Srom i^t £i6rftre of
(profeesor ^tffiam J^tnr^ (Breen
f feifirari? of
(prtncefon ^^eofogtcaf ^emtnarj^
BX 5530 .B82 1857 v. 2 c.2
Butler, William Archer,
18147-1848 .
Sermons, doctrinal and
Digitized by the Internet Arcliive
in 2015
littps://arcliive.org/details/sermonsdoctrinalOObutl_0
SEllMONS,
DOCTRINAL AND PRACTICAL.
SECOND SERIES.
SERMONS,
DOCTRINAL AND PllACTICAL.
BY THE
I
Rev. WILLIAM ARCHER BUTLER, M.A.
LATE PROFESSOR OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY IS THE IJN-IVERSITT OF DCBLIX.
SECONDSERIES.
EDITED FKOM THE AUTHOR'S MSS.
BY
JAMES AMIRAUX JEREMIE, D.D.
KEGICS PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDHE.
FIRST AMERICAX,
FROM THE THIRD C AMU RIDGE EDITION.
PHILADELPHIA:
PARRY AND MCMILLAN.
1857.
Entered according to the' Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by
PARRY AND McMILLAN,
in the Office of the Clerk of the District Court of the United States in and
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
PHILADELPHIA:
T. K. AND P. Q. COLLINS, PRINTERS.
ADYERTISEMENT.
The Editor of the Sermons contained in this Volume
has confined himself to the simple task of presenting a
faithful transcript of the original manuscript. He is
aware that upon many of the points, which are directly
treated or incidentally noticed, much difference of opinion,
must exist ; and he is in no wise pledged to defend all
the arguments and interpretations of Scripture adopted
by the lamented Author. A posthumous work is neces-
sarily imperfect, and discourses intended for oral delivery
would doubtless have gained much in terseness of style
and diction by a careful preparation for the press. But,
even in their present form, these Sermons will be found
to be of no ordinary merit. They are marked by the
same originality and vigor of expression, the same richness
of imagery and illustration, the same large views and
catholic spirit, and the same depth and fervor of devotional
feeling, which so remarkably distinguished the preceding
Series, and which rendered it a most valuable accession to
our theological literature.
1*
CONTENTS.
SERMON I.
CHRIST THE SOURCE OF ALL BLESSINGS.
PAGE
Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wis-
dom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. —
1 Cor. i. 30 13
SERMOX II.
LIVING AND DYING UNTO THE LORD.
For whether we live, we live unto the Lord ; and whether we die,
we die unto the Lord. — Rom. xiv. 8 ..... 29
SERMON III.
THE HOPE OF GLORY AND THE CHARITIES OF LIFE.
It doth not yet appear what we shall be : but we know that, when
He shall appear, we shall be like Him ; for we shall see Him
as He is. — 1 John iii. 2 42
SERMON lY.
THE HOLY TRINITY.
And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal,
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. — Rev.
xxii. 1 59
viii
Contents.
SERMON V.
THE SORKOW THAT EXALTS AND SANCTIFIES.
PAOE
Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall he comforted. — Matt.
V. 4 . 71
SERMON VI.
THE PUEIFYING POWER OF TRIBULATION.
What are these ■which are arrayed in white robes ? and whence
came they ? . . . . These are they which came out of great tri-
bulation. — Rev. vii. 13, 14 83
SERMON YII.
THE GROWTH OF THE DIVINE LIFE.
I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the
Father.— 1 John ii. 13 97
SERMON YIII.
LESSONS FROM A MONARCH'S DEATH.
(Preached oa the Sunday after the death of William IV.)
Thus saith the Lord God, — Remove the diadem, and take off the
crown! — Ezek. xxi. 2G Ill
SERMONIX.
DYING TO SIN AND THE LAW.
Ye are become dead to the law by the body of Christ. — Rom. vii. 4 127
SERMON X.
THE RESTORER OF MANKIND.
I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds,
saith the Lord. — Jer. xxx. 17 144
Contents.
SERMON XI.
THE TRUE FAST.
(Preached for the Mendicity Institution, at St Stephen's Chapel, Dublin.
Sunday Morning, July 23, 1837.)
PAGE
Is not this the fast that I have chosen ? .... Is it not, to deal thy
bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are
cast out, to thy house ? When thou seest the naked, that thou
cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own
flesh ?— Isaiah Iviii. 6, 7 159
SERMOX XII.
THE WAY TO DIVINE KNOWLEDGE.
(Preached for Peter's Schools, Peter's Church, Jan. 28, 1838.)
If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether
it be of God.— John vii. 17 174
SERMON XIII.
THE ASCENSION.
(The Ascension Day.)
While they beheld. He was taken up ; and a cloud received Him
out of their sight. — Acts i. 9 190
SERMON XIV.
THE FOLLY OF MORAL COWARDICE.
Be not thou, therefore, ashamed of the testimony of the Lord. —
2 Tim. i. 8 206
SERMON XV.
THE WILL OF GOD TOWARDS HIS CHILDREN.
It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of
these little ones should perish. — Matt, xviii. 14 . , . 222
Contents.
SERMON XVI.
STRENGTH AND MISSION OF THE CHURCH.
(Preached at Leeds Parisli Church, Nov. 21, 1841.)
PAOE
The Lord hath founded Zioii, ied and enthusiastic, but calm
and deep as the heaven they foreshadow. We are alone
with God ; the human nature is common to both, and He
who is one with the Father, is one with us I Oh blindness
dark and fatal, which can see our wants and cannot see
that this union through the God Incarnate is that alone
whicli can ever meet them ! Oh, hardness worse and more
wicked than that blindness, which can see that this is very-
truth, and yet is not softened to perfect love by such a
recital 1 When to lift us to a state like His own, God
hath been thus among us ; may His life and power quicken
our dead and feelinglcss hearts, till the Trinity shall have
become not the cold conclusion of the intellect but the
priceless treasure of the affections ; the blessed foundation
and the perpetual strength of the new and spiritual life!
What was it that brought the eternal Trinity to glorify
our earth, to tell us of themselves, and give themselves to
us? What, — but Love! Love, — the one grace which is
mutual between God and man ; which made God human,
and makes man divine ! What was it that tore the celestial
crown from the everlasting Son of God, to be replaced by
the crown of thorns ; that urged his weary steps through
all that long labyrinth of Pain, his earthly course, — and
bowed his meek head, and yielded his agonized spirit, —
what, but ineffable Love, — the master grace of His own
Gospel, the one pre-eminent virtue he came to exhibit and
to diffuse: — that he might banish every narrow thought,
and re-make the selfish world into one world of love I
SERMON V.
THE SOBROW THAT EXALTS AND SANCTIFIES.
Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. — St Matthew v. 4.
There are many consolations in the Christian Faith, my
Brethren ! many sources of joyful hope derived from the
eternal world of our expectation, much to animate the
fainting spirit, — if genuine belief would but quicken the
dull elements of our professed creed. Yet, after all, in
some respects, — in its position in the world, in its tone of
teaching, in many of its effects upon those who receive it,
— the Eeligion of Christ is eminently the religion of Sor-
row I It presupposes a corrupt nature, — it purposes to sub-
due it; this in itself is a matter always of no slight diffi-
culty, often of much anxiety and distress. — It sets before
us an Ideal of perfection which the feebleness of our
natural constitution has, perhaps, never allowed any one
disciple to reach, — but which serves to keep alive a per-
petual and melancholy sense of deficiency. — It stands in
the midst of a hostile world which it condemns, and which
assails it. — The very character of its Founder, — a " man
acquainted with grief" — whose spirit pervades the whole,
and who himself " separate from sinners" similarly separates
his followers from the turbulent enjoyments of a world
" that lieth in wickedness." — All these things, — setting
Christianity at variance with the scene in which it is for
the present manifested, — necessarily tinge it with a sombre
72
Tlic Sorrow that
[SERM. V.
coloring, give it tliat melancholy asj)cct whicli men so often
observe and censure, and do, in truth, ally it, more or less,
with sadness, perplexity, and pain. The ordinary repre-
sentations of this, among men who know nothing of the
practical operation of the religion may indeed be exagge-
rated; but the fact itself, — that the spiritual life, based upon
repentant sorrow, — is (though briglitencd with heavenly
consolations) accompanied with emotions of sadness arising
from many sources, and constant obligations of self-denial
often involving much distress, — no Christian, — true and
tried, — can deny. As Christians we are self-crucified, — our
faith is fixed to the cross. We must not shrink from an
avowal which is our glory, — we confess ourselves the pil-
grims of a land where little is to be found to content the
wants or wishes of the heirs of eternity, — and, looking to
heaven as our only Home, we acknowledge the loneliness
of spirit which belongs to wanderers and exiles ! " By the
waters of Babylon" what should we do but "sit down and
weep, when we remember thee, 0 Zion!"
On this day* with which the Church opens a solemn
season of sorrow and self-discipline, we may well pause to
speak of sorrow, — its uses, — and its consolations. An
immemorial custom has set apart this portion of our year
as a consecrated time of subdued and serious thought, in
which the children of heaven are specially called upon to
humiliation and prayer. Let us, upon this its first day,
join in meditating upon that mystery of sorrow out of
which so much of Christian blessedness proceeds. Sum-
moned to know and feel ourselves the dust we are, let us
ask wherefore it is good for us to be abased, — good for us
to chasten spiritual joy with spiritual sadness, and even in
our happiest hours with God, — our high consciousness of
adoption and sonship, — to own the lowliness of the crea-
ture, and still to sigh, " forgive us our trespasses !" We
* Ash. Wednesday.
SERM. v.]
Exalts and Sanctifies.
78
are invited to restraint, — mortification, — discipline — to
deepen the impression of the cross upon our hearts and
lives. The precept is painful to flesh and blood,- but it is
wise, — let us for a brief moment reflect upon its wisdom,
that we may offer the obedience not of reluctant slaves,
but of willing and reasoning men! We shall consider, then,
the mes of affliction, — we shall speak of that mysterious
fellowship of Christ Himself in this discipline of sorrow,
which so gloriously exalts and sanctifies ours, — we shall
endeavor to penetrate through these clouds, to the light of
consolation beyond them.
The force and prominence which is given to the practice
of self-denial in the New Testament, is certainly, then, in
its degree, peculiar to the Christian revelation. To die to
the world in order to live to God, is no where else made
the fundamental maxim of life. But we would err if we
conceived that uninspired wisdom had not, in all ages,
apprehended the necessity of restraint and the advantages
of discipline. There is scarcely an attempt of thoughtful
men antecedent to the publication of the Gospel upon the
great question, " how man best may live," — which is not
built upon the recommendation of restrictions and denials ;
scarcely a project for public or private reformation which
does not set out with the tacit or expressed acknowledg-
ment, that to float with the current of common life is inevit-
ably to surrender the proper dignity of man, — that peace
of mind is not to be attained without severe and continued
conflict,— that the high happinesses of wisdom are not the
chance acquisition of lethargy and indolence, but the crowns
and prizes of the triumphant champion. This tone of rea-
soning every where abounds among the uninspired teachers
of the art of Life. Mere caprice, or despair of high attain-
ments, or the desire of originality, may now and then have
varied it, and did sometimes disgracefully lower the standard
of thought. But on the whole, the testimony is plain and de-
cisive. Conscience and Reason gave no " uncertain sound :"
VOL. II.— 7
74
The Sorrow that
[SERM. V.
— and they wliose practice fell below these lofty require-
ments were not (in their degree) without " the truth," but
" held the truth in unrighteousness" as the inspired Writer
proclaims. How injudicious, indeed, is the attempt to dis-
guise or deny a fact which is itself the highest testimony to
the truth and importance of the revelation of the Gospel I
But while all these teachers speak of the duty of self-con-
trol, — praise, explain, describe it, — when we descend into
their motives, we find a miserable poverty of inducements
for a creature formed as man is. " Man should not refuse
afflictions, difficulties, persecutions, — for it is a noble thing
to be superior to that which enslaves the lower creation,
a noble thing to be independent of all that fortune can do,
a noble thing to rival the very inhabitants of the skies, and
show them on earth souls as mighty as their own, a noble
thing to strengthen the mind by occasional crosses when
too much relaxed by ease and enjoyment." You see at
once how little fitted was all this pompous array of motives
to act upon the mass of mankind at all, to act upon any
man with firm and constant practical effect. You see how
directly it aimed at self exaltation as its ultimate object and
reward ; — that is, how distinctly it perpetually said, — be
tumbled that you may be proud, — be poor and persecuted,
that you may despise your persecutors !... And thus, — the
whole scheme eventuated in disappointment. It purposed
to teach the Art of Happiness, it taught the sure road to pride,
isolation, and contemptuousness. And he knows little of
human nature who does not know that, wherever happiness
lie, this assuredly is not the path to it ! No despiser of his
fellows was ever other than despised of heaven, and an
exile, not merely from spiritual happiness itself, but even
from the temper most remotely connected with it!
" Blessed are the mourners," declares the Saviour. To
this (as we have seen) even natural wisdom is not without
bearing some attestation. " For they shall be comforted,"
— here the illustrator of life and immortality stands alone, —
SERM. v.]
Exalts and Sanctifies.
75
alone in the clearness of the promise, alone in the authority
of the Promiser !
Illumined by better light than earthly wisdom ever
brought, let us once more, then, approach this holy theme
of sorrow, and ask, in what spirit, and for what uses, a dis-
ciple of the mourner of Gethsemane is to learn to grieve!
And may the Eternal Spirit urge these sad but healing
truths upon every heart that beats before me! We are
companions in a dark mysterious world ; Christ spares not
his people the trial and the tear ; to many life itself is one
long " Lent" of spiritual tribulation, with glimpses of light
faint and few; to all suffering must more or less herald
glory, — let ois see if we cannot in some feeble degree pene-
trate the dark enigma of a Christian's grief.
If then the great condition of spiritual vitality be the
union of the soul in Time with the Lord of Eternity, — if
the nature of that union must mainly consist, on the part
of the disciple, in humble and confiding trust, — is it not
among the first requisites of the religious life that every
obstacle should be cleared away which may prevent in the
heart the full formation of that state of humble dependence
in which the essence of its blessedness on earth is com-
prised? Now that the efficacy of Sorrow for this great
work of self-abasement is mighty, — scarcely requires a
statement. Affliction is the very voice of God speaking to
the heart of man its nothingness. Sermons may fail, — but
sorrow is more eloquent than sermons. It is not the gos-
pel, but it is the herald of the gospel ; it is the very " voice
of him that crieth" in the vast " wilderness" of the desolated
heart, — "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight
in this desert a highway for our God I" Surrounded by all
earthly comforts, we may not comprehend the message,
"comfort ye!" It may seem a superfluous consolation.
We send it to the widow, the orphan, the captive. But
when around us lie shattered the hopes and dreams of that
fleeting prosperity, when we walk among ruins, ourselves
76
The Sorrow that
[SERM. V.
a ruin, — then God's time is near, his hand is busy in that
chaos, the " broken heart" is there which he has promised
not to spurn, and liis spirit (which works by means and
times and seasons) is even now about to weave of the dark
substance of that grief the " garment of praise" of which
his prophet has spoken, — the adorning meet for the ever-
lasting kingdom ! " Blessed," indeed, " are the mourners" to
"whom their mourning has brought humiliation ; the rap-
tures of eternity will declare whether that is " a repentance
to be repented of!"
But again, — is there not another equally simple process
discoverable in this mystery of the Christian's sorrow ? —
and shall we not again be grateful for the tears that teach
the way to Paradise ? You of course anticipate me when
I speak of the power that lies in affliction not merely to
humiliate man's self, but to avert him from the gloom of
the world around him to the promised brightness of the
world of hope. Surely I speak no novelty, when I ask
you, have you not ever found that one stroke of sorrow
carries with it as it were the condensed experience of years,
— and impresses with a truth, and depth, and reality, never
before known, the great fact that our pulpits are for ever
publishing, and for ever publishing in vain, — that the
World is a Traitor to our Ilopes, that its word is falsehood,
its promise mockery ; — that, however, in the calm of the
summer-day we may float in lazy security upon its surface,
it inevitably whelms us when the wind rises! But, oh,
even sorrow itself is weak where God does not infuse his
lessons in its sting. To no subordinate means will he
depute his omnipotence! And oftentimes, just as the sink-
ing seaman seizes in his agony the nearest support, so in
our agony too we grasp at the hope next us, — some vain
thought as idle as the one that wrecked us, some new
dependence that fails us as the old one did. And thus it is
that we see so many wretched votaries of the world and of
sorrow, who know happiness neither in enjoyment nor in
SERM. v.] Exalts and Sanctifies.
77
promise, to whom earth is no heaven, and yet heaven no
hope, — exiles of both worlds, and without claim in either !
May God keep His church from this last and worst perver-
sion of His providential teaching !
Such, — not to pass into minuter discussions, — are some
of the purposes and advantages of those chastening visita-
tions to which the church at this time more specially directs
our thoughts. Such is the awakening, the purifying, power
of sorrow, — in God's repository of providences, the great
natural medicine for infirm and diseased spirits. . .It is re-
markable, that in the work of Christ Himself upon earth,
a certain power of necessary discipline is also attributed to
His afflictions, — a mighty and mysterious subject which no
man can approach without reverence and awe! But while
fully to understand the nature of this qualifying process is
perhaps beyond our capacity, the fact seems to admit of no
doubt, — that it was, in the counsels of God and the neces-
sity of things, requisite, that the Leader of Salvation should
be consecrated for His high office through a course of pre-
liminary suffering. "Though He were a son, yet learned
He obedience by the things which He suffered : and being
made perfect, (that is, being thus duly consecrated for the
Dignity) He became the Author of eternal salvation to all
who obey HimP To reward obedience fitly, He Himself
obeyed. To understand temptation He Himself was tempted.
To sympathize with man He Himself became their Brother.
Hence it is that He Himself connects the suffering and the
reward in that question to the wondering disciples, — "ought
not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into
His glory?" And St Peter, in like manner, combines the
same double aspect of the office of the Redeemer, — "the
sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow,"
declaring them both equally the subject of ancient prophecy.
Christ then is the bright and eternal model of suffering
and its recompense ; in His own divine Person He has im-
mortalized their union 1 Is there not then a glory in
7*
78
The Sorrow that
[SERM, V.
rejection? may we not contemn content? Whatever be
tlie intensity of sorrow tliat bows and presses the heart of
man, — remember that for every grief you suffer, the meek
and holy One suffered a thousand, that there is not in the
spirit a dungeon or recess of anguish, however untrodden
or Lonely, in which the Lord of glory was not a mourning
inhabitant before you! Does the victim know the loss of
earthly comforts? Christ knew not where to lay llis head.
Does he regret the fall from wealth or power ? Let him
remember Who it was that emptied Himself of the glory
which He had before the world was, and left the Throne of
the Universe for the agonies of Calvary ! Does he deplore
the loss of friends ? Christ was friendless in His most try-
ing hour! Does he bewail the ingratitude of friends?
Christ was betrayed by His own familiar one! Finally, —
does he fear the coming of death, — the torture of the sepa-
ration? What death can he anticipate which shall approach,
the horror of the last days of his Eedeemer? Thus,
wherever we turn, whatever be our shade of grief, — we
are but feeble Copyists of the great Sufferer, who in His
own Person exhausted every variety of human sorrow 1
But it may be asked, — in what sense not derogatory to
the dignity of Christ can we conceive Him to have been
additionally qualified for His office by a career of human
suffering? Does iTe require purification, as we do ? Could
His knowledge be increased as ours is ? Was His mind
susceptible of gradual elevation, as our infirm and limited
capacities are known to be? To what purpose discipline
or preparation to a being of infinite knowledge, power, and
goodness ?
To answer this fully, would lead me far from our imme-
diate subject of contemplation. The solution is to be
found in the distinction of the divine and human natures,
in the single personality of the Saviour. As God the
Eternal Son was, doubtless, acquainted with all the varie-
ties of human emotion ; but the knowledge proper to Deity
SEEM, v.]
Exalts and Sanctifies.
79
is not the knowledge proper to man, nor probably bearing
any but a very remote analogy to it. As man, tbe Lord
Jesus was subject to all the sinless laws of humanity, —
among others, to the gradual acquisition of knowledge, to
the gradual heightening of character, — and to this pecu-
liar law, — that information acquired by experience is inva-
riably more vivid and permanent than that obtained by
any other channel. As still a man, (though on the right
hand of God) our Lord does still, doubtless, preserve these
principles of our common humanity inwoven in the texture
of His nature ; — does still know the more firmly, and feel
the more intensely, and thence succor the more earnestly,
because the knowledge and the feeling are no supernatural
additions to His nature, but the knowledge and feeling
gathered on earth, and now preserved for immortality, em-
balmed (as it were) in the divine essence that encompasses
and eternalizes them!
To imitate this transcendent model the Church invites
you ; — by peculiar self-discipline at this time to essay the
task. "What is the object of self-discipline in all its
varieties? What, but to bring the desires and habits
wholly under control ; so that they may learn to obey the
slightest order of the spiritual reason and conscience ?
Every restraint, — every practice, — which tends to this end
is valuable in exact proportion as it attains it : — whether
fasting or vigil, it is valueless in itself, valuable only in
relation to this high and holy object. And, dearest Breth-
ren ! when you remember to what a pitch of strength and
health a human Body may be brought by the steadfast
maintenance of appointed rule, — does it not point to a
mighty power of a similar nature capable of being exerted
upon the spiritual part of man? Through dread of asceti-
cism, we are, I much fear, apt to pass into an opposite and
more dangerous extreme of carelessness. Depending with
an apparent faith, a real negligence, upon the agency of
the Spirit of God, — we too much forget that the Spirit
80
Tlie Sorrow thai
[SERM. V.
urges us hy means, and to the use o/" means; that His object
is not to supersede the Prudence and the Keason, but to
disentangle it of encumbrance, and call it more forcibly,
clearly, and constantly into action. Employ every means
to rise from sense to faith, — if abstinence will help the
work by conquering the opposition, — abstain, if watching,
— watch, if any other of the varieties of mortification,
boldly, honestly employ them. Consult with candor your
own experience of your own temptations ; and then the
sincere prayer of faith will be heard, God will direct and
overrule ; and, whether your spirits qualifying under faith
for the eternal inheritance, be led through the path of
bodily mortification or not, a way shall surely be minis-
tered for you iuto the kingdom of God and of His Christ.
Thither is He gone whom we, with our crosses, are to
follow ! " Blessed are they that mourn ; for they shall be
comforledr consoled with that divine peace which He has
won, and wearing those celestial diadems which He shall
distribute ! I speak on a day of solemn repentance ; but
through the saddest of Christian festivals joy will irresisti-
bly force its way I The glorious object at the end of the
vista flashes back its light upon the whole dim landscape
of life behind it. No, — I will not again call it a religion
of sorrow. In spite of all that life can bring to shake our
calmness of enduring faith, we have something within us,
(if we be Christians indeed) which the world cannot reach.
Joys, — secret but pervading joys, — are treasured in the
Believer's heart, though oftentimes he cannot himself
measure the degree, or trace the source, of his own emo-
tions! And in this gloomy night of life, — waiting for the
everlasting day, we must have patience, even though we
cannot yet catch the dawnings of the morn, — though we
must live by sober faith, and be, for a while, the calm ex-
pectants of glory ! . . . Think, — if we were Christians hideed,
in what a spirit we would meet, this blessed hour I The
Church bids us meet to grieve for sin, — the Church is
SERM. v.]
Exalts and Sanctifies.
81
right, — " If we say that we have no sin we deceive our-
selves." — But in the blessed fellowship of the Father and the
Son, the misery of our nature is irradiated and consumed
in the light of heaven, sin cannot darken us with its sha-
dow, and Lent itself becomes almost a season of rejoicing !
AVe know not our own privileges ! We are called into the
family of God, — we are placed as guests at the banquet of
Heaven, — the treasure-cities of eternity are exhausted of
their wealth to adorn and enrich us, — " He who spared not
his own Son, how shall He not with Him also freely give
us all things ?" — but lonely, and languid, and loveless sit
we ! as if the poorest suppliant in this church who knows
and loves his Saviour were not the Hero of an Eternal
Story, — were not a chosen brother to Him who is only
" the firstborn among many brethren /" Come, then, we
will grieve for sin ! "VVe will weep over that which made
our Beloved weep ! Morn and eve shall hear our sighs
befitting the time of holy sorrow ! "VVe will mourn yet
more as we approach nearer to that melancholy week when
the " Man of Sorrows" " having loved His own loved them
unto the end.",.. But, — as "He was delivered for our
offences," so was He "raised for our justification." Lent is
brightened by its anticipated Easter 1 Amid all our griefs,
a subdued and heavenly joy shall accompany us ! Christ
was crucified for us, — He is now rejoicing ; we who have
been crucified with Him, with Him will even now rejoice !
And each day, as we read and hear of mournful things, —
of the betrayal, and the garden, and the cross, — we will
tell our friends that whether to grieve or joy we know not;
for the gloom of the trial and the glory of the triumph are
mingled in our thoughts. — On the one hand Christ is "set
forth evidently crucified among us," — on the other we see
" the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the
right hand of God." On the one hand "Behold the Man!"
and the crown of thorns, — on the other "Behold the Man I"
and the crown of glory, and the raptures of an assembled
82
The Sorrow that Exalts and Sanctifies.
[SERM. V.
universe! ...But whether on the Cross or on the Throne,
in Uim alike and in llim alone will we glory ; — He alone
has "blessed" us as "mourners," — and from Him alone
(God grant to all His people the power to keep the re-
solve!) — from Him alone, — in the midst of a flattering and
seductive world, — will we receive the promise as true, —
that such mourning shall yet be " comforted," — that they
that mourn in Zion shall indeed receive "beauty for ashes,
the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the
spirit of heaviness, — that they may be called trees of
righteousness, the planting of the Lord!"
V
SERMON VI.
THE PURIFYING POWER OF TRIBULATION.
What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? . . .
These are they which came out of great tribulation. — Rev. Tii. 13, 14.
Brethren, how profound is the subtlety of the sinful
heart; how perfect is that terrible science of self-deceit by
which, from the dawn of reason to the hour of death, we
learn to reconcile our worse and our better natures ! Surely
the " tree of the knowledge of good and evil" might well
be to us a forbidden tree ; for the knowledge of sin has
only driven us upon the art of excusing it, — the wretched
art of supplying apologies for predetermined crime, — the
fatal power of preserving ourselves in an unbroken dream
of imaginary safety from that wrath of God which yet we
cannot deny to be expressly " revealed against all ungodli-
ness," — of investing a perilous folly with the air of inno-
cent playfulness, — of glossing over darker deeds with the
poor pretences of passion and hastiness, — of, in one form
or another, soothing a muttering conscience, and forcing
reason, against its plainest evidences, to believe that an
unimpressed, unspiritual nature can be that nature to which
eternal Justice has affixed an eternity of rewarding happi-
ness. Unable to question the solid reality of the glory
revealed in Scripture, and equally unable to surrender our
earthly shadows, we live in a miserable indecision between
them. We would come to blessedness, but we cannot bear
84
The purifying Poicer
[SERM. VI.
to walk the pathway, that Christ has traced : we promise
willing service to God in heaven, but we beg that the heart
may have its own way on earth. And thus, day after day,
instead of being the children of God, we waste our hours in
persuading ourselves that we are so, or " special-pleading"
with the Majesty of Heaven to show cause why we are
not!
Now, brethren, recur to the text, and see what encourage-
ment it affords to these wretched infatuations. "What are
these which are arrayed in white robes, and whence came
they ? . . . These are they which came out of great tribula-
tion." A mighty scene is opened here. The scene which
one day, when the curtain of Eternity rises, will disclose
itself to every one of you, is anticipated in this page. May
we so gaze on the reflection as to fit us for the reality ! Oh
may we, — ^exiles as we are, — so feel and think of this celes-
tial Home, that our domestic affections may already cluster
around our " Father who is in heaven," and our hearts and
hopes be there, to " make ready the way before us 1"
The Prophet of the New Testament tells you the things
which he learned from the mouth of Christ and of angels,
when he was (as may you be now in a sense less miracu-
lous perhaps, but not less important) " in the spirit on the
Lord's Day." He beheld hosts of the blessed (who can
say,' — God grant it ! but that he beheld in that prophetic
hour some of the very listeners who are now before me ?)
"a multitude of all nations and kindreds," encompassing
the visible throne of God and of the Lamb. How all that
is loftiest in human conception, — its learning, its philosophy
and its poetry, — pale before one glance at such a scene !
Sorrow had passed away, the unclouded dawn was begun.
All that humanity groans for, all that man asks of nature
and that nature cannot give, all that love (the Essential
Spirit of the Universe) outpoured upon its chosen objects
could bestow, — all was seen to be the bright lot of these
blessed ones, and all was for eternity I The wandering
SERM. VI.]
of Tribulation.
85
Soul had readied its centre, tlae ultimate perfection was
attained, and human life ceased to be an enigma. The love
of Knowledge was satisfied in the perpetual contemplation
of the substantial truth ; the love of Beauty in the unveiled
source of all that is beautiful; the love of Happiness in the
enjoyment of secure and perpetual bliss ; the love of the
fellow-creatures in the society of holy and responding bro-
ther-spirits : — and this was to be for ever ! . . . John tells us
little of his own feelings in his volume of prophecy; but
we can learn from our own hearts what must have been the
thoughts of the good disciple when he beheld this destined
heritage of his regenerated human nature . . . He referred
humbly to his guide to learn the history of these happy
sj)irits, and what was the reply. "Whence came they?"
Was it from the haunts of idleness and folly, — was it from
the tables where luxury robs the poor of their patrimony of
charity, — was it from scenes of passionate excitement, the
fever of partisanship, the struggles of rival ambition, — I
am not speaking, you perceive, of open crime, I talk of
ourselves, who say we " look for an heavenly country," —
was it from frigid and unthoughtful worship, from heartless
pr-ayer, and indolent duties, — that these sainted Champions
of the Cross ascended to their God? No, Brethren! no, —
"These are they which came out of great tribulation!"
They walked a painful and laborious road on earth, before
they reached the " City of Peace." They ran counter to
all the most cherished idolatries of their nature, before they
were admitted to "see God;" they crucified every corrupted
principle, before they obtained that better nature, which is
at once the foretaste of eternal happiness, and its necessary
qualification. If the portraiture of that undying felicity
fires your hearts and imaginations, in the name of common
prudence I call on you not to neglect the requisites. Peace
is won through war; if you will have rest hereafter, you
must not slumber now. The repose of mind which our
fiaith bestows is no indolent lethargy ; this is the "peace" of
VOL. II. — 8
86
Tlie purifying Power
[SERM, VI.
"the world," and it is " not as the world giveth peace" that
Christ giveth it. The peace of a Christian spirit is not
gained until after much contest, and where it exists it is
eminently contradistinguished from all worldly principles
of quiet, first in being not a passive principle, but a source
of constant activity, — and secondly in not resulting from
the cessation of outward afilictions, but possessing a capa-
city of permanence, of triumphant vitality, in the very
midst, — not seldom in virtue, — of those persecutions which
destroy all worldly repose.
I repeat. Brethren ! that when I speak of the toils which
must preface your everlasting happiness, or your Christian
peace on earth, it is not to the open despisers of God that I
am speaking, — to those whose whole life shows them be-
yond all the forces which we could here bring to assail them.
No, Brethren, it is to you who have learned the language
of religion, and understand its feelings ; to you who profess
to fulfil in your life the pledges of your Baptism ! It is
to you who, living as others live, yet persuade yourselves
that you " are not as others are ;" and who, though on your
deathbed you may not be able to summon from the recol-
lections of a life, a single instance of an evil propensity
conquered, a bright affection enkindled, a sacrifice endured,
— yet have learned to repose serene in the confident con-
viction, that, beyond the chasm of the grave, you are to
find the glorious Form of the Redeemer waiting to conduct
his tried and faithful servant into everlasting happiness.
This is, indeed, the most irrational of all the delusions of
the corrupted heart; and unhappily, in opposing it, we
have to oppose an evil that in some manner is produced
by the very spread of Christianity itself. H is not where
the nominal profession of our Faith is accompanied with.
direct 2^ersecution, that this monstrous expectation of secur-
ing heaven without a struggle against a nature radically
corrupt, has place. It is where the religion is outwardly
popular, where sincerity is untested and fortitude unde-
SERM. VI.]
of Tribulation.
87
manded, — there it is that men dream that human nature
can be subdued without a struggle or that it requires not
to be subdued at all, — there it is that we forget how those
who are "clad in white robes" are "they that have come out
of iribulationP
Brethren ! my object is to remind you that this self-
deceiving forgetfulness is the deepest illusion of him
who exists but to destroy you, of him whose principle of
life is Hate. My object is to rouse you to a conflict
which you must rouse yourselves to encounter, or forego
advantages which are bestowed only as the prizes of
victory. And thence, — to suggest to you a careful retro-
spect in order to determine whether this contest has actu-
ally taken place, and to remind you, that, if it has not, if
in some period of your life this internal struggle has not
occurred, if you cannot remember a time at which you have
earnestly prayed for strength, at which, becoming more and
more aware of the difficulties and dangers of your state,
you have cried aloud again for relief, at which receiving
some consolation, you have risen, — and perhaps fallen, —
and " being in an agony have prayed yet more earnestly"
and have risen again, — at which, in short, you have gone
through some, whether more or less, of the phases of this
spiritual warfare, — if, I say, you cannot recall (and recall
with facility, — for to be genuine it must be of a felt import-
ance which must make it for ever a prominent object in
recollection) a series of changes like these, terminating in a
better heart and higher affections, — then it is highly pro-
bable (not perhaps absolutely certain, but probable to an
alarming degree) that your spiritual state is one of extreme
and momentous peril, of peril great indeed at the present
moment, but growing in intensity every hour you delay,
from the operation of habit in strengthening the obstinate
grasp of the world on your hearts. This is the im^uisition
I want you to make ; these are the signs of salvation which
cannot deceive. These are " the marks of the Lord Jesus"
88
The 2')urifijing Poicer
[SEliM. VI.
■wliich, as Paul bore them in the body, we should bear in
the spirit. All the formalities of public, or even private,
■worship may deceive us as a token of the change, — scrip-
ture reading may deceive, — religious society may deceive,
— habits of religious conversation may deceive, — even a
considerable interest in the fortunes and progress of the
Gospel around us, may deceive, — but these things cannot
deceive ! To have struggled through our noviciate of
religion, to have sorely lamented and earnestly supplicated,
—to have lingered on the borders of a worldly life, sorrow-
ing, — for that is human nature, — to leave it, yet each hour
feeling its ties relax, — to have, perhaps, been taught depend-
ence by a lapse, and blotted out the record of it by a repent-
ant appeal to the Saviour, and to have risen renewed from
the failure, more strong because more cautious, — and forti-
fied at length in determined holiness, — all these are experi-
ences which he who has known has peace, which he who
has never known may tremble for his final security. There
may be immaculate exceptions from humanity who are in-
dependent of such a discipline, and who glide into Christi-
anity as their native region ; assuredly few of us have ever
seen even the image of such perfection in the natural man ;
and I suspect that if any such existed, they would be the
last to perceive their own privileges, or to deny the neces-
sity of that purifying " tribulation" of heart which seems
the destined condition of spiritual perfection to every child
of man.
[II.] For Brethren ! upon what ground could you stand
in resisting the necessity of this conclusion ? that a work
of much and urgent toil, wrought under the superintending
grace of God, — is requisite to secure your safety, and that,
where you cannot cite such an experience, you are in deep
danger of not having yet substantiated your claim to adop-
tion in Christ as the sons of God.
Will you derive such a conviction from the nature and
condition of the human heart ? Oh Brethren, what hope can
SERM. VI.]
of Tribulation.
89
the indolent Christian discover here ? Surely you cannot
but perceive that if the religion of the Gospel be indeed
a restorative process, which presupposes a fall from original
righteousness ; — if its purpose be to remove old objects of
affection and replace them by new ones ; if, in doing so, it
has manifestly to contend with the whole current of nature
and habit; and if the customary life of an unconverted
man possess scarcely an internal principle of action in com-
mon with that of a converted man, beyond a general sense
of right and wrong; if the new heart is not merely a dif-
ferent heart, but a contrary heart, — if this be true (and few
Christian men will deny it to be true, — that this is the pur-
pose of Christianity as an inward system) can it be ques-
tioned that an operation, or series of operations, so funda-
mental, — so extensive, so profound, — are not to be achieved
without difficulty, and perseverance, and prayer, and tears?
It is surely nothing but the most melancholy forgetfulness
of the real nature of the human heart, as contrasted with
the objects of the religion brought to work upon it, that
can leave us sunk (as thousands of us are) in the miserable
illusion that we can be Christians by little more than nam-
ing ourselves such, — that we can reach our God without
moving a step to meet Him !
But in answer to such statements as these of the mutual
relation of Christianity and the Heart of man, it is said, —
" we have not to destroy affections but to change their objects
in this process, and this may be gradually effected without
any very perceptible effort." Alas ! this is the very reason
why I insist upon the difficulty ...Were the religious affec-
tions essentially new, we could assign no rules as to their
entrance, or their departure. They would be wholly out
of the sphere of our calculation. It is in the alteration of
their objects that we can understand the labor and trial of
this great change. It is in tins way that we can perceive
that the education for the Christian profession is laborious
like that for every other " profession," which leaves the
8*
90 The 'purifying Power [SERM. "VI.
man and liis faculties the same, and wholly alters their
mode of operation If our love of happiness, our desire,
that is, of having the constant means of gratifying our
various wishes, — were to be changed into some feeling
utterly unlike it, by the operation of religion, we could ill
say whether a change thus inconceivable would prove a
source of toil or of ease to ourselves. But if, our love of
happiness remaining, its objects be made to suffer a total
alteration ; — if loving happiness as before, we form to our
minds a new species of happiness, a happiness whose
Author and whose scene are beyond this world, a happi-
ness which, as it can little turn upon our present experi-
ence, must (unlike our ordinary conceptions of the com-
mon objects of desire) be not known, but trusted for, that
is, be the object not of Sense but of Faith, — if this great
revolution in the objects of our old faculties take place,
then indeed we can perceive what a labor of mind is re-
quisite to impel a new stream through these old channels,
to fit the former machinery to higher purposes. And cer-
tain it is. Brethren ! that these higher purposes require a
new "moving power," — even the "Spirit of God."... But
this point I waive; I only ask you, can it be doubted that
a change of heart such as this supposes, is no alteration
which leaves us suhstantiall ij unchanged, but on the con-
trary, a total transformation, and thence an epoch in every
one's existence, — an tera which, constituted as the World
is in relation to the Christian disciple, can scarcely fail to
be more or less prominent in the history of every human
life? Have you, my Brethren! yet passed this momentous
crisis'? If you have not, remember, that, whatever be your
fortunes in this world, it is but too probable that the only date
that will ever be of importance in eternity, is yet to come I
But perhaps this sort of argument in favor of the im-
portance of this change, and the unremitting toil which is
required of those who would realize it, m;iy appear too
abstruse and recondite; for alas! how obscure appear all
SERM. VI.]
of Tribulation.
91
reasonings that we have no wish to follow! I refer you
then not to the internal knowledge of the general heart of
man, but to your own daily outward experience. You
who think that the world can be deserted without a sigh,
and heaven won without a struggle, I turn your contem-
plation to the world that surrounds you. If to secure mere
physical comforts, — to gain a common livelihood (and re-
member one God is the Grod of all, his laws govern this
world no less than the world to come) such a weight of toil
is required, such patience, such endurance, such incessant
demands on the spirits and the intellect; shall we say that
an eternity of happiness is to be won by no trouble at all ?
that for a good, uncertain in acquisition and perishable if
acquired, the Providence of God has decreed the necessity
of careful previous exertion, and that for a good, certain
in acquisition and eternal in duration, he requires no cost
or preparation of any kind, no discipline laborious or pro-
tracted, no sacrifice beyond what fashion or convenience
may please to dictate ?
But Brethren ! this is a class of arguments that wears a
more terrible aspect still ! If it directs us to the conditions
of our salvation, it also directs us to the terrible conse-
quences of our sin. I have been asking you how it is that
your eyes (ye who walk as Christians) can see the promises
of Scripture, and yet be blind as to the conditions ; and I
have enforced the interrogatory by a reference to the condi-
tional character of all the calculated happiness we can
observe on earth. I now ask you, on the same grounds,
how is it that no earthly power can secure your (let me not
say " your," we are all one in this blindness !) can secure
our practical belief in the terrors of its threats? Does
the course of tJds world justify the belief that its God holds
the gates of the everlasting Eden open to His revilers or
His neglectors on earth ? What character do you discover
in the God who governs you ? We walk in this world
through the midst of gloomy indications of vengeance.
92
The purifying Power
[SERM. VI.
Take the palmary instance of the fact. Death, itself the
wages of sin, is every hour reminding us of that cause
which "brought death into the world and all our woe;" and
yet, with death around us, we dream that God cannot
punish! We who have been by that God permitted to
read His word, cannot but know that we are mortal because
we are sinners, — that the funeral processions which as if by
God's special appointment in almost all countries are marked
with a melancholy pomp, are but the solemnities of a legal
execution, the grave fulfilment of the penalty that man in-
curred when first he separated from the source of life! la
misfortunes expected, — in sudden calamities, — in wars and
pestilences, — in the very satiety and restlessness of prospe-
rity itself, — we only read inscribed on the face of things the
terrible justice of the God we have to do with! Nay, to
such a degree is this character of condemnation graven on
the earth, that there have been those who have declared
they could recognize no trace at all of beneficence in the
Creator, or at least but a slight and ambiguous one; that
He has revealed Himself to his creatures as a Being of
inexorable severity only, and that His very mercies were
only apparent and merely intended to deepen by moment-
ary gleams of light the terrific darkness of His general
dispensations. This is indeed a representation exaggerated,
partial, and false; but who will say that such views are
without •plausibility? And this is all that the argument
requires. If the evil of life, if its punitive character, be
prominent enough to give currency to such a picture of the
God who governs it; if, as we know, the gods of unin-
structed nations (fair indications of natural convictions) are
almost invariably personifications of the terrible, — if in
every cup bitterness enough is mingled to have the effect
of thus poisoning the reason of men against their Maker; — •
I ask what ground is there for the hope that the Justice of
God is not answerable to his scriptural representations of
it? What ground for the supposition that the Mercy of
SERM. VI.]
of Tribulation.
93
God is boundless, in any sense whicli can set us at our
ease in the ordinary negligent Christianity of daily life ?
What then is the result of our argument, as far as it has
yet proceeded ? We are in the habit of denying, — that is,
our conduct tacitly denies, — that we are bound in any
sense to labor for eternal life, to "strive to enter at the
narrow gate." We substitute the visions of indolence, an
Epicurean Christianity, for the persevering activity of
believing men. We reduce our Christianity to the
miserable standard of custom, and we join with mankind
to forget God in the easy decencies of religious observance.
... In opposition to this, I have urged that the very pur-
pose of Christianity negatives such a mode of operation.
If its purpose be to change the heart, the heart itself must
be engaged in the work ; and a long course of prayer and
vigilance is needful to substitute heavenly for earthly
motives and affections Again, — I have urged that the
whole course of God's Providence evinces that happiness
is not to be attained by reasonable beings without the
patient efforts of a faith reposing on the future ; that to put
the thing in the most general way, — pain, in some form or
other, is the common condition of promised pleasure ; and
not only this, but that we are warranted by all around us,
in denouncing the terrors of eternal ruin against wilful
neglect. . . So far (and oh ! how fatal is that familiarity with
such truths which has rendered it almost impossible to
impress them as they deserve) I have but asked your
reason and exferience to accompany me in demonstrating
that those robes of unsullied purity of which the text
speaks, are worn only, or almost only, by those who have
"Come out of great tribulation," who have gained the
rewards, because they have borne the toils of the conflict !
But here is an authority beyond reason and experience,
and to that I would finally invite you ! You who fancy
that under the ample canopy of the Christian name you
can dream your way to heaven, dare you appeal to the
94
The purifying Poicer
[SERM. VI.
revealed purposes of Christ as He Himself has explained
them. There is perhaps nothing whieh to a careful ob-
server more eminently marks the divine presence of our
Lord than the constant union in llis predictions, admoni-
tions, and consolations, of great threatened affliction with
great promised success. Two characteristics which in a
worldli/ enterprise are almost irreconcilable, o\ar Lord,
from the commencement of Uis mission to its close, calmly
predicts, and predicts without an effort to conciliate them.
The religion is to be continually persecuted and continually
triumphant. And this declaration was derived from no
previous experience ; when the new faith had scarcely
attracted the notice or jealousy of a single opponent, its
Founder began to give it laws coextensive with the world,
to assign the mode of its future action, and to assign it on
principles applicable to all the climates of the earth and all
the ages of time. And still the two prominent character-
istics were preserved, — the continued victory and the con-
tinued persecution. And not only was this an external
victory, an outward dissemination of the faith, but also an
internal triumph, a spiritual happiness. " In the world ye
shall have persecution; but be of good cheer, I have overcome
the world." And I cannot but here remark that this dif-
ference is observable between the predictions of our Lord
and of his apostles ; that whereas they predict mere facts,
as those who are instructed by another. He predicts the
whole operation of the Christian principles tliemselves, as
became the Author and the mechanist of the entire system;
the apostles predict the persecutions as circumstances to
occur, but Christ predicts the necessary operation of the
principles that are to produce at once the persecutions and
their consolation ; the apostles declare facts, Chrfst declares
laws and relations: — a difference so minute and refined,
and corresponding so exactly to the different capacity and
dignity of the persons, as I venture to say no possible sup-
position but that of strict truth can satisfy.
SERM. VI.]
of Trihulaiion.
95
But what I am now insisting on is the inseparable scrip-
tural connection of the toil of attainment with the final
happiness of the Christian. You remember how in that
succession of blessings with which so appropriately the
teaching of Christ on earth is opened in the first of our
Gospels, it is declared that they which mourn shall be com-
forted and that they which are persecuted for righteousness'
sake possess the kingdom of heaven. And the same con-
nection thus introducing His mission, our Lord, as you
know, unceasingly urges; consummating all instruction
by His own example in which affliction and holiness were
so perpetually united, affliction attesting holiness and holi-
ness sanctifying affliction. His apostles took up the same
strain, and continually and earnestly declared that we
" must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of
God." Nor is the succession of such doctrine lost through
all the ages of the church ; how could it ? for it is built
upon the sameness of the corrupted human heart and the
sameness of the religion destined to restore it. And is it,
brethren ! in despite of such authorities as these that we
have constructed for ourselves a luxurious Christianity, in
which the sacrifice of Christ is the mly sacrifice we can
understand, and His holiness the only holiness we deem re-
quired of God ? Awake from this deadly lethargy, and in
the midst of enormous privileges, cease to pervert your
Christianity to an aggravation of your curse ! Know that
your self-deceit cannot deceive God; awake then, brethren,
and know, — and that in whom God accepts He looks for
the history of depravities painfully conquered, affections
enkindled, patience exercised, and victory fairly won I If
you cannot point to any such records; if, from birth to this
^^7) yo'i cannot name one hour of conflict with a world
" that lieth in wickedness ;" can you deem that you are
qualified to be incorporated into that bright band which
has come, — and, while the world and the heart remain the
same, must ever come, — " out of great tribulation ?" Can
9G
The purifijing Power of Tribulation. [SERM. VI.
you arrive at that abode where " the Lord wipes the tears
from all eyes/' if you have never shed a tear? Can you, in
one word, have fulfilled the terms of a profession which is,
everywhere in Scripture, and on the most permanent
grounds, designated as a warfare that tries every principle
of the spiritual nature, without being once conscious of the
presence of your adversary, or once engaged in anything
like actual resistance? Is religion indeed a principle so
indefinite that, if it come at all, it will pass like a summer-
cloud, unheeded over the surface of our hearts? Never
imagine it ! Be assured that the " white robes" of the
blessed are not the robes of indolence but the mantles and
decorations of conquest ! Be assured, also, that if (as the
/ ' passage continues to say) these blessed spirits " serve God
day and night in his temple," it is because their hearts
have learned here the elements of that holy service, and
their voices have been tuned on earth for the harmonies of
heaven I
SEEMON YII.
THE GROWTH OF THE DIVINE LIFE.
I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.—
1 John ii. 13.
Brethren, — the knowledge which St John stated to
be the basis of his exhortations, I am here this day to
beseech you to provide and ensure: he wrote to "little
children" because they had " known the Father," — I speak
to you that you may enable them to attain the same ines-
timable wisdom. He thought it not below the dignity of
a pen which had transcribed the discourses of a God on
Earth, to condescend to encourage the progressive piety
of children ; Christians ! think it not below yours to hear
the story of thejr wants, and to meditate the means of their
relief!
Yet how can I resume the topic which he left in this
brief form upon his inspired page without a moment's
melancholy recurrence to the difference (too certain!)
between the corres})ondents lie. addressed and the audience
that I address. His letters, intended for the general
Christian world, bore indeed no specific direction ; they
were the common property, as they are to this day the
common heritage, of the church. But we know what that
church was, when it received them, fresh from the living
Apostle. We know its enduring faith, its holy hope; —
its sufferings which were triumphs, its earthly defeats
VOL. II.— 9
98
Tlie Growth of the
[SEKM. VII.
wliicli were lieavenly victories. They who are learned in
the history of that wondrous time, have read of a love not
only stronger than death, but stronger than the protracted
death of a life of persecution. They know that peasants
from the plough, and slaves from the market-place, achieved
wonders of fortitude such as the proud philosophy of old
time had scarcely dared to imagine in its brightest visions
of human perfection ; — that poor men, — unconscious heroes
who had never heard of heroism, — not only sought the
flames {that might be the weakness of enthusiasm) but, —
what no enthusiasm but that of God's eternal Spirit ever
wrought, — from the heart of the flames called for pardon
upon the oppressors, — so that the fires of persecution and
the prayers of the persecuted, rose, for vengeance, and for
mercy, to heaven together ! Such was that early Eden of
Christian history, before the enemy had darkened its glory
with his shadow. We deny not, — the Scriptures them-
selves deny not, — that stains here and there might exist
amid so vast and varied a body; weak brethren might
fail, and false brethren might intrude ; but altogether the
effect was such as the world never witnessed before or
since. In that new-born church human nature, as if recent
from its contact with Deity in the person of the incarnate
God, seemed once more to have issued in primitive beauty
from the divine Hand, and again to have caught the
original impression of the maker. Eternal Purity had
been on earth in the form of Jesus Christ, and, though He
had passed away, the world where He walked was still
fragrant with His presence ! The Sun himself had set,
but the clouds yet burned with His glory, and twilight
was still to defer the darkness to come 1
Such was the church that St John addressed in the
epistle I have cited. I turn to my hearers, and I ask for
that lovely image! Whither is departed this radiant
glimpse of the heaven to come? Is it among you, bre-
thren ? or has it returned to the God who gave it? . . .Oh I
8ERM. VII.]
Divine Life.
if at this hour, in the throng that now listens to these
words, I could feel myself addressing an assembly such as
those holy conventions of old, that met, — not in a temple
like this, — but in caves and sepulchres, to worship a God
whom the world denied, — if, in surveying this fair array
of stately and decorous Christianity, I could discover the
hope that brightened the martyr's prison with visions of
heaven, — if, in the crowd of pledged professors of the
Faith of the Cross set before me I could behold the fitting
successors of men who cast their whole earthly wealth into
a common treasury of charity, — of females (the ladies of
an age as rich, and, in many respects, as refined as the
world ever saw) who cast their ornaments at the foot of
the cross ; — if I could believe this, — or hope it, or imagine
it, — would I address you, as now I am doing, in the style
that education and refinement demands of its orators? or
would I not rather, — trusting in tried hearts, — spurn aside
all the pomp of appeal and all the labor of argument, —
and speaking as my author spoke and speaking no more,
tell you that these " little children" whom I plead for to-
day, endeared to you as they are by every local con-
nection, — if you will have them such as St John would
" write" to, or such as St John's Master would adopt, —
must by t/ow, by you alone if at all, — by you, their natural
protectors, — be taught to "know the Father!"
• For them I have to speak, but not for them only. If
you hear me on their behalf, you are also to hear me on
your own. If I plead for children, I speak to men! Your
hearts are indeed the tribunal before which I have to advo-
cate the cause of this, your own parochial charity. But
let me not forget that I have an office more momentous 1
They are also the tribunal before which, in common with
your own accustomed minister, — with all other ministers
£)Q all other occasions, I have to plead the cause of a charity
more intimate to each of you, — that reflective charity, that
100
The Growth of the
[SERM, VII.
holy compassion, by which the converted soul of a perish-
ing sinner learns at last to take pity on itself/
For such an application I need not overpass the text, —
the pregnant text, — before us. It presents two or three
different aspects, and you will permit me to invite your
attention very briefly to each. The " little children" whom
St John addressed, though here 1 have little doubt the term
is to be understood literally, yet you must remember, shared
that title in the apostle's vocabulary of love with all humble
Christians of all ages of life. Nor was this phrase, — in this
extended sense, — -pecjt^/ar to St John, though so often
adopted by him, and so characteristic of his lovely nature.
" Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children," writes
St Paul. Again, — "As my beloved sons I warn you," — "I
speak as unto children:" — and "my little children of w}iom
I travail in birth." Christ Himself had authorized the
beautiful metaphor, both by His express use, (John xxi. 5)
and still more, by the spirit of His teaching. Now, of two
aspects under which the ascription of "childhood" to Chris-
tian discipleship might be viewed, it is observable how dis-
tinctly characteristic is the separate adoption by the two
apostles, — how the tone of each character reveals itself in
the employment of this simple term. The remark may
seem somewhat refined, — perhaps overstrained, — yet surely
it is in such minute and delicate shadowings that real gen-
uineness best discovers itself Observe then, — if St Paul
addresses his converts as " children," it is as his oivn chil-
dren he chiefly regards them. The active energetic minister
of the Gentiles identifies his people and himself in the bonds
of a familiar relation; and justly proud of his fruitful
labors in the Gospel rejoices to think not only that the
brethren of Ephesus or Corinth are the people of Christ,
but that they are so through his instrumentality. But St
John, — gentle contemplative St John, — if he terras the
members of the church " little children," does so without
any direct personal purpose. It is not as the children of
SERM. VII.]
Divine Life.
161
tis own apostleship, nor always as the children of even the
heavenly Father, that he loves to regard them. The pro-,
found simplicity of his mind usually seeks nothing more
by the term than to convey the general idea of innocence,
dependence, humility, and love. How characteristic of two
natures, which, both admirable, were yet admirable in ways
so unlike! — two natures, which, it is scarcely too much to
say, are types to the Christian world in every age of two
great classes of Believers, that, — each imperfect without
the other, — combine, when united in the fellowship of the
Church, to exalt it to "the measure of the stature of the
fulness of Christ." The one, — St Paul, — ardent and im-
petuous, imprints his character upon every page, presents
himself in presenting Christ, and throws into the cause of
the Gospel the whole energies of a spirit, which in its
highest exaltation is still St Paul's. The other, in whom
affection seems to have consumed in its heavenly flame, or
assimilated to its own substance, every other power, loses
himself in adopting Christ, and seems to speak to mankind
from the mystical depths of another being, until it is no
longer the man, — John, — we hear, but a half beatified
spirit, reiterating its lovely, simple, lesson of love. The
one, various, eloquent, " all things to all men," can never
forget that his converts are the babes of his own spiritual
fatherhood in this world, his special crown of rejoicing in
a future; — the other, with but one idea, — but that the
highest of all, is himself so infantine in the character of his
dove-like nature, as scarcely to wish to be aught but a child
among these children of paradise !
Besides the literal use of this term (to which I shall have
again to return, — for I am to-day the advocate of no figura-
tive or ideal childhood, but of real and immortal spirits
schooling in this great academy of the world for heaven or
for hell!) and the metaphorical uses, — personal and general, .
— which I have noticed, — there is yet another figurative use
of the term, which indeed many learned men have supposed
9*
102
The Growth of the
[SEBM. VII.
to be intended in this very passage, but which at all events
is frequent in the apostolic writings. It is that in which
life, — being no longer the growth, maturity and waste of
the body, but the " life of God in the soul of man," — is
measured upon a higher scale than the course of fleeting
years, even by the progressive strength of God's Spirit in
the heart. In this sense the "children," "young men" and
" fathers," of this passage are regarded as symbolizing three
great stages of spiritual advancement; and, whether St
John so intended it or not, such an interpretation of the
passage contains a mighty truth. This brings us altogether
out of the natural and visible world into that mysterious
sphere of divine agency where God is alone with the hu-
man soul. It is not by the annual revolutions of a visible
Sun that the progress of such a life is noted, but by the
advancing beams of the eternal Sun of the spiritual heaven.
That " city," — and the human soul even in this world may
in some respect be such, — "hath no need of the sun,
neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God
doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." (Rev.
xxi. 23.) Now the passage, we see, attributes to this
blessedness perpetual advancement, — advancement from
holy to holier ; and it is on this glorious prospect I would
have you meditate, and perhaps assist you for a while to
arrange your thoughts. For this internal Life of God in
the Heart is subject, as every thing perhaps but God Him-
self is, to the great law of progress. "Never man reached
at once the lowest depravity," says an old author ; Christi-
anity shows us the fairer aspect of the thought in showing
that man is not destined to be suddenly perfect. Every-
where it speaks of gradual development, of structures that
are themselves the basis of new structures of holiness, of
a journey prosecuted through many stages. The "truth"
is nolo a life infused, now a seed planted and watered, noio a
light brightening more and more to the perfect day. It is
the feebleness of childhood, the vigor of youth, the stability
SEKM. VII.]
Divine Life.
103
of manhood, the settled dignity and calm repose of age: —
in all a continued identity of the principle of life, but a
difference in its degrees of manifestation. "I speak unto
you," says St Paul, " as unto habes in Christ. I have fed
you with milk, and not with meat; for hitherto ye were
not able to bear it.'" (1 Cor. iii. 1, 2.) " As new-born
babes," says St Peter, "desire the sincere milk of the
word," — evidently an early stage of the Christian life, —
that for which the " milk" of the word is appropriated, —
and that too not so much enjoyed as "desired." While
again St Paul looks forward to the glorious period when
"we shall all come unto 2^ 'perfect man, unto the measure of
the stature of Christ's fulness.". .. Keflect, then, a moment
on this aspect of the passage, — on this progressive growth
of the divine life ; a point so bright with consolation to
every traveller on the way to perfection, — to all who " for-
getting those things which are behind" would stretch for-
ward, bating no jot of heart or hope, for the crown of
promise. Surely, then, formed as man is, I cannot doubt
that, in his present state, this principle of perpetual ad-
vancement, which supplies a constant motive for activity
and an object ever-renewing in size and splendor as we
approach it, is more suitable than even an inactive mono-
tony of perfection, — if indeed, to a nature like ours, per-
fection were conceivable on such terms. When you
remember how large a portion of our nature is made up of
principles progressive in their very essence, you will be
inclined to conclude, that if Christianity, — that "Truth"
which is the supplement of our nature, — be destined to
feed the whole man, if this blood of life be meant to circu-
late through every vein and artery of the spiritual frame,
then it is likely to be in its tendency an active, growing, or
progressive system of inward holiness in order to suit a
large portion of a system which, in this life at least, un-
questionably is so. "Desires" exist, and they are in their
nature active energetic principles, — seeking, coveting, aspir-
104
The Growth of the
[SERM; VII.
ing. Now if Christianity, which gives new objects and
purposes to -7ial, to know thee
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent."
And a remarkable expression in Jeremiah makes it iden-
108
The Growth of the
[SERM. VII.
tical with the chief exercises of benevolence. " He (Josiah)
judged the cause of the poor and needy ; then it was well
with him : was not this to know me ? saith the Lord." (xxii.
16.)
But what is the extent or compass of this knowledge of
God which is thus to purify the whole being ? The text
replies, when it declares "ye have known the Father}'' To
know God as the Father — of the World, — of Christ Jesus,
— and, through Him, of the inner world and family of
believers, — is to adore the source of so much that is wise,
and powerful, and compassionate. To " know" here is to
" love ;" this light of knowledge cannot be without heat of
affection. Remember, ye who read and dispute, and call
your disputation " Knowledge," that the Knowledge of
which Inspiration speaks, is the Knowledge not of a thing
but of a person, not of a person merely but of a God, not
of a God only but of a Father I
Yet, on the other hand, remember also, — that duly to
know this God as a Father you must know the facts by
which His fatherhood has manifested itself upon earth ; and
that these facts are contained exclusively in one unerring
depository, " Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by
the Word of God."
It is as the advocate of the diffusion of that Word of
God in your own vicinity, among your own dependents,
that I am here this day. God who has made Faith depend
upon the spread of His Word, has made the spread itself
of His Word depend on causes even more human and
secondary. I can seldom undertake a task like the
present, even in the most restricted sphere of local charity,
without astonishment at reflecting on the extent of this
principle of mutual dependence of man on man in the
universe of God !
Wondrous, complicated machinery of Providence ! We
know not what His real ultimate purpose may be with
regard to these poor beings. We only know that, what-
SEKM. VII.]
Divine Life.
109
ever it be, it will be wisest and best, since it will liave
been His. Nor does it militate against His wisdom tlius
to suspend man on man : nay, it redounds to His wisdom.
A macbine of infinite intricacy only proves an operator of
infinite skill. Yet with all this, bow awful it is to reflect,
bow astounding to capacities like ours, tbat the everlast-
ing destinies of so many undying essences should in all
human probability be suspended upon the apparently
casual emotions of some hundred of their fellow-creatures !
that under the high mysterious permission of Providence,
a pang of wretched avarice in one person here may in the
process of events condemn a soul to eternal ignorance of
God ; — that another, to reserve the purchase of some paltry
article of dress or ornament may contribute to deprive one
of her own sex of the instruction which one day would
have saved her from degradation and ruin, — and thus may
become in a manner an accomplice in the destruction of
an unhappy sister ; — that another because, as the phrase is,
he would not be " talked out of his money" — ashamed of
generosity, — (for men can be ashamed of a good impulse)
through some momentary caprice, should have it in his
power quietly to sign the death-warrant of some miserable
child ill-provided, ill-instructed, — abandoned to idleness,
to profligacy, perhaps at last to public crime and public
execution! Oh, may the God who has, for your own trial,
left such powers in your hands, — may He, I pray, teach
you on such occasions as these how to use them !
I have been discoursing of "little children" at great
length to you in all their figurative applications. When
I thus come to the reality I scarcely know how to proceed.
But I must be their spokesman; they cannot speak for
themselves ; many of them know not the real value of the
religious knowledge they are receiving, nor the terrible loss
if they are to receive it no more. But oh ! the World will
soon teach these exiles from your charity that Hell is open
VOL. II.— 10
110
The Groivth of the Divine Life. [serm. vil.
to receive those whom you have banished from the path to
heaven I And in such an event, — wliat shall we say of the
Judgment of God who has not given to any being in this
church one farthing of wealth for which He is not exacting
a rigorous account. Eemember the parable of the talents;
and remember that even the luckless wretch who " buried"
his talent may be outdone by him who squanders it in pur-
poses of evil. The collection of this day is of vast import-
ance to the success of the establishment; over and above
your annual subscriptions it is essential that you should be
liberal now. Brethren! Christians! you must not shut
3''our hearts upon these young creatures, by every tie of
neighborhood the appropriate objects of your charity, —
whose angels in heaven are watching this moment the
changes of your minds? Shall Christ in vain cry aloud to
suffer these children to approach Him, and will you forbid
them ? . . . I said, a while ago, that these purposes of gene-
rosity or avarice would be casual and accidental. But no,
— they are not casual ! It is no exaggeration to affirm, that
even in this matter, mighty agencies are at work at this
moment in your hearts. The Spirit of Love, and the Hater
of souls, who would rejoice to ruin you in ruining these
little ones, are busy amongst you I The point to each may
be a slight one, but it shows how the balance inclines as
well as if thousands were at stake. Hesitate not, brethren !
Follow the loving impulse where it leads you ! And if I
bavc told you aright this morning, of the progress of a
Christian in the knowledge of God, and if, as I spoke, you
aspired after such a progress, and if you believe with St
John that he who will love " God whom he has not seen"
must be able to "love his brother whom he has seen" —
then, in the name of the God of Charity, look upon these
objects of Christian affection, test the reality of your feelings
by the reality of your works, and uniting as the redeemed
of Christ in this holy tribute to the children of His love,
teach, oh teach these young but immortal spirits to " Know
the Father."
SERMON VIII.
LESSONS FROM A MONARCH'S DEATH.
fPreached on the Sunday after tlie death of William IV.)
Thus saith the Lord God, — Remove the diadem, and take off the crown I —
EzEE. xxi. 26.
The religion which we profess, brethren ! is at once the
most peaceable, the most obedient, the most loyal, — and
the most levelling, equalizing, and humiliating, — religion
in the world. While our whole faith breathes the spirit of
submission to all constituted authority, and in confirmation
of its requisitions declares that God Himself ( — doubtless
to assist us in imagining to ourselves His Supreme Em-
pire — ) has ordained the existence of governments and
policies on earth, and while it thus continually adjures us
by our loyalty to our God to be loyal to His officers and
servants; — at the very same time it assimilates the prince
and the peasant in one lowly condition, and its stated services
witness, united in the community of their filial relation
before the Heavenly Father, the rich and the poor, the
mighty and the mean. The Spirit of that Faith, "whose
service is perfect freedom," makes all its possessors obedient,
just because it enfranchises them all; in liberating them
from the dominion of Satan, it reconciles them to all legiti-
mate earthly thrones. Christianity is indeed the religion
of social order and genuine patriotism. The wisdom that
112
Lessons from
[SERM. VIII.
descends from heaven is full of peace and promise for the
kingdoms, as well as for the individuals^ of our earth; it is
the true bond and ligature of i)ublic subordhiation ; it is
full of loyalty and even devoted ncss to appointed authori-
ties, at the very time that (in another sense and view,) it
rends the barriers that rank has established between men,
and equalizes all in the sight of a just and holy God. And
not only do these apparent contrarieties coexist, but the
one actually arises out of the other. The same unworldly
humility which makes all Christians feel themselves on a
common lowly level, — the same wisdom (holy and heaven-
taught) Avhieh lets them see that all mankind are one in
original corruption, — these qualities it is which, by natural
consequence, inspire them with willing attachment to
authorities appointed of their God. The sj)ir)tual church
of Christ is indeed the true republic political dreamers have
only imagined ; tliere alone the theories of universal equality
are fully realized ; but it is the very essence of this equality
to produce submissiveness to all things but vice, — for it is
the equality of hearts equally sinful, redeemed by a salva-
tion equally gratuitous. The happy members of this great
polity of Believers acknowledge that they stand before
God undistinguished save as Uis mercy may please to dis-
tinguish them; they exult in no privileges but the holiness
which is the gift of His Spirit; and, even in their joy at
the possession of that unspeakable blessing, they rejoice
with unenvying humility, and ask not, — ichich is "to sit on
the right or the left band of Christ in Ilis kingdom." In
such a state of mind (the true Eden of our souls, — the true
recovery of our perished paradise, — ) the differences that
during this brief hour of existence are placed between man
and man would become wholly indifferent, if these differ-
ences did not themselves imply rights which originate
duties, that call for constant Christian obedience, and for
the careful cultivation of the spirit of meekness which alone
can make that obedience to temporal superiors, pleasing to
SERM. VIII.]
a MonarcKs Death.
113
tbe God -who commands it, or a pleasure to man who
renders it. Hence, — tlie enthusiasm that supports with a
rampart of hearts and arms the constitutions of free coun-
tries, is not merely justified but encouraged by our high and
holy faith ; and not only lives but lives best, where Chris-
tian humility has made its home. Our faith is not formed
solely for contemplative solitude, though it often loves and
affects it ; when once this vital principle has taken pos-
session of the heart, it can animate and vivify evenj duty,
no less public than private. It is as universal as the ligJd,
that so often is employed as its emblem. The Christian,
brethren! is the true politician. No crisis or conjuncture
can take him by surprise. His rules of action in the storms
of public commotion, are as simple and undeviating as in
the privacy of his domestic life. In no case to prefer his
personal interest to the public good, to hold the faith of his
Lord and Saviour the main instrument of general happiness,
and its diffusion the great object of social changes, and, as
a part (and no unimportant part) of that faith, to stand by
the forms of authority that time, law, and experience have
consecrated, and regard disobedience to such a supremacy
warrantable only when obedience to the higher authority
of God, {plainly revealed in his Scriptures) interferes to
command it. Oh brethren ! if our hearts were but duly
sanctified with the beautiful humility of Christ, how little
would the busy casuistry of political reasoners disturb or
perplex us! How little our fidelity to earthly denomina-
tions could be tampered or trifled with, if, abandoning the
petty ambition that makes each of us strive to be his own
king and governor, we could become informed by that
Spirit of God, which, whether it move over a physical or
moral chaos, is alike the Spirit of order, harmony, and
peace !
I cannot believe, brethren ! but that I have your sympa-
thy in this line of observation. When the general mind is
roused by recent change, and the pnlsc of a naticMi b^ats
10*
Lessons from
[SERM. VIII.
quick with unwonted emotion, God forbid, if that emotion
be a warrantable one, tliat the ministers of Christ should
be dead to its impulses, that the pulpit alone should be
insulated from the universal excitement. ... Our religion
teaches us no such maxim. In making us strive to be
guides to our fellow-men, it docs not make us cease to be
iheir foUow-mcn. I say, God forbid that we should substi-
tute for Christianity an unchristian stoicism! that when a
nation is in tears our eyes alone should be dry, that when
it rejoices in the fervor of a renewed and augmented
loyalty, ?re aZo?je should affect a frigid indifterence! Our
Master did not feel so towards His country, nor do we
towards ours. The Divine Philanthropist who laid down his
life for the ivorld, was also the first of patriots w1ien He
wept over the City of David, as lie was the first o^frientls,
when " having loved Sis own which were in the world, He
loved them unto the end." No, the Christian philosopher
knows too well the universality of his religion in its appli-
cation to human hearts, to fear matching it with any
conjecture of human events ; let me add, that the Christian
minister knows too well his duty, not to feel that in all the
changes of public affairs, in all the revolutions of public
opinion, it is his calling not to disregard but to direct them ;
— that he is set as on a liglit-house in the midst of these
waves, to hold out the light of eternal truth to the wan-
derers, and to hold it out only the more strenu.ously the
more the waters rise and roar.
But brethren ! if on the one hand our Faith thus
strengthens the thrones of princes, and confirms peace
upon the earth, — if it encourages generous devotedness to
country and kindred by the example of Christ himself, and
sanctifies our chivalrous feelings of attachment to order
and government by making them, as it were, a part of our
chivalry to the Cross, — it also teaches another and a cor-
responding lesson. It is not less at home in the palace
than in the cottage. — It whispers in the ears of princes
SEEM. VIII.] a Monarches Death. 115
themselves the same doctrine of humble-hearted trust
which it suggests to the poorest of their people ; and to
kings unceasingly urges, how awful is their duty to the
King of kings! — And in no position does the inherent
Supremacy of our Religion appear more conspicuous than
in its ministrations among the great ones of the earth.
This is, indeed, the Religion by which "Every valley is
exalted — every mountain and hill brought low." Where
the just and becoming deference of worldly inferiority
would scarcely venture to approach the same inferiority,
when ennobled by the high commission of the Gospel,
fears not to come forward to threaten or console. — It is
the privilege of the appointed servant of God to be of no
rank or of all ranks. He addresses not the outward and
perishing man, but the inward man, — the sinner; that in
his community of sinfulness shares one nature with every
child of Adam. Before his eye — if it be indeed single and
purified — vanish all the painted pomps of earthly state, —
these most useful, but in themselves unsubstantial accesso-
ries ; — the real and permanent Being (that is the imperish-
able Soul) only is seen ; and in the conferences of the
Monarch with his Spiritual Counsellor, the hearts of two
dying sinners alone converse with each other! The Minister
of Christ is the Ambassador of a mightier Monarch. — Is
it for him to tremble while bearing the credentials of the
skies, and invested with tho light of another world, he
calmly unfolds the mystery of Eternity to a brother Spirit
as eternal as his own ? — Is it for him to retrench the truth
through fear or favor, when he knows that the anathema of
Heaven is on him if he preach not the Gospel to every
creature that is born of woman, and that is born to die ? —
Is it for such an one to shrink from the blaze of human
grandeur, whose eye has been familiar with " the likeness
of the appearance of the glory of the Lord?"... And oh I
brethren I with a more pathetic truth, I may ask, — if such
an one know (as assuredly he miist know) that the purple
116
Lessons from
[SEKM. VIII.
is no shield from sorroiu, — that tlic bitter seeds of moral
and physical pain grow with just as rank a luxuriance as
elsewhere, in the courts of princes and beneath the gorgeous
canopy of regal bowers, — that higher power is indeed no
more than " heavier toil, superior pain," — under such a
conviction, will the deputed messenger of Christ think his
office to be less needful in the palace than the hovel ? No,
no ! believe it (for all experience attests the truth) — the
poor countryman, who from hour to hour toils to procure
a pittance that he cannot reckon on for the hour to come, —
he, who in literal fact is " given day by day his daily bread,"
clinging to the outskirts of society, and (as it were) holding
himself on to existence by hard incessant muscular effort, —
even he, in all his apparent wretchedness, does not more
truly require the consolations of a world of future hopes,
than the Being who forms the glittering pinnacle of society
itself. It is the same life carried on upon a higher level —
the same heart beating under a dift'erent garment; nor does
sorrow cease to be sorrow in its mask of pomp and equip-
a":e. The Minister of God knows that while commandinof
obedience '"for conscience' sake," the Bible recognizes no
human heart but one — a lost and ruined heart ; and that,
to regenerate and restore, — it likewise presents but one
universal and unqualified remedy. ... And I catmot here
but pause to remark, how happy in this particular is the
constitution of Church establishments — in that they diffuse
through every region of society the currents of truth, that
they post their spiritual watchmen upon every ascending
tier of the social edifice, — so that, if we have those whose
duty it is to speak comfort in the villages of poor men, we
have also those whose stately solemn rank qualifies and
commands them to be the monitors of Kings ! . . .
Such then, my brethren ! is the wide-spread authority of
our Religion over all ranks and callings of men. It ad-
dresses all, — it disturbs none. It does not alter the relative
positions of men in time, but it purifies all alike for eter-
SERM. VIII.]
a Monarch's Death.
117
nitj. Ill commanding us to " render unto CaBsar the things
that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's,"
it asserts the universality of its authority at the very time
that it carefully distinguishes it from all earthly sovereign-
ties. Our Religion came not to disturb any empire but
that of Satan, it dethrones no Prince but the " Prince of
the power of the air." By the mouth of one of its great-
est teachers it exhorts, — " that supplications, prayers, inter-
cessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men ; for
Kings, and for all that are in authority;''^ at the very same mo-
ment that it is busy in the palaces of those great potentates
themselves, — reminding them through whom it is that they
possess their power, that even absolute sovereignty is but
a temporary viceroyalty for God, and addressing them per-
petually, in the words of one who was himself a king, —
" Be wise, O ye kings ! be instructed, ye judges of the
earth ! Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trem-
bling I"
I know, brethren ! there exists in the mind of no ra-
tional man any calm collected persuasion that these sug-
gestions of duty and its eternal consequences, are less
needful to the greatest than to the humblest of our earth.
I know that no one past childhood will suffer himself to
dream that princes are born to be immortal, or that the
crown of earthly glory is " a crown of glory that fadeth
not away." And yet, — it is vain to deny it, — the principle
is in our nature, to be profoundly affected by the recurrence
of instances of the perishable tenure of grandeur far be-
yond any dci)th of emotion which Death, in its mere
abstract form, can command. We may know, with the
most undoubting confidence, that no greater measure of life
no intcnser vitality, is voucksafed to royal veins than in-
creases, — exults, — glows, — wastes, — perishes, — in those of
the peasant on the hill-side; we may even conclude, with
all the force of speculative conviction, that happiness is,
after all, pretty equally diffused over all classes of men ; —
118 Lessons from [serm. Vlll.
and yet, — the event prostrates our philosophy ! What ?
arc not our daily obituaries crowded with names, every one
of which may well be to our thoughts the Index of hours
of sickness and agony, — every one of which the active
imagination may multiply into hosts of weeping friends,
orphaned children and widowed hearths, and the lesser
sorrows of a whole circle of intimates, until at last, at the
extreme verge of acquaintanceship, the feeling fades off
into indifference, — every one of which, I repeat, is the
centre of a sphere of griefs, — and are not our eyes each
successive day saluted by these gloomy registries of mor-
talit}'; — 3'-ct, where no personal interest is concerned, who
reads them with even the shadow of an emotion ? But, —
when an exalted Name has vanished from the earth, when
that which once lived and breathed, — the Impersonation of
power, — has been borne away to be entombed in the'stately
sepulchre of history, — the general heart is arrested, the
mission of Death seems to come direct from heaven, and
that decease, which is only the fulfilment of Nature's uni-
versal law, startles us like a miracle, and seems to be an
immediate interference of God.
It is not my purpose now to delay you with any pro-
tracted investigations as to the causes and reasons of this
very interesting difference in the natural feelings upon the
occasion of misfortunes, the same in real experience, occur-
ring to the great and to the lowl3^ Yet perhaps we ought
not wholly to overlook the inquiry. It may sometimes be
a mere form, or, at least, result, of the veneration with
which we honor the authorities constituted in the land ;
which if it be cultivated may arise to a spirit of attach-
ment that feels every grief of a virtuous public governor
as its own. But the emotion is seldom thus unmixed. No
doubt we cannot help, in spite of all our reasonings, con-
stantly associating great happiness with great power ; and
the contrast of the supposed height of enjoyment with the
depths of the feelingless grave, creates a mixture of pity
SERM. VIII.]
a MonarcJis Death.
119
and surprise which meaner instances cannot reach, because
they cannot imply the contrast. And, even apart from any
ascription of happiness, there is no doubt that the contrast
between a power that subjected all and a weakness that is
itself subjected to the common lot, has a tendency to affect
the soul with a great and unusual emotion. Again, — lov-
ing power as we do ourselves, we cannot help in some
measure sympathizing with its possessors; — particular cases
of envy or jealousy or such like omitted, we naturally enter
into their successes, exult in their exultation, weep with
their sorrows, and are stricken with their fell. Instances
of this are abundant. To such a degree of force may this
sympathy arise, that in the days of the almost miraculous
successes of the great tyrant of this century, there were
men (and it is intelligible that there should be) who in the
fascination of his glory, and though included with their
country as his enemies in war, almost forgot the ties of
country and allegiance, and would in their delirium have
given up all to one who seemed born the natural governor
of the world. I need not refer to the striking instance of
the same principle afforded in the arts of fictitious repre-
sentation, where agonies that would lose their interest as
the agonies of daily people, move us with the deepest pity
as the agonies of kings
I will not detain you with any further examination of
this point as a matter of theory ; but I cannot forbear mak-
ing one or two observations on it, as a matter of practice.
In the first place, that where it exists merely as a conse-
quence of the sympathy with power, it is often of the
highest benefit to public stability ; and that hence we may
remark how admirable is the wisdom and goodness of
Providence who overrules a feeling in itself so questiona-
ble, to the best purposes of human peace and happiness.
In the next place, that where our regret at the accidents of
greatness arises from a veneration for legitimate authority,
and for the great as bearing it, it is a feeling wholly to be
120
Lessons from
[SEKM. VIII.
encouraged ami strengthened. And in the third place, —
that with all this natural devotion to power, it is truly
melancholy to reflect, — how sadly tlic principle seems to
expire just wliere it ouglitto act in its greatest vigor. Our
Bible unl'olds to us a King whom it styles "the blessed and
only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords; who
only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man
can approach unto ;" — a monarch whose power is infinite
and whose love is unbounded as his power ; One wliose
holy sovereignty is formed to attach every better feeling of
our hearts, and who sets us here with the sole view of dis-
ciplining and confirming those feelings: — subjects and
soldiers, to vindicate his throne, and combat for his cause
with "weapons not carnal." Yet the man whose heart beats
for his country's cause, is dead to the patriotism of "a bet-
ter country, that is an heavenly ;" the man who boasts (and
honorably boasts) that he loves and appreciates the free
constitution of his birth, has no feeling or understanding
for the magnificent polity of heaven ; and he who would
shed his blood to defend the kingdom of his earthly master,
has no solicitude "to sit down in the kingdom of God."
Alas ! we worship the shadows of Power, and we have no
adoration for the substance 1 We pour out a world of feel-
ing, treasures of rich and noble emotion, upon the instru-
ments of authority, the mere subordinates of God, — and
we have no loyalty for llim who moves the whole machi-
nery, and from whom all force is derived, not more in the
physical universe of matter and motion, than in the moral
world of governments, — powers, principalities, and laws !
You know, brethren, why it is that I address to you this
day, remarks and exhortations of this character. You
know that since we last met in this place, a great event has
agitated the public mind, — an event of the kind that makes
epochs in the history of nations. At such a time the
dullest awake to reflection ; the reflective are quickened to
keen and serious thought. Great events of all kinds are
SERM. VIII.]
a Monarch'' s Death.
121
awful monitors ; but, most of all, events that come about
according to laws of regular succession ; — these apprise us
with a power that cannot be evaded, of the unceasing flow
of the time which we are all so deeply interested to employ
to purpose. In being seras of national history, they also
become to every individual, aeras in his own personal his-
tory. They force upon us the conviction that we are in-
deed in the midst of a system of universal change ; that
we ourselves are under this law of all created being ; that
every hour we too are changing for good or evil ; until
that last solemn hour when in the Apostle's language, "we
shall all be changed," — to change no more ! These are
reflections which every great alteration in the story of na-
tions must bring with it. We can arrive at no new land-
mark upon the long pathway of history, which will not
summon such reflections as these.
But I would ill do justice to the subject of our medita-
tions at this time, if I confined your thoughts to the gene-
ral subject of earthly and successive change. This, breth-
ren ! is no common change. The Inheritor of the throne
of a thousand years has passed to his fathers. Death has
been busy, reading once more his terrible lesson to living
men ; proving in a new instance of power, that he is indeed
"the last enemy that shall be destroyed;" and that no con-
trol (however widely recognized on earth) shall interfere
with his supremacy, save His, who, " through death de-
stroyed Ilim that had the power of death." Alas ! breth-
ren, what availed it, that placed at the summit of the first
social system on earth, our departed Monarch saw no re-
cognized dignity intervene between himself and the beings
of a higher world ? What availed it, that he stood (by the
constitution of his country) the Source of all the innumer-
able streams of honor and distinction that separate, and
(like other streams) while they separate really unite, the
divisions of society, in this vast and complicated empire?
These things vanish as a morning dream, when from the
VOL. II.— 11
122
Lessons from
[SERM. VIII.
secret Throne where sits the Governor of all worlds, is
heard the sentence of the text, — "llcmove the diadem, and
take oft' tlie crown!" Of all the tributes that his subjects
paid him, he takes with him from the world but one, — you
pay it, brethren! in this temple! Yes! He for whom
your prayers so often have risen to the throne of heaven,
he for whose temporal and eternal welfare each Sabbath-
day, ten thousand ministers offered the incense of their
supplication, — he is no more the subject of prayer ; let us
trust in God that he is gone to receive its fruits ! Your
labors here are true and permanent benefits ; the loyalty of
prayer is the support of monarchs when all other supports
fail. " There is no king," says the Psalmist, " saved by the
mullitude of an /ios<.... Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon
them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy."
In the lovely relationship of prayer the highest and the
lowest may be invisibly united; those who could not aid
their monarch in any other way, were rich in prayer; and
often doubtless the devoted piety of some lowly subject, by
its secret interest with Christ, has aided the ruler of mil-
lions in obtaining favor with the Ruler of the Universe!
Sabbath after Sabbath, brethren ! we preach to you of
death and eternity. It is the great, the perpetual, burthen
of our discourse. We cannot help its monotony. The sin
that brought death into the world is in fault for that.
When men are holy enough to hail the death that opens
the pathway to eternity, we will cease the strain, — but not
till then!.... And with all our repetitions and variations of
the one tremendous theme, how seldom we can enforce it
upon men's hearts ! how seldom we can fix a thought that
will pass the doors of our churches ! But here, brethren !
you have Circumstances themselves and History preaching
to you ! These terrible orators deal not in figures of
rhetoric or artificial declamation. The stern reasoning of
events is all they bring! Where we argue to the under-
standing, they address the eyes and the heart ! And would
SERM. VIII.]
a Monarch's Death.
123
to heaven that at this hour (how much better than a world
of sermons!) it were given to us all to cast an eye upon
the scene that now encompasses the perishing remnants of
departed Royalty ! The dignity of the sovereign still in-
vests the lifeless form ; it is fitting that the useful distinc-
tions of time should follow to the tomb, — if they deepen
the impressions of authority during life, they become still
more touching instructors in death. Man, by a most just
and noble instinct of respect, venerates the body for the
soul; and honors the temple, though the God has fled.
But there^ — night after night, and during days whose gloom
is more melancholy than night, the stately vigils of a king
are held ! The magnificent chamber darkened to the like-
ness of a tomb, the long array of mourning watchers
(mourning in truth as well as show, — for our monarch was
loved by his people !) the sadness that hangs like a cloud
over that majestic pile, — itself a monument of buried
ages, — the dreary bustle of preparation for the final solem-
nities of a regal interment, — these are things that would
move, if anything could move. And if I dare unfold the
page of a deeper sorrow, if I presume to point your eyes
to the venerated form of that Imperial Widow, the Woman
of many virtues, whom her subjects knew but to love, — if
I point to that form bent by a sorrow only the more affect-
ing, because struggling to be repressed in the midst of that
scene of crowded and stately woe, — it is not that I would
idly intrude upon griefs too sacred for public utterance, but
because I would beseech you in prayer to ask of the Com-
forter of mourners, to be witli her in her affliction. But
God be praised ! we have reason to know that she is no
stranger to that path of consolation.
Brethren ! if it indeed be " good to go to the house of
mourning," you have here ample means of familiarizing
your hearts with plaintive and touching traits. Need I
remind you that, — as if to aggravate the contrast between
the excitement and fulness of life on the one hand, and the
124
Lessons from
[SERM, VIII.
perishable tenure of its glories on tlie other, — owv noble-
souled monarch was sinking fastest upon the very day that
his people were exulting in the anniversary of their coun-
try's greatest victory ? that the pomp of mimic warfare in
an hundred fields was animating the general heart with
images and portraitures of lofty achievement, at the very
hour when gloom was deepening over the couch of a king,
and in those who hoped the longest hope itself was wrest-
ling with despair? Or shall I remind you, — for in such
instances the minutest circumstances acquire a melancholy
interest, — that almost his last beam of intellect was spent
by our true-hearted monarch in a recollection of the glories
of his country and of her chieftain ; — his last bodily effort,
in grasping the banner that symbolized her fame? .But
why do I introduce such topics? He is no wise man,
brethren ! who neglects the mention of such incidents as
these, or disregards or repulses the emotions they tend to
produce. They all, — however slight in themselves, and
often the more because they are so, — aid in deepening the
memorable contrast between all that this earth can afford, —
its glories, its power, nay, its very virtues, — and the im-
mutable attributes of the world to come. And even where
they do not produce this determinate effect, they act to
soften the heart with a gentle and benevolent sympathy, —
the very soil that Christianity asks to be sown in !....And
therefore I do not hesitate to remind you of the last and
most touching of these contrasts, — that if he whom we
lament had but lived a few days longer, had he but lived
in health to see the setting of to-morrow s sun, the celebra-
tion of his commemorated accession, — his seventh anniver-
sary, — was to have filled the nation with demonstrations of
joy, — and we may honestly say it, no feigned or unreal
joy !....Let us hope that the joy which is silenced on earth
is taken up in heaven ! The temptations and difliculties of
courtly life will not be forgotten in the estimate of a mer-
ciful judge; and if we trust the accounts of the calmness^
SERM. Ylii.] a Monarclis Death.
125
serenity, and confidence of his latter days, we may hope
that on that day, while we are walking in mourning gar-
ments and wearing the solemn hues of duteous regret, — in
the heavenly Zion there may be the " oil of joy" instead of
our "mourning," the "garment of praise" instead of our
" spirit of heaviness ;" that the angels may there be cele-
brating a loftier " accession'''' to a brigJder crown, — even the
" crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that
love him."
Brethren ! a different occasion now calls for the feelings
of national joy which to-morrow's anniversary was to have
brought. He is criminal, unworthy, unchristian, who re-
fuses them. I have before told you that our Faith not
merely countenances but encourages those noble enthusi-
asms, which exalt the approbation of legitimate authority
into an affection; and that it is in the best part of our
nature, to concentrate that affection for authority into a
generous attachment to its bearer. But I am not here to
call upon you to stand resolutely in defence of public
order, whenever and however assailed. The weapons of
this place are pr ay eis.... And he who, in the true Christian
spirit, feels that all countries are great only in proportion
as they make God their guide and governor, — thus per-
petuating, as it were, a spiritual theocracy, — will surely
not forget to make his morning and evening supplications
to the Lord of all, that in His mercy he may direct the
counsels of the young inheritrix of so glorious an ancestral
possession ; that Pie may inspire her with the practical
conviction, that she is His deputy, intrusted with His
authority, bearing His commission ; that it is at once her
duty and her privilege to support the public honor of His .
name, and the spread of His Gospel, — and the stability of
His church, as the means of both ! May the God who has
so long made Britain the modern Israel of His protection,
still hold over it, and over her whose youthful arm now
rules it, His helping and directing hand ; that under the
1 1 ••
126
Lessons from a Monarch's Death. [SEiiM. vill.
continuance of His special favor, — basking still in the
brightness of his warming and enlightening beams, — our
country may grow in the true prosperity of righteousness 1
And, — for 1 would not that we should part without som.e-
thing of a character still more immediate and personal, — ■
may we too be enabled to feel the importance each of us of
his own position in such a country ! to feel, that the exam-
ple of every man radiates farther than he can himself see
or know, — and that it becomes him who professes a pure
and holy faith, to evince by his conduct that purity and
holiness which it prescribes, — " that by well-doing he may
put to silence the ignorance of foolish men ;" — and thus to
evince that, however malignity may misrepresent our di-
vine faith, none is more unswervingly true to his earthly
monarch than he who owns allegiance to " that King eter-
nal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God," — to whom
"be honor and glory for ever and ever! Amen."
SEEMON IX.
DYING TO SIN AND THE LAW.
Te are become dead to the law by the body of Christ. — Rom. vii. 4.
These words form part of a passage supposed to be
among the most difficult in the writings of the Apostle
Paul : — one it is thought of those dark and involved argu-
mentations to which the perplexed Believer must apply St
Peter's designation of "hard to be understood," and on
which the Unbeliever is almost justified in sarcastically
commenting that the Revelation requires a Revealcr, and
that the mystery hidden from the foundation of the world
is a mystery still. Though I cannot but think (as I will
just now endeavor to show you) that the difficulty has
here been most needlessly exaggerated, and that the per-
plexity in the scriptural student's mind is derived rather
less from St Paul than from St Paul's expositors, whose
conflict of illustrations produces obscurity (as opticians tell
us that interferinrj waves of Uriht produce darkness); — yet
even if this passage, and many other passages that occur
in the same profound page, were really as obscure as they
are sometimes alleged to be, it might reasonably be qixes-
tioned, how far the fact of such obscurity ought to occasion
discouragement to the honest disciple, or can justify the
negligent disparagement of the gainsayer. It is certain
that, in the practical working of a revealed religion, if
perspicuity have its general utility, occasional obscurity
128 Dying to Sin and the Laic. [sekm. ix.
may be shown to serve most valuable purposes also ; — that
it manifestly (and to our daily experience) effects what no
other obvious disposition of things could effect, by testing
zeal for truth and sincerity of heart to a degree highly
suitable to a state of trial ; while it also provides for those
gradations and diversities of spiritual knowledge so accord-
ant with the character of variety observable in all the
works and arrangements of God. It may also be easily
evinced, that the objection would lie with nearly unabated
force against every form of divine enlightenment short of
that which would violently constrain belief; and it may
then be candidly asked, — remembering our Lord's solemn
declaration about the inability of even a Visitant from the
dead to overcome the infidelity of the Heart, — whether we
ought not gratefully to adore the mercy that saves from a
measure of light which would leave us so utterly, so abso-
lutely inexcusable ! That men, under a demonstrative
Christianity, would be better men, I think exceedingly
doubtful ; that, if unimproved, they would be far more
guilty, no one surely can question.
Among the difficulties of Scripture study there are some
which plainly belong to the form and matter of the revela-
tion itself; and these we are to receive, as we receive the
earth itself from the same bounteous hand for our bodily
sustenance, — as the appointed material of necessary, honor-
able, and not unpleasing toil. " If thou searchest for wis-
dom as for hid treasures,^'' says the great Master of Prudence,
intimating at once the value and the difficulty, — " then
shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the
knowledge of God." (Prov. ii. 4, 5.) But, as there are
these inevitable trials in the pursuit of religious truth, —
difficulties inherent in the nature and circumstances of the
communication (difficulties, I may add, which no form or
theory of Christianity, even llomanism quite as little as any
other, has shown us how to obviate), — so there are difficul-
ties extrinsic, superadded, and unnecessary, which Ave our-
SEEM. IX.]
Dying to Sin and the Law.
129
selves introduce, and for which our own prejudices, or van-
ity, or caprices, alone are answerable. Among these
sources of perplexity (as I am not now to think of enume-
ratinrj and exposing them) there is one which is, perhaps,
less observed than any other, and yet it would be hard to
estimate adequately how far it has really operated to ob-
scure and entangle the revealed record. I mean the effort
to insulate the word in separate oracles, and then to make
it say in each of them more than it ■purposes^ perhaps, to say
in all : to find (in something of the spirit of the old Hebrew
critics) a separate mystery disconnected from all others in
every phrase, and almost in every word. This, — like so
many of the most seductive extravagancies in every depart-
ment of action and of thought, — is partly the exaggeration
of an excellent principle, the principle of unbounded vene-
ration for all, without qualification or exception, small as
well as great, which the Spirit of God has given. But when
to this is added the tendency of an impatient curiosity
(another exaggeration of right principle) to pursue every
glimpse of light which it fondly hopes will manifest in one
flash the whole mystery of God ; and when this appetite for
a knowledge perfect and absolute has to work upon mate-
rials so limited, it is true, as are offered in the compass of
the New Testament, but yet in which at the same time
comprehensive comparison is so laborious, the result I
speak of may surely be expected. We may expect that on
the one hand the force of position will be lost, on the other,
that phrases will often be overcharged with significancies
altogether transcending the simple purport of their inspired
employers. You can conceive, that, if a naturalist had but
a single leaf or flower to study, or limited himself by some
perversity to it alone, he would endeavor to discover a
world in his specimen, and exhaust all the powers of the
microscope to detect wonders within wonders without limit.
How this tendency to find all things in all, is increased by
the urgencies of controversy, it is needless to remark. If
130 Dying to Sin and the Law. [seem. ix.
the botanist had to overthrow a rival theory of fructifica-
tion, or to establish one of his own, you know how preter-
naturally augmented would become his powers of micro-
scopic vision. Every visionary notion in religion boasts
its text or two, and can boast no more ; but its supporters
hold the text or two so near their eyes that they hide the
rest of the Bible.
Such remarks as these, bearing upon a very ordinary
tendency in critics and interpreters, are, I believe, useful at
all times. They are at present suggested by an instance of
certainly very inferior relative importance, inasmuch as
no special doctrine appears to have been based upon it ;
but which, nevertheless, as being part of a long and most
momentous discussion which has formed the field of con-
troversy from (as it would seem) the days of St Paul him
self, derives importance from its situation and connections.
The context that precedes the clause before us has been by
many surrendered as hopelessly obscure; and yet I am
inclined to think that the principal obscurity has been
created by that closeness of inspection which lessens the
field of sight, accompanied as it usually is by the compen-
sating tendency to make each expression of the inspired
record signify something above and beyond the simplicity of
the sacred Author's purport. I must now solicit your patient
attention, and beg to refer you to your Bibles for the en-
tire passage. I am mistaken, if a close examination of the
whole do not evince at once the minute and perfect skill
with which the reasonings of the inspired writers are con-
structed when they appear to cursory view least sy.stematic ;
and the soundness of the great canon, — that the first and
best and most satisfactory of all investigations of Scripture
is that which, not confining itself to isolated phrase, takes
in the whole scope and connection of the record as it lies.
I must confess, however, that if a confirmation so honorable
to the structure of our inspired volume, and if a simple
elucidation of the word of life, do not bring their own re-
SERM. IX.]
Dying io Sin and the Laiu.
131
ward, I cannot promise you any, in an inquiry that must
necessarily engage the reason far more than it can excite
the imagination.
St Paul is engaged in the management of his great argu-
ment relative to the superiority of the Gospel Dispensation
above that of Moses, and the necessity inherent in the
nature and connection of the two, that the one should
supersede the other. Now, there are two aspects in which
the religion of Christ may be viewed, and we should never
magnify the one at the expense of the other, — as a Prin-
ciple of Life and Happiness, and as a Principle of Subjec-
tion and Obedience, — life that quickens obedience, obedi-
ence that manifests life, — life that makes obedience delight-
ful, obedience that makes life visible and practical. If you
turn with me to the preceding, — the sixth, — chapter, you
will find this representation a clue to the involutions of its
rapid eloquence. That chapter is composed of the answers
to two objections, and the objections and their respective
answers (so often hastily confounded) are specially directed
to special and distinct views of the Gospel. The former
objection speaks of life, and it is answered out of the nature
and characteristics of spiritual life and death ; the latter
objection speaks of subjection, and it is appropriately
answered by citing the characters and contrast of the sinful
and the righteous service. The one asks (ver. 1), shall we
abide, — or " live" (ver. 2) in sin, that grace may abound ?
and the answer is that we are dead to sin, that the old nature
is crucified (ver. 6), and that therefore it is unnatural, in the
nature of things incompatible, that we should live to it.
This death to sin is declared to be publicly solemnized
in the expressive rite of Baptism ; and in it, as well as in
the resurrection that follows it, we are declared to be copy-
ists and partakers of Christ, — " baptized into Him," into his
death, his resurrection, and his eternal life (ver. 3 — 11).
The consequence drawn from this (ver. 12 — 14) is, — that
132 Dyi^'^g io Sin and the Law. [serm. IX.
sin should not '■^have dominion over us," that it should not
be suffered any longer to intrude its foreign tyranny upon
the purchased possession of God : — and this forms the transi-
tion to the topic of the second objection, which turns upon
the cardinal idea of subjection^ and asks, — " Shall we sin
because we are not binder the law but under grace ?" The
course of animated appeal that replies to this interrogatory
(ver. 16 — 20) is fitted to it with exact and exclusive pro-
priety. "We are declared to be no longer " the servants of
sin." but "the servants of righteousness;" that whereas in
the bitter bondage of nature and the law, men were " free
from righteousness" (ver. 20), they are under the dispensa-
tion of grace "free" (or rather freed,) — emancipated, —
{i-Ktv9t?c>9ivi:ti) from sin, and formally articled to that holy
servitude of godliness and love, whose " gift is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord" (ver. 23)... Having thus
concluded his double course of illustrative exposition, St
Paul now passes (ver. 21) to a further consideration, which
results from both, and manifestly is framed to allude to
both. He speaks of "the fruits," or consequences, of the
ways of Nature and Grace : and to each he applies the
notions, before so copiously treated, of service and of life.
Now the " fruit" of bondage is properly its " wages," the
fruit of God's service is " a gift." And therefore it is,
that, binding the whole argument and all its topics, — life
and freedom, — death and bondage, and the fruits of each,
— into one summary, he declares, — that "being freed from
sin and servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness,
and the end everlasting life ; for the wages of sin is death^
but the gift of God is eternal life.^''
We now arrive at the passage so much contested, the
analogy of the deceased husband and surviving wife, in
which so many have found an instance of what they are
pleased to call St Paul's "popular appeals" and "hasty
comparisons" and "resemblances that must not be too
closely pressed ;" — but in which I trust to show you an
SERM. IX.] Dying to Sin and the Law.
133
apt and perfect sequel to the whole course of the preceding
reasoning.
It appears, then, that the Apostle, having, as we have
seen, in the close of the last chapter united into one mass
and interwoven in the texture of his language the two
topics of that chapter, — the death to sin and the new
obedience unto God, — opens this with a new and distinct
illustration in which he continues to represent this great
revolution in colors yet more vivid and with an outline
yet more precise. The passage in which this is effected
runs thus : —
(1) " Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that
know the law) how that the law hath dominion over a
man as long as he liveth? (2) For the woman which
hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband as
long as he liveth ; but if the husband be dead she is loosed
from the law of her husband. (3) So then if while her
husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall
be called an adulteress; but if her husband be dead, she
is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though
she be married to another " man. (4) Wherefore, my
brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body
of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to
Him who is raised from the dead, that we should brino-
forth fruit unto God."
The general purport of this illustration is, I suppose,
manifest enough ; it obviously describes a great change, —
a dissolution of old connections and a formation of new
ones; the government of the Law and tlie espousal to
Christ are manifestly contrasted; and the readers of the
Epistle are pointedly warned of the duties that belong to
that great and blessed engagement. . .But when from this
distant and rapid view wc approach to a closer investiga-
tion, and (as is requisite in all comparisons) seek to appro-
priate to their due realities each person or object in the
similitude, the case becomes more intricate, and this
VOL. ir. — 12
134
Dying to Sin and the Law.
[SEBM. IX.
famous illustration, if wc are to trust some of our ex-
positors, is little better than those meteoric lights which
seen afar are luminous, but under a closer gaze are found
to be dark and rayless.
The Apostle, it is urged, would compare the union under
the Law and the Gospel to the Marriage Bond. The Bond
is severed by the death of one of the parties. The deceased
Husband is the Law now extinct, the second LEusband is
Christ, the Wife is the Church of God under the two dis-
pensations, — that Church which at the death of that Law
(which was her former spouse) is released for a new and
higher connection. But to this is opposed the startling fact
that in the application of the allegory by him who best
understood his own meaning (in the 4th verse) it is the Wifc^
— the Church, — who is said to be dead, — " Ye are become
dead to the law by the body of Christ ;" — and in the first
verse, — the preamble and natural index to the purport of
the whole, — it is said that " the law hath dominion over
the person (for thus general is the word in the original,
■{oi dvQfilirtov,) as long as that person liveth," thus evidently
resting the wife's right to liberation upon her death, upon
her having ceased to live, and being thus emancipated
from the power of the law. Innumerable have been the ex-
pedients adopted to escape this difficulty. Some have held
that the words which we render " as long as he liveth"
should be rendered "as long as it (the law) liveth, i. e., is in
force," — an opinion as old as the days of Origen, and advo-
cated by Doddridge. Others have said, — to obviate the
apparent inconsistency between the decease of the Husband
in the allegory and of the Wife in the application, — that we
are said to be dead to the Law because the Law is dead to
us, and that St Paul adopted this circuitous form of phrase
to avoid offending the Jewish converts who could not bear
to hear it openly preached that the Law of Moses was itself
no more. Such names as Grotius, Whitby, and Hammond,
have sanctioned this supposition. After what has been
SERM. IX.]
Dying to Sin and the Law.
135
stated of tlie accuracy and precision of the reasoning of the
last chapter, you will not readily believe that St Paul is
not the best guide to his own interpretation here ; or_that
it is not our safest plan, — without altering the natural force
and signification of words, — altering the venerable land-
marks of inspiration, to try if we may not penetrate to an
internal harmony more perfect, in the record as it lies
before us.
For this purpose, I must recall to your remembrance the
discussion that precedes the passage. St Paul has estab-
lished the two great characteristics of the New dispensation,
— the death to sin which heralds the life to righteousness,
and the emancvpation from sin which gives the Christian
freedman to the service of his God. With both these
great ideas, — prominent and governing ideas, — in his view
he enters upon the passage under consideration. In reach-
ing it, however, his mind passes through, and takes the
tincture of, an important connecting notion, — the notion (as
we have seen) of the " fruits," — the results in heart and
habits, — of the dispensations of law and grace. When
once his thoughts (guided by heaven in their progressive
changes) had come upon this great practical consideration,
expressed in the metaphor I have cited, what was more
natural or less abrupt than the transition into the peculiar
form of allegory before us, in which these " fruits" are
represented as the results of a mystical marriage. The
mere suitability, then, of the ideas might lead you to con-
jecture that this passage is intimately connected with and
corroborative of the discussion in the preceding chapter ;
but there is evidence more direct to establish it. In the
fourth and fifth verses, you find the very term of which we
speak (as a connective between the two trains of thought)
employed in its new sense. It is there said that we are
"to bring forth fruit unto God" instead of "bringing forth
fruit unto death;" and this blessed result is declared to
follow upon the espousal in the allegory, — upon our being
136
Dying io Sin and the Law. [serm. IX.
"married to another, even to him who is raised from the
dead." This passage, then, confirms, repeats, all that has
gone before; it does not alter its bearings or displace its
relations. Like it, — it speaks of a soul that once lived to
sin and lived to bondage; like it, of a death which exalts
the same soul to righteousness and to freedom. How then
shall we dispose the personages of the allegory, to harmo-
nize perfectly with itself, and with all that precedes and
follows it? Shall we not say that the Wife indeed, the sub-
ject of the mighty change, represents the Soul (whether
individually of each Christian, or collectively of the general
Church) ; that the deceased Husband, whose claim and power
expires, symbolizes, — not the Law, (as commonly held),
but the Principle of Sin, to which the Law ministered, and
to which so much of the preceding chapter describes the
regenerate soul as "dead" — dead to sin because sin is dead.
And when St Paul describes the Woman as " loosed from
the law of the husband" "free from that law" and "answer-
ably dead io the law,^^ shall we not plainly perceive that
"the Law" in the parable is not represented by the dead
husband but by " the law of the husband," the matrimonial
obligation, which kept the soul in bondage as long as sin
was alive, but which ceases for ever when sin, — the soul's
gloomy consort and tyrant, — has expired? Under this
interpretation, all is complete and consistent. The Law, —
by the universal principle of law, — has dominion over the
woman as it has over all, as long as life lasts. But with
death the obligation terminates; over her that is mystically
dead the condemning Law loses its stern control. How
then is this death produced ? The second and third verses
purposely tell us ; with a view to preparing the way for
the new connection that is to follow that mysterious death.
It is itself a result or necessary accompaniment of the
death of the husband ; here is the momentous peculiarity
of this case; the husband is the principle of sin, and the
death of sin in the soul is the death of the soul unto sin.
SERM. IX.] Dying to Sin and the Laiv. 137
In this way, conformably to the Apostle's assumption in.
the first verse, the power of the Law, — that is in the alle-
gory, the old matrimonial bond, — expires; in point of fact
by the simultaneous death of both the parties, but mainly
(for this is the chief scope of the whole) by the death of
tbe "Wife, as he had said above (so exquisitely harmonious
is the management of the figure all through) — "the one
that is dead is freed from sin." Thus is she freed from the
obligation of her miserable bondage, she is enfranchised by
him who has slain her accursed companion through His
victorious sacrifice, she is " dead to the law by the body of
Christ." The death of Sin and unto Sin liberates from the
Law, and opens the way for the new and celestial Union.
The Law bound the wretched soul in servitude to Sin, for
" the strength of Sin is the Law" — it gave sin its sinfulness
and gave no power to escape it ; nor could this terrible
espousal to Evil be broken in the nature of things and
God's providential dispensation, except by that decease of
Sin, which left the Soul correspondingly "dead to sin,"
"dead, then, to the law" (which can only govern the living)
and free to form the new and sacred union. The main
subject of the allegory, then, is not the death of the law,
but the death of the Soul to Sin and the law : it is this
■which assimilates it to the reasoning it follows, and incor-
porates it in the mass and current of the Apostle's discourse.
How strongly the interpretation which considers the de-
ceased Husband to be the conquered principle of sin, is
confirmed by the form of expression in the fifth verse, I
need not now remark. But it is worth while to call your
attention to the sixth verse, as a proof that the two great
subjects of which I spoke at first were never out of the
Apostle's calculation, through all this comparison, and
hence as a proof how closely it is connected with the entire.
Summing up the past discussion before he proceeds to a
new one, he recalls again the two main characteristics of
the gift of God which he had bound together in the illus-
12*
138
Dying to Sin and the Law.
[SERM. IX.
tration, — tlie death to Sin, and the new service to Christ,
" We are delivered from the law, that, — namely, — sin, —
being dead (or, " we being dead to that") wherein we were
held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in
the oldness of the letter." Surely this, a professed inference
from the passage we have discussed, evidences that that
passage itself must contain these elements; must embody in
one forcible example the fundamental doctrines of the
death to Sin as the great initial step in the Christian course,
and the fruits of obedience to God as the manifestation of
the spiritual resurrection.
But after all, — it may be asked, — whether it must not be
admitted that St Paul's illustration would have been clearer
and simpler, if he had symbolized the expired Law by the
expired Husband, and regarded the Soul not as itself dead,
but as living and liberated by the death of its party in the
Nuptial Contract ? It is at all times exceedingly danger-
ous to imagine improvements ujDon the Spirit of God ; but
in this case I have no hesitation in replying that such an
alteration would dilute and enfeeble the strength of the
whole parallel. St Paul (it is one of the loftiest characters
of genuine inspiration) abounds in expressions and argu-
ments that seem forced and overwrought until inward
experience has raised us to the level of his language. And
as I do believe that the great power of this remarkable
passage eminently consists in its representing the Soul of
man as resigning the very principle of the earthly life and
its condemning law before it can combine with Christ, in its
thus bringing up a dead Bride to this solemn spousal to
receive from her beloved a new life of grace as her nuptial
dower, therefore do I feel, — and I know that I do but too
feebly feel, — that to lower this relation of the parties would
be to weaken the true and thrilling purport of the original.
In the sixth chapter he had spoken of death to sin ; he now
presupposes that death realized, and he shows that death
io the Iniv is its necessary accompaniment, — for that the law
SERM. IX.] Dying to Sin and the Law. 139
hatli no control over the dead, that they are beyond its
powers of cold command and inflexible vengeance. And
if you would trace the force of this connection or (in a
manner) this practical identification of Sin and the Law so
conspicuous in all the theology of St Paul ; if you would
see how he clears the law of sinfulness, yet shows that to
us it must be " the law of sin and death," — you will find it
exactly v/here it is demanded by the symmetry of the
whole discussion, in the reasoning that follows the passage
before us to the end of the chapter. Into this I cannot
now undertake to conduct you ; indeed I fear you will
think that I have too long detained you among these more
minute and elaborate inquiries, which are seldom popular
because they demand something from the listeners as well
as the preacher. Let us then, before we part, rise for a
while from discussing meanings to feeling them !
"Ye are dead to the law" and "by the body of Christ,"
a phrase which imports Christ's incarnate nature in general,
but more eminently that nature as sacrificed, — as in that of
Col. i. 22, " He hath reconciled you in the body of his flesh
through death,^\ — or in the very perfect parallel of St Peter
(ii. 24), " He bare our sins in his own body, — that we being
dead to sins should live unto righteousness," which gives
us the same ideas in the same connection. " You are dead
unto the Law" — unto the Law considered apart and unac-
companied, as the organ of command and punishment,—
that ordered and avenged. *' You are dead" to that which
exhibited your God as a God only of terror and retribu-
tion, who gave you "statutes that were not good, and judg-
ments whereby you should not live." (Ezek. xx. 25.)
You are dead to the law as a sole covenant of life, for it is
"the ministration of death ;" you are dead to it as Si, princi-
ple of life, for " the letter killeth" and " the flesh profiteth
nothing." To this Law you are " dead" in being dead to
Sin, you stand in the same relationship to it as those whom
men call dead, but who indeed are "alive unto God," —
140
Dying to Sin and the Law.
[SERM. IX.
who, " through the grave, and gate of death," have passed
into another world and a higher form of existence. The
Law, — solitary and terrible, — was as such an element in
the old world of sin and weakness ; it was the curse sus-
pended over the head that could not stir to escape it. All
perfect indeed, for it was a copy of the mind of God ; but
dreadful to behold, for it was above the strength of man.
It was the presence of Jehovah in a world unworthy of
him ; and it consumed where it shone. To this frowning
and fearful Avenger you are dead, " the body of Christ"
has wrought this glorious decease, the lightnings of heaven
have fallen on Calvary and expired there, and you can now
triumph by death as He has done !
" Ye are dead." This spiritual death must surely be in
some profound sense, — so often and so earnestly is the
phrase reiterated, — the mystical image of that death from
which it derives its name. Whither does death conduct
us ? " To-day thou shalt be with me in paradise," said the
Lord of life to the dying penitent. He himself " preached
to spirits in confinement," — preserved in the secret citadel
of God : — a world where as He declared, " all live unto
Him," and whose happier region perhaps is typified in that
"bosom of Abraham" which the Jews employed to express
it, and which our Lord has consecrated by his adoption.
His servant " absent from the body" expected to be
" present with the Lord," desired " to depart and be with
Christ, which was far better," — to "die unto the Lord," and
" whether he waked or slept, to live together with him."
The triumphant fulness of heavenly glory seems to demand
the body no less than the spirit; and may we not fairly
deem, with many of our sagest and holiest divines, that
there is beyond this scene, in some lone region of the
illimitable universe, a home for the spirit unbodied, or
clad it may be with some finer and invisible materialism,
whera in the calm expectation of consummate bliss it
learns the art of higher happiness, and trains its faculties
SERM. IX.] Dying to Sin and the Law.
141
for coming glory ? Is there not a world of spirits, — the
antechamber of Heaven, — where the eye, long accustomed
to the gross darkness of the flesh, is gradually couched
for the luminous Presence of the Ineffable One, a gentle
twilight between the Night of this life and the Morning
of immortality ? Thither, doubtless, often descends from
the throne of his glory, — there, perhaps, more constantly
dwells by some unimaginable Shechinah, — the man Christ
Jesus with whom " our life is hid ;" and who, by promise
and earnest of the fulness to come, teaches his expectant
people that they have, indeed, " a building of God eternal
in the heavens." And as in all our physical changes,
spiritual changes more intimate and essential seemed
pictured, I cannot but think that as our death repre-
sents the spiritual death that opens the Christian's course,
so this intervening state of holy anticipation seems emi-
nently to represent the peculiar blessedness that follows
that "death to sin" and "to the law." Few are our
intimations of the condition of the Saints departed, but
these few breathe of profound repose, tranquillity whose
stillness nothing further can disturb. They are "asleep
in Jesus." The bodies that arose at the crucifixion were
"the bodies of the sleeping saints." They are blessed,
" for they rest from their labors." " We now groan,
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the
body," but when the first great step towards it shall have
assured all the rest, we can aftbrd in joyful peace to " wait."
And if such a state be real, (and some such state can
scarcely be denied) peaceful, though till the final resur-
rection incomplete, full of quiet hope and calm confidence
that blessings possessed are the heralds of blessings far
greater to come, — if death does release the children of God
into this, or some such, — happy territory, — how, think
you, do its tranquil people look back upon the life of this
world? — that restless and unhapjty tunuilt in which they
once were struggling? They may remember it, — fiiintly
142
Dying to Sin and (he Law.
[SERM. IX.
recall it as some confused and painful dream ; but tlie
motives, and principles, and practices of that shadowy
state can have no further relation to them, and their
thoughts wander no longer among its sorrows and its guilt.
They arc "dead" to that world, "dead" to its sin, "dead"
to its avenging law. It cannot cast its shadow across the
grave ; it cannot prolong one pang of bitterness, one touch
of temptation. Its waves are broken beneath the walls of
that sheltered Paradise. These are the franchised of Christ
and of death ; dust has returned to dust that the spirit
might return unto God ; they have died into His eternal
life I Brethren! such is tbe story of the dying saint, such
his oblivion of the past, — his glory ever growing and
gathering for the future ! Such is his entrance into a new
world, — serene and lofty as the heavens spread above the
storms, changeless and eternal as the heart of God. This
is the story of the dying saint; such dying saints must
you even now be, if you would live even now with Jesus.
Such a death to a world of embodied wickedness, — its
principles, its habits, and its hopes : such death to a law of
terrors, that you may rise to a law of love ; such dissolution
of the old tie, — accursed not in itself but its object, — that
it may be renewed in a tie of everlasting sanctity ; such an
end, — final and irrevocable, — to that deadly wedlock with
the Principle of Evil, that the marriage-feast may be held
which all heaven shall sanction, and the " King's son"
receive his bride! Widowed she comes, but not joyless;
for she remembers that her widowhood is her glory !
Some faint remembrances of that dark espousal may
linger; she may still hesitate to exchange the weeds of her
mourning for her bridal robes ; we will not speak harshly
of the weakness, for we know it must pass away. Are
these phrases strange? Why should they not be, when
they speak of changes vast, and startling, and momentous ?
what ordinary language shall fitly characterize these hidden
miracles of the soul? They are the phrases of God's
SEBM. IX.] Dying to Sin and the Law.
143
Spirit, and not mine ; " take heed how ye hear" them !
But you know they are not strange, who have ever beheld
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, that " glory
which is mercy, forgiveness, and immeasurable love ; and
who, dying, — yea, long since dead, — to the law of fear, and
coldness, and distance, and repulsiveness, have, even in the
midst of this daily world of aim without object and labor
without profit, found within you a loving power to live in
his spiritual, and prepare for his immediate. Presence. To
you may the sternness of command be more and more lost
in the suggestions of grace ; and the Law, substantially
unchanged, brighten into the spontaneous dictates of grati-
tude and love ! Dead to the Law as the gloomy legislation
of death, may you live to it as the " Law of the Spirit of
Life," knowing it in that nobler shape in which it is but
the type and form by which love joyfully moulds itself,
the standard to which the spiritual affections delight to
conform, whose only compulsion is "the love of Christ
constraining^^ them ! May you be enabled to make the Law
your model, not as the servile task of your bondage, but
as the Will and very Image of Him whom you adore,
and in adoring imitate (for imitation is the perfection of
worship), being, "as obedient children,''^ — they are his own
words, or who would dare to utter them ? — " holy as He is
holy," " perfect as He is perfect," " pure 05 He is pure,"
"doing righteousness as He is righteous," "walking in the
light as He is in the light," — inasmuch as (to blend all in
one word, — our hopes, our happiness, our life,) "as He is,
so are we in the icorldP^
SERMON X.
THE RESTORER OF MANKIND.
I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the
Lord. — Jeremiah xxx. 17.
The words that were spoken by Jeremiah to console the
hearts of Israel, had a deeper significancy for the Israel of
all ages. The ministers of Christ stand forth with a heaven-
sent commission to restore ; it is the leading character of
all their teaching. It is even felt to be so by those who
7-eject it. And I know no more melancholy contemplation
than is aftbrded by the sight of the numbers, who, feeling
the necessity, and even believing the reality, of this restor-
ing efficacy, support with all their hearts and souls the exist-
ence of the Christian Churches, that are formed to minister
to its operations ; acknowledge in all 'their words, and in
many of their actions, the beauty and perfectness of our
doctrine, as distinguished from all other kinds of moral in-
struction ; contend for it earnestly in conversation public
and private ; declare unreservedly for Church-teaching, in
preference to all other teaching; — and yet — as if no
Churches existed, — as if no real change had come upon the
spirit of things by the preaching of Olivet and the death of
Calvary, — live and move, devoted Christians — without
Christianity !
Now, brethren ! what I would propose, on this occasion,
to your consideration, is this. How deep are the wants
SERM. X.]
The Restorer of Mankind.
145
which our faith supplies, and how wide is the feeling of the
beauty and power of the remedy : — both (in combination) sup-
porting the permanence and (so to speak) the pojmlariti/ of
that Faith, — both, without spiritual assistances and deep
earnestness of effort, incapable of advancing us one step in
realizing its blessings. What the lessons from such a con-
sideration of this world's outward sensibility and inward
deadness to Christianity ouyht to be, — it would be unneces-
sary to declare. You can surely deduce them for your-
selves. May God enable you to do so, and you will have
Utile cause to regret the time I may have to detain you
here ! You have doubtless then, brethren ! often meditated,
ivhat is the definite business of a Christian teacher. You
have reflected in what especial regard it is, that he is ex-
pected to differ from every other real or pretended instruc-
tor. Reflections of this kind have been forced upon you
by the most obvious outward appearances of the world ^vc
live in. As the citizens of a Christian country, it is impos-
sible but you must have often defined to yourselves tvhat
that peculiarity is — what its nature, and what its value —
which justifies the establishment of a legalized ministry,
and thus constitutes a distinct class in society, that in its
most important and constant character — that of preaching
and teaching — was utterly unknown to ancient times;
which constantly calls for new churches and new officiators;
which more or less tinges the conversation of almost every
circle of friends; which more or less mingles itself witli
political calculations of every description ; which occupies
half the learning and research of half the countries of the
world; which, in short, by all kinds of publicity and pro-
minence, challenges universal attention. You conclude that
it must be something of corresponding, that is of enormous,
importance, that explains the existence or necessity of in-
stitutions so deeply rooted in society, and branching so
widely through and over every portion of it. You feel
that it can be no trifling distinction that has created clergies
VOL. II.— 13
146
The Restorer of Mankind.
[SERM. X.
and cburclies ; that has asserted to itself an exclusive right
to one order of men, and a pervading influence over every
other order ; that demands in its outward observances a
seventh part (at least) of your lives, in its inward influences
does not hesitate to demand the whole!
Nor does it satisfy such reflections — to dismiss the entire
matter with the neglis^ent conclusion, — that all this machi-
nery and all its past and present operations, form but one
among the many follies of mankind; that the public and
national ordinances of one remarkable religion which (cir-
cumstantially diflerent it may be, but, in the source they
claim and refer to, substantially the same) now exist all
over the civilized earth, — are but fragments of unenlight-
ened antiquity, clouds of the night that still are suffered to
hang upon the morning, harmless customs that will arise
in countries, one knows not why or wherefore. On the
contrary, — you cannot be ignorant, that no such dormant
or lethargic existence is permitted to this marvellous visi-
tor ; you cannot but know that it is the perpetual object of
jealousy and conflict — and that directly in proportion as it
asserts its distinctive character ; that the nations are con-
tinually invited, by men not at all deficient in eloquence,
ability, sagacity or influence, to expel its very name from
their social system ; that its genuine professors are seldom
safe from a persecution more or less virulent, that (what-
ever may be said of the slumber of the middle centuries,)
these at least are times in which the antiquity of a custom
is not likely to fully satisfy men for its continuance; — and
that in despite of all this (surely the very opposite of an
inactive or permissive condition) it still, by some inexplica-
ble vitality, lives undestroyed in the midst of destruction,
— it recommends itself by some internal necessity to the
hearts of nations, — people will not do without it, — and though
in the drunkenness of a national frenzy they may insult, and
revile, and trample it, they are soon found to return cower-
ing beneath its feet and offering it up an adoration — not
SERM. X.] The Restorer of Mankind.
147
always the purest, indeed — but still an adoration — and still
sincere! We must look further then, if we would find the
charm that attaches even the worldly to some form of our
faith.
Nor again will it solve the problem, to reply (in a more
reverent but still a mistaken spirit) — that a corps of moral
instructors is felt by statesmen to be expedient, and by
good men to be obligatory. There is some truth in this;
but it is far indeed from the whole truth. The pertinacious
vitality of Christianity (I speak, you will understand, only
of its secondary and earthly causes) depends neither on
statesmen nor on good men. The statesman is too. careless
and too interested to labor continuously to preserve it ; the
good men are too weak and too few. No ; — Christian esta-
blishments, the general organization of Christian services
in countries, are built upon a broader basis than occasional
policy or even occasional virtue ; Christianity can only be
universally recognized, because it speaks to universal
humanity. We may curse it in our wickedness, and flout
it in our folly; but we cannot wholly tear it from our
hearts. It is based on too firm a foundation of knowledge
of man's wants and weakness ; the chord it touches is too
genuine ; the aspect it displays is too exquisitely adapted
to console our miseries ; it speaks too direct a language to
our common unhappiness, to be ever wholly and irretriev-
ably rejected by the general people. All history confirms
the fact. Nations have run through the whole cycle of
caprices. They have chased and abandoned a thousand
cherished pursuits. But I know not of one that ever per-
manently rejected, after enjoying it, the blessing of a Chris-
tian worship. Ambition may forget heavenly in the pur-
suit of earthly greatness, rank may feel too fortified in
position, and wealth too strong in gold, to feel the constant
necessity of the Great Physician ; but as of old "the com-
mon people" will still "hear Ilirn gladly." And then, — as
to moral education, — if that were indeed all that was required,
148
The Restorer of ManJcmd. [SERM. X.
have we not our men of fancy, and our men of tliouglit?
If a corps of ordained philosophers would suit the wants
of an unhappy world, the numbers ambitious of distinction
in the pursuits of mind, would always be sufficient to sup-
ply the demand. But the world, in all its corruption,
nevertheless feels and knows that such guides would leave
its wants ungratified. They may expound the malady, but
they can poorly tell the cure. They can allay themselves
with every folly as well as with every virtue ; and whatever
influence they may have over our hours of calm, they are
lost in the tempest of the passions, unheard or despised
when "deep is calling to deep," when the flood-gates are
burst, and the winds are up !
What then is that which these teachers cannot bring,
and which that higher and more hallowed order of in-
structors professes to bring? What is that which in spite
of corruption and frailty, in spite of evil speakers that ag-
gravate the corruption, and evil-doers that exemplify and
disseminate it, — what is that which even in its very per-
versions has a power not wholly perished, and in its
severest censures a secret and impressive commendation to
the very hearts that practically reject it, — what is that
which has revolutionized the domination of selfishness in
the world, till in times of trouble and change we hear the
people cry aloud that they will stand by their teachers as
long as they stand by their teaching, and that they will
never consent to exchange them for the frigid apostles of
a pretended rationalism ? Brethren 1 the answer to the
question is supplied in the assertion of the doctrine taught
— Christ has the power, because, even in its lowest form,
it preaches hope and restoration to man. Because even
the most negligent feel that it speaks the words of the
text — " I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee
of thy wounds."
But if this great peculiarity of our teaching, which thus
separates the ministry of the Church from all other incor-
SEKM. X.] The Restorer of Mankind. 149
porations of instructors, do possess this power over even
unconverted souls, — if Christianity has this hold over the
affections, even when they are in neglect and uncultivation,
— is it not pitiable that it should have no further influence
over the hearts of men? is it not deplorable that they who
so warmly and earnestly assert the claims of a national
Christianity, should live without its internal spirit ? Is it
not to be lamented that the Christ who, — by universal con-
sent, — nay, at the universal demand^ — is preached in our
pulpits, should be so little the Christ that is prayed to from
our hearts ? Is it not melancholy that where all nature
and all experience thus testify in favor of our doctrine
and of the great subject of our doctrine, the crucified Re-
deemer, — we should not carry out our honest prepossessions,
and learn more closely to reflect that those very tendencies
only prove how many are the principles of our nature to
which it is formed profoundly to appeal ? Assuredly the
Masterpiece of the wisdom of that God who constructed
the human heart, will not be found wanting in perfect and
beautiful applicability to its weaknesses and failings. He
who formed the heart capable of temptation, has provided
the remedy for its foreseen fall ; and we may be confident
that the structure of the mind itself will not be more
wonderously wise than that of the remedy for its lapse... 7i^,
on the sixth day of Creation, God solemnly called upon the
persons of the Trinity to unite in the formation of Man, —
saying, " Let us make man in our image," — in due time
also lie called upon the same Trinity to unite in the work
of his restoration, — the Father accepting the Sacrifice, the
Son achieving it, and the Spirit for ever sanctifying the
redeemed. Nor was the former work more glorious than
the latter; indeed if we did not know that in the Eternal
Mind those things which we call means are themselves
ends, and that our subordinations and dependences can
seldom be relied on as those of an infinite God, — we might
almost conclude that the very creation of man was in the
V6*
150
The Restorer of Mankind. [sebm. X.
divine purposes only a work preparatory and subservient
to the mightier work of his restoration. However we may
stimulate our fancies with the glories of God's outer world,
if we would indeed enjoy " the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God," we must seek it where the apostle found
it, "in the face of Jesus Christ J''
What, then, brethren, is it to preach restoration to man
by "Christ crucified?" Consider first what it is to preach
Christ crucified ? and you will perceive. It is to preach
him in his sacrifice as the sole atonement of sinners, and iu
his obedience as their great example. It is to write his
name upon the front of all teaching, to found all exhortation
upon the principles of his truth. It is to instruct the world
to look upon Him whom their sins have pierced, and by
habituating the eye to seeing Him upon Calvary, to pre-
pare its weakness for seeing Him in glory ! It is, in short,
to faithfully deliver the message of God ; for the whole
scheme of religious truth, all that we are and hope to be,
our beliefs, our confidences, and our love, — all spring from,
and return to, that momentous hour in which Christ became
"Christ crucified," that hour in which exalted between
heaven and earth as it became the Mediator of two worlds,
He intervened alike on the part of God and of man, and
first looking up to his Father with a prayer of pardon, and
then "bowing his head" to the sin-laden earth, reconciled
hoth for ever !
Let us then see wliat it is which fortifies Christianity
among a people's hearts, and yet leaves it so sadly unin-
fluential upon their lives ; what it is which approves, and
yet rejects, this doctrine of Christ crucified ; what that
strange character may be which assails the affections with-
out binding the practice, which makes mankind unable to
live wholly without Christ or wholly with him, and renders
(under Providence) the external church imperishable, even
while the internal and spiritual church is in trouble and
adversity, — even when the mystical Woman of the Apoca-
SEKM. X.] The Restorer of Mankind.
151
lypse has to fly " into the wilderness, where she hath" (glory
to divine mercy !) " a place prepared of God, that they
should feed her there." (Rev. xii. 6.) Brethren, the reason
is, — that the doctrine of the Redeemer appeals to the uni-
versal wants and anxieties of man with a supernatural
wisdom and power of application; and that hence, even
while Christ is rejected, he is recognized, — even when the
express prayers and regular offices of a Believer are for-
gotten or unknown, yet the want, the craving desire for
truth is felt, and, as the Psalmist phrases it, " the heart and
fiesh cry out for the living God."
Look then to the doctrine of a crucified Redeemer (the
seminal doctrine of Christianity) in its remedial character ;
and may God teach you, as you feel the want, to apply the
remedy. I here appeal to your own experience, and to it
alone. I am not to tell you now for the first time what
are the lessons directly derivable from this central tenet of
the Gospel. I am not (after eighteen hundred years of its
preaching) to undertake to invest them with novelty. I
cannot say with the Prophet — " New things do I declare ;"
but they, brethren, who have obtained the " New Spirit,"
are able to feel that these things are never old. They can
say with Jeremiah, " The Lord's mercies are new every
morning;" and in a subject of inexhaustible extent can for
ever find freshness in the offices of praise and worship.
If then there be any character more especially marked
in the Scripture accounts of Christ's advent among men, it
is the character of a Restorer. " He healeth the broken in
heart, and biudeth up their wounds" (Ps. cxlvii. 3). He is
the " Sun of righteousness, with healing in his wings" (Mai.
iv. 2). He applies to himself the prophetic account, and
declares that " the Spirit of the Lord hath sent him to heal
the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives."
And you know how on one occasion he attributes to him-
self the character of one commissioned specially to recover
the lost or languishing victims of this world — " They that
152
The Restorer of Mankind. [SERM. X.
be whole need not a physician, but they that be sick" (Matt,
ix. 12). All these expressions show clearly that He comes
to purify some presupposed corruption, to repair some
antecedent ruin, to satisfy some pre-existing wants. "What
indeed were the mass of his miracles but types and images
of those moral and inward restorations by which He makes
the blind indeed to see, and the deaf indeed to hear? And,
as is easily shown, it is the feeling of these wants which in
the minds of men perpetuates the corresponding feeling of
the necessity of the remedy; and it is tJtis felt necessity
of remedy which supports the cbaracter and claims of
Christianity in the world ; while, at the same time, it is the
slowness of men to embrace with sincerity and practical
earnestness the proffered remedy, thus felt to be required,
and felt to be real, which renders the Faith in the crucified
Saviour inoperative and unfruitful.
For 1st. The Faith in the Cliristian Sacrifice and its
attendant revelation of the Divine Character, alone answer
the demands of the heart and reason of man for a higher
state of moral perfection. I am well aware how feebly this
voice is heard in the ordinary course of the world ; man
could scarcely be deemed a fallen creature, if the conscious-
ness of his fall were so universal as to prompt the continual
demand for his restoration. But it would also be an over-
statement to say that we have not a desire for something
better, as well as for something happier, than this earthly
state admits. Men do weary of the wickedness of the
world as really, though not indeed so frequently, as of its
disappointments. This is not the place for labored discus-
sions ; and I will simply refer you to one powerful instance
of this anxiety for a better and holier condition. I allude
to cases private and personal injury. Keflect upon your emo-
tions in such instances. There is surely something more than
mere resentment; there is a strong sense of injustice, and
naturally connected with it (as the mind calms and diffuses
its feelings) a melancholy impression of the lost moral
SERM. X.] The Restorer of Ilanlcind. 153
balance of the wliole world, and a correspondent yearning for
abodes wbere righteousness shall be a principle of universal
action. I specify these cases, not because the feeling is
there more real, but because it is more inteivse and defined.
But, brethren ! all these aspirations are in our Faith met
and satisfied. Is it not its pre-eminent character to unveil
before our eyes a kingdom where immortally dwelleth
righteousness ? Is not its great Sacrifice the corner-stone
of the equity of the whole moral universe, — the Sacrifice
that enables God to be at once "just, and the justifier of
him that believeth in Jesus" ? Here then is the preaching
of Christ crucified recommended to the reason and to the
heart. Here, in the beauty of its holiness, is a cause of its
lingering power over the better affections even of those
who have no strength to realize its commands. It estab-
lishes a righteous Governor upon the throne of Heaven ; it
developes the symmetry of all his judgments; it answers
the inward appeal of the frail and wretched beings, who
can "know the better," even while they "the worse prefer."
2. But again ; Christianity offers to maintain a communi-
cation between this world and that eternal world of holiness
and truth. Here is another want satisfied ; the aspiration
of weakness made not merely a privilege but a duty. It
would be easy to show how this elevation has been the
crying demand of human nature in all ages, how it has pro-
duced and supported even false religions, and how (in its
proper character) it is only satisfied in the true one. For
the "/^irayer" to which I allude, as making Christianity
attractive even to the frailest, in adapting it to our better
affections, is obviously not a prayer for enjoyments similar
to those of daily vice. Yet such was and is the prayer of
the Heathen. The prayer of a Heathen is the miserable
deprecation of a cowardly piety ; for as is the Deity, so will
be the prayer. And thus too the purer knowledge of God
which Christianity unfolds creates a parallel purity in its
prayer. It is no longer to avoid momentary misfortunes,
154
Tlie Restorer of Mankind. [SERM. x.
or to call down ruin upon transient enemies; but to be pre-
served unspotted for a future world of glory, and to be
assisted in vanquishing the one sole enemy that a Christian
recognizes as such. And thus (as before) it attracts even
the most negligent by the beauty of its provision for our
real exaltation. And who can doubt that it is the exaltation
to which reason really (though feebly perhaps) points. We
for ever seek a happiness beyond the reach of chance —
Christian prayer beseeches it ; we seek repose from inces-
sant troubles, — Christian prayer is the stillest exercise of
soul ; — we ask even by blind impulses of nature for pardon
in the wretched consciousness of depravity, — Christian
prayer encourages our timidity into confidence. Here then
is a provision which (rightly considered) is really peculiar
to our Faith ; and which so truly utters the wants of our
condition, that it is, as it were, but the direction of Nature
in the channels and currents of grace.
3. Another particular in which this blessed Faith com-
mends itself to our wants, is in its confirmation and direc-
tion of that principle of Hope which even in our daily and
worldly life we are perpetually forced to substitute for hap-
piness. It leaves the tendency, but it alters the object.
How prominent this principle is in our Christian life, I
need not remind you. " We are saved by Hope." That is,
we are saved by the exercise of a principle which we are in
some measure instinctively inclined to make the source of
our earthly happiness ; but which, as yet, we have known
as little more than the harbinger of disappointment. That
our Hope in Christ is no such delusion, I am not now
about to argue. I am only inviting jour attention to its
admirable aptitude to our condition, as employing that
machinery of Hope and Trust, which Nature before pos-
sessed, for higher objects than nature ever contemplated.
The Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews describes Chris-
tians as those " who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the
hope set he/ore ihevi ; which hope they have as an anchor
SERM. X.]
The Restorer of Mankind.
155
to the soul, both sure and steadfast." The Hope which
deserves such characters, is in its nature as a feeling of the
soul the same as that which we waste upon the emptiest
dreams of time ; but it was He " who is our Hope" that first
taught the feeling to be sure and steadfast, that first made
it indeed " the anchor of the soul," becavse he first made it
(as the passage goes on to say) a hope " which entereth into
that within the vail."
4. But above all its recommendations to the wants and
solicitudes of man, the Gospel commends itself by the ador-
able object which it presents to our affections. The pining
attachments which find no earthly being commensurate to
the magnitude of their own nature, cannot wholly resist
the attraction of the Being whom the Gospel reveals. The
God who in his character of a Providential Governor is in-
accessible to our conceptions and coldly present to our
reason, is in Christ a Friend who is more than a Brother.
The language which iuspiration gives our lips upon this
subject transcends the natural understanding, and yet even
the natural heart can find some dim echoes to the celestial
call. The devotion with which we are encouraged to re-
gard this great God and Saviour of the New Testament, —
the affection with which He has contemplated us (for " we
love Him because He first loved us") create a new and holy
and eternal bond of love, such as in its fulness indeed our
fallen humanity could never have anticipated, yet such as
becomes an answer to many of the profoundest wants of
the Soul. And the worldly themselves (so great is the
influence of such a system of belief among us) may be
struck by reflecting, how enormous would be the desolation
of the Universe to even their minds, if the God of the Gos-
pel were suddenly to disappear from their habitual con-
victions, and the Gospel itself to be detected as a dream!
A sceptic could allow tlie horror of " a fatherless world ;"
but those who (even practically feeble and remiss) have
ever contemplated the purity and beauty of the Divine
156
The Restorer of Mankind, [serm. X.
lineaments visible in the Christ of the Gospel can conceive
a something not less terrible in the dismal vacancy of a
" redeemerless world !"
Thus, brethren, we see that even in its most superficial
view, the Faith that we preach has its attractions. Thus
we see that even to the godless wanderer, its restoring pro-
mises, its soothing and sympathizing aspect, makes it a
something from which he would not willingly be divorced.
There are those indeed, to whom it is seen only in its terrors,
and to whom it brings but a heart of desperation and a
tongue of curses. But I speak now of the general com-
plexion of our ordinary society. And I call upon you to
press upon your hearts the lesson ; that all this prompti-
tude to admire and to support the faith of Christ in the
world, is but an aggravation of guilt, if your inward hearts
nevertheless prefer the world to the faith of Christ.
And now, brethren! I beseech you not to misunderstand
me, as if, when I thus speak of the manner in which the
Faith commends itself to the wants of man even in his
natural condition, I could mean to imply that it can make
any due or deep impression without higher aids than nature
ever gave. This is not my reasoning, — most emphatically it
is not. No, — but from the felt beauty and perfection of
our Christian scheme of teaching, I take occasion to press
you to make the great restorative truly your own by the
appointed means of spiritual enlightenment. I beseech you
to beseech God your Father, that He would, of his own
transcendant grace, quicken into earnestness that passive
reception and merely verbal approbation of its claims,
which I have been all along describing. All these excel-
lencies are formed, indeed, as the text has it, to " restore
health unto you, and to heal you of your wounds;" but to
heal, they must be received by Faith. And Faith is, — the
gift of God. Is it then a vain or daring course of the
Christian Minister, to attempt to analyze the medicine in
order to show its suitableness, — as long as he teaches that
SERM. X.] The Restorer of Mankind. 157
it can successfully operate, only through a God-given ac-
ceptance of it ? To deny that we may reverently look into
these things, — on the ground that God alone can apply
them, — would, by a false humility, be to enthrone the So-
vereignty of Grace upon the ruins of Reason. No. Examine
all, learn all, search all, — as long as you remember, that,
whatever be your admiration of the plan of the Gospel,
" no man cometh to Christ, except the Father draw him."
Finally, my brethren ! and before we part, — reflect how
the Religion of Christ (considered as we have considered
it) regards the World into which it enters ? As a vast
Hospital, crowded with every wretched variety of sickness.
From the burning fever of violent passion to the cold palsy
of heartless neglect, it contemplates all, and understands all,
and is adapted for all. The Sovereign Restorer is busy
among the throng: the diversities of misery are familiar
to its diversity of powers. It interprets their griefs for
those whose miserable restlessness betrays the disorder
they cannot themselves comprehend; and it interprets, only
to restore. And, brethren ! what the world at large is, this
assembly is also. Is not this very room, — and every other
crowded temple of our city this morning, — an hospital of
the heart? Every Christian Congregation is but a minia-
ture of the Christian World. Am I mistaken (would to
God I were!) when I say that here too there sit at this
hour more than one sufferer by the maladies of our misera-
ble nature, aggravated by the pestilential atmosphere of the
world we have to live in? Am I deceived (would to God I
were ! but the Pulpit is not the place for flattery) when I say
that even here, there are this moment more than one who
come to ask for a remedy they will not accept, and to wor-
ship a God whom they will not serve f Oh, brethren! if
any of you there be who feel the feebleness, and require
the cure, beware of saying to the ministers of Christ as Job
did to his friends, — " Ye are forgers of lies, and physicians
of no value!" When you come to the Church of God,
VOL. II.— 14
158
The Restorer of Mankind.
[SERM. X.
you come to the great dispensaries of heavenly health.
Pass not from ours this day without profit. Our Master,
brethren I was assailed because He healed on the Sabbath-
day ; but to us (as to llim) it is not only " lawful to heal
on the Sabbath," but the Sabbath is peculiarly appropriated
for the blessed work. May the serious thoughts and holy
aspirations of this day, register ours in heaven, as one dis-
tinguished in the history of souls restored and regenerated
for eternal glory I
SEEMON XI.
THE TRUE FAST.
(Preached for the Mendicity Institution, at St Stephen's Chapel, Dublin. Sunday Morn-
ing, July 23, 1837.)
Is not this the ' fast' that I have chosen? Is it not, to deal thy bread to
the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out, to thy house?
When thou seest the nailed, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thy-
self from thine own flesh? — Isaiah Iviii. 6. 7.
Brethren! the passage which I have just read to you,
and which I trust you will feel to be practically appropriate
to the occasion on which I have to address you to-day, —
is one of those in which the purity and holiness peculiar
to the Gospel, seem to be foretokened in the morality of
the prophetic Canon, Isaiah has been termed the Evan-
gelical Prophet; and he is so, not more in the transcendent
clearness of his predictions of evangelic facts, than in the
corresponding brightness of his anticipations of evangelic
holiness. As the inspired writers approached the great
centre of purity, they became more and more deeply tinged
with the glory they were approaching. The twilight clouds
were red with the coming Sun. The odor of celestial
sanctity which filled and encompassed that divine Person
who was essentially and inherently Holy, diffused itself (as
in those eastern islands of which we read) far along the
wide extent of the Old Testament records ; and might
have given to the Jewish reader who travelled among them
constant and beautiful notices of the fragrant scenery — the
160
The True Fast.
[SERM. XI.
Balm of still more ethereal doctrine — he was approaching,
and of Him, its Presiding Spirit, — Him, who (as the Sacred
Song mystically has it) is above all " perfumed with myrrh
and frankincense."
I do not indeed mean to assert, that the moral illumina-
tion of the Prophets always increased in direct proportion
to their proximity to the age of the Lord whom they pre-
dicted. Such an assertion would be hasty and ungrounded.
No sucli law is discernible in the distribution of prophetical
inspiration. When Moses predicted the prophet that was
to succeed him at the distance of centuries, he was perhaps
vouchsafed a vision of the glory to come more perfect than
Isaiah ever possessed, and an apprehension of eternal good-
ness more unclouded; — when the father of the Faithful
"saw the day" of Christ "and was glad," the feeling of joy
which our Lord represents him as experiencing in the per-
ception of the blessed vision, seems to point to a degree of
spiritual exaltation beyond, perhaps, that of the most favored
of his followers in the lineage of faith. Isaiah himself sur-
passes those who succeeded him. And, therefore, when I
speak of moral illumination growing with the nearness of
the prophets to their Lord, it is a different sort of proxi-
mity or distance to which I allude. It is no measure of time
or space that can mark the position of a prophet's spirit in
relation to the God who illumines it. It is on the scale of
a more mysterious spiritual measurement, that we are to
compute the comparative distances at which it pleases the
Source of all excellence to hold the minds whose ecstasies
contemplate, and whose words reveal the dispositions of his
future government. He to whom "a thousand years are
as one day," can extend the arm of his power and the
breath of his spirit as well across the chasm of a thousand
years as across the narrow interval of a single day; just as
He to whom " one day is as a thousand years" can in the
unexpected turns of his providence cover the events that a
SERM. XI.] The True FasL 161
single day is to bring forth "with the mystery that shadows
those of a thousand years to come !
When, therefore, I say that the affections of the prophetic
messengers were inflamed by the same glorious Source that
enlightened their understandings ; when I profess to trace
in their writings a parallel growth of knowledge and of holi-
ness, — and to see in the hearts of those who were admitted
into the more secret sanctuaries of the divine counsels, all
that deep veneration and all that practical piety which
befitted such a privilege; it will be obvious to you, my
brethren, that I refer to no nearness in place or time, to the
God who inspired them and whom they adored. It is the
deep intimacy of the Spirit that I allude to; the internal
contact of God with man. I call them nearer to God, when
their vision of his glory was more perfect; — even as we
count ourselves nearer to some earthly object of admiration
when our dim and shadowy vision gives place gradually to
distinct and definite perception. But these are idle com-
parisons! What earthly object, however magnificent, can
suggest the feeblest conception of what they beheld? Sup-
posing the mind to be previously unaffected, "vwhat earthly
object would, by the mere perception of it, produce such
terrors as those which Daniel describes in narrating that
awful vision by the river Iliddekel; — when as he tells us —
"I was left alone (for his companions, though they saw
nothing, had fled with an inward and mysterious terror !)
and I saw this great vision, and there remained no strength
in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption,
and I retained no strength. Yet heard I the voice of his
words — " or that of St John the divine, when seeing the
Lord Jesus in his glory he " fell at his feet as dead ;'' until
the same Christ who had made him his chosen friend on
earth became his friend also in this awful crisis; and in the
same tone with which He addresses the timidity of every
trusting believer, said — "Fear not! I am the first and the
last!"
14*
162
The True Fast.
[SERM. XI.
I am not now, brethren ! about to carry this profound
and mysterious subject to any farther detail. I am not
about to argue (as I might perhaps do) that these prophetic
visions — these wondrous intercourses between the uncreated
God and his creatures, are a mighty testimony to the high
capacities of our mental nature. I am not about to insist
that they form a positive, direct, and palpable evidence that
our souls are made capable of the presence of the eternal
Spirit; and that, though compassed by the evils of mortality,
and frail through their dependence on a frail body, these
souls are formed to repose in the courts of heaven and fitted
for the audience-chamber of the Eternal God! Yes, — I
might argue that if to us the influences of the heavenly
Spirit are inconceivable, yet Moses spake to his Maker —
substantially the same Spirit — "face to face;" that if the
agency of the celestial upon the earthly be ever a tempta-
tion to the agonies of incredulity, yet "of old time. ..holy
men of God spake as they tvere moved hy the Holy Spirit,^''
and that their inspirations are an instance and a proof to us,
of what it is within the laws of the spiritual world to effect !
Oh, Christians! "who sorrow as those without hope!" ye
whose temporal unhappiness have so clouded your religious
horizon that in your earthly troubles you lose the guiding-
star to heavenly peace, — becoming infidels in misfortune,
and misdoubting the Spirit of consolation when most you
need Him to console, — turn, I pray you, to the prophetic
records, and learn and be wiser as you learn, — how the
captivity of the prophets of abandoned Judah was illumined
by the glorious presence of the Spirit of God, — how those
very " rivers of Babylon" by which the people sat down
and wept" — the " river of Chebar" and the " river of Ulai"
— were made the especial theatre of some of the most mag-
nificent manifestations of the Lord Jehovah's helping and
consoling presence that are contained in the whole series of
the prophetic visitations! . . . But (as I said) it is not to these
subjects, profoundly interesting though they be, and though
SEEM. XI.]
The True Fast.
163
tlie text before us might naturally invite such considera-
tions, that I would now conduct you.
I return to the point. I recall to your contemplation
how closely allied — the text is an instance — are the super-
natural illumination aad the moral elevation of the pro-
phets of God. The more their souls were opened to the
future, the more they imbibed its holy influences. Christ
Jesus — the Messiah who was to bring in an everlasting
righteousness — was present not more to the vision of such
men, than to their affections. Living in the august pre-
sence of God, their practical life took its complexion from
their habitual society. . .True it is, that, now and then, the
Lord of holiness, for his own mysterious purposes, suffered
the accents of genuine prophecy to pass from profane lips ;
but He gave to such no continuous commission to instruct
his people. They predicted not by rule but by exception ;
— if all prophecy be miracle in relation to the common
laws of knowledge, theirs was a miracle even in relation to
the scheme and world of miracles In every age of his
dispensations, it has been the undeviating law of God to
combine together the real knowledge of real truth with the
habits and feelings of real goodness. He has made the
pathway to his truth to lie through the heart ; He has made
in all ages, the practical devotedness of a good life to be at
once the preparative of belief and the consequence of it.
How it springs (in all its rich varieties of charity) from a
knowledge of the truth I need not now detail; — how it
leads to such a knowledge, I leave Him to convince you
who has declared "If any man ivill do his will, he shall
know of the doctrine whether it be of God !"
Here then, brethren ! is the reason why I have insisted
on the moral elevation and personal holiness that charac-
terized the prophetic calling. Here is the reason why in
selecting a passage of deep practical import for our con-
sideration on this festival of charity, I have thought it
right not only to declare to you, as a mere revelation of
164
The True Fast.
[SERM. XI.
truth, what the Spirit of God spoke through the lips of
Isaiah, but also to remind you at luhat time tlic Isaiah
lived who delivered it, and in ichat manner he and his
prophetic brethren were wont to live and act in virtue of
their high privileges. I have told you that in the exact
proportion in which they obtained glimpses of the truth of
God, they manifestly increased in love to Him and to man
for his sake ! I have told you that the nearer they stood
in their hours of vision to the unveiled glory of the coming
Messiah, the more ardently burned their hearts, and the
more fervently were fixed their resolutions of unwearied
practical charity. I have reminded you that the blessed
truth of the text was spoken by one whose soul was
familiar with the laws and designs of Providence, and, as
it would appear, in the very spirit of that prophetical
familiarity; — and I have selected this very passage out of
a host of similar passages (for blessed be God ! the whole
Bible is but one long revelation of the essential beneficence
of our Maker !) in order to impress upon you the glorious
identity of the eternal principles of Scripture morality in
every age — before Christ, and under Christ, and after
Christ. Christians ! need I make the application ? Are
your hearts able to receive it? If those who lived in the
shadowy realms of type and vision could feel the force of
maxims so pure and benevolent, — if a promissory Christ
could create so fervent a flame of charitable zeal in the
breasts of the prophets, — what becomes you who have (as
the Apostle applies it) " the word nigh you^ even in your
moxUh and in your heart: that is, the word of faith which we
preach"? Had those men visions of God? What then?
do not we, if we possess faith, " endure as seeing Him who
is invisible" ? Had these men spiritual gifts? What then?
have we no Spirit to enlighten us — no privilege of prayer
that secures his presence ? Brethren — " there are diversities
of gifts, but the same Spirit." The prophetic messengers —
these " holy men of old"— had no monopoly of the infinite
SERM, XI.]
The True Fast.
165
Spirit of Holiness; — their gifts are recorded not to dis-
hearten but to encourage us. If such blessings were
bestowed in the old time, what will be done — what is done
in that which is pre-eminently the dispensation of the
Spirit; — that in which in literal truth (how we can slumber
in the midst of such truths — " dark with" our very " excess
of light !") the Spirit of God forms a ready and perpetual
channel of communication between our hearts and the
source of all holiness — a ladder, like that of the patriarch's
vision, from earth to heaven ! If formerly that Spirit
bestowed isolated gifts of practical holiness on isolated
individuals, is He not now, as it were, the Sensorium of
the entire Christian system, the ineffable medium through
which it receives the impressions and impulses of that
divine Essence which is evermore around it, in which "it
lives and moves and has its being !" Brethren ! with such
an aid as this — are u-e unable, with our distinct appre-
hensions of divine truths — with our unclouded knowledge
of the essential goodness of the divine character as revealed
in his incarnate Son — are we, I say, who possess the
harvest that ages were spent in maturing (for it was
decreed " that they without us should not be made perfect")
are we unable to realize the unworldliness, the benevolence,
the charity, that the prophets of the elder time seeing their
God through a cloud (of radiance indeed, but still a cloud),
could preach, and practise, and perish as martyrs to sup-
port in the world !
You see now, brethren ! why I brought Isaiah before
you, and his brother prophets, — these men who were holier,
and heavenlier, and richer in the works of love, upon an
anticipated Christ, than we are in a Christ already our cru-
cified example. These men of God knew no divorce be-
tween belief and love; between living perpetually in the
presence of a benevolent Lord, and imitating his benevo-
lence to their fellow-creatures ! As it is the Spirit of Truth
that has solemnized the union of the Principle of Faith
166
The True Fast.
[SERM. XI.
with the works of Charity, so it is, and in all ages has been,
the master-policy of the Spirit of Evil to effect their separa-
tion. But what " God hath joined together let no man put
asunder!" This same purpose of separation which in
darker ages (as we call them) the Enemy of Man sought to
accomplish by making faith stand for a catalogue of super-
stitious observances, — similar to the fasts of which the pro-
phet speaks in the text, — he now attempts to accomplish
by exaggerating and perverting its more legitimate signifi-
cation. The former cheat became impossible when the Scrip-
tures began to be read; the latter I trust will become
equally rare, as the Scriptures begin to be felt ... So subtle
is the dexterity of the human heart in evil, that even from
the most salutary truth it can extort a poison . . . The prin-
ciple of religious dependence which in the Scriptures is
called "jPa/Z/i," — that principle which begins in a making
to feel and know a Redeemer (that is a pardoning and re-
storing God) to be needed and to be provided, which con-
tinues in habitually depending on Him and making a com-
munion with Him the business and happiness of life, and
which naturally acts itself out in works of love to men ; —
that principle which, restoring the communication between,
fallen man and his Maker (a communication for which his
unfallen nature was originally made) must obviously be the
highest and purest state of minds on this side of the grave ;
— that principle which is nothing more or less than the
general religious principle as exerted by a frail towards a
perfect nature, turned into the channel of Christ's redeem-
ing work and regenerating promises, and matured to a
simpler purity by his gracious Spirit; — that principle which
is thus in its inmost essence a principle of unworldly and
absorbing devotion, in its very nature a liberalizing princi-
ple, — for what will liberalize our hearts as to worldly pos-
sessions, if continued converse with a higher sphere of
being does not, — and what will make us actively loving
and merciful and charitable towards every breathing thing,
SEEM. XI.]
The True Fast.
if habitual confiding access to a God whose essence is Lovci
and who charges us on our loyalty and gratitude that we
make ourselves the ministers of his mercies, do not ? —
This principle, I say, thus in its essential quality formed
to be obviously the master-spring of the whole system of
life's duties ; — this principle by which the Spirit of God,
who bestows it, may in a manner be said at the same mo-
ment to justify and sanctify us, — this principle which, in a
word, puts our human souls in the full sunlight at once of
divine favor and divine holiness, — a principle which is in
itself so noble and in its necessary results so pregnant and
productive, — this (by the miserable ingenuity of the de-
praved heart of man) has been perverted into a barren act
of speculative conviction, an audacious assumption of divine
favor, and a secret internal justification of indolence, covet-
ousness, and unspirituality. This subject {jyracticalli/ simple
enough — else how was "the Gospel" ever "preached to the
poor?") has been so beset by the thorns of controversy
(another device of Satan !) that I suppose it may be neces-
sary to say that in making these melancholy assertions, I
allude to no professed sect, party, or denomination whatever.
No, — Christians and brethren ! the only sect I allude to, is
that terrible and wide-spread sect which began at the Fall
and will, I fear, continue to the Judgment, — that sect whose
birth is in the unchanged evil of the human heart, — of
which the Devil is Arch-heretic and Founder; — that sect
without a name, which in one form or another has in every
age compromised between Heaven and Hell, by giving its
beliefs to the one, and its conduct and heart to the spirit
who governs the other/ Oh, brethren! whatever outward
modification of Protestantism you embrace, avoid this mas-
ter delusion ! Let no man lull your constant " diligence to
make your calling sure," on pretence of selling you a
cheaper talisman for heaven ! Let no man persuade you that
Heaven is to be won by anything which does not necessa-
rily bring with it the " purity of heart without which" no
168
The True Fast.
[SEKM. XI.
soul "sliall see Godl" Let no metaphysical subtleties (the
misfortune of our age) about the cause, or the essence, or
the period of justification, cheat you into dreaming that
any thing can be a principle of justification before the tri-
bunal of God, which is not also in its necessary results upon
your hearts and life a principle of sanctification fitting you
for his divine approval ! Be content to " hunger and thirst
after righteousness," to live habitually in the presence of
Christ, to verify constant faith by constant love, — and you
can afford to resign to the God of the Universe the myste-
ries of his providence in the work of salvation !
Brethren ! our work of love this day has warranted my
enlarging on this everlasting connection between your faith
as believers and your development of that faith in universal
charity. I will go yet farther, and suggest, that your habits
of benevolence in this life, — those habits which this day
we are calling upon you to exercise, — are intended as a
training for a love more perfect which is to the glory of a
future state, a love concentrated upon a diviner object 1 Bear
with me a moment while timidly indeed as becomes a
feeble fellow-sinner, I would dare to speculate on that world
which you are now educating your hearts to enjoy ! Yes, —
the tenderness of soul which strengthens in this morning's
act of charity, may be disciplining itself for a higher sphere ;
this day may bear a fruit to eternity !
The whole religious providence of God towards Man in
every age has been a system operating by the combined
influences of Faith and Love ; both directed towards his
own perfect essence. In the Old Testament dispensation
(as you read in the noble summary in the Epistle to the
Hebrews) Faith was the leading principle, — faith dependent
on a God who appeared as a rewarding and avenging power.
In our dispensation, where God has allayed the terrors of
his power in the mercies of Jesus Christ, Love mingles
largely with our devotional states ; and as I believe, in the
dispensation to come. Faith will fade before the absorbing
SERM. XI.]
The True Fast.
169
lustre of her sister grace, and Love consuming and trans-
forming all to its own substance, rule for ever the glorified
spirit of man ! In our existing condition, what is Faith
but Love relying on support? What is Love but Faith
forgetting the support in the supporter? Now, in a higher
state of consummate perfection, a higher motive will be
ours than the consciousness of a feebleness that requires constant
sM2;/)or< ... Admitted to the presence of the eternal Source of
all Good, the answering affections of the purified heart
will secure allegiance by their own independent exercise.
" Underneath will be the everlasting arms," as before ; but
we shall be too ranch engaged in looking on the glorious
countenance of the Supporter, to be much engaged iu
relying on the support! If even in this world we can, as
St Peter tells us, " become partakers of the divine nature,"
can we doubt that such a participation is meant to form the
main glory of the next ; and if this be so, is it not remark-
able that this celestial principle of Love (which seems to be
the final perfection of man and the central principle of the
Gospel dispensation) is really the only one in which w^c can
perceive the possibility of a reciprocation between our God
and ourselves? If we rest upon God by Faith, yet lie can-
not rest upon us; if we pour ourselves upon him in grati-
tude, yet He cannot return gratitude to us ; if we approach
him in Fear, yet He cannot fear his creatures; but in Love
alone our God and we are fitted to combine ! there alone
the human and the divine nature arc one ! " We love Him,
because He first loved ms." In liis other aft'ections as pic-
tured in the Gospels, we talk of the "/iw??i«n" and the
"c? York, lUh Oct., 1855.
T esteem the neat edition of " Qucsnel's Moral Reflections on the Gospels," published by
Parry k McMillan, under the revision of Dr. lioanlman, highly valuable for profitable reli-
gious use. The Jteflcctions are eminently judicious, andricijiy spiritual and practical. Few
works of the kind are so well adapted fur (tdification in the devout reading of the Gospels.
The divine life in the soul Is happily and strikingly delineated, and the practical bearing of
the truth upon the discipline of the heart and regulation of the life, is most w isely and im-
pressively borne home in these volumes. I sincerely hope that they may obtain an exten-
eive patronage, and wide circulation iu the different branches of the Christian church.
THOMAS DE WITT.
(From the Rev. J. P. Durbin, D. D., of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Philadelphia.)
Philadelphia, Oct., 1855.
Messrs. Parry & McMillan,
Gentlemen — Many years ago, when I first began to study the Bible, with aid firom the
writings of others, my attention was directed to the pious Quesnel, by the depth and truth
of his Moral and Religious Reflections on the Gospels. Without endorsin'g his peculiar
speculative opinions, which appear occasionally, I heartily commend his Notes or Reflec-
tions on the Gospels, verse by verse. They address themselves to the heart of the lay
reader; and are fruitful aids to the minister in preparing for the pulpit.
J. P. DURBIN.
(From E. L. Cleaveland, D. D., of the Congregatumal Church, New JTaven.)
The publication in this country of Qucsnel's celebrated work on the Gospels, over whose
truth-telling pages Rome has trembled and saints have rejoiced, is a long-needed and most
valuable addition to our religious literature. I ajn glad that its full, sparkling current of
original thought, — rich in all the graces of the Spirit, — is henceforth to water and fertilize
the cliurches of our land.
E. L. CLEATELAND.
New Haven, Nov. 20, 1855.
EXTKACTS FEOM NOTICES OF THE PRESS.
" This world-renowneil work, the richest product of Jansenist Theology, impressed with
the imprimatur of the i'opc's anathema, is now for the first time published in this coun-
try. * «■ * * It will be rea/1 in this country, as it has long lieen in Europe, by thonsanda
to their spiritual edification." — UiUical Repcri/ry and Princeton Review.
" We think that all good people, and clergymen especially, will greatly enjoy, and be
largely profited by these ' Reflections.' They arc not a comment on the Gospels, bnt each
Terse in followed by a few lines suggesting its spiritual richness and beauty, and often
opening its religious sense with charming and surprising force. The volumes are admira-
bly printed in large and fair type, and in excellent taste." — Coyirp-eyatiimnlist.
'• We doubt not that ministers and private Christians will find these volumes to be a
store house of spiritual treasures." — N. Y. Observer.
"Quesnel has left nothing unwinnowed but tli" finest of Ihe wheal "— A'«(. Intel.
PAUKY & M-.MILLAN S I'UBLKJATIONS.
The Book and its Story.
The Book and itsStor^-; a Narrative for tlio Younp; on the occasion of
the Jubilee of the British and Foreign Bible Society. By i). N. R.
With an Introductory Preface by the Rev. T. Phillips, Jubilee
Secretary. Handsomely printed, in one volume, crown octavo, on fine
paper, and illustrated with numerous wood cuts. Cloth, . $1.00
" Tho ' Story' of The Rook, in all ages, countries, and languages, is told with simplicity and
truthfulness. Tho work contains tho ' Story' of tho Uible from the first dawn of Ruvelatiim
to the completion of the Sacred C.inon, with the interesting tales of its translation and
circulation, from the earliest efforts to the present time. To tell the Story of the Book in
former days, a multitude of curious facts have been culled from works of dillicult .access ;
and its latter progress is illustrated by an abundant variety of statements drawn from
numerous authentic sources." — Preface.
'•This valuable work, containing tho * Story* of that wonderfully preserved book — the
Bibie — should be heartily welcomed by all the Christian families of this land. Interesting
and instructive, it attracts the youth, and at the wame time furnishes strong food for the
man of reflection and mature years. We hope that the publishers will he more than re-
munerated for the introduction of such a work into the Christian literature of this land."
— Inquirer ct Onirier.
" To the man who loves Rod's Word, and who is desirous of seeing it circulated in all tho
nations of our earth, this book is an inestimable treasure. It ought to be in every family
and congregational library. Its perusal must profit every man who glances over its pages."'
— lieform Banner.
" One of the most important and valuable works wc have ever commended. It posse.ises
throughout a powerful interest. " — Amnican. Courier.
•' It places before us, in a most attractive form, the history of the Bible itself, and tha
countries connected with that history from the earliest date, blending with the statements
delails of a highly instructive character, well calculated to enlighten the mind, and to im-
press the heart with feelings of reverence for the * Oracles of tho Living God.' We strongly
recommend the work aa a most pleasing and instructive addition to the family library." —
Church Witness.
" The work can scarcely fail to be received with as much favor in this country as in
Kngland, where it has gone through eleven editions in little longer than a year." — Cbni.
Adverti:ier.
" This book will be sought by Christians of all denominations. It is indeed a most
charming history of the Bible." — DaUy News.
** Great pains seem to have been taken to render the varied contents of the volume as
accurate as they are interesting." — ^!((. Eve. Post.
**Thi8 book, we understand, has already passed through nineteen editions in England. It
has now commenced its American career, and wo think the firm of .Messrs. Parry .t McMil-
lan has been particularly judicious in selecting a work of so much excellence, and which
was so much needed to fill up the desideratum which was felt in religious and useful know-
ledge. Though the work was written professedlj- for the young, the old may be profited
thereby; and no family should be withtiut it." — liel. IntelUijencer.
" This is preci.sely such a hook as should bo found in every family. The wood cuts and
illustrations are exceedingly valuable. The publishers display great taste in the getting up
of the work." — I^es. Banner.
'■ A deeply interesting volume. We shall rejoice to know that a copy of this choice volume
is finding its way to every family in the land.*' — Cln~istian Visitor.
" We know of no book for general readers that covers the same ground. It well deserves
the popularity it has attained.'' — Journal A'Ji'ocaie.
" The writer ha~s obviously brought (o his task largo information and an earnest spirit ;
and he has imparted these in such a way to his pages as to make them both insLructivo
and attractive." — N(yrth American.
'• It is no disparagement to say that the Story of ' thf. Book" enhances its interest. The
dealings of Providence in its preservation and spread, put on it a value e%'en beyond what
is intrinsic. We heartily recommend this volume as a stimulant to the study of the Bibla ''
—N. O. Chris. Adv.
'■ It is a book of remarkable value ; has specimens of the text of nearly all the most an-
cient manuscript copies of the Holy Writings in various languages, and a view of the first
public reading of the Scriptures in the Crypt of St. Paul's, Loudon, in the year 1541." — Con-
cordin Intelligencer
" It contains an exceedingly interesting account of the Bible in past ages, giving sketches
of the condition of the nations of former tiuies. who were destitute of the light of divine
revelation, relating briefly the history of the Old and New Testament Scripiures. and the
various translations of them in ancient and modern languages. * * * Altoire'lier the book
is an excellent one, and is calculated to increase our estimate of the value of the SeripturcK,
*nd our interest in their cirsulation."— iJanncr o/£.'te Covenant.
PAKRY A M-MIT,r,AX'? PUBLICATIONS.
The Six Days of Creation.
By W. G. PviiiND. A Series of affectionate Letters from a Father to hia
Children, developing the progressive advances of Creation during th marvels than are dreamed of by
the mvriiuls of careless jLissengers whom the rushing steamer whirls from port to port." —
V. Y.'Alhim.
PARRY A MCMILLAN'S PUBLICATIONS.
Evenings "with the Prophets:
A Series of Memoirs and Meditations. By Rey. A. Morton Brown,
LL. D., Cheltenham. 1 vol. crown 8vo., .... $1.00
'* This is a Tolume of high merit hoth as an eiucidation and a defence of the Scripture*.
It is not addressed to the select and lettered few; but to the great multitude, who are
capable of appreciating the results of learning, and are anxious to obtain clear and con-
nected views of the lives, characters, and writings of holy men of God, who spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost. It is emphatically a boolt for the people, and as such it
canuot fail to be attended with results happy, permanent, and extensive. No mind but
one replete with knowledge, and familiar with the entire range of sacred literature, could
liave produced it; and yet the whole is pervaded by a freshness and a lucid simplicity that
must invest it with high interest to all readers. There is nothing to be seen of the dry ela-
boration of criticism, or of the formality and stiffness of mere comment. Each chapter and
section flow on clear, comprehensive, full, presenting the results rather than the process of
criticism and learned investigation. And hence, while the volume will be warmly approved
by scholars aod divines, who are already acquainted with the questions discussed, it will be
especially welcomed by the great body of the thoughtful and inquiring, who, without minute
acquaintance with the literature of Biblical investigation and prophetic studies, are anxioua
to arrive at satisfactory views of the Bible as a whole. To the young, who are entering on
an earnest examination of the Scriptures, in order to the attainment of clear conceptions of
the harmony of divine truth; and to those of riper years, who are desirous of having their
knowledge ampliticd or confirmed, it will prove an invaluable boon.
..^ * >t * * I'jjg full light of patient inquiry and ample knowledge shines on every topic
of importance connected with the life, and labors, and times of the long train of prophets
that pa'S in review, so that the reader finds himself not merely looking on a vivid and life-
like picture of gifted and inspired men, but surrounded with the circumstances and .scenes
through which they passed. The cliapters resemble great historic paintings; each prophet
btand.s as the centre, and around him gather the pomp and circumstance, and grandeur
and desolation of ancient monarchies, the shadows of Israel's doom, and the rising .splen-
dors of .Messiah's kingdom.
"« * » « As far as extensive knowledge and earnestness of purpose, combined with
great ease and felicity in delineating characters and events, serve to throw interest around
the grandest themes that can occupy the human mind, Dr. Brown's labors have, we thinii,
been eminently successful. Readers, who have already accurate and comprehensive views
of the various subjects discussed, will be gratified with the clearness and force with whii Ji
they are handled ; and many, whose notions of the sacred volume have been disjointed and
fragmentary, will rise from the perusal of this book with conceptions of its unity which will
e.tciie their grateful and admiring wonder, and although not formally an argumctnt for Uio
divine authority of the Scriptures, it cannot bo read without furnishing to all thinking
minds attestations of the divinity of the Bible.
" * * * * The style in which the volume is written is easy, fresh, and varied, not un-
frequently rising into great force and beauty. There are many examples of happy anti-
theses, and not a few gem-like passages of aphoristic wisdom. Sometimes there is an
element of the dramatic running through Dr. Brown's sketches, and occasionally there are
eloiiuent outbursts of indignant invective against tyranny and oppression. Thrnugbout,
indeed, the variety, spirit, and naturalness of the style are such that the reader glides
along the pages with an ease that prevents all disturbance of thought, and secures an im
mediate apprehension of the subject.
" We warmly commend the book to all classes of our readers, assured that its perusal
cannot fail to yield them both pleasure and profit." — London Evnaijdical Magazine.
Howard Grey: a Story for Boys.
By a young Lady of Philadelphia. 18mo., fine paper, pp. 231, cloth, $0.50
" A well-expressed book, pure in sentiment, wise in analysis and apprehension of <:barao-
ter; and, in a genuine sense, moral and religious in influence." — Bizarre.
"An interesting little work."— -JV. O. Delta.
" Calculated to stimulate boys to earnest exertion."— Tl^^cAman and Ohserrer.
"We seldom meet with a little story so carefully and powerfully written as this is.
Howard Grey will be likely to make a deep impression for good upon the minds of the
young readers to whom it is given. It will encourage them to perseverance in the path of
duty, and patience under suffering and wrong." — jV. 7! Cnm. Jdrertisfr.
" We hope that the success of the author of Howard Orey may be such as to encourage
her to often repeat her endeavours to amuse anil instruct her young friends, both at houw
and abroad, by the publication of many more just such stories for boy»."— Boston Mut.
PARltY & MOIILLAN'S POJiUCATIuNS.
f\t\}. %\kxi Janus' ^aofo.
The Way of Salvation
Illustrated in a Series of Thirty-six Discourses. By the Rev. Albert
13.\RNES. 1 vol. 12mo. Cloth, $1.00
Contents: — The Bible— Obscviritios nf Divine Kevclation— Claims of the Christian Keligion
— The Condition of Mnn not benefited by rejeeting Chrisstianity— The importance of IMan
— The Karth a jilace of Probation — Man on Probation — Necessity of accommoilutinj; our-
selves to the Divine Government — The ^tiile in which the Gospel finds Man — What must
1 do to be saved ?— Conviction of Sin — Strupglos of a Convicted Pinner — A wounded Spirit
— What will give permanent Peace? — The Mercy of God — The Atonement as fitted to give
Peace — The Atonement as it removes tho Obstacles in the way of I'ardon — The Necessity
of I»e?:eneration — The Nature of Regeneration — Agency of the Spirit in Regeneration —
The Nature of Repentance— The Relation of Repentance to pardon in the Christian System
— Philosophical Necessity of Repentance — B'oundation of the Command to Repent — Evi-
dences of true Repentance — Faith a Condition of Salvation — Value and Imjiortanee of
Kaith — Faith as an Klementary Principle of Action — Ilnw shall Man be just with God? —
?Ian cannot justify himself by Denying or Disproving the charge of Guilt — Man cannot
justify himself by showing that his Conduct is right — Man cannot merit Salvation — What is
meant by the merits of Christ — In what sense we are justified by the merits of Christ — The
Influence of Faith in Justification — The Rearing and Importance of Justification by Faith.
"To the sinner, whether awalicned or iinawakened — to tho penitent, whether seeking
pardon or rejoicing in it — to the thoughtful, whether a believer or a sceptic — to the intelli-
gent mind, of whatever class and under wliatever circumstances, tliis treatise on the ' Way
OF Salvmion' m-iy be heartily and hopefully recommended." — i?. Hfuderson, D. />., London.
"The volume cannot fail to benefit the Christian cause." — Colonial Presbyterian.
"In handling his weighty themes, ]Mr. Rarnes emi>loys a sinewy strength of argument, a
striking originality of illustration, and a practical common sense, which need no enforcement
from rhetorical common-places." — jV. K Trihune.
"Characterized by clearness of statement, felicity of illustration, vigor of thought, and
that (luiet earnestness which gives a charm to every thing from the pen of Mr. Barnes." —
Jndepenihnt.
"As specimens of theological reasoning, of Iiomiletic ability and completeness, and of
practical religious feeling, we know of no writings of Jlr. Barnes' superior. They are clear
in thought, thorough in reasoning, and animated in style; and so impregnated with the
personal experiences of the author, as to be deeply affecting iu their earoestncis and adapt-
cdness." — N. Y. Evangelid.
Scriptural Views of Slavery.
An Inquiry into the Sci-iptural Views of Slavery. By Rev. Albkkt
Baunks. 1 vol. 12mo. Cloth • . . $1.00
Contents: — Introduction. Chap. 1. — Reasons why the Appeal on the Subject of Slavery
should be made to the Bible. Chap. 2.— What Constitutes Slavery? Chap. 3. — Slavery in
the Time of the Patriarchs. Chap. 4. — Slavery in Kgypt. Chap. 5. — The Mosaic Institu-
tions in relation to Servitude;. Chap. C— Hebrew Servitude in the time of the Prophits.
Chap. 7. — The relation of Christianity to Slavery.
<'A calm, patient, reverential, and candid investigation of the teaching of Scripturo
the subject of slavery." — Heliyinus Herald.
" A dispassionate and thorough treatise upon the Scriptural Tievis of Slavery." — Inder
pendent.
Practical Sermons :
Designed for Vacant Congregations and Families. By Rev. Aldekt
Barnes. 1 vol. 12uio. Cloth, $1.00
Contexts: — The Freenessof the Gospel— The Love of God in the Gift of a Saviour — Why will
ye die? — The Deceitfuliiess of tho Heart — Indecision in Religion — The Reason why men are
not Christians— The Jlisery of forsaking God- God is worthy of Confidence— Repentance —
Salvation Easy — The Principles uijon which a Profession of Religion should be made (2
sermons) — Enemies of the Cross of Christ (:i .sermons) — The Rule of Christianity in regard
to Conformity to the World— The Bles.sings of a Benignant Spirit— .Secret Prayer— The Sab-
bath Secret Faults — Preparation to uii et God — The Burden of Dumah — The Harvest Past.
"Ministers of the Gospel may derive many valuable suggestions from this book to aid
them in their preparations for the pulpit; and Christians generally will find that a prayer
ful perusal of them is adapted to inform the judgment, and to improve the heart." — CAri«
ttan Viailer.