of the visi- ble creation Jesus Christ shall remain the same, THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. JJg " Yesterday, to-day, and for ever," He is the same, Heb. i. 12, xiii. 8. Can it be appropriate to any being less than God, to be set forth as the Creator of all things ? And if Jesus be not so exhibited in Col. i. 16, I should like to know how and what he is exhibited ? " 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 principalities, or powers, all things were created by Him, and for Him." It is de- serving of special thought, that in this text all THINGS are said to have been created for Him, that is with a view to Him, for his particular use. The material and immaterial universe were brought forth from Him, as a self-existing Al- mighty cause, and its vast and boundless constitu- tion is to subserve his glory. The tribute of supreme homage from angels and men is offered to Jesus the Saviour, in obedience to the command of God. This is evident from Phil. ii. 9—11, and Heb. i. 6: "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father," who, " when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, saith, 'And let all the angels of God 10* J J^ THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITV. worship him.' " Now let it be remembered that it is the one paramount design of the whole Gos- pel, to bring all men to the worship of the one true God. This end is kept in view by the uniform and studied inculcation of love to him, as the only pure object of acceptable worship. How is it reconcilable with the main scope of the evangeli- cal dispensation to require supreme homage to be rendered to Christ, if he be not God? And how are we to justify the Apostles, in their expressions of high and exclusive devotedness, of warm and impassioned attachment, of profound veneration and ardent love to Christ, if he be no more than a creature? But when it appears in all the cer- tainty and consistency of truth, that most if not all the names, titles, attributes and works which in Scripture are ascribed to God, are also attri- buted to Jesus Christ, are we to wonder that he was hailed as Lord and God, that he was invoked as the refuge of his departing spirit, by the first martyr, that he was loved with an affection so in- tense, as to absorb in the minds of Peter, John, and Paul every inferior passion, and stimulate them to the lofty enterprise of wearing out and sacrificing their lives in his cause ? That the Holy Ghost is God, is proved by all those texts which declare, either directly or allu- sively, the doctrine of triplicity in the Godhead. Besides these, there are other passages which THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. Ilff contain proof of the personality and divinity of the Holy Spirit alone. That awful sentence which the Saviour passes upon him who utters blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, is a plain acknowledgment of his individuality, and shows too his divine au- thority and nature, since the sinning against him draws after it such fearful consequences. A blas- phemy against the Son is represented as a par- donable offence ; but one uttered against the Holy Spirit was incapable of forgiveness, either in this world, or in that which is to come. To the same divine power is assigned the work, John xvi. 7, 8, of producing conviction of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment ,in the hearts of men ; and it is an observable fact, that this exalted being is brought to notice under a personal representation. The word Spirit being of the neuter gender, might have led to the adoption of the relative it as a suitable pronoun; but, instead of this, we have, as if by manifest design, the expressive personal he employed in every instance, as a term properly corresponding to the idea conveyed in the words Comforter and Spirit of truth. It certainly comports with candour and good sense to use Acts v. 3, 4, in establishing the proof of the divinity of the Holy Ghost, whilst to demur against such testimony, is one of the disingenuous shifts of prevarication — " Why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie unto the Holy Ghost?"—" Thou Ilg THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. has not lied unto men, but unto God." Lying unto the Holy Ghost and lying unto God, are here placed as one and the same thing. Can it be imagined, that the inspired author of this fearful expostulation, spoke either so incautiously, or with such mischievous intention, as to draw us into the error of believing a creature to be God? To what a dangerous mistake are all believers in the Bible exposed, if the Holy Ghost be not God? But when we urge those who deny the supreme deity of the Holy Spirit, to say what he is, if he be not God, they tell us that he is a certain energy or power, emanating from God. But it should be remembered, that if he be a power, he is either a created or an uncreated one. If he be an un- created power, he is God, for every thing that is uncreated is God. If he be a created power, then it would seem that the Creator made that which he himself had not. That is, being al- mighty without omnipotence, he made for himself that power by which he is now omnipotent, which is impossible. Thus we perceive that the doc- trine which is the foundation of the Gospel system, consists in the belief of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The Father is to be regarded as God the the Creator, the Son as God the Redeemer, the Holy Ghost as God the Sanctifier. Creation, re- demption, and sanctification, result from the con- currence of each person in the Godhead, and at THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. J 17 the same time each work is assigned severally, but not exclusively, to each person. When, there- fore, it is said that the Father creates, it must be understood eminently, chiefly, or primarily, and not to the exclusion of the Son and Spirit. So the Son redeems, not to the exclusion of the Fa- ther and of the Holy Spirit; an ^ likewise, the Spirit sanctifies with the concurrence of the Fa- ther and of the Son. It is under this triple mani- festation that the Supreme Divinity is set forth in Scripture. <♦ 1. We should learn to impress and fasten upon our minds, the doctrine of the adorable three in ONE. The apprehension of it should be firm, un- wavering and profound. Our whole salvation is a stream from this fountain, and should, therefore, flow on, bearing the characteristics of the foun- tain. It is the primal truth into which we were baptized, the article of faith which came like the bond of gladness to our troubled spirits, and united all the disjointed members of our spiritual frame. In the unity of the eternal Three, we beheld the pledge of our reconciliation with that God whom we were conscious of having offended ; and saw all heaven combined to insure our salvation. The deity of the Son of God must be urged, must be received, as a sacred seal to stamp upon our hearts the image of holiness. Where this doctrine is rejected, the great members of the Christian sys- •1 I O THE DOCTRINE OP THE TRINITY. tern are broken off ; and a naked, mutilated trunk, without life or comeliness, without reasonable parts or purposes, is presented. Without the divinity of Christ there is no mercy-seat, no dis- pensation of grace, no hope for the penitent sin- ner, nothing remaining for him but a certain fear- ful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation. Without the divine Spirit to quicken him, he must remain dead in trespasses and in sins, from which no power in himself can ever raise him. Without the Holy Ghost to inhabit this temple composed of flesh and spirit, it must be doomed to everlasting darkness, shame, and contempt. 2. Be sure that you receive the high mysterious doctrine of Three in One as constituting the Godhead, in the love of it. To regard such truth as an airy speculation, is a piece of folly which will place your souls in jeopardy. That which is so vital, so deeply interesting to your sal- vation, and so essential to the very being of true religion, should sink thoroughly into your hearts, be there digested and retained in the very centre of the soul. Indifference to truth of grave and weighty import, is an indication of an abandoned spirit; and the chief reason why so many souls are lost for ever, "They received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." — 2 Thes. ii. 10. They do not cleave to it with a hearty adhesion ; they do not embrace it with the sincerity THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 1 in of love. Remiss in the retention of it, they soon lose it amid the deceptions and fallacies which a deceitful heart is all the time accumulating, and which are too often emboldened by the sanctions of a misguided reason. Truth and the soul are a wedded pair, constantly seeking each other by mutual inclinations. Truth needs the discerning soul to apprehend and love it; the soul needs truth to nourish and to brace it. Violence is done to both, when the uniting tie betwixt them is severed. The way to become established Chris- tians, is found in the prompt and faithful admission of divine doctrines, doctrines which form the basis of holiness. The acknowledgment of Jesus Christ as Lord, glorifies God the Father, and the worship of the Holy Ghost is the most direct obligation that you can present to him. For it is the Spirit of your Father that is in you, the Divinity that presides in the temple " which ye are." 3. You hence see the God to whom your prayers and thanksgivings are to be addressed. He it is, who is rendered propitious by a Mediator, and effective unto salvation by the Holy Spirit. You are not required to adjust in your minds all, nor indeed any of the questions, which an adventurous curiosity may prompt, on this lofty theme. Whe- ther you address directly God the Father, con- ceiving of him as the " Father of an infinite ma- jesty," and as the eternal, incomprehensible Author 1 90 THE DOCTRINE OP THE TRINITY. of all things, merciful and gracious ; or whether you carry your supplication to Jesus, the Saviour and Redeemer, appealing to the bounty and com- passion of him who was incarnate, and who has power to forgive sins ; or whether you invoke God under the name of Holy Spirit, Divine Spirit, or Holy Ghost, you are praying right while you pray in faith. Whilst you stand upon that only founda- tion upon which a sinner can plead with his offend- ed and insulted Sovereign, you need apprehend no rejection of your petitions, no indignation against your souls. All is mercy, all is mild. Draw near to that Spirit who washes the soul in the laver of regeneration, w ho pours upon the benighted mind the hallowing illuminations of saving truth, who invests the naked, trembling spirit of man with the beauties of sanctification: — To that divine Spirit draw nigh. Live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit. For, "to be spiritually-minded is life and peace." t SERMON VI. THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. Zech. viii. 21. — Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts. I will go also. Mutual exhortations to pious duties and obser- vances, may be attended with the most beneficial results. For it is manifest, that we can in no wise better consult the true interest of those about us, than by inciting them to a life of enlightened, persevering and unaffected devotion. There is no friendship so exalted, so disinterested, so pure from all the sophistications of selfishness, as that which studies and promotes the welfare of the soul. Neither is there any happiness comparable to that of doing good. He who understood the true secret of being happy, whose omniscience explored at a glance all the means of producing it, and all the avenues leading to it, and whose power could command in an instant all its re- sources and facilities, selected a life of goodness as the only true felicity. Doing good was his work, his stated vocation, and a tranquil breast, 11 •I 22 "^^^ REVIVAL OF RELIGION. regulated passions, mitigated sorrows, and high communion with heaven, were his perennial springs of joy. To him it was glory enough to comfort the afflicted, victory enough to disarm malice by meekness, meat and drink enough to do the will of the Father that sent him. He did not resort to houses, lands, hoarded treasures or luxurious expenditures to obtain happiness and honour, neither did he ask even a competency, but rather sought destitution. Still his destitution was his opulence, and why? he was doing good, and inciting others to it. If we would secure the interests of religion, and give to the tone of piety a due elevation, both in our own hearts and in the hearts of others, we must frequently rouse the slumbering energies of the spirit of reformation. The prayerless must be recalled from their moral aberrations; the backsliding must be met and rebuked ; deserters from the Lord's standard must be arrested and brought back to order, and a healthful sensibility infused into the whole body. To secure such results as these, it has pleased God to preserve a remnant in his church through- out every age, by whose ardent spirit and stirring exhortations, the people have been roused to duty, and an alarm sounded through his holy mountain. The prophet Zechariah foresees one of these happy periods, when the inhabitants of one city should say to another, "Let us go speedily and THE REVIVAL OP RELIGION. 1 93 pray before the Lord, and seek the Lord of hosts. I will go also." It is a good work, and I will join 3011 in it; we will be found together, kneeling be- fore the Lord our Maker, seeking the outpourings of his Spirit, supplicating his pardoning mercy, and renewing our decayed virtues. I submit a similar proposal, this day, to you, and in the hope, too, that it will meet a like re- sponse. The spiritual aspect of our portion of Zion, admonishes us that it is time to seek the Lord, and regain the happy eminence in grace from which we have fallen. The time is critical, the indications of passing events alarming, while the claims of duty are pressing us with undimi- nished urgency. Many of you who once ran well in the ways of piety, have ceased to speed your course ; many who once felt a glowing love are now cold ; many who once stood foremost in every good work, have disappeared from the post of duty, and have left it neglected and unoccupied ; when, now, the Spirit of truth calls you to go and pray before the Lord, to go speedily and seek him, how many of you are ready to say " / will go also?'''' 1. What we do in supplicating the Lord's name and in seeking his favour, should be done speedily. Let us go speedily. The judgments of God are ready to fall upon all impenitents and abusers of grace. They are treading upon the very borders 124 THE REVIVAL OP RELIGION. of ruin, and approaching the treacherous descent down which they will sink into fearful darkness and misery. Their opportunities of repentance and reformation have nearly reached their final limit, beyond which they will not be extended, their measure of iniquity is nearly full. Like the men of our prophet's day, the portentous flying roll inscribed with curses is waving over them, and will soon enter into their houses to spread forth its unsparing desolations. They are already marked out by the destroyer as his destined prey, and are surrendering themselves to the death-pro- voking inclinations of callous hearts. Prayer for them may be even now too late, but if delayed, will certainly be too late. If we would render such persons any service, we must do it promptly and cordially. And who, and where are such persons ? They are stated occupants of these seats, the frequenters of this holy place, the hearers and the neglecters of God's word. Who are moral delinquents and abusers of the Lord's mercies? You, my dear friends, who meet us at this place from Sabbath to Sabbath, with respectful demeanour and becom- ing decorum, but feel no compunction for sin, tremble not at the threatenings of the Almighty, love not the Son of God, and embrace not the hope of the Gospel. You are completing, as fast as possible, your term of merciful visitation, you are . THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. J25 wearing out yourselves in the world's wasting cares, but are permitting heaven to go by you un- asked, unsought, while a calm indolence seems to paralyse every faculty that should reach forth after the supreme good. The least of all your cares is the care of the soul ; the most desultory thoughts that waver and circle on the ruffled sur- face of your minds, are those which relate to the eternal world. Your aspirations after present things are strong and vivid ,* your wishes for the future blessedness are as faint as the whisperings of secrecy. Your only anxiety seems to be to maintain a respectable station in the world, to render your business profitable, to guard the health of your bodies, to make a decent appear- ance among men, to ward off disease, and, if pos- sible, to evade the requisitions of death and the grave. The ambition of many of you, assumes not so lofty a range as that supposed. You are contented with mere existence. If you can have wherewithal to satisfy the cravings of the corporeal appetite, and circumstances in life free from abso- lute discomfort and misery, you seem willing to forego the hopes of the future life, and the noble enjoyments of the soul. If we tell you that your way is your folly, that unbelief which stupifies your hearts, drags you down from the dignity of human character, and enstalls you among the brutes, that in the eye of Omnipotence you are . 11* I 25 "^HE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. poor, disgraced, vilified creatures, unjust, false and impious ; you hear it all without a murmur, no sound of resentment or indignation escapes your lips. But should I say to you. Friend, I yes- terday heard you denounced as a person unjust, rapacious, cruel, malicious, lying, and unfit for society, all your soul would be roused in a moment. You would demand instant satisfaction from the person who could thus blacken your reputation in the view of your fellow-men. But why this strangely disproportioned sensibility ? Man's es- timation of your character, can affect no more than a short life. It can reach only the superfi- cial interests of a duration soon to be concluded. Once you shall have gained your clay-cold habita- tion, the whisperings of envy and the clamours of reproach, and the vauntings of insult shall be alike unheeded. All the scandals which can now chafe and fret your burning spirit, shall be vented to the air. But after this a new sort of judgment will begin to proceed against you. Then you will begin to hear accusations not to be denied, cen- sures and reproaches not to be refuted. Then will begin to appear before you the shame and everlasting contempt which offended truth and justice will heap upon your souls for ever. To this future and posthumous degradation you have no sensibility. Can any thing evince more clearly than this, the almost desperate prostration of your THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. 1 97 moral sense? Can any thing show more convin- cingly that you are alive to the world and dead to God? You take pains to clear off a spot from your name, and permit your souls to be criminated in the most pointed terms. You are fierce and vindictive in defending a character which time will soon obliterate from the memory of man, and utterly indifferent to that character on which eter- nity shall stamp the impress of imperishableness. You are grieved and troubled at the lies of men, and yet care not for the truth, the humiliating truth which God tells upon you. By what pro- cess of stupefaction is it, you have contrived to bring yourselves to a condition so hopeless ? And we who witness your apathy, are unmoved by such a spectacle of self-destruction, we see you sinking without once moving towards your rescue. We see your profound repose upon the margin of death without hastening to rouse you from the perilous state. Were we in our right mind, we should go speedily and pray for you before the Lord; we should make haste to present you to the compassionate regards of that Saviour who is mighty to redeem, and who is as willing as he is mighty. But we appear to feel no just sense of your danger, and therefore our efforts to save you are few and languid. Are we not, however, most in- excusable, most criminal in our indifference? 1 tyo THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. Should one of you be smitten in this congregation with a sudden paroxysm of some painful malady the intense misery of which should in a moment convulse and distort your whole frame and coun- tenance; should it be the father or mother of children present, or the child of affectionate pa- rents present, the husband or wife, tenderly bound to each other ; should the one see the other thrown in an instant into the rending agonies of some disease speedily to result in death ; how many anxious hearts and pallid visages would be clustering round the prostrate sufferer? How many expedients would be immediately tried ? how many sympathies invoked ? how much haste and trepidation would confound this now tranquil scene ? How would it break your hearts to see the imploring eyes of the sufferer turned towards you in pitiful appeals, and the hands stretched out, or waving in the most beseeching tokens of unmitigated anguish ? The moanings of misery would pierce your soul, the shrieks extorted by tormenting pains would vibrate upon all the strings of your heart in aching sensibilities. There would be in such a case no indolent action — no sluggish delay. A corporeal suffering would be capable of pro- ducing all the terror and amazement now de- scribed. Now, how do we stand affected towards the certain misery of the souls about us, yet im- THE REVIVAL OF RELIGIOV. I OQ penitent, and therefore instantly liable to the pains of eternal death ? They are within the jaws of the great destroyer, who is compelled by the restrain- ing power of Omnipotence, to delay a little before he begins to grind them with consuming wo. They still have a narrow border of the crumbling verge upon which they totter, rather than stand, to be a temporary support for their feet. A thou- sand greedy and fierce fiends are waiting for them, and ready to snatch away their precious souls, a prey to their hell-born voracity. Can we see with dry eyes their exposure? Can we know their danger, and sit quietly here ? Can we see the hor- rid preparations now in progress to detain them in everlasting burnings, and not interpose our kind offices for their relief. O let us go speedily and pray before the Lord for them. I will go also, we will take our station between the porch and the altar, there we will weep together, there we will cry, spare thy people, O Lord, spare our friends and relatives, spare our children and little ones, and spare us the dreaded alternative of wit- nessing their descent into the darkness of eternal despair. 2. To advert in terms of lamentation to the pre- sent state of religious feeling among you, might seem, in the view of some, the repetition of a threadbare complaint ; and might be imputed to the love of gloomy musings. But the truth must I on THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. be sounded in your ears, though at the risk of ap- pearing trite and common-place. It must not be disguised that a sad degeneration from the sim- phcity that is in Christ openly infests the very in- terior of the church, and shov^^s its blighting ef- fects upon her central vitality. Only raise your eyes a little, and you will see the point from whence you have fallen, and will then be the bet- ter able to judge of the present alarming depres- sion. Time was, when Zion beheld you on your proper eminence. You had counted the cost of a religious life, and had settled upon the determina- tion to follow Christ through evil, as well as good report, whether your life was to be long or short, honourable or mean, happy or miserable, in so- ciety or solitude, did not matter in the fixing of your plan of existence. The pain of a convicted spirit, the pressure of a burdened conscience, the apprehension of a righteous law threatening to in- flict upon you its awful penalties, all ceased to dis- turb that repose which you found in the blessed Saviour. To Him you yielded your hearts' adhe- sion, which you signalised by a public profession, and the adoption of a new name.' Of this the cir- cumstances were most solemn and afiecting. You selected a baptism most resembling his. So much did you love him, that his very foot-prints on the margin of the watery grave seemed dear to you, and such was your zeal of imitation, that you THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. 131 could be contented with nothing short of a burial with Him. I remember your composed, solemn, and devout mien; and the tacit eloquence with which your quiet conduct pleaded the cause of the Redeemer, and proclaimed to surrounding specta- tors your final farewell to all the world's bewitch- ing attachments. " I remember the love of your youth, and the kindness of your espousals." Holi- ness to the Lord was then inscribed upon all your possessions whether great or small. Your voice of prayer was heard in the morning, it was the last language from your lips in the shades of even- ing. Your seat in the Lord's house was never va- cant. You met and loved the brethren. Those were happy days. " O that it were with you as in months past." You are now altered men and women. Zion can scarcely recognise you as the children with which she once travailed in birth. Your place in the house of the Lord is often vacant, and your deportment there savours little of reverence and godly awe ; the world has returned and proposed terms of accommodation with you, to which you have assented, and are now proceeding hand in hand with your old adversary. The brethren, once loved for the sake of Christ, are now met with coldness, or repulsed with distrust. Sab- baths are a weariness ; sermons are sleep-inducing 1 QO THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. doses ; prayers are tiresome repetitions, and the Bible an uninteresting book. FeV of us are to be found without some secu- lar taint, some savouring of the things that be of men. Our spiritual necessities are not sufficiently felt, and consequently our prayers are unapt and vague, a sort of solemn impertinence ; w^ere we sensible of being those necessitous creatures which w^e profess to be, those pardon-needing sinners which, in words at least, we acknowledge as our character, and did we believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, as heaven's bountiful provision for the sup- ply of our necessities, both the matter and the form of our prayers would be different ; with such convictions fastened upon our minds, we should wrestle where now we faintly move, we should glow and burn where now we are lukewarm, we should become importunate beggars instead of feeling rich and increased with goods. We are all included in one common charge of inconsistency and remissness. Those of us who may chance to have somewhat in the show of zeal and prayerfulness, and of the Christian temper, more than others, are, though perhaps unknown to ourselves, inclined to pride ourselves upon some fancied points of superiority. We can be piqued if our humours are not indulged, ready for contra- diction if our assertions be denied, apt to be irri- tated if our humility be questioned, and amazingly THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. T QQ tenacious of our opinions, right or wrong ; a re- proof for slovenly tardiness in coming to the hour and the house of worship, is enough to annihilate with some the minister's usefulness, at least for that day, and with others a whole Lord's day's opportunities and services can be made a mere vanity by the buzzing of passing scandal. It is to be apprehended that we have yet to learn the constituents of evangelical piety. We may assure ourselves that it does not consist in transient frames and emotions, nor in excited feelings, nor in well told experiences, nor yet in those copious utterances sanctified with the name of prayer. But evangelical piety does consist in the mind's retention and digestion of the truth as it is in Jesus ; in obeying the dictates of the Holy Spirit, in the denial of self in all things, and in the love of God and man. There will be neither durability nor consistent action in your religion, unless it be based upon the truth. Without such a foundation it will become a whimsical alternation of cold and hot fits, or else will be superseded by inevitable apostacy. It is only when you know the truth and love the truth, that the truth can make you free. 3Iany of you appear to make your feelings the criterion for determining your religious state, and accordingly consider yourselves to be either pros- 12 ^^4 THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. perous or depressed in the divine life, just as you may happen to feel, either lively or dull, in the exercises of religion. Your piety, therefore, be- comes the creature of accident, and is called into being or deprived of being by the influences of time and place; or else by the changeful disposi- tions of your natural mind. In such a case it is a sort of fortuitous affection kindled at times into an intemperate blaze, and subsiding, at other times, into absolute coldness. Not so is that well ad- justed, and well sustained affection which has truth for its support. It is a perpetual fire burn- ing upon the altar of the soul, and though it may have its periods of intensity and of declension, it has not an interval of gloomy extinction. Truth is always ready to fan the feeble flame. It speaks always with a voice commanding enough to over- awe the insolence of doubt ; is always near enough to steady the vacillations of fickle tempers ; and is faithful enough to rebuke the flatteries of worldli- mindedness. Truth deals in realities, and in their application to the heart and conscience of man. God, the great rewarder, is present, is believed and feared. Christ in his true divinity and incar- nation is present, as real a sufferer for sin, as re- deemer of sinners, in the fulness of his atoning power, and in the wonders of his glorification. The quickening Sanctifier is present. Truth THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. T Og deals in the presentation of holy essences to the mind, which is thereby acted upon and rendered living. Do you desire the revival of religion, the greater success of its principles, the wider extension of its conquests ? Obtain a deeper and clearer insight into THE TRUTH. Bring your hearts under its dominion, and allow it a proper sway. Find out what ground there is for your confidence in prayer, ascertain the proper reasons for self-denial, for conformity with Christ in his sufferings, and for doing the same kind of good that he did. Ac- quaint yourselves with the necessities of your own souls, and try the effect of earnest, fervent prayer towards the producing of relief. 3. According to the leading idea of the text, engage your most active powers at once, in the benevolent work of mutual encouragements and exhortations to prayerfulness and devotion. In this way you may redress some of the wrongs which you commit upon each other by vain and idle conversations. To this sort of sinful trifling, no small portion of time is given. You sit-gravely together and dispute about a name, or discuss a point of courtesy, or insist upon some worthless opinion. You meet and sit in the house of the Lord, where the solemnities of Zion are spread out before you, and you rise up from your seats with the words of mammon upon your lips, and draw 1 on THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. the attention of your neighbours to some matter of discourse wholly foreign to the sacredness of the concluded service. Perhaps you have been hot or cold, easy or uneasy in your seats ; the music has been bad or good, the praying or the preaching too long, or it may be that an appointment for the meeting of some committee has to be arranged, and the preliminaries of a contract to be settled. If there has been a late death, its suddenness is commented on, and the time of the funeral in- quired, and the character of the deceased sub- jected to remark. A recent failure is talked about, and whether it be a fair or a dishonourable one is brought into question. Any thing common, any thing uncommon, any thing strange, any thing familiar, no matter what, so there be occasion to call off your neighbour's attention from the proper business of the time and place. Why not turn and express, each to the other, some of those feel- ings and sentiments which a good man, from the good treasure of his heart brings forth ? " What proficiency are you making in the divine life? What lights of experience, what consolations in Christ, what increase of grace and subduing of sin, are you achieving every day? Are you ready, fully ready for death's inexorable citation, and are you enlivened by the assurance of a hope that makes not ashamed?" It is time, brethren, that our custom of secular THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. J^iy gossip in the sanctuary were laid aside, and that a different seasoning were infused into our con- versation. So soon as our duties in this place are closed, let us go and pray before the Lord, and seek the Lord of hosts. Let our voices be filling the retirements of secret prayer. In the strength of prayer, and in the communion of prayer, and in the prevalence of prayer, let us spend our dearest moments. 12 # SERMON VII. THE ATONEMENT. Isa. liii. 8. — For the transgression of my people, was he stricken. Christ crucified is the entire subject of the Christian rehgion condensed into one grand and comprehensive idea. This idea is identical with the spirit and genius of the whole Bible, in which the fact of a bloody expiation for sin, either in an- ticipation, or in actual representation, constitutes a pervading unity of design. This wonderful de- sign begins to disclose itself in the very earliest revelations of God to man, and by progressive de- velopements becomes brighter and brighter, until it emerges from all obscurity and shines forth in the clearness and certainty of the New Testament dispensation. Here it no longer wears a veil, no longer exists under symbolic intimations, but ap- pears in the full vigour of consummation, and holds a meaning and import which were intended to reach and satisfy universal intelligence. Grace and TRUTH came by Jesus Christ. THE ATONEMENT. I QQ As sacrifice by a sanguinary oblation was de- signed to propitiate oflended Deity towards his apostate creature man, so it was ordained to be a mighty argument furnished with all the requisite adaptations, to convince his reason, and to move into moral life and action all his powers and affec- tions. Conformably hereunto, the evangelical mi- nistry has derived both its character and effi- ciency from the doctrine of the cross. This, in all ages, has been its theme, its boast, its glory. Its power of persuasion, its fulness of consolation, its sources of pure morality, and its incentives to exalted sanctity, are the strong proofs of its divine original. We may not pause to inquire into the moral propriety of the divine atonement. Whether it be suitable to the nature of the great God, that one life should be given for the many, and re- ceived as a propitiation ; or whether the passion and death of one wholly unoffending and innocent can be accepted in lieu of the punishment and death of a race apostate and guilty ; or whether Deity himself could stoop so low as to occupy an afflicted and suffering humanity; or whether it would comport with the most equitable and holy government of the eternal Sovereign, to treat with unsparing severity the immaculate Jesus, and at the same time absolve from condemnation those whom his righteous law would otherwise have 140 THK ATONEMENT. devoted to destruction, are inquiries which do not stand in our way. They are, too, inquiries which cannot be reduced, by any effort of reason, to a satisfactory resohition. Reason may attempt an answer. It often has presumed to assert what might, and what might not be done in such a case ; but has as often exhibited its incapacity to pro- duce a reply that would not shock its own princi- ples. As a great fact, as an amazing transaction which raises the admiration of earth and heaven, the Saviour's submission to death as an atoning sacrifice is plain and obvious. The philosophy of this fact, if such a term be allowable, comes not within the scope of our discussion. And how much soever we may admire the grandeur of its results, the benevolence of its tendencies, and the crowning glory of its finished operation, we must remain contented with grateful wonder and mute astonishment, with ferved homage and trembling adoration, as to its moral fitness. It is an expe- dient of God's devising, and therefore must be fit- ting and right ; it is an expedient in wonderful adaptation to man's necessities and wretchedness, and therefore must be gracious and merciful. It has been questioned by some, whether the Redeemer, who forms the beginning and the end of the New Testament, is fully and clearly pointed out in any part of the Old Testament. Whilst we are not of the number that attempt to find Christ THE ATONEMENT. 141 ill every event, character, doctrine and institution of the former dispensation, much less are we of opinion with those who can find him no where either in Moses or the prophets. For our Lord sends us to the institutions and writings of the first covenant to find ample and convincing attestations of himself. Except in cases of profound darkness or total blindness, all readers of the prophet Isaiah, must see the anticipation of a glorious redemp- tion, designed to embrace all nations, and the con- sequent flow and extension of blessings which should gladden all hearts. The extraordinary personage who should sustain and accomplish the offices incident to this mighty emancipation, is there so clearly characterised, as to leave no doubt that Jesus the Saviour was intended. That the man of sorrows who is the subject of the chap- ter from which the text is taken, was no other than our suffering, bleeding, crucified Lord, is af- firmed upon the high, unquestionable authority of an inspired teacher. Acts viii. 35. The passage which has been adopted as a text derives special interest from its directness and force in asserting that the death of the unoffend- ing personage, was for the sins of God's people. The Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures which has been followed and vindicated by Lowth, is more clear and striking than any other. For the transgression of my people he was smitten •1^2 THE ATONEMENT. to death, a circumstance tending to show the ac- curacy of this translation is related by Origen, one of the celebrated fathers of the Christian church. In a disputation with some learned Jews, he quoted at large this prophecy concerning Christ. One of them replied by affirming that the words employed by the prophet to express the series of afflictive events, did not mean one person but one people, namely, the Jews, who were smitten of God and dispersed among the Gentiles for their conversion. The Christian disputant then urged many portions of the prophecy, to show the ab- surdity of such an interpretation. Their dexterity at evasion, enabled them to dispose of most of his quotations, until he adduced the text: For the transgression of my people was he smitten to death. Here they were pressed, because the one people and the one victim to death, were clearly distinguishable.* And here let me remark, that we too should be pressed, not in the manner of these Jews, but with the weight of so vast a sub- ject. It is one that deeply concerns us, for "it is Christ that died ;" the Lamb of God was slain to take away the sin of the world. A full expia- tion has been made, a ransom provided, mercy's jubilee has been sounded, and the triumph of sal- vation completed ; but the Deliverer is seen wast- * Lowth on Isaiah. THE ATONEMENT. l^Q - ing in blood, blood is the price of mercy, blood seals the pardon of sin, and the ratification of grace. First : The prophet here depicted a person in great excess of affliction, sad, dejected, bruised and crushed down under weighty sorrows and calamities. The same person is the object of man's cold contempt and unmitigated scorn. He is the same as the Saviour Jesus, whose actions, sufferings and death are summarily recorded in the Gospels. ' 1. The character and sufferings exhibited by the prophet, correspond, by a most striking coin- cidence, with Gospel history, relating to the cha- racter and sufferings of Christ. Let us carefully _ compare the two. The wonderful being in the prophet's view. Hath no form nor comeliness^ no qualities attractive to the men of that genera- tion in which he should appear. " When we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him." His personal appearance with all its attend- ant circumstances, would utterly disappoint public expectation. He would possess none of that ex- ternal grace and splendour, nothing of that com- manding superiority in form and countenance, which might conciliate the regards and awaken the admiration of the age. How does this antici- pation agree with the facts of the case, in the authentic history of John? "He came unto his ^AA THE ATONEMENT. own, and his own received him not." " He was in the world, and the world knew him not." "As for this fellow," said the Jews, "we know not from whence he is." John i. 10, 11 ; ix. 29. By Peter he is called the Living Stone disallowed indeed of men. They not only disowned and rejected him, but held him in bitter detestation, and that, too, mainly on account of the obscure condition in which he appeared, the lowly origin from which he sprang, and his absolute destitution of all those advantages which confer secular superiority. Could any prophecy ever have a more triumphant verification? "He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with , grief." He is exiled from all the social regards and kindly sympathies of the world ; and appears for- lorn and dejected, with grief for his acquaintance and contumely for his treatment. Mat. xxvi. 67, "Then did they spit in his face, and buflfeted him. And others smote him with the palms of their hands;" xxvii. 39, "And they that passed by re- viled him, wagging their heads." Is not this, then, the man of whom the prophet speaks ? Are not these indignities heaped in all the profusion of cruel mockery upon the gentle and unresisting Jesus, the insulting derision and rejection which the prophet had foreseen bursting from the malice of human hearts ? " He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth." THE ATONEMENT. J^^ Unjust oppression and affliction have ever prompt- ed to complaints and protestations, the wisest and the best of men. For though innocence and con- scious rectitude under sufferings are the surest supports of the soul, yet the nature merely hu- man, laid under the unmerited pressure of extre- mities and tortures, without the utterance of a solitary murmur or deprecation, has never yet been found, it never will be. If, therefore, Isaiah designed this passage as an example of submission in any one people, or in any one man, he must have expected and foretold that to which all nature stands in contradiction, and upon which it places the mark of improbability, if not of im- possibility. But when the application is made to the only begotten Son of God, it becomes reason- able and pertinent. It agrees also with the facts avouched by the concurring testimony of the historians of the New Testament. Mat. xxvi. 62, 63, "And the High Priest arose and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? What is it which these witness against thee ? But Jesus held his peace." Ch. xxvii. 13, 14, "Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee ? And he answered him to never a word." Luke xxiii. 9, 10, 11, "Herod questioned with him in many words; and the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused him, and 13 lAQ THE ATONEMENT. Herod, with his men of war, set him at nought and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe. But he answered nothing." In the silence of the Redeemer under all the accusations, wrongs and tortures which he endured, there is a meaning which pierces the heart. There is a pre- ternatural grandeur rising in sublimity far above the passions and weaknesses of mortals, and dis- playing the divinity of his nature. Let us pause a moment to contemplate that lofty silence. All is clamour about him, but his is meek quiescence. All around him is uproar, importuning rage, fierce assault, mingled taunts and execrations, all within him is calm dignity, pacific mildness, quiet resig- nation. Amid this multitude who is the governor, who is the king, who is the exalted sovereign? He who leaves his silence to plead for him, who without the sound of an articulation, is eloquent and impressive beyond the power of angels, who in undisturbed majesty looks, but speaks not, suffers, but murmurs not, agonises without lamen- tation, and moves forward in the work of atone- ment. " And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death." There is some con- fusion here from the imperfect translation of the original text. The clear and forcible version of Bishop Lowth, relieves it from all difficulty. " And his grave was appointed with the wicked. THE ATONEMENT. J^iy but with the rich man was his tomb ;" that is, his murderers intended that he should have nothing more than a common grave, in company with the malefactors; but their intention Was defeated by the providence of God, who assigned his burial with the rich in a tomb. To see the completion of this in Christ, we have only to compare with it the several circumstances collected from the Gospels, attending his burial : " There was a rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, a member of the San- hedrim, and of respectable character, who had not consented to their counsel and act. He went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus. And he laid it in his own new tomb, which had been hewn out of the rock, near to the place where he was crucified, having first wound it in fine linen and spices, as the manner of the Jews was to bury the rich and great." The coincidence of the pro- phecy with the circumstances narrated respecting the disposition made of the body of Jesus after his crucifixion, is most exact and unquestionable. Could such a coincidence be the result of acci- dent? Could it have occurred in a combination of the sacred historians to fabricate the account in order to adapt it to the prediction, and thus to complete the imposition upon the credulity of man- kind? Neither of these conjectures can be made, except from gross ignorance or flagrant disho- nesty. I ■^AQ THE ATONEMENT. 2. Upon the authority of the Apostles Paul, Peter, and John, it may be said without a mo- ment's hesitation, that the man of sorrows of the prophet is the same as Jesus the Saviour. It is true these Apostles no where say in so many terms that the fifty-third chapter of this prophet describes their suffering Lord. But, in most of their allu- sions to the Saviour's substitution, in the place of sinners, they use a strain of expression which they might be supposed to have borrowed from this prophet. The prophet says, " He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our ini- quities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed." Paul says, " He was delivered for our offences." " When we were yet without hope in due time Christ died for us." " While we were yet sinners in due time Christ died for us. When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son. Christ died for our sins according to the Scrip- tures. Christ hath loved us, and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God. Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." Peter de- clares, " that Christ once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust ;" and that he " himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree." John testifies that he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world." " The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from THE ATONEMENT. J^Q all sin." " Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." The prophet exclaims, " Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief." Paul witnesses, " That God spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all." " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse of us." Such pa- rallelisms, or rather identities of thought might be greatly augmented ; but these are more than enough to show the opinion of the New Testament authorities which I have named. In one of the adduced texts there appears to be an allusion very direct to the prophet ; Christ died for our sins ac- cording to the Scriptures. Were not the griefs and oppressions of the one person, as portrayed by the prophet, sounding at that moment in the ears of Paul ? In referring to the Scriptures, on what portion could we more directly rely, than upon this which burnt from the hallowed lips of Isaiah ? Behold then. Christians, your adorable Lord standing before the prophetic eye of an ancient saint. That eye looks in upon his deep humilia- tion, and mysterious agony, surveys his marred visage, despised form and rejected glory. That eye beholds the rulers taking counsel, and enter- ing into combinations against the Lord, and against his Christ, and views in the distance the blood of expiation. That eye too affected the 13* -I KQ THE ATONEMENT. heart, and strained into astonishment the whole soul of a ransomed sinner. His prophecy is now fact, his vision is reality. The veil of intervening centuries through which he had to look, is re- moved, is dropt, and Jesus the sufferer, Jesus the reproached and despised, Jesus the crucified stands before vou in all the truth and fulness of his character. Will you bring up and lay before him the indifference of your hearts to requite his sorrows? Will you approach him with the ambi- guities of a formal homage of lip service as the only gratitude which you can r ender ? Hail, Son of God, Saviour of men, thy name Shall be the copious matter of my song. 3. Other portions of the Old Testament, besides that to which we have adverted, represent the fu- ture Messiah in a style similar to that of the pro- phet Isaiah. From this we conclude that they had one and the same personage in view, and that this was Jesus of the New Testament. David person- ating the Man of reproaches and sorrows deserves to be heard. Ps. xxii. 6 — 8 ; " But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn, they shoot out the lip and shake the head, saying. He trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him, let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him." Ixix. 20,21 ; "Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am THE ATONEMENT. l K| full of heaviness, and I looked for some to take pity and there was none, and for comforters but I found none. They gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." Daniel proclaims the very time when the glorious personage that occupied the field of his prophetic vision should suffer, ix. 25 ; " After threescore and two wrecks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself." Zechariah xiii. 7, in bold, but figura- tive terms corresponds with Daniel in announcing the death of the future Redeemer. " 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." One of the foregoing quotations is too remarkable to escape observation. " They gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vine- gar to drink." Turn now to what actually oc- curred during the crucifixion. Mat. xxvii. 34; " They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall." The Jewish rulers, who must have been well acquainted with the Psalms of David, both as to their devout and prophetic character, are here shown to have acted a most extraordinary part. Their purpose was to annihilate for ever the per- son and the claims of Jesus, to blot from the page of history his name and doings, and to defeat all his promises and predictions. But behold their wonderful infatuation! In the very execution of |KO THE ATONEMENT. their design they perform an act which extin- guishes the last spark of their own hopes. In giv- ing to their hated victim vinegar mingled with gall, they cover him with the lustre of a verified prediction uttered by David. This gall decides against themselves a question which they had re- solved to decide by the strong arm of power to the total subversion of the Saviour's pretensions. By this act they connect Jesus with David, and confer upon his character and sufferings a light and majesty which all their rage will never be able to obliterate. Secondly. In speaking of the Saviour's substi- tution as an atoning sacrifice for sinners, it is my design to urge what is incontrovertible and no more. The subject is one upon which controversy has exerted a bad influence. Respecting it ques- tions have been raised, and positions assumed highly detrimental to truth and piety. To perpe- tuate these is not a worthy design of the Christian ministry. It is a subject which the Scriptures, if permitted to speak in their own simple and un- biased sense, would have protected from ill usage and distortion. For, in these it is aftirmed and set forth as a grand prominent fact, not mangled by disputation, not perplexed by nice distinctions, not diminished by subtle definitions, but free and full, and sufiicient, being God's provision of mercy, and man's refuge from guilt and its efi'ects. THE ATONEMENT. 153* 1. The Saviour's submission to death as a sin- offering for the human race, reconciles God to the exercise of mercy, and to the extension of the pardoning power to that ruined race. It is not for creatures short-sighted and dim-sighted as we are, to say what Deity could or could not do, indepen- dently of any oblation for sin. For us to assert that divine wisdom could have contrived, and divine power could have performed no plan through which his mercy might reach a guilty world, other than that which is exhibited in the atonement of Christ, would be a most unjustifiable presumption against the liberty of those attributes. For, we are not competent to decide as to any work of God, that it is necessarily ^ust what it is. Its being what it is, may authorise the inference that it is so best, and most fitting ; but not the in- ference that it could not by any possibility other- wise exist. So it is allowajble to think and speak of the atonement. It is an actual provision, re- vealed, commended and suited to us ; and we may hence believe that it is most agreeable to all the requisitions of the case, and most beneficial as the provision of that Being who is infinitely good and gracious. It is therefore a grievous intrusion upon the perfect freedom of Heaven's supremacy to allege impossibilities or inconsistencies, as co- ercive limitations to the exercise of his mercy, except in that way which he has adopted and in- IK J THE ATONEMENT. stituted. In the discussion of such a subject I do heartily repel and deplore all attempts to establish principles and secure proprieties of conduct for God, by passing over the just boundaries of his revealed truth, and running into unrestrained speculations. If ever the solemn citation which calls us to the law and to the testimony, had a most necessary and imperative tone, it is when we attempt to think and speak of the great propi- tiation of Christ Jesus. The Apostle Paul to the Ephesians, iv. 32, de- clares, that " God for Christ's sake had forgiven them," and in Col, iii. 13, he speaks of forgiveness as the act of Christ. Again, Eph. i. 7, he re- presents Christ as the Saviour, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, forgiveness of sins." Peter affirms. Acts v. 31, that Jesus whom the Jews slew and hanged on a tree, was exalted with God's right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, " for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." What Paul had said to the Ephesians, he repeats to the Colossians, i. 14, " In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins." He is still more full and explicit to the same effect, Rom. iii. 25, where Jesus Christ, the author of redemption, is he " Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remis- sion of sins that are past, through the forbearance THE ATONEMENT. I K^ of God." John declares that he is the propitia- tion for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. If there be any meaning in such texts, it is clearly this, that God is fully reconciled to the free and plenary exhibition of his mercy in the pardon of sin, in consequence of the Saviour's submission to death as a substitute for sinners. It is just, then, to assert that every act of forgive- ness ever extended, or ever yet to be extended to sinful creatures, proceeds from the great, only reconciliation effected by the crucifixion of Jesus. It is equally just to maintain that the same recon- ciliation has created an ample and glorious possi- bility of mercy's indefinite extension and procla- mation to a perishing world. 2. But we may proceed a step farther, and assume a still more encouraging and exalted ground of confidence. Not only has the atone- ment fully reconciled the divine Being to the free exercise of the pardoning power, but it has in- clined and disposed him to seek and promote the salvation of sinners, and to prevent and obviate their destruction. I should be chargeable with no exaggeration, were I to adduce the whole Bible in corroboration of this idea. For what is the grand pervading and transcendent aim of all Scripture? What is the scope of its disclosures, of its facts, of its histories, of its institutions, of its prophecies, 1 eg THE ATONEMENT. doctrines, warnings and precepts, but the cure and prevention of sin? Its addresses, threatenings, promises and persuasives, are any thing else than indifference to the welfare of man. The voice of God softened by the tenderness of parental affec- tion, importunate through the solicitude of conde- scending kindness, alluring by the gentle tones of commiseration, is heard in every line, is echoed from page to page of the sacred word. "Hav6 I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should turn from his ways and live ? Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die ? Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and turn to the Lord, that he may have mercy upon him, and to our God that he may abundantly pardon." " I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." The preaching of Jesus was a call to repentance ; the whole Gospel contained a similar call. This shows God's gracious disposition to save sinners. 3. While we may rejoice that the benevolent purpose of God to save sinners, is secured by virtue of the reconciliation made by Christ, it should be an additional consideration of gratitude, that the work of mercy actually proceeds in con- formity with righteousness and strict equity. " A God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he," when he absolves from guilt, and justifies THE ATONEMENT. JCJi^ from condemnation, all those who seek protection in the atonement. It is here that mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. By means of this, he is a just God and a Saviour, and, according to Paul, "He is just, at the same time that he is the justifier of them that believe in Christ Jesus." Just and true are the ways of the King of saints. In being smitten to death for us, then, our great High Priest has made our salvation an act of righteousness on the part of Deity, so that mercy and justice are fully har- monised in the great transaction. The Apostle Paul in a very few words states the doctrine here asserted. He says, "Christ was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification," that is, having completed the work of vindication, he arose from the dead ; having done all that was required, to place his expiation upon the basis of eternal and immutable justice ; having rendered the results of it so far as God and sinners are concerned, a righteous, as well as a merciful pro- vision, he rose from the dead, redemption being finished, death being abohshed, and life and im- mortality being brought to light. The justice of God is that perfection and inte- grity of the divine nature by which all the good- ness and rectitude of the universe are protected 14 IKR THE ATONEMENT. and secured, and all the sin and disorder are visit- ed and restrained by coercive penalties. If such freedom of expression may be permitted us, we would say, that although penal inflictions are con- sequences incidental to the justice of God, they do not flow from it as a necessary effect. The effect induced is certain and unavoidable, in all those instances and respects, in which that justice is opposed in any of its provisions, by the iniquity and lawlessness of transgressors. But if trans- gression come not in its way, if sin in no form in- terfere, then it must appear to us, as nothing more than that immutable principle of equity in the great Maker and Governor of the universe, which guaranties the right of happiness and conserva- tion to every creature and member of that uni- verse. According to this view, the justice of God, in- stead of meditating and designing the misery and overthrow of human beings, did propose and pro- vide for the very opposite state of things. It stood ready from the first to defend their innocence, and to draw around them the strong munitions of its conservative power. Its balance and its rod, its laws and its sword, all stood ready to guard the sublime repose of untainted purity and obedience. For the law, which is but the voice of justice for- bidding iniquity and encouraging righteousness, contemplated the preservation of dignity and feli- THE ATONEMENT. l KQ city to our race. This is plainly inferable from Rom. viii. 2, where allusion is made to " What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh." We naturally ask, what did it propose to do? And the answer as naturally is, it proposed to extend to us a guardianship which would never for a moment intermit its protecting energies. It proposed to perpetuate our allegiance to the King of heaven. This it could not do in the circum- stances of the case, " In that it was weak through the flesh." It could not exert its benevolent in- tentions upon us on account of sin, and therefore gave command to destroy us, and still remained holy, and just, and good. The very goodness of the law, in such a crisis as this, was precisely that which made it most terrible to the guilty." But God sending his own Son in the hkeness of sinful flesh, "And for sin," that is, fpr sinners, " Condemned sin in the flesh," that is, afforded a full and perfect vindication of the goodness and holiness of the law, and thus laid the foundation for the salvation of sinners in perfect accordance with law and justice. This foundation is the atonement. And the justice of God, not only con- sents to the salvation of sinners, but secures it, and ratifies the terms. From this it is evident that the atonement saves all those, and no more, WHO ARE Christ's, who walk not according to the IgQ THE ATONEMENT. flesh, but according to the Spirit. It makes cer- tain the salvation of none irrespective of faith and repentance, it makes certain the salvation of all found in the possession of these qualifications. Whether then Christ died for the few, or the many, for a part of mankind, or for the whole world, for saints or sinners, are questions which do not concern the attainment of redemption's mercy. Whether we are in Christ by a true faith, whether we are new creatures, whether the old man with his deeds is crucified, are most concern- ing questions. The door into the happy state in- dicated by these terms is open to all. I have thus concisely stated some of the more prominent doctrines of Scripture relating to the substitution of Jesus in the place of sinners. I have now before me the solemn duty of showing to you, my dear hearers, the attitude in which this intervention of God's mercy places you, and the sentiments and feeling with which you should stand affected towards it. Sinner, you are placed in circumstances of tre- mendous import, because you now have the power of sinking into hell with the cry of Immanuel's in- sulted blood to exasperate your wo. You can now signalise your damnation by rendering it your own wilful, wicked act. In due time Christ died for sinners. In due time he shed his blood for his THE ATONEMENT. IgJ enemies, reserving not one drop in his heart. By , his own consent, whilst he stood in the magnifi- cence of meek silence, he was smitten to death. He became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. This moving spectacle is placed before your eyes. This tale of blood is sounded in your ears. You are asked, and the inquiry cannot be dismissed, whether this scene of suffering has any meaning for you;Vhether it has an expression and a tone adapted to your comprehension, and benevolent toward your guilt and necessity. This question meets you at every point, presses itself upon you, and calls for a decision. Your deter- mination is waited for. While you pause and he- sitate, the horror of amazement at your indiffer- ence, seizes saints and angels. Decide promptly, decide justly, or a righteous decision will soon be made for you. Do any of you begin to imagine, that the Man of sorrows smitten to death, is a subject which has no meaning to you ? Is there no ex- pressive signification in the mournful sounds which groaned from Calvary ? To whom then have those sounds a meaning, if not to you ? Was the illus- trious martyrdom of Jesus nothing more than a sight to feast his murderers ? Was that bloody scene of suffering virtue, intended only to awaken the sympathies of attending angels ? Was it no 14* J(J2 '^^ ATONEMENT. more than an idle pomp to furnish Omnipotence an occasion to display his power, by showing signs in the heavens above and wonders in the earth beneath? Was its meaning merged and lost in the unexpected disturbance of nature, the quaking of the earth, and the return of life to the reposing dead ? Was the darkness which smote the world with dread, but the prelude to the dark- ness of oblivion upon the name of Him who was crucified? Produce, I entreat you, some satis- factory reply to these interrogatories. But remember yourselves as you meditate a reply. Are you not sinners, are you not at this moment the well-defined, strongly-marked sub- jects of guilt who need forgiveness, who need a ransom from your bondage, who need a moral change, a thorough renovation of heart ? Jesus is lifted up to draw you to him. The cross is planted in your path to arrest your speed in the way to destruction. The earth is moved and agi- tated to remind you of Him who will soon shake, not the earth only, but also heaven. Consenting tokens through nature's wide domain, tell you une- quivocally that this is the Son of God. Ye believers, who have fled for refuge to lay ^old on the hope set before you, the mighty Sa- viour smitten to death is your only trust. You gain protection by running under the paschal blood THE ATONEMENT. T/^O of the cross. You obtain life by baptism into his death, vvitli him you share the approving care of satisfied, vindicated justice. There is a death for you to die, a crucifixion for you to feel. A crucified Head must have a crucified body and members. For the transgression of my people was he smitten to death. Here is your hope, your life, your all. SERMON VIII. LYING VANITIES. Jonah ii. 8. — They that observe lying vanities, forsake their own mercy. The condition of human beings in this world, resembles that of sentinels at their post of obser- vation. These, to acquit themselves well, should possess a circumspection that wavers not, and a vigilance that slumbers not. They should know the point on which attention is to be fixed, and held undiverted ; where strength and safety may be found at all times, as well as that from which dangers may be apprehended. Either to wear themselves out in watching phantoms, or to com- mit themselves to false securities, is unworthy de- sertion of duty. Being responsible for the interests committed to them, they should use all their cou- rage, discretion, and manly ability, so to fulfil their engagements that they may result in an honourable and happy discharge. You, my brethren, are placed in this life under LYING VANITIES. Jg5 a charge of ob-ervation. On one side of you is the region of shadows and airy forms, which fly about in fantastic mazes ; on the other side is the region of reahties, veiled in images which insult not the sense by idle mockeries, but which are brightened continually by their inherent virtues. Strangely perverted, and wholly depraved, as is the constitution of your mind, you are looking away from the region of realities to that of sha- dows, and employing your ingenuity to convince yourselves and others, that the unsubstantial forms in that paradise of fools, are the solid good which you should seek, and that the true good is the vision which you should avoid. By a most perni- cious talent at misnaming things, you are calling bitter sweet, and sweet bitter, &c. Your hearts are drawn towards the light and su- perficial things that play and glitter in momentary gayety about your path ; vanity looks great, in a sort of unreal magnificence, a magnificence which one glance at eternity dissipates, which subsides into nothing the very moment truth pronounces her righteous decisions. The material world is that which now engrosses your whole attention. Its colours, its dimensions, its figures and proportions, are the idols which abuse your devotion. You seem not yet to be awake to the fact that these forms are destructible, that the sohdity of bodies, the beauty of images, and the whole strength of corporeal I gg LYING VANITIES. nature, are yielding to constant and successive changes, and will ultimately yield to that irre- parable dissolution to which the mandate of God has already summoned them. By such a course you are manifestly forsaking your own mercies. That which is to be most tributary to your happiness, is not the visible but the invisible, not the material, but the immaterial, not the temporal but the spiritual. You will soon have discharged the functions of the corporeal part, and have passed disembodied into the spiri- tual grade of being. There will accompany you thither, not one of the provocatives of sensation, not one of the ministers of temporal pleasure ; all these will be left on this side of the grave, while on the other side you must have a new class of associates, a new range of vision, and other mate- rials for the occupation of your leisure. There you will reap, and be for ever reaping the harvest planted in this world. If you have sown vanity, you will be reaping vanity for ever, that will be your recompense. An immutable law will secure to you fruitions and sufferings there in most exact proportion to the occupations of the spirit here. The prophet Jonah stands out to our view on the sacred page in the most contradictory attri- butes. The only known recreant of all the pro- phets, he is, nevertheless, the object of divine in- dulgence to a wonderful degree. Angry at the LYING VANITIES. 267 mercy of God, he seems to need more than others that mercy which he blames and deprecates. Disgraced and viUfied as an outcast, he is yet selected as a type, and thus honoured as a model after which should be fashioned the time and man- ner of the Saviour's death and burial. A fugitive from God, and the terror of men, weeping and repining at the withering of a gourd, and yet re- conciled to the destruction of one hundred and twenty thousand infants, to preserve his credit as a prophet; what a mass of contradictions! What a contumacious spirit towards God ! What tender- ness for himself, what cold indifference to the fate of his fellow men ! Fugitives from the requisitions of the Lord, behold in the self-excusing prophet a picture of yourselves ! It is true you have not been sent on a mission of vengeance to some guilty land, the measure of whose iniquities was nearly full ; neither are you chargeable with the folly of attempting to escape the responsibilities of duty by flying to some distant country ; but, like Jonah, you disesteem the mercy of God, by neglecting to avail yourselves of it ; like him, you are framing and contriving plans to evade the calls of duty, and thus delaying your compliance with his com- mands; and though, like him, you may not think that you would do well to be openly angry with Providence, yet you are manifestly discontented 168 LYING VANITIES. with the methods of his mercy ; you quarrel in your hearts with the great system of compassion and grace through Christ. But though Jonah was far from being a man of practical piety, he was really an able preacher ; his powerful voice, his bold, unsparing denuncia- tions, his pungent rebukes and pathetic appeals, roused a guilty city, and brought down the king himself from his soft and sumptuous robes and his throne, to sackcloth and ashes. He must have uttered many weighty and important truths. That in the text is striking and most considerable. He had most probably found it true in his own experience: "They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy." Here is a most pernicious occupation pursued at a fearful expense. 1. Here is drawn the character of those of you who think your way is better than the Lord's. The misguided prophet was a man of this stamp. The opposite to what was commanded, was the only thing which he would do. When ordered to go to Nineveh, no place would suit his purpose but Tarshish. And when finally he went, and by proclaiming the judgments of God upon the people of that city, brought them so to repentance and reformation that the Lord averted the threatened visitation, then nothing seemed less to please him than that mercy which had spared guilty thou- LYING VANITIES. JgQ sands. He went to the Lord with a kind of com- plaining, insolent speech, which is called a prayer, to find fault with his lenity and compassion. So it was with the rebellious charge of the prophet Samuel. Having discovered that it was contrary to the divine counsel for them at that time to have a king, nothing could satisfy them to live without one. Their demands for such a vanity became importunate, just in proportion as the prophet dis- suaded the things and though he forewarned them of the slavery and wretchedness which they were imprecating upon themselves, their impetuous temper for enthralment was in no degree checked. In a much later period, the whole Israelitish na- tion furnished a most disastrous instance of a dis- position to prefer their own way to the way of God. That Christ whom God appointed and or- dained to be their deliverer from the bondage of sin and death, and the way of repentance and faith, by which deliverance was to be realised, was a provision most opposite to their views. The reverse of the Saviour's character and ministry would have pleased them exceedingly. Is not this a true picture of those of you, who to this time are living in the total neglect of the great salvation ? Duty requires the concentration of your whole heart upon the Lord, as set forth in his holiness, goodness and truth. You, however, are better pleased with the total abstraction of 15 1 i^Q LYING VANITIES. your hearts from all communications with him. The Lord's way is to subdue your unbelief, to bring down the loftiness of your hearts, to divorce your soul from its earthly attachments ; your way is to surrender yourselves to the dominion of doubt, to cultivate all the perversities within you, and to exclude from your heart all the gracious and godly affections. According to his way, your chief pleasure should be found in the sanctities of a renovated nature, in the spiritualities of a godly conversation, in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost ; but according to your way, the chief delight is to follow the mind of the flesh, to gratify its distempered appetites, to strengthen its enmity by indulgence, and to become as indepen- dent of God as possible. When the inspired word commands you to work out your salvation, then your complaint is that you have no power, and that the requisition is a hard one. But should that same infallible teacher strive to convince you of your utter impotence and helplessness, you are still more dissatisfied with the charge of incapa- city to help yourselves. When it is the Lord's time for you to be sad, then it is yours to rejoice ; and when he would call you to rejoicing, then indeed it suits you to be melancholy. What he would have you to hate, you love; and the objects on which he calls you to place your love, are those to which you cannot look with any kind feeling. LYING VANITIES. Ji^l He enjoins conversion and regeneration as the only means of bettering your moral character ; you imagine that you can be good enough without these, and therefore Hve in the neglect of them ; he informs you distinctly that this life is not your final, but your preparatory state, and you tell him plainly that to you it is final, and that you look for no ulterior condition of being. You thus, practically, at least, take a position in opposition to him who made you, and qualified you for a momentous destination. And who are you, that you should oppose your caprice to the will of Omnipotence ? What majestic vanities are you, who exhibit such singular extremes of might and meanness ? What inflated reptiles to crawl up into the notice of heaven, to contest his de- mands and reverse his ordinations ? " Wo to him that striveth with his Maker !" What depravity is that which impels you, what folly is that which betrays you into the presumption of placing your ways and plans before those of the Almighty? The whole Bible speaks but to confound and con- fute your mischievous temerity. By the illumina- tions that stream forth from it, you must see the bad condition to which sin has reduced you. To avoid the perception of your hearts' estrangement from God, with such light flooding your path, would be no less difficult than to quench the sense of all external objects under the light of intense Ji^'O LYING VANITIES. noon. Are you not yourselves burdened with the consciousness that nothing short of conversion and regeneration can reconcile your hearts to the pre- sence and service of the Lord Almighty ? And does there not come spontaneously upon you the dread of that holy Being in whose hand your breath is, and to whose mandates you are every moment answerable? Are you not conscious of being obnoxious to the censures of his justice, and of being lost and ruined creatures without his mercy? In the neglect of religion, then, you are not only choosing and preferring what the Lord reprobates and abhors, but are at most unnatural variance with yourselves. The convictions of your hearts, and the decisions of enlightened reason unite in persuading you to renounce the folly of irreligion. This your way is your folly. Though at present pleasing in appearance, it leads down to the chambers of death. Set yourselves to meditate, addict yourselves to the unused and forsaken habit of thinking. Turn upon yourselves the anxious search of sincere inquirers after hap- piness. Lie no longer quiet in the embraces of killing corruptions. Rest not until your spirits are disenthralled; cease not to struggle against your destroyers, until your reason shall be released from bondage, and your whole nature rescued from the captivity of sin. 2. You may see in the text the character of your LYING VANITIES. I'y^ occupations. The objects of them give them their character. Lying vanities is the name assigned them in the text. In the original it is Vanities of va7iity* There is Uttleness and unmeaning pue- rihty in the most lofty employments of those minds which are drawn off from piety and the serious contemplation of the divine nature. Those mental pursuits which seem most rational and dignified, when followed to the exclusion of God, are mean and grovelling; for what can befit the greatest intellect except truth, and where is truth if we stop short of God. The mind may explore and comprehend, and admire the mechanism of nature, but will be playing an idle game if it reach not forth its piercing thought to the great God of nature. The merest babes in reflection and ob- servation, would scarcely trifle to such a degree, as to lose the idea of the inventor whilst admiring the invention, as to forget the skill of the builder whilst viewing with delight the building, or to omit all respect for the cause, whilst occupied with the effects. All who pause in their progress of thought before they reach and adore the great and holy God, are triflers. How much soever they may pride themselves upon the honour and superiority of their occupation, they are but triflers. They are constructing toys, weaving attenuated threads 15 # I'yA LYING VANITIES. into a web so fragile, that the passing breeze will break it. Their employment is as grave and worthy, as that of the great king who busied him- self in carding and spinning wool, or of the mighty emperor whose daily work was to catch and im- pale flies and gnats. Your loftiest aspirations, if un- warmed by the desire of God, are vented into air ; your intensest pleasures, if unhallowed by the pre- sence of pious gratitude, are but transient dreams. Your gravest avocations, your most specious morality, your most happy competence, or ample wealth, if destitute of God, is but a sober-faced vanity. The world itself if unadorned, uninspired, uninhabited by Deity must be to you like the fir- mament without light, as darkness and confusion rolled together. The lying vanities of the text is an expression intended to describe the idols of the heathen. The idolatries of the ancient world, as well as those of all ages, consisted in the worship of finite or created objects. For the most part images of these ob- jects were formed and presented to the eye of the worshipper. In some cases the worship was sustained without the intervention of im- ages. But the principle and the ground of the world's defection from God, have been the same in all ages. The principle is still the same. The human soul is so formed and constituted as to be LYING VANITIES. Jj^i^g capable of apprehending and adoring the eternal Maker. When, however, it stops short of the holy and infinitely perfect God, and reposes and pauses upon something less than He, there is defection. And then it is that the something upon which the soul reposes, however good and real in itself as a production of the Maker, be- comes a lying vanity. The ancient heathen, by their defection, thus converted some of the most transcendent objects of creation into vanities^ such as the stars, planets, and the sun. And in honour of these objects they contrived and brought into operation the whole machinery of temples, altars, sacrifices, priests, and such like things. Thus effectually did they arrest the tendency of the soul in its progress towards God. The spirits that were soaring towards the infinite and uncre- ated One, were stopped in their flight, and in- forme d that their illimitable excursion might be reduced within some reasonable bounds, by the selection of the planet Jupiter, or the Sun as the point of termination. They were made to think that it was perfectly needless to ascend any higher in quest of an object of worship. And they, who were not inclined to any lofty flight, but who ra- ther sought a something upon which they might repose, and upon which they might expend their devotion, among sublunary things, were referred to various objects on earth. They might worship 2»yg LYING VANITIES. the primary elements, or the silly abstractions of superstitious minds, or the hideous phantoms of lust and folly, formed into material figures. The spirit of defection from the Lord, was most truly accommodating. Its ingenuity could suit every taste, its inventions were adequate to every emer- gency. And no man was compelled to be with- out some vanity consecrated with the name of re- ligion, where so much care and genius were placed in requisition to please the varying tempers of each and of all together. But the lying vanities of the heathen world do not so much concern you, as the lying vanities of that world now miscalled Christian. Why is it that having been placed so long upon the vantage ground of revelation you have yet to begin the work of ascending to God ? with a spirit so long winged for flight, you have not yet begun to soar ? with the unity of God before you, a sort of pan- theism is the sum of your religion. I see you stop- ping short of God and resting upon some created thing. You are intercepted in your approach to Him, by the material world. The entire system of organised and animated bodies constituting the visible universe, is the result of a wise and bene- ficent design. By the whole economy of this sys- tem of things your minds, if uncorrupt, would be conducted near to the Maker of all things. The first and the last link in the golden chain of crea- LYING VANITIES. j i^iy tion would be seen depending from God, and lead- ing to Him. But the very stability and order of nature, is by you formed into one of those lying vanities, which must mock, while it invites your repose. A type of yourselves may be found in the native Indian who visited the Moravian mission- aries in Labrador. He had received some in- struction in the Christian religion, and when asked whether he had any thoughts about the conver- sion of his soul, replied, " We are not unbelievers, for we know all about Jesus Christ." He asked whether it was true that this earth would be de- stroyed. The missionaries told him, it was true. " Then," said he, " as the earth stands fast, and is not yet moved, I will wait a little, before I think of conversion."* He was for slumbering on a little longer in the security of his ungodly state, because he did not feel the earth reeling and tottering be- neath him. This is the antiquated vanity which be- came the ground of false repose to the sinners contemporary with the Apostle Peter. They be- held all things continuing as they had been from the beginning of the creation. 2 Pet. iii. 4. It was the same delusion that had emboldened the confidence of much earlier transgressors. The warning voice of righteous Lot when opposed to the established order of nature, seemed like a * Vol. for 1836. Mor. Miss. Intel!, p. 339. ■I lyo LYING VANITIES. mockery ; Gen. xix. 14. The same insolent pre- sumption animated the impiety and wickedness of those to whom the prophets dehvered their message. To all the threatenings of the Lord, they made this one reply. " Let him make speed and hasten his work, that we may see it, and let the counsel of the holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it. Evil shall not come upon us, where is the word of the Lord ? let it come now." Isa. v. 19. Jer. v. 12. They saw no change in the aspect of nature, perceived no revolution in the laws of creation, the earth stood fast^ and they, therefore, counted upon their usual impunity in sin. And this, sinners, is a main reason why you procrastinate your conversion, and persist in your estrangement from God. If Omnipotence would but cleave this solid earth, or shake it as an atom from its settled order, you would then begin to tremble and seek conversion. If the heavens should begin to be rolled together like a scroll, and the elements to melt with fer- vent heat, then you would agree to be roused from your sleep, or, if instead of the annunciations of mercy, you should hear those of judgment, and the form of the mighty angel should appear to you, swearing with uplifted hand, that time should be no longer, you might then be persuaded to think that your confidence in the stability of nature's laws is unsafe. But what signifies to you the LYING VANITIES. li^Q firmness of nature's laws ? Whatever adamantine solidity or unchangeableness they may possess, matters nothing to you. Upon the whole corpo- real order, you will soon close your eyes. In re- gard to you, the intense glory of the sun will soon be quenched, the earth riven asunder, the ele- ments dissolved, the heavens passed away ! Permit me to expose to your tardy apprehen- sion another of those impudent deceits on which your deluded hearts are resting. Look yonder, and you may see it in the most public places of resort. It has a business-like appearance. It is, in truth, that which you name business, in it- self a proper and commendable thing, but abused by you to a pernicious instrumentality. It supplies you an occasion of defection from God, and be- comes the corrosive to all genuine piety. It is what you esteem more than the Scriptures, because you study it more ; it is dearer to you than your devo- tions, because you are so much more cordial to- wards it. The imputation of being once-a-day-men at your business, you would consider nearly fatal to your reputation. But to have that character in the worship of God, gives you no uneasiness. Does not this show that your business is dearer than your devotion? The idea of making no progress in your business, but rather of suffering a backward tendency, would be sufficient to send you home depressed, dispirited, and of a forlorn ■I OQ LYING VANITIES. visage ; but the idea of being stationary, or even retrograde in religion, gives you no uneasiness, breaks none of your slumbers, causes no dejected looks. If the god^ business, smiles and looks pro- pitious, you are happy enough, even though the Holy Spirit, whereby we are sealed to the day of redemption, be grieved and offended. Alas ! you are leaving your souls in the hands of that lying vanity called business. You have got this vanity legalised and even baptized, and the homage you give it is therefore all right ! There is a sort of defection from God, which bears before it the pretext of religion. It is the upper garment of religion, and therefore makes the wearer resemble a person truly pious. You will generally be able to distinguish such by one pro- minent peculiarity. They are always taking most scrupulous pains to adjust and smooth that over- coat which forms their covering, whilst the less visible portions of their dress are permitted to re- main in disorder. That is, (to speak without a figure,) they are much more particular and scru- pulous in observing the ceremonials, than the essentials of religion. To them the shadow is more than the substance. The omission of some- thing needless, or even absurd, would shock them, whilst the weightier matters of truth and sanctity may be consigned to neglect, without ever costing them a groan. Saul, first king of Israel, furnishes LYING VANITIES. 181 a very considerable instance of this. So regard- less was he of the essentials of true religion, as to interrupt the priest Ahiah, who was engaged in the solemn service of asking counsel of God on a great occasion, and to postpone obedience to a positive command of the Lord, under the plea of offering sacrifice; while, on the other hand, no- thing but the open resistance of the people could restrain him from drenching his hands in the blood of his own son, for having ignorantly violated a preposterous oath. There is extreme peril to the souls of hypocrites. It may be almost questionable whether confirmed hypocrites are in a salvable state. They are such dupes of the devil, such framers of deceit and lies, under such abandonment as to truth and sincerity, as to leave but little hope of reformation. 3. The injury which you inflict upon yourselves by indulging your hearts' defection from the Lord, is a matter worthy of your consideration. You forsake your own mercy. You leave honour and dignity to pursue shame and contempt. You re- linquish your just claim to happiness for the be- guilements of sin, and the woful results which follow it. You turn away from the light, only to be plunged in darkness, from which dismal sounds of despair will at least be heard. Examine care- fully and solemnly ponder the dreadful sacrifices 16 I go LYING VANITIES. to be made in the prosecution of a life of ungod- liness. The reasonable hope of forgiveness is abandon- ed. It is certain that there is no present forgive- ness to those whose hearts are hardened by the god of this world. Their impenitence is a most awful proof of their unpardoned state. Their reliance upon treacherous vanities is the surest way to keep them impenitent, and to deprive them of all the helps of mercy. And should not a thinking mortal reflect calmly and anxiously be- fore he consents to let go the benefits of pardoning mercy? Nothing but pardon from the Lord of mercy and grace, can release us from the obliga- tions under which the sentence of the law consigns us to punishment. This release is given only to true repentance. The inevitable consequence, then, of the continued observation of lying vani- ties must be the seal of final impenitence, and the certainty of eternal death. Perseverance in estrangement from the Lord, is an implied rejection of the addresses of his Spirit. Israel's proneness to idolatrous defections, is charged upon them as the sin of resisting the Holy Ghost. Actsvii. 51. The mercy of spiritual visitations to your hearts stupified by sin, with the design of quickening them into life, is one of the greatest acts of the divine condescension. The LYING VANITIES. Jg3 Strivings of the Holy Spirit are all instances of signal mercy. They help to restrain your head- long movements in the downward course of sin, they are the kind whisperings of affectionate admonition, urging you to return to him against whom you have deeply revolted; they are the genial influences which would create within you a new principle of vitality, and form you into living temples for the habitation of God. Upon all these mercies you turn your back, by that guilty adhesion to vanity in which you so resolutely persist. Deity, present and propitious to your hearts, is grieved, is insulted. Deity, with the riches of his grace, with his fulness of communi- cable light and felicity, with his rewarding justice and saving mercy, is rejected, and, instead of Him, a lie becomes your confidence. The crucified and risen Saviour is forsaken by all the infatuated multitude of creature worship- pers. Those of you who withhold your confidence from Christ, are charged by him with criminal defection. He that believeth not is condemned already. He that believeth not shall be damned. The deep demerit upon which the judgment of God against you proceeds, is not only disbelief, but unbelief; not only open and avowed opposition to him, but the distrust of him ; not only the gain- saying of his doctrines and commands, but the failure of obedience. You may be possibly so- Jg^ LYING VANITIES. lacing yourselves with the idea that you are at worst not the enemies of the Saviour ; that you stand not in those hostile ranks which display the ensigns of studied rebellion, and that, therefore, you are the less criminal. Flatter not yourselves with such a deception. You have not come up with the whole consent of your minds, with the confiding dependence of your whole hearts, doing honour to the trustworthiness of Jesus Christ, to glorify him by a true faith ; and it is for what you have not done that you stand guilty : your falling short, your defection, is the ground of the com- plaint against you. Need I tell you that in this defection you for- sake your own mercy? In stopping short of Christ, you leave your own salvation in suspense; you leave yourselves in exposure to the penal in- flictions of God's violated law. In stopping short of Christ, you close against yourselves the door of hope opened by him, and commit yourselves to the outer darkness ; you forsake order and rush into confusion; leap from the rock into the yawning abyss; you abandon friendship and love, the har- mony of good society, the sweet fellowship of bro- thers, the purity of a spiritual life, and the hope of heaven, for the discord and tumult, and angry collisions, fierce rage, and eternal despair of the ungodly. SERMON IX. INSIPID RELIGION. Rev, iii. 15. — I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. We often ask why the Gospel is making so httle progress in the world ; and why that race of beings for who^e benefit it was intended, so generally turn their backs upon it, and treat it with neglect. Not only do we seem to wonder at the narrow limits within which the religion of the Bible is shut up, but we break out into frequent lamentations, and deplore with all the show of unaffected sor- row, such a state of things. At other times we appear inclined to institute a serious inquiry into the causes which may possibly counteract the dif- fusive tendencies of the evangelical dispensation; and are not backward to resolve and even to pro- mise, that should our search result in the detection of the cause or causes, we will immediately begin the correction of the evil, and will not cease until every let and impediment shall have been re- moved. But, alas ! when we find the troublers of 16* 2gg INSIPID RELIGION. God's Israel in our own breasts, we pause and par- ley long before we can consent to drag them to death. Instead of pursuing them with unsparing severity until the work of a holy vindication shall have been completed, we allow them quietly to retreat for the time, to some concealment still more deep and secure, within that habitation from which they should have been driven by the expul- sive energies of regeneration. And what is equally deplorable, when these troublers are found, as found they often are, in the high places of the church, there is not enough of vital power in the body to detach and throw them off; and they are left like scabs which adhere to it, and disfigure it with the unsightly documents of its morbid state. There is one hinderance to the conquests of the Christian religion, which has been often ad- verted to, often exposed to notice, and defined with painful accuracy. Still it remains in the way, and we may rationally fear always will re- main. It is the lukewarmness of professing Christians. In other words it may be termed the negative character of those friends whose attri- butes and actions should all be positive. And if negative and positive are the reverse of each other, by reversing the lives of the multi- tudes misnamed Christians, we shall have them truly Christians. That is to say, convert their INSIPID RELIGION. JQ'J' silence into speech, their indifference into feehng, their supineness into action, their ignorance into knowledge, their nothing into something; they are then truly the people of God. The Holy Spirit proposes in the context such a conversion. He is heartily sick of the whole Laodicean tribe, and threatens them with rejec- tion. He clearly shows that a confirmed state of unbelief and cold estrangement from God, is less reprehensible in his view, than the half-hearted- ness of lukewarm professors. And this is reason- able, inasmuch as spurious friendship can be more injurious to us than open enmity. The text itself deserves special comment, " I know thy works." They are the offspring of indo- lence and carnal security. They are the withered fruit of branches ill attached to the vine. They are the drowsy speculations of a heartless piety, in which has been extinguished the last spark of holy fire. " I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot." Thou hast taken an intermediate station betwixt the living and fervid adorers and servants of the Redeemer, and his ice-hearted enemies and despisers. Thou art arrogating un- due credit to thyself in being amongst this latter class, and excusing thy defection from the grace and duty of the former. Such works as thine are the rubbish of the church, the pestilent accumula- tions which infect the whole atmosphere of Zion. 1 OO INSIPID RELIGION. They are the pretexts of the ungodly, the argu- ments of infidelity, the scandals of the truth. In attempting to describe the Laodicean state of religious professors, I remark in it, in the first place, the absence of any positive and decided character. It has a character, indeed, but not a fixed one, and hence its most prominent characteristic is, that it has no settled character, it is neither cold nor hot ; neither freezing nor fervid ; neither the insensibility of spiritual death, nor the sensibility of spiritual life. It is to be known rather by what it is not, than by what it is. It is a large assemblage of negatives, which, being carefully summed up, amount to just nothing. The true Laodiceans are so affected towards the Saviour, that they will neither love, nor hate him; neither embrace his religion, nor openly renounce it. They are equally distant from the joys of conversion, and the sorrows of repentance. They do not affect the artifices of hypocrisy, nor yet are they in the guileless temper of Israelites indeed. They assent to the truth without loving it ; they abstain from sin without hating it. The world claims them, whilst the church contains them. To which party do they belong ? I have said, that they have no fixed character. This perhaps needs some cor- rection. They are statedly indifferent, and mind- less as to the great and proper objects of Chris- tian pursuit. Their virtues, if virtues they have. INSIPID RELIGION. JgQ are so mingled with neutralising ingredients as to resemble those diluted stimulants which have lost all power to affect the sense. They become vapid and tasteless, and consequently of little use. The simile of the Saviour well describes them. They are the salt that has lost its savour. Under the name of salt, it is fit only to be cast forth and trodden under foot of men. And the prophet Isaiah, in dealing with the lukewarmness of the age in which he lived, speaks almost directly to the view now before us. " Thy silver is become dross, thy wine is mixed with water." Isaiah i. 22. Their very morality and religion were so mingled with corrupting adulterations, as to lose thereby their distinctive characters, and to become repro- bate as to all good and practical purposes. The state of such persons is described not unaptly by the prophet Zeph. i. 12. They are "The men settled on their lees, that say in their heart. The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil." They have lost all dread of his threatenings, and all hope of his promises, are not dismayed by his terrors, nor encouraged by his mercies. Luke- warm professors are here most fitly described. Their prayers are few and languid, because they do not expect them to be answered ; their chari- ties are cold and unfrequent, because they are without an incentive from the love of God. Their anxiety for reformation and the conversion of sin- ners, lies in indolent repose, because they say in I on INSIPID RELIGION. their hearts, the Lord will not do evil. That is, will not punish the guilty. This neutral character, if not in direct opposi- tion to the spirit of religion, falls short of it by a sad disproportion. To use a figure, it makes a period, where there should be only a comma. It stops short of the ardour and tension, and vivid working of the soul, that reaches forth after the incorruptibility and happiness of the divine life, and seems satisfied with the laxity and irresolution of half-awakened spirits. To what shall we liken such tempers, found, as they often are, under the solemn obligations of religion ? A man sinking into the waves, and slowly taking between his finger and thumb the rope cast out to save him, is a faint similitude. Were he awake to his danger he would seize it with both hands, determined never to relax his grasp. We stand by and see the fang of a rattlesnake planted in a vein of a mere stranger, and a humane individual present applies his mouth to the wound and extracts the poison, and thus saves him from a horrid death.* In a year after that we meet the rescued man, and he coldly inquires of us the name of his bene- factor ! or speaks of the incident as something that had almost passed from his memory ! Here, then, is a lukewarm professor, whose emotions of love and gratitude to Jesus, the benefactor who * Such instances have been frequent. INSIPID RELIGION. iQ-l has nullified the burning venom of the old serpent, are as languid as the pulsations of a dying man. Here is the lukeicarm professor, impressed with no obvious or indelible marks, characterised by no traits which denote his redemption from the curse entailed by sin upon fallen man. To ascertain how opposite to a relaxed state of the moral feelings real Christianity is, we have only to consult the sayings of Christ. Looking forward to the excited hostility of an unbelieving world against his disciples, he pronounces these trying terms of true discipleship : "He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me ; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me, is not worthy of me." Mat. x. 37, 38. And verse 39, "He that loseth his life for my sake, shall find it." Such a devotion to the Saviour, as is here required, is un- diluted with worldly mixtures. It is not the half- stifled, enervated feeling of distant respect; but the intense fervour of love ; a love which leaves very far behind all competitors for the heart's su- premacy. By the side of such a love, the luke- warm spirit is as disproportioned, as the smoking flax by the side of lightning. That most admirable epitome of the whole law, under the same divine authority, shows the strongly marked and decided character of all those who ■1 go INSIPID RELIGION. truly obey the Lord. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment." Mat. xxii. 37, 38. A scene in the last interview which Christ had with his apos- tles after his resurrection, and just before his as- cension, is worthy of particular notice in this con- nexion. How could a Laodicean temper have endured the thrice repeated question to Peter? It would have fallen upon the heartless formalist like the curses of the judgment day. It would have confounded all the debilitated faculties of his half-warmed soul, and would have left him speechless with dismay. " Lovest thou me '( Lovest thou me? Lovest thou me more than these?" This solemn questioning almost killed Peter. It would have killed him quite, had he not been a true man. But all the gratitude of a redeemed sinner burnt in his bosom, under each repetition of the affecting query, and under the unexpected trial, his love brightened up into con- fidence. "Thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee." "Yes, Peter, I do know it. Then you are the man to do my work. Your de- votion has a prominent character. It stands out in clear and bold delineation." "Feed my lambs, feed my sheep !" You, whose religion is of the neither-cold-nor-hot kind, come to the scene now described, and learn a lesson. Bring forward INSIPID RELIGION. lOQ your tepidity of heart, that nondescript affection, and tell Jesus it is the only oblation by which you can requite his benefactions. Come forth, breath- ing the half-dead desires of an almost forgotten friendship, and inform him that these are the re- turns you make him for his expenditure of blood in your behalf. Move languidly towards him, as he hangs upon the cross, abused and bleeding, and while he endures the mysterious passion that makes an end of sin, and brings in an everlasting righteousness, and bless him with your lukewarm civility, greet him with your formal respects and compliments. But no ! such an effort is too much for your religion. Open advocates for that nauseating temperature in the religion of Christ, styled lukewarmness, we should suppose, are not to be found. But apologists and indirect abettors, are many. It is encouraged by the example of many in all churches. It is prac- tised, if not professed, by a numerous company. And, let me remark, they have the signal honour of practically contradicting the whole apostle- ship, because this devoted brotherhood proclaimed without dissent the intensity of their rehgion ; and then acted fully up to their professions. " The love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead ; and that he died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him 17 JQ^ INSIPID RELIGION. who died for them and rose again." 2 Cor. v. 14, 15. And permitting Paul to speak for all the rest, as he undoubtedly expresses what they all concurred in, Phil. iii. 7 — 9, we shall have a still more striking contrast to the whole Laodicean association. "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ ; and be found in him, not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God by faith." "I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." I see here no irresolution, no wavering of purpose, no delay of action, no intermitted ardour. That censurable temperature in divine things, which the text condemns, would have proved ruinous to Christianity, had it existed in any great degree in the primitive church. It was not the thing to give an impulse to those magnanimous enterprises which signalised the course of early be- lievers. It was not the likely thing to stimulate languor, to invigorate perseverance, or to em- bolden timidity. It was not the temper suitable to meet perilous occurrences, nor was it much ad- dicted to the endurance of toils and sufferings INSIPID RELIGION. JQ^ when they did occur ; stripes and imprisonments, mockeries, persecutions, tortures and deaths would have annihilated at once a Christianity so relaxed. To have sent out men of such temper to confront the rude blasts of opposition, to stand before the rage of the heathen, to meet the consenting blas- phemies of an ungodly world, would have been an expedient about as hopeful, as the application of a broom to sweep back the tides of ocean. And of what avail is such a temper in the pre- sent state of the church of God ? Those under its influence are as ill qualified to carry forward the true interests of Christ's kingdom, as were their ancient prototypes the Laodiceans. Instead of doing as much as possible to increase religion, they do as little as possible consistently with the credit of their profession. All the articles consti- tuting their round of observances, are such as may be had at the lowest prices. Their prayers are such as will cost them the least time. Their Sabbath duties are curtailed to one or two points, such as that of bringing their bodies once, but their souls never, to the worshipping assembly on that day. Should interest and conscience contend for the mastery, conscience is ordered to give way, and interest rules, not the hour only, but the day and the week. The ignorant are not the wiser for their godly discourse, the afflicted are not the less miserable for their prayers and counsels. If jog INSIPID RELIGION. God hears them pray, it is a wonder, for man hears them not. If they take and examine a sub- scription Hst intended to aid pious and benevolent purposes, they survey the articles as they look over merchandise, that they may omit the expen- sive ones and take those that are cheap. They are great advocates for all plans which propose to serve God at little cost, either of time or money. If the world employs them till a late hour on Sa- turday night, that is pretext sufficient to lounge away the Lord's day. If it be too hot, their luke- warmness cannot bear the heat; if too cold, it cannot endure the cold. Activity and zeal, labour and self-denial, except in the service of the flesh, are not adapted to their taste. Such were not the instruments with which the Lord founded his kingdom in the world, they are not the ones to build it up, nor to people heaven. Secondly. There is a sense in which the state described as neither cold nor hot, is worse than absolute impenitence, as may be seen from the context. " I would thou wert — cold or hot : so then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth." The evil of lukewarmness is more hateful to God, than that of absolute impenitence, because it is more in contradiction to light and knowledge. It is an advance beyond the cold state, an eleva- tion above it, and therefore implies a larger mea- INSIPID RELIGION. 197 sure of grace, and a consequent greater abuse of grace. But it should be remembered that the question of human criminaUty before the Lord, turns not so much upon the absolute want of di- vine grace, as upon the abuse of it. Many por- tions of the word of God might be adduced to prove this, but we shall refer to one class of texts as sufficient. The sin of unbelief, according to both Testaments, is the great condemning sin of the world. That sin, however, derives both its nature and its aggravation from the abuse of grace ; for what else can it be, than the wilful rejection of gospel light, or the perversion of that light. The conclusion is then inevitable, that the tepid state rested in, and obstinately adhered to, is more cri- minal than the cold state, as involving a greater abuse of grace. A person in the lukewarm state may by possibility be one of God's elect, but a person in absolute impenitence may possibly be one of God's purposed elect. Neither party can certainly have any present evidences of election, and both are therefore in this respect upon a perfect parity ; while in another respect, they are upon different grades of blameworthiness in the sight of the righteous Judge. In addition to this, the Laodicean class are planted in the vineyard of God, like weeds infest- ing his garden. The careful cultivator is much more offended with the weeds which he finds in 17* iftG INSIPID RELIGION. his garden, than with those which he meets out upon the common field. He orders those found in his favourite enclosure, to be instantly plucked up and cast away, while the other class are per- mitted to stand and grow. " Every branch in me," says the Saviour, " that beareth not fruit he taketh away." The Scripture gives a keen edge to all the reproofs which it deals out to remiss and un- fruitful professors. " What could have been done to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should have brought forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes ? I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard, I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up ; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down ; I will lay it waste, it shall not be pruned nor digged, but there shall come up briers and thorns ; I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it." Isa. v. 6, 7. " Son of man, what is the vine tree, more than any other tree, or a branch that is among the trees of the forest ? Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work ? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon ? Behold it is cast into the fire for fuel. Is it meet for any work ? Be- hold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work." Ezek. xv. 2, 3. " Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself." Hos. x. 1. INSIPID RELIGION. "I QQ " Because thou art neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out." Our Lord teaches us, in one of his most expres- sive parables, the opinion which he entertains of loiterers. "He that gathereth not with me, scat- tereth abroad." Standing with their arms folded in the presence of his busy reapers, engaged in gathering and binding up the sheaves, they are not only in the way, but are casting tacit reproach and insult upon the whole transaction. Is it any matter for wonder, then, that the Lord of the har- vest is displeased with them, and that he considers them more offensive to him, than those who stand off without even the show of interference ? A middling and ordinary estimate of the Saviour's merits, a love to him, in which the cold predomi- nates over the hot, a service rendered indifferent by counterbalancing inclinations, are just such offerings as dishonour him, by the denial of his divinity. I grieve, I sink into discouragement, when I think how many orthodox defamers are drawing down reproach upon Christ, through the remissness of their zeal in his cause ; how much detraction his exalted character suffers, through the weak vindications of lukewarm friendship, and how he is left bleeding and crucified in the hands of his enemies, by the dispiritedness of his followers, , ^QQ INSIPID RELIGIO^f. Those in the state of total impenitence, make no insolent boasts of being in the divine favour. They set up no pretensions to special privileges ; nor do they ask to be the accredited candidates for the kingdom of heaven. It is true they are in a state of condemnation, and liable every moment to be turned into despair ; they are objects of the Lord's displeasure. But the lukewarm, in addi- tion to the guilt of their ungodly dispositions, in- cur the farther charge of impious presumption. They would make us believe, and themselves too, that so soon as they have done with earth, they will be landed in heaven. They are not backward to profess their confidence in the promises of God, and their hope of a tranquil, happy death. With them, death is destined to be a mighty reformer. That stern and awful power is to change them in a twinkling from their state of sleep to a state of wakefulness, from their ungracious temper, to one that is gracious, from their love of the world to the love of God, from their dreams of spiritual happiness to the sudden realities of bliss. They reverse the beautiful truth, that, " None but a living faith unites To Christ, the living Head," and presume, that by a dead faith they will at last spring up to the glories of the first resurrection. Thirdly. The glorified state of believers is that INSIPID RELIGION. 201 in which every power of the soul is raised to the utmost stretch of holy tension. The spirits of the just are made perfect, their capacity of bliss is filled, their devotions are animated with unabating ardour, their temple worship is the perpetual in- cense of praise. The saints shall have spiritual bodies suited to their sublime employment, and with the hosts about the throne of God, shall not cease, day or night, the celebration of Emmanuel's glories. "The eyes shall see intellectual objects, and the mouth shall feed upon hymns and glorifi- cations of God, and the tongue shall speak nothing but praises, and the propositions of celestial wis- dom. The motion shall be the swifl;ness of an angel; holiness the sun, and righteousness the moon of that region."* What kind of figure do you think a lukewarm soul would there display ? Surely his sluggish motions would never keep pace with the burning velocity of those spirits that shall minister for ever their high homage to the Lamb that was slain. They will have risen, and left the stars behind in their flight, before he can spread his wings. They will have been happy and honoured proficients in the lofl;y science of immortality, while he is perplexed with unavailing efforts to gain its lowest rudiments. Heaven, my brethren, will never suit a lukewarm Christian. * Jeremy Taylor. 2Q2 INSIPID RELIGION. The gracious state on earth, must be propor- tionate to the glorified state in heaven. It must have dimensions and a capacity corresponding in kind w^ith the more exalted dimensions of the future life. On this principle it is that the hope of heaven is used in Scripture, as an argument to enforce diligence and perseverance in the perform- ance of good works. This argument is urged in sundry places : "Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent, that ye may be found of him without spot, and blameless." 2 Pet. iii. 14. " Every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself even as he is pure." 1 John iii. 3. " Having, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holi- ness in the fear of God." 2 Cor. vii. 1. "Whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be parsakers of the divine nature. And, beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue," &c. 2 Pet. iv. 5. The hope of heaven cannot be even rational, without being lively and operative, for it is con- trary to all reason and common sense, to imagine that tardiness in the race should win the prize, that dastardliness should gain the victory, that sluggishness and torpor should have the rewards of industry and skill. SERMON X. THE COMMON ODIUM, Acts xxviii. 22. — For as concerning ihis sect, we know that every where it is spoken against. "Why, I hear you are going to join the Bap- tists, can that be true ? How can you ever recon- cile to yourself that odious practice of close communion? Do you not know that if you unite yourself with that sect, you must never expect to hold any Christian intercourse with your dearest relatives, how pious soever they may be ? Can you give up sisters and brothers, and the respectable society of other denominations, for the sake of the Baptists, who are so narrow- minded and bigoted, as to refuse communion at the Lord's table with other Christians?" The person who was addressed in the manner here described, had but recently become acquainted with the ministry and worship of a Baptist church. The Gospel had been there heard in such a man- ner as to awaken a careless soul, previously slum- 204 THE COMMON ODIUM. bering in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity, and the individual referred to was power- fully impressed ; and by the force of immediate conviction, determined to break off the vanities of the world, and to addict to the society of that people, a life which had been before spent in sin- ful negligence of God. That people, as it seemed to the soul in question, were worshipping God ac- cording to the simplicity of the Gospel plan. Their doctrines corresponded with the Scrip- tures ; their prayers, praises, and preaching were alike impressive ; and their baptism was clearly that which had the sanction of apostolic example. Our newly awakened friend could think of being happy in no other church, and of enjoying the Gospel feast under no other ministry. But the tidings of such a state of mind were no sooner spread, than the alarming interrogatories repeat- ed above, were pressed upon the unsuspecting convert ; and the close communion of the Bap- tists was made the means of arresting a design so warmly conceived and cherished. This, then, is the head and front of our offending. Whenever our opponents are fairly driven from the field of argument, and are left without a solitary point to urge against us, they seize upon the trite and ofl- repeated scandal of close communion. We should like the Baptists, say they, but for their close communion. Even admitting that their THE COMMON ODIUM. 205 baptism is right, and that many of their writers and preachers have been eminent, yet we can never countenance their close communion. It looks so much as if they would say to us. "Stand off — I am holier than thou." Every pastor of a Baptist church, especially in cities where religious scandals find a readier circulation than elsewhere, must have had occasion more than once, or twice, to bend down his neck and shoulders, and take up the grave reproach of close communion. If his ministry has happened to be blessed to any indi- vidual having Pedobaptist connexions, and some movements like joining his church may have been made by the party thus newly conciliated, the very next visit which he pays in such a case, he is as- sailed by this inquiry, " Does your church prac- tise close communion? Some of my friends have informed me that such is the case, and on account of it, have strongly dissuaded me from uniting my- self to you. And, though I approve of your bap- tism, yet as I should not like to be debarred from communing with my friends and relations, I have concluded to postpone my religious profession for the present." Our Pedobaptist brethren seem to have discovered that no argument could be wielded more dexterously and plausibly against Ds, than this obsolete phantom of close com- m^union, and they have amply availed themselves of it to prevent the excessive growth of our deno- 18 2()g THE COMMON ODIUM. mination, and to promote the extension of their own. Perhaps it is a kind order of Providence to leave this reproach upon us, to humble and to try us, lest we should be exalted above measure by the rapid accessions of strength to our body. But, after all, is our close communion an offence of such magnitude against the charity and decorum of social worship? The members of every social compact, have a perfect and undoubted right to dictate the terms of membership. Whatever, therefore, may be said of the equity, or expediency, or consistency, or Christian spirit of close commu- nion, no one can for a moment doubt the right of the party holding it, to maintain the position. Still we allow that men may greatly err in the maintenance of their rights. They may assert them in a temper, and urge them to an extreme which shall be very prejudicial to the happiness and interest of others. But can this be said of the RIGHT in question ? What injustice do others suffer in consequence of our close communion ? Of what privileges are they deprived? If they do suffer injustice, and are restricted in their privi- leges, by the course which we pursue, then if we should pursue an opposite course, they would be no longer sufferers. That is, if close communion wrongs them, open communion would obviate the wrong. But what is the import of close commu- nion? Without attempting to express its entire THE COMMON ODIUM. OQiy design, we may speak of one thing of which it is significant. It is a tacit, but not unmeaning re- buke of Infant Baptism. How much soever we may respect and love the thousands of God's dear people who live in this practice, we must not, on account of our affection for them, cease to tell them the truth. When, therefore, we erect a bar round the communion table, we say no more to them than this : — Brethren, though you are dear to us, yet truth is dearer. We sanction your error by admitting you to this table. If this were our own table you should be welcomed to it. But it is the Lord^s table ^ and we have no right to make it accessible to those who, according to our deep and solemn conviction, are practising for re- ligion what the Lord has not instituted. Your custom of adopting, in some manner^ the infants of believers into the church, by applying to them what you term baptism, is founded, in our view, upon the commandments of men, and not upon the authority of Christ. If you think us hard and uncompromising, in setting up a bar against you for such a cause as this, permit us to inquire of you, Whether it may not be easier for you to re- linquish a custom which Christ has not command- ed, and thus meet us upon the ground of Scripture, than for us virtually to surrender a custom which he has commanded, in order to meet you upon the ground of human tradition? Thus it is that close 2Qg THE COMMON ODIUM. communion speaks. This is its fair and obvious import. It is then the medium of salutary coun- sel and reproof. It offers to all who have occa- sion to meet it wholesome advice, and pleads for the purity and integrity of the Gospel. On the other hand, open communion proposes an insincere and insidious compromise. It covers over error with the blandishment of soft words, and leaves it as deeply rooted and luxuriant as ever. Which of these two, then, should be regarded as the more conducive to the real benefit of our fellow Chris- tians — the former which reproves and expostulates openly, sternly, and even roughly, if you please ; — or the latter which meets you with smiles and flatteries, and shows no solicitude to have you tried by the test of Truth? Surely, our very opponents can have no difficulty in deciding this question. That which has rendered the close communion of Baptists most offensive, is its alleged tendency to unchristian all other denominations. By denying communion in the visible tokens with our fellow- Christians, it is thought we deny the genuineness of their religion, and thus class them with the un- believing and the ungodly. If, say they, you con- sider us Christians, why not allow us to partake with you the privileges of the Lord's house ? If Christ has received us, why should not you receive us also? Are we not as dear to him as you are, THE COMMON ODIUM. OQQ as devoted to his cause, as ready to make sacri- fices in his service; and every way as zealous, orthodox, and exemplary as you are ? Nay, do we not far surpass you in the abundance of our la- bours and successes in the work of our Divine Master ? And still we are not permitted to com- mune with you ! We must allow, that in declin- ing to commune with other Christians, we tacitly find fault with them. Our refusal to eat with them the sacramental bread, is at least a qualified cen- sure. But can any one say that this is tantamount to a denial of their claims to the Christian cha- racter ? May we not point out and reprove omis- sions, without harshly judging those who are chargeable with them ? Would not our brethren of other persuasions, who think it hard to be de- barred from our tables, be very unwilling to admit to theirs those whom they might regard as holding any prominent error? Although in solitary in- stances they might tolerate the approach to the communion, of all persons who should deem them- selves qualified, and might thus admit believers in Transubstantiation, Universalists, and others, yet surely they would be far from establishing it as a rule, that persons affected with such errors as are presumed to exist in the classes above named, might, nevertheless, commune freely and habi- tually with them. Here, however, we may be asked, "Do you place your Pedobaptist brethren 18* 2JQ THE COMMON ODIUM. on the same footing with behevers in Transubstan- tiation, with Universahsts, and with those who wholly reject the ordinances of the Gospel ?" An- swer. We allow not ourselves to classify them with a view to any invidious comparisons. To do so, would be more hurtful to us than to them ; because the general excellence and piety of Pres- byterians, Episcopalians and Methodists, are uni- versally known and admitted. We regard them as the friends of God, as the salt of the earth, and as candidates for the mansions prepared by Christ for those who love him. Their divine Master knows how to deal with them for their errors and imperfections. If they be found in Christ by a living faith, they will be saved, though they may not gain much credit in the end for their industry and zeal in propagating Infant Baptism. He has a way for the final acquittal and justifica- tion of all who believe. He has also a way for their present justification before men; and that is, for those who would follow him, to adopt and practise his religion just as he has left it to them. A Gospel church is made up of baptized be- lievers; and such a body only is qualified to com- mune at the Lord's Table. If the denominations above-named are baptized believers, then they are not only qualified to commune together, but to commune with us ; and to prohibit them from such a privilege would be sinful in us. But, if in our THE COMMON ODIUM. Oil most serious and unwavering judgment, we are compelled to regard them as yet unbaptized, we should surely offend against the Institution of the Saviour, by communing with them. And though He may know how to commune with them, he has not yet informed us how we may do it. We anticipate what will here be said, Then surely you make a great matter of baptism? But, Pedobaptist brethren, do we make more of it than you ? In your church constitutions, do you ever dispense with it ? Do you ever formally and so- lemnly receive and recognise a member who is known not only never to have submitted to it, but to deny its binding validity upon believers ? Why do you make so much of it, as to require of all your members to have their children brought sea- sonably to it ? If you relax this requirement in some cases, you do so,' in violation of your own rules. True, it may be said, that the importance which you attach to your views of this ordinance, is not a reason perfectly sufficient to, justify us in attaching a similar importance to it. This is granted. But it is a reason sufficient for our pre- sent purpose ; inasmuch as you can hardly con- demn in us, what you furnish an exam,ple of in yourselves. And whether we be right or wrong in making much of Baptism, we have you in our company. We keep company, however, no farther than to this single point, namely, that both parties of us are fully and perfectly agreed that baptism 222 '^^^ COMMON ODIUM. is indispensable. When we come to th^ question, What is baptism? we separate, and the whole controversy about close communion, originates in this separation. Both as to mode and subject, you leave us : and because we cannot follow you, you turn upon us a reproachful eye, conceiving as you probably do, that we have first reproached you in not running after you into the sandy desert of traditionary rites. In refusing to go after you, and in standing by the law and the testimony, we only say that we love Christ more than we love you. When we say that unbaptized persons may not commune at the Lord's table, we speak the language of one of the most judicious and eminent men that ever adorned the Christian profession. We refer to Dr. Doddridge. In his Lectures on Divinity, we find the following clear and unequi- vocal testimony on this very subject. These are his words — " It is certain that Christians, in gene- ral, have always been spoken of, by the most an- cient Fathers, as baptized persons ; and it is also certain, that as far as our knowledge of primitive antiquity reaches, no unbaptized person received the Lord's Supper." Thus far speaks Doddridge. It may be inquired, did not the Doctor himself commune, and was he a baptized person ? In his oicn view, he no doubt was ; but was he a bap- tized person, in our view ? If we regard Pedo- THE COMMON ODIUM. 213 baptism as no baptism, as a mere nullity, which we certainly do, then those who have had no other baptism, have in effect had none ; and are there- fore disqualified for communion at the Lord's ta- ble, by the explicit rule of Doddridge. The word of God, we conceive, is full and satis- factory to this point. From that we gather the following undeniable fact — viz. l^hat the first visible act of homage which believers paid to Christy was baptism. Let the following texts suffice to prove this. Acts viii. 36 — 38 — " And as they went on their way, they came unto a cer- tain water; and the eunuch said. See, here is water ; what doth hinder me to be baptized ? And Philip said. If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I be- lieve that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still ; and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch ; and he baptized him." The perse- cutor Saul, afterward the apostle Paul, was con- verted on his way to Damascus : he was informed that Ananias would tell him, what he should do. And Ananias said, " And now why tarriest thou ? arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." " And imme- diately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales ; and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized." In the city of Philippi, the 214 '^"^ COMMON ODIUM. jailor, brought to repentance, says to Paul and Silas, " Sirs, what shall I do to be saved ?" They reply, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes and was baptized, he and all his, straight- way," Acts xvi. 30 — 33. Paul preached in the city of Corinth, " and many of the Corinthians hearing, believed, and were baptized." Acts xviii. 8. Peter preached Jesus, " Him who is Lord of all," to Cornelius and his friends at Cesarea ; and said, " Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we ? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord." Acts X. 46—48. Were it not for our anti-Pedohaptism, we should have no justifiable reason for assuming the character of a distinct and separate denomina- tion. This peculiarity in our body is considered worthy of protection by a regular sectarian en- closure. Abolish it, and the fence may as well be taken down. For the church government of the Congregationalists will answer for us, and their doctrine and discipline are nearly similar to our own. They are wilHng, too, to practise immersion if occasion require. If anti-Pedohaptism then be abolished, we could have no sufficient reason for perpetuating any sort of sectarian distinction. THE COMMON ODIUM. Ol ^ And if we can find reason to relax our opposition to Infant Baptism, then may we view with less concern, those minglings and amalgamations which have a tendency to destroy our distinctive features as a denomination. But are we prepared to modify our dislike to the rite in question? Do we not honestly and boldly assert that the exist- ence of Infant Baptism is a sore evil ? Do we not regard the good men who hold and practise it, as good, in spite of this evil ? While we love them in all their excellencies, do we not feel ourselves sacredly bound by all considerations of the love of truth, and the cause of Christ, to oppose, disclaim, refute and deprecate their infant baptism ? And are we to be blamed for wishing to keep the church of Christ clear of such a rite ? On the other hand, our Pedobaptist brethren feel them- selves bound to do all they can to maintain, assert, and perpetuate infant baptism. They view it as the very pillar of the church ; and must feel greatly tempted to resent the obstinacy with which we continue to oppose and question it. They are well aware, also, that open communion would greatly conduce to the mitigation of our dislike to this thing ; that after freely interchang- ing the symbols of church-fellowship with them, it would come with an ill grace from us to find fault with a rite which they consider as lying at the very foundation of their church-polity. Indeed 216 THE COMMON ODIUM. it would hardly comport with the civiHties of good neighbourship, to renew the old dispute about a ceremony, after the parties had met and broken together the bread of amalgamation. But it may be said to us, Would you not be willing for such a dispute to die? Can you find it in your heart to keep alive controversy on a matter of mere form ? Would it not be better for all parties, and more agreeable to Christian liberality, to let it be dead and buried, than to prolong its existence for the sake of separating friends and brethren? We could wish, indeed, that all the party spirit and bad feeling, and all the asperity of temper with which the dispute has been conducted, were dead and buried, and were never to be revived. But we cannot consent to the extinction of dispassion- ate, Christian-like controversy in defence of truth, and in refutation of error. We regard it as a sacred duty to " contend for the faith once deliver- ed to the saints;" and the rites of the church of Christ are considered a part of the faith. On this account we cannot cease to controvert every thing which appears to us an innovation upon apostolic usage. But we are here asked whether open commu- nion could, in any wise, deprive us of the advan- tage which we hold in this controversy. To this we reply in the affirmative. We should hardly dare to name our scruples about baptism, if it be THE COMMON ODIUM. 217 no longer considered a term of communion. Let it be understood that Christians may commune without it, and its claims to observation are at once weakened. For if it may be passed over by those seeking the Lord's table, it may be omitted from the prerequisites to church-mem- bership, and by parity, laid aside wholly from the duties of the Christian life and profession. And such a result should surely be dreaded. We cannot see, as some profess to see, that water baptism is a matter of such little moment. Faith in Christ confers upon it a high and holy import. Under the guidance of such a principle, it assumes a character most divine and sacred. It is not the empty washing of the body, but the answer of a good conscience ; not the dead letter of a command, but the vivifying spirit of grace and righteousness; not the idle pomp of an un- meaning ceremony, but the blessed memorial of Him who has become our pattern and our hope. 19 SERMON XI. FOR A NEW YEAR. Ps, Ixv. 11. — Who crownest the year with thy goodness. It is not strange that the slumbering energies of thought and meditation should be frequently roused by the events and changes which we meet in passing through life. It would seem unaccount- able, if not astonishing, were we to remain the unmoved, and unimpressed spectators of incidents and occurrences which admonish us that our tem- poral duration is wasting, not by little parts and fractions, but by large deductions from its whole amount. The expiration of hours and days may be witnessed with little emotion. Their extinc- tion forms an obituary notice over which the eye may glance cursorily, without affecting the heart. But the transit of a whole year is like the fall of the mighty, which awakens the solemn feelings of a thousand hearts. Its lapse is irrecoverable. Its life, and form, and song, and mirth, its whole scene of joy and grief, its whole expanse of light FOR A NEW YEAR. OlQ and darkness, have gone from us like the winged dream. And Time, the uncompromising sum- moner, sounds in our ears his dreaded citation, to proceed toward the final consummation of our character. We begin with trembling the con- sumption of another year, knowing that like the past, it will soon glide off, or that we, already the anticipated victims of inexorable death, whose shafts are turned with unerring aim upon our vi- tals, shall cease to be recognised by the places and persons that now possess some memorial of us. My whole soul is startled into agitation and concern at changes and circumstances so event- ful. The term of one year may be regarded not only in the light of a grand natural cycle, but also as a moral one. The earth has completed one revolution in its orbit, thus having traversed again its astronomical path, and performed another journey of its hun- dreds of millions of miles, responsive to the call of sister planets, and obedient to the mandate of the great Maker. Passing from tropic to tropic, and from equinox to equinox, it has felt and exhibited all the seasons in their turn, all the changeful dis- positions incident to its varying relations to other heavenly bodies, and has thus proved itself a faith- ful member of the great solar system. Meanwhile the gentleness of Spring has visited it; and a 220 FO^ A NEW YEAR. grateful temperature of vivifying elements has re- called entombed nature from its periodical repose, and teeming life has resumed its cheering reign. Its successor, with an ardour and influences more intense, has once more confirmed all the weak and timid off*spring of the earlier Season, has deve- loped and matured the imperfect forms of plants, and brought to man's enjoyment the precious fruits of the earth. The sober season of Autumn, suited to the contemplative and the serious, completing the unfinished work of Summer, and supplying all the provisions requisite to the necessities and de- lights of man and beast, and preparing nature for another slumber in a wintry grave, has gone by us. The dark atmosphere, naked trees, piercing winds, vapourish congelations, and fields of ice spread out where lately lay the tranquil lake or running stream ; all remind us, that this is Winter, that the year, the whole year has passed, and that we are already beginning to count out and expend another check upon our little remaining treasure. Such a duration as that of the year contains its rich, though ordinary display of natural pheno- mena. The astronomer has found the lucid veri- fication of all that his previous science had anti- cipated in the motions, conjunctions, transits, and eclipses of celestial spheres ; the philosopher has received an additional demonstration of the effi- ciency and immutability of nature's laws; and the FOR A NEW YEAR. 221 naturalist has found, amid all the varieties of beings and objects animate and inanimate, fresh sources of gratification and instruction. To him the constant alternations of growth and decay, of composition and decomposition, of life and death, constitute that beautiful perfection in the works of the almighty Creator, in which Organic forms with chymic chariges strive, Live but to die, and die but to revive. The Christian too has had space for observa- tion and the consequent increase of wisdom and purity. All the lessons of instructive analogy have been read aloud to him once more ; the promises of God have been fulfilled ; there has appeared hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again ; and though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground, yet through the scent of water, it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant ; but, that man dieth and wasteth away, he giveth up the ghost, he lieth down and riseth not. Till the heavens be no more, he shall not awake, nor be raised out of sleep. In an interval so ample, all that is bad and mis- chievous in human passions, has had time to ripen into action and developement. Pride has had its little season of strut and os- tentation. Climbing up to some eminence to be seen of men, or walking abroad in the measured 19* 222 FOR A NEW YEAR. step of the scornful, or arraying itself in the deco- rations of fashion, or assuming the supercilious airs of greatness, it has enjoyed its fancied tri- umph ; has wasted the resources, and consumed the time, and expended the thousands which its votaries could command, in the vain attempt to set off a worm to advantage. It must be short- lived. One year should be enough to disabuse its deluded victims. In that period how many forms of this inflated clay are hurled down from their ephemeral stations ? How many are made to feel the sad pressure of temporal reverses? How many seized with disease, and enfeebled by wast- ing sickness, are now spending their nights in sor- row and their days without hope? Pride and man are natural contradictions. Their union is an absurdity too monstrous to be endured. O proud dust, look at the vapour and learn a lesson. See the withered grass and faded flower, the feeble emblems of thy frailty, and correct thy folly. Look down into the damp cold grave, where mingled clay and corruption wait for thee, and cease for- ever thy imaginations. The exorbitant grasp of avarice, has had opportunity to reach new acquisitions of earthly substance. Whilst its vigilance kept watch over its treasured vanities, its thirst for more, has sti- mulated the care-worn and earth-corroded spirit to unceasing effort for the augmentation of the FOR A NEW YEAR. 223 mass previously secured. The idol of the heart has at no moment intermitted its controlling in- fluence. That idol held possession of the whole man. The soul was its temple, and avarice the divinity to which that temple was dedicated. At no moment did the divinity leave its temple, nor permit its enslaved worshipper to suspend his homage, nor to look up toward the habitation of liberty, nor even to breathe an aspiration after another object. Devoted to the sordid god of this world, stooping down into baseness, and fall- ing into infamous prostration, it has not permitted the sincerity of its criminal idolatry to be once called into question. At the same time death has been treading down still lower such earth-born slaves. Their blackened hands, paralysed by mortal weakness, have dropped the ill-got booty ; their shattered frames, worn out and exhausted in iron drudgery, have sunk into the cold apathy of dissolution. Of all the things that harden human hearts against God, that vilify their attributes, that annihilate the last remains of honourable feeling, that render salvation hopeless, and guaranty eternal perdition, I know none of such potency in operation, of such certainty in effect, as malignant avarice. Ambition, too, has had time to mark out and compass its objects. Its restlessness, its versa- tility, its cold selfishness, its open rush toward 224 ^^^ ^ ^^^ YEAR. place and power, and its secret plans of circum- vention, have all had scope for exertion. At one time, retired from public observation, it has pri- vately occupied itself in plotting the downfal of a rival, or in maturing some plan of advancement. As this passion usually connects itself with great minds and lofty feelings, the claim to sublimity cannot be denied it. But it is the sublimity of hell, and not of heaven ; the sublimity of elemental rage, and not that of serene grandeur. It is the sublimity of war and carnage, and not that of the pacific glories of useful arts. Nothing short of the disturbance of the ancient order of things, and the subversion of well-settled institutions, can satisfy its demands. If our happy country ever bleeds by self-inflicted wounds, ambition will drive the dagger. Should this great republic of bro- thers ever feel the convulsive throb of discord, and fall distained in its own gore, it will be through the workings of this baleful passion. It will then have accomplished the ruin of the noblest superstructure ever raised on earth ; will have effected the frustration of the fairest hopes that Heaven ever vouchsafed his creature man. Of all the blessings conferred upon the human race, that only of Redemption excepted, the con- stitutional union of these States is the greatest. Perish then ambition ! Open and daring wickedness, as also the clan- FOR A NEW YEAR. 225 destine contrivances of crime, have been advan- cing with no ordinary speed. Opposed to these, indeed, have been the combinations and prayers of good men. The Bible has been sent forth, as heretofore, to throw hght upon the darkness of corrupt minds and profligate practices. The long-suffering of God, which once waited in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing, has extended indulgence to guilty men, whilst the Spirit of compassion has sustained the litigation in human hearts against human depravity. Warn- ings and exhortations have been sounded in the ears, and recorded before the eyes of impetuous offenders. Barriers have been set up to interrupt the course of profaneness, intemperance, sabbath- breaking, and all other abominations. But, alas! the tide of vice has continued to roll on, and though forced to recede at some points, has ob- viously gained at others, until the very genius of benevolence has paused with discouragement. One year's history of crime known and read, defined by an accurate inventory, and summed up in all the blackness of aggregation, would start into painful emotion all the secret springs of amazed humanity ; would fix our souls in horrified expectation of God's avenging justice ; would prompt the inquiry how it is that a sin-hating God can so long endure the blasphemers of his name, the insulters of his majesty, the despisers OOfi FOR A NEW YEAR. of his goodness and forbearance, the instigators and authors of apostacy and rebelUon foul as that engendered in hell. But mercy crowns the year, and justice delays its inflictions until the measure of iniquity shall have been filled up. Within an interval so extended as that to which memory now recurs, it is animating to believe that a class of moral elements, the very opposite to those just enumerated, has been in full and vigor- ous operation. God has not left himself without witness amid the scenes of degeneracy and guilt which have attested, as heretofore, the shame of a world lying in that Wicked One. But whilst ini- quity is often bold and insolent, clamorous and presuming, piety is reserved and unpretending, and achieves its brightest conquests in compara- tive concealment. A great and strong wind may be abroad, but the Lord is not in the wind ; an earthquake may shake the nations, but the Lord is not in the earthquake ; after the earthquake may come the fire, but the Lord is not in the fire. He is in the still small voice. The conquest which religion gains over public opinion, over the opulence of the wealthy, over the talents and re- sources of the great and influential, how desirable soever on many accounts, must not be taken as the standard of its true glory. The work which most praises it, is that secret and retired opera- tion by which the obstinate heart is made to FOR A NEW YEAR. 297 yield to the demands of truth. Like its divine Master, it cometh not with observation. Silently it enters the heart, and there prepares its throne. It goes with the man into his retirements, ac- companies him in his pubUc walks, deepens the awful tones of providential admonition, whispers good counsels to his heart, and carries on the work of conquest. In such a term piety likewise must have had its vicissitudes. Its tone must have been depressed or elevated, sad, or cheerful, according to the varying circumstances whose influence would be felt. For piety is the soul's intercourse with God. It is that ardour of genuine religion by which life and motion are imparted to it, by which are se- cured the stated and punctual performance of duty, and the growth of all the unadulterated vir- tues. The entire spirit is pervaded by its divine unction, and formed to the peculiar tempers and habits of divine life. Sweetness of affection, reali- sation of faith, confidence of hope, and the as- piring aims of perseverance, are some of its inse- parable attendants. Joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, is among its exalted fruits. For the soul where its seat is, can reconcile the interests of time with those of eternity, and make this life auxiliary to the next. While it stoops to the thoughts and arrangements necessary to the pro- secution of secular interests, its eye is still lifted 228 FOR A NEW YEAR, up to heaven; whilst the corporeal nature lies cradled in the clod, the ethereal part is crowned with the sunbeam ; whilst the hands are filled with the rough and crude elements of earth, the mind ranges the skies, and lives amid the radiant scenes of immortality. It is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, having for its nutriment the love of the unseen Redeemer, in whose merits, mediation, and fulness of all grace, it rejoices with joy unspeakable and full of glory. It is not some fitful glow of fancy, to be extinguished by the first gloom that shrouds it ; not the idle presumings of ignorance, or delusion ; but the very reasonable- ness of Christianity displayed in the experience of the heart, and expressed in amiableness of a godly conversation. You began the year that is past, and that on which we have now entered, with a solemn deter- mination to be more devoted to God in all pious affections and actions. But I perceive that you have had vacillations. You have been in heavi- ness through manifold temptations. The calm serenity of your spirits has been disturbed by the inherent corruptions of your nature on the one hand, and the busy solicitations of an ensnaring world on the other. Your prayers have been un- frequent, your worldly engagements urgent, your Bibles insipid, your Sabbaths dry formalities, and your sanctuary privileges dull recurrences of un- FOR A NEW YEAR. 229 meaning repetition. Decency, rather than dehght, has prevented some of you from being strangers to this holy habitation of God, and to the voice of the ministry. What shall I say to you ? I re- member the love of your youth, and the kindness of your espousals; when you became voluntary associates with the people of God, and asked to be numbered with the mourners in Zion ; when you moved forward to the margin of the baptismal waters, stood erect in the presence of the descend- ing dove, and by one solemn act of obedience pro- claimed your adhesion to the Saviour of sinners. Jesus too remembers that day. Conscience too has registered that transaction ; and the church also remembers when she met you with the tokens of fellowship and welcomed you to a place at the table of the Lord. What shall I say to you, de- clining, callous hearts ? The comparison of the past and the present pierces my deepest sensibility. You have betrayed our common Lord, and lel|; him bleeding in a fresh crucifixion, in the hands of his enemies. You have torn down the banner under which you had enlisted, and left it stained and trampled under unhallowed feet. You have convulsed with grief the gentle bosoms of the saints. But upon yourselves you have heaped the heaviest woes. Blasting and mildew have entered your vineyard, and no fruits are found. Cutting down, cutting down, will be the order of the great 20 230 FOR A NEW YEAR. Proprietor, grieved and indignant at your defec- tion. The patience and resignation of some of you have been tried by painful bereavements, and strained into utmost tension by afflictive visitations of divine Providence. The stern decrees of demanding destiny have been laid upon those who had stood near you in all the sacredness of affec- tion. Your little ones have been smitten with death whilst yet clasped in your arms, and those living forms on which you had lavished your affec- tions, to which your hopes had looked with de- lighted anticipations, have gone down into the cold slumbers of the grave. All your parental tenderness has laboured under the bereavement, has staggered beneath the pressure of such ca- lamitous events. The goodness with which God crowns any par- ticular period of our lives, is but the earnest of the supreme, final, and eternal good, which he has in reserve for them that fear and love him. The benevolence of Deity is his wonderful plan for their progressive beatification. They are sown in weakness, but will be raised in power; sown in corruption, but will be raised in incorruption ; sown in dishonour, to be raised in glory. The year which from the dry seed produced the fair and lovely tints of the flower, which from the rep- tile worm evolved the winged beauty that flitted FOR A NEW YEAR. OQI in gorgeous colours through the purer region of air, which from the clods of the earth, after the sower's tread, presented the full and waving har- vest of grain, which from winter's waste flooded a world with fresh life and expression, is no un- meaning intimation of that renovating power by which we shall be changed and beautified with bliss. The crowning mercy of the Lord has augmented our responsibilities, and made still stronger our obligations. When we behold him forgiving all our iniquities, healing all our diseases, redeeming our lives from destruction, crowning us with loving kindness and tender mercy, satisfying our mouth with good things, and renewing our youth like the eagle's, we must, if not devoid of all gratitude, burst forth into strains of exalted praise. " Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, praise his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." The knowledge of God as Benefactor, as Saviour and Redeemer, is the only true source of all correct worship and obedience. It is not to be denied that his authority overawes, and his power coerces, and his terror alarms, and his justice punishes all the insubordination of rebellious spirits ; but it is only the proper apprehension of his goodness and mercy, that can constitute an ortho- dox motive to obedient conduct. Such an appre- 232 FOR A NEW YEAR. hension enters the soul with a Hght that penetrates all its dark chambers, and thence expels the ser- vile dread of penal inflictions. It conduces directly to the creation of a new law of conduct, of a new rule of action, and persuades rather than com- mands ; secures the accomplishment of its purpose by the generous excitements of gratitude and love. A law like this possesses an appreciable power in small matters as well as in great, and speaks with an authority softened and sanctified by kindness and gentleness. It proceeds upon this principle, " Not that we loved him, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. We love him, because he first loved us. If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." Such a law is of infinitely greater force than all the menacing provisions of compulsory power. It is not to be abrogated by life, nor death, nor angels, nor prin- cipalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature. It is the perfect law of love which casts out fear, guards the soul against se- cret as well as open sins, protects the whole sis- terhood of virtues, and rears the throne of God within the heart. What may not be expected of those who live under the control of such a law ? They possess this pre-eminent advantage, that all the pain of FOR A NEW YEAR. OQQ suffering in the course of obedience, is lost in the joyful results of that. obedience. All the self-de- nial necessary to the formation of a right charac- ter, is converted into delights and satisfactions inseparable from that character. All the sorrows of penitence, are turned into the transports of grateful feeling, the assurance of that forgiveness which penitence evinces. 20 * SERMON XII. AGAINST LUKEWARMNESS. Ps. xxxi. 23. — O love the Lord, all ye his saints. 1. I SUBMIT to your own candid reflections, whether you can justify that cold-heartedness and indifference which are the most considerable fea- tures in your rehgion. Can you look with an ap- proving sense upon a life more remarkable for its defection from duty than for any other character- istic ; more distinguished for a mindless apathy than for holy zeal ? What use has been made of the time since which you first avowed yourselves the Lord's ? Truly it has been flowing on in that unperceived, but continuous lapse which no delays or omissions of yours can for a moment arrest, while in the ascent towards heaven, you are not seen to rise. You have not emerged from the cloudy elements of a detaining and hindering world. In the day when your souls entered into solemn treaty with God, you surely did bind and obligate yourselves to something more than a life AGAINST LUKEW A RMNESS. 235 of spiritual indolence. That which you covenant- ed and promised to assume for the Lord, was something more than the naked name of his peo- ple ; for then you did engage with the professed consent of your own minds, to perform faithfully your pilgrimage towards the heavenly Jerusalem ; to be companions of all them who fear the Lord, to maintain a consistent and holy life, and the fel- lowship of faith with the Father and the Son. But with the exception of that heartless homage with which you occasionally compliment Him, there would seem to be no intercourse betwixt you and Him. You would appear to think it time enough to increase your acquaintance with Him, when you and He shall meet in the next world. It may not be impertinent to inquire, whether Jehovah has any thing more than the name of being your God, whilst you truly have something else deified in his stead. In taking upon your- selves the name of his people did you understand that this was all you had to do ? was the meaning of the transaction limited to this, in your view of the subject ? It might be conjectured that this was your impression, since you seem to have part- ed with every thing relating to it, but the name. The form remains, but where is the power ? The bodily action and exercise may be seen, the godly vitality appears not ; the name of life stands forth as a certificate falsified by the certain death which 2Q(i AGAINST LUKEWARMNESS. holds the spirit in estrangement from God. May it not be feared that you have explained away your engagements and obligations ; that by an art- ful exposition you have construed into nothing the deed of surrender, and are now almost ashamed of yourselves when you call to mind that weakness of judgment which could ever permit you to ima- gine that any of the verities enter into religion. With you it has become all name and no verity, all shadow, and no substance, all vision, and no reality. It is proposed to you to-day, to throw off the name. Make a formal relinquishment of such a piece of mockery, and dissipate the fumes of de- ception which have gathered about your minds. We wait for your renunciation. What is there in a mere name, that you should so love it, and so tenaciously hold it ? But if you cannot be per- suaded to give up the name, and are inclined to think that you are in fault for having reduced to an idle profession that vital truth and power which is the essence of personal religion, come, 2. And represent to yourselves the criminality of that course which you have pursued. It may be seen in this. You have lived and acted upon the secret presumption that God is not necessary to you. It has appeared to you necessary to have the name of being his, but the thing imported in the name, has not been judged necessary. Can there be a greater wickedness than for a depend- AGAINST LUKEWARMNESS. ^37 ent creature to regard the power on which it de- pends, as unnecessary to it? Was there ever ingratitude more monstrous than that which re- jects all regard to the benefactor, whilst it is basking in the sunshine of his favours ? What aggravates your wickedness is this : Many lying vanities have been deemed necessary to you, though the Lord was not. Upon these you have set your hearts, and have loved them, and gone after them, and served them, and worshipped them. Towards these you have been lavish of your affections even to prodigality; they have seemed indispensable to you, the feeders and nurses of your very being. So endeared are they to you, as to have become indispensable to your happiness ; to be separated from these pre- cious delusions but for a day, or part of a day, is absolute wretchedness. Not so the absence of the Lord. That is unregretted, unmourned. You and he are not such inseparable friends, as to render his absence a cause of disquietude. You can find more or less satisfaction in all the objects and avocations of this life. The daily recurrence of business, your food and drink, your activity and rest, your intercourse with others, and your musings in solitude, are all occasions and causes of cheerfulness, or else objects of de- sire. In a word, you respond promptly and fre- quently to the demands of the world. The calls 238 AGAINST LUKEWARMNESS. of pious duty are but tardily answered. The glow of animation which lights up your visages when pressing upon your temporal vocations, dis- appears the very moment you enter the sphere of sacred observances, and the Lord gets from you a reluctant tribute, whilst the world obtains your ready and cheerful devotion. Revolve in your minds the aggravations of that way of life which presents the picture of a soul so inverted as to find pleasure only at that moment when it is look- ing away from God, and to encounter depression and gloom at those intervals only when required to engage in his service. Think upon the time you have lost from the pleasures of walking with God, the danger you have sustained in your chief interests through that remiss and negligent con- duct to which your religious services have been subjected. See how your preparations for a blessed eternity are postponed and retarded, how much wrong is done to your souls, and what shameless disrespect is shown to a merciful Sa- viour, by spiritual remissness and inaction. 3. Return to your deserted Lord, with a weep- ing and supplicating penitence. Open freely to him your whole heart, and drag forth to the light of your own consciousness, at least, all your latent sin and deformity. Let your voice be heard by him, in the bewailings of large confessions and acknowledgments, and speedily allay the consum- AGAINST LUKEWARMNESS. OQO ing venom of that guilt which, pent up in your hearts, eats hke a canker the living energy within you. Remember whence you are fallen, and re- pent and do your first works. Till then, he has somewhat against you, that is, you have left your first love. With the consciousness that the Lord has somewhat against you, how can you avoid the incessant achings of a troubled spirit ? How can you find it in your hearts to smile when he frowns? to be cheerful when he is stern in his rebukes ? to be pleased when he is displeased? Can the earth beneath, or the heavens above, afford you one sensation of delight, while he that beautifies the one, and spreads forth the other, is exposing and condemning your folly ? He is, nevertheless, showing his mercy by his mild and gracious ex- postulations : — " What iniquity hast thou found in me, that thou art gone far from me, and hast walked after vanity, and art become vain ?" " O my people, what have I done unto thee, and wherein have I wearied thee ? testify against me." There are those who seem to regret that they ever committed themselves, by an open profession, of love to God. Were it not for the shame of incon- sistency and fickleness, they would probably re- tract their hasty vows. But for what? Have they discovered that there is a specious cheat in the service of the Lord ? Have they found out that he was only ensnaring them when by his al- 2AQ AGAINST LUKEWARMNESS. luring promises he drew them into the duties and privileges of religion ? Having made trial of his ways, do they now perceive that they were misled, and, therefore, are seeking to be disabused ? What has Christ done to you, that you have become so soon estranged from him? Did he require too much of you, and commit you to some servile drudgery, and play the tyrant over you ? Did you find the labour too much, and the compensation too small ? Testify against him, and say wherein he has wearied you ? Have you found it to be a vain thing to serve him, and are therefore deter- mined to give up in disgust the unprofitable busi- ness ? What has induced you to act such a part toward him ? 4. But if you are sorry for the part you have acted, there is yet forgiveness with him, that he may be feared. This apprehension should at once fill you with humiliation and hope. The sense of unkindness to the Saviour, should lay you in deep abasement, whilst the hope of his forgiveness should stimulate your efforts in seeking it. The sinful, comfortless distance at which you stand, is not to be either diminished or overcome, by sullen despondency. Therefore, apply speedily to that Redeemer whose blood procures remission of sins. Go to him in the sincerity of a broken heart, and his compassions towards you will be found not to have failed. Carry with you no attempted ex- AGAINST LUKEWARMNESS. 241 tenuations, no palliations of your guilt, but with the full remembrance of all its aggravations, ap- proach a throne of grace, and cast yourselves upon divine mercy. Were the criminality with which you are chargeable, such as to blacken your reputation among men, and to expose you to ne- glect or contempt, you would consider your case truly horrid and deplorable. The matter, how- ever, is one which places no stigma upon your names. You may live in the most inveterate habits of defection from God, and still retain the good opinion of men. You may keep back from him, every reasonable and required service, and still be the respected members of civil society. You may grieve his holy Spirit, quarrel with all his providences, discontinue prayer, and count piety a piece of cant and trumpery, all without forfeiting a jot of the world's respect. On this ac- count you may be tempted to think that the evil of irreligion deserves not very serious calculation, and that, in a transaction so secret as that betwixt God and yourselves, false dealing is quite an excu- sable affair. Here is probably the beginning of those errors which have operated so much to the detriment of your religion. For, if truth is to be regarded, what faithlessness is comparable to that which violates a solemn treaty betwixt spirit and spirit, God and the soul ? What treachery is like that which frustrates the most sacred protesta- 21 242 AGAINST LUKEWARMNESS. tions, and leaves unperformed, promises that in- volve the interests of eternity ? Should you con- centrate into one, all the atrocities which confer infamy upon human character, and compare the aggregate with the blighting reproach of falseness and infidelity to the Lord, their disparity would be like that betwixt time and eternity. If you had dealt falsely and injuriously with some friend in a matter known only to him and yourself, would you not upon reflection blush to see his face until reparation had been made, and his forgiveness sought ? Could you have confidence in entering into conversation with him as at other times, without such a preface ? Now, you must be con- scious that you have ill-treated the Lord. You have acted unhandsomely towards a most in- dulgent and faithful friend, and should seek his forgiveness with all due demonstrations of contri- tion, before you can, with any show of confidence, attempt the renewal of a friendly intercourse. And how should it melt your hearts to hear him saying to you, " Return, ye backsliding ones, and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever. Return, O backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I am married unto you." What heart would not break and bleed at such overtures of free mercy ? You can never recover your capacity for delighting in God, until you feel AGAINST LUKEWARMNESS. ^A THE LOVE OF SUPERIORITY. Had the intentions of the Saviour been carried into execution, there would have been no contests among his followers, except for stations and places which afforded the best opportunities of glorying in the Lord. But the love of pre-eminence show- ed itself at an early period. Large churches were soon established, learned pastors were placed in charge of them, and these, at a time almost co- eval with the apostolic age, began to take upon themselves the right to dictate to others in spiri- tual affairs. The consequences were evils of no ordinary magnitude, resulting from the contentions of rivalship between opposing bodies. The fancied superiority based upon something either in the dogmas or formularies of religion, may be witnessed, more or less, in every class. The Papist boasts of his ancient, venerable, and Catholic Church, and seems proud of his con- nexion with it. In his view it is the mother church. The Protestant expatiates upon the glorious Re- formation, and extols the noble deeds and suffer- ings of Christian heroes and martyrs. He boasts of Luther, Zuinglius, Melancthon and Calvin. It were better that he should glory in the Lord. And, then, as to Protestant denominations, where and what are their boasts? Let us begin at home. We Baptists are not deficient, at least in our own opinion, in the claims of superiority. We give ourselves credit for maintaining, in its ancient THE LOVE OF SUPERIORITY. o-y/r simplicity, one of the expressive ordinances of Christ. We have stood as a body, almost alone, in contending for the faith once delivered to the saints, on this great subject. We claim also the distinction of having been among the first and most strenuous asserters of civil and religious liberty. Surely, then, we are no mean sort of people; no small consideration attaches itself to us. But, my Baptist brother, enough of this. Go and glory in the Lord. I meet next that respectable, ancient, and de- vout class of Christians, known as the Protestant Episcopal Church. They have books in their hands, from which they read me many good les- sons ; have well-defined articles, a clerical grada- tion in the ministry, a divine service, fasts, festi- vals, saints'-days, and many other things which they term good, and for which I must do them the justice to say, they claim precedence of all others. My Presbyterian brethren look quite imposing in their ecclesiastical judicatories. In their midst is the constitution of their church, and their vene- rable standards. They are one of the sisters born of the Reformation, and nurtured in infancy by state patronage. Theirs is a well-educated clergy, an enlightened and opulent laity, and an orthodoxy which truth itself might be glad to own. They have no doubt that superiority must be fyyf) THE LOVE OP SUPERIORITY. awarded to them. I send them away from their church-pride, to glory in the Lord. The Independents are quite sure, and so am I, that their congregationaHsm is the true form of ecclesiastical polity ; and in other respects they are a people entitled to no small regard for talents, zeal in the propagation of the Gospel, and exemplary morality. How much they glory in these things, I know not. But unless they glory in the Lord, their glory is departed. The Methodists are a multitudinous people. They go forth by bands, and fill many habitations and sanctuaries with willing worshippers. They praise Mr. Wesley and their other founders and great men. Their bishops, their conferences, their itinerant system of preaching, and the eco- nomy of their church, are all so good, that I fear they may be tempted to be proud. I send them to unite with their senior sister denominations in glorying in the Lord. Secondly. The desire of superiority in the Lord, should be universal. It is a most hallowed feeling which impels to the pursuit of greatness in goodness, which makes humility the preface to honour, and places the height of human happiness in godliness. That desire of greatness which has been already considered, is of the earth, earthy. The sentiment now to be described, is heavenly in its origin, the fruit of moral renovation. Accord- THE LOVE OF SUPERIORITY. 077 ing to the import of such a feeling, and to that new love of pre-eminence now to be unfolded, I remark — 1. That the most humble are the most exalted. The doctrine of Christ upon this subject is worthy of attention. His disciples came to him saying, " Master, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? You are the founder of a kingdom. You are constructing a system of royalty, and establishing all the proper gradations of honour. Who is to be the greatest among your attendants ? Who is to be signalised with the highest station of dignity and power?" Jesus answered them by an action rather than by words. He called a little child to him, and set him in the midst. There was a soul in which earth's ambitions had yet no place. Meek, gentle, and unsuspecting, the little child takes upon itself the honour of being greatest ! " Now," says the Saviour, " I am prepared to tell you who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Here is a fair instance of superiority, a case full to the point. The humble child tran- scends all the rest in moral magnitude. I see the disciples blush, and indicate a willingness to re- tract their proud pretensions. Let them learn the new way to honour. 2. The rule by which Jesus disposed of the 24 Oiyg THE LOVE OF SUPERIORITY. question respecting greatness, will apply to valour and fortitude. According to this rule, the meekest are the most valiant, and the most merciful and forgiving, the most terrible avengers. " Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written. Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. Wherefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him, if he thirst, give him drink ; be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." In an angry contest, which if prosecuted, may put life in peril, the magnanimity is his who first mitigates the strife. The true courage is his, who sets the first example of con- cession, and foregoes revenge. He is the avenger who suffers ; he the wielder of invincible weapons who possesses his soul in patience and equanimity; he comes off with the victor's crown who rules into subjection his own spirit, and permits the blast of the terrible ones to spend itself in idle up- roar. To fall on one's face at the approach of an infuriated beast, is sometimes a safe expedient. By such an expedient, the fury of man is frequently disarmed, and rendered wholly harmless. Let it not be thought that this is mean-spiritedness. More courage is required to endure injuries than to resent them. The valour of real proof is found in the peaceful and forbearing action of the true Christian, who surpasses all others in manly forti- tude. He is gentle in form and demeanour, but THE LOVE OF SUPERIORITY. ^79 his heart is great, and his spirit noble. He is a dove with an eagle's heart, mild as innocence, but fearless and generous as oft-tried heroism. In the example of his divine Master, the Chris- tian has a lively picture of blended meekness and generosity. " Many a life he preserved, but none did ever destroy. Only one poor fig tree was blasted and withered by his curse, an emblem of his severity to the unfruitful. To man, he was ever favourable and indulgent, so repelled as he was, so reviled, so persecuted, sold, betrayed, ap- prehended, arraigned, condemned, crucified, yet what one man did he ever strike for ihese heinous indignities? How can we sufiiciently love and imitate his mercy, and beneficence !" 3. By the same rule we ascertain that the ex- penditure of life and substance, is the true way to immortal wealth. If life were only a present good, and if all its interests were concentrated here, then the expenditure of its powers upon extraneous objects, would be foolishness But when it is remem- bered that the life which now is, compared with endless duration, is no more than a point, no more than an atom compared with the universe, viewed in connexion with that life which is to come, then every question relating to it, must be referred to that hereafter^ in which the capacities and powers that compose it, must find at last a consumma- tion. Prudence will ask, what is the interest of 2gQ THE LOVE OP SUPERIORITY. the whole being, and will little regard the mere part. It will turn away from the ephemeral clay, and fix its regards upon the deathless spirit. On this subject the Saviour announces the following doctrine, " He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake, shall find it." The same declaration is thrice repeated in so many Evangelists, as if the divine teacher in- tended to confer the whole sanction of his autho- rity upon this momentous doctrine. For, who is truly the poor man, and who the rich man? I place before you two cases and leave you to judge for yourselves. The one is the devoted child of this world, who has drawn around him all the requisite minis- trations to the wants and luxuries of his being. His health enables him to enjoy the sweet juices of flesh, of fish, of fruits. His cultivated taste detects new and exquisite sources of delight in the garniture of fields and landscapes ; and in the dread magnificence of heaven. The charm of each varying season is his. When the great summoner approaches him with a citation to ap- pear in yonder world, I see him shrink back, I hear him utter his reluctance — " Thou fair earth, how shall I leave thee, and exchange thy sweets for a dread unknown? Ye flowers of Spring, and glories of Summer, and fruits of Autumn, and delights of Winter, you are all I have, all I N THE LOVE OF SUPERIORITY. 281 wish or want. I would cling to you for ever. Let me not be torn from all I love, from all I own." Do you call this man rich? Where are now his possessions ? He has been saving his life, taking care of his health, multiplying the means of ra- tional enjoyment, living temperately enough, and irreproachably, in the judgment of the world. He has succeeded in consulting well the present de- mands of being. He has preserved his body from the influence of inhospitable elements. His eye has met every where the most agreeable colours, his ear the sweetest music, his palate the best meats and drinks ; and all his wants an in- stant supply. But being now about to pass into a new existence, where all the objects that minister to this life's enjoyment shall drop for ever their functions and uses, he becomes at once the poorest being that imagination can picture. The other case, is that of one who also loved, but not supremely, the advantages and satisfac- tions of the present life. The blossoms and sweets of the vernal season were grateful to him. The herds and flocks fed by Summer's pasturage were also pleasing accessions to his delight. And he too heard the stern mandate of the inexorable summoner. How did he receive the intelligence ? What were the feelings of his mind, when inform- ed that all the inlets to temporal enjoyment were soon to be closed for ever. Hear, O my soul, the 24* OgO THE LOVE OF SUPERIORITY. rapture of confidence with which he met the un- sparing sentence : " Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines : the la- bour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat ; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls : yet I will re- joice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my sal- vation. The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places." SERMON XV.* DANGERS TO WHICH MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL ARE EXPOSED. 1 Cor. X. 12. — Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall. The fiercest rage of the tempest usually falls upon the tallest trees of the forest. Whilst the cedars of Lebanon are strained to the very root and threatened with destruction, the humble ivy creeps securely upon the wall, and evades the fury of the merciless blast. In like manner, minis- ters of the Gospel are exposed to perils of a more menacing character than those which await ordi- nary Christians. They are more tempted with caresses and scandals, more enchanted with popu- lar applause, and more assaulted with the shafts of calumny than other men. In every path that they traverse, snares are planted for them. Trem- bling is mingled with all their joys. The hazy * An ordination sermon. OaA DANGERS TO WHICH MINISTERS mists of disappointment hang about all their hopes. Care ruffles their serenest moments, and their brightest anticipations for this life, are dimmed by the sad suffusion of tears. If successful, they are liable to self-confidence ; if popular, they are ex- posed to pride and petulance ; if endowed with pre- eminent abilities, they are in danger of becoming imperious and arrogant. If they stand too high, they become giddy ; and if too low, they sink into dejection of spirits. The smile of men is tainted with death, their frown brings the gloom of de- pression. I. Ministers of the Gospel are in danger of sad declension in personal piety. They have so much concern in cultivating the vineyard of others, as to be often tempted to neglect their own. They are laid under obligations to follow up religion as a profession. It is their vocation, — their constant business and employment — the one pursuit which must engross their chief attention. May they not become more professional than experimental; more studious of the outward manner, than of the inward grace ; more solicitous for a good appear- ance, than for a good conscience ; more concern- ed about success, than about sanctity ? The con- stant handling of holy things does not necessarily render men holy. We may be busied about reli- gion, and not be imbued with its spirit. We may make fluent speeches for God, whilst our hearts OF THE GOSPEL ARE EXPOSED. 285 are not warmed with his love. The simple fact that we make piety our occupation, and press our thoughts into the study of sacred things, may be a snare to draw us into a cold, remiss conversation. It would be a deplorable case for the husbandman never to partake of the fruits which his own toil and anxiety produce. Much more deplorable is it for a minister of the Gospel to come short of the enjoyment of those comforts of grace and truth which he imparts to others. It is painful to think that personal piety is too rare a thing even among ministers of the Gospel ; but however painful the thought may be, it is one which forces itself upon us. Facts of an indubitable character evince it. The worldly tempers, the grovelling passions, the keen covetousness, the angry strifes and debates, which we encounter among many who should wear about them the very garments of salvation, are incontestable proofs of the absence of personal piety. Ministering brethren, let us cultivate a higher tone of piety. We call upon ourselves, and we call upon you, for a more exemplary devoted- ness to the cause of our divine Master. Let us make it our first care to keep our hearts right, to stand upon the elevation of graces, rather than upon that of gifts, to court the smiles of the Spirit, rather than the plaudits of men. II. The respectability of their office is perilous to the rigid virtue of ministers. The world, it is 2gA DANGERS TO WHICH MINISTERS true, hates religion and all its advocates ; but there is, nevertheless, in the present day, a large por- tion of all communities ready to accord a favour- able reception to religious characters. Among such, ministers can alvi^ays find an honourable place. They have a ready admission to the best society, and there, are distinguished with that re- spect and confidence which are given to its most deserving members. Flattered and admired, they are in danger of being soothed by caresses, and of falling into self-complacency. They are tempted to use that very religion which is not of this world, as a passport to popular applause, and a stepping-stone to worldly influence and advance- ment. How many have split upon this rock? How many have sunk, with their gay streamers which had floated in the breeze, to rise no more? HI. A snare of the most insidious nature may be found in politics. Ministers of the Gospel are too ofl;en tempted to interfere in those discussions which relate merely to secular affairs. Their in- fluence in society, their general intelligence, and the supposed probity of their opinions and views, all conspire to betray them into political specula- tions. Their opinions, when once expressed, must be defended, the party which they may happen to favour, must be vindicated, the conjectures which they hazard, must be corroborated by facts, and thus they fall almost imperceptibly into the idle OF THE GOSPEL ARE EXPOSED. ^87 janglings of disputation. Of all controversies, political ones are the least profitable. They separate chief friends, embroil brethren with each other, and throw into the very bosom of society a firebrand that inflames the whole body. Ministers who meddle with such contentions, generally cease to be useful. Their minds are fretted with ambition and envy, they habituate themselves to acrimony and invective in their ob- servations upon their opponents, they lose the unction of piety, and become more watchful about candidates and offices, than for those souls for which they must give an account. Few dangers are more to be deprecated, than those which arise from this source. How many promising men have had their usefulness almost wholly destroyed by their needless intrusion into political matters? How many have been swallowed up in the vortex of worldly struggles and competi- tions ? IV. Standing forth as the accredited expositors of a divine religion, ministers of the Gospel are in danger of falling into the commission of much sin, by suppressing certain parte of the truth. We will endeavour to make ourselves understood by the supposition of several cases. It is their well known duty to direct the attention of parents to the right education of their children, to incul- cate upon them as heads of families, the princi- OQQ DANGERS TO WHICH MINISTERS pies of parental discipline ; to require them under the most awful sanctions of Christianity, to bring up their offspring, " in the nurture and admoni- tion of the Lord ;" to set before them an example of patience, humility, and godly fear; and to ap- pear, as far as practicable, exemplifying the truth which they profess. But should ministers them- selves be glaringly deficient in these respects, with what face could they reprove others for their deficiencies ? Should their own families be aban- doned to neglect, or what is worse, to an irregu- lar, loose training, so that the worst examples of profligacy appear in their own houses, with what show of consistency could they expose the laxity and criminal indifference of others in the bringing up of their children ? Therefore, you will not hear a preacher who is a negligent disciplinarian in his own family, ever say much on this delicate topic. He generally passes it over in silence. He is afraid to attack the guilty on that point, at which he himself is most vulnerable. Perhaps he excuses his conscience by secretly persuading himself that there is no need for urging upon the attention of his hearers such subjects; that it savours of legality to be preaching about disci- pline, and morality, and duty. Those teachers of religion who fail to fill the domestic circle with the mild and amiable virtues which the Gospel inculcates, and who carry it with OP THE GOSPEL ARE EXPOSED. oftQ moroseness, petulance and ill-nature towards their wives and children, thus rendering their own houses scenes of contention and blustering strife, will not find it convenient often to quote such por- tions of Scripture as, " Husbands, love your wives and be not bitter against them. Parents provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." On the other hand they will find it exceedingly conveni- ent to glide over those exhortations which recom- mend the kindling and perpetuating of a fire on the family altar, which enjoin the reciprocal duties of the different members of families, and encou- rage the cultivation of domestic religion. The public teachers of religion are required to warn mankind against covetousness, to call off the attention of God's people from deceitful riches, and the heart-indurating prosecution of gain. The minister who is greedy of filthy lucre will not touch this subject. The covetous who serve the world with a sort of self-devotion, and from whose hearts the last principle of piety is eaten out by the corrosions of worldliness, will not be disturbed by him. His shafts will fly over the head of soul-withered professors, and all his artil- lery will explode in harmless thunder. Ministers who have worldly business to trans- act, and none are exempt from it, are in danger of contracting obligations which they are afterwards 25 290 DANGERS TO WHICH MINISTERS unable to execute. They thus have their miiK^s distracted with debt, and their resources taxed beyond the possibiHty of endurance or extrication. Under such circumstances, how are they to preach from such a text as that of " Owe no man any thing," or, " Render unto all their dues ?" How are they to twinge the consciousness of guilty de- linquents, and urge upon their hearers the prompt and faithful performance of all their promises? The remembrance of their own case will gall them every time they think of distributive justice. Their own offences against the laws of punctuality and contract, will haunt them in every effort which they may make to bring others to their duty. It will hence become conformable with their feelings never to meddle with such matters, but to leave them all to the regular course of things. The minister of Christ who glides into the ne- glect of personal piety, who becomes unfrequent and remiss in secret devotion, omits secret prayer and the rigid examination of his heart and life, will make but a poor monitor to those in a condi- tion similar to his own. How can he apply the stimulant of biting reproof to those who are no more negligent than himself? How can he feel and depict their wretchedness, when he is a stranger to his own ? O how important is it for us to bear the lively impress of every truth that OF THE GOSPEL ARE EXPOSED. OQI we preach ! The first art in divine oratory is the art of being holy. The surest guide to the ge- nuine glory of eloquence, is a good conscience and a well-regulated heart. Without these no man can ever be a successful pleader in the cause of God» SERMON XVI. THE QUALIFICATIONS OF A GOOD MAN. Acts xi. 24. — He was a good man. This honourable attestation came directly from the unerring voice of inspiration, and, therefore, cannot be questioned, either as to its general truth, or the propriety of its individual application. It is the judgment of character formed by Him who is a God of knowledge, and by whom ac- tions are weighed, and not received according to the specious colourings of outward excellence. For, in estimating character, and in deciding questions, either as to the extent or genuineness of human merit, the judgment of God proceeds upon principles very different from those which form a test among men. The former respects the heart which has been wrought into humility and contrition, and extends pity to involun- tary flaws of conduct; whilst the latter usually overlook the indications of hone.st integrity, and wage a war of unrelenting severity against every THE QUALIFICATIONS OF A GOOD MAN. 293 visible infirmity. Hence it happens that the ap- probation of God is an attainment far less difficult than that of men. For whilst they look upon the outward appearance, He looks upon the heart; whilst they charge every obliquity of life to crimi- nal turpitude, He justifies from heinous guilt, the most unworthy; whilst they form and reverse judgments. He is the immutable friend of all times and of all places, never forsaking those whom he loves, nor varying the conduct of his merciful providence. We too often find in the world an estimate of character, which is at once fallacious and hurtful. The virtue of not being as abandoned as others, a few acts of imposing generosity, some occasional displays of nominal goodness are sufficient to gain for a man the exalted distinction of "good" in the view of many. But did these objects of spu- rious suffrage for a moment recollect that the world is as deceitful in its applauses, as it is mis- taken in its judgments ; that the kind of merit which captivates the multitude is not that humble virtue which stamps a price upon the soul in the sight of God ; that Fame has her whisper as well as her trumpet, and that the decisions of the last day will be attended with no circumstance -more surprising than the total rejection of all the claims founded upon worldly approbation, they would not so readily listen to a treacherous commenda- 25* 294 THE aUALIFICATIONS OF tion which may have an influence in shielding them from the salutary censures of God's holy word. In truth, to be a good man is no ordinary distinction. It is a dignity which connects man with both worlds, which removes far from him every thing base and sordid, fills his temporal space with usefulness, and occupies the period of his probation with works which shall impart a true glory to his name. It is not the gain of every adventurer who would present himself as a candidate for its honours, but the fruit of painful toil and self-denying exertions. We must not, however, connect goodness with absolute perfection. The mere man is yet to be found whose character exhibits no defect ; and he who says he has no sin, must look out for very serious perils to his veracity, when the severer tests come to be applied to his virtues. For, though we should admit, that no trial in his past history had, in the least, bent his soul from its well established integrity, yet as he cannot fore- see the mass of contingencies which lie in his path, he may still presume that aberration from the right way is a possible case, and that a new series of trials may bring to notice undiscovered features of sin and infirmity. Who can under- stand his faults and errors ? Who can penetrate the hidden sources of evil in his own heart? Who is he that can extend his scrutinising glance A GOOD MAN. 295 to those inmost foldings of his spirit, where self- love checks inquiry and treachery eludes faithful examination ? Our review of human worth must, therefore, be always adjusted to that scale of moderation, which the frailty of sinful beings points out as the only correct standard ; and whilst we indulge the respect which is due to superior goodness, we must not forget that a man can receive nothing except it be given him from Heaven. Life, in this sublunary scene, is not the serenity of skies un- spotted by a cloud ; nor the calm of a state un- ruffled by blasts of temptation, but rather the gloom of a firmament, broken at intervals with the overpowering light of a distant sun, and blending its shades of sorrow and joy. The picture which a good man gives of himself is often painful and dispiriting ; because in his dates and notices he keeps a true register, and the cloudy days are recorded as well as those which smiled with a brighter ray. Introduced to the contemplation of his character, we discover an assemblage of contrarieties at which we may at first be confounded ; but a little more insight into his history will remove all our astonishment. We shall soon see that the conflict of opposites is nothing less than the struggles of a new nature against the old man ; that " his discontent is his immortality," and his grief nothing less than his 296 THE aUALIFICATIONS OF grandeur. In the good man the heart is bent to a given law, and made to yield to the proportions of a new and holy principle. Strained and forced as it must be in leaving its old direction, it is not wonderful that the strong cords which confined it should be broken, and that it should often exhibit a mysterious aspect to the world. In pursuing our meditations on this subject we shall show, First, that there is a rule which de- termines and proves the authenticity of the cha- racter in question ; and. Secondly, we shall exa- mine some of the supposed exceptions to this rule, and afterwards make some improvement. First : The first indications of real goodness must be sought in the apprehensions which a man forms of himself. Perverted and defiled as our whole race is by the evil influence of a fallen nature, the earliest promise of a favourable change must be expected in the mind's exercises in view- ing itself. The heart must know its bitterness, the sin-infocted spirit must know the plague which overspreads it, and begin to feel the salutary grief of penitence, before we can look for much good. Hence it is, that in his first movements, the good man appears to himself to have become suddenly and inexpressibly vile. All the favourable im- pressions which he had previously entertained of his own character are effaced ; the supposed rec- titude of his past conduct appears like a fiction of A GOOD MAN. OQiy his own brain, and he wonders at the security in which he could have reposed, to the neglect of God, of eternity, and its awful interests. In- stead of growing better he now seems to struggle under the pressure of deeper malignity of guilt. The fountain^ of latent corruption are broken open; sins individually, and sins blended with countless involutions, pass under his trembling review, till he is almost made to think that all evil is concentrated in his wicked heart. The law which he had thought was the minister of life, he now finds to be the minister of death ; the commandment comes, but instead of finding in it the expected relief, it seems only to resuscitate the slumbering powers of undiscovered sin and iniquity. Let it not be thought that in this early discipline of sorrow the good man experiences any thing strange or uncommon. His experience, however surprising to himself, may be traced and identified in the history of Job, of David, and of Paul. In these distinguished examples of grace, he finds that self-abhorrence which repels in a moment every offer of arrogance, and pours con- tempt upon the pride of nature and reason. These holy men saw the first beams of hope and blessed- ness amid the sorrows of repentance. Their early acquaintance with the evils, which the poison of sin had infused into their nature, led them to the prompt and decided rejection of every claim 298 THE aUALIFICATIONS OF which might be founded upon their supposed goodness. Theirs was the wisdom to know that if any thing great or good ever marked their character, it must spring from a purer source than their hearts, and rise higher than their merits. Among the objects of complacence which the Lord selects, stands pre-eminent the broken and contrite spirit. Into this he conveys the oil of joy, occupies it as his special residence, honours it with an acceptance far beyond the most expensive oblations, and guards it as his sacred enclosure. And must not that be good in which God takes pleasure? Does not his divine and piercing eye survey the incipient traces of an excellence which grows into strength and beauty amidst apparent darkness and confusion ? Can he not see in the throb of every sorrow that the penitent honours his law, and reflects the glory of his compassion ? We may expect unaffected goodness from him whose heart is thus prepared by the convictions of inherent wretchedness. He cannot be of a resent- ful temper ; because the judgment of his own heart has anticipated the reproaches of men, and the consciousness of his guilt disarms his indignation at the injuries which others may offer to his cha- racter or his interest. Knowing that he might have remained for ever under the condemnation of a righteous law, he cannot find it in his heart A GOOD MAN. ono to indulge a spirit of censoriousness and malevo- lence. With a knowledge of his own extreme misery and sin, he presumes what must be the condition of others, and therefore advances with an eye of pity and a hand of relief to afford them assistance, and to impart the same alleviations which gave a check to his trouble. He learns to love his fellow-men, by the example of that love which the merciful Saviour extended to him, and concludes that if Christ could love him with such intensity of affection as to die for him and the world, he surely ought to love them for whom he thus died. Hence the good man turns his grati- tude into arguments, and his arguments into a ready compliance with duty. The Saviour of men holds a high and distin- guished place in the heart of the good man. To him Christ is all and in all. His release from sin, his introduction to a new and holy life, all his hopes and comforts in the view of an eternal world, are derived from the God-man, the great Mediator. Without this high and holy estimation of Jesus, it is hardly possible to be a good man in any sense, and wholly impossible to be so in the sublime sense of Scripture. The acknowledg- ment of his divinity, the belief of his atoning sacri- fice for sin, the perception of his saving grace and healing mercy are essential to the formation of the character under consideration. For without ^QQ THE aUALIFICATlONS OF the Redeemer's expiation, sin remains the terror and the bondage of the soul. No generous ef- forts of self-denying obedience can ever be ex- pected from those who view themselves irrecover- ably lost by their transgressions ; who yield to all the dark forebodings of despair, and can never take any steps either to conciliate the good will of a being whom they view as infinitely above them, or to deprecate a wrath which inexorable justice renders inevitable. The good man rejoices in the success of truth and in the extension of goodness. The cordiality of his affection for the Gospel cannot be disguised ; for he beholds in it the remedy of sin, and the balm of sorrow : he reads in it the obvious signa- tures of Deity, and hears from every whisper of inspiration the sound of mercy. Thus it was with Barnabas; when he saw the effects of the Saviour's doctrines, the adamant of unbelieving hearts yielding to the terms of salvation, cities, where dismal rites of debasing superstition had held their empire, bowing down to the peaceful reign of the pure and holy religion of the cross, " He was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord." This is the spontaneous expression of a heart in unison with good things, the earnest devotion of a spirit formed to the love of those things which are ho- nest, lovely and of good report. A GOOD MAN. OQ| The good man is the companion of all them that fear the Lord. Does he hear the moans of penitence from the pensive heart of some distant and solitary wanderer? He is acquainted with the sound, and instantly feels that the ohject from which it emanates is his brother. His heart melts into tenderness, and he assumes the case as his own, tracing and identifying his own experience in the struggles of one who groans under the pressure of conscious guilt. Is he called to wit- ness the^ afflictions of the righteous in a world where virtue weeps and licentiousness exults ? He transfers their sufferings to himself, and chooses rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. To him the reproach of Christ is greater riches than the treasures of the world. Does he witness the zeal of those ardent sons of piety who have resolved all their interest into the sublime passion of doing good to their fellow-men? They are the props of his tottering faith, the incentives to his holy exertions, the advocates which plead his cause before a perverse generation. Does he hear of the infirmities of those whom he accounts his brethren, that they have been overtaken in a fault; that unhappy imputations have been cast upon the common cause through their follies and imperfections ? These are awful monitors to him. From the ruin in which they have merged their 26 QQ2 THE aUALIFICATIONS OF character and sunk their honest fame, he hears a warning voice which speaks of danger nigh, utters the brief history of those who have incurred the shame and guilt of a grievous fall. He has his share of affliction ; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not ? Cares of awful magnitude, and apprehensions dark with direful import crowd upon him, and assault his peace. But religion has raised him above their malignant control, and all their tumult breaks, like harmless thunders, at his feet. The world to come engrosses all his thoughts, and gives a fire to his aspirations which the damps of nature can- not extinguish. It is not the idle chase of false felicity, not the painted phantom of momentary bliss, not the fruit ripened by that solar ray which shall be extinguished in nature's general ruin, nor all the splendour of worldly opulence, that can attract his high regard. His virtues are not soured by austerity, his life is not broken into hideous gaps, but forms an even tenor ; his heart needs not the covering of insidious reserve, but is most loved in its naked candour. Such is the good man. Let us emulate his virtues, and strive to be like him. His character is instructive, his ' example full of light, his end full of immortality. But let us be cautious, in the second place, to de- fend him against some supposed exceptions : — 1st. The first exception which we shall notice, A GOOD MAN. 303 originates in the necessity which detains the good man in the world. His preparation for another world, does not raise him beyond the wants of this ; nor does his relish for heavenly food, annihilate the capacity of tempora-1 enjoyment. He must, therefore, plant and build, buy and sell, plan and execute, and mingle in the throng of the men of this generation, who limit their hopes and works to the present life. His right to do all this is not called in question, nor do any for a moment deny him the immunities which civil institutions supply. But, for the man of the skies, whose soul breathes a heavenly air, and whose hope expatiates in the brightness of a better life, to be seen in those se- cular avocations, which, in their fairest form, are grovelling, compared with immortality, is sufficient to lower his claims, to remove the charm of eleva- tion from his character, and to give a pretext to the world for considering him no better than them- selves. This, however, is a pretext only. For by what order of things could it have been otherwise ? Would it have been a wise arrangement for the good man to be translated to his native heaven so soon as his title thereto was established? In that case, all the power of his example, and all the benefit of his conversation with men must have been lost. His virtues in that case w^ould have wanted the maturity and lustre which the tests of a probationary state can alone impart, and QQ^ THE aUALIFICATIONS OF his goodness must have appeared less meritorious, because less tried by the collisions of an opposing power. It was not the Saviour's prayer that his people should be taken out of the world, but that they should be preserved from its evil. They have an appointed time ; a course of duties to perform, of sufferings to undergo, the purposes of their Lord to fulfil, and the beauty of holiness to exemplify. Instead, therefore, of suffering any diminution in the authority and gravity of their name, because they are pilgrims and sojourners in the world, they ought rather to be admired for that exalted quality by which they are able to stoop from their eminence, and not be degraded, to pass through the furnace, and not be consumed, to toil in the corruptions of this world, and not be contaminated. 2. The goodness which is merely nominal, often approaches so near a resemblance to that which is genuine, as to induce many to think that there is none real and unsophisticated. Disappointment is apt to render men sceptical. The tree from which you have often sought fruit, but have found none, is condemned as barren and unproductive, and not that individual tree only, but all its species fall under suspicion. We are naturally apt to proceed with doubt and caution in all those cases where we have suffered deception. Deceitful embers may lie concealed under the incumbent A GOOD MAN. onff ashes which invite the tread of the unwary ; but will inflict a certain smart. He who has once suffered from such treachery, will be careful how he comes again into a similar danger, since by a strong association, ashes will remind him of latent fire. He who has been pierced with a thorn in grasping a flower, will naturally suspect the next flower he meets, and will seize it with caution. But does it follow, in the course of nature, that because one tree is spurious, that every one of its kind is false ? Does it follow, as a necessary consequence, that because embers and ashes are sometimes associated, they are never distinct? Must it be concluded that because one flower contained a thorn, every one is the covering of an insidious goad ? On the contrary, the very fact of a counterfeit demonstrates the existence of that which is real and genuine; the shadow proves the substance; the copy, however imperfect as a transcript, shows the existence of an original. It is admitted, that formal and superficial religion has done much to injure the credit of that which is cordial ; suspicion and captiousness will exert an unhappy influence in examining the pretensions of those who appear blended in the general mass. The honest sons of a faith that disdains all dis- simulation, must take their lot in the world among those whose arts and impositions have screened them from exposure, and not unfrequently the 26^ QQg THE aUALIFICATIONS OF judgment of the world assigns a higher character to him whose dexterous hypocrisy has well sus- tained his part, than to the plain unvarnished life, which, being conscious of no disguise, fears no im- putations. Who can tell how difficult the task is to take forth the precious from the vile ; to draw the lines of character so strong and deep, that the deceiver and hypocrite may read their doom, and the spirit of the contrite may be revived? What boldness and penetration does it require to take from specious deception its borrowed attractions, and exhibit its deformity to the detestation of men ? In the day of final accounts it must stand as an aggravation of the hypocrite's wo, that his wretched arts were detrimental to the credit and usefulness of the good man, that his counterfeit religion brought into disrepute that which was truly good, and that the influence of piety and good- ness was laid under the impediment of an awful deterioration, by the sophistry of his thousand arts, and the depth of his sly duplicity. 3. The remaining sins of a good man are re- garded by some as an insurmountable objection to the integrity of his heart, and the consistency of his conduct. That true goodness may consist with much imperfection, that piety may be asso- ciated with weakness, and that sin, under some of its modifications, does reside in the renewed heart, is, we believe, a general concession among Chris- A GOOD MAN. ^07 tians. But as to the nature and extent of the in- dweUing malady, the consent is not so general, some allowing it a latitude greater, and some less, according to their respective modes of explaining Scripture. On this point we select a single pas- sage, which deserves attention, not merely for controversy and speculation, but for its deep ex- perimental character. It occurs in the seventh chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans : " For we know that the law is spiritual ; but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not : for what I would, that do I not ; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing : for to will is present with me ; but how to perform that which is good, I find not. For the good that I would, I do not ; but the evil which I would not, that I do. I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present wdth me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man." The first question which arises upon this celebrated passage is, Did the Apostle speak this of himself, or of some other man? Of some other man, say many expositors, both an- cient and modern. Of himself, say many exposi- tors, both ancient and modern. Thus the autho- rity of commentators, distinguished alike for piety OQO THE aUALlFICATIONS OF and learning, lies on both sides of the question, and we are left to form our own judgment. Should it appear that the Apostle personates the point under discussion, and does not make his own ex- perience responsible for the declarations here made, then it is no longer a case to which the good man may appeal for his vindication, under the disquieting consciousness of remaining sin. But should it appear that he appropriates to him- self the views expressed, and that he employs no rhetorical artifice to cover an obnoxious represen- tation, then the humble believer may still retain his confidence of faith and hope, notwithstanding the burden of evil which lies upon his groaning penitent heart. We are fully persuaded that the Apostle utters the language of his own experience ; because the custom of personating is very rare with him, and never introduced without an obvious reason, which cannot be seen in the instance under consideration; because those who advocate the idea of his speaking under an assumed character, are not agreed what, or who that character is ; because the strong language which he employs, " as carnal and sold under sin," may, without any violence, comport with the feelings of a heart which abhors and rejects every kind of sin ; be- cause the delight in the law of God which he ex- presses, is a pleasure of the most vigorous and vivid kind, and could only be felt by one whose A GOOD MAN. ^QQ spirit had been trained to holy conceptions ; and, finally, because the language is well suited to the conflicts, agitations and dejection of all Christian experience. If we have not placed an erroneous construction upon the Scripture above discussed, then the fact of much indweUing corruption must not be alleged in extenuation of the good man's claims. He must be permitted still to hold the distinction which we have claimed for him. The light under which he lives, is brightening into a more perfect day ; the tenderness of his early vir- tues is yielding to maturity and wisdom ; the strife of warring elements is subsiding into repose ; the long-delayed rapture is beginning to swell his bo- som, and the day of his redemption draws nigh. SERMON XVII. AGE ADMONISHING YOUTH. Psalms xxxvii. 25. — I have been young, and now am old. When you are solicited to renounce the levities of youth, and to embrace, during your tender age, the sober comforts of true religion, you are apt to reply to us, That we forget that we were ever young, — that we cannot make suitable allowances for the feelings and predilections of youth, — and that we would impose upon you the grievous bur- dens of an austere and repulsive profession. You seem to suspect, that we cannot enter into your peculiar attachments and associations, — that we cannot go back to the period of juvenile freshness and ardour, — and that we are therefore very in- competent judges of what may be most suitable to your habits and inclinations. But may we not say to you, each for himself, in the words of David, " / too have been young V I have passed that way which your heedless feet are now pressing — AGE ADMONISHING YOUTH. 2\\ I am acquainted with all its extravagant views and conceptions, with its florid visions and im- practicable schemes, with its high-soaring hopes and calculations ; and I should, therefore, be ad- mitted to a calm and patient hearing. Besides this, my heart is not so hard, as to be insensible to the indulgence claimed by youth. I have no wish to draw the clouds of premature gloominess over your bright morning, nor to suppress the ge- nerous sallies of youthful affection. It can afford me no pleasure to hang upon your buoyant spirits the needless gravities of seclusion and mortifica- tion. But as I have been young and now am old, you may safely listen to my warning voice, and follow up the course of life which experience points out as the best, and which should be mine, had I my days to pass over again amid these sub- lunary scenes. If this be the temper in which Age comes for- ward to address you, it may be presumed that you will lend it your prompt and serious attention, whilst it reminds you, 1. Of your inexperience. Almost every thing with you, is yet untried. The little amount of truth by which your future course is to be regu- lated, has yet to be bought by sad experience. You are thus destined to pay a large price for a small commodity ; to barter happiness, mental quietude, and probably reputation too, for a scanty Q-IO AGE ADMONISHING YOUTH. portion of wisdom, which when obtained may still leave you unfurnished for many of the great pur- poses and occasions of life. Your power to meet a treacherous world has not yet been proved ; the armour in which you trust, in going forth against the gigantic force arrayed against you, has not yet been brought to the test. You have made no proof of your ability to resist in open combat, nor of your skill to shun the sly ambuscade, nor of your patience to endure the lengthened toils of the long campaign. As yet you are unpractised in the ways of men, and stand in the unwariness of an unsuspecting heart. It is painful to apprehend the result of those trials through which you have to pass ; to think of the fearful odds of power en- gaged against you. Your inexperience, however, may be remedied by one thing, and that is the Gospel of Christ. It brings at once and lays be- fore you the matured results of the greatest and best experience ; it presents as a free gift, what otherwise you would have to attempt the attain- ment of, at a dreadful expense, and in the attain- ment of which you would surely fail. It lays at once before you the wisdom " which is better than rubies, and all things which you may desire are not to be compared unto her ; length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." If you wish to be edu- AGE ADMONISHING YOUTH. Qi Q cated at once for all goodness, for all honour and happiness, bow your hearts without delay to the holy requirements of the blessed Saviour. Your inexperience then will be no impediment to your peace, either for time or eternity. 2. Having passed the scenes in which you now are, Age can the better estimate your peri- lous circumstances. Along the way which you must go, snares are planted. A murderous band lies in wait for you, and only delays the meditated attack until you are placed within their power. The world upon which you are launched, is full of dangerous currents, and unfathomed depths. Self- flattered, and high in hope, you have commenced the voyage with gay streamers, and are now fondly dreaming that each wind is your friend, to waft you on to the desired port of happiness ; and that each sun and star rise but to light you on to the fair calm of a distant clime. Remember, how- ever, that many have sunk into the abyss over which you are now sailing. Many others who probably began the voyage with you, have been already driven wide of hope. They are descend- ing into the unexplored vortex. " O'er them and o'er their names the billows close ; To-morrow knows not they were ever born." You are in danger from yourselves, containing as you do within you, the very elements of ruin. A 27 31 ^ AGE ADMONISHING YOUTH. heart " deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked," lies embosomed in the retired chambers of your nature. It is an ill-persuading adviser, a seductive flatterer, trusted only by fools and mad- men. You are in danger from others. Yes, my sons, sinners will entice you. They are now busied in spreading out to entangle you the enchantments of pleasure ; in mixing the intoxicating draught ; in preparing the way to ruin. See how smooth and gentle they make the declivity down which you are to descend ! They have arranged at pro- per intervals steps upon which you may pause, lest you should be shocked by the suddenness of a de- scent without any gradations. If you falter upon the first step, they will deride your inexperience ; and you, to be as brave as any of them, will begin to feel ashamed of your virtue. Even the Roman satirist perceived and affirmed, that " No one suddenly becomes very abandoned." And an apostle has said, " Evil communications corrupt good manners." You are in danger from false science and the pride of intellect. True science can never corrupt men. It is the spurious thing miscalled knowledge, the right name of which is sophistry, that perverts and bewilders youthful minds. But you may think that you know much, when in truth you know comparatively nothing. The observation, though often made, is not too trite to be repeated, That in our first progress in AGE ADMONISHING YOUTH. 315 knowledge, we resemble the growing corn, which when crude and green, shoots up and stands erect, but when ripe and fit for use, reclines its head in the modest droopings of humility. The awful truth must not be omitted, that your precious souls are in danger. Death, as well as life, is set be- fore you ; and your natural inclination leads to the former. Your souls are then in danger of being lost. The danger is now greatest, because the characters which you now form will probably ac- company you through life and in death. Let the consideration, that your souls are in danger, rouse you to a deep and lasting seriousness. Whether you are to be saved or lost, reserved for glory and honour, or for the blackness of darkness for ever ; whether you are to fill a happy space among God^s worshipping saints, or whether it were better for you never to have been born, are doubts, the solu- tion of which greatly depends upon the determi- nations and resolutions of the present time. 3. Many hearts are now burdened with deep care for you. It is not so with those who are advanced in life, and who are descending the cheerless valley of age. There are not many to care for them. They have survived the severance of youthful connexions, and the extinction of ear- lier friendships. As they proceed step by step, the number of those who care for them is gradu- ally diminished, until they often arrive at a point Qt g AGE ADMONISHING YOUTH. where they seem to stand alone in the great and busy world. The lovers and friends of former days are consigned to darkness, and the feelings and sympathies of the present time scarcely em- brace them. With you the case is different. Many hearts throb with a deep and generous anxiety for you. First of all, your parents bear an anxious concern for you. Before long, they must leave you amid the perils of a world which they have found by no means friendly to human virtue or happiness. They know full well that no provision which they can make for you will be of any avail, unless your hearts are enriched with di- vine grace. They feel a painful apprehension that you may soon cast off the restraints of pa- rental discipline, turn from the right ways of the Lord, and be found walking in the counsel of the ungodly, or standing in the way of sinners, or sit- ting in the seat of the scornful. They know, too, that an evil heart and an evil world are both against you, and that nothing but God's gracious interference can save you from the effects of their combined malignity. On this account they groan with a burdensome care for you — a care which follows them to the latest hour of life. When stretched upon the bed of death, they call you about them to receive their last blessing, care for you almost makes them forget their dying pangs. If a reasonable hope, that you should be found or- AGE ADMONISHING YOUTH. 3^7 dering your conversation aright after they are dead, should possess their hearts at such a crisis, what a calm would spread over the ruffled scene ! In such a case they would bid adieu to you in the confident expectation of a meeting at no distant period. The keen edge of the parting conflict would be blunted, and a holy, assausive balm of peace would sweetly soothe the grief of separation. Let it not be forgotten that the church cares for you, and cherishes the pleasing belief that you are the hope of the flock. Its present numbers are constantly lessened by dekth ; and soon a dis- mal vacuity must appear, to increase the desola- tion of Zion, unless the youthful portions of the congregation should be turned to the Lord. Yes, my young friends, the church of Jesus Christ waits to welcome you to her bosom, to perform for you the tender office of a nursing mother — and to enrol your names upon the annals of that long succession which shall come up to praise God when we are dead. 4. Age may justly remind you of the value of youth. It is the season when the yielding heart expands itself to all the influences with which it may be environed. When nature looks fresh and young, and the tide of being flows on in the strength of a youthful current, — it is that vernal season when cultivation first begins, and the bud of pro- mise is bursting into the fair blossom, and the 27* 318 AGE ADMONISHING YOUTH. prepared fields are rearing the hopes of the future harvest, and the rejoicing spirit of man responds to the melody that echoes to the music of nature. — How often do you hear from Age such excla- mations as these, — Had I my time to live over again, I would lead a very different life from that which I have led. I would better husband the precious opportunities which are now lost for ever. How much invaluable time have I lavished upon trifles which were worse than vain! What habits of sin and folly have taken inveterate hold of my corrupt nature, and how hard do I find it to resist the custom of sin ! Would that I had been re- strained in my youth, and that my erring feet had been sooner directed to the ways of the Lord ! It is in such language that you often hear vented the unavailing regrets of Age. It is for you to shun the evils which you thus hear deplored, to rouse all your powers to the blessed service of your heavenly Father, who says to each one of you, " I have heard thee in an accepted time, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee : Behold now is the accepted time, and now is the day of salvation." 5. But the most affecting portion of the address of Age to Youth is that which relates to the ap- proaching separation betwixt them. We must soon leave you, and we wish to leave you in the Lord. We shall die easy, if we can see you pre- AGE ADMONISHING YOUTH. gig pared to fill up the places which we must soon leave empty. It will materially mitigate the appre- hension of our final agony, to believe that you will come around us, adoring and worshipping that Saviour into whose hands we shall commit our spirits. If we can leave you in the Lord, we shall feel an assurance that you are well provided for, that you have a patrimony which can never fail — friends that will never prove treacherous — a home which will always be cheered by unfailing conso- lations. SERMON XVIII, JOY IN THE GOD OF SALVATION. Hab. iii. 17, 18. — Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vine ; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut oflf from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls : yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. t We must not imagine that heaven consists merely in the emigration of the soul to some dis- tant and unexplored region, nor yet in its transla- tion from abodes of pain and uncertainty, to climes of undisturbed bliss and reality ; but rather, that it results from the capacity of the soul to take pleasure in God. The error of placing the felicity of the righteous at an immense distance, and considering it as differing in essence from all that is felt in the present life, is more general and more hurtful than will be at first admitted. It is through the prevalence of this delusion, that those who have had only superficial views and experiences in religion, can persuade JOY IN THE GOD OF SALVATION. oo I themselves that their state may be good, and their hopes well founded. For, whilst they are con- scious of the absence of that joy which the favour and presence of God must impart, they console themselves under this manifest deficiency, by recurring to the long-cherished error, that heaven is an untasted delight. Accordingly, they are contented to live in the utter destitution of that spiritual happiness which they consider an im- practicable attainment, whilst in the body. They indolently surrender themselves to the influence of whatever is adverse to experimental piety, and regard all the present feelings of Christian satis- faction a^ a presumptuous anticipation of a future prerogative. To them, religion would appear gloomy and solitary, if it were disjoined from the enjoyments of sense, and the cheering aspect of this world. The conclusion in which they rest is, that although the spirit should have had no joyful intercourse with heaven during its residence in the body, yet, as soon as it enters the scenes of eternity, it must be in an instant accommodated to the amazing dimensions of its new habitation, and suited to the exercises of a state wholly fo- reign to its former pursuits. This dangerous mistake results, in a great de- gree, from the influence of that fallacious hope which induces men to expect a joy, they know not what, on their separation from the body; and Q22 JOY IN THE GOD OP SALVATION. though it is sustained by no sensible and consis- tent impressions of present comfort, they account for their incapacity to be happy in religion, from their preconceived opinion of the remoteness of heaven. Under such a persuasion, they are at no pains to obtain realising assurances, are under no disquietude from their unproductive profession, are prompted to little or nothing of that self-in- spection by which the godly try themselves, are strangers to the anguish which results from the hidings of God's countenance, are invulnerable to the piercing arrows of the Almighty, and secured in the slumbers which have been invited by a false view of religious joy. It is allowed that " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath pro- vided for them who love him ;" yet it must be main- tained, that faith is able to afford a "joy unspeak- able and full of glory ;" that it is not so much place as capacity that constitutes heaven; and that the final glory of saints will be only the per- fection of that spiritual capacity, which has its rudiments in this life, for receiving pleasure from communion with God. The words of the text furnish a lively view of that sacred pleasure which a pious man can re- ceive from the presence of God, and the security of his salvation. It is here we see the believers' power to be happy in spite of all the oppressions JOY IN THE GOD OF SALVATION. QOO of bodily want, and amidst the desolations of nature. In like manner we should be prepared in the most signal prostration of our earthly hopes, to exult in God ; and grasp those joys, the chief recommendation of which is, that they are wholly purified from all the mixtures of earthly delight. For although neither drought nor any other disaster should frustrate the hopes of the husbandman, so as to present an arid waste, in- stead of fruitful fields and golden harvests, yet it is certain, that to us who now live, the verdure of the fields and the splendour of the heavens must be shortly arrayed in blackness. To the eye dim with age, the fig-tree loses its beauty ; and to the taste vitiated with disease, the cluster loses its sweetness. And to him who descends to the val- ley of the shadow of death, all the visible proper- ties of nature are rendered equally incapable of giving comfort. To him all the avenues leading to the enjoyment of sense are for ever closed. The light of day ceases to cheer him, the tones of melody reach not that spirit which is no longer accessible to its charms. The whole medium by which the soul held communications with this lower wbrld, is benumbed with cold apathy, while restless and dependent it enters the invisible world. We should be hence led to scrutinise our quali- fications for enjoyment in the God of salvation, 324 -"^^ ^^ "^HE GOD OF SALVATION. since we shall soon be shut out from all that gives enjoyment to our sensitive existence. This serious examination of ourselves will appear more neces- sary, if we allow due influence to the considera- tion, that many of those who wear the external garb of religion, could not be rendered more miserable than to be excluded from every other source of happiness but their religion. This is no substitute to them for earthly pleasures, no compensation for the loss of secular enjoyments ; and the place which should furnish access to no- thing else, would be deemed a most unwelcome solitude. But let us remember that notwithstanding this, there is to be found in the Lord a happiness, which the sudden extinction of all created good could not vary nor diminish. The prerequisites to this happiness, we shall now consider — 1. To be joyful in the Lord, there must be a sweet accordance betwixt his spirit and ours. An agreement of nature is necessary to the happiness of those who must dwell together; for what joy can exist in a state of variance and strife ? What grateful quietude can take place amidst the agitations of perpetual hostility? The men of the world do not consent to the ways of God; they are equally averse to the dispensation of his grace, and the administration of his justice ; to the holiness of his character, and the rectitude of JOY IN THE GOD OF SALVATION. 005 his government ; to the purity of the law, and the sanctity of the Gospel. Can two walk together except they be agreed ? No object, all the attri- butes of which are repulsive to every principle of our nature, can yield us pleasure; and perhaps no greater torture could be imagined, than to be confined exclusively to such. The material crea- tion is in some measure suited to the residence of fallen creatures. Its parts are so constructed as to convey agreeable impressions to all our senses. But it is possible to imagine a different construc- tion; and to suppose that every pleasing quality of nature were reversed, that its wide extent was only an aggregate of properties repugnant to all the laws of our constitution, that the lustre of the sun imparted a horror inexpressible to our inmost souls, that the flowers and fruits of the earth were nauseating to our taste, that sympathy had no lenitives, friendship no endearments, and beauty no attractions. The supposed inversion in the ob- jects of natural pleasure, becomes real in refer- ence to the spiritual world. The animal man has no taste for the joys of heaven. The Sun which shines there, would strike amazing terror to his soul, by the excessive purity of his rays ; the fruit from the tree of life would sicken instead of heal. According to Milton, the idea of singing " forced hallelujahs to the Godhead," was more intolerable 28 00(5 "'^"^ ^^ "^"^ ^°^ ^^ SALVATION. to the fallen angels than the fiery lake on which they lay extended. If, therefore, there is any felicity in the presence of God, that agreement of our nature with the di- vine, which was lost by original guilt, must be re- stored. In the conversion of the soul this spiritual concord begins. It is then we yield to the influ- ences of the Spirit, desist from our rebellion, sur- render to the control of the Lord, consent to the excellency of his law, and concur in all his me- thods of mercy. In such an assimilation of na- ture to the image of Christ, we must be sensible of a peculiar joy. It will be our happiness to fol- low where he leads, to practise what he com- mands, and to visit the place of his abode. Like Enoch, we may walk with God ; like Moses, pre- fer the afflictions of his people to the pleasures of sin, and like Job, trust in him though he slay us. We shall not ask the world to help us to be happy, nor shall we dread its power to inflict a lasting wound. " Too blest to mourn Creation's obsequies," we shall think of nothing so much as the ultimate bliss of that communion, the subordinate results of which are so cheering and delightful. As the soul's accordance with the character, the w ill. the grace, and providence of God is confirmed, and JOY IN THE GOD OF SALVATION. ^27 matured by certain gradations, so the happiness of this blessed harmony, will increase with every additional discovery of his goodness and beauty. The more we find that is lovely in him, the more we shall exult to be like him. And if the expec- tation of heaven warm our hearts with peculiar transports, it is because " when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." A mind that dissents from none of the opera- tions of the divine dispensations, is not easily per- plexed, nor disquieted. By the extent of its re- signation, it anticipates the more obvious possi- bilities of probationary suffering, and is, therefore, not thrown into the dissonance of a murmuring spirit, by unexpected visitations. It has already conceded, that " the way of man is not in him- self;" that God's will must be done ; that the Lord shall "do what seemeth him good;" that "he doeth his pleasure in the armies above, and among the inhabitants of the earth beneath:" and such a concession must secure to all the events of provi- dence a peaceful submission. By such a mind it will be easily seen, that those acts of seeming se- verity by which the Lord exercises the faith and patience of his people, and which might appear calculated to break the harmony betwixt him and his afflicted children, obtain their consent, as me- thods of wisdom and grace. They find, that when QOQ JOY IN THE GOD OF SALVATION. earthly things are most remote, God is nearest to them ; that when their hearts are most severed from all present objects, they have the more sen- sible delight in communion with Him ; that it is an unspeakable happiness to meet him all alone, with the world shut out, and the soul closed against its intrusive vanities. Accordingly it will appear, that the agreement of spirit of which we speak, is not only the conformity of the heart to the divine nature as effected in regeneration, but also the consent of the judgment to the various orders and acts of Providence. This becomes a solid foundation of happiness in God ; for if those acts of his Providence, which are most adverse to all our temporal felicity, sub- versive of our favourite caculations, and embitter- ing to all our enjoyments, are so mitigated in their afflictive tendencies by the sense of his mercy, that we cannot deny our acquiescence, what will be our adoring admiration of those heavenly displays of his love which no cloud shall obscure ? If our spirits are made to accord with what he is, and with what he does in a state which has periods when he seems to hide his face, and to draw the darkness of indignation around his countenance ; how much more shall we harmonise with his di- vine exhibitions when transported to these scenes, where no jarring sound shall ever disturb the echo of benediction, and no shade of displeasure ever JOY IN THE GOD OP SALVATION. QOQ vary his complacent smile ? What is consent now, will be admiration then ; what is submission now, will be exultation then ; what is approbation now, will be adoration then ; what is a partial view now, will then be perfect knowledge. Let us now yield ourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, and rejoice in the God of our salvation. 2. Another prerequisite to the joys of religion, is the power of distinguishing and relishing spi- ritual beauty and excellence. Taste, as a faculty of the mind exercised in the perception and ap- preciation of those beauties which belong to the works of nature, of genius, or of art, has been largely and frequently discussed. But it is not so generally known, that the more interesting ideas of this faculty may be applied to the perception of those beauties which the Christian system exhibits. There is indeed this difference, that the taste which apprehends natural beauty, must be an in- nate principle; but that which enjoys spiritual beauty, must be implanted by the agency of the Spirit of God. The one is conversant with the fashion of that world which passes away; the other, with that which is far removed from all change. The one conveys to the mind a momen- tary pleasure ; the other imparts a happiness which shall be improved by successive views into the fruition of God. In exhorting Christians to 28* 330 JOY I^ THE GOD OF SALVATIOX. the rejection of the more hurtful and malignant passions and vices, the Apostle Peter appeals to their spiritual taste, and assumes it as an evident principle, that they would abhor the hideous forms of dissimulation and envy, "If so be they had tasted that the Lord is gracious." And the Psalmist exclaims, "O taste that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him." Natural taste acquires a very delicate sensibility, not only to beauties but to deformities ; receiving pleasure from the one, and disgust from the other. The well-exercised senses of Christians, "discern good and evil." Their taste apprehends the beauty of the divine character, and derives infi- nite delight from the contemplation. They can see in Jesus Christ such qualities as render him unspeakably precious to their souls. They per- ceive in the plan of redemption such a union of goodness, mercy, faithfulness and truth, as excite their gratitude and wonder. To them there is an evident impress of divinity upon all the parts of that gracious scheme which contains the salvation of sinners. They therefore take pleasure in look- ing into the perfect law of liberty, and in continu- ing therein. On the other hand, they are easily excited by the exhibition of evil. Whatever is at variance with the laws of God, whatever bears the stamp of sin, and debases the soul by its in- fluence, is offensive to their just perception, and painful to their well-cultivated taste. JOY IN THE GOD OF SALVATION. ^Q | Hence it is manifest, that what we here deno- minate spiritual taste has some analogy to expe- rience. Let it be observed, however, that experi- ence is much more comprehensive in signification, and may be considered as comprising all the vigorous exercises of piety. But that part of it which relates to the happy feelings of the heart in the view of heavenly objects, may express the idea of taste, under consideration. The pleasures resulting from a view of celestial beauty, order, and proportion, are of a nature too refined to be conceived by the dulness of natural sense. They must be seen by a mind which de- lights in holiness ; must be felt by a heart alive to the impressions of mercy ; must be relished by a soul which knows what it is to be " assaulted by sacred violence," and "stung by strongest mo- tives." A man of genuine taste will discover and feel a thousand beauties of nature or art, which would wholly escape him who might be destitute of this discerning faculty. In like manner, the spirit which has been formed to proper ideas of the revelation of God, will see in every line of in- spiration something to admire, will derive food from every doctrine, consolation from every pro- mise, and direction from every precept. Where unrenewed reason would perceive nothing to love, and would consequently remain in the coldness of distant speculation, it glows with the ardour of QQO JOY IN THE GOD OF SALVATION. sacred affection, and realises with the strength of intimate knowledge. It is true our perception of divine goodness and beauty are necessarily limited in the present life. " Now we see through a glass darkly." Now we have only a specimen of future exercises and employments. Here we can have no more than a foretaste of our future inheritance in the clusters which are brought from the goodly land. Now we must drink from the rivulets, and be contented with the smaller streams. But this defect in our spiritual enjoyments, may be deemed their greatest perfection. They are wisely im- parted. For we readily ask, if the dim view be so cheering, what will the unobstructed vision be? If the rills which refresh the desert are so consol- ing, what will be the ocean ? If the notes of praise of our mortal lips are fraught with a melody so sacred and affecting, what must be the rapture of that anthem which shall resound in the golden concave of immortality ? We are tending by a rapid flight to our final home. There we shall have no vestige of earthly gratification, no particle of that comfort which is now wont to cheer our sensible hopes; no changing seasons to renew the joys of Spring, and the boun- ties of Summer and Autumn. Yet if we are possessed of a taste for the scenes and employ- ments of our ultimate state, we shall willingly ex- change the society of sinful men, for an innume- JOY IN THE GOD OP SALVATION. QQ^ rable company of angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect ; the region of storms and darkness, for that of serenity and glory ; the sun which is liable to many defections, for that light which shines with undimished lustre ; the fading aspect of nature, for the new heavens and the new earth wherein " dwelleth righteousness." Finally. To enter into the spirit of the Prophet Habakkuk, we must be found in a due degree of abstraction from the world. The spirit of reli- gion and of the world are on extremes too oppo- site ever to coalesce. Their union can be effected, neither by concession on the one hand, nor coer- cion on the other ; and those who determine upon the ways of piety, must lay their account with the renunciation of pleasures and maxims, which en- gage and direct the pursuits of worldly men. A mind which solicits in any shape, the applause of men, cannot be prepared to rejoice in the Lord. This exercise implies a frame of soul inconsistent with the competitions of rivalship, foreign to the expedients of temporal honour and preferments, and estranged from the blustering malignity of disappointed ambition. It is a well rectified tem- per, which finds in the loving kindness of the Lord and the approbation of Heaven, that which infi- nitely transcends all the idle breath of human commendation. It is therefore contented to forego the praise of men as that which ensnares when 334 ^^^ ^^ '^^^ ^°° ^^ SALVATION. possessed, and baffles when pursued; does not turn upon itself the corrosions of envy, because another is advanced ; does not contend for the phantom of secular honour with those instruments of vituperation which belong to the profane and unbelieving, and abstains from that worst kind of avarice, which is " avarice of air." Such a dis- position must be regarded as an important pre- requisite to rejoicing in the Lord. It should be carefully considered by those, whose public exer- cises often expose them to the temptation of seek- ing the good opinion of men, even at the expense of candour and godly sincerity. Whilst we entertain a just sense of that divine joy which communion with God affords, we shall be less inclined to overrate the advantages of a transient being. We shall regard all that minis- ters to the accommodation of the body as dying away by an incurable consumption, as falling into a general desolation, as ready to vanish away when the " elements shall melt with fervent heat." Therefore, " Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches : but let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, which exercise loving kindness, judgments and righteousness in the earth : for in these things I delight, saith the Lord." SERMON XIX. IMPORTANCE OF ACTUAL PREPARATION FOR DEATH, Matthew xxiv. 44. — Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. The events in the history of man have such weight and seriousness as to demand his constant vigilance and attention. Did his Ufe pass away in the levities of a conduct which contains no con- nexion with futm-ity, it might not then be inad- missible for him to drown all the more sober re- flections of reason, and the more solemn impres- sions of responsibility, in the tumult of eager pas- sions, and the greediness of secular delight. In such a case he might consistently think that the best preparation for an approaching trial would be to allow it no place in his thoughts, and no ex- citement to his fears. He might thus nobly tread on the verge of disaster, without ever viewing the possibility of a fall from his secure elevation. But, for us who live under other allotments, such in- difference is infatuation, and such insensibility, QQg IMPORTANCE OF ACTUAL presumption. It is a high part of our wisdom to hold ourselves in readiness for those stupendous occasions, when changes involving eternal conse- quences must take place. The least relaxation of vigilance, or the smallest defect in the suffi- ciency of our qualifications to meet the coming scene, must be attended with a risk too dreadful to be incurred without a deep concern. Any fail- ure on our part to be always prepared to meet the appointments of God, is a very daring attempt to frustrate the designs of the wisdom which he has displayed in concealing from us " the times and the seasons." His purpose in keeping us igno- rant on these points is to render us unremittingly watchful, and careful, and to inculcate prepara- tion at all times for that which may come at any time. If we therefore become negligent, because we are ignorant, we arraign the justice of his di- vine dispensations, and resist the holy orders of his throne. Our blessed Lord makes the words of the text a practical inference from awakening truths which he had just delivered. These truths related to the destruction of the Jewish state and economy, and to the end of the world ; events the period of which he represents as being hid in the profoundest obscurity from the knowledge of men and angels. And as they were so uncertain as to the time of their tremendous exhibition, he exhorts his disci- PREPARATION FOR DEATH. QQiy pies to be in readiness, to contemplate without dismay or consternation his appearance in the power of his kingdom and glory. The text natu- rally assumes two divisions, which we shall view in their proper order. First. The exhortation " be ye also ready." Secondly, The reason by which it is enforced. In the exhortation, we shall consider some of those things which usually delay or hinder our preparation to meet death and judgment, show some of the important parts of such preparation, and its evidences upon those who possess it. 1st. We are destitute of preparation to meet that event, whatever it may be, whose results in- troduce us to a station for the employments of which we have no suitable qualifications. Death gives an entire change to the exercises and em- ployments of rational beings. It places them upon the boundless scenes of eternity, and leaves no in- termediate condition betwixt supreme felicity and unutterable wo. And as it should be our high concern to flee from the wrath to come, and ob- tain the consolatory assurance of meetness for the joys of the blessed, we should carefully investigate and assiduously strive to remove those disqualify- ing circumstances which will render our final change an unwelcome visitation. The sting of death is sin. This must be re- garded as the primary obstacle to our readiness 29 QQO IMPORTANCE OP ACTUAL to meet the dissolution of the body. This gives to death all its triumph, and adds malignity to the poison of its darts. It surrounds the grave with terrifying horrors, marks with desolation the pro- gress of corruption, and renders hideous the worm which must be called " mother and sister." If in our sad experience of death, the powers of nature must be rent with agony, if the heart must break with anguish, and the flesh faint with weakness, if the vital current must stop, and refuse warmth and life to the system, if the soul too, in the shock which breaks down its tenement must feel con- sternation and pain, we are to recollect that all this dreadful disorder is the fruit of sin. But, it is not in its natural effects that sin operates in ren- dering us unfit to appear in the presence of the eternal Judge. Its moral pollution, its spiritual defilement, its deep stains of guilt upon the con- science is the grand obstacle to our preparation for a change of existence. The love of sin, com- pliance with its motions and tendencies, the stead- fast retention of its principles in the understand- ing, and of its pleasures in the heart, must neces- sarily alienate the soul from God, and estrange it from all the joys of heaven. They who have felt the sorrows of repentance, and have been exer- cised by the spirit of genuine contrition, who like Job, have abhorred themselves, and repented in dust and ashes, and like Paul, have exclaimed, PREPARATION FOR DEATH. QQQ " Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?" however oppressed with a sense of their guilt and unworthiness, may not fear that the iniquities which have cost them so much grief, will impair their qualifications to meet death. It is only that sin for which the streams of penitence have never flowed, and that guilt for which the conscience has never felt the pangs of godly sorrow, which can make us dread eternity. We usually meet without a reluctant feeling those events for which we are fully prepared ; and consequently the unwillingness manifested by the wicked to relax their grasp on this world, and pass into the realities of another, must form a striking proof of their want of readiness. " He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world." " Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night. The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth, and as a storm carrieth him out of his place." " The wicked is driven away in his wick- edness." They are styled " vessels of wrath, and fitted for destruction." It is by the influence of a sinful spirit that vigilance is banished, unbelief is fostered, worldly cares and pleasures are invited to the chief seat in the heart. Those who yield themselves as voluntary sub- jects to sin are quietly reposing in the treacherous Q^0 IMPORTANCE OF ACTUAL security of a spiritual lethargy. They are awake to no cry of alarm, sensible of no impending clanger, startled by no awakening terrors. Watchfulness has no place in their plans, circumspection forms no part of the order in their conversation. They dream " that to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant," that they shall never be moved from their place, and that all things will continue for ever as they were from the beginning of the creation. How inconsistent is such a state with every principle and habit of actual readiness ! To need a call to awake us from sleep after the dreadful cry of the bridegroom's approach, to begin then for the first time to watch and pray, must evince only our preparation for the confusion and darkness of endless despair. Can the servant be apprised of the period of his lord's return with- out watchfulness? Can the weary pilgrim know the time of the day-spring, if his eye be not fixed upon the point where may be descried the first blush of morning ? " They that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken, are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breast-plate of faith and love ; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation." We should recollect that it is possible even for those who may be reconciled to God, and have repented of their sin, so to intermit their vigilance, as to be at last surprised by their Lord's coming. The PREPARATION FOR DEATH. ^^ I wise, as well as the foolish virgins slumbered and slept. Among the obstacles to our readiness for the tremendous ordinations of God in relation to us, unbelief holds a conspicuous place. We are apt to think that the time is distant when we shall be called to realise the expectations of our probation- ary state ; and even when the end of all things is at hand, we are inclined to view our condition as perfectly secure. " Since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the begin- ning of the creation," is a lulling deception by which we are often tempted to quiet our appre- hensions. Because we see the same aspect in the visible creation, the same changes in the sea- sons, the same planets revolve, and the same stars glow in the firmament, we may vainly persuade ourselves that this mighty order will never be broken, and that creation will retain its form for ever. Thus faith in the declarations and promises of God being weakened, we neglect the prepara- tions which the fulfilment of his word renders necessary. Say, ye who live in awful destitution of every qualification to meet the Judge of all the earth, do you not secretly console yourselves with some indefinite assumptions of infidelity, that the trials you have been taught to expect, will never come, that the heavens and the earth will never be cleft asunder by the trumpet of the descending 29* 342 IMPORTANCE OP ACTUAL God, that the elements will never melt with fer- vent heat, that the mighty fabric of nature will never feel the crush of final dissolution? Do you not endeavour to persuade yourselves that the heaven and the hell, which must become the receptacles of the righteous and the wicked, have no existence but in the speculations of enthusiasts and fanatics ? If you really and truly believed the warning voice of God, you could not be so indif- ferent. Did you but believe that the beloved world to which you so eagerly cleave, must shortly sink in devouring fire; did you fully believe that your everlasting hopes are suspended on the bounty of an hour, and that the moment which succeeds the pulse that now beats, may bring you a summons to leave your abode in time, for an eternal habitation, you would surely act differently. You would feel the necessity of habitual promp- titude in all the views and qualifications de- manded by the change. The remissness of Christians in the attainments requisite to appear before the Lord, may be traced to some weakness of faith. They do not wholly disbelieve the voice which has announced the coming solemnities of eternity ; and yet their confidence in its truths is not so strong as to lead them to all the exercises of vigilance and care, which habitual readiness requires. Remember the unbelief of that servant who " said in his PREPARATION FOR DEATH. g^Q heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and began to beat the men servants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken. The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with unbelievers." In this life we are surrounded with cares, and allured by pleasures, which greatly abridge our spiritual exercises, and divert our solemn attention from the concerns of our final condition. In the distraction of temporal cares, the soul loses sight of those transcendent glories by which its nobler powers should be attracted. Whilst we care for the world, we are unhappily liable to abate the ardour of our pursuit after the life to come. Hence we have great reason to take heed, lest at any time our hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and intoxicating pleasure. The earnest pursuit of pleasure is represented by our Lord as blinding the eyes of the antediluvians to the tokens of divine providence. "For as the days of Noah were, so also shall the coming of the Son of Man be : for as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, and marrying, and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah enter- ed into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away." Whilst we allow our hearts to rest contented with the enjoyments of *iAA IMPORTANCE OF ACTUAL time, we shall not anxiously look for the coming of our redemption. Satisjfied in our present de- lights, our languid spirits will not pant for the streams of celestial joy. Soothed by the music of present pleasure, we shall heave no aspiring sigh for the melody of that eternal song which the saints swell in sublime chorus around the throne of God. Encompassed thus with many things to interfere with our preparation for appearing in the presence of God, we should \^atch and pray. " The end of all things is at hand ; be ye there- fore sober and watch unto prayer." For there is a readiness to appear in the presence of the Lord, which many eminent saints have attained, and for which we should earnestly strive. 2. Let us now show some of the more import- ant parts of this solemn preparation. It must be considered as essentially comprised in the dispo- sitions and habits of a renewed soul. To all others our God must appear a " consuming fire," his name and nature must strike with inexpressible terrors those who shall be found in the possession and indulgence of unrepented sin. " They shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the pre- sence of the Lord and the glory of his power. When he comes in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, they shall wail because of him. They shall run into dens and caves of the moun- tains, and call to the rocks and mountains to fall on PREPARATION TOR DEATH. OJr them and cover them, for the great day of his wrath will then be come, and who shall be able to stand?" But if our souls have been quickened and sanctified by his grace, if we have experi- mentally known the believer's transition from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, we shall meet the Lord with ecstasy, and shall exclaim, " Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." Hence the more important parts of the requisite preparation, are the forgiveness of sins through the Redeemer's blood, the justification of the soul by the righteousness of Christ, its sancti- fication by the influences of the divine Spirit ap- plying the truths of the Gospel. Yet when our Saviour says, "Be ye also ready," we are to understand the attitude of one who is " looking unto Jesus," who has committed to him his chief interest, and being persuaded that he is able to keep the sacred deposit, is eagerly watching all the indications of providence, that he might seize with joy the first intimation of his Lord's coming. In this view, the soul's actual preparation will comprehend something more than what is merely habitual. And in order to be in constant and actual readiness, we must know what it is to have communion with God, to cherish a tender sense of his just authority and holy inspection, to be- lieve with active faith all his declarations, to have our hearts suitably detached from the things of this OJ^/J IMPORTANCE OF ACTUAL world, and in a word, "being risen with Christ, to seek those things which are above, where Ciirist sitteth on the right hand of God." 3. If the condition in which we are to be ushered into the presence of the Lord, be a mat- ter so deserving attention and soHcitude, it will be an interesting inquiry to ascertain some of the evidences of the soul's fitness for such an inter- view. Do we "love the appearing of the Lord?" The Apostle gives this as an evidence of prepara- tion to enter into his glory. The crown of right- eousness was to be given, not to himself only, but to all those who love his appearing. We cannot love that which is unwelcome to us, which con- veys terror to our minds, which associates us with the objects against which our whole nature revolts. If, therefore, we love the anticipation of that period when we shall be brought nearer to our dear Saviour, when all the coldness of distance and uncertainty shall be removed, and our souls shall drink the spirit of an everlasting day, it is a pleasing testimony to our conscience that grace has fitted us for the grand result. The abhorrence of sin and the love of holiness must combine their influences upon the hearts of those who will exult in God's immediate presence. To all the workers of iniquity the face of the Lord will be an insupportable pressure ; but by those whose spirits are sorrowing for their sin. PREPARATION FOR DEATH. 347 who feel and lament the plague of their hearts, who know that it is an evil thing and bitter to sin against God, who desire above all things to be delivered from the stains of guilt, and assimilated to the purity of their Saviour's image, the events which are to conduct them to scenes of purer joy, will be hailed with delightful transport. A contrite heart, where the Lord delights to dwell, will never be dismayed at the presence of him who selects it as his habitation. When the Lord shall come to be glorified in his saints, and ad- mired in them that believe, he shall say, " Gather my saints together, those that have made a cove- nant with me by sacrifice." Now the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, " a broken and a con- trite heart he will not despise." In the character of that Saviour in whom we trust, we find an evidence of our readiness to en- counter the events before us. Should you see a man with his house firmly seated on a rock, you would instantly conclude that he was prepared for the storm. The solitary pilgrim possessing a covering under "fhe shadow of a great rock," fears not that he shall be smitten by the scorching ray. The son, with a filial spirit, however tossed on the tempestuous billows, entertains no dread, be- cause he confides in his father's protection. The ex- piring saint can fearlessly walk through the valley of the shadow of death, because God is with him, g^O IMPORTANCE OP ACTUAL and by his rod and staff comforts him. He that has an all-prevailing intercessor may not tremble at the face of the eternal Judge. He that has an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous, will be ultimately vindicated against all the accusations of sin and Satan ; will shine in the beauty of that innocence which he derives from the righteousness of the Saviour, and will assert his claim to the beatitude of heaven. If we be in the keeping of that Shepherd who " lays down his life for the sheep," who was smitten in their stead by the sword of the Almighty, who found us going astray, and restored us to the Bishop of our souls, then none shall pluck us from his hand, no weapon shall prosper against us, the beasts of the field shall be in league with us, and the desert shall become streams of living water. If we be sustained by the grace of him who has vanquished death, and exhibited the lustre of im- mortality, then without fear we may meet the conquered foe, view all the mitigated horrors of his character, survey all the forms of his subju- gated power, and quietly pass his dark domain. Secondly. We proceed to view the reason by which the exhortation is enforced. " For in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh." Our most unguarded moments are often those in which we touch the border of some momentous scene. " In such an hour as we think not," we PREPARATION FOR DEATH. Q^Q may be inhaling the pestilence which is to end our lives, or pursuing the pleasure which is to be fatal to us, or nourishing the disease which is speedily to diffuse its malignant power over our whole body. " In such an hour as we think not," the command may be given to cut us down as cumberers of the ground, to make our root rot- tenness, and our blossom dust, to pour contempt upon all our fading honours and attainments, and to mingle our glory with the dust. "In such an hour as we think not," the gates of death may be opening for us, the history of our probation may be receiving its last page, and our opportunities closing for ever. We are prone to thoughtlessness, and must find by frequent and painful experience that such a temper is an unhappy source of our greatest troubles. From not thinking, we fall into errors, the consequences of which embitter the greater part of our existence. From not thinking, we become quiet in the most perilous circumstances, and delude ourselves with vain promises of future safety and happiness. By not thinking, we offend God, expose our souls to danger, rush into the ways of destruction, and incur the dreadful risk of final ruin. God says, "My people do not know, Israel doth not consider." If we were to meditate and reflect, we should certainly see and 30 QKQ IMPORTANCE OF ACTUAL shun many of those evils into which we plunge. A little thought would convince us of the extreme presumption of our plans and hopes. It would bring eternity more before our eyes, and incite us to becoming diligence in being ready for its awful consequences. A little reflection would show us that our frail lives are wasting away, that in a moment all the springs may break, and leave the body a mass lifeless and inert. And as we must give an account to God for our sins and follies, it may be his pleasure to enter into judgment with us at a time when we the least expect it. Thus we shall be surprised by his coming, and in the trepidation of unavailing haste, shall anxiously call to every one that passes for help — " Give us of your oil, for our lamps have gone out." Dread- ful will it be to have the light of hope extinguished at the very time when we shall most need its cheer- ing influence. It is a matter of astonishment that we should be so successful in making ourselves believe that we are in no danger. " Man's death inhabits all things but the thought of man." Do friends around us drop into the grave and disappear from our circles ? we conclude that our time is yet dis- tant, and that we have no need to change our way of life. Does the grim visage of death enter our own families, and look down with menacing PREPARATION FOR DEATH. ^gj horror upon our apartments ? we still think that there is time enough for us. Are we rent from tlie dearest objects of hfe, severed from all that cheered with smiles and sweetness our toil- some probation, left with the bleeding bosom of bereavement in protracted sorrow? still we for- get our own mortality, and shed tears over those who were born to die. In this lamentable blind- ness to our impending destiny, how necessary is it that we daily view the ground of our assur- ance, and confirm the hope of a better life by preparing to meet God ! Reflect on the in- stances of death which have come under your own knowledge, and judge for yourselves on this important point. Did the 'young man who lies interred yonder, anticipate his approaching end? or was he overtaken by the appalling decree, whilst hope sparkled in his eye, and health flushed his countenance ? In him the vital cur- rent was suspended with the stagnation of death, before his anxious friends suspected his fall. And how was it with the fair and tender form that lies mouldering here? She too was broken down in an instant, and in death lay " a beauteous ruin." Another that slumbers near at hand, was snatched from the active scenes of life, torn from wife and children, whilst the warm blood of af- fection was yet throbbing through his heart. ggO IMPORTANCE OF ACTUAL And should we consult the long records of mor- tality, the observation which must strike us, would be, that in a majority of cases the sum- mons of departure was unexpected. Kow so- lemnly does this enforce the exhortation of the text ! If the hand of death may seize us when we least expect it, if when we go out we may never return to our habitations, and when we close our eyes in repose, we may awake in eternity, if the food with which we are nourished, and the recreation with which we are refreshed, may contain the cause of dissolution, if the stern visage of death may be hid under the rosy hue of health, and his gloomy features concealed behind the smile of pleasure ; and if, in short, our life is a vapour that vanishes as soon as beheld, how careful and vigilant should we be to hold our- selves in habitual readiness to relinquish our abode on earth ! Think, therefore, of your ap- proaching end. Keep in view your Lord's com- ing, and be conversant with the ideas inspired by such a prospect. Beware lest you be sur- prised by the imperceptible advent of Him who shall judge the quick and the dead. Resist firmly the obstacles which delay your preparation. " Seek unto God, and unto God commit your cause !" Allow yourselves no rest until the as- surance of pardoned sin be obtained ; until you PREPARATION FOR DEATH. ^^•J rest in the cheering confidence of God's love, and are able to appropriate to yourselves the comfort of the blessed promises. Listen not to the song of pleasure, it is a music that never breaks the silence of the tomb ; look not on the dazzling light of worldly joy, it never penetrates the gloom of the grave. 30 SERMON XX. THE WISDOM OF GOD IN SALVATION. 1 Cor. i. 21. — For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wis- dom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. When I shall have submitted to your conside- ration, First, Some of those things in preaching which by the world are deemed foolishness ; and Secondly, That these very things show the wis- dom of God in the plan of salvation ; I shall close the discussion. 1. The preaching of the cross of Christ is re- garded by the world as a weak expedient. In the judgment of man the doctrine which emanates from Calvary, is a simple absurdity, unsupported by the speciousness which has recommended other absurdities to the respect of the ignorant and su- perstitious. That God should select an unoffend- ing victim in the person of his own son, and should make him an example of that avenging justice which admitted no relaxation of its claims, in THE WISDOM OP GOD IN SALVATION. Q^rj order that he might be justified in extending mercy to sinners, is one of those prominent scandals at which the wisdom of the world has always stum- bled, and will always stumble. The men of mere reason cannot digest a doctrine which to them is so crude and repulsive. It offers violence to their views of propriety, and reverses all that philosophy in which they take so much pride. It prostrates the high fabric of fancied dignity, and leaves all the loftiness of man stained and levelled with the dust. But even were it not thus humbling to crea- ture greatness, the reason of the creature would, nevertheless, view it as a weak expedient. As an instrument for imparting good to man's moral character, it would have been the very last to enter into his thoughts. As a motive to the fear of God, and to the obed ence of a holy life, it would never have been embraced within the widest random of human conjecture. As a re- medy for the moral maladies which afflict our common humanity, it would never have entered into the calculation of any human mind. Pru- dence would have declaimed against it as an un- wise and ill-devised measure. False pity would have interposed its regrets at a proposal so full of bloody and fatal consequences to the innocent and pure. Proud reason would have started into a thousand protestations against the whole planj Qffg THE WISDOM OF and thus redemption would never have been thought of, the foolishness of preaching would have continued to be an unexplored mystery, and the glorious capabilities of the doctrines of the cross, would have remained sealed for ever against human knowledge and contemplation. Since, then, in the whole moral and intellectual constitution of man there is no principle or faculty which would have responded, in tones of approbation to such a method of salvation as that which the cross pro- poses, it is reasonable to conclude that all that wisdom in him which is no more than human, would have rejected such a proposition, could it have been made. And why this rejection ? Be- cause such wisdom would have deemed it at best but a weak expedient. Had it been consulted, it would have frowned upon such a suggestion as that of restoring man to his Maker by the inter- vention of that mysterious transaction exhibited upon the cross. Now it withholds its assent from the doctrine actually established by that wonder- ful event, and questions with an air of high confi- dence, whether God can be the author of such an arrangement, whether it accords with his great- ness and glory to be pleased with such a sacrifice as that which forms the leading topic in preaching; and whether, if he must have some plan for the restoration of his apostate creatures, one more GOD IN SALVATION. ^5*7 suitable to the dignity of his name, and the ma- jesty of his administration, could not have been devised. Thus far we have exhibited sOme of the ques- tionings of reason in reference to th^X foolishness of preaching which embraces the doctrine of the cross. And now let us inquire whether the fool- ishness is to be charged upon the preaching, or upon that presuming reason which prefers the charge. Taking it as a safe maxim, that any po- sition may he deemed credible unless its oppo- site can he proved, or should be capable of proof, we proceed to examine the credibility of the doc- trine in question. If it can be proved to demon- stration that no sin exists, and that the human race is guilty of no moral defection against God, then the entire subject of mercy and forgiveness becomes visionary, since it would be idle to speak of pardon where no criminality can be found. And if it can be further shown, that even on the sup- position of the existence of sin, God either could not, or would not institute such a method of dis- playing his mercy, as that upon which the foolish- ness of preaching insists, then the whole doctrine of the cross becomes incredible, because a doc- trine contrary to that will have been proved. But where is the disputer of this world who will prove to demonstration that the human race is guilty of no defection — no sin against God? Where is the ggO THE WISDOM OF wisdom which can show, either that He could not or would not establish such a plan of mercy as that which constitutes the one, primary theme of preaching? But until this can be proved, the doctrine of mercy and propitiation which the cross proclaims is at least credible. It is something which may be believed, because its opposite can neither be actually proved, nor shown to be capa- ble of proof And if this doctrine may be believed, because no human mind can pretend either to comprehend or establish the reverse, then all the evidence which the word of God supplies towards its con- firmation, is so much added to its original credi- bility. The evidence of Scripture will not have to contend with improbability — will not have to silence the clamours of common sense, before it can begin to operate in the establishment of this truth. " We preach Christ crucified," says Paul, " unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness." The great objection which both Jews and Greeks made to Christ, was not founded upon the fact of his being the Saviour, the promised Messiah, nor upon the fact of his asserted equality with God ; but upon the humbling fact of his being the crucified. They knew but too well that he had died the ignominious death of the cross, and therefore they rejected his reli- gion. If any one feature in the suflerings and GOD IN SALVATION. OXO death of Christ be more obvious and prominent than another, it is the atoning and expiatory cha- racter of those sufferings and of that death. He is the Substitute as having died that we might live ; the Propitiation for our sins ; the Sin-offer- ing for us ; the good Shepherd that lays down his life for the flock. The whole question, therefore, respecting the doctrine of the cross, resolves itself into another question, and that is. Is the Scripture which teaches this doctrine, true ? You who would regard it as a weak expedient must prepare yourselves to prove that all revela- tion is but a weakness. Before you can make the preaching of the cross of Christ appear to be foolishness, you must stamp that character upon the whole Bible, and reduce to absurdity all its propositions. You must subvert the whole structure of revealed truth, before you can de- face that glorious inscription which the blood of the everlasting covenant has rendered indelible for ever. You must reverse the doctrine of Moses, and falsify the Prophets, and prostrate the credi- bility of all history, and invade with impious re- bellion the province and throne of God himself, before the simple ^'■foolishness of preaching^'' can be divested of its majestic claims. 2. That agency of the divine Spirit on which the success of preaching depends, is regarded by the world as something visionary, and consequently Qaf) THE WISDOM OF foolish. All true preaching admits that it is God THAT GivETH THE INCREASE. To him it refers the application of every effort, the persuasive force of every argument. It relies upon the effectual teaching of that Spirit, which opens up to the soul of man the truths which appertain to Christ, and convinces of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. A ministry thus circumstanced, in the view of the world, is suspended upon nothing. When we say that all our appeals to the con- sciences of men, all our reasonings and expostu- lations with them, will prove wholly abortive, unless seconded by the vivifying energy of the Holy Ghost, we seem to the men of mere reason to talk idly and obscurely. They are ready to say to us, How can these things be ? They cannot perceive how an effect can exist without an adequate cause. They cannot imagine how an invisible influence, not necessarily in the word, not necessarily em- braced in the doctrine itself — can nevertheless accompany both the word and doctrine, to enforce a favourable reception. They therefore quarrel with the positions of the preacher on this head, and stigmatise his whole theory as the weakness of a distempered brain. But they should remem- ber that their quarrel exists, not with the sup- posed foolishness of preaching, but with its divine Author. He has taught us to believe the doctrine of spiritual power and attraction in re- GOD IN SALVATION. 361 generation. He says, " No man can come unto me, except the Father who sent me draw him. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." And says an apostle. No man can say that Jesus Christ is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Man gives no heed to the message of salvation, until his heart be moved by the gentle intimations of God work- ing within him. He starts not from the guilty re- pose of sin, until the whispers of an inviting Spirit be heard calling him away from its en- chantments, and from the long torpor of unbelief. Such is the influence, brethren, under which you have been made Christians, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Had not the Spirit of the Lord confirmed our doctrines and arguments, you would have been yet in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity. And those of you who are not yet partakers of the re- generation, must be conformed to this peculiarity in the foolishness of preaching, before you can be saved. Listen even now to the warning voice of God. Hearken to the soft and tender admoni- tions of that inward exhorter, who preaches to your hearts whilst we preach to your ears. You have probably been almost disposed to blame us for not converting you by the power of reason, or the sympathy of feeling. You have been waiting either for some violence to arrest you, or for some 31 352 THE WISDOM OF force to coerce you, or for some unexpected light to cast its sudden glories on your benighted habi- tation. But remember, and lay the truth upon your hearts, that no voice except that of the Spirit and the Bride will ever woo you — no sounds except those which are blended with the teachings of Inspiration, will ever reach your hearts — no life- giving breezes will ever blow upon you, except those which are in the breathings of the still small voice. 3. Another reason why preaching incurs the imputation of foolishness, is the simplicity of the cause from which it promises such magnificent effects. The simple cause of that grand result which is implied in salvation, is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved," was the one prescription which the apostles gave for the cure of the most urgent malady. The natural course of the human mind leads it to require for great efi'ects, causes proportionally great. That mind is offended with nothing, more than with a supposed disproportion in this respect. In great revolutions it looks for a mighty impulse ; changes of importance must have a train of important causes ; great conquests must be the result of great preparations; and in a word, the mind of man naturally sets a high price upon all valuable objects. Were salvation to be pur- chased with money, he would have it at any rate. GOD IN SALVATION. ^go Could it be obtained by a pilgrimage, he would soon commence the laborious journey ; would ex- pose himself to want, toil, privation, and all the ills of inclement skies ; would breast the storm, traverse the darkness and the solitude ; tear his flesh with thorns and briers of the wilderness, and trace the rocky path with the blood of his lace- rated knees. Yes, my brethren, it is natural to man to seek his spiritual happiness in any way, other than that which stands propounded by the simplicity of the Gospel. Salvation by grace is too easy. It is too large an effect from so small a cause, too concise to be the road to heaven, too summary a process to conduct the soul to a des- tiny so glorious. If it required a greater expen- diture of pains and sacrifices, it would be more popular. If it consisted in any bodily exercise, however painful or protracted, it would better suit the taste of the world. If the preacher were to go forth amid the pomp of temporal circum- stances, or were to conceal himself like the an- cient manufacturers of oracular responses, amid the solitary gloom of some sequestered temple, or were to array himself in the gorgeous ensigns of kingly power, the world would admire his wisdom, and yield a ready obedience to his precepts. But when he only says " Wash and be clean," he is regarded as a dealer in fooleries, and his message rejected with scorn. But we are to remark — ■ *ynA THE WISDOM OF Thirdly: That those very characteristics of the Gospel, which draw upon it this odium, show the wisdom of God in the plan of salvation. The wisdom of God appears in the doctrine of the cross. We now know enough of man to per- ceive that any system which would amend his moral character and condition, must be one that reverses all his bad qualities and propensities. His state will never be bettered by that course of training which educates his depravity, which elicits into action the native corruptions of his heart, and which permits all his evil passions to flow on in their proper channel. The discipline which is to benefit him, must throw a curb upon his licentiousness, must plant a guard in the path of his wickedness, must interpose its veto upon all the sinful tendencies of his nature. Such moral provisions as these are admirably embraced in the doctrine of the cross. It reads a lecture upon pride and ambition which the believing mind can never forget. It expresses the malignant nature of sin, with a force and emphasis which must vibrate for ever upon the tenderest cords of the heart. But the cross of Christ is not to be regarded as a mere moral remedy. It is the expedient which the wisdom of God devised as a propitiation for sin. We are not allowed to say that it is the only one that could have been devised. We are un- GOD IN SALVATION. Qgff able to affirm that God could not have exercised mercy in any other way. On such a subject it does not become us to say what he could or could not do. It is enough for us to know what He has actually done. From what He has told us in relation to this great matter, we may believe that in a certain sense, the expiation of sin by the blood of Christ was necessary. To what extent the necessity of the measure existed, we short- sighted mortals cannot determine. It seems to us that the introduction of sin into the world, made it necessary that either man or justice should DIE. Man died in the person of the incarnate Saviour, and therefore justice lives ; and he that died became " a hiding-place from the wind, a covert from the tempest, rivers of water in a dry place, and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." In reserving to his own will and agency the ap- plication and provision of mercy, God has mani- fested a wisdom worthy of himself. We perceive from constant observation, that the great cause of infidelity among men, is the rejection of God from the world's government. They disallow the idea of his interference in the affairs of men. They lie imbedded in sense and stupidity, contented with the secondary causes which surround them, and disregarding the one great Cause that moves and directs all things. It is therefore reasonable 31* 2QQ THE WISDOM OF to believe that a plan formed by Infinite Wisdom, in order to bring back his apostate creatures, would make it a primary object to restore the forgotten presence of God to the mind of such creatures; to bring up and re-enforce the ne- glected doctrine of his particular Providence ; to show their dependence upon him, and subjection to him ; and to make it evident that their whole destiny hangs upon his single pleasure. Under such an apprehension we are prepared to become reconciled to the doctrine of all-sufficient grace. We can perceive the wisdom with which God reserves to himself the increase of goodness and success to all the ministrations of his word ; and why it is that, though Paul may plant and Apollos water, it is God that giveth the increase. The wisdom of God in salvation is in nothing more evident, than in the magnificence of the effects which result from causes, to our apprehen- sion, simple and unpromising. The whole process of nature is conducted upon this plan of beautiful simplicity. Who that had not seen it, could ever believe that the dry seeds committed to the dry clods of the earth, would result in all the abun- dance of fruitful fields and ample harvests ? Who could imagine, from the nature of the thing itself, that by the mysterious process of evaporation, the whole atmosphere can be surcharged with those light and floating particles, which, being united GOD IN SALVATION. OQ>y and condensed, fall in refreshing showers upon the earth? What mind can imagine a prin- ciple of causation, by which the constant ac- tion of the surrounding air, gives life to all ani- mals and plants ? The magnificence of the whole creation is produced and sustained by the most simple causes. Human works are achieved at a great expense of labour, and with a great multi- plicity of moving causes. A complex contrivance is necessary to produce an attenuated thread, which, after all, cannot rival that of the spider or the silk-worm. The most common and obvious analogies, there- fore, prepare us to welcome the simplicity of the Gospel method of salvation. The Saviour himself announced the concise way of salvation. " He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." His apostles followed up the plan, and in answer to the most affecting inquiry, simply said, "Repent and be baptized every one of you." Be cautious, then, lest you despise as foolish that preaching which proposes a simple way of dehverance from the power of sin, and of translation into the king- dom of light and purity. Beware, lest you be found fighting against God, by seeking means and ways of ultimate felicity, other than that which his wisdom has brought into operation. SERMON XXI. ON ASSURANCE. Lam. iii. 24. — The Lord is my portion, saith my soul. In the mere contemplation of grandeur and opulence, the mind is sensible of an active excite- ment. The lively emotions which it feels, are not the less perceptible because they may happen to be fixed to no distinct object. Let a man of ordi- nary apprehensions be suddenly transported to some elevation which gives an extensive view of the surrounding country ; let him see at one glance the improvements which the arts of civilised life have thrown over the prospect ; in one part, agri- culture is pouring its varied satisfactions upon the earnest avidity of the husbandman ; in another, the smile of cities, and the sanguine visage of in- dustry meet his eye. Cold must be his heart if it be not moved at the sight of that which impels in its course the enjoyments and hopes dear to man. But his sensations would be very different, if in the midst of his deliberate view, some indu- ON ASSURANCE. QgQ bitable intelligencer could interpose an assurance that a large portion of the wealth and splendour, on which his attention lingered, was his own by an unalienable title, that he was known and ac- knowledged as proprietor of most that was in- cluded in that rich and happy district, that the time was near when he should enter upon the possession of his inheritance, and that his actual joys should far exceed all his anticipations. In the light of this illustration we may perceive the supe- rior benefits of Christian assurance. It may kin- dle a warmth of feeling in our hearts to view the transcendent glories of religion, which illuminate the prospects of others, and though we can assert no claim of personal inheritance, we may be filled with admiration at a felicity which some must enjoy. But how must it change our feelings, when we survey with an eye that cannot deceive us, an approaching glory which will dispel in a moment all the gloom of our ignorance, will preclude the possibility of future sorrow, and shed the transport of ineffable bliss on an endless duration of our being ! A defective assurance should be regarded by us as a deep affliction. Without a confidence of personal interest, the promises of the Gospel have no expression or delight; since whatever they speak, and whatever they certify, will be devoid of meaning to us. It would only serve to exaspe- 370 ON ASSURANCE. rate the agony of our despair to view scenes upon which we could not expect to enter, and to read the history of consolations of which we could not taste. Many imagine that the position which they occupy betwixt exulting confidence and rending despair, is an intermediate point happily selected, and therefore to be strictly maintained. The pre- sumption that would arrogate merit, and the de- spondency that would paralise exertion, they think wholly excluded from their secure mediocrity of religious standing. They accordingly never view it as an evil that they fall so short of the realising apprehensions which belong to the more matured exercises of Christian experience, but console themselves under the absence of such apprehen- sions, with the fancied prudence that they have exercised in taking their stand upon middle ground. So long as they can deem it wise to live under the dim twilight of an imperfect persuasion, it is quite obvious that no steps will be taken towards the ef- fulgence of clearer manifestations. Error is never more confirmed than when, by the aid of false reasoning, it assumes the appearance of caution and wisdom. But could they be convinced that their favourite position is untenable upon any scripture principles, that every defect in the mea- sure of their assurance is an affliction to be depre- cated, and not a privilege to be sought, they might be conducted into a way of hopeful diligence and ON ASSURANCE. Qiy| activity. And what can lead them more directly to such a conviction than the alarming considera- tion that the ample lustre and benignity of the di- vine promises do not fall within the compass of their imaginary faith ? To bring them to the test we may select any of the promises of future bles- sedness. " The righteous shall shine as the bright- ness of the firmament ;" but they are not half cer- tain that they are righteous, the promise therefore has no significancy to them. " They shall be mine, saith the Lord, in that day when I make up my jewels;" but the characters in question, are far from any consistent evidence that they are jewels ; the cheering declaration, therefore, passes over them without an impression, as the torrent over the rock. Christ shall come to be glorified in his saints, and admired in them that believe ; but are they saints, do they believe ? Should the same applications be made throughout the whole extent of those promises which contain the assurance of eternal life, we should see that they impart their sweets only to the heart invigorated with the re- quisite confidence of its own witness. The advocates of experimental religion do an injury to the cause which they espouse, when by their injudicious concessions they allow to the full extent the claims of those who bring little else than their doubts to prove their title to salvation, and urge little else than their uncertainty about Oiyo ON ASSURANCE. all religion, to authenticate their professions. The enemies of the Gospel may very plausibly allege, that it is time to throw off the restraints of a sys- tem which only bewilders the mind in the mazes of uncertainty, which gives nothing positive and definite, which makes it a virtue to distrust its own representations, and conveys to its adherents a gloomy aggregate of suspense and unavailing care. A well-meaning but unwise policy has led many into the error which we would now expose. They have been consulted by the doubting and the weak, and instead of applying the proper remedy to their disease, have strengthened it by improper prescriptions. Their theological emollients impart- ing a superficial alleviation, have not affected the source of the existing infirmity. An imperfect assu- rance is a spiritual disease, and cannot find a cure in that which rather cherishes and countenances it. For those labouring under the influence of this spiritual debility, to be informed that their case is by no means incompatible with a gracious and regenerate state, that whatever may be the cer- tainty of salvation in its own admirable provisions, the application of these provisions to individuals may be involved in extreme doubt, that the want of more confidence should not be the cause of un- easiness, and that many have lived and died ge- nuine Christians, without being previously aware of the felicity to which they were destined — by ON ASSURANCE. Qi^^ such a representation as this, security is added to doubting, and that vacillating temper which should have been regarded as incidental only to the inci- piency of grace, or to its declining vigour, is made to appear either meritorious or inoffensive. It vi^ill be alleged in extenuation of what we here condemn, that the honest scruples of weak consciences require a tender and delicate treat- ment, and that it would be unfeeling to impose the severe requirements of rehgion upon their trem- bling and afflicted spirits. The claims of feeling and tenderness we shall never disallow, and as little should we be disposed to resort to expedients of a harshness not required by the word of God — but we humbly think that the right way is always best, and that the kindest treatment for any ma- lady is that which will produce the earliest cure. Mistaken lenity becomes cruel in the end, and leads to disastrous results. The injury done to religion itself, by the encouragement of doubt, is far greater than that which any of its wavering adherents could ever sustain, by having enforced upon them its just demands. But we contend that so far from being injurious, it is the only security from ruinous delusions to bring every man's expe- rience to the proper test. The sooner the votaries of deception are driven from their spurious faith the better, and though it may disquiet them to be 32 Qiyj^ ON ASSURANCE. suddenly roused from their long repose of error, the trouble may prove seasonable and salutary. The perseverance of the saints will be divested of its consolations without the assuring testimony of a renewed nature. To the lovers of divine truth, the doctrine which asserts beyond contra- diction the ultimate safety of the righteous, has ever been the source of clear and consistent satis- factions. That it should have been revealed with a lustre so bright and convincing, is an evidence of the benevolent designs of the Spirit to refresh and cheer our weary souls in their pilgrimage. But it will be obvious that, without assurance, per- severance is nothing. Our continuation in a par- ticular way can only be the occasion of joy, when we know that it is the right way. Hence there is a manifest want of integrity in the creed of those who maintain perseverance, and deny the neces- sity of assurance. The doctrine of election equally needs the decisive voice of personal assurance to confer an import of peace and delight on him who believes it. This doctrine in the mouth of one who has attained no certainty as to his own salva- tion, is utterly without meaning. To such a one it is an impious intrusion into a sacred province, an abuse of holy terms, an arrogant assumption of another's right to act upon any statements of this doctrine. God has wisely drawn a veil over all ON ASSURANCE. Qi^'K the distinctions which election makes in the pre- sent lot of man. He has opened his secret vo- lume to none living. The mysterious roll hides from mortal apprehension the diversities in the fates of men. That there is such an arrangement in his wise and holy counsels, He has left only to one class of people to know, and this knowledge to be acquired only in one way. The class to which this mystery is developed are his own peo- ple, and the method of disclosure the assurance of indwelling grace. As they are the only legitimate heirs of this doctrine, no other class has a right to it, because no other can make a proper use of it. They who enjoy this transporting heritage through the medium of an individual confidence, that they have passed from death unto life, will never per- vert the doctrine. They can never contemplate its merciful provisions, without hearing the echo of holiness to the Lord, which resounds from its every feature. To them it is the pledge of feli- city, and the motive to sanctification. It clears up all the intricate conduct of Providence, and pours its streams of glory along the glowing re- gions of immortality. The course of Christian duty often lies through trying acts of self-denial and sacrifices of secular interest. It requires that we esteem the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of the world, that we enter undismayed, the furnace of Qiyg ON ASSURANCE. affliction, that we stand ready to brave the frowns of the world, and the derisions of ungodly men, that we resolutely withstand the formidable array which our spiritual foes will set in order against us, and finally that we go down fearlessly into the dark valley of the shadow of death, and there grapple with hideous forms of dissolution. Where will be our sufficiency for these things, unless we have respect to the recompense of the reward ? and how can this grand remuneration comfort us, without the firm persuasion of the Saviour's love ? One of the constituent parts of vital religion is experience. This is the sensible result of a divine operation in our hearts. It causes a general movement in our dormant faculties. It is the re- duction of theory into fact, the change of opinion into impulse, the improvement of speculation into reality. It is a new consent among the jarring attributes of the soul, a perception sublime and vi- gorous, of heavenly things. It is the image which the word impresses upon the yielding heart, and is so vivid in the light which it conveys to the mind, that it must be difficult for any one to re- main unconscious of its quickening energy. The connexion between such experience, and a happy assurance of soul, cannot escape even a superficial observer. For it is in experience that religion speaks within us. Here it has the voice of words, and the struggle of an earnest passion; it rolls ON ASSURANCE. ^>y>'^ back the tide of the affections, and forms new dis- tinctions for the mental eye. And it might be- come matter of much astonishment to us, that such hvely actings could take place in a soul which still remained insensible of the inward com- motion. Strange would it appear that the flesh and spirit should be at war with each other, and we not aware of the strife ; that the heart should pant for the streams of salvation, and we remain insensible of the thirst, and that self-abhorrence should lay us in the dust, and we feel not the low- liness of the position. It must be carefully noted from what we have advanced, that assurance has its proper measure. It rises no higher than its fountain, but ought always to rise as high as that. The source of all proper confidence, is found in the preparation and sanctity of the heart. The progress of grace in the heart should be attended with a proportionate augmentation of assurance. The more heavenly- minded we are, the more decisive must become our manifestations of approaching glory. Some, I fear, assume the style of assured believers, whilst they come dreadfully short in personal holiness. They vainly imagine, that because they take an elevated stand in verbal confidence, that they must be under a right frame ; and by fre- quent assertions of their fictitious security, bring themselves to believe that what they affirm must , 32* OiyO ON ASSURANCE. be true. But if the illustration which we have adopted be correct, that the actual experience of godly emotions within is the only proper source of assurance, and that the stream cannot rise higher than the fountain, then these pretenders to the kingdom of heaven are awfully deceived. They have indeed expected to alter their dimen- sions, by standing on the heights of positiveness, but they should remember that, " Pigmies are pigmies still, though perch'd on Alps." We hear with delight the positive declaration of one whose life has been formed upon a heavenly rule, and who stands as high in the maturity of his graces, as in the air of his holy boldness. We need the aid of no patience to endure the affirma- tions of his lips, whilst we discover the correspon- dence betwixt his life and his words. But it is more than disgusting to listen to the idle prattling of those who are strenuous only in words, who demand credit to their assertions of meetness for heaven, whilst they are sensual and devilish, who flutter in the brightest plumage of profession, but never soar beyond a sinister end, or a treacherous dissimulation. These sturdy usurpers of a pious name, have thrown discredit upon the subject of assurance, and have made it rather invidious for those who have a warrantable claim to the cha- racter to make it known. ON ASSURANCE. ^i^Q Finally. Of all privileges, that under considera- tion is the highest. It confers the proper finish on the believer's character. It brings the largest portion of heaven into the soul ; it forms a support to the rectitude of the mind, and ennobles it with a holy ambition. It is a state of pious vs^ealth, which could not be augmented if the world were added to it, nor lessened if the world were gone. # SERMON XXII. RELIGIOUS CONVERSATION. Mai. iii. 16. — Then Ihey that feared the Lord spake often one to another. Few persons are so dull as not to have per- ceived the benefit of conversation. Thought, w^hen confined to our own breasts, and shut up within the recesses of its native abode, remains inert and unproductive. To make it useful it must be clothed in the garb of speech, and bounded in by the limits of intelligible expression. How rich soever it may be in the mine, unless it be coined into words, it will impart its salutary influence to none, and will remain an unexplored mass locked up in dark caverns. Our thoughts, when communicated to others, are more deeply impressed upon our own minds. If we suppress them, we are but little the better for having had them; but if we send them out to be enjoyed by others, they return with interest to us, and are RELIGIOUS CONVERSATION. 381 more securely lodged in the heart where they originated. In religious conversation, the expression and interchange of thought are peculiarly important. The heart of a pious man is the seat of operations which heaven and earth might view with deep interest. The history of his experience, drawn with minute and discriminating care, shows the struggle of contending powers, and the methods of that grace which will at last gain the victory. What intelligence, then, can be more interesting than that which comes from the inward man, where the concerns of another world are agitated ; where Jesus holds his reign, and Satan directs his assaults; where time and eternity are competi- tors for the chief place ; and whence a result, comprising eternal interests, will be soon evolved. Show me the man that fears the Lord. I love to hear him speak. There is a grace upon his lips, and a seasoning in his words, which impart their virtues to my soul. I love his speech, be- cause he tells me of a better country, awakens my solicitude to join his holy march towards that happy home, and confirms my tottering footsteps in the way. I love his conversation, because he reconciles my mind to the troubles and sad events of this life, by directing me to that better and enduring substance which God has reserved for those who fear him. I take pleasure in his words, OQ2 RELIGIOUS CONVERSATION. because he is kind in his admonitions, courteous in all his intercourse with me, a gentle reprover of my error, and the sincere friend of my soul. I prize his conversation, because it makes Christ All in All, brings nearer to my mind the distant things of the invisible world, and respects God as the presiding Power that witnesses and judges my whole life. We look upon the text as affording a very pro- per foundation for a few observations on religious conversation. Of this be pleased to notice, 1. The class of subjects suited to it ; 2. The bene- ficial effects of it. All those topics, the right view of which helps to vindicate the ways of God, are proper for re- peated conversation. In the days of the prophet who uttered the text, the proud were called happy. Bad men were exalted to eminent stations, and piety and goodness were cast off to languish in obscurity and indigence. There was then a sad depression in the tone of public morals. The authority of God was disregarded ; his ways were accounted unequal and oppressive, and every form of sin was either openly justified or secretly palliated. A state of things like this, supplied a topic of conversation for the few good men who thought upon the ways of the Lord. The same subject of reflection is never wanting to the good men of any period. The haters of God are ordi- RELIGIOUS CONVERSATION. qQ«| narily those who obtain worldly promotion, who glory in temporal successes, who climb the highest eminences of honour, and shout with the wildest uproar of present victory. Why should this be the case ? is a question which the humble followers of Christ may agitate among themselves. Let them confer upon this seeming mystery in (he order of Providence, and they will soon cease to envy those who become great. They will aid each other in resolving the whole matter into a wise and righteous course of dealing. By com- paring their views and observations as derived from Scripture, they will be conducted to the cer- tain conclusion, that the Lord's equalising Provi- dence will soon press down those towering vani- ties which for a moment appear to insult his name and majesty, and to tread down all that is good and holy. At the same time he will remember his covenant of grace and mercy with his people, and will raise them from the dust of affliction. " Then shall ye return and discern betwixt the righteous and the wicked, betwixt him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not." The discouragements which all must meet who undertake the service of God and a life of piety, may be frequently brought into conversatien. It is not expedient for us to pine in secret on account of the little success of grace and holiness in our hearts. You have burdened hearts, and so have QOJ^ RELIGIOUS CONVERSATION. I. To you the way of duty often appears steep and difficult ; and to me it has the same aspect. We are fellow-prisoners within the walls of flesh and blood, and should therefore hasten to mitigate the misery of those bonds which make our con- finement galling and afflictive. We are fellow- captives in the land of an insulting foe ; and though we may be able to render to each other no aid other than our sympathies, yet these pro- perly administered will have their use. Though we cannot tune our harps to the notes of praise, we can at least come together and weep whilst we hang them upon the willows. We can recount our common conflicts, toils and sorrows. We can exhort one another daily, whilst it is called to-day, lest any of us be hardened through the deceitful- ness of sin. You have often to lament a hard, unbeheving heart, a mind which seems to be the lodge of vain thoughts, an indifference which paralyses all good effort. Your tale of wo is true of me. I am your brother and companion in tri- bulation. Such views as strengthen and excite weak and wavering piety, should be blended with religious discourse. How good is a word spoken in season to one struggling with painful solicitude against doubt and fear ! Your own recollection can sup- ply many instances in which you have felt the kindly influences of cheering counsel in yourselves, RELIGIOUS CONVERSATION. QOK or else have seen its results in the case of others. I remember a case which occm'red in a place where I ministered for some years the word of God. Amongst my hearers was a man who had been much devoted to the pleasures and gayeties of hfe. The word of God, accompanied with sanctified affliction, took effect upon his mind, and his convictions became deep and disquieting. His spirits were greatly depressed on account of the dismal picture of his situation which he drew in his own mind. No preaching, or praying, or conversation, could bring any consoling sugges- tions to his wounded spirit. Meeting him unex- pectedly one day, and bearing in mind his constant dejection, I looked steadily at his face for a few seconds, and then said to him in a firm tone, "J have no douht that God loves you^ The start- ing tear was the only expression that he then made in the form of a reply. The next time I met him, he thus addressed me, " Your declaration the other day rather confounded me for the moment ; but I have since thought much of it, and have tried to find reason to douht that of which you professed to have no doubt. I can no longer find sufficient reason to doubt, and am now persuaded to believe that God does love me. My happiness under this belief surpasses all expression." That man still goes on his way rejoicing. Admonitory intimations should be mingled with 33 386 RELIGIOUS CONVERSATION. encouragement and comfort. You cannot stand off at a little distance, and contemplate yourselves just as others view you. You cannot look at your- selves with the eyes of an impartial spectator. It hence becomes very important for you to employ the friendly eyes of others to examine your car- riage and deportment, and to make a faithful re- turn to you. Permit them to report to you the result of their observations, and to converse freely and fully with you on the most delicate questions of personal conduct. You will be surprised to find how much you can learn in this way from the feeblest member in the church. Did the spirit of gentle, affectionate, and winning correction more distinguish Christian intercourse, we should see much better times in religion, than any ever yet witnessed. It is a foolish pride that bristles up into resentment upon every hint of disapprobation of what we do. It would surely be better in every case to have our faults, whatever they may be, kindly pointed out to us, and for us to correct them, than for them to remain upon us, accom- panied with discredit and desertion from the wise and good. Let it then be a part of our discourse with each other, to minister the salutary and heal- ing corrections of mutual reproof Secondly. We are to notice the beneficial re- sults of religious conversation. *- ' Its influence in promoting brotherly love must RELIGIOUS CONVERSATION. QOi^ be apparent to every one. Those who frequently confer with each other about those matters in which there is a common feehng of interest, must of necessity acquire a closer fellowship than that which can exist in the absence of such relations. And when the nature of their common concern is such as to preclude competition, jealousy, and the love of pre-eminence, and to cherish mutual re- spect and kindness, we can readily discover that conversation will tend greatly to confirm their union. Their friendly discourse will draw closer the bond of unity, will bring to a greater uniformity their thoughts and words, and will help to har- monise every discordant feeling. Converse more fully and more freely, then, ye friends of the Lord, upon all those topics which promote holy know- ledge, and you will the more love one another ; your hearts will be brought more entirely under the sway of those gentle and tender feelings which sweeten the society of Christians. It is by pious discourse that we stir up each other's minds to the recollection of neglected privileges and omitted duties. The good which we have is continually escaping us, through the weakness of nature. It glides from us whilst we are occupied with the world; it is buried amid the mass of temporal cares and distractions ; it is stifled by the press of intrusive vanities. By mu- tual counsels and admonitions we become instru- QOO RELIGIOUS CONVERSATION. mental in restoring the lost impressions upon hearts declining into coldness and sloth, we brace the feeble mind, and confirm the tottering knees, we assume an attitude which favours the merciful visitation of the divine Redeemer, who never fails to be the companion of our journey, when we talk by the way of those things which relate to his kingdom. Religious conversation will stimulate your minds in the examination of truth, will aid in the correction of error, will direct to plans of benevo- lent effort, will help to prevent scandal and back- biting, will endear to you the anticipation of that heavenly state where the saints shall enjoy high converse with the Lord, and with all those who love him. It unites the rich and the poor as one family in Christ, rendering wealth and learning condescend- ing and humble, and exalting poverty and igno- rance to dignity and honour. The "jPrtrmer'5 faitli''' was that which a dying monarch preferred to the laboured discussion of the same subject from the lips of the Archbishop.* How often * The late king of Sweden was deeply agitated on the subject of his eternal interests just before his death. A peasant, who was a per- son of singular piety, being once on a particular occasion admitted to his presence, was asked by the king, what he took to be the true nature of faith? The peasant entered deeply into the subject, and much to the king's satisfaction. When at last, lying on his death- bed, he had a return of his doubts and fears as to the safety of his RELIGIOUS CONVERSATION. QOQ have you listened with dehghtful emotions to the artless and crude narratives of those poor and obscure persons who seemed to know scarcely any thing more than that the word of God was true, because its truth had been felt by them ; and their feelings had been such as could have been produced by nothing short of the affecting and renovating power of the divine Word, accom- panied by the divine Spirit. In this way the ex- perience of the servant has frequently brought instruction to the master, the great have found it good to lay aside their fancied importance, and listen to the words of the lowly. A proud fo- reigner once said to an English gentleman, who had a pious sister of superior refinement and taste, " Why does your sister take pleasure in the society oi those low and illiterate people with whom I perceive her to converse frequently?" "I can account for it," said the gentleman, "on no other principle than this, that she believes the Bible to be true.'''' Rehgious conversation is a most profitable em- soul, the same question was perpetually in his mouth : " What is real faith?" His attendants advised him to send for the Archbishop of Upsal, who, coming to the king's bedside, began in a learned, logical manner to enter into the scholastic definition of faith. The prelate's disquisition lasted an hour. When he had done, the king said with much energy, "All this is ingenious, but not comfortable. It is not what I want. Nothing, after all, but the farmer's faith will do for me." 33* QQQ RELIGIOUS CONVERSATION. ployment of time. Even among the wise and the pious, that most valuable commodity called time, is not duly regarded. Its presence commands little respect, and its waste produces but little re- gret. Unprofitable and idle conversation is one of its most unprincipled and relentless consumers ; and one too, which finds a place and occasion in all the affairs of life. An expenditure of time worse than useless may be witnessed in the mu- tual discourses of those, who think of nothing but how to throw out most gracefully the levities of their minds, or who, for the sake of excusing their own vicious ways narrate with self-complacency the faults and scandals of their neighbours, or who give themselves the needless trouble of say- ing over again the trifles which thousands have repeated their thousands of times, or who use their organs of speech as if for no other purpose than to prove that they possess them. But in the pious conference of the godly, there is always some good fruit. Their time is redeemed from waste and prostitution, and devoted to the great purposes of their being. They take care that their meetings and conversations shall be so seasoned with holy counsels, as to make them wiser and better ; they are prompt in holding forth their light, that the ignorant may walk by it, in showing the founda- tion of their hopes, that the timid and desponding may be established by their experience, in point- RELIGIOUS CONVERSATION. QQI iiig to the perils which infest the paths of life, that the unwary may be cautioned, and in proclaiming their steadfastness in the truth, that the wavering may be edified. Pious conference tends to smooth the natural ruggedness of our tempers, and to improve the charitable dispositions of our hearts. No doubt can exist that the pious of all denominations need only to know each other in the kind familiarities of friendly intercourse, to bring them to a general uniformity of sentiment. While they stand aloof, the one from the other, and in the distance con- sider their differences either as to theory or prac- tice, they are naturally tempted to magnify little matters into occasions of controversy and uncha- ritableness. In such a case each party regards its opponent as unreasonably tenacious of minor points, or else as grievously erring upon cardinal doctrines. Let them meet, and enter into free conversation; let them compare ideas, and weigh argument against argument, in all the amity of Christian meekness and forbearance, and they will find out to their mutual surprise and gratification, that they are, on both sides, more reasonable and consistent men than they had imagined. And though they should not come to the same opinion, nor adopt the creed, each of the other, they will certainly find their mutual respect and good-will happily augmented. They will become the better QQO RELIGIOUS CONVERSATION. qualified to regard each other as brethren, to in- terchange all the kindly offices of Christian bene- volence, and to co-operate cordially in working out all those beneficial tendencies involved in good fellowship. I add, in conclusion, the interesting thought, that pious conference helps to place and confirm us in the state of meetness for the joys of heaven. We are taught to regard the heavenly state as consisting of one united and undiscordant brother- hood. In that perfection of life, there shall be a perfection of harmony, leading on to a lovely con- centration all the energies of the redeemed, in the great work of glorifying God. One heart, one voice, one song of praise shall animate the spirits of the just made perfect. If, therefore, we be found speaking often one to another, and thus im- proving our gifts and graces, warming our love, and raising our devotion, we shall find the tran- sition from earth to heaven, more easy and agree- able. Our heavenly Father will hearken to our dis- course, and will record it in his book of remem- brance. The good words which we utter out of the abundance of the heart shall not be forgotten in the summing up of our final history. Let us therefore strive to be among those of whom the Lord hath said, " They shall be mine in that day when I make up my jewels." SERMON XXIII. CONSIDERATIONS ADDRESSED TO THE AGED. Titus iL 2. — That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. Those of you, brethren, who tell half a century since your natal day, may be fairly reckoned among the aged. The respective periods of your life may be different ; you may have commenced your progress in the pilgrimage of piety at distant intervals, and therefore, may possess different de- grees of maturity in the experience of divine things; but in one important respect, you bear an obvious similarity. You are approaching by a common descent the end of being. You are common suf- ferers under those ills, reverses, and disappoint- ments which weigh down the spirit of man, and embitter the remaining joys of life. In common, you have seen the expectations of youth darken into disappointment, the florid calculations of man- hood subside into the mummery of phantoms, and qg^ CONSIDERATIONS the gay generation which began Hfe with you, fall like withering leaves on the ground. You have outlived the hot emulations, and the angry strifes of competitors, and have seen malice cured by mortality, and pride stained in the dust of abase- ment. You have had time to take a dispassionate survey of the world, and to find the dogmas of re- ligion and philosophy confirmed by experience. We wish to direct your attention, to your pecu- liar TRIALS AND AFFLICTIONS, tO yOUr PECULIAR RESOURCES AND CONSOLATIONS, and tO yOUr PECU- LIAR DUTIES AND OBLIGATIONS. Your PECULIAR TRIALS AND AFFLICTIONS rCquirC consideration. In the first place, you begin to feel the decay of your natural powers, and the gradual approach of disease and pain. The cum- brous flesh with which your living organs are pressed down, already gives signs of deadness, and lies upon you like an inert mass. New maladies invade your mortal frame, new pains shake the loosened joints of your system, and the cup of sor- row before untasted, is presented to your quiver- ing lips. The blithesome step of youth is ex- changed for the faltering gait of old age, the quick pulse of early vigour, has sobered off into the lan- guid circulation of your wintry term of probation. A voice as infallible as if an angel spoke proclaims the departure of your joys, and the speedy coming of your final conflict. Such a voice must rouse ADDRESSED TO THE AGED. 395 your fears. It must bring into active excitement all the thought, and reason and forecast of which you are capable. The storm is gathering ; — have you a shelter ? The unsparing revenger is near at hand : have you a city of refuge ? You find in the second place, that you are daily becoming more and more insulated beings in this giddy world. Custom, indeed, respects age ; sym- pathy pities its sorrows and privations, and charity relieves its most urgent necessities; but after these mitigating agents have performed their of- fices, it is consigned to comparative neglect and so- litude. Death has removed the associates of your youth, time has withered the sympathies which united you with your companions, and the new ge- neration finds society enough without you. They regard you as a sort of obsolete furniture, which may be thrown aside into any corner or recess. Loneliness is thus added to the evils which are gathering about you. The world is ceasing to bring in its tribute to you, the avenues of inter- course with all external things are obstructed, and you are thus driven in upon the resources of the little world within you. You are left to yourselves, in the gloom of life's evening ; the busy actors upon the stage are occupied with each other, and are indifferent whether you become the prey of corroding cares, or pine away with sickness, or glow with raptures, impatient of your delayed fru- ition. OOfJ - CONSIDERATIONS Again, let it be remembered that age is usually attended with the decay of the mental faculties, and a general imbecility of character. That promptitude and decision which characterise our earlier years, in the more advanced periods of our existence, are apt to give place to mental hesitancy and irresolution. It is then that we shrink from every new enterprise. Application becomes irk- some, study is laborious ; and instead of replen- ishing our exhausted stores of intellectual attain- ment, we are laid under a sort of necessity to sit still and witness the gradual waste of past aquisi- tions. The mind is then less able of itself to b^ear up under the pressure of life ; reverses are less supportable, the wounds of the spirit are more difficult to be healed, and the very constitution of the soul contracts a sickly temperament. " You will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave," was an affecting prediction founded upon a just knowledge of human nature. A last source of inquietude to age, is an in- crease of the cares of earlier life. It might be hoped that the distractions of worldly anxiety would recede as the invisible world approaches, that the ties of temporal things would be dissolved, as the obligations of eternal things acquire aug- mented force, and that the world would relax its claims as eternity begins to exhibit its demands ; but the fact is often reversed. You multiply your connexions with earth, you extend the circles of ^ ADDRESSED TO THE AGED. OQ^ business, of relationship, and of care: and instead of cutting the cords for your upward flight, you bind them the more closely. You imagine that your children and your children's children require your attention, that your fostering counsels are necessary to guide their giddy ways, that the ex- perience of age is requisite to check their impe- tuous follies, and to direct them in the paths of virtue and happiness. It is thus, brethren, that you find motives for renewing your attachment to the world, even down to gray hairs. And when eternity comes so near to you that you cannot see it on account of its nearness, you are still found clinging to your native clod. This renders your trials doubly severe, by renewing the attachments which should be forgotten, by driving you farther out into life's tempestuous sea, at the very mo- ment when you should be preparing to enter the haven of rest. But we remark in continuation, that to the aged Christian, there are peculiar consolations and RESOURCES. We must urge the limitation of these consolations and resources to the aged Christian only. Many go down to wrinkles and gray hairs without the support of the Gospel. They spend their Lord's money upon the trifles of time, burn out their intellectual fire in exciting the sparks of unhallowed imaginations, and in the winter of life have no other comfort than this, that they have 34 OQO CONSIDERATIONS spent their spring and summer in the magnificent employment of serving themselves, in the moment- ous business of floating straws, and in the other fantastic pomp of earth's vanities. To such, age will have no resources. You are then most mise- rable, when you have the greatest need of the al- leviations of sorrow. You are then left in clouds and darkness when you most need a serene beam to enliven the scene of your final conflict. Not so with the Christian. His declining years bring to him a settled maturity in the experience of God's love. That God who was the friend of his youth, is still more the friend of his old age ; his counsels are more respected, his word is better understood, the methods of his Providence are more clearly comprehended, and with greater ease are reconciled to all the varying aspects of the present world. Your graces, ripened by age, place you on terms of more intimate converse with heaven. Experience has taught you the unfailing charac- ter of the divine promises ; the presence of God in past troubles, affords you a pledge of succour in the coming trials of life ; oft resisted tempta- tions have lost their power upon the heart, the oft repeated negative by which you have replied to sinful solicitations, has rendered those solicitations few and feeble, and you are now beginning to stand firm amid the dismal fluctuations of the changing world around you. ADDRESSED TO THE AGED. QOO You have also attained the important art of living upon the resources within you. Though you can find no natural inherent good within yourselves, yet you can perceive the more evident traces of the finger of God writing his laws, and impressing his image upon the tables of your hearts. To render these impressions moredeep, to brighten your evidences for immortality, and to improve your devotion into high and sweet com- munion, is now your most pleasing occupation. This you can best pursue when the world is shut out, and you are left alone with God. The thought that you are approaching the end of a toilsome pilgrimage, must not be the smallest of your consolations. It gladdens your hearts to come wdthin sight of land, after the storms of a rough voyage. It strikes a thrill of joy through your spirits, to climb with Moses the Pisgah of a realising faith, and behold the promised posses- sions of the blessed. You have a desire to depart^ and this must be regarded as one of your most important resources, since reluctance in leaving the world is one of the most horrid agonies that can afflict the soul. On you, brethren, devolve peculiar duties and OBLIGATIONS. To you it belongs to become ex- amples to the whole flock, to take the lead in every good work, to teach the younger members of the church how to glorify God, to exemplify by 400 COlvSIDERATIONS ADDRESSED TO THE AGED. successive instances of patience and obedience, the sublime precepts of Jesus, and to stand forth as his faithful and well-tried witnesses. On your character he has stamped the unfading hneaments of a divine life, an 1 on the issue of your conversa- tion, he has suspended the brightest trophies of his grace. It is for you to take the lead in prayer, to be first in charity, to be last in passion and preci- pitation. It is for you to warn the unruly, to com- fort the feeble-minded, to support the weak, and to be patient towards all men. It is for you to pro- mote the spread of the Gospel by the encourage- ment of missions, the patronage of Sabbath- schools, and the extension of the Bible. In a word, it belongs to you to bring forth fruit in old age, to gild the scenes through which you pass, with the mild radiance of your evening glory, to leave a memorial which shall rouse to commendable deeds those who may survive you, and to make that life which is so short in temporal duration, long and imperishable in the records of eternal blessedness. When called to mourn your departure under circumstances like these, we shall remain behind you to contemplate the bright path which you have traced, and to pursue the same way to happiness and God. THE END. -;*^. •^H ■jmm 1^