- i - ■ fffi 
 
<^ PRINCETOTSr. TsT. J. <ff 
 
 BX 5133 .W6x 
 
 WilberforcG, Robert Isaac, 
 
 1802-1857 . 
 Sermons on the new birth of 
 man's nature 
 
/ 
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2015 
 
 https://archive.org/details/sermonsonnewbirtOOwilb 
 
I 
 
 SEEMOXS. 
 
SERMONS 
 
 OX THE 
 
 NEW BIRTH OF MAN'S NATURE. 
 
 BY 
 
 ROBERT ISAAC WILBERFORCE, A.M. 
 
 AECHDEACOX 0? TH£ EAST ETDI^G. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 H. HOOKER, CORNER OF CHESTNUT AND EIGHTH STS. 
 
 1850. 
 
KING & BAIKD, PRINTERS, PHILADELPHIA. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 SERMON I. 
 The Mystery of Humanity, 
 
 SEEMON II. 
 The Sanctification op Humanity, 
 
 SERMON III. 
 The Re-Creation of Man, 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 Advent, 
 
 SERMON Y. 
 The Great Example, . . . 
 
6 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 SEKMON VI. 
 
 The Gospel a Reality, 71 
 
 SEEMON VII. 
 
 The Woman of Samaria, 81 
 
 SERMON VIII. 
 
 Christmas, 89 
 
 SERMON IX. 
 
 The Exaltation of Nature, : 101 
 
 SERMON X. 
 
 Lent, 109 
 
 SERMON XI. 
 
 Religious Declension [Preached in Lent],. . . . 121 
 SERMON XIL 
 
 Palm Sunda . ^ 133 
 
 SERxMON XIII. 
 
 Good Friday, 141 
 
 ^ ^RMON XIV. 
 Easter, 152 
 
 SERMON XV. 
 
 Christ's Resurrection Man's Reconciliation, . . 161 
 
CONTENTS. 7 
 
 SERMON XYI. 
 
 Page 
 
 God the Source of Kxo"^ledge [ Ascension-Da y], . .171 
 
 SERMOX XYII. 
 Christ the Channel of Grace [Whitsunday], . . .183 
 
 SERMOX XYm. 
 The Gospel Ministry, 194 
 
 SERMOX XIX. 
 
 The Sacramental System, 204 
 
 SERMOX XX. 
 
 Church Union, 221 
 
 SERMOX XXI. 
 
 The Privilege of "Worship Restored, , . ... 231 
 
 SERMOX XXU. 
 The Mediation of Christ, 243 
 
 SERMOX XXIII. 
 Old and New Reason, .... . . 256 
 
 SERMOX XXIY. 
 Predestination, 276 
 
SERMOX 1. 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF HUMANITY. 
 
 1 Corinthians, xi. 7. 
 " Man is the image and glory of God.'' 
 
 No object in the Universe presents greater diversities, 
 nor is there any respecting which assertions more con- 
 tradictory can be made, than man. His strength and 
 weakness, his glory and vileness, his wisdom and folly, 
 have been the familiar topics of his own observation, 
 and have not been passed unnoticed by the Divine 
 Word. Look at him as he came from his Maker's 
 hand, and how wonderful was his nature. God's last 
 and greatest work, designed to bear rule in this inferior 
 creation, the very image and glory of God, on whom 
 the name of tJie Creature is bestowed in Holy Writ as 
 indicating His mastery over the surrounding world. 
 But look at him as he is at present, and we see him 
 subject to sickness, pain, and death ; the sport of those 
 powers, over which he was intended to bear sway, and 
 which he imagines himself able to direct. " Man is but 
 a thing of naught, his time passeth away like a sha- 
 dow." Let us meditate somewhat on this contrast of 
 power and weakness, and it will lead us to the further 
 
 thought, wherein is man's true glory, and how liis ori- 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF HUMANITY. 
 
 ginal purpose of setting forth his Maker s image, may 
 again be exhibited in the world. 
 
 Now man's weakness may be seen if we look at him 
 as an individual, or if we look at him as a race. His 
 individual weakness is shown by the contrast between 
 his doings and himself For "wise men also die and 
 perish together as well as the ignorant and foolish, and 
 leave their riches for others." What can be a greater 
 mockery of mortal attempts ? The Pyramids have sur- 
 vived from the earhest ages, but the very dust of their 
 founders has been scattered to the winds. Or if we 
 turn from individuals to the race at large, whatever 
 profit man's intellect has derived from the accumulated 
 experience of ages, not less rapid and resistless is the 
 increase of misery and sin. Even in so favoured a 
 country as that which we inhabit, how fearful is the 
 swelling of that augmenting tide of life, which often 
 threatens to carry all before it. How wide a chasm 
 gapes between wealth and poverty ; how deep the anti- 
 pathy between necessity and abundance, which is thinly 
 covered over by the solemn plausibilities of life. How 
 vain the expedients by which theorists attempt to give 
 all an equal interest in the preservation of public order, 
 and thus to secure wealth against the impatience of 
 want. For the accumulation of riches, and the in- 
 crease of inventions produce no real augmentation in 
 the happiness of mankind. Love, joy, peace, long-suf- 
 fering, meekness, gentleness — these do not grow as 
 society advances, and learning is increased. Rather 
 do these graces adorn a simpler age of society, and a 
 ruder state. The progress of society goes on heaping 
 up a mass of misery, which no charity is able to pene- 
 
THE MYSTERY OF HUMANITY. 
 
 11 
 
 trate and dissolve. And its worst feature is, that guilt 
 assumes a more malignant intensity, as it ferments 
 amidst the putrid mass of a corrupt community, so that 
 the necessary evils of man's lot are increased tenfold 
 by his voluntary sins. For every one of those throng- 
 ing multitudes, for whom art and commerce afford sus- 
 tenance and employment, is the reproduction of that 
 ancient type of fallen humanity, on which all the 
 children of Adam have successively been built. Each 
 goes on, therefore, to add something to that mass of 
 crime which forms the connatural inheritance of his 
 race. He was born^in fallen Adam's image, how can 
 he escape it ? How can he get beyond that limit of his 
 being, which his first forefather has fixed ? In every 
 race of animals there are modifications, but the normal 
 type of the class cannot be overspread. Adam must 
 still reproduce himself in those who are born his chil- 
 dren. And thus, notwithstanding all the varied con- 
 trivances of skill and artifice, is there a perpetual 
 propagation of misery and guilt. So that we may still 
 say with Pascal, " What a chimera is man ! What a 
 monster, what a chaos, what a contradiction, what a* 
 prodigy ! Judge of all things, yet a helpless worm of 
 the earth — endowed with all truth, yet the very sink 
 of uncertainty and error — the pride and refuse of the 
 Universe." 
 
 Now, if man's weakness be that he inherits the cor- 
 rupt nature of his fallen parent, the strength of huma- 
 nity must be looked for in some quarter which this 
 far-reaching pollution has been unable to affect. And 
 where shall this be found ? In man natural it cannot 
 be found anywhere. One man there has been, how- 
 
12 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF HUMAXITY. 
 
 ever, in whom were gifts above nature. "What is 
 man;' asks the Psalmist, "that Thou art mindful of 
 him, or the son of man, that Thou visitest him ? Thou 
 madest him a little lower than the angels, Thou crown- 
 est him with glory and honour. Thou hast put all 
 things in subjection under his feet." " But now we see 
 not yet all things put under him; but we see Jesus, who 
 was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffer- 
 ing of death, crowned with glory and honour, that He 
 by the grace of God should taste death for every man." 
 In this perfect example of the human family, in this 
 Pattern Man, through whom the purpose of man's 
 being was completely exhibited, in whom first of the 
 children of Adam, the Father was well pleased, do we 
 see humanity invested with all that strength and glory 
 which was its intended portion and original right. How 
 did these things pertain to it ? Because in the Person 
 of that Great Head of our race there entered into 
 Adam's line the very Being in whose image Adam had 
 at first been made ; and thus was man's original form 
 remodelled through the presence of his Maker. From 
 that infinite source of self-existent Godhead, the cause 
 and principle of all things, there issued the Eternal Son, 
 and without ceasing to be one with the Father, to whom 
 by the law of His being He is indissolubly united. He 
 entered into Adam's line. He took flesh of the Virgin 
 Mary His Mother, and to the perfection of His divine, 
 added the completeness of human being. " When the 
 fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made 
 of a woman, made under the law, that we might receive 
 the adoption of sons." In His Person, therefore, did 
 those gifts of grace and glory, which had been originally 
 
THE MYSTERY OF HUMANITY. 
 
 13 
 
 bestowed upon the family of man, attain their full per- 
 fection. The traces, which had faintly indicated their 
 presence, had hitherto but mocked the vileness of that 
 being by whom these glorious ornaments had been lost. 
 But they now shone forth again in their proper lustre, 
 because the image of God was perfectly restored through 
 the union between humanity and Himself. For the 
 eternal Son, who was by nature God's true and perfect 
 image, in whom the Father's perfections were completely 
 reflected, who was the full and entire participator of 
 them all, had, by taking man's being, rendered it also 
 the reflection and earthly image of God. 
 
 So that in His Person alone has the text its perfect 
 fulfilment ; in Christ is man truly and completely the 
 image and glory of God. " God," says an ancient writer, 
 " becoming a righteous man, interceded with God for 
 man who was unrighteous." In Him, as the Head and 
 Pattern of the human family, its whole kindred has 
 been advanced. He has come into it, as some adopted 
 member of a nobler hneage, in whom the whole stock 
 of an inferior progeny has been advanced. But then 
 His union with those whose nature He has taken must 
 be real, and not imaginary ; actual, and not pretended 
 — in order that they too may share the blessings which 
 He has introduced. He did not take our nature that 
 by the mere external show and fictitious supposition of 
 resemblance. He might increase the misery of our actual 
 defects. His object was to effect such real union be- 
 tween Himself and His brethren, that the Apostle could 
 declare that " as He is, so are we in this world." If 
 He, when He took man's nature, was " the first-born 
 of every creature," " the beginning of the creation of 
 
14 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF HUMANITY. 
 
 God," His purpose was that we might be made par- 
 takers of the Divine nature, " having escaped the cor- 
 ruption which is in the world through lust." This is 
 the effect of putting " on the new man, which is re- 
 newed in knowledge after the image of Him that cre- 
 ated him." The words imply, not merely that He must 
 take our human nature, but that we too must take His. 
 All renewed men have given up humanity to Him, to 
 bear it as their Head and Chief, that they may take it 
 back again of Him, in that purified and exalted form 
 which He conferred upon it. 
 
 Now the nature of that union whereby we must be 
 engrafted into the humanity of the second Adam, is as 
 mysterious as that whereby we inherit the qualities of 
 the first. As we know not how the old Adam is repro- 
 duced in each of his descendants, why his properties of 
 body and mind reappear in them, why lust, and anger, 
 and selfishness are found on every soil and under every 
 sky, because these are the characteristics which, after 
 his fall, pertained to that ancient type in which man 
 had been originally formed, so neither can we under- 
 stand the manner of that influence whereby God the 
 Holy Ghost mercifully fashions the brethren of the new 
 Adam into the blessed image of their Head. " For we 
 all, reflecting like a glass the glory of the Lord, are 
 changed into the same image from glory to glory, even 
 as by the Spirit of the Lord." But though the manner 
 of this renewal is secret, yet so much is revealed, that 
 as its principle is to join Adam's children to that new 
 and purified example of humanity, the Man Christ 
 Jesus, so the instrument which God's wisdom has been 
 pleased to adopt, is the system of Sacraments. The 
 
THE MYSTERY OF HUMANITY. 
 
 15 
 
 object is that Christ's manhood, like that of the first 
 Adam, should be the quickening seed of His earthly 
 brethren. Therefore did God pre-appoint men " to be 
 conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be 
 the first-born among many brethren." "For as we 
 have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear 
 the image of the heavenly. The first man Adam was 
 made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quick- 
 enmg Spirit." And the very purpose both of Baptism 
 and of the Holy Eucharist is, that the sanctified hu- 
 manity of the Son of Man may penetrate and leaven 
 the defiled humanity of His brethren. 
 
 This is a divine work, and can only be brought about 
 by divme means. But it is a real work, which must 
 truly be efiected, if we would profit by that sacrifice 
 which the great Head of our being offered for our re- 
 demption, and by that gift which He bestows for 
 the renewal of our souls. For we are members of 
 His body," says St. Paul, "of His flesh, and of His 
 bones. This is a great mystery, but I speak concern- 
 ing Christ and the Church." Now this oneness with 
 Christ, this living through His present influence — our 
 Lord sets forth as the result of that holy ordinance of 
 the Eucharist, whereby is consummated that union 
 which in Baptism is commenced — " Except ye eat the 
 flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have 
 no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh 
 my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at 
 the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my 
 blood is drink." The Capharnaites, to whom these 
 words were spoken, supposed that our Lord's sacred 
 body w^as to be broken into morsels, and eaten as ma- 
 
16 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF HUMANITY. 
 
 terial food by men. And the same error does our Cliurcli 
 deny under the title of transubstantiation. But that 
 which Christ designed was such real participation of 
 His sanctified humanity, that we may be as truly bound 
 to the new, as by nature we were to the first Adam. 
 And this is to be brought about, not by the carnal de- 
 vouring of His material flesh, but by sacramental par- 
 ticipation of His ascended humanity. Thus is He in 
 us, and we in Him — He the real seed of life, the quick- 
 ening principle of a new nature, who has first taken 
 our common being that He might die for our sins, and 
 then gives it us back sanctified in Himself. 
 
 And now, then, we may see, in conclusion, how the 
 weakness of man may be reconciled with his strength. 
 In himself, as heir of his fallen parent, as representing 
 the first Adam, his weakness is incurable, his depravity 
 unredeemed. But look at him as humanity has been 
 renewed in Christ, and those great things, which were 
 originally designed to be his birthright, are again re- 
 stored. " For the first man is of the earth, earthy ; the 
 second man is the Lord from heaven." Well, then, may 
 man be the image and glory of God, since He who is 
 God himself, has condescended to take the burden of 
 humanity upon Him. And this shows as well the in- 
 ward life which may be expected of Christians, as the 
 outward objects which deserve their consideration. 
 Their inward life is not to be fashioned merely on the 
 rule of a decorous morality ; it is not enou h for them 
 to be decent, peaceful, orderly, inofiensive ; their birth- 
 right is, that they are " partakers of the divine nature, 
 having escaped the corruption that is in the world 
 through lust." With such exceeding great and pre- 
 
THE MYSTERY OF HUMANITY. 
 
 17 
 
 cious promises, what may not be expected even from 
 the children of a fallen sire ! The Christian graces, 
 therefore, the affections and desires of the new man, 
 which were perfectly exhibited in the great Head of 
 our race, should in like manner be manifest in all His 
 brethren. "Be renewed," says the Apostle, "in the 
 spirit of your mind. And put on the new man, which 
 after God is created in righteousness and true holi- 
 ness." 
 
 Not only those deadly sins which shut men out from 
 grace, and against which, therefore, we pray continu- 
 ally in the Litany, but even those sins of infirmity, 
 which cleave so closely to fallen man, should be per- 
 petually mortified. The habit of supposing such sins 
 irresistible, the contented subjection to irritability, 
 covetousiiess, worldly-mindedness, distracting thoughts 
 in prayer — all these things are inconsistent with that 
 complete renewal of man's nature, which should be the 
 daily work of those in whom Christ is being formed 
 anew. Let us first form an high estimate of that actual 
 gift which is bestowed through Sacramental union with 
 the Lord's body, and we shall more deeply appreciate 
 that change of life, which may be expected from our- 
 selves. To be much in prayer, to commune with God 
 publicly and in private, to hold intercourse with Him 
 through His word — these will be natural consequences 
 of appreciating that great change which he has effected 
 in humanity at large, by the taking it into God. 
 
 And this may remind us, likewise, what pubhc ser- 
 vices are most worthy of man's thought, and correspond 
 most truly with the nobility of His being. Men are 
 wont to esteem highly the founders of states, and the 
 
18 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF HUMANITY. 
 
 benefactors of their kind. But the institutions of men, 
 and the schemes of beneficence, are at best but transi- 
 tory. They are more honourable, doubtless, than that 
 which looks to private ends, or is limited to individual 
 advantage. But would men aim at that which has re- 
 lation to the highest ends of life, and set forth its noblest 
 distinction, let them see what the true Pattern of man's 
 race, the real image and glory of God, thinks worthy of 
 attention. This it is which gives so much dignity to 
 the office of the Christian ministry, and so much im- 
 portance to all its accessories. For it is the discharge 
 of that office on earth and among men, which the Great 
 Head of humanity is perpetually discharging at His 
 Father's right hand, in the heaven of heavens. And 
 this, too, gives its moment to that common worship, in 
 which it is your office, as Christian laymen, to join. 
 The collective supplication of all Christian people is 
 their continual means of approach to the throne of God. 
 He who has taken our nature is, at such seasons, pre- 
 sent among them. And therefore should all the ex- 
 ternal circumstances of worship correspond to that 
 highest function, wherein mortals can be engaged. 
 
 For man's most enduring honour is to bear part in 
 those sacred ends, for which the One Perfect Image of 
 God sacrificed His life. The ends of private magnifi- 
 cence, even the works of public liberality, are a kind of 
 mockery of those who raise them. They last, but their 
 builders pass away. Other generations will inhabit the 
 palaces which this has builded : its senate-houses will 
 be the arena where another race will urge on the petty 
 contentions of their transitory day. Those whose toil 
 has reared them, they will profit no longer. But the 
 
THE MYSTERY OE HUMANITY. 
 
 19 
 
 prayers which shall ascend from ever}' fresh house of 
 God — they will blend, doubtless, with those aspirations 
 which Christ's unembodied servants will forever offer ; 
 seeing- that throucrh the communion of saints the whole 
 family in heaven and earth is united together. Thus 
 may man's works gain a dignity which this world can- 
 not give, and a durability which it cannot take away. 
 Those who are bound together in Christ, have part 
 abeady in that house not made with hands, which is 
 eternal in the heavens. To them even this world's ob- 
 jects are ennobled, and especially those members of 
 their Lord, who have part in His glory. Beloved, 
 now are we the sons of God. and it doth not yet appear 
 what we shall be, but we know that when He shall 
 appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as 
 He is. 
 
SERMOX 11. 
 
 THE SANCTIFICATION OF HUMANITY. 
 
 St. John, xvii. 19. 
 
 F^r their sahes I sanctify myself , that they also might he sanctified 
 through the truth." 
 
 Some passages of Holy Writ stand out with peculiar 
 prominence, even in its sacred volume. Such is that 
 declaration in Isaiah's prophecy, in which the mediato- 
 rial character of Our Lord's offering is set forth. Other 
 parts of the Old Testament lead us to this truth : the 
 fifty-third chapter of Isaiah alone asserts it. In like 
 manner may we refer to the Gospel of St. John, as con- 
 taining the only full declaration of those great truths 
 respecting Our Lord's nature and ofiices, to which the 
 Epistles of St. Paul make perpetual allusion. That 
 Christ is forever with the people of His love, that the 
 ordinances of His grace are an actual engrafting into 
 Himself, that by Church union we mean not the com- 
 pacting of an external framework, but the real diffusion 
 of a spiritual presence — all these leading truths of the 
 Gospel it was reserved for the last survivor of the Apos- 
 tles, to set forth with such fulness as might render them 
 a light to the Church even to the end of time. Hence 
 the explanation of the spiritual effects of Baptism in 
 
22 
 
 THE SAXCTIFICATIOX OF HUMANITY. 
 
 his third, and of the inward benefits of the Holy Com- 
 munion in his sixth chapter. 
 
 But none of these passages come up in interest to 
 that which suppUes our text. In other places Our Lord 
 speaks to man, in this does He address Himself to God. 
 In these wonderful verses we have His own summary 
 of the purposes which he designed to effect for the 
 people of His love. He speaks as the Church's head, 
 as our intercessor, He explains more at length that 
 which on Calvary He was to perfect and perform, we 
 have the Church's charter from His lips who created it, 
 we have the nature of those gifts which he left to man. 
 This chapter, therefore, turns upon the greatness of that 
 privilege, which was bestowed upon man's nature 
 through the Incarnation of the Son of God, and upon 
 the reality of that consequent union with Himself, which 
 He bestows upon His brethren the sons of Adam, 
 through the Sacramental ordinances of His grace. 
 
 A subject surely as deep as it is glorious. For it is 
 built on that which was truly the labour of a God. 
 "For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they might 
 also be sanctified through, or by the truth." The points 
 here set forth are, first, that Our Lord's human nature 
 was to be sanctified ; and secondly, that the end of His 
 work was the sanctification of ours. Let us take these 
 things in order. In order that Our Lord's Manhood 
 might become the sanctifying principle of the Church, 
 it was needful that itself must first be sanctified. "For 
 their sakes I sanctify mj'self " Plain it is that of His 
 Humanify Our Lord here speaks. He was God as well 
 as man ; with the perfectness of both natures their ac- 
 tual union interfered not. But it was His human nature 
 
THE SANCTIFICATION OF HUMANITY. 
 
 23 
 
 only which could be sanctified. The Godhead admits 
 not of further purity ; it is purity itself It is light 
 from light : the truth itself which cannot be obscured. 
 Therefore that which was sanctified was that human 
 nature, which, though pure, was yet capable of greater 
 perfection. For there flowed into it those unspeakable 
 gifts of grace and glory, which it derived from its super- 
 natural union with the Deity of Christ. From the first 
 it had been free from sin by virtue of that presence of 
 Godhead, by which the imperfectness of our nature was 
 corrected. For to Christ alone are the words of the 
 Book of Wisdom applicable — "being good I came into 
 a body undefiled." 
 
 Now this human being, which the Son of God asso- 
 ciated to His own in the Virgin's womb — this "perfect 
 man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting" 
 — was the subject of that wonderful discipline, whereby 
 through the sufferings of His worldly life, was perfected 
 the Incarnate nature of the Son of God. " For it be- 
 came Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are 
 all things, in bringing many sons unto glory to make 
 the captain of their salvation perfect through suffer- 
 ings." And this task was now accomplished; the hour 
 was come : " I have finished," He says, " the work 
 which Thou gavest Me to do." 
 
 And this leads us to the second point which the text 
 declares, the end, i. e. of this stupendous example of 
 humiliation and love. It is expressly stated to have 
 reference to ourselves. "For their sakes I sanctify 
 Myself that they might also j^e sanctified by the truth." 
 And so says St. Paul, that " Christ is of God made unto 
 tts wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and re- 
 
24 
 
 THE SANCTIFICATION OF HUMANITY. 
 
 demption." He is made unto us redemption. For He 
 it is who hath " made peace through the blood of His 
 cross." In His own words, He gave " His Ufe a ransom 
 instead of many." 
 
 On this topic do the Apostles dwell at large. They 
 prove to the Jew, whose confidence was in the merit of 
 his ceremonial rites, and to the philosopher whose hope 
 rested in his moral uprightness, that " there is none 
 other name under heaven given among men, whereby 
 we must be saved." For the first step towards man's 
 recovery was to bring him back from his lost estate, and 
 therefore, says the Apostle, Christ is " set forth to be a 
 propitiation through faith in His blood — for the remission 
 of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God." 
 And this is declared to have been an especial object, 
 as well as of His Incarnation as of his life of trial ; " we 
 see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels 
 for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and 
 honour, that He by the grace of God should taste death 
 for every man." 
 
 But this is not all. For St. Paul tells us, that He is 
 made unto us not redemption but sanctification also. 
 And the text teaches us how this likewise is attained. 
 There is a further meaning and significance in His satis- 
 faction for sin, when it is discerned not to be a bare 
 technical fulfilling of certain arbitrary requirements of 
 judicial exactness, but to have a direct connexion with 
 the future estate of those whom He has thus redeemed, 
 to be a step in the great work of bringing many sons 
 unto salvation. " For their sakes," then. He says, " I 
 sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified by 
 the truth." And this sanctifying truth the preceding 
 
THE SANCTIFICATION OF HUMANITY. 25 
 
 verse had declared to be that Divine Word which was 
 Incarnate in Himself. " Sanctify them through Thy 
 truth : Thy Word is truth." For "the Word of God 
 Most High is the fountain of wisdom." 
 
 Now this implies somewhat further, consequent on 
 that satisfaction for the sins of man, which our Lord 
 completed on the altar of the cross. For " it pleased 
 the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell ; and 
 having made peace by the blood of His cross, by Him 
 to reconcile all things unto Himself" It is this second 
 work, then — this result of His sufferings, which Our 
 Lord declares in the text to be effected through the 
 sanctifying of His Human Being. His purified hu- 
 manity is set forth as the principle, whereby the re- 
 newal of our defiled humanity is to be effected. 
 
 And on this subject does He enlarge in the residue 
 of the Chapter before us. He prays for all believers 
 "that they all may be one, as Thou Father art in Me, 
 and I in Thee, that they all may be one in Us." "I 
 in them and Thou in Me, that they may be made per- 
 fect in one." For " there is one body and one spirit, 
 even as ye are called in one hope of your calling." The 
 unity of the Church arises not, as is thought by worldly 
 men, from the accidental arrangements of external go- 
 vernment; it is not built upon caprice, it is not dictated 
 by convenience, it is not enforced by enactment ; it is 
 the simple expression of that organic law, whereby to 
 be joined to the Humanity of Christ Our Lord, is the 
 source of all Gospel graces. For since the natural body 
 of Christ is one, one likewise must be His Body Mys- 
 tical. For all His people "grow up into Him in all 
 
 things which is the head, even Christ, from whom the 
 
 3 
 
26 
 
 THE SAXCTIFICATION OF HUMANITY. 
 
 whole body fitly joined together, maketh increase unto 
 the edifying of itself in love." 
 
 And this union with Christ is not merely imitative, 
 visionary, metaphorical ; it is not only that we feel in 
 our minds as though we put ourselves under His guid- 
 ance, and took part with Him ; but there is a real action 
 of Christ's purified upon our impure humanity through 
 the power of the Holy Ghost. Hence is He styled that 
 new Adam, from whom we have as true descent as from 
 our natural parent. For the first man Adam was 
 made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quicken- 
 ing spirit." 
 
 This may seem a deep subject — beyond our reach, 
 unfitted for our meditations — but in truth it is only the 
 touching upon one of those mysteries, which, being 
 forced upon us by our nature, is open to the reflection 
 of us all. Such is our common descent from our first 
 parent — our inheriting corruption : its difiusion through 
 our bodies and our souls. Do we understand the cause 
 and manner of this transmission ? It mocks all our 
 efforts. The sage meditates on it in vain. Do we 
 question its truth? Nay, our children prove, our cate- 
 chism confesses it. Now such is the relation of Chris- 
 tians to the Second Adam. It is a true and actual 
 engrafting into the humanity of Christ. In all who are 
 made members of Christ, as we confess to be by our 
 baptism, is there implanted a renewed nature, as by 
 natural birth is transmitted fallen humanity. 
 
 And this work does the text set forth as the purpose 
 of Our Lord's life of humiliation. " For their sakes I 
 sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified by 
 the truth." The Word — that native principle of divine 
 
THE SAXCTIFICATOX OF HUMANITY. 
 
 27 
 
 life — first fashioned to itself a perfect medium of sancti- 
 fj'ing power in its own humanity, that so " we might 
 be partakers of the divme nature, having escaped the 
 corruption which is in the world through lust." Thus 
 may men recover that image of God, in which our first 
 parent was created. The very purpose of the Gospel 
 covenant was to give it back. The New Man was to 
 bestow in its perfection whatsoever the first Adam had 
 lost. As real as our union with the one, must be our 
 communion with the other. 
 
 And this it is, brethren, which the prevalent unbe- 
 lief of the present day especially forgets. Men who 
 would be shocked if the reality of Our Lord's atonement 
 were questioned, do not perceive that the reality of our 
 union with Him is just as fundamental a verity of the 
 Gospel. If the one of these can be got rid of as a strong 
 expression, a metaphor, a figure of speech, why not the 
 other ? But if Our Lord, as we know, truly died for us 
 through His man's nature, why do we doubt that we 
 are as truly united to Him, as Scripture declares, through 
 the power of the Holy Ghost ? Yea, rather does not 
 the one of these doctrines illustrate and enforce the 
 other ? The death of Christ ceases to be a solitary fact, 
 founded upon arbitrary enactment, and it takes its place 
 as part of that mighty plan which bears a just propor- 
 tion to our Fall and our Creation. 
 
 Now the means whereby Christ's human nature acts 
 upon ours is confessedly by Sacraments. In these there 
 is a sort of external machinery, there are outward ele- 
 ments, there are means which our hands handle, and 
 our lips receive, the use whereof can be subjected to 
 man's laws, and made matter of Church regulation. 
 
28 
 
 TPIE SANCTIFICATION OF HUMANITY. 
 
 And lience some persons have lost sight of the interior 
 nature of these blessed ordinances ; their secret signifi- 
 cance, as the means whereby we are united to the In- 
 carnate Word, has been forgotten; their real worth has 
 not been estimated ; and they have been treated as a 
 mere outward sign, which it was as safe to despise as 
 to reverence. What we want then is, to discern that 
 Our Lord's humanity is the vital principle of life in all 
 His people. This truth once appreciated, the use and 
 importance of all those means whereby we are actually 
 united to Him, will at once be manifest. We shall no 
 longer look upon the ordinances of His grace as an arti- 
 ficial framework, which may sometimes further the 
 spiritual action of our own minds, and sometimes im- 
 pede it, but we shall recognize His nearness to us in 
 those living means whereby He dispenses Himself; and 
 what is outward will be kindled into reality by His in- 
 ward presence. This is the true work of faith ; of that 
 eye of the soul, whereby we discover in things outward 
 what is spiritual and unseen. Thus it is, as the Apostle 
 expresses it, that we discern the Lord's Body. 
 
 We speak not of course of any carnal presence, nor as 
 though outward elements, such as water, or bread, or 
 wine, were so far changed as that they could work ef- 
 fects beyond nature, but we tell you of the doctrine of 
 grace as depending on the sanctification of Our Lord's 
 humanity, and we testify the blessedness of being united 
 to Him, who is the Head of our renewed Being. The 
 gifts of grace w^ere in a degree bestowed upon the Jew, 
 and possibly upon the Heathen. But when God be- 
 came man, they were poured out in a common stream, 
 and in more abundant measure. This was first given 
 
THE SAXCTIFICATION OF HUMANITY. 29 
 
 to Him who might claim it of right, that from Him it 
 might be conveyed to us, who can claim it only of 
 bounty. " For it pleased the Father that in Him should 
 all fulness dwell." " And of his fulness have all we 
 received, and grace for gTace." 
 
 And now, brethren, to make one practical remark, 
 respecting the nature of that obedience which may be 
 expected from Christians. It stands not, observe, on 
 mere natural duty, on calculation or policy, it does not 
 rest even on those better feelings of the heart which 
 arise from the recollection of past services — no. Chris- 
 tian obedience is the produce of that real union with 
 Christ Our Lord, whereby " as He is, so are we in this 
 world." Those who truly possess it have so reflected 
 like a glass the glory of the Lord, that they are " changed 
 into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the 
 Spirit of the Lord." Its necessary condition, therefore, 
 must be such lively faith in the truth of things unseen, 
 as may realize the gxeatness of our election. 
 
 And here how much are we all wanting, how imper- 
 fect our sense of things di\dne ; we do not feel how 
 closely we are pressed upon by the unseen world and 
 its abiding realities. When Ave kneel in prayer to pre- 
 sent our common offering, how little do we discern the 
 great High Priest, who by virtue of His body which 
 was slain, is at that moment pleading for us in the 
 heaven of heavens. How little do we estimate the pe- 
 cuhar efi&cacy which is thus given to our collective 
 prayers ! How little do we appreciate the peculiar ad- 
 vantage which is thus given to those who are members 
 of Christ! How imperfect, therofore, our gratitude, 
 how cold our devotion, how feeble our love ! How little 
 
30 
 
 THE SANCTIFICATION OF HUMANITY. 
 
 do we carry out with us into the world at large the 
 consciousness of our high fellowship ! 
 
 Were it otherwise, the members of Christ could never 
 conform themselves as they do to this world's manners. 
 Men would take note of us, that we had been with 
 Jesus. We should not hear of covetous, worldly, self- 
 indulgent, sensual Christians. " Shall I take the mem- 
 bers of Christ," exclaims the fervent Apostle, "and 
 make them the members of an harlot ? God forbid." 
 Surely, brethren, there must be a deep failing in the 
 faith of the Christian world, or there would not be so 
 deep a degeneracy in its practice. The love of Christ 
 is not now-a-days that burning consciousness of near- 
 ness to Him, which induced men to sacrifice every 
 thing, and themselves first of all, in the service of the 
 Gospel. That which lives will have voice and utter- 
 ance, and if we are conscious of participation in the one 
 glorious family of the Elect, we shall give no dubious 
 tokens of our sympathy. 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 THE RE-CREATION OF MAN. 
 
 II. Corinthians, v. 17. 
 
 If any man he in Christ, lie is a new creature.''^ 
 
 The text is one of those wonderful sayings, whereby 
 the Gospel at once meets the wants, and surpasses the 
 hopes of mankind. For does not every thoughtful 
 man feel the burden of our old nature ? Does not the 
 infirmity of men's acts perpetually mock the ardour of 
 their expectations ? " To will is present with me, but 
 how to perform that which is good I find not." How 
 welcome then the intimation, that " if any man be in 
 Christ, he is a new creature ; old things are passed 
 away, behold, all things are become new." That which 
 is announced to us is no mere improvement, no exalta- 
 tion or enhancement of existing qualities ; it is the re- 
 construction, not the amendment of humanity; its 
 ancient principles are to be fundamentally recast; and 
 a new creation is to be substituted for the old one. 
 Thus is the thing bestowed after which collective hu- 
 manity had been yearning — "the whole creation 
 groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." 
 To effect this work was the great object of Christ's 
 coming; in His own person He accomplished that 
 
32 
 
 THE RE-CREATION OF MAN. 
 
 which could never have been attained by the tempo- 
 rary palliatives of Jewish law, and built up a new 
 creation out of the ruins of the old one. " In Christ 
 Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor un- 
 circumcision, but the new ci^eation: and as many as walk 
 according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy, 
 and on the Israel of God." 
 
 Let us consider, first, what this new creation is; 
 secondly, how it was to be effected. 
 
 I. It is a re-creation of man's nature. The new race, 
 therefore, consists still of the same individual beings, 
 who constituted the old one. The family of Adam has 
 not been superseded by any fresh progeny. The 
 world's possessors have not been succeeded by new 
 ones, but have been themselves reformed. " You hath 
 He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." 
 Now, it is impossible to estimate such a re-creation as 
 this, unless the original composition of man be borne in 
 mind; and it be considered what was the ancient 
 structure on which this fresh constitution of humanity 
 has been engrafted. 
 
 What then was man's original creation ? What do 
 we discern in each individual of the race ? We find 
 him to unite certain complicated endowments of mind 
 to a certain curious organization of body. Both the 
 one and the other of these is inherited by each indi- 
 vidual, through inherence in that common race, whose 
 nature he partakes. That such is the case with his 
 body was never denied : that the same thing is true 
 respecting his mind can scarcely be disputed. For to 
 say nothing of that wonderful regularity which may be 
 discerned in the actings of mind, when looked at in 
 
THE RE-CREATIOX OF MAN. 
 
 33 
 
 the mass, do ^ye not perceive in individual cases the 
 clearest marks of hereditary descent ? What else is 
 the cause of that transmitted corruption which attaches 
 itself to the mind as well as to the body ? Many a man, 
 who knows nothing of his original parentage, to whom 
 the very name of his first father Adam is wholly un- 
 known, yet gives proof that he is linked by inevitable 
 sequence to the primary possessor of our being. Did not 
 death reign, from Adam to Moses, "even over them 
 that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's 
 transgression ?" And were it not for this identity of 
 nature, what ground should we have for trusting to 
 that judgment of reason, which we are compelled to 
 accept as the arbiter of our thoughts ? Let it be un- 
 derstood that reason is a public gift, common to the 
 race of which we are individual members, that it is not 
 the mere produce of our single caprice, but a portion of 
 that inheritance, which was bestowed by the Creator on 
 our collective nature, and its claim to authority depends 
 on His sanction who gave, and not merely on ours, who 
 employ it. 
 
 But are these endowments of mind, and this struc- 
 ture of body, the whole of man ? Does each individual 
 consist only of a certain quantity measured out of the 
 mass of humanity, as an hour is a portion measured 
 out of a day ? Is there not some simple, single, indi- 
 visible principle, which discriminates every one of us 
 from every other partaker of our common being ? This 
 it is, surely, which we mean when we appeal to our own 
 consciousness, when we speak of ourselves ; it is some- 
 thing different from that outward frame of which our 
 senses take cognizance, as well from those inward facul- 
 
34 
 
 THE RE-CREATION OF MAN. 
 
 ties which our mind employs. The nature, indeed, of 
 this ultimate gift of Personality it were idle to ask, since 
 to investigate it is plainly beyond the reach of our 
 powers of analysis ; but so much we may see, that it is 
 intimately connected with man's responsibility, and is 
 the very seat of that mysterious principle which we call 
 the Will. For why has every man to stand before the 
 bar of God's judgment as an individual essence, distinct 
 from aught besides in the boundless universe, but be- 
 cause each one is the responsible cause of his deeds ? 
 Yet how could he be responsible for them, had it not 
 been the pleasure of the Almighty to call beings into 
 existence who were so far endowed with a divine attri- 
 bute, that to each of them was given that spontaneous 
 power of will, which rendered him the principle of 
 his own actions? That such a power has been en- 
 trusted to man, our own conscience, the education of 
 our children, and our mode of dealing with one another, 
 is a sufficient witness. And this power, with all that 
 belongs to its exercise, is plainly individual in its na- 
 ture ; our future reckoning for its employment will be 
 wholly irrespective of all other beings ; it is liable in- 
 deed, to be influenced, and is conscious of the suasion 
 of external motives, but the responsibility of the ulti- 
 mate decision lies within itself; it is an inseparable 
 adjunct of ourselves, and can never be detached from 
 our personality. " The heart knoweth its own bitter- 
 ness, and a stranger doth not intermeddle with its joy." 
 " For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the 
 spirit of man which is in him ?" 
 
 When we speak, therefore, of those distinctive con- 
 ditions, whereby each individual is marked out as a 
 
THE RE-CREATIOX OF MAX. 
 
 35 
 
 separate man, the thing referred to is that ultimate 
 princij^le of personality, with which the power to will is 
 indissolubly united. This it is which makes each one 
 a separate Being, and involves the awful consequences 
 of an individual judgment. Unless w^e possessed indi- 
 vidual personality, we could not answer apart ; unless 
 we were endowed with power to tcill, we could not be 
 required to answer at all. The last distinguishes us 
 from " horse and mule, which have no understanding ; 
 whose mouths must be held with bit and bridle, lest 
 they fall upon thee." The first introduces us as indi- 
 visible essences into that boundless universe, wherein 
 we stand in the presence of our Maker and of one 
 another. We should not be self-conscious beings but 
 for the one, nor accountable beings, but for the other. 
 
 Now it could not be this principle of our personal 
 being which was re-created in the new birth of the 
 Gospel, for otherwise those who were admitted into the 
 kingdom of God would not have been the self-same indi- 
 viduals, who had existed in the carnal estate of nature. 
 To appeal to them as conscious of ha\dng undergone a 
 change, which had altered their state, was to imply 
 that the principle of consciousness itself remained un- 
 altered. Yet such is the mode of address, which is 
 continually employed by the Apostles. " Eemember 
 that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh — that at 
 that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the 
 commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the cove- 
 nant of promise, having no hope, and without God in 
 the world. But now in Christ Jesus ye who some- 
 times were far off, are made nigh by the blood of 
 Christ." Words like these imply the permanency of 
 
36 
 
 THE RE-CREATION OF MAN. 
 
 that ultimate principle of consciousness, by which this 
 re-creation of the moral world could be appreciated. 
 Though the change, therefore, must of necessity exer- 
 cise mighty influence over the will of man, must give 
 new ojDportunities, new thoughts, new powers of judging, 
 new motives and impulses ; yet there must still remain 
 so much, as goes to make up man's personal responsi- 
 biUty ; the individual must remain, though his nature 
 was altered. Such is the Apostle's way of expressing 
 the matter; he speaks of the will as helped, influenced, 
 delivered from the infirmities which beset it, but still as 
 a principle which retained the power of choice, and 
 which involved the responsibility therefore of those by 
 whom it was possessed. " The flesh lusteth against the 
 spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are con- 
 trary the one to the other, so that ye do not do the 
 things which ye would." But what is the remedy of 
 this state of imbecility ? Walk in the Spirit, and 
 then ye will not fulfil the lust of the flesh." For un- 
 less there were such power of choice as to make the 
 decision man's own, to deal with him as a responsible 
 being were a mockery. " Woe to him that saith to the 
 wood, awake; to the dumb stone, arise." Were not 
 man in some sense the cause of his actions, what mean- 
 ing were there in admonition and appeal ? And since 
 the Apostles refer to this principle of consciousness 
 as unchanged, amidst that momentous alteration of 
 which it is the spectator, it must be the other part of 
 man's being which is the subject of re-creation — those 
 powers and faculties, which make up his collective 
 nature, and are the common property of his race. 
 The conclusion, then, is that man's constitution con- 
 
THE RE-CREATIOX OF MAX. 
 
 37 
 
 gists of two main parts — the one those powers, proper- 
 ties, and organs, which are the common portion of the 
 race, and for the employment whereof each man is re- 
 sponsible ; the other the principle of indi^ddualit j itself, 
 the separate essence which is cut off by the law of con- 
 sciousness from all other beings. In this last lies the 
 ultimate power of will, because to it attaches the obli- 
 gation of responsibiht}'. The last is the personality of 
 man, the first his nature. The last survives every 
 change; the first it is which is capable of re-creation. 
 In its renewal consisted that wondrous alteration which 
 is witnessed by the text. The new creation in Christ 
 Jesus was that reconstruction of all its principles, which 
 implied the re-casting of everything in man's nature, 
 except what was bound up with the indestructible 
 identity of the heirs of immortality. " Old things are 
 passed away, behold all things are become new." 
 
 II. But in what manner was this gTcat work effected ? 
 This is the next subject of inquiry. Now the text is 
 built upon the fact, that in Christ was man's nature 
 reconstructed. As in Adam all died, so in Christ are 
 all made alive. Thus was it God's pleasure to adopt 
 the same course in man's renewal, which had been 
 chosen in his creation. For the Almighty could have 
 framed all of us out of the dust by the separate fiat of 
 His forming will ; investing us with those capacities of 
 mind, and those organs of body, which we inherit from 
 a common sire. But such was not His will. He em- 
 bodied in one model those qualities which He bestowed 
 upon our race, and ordained the wondrous law of na- 
 tural descent, as our method of inheriting them. And a 
 corresponding course has it pleased him to adopt, re- 
 
38 
 
 THE RE-CREATIOX OF MAN. 
 
 specting that new nature which He has given to man- 
 kind. For here, too, is the second Adam set forth as 
 the Head and model of the regenerate race ; and the 
 law of Sacramental union ordained, as the method by 
 which this higher nature should be communicated. 
 Thus is the Son of Man, as Himself declares, the new 
 "beginning of the creation of God." The common 
 stream of humanity had been defiled and vitiated 
 through the sinfulness of those through whom it had 
 descended: it was poured, therefore, into His Man- 
 hood, as into an incorruptible fountain, that it might 
 flow forth again with greater purity and lustre than 
 when at first it was declared to be " very good." 
 
 Man's nature, therefore, was truly re-created in Him 
 who was " the image of the invisible God, the first-bom 
 of every creature." And through participation m that 
 renewed and perfect being is the principle of holiness 
 extended to all His members. " For we are His work- 
 manship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works." 
 That purity which belonged by nature to His spotless 
 Person is communicated by grace to all His brethren, 
 through the putting on that " new man, which after 
 God is created unto righteousness and true holiness." 
 Thus is the re-creation of humanity a real work, which 
 in His sacred Person was once for all effected. For 
 " of His fulness have all we received, and grace for 
 grace." 
 
 And now to consider the consequences which this 
 truth involves. 
 
 1st. It shows in the first place, that however myste- 
 rious the system of Sacramental grace, it is yet in strict 
 analogy with the system of nature. The ground on 
 
THE RE-CREATION OF MAN. 
 
 39 
 
 which the reality of Sacraments is often questioned, is 
 the want of consonance between the apparent act and 
 its hidden efficacy. The washing of Avater, the par- 
 taking of visible elements, appear to have no relevance 
 except to the body ; that a spiritual influence should 
 accompany means so simple, that men should be truly 
 re-created through the due reception of Baptism ; that 
 their new nature should be really fed in the Holy 
 Eucharist, are abhorrent to the imagination. That 
 such results are possible, no one who believes in a 
 Divine Being can of course deny : but they seem so 
 improbable, that men find it easier to give a figurative 
 interpretation to those scriptural statements in which 
 such truths are taught, than to yield a literal belief to 
 that which the course of nature opposes. Not that 
 they deny to these ordinances an instructive efficacy, 
 which renders them a beneficial lesson to the mind, 
 but they think it impossible that virtue can be so indis- 
 solubly bound up with these ordinances themselves 
 (however rightly received), that they can be of use, 
 except so far as the intellectual nature is competent to 
 understand them. Their value is supposed to be refer- 
 rible to the power of God's grace, working according to 
 that common and usual course, whereby He addresses 
 Himself by words or symbols to the reason and affec- 
 tions of men : not to any mysterious efficacy, which is 
 bound up with the appointed instruments whereby the 
 Sacraments are administered. The Church, indeed, 
 encourages the hope that God will in mercy make up 
 for the involuntary loss of those who are of necessity 
 debarred the due participation of Sacraments; but how 
 many are there who would feel no kind of anxiety 
 
40 
 
 THE RE-CREATION OF MAN. 
 
 whether those words and that matter were employed, 
 without which can ensue no valid baptism; or to 
 whom it would seem a question of absolute indifference 
 whether the want of authority in the administrator, 
 the alteration of the words of consecration, or the omis- 
 sion of any other essential circumstance, rendered nuga- 
 tory the offering of the Holy Eucharist. Such persons, 
 it is plain, do not believe that " the outward and visible 
 sign" is "a means whereby we receive" God's grace, 
 and a pledge to assure us thereof" What they look 
 to in reality is either the intellectual working of their 
 ow^n minds, or such influence as is exercised by the 
 Parent Spirit of the Universe on their ow^n spirits, irre- 
 spective of those Sacramental means, whereby we par- 
 ticipate in Our Lord's Mediation. 
 
 That such is their real meaning, is readily detected 
 by their feeling respecting infant Baptism. For here 
 is a case, in wdiich the recipient's understanding is 
 unable to take any present part in the work which is 
 performed ; the whole act is on the side of God : if any 
 benefit accrue, therefore, it must depend entirely on the 
 efficacy of those means which God has ordained for the 
 world's renewal. The persons in question, therefore, 
 deny that infants receive any present benefit from Bap- 
 tism ; their only reason for retaining this usage is 
 either ancient custom, or the expectation of prospective 
 advantages ; they cannot believe that any real re-creor 
 tion takes place in unconscious receivers through that 
 holy rite : what is not effected through the open channel 
 of the intellect they absolutely disavow. And hence 
 may be understood w^hat is their real meaning, even 
 when they profess to value Sacramental ordinances. 
 
THE RE-CREATIOX OF MAX. 
 
 41 
 
 What they truly mean is, to admit them as external 
 instruments of instruction : their efficacy as the true 
 channel of grace is wholly denied. For so soon as a 
 case can be found in which the co-operation of man can 
 be altogether eliminated from the action, they maintain 
 that it is impossible to suppose it valuable ; plainly, 
 therefore, it is to the efficacy of the transaction on the 
 human mind, not to the actual transmission of a Divine 
 gift, that their attention is directed. 
 
 Now to this whole series of objections, the truth 
 which is set forth in the text affords a complete reply. 
 For it shows the Sacramental sj'stem to be but the 
 counterpart of that which is followed in the order of 
 God's natural Providence; and no reason, therefore, 
 can be adduced for denying the one, since we are com- 
 pelled by the course of events to acknowledge the 
 other. For is not the propagation of those natural 
 qualities, which come by birth, every whit as extraor- 
 dinary as the transmission of those Divine graces which 
 come by regeneration ? Take the case of such intel- 
 lectual endowments as may be plainly sho^^Ti to be an 
 hereditary gift, by their re-appearance in those who 
 are near of kin. Can we at all understand how such 
 qualities are transmitted ? Water, it is said, or bread 
 and wine, have no natural aptitude to convey heavenly 
 blessings. It is irrational, therefore, to expect them to 
 be the channel of an influence, which is beyond their 
 powers. But of what materials are our bodies con- 
 structed ? They consist but of such ingredients as 
 earth, and air, and water supply. In the bones and 
 muscles, and nerves of a child, no other substances can 
 be detected. Now what aptitude have these agents 
 
42 THE RE-CREATION OF MAN. 
 
 to convey intellectual gifts ? When helpless infancy, 
 therefore, is launched forth upon the troublous waves 
 of life, what reason have we to expect that the uncon- 
 scious being, who lies before us, will ever be competent 
 to read the mysteries of nature, and extend the im- 
 mortal limits of thought? Still more would the same 
 difficulty press upon us, if we could, with propriety, 
 carry the inquiry further, and trace up the existence 
 of man into its embryo state. For those intellectual 
 gifts, by which men master the external world, the 
 facult}^ by which we estimate the relations of time and 
 space, and thus pass beyond the " flaming bounds" of 
 the material universe, are not a portion of that indi- 
 vidual essence on which our separate responsibility is 
 dependent : they belong, plainly, to our common being, 
 they are a part of that collective nature, which is the 
 general inheritance of man. What right, then, have 
 we to expect such endowments in the unconscious 
 infant who lies before us ? How can he have received 
 them through that material propagation which binds 
 him to his race ? What aptitude have the inert ele- 
 ments of which he is composed to transmit such quali- 
 ties? Our only reason for supposing it is, that his 
 outward organization assigns him to Adam's race, and 
 therefore we believe that by some unknown law of 
 transmission, his intellectual capacities will turn out 
 to be fashioned upon the model of his parent. Such 
 natural faith rides triumphant overall the difficulties 
 of the case before us. The infant gives, as yet, no sign 
 of understanding ; nothing binds him to his parent but 
 a physical and material derivation: there exists no 
 show of relationship between him and his parents' 
 
THE RE-CREATION OF MAN. 
 
 43 
 
 mind : the parts of which he consists, are the gross, 
 dull, unconscious elements, which float around us in 
 the air, or which we tread under our feet ; and yet we 
 assume as certain, that the course of a few years will 
 see the gradual development of an intellectual power ; 
 and this power must come through the channel of its 
 parents, since it is a power common to our race at 
 large, and is the reproduction of that original type in 
 which humanity was moulded. 
 
 Now, if natural faith can justify such assumptions, 
 what reason have we for rejecting that faith which is 
 supernatural ? Why should that birth, which is from 
 above, be disbelieved, if the law of earthly transmission 
 is so readily admitted ? Men tell us that it is impossi- 
 ble to believe St. Paul's statement, that salvation — a 
 gift which implies the forgiveness of sins and the re- 
 newal of nature — is bestowed by the washing of re- 
 generation and renewing of the Holy Ghost." And 
 how, then, can they believe that intellectual gifts are 
 transmitted by material propagation ? Is it incredible 
 that the properties of the new nature — love, purity, 
 meekness — should be infused, as the Church declares, 
 " by the laver of regeneration in baptism," and yet 
 credible that the qualities of the old nature — imagina- 
 tion, genius, taste — should be implanted in the womb ? 
 It is said, perhaps, that these and similar endowments 
 were bound up in the nature of Adam and are there- 
 fore transmitted along with his outward form by some 
 unknown law of concomitance. And is it not the very 
 doctrine which the text declares, that the graces of a 
 spiritual life were in like manner bound up in the 
 nature of the second Adam, and are therefore trans- 
 
44 
 
 THE EE-CREATIOX OF MAN. 
 
 mitted, in a manner equally inexplicable, to those who 
 by the new birth of baptism are made members of 
 Christ ? For the transmission of such gifts through 
 Sacramental ordinances is not an abstract association 
 of sensible elements and spiritual powers. The benefit 
 of baptism is not a vague, general, unlimited one ; it is 
 not an arbitrary mean, whereby the Spirit of God works 
 upon men. What gives their character both to Bap- 
 tism and the Holy Eucharist, is that they are revealed 
 to be the appointed means of membership in Christ : 
 that thus is transmitted the nature of the New, as by 
 birth that of the old Adam. In Baptism is this higher 
 nature first implanted : for " as many of you as have 
 been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ." In the 
 Lord's Supper is the new being of man replenished : 
 
 this is the bread which cometh down from heaven, 
 that a man may eat thereof and not die." For " we 
 being many are one bread and one body, for we are all 
 partakers of that one bread." 
 
 Is the Sacramental system then maintained to be 
 antecedently improbable : the same objection might 
 be advanced against the course of nature. Now, as on 
 the testimony of experience we admit the one, so on the 
 testimony of revelation must we receive the other. 
 
 The first man Adam Avas made a living soul :" of this 
 truth observation yields continual proof, and Scripture 
 testifies to the corresponding assurance ; " the last 
 Adam was made a quickening spirit." As the natural 
 qualities are transmitted to those who by physical or- 
 ganization are united to the one, so are the graces of a 
 new life communicated to those who hold ^* the Head, 
 from which the whole body by joints and bands has 
 
THE RE-CREATIOX OF MAN. 
 
 45 
 
 nourishment ministered." If there has been a real re- 
 creation of man's nature ; a true reconstruction of his 
 ancient being ; and this renewal began in the divine 
 Son of Man, that from Him it might be transmitted to 
 all His members ; some means must be provided, where- 
 by we hold to Christ, even as by the course of nature 
 we hold to Adam. That Sacraments should be or- 
 dained as the medium of such union — that outward 
 elements should be the channel through which the new 
 Head extends His life-gi\dng Presence through the line 
 of His children, instead of contradicting, is accordant to 
 that natural system, whereby we inherit the inward quali- 
 ties as well as outward organization of our earthly sire. 
 
 2ndly. But it may be objected : the impress of Adam 
 is visible, that of Christ is not apparent. The faculties 
 which we inherit of the one cannot be doubted ; a 
 spiritual likeness to the other is often wanting. If the 
 efficacy of Sacraments be so real, if they truly convey 
 graces to the soul, why is not their influence more 
 apparent ? Why do the vices of the old man disgTace 
 the progeny of the new one ? This is the second ob- 
 jection which is commonly adduced against the Sacra- 
 mental system, and to this likewise the considerations 
 which have been adduced afford a reply. 
 
 The objection alleged is drawn from the deficiencies 
 of Christians. Let it be admitted that no inherent 
 improbability attaches to the theory of Sacramental 
 grace, that it is exactly consonant to the analog}' of 
 nature ; that we may receive, therefore, in their simple 
 and natural sense, those Scriptural testimonies which 
 assure us that by Sacraments men are members of the 
 new Adam ; yet why is it not found to be so in fact ? 
 
46 
 
 THE RE-CREATION OF MAN. 
 
 Why does so little difference prevail between the bap- 
 tized and the unbaptized : between those who partake 
 and those who reject that spiritual manna which comes 
 down from heaven ? It was not so when in the wilder- 
 ness men eat angels' food. Why then is the true manna 
 so inoperative ? 
 
 Now this objection makes it necessary to recall to 
 your thoughts what it is which by the new creation in 
 Christ is really altered. The responsibility of man has 
 been shown to remain such as it was : his separate con- 
 sciousness, his individual being continues ; that which 
 has been re-made is the common nature, the instrument 
 and agent of our will^ which we receive as the inheri- 
 tance of our original parent. True, the will of man is 
 in a measure affected by this common being, with which 
 it is so intimately allied ; its impulses are in no slight 
 degree modified by the proximity of that on which it so 
 nearly borders ; the gift of grace which is bestowed 
 upon us reaches to our whole nature ; but the man him- 
 self, the individual still survives, he is still a responsi- 
 ble agent, the power of choice or refusal still lies within 
 himself, he does not cease to be a single essence stand- 
 ing alone in the creation of God. Were it otherwise, he 
 could not l.e called upon hereafter for a separate ac- 
 count, neither could he be addressed at present as a 
 spontaneous agent. When we speak of him therefore 
 as new-born in baptism, we never imply that his old 
 responsibility is lost, that the power to will has been 
 taken away from him ; these things are still the neces- 
 sary condition of his immortal being; they are liable 
 to influence, but not to coercion. 
 
 What is received, therefore, through the divine ordi- 
 
THE RE-CREATION OF MAN. 47 
 
 nances of God's grace, is not any such power as does 
 away with the accountableness of mankind, but such a 
 gift only as places man in a higher sphere of responsi- 
 bility, gives him more to use, a more precious treasure 
 for which to account. He who had received one talent 
 possessed the same power to use it rightly as he to whom 
 ten had been entrusted. Had it been otherwise, how 
 could he have deserved blame as an unprofitable ser- 
 vant? Supposing then that the divine blessings of the 
 new creation were not more frequently improved than 
 the natural blessings of the old one, it would not follow 
 that the gifts themselves were not weighty and great. 
 Let it be remembered only that the re-creation of man's 
 race is the reconstruction of those common endowments 
 which belong to his ge; eral nature, that it leaves his 
 personal responsibility in some sort untouched, and such 
 a result must, in a measure, be expected. And yet it 
 cannot be denied that the new birth of man's race has, 
 on the whole, produced a wonderful renovation. The 
 advance of Christ's Church has been a continual leaven- 
 ing of the lump of corrupt nature. The old principles 
 of heathen degeneracy have been continually melting 
 away under the renewing influence of the Gospel. No 
 doubt this would have been more completely the case, 
 if a true faith had always been accompanied by a con- 
 sistent practice. But that the contrary result would 
 arise was predicted in Holy Writ. We are plainly 
 taught that the old man of our carnal nature will main- 
 tain his place even in the Church of God. Nay, as 
 time goes on, it is declared that the enmity of Satan's 
 servants will become more virulent. Evil men and 
 seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and 
 
48 
 
 THE RE-CREATION OF MAN. 
 
 being deceived." And as want of practice weakens 
 flxitli, so does want of faith weaken practice. How 
 many in these days would respond more duly to the 
 privileges of their spiritual birth, if the prevalence of 
 sins within the Church did not provoke the unbelieving 
 inquirj^, "what good can this birthright do me ?" Hence 
 do men grow up in ignorance of those blessings to which 
 themselves were admitted in childhood, because the 
 fruits of the new creation are not exhibited in the 
 general improvement of the age. Thus is the principle 
 of their own life unimproved ; they discern not the 
 reality of that spiritual food, by which their riper years 
 might be strengthened ; the privileges of the Church 
 continue to be regarded as only a form, a figure, a 
 name ; the true means of union with Christ are un- 
 known ; the actual re-creation of man's collective race 
 is interpreted into a poetical expression for that natural 
 alteration, which change of objects produces in the in- 
 dividual mind ; and men go on to entail upon another 
 generati n that inheritance of unbelief, which the 
 degeneracy of their fathers inflicted upon themselves. 
 " The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's 
 teeth are set on edge." When will men awaken to the 
 truth, that the new creation in Christ is a real work, 
 which should have a true influence on the bodies and 
 spirits of mankind? When will they be persuaded that 
 the coming of the Son of God in the flesh was in fad, 
 a new " beginning of the creation of God ?" Then will 
 the slow progress of that hallowing "leaven," which 
 was " hid" in human nature, be referred not to its own 
 weakness, but to the inveteracy of man's unbelief, and 
 to the obduracy of his corrupt affections. Let the ill 
 
THE RE-CREATIOX OF MAX. 
 
 49 
 
 be properly appreciated, let the remedy be plainly 
 taught, and the painful spectacle would not be so often 
 seen, of an earnestness which but impedes men's efforts 
 at amendment, and of a zeal which but involves them 
 in more fatal errors. 
 
 One further conclusion does this subject suggest; the 
 distinction between two processes, which are often con- 
 founded — conversion, namely, and regeneration. There 
 has been no gTeater impediment than this confusion to 
 a due appreciation of the nature of either. Men have 
 spoken of conversion as though it were another form of 
 regeneration: of regeneration, as though con version were 
 impHed as its necessary result. "Whereas the two pro- 
 cesses, though intimately allied, are essentially distinct. 
 Conversion is that change or turning in man's indi- 
 vidual being, whereby his will is altered, and in place 
 of the love of sin comes the love of holiness. "Whatever 
 influence external motives or mward suasion may exer- 
 cise upon the mind, yet the change is that of the mind 
 itself. " Turn Thou us, 0 Good Lord, and so shall we 
 be turned." That power comes only from God, that 
 His Spirit bloweth where it Hsteth, that His preventing 
 grace is the only refoiToing principle in the moral uni- 
 verse — all this is freelj- admitted by those who yet 
 vindicate for humanity the mysterious possession of a 
 responsible nature — the possession, that is, of a icill by 
 which grace may either be refused or accepted. How 
 these two principles are to be harmonized, is among the 
 secrets which philosophy has not been able to explore 
 — that the two principles co-exist is amongst the sim- 
 plest dictates of Revelation and of conscience. Con- 
 version, then, is that change whereby the heart, which 
 
50 THE RE-CREATION OF MAN. 
 
 once turned away from God, is turned back towards 
 Him. It is the alteration which befalls man's respon- 
 sible principle ; the turning of his will ; the change of 
 that invisible being, which each individual refers to, 
 when he speaks of himself It was a process, which 
 belonged to the Jewish as well as to the Christian cove- 
 nant ; and under the law of nature itself it was not un- 
 known. It was man's obedience to God's impulse. 
 
 Regeneration, on the other hand, is the specific gift 
 of the Gospel. It is that new birth of humanity, of 
 which prophets had obscurely spoken, and which was 
 bestowed in the fulness of time through His coming, who 
 was the true heir of the household of God. Therefore 
 is it spoken of in Holy Writ as the collective attribute 
 of that spiritual kingdom, wherein all the members of 
 Christ are made participants of a nobler being. " The 
 Regeneration" is said to be the time, " when the Son of 
 Man shall sit upon the throne of His glory." And our 
 regeneration is in like manner connected in Holy Scrip- 
 ture with the washing of Baptism, because in that ordi- 
 nance men enter into the first possession of those gifts, 
 which extend to all His members from the mystic Head. 
 In these two places only of Holy Writ does the word 
 occur ; and it has plain reference to that re-creation of 
 man's common nature, which was wrought in Christ. 
 Regeneration, therefore, is essential to Christian con- 
 version, because that alteration of heart, whereby every 
 individual obeys the Gospel, derives its impulse from 
 the divine renewal of humanity at large. But it de- 
 pends on man's obedience to this impulse, whether the 
 conversion of his individual will affords a true response 
 to the opportunities of his position. For as regenera- 
 
THE RE-CREATION OF MAN. 
 
 51 
 
 tion is the re-creation of man's common nature, so is 
 conversion the acquiescence of each single heart in the 
 perfect law of the Divine will. Through Sacraments 
 is the common nature regenerated, because through 
 them is the secret working of that Almighty Power, by 
 which the world must be renewed, even as it was at 
 first created: but the law of man's individual responsi- 
 bility has its place likewise in that mighty work, 
 whereby the children of earth may become meet to be 
 the children of heaven. 
 
SERMON lY. 
 
 ADVENT. 
 
 St. Matt. xxi. 5. 
 " Tell ye the daughter of Z ion, Behold, thy King cometh unto the^." 
 
 Thus does the Church hitroduce that season of Ad- 
 vent, which begins to-day. This is part of to-day's 
 Gospel; the description of Christ's entering into Jeru- 
 salem, when He was seen amons: men. It suits there- 
 fore with the circumstances of the present time, when 
 we recall Christ's first coming in the flesh, and make 
 preparation for His second coming to judgment. The 
 word Advent means coming. Who is it, brethren, who 
 comes ? Christ Our Lord comes : He comes three wavs : 
 
 at this season did He come first in the flesh: bv the 
 
 ' t/ 
 
 ordinances of His Church He comes yearly to preach 
 repentance; and with the Archangel's trump will He 
 come finally to judgment. "Tell ye the daughter of 
 Zion, Behold, thv Kino; cometh unto thee." 
 
 This, brethren, is why the Church begins her new 
 year before the year of nature is concluded. For the 
 Church's services begin again to-day. Look in the 
 Prayer Book, and you will see that to-day we begin 
 with "the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels to be used 
 throughout the year." So, too, do we begin our Sunday 
 
54 
 
 ADVENT. 
 
 Lessons with the first chapter of Isaiah's prophecy. 
 Thus have we finished the series of the past year's ser- 
 vices. They are over — whether for good or evil : whe- 
 ther we have frequented or despised, have reverenced 
 or profaned them. They will come back to us no more : 
 they are with the dead : their effect remains, but them- 
 selves are past. And yet the year of nature is not 
 finished. The sun has yet to sink lower — the days 
 l;ave to grow yet more short. Winter, with all its icy 
 chilliness, is but beginning to visit us from its dwelling 
 in the north. Why then does the Church make her 
 division at this season ; and begin beforehand her yearly 
 course? The reason is, that what she watches for is 
 not the rising of the sun of nature, but the rising of the 
 sun of grace. You can but reap in harvest, you can 
 but sow in seed-time; only when the soil is ripe for it, 
 can the harrow work the land, or the plough turn up 
 the furrow; but the soil of man's heart requires a differ- 
 ent husbandry; the Church's crop does not depend 
 upon the course of this world, but upon the presence of 
 Christ. 
 
 Let me notice, then. Firsts — What is the great event 
 which fixes the Church's seasons; and Secondly — Why 
 the year should thus be ruled by it. 
 
 L The Church's seasons are a continual witness to 
 one thing — God manifest in the flesh. Those who re- 
 gard them cannot fail to have this truth brought keenly 
 before them : those who fail to notice them lose this 
 yearly warning respecting the cause of their salvation- 
 Brethren, I have met, and that in this land, with per- 
 sons who did not know who Christ was : I soon found 
 that they made but little count of Christmas-Day. 
 
ADVENT. 
 
 55 
 
 Again, I have met with those who did not know what 
 good was effected by Christ's death : I found that they 
 never observed Good-Friday. If men kept these days 
 as days of religious worship, they could not fail to enter 
 into the events, of which these days tell us. They 
 would see the importance of Christ's Birth into the 
 world, when they remembered what it is, of which 
 Christmas-Day reminds us. ^Ye were all one man's 
 sons, as the children of Jacob expressed it, all one fa- 
 mily, relations to one another, because sprung from one 
 father, Adam, and wherever you went over the world, 
 you still found the same race, descended from the same 
 parent. This great family is what is called mankind. 
 And it had been originally placed here to serve God 
 and be happy. It had not only received authority over 
 the earth, and all the animals that inhabit it, but it 
 had been created in God's image, to render Him service 
 and praise. All those evils which bring misery wdth 
 them, pain, sickness, poverty, death, were as yet un- 
 knowh. "For God made not death," says the Book of 
 Wisdom, "neither hath He pleasure in the destruction 
 of the living." What happiness, then, was there not 
 in store for the children of Adam ? There would have 
 been none of this hard bondage — the never-ending still- 
 beginning toil of country life — wherein " all things are 
 full of labour ; man cannot utter it : the eye is not satis- 
 fied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing." Rest, 
 contentment, peace, tranquillity — these things would 
 have given men a happiness, which few at present have 
 leisure to seek in them, and which those who have 
 leisure do not find. And why do they not find it ? 
 Why is not rest and peace the same blessing which 
 
56 
 
 ADVENT. 
 
 they were first meant to be ? Because of sin. There 
 is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. Leisure and 
 rest only make bad men more unhappy and more sin- 
 fuh For this great family of mankind, by letting sin 
 in among them, let in misery. And thus were pain, 
 misery, guilt, and death spread abroad among all 
 Adam's descendants — these evil companions followed 
 men wherever they went — cities were filled with them, 
 they broke in on the tranquillity of villages — no cottage 
 so mean, no palace so shining, no farm so solitary, no 
 street so thronged, but these curses were found there. 
 
 This was the universal condition of Adam's children 
 eighteen hundred and fiftj^ years ago. But then came 
 tin alteration. There was born one of this family, who 
 differed from all the rest. He was a man, brethren, as 
 you and I are; He was a woman's son, but then He 
 was God also, ^ow, to be man, made Him like us; 
 but to be God, made Him other than us. A common 
 man is no better than his brethren, but the God-man 
 was better. And by reason of this difference between 
 us and Him, was He able to redeem us from death. 
 That punishment, which we all deserved — God was 
 pleased to let Him bear it in our stead. " He Himself 
 bare our sins in His own body on the tree." This one 
 pure, good, and divine man, undertook the whole bur- 
 then of those offences, of which all His brethren had 
 been guilty. And not only did he bear our sins, but 
 for those who are joined to Him He mends that man's 
 nature, which He stooped so mercifully to share w;ith 
 ourselves. Let foul water flow into a pure cistern, and 
 when it has stood awhile it will flow forth clear and 
 bright, and be as good to look through as the blue of 
 
ADVENT. 
 
 57 
 
 heaven. Now so it was when Christ took man's nature 
 into the Godhead. For Christ was God from God; Ee 
 was God before the worlds began ; and into this pure 
 and glorious nature He took our weak and polluted na- 
 ture ; He made it clean because it was held in Himself, 
 who could not be defiled ; and therefore he gives it out 
 agam to us clear and bright — to be joined to Him is to 
 be joined to a fountain, where manhood has been cleansed 
 and purified, and from which, therefore, it may flow forth 
 for the sanctification of soul and body to all mankind. 
 
 This is the peculiar benefit which we get by Sacra- 
 ments; their advantage is, that in them the purified 
 nature of Christ the God-man is communicated to all 
 devout, faithful, and penitent communicants, in order 
 that they also may be made pure. This is declared by 
 Our Lord Himself to have been a purpose of His life 
 here below. " For their sakes," He says, " I sanctify 
 Myself, that they also may be sanctified through the 
 truth." And it is only through the atonement which 
 this God-man has made, and through the renewed nar 
 ture which He gives to those who are joined to Him, 
 that we can have any right to draw near to God, or 
 that our prayers can be accepted. For we are all heirs 
 to that defiled nature which had spread over all the 
 earth when Christ came into it. How can our prayers, 
 therefore, be good enough for God to hear, or our el'orts 
 strong enough to work our amendment ? 
 
 Many persons have a notion that religion means 
 
 merely that they should encourage good thoughts in 
 
 their minds, that they should intend what is right, and, 
 
 so far as they can, do it ; and they hope that Christ, 
 
 who is so merciful, and in whose name they believe, 
 
 5 
 
58 
 
 ADVENT. 
 
 will accept and forgive them. Religion, they say, is a 
 personal concern, and so they think nothing necessary 
 but to cast themselves upon Christ, by the personal 
 action of their own thoughts. Now this is a good thing 
 to do, but it should not be put instead of those actions 
 of Christ Our Lord, whereby He mercifully unites us to 
 Himself. It is our part of the work, it is that which 
 is done in our own minds ; therefore it would be worth 
 nothing unless something was truly done by Christ 
 outside of us ; unless He had appointed means, namely, 
 the Holy Sacraments, whereby He came to meet us, 
 and gave us actual union with Himself This union, I 
 say, He gives to every devout and penitent believer in 
 His Holy Sacraments. For in His Holy Sacraments 
 He bestows that blessing upon every worthy communi- 
 cant, which He bestowed upon man's nature at large, 
 when He joined it to the Godhead. This was the 
 great work, which was done eighteen hundred and fifty 
 years ago. Before that time Adam's family consisted 
 only of common men ; since that time it has consisted 
 besides of the God-man and His brethren. Now this 
 God-man and His brethren make up what is called the 
 Church. The God-man is the Head of it : His breth- 
 ren are its members. For God " hath made Him to be 
 Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, 
 the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." All the 
 purity, peace, and happiness which belong to Chris- 
 tians, the glory whereby they are marked off from 
 other men, their calm hope in this world, their exalted 
 portion in the world to come — all these things flow into 
 them only through their union with that God-man, who 
 is the Church's Head, the Saviour of the Body. 
 
ADYEXT. 
 
 59 
 
 II. And was not this great event well fitted to give 
 its character to the Church's year ? Ought not all sea- 
 sons of our life to bear marks of itf Can there be 
 things more important either in this world or the world 
 to come ? Does it not afiect all classes, every age, all 
 nations of the earth ? Look at the laws of the land. 
 They bear the name of the King or Queen, by whose 
 authority they were sanctioned : and they are remem- 
 bered by the year of the Prince's reign in which they 
 were agreed upon. Who is it brethren, who reigns 
 over His Church to the end of time? Is it not He, 
 whom the text brings before us, saying, " Fear not, 
 daughter of Zion, Behold thy King cometh." The 
 text refers to ancient prophecy, which sets forth the 
 nature of those blessings, which the King of saints 
 confers upon His people. " Say ye to the daughter of 
 Sion, Behold thy salvation cometh." He it is on whose 
 presence our salvation also is dependent — the present 
 King over all His saints : and should not therefore His 
 Advent, His coming in the flesh, be still and ever 
 remembered in the grateful worship of all His ser- 
 vants ? Does He reigTi above our Advocate — and shall 
 He not be known upon earth, and the years be called 
 by His name ? 
 
 And for this, brethren, we have the further reason, 
 that to remember His first coming in the flesh, is a 
 help towards remembering His second coming as our 
 Judge. " This same Jesus, which is taken away from 
 you into heaven, shall so come, even as ye have seen 
 Him go into heaven." He will come with the same 
 body, which He took of Adam's race, with the same 
 mind which He shared with ourselves, to execute that 
 
60 
 
 ADVENT. 
 
 final judgment which has been put into His hands. 
 So that Advent is the forerunner of doom. Every re- 
 turn of it should remind us of that last return, when 
 His coming shall no longer wear the humility of a ser- 
 vant's form, or be the mere recollection of an unseen 
 ruler — of that time when He cometh in clouds with the 
 voice of the Archangel and with the trump of doom. 
 
 Surely each Advent preaches preparation against that 
 last and most fearful summons. For then will the 
 Parable have its fulfilment, " Behold, the bridegroom 
 cometh, go ye out to meet Him." Then will His 
 entrance be attended, not merely by such chance 
 crowds as followed Him into J erusalem, but by the whole 
 army of His servants who have lived since time began. 
 Then will He be guarded, not merely by a few poor 
 fishermen, as once when He rode " upon an ass, and a 
 colt the foal of an ass," but by angels and archangels and 
 all the hosts of heaven, encircling Him as though with a 
 sea of fire. Then will those. His faithful servants, who 
 once waited upon His humble steps, shine among them 
 as the stars for ever and ever. Oh what a glorious and 
 fearful entrance will that be, when the heavens shall pass 
 away before Him with a great noise, and the elements 
 shall melt with fervent heat ! For then shall every 
 eye see Him, and they also, which pierced Him, and all 
 kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. And 
 must not you or I be there ? Must not we keep that 
 last Advent? Then let us prepare betimes for Our Lord's 
 return, lest coming suddenly He find us sleeping. 
 
SEEMOX Y. 
 
 THE GREAT EXAMPLE. 
 
 EOMANS XIII. 14. 
 
 Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the 
 flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof ^ 
 
 Thus closes the Apostle's exhortation to a life of 
 holiness. This is the summing up of what he desired. 
 It is read to-day,* being Advent Sunday, that we may 
 remember the rule of conduct, which we should follow 
 during the coming year. Let us first look at tha 
 Apostle's exhortations : and then, secondly, inquire 
 through what means they are to take effect. 
 
 I. What the Apostle recommends is a hfe of j^erfec- 
 tion. " Owe no man anything, but to love one another : 
 for he that loveth another has fulfilled the law." He 
 does not desire merely our escape from punishment, he 
 wishes us to fulfil the law. Its whole contents are 
 gathered together in what may be expected from a 
 Christian. It is briefly comprehended in this saying, 
 namely, " thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" 
 To seek always to benefit others as naturally as we 
 benefit ourselves, to do to others exactly as we should 
 wish to be done by, to live in perfect peace, affection, 
 
 * Preached on the first Sunday in Advent. 
 
62 
 
 THE GREAT EXAMPLE. 
 
 openness, sincerity with all men — what can be better 
 or more desirable than this ? What can more contribute 
 to our present peace, as well as to our future happi- 
 ness ? Look at a friendly, kind, simple-hearted man — 
 you may see the calmness of his mind in the tranquillity 
 of his countenance. And then, as connected with this, 
 and as contributing to it, the Apostle calls men to that 
 mastery over their bodily appetites, without which such 
 peace of mind, and such fairness towards others, can 
 never be secured. For a man's good conduct towards his 
 neighbours cannot be reckoned on, unless he possesses 
 such self-denial as to have mastery over himself Meie 
 good-nature may lead a man to wish well towards others, 
 but self-denial also is needed before he will put himself 
 out of the way for their sakes. The Christian, there- 
 fore, must not " make provision for the flesh, to fulfil 
 the lusts thereof i. e, he must not suppose that his 
 body's appetite is the first thing which is to be regarded. 
 On the contrary, his body is to be brought into subjec- 
 tion : it must be the servant of his soul : his corrupt 
 appetite must be restrained : he must mortify his mem- 
 bers, which are upon the earth, and follow the guidance 
 of his higher nature. Our very reason tells us that 
 this is the right course. It says that our body should 
 be under subjection to our mind. And this is part of 
 the Apostle's advice. The law of love towards our 
 brethren : the law of purity in ourselves. Kindness 
 and forbearance towards others : command over our- 
 selves. And what can be better and happier than such 
 a life ? Is it not free from abundant evils, by which a 
 sinful and sensual course is beset ? To say nothing 
 of its leading to health and prosperity, has it not the 
 
THE GREAT EXAMPLE. 
 
 63 
 
 advantage of a good conscience, and of the favour of 
 God? Can anything be more material to us than to 
 feel inwardly the approval of our own minds, and to 
 secure the approbation of that Supreme Judge, who 
 beholds all our actions ? The Apostle's advice, then, 
 is what our own judgment must admit to be wise. 
 
 But perhaps a man says, it is good advice, certainly, 
 but hard to follow. But has no one ever followed it ? 
 You will say, perhaps, that not the best men whom you 
 meet with follow it completely. This perfect mastery 
 over themselves — this entire thought for others — is 
 wdiat none attain to. But has no one acted up perfectly 
 to this rule ? Has there been no example among men 
 of perfect self-command and unlimited charity ? Yes, 
 surely one such example has been set. And if one 
 such example has been set, why should not every body 
 else follow it ? And such an example has been set by 
 the Head and Leader of the Christian body, whom on 
 that account we are expressly commanded to follow, 
 and who is everyw^here set forth as the model for our 
 imitation. " Let this mind be in you, which was also 
 in Christ Jesus." " Because Christ also suffered for us, 
 leaving as an example, that ye should follow His steps." 
 Therefore He says, " take My yoke upon you, and 
 learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye 
 shall find rest unto your souls." 
 
 Now what can we do better than follow in such steps? 
 " He that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself also 
 so to walk, even as He walked." What can God and 
 man more fitly require of us than this ? Here is the 
 Head and Pattern of our race, possessing a man's nature 
 as we do ; since He trod this path, what better can we 
 
64 
 
 THE GREAT EXAMPLE. 
 
 do than follow Him? " Consider the Apostle and High 
 Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful 
 to Him that appointed Him." And therefore was He 
 looked upon with perfect favour by Almighty God. 
 When He entered upon His ministry there came forth 
 those divine words, which testified to the completeness 
 of His service. " This is My beloved Son, in whom I 
 am well pleased." And the same testimony was re- 
 peated on the mount of Transfiguration. So that here 
 we see the utmost which is required of men. In Him 
 was fulfilled God's statement by the prophet : He is 
 " Mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth." And 
 therefore, if we would secure God's favour, and act 
 according to the judgment of man's reason, we have 
 but to follow the example which He has set forth. We 
 cannot say that imperfection is inconceivable, because 
 here it has been exhibited. Here is the Head of the 
 Christian family, the pattern of mankind : what have 
 we to do, but what He has done ? We see how our 
 common nature should be treated : we see the path 
 opened : we discern the obedience which we ought to 
 render : we know how we should behave towards God 
 and towards one another. The perfection and mor'el 
 of man's life was shown us in Plim, who therefore is 
 called the Son of Man ; and no more is required of any 
 one than to follow it. This is the rule which we are to 
 take ; let us act as He has done, and we shall conform 
 perfectly to those lessons of love and self-denial which 
 the Apostles set forth. Here is the example of that 
 good life which is recommended to us : here is the per- 
 fection of manhood exhibited for our imitation. 
 
 II. So much, then, for the Apostle's recommenda- 
 
THE GREAT EXAMPLE. 
 
 65 
 
 tions : let us consider, secondty, by what means they 
 are to be obeyed. How are we to imitate Christ Our 
 Lord ? By what means are we to copy this perfect 
 pattern which is proposed for our imitation ? True, 
 we must all confess that in the Son of Man, in J esus of 
 Nazareth, is set forth the very pattern of man's nature, 
 the very example and model of what man ought to be 
 — we see in Him the one only instance of a human 
 being, who from His youth deserved truly to be in 
 favour with God and men. But how can we imitate 
 so perfect an example ? How can this mind be in us 
 which was also in Christ Jesus ? Now before we can 
 properly answer this question, we must ask how such 
 a mind came to be in Him. Was He, to begin with, 
 just like one of us ? Was He a mere man, brethren, 
 like you and like me ? If He had no more to begin 
 than we have, then no doubt we might come, in the 
 end, to be such an one as He was. No one is there 
 among us but might become a king, or an emperor, 
 because kings and emperors, to begin with, have often 
 been .such as ourselves. But with Christ Our Lord it 
 was otherwise. He was not, to begin with, such only 
 as ourselves. A man indeed He was, as we are, but 
 not a man only. He was also God over all, blessed for 
 ever. And that which enabled Him to set forth man's 
 nature in its perfectness, was that nature of Godhead 
 which He descended to unite to it. 
 
 At the season which we are now approaching, had 
 that mystery its completion, whereof notice had before 
 been given to his Virgin Mother : " the Holy Ghost 
 shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest 
 shall overshadow thee ; therefore, also, that Holy Thing, 
 
66 
 
 THE GREAT EXAMPLE. 
 
 which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of 
 God." When Elijah's sacrifice was consumed on Horeb, 
 why did it kindle into flame, while the altars of Baal's 
 priests were silent and untouched ? Was there any 
 difference in the materials which Elijah had employed : 
 had he not used stones and wood as they had ? The 
 difference was that the fire of God came down upon it. 
 And that which rendered the Son of Man so unlike 
 all other of Adam's children was, that in His person 
 God Himself took up His dwelling among men. " The 
 Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld 
 His glory, the glory as of the only-legotten of the 
 Father, full of grace and truth." Through virtue, then, 
 of that indwelling Godhead, which was one with it, did 
 manhood also become perfect. Thus was the perfect 
 pattern exhibited of our lower nature. Thus was there 
 found one, whose meat was to do the will of Him that 
 sent Him, and to finish His work. Thus was the 
 human will so perfectly resigned to the divine will, 
 that He could say with complete resignation, " never- 
 theless, not My will, but thine be done." 
 
 This finished example, then, of what man should 
 seek after, was not attained through the mere perfec- 
 tion of the powers of nature, but because a greater 
 power than nature was bestowed upon it from above. 
 This was that birth from above, that power above 
 nature, which came down into our race in the person of 
 the God-man, Jesus Christ Our Lord, just as fire came 
 down on Elijah's sacrifice, that so God's grace and 
 pardon might extend itself from Him and all His 
 brethren. This was the tidings of great joy, which the 
 angel declared should be to all people. For by virtue 
 
THE GREAT EXAMPLE. 
 
 67 
 
 of that perfect obedience of Avhich His Manhood was 
 rendered capable, did e H&st make satisfaction on the 
 cross for all His brethren — for us His fellow descendants 
 from fallen Adam ; and then, secondly, did He bestow 
 that union with Himself, by which our nature also may 
 be kindled into obedience. In Him has appeared that 
 grace of God which bringeth salvation to all men, that 
 denying ungodhness and worldly lusts, we should live 
 soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world. 
 
 And this answers the question, how are we to imitate 
 (Jhrist. If that perfect love, and that unfailing obe- 
 dience, whereby He made manhood so lovely, whereby 
 He rendered to His Father such perfect honour, had 
 been attained by Him merely through human powers, 
 then might human powers enable us to imitate it. But 
 since it was a di\'ine power which first kindled such grace 
 in man's nature, by a divine power only can it be main- 
 tained. That movement which was given to our com- 
 mon nature m Him, must reach on to us. He had it 
 through personal union with Godhead ; we must have 
 it through union with Him by sanctification and grace- 
 
 Now this is the purpose for which Holy Sacraments 
 have been given to us. They are the means whereby 
 that movement, which was given to our nature at large 
 when Christ took manhood, may be extended to you 
 and me for om^ individual welfare. When St. Paul 
 reminds the Galatians of their calling in Christ, he 
 speaks to them as " my httle children, of whom I tra- 
 vail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you." And 
 so must it be with each one of us. The act whereby 
 Christ joins Himself to every believer is as truly a buth 
 from above, it is as really the bestowiog a new and 
 
68 
 
 THE GREAT EXAMPLE. 
 
 divine life, as was His miraculous conception in the 
 Virgin's womb. When Christ took our nature this work 
 was done once for all, on behalf of all mankind ; when 
 Christ gives Himself to each single believer it is done 
 separately for his individual benefit. But it depends 
 upon the same gracious power : that which gives to 
 each of us a new birth into grace, is Christ bestowing 
 Himself upon us by actual union, even as He gave 
 Himself to the open world by that miraculous birth 
 of which this season of Advent reminds us. Some per- 
 sons look upon the new birth into Christ as depending 
 only on their inward feelings, and as wrought entirely 
 by meditation within their own minds. Inward feeling 
 is necessary, but it cannot have its full efiect unless 
 Christ truly comes to us from wdtliout, with that same 
 divine power, with which He appeared of old time on 
 the mount or in the temple. 
 
 Do you ask, then, how it is that we can follow that 
 perfect pattern which is given to us in Christ ? How 
 we can attain to that holy and happy state, of which 
 the one true man has set the example ? We can do it 
 only if that divine power, which made His obedience to 
 be above that- of nature, is present also for the renewal 
 of ourselves. Now of this truth it is that the text re- 
 minds us. For it sums up the directions to a holy life 
 by setting forth its means. " Put ye on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the 
 lusts thereof" How can we put on Christ ? By that 
 real union with Him, which is bestowed in Sacraments 
 on those who with faith and repentance seek Him in- 
 deed. For this is no mere slioio of union, no bare 
 imitation of His holy life, no mere bearing His name or 
 
THE GREAT EXAMPLE. 
 
 69 
 
 accepting His allegiance — on those who tJius come to 
 Him in holy ordinances, does He bestow that actual 
 union, whereby they become " members of His body ; 
 of His flesh, and of His bones." Thus is He Hims If, 
 in whom was once exhibited the perfection of man's 
 nature, born over again in all His brethren. Oh blessed 
 union, oh di^dne gift, whereby the sinful children of 
 fallen Adam " may be made partakers of the divine 
 nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the 
 world through lust." 
 
 For this benefit, brethren, many of you are to-day, I 
 trust, seeking. You are about to approach the Lord's 
 table, that thereby you may put on Christ Our Lord. 
 You feel, you cannot but feel, how hard it is to follow 
 Christ. His perfect pattern. His divine excellence, all 
 the graces and purity of His spotless obedience, we can 
 admire, but we cannot imitate. And yet we must 
 imitate His example, if we would have part in the 
 ransom which He has provided for our salvation. For 
 he that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself also 
 so to walk, even as He walked." Let us seek, then, to 
 be renewed by that inward power, whereby we likewise 
 may be fashioned after the pattern of Himself. Let us 
 put on the Lord Jesus Christ, " that our sinful bodies 
 may be made clean by His Body, and our souls washed 
 through His most precious blood." Let us drink deep 
 of the fountain of life, that we likewise may be quick- 
 ened and live. We cannot imitate, unless we are one 
 with Him ; nor follow, unless we are renewed by Him ; 
 nor serve, miless we are sustained by Him. Let Him 
 be our life, our peace, our hope, our all. 
 
SEEMON VI. 
 
 THE GOSPEL A REALITY. 
 
 Romans xv. 8. 
 
 I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the 
 truth of Godj to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.''^ 
 
 The importance of Holy Scripture is taught us in to- 
 day's* Collect and to-day's Epistle. And yet it is 
 brought forward in a way which leads especially to the 
 subject of this present season — the coming of Jesus 
 Christ in the flesh, — "the promises made unto the fa- 
 thers," — all those hopes and anticipations which filled 
 up the Old Testament, had their completion when the 
 Son of God put on the garment of our nature — when 
 He was " made of a woman, made under the law." Let 
 us look, brethren, at Holy Scripture to-day in this Hght ; 
 let us consider how it had its completion in Christ. 
 
 And first, let it be observed what a peculiarity there 
 is in the scriptural way of teaching truth. What is the 
 part of Holy Writ to which men in general look first 
 for instruction ? Plainly, I suppose the Gospels. This 
 is sufficiently shown surely by our calling the whole 
 Bible by the name of the Gospel. We naturally think 
 
 * Preached on the Second Sunday in Advent, 1848. 
 
72 
 
 THE GOSPEL A REALITY. 
 
 of that ^Yhicll attracts most attention. Now of what 
 are the Gospels composed ? If men had been employed 
 to give instruction to their brethrenj it is likely that 
 they would have put together a Book, formed after the 
 model of Solomon's Proverbs. Two most instructive 
 books are foimd in the Apocrypha — Wisdom and Eccle- 
 siasticus — and both of them resemble the Proverbs. 
 They contain advice what men ought to do : you find 
 in them rules for different conditions and states of life, 
 for different ages and circumstances. But what a con- 
 trast is offered by the Gospels. What is their subject ? 
 The first verse of St. Mark may tell you : " the begin- 
 ning of the Gospel, or good tidings of Jesus Christ, the 
 Son of God." They are all about Him — His origin, 
 birth, education, ministry, death, and resurrection — 
 these make up the Gospels ; and such instructions as 
 they contain come in by the way, and are all built upon 
 the words and doings of Christ our Saviour. It is clear 
 that the main purpose of the Gospels is to make known 
 Christ ; our duty and happiness is alwaj^s spoken of as 
 depending upon our standing rightly with Him : let 
 His nature, actions, character, and instructions be pro- 
 perly received, and accepted with living faith, and we 
 have what is essential both for this world, and the world 
 to come. The instructions which we have from Holy 
 Scripture, the things which we are called on to believe, 
 are not about ourselves, but about Him ; we must listen 
 to Him of course with reverence and obedience, we 
 must do His will, if we would profit by His coming, but 
 on Himself, on His nature and excellence depends all 
 which we are to learn concerning Him. 
 
 2ndly — We see this then in the Gospels : and now 
 
THE GOSPEL A REALITY. 
 
 73 
 
 turn your thoughts to the Creed or Belief. Every time 
 you join in the Church's ser\dce5 you are called upon to 
 declare your belief in the Creed. And those who can- 
 not join in the Church's service, would do well to use 
 the Creed in their private prayers as an act of Faith in 
 God. You may see how much is made of it, because 
 it is that which is required of those who are first re- 
 ceived into the Church by Baptism. Before children 
 are admitted by Baptism to the privilege of being Chris- 
 tians, those who bring them must promise for them that 
 they shall receive the Articles of the Christian Faith. 
 This promise refers, of course, to the education which 
 they are about 'to have; it is a promise by those who 
 bring them to be baptized, that they shall be brought 
 up as Christians. Now, that which is required on this 
 head in the way of belief, is that they should receive 
 the Creed. The like use is ordered to be made of the 
 Creed, when the Minister visits the sick : " I shall re- 
 hearse to you," he is ordered to say, " the Articles of 
 our Faith, that you may know whether you do believe 
 as a Christian man should or no." The importance, 
 therefore, of the Creed is shown by what happens at 
 the beginning of life, and by what happens at the 
 end of it. And what is the Creed made up of? 
 Does it tell us chiefly about those things which we get 
 by Christ ? No doubt it mentions them. I beheve 
 in the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, 
 the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, 
 and the Life everlasting." Those things which we gain 
 by Christ's coming are found at the end of the Creed. 
 But the main part of it — its largest portion — all its first 
 and chief statements refer to Our Lord's nature in itself, 
 
 6 
 
74 
 
 THE GOSPEL A REALITY. 
 
 and to the being and character of the other Persons in 
 the Ever-Blessed and undivided Trinity. The salva- 
 tion of mankind through Christ's death, the atonement 
 which is thus provided for sinners, the sanctification of 
 soul and body through the gifts of grace — all these 
 things followed from Christ's life and death for us — 
 they constitute our main privilege in this world, and 
 our hope in the world to come — but it is Christ Him- 
 self, His character and actions, which are stated as the 
 very foundation of belief, and basis of our salvation. 
 
 Such are some of the circumstances, which must 
 strike every one, in the manner wherein we are taught 
 both by Scripture, and by the Creed. The first thing 
 which is brought before us is not how we are to be 
 saved, but what are those things which are to save us. 
 Now, what are we to gather from the manner in which 
 instruction is thus conveyed to us ? It shows, surely, 
 that our salvation does not depend only on what goes 
 on within us, but also on what goes on without us. By 
 what goes on within us, is meant, of course, our own 
 feelings, desires, thoughts, and actions. We all know 
 of what moment these things are. They make up our- 
 selves, as it were : they separate us from the rest of 
 God's creatures. We can easily see what effect they 
 will have upon our future happiness. This is a point 
 of which our own conscience assures us. A man who 
 is neglecting God, who never prays earnestly, who lives 
 in open excess or secret lust, who hates and injures 
 others, knows well in his inner heart that it is not all 
 right with him; he feels that he has a sickness in his 
 heart, which must in the end overtake and destroy him. 
 Such a man hardly wants the preacher's words to re- 
 
THE GOSPEL A REALITY. 
 
 75 
 
 mind him, " be sure your sin will find you out." His 
 own conscience is always teaching him the same truth. 
 Now this is what is meant by that part of religion, 
 which is within a man. It is that which depends on 
 the calling, forth his own feehngs to tell him the impor- 
 tance of being saved, and his own conscience to tell him 
 whether he is walking with God. But the way in which 
 Scripture teaches us, and the manner in which the Creed 
 teaches us, show that besides this, we must consider 
 those things which are without us. Christ Our Lord 
 has truly come into the world : He really brings us cer- 
 tain blessings : we need to take account of them, and 
 make use of them. 
 
 Let us take an example. Suppose a man fancied 
 himself ill, but was not. When his friends visited him, 
 they would say, the man's sickness is only in his own 
 fancy ; he thinks himself ill, and is not. His cure must 
 come entirely from within. If we can get him to sup- 
 pose he is well, he will be so. In such a case his friends 
 would try, probably, to keep up his spirits ; and as soon 
 as they had persuaded him to think himself well, he 
 would be so. For his sickness lay only in his own 
 thoughts. But suppose the same friends to visit one 
 who was really sick. Let the man be struggling with 
 some deadly disorder, which shook his body, and threat- 
 ened his life. It would be vain then to say to the man, 
 " fancy yourself well, and you will be so." Why would 
 this case differ from the other? Because there would 
 be some real sickness which would need to be removed ; 
 some actual enemy would have entered into the little 
 kingdom of the man's life, and must be got rid of before 
 he could be in safety. And, therefore, if some wise 
 
76 
 
 THE GOSPEL A REALITY. 
 
 physician drew near, some one who had true mastery 
 over life and death, he would apply powerful remedies, 
 such as could drive out death from the man's body, and 
 restore the emjDire of life. 
 
 You see the difference between a case in which the 
 cure is to come entirely from within, and one in which 
 it must come to us in the first instance from without. 
 Now which case is ours ? Are we suffering from a fan- 
 cied sickness, or a real one? Are sin and death only 
 supposed, or are they true enemies ? Have they not 
 entered into the house of our life, and got possession of 
 it ? Do not men feel their presence always and every- 
 where ? Do they not cleave to men at home and in the 
 field, in the secret chamber as the open market-place ? 
 Do they not obstruct our prayers to God, as well as 
 defile our intercourse with our neighbours? Surely 
 these are real evils, which we cannot get rid of, without 
 applying to that Great Physician, who only is able to 
 cure our souls. And this it is which makes the acts 
 and nature of Christ Our Lord of such moment to us^ 
 We could have no cure for these evils, unless those 
 things had been truly done outside of us, which the 
 continual course of the Church's year calls upon us to 
 believe. It were useless for us to look for inward heal- 
 ing, unless the One Great Physician, who alone can 
 cure, mercifully drew near to help us. And this is what 
 He began to do by His birth, what He went on to do 
 by His death, and does still by His intercession in 
 Heaven, and His presence in the ordinances of the 
 Gospel. That which is required, then, as the founda- 
 tion of our faith, is that Christ our Lord should be truly 
 doing, and have truly done for us, those things, which 
 
THE GOSPEL A REALITY. 
 
 77 
 
 Scripture sets forth and the Creed reveals. Our disease 
 is real, so must be our cure : we want some actual help, 
 we must come to Him to find it. 
 
 This is the great thing which is going on in heaven 
 and earth. Worldly people have their eyes fixed on a 
 thousand other objects. Some are asking what kings 
 are in danger, what new states are likely to rise up and 
 gain power among the nations. Men of business are 
 considering how they may lay out their money to the 
 best account, so as to have the largest return. Some of 
 you probably are planning how to improve your lands, 
 so that they may yield a larger return. Others are 
 considering what they shall do when they are a few 
 years older, what employment they shall follow, what 
 master they shall serve. But all this time the one only 
 real, lasting, and important work is going on in the 
 midst of us unseen — God's great controversy with man- 
 kind, and Christ's work of intercession and grace, by 
 which He is saving from the fallen world those whom 
 by grace and faith He truly joins to Him. This is the 
 one great reality ; and it depends on the truth of those 
 past actions of Christ, which this season of Advent 
 brings before us, and of those things which He con- 
 tinues to do through the ordinances of His grace. At 
 this time did the Second Person in the Blessed Trinitv, 
 God the Son, come down from heaven to earth for our 
 salvation, and take part in man's nature, in the womb 
 of the Blessed Virgin. Through that manhood which 
 He took, was He able to die, and rise again for us. And 
 now that He has gone up into Heaven, He truly offers 
 up the prayers of all his servants, and He is truly pre- 
 sent with us in His Church's worship, wherein we have 
 
* 
 
 78 THE GOSrEL A REALITY. 
 
 assurance of meeting Him as our Saviour. And He 
 truly feeds us with that precious food of His Body and 
 Blood, which, by taking our nature, He has made the 
 means of our soul's nourishment. These are the things 
 which Holy Scripture and the Creed set before us : 
 things, the importance of which depends on their 
 truth; wdiich are not brought about by ourselves, 
 though our life depends upon them. 
 
 And what is meant by a living faith in them ? We 
 do an act of faith every time that with a true heart we 
 declare we are convinced of them. When you repeated 
 the Creed to-day, if you meant what you said — if you 
 felt that these things were true, and were prepared to 
 do and suffer for them — then you made an act of faith. 
 And you can make an act of faith every time you say 
 your prayers, by repeating the Creed with earnestness 
 and sincerity. But to have a living faith, it is needful 
 that all our acts should be acts of faith. The whole 
 man, both in soul and body, must be fashioned on this 
 principle. We must live like persons who always saw 
 Christ to be present, and always believed accordingly. 
 If we went into a King's palace, and saw him before us, 
 what decency, respect, carefulness, would there be in 
 our words and actions. The real believer is always in 
 the presence of God. Christ Our Lord, who has mer- 
 cifully taken our nature to be a satisfaction for our sins, 
 is ever near and before him. And especially when he 
 enters into the King's courts, into Christ's place of 
 peculiar presence, it is with such love, reverence, and 
 devotion, as shows that his faith is real. You may see 
 when he comes here, that he truly discerns that gra- 
 cious Master, who has mercifully done so much for his 
 
THE GOSPEL A REALITY. 
 
 79 
 
 sake. The thought of Christ's nearness to him has 
 all his heart. There are no wandering looks, no idle 
 thoughts — Christ is near. The sayings of Scripture are 
 true sayings; ard He who promised His presence to 
 men of old time has bestowed it upon Christians. 
 
SEEMO^^" YII. 
 
 THE WOMAX OF SAMARIA. 
 
 St. John, iv. 10. 
 
 Jesus answered and said unto her. If tJwii knewest the gift of God, 
 and ucJio it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest 
 have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.'' 
 
 Such words spoke our Lord to the woman of Saraaria. 
 What she wanted, was to quench the thirst of that 
 sultry climate. She had betaken herself to the neigh- 
 bouring well of the Patriarch Jacob. For how else 
 could she gain what was necessary to life ? As a well 
 were useless unless there were hidden waters, so with- 
 out a well, thirst could not be satisfied. Now, through 
 the method of supplying the body's wants, did Our 
 Lord instruct her respecting the replenishment of the 
 soul. For what is it which all men require but salva- 
 tion ? How can we get it but from Him ? He is the 
 true well-head, the source, the fountain, to whom alone 
 we must betake ourselves amidst the painful wilderness 
 of life. We must come like Israel of old, who drank 
 of that rock which followed them, and that rock was 
 Christ." Thus, " with joy shall ye draw water out of 
 the wells of salvation." 
 
 Let us meditate then, by God's help, upon this topic : 
 
82 
 
 THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA. 
 
 First, How is Christ the well of life ? Secondly, How 
 can we drink of Him ? 
 
 I. Now Christ is the well of life, because in Him 
 those original perfections on which life depends, have 
 their dwelling in the world. A wonderful saying it 
 seemed to this woman of Sychar, when she found a 
 stranger sitting upon Jacob's well, that in His Person 
 was a "well of water, springing up into everlasting 
 life," at which alone the spiritual thirst of all men 
 could be satisfied. For she knew not what had befallen 
 that other daughter of Eve, to whom it was said, " The 
 Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the 
 highest shall overshadow thee ; therefore also that holy 
 thing, which shall be born of thee, shall be called the 
 Son of God." This was that "gift of God," of which 
 Our Lord declares that she was ignorant. She knew 
 indeed, what all may know if they please, that in God 
 alone is the principle of life ; that all perfection must 
 have its root in Him ; that as He is the Author of our 
 being, so is He the very source and spring from which 
 holiness and happiness have their origin. For "all 
 things were created by Him, and for Him, and He is 
 before all things, and by Him all things consist." And 
 this is not more true of that power which gives exist- 
 ence to the body, than of that holiness, which is the 
 life of the soul. For God alone, as Jeremiah expresses 
 it, is " the fountain of living waters." 
 
 But how should this fountain have its dwelling in a 
 man? How should a son of Adam be the reservoir 
 which should hold it? How should others come to Him 
 to drink ? How could He bestow such a gift on those 
 who believed on Him, that out of their "belly should 
 
THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA. 
 
 83 
 
 flow rivers of living water?" This it was, which sur- 
 IDrised her. For to be the natural dwelling-place of 
 di\T.ne life, to reflect the perfections of his Maker — this 
 was man's original purpose indeed, but it had been lost 
 by the sin of our first Parent. Ever since that time, 
 man has been no natural dweUing-place of divine life. 
 Neither could this blessing be again restored, till He 
 who was God as well as man came to dwell in our 
 flesh, and through the greatness of His divine power, 
 corrected the weakness of our nature, and extinguished 
 its guilt. 
 
 Now this the Samaritan woman knew not. She was 
 not aware what a gift had been bestowed upon our 
 common nature, in the sacred person of that stranger, 
 whom she chanced to meet. She understood not that 
 the common being which she and we possess, had under- 
 gone as great a change in Him whom she saw before 
 her, as it did in our first parents through their origmal 
 offence. For He whom she beheld, was in the same 
 condition in which Adam was before the Fall. No sin 
 had ever defiled His pure nature. There had flowed 
 into Him those gifts of holiness and grace, which have 
 their origin in God. This made Him that well, at 
 which all men must quench the thirst of their souls. 
 Before the Patriarch Jacob had opened the earth, the 
 men of Sychem would vainly have sought water in that 
 dry region. And unless the Holy Ghost had sanctified 
 man's nature in the Virgin's womb, men had sought in 
 vain for that spiritual replenishment, which is offered 
 to them in Christ. Jacob's well was a reservoir at 
 which those waters which flow from the abysses of the 
 earth might truly be found : and so is the Virgin-born 
 
84 
 
 THE AYOMAN OF SAMARIA. 
 
 the receptacle and well-head of those gifts of grace, 
 which issue perpetually from the throne of God. There- 
 fore was He, whom she found sitting there in the sim- 
 ple majesty of His unattended state, the true Saviour 
 of the world. " If thou knewest the gift of God, and 
 who it is that saith to thee. Give Me to drink, thou 
 wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given 
 thee living water." 
 
 To this man, then, brethren, let us seek for health ; 
 for though our nature be as corrupt as the river of 
 Egypt after Moses' curse, yet in Him is there purity to 
 heal it. His sanctified manhood is that life-giving 
 stream of which Ezekiel spoke : " These waters issue 
 out towards the east country, and go down into the 
 desert, and go into the sea ; which being brought forth 
 into the sea, the waters shall be healed." The sea is 
 man's nature at large, which this stream of grace, Christ 
 Jesus Our Lord, is able to purify. That which rendered 
 Him this fountain of life to His defiled brethren, was 
 that Personal Oneness with Godhead, through which 
 His sacrifice on the cross sufficed for the salvation of a 
 world. The same cause which made His death so pre- 
 cious for the redemption of mankind, made His life so 
 effectual for their purification. So that from Him pro- 
 ceeds that gift of spiritual life, by which all His ser- 
 vants are quickened. And in Him are fulfilled the 
 Psalmist's words, " With Thee is the well of life, and 
 in Thy light shall we see light." 
 
 II. The true well of life then is the Man Christ Je- 
 sus. Through Him must we drink of those sanctifying 
 waters, which issue from the throne of God. But how 
 are we to drink of Him? If He were God only, the 
 
 1 
 
THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA. 
 
 85 
 
 sole way in which we could receive His infinite perfec- 
 tions, would be through those inward thoughts, by 
 which we can meditate upon God. How else than by 
 your thoughts can you hold intercourse natv/raUy with 
 Him who created you ? He speaks to men's thoughts 
 in a thousand ways, as they sit in the house, and as 
 they walk in the field. God, we all know, is very near 
 us. And as He speaks to us, we can sjDeak to Him. 
 But He who was sitting on Jacob's well, was not merely 
 God. Had He been God only, how should the woman 
 of Samaria have seen and addressed Him ? He was a 
 man, as well as God. And that He was man, was the 
 very reason why He is the well-head, through w^hom 
 divine graces flow into us. For we also are men. So 
 that He is the means through wdiich those things which 
 have their origin in God are communicated to our na- 
 ture. They had their first dwelling in Him, to whom 
 they belonged by right, that they might afterwards be 
 bestowed on us, to whom they are given by favour. 
 
 We read this in many passages of Holy Scripture. 
 " As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given 
 to the Son," that is, to the Man Christ Jesus, " to have 
 life in Himself." And God " gave Him to be the Head 
 over all things to the Church, w^hicli is His Body." He 
 is " the Head, from whom all the body, by joints and 
 bands" has "nourishment ministered." And "of His 
 fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." It 
 is no other, then, than He who was found sitting there 
 at the sultry hour of noon, who is Himself that well of 
 life, from which the children of men must draw all 
 quickening virtue. As all light dwells in the sun, so 
 in the Sun of righteousness whom this woman beheld, 
 
86 
 
 THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA. 
 
 dwelt all the graces of which any of the children of 
 men can be possessed. That life of the Spirit which 
 each man receives in his degree, dwelt without measure 
 in Him, as in its fountain. All light, grace, holiness, 
 which have been or can be manifest among Adam's 
 children, were gathered together as in their source and 
 centre in the Holy Child Jesus. 
 
 Now what wonder would it have stirred in this wo- 
 man's bosom, had she known how near she was by 
 bodily presence to that very fount of life, in which the 
 holiness of Godhead had its personal dwelling. What 
 would she have said, could she have fully understood 
 His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Fa- 
 ther, full of grace and truth ! How would she have 
 cast herself at His feet — how would she have besought 
 His favour — how inseparably w^ould she have waited 
 on His steps — what would have parted her from His 
 presence — how could she have expressed her love, ho- 
 nour, admiration, and reverence ! Brethren, He was 
 not more near to her, than He will be to every believ- 
 ing worshipper in that holy ordinance of the Lord's 
 Supper, to which to-day you are invited. For do you 
 ask how you are to drink of this well of life, the Man 
 Christ Jesus ? In the first place you must believe on 
 Him. " He that believeth on Me, out of his belly shall 
 flow rivers of living water." For " he that cometh to 
 Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me 
 shall never thirst." And " as many as received Him, 
 to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even 
 to them which believe on His name." 
 
 But observe the effect of belief in Him. Will it not 
 lead in you to the same practical results, which it pro- 
 
THE TTOMAN OF SAMARIA. 
 
 87 
 
 duced in this Samaritan ? She believed that water was 
 to be found in Jacob's well. The consequence was^ that 
 she came there to seek it. Her belief was only natural 
 belief, no doubt, and there was good ground for it : but 
 because it was a true belief, it led on to action. And 
 the same will be the effect of our behef, if we have as 
 strong a faith in things divine, as she had in things 
 earthly. She did not remain in the city ; but being 
 persuaded that water was to be had, she came to fetch 
 it. Have we as firm a belief that in the God-man, 
 whom she found awaiting her, there truly dwells the 
 life of our souls ? Do we count as certainly to obtain 
 heavenly gifts from union with Him, as she did to fill 
 her vessel with the earthly element ? If we do, we 
 shall come with not less faithful earnestness to seek 
 Him. 
 
 Now the mean whereby we may hold intercourse 
 with the Son of Man, is expressly declared in Holy 
 Writ to be that heavenly Feast, wherein He gives Him- 
 self to His servants. " I am the Hving bread which 
 came down from heaven ; if any man eat of this bread, 
 he shall live for ever; and the bread which I will 
 give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of 
 the world." " For My flesh is meat indeed, and 
 My blood is drink indeed." The Caphamaites, to 
 whom these words were originally spoken, supposed 
 that by some strange transmutation, Our Lord's sar 
 cred body would be cut into morsels, and eaten as 
 natural food by men. But the divine banquet of the 
 Holy Communion, to which they refer, has another 
 signification. It is that heavenly and spiritual union 
 with the Son of Man, whereby He gives us to drink of 
 
88 THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA. 
 
 tliat well of life, which he brought do^wn from above 
 for the healmg of a world. Thus does He open to us 
 that " spring shut up/' that " fountain sealed," whereby 
 those who have first been washed in the blood of the 
 Lamb, may afterwards drink of the never-failing waters 
 of His Spirit. This exhaustless blessing flows forth 
 from the throne of God, for the benefit of sinners. And 
 this gift is offered to the faithful in the Holy Commu- 
 nion of Christ's Body and Blood. No doubt it is an 
 awful and sacred gift : no doubt none should draw near 
 to this sacred fountain carelessly. Happy those who, 
 when they come, discern from the first the reality of 
 their Master's presence. Happy those, who have not 
 waited like this woman to put away their sins, till they 
 suddenly feel the awful eye of Him who can detect 
 them. For this is no common feast, no trivial ordi- 
 nance. Therefore let a man examine himself, and so 
 let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For 
 by these means does whole Christ give Himself to His 
 people. And yet how can men who need grace turn 
 away from these healing waters ? Did not even the 
 Samaritans flock to their heavenly guest? Did not 
 they beseech Him to tarry with them ? Oh, entreat 
 Him to dwell in your hearts ! Make preparation for 
 Him by mortifying every sin which He hates. You 
 know not whether His gracious presence may be again 
 vouchsafed. " Behold, I stand at the door and knock : 
 if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will 
 come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with 
 Me." 
 
SERMON VIII, 
 
 CHRISTMAS. 
 
 St. MattheW; y'lii. 16, 17. 
 
 [Preached in York Minster, before the Judges of Assize, December 
 
 19, 1847.] 
 
 ^' Se cast out the spirits with His Word, and healed all that were sick: 
 that it might he fulfilled which teas spoken hy Esaias the prophet, 
 saying, Himself took our infirmities, and hare our sicknesses." 
 
 These are some of the acts of Him, whom at this 
 season the Church commends to your memory. For 
 His Advent is again come round, the rapid months 
 have brought you back to it, the Royal Child is once 
 more to be remembered, the Baptist's errand has been 
 again fulfilled. Let us approach Him with the fitting 
 preparation of reverence and love, remembering that 
 Eastern Kings came from far to seek Him, but that He 
 was first found by the humble shepherds of his native 
 Jewry. 
 
 Now there is an obvious difficulty in the apj)lication 
 which the text contains of Isaiah's prophecy. Do these 
 words refer only to the mercifulness of Our Lord's ac- 
 tions? Is this all which is designed, when He is said 
 to have borne our griefs and carried our sorrows ? Did 
 He merely remove them as the physician does his pa- 
 
90 
 
 CHRISTMAS. 
 
 tient's illsj or as Elislia did the leprosy of Naaman ? If 
 this were all, we might well ask, in the first instance, 
 what benefit it is to us? These miracles have long 
 ceased : this healing power has long since been sus- 
 pended. And it has left us as subject as before to the 
 maladies of life : do not diseases still distress, accidents 
 alarm, death await us? Why should we deck our 
 Churches yearly with their Christmas honours, if it had 
 been so transient a blessing which was bestowed upon 
 our race ? 
 
 Again, this view of the nature of Our Lord's blessings 
 corresponds not to that which ancient prophecy declared 
 of His approach. For is not His coming the middle 
 point of the world's history ; which all the events of an- 
 cient days were continually showing forth ? In Him 
 we have the woman's seed, who was to restore what 
 was forfeited by the Fall. He is the rod which was to 
 arise out of the stem of Jesse, on which the Spirit of 
 the Lord should rest. He was to grow up as a branch 
 out of the dry ground of man's fallen nature. Why all 
 this preparation, if it was to end in such transient ex- 
 ercise of healing virtue as favoured men of old had pos- 
 sessed ? 
 
 And again, how far is this from satisfying the reli- 
 gious wants of man's nature ? Where is that reconci- 
 liation with God, of which we stand in need ? How is 
 the weakness of our will to be remedied ? What atone- 
 ment is there for our past neglects ? How can we have 
 " access with boldness" through the faith of Him, merely 
 because He once showed himself pitiful to objects of 
 distress ? 
 
 Once more, we might appeal to the general consent 
 
CHRISTMAS. 
 
 91 
 
 of all nations, which have ever witnessed that it was 
 onlv throusrh the condescension of the Godhead that we 
 could hope for the elevation of humanity. A God must 
 descend that man may be exalted. This has been the 
 secret meaning of all mythologies, which have still pro- 
 claimed, though in uncertain and faltering voice, that 
 which is set forth fully and clearly in the Advent ser- 
 vices of the Church. 
 
 We must seek, then, for some deeper meaning for St. 
 Matthew's words. We must inquire what is that prin- 
 ciple which led to Our Lord's acts of compassion. And 
 we shall find that they are the result of that real union 
 between God and man, which at once fulfils the declara- 
 tions of Scripture and satisfies the requirements of our 
 nature. And this is no fond inquiry, but a fmidamen- 
 tal truth of the Gospel. For " it is necessary to ever- 
 lasting salvation that we believe rightly the Incarnation 
 of Our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right faith is, that 
 we believe and confess that Our Lord J esus Christ, the 
 Son of God, is God and man." Now what does this 
 statement of the Creed implj' ? In the fulness of time, 
 the Second Person in the Ever-Blessed Trinity took 
 man's nature in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, of her 
 substance, that as He had at first made man out of the 
 dust of the earth, so He might re-make him out of the 
 fallen elements of his frail mortality. Thus did He 
 Himself become the new Adam, the second man, the 
 pattern and type of mortahty, the first-begotten from 
 the dead, the first-born of every creature, that in bring- 
 ing many sons unto glory, the Captain of their salvation 
 might be made perfect through suffermgs. 
 
 Thus was the Eternal Son exhibited in the flesh as 
 
92 
 
 CHRISTMAS. 
 
 the model and centre of man's nature, even as prophecy 
 had declared in ancient days that when He stooped to 
 mingle with creation. He should be the beginning of 
 God's works. For we must not fancy of Him as a mere 
 common nian, as a single grain out of the garner of 
 mortality, seeing that in Him not this individual or 
 that, but manhood itself was taken into God. Thus as 
 He was by right the representative of Godhead, and 
 shared in its whole glorious nature, as He was the 
 brightness of His Father's glory and the express image 
 of His person, so did He by choice become the repre- 
 sentative of mankind, " for the first man is of the earth, 
 earthy, the second man is the Lord from heaven." 
 
 Now from this brief statement it follows at once why 
 Our Lord's miracles, when in the flesh, were a real ful- 
 filment of that which had been spoken in ancient days 
 concerning His nature. For their characteristic is, that 
 that in them human sympathy was perfectly divested 
 of human weakness. They show such absolute lord- 
 ship over the powers of nature, as might have sufficed 
 to empty the whole ocean of material suffering. He 
 who fed thousands, why could He not banish all want ? 
 He who healed men by His thought, why could not He 
 avert every sickness ? Doubtless He would have done 
 so, but that the stopping these outlets of natural cala- 
 mity would have only increased the more intense 
 malignity of moral woe. There will be no more pain, 
 when there is no more sin. To natural sympathy then. 
 Our Lord gave its proper weight : He could shed a tear 
 near the grave of Bethany, and show pity at the gates 
 of Nain; — these concessions He made to the sinless 
 affections of our common nature 3 but they interfered 
 
CHRISTMAS. 
 
 93 
 
 not with those other qualities, which personal union 
 with Deity communicated to His man's soul. For 
 justice also and holiness are attributes of God, to them 
 we may adapt the words of our greatest English writer, 
 and say that their " seat is the Bosom of God, their 
 voice the harmony of the world, that all things in hea- 
 ven and earth do them homage." These, then, must 
 find their expression in the acts of Him, who knew 
 what was in man ; and what so wonderful as that their 
 entire possession should have interfered not one whit 
 with the perfection of sympathy for human sorrows ? 
 How hard is it for men to attemper these conflicting 
 principles, even in that moderate degTee in which they 
 are present in our hearts? We know that justice has 
 its place on the tribunal, that it is the reflexion of God's 
 rule among the children of men, that its office is to 
 deter from transgression, and its sanction the awful 
 reahties of our final doom. But how difficult to divest 
 it of such harshness as either does or seems to militate 
 against our entire fellow-feeling for mankind." In one 
 onl}^ bosom has it had its perfect abode, and that the 
 only perfect pattern of all sympathy among men. In 
 Him alone the thronging offices of individual affection 
 interfered not with those larger views of universal love, 
 of which man's collective race was the object. For as 
 man. He was the Captain of our salvation, the one per- 
 fect model of our being ; He gave the full example of a 
 life of grace, before in death He made satisfaction for 
 His brethren. 
 
 And herein hes the wonderful depth of Our Lord's 
 sympathy for the afflictions of men. " We have not 
 an High Priest, which cannot be touched with a feehng 
 
94 
 
 CHRISTMAS. 
 
 of our infirmities." Are men in pain or grief, in fear or 
 loneliness ; does the thought of sin overpower, or the 
 dread of death confound them — here then is one, who 
 to all the attributes of a God, unites all the compassion 
 of a brother. 
 
 And it is not immaterial to observe one circumstance 
 in Him, who is said to have borne our sicknesses. Yet 
 from what we read in the Evangelists, we should con- 
 clude that Our Lord, though He died the death, yet did 
 not share the sicknesses of mankind. The reason is, 
 probably, that what He took was our common nature? 
 with all that belongs to the completeness of man's 
 being. Of this, death is a general property, whereas 
 sickness is a peculiar accident of individual men. In- 
 deed it follows commonly, either from some deficiency 
 in their original composition, or from some irregularity 
 in the habits of their life, and therefore seems to have 
 been inapplicable to one in whom humanity dwelt in 
 its perfection. Yet even men's sicknesses He might be 
 said to bear, for in death they are summed up ; the 
 great catastrophe of man's life contains all the lesser 
 forms which prognosticate it ; or, at all events. He felt 
 for men's sicknesses as one who by perfect sympathy 
 was one with themselves. He truly " bore our griefs 
 and carried our sorrows." 
 
 Such signs have we of that real union between man 
 and God, of which this holy season reminds us. Thus 
 did it please the Father, that He should do that great 
 work on which depends not only the atonement for 
 men's sins, but the gift of holiness. For this it is which 
 the sanctification of Our Lord's human nature obtains 
 
CHRISTMAS. 
 
 95 
 
 for His brethren. " For their sakes," He says, I 
 sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified 
 through the truth." This it Avas Avhich Our Lord's 
 birth into the world bestowed upon us. Because 
 Adam's sin had lost the image of God for himself and 
 his children, Our Lord set it forth again in the temple 
 of His own humanity, that in Him there might be a 
 true fountain of life to the sons of men. Therefore it 
 is said by St. Paul of all Christians, " ye have put on 
 the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the 
 image of Him that created Him." And " as we have 
 borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the 
 image of the heavenly." 
 
 This is the great gift of which Holy Scripture is so 
 full ; which was first bestowed in its completeness upon 
 Him who was the Son of God by nature, that afterwards 
 it might in its measure be partaken by us, who are His 
 children only by adoption and grace. For " as He is? 
 so are we in this world." On this it is that the whole 
 constitution of the Church of Christ is built, which 
 would have no place in God's world had not the Son of 
 God taken manhood into personal union with Himself. 
 For there would have been no atonement for sins had 
 He not said, "sacrifice and offering Thou wouldst not, 
 but a body hast Thou prepared Me." And there would 
 have been no Christian graces, had not our nature 
 received " the gift of God," in one who has perfect 
 fellowship with His brethren. And there had been no 
 Church, had He not allowed us by real union to be 
 members of His Body, of His Flesh, and of His Bones. 
 And there would have been no Sacraments, had it not 
 
96 
 
 CHRISTMAS. 
 
 pleased Him that our vile bodies should be made clean 
 through His Body, and our souls washed through His 
 most precious blood. 
 
 With reason, then, is the whole series of the Church's 
 year built on the memory of those events on which 
 depends her existence. Most fitly is the course of her 
 services devoted to the setting forth of His Incarnation 
 in the flesh. Thus do we begin our year with Advent ; 
 we celebrate at this season the birth of Christ; we pass 
 on to His circumcision, when He became obedient to 
 the law ; to Epiphany, when He was manifest to the 
 Gentiles. Then comes the memory of His sufferings 
 in Lent : on Good Friday, His death. Next, Easter- 
 Day, when He rose again for our justification: and the 
 season of Pentecost, when, ascending up into heaven, 
 He gave us back His own presence through the power 
 of the Holy Ghost. Such are some of the means by 
 which the great mercies of Christ Our Lord are per- 
 petually commemorated. 
 
 And now let us notice, in conclusion, some of those 
 practical consequences which the subject suggests. 
 
 First, it sets forth what is the peculiar importance of 
 the means of grace. On this subject men are often 
 wanting in clear and definite conceptions. Some are 
 disposed to look on them as a charm ; others perceiving 
 them to be applied through external observances, are 
 ready to neglect them as trivial and insignificant. Of 
 course, when looked at in themselves, they are wholly 
 worthless. What can be the value of a few words of 
 prayer from the mouth of a weak and erring mortal ? 
 What table is spread so cheaply and simply as the 
 Lord's ; or how can the natural element of water wash 
 
CHRISTMAS. 
 
 97 
 
 away sin ? The thing wliich gives significance to these 
 else idle forms, is the Incarnation of Christ ; and they 
 are indeed worthless, except so far as they minister to 
 union with Him. And thus viewed, there is in them 
 a deep and holy mystery, such as all the world's wealth 
 could not buy, nor its opposition destroy. For what 
 gives to these things their value is, that Christ Our 
 Lord, in His own gracious Person, has re-consecrated 
 humanity, and that the outward ordinances of His 
 grace are the means whereby He receives men into 
 inward communion. 
 
 "What is the gift therefore of Baptism, but that in it 
 we are ingrafted into the new man ; and have thus the 
 gift of a divine life, as from the first man we had our 
 life wliich was natural ? But for this, how could there 
 be Christian education? Is not the education of the 
 young built on the principle of training them to God's 
 service ? Yet are they not heirs of a corrupt nature ? 
 How could we call them then to a better course, unless 
 we supposed them partakers of the gift of grace ? What 
 reason have we to suppose that such grace has been 
 given except it be in Baptism ? " Else were your chil- 
 dren unclean," says St. Paul, " but now are they holy." 
 "For as we have borne the image of the earthy, we 
 shall also bear the image of the heavenly." And this 
 gift St. Paul especially declares to be bestowed in Holy 
 Baptism, " for by one spirit are ye all baptized into one 
 body." It is through that hallowed influence there- 
 fore which flows forth from His humanity upon all 
 His brethren, that this ordinance of the Gospel is so 
 blest. 
 
 And the same may be said of the Holy Eucharist. 
 
98 
 
 CHRISTMAS. 
 
 It is because " then we dwell in Christ and Christ in us, 
 we are one with Christ and Christ with us," that the 
 Lord's Supper is indeed an " heavenly feast." For in 
 it Our crucified Lord by heavenly agency bestows upon 
 us Himself ; " My flesh," He says, " is meat indeed, and 
 My blood is drink indeed." Let Christ's Incarnation be 
 forgotten, let that crucified and now glorious body be 
 lost sight of, in which He still actually intercedes for 
 us in the Father's presence, and all these things, in- 
 stead of living channels of His grace, would become 
 dead figures. But as the winter's day comes in cold 
 and gloomy till the glorious sun lights it up with his 
 beams, so does the warmth and life of all outward 
 means depend on that Sun of righteousness, who at 
 this season arose upon the earth. " The Word was made 
 flesh there, brethren, is your comfort. 
 
 And this, too, is what gives its true dignity to that 
 weak nature of man, which He deigned to unite indis- 
 solubly with Himself For now God is man and man 
 is God. And the honours of the first-born Son over- 
 flow into all His brethren. On this depends that care 
 for man's life which is characteristic of Christian coun- 
 tries. For man is God's image, which Christ Our Lord 
 condescended to adopt. Hence Christian charity, too, 
 has its root ; for we are members one of another. Its 
 Christmas bounty is not merely dictated by the tale of 
 want ; but the great event of the time calls for proofs 
 of our fellow feeling with our brethren. 
 
 Finally, I would observe that in this act of Our 
 Lord's is a warning what inward purity of life may be 
 expected from Christians. Did He thus sanctify His 
 human Being, that it might be the source of sanctifica- 
 
CHRISTMAS. 
 
 99 
 
 tion for all His brethren, and can men live in riot and 
 excess, in impurity and uncleanness ? Is this what the 
 Holy Apostles set forth as the fitting consequence of 
 the Advent of Christ ? " Beloved, now are we the sons 
 of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, 
 but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be 
 like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." Do we deck 
 our Churches with their Christmas gifts, in His honour 
 who is again made known among us, and shall He find 
 our hearts all unprepared for His coming ? Shall there 
 be envy among brethren, and hatred among neighbours, 
 and all the accursed passions which were the produce 
 of the Fall ? Nay, brethren, let us not thus make pre- 
 paration for Christ. But let love and peace be shed 
 abroad in our hearts by that blessed Spirit of peace, 
 through whom Christ incarnate vouchsafes to visit us. 
 Let us gather in thought round the cradle of Our Lord 
 while we now approach His Holy Table, and while we 
 marvel at that fulness of grace which was His natural 
 portion, let us pray that His grace may now and ever- 
 more be made perfect in our weakness. 
 
SERMON IX. 
 
 THE EXALTATION OF NATURE. 
 
 St. John, i. 9. 
 
 [Preached on Christmas Day.] 
 
 " That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into 
 
 the world." 
 
 These words of our Gospel might seem to mean — 
 that which is perfectly certain — that from God alone 
 comes all light to all who are born into the world. Yet 
 their real signification reaches much further. They 
 mean that the true lights by which men are enlightened, 
 was coming into the world. " The true light, which 
 lighteth every man, cometh into the world." So that 
 two things, not one, are here taught us about Christ 
 Our Lord. Not only His is nature declared, whereby 
 before all time He was the fountain of light, but like- 
 wise that coming in the flesh, whereby this day is dis- 
 tinguished. For on this day were made known " good 
 tidings of great joy to all people," when " a light" was 
 set forth " to lighten the Gentiles," and to be " the glory 
 of Thy people Israel." 
 
 Let us look at the text, then, in this view, as being 
 the true declaration of Christmas blessings ; as showing 
 
102 THE EXALTATION OF NATURE. 
 
 not only what Christ was by nature, but also what He 
 became by grace. He loas the light of man's being 
 by nature, because it was no robbery in Him to claim 
 equality with God : He came into the world when He 
 " took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made 
 in the likeness of men." The text thus divides itself 
 naturally into two parts — first. How was Christ the 
 light of man's nature ? and secondly. How did he come 
 into the world ? 
 
 I. Now Christ is the light of nature by virtue of His 
 Godhead. It belongs to Godhead to be the final source 
 of power, glory, and truth. When we inquire about 
 any thing or any substance, our custom is to ask what 
 is its source. For there it is commonly gathered to- 
 gether in its strength. Where is it that the waters 
 have their storehouse ? " God called the dry land earth, 
 and the gathering together of the waters called He 
 seas." From their resting-place in the great deep are 
 waters sucked up into the clouds, or soak into the 
 earth. But their storehouse is the sea : they slumber 
 in its unknown depths ; their mighty billows lash its 
 rocky shores : the sea is the home of waters, their foun- 
 tain and strength. And so is it again with the light 
 of day. Its source is in the sun. Thence come the 
 beams of light : when this glorious orb climbs up the 
 heaven, we have clear day. Whatever enlightens us, 
 reminds us of its presence ; and the aim of every earthly 
 light is to be a mimic sun. For to this our thoughts 
 still return, as being the natural lord of day. Now 
 what the sun is to the light, and ocean to the waters, 
 their source, fountain, storehouse, home — the same do 
 
THE EXALTATION OF NATURE. 
 
 103 
 
 grace, truth, and wisdom, find in God. For " the Word 
 of God Most High is the fountain of wisdom." " She 
 is the breath of the power of God." 
 
 From this only source has the inner nature its illu- 
 mination. Whatever knowledge or purity is found in 
 the w^orld we must trace back to Him. " We may 
 gpeak much," says the writer of Ecclesiasticus, " and 
 yet come short ; wherefore in sum He is all !" For how 
 did man get reason, save because God gave it? Now 
 He who gave, must Himself possess it. He w^ho gives 
 it out to the children of men, must have it in store in 
 His own Being. The fountain will be discovered by 
 observing from what quarter flow the streams. And 
 so says Holy Scripture : " In Him was life, and the 
 life was the light of men." This is what the Psalmist's 
 thoughts turned on : " With Thee is the fountain of 
 life, and in Thy light shall we feee light." God, says 
 Jeremiah, is " the fountain of living waters." And all 
 this, therefore, is true of Christ, because He is by nature 
 God. He is God from God, Light from light. Very 
 God from very God. As the Father hath life in Him- 
 self, so Christ, according to His Godhead, is the natural 
 source of light and knowledge. 
 
 When we read that God hath given to the Son to 
 have life in Himself, this refers especially to Christ 
 according to His man's nature. Look at Him as God, 
 and He stands in no need of receiving that as a gift, 
 which belonged to Him by nature. For Christ is by 
 nature God the Son. A son, by the order of nature, is 
 like his father. If the father be a man, it is nothing 
 unusual, but the order of nature, for the son to be a 
 man likewise. So it is here, as the Father is God, so 
 
104 
 
 THE EXALTATION OF NATURE. 
 
 is the Son. And therefore do those things which be- 
 long to Godhead belong to Him. He Himself renews 
 the nature of the beings which He has created. As the 
 Word of God was peculiarly engaged in the work of 
 man's creation, so from Him comes that divine power 
 and grace, whereby men are re-created to holiness. 
 
 II. But this leads on to the second part of the text : 
 how this true light came into the world. The Light 
 is God the Word : Very God of very God : one with 
 the Father : partaking with the Father of that glory 
 which belonged to them before all worlds : but how did 
 this light come into the world ? In one sense it had 
 never left the world : for such a thing as conscience 
 there had always been, and conscience is God the Word 
 speaking to our hearts. Therefore is it said by St. 
 John that the life is the light of men. How then could 
 it come into the world ? It came into the world by 
 taking its place among the world's inhabitants : this 
 ancient and original light clothed itself in a fleshly 
 covering, and was a man among mortals. " He did 
 show Himself upon earth, and conversed with men." 
 This was the manner in which the light came into the 
 world. 
 
 This is the great miracle which to-day reveals. " He 
 was in the world" before, " and the world was made by 
 Him, and the world knew Him not." And yet in His 
 former dwelling among men, " He left not Himself alto- 
 gether without witness." He spoke before in conscience 
 or by reason ; thus was He God the Enlightener. But 
 now was He undertaking a new office. He came in that 
 fleshly nature into which He had infused the glory of 
 God, that so He might communicate it to His brethren. 
 
THE EXALTATION OF NATURE. 105 
 
 What can be so great a mystery as this ? We think 
 much and justly of Our Lord's death for sinners. We 
 remember how He shed His precious blood upon the 
 Cross for our salvation. We read of those long agonies 
 which He under^vent for us in the Garden, when He 
 bore the burthen of a guilty world. But all these won- 
 ders depend on the truth of His nature. If He had 
 not been a man, how could He have appeared for His 
 fellows ? To take our nature, to be one of us, to have 
 a common interest -with men — this lay at the root of 
 all He did for them. He took that flesh and blood 
 which you and I have inherited from Adam our fore- 
 father ; He took such a soul as He has given to us. He 
 sanctified what thus He put on ; and by this means He 
 made it the beginning of purity and life to all other 
 men. There was light before the sun was made. Light 
 had its dwelling, we know not how, in God's heaven ; 
 it floated about as pleased Him, in the boundless sea of 
 His unsearchable dominion ; but so soon as the sun was 
 made, it was gathered into this glorious orb, that thence 
 it might issue forth to enlighten mankind. Still does 
 the sun go forth as a bridegroom from his chamber. 
 
 Now, as light has its dwelling in the sun, so is the 
 man's nature, which was taken by Christ, the seat of 
 all grace and holiness. He bade them dwell there, that 
 thence they might issue forth into all those who are 
 united to Him. And this was that coming of light into 
 the world, of which the text informs us. It took place 
 when grace and holiness came down from their native 
 seat in the bosom of God, and took up their dwelling 
 in a son of Adam. Was not this a real coming into 
 the world. Before, these things had belonged to the hea- 
 
 8 
 
106 
 
 THE EXALTATION OF NATURE. 
 
 venly state; they belonged now to the earthly. Before, 
 the very angels had not possessed them in perfection ; 
 and now they were possessed perfectly by a man. And 
 tliis man was the Man Christ Jesus. This man was 
 born to-day. Well, then, may we keep Christmas-tide 
 with reverent worship, and affectionate interest, and 
 joyful love, and humble thankfulness. For our glorious 
 brother is born. Our common nature is exalted. Our 
 being is made higher than the angels. God is become 
 man, and man God. 
 
 Brethren, I fear there are those who either keep not 
 at all this holy feast, or keep it but as a day of vulgar 
 mirth, and ungodly idleness. Oh, how little do such 
 men understand the real happiness of their nature ! 
 How little do they see what it is which separates them 
 from the beasts ! What a fearful abuse of that nature, 
 which has been made higher than the angels ! What 
 a wide gap is there in man's being 1 It reaches up to 
 the very throne of God — this is its highest step. It 
 reaches down to the very pit of hell — this is its lowest 
 degradation. The Head and new Father of our race — 
 He who was born this day — in Him is it exalted — those 
 who live in sin and lust, and so do Satan's work, that 
 they may share Satan's portion — in them is it degraded. 
 Which family will you join ? Will you take service 
 with Him who was born to-day ? Will you have a 
 Christian name, a Christian life, a Christian end ? I 
 hope you will. I entreat you to do so. Oh, it is easy 
 to say this. Natural feeling compels it. But He who 
 was born into the world to-day, that He might give 
 Himself a sacrifice for His brethren, did much more 
 than say this. See, He sanctified His man's nature, 
 
THE EXALTATION OF J^-ATURE. 
 
 107 
 
 that it miglit be the seed of grace to all other of Adam's 
 children. He brought doAvn into it the holiness of God- 
 head, that His purified body might sanctify ours wliich 
 is impure. 
 
 And this is what He offers to all devout and penitent 
 worshippers in His Holy Sacraments. Some men think 
 little of these holy ordinances, and why? Because they 
 do not perceive the full amount of that gift, which was 
 bestowed upon man s nature by the birth of Christ. If 
 they knew the gift of God, and who it is who feeds 
 them with His flesh and blood in the Holy Communion, 
 they would ask of Him, and He would give them that 
 holier and purer nature, which dwelt in Himself To 
 understand and believe what was done to-day, is to see 
 why such signal blessings are to be found at the Lord's 
 table. For what happens there, is that through out- 
 ward elements of bread and wine, that hallowed nature, 
 which Christ made pure and perfect, is given for the 
 spiritual renewal of the sons of men. Do you see, then 
 the greatness of this gift ? Do you see how man's being 
 was altered ? Do you see that by the birth of to-day 
 there was a regeneration of man's nature ? And can 
 you think little of those means, whereby this gift may 
 spread into yourselves, and fill you with all those bless- 
 ings, which Christ has bestowed upon your common 
 nature ? For Christ was born into the world to-day. 
 But He is born in each man by sanctification and grace. 
 " My little children," writes St. Paul to the Galatians, 
 "of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ le 
 formed in you." 
 
 And how is Christ formed in you? You cannot 
 make Him for yourselves ? He is no image made by 
 
108 
 
 THE EXALTATION OF NATURE. 
 
 hands, or thought, or feeUng. He comes to you from 
 without, through the ordinances of His grace, in His 
 Holy Sacraments. Thus do you spiritually receive 
 your Maker. Every earnest and repentant spirit, which 
 opens the ready door of faith, shall surely receive this 
 heavenly visitant. Come, then, I beseech you, and let 
 this be indeed a Christmas day to every one of you. 
 Let Christ, who was born into manhood to-day, be bom 
 anew m each one of your hearts. Keceive Him who 
 gave Himself once in the virgin's womb, that He might 
 give Himself perpetually on the altar. Draw near in 
 faith, and lift up your hearts with your hands unto 
 God in the heavens. 
 
SERMOX X. 
 
 LENT. 
 
 Daniel x. 2, 3. 
 
 III those days 1 Dan iel was mourning three full weeks. I ate no 
 pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth . . . till 
 three whole weeks were fulfilled.^\ 
 
 Thus does the Prophet describe a season , m which 
 God was pleased to visit him by His especial power. 
 
 From the first day that thou didst set thine heart to 
 understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God," the 
 angel told him, " thy words were heard, and I am come 
 for thy words." It was not without result, therefore, 
 that he cut off an interval of time from the distractions 
 of ordinary life. A lesson this, the more instructive, 
 because Daniel was a layman, and busied in w^orldly 
 cares. 
 
 In this bustling age, men are apt to find excuses for 
 declining the force of Scriptural warnings. If David 
 " fasted and lay in sackcloth," it w^as in the freedom of 
 barbarous times. If St. Paul was " in fastings often," 
 he was an Apostle, who needed to keep no terms with 
 the world, because he had devoted himself to a mission- 
 ary hfe. If Cornelius was accepted, when he had 
 
110 
 
 LENT. 
 
 prayed with fasting to the ninth hour, he was a hea- 
 then. If Our Lord hungered in the wilderness, He was 
 more than man. But what shall be said of Daniel, the 
 inhabitant of a court, the descendant of kings, on whom 
 lay the affairs of the province of Babylon, when we find 
 him devoting weeks to self-denial, prayer, and inter- 
 course with God ? This was no Jewish form : it was 
 not superseded therefore by the purer worship of the 
 Church of Christ. It shows in what manner holy men 
 have found it expedient to break in upon that concupis- 
 cence of the flesh, which needs at times to be unusually 
 checked, that so the spiritual nature may assert usual 
 supremacy. Thus may we retire for a season with 
 Christ into the mountain, that we may return to mix 
 better in the intercourse of men. 
 
 The practice is sanctioned by St. Paul, 1 Cor. vii. 5, a 
 jDassage on which Bishop Taylor grounds this observa- 
 tion [Soly Lwing and Dying, p. 12) : " Let him that is 
 most busied set apart some solemn time every year, in 
 which, quitting all worldly business, he may attend 
 w^holly to fasting and prayer, and the dressing of his 
 soul by confessions, meditations, and attendance upon 
 God : that he may make up his accounts, renew his 
 vows, make amends for his carelessness, and retire back 
 again, from w^hence levity, and the vanities of the 
 world, or the opportunity of temptations, or the distrac- 
 tion of secular affairs have carried him." 
 
 Now two dangers, though not its necessary result, 
 seem not unlikely to arise from such a practice. The 
 one, that there seems too much of human choice in men's 
 selecting such seasons of voluntary self-restraint. The 
 other, that such especial consecration of ourselves to 
 
LENT. 
 
 Ill 
 
 religious duties may lead to formality, or to spiritual 
 pride. These evils do not spring necessarily from this 
 practice, more than from any other use of the means of 
 grace, but Satan might build such temptations upon 
 them. No doubt it was to obviate this that our Church 
 has in her wisdom enjoined the use of the present sea- 
 son, and based it moreover on the more especial imita- 
 tion of the example of Christ. In this manner the 
 temptation to pride is obviated, for none can be puffed 
 up at rendering obedience to a common precept : and 
 the sacred pattern which she sets before us is fitted to 
 absorb any lower thoughts, by which men might other 
 wise be molested. 
 
 Such is the nature of tliis season of Lent, to which 
 all Church-people are enjoined in one way or another to 
 pay attention ; to which many already pay regard ; and 
 which I am persuaded will be still more heeded, in pro- 
 portion as men feel more deeply the evangelic doctrines 
 of the need of repentance, grace, and union with Christ 
 Our Lord. For although it be true that the clergy are 
 bound by a solemn additional vow to render obedience 
 to the Church's laws, so that carelessness in them would 
 be more heinous guilt, yet the general promises of Bap- 
 tism plainly require of men such Christian improvement 
 of the means of grace, as opportunity offers. The prac- 
 tical question then is, what use we can each make of 
 this period of Lent ; how can we extract from it those 
 benefits, for which Daniel was glad to sacrifice the com- 
 forts of his ordinary life ? 
 
 First, then, it is the Church's time of revival. If 
 duly used, there is none, in which we might hope to 
 
112 
 
 LENT. 
 
 see a larger harvest of immortal souls. Is not the 
 world in common too strong for us ? Do not we find 
 its allurements too enticing to be resisted ? Is it not in 
 vain often that Christ's ministers raise their warning 
 voice, and tell men of the fleeting nature of all transi- 
 tory joys ? Of what signal benefit then might it be, if 
 men were accustomed for this season, at all events, to 
 hold themselves dispensed from the ordinary calls of 
 pleasure, and to open their hearts to the impression and 
 prospect of things divine. 
 
 In truth, it is probably because they will not use such 
 salutary intervals, that God's Providence often deals with 
 men by His afflictive dispensations. Many a man, who 
 will not give his ordinary employments this interrup- 
 tion, is mercifully interrupted by that chastening hand 
 which would save him from utter perdition. " If we 
 would judge ourselves we should not be judged." How 
 many fits of sickness have been sent in mercy on those, 
 whose hours of health they would never give to God. 
 The enforced meditations of the sleepless night and 
 painful day have been God's merciful provision for 
 securing those occasions of thought, which men's care- 
 lessness would not render. How many bereavements 
 have been designed to disgust men with those worldly 
 comforts, which, in scenes of cheerfulness, they would 
 never sacrifice. The bereaved parent, the widowed 
 partner, are thus taught how insipid are earthly joys. 
 Happy if then thus they learn to hold intercourse with 
 Christ their Saviour, to taste the sweetness of prayer, to 
 take delight in sharing His portion — if they truly wean 
 themselves from the transitory objects, from which 
 
LENT. 
 
 113 
 
 God's chastening hand was designed to recall then^. 
 For "when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord, 
 that we should not be condemned with the world." 
 
 Now it is that such heavy and afflicting remedies may 
 not be needed, that we call men to turn betimes to the 
 service of God. " Judge therefore yourselves, brethren, 
 that ye be not judged of the Lord." What is there in 
 truth so appalling to any believing mind, as the unin- 
 terrupted prosperity of a careless sinner ? He has no 
 checks, because God allows him to nourish his heart 
 against the day of slaughter. What hope is there then 
 for his escape ? Unless some fearful visitation calls him 
 to repentance, unless he is made a monument of the 
 present judgments of the Almighty, there must await 
 him the more awful vengeance of eternal fire. He dies 
 decently, it may be, and is buried. He has himself no 
 particular alarm, neither is anything permitted to 
 awaken his dormant conscience. His body sleeps in 
 honour, perhaps, with his brethren. But where is the 
 man himself — the immortal, unalterable spirit? In 
 hell hehfts up his eyes, being in torment. If there be 
 any hope of arousing men from so dangerous a state, it 
 must be by the return of seasons, when the Church 
 takes account, as it were, of her careless children, and 
 calls them by her warning voice to flee from the wrath 
 to come. 
 
 And this is the more needed, because the early admis- 
 sion of men by Baptism to the privileges of the Church, 
 leaves many unvisited by any especial call to repent- 
 ance. Having been partakers of that regenerating 
 gift on which all obedience must of course be founded, 
 they suppose that all is done. They have grown up 
 
114 
 
 LENT. 
 
 careless and worldly. Yet there comes no further call 
 to them. There is no peculiar attempt for their conver- 
 sion and recovery. They have wandered from the fold : 
 but none is in condition or has opportunity to urge their 
 return. If they were Heathen we should send mis- 
 sionaries to convert them : if they were children we 
 should send ministers to baptize them ; but Christians 
 as they are, what means is there to employ, though 
 they are in truth in the gall of bitterness and bond of 
 iniquity. Now Lent, duly used, might be of signal 
 benefit to such persons : a missionary season within the 
 Church, when her earnest sons deplored their own sins, 
 and peculiar efforts were employed for the conversion 
 of her wanderers. 
 
 Looking at the season of Lent in this light, how 
 valuable is its peculiar connexion with the sufferings 
 of Christ. First we have this season of forty days, 
 during which we recall His fasting in the desert : and 
 then come the memorable incidents of His stupendous 
 passion. How deeply might the Holy Week, which 
 ends this season, impress on us the truths which His 
 death recalls. His entrance into Jerusalem on Palm 
 Sunday : His two successive visits to it on the following 
 days : on Wednesday His betrayal : His agony and the 
 Institution of the Holy Eucharist on Thursday : His 
 death on Friday : on Saturday His resting in the grave : 
 then His triumph over death, ere he led captivity cap- 
 tive, and gave gifts to men. Surely it is not in vain 
 that this especial season is set forth for reviving the 
 Church's love, and gathering new sons into her ancient 
 bosom, when it thus brings before us in such lively 
 colours the earthly career of her great Leader. When 
 
LENT. 
 
 115 
 
 can the evil of sin be so deeplj^ felt as in the contem- 
 plation of Christ's sacrifice ? When can the fearful end 
 of the sinner be so fully anticipated, as when we gaze 
 upon the price of his release ? What so likely to affect 
 men's minds, as to exhibit these truths as things acted 
 before their eyes, and whereby their own hearts should 
 be riven? 
 
 But besides the effect of such seasons in gathering 
 new members into the number of Christ's earnest people, 
 their effect would be great in increasing the devotion of 
 those who already serve God. And this we all want. 
 We must all feel the force of temptation. Those who 
 least dread, have most reason to fear it. How salutary 
 is it therefore to be yearly called to examine our state, 
 and by fresh penitence and prayer to draw near to God. 
 The importance of such a practice can hardly he over- 
 rated. But in what especial acts shall it be embodied ? 
 " Thy people turn to Thee," says our Church at the 
 commencement of Lent, " in weeping, fasting, and 
 praying." Especial repentance, additional prayers, 
 fasting — these are the three acts which she enjoins, 
 whereby we may answer on our part to that quickening 
 grace which is to revive and renew us. 
 
 Actual fasting is a means of deadness to the world 
 and of preparation for prayer, the effect whereof none 
 can estimate but those who try it, but which the ex- 
 ample of all holy men recorded in Scripture is surely 
 sufficient to recommend. But because want of usage 
 makes it strange to most persons in this day, and to 
 many want of strength may render it impossible, there- 
 fore we have in the text a kind of fasting which all 
 might imitate. Those who cannot renounce the neces- 
 
116 
 
 LENT. 
 
 saries, might renounce the delicacies of life. "In those 
 days," says Daniel, " I ate no pleasant meat." But to 
 most persons, some actual diminution in the quantity of 
 food, or some change in the kind of it, would probably 
 be found the best preparation for a season of meditation 
 and of prayer. To this the Apostle refers, when he 
 speaks approvingly to the Corinthians of men's giving 
 themselves for a time to prayer and fasting. 
 
 But such self-denial should be attended by peculiar 
 acts of devotion. Men should set apart some few 
 minutes from the bustle and heat of every day, above 
 that which they usually give to prayer, when with in- 
 creased zeal they should seek God's mercy for them- 
 selves and their brethren. Why should not men retire 
 at mid-day, or before their daily meal, and give some 
 quater of an hour to solitary meditation on Christ's 
 sufferings, on the evil of sin, on death and judgment ? 
 For want of teaching, many know neither the nature 
 nor importance of meditation. Their subject should be 
 fixed beforehand. The general tenor of their thoughts 
 should be arranged. They should allot some specified 
 time to it. Suppose their subject to be the remembrance 
 of their own death. Let them consider how certain it 
 is — how soon and sudden it may be — then let them 
 realize its consequences, and see whether they are pre- 
 pared for its approach. Such a subject daily proposed 
 to the mind could hardly fail, by God's blessing, to 
 make it serious. 
 
 And further, to pass to the importance of prayer. In 
 it we have the soul's utterance of its wants to God. 
 And especially should we value, at this season, all those 
 occasions for public prayer when Christ our Lord meets 
 
LENT, 
 
 117 
 
 us more iminediately in His Sanctuary. How precious 
 to the humbled spirit, when self-denial and meditation 
 have done their work, to enter into God's courts and 
 find there the reality of Our Lord's promise, that where 
 two or three are gathered together in My name, there 
 am I in the midst. How soothing at such a time to be 
 assured of that real presence of Christ Our Saviour, 
 which He bestows in that life-giving ordinance of the 
 'Holy Eucharist, wherein He communicates Himself. 
 Yea, Lord, though the world despise, and the unbeliev- 
 ing neglect Thee, yet be Thy promise fulfilled to the 
 little flock of Thy faithful worshippers. 
 
 And now, if it seem to some that our circumstances 
 scarce need that humiliation and sorrow of heart which 
 was not unnatural in the exile of Babylon, I would say, 
 in fine, that never surely was the Church more fitly 
 called to similar complaint. Each year, indeed, we 
 hear the words, Let the bridegroom go forth out of his 
 chamber, and the bride out of her closet ; let the Priests, 
 the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and 
 the altar." And is there not a cause ? Is it nothing 
 that in our very land should grow up thousands who 
 neither fear God nor regard men? That open sins 
 should be so prevalent in a Christian land ; that ignor- 
 ance should be so rife; crime so increasing? Is it 
 nothing that the wealth and numbers of our great towns 
 should increase so much more rapidly than the means 
 of grace and the opportunities of worship ? Is not 
 the chasm increasing between the different ranks of 
 society, which may soon swallow up all our blessings ? 
 Are there not many by whom God is habituallj^ 
 neglected — are there not numbers among us for whom 
 
118 
 
 LENT. 
 
 Christ has died in vain ? Can we hear this without 
 grief ; can we speak of it without tears ? Is mirth and 
 joy a fitting feeUng, while God is dishonoured, and man 
 lost ? Look at every great city, and how many will 
 you find who enters God's House — who seem to be as 
 wanting in the thought of God as the beasts of the field. 
 Look at those who cultivate your fields : are they not 
 immortal beings ? Is not each one of them made for 
 heaven or hell ? Must he not answer for himself before 
 Almighty God as much as if he were a prince or an 
 emperor? How many of them are there of whom 
 Christ's ministers know nothing ; what habits of prayer 
 do they possess ; what hope have they of reward ; what 
 fear of punishment ? Even on God's day of rest, they 
 have no heart to serve God, no remembrance of His 
 laws. Surely, surely, it is enough to make a wise man 
 weep, to see them thus " go down like a beast to the 
 slaughter, or like a fool to the correction of the stocks." 
 
 Again — a not less afflicting thought — is not the 
 Church, the very Bride of Christ, rent by division and 
 disputes ? Are not the minds even of good men full of 
 suspicion, unkindness, and jealousy? Is there not bit- 
 terness even among brethren ? " It was not an open 
 enemy that did me this dishonour, neither was it mine 
 adversary that did magnify himself against me." " We 
 took sweet counsel together, and walked in the House 
 of God as friends." Surely it is thus that we should 
 look at all those divisions, by which the inward peace 
 of Christ's Church is torn and wounded. Such evils 
 can only be remedied by humility, meekness, forbear- 
 ance and prayer. And those may best hope to heal 
 them, who have thrice a week opportunity of suppli- 
 
LENT. 
 
 119 
 
 eating in the Church's words, that if so be they have 
 ^•enemies and slanderers," God may "forgive and turn 
 their hearts." Surely there is true might in a devout 
 man's prayers. For Christ Our Lord hears them ; and 
 in His hand are all hearts : He can bend our brother's 
 will, He can purify our own hearts. Even at the be- 
 ginning of our supplication He will come forth to 
 help us. 
 
SEEMOX XI. 
 
 EELIGIOUS DECLENSION. 
 
 Revelations ii. 4. 
 
 [Preached in Lent.] 
 
 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou has left thy 
 first love.'' 
 
 Whether this part of the Book of Revelations has a 
 deep and prophetic meaning, need not now be consi- 
 dered. It would certainly not be unnatural to attach 
 to it some further signification than meets the incurious 
 ear. But its plain, immediate, personal lesson, is ap- 
 plicable to the present time, and sufficient for the ]3re- 
 sent occasion. That lesson is the danger of religious 
 declension. Let us first consider the nature of this evil 
 and the risk of it ; and we may then see readily enough 
 how displeasing it must be to God, and how dangerous 
 to the souls of men. Finally, it may be observed that 
 the present season is designed as an especial guard 
 against it. 
 
 The t€xt, then, sets forth the danger of falling away 
 from Grace. There is such a thing as to addict our- 
 selves to God's service, and yet afterwards to fall back 
 from Him. " These things saith He that holdeth the 
 
 seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst 
 
 9 
 
122 
 
 RELIGIOUS DECLENSION". 
 
 of the seven golden candlesticks : I know thy works, 
 and thj labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst 
 not bear them which are evil ; and thou hast tried 
 them which say they are Apostles, and are not, and 
 hast found them liars. Nevertheless I have somewhat 
 against thee, because thou hast left thy first love." The 
 state complained of is not total alienation from God, a 
 life of open sin, avowed worldly-mindedness — but the 
 abandonment of that love of God by which the soul 
 was once possessed, and which formerly bound it to its 
 Saviour. 
 
 But we must not suppose, that an alteration of 
 feelings is all which is intended. Love is strong as 
 death : feelings are uncertain and precarious as the 
 dreams of infancy. Love strengthens by exercise : feel- 
 ings are deadened by familiarity with that which ex- 
 cites them. Love directs the actings of the whole man : 
 but men often entertain feelings which are contradicted 
 by their conduct. Good feelings, therefore, are a de- 
 sirable thing, and assist in many ways our religious 
 course, but neither does their excitement show us to be 
 good, nor their lack of excitement show us to be evil. 
 No man is good save by being one with Christ, and 
 when the love of Christ rules within him. And the 
 love of Christ is such a permanent, abiding principle of 
 affection and affiance in His holy will, as shall lead us 
 to make it the perpetual rule of our thoughts, words, 
 and actions. It must regulate not only the external 
 actions of our lives, but the inward actions of our hearts. 
 It is a hidden rule, which none but ourselves and God's 
 Spirit are privy too; nay, we ourselves may mistake 
 ourselves, and God's Spirit only cannot be deceived. 
 
RELIGIOUS DECLENSION. 
 
 123 
 
 For He is " greater than our hearts, and knoweth all 
 things." Such is that love of Christ which men may 
 have, and then leave, and which gives occasion, there- 
 fore, to Our Lord's warning, " remember from whence 
 thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works." 
 
 Let us dwell shortly on the nature of this decline 
 and the causes of it. The words of the text refer to 
 those who are not openly ungodly men. The caution 
 is to such as by habit and profession, and general de- 
 sire, and popular thought, are servants of God. And 
 if there be one such person who thinks that to himself 
 such a warning is needless, to him we say plainh^, 
 " thou art the man." Thou art he, to whom this cau- 
 tion is signally applicable. For " he that trust eth in 
 his own heart is a fool." But probably no one doubts 
 that the warning is of importance for all of us. The 
 only question to ask is, how this danger arises. My 
 brethren, it must come from the secret loosening of 
 those ties which bind us to Christ our Lord, and thus 
 are the means through which His Spirit flows forth 
 into us. For since the soul's life is from Him, if He 
 cease to quicken, we cease to live. Let the sun with- 
 draw his quickening rays, and the world of nature lan- 
 guishes. Let Christ Our Lord withdraw His power, 
 and an equal deadness will possess the world of grace. 
 
 The decay of man's spirit, therefore, must come from 
 those secret declinings, whereby we cease to hold on to 
 Him. Such are the neglect of prayer, the failure of 
 watchfulness and self-denial. These are rather to be 
 mentioned than the neglect of those outward means, 
 whereby Christ joins us to Himself, because to forego 
 them is an open and avowed act, about which none can 
 
124 
 
 RELIGIOUS DECLENSION. 
 
 deceive themselves ; but to use them without inward 
 earnestness and reUsh is the most natural manner in 
 which spiritual sloth assaults the heart. This is why 
 sloth is spoken of as the last and most dangerous of 
 those ''deadly sins/' against which we have just be- 
 sought God in the words of our Litany. The man 
 gains the habit, as it were, of using his eyes without 
 seeing ; he comes to Church, but does not inwardly ap- 
 prehend Christ's presence ; he comes to the altar, but 
 does not discern the Lord's Body ; he uses words of 
 prayer in private, but his heart is not there — such are 
 some of the steps by which spiritual sloth benumbs 
 the soul, and builds up a wall between man and his 
 Saviour. 
 
 Now, if the only difference was a deficiency in the 
 acuteness of his feelings, this might be traced to bodily 
 causes; it might be a grief, but could not be a sin. 
 Sometimes, no doubt, the unseen world presses upon us 
 with unwonted power, the gift of tears and fervency is 
 more largely dispensed, and the soul can cast itself with 
 unusual earnestness upon God. The possession of such 
 feelings is to be desired : the want of them is no proof 
 that men are fallen from grace. Their want may be 
 supplied by greater humility, seriousness, faith and 
 obedience : let us only truly realize the presence and 
 power of Christ our Saviour, and whatever be the tem- 
 porary intensity of the spiritual frame, we may address 
 ourselves to% Him through those means whereby we 
 know that He gives Himself, and say, " I will not let 
 Thee go except thou bless me." This is the very mys- 
 tery of Our Lord's Incarnation, that having joined 
 Himself to our nature, He has appointed means of 
 
RELIGIOUS DECLENSION. 
 
 125 
 
 grace whereby we may be assured, if we come sincerely, 
 that we are joined to Him, and therefore cannot lose 
 His presence. Our spirits are not required to raise 
 themselves by their own inward buoyancy to the great 
 Spirit of the Universe — a reach too high for man's 
 weakness, and which, in the hour of our dejection, we 
 could hardly attempt — but " God is in Christ reconcil- 
 ing the world unto Himself" To Him we may come 
 even in our hour of sorrow, and cast ourselves upon 
 Him, as one who has experienced our weakness, and is 
 acquainted with our griefs. 
 
 The case, then, of which we speak is not that of the 
 man who faints from weakness, is assaulted by doubts, 
 or cast down by dejection — such a man may and must 
 betake himself to his present Saviour ; and the humility 
 of the broken heart will never be despised. What we 
 speak of is the case of those who feel no such perplexity, 
 in whom the benumbing influence of sin has extin- 
 guished, or at least deadened, the sense of want ; who 
 live tolerably well satisfied with their state, but without 
 any living perception of the reality of Christ's gifts, or 
 any fervent desire of His presence. Is such considered 
 to be an unusual case ? Alas! it is fearfully common. 
 And whence does it arise ? There may be many 
 causes : but none perhaps are more usual than success 
 in the world, an easy course of prosperity, unbroken 
 health, a lively sense of pleasure, and the society of 
 worldly friends. These things make up what is called 
 a prosperous lot in this world ; and unless for the signal 
 grace of God, they are enough in themselves to ruin a 
 man's soul. 
 
 For how easily does worldly success occupy the 
 
126 
 
 RELIGIOUS DECLENSION. 
 
 heart. How apt it is to conjure up gaudy visions, which 
 till a man's imagination and possess his souL He dwells 
 upon his schemes, he enlarges to himself upon the en- 
 larging amount of his possessions ; by this step perhaps 
 his family will be provided for, thus will he attain the 
 distinction which he covets : so he goes on, such 
 thoughts follow him to the House of God ; in his closet 
 they build up a wall between him and Christ ; prayer 
 is of little moment to him, the unseen world is not pre- 
 sent to his thoughts — where his treasure is, there will 
 his heart be also. In like manner does worldly society 
 and the love of pleasure take possession of the heart. 
 '^She that liveth in pleasure," says the Apostle, "is 
 dead while she liveth." It besots the heart, the strict- 
 ness of the Gospel rule becomes distasteful, prayer, 
 self-denial, watchfulness, become wearisome, are neg- 
 lected or forgotten. 
 
 Or again, to take a quite different instance; a bitter, 
 censorious, and uncharitable temper, has a similar effect 
 in deadening the soul. It destroys that affectionate, 
 loving, simple affiance, whereby we should hold inter- 
 course with Christ Our Lord. Uncharitable words or 
 unkind feelings are like a rankling sore, which disable 
 the soul, when it should move forth in love to its Sa- 
 viour. Yet this temper often arises in men, who are 
 little conscious of their own defects : even religion is in 
 danger of degenerating into party spirit, and the very 
 service of God may in this way become the hindrance 
 to its own success. 
 
 These are some examples of that danger under which 
 we all lie, of going backward in our spiritual course. 
 The cause of all such evils is the neglect of a due use 
 
RELIGIOUS DECLENSION. 
 
 127 
 
 of God's grace : the remedy of tliem must be a more 
 earnest love, and a greater watchfulness. Yet it cannot 
 be doubted that they grievously displease God, and that 
 men's souls therefore are fearfully perilled by them. 
 For the very purpose of our being is that we should be 
 fitted here for God's service. And why did Christ Our 
 Lord take our nature, save that we should put on His ? 
 His purified and exalted manhood was designed to be 
 the renewing leaven of our defiled and sensual humanity- 
 This is the very object of the Church of Christ, in 
 which those who are born heirs of sin are new-born 
 into the fellowship of their Saviour, that the pure, the 
 heavenly, the spiritual seed may quicken that which is 
 earthly and grovelling. Why else are there Sacraments 
 wherein we may be made one with Christ, and prayers 
 whereby we may maintain our perpetual alliance with 
 Him? And what can more offend Him than that 
 the love of this world should so besot us, that this our 
 glorious portion should be hidden from our eyes ? 
 
 Thus is the Spirit grieved and quenched. No outward 
 force can overpower it. It is proof against all assaults 
 to separate men from God. But inward unfaithfulness 
 can estrange it. When Our Great Head was in the flesh, 
 the sharpest assaults of Satan were made upon Him in 
 vain. For since there was no weakness within, they 
 were of necessity only external attacks. Therefore 
 every weapon of Satan rebounded from His invincible 
 armour. But with us, how poor, weak, timid, worthless 
 a temptation is often fatal to our peace ! The reason 
 is, that we have an inward enemy. The grace of God 
 indeed has been bestowed on all those who have been 
 elected into His Church. Were it not for this, there 
 
128 
 
 RELIGIOUS DECLENSION. 
 
 would be no basis on which to build a Christian educa- 
 tion. But then concupiscence is not eradicated. And 
 therefore it is that Satan possesses so much power to 
 hurt. And thereby is the very object of man's being 
 defeated, and the merciful purposes of Christ our Sa- 
 viour are brought to naught. 
 
 Now it is with an especial view of guarding against 
 this danger that the present season is set apart. From 
 a feeling of the perpetual risk which we run from 
 Satan's assaults, and from our own weakness, the Church 
 yearly calls us to examine our estate towards God and 
 man, and to set apart this season for a serious survey 
 of our condition, and an earnest attempt after a closer 
 walk with God. The need of especial times for reflec- 
 tion and self-denial, is apparent from the examples of 
 all holy men. No man has ever made a great ascent 
 towards God, who has not used every means of guard- 
 ing against his heart's deceitfulness. True it is that 
 such seasons may be used unprofitable, or even made an 
 evil : we may think their observance an excuse for 
 greater worldliness at other times, or we may be proud 
 of ourselves, because we use this season of humiliation 
 more devoutly than others. This is like the conduct of 
 those who suppose that to serve God on the Lord's day, 
 is an excuse for serving Satan during the week. But 
 the fitting and natural use of such a season is that to 
 which the Church exhorts us, that by devoting a part 
 of the year to God's peculiar service, we may be 
 strengthened to serve Him more fervently all the rest. 
 
 And such a practice is more especially needed in the 
 present day, when the Church and the world are so 
 blended together, that the Church cannot make rules 
 
RELIGIOUS DECLENSION. 
 
 129 
 
 or devise expedients for the better discharge of her 
 work, unless they are approved and ordered by the 
 rulers of the world. Now this time of Lent is the only 
 public usage which remains to her as a peculiar means 
 either of testifying against the unconverted, or of arous- 
 ing the forgetful to renewed devotion. Something is 
 done in that Commination Service, which is her solemn 
 appeal to God against the Avaywardness of her children. 
 But when we look upon the vast crowds of Heathen 
 Christians, who not only fill our prisons, but throng our 
 market places, we see that some more especial means 
 are needed for their conversion. It is vain to speak to 
 them in Church, where they never come to listen. The 
 Church needs to go to seek them amidst the loathsome 
 haunts of misery and sin, and to testify to them of the 
 wrath to come. Heaven and Hell, Salvation and 
 Judgment, need to be preached by Missionaries in the 
 lanes and alleys of our cities, as much as on the lonely 
 shores of Gentile barbarism. 
 
 For these ends our present system has hardly made 
 sufficient provision. And the decent, orderly, undeviat- 
 ing rule, which is adapted rather to build up the 
 believer than to convert the careless, is not unlikely also 
 to be even injurious to those who have a more earnest 
 view of things. When all goes on in a smooth and 
 equal manner, there is nothing to cast men upon first 
 principles, and to make them take serious account of 
 their state. Some interruption then of their ordinary 
 condition is peculiarly needed. The usual habits of 
 life may thus be broken up. Men may have time to 
 ask themselves where their heart is fixed, and to take 
 measure of those eternal things, which are so commonly 
 
130 
 
 RELIGIOUS DECLENSION. 
 
 forgotten. Tliey may open their hearts perhaps to 
 God, and be shocked at observing that year has passed 
 after year, while they have done so little for His service, 
 have been so little weaned from the world, have made 
 so little advance in the love of His will. The very 
 breaking off from worldly cares and thoughts — the re- 
 nouncing of pleasures — a self-denying and restrained 
 life, will be great helps towards such an examination. 
 They will not of themselves indeed raise the soul to 
 heaven ; for this God's grace only can effect, but the 
 sacrifice will be more easily kindled into a flame, if the 
 fuel be first dried and prepared for it. 
 
 Now with a view of effecting this object, men should 
 have an especial rule of life at the present season, by 
 which, so far as may be, they should regulate them- 
 selves ; they should cut off something from their com- 
 mon indulgences, and give themselves to a serious 
 examination of their inward state. The daily use of 
 some of the Penitential Psalms might be superadded to 
 their common devotions, and might be made to have 
 special reference to their past sins, and to the work 
 wherein they are occupied. To go into particulars 
 Avould be more fitting as a matter of private advice than 
 of public recommendation. Of course any such attempt 
 would be found burthensome by those who are con- 
 tented with the easy, careless, popular religion which 
 is prevalent among men. But after all, time is short, 
 eternity is long. 
 
 And there is this peculiar advantage in the present 
 season of self-examination and of self-denial, that it 
 connects itself with the great principles of man's reno- 
 vation. For the Church's time of revival is not built 
 
RELIGIOUS DECLEXSIOX. 
 
 131 
 
 upon grounds of reason or philosophy, but upon the imi- 
 tation of Christ. Our strength is in His oneness with 
 us, who, by the Sacraments of His grace vouchsafes to 
 bestow His hallowed nature as the consecrating prm- 
 cij)le of ours. It is the characteristic of Lent that its 
 observance is associated with the fellowship of His 
 sufferings, and the remembrance of His death. Our 
 time of repentance has been assigned to those days 
 wherein He was preparing for His trial, that our joy 
 may be reserved for the seasons which commemorate 
 His triumph. Blessed is their portion who are con- 
 formed to the likeness of His death, that they may l)e 
 also to the likeness of His resurrection. To them it is 
 no unnatural and forced compliance with an outward 
 rule to look on Lent as a season of mourning, because 
 their Lord's actions have cast their shadow upon all the 
 years of His Church's existence. Thus does the death 
 of the Head of our race minister to the Hfe of His mem- 
 bers. The world could not be meant to be a mere 
 scene of mirth, which was to Him a place of mourning ; 
 and that season cannot be indifferent to us, which was 
 marked by His agony. Surelj' if this feeling is ever 
 lost, it will be a sign that the Church has lost her first 
 love. Let us seek to have our part in Our Saviour s 
 sorrows, that we may be partakers also of his joy. 
 
SERMON XII. 
 
 PALM SUNDAY. 
 
 Philippians ii. 8. 
 
 ^' Being found in fashion as a man, He humhled Himself and became 
 obedient unto death, even the death of the cross'' 
 
 We are come near to that season, when those mighty 
 things happened, of which the Epistle reminds us. It 
 tells of the voluntary humiliation of the Son of God. 
 Now this week it was, that His humiliation was com- 
 pleted. 
 
 Let us consider wherein it lay. It had three several 
 stages. It consisted of Our Lord's Incarnation, His 
 servitude, and His death. The first of these was by 
 far the greatest of all. For that Our Lord should 
 become man, was a far greater descent, than that when 
 He was man He should suffer contempt and death. 
 Contempt and death are man's natural portion ; but 
 to be conjoined to weak manhood is not natural to God. 
 Therefore, to descend from the glory of heaven, to unite 
 the native majesty of His inconceivable Godhead to the 
 infirmity of human flesh, was a far wider step than that 
 other from the manger at Bethlehem to the cross. 
 This service Our Lord mercifully undertook, that He 
 
134 
 
 PALM SUNDAY. 
 
 might bring the glory and excellence of Godhead, and 
 leaven, therewith the whole lump of man's defiled being. 
 All holiness must come from God, as well as all knowl- 
 edge ; and the only channel through which they come, 
 is that man's nature of Christ Our Lord which He took, 
 that He who was one with the Father, might be one 
 also with us. This is the true J acob's ladder, whereby 
 heaven and earth are joined together. 
 
 And in this act we have the greatest instance of Our 
 Lord's condescension, because it was the humiliation (if 
 we may so express it) of His Godhead. The Godhead 
 itself was so far humbled as to be one with our flesh. 
 Whatever glory could be ascribed to Christ, when He 
 came into this lower world ; if all the earth had greeted 
 Him as its head, if all mankind had bowed the knee 
 before Him, had admitted His rule, had obeyed His 
 commandments — still it would not the less have been 
 a humbling of His divine nature, that it should in any 
 wise have been associated to our flesh. The event, 
 then, which was revealed to the Blessed Virgin in the 
 hour of the Annunciation, which that feast recalls to 
 our thoughts, was the greatest of all acts of Our Lord's 
 humiliation. The first step from heaven to earth was 
 greater than any by which it was succeeded. He was 
 wKule man. 
 
 And now comes the second step — Our Lord's servi- 
 tude. When He made Himself of no reputation, it was 
 by taking upon Him the form of a servant. He did 
 not come in the pomp of worldly magnificence, clothing 
 Himself with whatever glory belongs to this earth 
 which He had made. He was not born into an house 
 which possessed ancient wealth or present authority, 
 
PALM SUNDAY. 
 
 135 
 
 but a lowly roof sheltered His cradle, and His Body 
 was laid in an ordinary grave. And as this was the 
 case in the first stage of His life, and in its last one, so 
 in all which went between. " He came unto His own, 
 and His own received Him not." 
 
 And not only did the men whom He had made reject 
 Him, but He seldom exercised His power even over the 
 creatures, of whose existence He was the only cause. 
 Though air and earth owed their being to Him, yet He 
 consented to live upon their bounty, as though He were 
 one of their common pensioners. Certain women who 
 followed Him out of Galilee, ^' ministered unto Him of 
 their substance." The wonderworking power, which 
 He exerted so freely for the conviction of others, was 
 never exerted for His own support. He employed no 
 guard, though His effectual voice could at any moment 
 have summoned twelve legions of angels to His aid. 
 Wherefore should this be so ? That Our Lord might 
 put on the perfectness of that man's nature, which he 
 shared with ourselves. " It became Him, by whom are 
 all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing 
 many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their 
 salvation perfect through sufferings." Had He called 
 in the succour of that external power, of which He was 
 never deprived. His man's being would not have trod- 
 den the perfect road of humanity. One effect indeed 
 His Godhead must needs possess : through the union of 
 that Divine perfection, of which He could not be desti- 
 tute, manhood was m Him alone free from the weak- 
 ness, and therefore from the sinfulness, which in all 
 other cases belongs to it. But He did not resort to 
 His divine power to ward off those assaults of pain, or 
 
136 
 
 PALM SUNDAY. 
 
 hunger, or temptation, by which His manhood was 
 attacked. " He was in all points tempted like as we 
 are, yet without sin." 
 
 And since He chose to tread the path of man s life 
 in its completeness, it made Httle difference what path 
 He chose. The paths of life, it is true, seem to us to 
 be far removed — but they all meet in the grave. One 
 man has wealth, honour, health : sickness, want, and 
 forge tfulness, are allotted to another : but both must 
 die. Death is the grand leveller. Men who owned the 
 widest fields, take no more room than their neighbours 
 in the grave. Not to a divine Being, a Being who is 
 eternal, to whom a thousand years are as one day, how 
 infinitely insignificant must be such shortlived dis- 
 tinctions. All talents are valuable no doubt, if men 
 use them for God's glory and their neighbours' good ; 
 but in themselves how infinitely insignificant they are. 
 It was but a small thing, therefore, that He who stooped 
 so wonderfully to be a man, should have stooped low 
 enough to be a man of griefs. He took our common 
 nature in its most usual form. He was a man of the 
 people. Nay, He was poorest among the poor. He 
 had not where to lay His head. His taking manhood 
 at all was the humbling of His Divine nature, and as 
 man He further stooped to be beholden to His brethren. 
 " He took upon Him the form of a servant." 
 
 And yet there was one step more of humiliation, 
 which is recorded in the text. "He became obedient 
 unto death, even the death of the Cross." " He hid 
 not His face from shame and spitting." " In His hu- 
 miliation His judgment was taken away." He was 
 doomed by unjust judgment to a cruel and disgraceful 
 
PALM SUNDAY. 
 
 137 
 
 deatli. He sliared the portion of malefactors, as though 
 He had been participator in their transgressions. This 
 was the crowning act of all : the last stage in the his. 
 tory of His condescension. That He should have 
 allowed His soul to be separated from His body, should 
 have submitted to that awful and mj'sterious process 
 which awaits us all, when the succours of reason fail, 
 and the light of life bums down into its socket, and 
 man's spirit is torn away from the body, we know not 
 how nor whither — this surely was the completion of Our 
 Lord's abasement. It was not in itself no doubt so 
 wonderful that He should die, as it was that He should 
 be born : it was but the following up of that which 
 His taking our nature at all had commenced; yet it 
 was the last act in this wonderful descent : its crowning 
 mystery : it put the finish to His human actions: '^He 
 became obedient unto death, even the death of the 
 Cross." 
 
 Such, brethren, is the three-fold stage of Our Lord's 
 humiliation : the steps by which He trod His way from 
 the glory of heaven to the abasement of the Cross. 
 And have we, for whom all this was done, no interest 
 in it ? Is it notliing to 3-ou and me that such acts 
 should have been performed ? Are we not deeply con- 
 cerned in drawino' from it its due effect ? It miaht 
 almost be thought not, from the indifference with which 
 too many Christians see the return of the solemn sea- 
 so:i, when these great events had their completion. For 
 the Church's year is fixed by those great events, which 
 befell the Son of Man. Its times are settled, not by 
 reference to your concerns or mine, but they depend on 
 
 Him, in whom onlv the whole race of man is interested. 
 
 10 
 
138 
 
 PALM SUNDAY. 
 
 From His birth into the world do they follow Him to 
 His grave, and then attend Him to His glory. Thus 
 it is that all the Sundays of the year are appointed. 
 They are the weekly memory of Our Lord's resurrec- 
 tion from the dead. The Jews kept the seventh day, 
 because on it God rested from His work of Creation : 
 we keep Sunday, because Christ rested from that still 
 greater work, wdiereby He re-created the world. 
 
 And more especially does this come out at the pre- 
 sent season. For the Great or Holy Week of the 
 Christian year is before us. In this week every thing 
 tells us of Our Lord's actions. We know every day 
 what He was doing : each day leads on to that great 
 deed, which was completed on Good Friday. Now my 
 fear is, that Christians make not enough of this. In 
 some countries and places they do ; but they do not 
 among us. Why do I say so ? Because if they did, 
 it would of necessity leaven their words and thoughts. 
 If some dear friend were ill at a distant place, would 
 he not occupy your thoughts ? When news came from 
 the place where he was, would you not find time to 
 attend to it ? You would intermit your business, how- 
 ever material, that you might listen to it. 
 
 Now, if men had the same interest in the doings of 
 Christ, they could not choose but give attention to them 
 likewise. We should not need to ask you to come and 
 take part here in our Easter services, as though it were 
 a benefit to ourselves. Every day this week the Church 
 bids us to hold worship here, evening as well as morn- 
 ing : every day we set forth what Christ Our Lord was 
 doing or suflering in those periods which divide this 
 last week. And have you no heart to take interest in 
 
PALM SUNDAY. 
 
 139 
 
 these events ? What I desire is, that your souls might 
 go along with this season. For to-day did Our Blessed 
 Master hold His triumphant entrance into the city of 
 Jerusalem, where he was so speedily to suffer. Palm 
 Sunday we call it, because with branches of palms men 
 heralded His approach. Thus did He come in triumph 
 into the temple, as a sign of that more glorious entrance 
 into the world, which will be witnessed by all men in 
 His last descent. But, now, it was not the Judge who 
 was coming to doom, but the victim who was coming 
 to suffer. He was brought in triumph to the temple, 
 the true Paschal Lamb, who had appeared after so 
 many years of waiting — the real offering for sins, the 
 real food of His people. Those who attend upon Him 
 every year on Palm Sunday, will be more prepared to 
 wait on Him in that last awful progress, when those 
 who are ready will go in with Him to the marriage ere 
 the door is shut. 
 
 But then it must be a true waiting on the Son of 
 man. What is the way of waiting on Him ? Those 
 who wait on kings adorn their bodies ; but those who 
 wait on the King of kings must adorn their souls. 
 They must wash them from those sins by which their 
 service would be polluted, and themselves rendered un- 
 clean. They must wash them by repentance, confes- 
 sion, absolution, self-denial, fasting, and tears, in that 
 blood of the true Lamb of God, which only takes 
 away the sins of the world. For by these healing 
 remedies do we profit by that Blood of sprinkling, 
 which at this season was shed for the salvation of man- 
 kind. 
 
 This is what I would entreat of you at the present 
 
140 PALM SUNDAY. 
 
 season. I would call you to a close reckoning with 
 your own hearts. Number up your secret sins. First 
 confess them to Almighty God. If they still seem so 
 black and dangerous that you need further assurance 
 of their pardon, then seek the aid of Christ's ministers. 
 But at all events take account this week with your 
 own hearts. Join yourself in spirit to Christ your 
 Lord. Separate yourselves, as far as you can, from the 
 vain world. Seek your Lord in this His house of 
 jDrayer. Here you will find the more especial presence 
 of Him who was crucified. You will hear of his acts 
 and sufierings : every thing will tell of Him, who loas 
 your sacrifice, who is to be your judge. And finally, 
 brethren, let those who desire to be one with Christ, 
 seek Him at this season at His holy table. Let them 
 come now, if they are prepared : at all events let them 
 come on Sunday next, and keep this true Passover. 
 The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the 
 world, offers Himself to be food of souls. By eating 
 His flesh may you be made one with Him. Thus may 
 you most fully share in all those divine gifts, which 
 He bestowed when He took our nature. Oh that you 
 would seek after Him, whom truly to know is eternal 
 life. 
 
SERMOX XIII. 
 
 GOOD FRIDAY. 
 
 St. Matthew, xxvii. 54. 
 
 " When the centurion, and they that were with him watching Jesus, saw 
 the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared (jre.itly, 
 saying, Truly this icas the Son of God.'^ 
 
 Such were the natural thoiiglits even of uninstructed 
 bystanders, when they beheld those wonderful events 
 which happened at this season. It was mid-day, that 
 is, about the sixth hour : and " there was darkness over 
 all the earth unto the ninth hour." " And behold the 
 veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to 
 the bottom : and the earth did quake and the rocks 
 rent; and the graves were opened." Such a shock 
 was given to universal nature as might be expected to 
 attend the sufferings of its King. When a man dies, 
 his house is shut up, his friends are clothed in mourn- 
 ing, all that belonged to him witnesses to the mighty 
 reverse which has befallen its owner. Earth, and all 
 that is in it, had been made for man's inhabitation : it 
 is his dwelling, his possession, his field of labour, enter- 
 prize and dfscovery. " Thou makest him to have do- 
 minion over the works of Thv hands, and Thou hast 
 put all things in subjection under his feet. All sheep 
 
142 
 
 GOOD FRIDAY. 
 
 and oxen ; yea, and the beasts of the field." Such sym- 
 pathy of universal nature might be expected, therefore, 
 to attend the sufferings of the true Heir and Head of 
 man's race. When the first-born fell in Egypt there 
 was a great cry made, because there was not an house 
 where there was not one dead. And when the first-born 
 of mankind fell by a cruel and untimely stroke; when 
 the common Representative and Head of Adam's chil- 
 dren 'was taken out of the world, reason was that 
 the whole visible creation should suffer with its King. 
 
 For this is the manner in which we should regard 
 those sufferings of Our Lord, which to-day recalls. 
 They were not an ordinary case of death: the close of 
 life to one however distinguished : it was not merely 
 that the greatest, wisest, holiest man who ever lived, 
 expired amidst insults and agonies — no, what happened 
 to-day was the endurance of those sufferings of which 
 all mankind were deserving, the actual supporting of 
 that common load of evil, which all the sins of all the 
 innumerable tribes of men had heaped together. " He 
 was made a little lower than the angels for the suffer- 
 ing of death, that He, by the grace of God, should taste 
 death for every man." 
 
 Would you see the wide difference between this event, 
 and all others which could ever befall ; consider why 
 death is to be feared by ordinary mortals. Death is 
 awful for two reasons : first, for what we leave — secondly, 
 for what we meet. To be torn away from the well- 
 known scenes to which we are accustomed; from the 
 friends, objects, enjoyments, habits, and piftsuits of life, 
 is a violent, and therefore fearful change. What shock 
 can be so rude, as that whereby body and soul are rent 
 
GOOD FRIDAY. 
 
 143 
 
 asunder? And tlien comes the thought, what hes be- 
 yond ? What unknown and awful circumstances may 
 await us in that new state of existence, into which we 
 pass so helpless and unaware. For there lies before us 
 in its immensity the unseen world, and we know not 
 how or where we shall enter upon it ; what will be our 
 thoughts and feelings^ our knowledge and expectations, 
 when we wake up to the discovery of its wonders. One 
 moment we are in this world, with all its busy, fleeting 
 cares — and the next we are amidst the dread unchange- 
 ableness of eternity. And this thought renders death 
 awful to any reflecting mind. 
 
 But with Christ Our Lord it was wholly otherwise. 
 For neither was death the unwilling rending asunder of 
 His being ; nor was the state in which it landed Him 
 unknown. On the contrary. He Himself, when His 
 work was over, dismissed His spirit. " No man taketh 
 My life from Me," He says, " but I lay it down of My- 
 self. I have power to la}^ it down, and I have power 
 to take it again." Nor yet was the unseen world hidden 
 from His sight. He could discern its secrets even when 
 He hung upon the cross. " To-day shalt thou be with 
 Me in Paradise." For " I go to My Father, and your 
 Father, and to My God, and your God." So that those 
 things which make death appalling could be no horror 
 to Him. It was not the mere surrender of life, but the 
 circumstances under which He surrendered it, which 
 tried the constancy of the Son of Man. In them lay 
 that cup of bitterness, to drink which He came into the 
 world. They were the sufferings whereby the Captain 
 of our salvation was made perfect. 
 
 Now, to estimate these we must consider two things : 
 
144 
 
 GOOD FEIDAY. 
 
 first, their natural effect, had any other endured them : 
 secondly, their peculiar intensity, when supported by 
 the great Head and representative of mankind. Their 
 natural effect is plain enough from the circumstances, 
 which this week brings before us. For His death was 
 one which was not more tormenting to the body than 
 humiliating to the mind. It was the death of traitors 
 and malefactors — beyond all others, lingering, public 
 and degraded. It exposed Him, in His very hour 
 of agony, to the desertion of friends and the contempt 
 of enemies. The tribes of men were of one mind in 
 His rejection : God's people and the Heathen were for 
 once agreed : the bitterness of the Jews was aided by 
 t'.ie violence of the Gentiles. 
 
 Yet were these things but the outward circumstances 
 of that trial, which had a deeper and hidden root in the 
 inner nature of the perfect victim. For these were things 
 which might have been undergone by others of mankind. 
 There were others in the same condemnation, and that 
 justly, receiving the due reward of their deeds. But the 
 circumstance which gave its intensity to the sufferings of 
 the Son of Man, was shared by no other of His creatures. 
 Its cause was the common nature, which He had taken, 
 that so He might be the great proxy for mankind — He 
 had willed to be the Son of Man, the heir and repre- 
 sentative of people of our general nature, on whom 
 pressed that collective burthen, which all the countless 
 families of men had united to produce. Every child of 
 Adam is doomed to death. And what is death ? It is 
 the final severing of soul and body, when those causes 
 which are continually besieging our life, gain such head 
 that they can no longer be combated. Take your own 
 
GOOD FRIDAY. 145 
 
 cases, brethren. This year, it may be, you have suf- 
 fered from sickness. Last year, perhaps, your body 
 was tried by want. Before that, your soul was racked 
 by sorrow. The loss of friends may have melted, or 
 the unkindness of enemies torn your hearts. By such 
 anguish of soul, by such wastings of body, is the life of 
 man undermined and worn out. They make up that 
 load of suffering and infirmity, under which the strength 
 of nature gradually sinks. And then comes death, 
 when the light of our being has wasted away, when the 
 silver cord at last is loosed, and the golden bowl is 
 broken. These several events, then, are so many parts 
 of death : those which you have gone through are por- 
 tions which make it up, stages which lead to it : death 
 is but the gathering together and summing up of those 
 many blows, which pain and suffering have already 
 aimed at the citadel of your life. And that which 
 haj)pens to you happens to all men : death in each is 
 but the summing up of those miseries, to which life is 
 heir, their common meeting, their result ; when at last 
 the cup overflows, which had severally received them. 
 And what, therefore, is death at large, the sentence 
 passed upon our first parents, by which their whole 
 race must finally be overtaken, but the sum of all griefs, 
 by which the children of men have ever been oppressed, 
 either in body or in soul ? It is the result of all the 
 sufferings of all the men who ever lived or ever shall 
 live, till the angel's trumpet cuts short the world's 
 being ; the common receptacle in which all the miseries 
 of humanity find their issue. Alas, how many they 
 are ! How vast that mass of human suffering, which 
 has its ever-increasing source in human crime ! How 
 
146 
 
 GOOD FRIDAY. 
 
 innumerable tlie ills of the body, how much more ter- 
 rible the ills of the mind ! Our great Poet has repre- 
 sented Adam as foreseeing that load of suffering which 
 was about to visit his race. 
 
 " Immediately a place 
 Before his eyes appeared, sad, noisome, dark : 
 A lazar-house it seemed : wherein were laid 
 Numbers of all diseased : all maladies 
 Of ghastly spasm, or racking torture, qualms 
 Of heartsick agony, all feverous kinds, 
 Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs, 
 Intestine stone and ulcer, cholic pangs, 
 Demoniac frenzy, moping melancholy. 
 And moonstruck madness, pining atrophy, 
 Marasmus and wide-wasting pestilence. 
 Dropsies, and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums, 
 Dire was the tossing, deep the groans, despair 
 Tended the sick, busiest from couch to couch. 
 Sight so deform what heart of rock could long 
 Dry-eyed behold ? Adam could not, but wept, 
 Though not of woman born." 
 
 This sore travail hath God given to the sons of men 
 to be exercised therewith." Now, add all this together, 
 and you make up what was set before our first parents 
 under the name of death. For all these are but its 
 preparatory portions. " All rivers run into the sea/' 
 and death is that ocean, in which the countless sorrows 
 and pangs of all the children of men are gathered 
 together. For all those things which make part of the 
 separation of soul and body, are included in that general 
 name, by which their separation is expressed. 
 
 And now then you may better understand this 
 wonderful event, that the son of God tasted death for 
 every man. For thereby hath He " borne our griefs 
 
GOOD FRIDAY. 
 
 147 
 
 and carried our sorrows." Had He of whom this is 
 spoken been a common man, one out of the miUion, it 
 might have been meant only that He took His single 
 part in the burthen, wherewith all are oppressed. But 
 what benefit had this been to His fellows ? When Christ, 
 then, bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, it was not 
 as an individual in the countless multitude, He did not 
 receive His share, as does every child of Adam — no. He 
 bore the burthen alone, and of the peojDle was none 
 with Him. He became the representative and proxy of 
 mankind, who took upon His single self the accumulated 
 burden of man's offences. " For the transgression of 
 my people was the stroke on Him " " He Himself bare 
 our sins in His own body on the tree." 
 
 When He grappled therefore with death, it was not 
 under that harmless form, which the mere act of escap- 
 ing from the ills of life might lead us to think of — the 
 enemy whom He encountered was that king of terrors, 
 whom the sins of every generation of mankind had 
 armed against themselves and their children. It was 
 not simple death — the bare ceasing to be a living man — 
 but death bearing in its foul entrails all the pains, and 
 miseries, and griefs, of which sin had been the cause, 
 and of which destruction is the consequence, to which 
 the great Son of Man opposed Himself, as its only 
 capable antagonist. As all sickness, and woe, and ill is 
 in truth a part of death and included in it, so being 
 raised up'to overcome death, as its single subduer. He 
 grasped at once in His mighty outspread arms the 
 whole mass of its hateful and deadly materials. 
 
 Here, then, you see the nature of that burden which 
 none but the Son of God would have been sufiicient to 
 
148 
 
 GOOD FRIDAY. 
 
 endure. It was the result of that constitution of His 
 being which made Him also, the true Son of man, the 
 common heir of humanity. And we have an imperfect 
 view of His sufferings, unless we feel that every burden 
 by which our individual being is oppressed was truly 
 borne in its intensity by Plim. Be it sickness, pain, 
 want, desertion — all these are but the materials which 
 make up death, and He who drank down the whole 
 cup of God's anger, who sustained it all in the garden 
 and on the cross, was not unconscious surely of every 
 ingredient of His draught of bitterness. 
 
 Thus was He made sin for us who knew no sin. 
 Sorrow and sin are of necessity so joined, that where 
 the last is, the first cannot be avoided ; and He who 
 took upon Himself our nature in its actual complete- 
 ness, submitted to be the object of that wrath, which 
 we had engendered. To par ake indeed in our sin was 
 impossible ; though tempted in all points, He was with- 
 out sin ; but the heir of man's nature took it in such 
 perfect wise, that He inherited all those fearful conse- 
 quences, from which sin cannot be dissevered. For He 
 was so perfectly man, that whatever belongs to man- 
 hood finds in Him its expression. 
 
 This may be seen in His freedom from those condi- 
 tions which distinguish any peculiar nation. Our Lord 
 vouchsafed to be born among the Jews. He had no 
 earthly instruction save in their learning. And yet 
 He rose above any low prejudices which had settled 
 upon their nation. When the Samaritan woman sought 
 Him, or the Roman centurion, they found a heart which 
 was not limited by the narrow bounds of Jewish charity. 
 And in like manner. His words in Holy Scripture are 
 
"9 
 
 GOOD FRIDAY. 149 
 
 SO large and universal, that in all ages can all tribes of 
 men find satisfaction for the necessities of the heart. 
 Now even so was it with that awful burthen of grief, 
 which the true heir of humanity was contented to sup- 
 port. He bore the common burthen of all men, and 
 none will there be to the very end of time whose indi- 
 vidual grief was not laid in that hour of agony on the 
 Almighty victim. 
 
 How this might be, it is not given to us fully to ex- 
 plore. Two things there are, the perfection of His 
 man's nature, and the greatness of His sympathy, which 
 combined to produce it. For He was no common man. 
 He did not share the usual birth of mortals : He had 
 formed for Himself a Body through the agency of God 
 the Holy Ghost, out of the materials of man's nature, 
 and in the Virgin's womb became the second Adam, in 
 whom manhood was set forth more perfectly than in 
 Adam the first. Who can tell what mighty power of 
 sufiering might be enshrined in this perfect example of 
 our nature; how far its common relation to all man- 
 kind might take in at once the consequence of all men's 
 transgressions ? And who, then, can estimate the un- 
 kno^m agonies of His passion and His death ? Add to 
 this that greatness of love, of which His nature was the 
 basis, and which left not out one member of that com- 
 mon humanity, which He vouchsafed to partake. And 
 then think, brethren, whether it was less than reason 
 that heaven and earth should sympathize in their turn 
 with the sufferings of such a victim. Well might the 
 sun be darkened, the rocks be rent, when the one re- 
 presentative of the world's inhabitants was achieving 
 this mighty victory in their behalf When He bore 
 
150 GOOD FRIDAY. 
 
 that load of grief to which our sins contributed — of 
 which our sorrows were a part — which was swelled 
 even by the carelessness of those many dwellers in this 
 land, who think their farm or their merchandize better 
 worth regarding than this great event. 
 
 Oh, brethren, it was not always so; there were those 
 in foruier times, who were not less moved than the cen- 
 turion by this spectacle. Of old time in the Christian 
 Church, men passed these days in mourning and silence : 
 they communed with their own hearts and were still. 
 This day, especially, and to-morrow, when Our Lord 
 rested in the grave, whole nations were wont to keep the 
 Sabbath in holy dread and reverent admiration. They 
 bethought them of their own interest in that great work, 
 which the Son of Man was at this season effecting. 
 They could not feast and rejoice, when the one common 
 Head of their race was being lifted up upon the cross 
 before their eyes. They rather chose to ponder His 
 acts, to recount their blessed deeds by which He had 
 effected their forgiveness, to count over His wounds, to 
 tell the circumstances of His passion. 
 
 And surely it was a blessed custom: it spoke a 
 genuine love to Him, the least particular of whose sor- 
 rows should not be indifferent to those whom He died 
 to save. Therefore did men love to recount and dwell 
 upon those single acts of suffering, which together made 
 up that mighty expiation. They sat sorrowing them- 
 selves before their Master's cross. Brethren, let us do 
 so likewise. Let us retire somewhat to-day from the 
 busy world, and meditate on the passion of Our Great 
 Deliverer. Thus let us learn greater hatred for those sins, 
 which have covered the earth with such a flood of evils. 
 
GOOD FRIDAY. 
 
 151 
 
 Oh, Lord Jesus, 
 
 By the virtue of Thy holy prayer, which Thou three 
 times prayedst : 
 
 By Thy fearful dread of death, 
 
 By all that unknown labour and torment, which 
 Thou sufFeredst all that night, 
 
 By Thy great meekness, which did not refuse to l^e 
 comforted by an angel; 
 
 In all times comfort us. 
 
 By Thy thirst and tasting of gall and vinegar, grant 
 us to taste the sweetness of Thy spirit. 
 
 By that piteous cry, in the which Thou commendedst 
 Thy soul to Thy Father, 
 
 Our souls be commended to Thee. 
 
 By the bitterness of Thy death, and the intolerable 
 pain, wherewith Thy heart brake ; 
 
 By the opening of Thy side with a spear, and the 
 flowing out of Thy most precious blood, 
 
 Smite through, good Lord, my heart with the spear 
 of Thy Godly love. 
 
SERMON XIY. 
 
 EASTER. 
 
 I. Corinthians, xv. 22. 
 
 "As in Adam all die, even so in CJirist s^iall all he made aliver 
 
 With these words does our Church welcome the re- 
 turn of Easter. Thus does she remind us that Christ 
 is the new Adam of man's race. From Him it takes 
 fresh growth : Hke our first father, He is its origin and 
 root. 
 
 Let us view this truth in its source and its conse- 
 quences. It is Christ our Lord by whom we are thus 
 quickened. It is Christ, and not the Eternal Father, 
 of whom we speak. True, He is one with the Father : 
 the Eternal Word, by whom all things were created. 
 In this character therefore is He the Maker of man- 
 kind. But that of which we now speak is something 
 distinct from the work of creation. We refer to the 
 work which He wrought through His human nature. 
 Whatsoever He did, was wrought by One who was also 
 God : this unity could never be divided ; yet, inasmuch 
 as in His one person there were ever present two 
 natures, human and divine, He could work now through 
 
EASTER. 
 
 153 
 
 one, and now tlirough the other. And however the 
 two natures were in their operations united, they were 
 diverse in their effects. Go create unnumhered worlds, 
 to exist hefore the days of ancient Abraham, to forgive 
 sins, to heal sicknesses, to discern the secrets of the 
 heart, these were the proper functions of that Divine 
 nature, which belonged to the Son of God. Through 
 its energy could He walk the sea : by its glory was He 
 transfigured on the mountain. But to hunger and 
 thirst, to sit weary by J acob's well, to weep for kindred 
 griefs, to be sorrowful under mental agonies, to sink 
 under the cross, to suffer, faint, and die — these were 
 the human properties of the Man of sorrows. Of these 
 things Godhead in itself, so to say, is incapable. They 
 belong to a lower nature. They pertain to those who 
 have been moulded from the earth. 
 
 Now it is by virtue of this last nature that Our Lord 
 has become a new head to man's race. Here is no 
 question of creation : it is not the rai^nig of a new 
 stock out of the parent ground : the ^s^ork is achieved 
 hy man and for man : for " since ty man came death, 
 by man came also the resurrection of the dead." No 
 words can prove more clearly tZian those of the Aj^ostle, 
 that it was by the jDower of His Immanity that our 
 Master triumphed. He gave a new root to man's 
 being, but it was through the virtue of that real man- 
 hood, whereby He lived among us. 
 
 And now let as consider, Secondlj^, what is meant 
 by this humanity of Christ, "^e mean that He pos- 
 sesses the true nature of a man, save that His body is 
 glorified. A man He still is, both in body and soul, 
 but so penetrated are both by that Godhead, from 
 
154 
 
 EASTER. 
 
 which they can never be separate, that both of them 
 are raised to a height of surpassing glory. In the 
 mount of Transfiguration this glory showed itself in 
 somewhat of its proper character. His very disciples 
 looked with terror at the brightness of that counte- 
 nance, in which mercy and compassion had their usual 
 seat. After His resurrection, likewise, did He walk 
 forth with somewhat of that awe, with which His 
 glorified manhood was properly invested. When He 
 entered therefore into their closed assembly — when He 
 stood on the tranquil beach, near which they had re- 
 turned to their ancient occupations — when he ascended 
 finally on high, they saw the outskirts of His glorified 
 nature. This it was, which when the Apostle of the 
 Gentiles beheld, as he journeyed over the sultry sands 
 towards Damascus, he was blinded during three days ^ 
 by a radiance above the brightness of the sun. Before 
 this, as we read in the book of Revelations, the beloved 
 Apostle St. JoVn fell down as though dead. 
 
 Such was the ^wful majesty of that human nature of 
 Our Lord, which aU His true servants will finally re- 
 semble. For "He shall change our vile bodies, that 
 they may be like unto His glorious body." And we 
 know " that when He shall appear we shall be like 
 Him, for we shall see Him as He is." Yet is this but 
 the outside and shell of that inn^ glory, which dwells 
 in the hidden temple of His soul. Even when He was 
 upon earth God's spirit dwelt in Him without measure. 
 Those perfections, which have since discovered them- 
 selves in His outward form, were truly enlightening the 
 tabernacle of His inward spirit. And, therefore, when 
 
EASTEE. 
 
 155 
 
 the third day arrived, after He had offered Himself 
 without spot to God, He woke uj} again, to take to Him 
 His great j^ower and reign. It was as when clouds 
 have hidden the sun in the heavens: but let winds 
 chase them away, and the lord of day looks forth in his 
 strength. So did Christ rise with the earliest morning, 
 as though the powers of heaven were impatient of that 
 delay which bomid Him to the dust. Then did He go 
 forth, the true bridegroom out of His chamber, rejoicing 
 as a giant to rim His course. His body, too, had in 
 one sense been sown in dishonour, but it was raised in 
 glory ; it was sown in weakness, it was raised in power. 
 The tomb could not hold : the stone could not restrain 
 Him. He rose, but with our nature, to lead captivity 
 captive, and receive gifts for men. 
 
 And from this stock was to be the growth of a new 
 race. The glorified nature of Oui' Lord was a root 
 from which, as surely as from oar first parent, was 
 there to be a line transmitted. Let us see, then, what 
 it is to die in Adam, that we may understand more 
 clearly what it is to live in Christ. Now of Adam we 
 know that his nature is cruly in us. We are literally 
 bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh. He begat a 
 son in his own image : that image was ob^dously inhe- 
 rent. For we are one with our parents : they with 
 those who gave them birth : and thus are we one with 
 our most distant ancestors. A virtual continuity exists 
 between our bodies and those of our forefathers ; and 
 even our spirits seem in some respects to be a -part of 
 their being. For are there not habits of mind, which 
 descend from a parent to liis offspring; and whence 
 
156 
 
 EASTER. 
 
 were these, save from some growth out of a common 
 existence? And hence is derived that wide-spread 
 taint, which we call original sin. 
 
 For not only are we born to that displeasure with 
 which Almighty God regards those who have been 
 withdrawn from His service, but we inherit likewise, 
 that close-clinging corruption, which spreads through 
 the nature of man, and weakens his efforts. And these 
 it is, which involve that second death, which is the 
 appointed portion of the finally impenitent. This death 
 is quite different from that mere separation of soul and 
 body which is appointed to all men. It means the loss 
 of union with God — the loss of His likeness — the de- 
 privation of that perfect endowment with which Adam 
 was created — the forfeiture of that close intimacy with 
 their Maker, which was maintained in our first parents 
 hy the eating of the Tree of Life, which stood in the 
 midst of the Paradise of God. For since Almighty God 
 is the true source of all excellence, from which flows 
 everything perfect, as the rays of light issue from the 
 sun, in whose presence is th^ fulness of joy, at whose 
 right hand there are treasures for evermore — therefore 
 to lose Him is to lose everything. It is to be cast forth 
 upon the blank, cold, wretched worH of nature, without 
 comfort and without stay. And th'iS is that second 
 death, of which the incalculable horrors of hell are the 
 last result, but of which separation from God is the real 
 principle. And this fearful effect began at once with 
 Adam's fall, except so far as by the promise of a Re- 
 deemer it was held in check, and there was set forth a 
 promise that those who had died in the first Adam 
 should live in the second. 
 
EASTER. 
 
 157 
 
 And now, then, to consider what is this living in 
 Christ Our Lord. It is that He is the true counterpart 
 of our first parents. It is, that as truly as we hold of 
 the one, so truly must we hold of the other."^ That as 
 our human nature, the body we now inhabit, and in 
 some measure, eveaa the soul we now possess, are in 
 truth portions of that original being with which Adam 
 was invested, so truly must the humanity of Christ 
 penetrate and possess our whole selves. "'^For as in 
 Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 
 How perfect, observe, is the contrast ; as though there 
 were not one point of difference between our dependence 
 on the one and on the other. We must be affected by 
 Our Lord's nature — we must be leavened by it — nay, 
 as out of Adam, so must we be formed out of Him. 
 " My little children," says St. Paul, " of whom I travail 
 in birth again, until Christ be formed in you." 
 
 Now here, surely, is a great mystery. Some have 
 been used to think of it as though it aimed merely at 
 a resemblance and conformity to Christ, as though it 
 were but a strong way of enforcing the duties of faith 
 and obedience. But is this the manner in which we 
 are one with Adam? Is it only by teaching and imita- 
 tion that we follow him? Are we not bone of his bone, 
 and flesh of his flesh ? Our sin does not come merely 
 by following his steps, but by sharing his corruption : it 
 will not sufiice, then, to imitate, unless we are one with 
 Christ. What else than a real union can support the 
 
 * It is not designed to oppose the received opinion that man's Personality 
 is in each case an immediate creation. See the remarks on Creatianism 
 and Traducianism, in "The Doctrine of the Incarnation," p. 41, second 
 edition. 
 
158 
 
 EASTER. 
 
 weight of the Apostle's argument? As the first man 
 was made a living soul^ is not the second made a quick- 
 ening spirit ? Unless there be some actual influence 
 which lives within us^ whereby the effects of the fall 
 are to be counteracted^ even as its guilt is to be done 
 away, what is there, like that which destroyed us in 
 Adam, to quicken us in Christ ? 
 
 It follows, then, that there must be some real and 
 not figurative union mth Our Lord, and also that this 
 Union must depend on the truth of His humanity. 
 For it is in His character of the Second Man that He 
 is set over against the first. Therefore did He rise to- 
 day in the perfection of man's nature, and not cast off 
 those garments of mortality which He had worn for us. 
 
 And this may explain why Holy Scripture dwells so 
 much, as it clearly does, on the benefits which men 
 receive by that ordinance of Baptism which grafts 
 them into the body of Christ. "For by one spirit," 
 says St. Paul, "are we all baptized into one body." 
 The reason is, that Baptism, by joining men to Christ, 
 even as their first birth joined them to Adam, gives 
 them share in that new nature, which has been gained 
 for humanity by Christ. As our first birth made us 
 one with Adam, what but our birth by Baptism makes 
 us one with Christ ? This does not interfere, observe, 
 with the necessity of conversion for those who after 
 Baptism have wandered from God, it does not imply 
 that the heart must not be changed, or that Christ 
 must not grow up in men by the gradual work of the 
 regenerating spirit. But all these dejiend on our union 
 with Christ : it lies at the bottom of them : they could 
 not begin if we were not one with Him : by birth 
 
EASTER. 
 
 159 
 
 natural we have naught but the old nature, which is 
 corrupt as well as guilty : what ground were there to 
 commence the work of gTace, unless as in Adam all 
 die, even so in Christ all were made alive ? 
 
 But the present occasion leads us to think of another 
 Sacrament : of those continual means whereby union 
 with Christ is in grown years to be maintained and 
 strengthened. This blessed ordinance is described by 
 our Lord Himself, in words than which none can more 
 clearly set forth that close union, by which we are 
 united to Him. " Except ye eat the flesh of the Son 
 of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you," 
 " For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink 
 indeed." Here again is a great mystery, akin to that 
 before described, whereby we were first made members 
 of His Body, of His flesh, and of His bones. I refer 
 not to an}^ carnal presence of Our Lord ; to any mate- 
 rial alteration of those outward elements which are 
 appointed as the means of union with Him. Bread, 
 and the cup of blessing St. Paul calls them, and bread 
 and wine they doubtless are. Yet does Our Lord's 
 humanity make them its medium of intercourse with 
 the faithful and devout communicant, so that the 
 worthy worshipper, ivv\j and not in figure, receives 
 his Maker. What says the Catechism ? The inward 
 part or thing signified in this holy feast is " the body 
 and blood of Christ, which are verily and indeed taken 
 and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper." So 
 that we must conclude that this union with Christ is 
 real, and not a figure ; that though mysterious, it is 3'et 
 certain: though its manner unknown, yet its truth 
 questionless. Do men ask its degree, or method, we 
 
160 
 
 EASTER. 
 
 cannot answer : enough that as Ave are one with Adam, 
 we must be one with Christ. 
 
 Remember, lastly, that awful and mysterious as is 
 this gift, it is not more awful than necessary. An 
 awful thing it is, doubtless, to be one with Christ ; to 
 bear about us His hallowed nature ; to have so pre- 
 cious a gift for which to account. How pure should 
 be our hearts, how lively our faith, how warm our 
 devotion, since it is to the God-man, Christ Our Lord, 
 that we are thus united ? To receive Him, to have 
 Him as our visitant — how unspeakable, yet how awful a 
 blessing. " Lord, I am. not worthy that Thou shouldst 
 come under my roof" How well becomes it that we 
 should strive after a perfect conformity of mind and 
 temper with Him our Head. And yet it is not less 
 necessary than it is overwhelming. For unless we are 
 found in Christ, what have we in this world or the 
 next upon which to depend ? What present comfort 
 have we, what future hope, what expectation of a 
 glorious resurrection, what guard against life's tempta- 
 tions, what stay in the hour of death ? Hoav could we 
 lay our friends in the earth, as at any moment we may 
 be called to do, did we not hope that as in Adam all 
 die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive ? How 
 could we ourselves lie down tranquilly in the dust, did 
 we not believe that through Christ our Head there was 
 an Easter Day for every one of us ? In this feeling, 
 then, let the devout and penitent draw near to the 
 Lord's table, and earnestly believe in Him who gives 
 Himself as the food of souls. 
 
SEEMOX XY. 
 
 CHRIST'S RESUERECTIOX MAN'S RECONCILIATION. 
 
 Romans iv. 25. 
 
 [Preached on Easter Day.] 
 
 " WJio was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our Justift- 
 
 cation." 
 
 In these words is the event of to-day set forth as a 
 cause of man's justification. Not only is Our Lord's 
 death declared to have been a cause of man's forgive- 
 nesSj but his acceptance with God is built also upon the 
 fact of the resurrection. Christ " was delivered for our 
 offences, and raised again for our justification." To ex- 
 plain this it will be necessary to consider, first, what is 
 here meant by man's justification ; and secondh^, what 
 was done towards that work by the Resurrection of the 
 Lord Jesus. 
 
 I. Xow what is here meant by man's justification ? 
 It plainly means that general change, whereby those 
 who are under God's wrath are admitted to His favour. 
 The original state of man was one, in which such a 
 change was not required. For by creation man was at 
 
162 
 
 EASTER. 
 
 one with Him who made him. God saw every thing 
 which He had made^ and behold it was very good. 
 But when man's sin had separated him from God, he 
 needed to be reconciled to his offended Maker. Hence 
 the necessity of some mode of Atonement, or atone- 
 ment, as it is commonly called, whereby God and man 
 might be reunited. God was alienated from man, be- 
 cause He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity ; man 
 was alienated from God, because he had lost that de- 
 light in God's laws, that relish for His service, that 
 sense of His favour, which made up the image of the 
 Creator, as it was originally reflected in man's heart. 
 For thus it was that God had made man at first; like 
 a clear mirror which gave back his maker's glory, and 
 so set forth the brightness which it was formed to re- 
 flect. That which is needed, then, for the acceptance 
 or salvation of mankind, is some method, whereby God 
 may again be reconciled to man, and man to God. 
 Such a method has God mercifully provided in that 
 Son of His love, " by whom we have now received the 
 atonement." And His work of mercy in time past is 
 not more essential to man's acceptance, than His work 
 of mercy in time to come : " if, when we were enemies, 
 we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, 
 much more being reconciled we shall be saved by His 
 life." 
 
 The nature of this process may be seen in the well- 
 known Parable of the Prodigal Son. The Prodigal's 
 situation sets forth not unfitly the condition of man- 
 kind. When the Prodigal wakes up to a consciousness 
 of his state, when he sees the vile condition to which 
 he has reduced himself — that he is herding with un- 
 
EASTER. 
 
 163 
 
 clean animals instead of enjoying the purity of liis 
 father's courts ; that his food is the foul refuse allotted 
 to beasts^ in place of that to which he was heir by 
 birth — what is all this but a description of man's feel- 
 ings when he first discerns the misery of sin, and the 
 unspeakable evil of losing his heavenly birthright? 
 And what can he bring to his Father except the hu- 
 mihty of a contrite spirit, which is conscious of its own 
 absolute helplessness and incurable abasement? This 
 feeling, then, and his subsequent acceptance, is all which 
 the Parable sets forth. But suppose that besides this 
 it had gone on to tell us that the Prodigal Son had in- 
 curred great debts : suppose that besides wasting his 
 substance he had incurred heavy obligations : by whom 
 could these debts be discharged ; how could he get rid 
 of what he owed, and thus be put into a condition for 
 going freely to his Father ? Now this is. truly man's 
 estate as regards God. He has a heavy debt of sin : he 
 is burthened already by past transgressions, and for 
 these it is that the Son of God's love made atonement 
 on the bloody cross. God " made Him to be sin for us, 
 who knew no sin, that we might be made the right- 
 eousness of God in Him." " Whom God hath set forth 
 .... for the remission of sins that are past, through 
 the forbearance of God." 
 
 This is the first part of Christ's work, whereby God 
 is reconciled to man. Thus is that load of guilt done 
 away, which forbade our acceptance. Its removal is 
 the first step to at-onement, since but for this saving 
 sacrifice the whole generation of men had been for ever 
 sunk into the pit of destruction. But when this price 
 is paid, there is still something needed for man's accept- 
 
164 
 
 EASTER. 
 
 ance. God may be reconciled to man, but how is man 
 reconciled to God ? The Prodigal's debts may be dis- 
 charged ] but what is there to bring him to his Father's 
 feet in the humility of a profound repentance ? Here 
 is a work^ which is as needful as aught else to man's 
 acceptance ; yet which none but the great Mediator be- 
 tween God and man is able to effect. 
 
 For the very curse of man in his present state is that 
 his heart is alienated from God. Suppose I address 
 myself to some of those many persons in this land, who 
 neglect Church, despise God's Sacraments, forget His 
 laws. I reason with them on their sin and folly ; but 
 their common answer in reality is, that they have no 
 taste for such matters ; they like better the employ- 
 ments and objects of the world ; God and His kingdom, 
 and His service, and Christ's acts of love, and the sane 
 tifying influence of His renewing spirit, are a dull, un- 
 attractive thing, which find no answer in their hearts. 
 What they need, then, is some power, which may 
 quicken their inner man to more healthy action. With- 
 out this, they cannot be truly at one with God. There 
 can be no real acceptance, because, though God is will- 
 ing to be reconciled to them, by reason of that infinite 
 ransom which has been provided for the redemption of 
 all men through the Son of His love, yet are they on 
 their part, unwilling to be reconciled to God. The 
 ambassadors of Christ have still need, therefore, to 
 come, praying men in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled 
 to God. And here it is, then, that the text takes us 
 up, and shows how the salvation of mankind is brought 
 about through the resurrection of the Son of God. To 
 complete our acceptance — that men may be fully re- 
 
EASTER. 
 
 165 
 
 conciled to tlieir heavenly Father — that the work 
 wrought upon the Cross in expiation, may be followed 
 up by the work of renewal wrought in every living 
 member of the Son of God, did our Lord not only die 
 for our sins, but rose again for our justification. 
 
 II. Now what has this to do with Christ's resurrec- 
 tion? This was the second thing to be spoken of 
 You have seen that our acceptance depends on the 
 reconciliation of God to men ; and that this was effected 
 through the sacrifice on the Cross. But it depends also 
 on our reconciliation to God. How is this owing to 
 Our Lord's resurrection? For the reason which has 
 already been mentioned ; because the difficulty Avhich 
 is here to be overcome, is a difficulty which lies in man 
 himself, and must be cured, not by an outward act, 
 which is wrought for you, but by an inward act, which 
 must be wrought within you. Suppose a careless man 
 to be asked why he is not reconciled to God. The 
 answer cannot be that God is wanting in goodness ; 
 there is no deficiency in that infinite and unmeasurable 
 love which gave Christ Our Lord to the Cross for our 
 redemption, but man's evil heart refuses to jdeld to 
 such influences — "they will not come unto Me, that 
 they may have life." Men know that it is their inter- 
 est to be saved — they cannot disguise from themselves 
 that no happiness is to be found except in God's ser- 
 vice — they know that at the last day they shall have 
 to render account of all their actions — but though they 
 know all this, they cannot feel it, they have little love 
 to God — they take little pleasure in His sersdce — they 
 can no more give Him their hearts than they could 
 
166 
 
 EASTER. 
 
 relish some food which their taste refused, or some per- 
 son to whom they had a natural antipathy. 
 
 Alas ! how often do we see this in the world. We 
 may speak to men ever so kindly ; we may show them 
 that what we are anxious for is their own life. We 
 may explain to them that the thing proposed is the 
 true dignity and happiness of man's nature ; and yet 
 they turn away as though they were asked for some 
 unreasonable favour, and despise Him in whom their 
 life is, and whose are all their ways. You might as 
 well speak to ^4he deaf adder, which stoppeth his ears, 
 which refuseth to hear the voice of the charmer, charm 
 he never so wisely." Now whence this folly ? Are the 
 men we speak of without natural understanding ? Have 
 they not senses, reason, memory, forethought ? Yes, in 
 this world's affairs they show no failing. But they want 
 a spiritual taste, a sense and feeling for things divine ; 
 the flesh rules in them, the spirit is dead in their 
 bosoms ; they want faith, and love, and godly fear. 
 
 And how are these things to be produced ? Where 
 are such excellences to be found ? There is no market 
 where you can buy them. They do not grow among 
 the spices of the east ; out of the mines of the west you 
 cannot dig them. When Adam fell, they were for- 
 feited once and for ever by man's nature. They re- 
 treated to their parent seat in the bosom of God. And 
 thence only can they be obtained. These precious 
 gifts came back in their completeness to that single 
 child of Adam, whose birth was the signal of peace on 
 earth, and goodwill to men. His cradle was adorned 
 by those precious gifts which the wise men of the East 
 presented ; but more precious by far were those divine 
 
EASTER. 
 
 167 
 
 graces of which He was Himself the possessor. For 
 from that divine nature of the Son of God, which He 
 could not abandon, there flowed into His man's nature 
 such abundant treasures of purity and goodness, as ren- 
 dered it th6 true life of the world. As God created 
 the sun to rule in the sky, and made it the source of 
 light to all men, so the man Christ Jesus was made the 
 centre and source of all life to all generations of man- 
 kind. 
 
 Now the first effect of this was that holy walk and 
 conduct, that di^dne teaching, that spotless example, 
 which He displayed during His earthly pilgrimage. 
 In Him alone of the children of Adam was the Father 
 well pleased. Then came that death upon the cross, 
 whereby He made atonement for all transgressions. 
 But when this task was completed, was His work per- 
 formed? Had He no more to do in the process of 
 man's salvation*? He had ; for He still continued to 
 be that source from which all gTace must flow into the 
 inner nature of His brethren. He had accomplished 
 His service on the cross. He had finished the work 
 which was given him to do. But might he cast off the 
 raiment of His humanity, as if its purposes were alto- 
 gether fulfilled? Then how could we have gained 
 that inward grace, of which His mediation was the 
 only channel ? Since the very thing we need is that 
 renewing influence by which our will is to be brought 
 into union with the will of God, the continual presence 
 of such a Divine helper is as necessary to us as that 
 one sacrifice which He offered for us on the bloody tree. 
 
 Nothing shall now be said about Our Lord's continual 
 intercession for us m heaven, though for this, too, His 
 
168 
 
 EASTER. 
 
 resurrection was needed ; wliat is before us is this, that 
 our salvation dejDends as plainl}' on that influence upon 
 our inner man, which Christ was raised from the dead 
 to exercise, as it does on that satisfaction for our sins 
 which He died to offer. "Without the Last our debt to 
 God could not be discharged : without the first we 
 could have no heart to profit by God's mercy. We 
 need Christ within us, reconciling us to God, as much 
 as Christ without us, by whom God is reconciled to us. 
 This is a part of the truth of His mediation. His man's 
 nature is the seed of grace to ours. Through it does the 
 Hoi}' Ghost, which dwelt in fulness in His sanctified 
 manhood, extend its influence to our sinful being. 
 Christ, as man, is the head of all the Christian Body : 
 of that Body all devout Christians are members. Now, 
 it is from the Head that all the body, b}^ joints and 
 bands, has nourishment ministered. 
 
 This is why all the ordinances of the Gosj^el are im- 
 portant : this is the especial reason why we invite you 
 to Holy Sacraments. Their efficac}^ depends, not only 
 on what you do in them, but much more on what is 
 done by Christ ; without sincerity on 3^our part they are 
 no doubt unprofitable, but their power comes from the 
 presence of Christ Our Lord. Christian men are in a 
 different case from those who lived before Christ, 
 because they are not to ask for spiritual blessings 
 directly from God the Father ; they are to ask for every 
 thing through Christ, who is man as well as God. This 
 is our signal privilege : this is why we have access with 
 confidence through the faith of Him. A new and 
 living way has been opened to us through the Godman, 
 Christ Jesus. 
 
EASTER. 
 
 169 
 
 Now, to the opening of this way Our Lord's resurrec- 
 tion was plainly necessary. For this access depends on 
 the truth of Our Lord's manhood. We have such con- 
 fidence in approaching God, as follows from knowing 
 that our nature has place in heaven. A real work con- 
 tinues to be truly done on our behalf in the heavenly 
 sanctuary. And through Our Lord's manhood does 
 God the Holy Ghost visit every member of the Church 
 of God. What a mysterious visitant is this, what an 
 awful presence : how greatly does it increase the guilt 
 of those who despise the blessings of the Gospel. But 
 to those who desire to be saved, who cherish the re- 
 newing influence of His heavenly presence, what greater 
 joy than this, what truer comfort ? To be assured that 
 through Christ's real influence on all His members that 
 heavenly gift is truly bestowed upon us, whereby we 
 may be made one with God. 
 
 Our o^vn feelings are at best but an uncertain stay. 
 They may suffice in the days of health and vigour ; 
 while the sunshine of Hfe cheers our path. But when 
 the night comes on, when our pulse beats slowly and 
 our spirits fail, Ave need something more enduring. And 
 then comes in the assurance which is built upon Christ's 
 real presence with all the true members of His spiritual 
 body : " Behold I stand at the door and knock ; if any 
 man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in 
 to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." To 
 how many has Our Lord's merciful presence brought 
 this true comfort? How many fainting hearts have 
 been revived by this His real influence in the ordinances 
 of His love. Thus has "His glorious resurrection" 
 ministered as surely as His bloody death to the accept- 
 
170 
 
 EASTER. 
 
 ance of mankind. Without it, the price might indeed 
 have been paid for our pardon, but how could we have 
 been living members of His Body, of His flesh, and of 
 His bones ? Whence could the whole body by joints 
 and bands have nourishment ministered ? 
 
 Therefore did the Lord of Glory reunite in His mercy 
 that human soul, and that wounded body, whereby He 
 had suffered in the garden and on the cross. From 
 neither had His Godhead ever been separate ; not when 
 His soul visited the dwelling of the spirits departed, 
 nor when pious hands laid His body in the earth. But 
 on this day He reunited to one another these instru- 
 ments of His passion and His death. But those things 
 which He had borne in humiliation and agony, were 
 raised to-day in glory and power. For now He took 
 to Him His great power and reigned: He returned 
 again to His ancient habitation : His lower nature was 
 now exalted ; the manhood received those accessions, 
 which belonged to that, which had been taken into 
 God. He had been delivered for our offences ; to-day 
 He was raised again for our justification. 
 
SERMON XVL 
 
 GOD THE SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 [Ascension-Day.] 
 St. John, xvi. 25. 
 
 TJiese things have I spoken unto you in proverbs ; but the time Cometh^ 
 when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs^ but I shall show you 
 plainly of the Father." 
 
 The present season prescribes the subjects, which 
 should exercise our thoughts. Those forty days are 
 ended, in which the mysterious secrets of His coming 
 kingdom were imparted to Our Lord's Apostles. This 
 day did He ascend above all heavens, that He might 
 bestow upon others that gift of grace, the first fruit 
 whereof humanity had already received in His Incar- 
 nation. By this means was the understanding of man 
 enlightened, and his will reformed. For these two 
 make up the constitution of human beings, and though 
 in the end probably united, yet to our imperfect capacity 
 they present the two main divisions, under which we 
 may consider the operations of the Most High. And 
 of these two, the text leads us to consider more parti- 
 cularly the work of God in enlightening the understand- 
 
172 
 
 ASCENSION-DAY. 
 
 ing. How was this part of our nature ajffected by the 
 glorification of Christ ? How came His resurrection 
 and ascent into heaven to give man such enlarged 
 knowledge, that the doubtful teaching of parables 
 should yield to the clear vision of God ? How was it 
 connected with that gift of the Holy Ghost, which was 
 declared of ancient days to be the spirit of hncnjoledge^ 
 and of the fear of the Lord ? 
 
 With a view of answering these questions, let us 
 consider, first, what is the source of knowledge, and, 
 secondly, what the medium through which we receive 
 it. Now the source of all knowledge is plainly God. 
 Its secret fount is the fathomless abyss of His unsearch- 
 able being. Such is the direct assurance of Scripture : 
 such is the conclusion to which men are led by the in- 
 timations of nature. For every man possesses a certain 
 gift of understanding. It shows itself in the sports of 
 children, as well as in their studies. Grown men it 
 guides in the pursuits of business ; it makes them 
 judges of truth and error. " Blessed are the peace- 
 makers," or, "honesty is the best policy" — these are 
 common sayings to which every heart assents, and 
 which each man can confirm from the scanty stock of 
 his own experience. 
 
 But wherein lies that common store of understanding, 
 which displays itself in these consentient judgments of 
 mankind ? For we do not make this wisdom, but find 
 it. We come to it, as to a light which enlightens every 
 man's nature, and which none, whom God has endued 
 with the common prerogatives of humanity, can reject. 
 It is a part of a world of realities, into which each 
 generation gradually finds its way : so soon as such 
 
ASCENSION-DAY. 
 
 173 
 
 things are stated, men cannot choose but acquiesce in 
 them : they remain as a beacon to other minds, by 
 which they will be accepted as freely as by our own ; 
 we drink of the great ocean of truth, as every following 
 race of men must drink of it. 
 
 Our wisdom, then, is no individual possession, but a 
 specimen of the general properties of our nature. But 
 in what example of our race shall we find this common 
 gift in its perfection ? We read, that " Solomon w^as 
 wiser than all men, than Ethan the Ezrahite, and 
 Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol." 
 How came he to possess wisdom in such completeness ? 
 Why did the intellectual gifts of the race centre in him? 
 For the cause of this we must ascend from him to his 
 Maker. We must refer back to the giver of those 
 common endowments, which have been bestowed on 
 humanity at large. God gave Solomon wisdom and 
 understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, 
 even as the sand which is on the sea^-shore." " For 
 there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the 
 Almighty giveth him understanding." " Who hath 
 put wisdom in the inward parts, or who hath given un- 
 derstanding to the heart ?" " It is God our Maker, who 
 teacheth us more than the beasts of the field, and 
 maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven." " For to 
 a man that is good in His sight, God giveth wisdom, 
 and knowledge, and joy." All these things come from 
 the " Father of lights," and Himself is the fountain 
 whence they spring. For with Thee is the fountain 
 of life, and in Thy light shall we see light." 
 
 And this wisdom which He has been pleased to im- 
 part, is bound by nature, as itself afiirms, to His adora- 
 
174 
 
 ASCENSION-DAY. 
 
 ble being. For " the Lord possessed Me in the begin- 
 ning of His ways^ before His works of old." " Then 
 was I by Him^ as one brought up with Him, and I was 
 daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him." It is 
 this parent knowledge which, going forth from the 
 Ancient of Days, enlightens the short-lived children of 
 time, and kindles the spark of wisdom in their several 
 bosoms. " In Him was Life, and the Life was the 
 Light of Men." 
 
 II. Let us come, then, to the second question, What 
 is the medium through which this gift is partaken? 
 Two ways there are, whereby we receive it. For two 
 systems have severally been introduced by the old and 
 new creation : the first dependent on the law of nature, 
 the second on the law of grace. The first looks to 
 that inward intercourse with the Creative Spirit of the 
 Universe, which is maintained by every derived spirit, 
 when it casts itself upon the principle of its higher 
 nature, and communes in secret with the Parent of its 
 thoughts. The second rests on that new mean of union, 
 whereby heaven and earth have been joined together 
 — the mediation of Christ. These two are the channels 
 of intercourse between man and God — the inward 
 searchings of the human spirit, or the supernatual 
 apprehensiveness of faith — the imitation of the first 
 man, or sacramental union with the Second — the fol- 
 lowing of Adam, or membership in Christ. 
 
 For the religion of nature is in itself no denial of 
 God : rather it is God's voice witnessing to the higher 
 origin of the beings whom Ho has created. It shows 
 " the work of the law written in men's hearts, their con- 
 science also bearing witness, and their thoughts the 
 
ASCEXSION-DAT. 
 
 175 
 
 mean vrhile accusing or else excusing one another." It 
 formed a large part of human knowledge even while the 
 original revelation was still fresh, and among those who 
 were favoured by anticipations of the coming Kedeemer. 
 For even the Jew, though it was the ordained privilege 
 of his nation that through its pubhc ritual the ladder 
 was let down beforehand, whereby the Son of Man has 
 since bridged over the gulf between earth and heaven ; 
 — even he was taught by his weekly Sabbath to look 
 chiefly to that first creation, wherein Jehovah revealed 
 Himself as " God of the spirits of all flesh." Thou, Lord, 
 in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth ; 
 and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They 
 shall perish, but Thou shalt endure : they all shall wax 
 old as doth a garment .... but Thou art the same, and 
 Thy years shall not fail. The children of Thy ser^'ants 
 shall continue, and their seed shall stand fast in Thy 
 sight." 
 
 And if this was the feeling of the Israelite, how much 
 more of those heathen nations, whose best prayer to the 
 mercy of their unknown Creator was, " despise not the 
 works of Thine own hands." Yet was this the portion 
 of the great mass of the world's inhabitants, till four 
 thousand years had told their course. Their sole inter- 
 course with God was through that law of creation, 
 whereby all spirits are bound to the Parent Spirit, in 
 whom " we Hve, and move, and have our being." Thus 
 only could they " seek the Lord, if haply they might 
 feel after Him and find Him, though He be not far from 
 every one of us." And how faltering were the footsteps 
 with which men sought the source of all good. They 
 became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish 
 
176 
 
 ASCENSION-DAY. 
 
 heart was darkened." " The light shined in darkness, 
 and the darkness comprehended it not." 
 
 Such was man s condition till the fullness of time 
 brought in those events of which this holy season re- 
 minds us. For then did the mediation of the God-man 
 provide a new mean of intercourse between earth and 
 heaven; the mighty void was bridged over, and the 
 law of grace came in to help the law of nature. And 
 how was this eflfected ? What was that reversal of man's 
 separation from God, which for more than eighteen 
 centuries has been yearly commemorated? Because 
 man could not attain to his Creator, the Creator merci- 
 fully condescended to man's nature. In the Person of 
 the Eternal Son, the co-equal participator of Godhead, 
 did God mercifully take our nature, and thus consecrate 
 it a temple for Himself 
 
 Thus did spiritual power enter into manhood, and 
 enrich it with divine endowments of holiness and knowl- 
 edge. As the Old Testament had declared man's duty 
 to his Creator, so did the New reveal that new law of 
 grace, whereby only he could perform it. " For the 
 law was given by Moses ; grace and truth came by Jesus 
 Christ." In the Gospels and Epistles are those wonder- 
 ful steps set forth, whereby this new means of inter- 
 course is provided. When grace is spoken of in the 
 Gospels, it refers in every instance to that New Head 
 of man's race, in whom the blessings of the new cove- 
 nant were first centred, that afterwards they might be 
 distributed from Him to His brethren. The Gospels 
 contain no statement that any specific gift of grace was 
 bestowed by God upon mankind at large, beyond those 
 dealings of divine love, which were either due to the 
 
ASCENSION-DAY. 
 
 177 
 
 general mercy of the Creator, or were an anticipation 
 of the great event of this season ; because till that work 
 was completed, w^hich the Gospels record, the great gift 
 of grace could not be erjojed. " The Holy Ghost was 
 not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified." 
 The only four occasions, therefore, in which grace is 
 spoken of by the Evangelists, refer to those personal 
 endo^^Tiients, with which the New Head of man's race 
 was enriched during the period of His earthly pilgrimage. 
 These gifts He doubtless received in their fullness, by 
 that wondrous act whereb}^ the manhood was taken into 
 God. But the whole course of His earthly being was a 
 perpetual exaltation of His human through its oneness 
 with His divine nature. " The child grew and waxed 
 strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of 
 God was upon Him." 
 
 Now this it is which the Gospels set forth. They 
 describe the consecration of that hallowed spring of 
 purity and wisdom, which was speedily to flow forth for 
 the healing of the nations. They trace to their head 
 those divine waters of the river of life, which issued out 
 from the Sanctuary. And what is the peculiar lesson 
 of the Acts and the Epistles ? The spreading forth of 
 that gift of grace, whereby Sacraments derive their 
 efficacy — by which the Universal Church everywhere 
 and in every age is replenished. " These waters go down 
 into the desert, and go into the sea : which being brought 
 forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed." For 
 when Christ Our Lord " ascended up on high. He led 
 captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men." That same 
 gift of grace which He had received because He was 
 human. He now bestowed because He was divine- 
 
178 
 
 ASCENSION-DAY. 
 
 Therefore was peace extended like a river, and tlie 
 glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. When Our 
 crucified Lord had entered into His glory, when He had 
 come again by that higher medium of an unseen pre- 
 sence, which He maintains through the communion of 
 the Holy Ghost, He bestowed that gift upon His bre- 
 thren by the birth of the Spirit, which by personal one- 
 ness with Godhead had been the natural portion of His 
 own sinless flesh. For " of His fullness have all we re- 
 ceived, and grace for grace." Thus was the grace of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, through the fellowship of the Spirit, 
 bestowed on the collective Church. Is the God-man by 
 propriety of nature truly one with the Father ? yet are 
 all His brethren actually one with Him by adoption and 
 grace. No sooner, therefore, was the Head of mankind 
 " by the right hand of God exalted," and had " received 
 of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost," than we 
 read respecting the members of His mystic body, that 
 " great grace was upon them all." 
 
 And thus is it, therefore, that divine hnowledge is 
 communicated through the Mediator to the children of 
 men. As the mysteries of His Father's kingdom lay 
 open to Him by natural oneness, so does He impart 
 them by supernatural grace to His servants. For " no 
 man hath seen God at any time, the only-begotten Son, 
 which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared 
 Him." That which belonged to Him by the intuition 
 of nature has been communicated to us by the inspira- 
 tion of grace. No more, therefore, did He declare to 
 His disciples in the text, "shall I speak unto you in 
 parables, but I shall show you plainly of the Father." 
 Hitherto His instruction had been veiled in earthly 
 
ASCENSION-DAT. 
 
 179 
 
 language : He had employed the proverbs of speech, 
 and the parables of men. For what is all earthly lan- 
 guage but a condescension to the weakness of embodied 
 spirits, who are restricted to the poverty of external 
 symbols of intercourse, and cannot come into contact 
 with the naked truth of realities themselves ? " For 
 we know in part, and we prophecy in part, but when 
 that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part 
 shall be done away." "For now we see through a 
 glass darkly, but then face to face ; now I know in 
 part, but then shall I know even as also I am known." 
 
 Yet some foretaste and prelibation of this more per- 
 fect gift of an heavenly vision was promised even in 
 this lower world, to those whose appointed portion was 
 to "have the mind of Christ." For how could the 
 mysteries of God's kingdom be altogether unknown to 
 those, whom He would " show plainly of the Father ?" 
 Such thoughts must in their nature transcend anything 
 which sentences could express, or words could utter, 
 " but God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit, 
 for the S23irit searcheth all things, even the deep things 
 of God." In this manner, then, is that intercourse with 
 God, which was lost by Adam's sin, restored by Christ's 
 obedience ; and the law of grace takes place of the law 
 of nature. To be a member by birth of the family of 
 man, to possess the mysterious gift of a spiritual being, 
 is to have the wonderful power of holding intercourse 
 by thought with the Father of all being, whose pre- 
 sence is perpetually with His whole creation ; but to be 
 reborn by Baptism into the Church of Christ, to be 
 made a spiritual member of our Incarnate Head — this 
 is to have " a new and living way consecrated for us 
 
180 
 
 ASCENSION-DAY. 
 
 through the veil, that is to say, His flesh/' and to be 
 admitted by Mediation to fellowship in that " grace and 
 truth/' which by nature had their dwelling in Him. 
 . Such is that blessed means of union with the source of 
 all wisdom, which was opened to us at this season by 
 the exaltation of the Son of Man. 
 
 And how, then, can we best extend that gift of knowl- 
 edge, which is plainly the most valuable possession of 
 mankind ? The question is sometimes asked, whether 
 religious or secular knowledge is most important ; which 
 is most truly useful to the children of men. There is 
 a means, indeed, of rendering even secular knowledge 
 subservient to a hallowed end, by viewing it as a mani- 
 festation of God's ways in the government of His crea- 
 tures. But look at it in itself, detached from those 
 higher relations by which it may be ennobled, and can 
 we doubt its inferiority to those exalted thoughts, 
 which lead us upward to the throne of God? Would 
 you elevate the character of a nation, would you free a 
 whole generation from the sordid and debasing chains 
 of appetite, you must not build on those principles of a 
 corrupted humanity, whereby alone nature can ascend 
 to God — a better road is opened, a nobler message is 
 proclaimed; "that which we have heard and seen 
 declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship 
 with us, and truly our fellowship is Avith the Father, 
 and with His Son, Jesus Christ. 
 
 And as these considerations show that Christian 
 training is what alone does justice to the capacities of 
 man, so does it suggest the nature of that training, 
 which alone can properly be called Christian. For 
 Christianity is the doctrine of grace. It is a substitu- 
 
ASCENSION-DAY. 
 
 181 
 
 tion of the system of Mediation for the system of 
 nature. It is built upon the truth that all heavenly 
 gifts were first received by the manhood of the Church's 
 Incarnate Head, that from Him they might flow forth 
 into all its members. Thus are divine blessings 
 received by His servants through Sacramental grace, 
 because they pertained to Him by oneness of nature. 
 And hence we see how close is the union between a 
 Christian education^ and all those means of grace, 
 whereby we maintain our union with the Lord's Mystic 
 Body. For what are prayers and Sacraments but " the 
 joints and bands" by which the whole body of the 
 Church " has nourishment ministered." 
 
 Is it alledged, then, that the Church's sj'stem of edu- 
 cation interferes with the full development of the intel- 
 lectual faculties of men, that daily devotions, and a 
 lengthened service, and full attention to the doctrinal 
 teaching of our Holy Mother, abstract too much of 
 that time which is required for the increasing demands 
 of a cultivated age ; we answer that too great promi- 
 nence cannot be given to the highest of all sources of 
 knowledge, that " the fear of the Lord is the beginning 
 of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy is under- 
 standing." And further, to seek this gift in devotion as 
 well as study, in holy ordinances as well as private 
 thought, is the very course to which those great events 
 conduct, of which this season reminds us. For this is 
 that road of intercourse with God, which our one Me- 
 diator has provided. What can be more necessary, then, 
 than those Gospel ordinances, whereby we drink of that 
 well of grace, which has been opened for us in His In- 
 carnate Nature ? How can knowledge flow forth to us 
 
182 
 
 ASCENSION-DAY. 
 
 from the native source of unapproachable Godhead, save 
 through union with Him, in whom alone the streams 
 descend which water the earth ? 
 
 Let no man, therefore, who professes to value the 
 gifts of grace, neglect those Sacraments whereby the 
 members of Christ are engrafted into His Body. Let 
 none think those hours wasted, which hear the hymn 
 of praise or prayer for pardon resound within the Church's 
 consecrated walls. For shall we go back from Media- 
 tion to nature : having begun in the spirit, shall we be 
 made perfect by the flesh ? Were we devoted in bap- 
 tism to Christ, that to the old Adam and to the prin- 
 ciples of our carnal being, we may owe the attainments 
 of our after-life ? Shall we be always satisfied with the 
 doubtful parables of this imperfect state, and not hold 
 onward to the measure of the stature of the fullness of 
 Christ ? It was well in Heathen times to grope about 
 by the uncertain light of natural reason, while as yet 
 the Day-spring had not risen on the benighted world. 
 But alas for those who would still trust to the strivings 
 of their individual faith, now that the highway of grace 
 has been opened to the nations. For there is no truth 
 save in God, nor any approach to God except in Christ; 
 nor any union with Christ, except through the fellow- 
 ship of the Gospel. 
 
SEEMOX XVII. 
 
 CHEIST THE CHANNEL OF GRACE. 
 
 [Whitsunday.] 
 St. John i. 16. 
 
 ^^Of His fullness have all ice received, and grace for grace." 
 
 The gift of God's grace is ever set forth as the gTeat 
 blessing of the Gospel. By natural Providence does the 
 Father of all sustain us : we look to His watchful care 
 for our protection; for the advantages of food and 
 raiment we are indebted to His bounty. But, when 
 leaving the necessities of our bodies, we think of the 
 necessities of our souls ; when we rise above the order 
 of nature to that world of unseen reahties, which is ever 
 around us ; the gTand characteristic of our being is the 
 possession of grace. Now what is this grace which God 
 bestows, and what is the channel through which it is 
 dispensed ? These are the two questions, which shall 
 be proposed to you to-da}^ 
 
 In its literal sense grace means favour. And since 
 favour is, or ought to be, the result of desert, therefore 
 in things earthly the term grace is rather applied to 
 those whose character conciUates favour, than to those 
 who entertain it. Hence does grace of body imply those 
 
184 
 
 WHITSUNDAY. 
 
 external qualities which win favour. This is its com- 
 mon sense in the languages of classical antiquity. In 
 Holy Scri]3ture however the word is not limited to the 
 graces of the body, but implies all those qualities which 
 conciliate esteem. It was not only because he w^as well 
 favoured, but by virtue of Joseph's whole character, that 
 ' he found grace in the sight of his master the Egyptian. 
 The favour or grace of man, then, depends not so much 
 on the party wdiich entertains, as on the party which 
 deserves it : its source lies in the excellence of the 
 graceful object, more than in the original stock of kind- 
 ness, of which the beholder may be possessed. For 
 though man be a free agent, so that he can choose 
 which impulses it is his will to follow, yet they must 
 be impulses which make part of his nature, and his 
 nature is to favour those whose character calls forth his 
 love. For man has no power of creating what is foreign 
 to himself: he cannot go out of himself and render his 
 neighbours other than they are : and therefore he can- 
 not feel favour except towards those who either are, or 
 are supposed to be, fit objects of his preference. 
 
 But with God it is wholly different. The favour of 
 God has not its source in the excellence of the finite 
 beings who attract, but in the boundless excellence of 
 j the Infinite Being who possesses it. For " He is good 
 V and kind to the unthankful and to the evil." There- 
 fore only is divine grace exhaustless, because it is sove- 
 reign as the Majesty, and boundless as the Infinity of 
 God. It has its fountain in those unsearchable stores 
 of the divine love, which were the original cause of all 
 existence. When this love moved forth from the in- 
 scrutable rei)Ose of its eternal existence, its will was to 
 
TTHITSUXDAY. 
 
 185 
 
 call into being heaven and earth. To this act nothing 
 outward contributed by any external persuasion : the 
 Lord hath made all things for Himself:" God's Will, 
 like His Word, was the creative cause of all things. 
 " God said, Let there be light : and there was light." 
 
 And so, too, when the object was to renew the souls 
 whom He had made, it was still God's love, which was 
 the onl}' beginning of their recovery. For •* God com- 
 mended His love to us, in that when we were yet sin- 
 ners Christ died for us." " Of His own will begat He 
 us by the Word of Life." So that God's grace is wholly 
 other than the grace of man : it has its root in His own 
 nature, it is a producing cause of goodness in those 
 whom His mercy favours. Its fountain is that unfa- 
 thomable ocean of love, which is stored up in His Lifinite 
 Being. Thence it issues to bring into existence the 
 objects which it desires. ^* In all ages entering into 
 holy souls, it maketh them to be sons of God and pro- 
 phets." It comes forth like the sun's light for the 
 renewal of the world. Thus creative is that love of God 
 which is the principle of grace. It is Himself in action, 
 going forth through that most j)recious attribute of His 
 nature, to effect the work which it is His pleasure to 
 perfoiTOL. For God is love, and he that dwelleth in 
 love, dwelleth in God, and God in him." Such then is 
 the nature of grace — God Himself working through His 
 highest Attribute — the love of God in action. 
 
 But, secondly, what is the channel through which it 
 is bestowed upon mankind? How do we receive the 
 gifts of grace ? We receive them only through the me- 
 diation of Christ. There is none other name given 
 under heaven, whereby we must be saved." And when 
 
186 
 
 WHITSUNDAY. 
 
 we speak of Christ, we speak not merely of the Second 
 Person in the Ever-Blessed Trinity, but of Him who 
 was truly " born of the virgin, of her substance — of 
 that " One Mediator between God and man, the Man 
 Christ Jesus." In Him alone, and through Him, does 
 the creative love of God find its way to mortals. Those 
 who are " without Christ," are also " without God in the 
 world." " Grace and truth came by J esus Christ." And 
 thus has it been God's will to adopt the same rule in the 
 kingdom of Grace, which He had before adopted in the 
 kingdom of the nature. For are not all of us children 
 of that first man, who was created of the dust ? Have 
 not life, and reason, and sense, flowed into us in some 
 unknown and wonderful manner, through our inherit- 
 ance of that nature, of which he was the first possessor ? 
 It might have been God's pleasure to create every man 
 by a separate exercise of His power; to make each 
 man's being wholly irrespective of the being of his breth- 
 ren. But such has not been His will. In Adam were 
 all those qualities of mind and body gathered together, 
 which from him have descended to his progeny. And 
 therefore has that corruption, which in him entered into 
 our race, extended itself to all men. 
 
 Now the selfsame law which was adopted in respect 
 to the first head of our race, has been exerted in respect 
 of the Second. For the first man Adam was made a 
 living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." 
 And, therefore, as corruption found its way into us 
 through the one, so does grace through the other. We 
 are men only by inheriting the nature of the first, we 
 are renewed men only by inheriting the grace of the 
 Second. " As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall 
 
WHITSUNDAY. 
 
 187 
 
 all be made alive." This is that law of mediation, 
 whereby the gift of God's grace — the exercise, that is, 
 of His creative love — is bestowed upon His creatures. 
 
 That such is the course of God's grace is plainly set 
 forth in Scripture. We read little of its influence in 
 the Old Testament : what we read is connected com- 
 monly with those typical rites of Jewish Service, which 
 prepared the way for the Son of Man. But what do 
 we find respecting it in the Gospels ? Even here the 
 notices of its effect are not frequent, and they have no 
 reference to any gift bestowed by Almighty God upon 
 His creatures in general. They relate in every case to 
 that mysterious process, whereby Our Lord's Manhood 
 was consecrated to be the new Head to His brethren. 
 All that is said of grace in the Gospels is, that it was 
 poured, as into a fountain, into the manhood of the Son 
 of God, that from Him it might afterwards be distri- 
 buted to His members. " The child grew, and waxed 
 strong in spirit, and the grace of God was upon Him." 
 " And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only- 
 begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." 
 
 In this manner was Our Lord prepared to be, accord- 
 ing to His Manhood, " the first-born of every creature ; 
 the beginning of the creation of God." This rendered 
 Him the Second Adam ; from whom, as from a fresh 
 origin, should flow into humanity a higher life. For " of 
 His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace." 
 Whatever influence is exercised by the divine love upon 
 man — the presence of that life-giving principle of grace, 
 which is as mighty for the renewal of the soul, as was 
 once the creative Word for the production of the body 
 — all comes through spiritual union with that new Head 
 
188 
 
 WHITSUNDAY. 
 
 of our race, by whom the transmitted sin of our first 
 parents is corrected. The various steps through which 
 this wonderful work was accompHshed, are set before us 
 in the Acts and in the Epistles. As the Gospels de- 
 scribe to us the consecration of Our Lord's humanity, so 
 do the following parts of Scripture show how it became 
 the channel of grace. St. John has related to us Our 
 Lord's declaration that He had sanctified His man's 
 nature for the sake of His brethren. St. Matthew has 
 informed us of the honour which awaited it after His 
 resurrection : " all power is given unto Me in heaven 
 and in earth." But the further course which was to 
 be chosen by the divine grace is recorded in the Acts 
 and the Epistles : its transmission, namely, from the 
 ascended Son of Man to His earthly kindred. When 
 he ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and 
 gave gifts unto men." 
 
 Thus did the Great Heir of humanity obtain spiritual 
 wealth for His younger brethren. This was the very 
 office which He undertook to discharge, through that 
 mission of the Holy Ghost, of which His own exalta- 
 tion was the necessary condition. No sooner was the 
 New Head of man's race made perfect, than the gift of 
 grace flowed forth from Him into the Church, which 
 is His Body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." 
 Immediately, therefore, do we hear respecting the 
 Christian community (that which before we never read 
 of), " great grace was upon them all." This was 
 brought to pass through the agency of the Holy Ghost, 
 the third Person in the blessed Trinity, through whom 
 the God-man fulfilled His promise, " I will not leave 
 you comfortless, I will come to you." This mission and 
 
WHITSUNDAY. 
 
 189 
 
 influence of the Holy Ghost must not be looked at as 
 something independent of the Mediation of Christ ; on 
 the contrary, the coming of the Holy Ghost was the 
 immediate result of Christ's Mediation, and was 
 specially designed to give it efficacy. 
 
 For what means that promise of the Son of Man, to 
 which the Apostles perpetually refer, that He would be 
 wdth them always to the end of the world ? What is 
 it to be in Christ," to " be found in Him," to be 
 " members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones?" 
 These oft repeated expressions cannot be a mere empty 
 figure ; such great words cannot mean nothing. Why 
 is our relation to Christ set against our relation to 
 Adam, unless as we are truly akin to the one, so are 
 we also really associated to the other ? What means 
 the death of the flesh, and the resurrection of our inner 
 nature, and the being " risen with Christ," and the 
 present " quickening of our mortal bodies," save that 
 
 if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, 
 but the spirit is life because of righteousness ?" All 
 these passages testify to this great truth, that there 
 exists an order of grace, as well as an order of nature, 
 and that every Christian has part in the one, as every 
 man has part in the other. 
 
 The one of these, the order of nature, began when 
 the first man was created of the dust of the ground ; 
 but the other began when the manhood was taken into 
 God, by the miraculous conception of the second Adam. 
 The one is perpetuated as often as by natural birth 
 new individuals are added to the family of man ; but 
 the order of grace is perpetuated as often as members 
 are added to the Body of Christ by the new birth of 
 
190 WHITSUNDAY. 
 
 Baptism. For " as many of you as have been baptized 
 into J esus Christ have put on Christ." The one, then, 
 is heavenly, spiritual, unseen ; the other depends on 
 that material extension of the race of man, which is 
 earthly in its nature and its ends. The one is that 
 ^fleshly nature of the old man, which we inherit from 
 Adam; the other is that spiritual nature of the new 
 man, which results from union with Christ. " For the 
 flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against 
 the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, 
 so that ye do not do the things that ye would." 
 
 Now, since these two principles, like Rebecca's ofi*- 
 spring, are struggling in the soul and body of every 
 Christian, the one must need to be nourished and 
 strengthened as well as the other. As our life is sus- 
 tained according to the order of nature by those simple 
 elements which our corrupt will so constantly perverts ; 
 so do we need the quickening influence of that heavenly 
 food, which may quicken our spirits according to the 
 order of grace. And what is this spiritual food ? Our 
 Lord tells us in that sixth chapter of St. J ohn's Gospel, 
 jvherein He spoke prophetically of the Holy Eucharist. 
 ^' Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink 
 His blood, ye have no life in you ; for My flesh is meat 
 indeed, and My blood is drink indeed." " This is the 
 bread that came down from heaven, that a man may 
 eat thereof and not die." Look at it, indeed, according 
 ,/ to the order of nature, and Our Lord's body is in heaven, 
 I where it will keep its place till He comes to judge all 
 men at the day of doom. But look at it according to 
 the order of grace, and His Manhood is truly present, 
 through the power of the Holy Ghost, as the sustaining 
 
WHITSUNDAY. 
 
 191 
 
 principle of ours. " For My flesh is meat indeed, and 
 my blood is drink indeed." So that the order of grace 
 is a real interference of the Second Adam in the life of 
 man, through that actual communication of Himself, 
 which He bestows in holy ordinances. In His person 
 did grace have its fountain, when by true oneness with 
 Godhead, its uncontaminated purity was present in 
 perfection here below. " We beheld His glory, the 
 glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace 
 and truth." And from the same source does the text 
 r teach us that it perpetually issues forth into all foUow- 
 \ ing generations of mankind : for " of His fulness have 
 I all ice received, and grace for grace." 
 
 And thus may be seen, brethren, how the whole 
 blessed Trinity takes part in the recovery of mankind. 
 For from the Father's love did that grace originate, 
 which was the beginning of man's salvation. And it 
 was the infinite love of God the Son, whereby He was 
 prompted to sanctify our nature by taking it into Him- 
 self And it was the love of God the Holy Ghost, which 
 moved this third Person in the Ever-Blessed Trinity to 
 undertake that office of joining the members of Christ 
 to their Head, w^hich gives such peculiar efficacy to the 
 Sacraments of His grace. For by one spirit are we all 
 baptized into one body. And so, too, in the Holy Com- 
 munion, " it is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh pro- 
 fiteth nothing." 
 
 And this action of the three Persons in the Holy and 
 Undivided Trinity, is perpetually set before us in the 
 Doxology or Blessing of the Christian Church. May 
 there be with you," says the Apostle, " the grace of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the com- 
 
192 
 
 WHITSUNDAY. 
 
 inunion of the Holy Ghost." The love of God — the 
 ultimate and original principle of the world's recovery. 
 The communion or fellowship of the Holy Ghost — this 
 is that hallowed influence, which diffuses itself through 
 the Church of God, animating it as the soul does the 
 body, and thus quickening into life the element, w^hich 
 it combines. But " the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ" 
 — because in Him is the beginning of that new creation, 
 which from Him is imparted to His brethren in the 
 world. He is the Head from wdiom all the body by 
 joints and bands, has nourishment ministered. For it 
 is the Son alone who became Incarnate, and not the 
 Father or the Holy Ghost. So that out of Him grows 
 that course of grace, which is opposed to the course of 
 nature ; that higher life which is opposed to the inherit- 
 ance of the first Adam. For " if any man be in Christ, 
 he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold 
 all things are become new^" 
 
 In this great work does the whole Blessed Trinity 
 co-operate — the Father by His original will, the Holy 
 Ghost as the acting principle, both when the Son took 
 our nature by Incarnation, and when we are impreg- 
 nated with His by regeneration and grace. For " He 
 that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken 
 your mortal bodies by His Spirit, that dwelleth in you." 
 But that into which we are actually engrafted, that 
 whereof it may be truly said, according to the course of 
 grace, we are bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh, is that 
 Second Person in the undivided Trinity, who has vouch- 
 safed to become the New Head of man's race. There- 
 fore do we read ever of the grace of Christ 5 never of 
 the grace of the Spirit. 
 
WHITSUNDAY. 
 
 193 
 
 For this gift of grace is a real gift, whereby men 
 through supernatural influence receive their Maker. 
 The work of mediation is the true entrance into this 
 lower world, of that higher being, whereby heaven and 
 earth are enjoined together. It is the reahty of that 
 J acob's ladder, which in dim vision the Patriarch beheld. 
 When this truth was made known to the later watchers 
 at Bethlehem, it was no longer as a vision of the night, 
 but as an actual fact, which changed the condition of 
 mankind. For thus does grace find its way from hea- 
 ven to earth ; and those who were by nature the chil- 
 dren of the first, became bv new birth members of the 
 Second Adam. 
 
 And now let us mark in conclusion one practical 
 consequence of this wondrous mystery. Christ is truly 
 present in His servants. They live, yet not they, but 
 Christ liveth in them. The whole Church of the re- 
 deemed is filled with that power of the Holy Ghost, 
 which once had its habitation in our Master's earthly 
 frame. Therefore should it all be like one holy temple, 
 consecrated by the presence of that hallowed being, 
 whose dwelling is among the children of clay. There- 
 fore should every individual heart, each single body, be 
 purified hke that hallowed humanity of the Son of God, 
 whereof every Christian is a member. Therefore should 
 our thoughts, works, and actions, be cleansed from all 
 pollution both of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in 
 the fear of God. For " as He is so are we in this world." 
 " Beloved now are we the sons of God : and it doth not 
 yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when 
 He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see 
 Him as he is." 
 
SERMON XVIII. 
 
 THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 
 
 II. Corinthians, iv. 5. 
 
 " We preach not ourselves, hut Christ Jesus the Lord ; and ourselves 
 your servants for Jesus' sake." 
 
 These words are a sort of epitome of the Gospel. To 
 preach Christ the Lord, to set Him forth as the object 
 of men's affections, and cause of their salvation, as the 
 channel through whom all gifts are bestowed by God on 
 man, and through whom all prayers ascend from man 
 to the Almighty — this is its sum and substance. Let 
 us endeavour to realize, in the first place, what the truth 
 is which is here delivered ; and secondly, let us consi- 
 der how it is permitted to men to contribute by their 
 ministry or service to so great a blessing. 
 
 Now what is it to preach Christ ? It is to set Him 
 forth as the means of man's reconciliation with God, as 
 the channel of renewed intercourse between man and 
 his maker, as the corrector of the fall, the conqueror of 
 Satan, the Second Adam of redeemed Humanity, through 
 whom those gifts of grace and glory, which were lost 
 by our first parent, have been abundantly replaced. 
 Why was such a restoration needed? Restoration im- 
 plies that something has been lost. And the purpose 
 
THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 
 
 195 
 
 for which man was created was in truth destroyed by 
 that sin, which not only lost us Paradise, but lost that 
 intercourse with God, in which lies the happiness of 
 heaven itself For the basis of all religion lies in the 
 conviction that in God alone is the original fountain of 
 purity and happiness. The law of man's creation was 
 that he should be the mean whereby these perfections 
 should be exhibited upon earth. Therefore was he 
 created in God's image, that the excellencies of his 
 Maker might be reflected in his earthly clay. Of this 
 privilege did sin deprive him. The perfect image of 
 God was broken and defaced. Thereby was that inter- 
 course lost, by which the Almighty might have been 
 exhibited among His creatures. His best and last work, 
 that which was meant to represent and set Him forth 
 below, to rule over the inferior creation as His delegate, 
 which is still called in Scripture " the creature," because 
 His Maker's type and example among material beings, 
 was by sin degraded to the level of the beasts. 
 
 Now by what means could this evil be remedied ? 
 How could men be restored to their lost estate ? How 
 could that approach to God be given back, of which sin 
 had robbed them ? They had no power of themselves 
 to fly to God, because communion with God was the 
 very gift which they had forfeited. Therefore did God 
 come mercifully to them ; holiness and wisdom did not 
 disdain to care for sin and weakness. In the Person of 
 the co-equal Son, the Second of the Blessed and con- 
 substantial Three, did the Godhead conjoin itself to 
 man's nature, never to be divided. 
 
 This is " the mystery of God, and of the Father, and 
 of Christ." " God was in Christ reconciling to Himself 
 
196 
 
 THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 
 
 the world." In His Person were all those gifts restored 
 to humanity, which by the fall had been lost. As an 
 ancient writer expresses it, " God made man in His own 
 image, in that same image in which man was afterwards 
 made God." Whereas man's race had wholly lost its 
 original birthright, there was given back to it in the 
 Person of the Godman, a still larger measure of those 
 blessings which made up its primal inheritance. Those 
 divine graces which have their dwelling in the bosom 
 of God — ^love, purity, light, knowledge — all these which 
 had been so long strangers to the world, were in Him 
 perfectly exhibited. Of these endowments the first con- 
 sequence was that sacrifice of Himself for man's race, 
 whereby He made peace for His brethren. He their Head, 
 presented the only perfect offering which could ever be 
 presented on behalf of man, when he offered Himself 
 as a " ransom instead of many." And thence comes that 
 office of perpetual intercession, whereby He pleads for 
 those, in whose stead He suffered, and through the virtue 
 of His effectual service gives efficacy to their prayers. 
 
 All this the Gospel sets forth as the means of union 
 between God and man. The object of religion being to 
 reconcile the creature to the Creator, to restore the like- 
 ness of God which had been lost, the Gospel proclaimed 
 that this work could not be effected by man's own 
 efforts, but through union with this Divine Head, who 
 had thus as Mediator united Himself to our race. Herein 
 the Gospel stood alone. The schools of ancient philo- 
 sophy taught men that they were to save themselves. 
 By self-denial, self-resolution, effort, understanding, con- 
 templation — they were to build up a stair which should 
 lead them from earth to heaven. What said the Gospel ? 
 
THE GOSPEL MIXISTRT. 
 
 197 
 
 "God" is "manifest in the flesh." God Himself has 
 come down among men. In the Person of the Word, 
 God is man, and man God. Through this pure and 
 perfect member of man's family must all His imperfect 
 and impure brethren be exalted. They must be found 
 in Him, who is their peace. He is the door, the Avay, 
 the truth, and the life. He is the one Mediator, or 
 middle term, between God and man. His man's nature 
 is the channel of all heavenly gifts. " For as the Father 
 hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to 
 have life in Himself." We cannot speak too lowly of 
 man's nature, looked at in itself: we cannot speak too 
 highly of man's nature, as restored in that Captain of 
 our Salvation, who was made perfect through sufferings. 
 
 And these blessings it was the merciful purpose of 
 the one Mediator to bestow upon His brethren. For 
 " of His fulness have all we received and grace for 
 grace." Those heavenly graces which have their well- 
 head and fountain in His humanity, are ever since dis- 
 tributed as the life-giving j)rinciple of spiritual illumin- 
 ation among all His brethren. This was the very 
 purpose of His earthly course; "for their sakes I 
 sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified 
 through the truth." His goodness felt abridged of its 
 full triumph, if that perfection, with which in His 
 sacred Person Humanity was enriched, was not in its 
 measure communicated to His human kindred. Thus 
 hath " God, who commanded the Hght to shine out of 
 darkness, shined in our hearts," thus have we " the 
 mind of Christ," thus are we " made partakers of the 
 Divine image, having escaped the corruption which is 
 in the world through lust." 
 
198 
 
 THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 
 
 Here then is the main truth of the Gospel — the re- 
 newal of fallen nature in that Divine Man, from whom 
 the gifts of pardon and grace are transmitted to His 
 brethren. But how, secondly, does man's ministry con- 
 duce to this great work. " We preach not ourselves 
 but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants 
 for Jesus' sake." We j)ossess, i. e., no secret whereby 
 either we or you can of ourselves be re-united to God : 
 in Christ only was this ancient birthright of man's race 
 reclaimed, either for the one or the other. But what 
 need of our service in this hallowed work ? The thing 
 required is, that Adam's children maybe joined to that 
 new man J esus Christ, in whom nature was restored : 
 how is this work performed, and how does man's minis- 
 try conduce to it? Now to effect this work is the 
 whole object and meaning of the Christian ministry, 
 which was originally ordained, and is still continued 
 for no other purpose, than that through its instrumen- 
 tality those who are partakers by birth of the fallen 
 nature of the first Adam, may, by regeneration and 
 grace, be made partakers of the renewed nature of the 
 Second. For it pleased Him who appointed natural 
 birth to be the means of transmitting that life which 
 we have from our earthly parent, to appoint the 
 system of Church offices, i. e., common worship and 
 Sacraments, as the means whereby we might partake 
 the renewed nature of our Heavenly Head, the Man 
 Christ Jesus. 
 
 There are persons who suppose that they can be 
 joined to God by the mere exercise of their thoughts. 
 We sit at home, they say, we let our minds travel 
 towards God, we feel no particular need of public 
 
0 
 
 THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 199 
 
 worship or Church ordinances, we use them at times, 
 but we can do as well without them, and therefore we 
 do not requke the service of Christian ministers, mas- 
 much as we can hold intercourse with God by ourselves. 
 God is a Spirit, and this is the natm'al way in which a 
 spiritual substance, like our own souls, should hold 
 communion with Him. Yes, brethren, this is the 
 natural way in which man may approach his Maker, 
 and if we could be saved by nature^ this were all, doubt- 
 less, which could be required. But then by the course 
 of nature there shall no flesh be saved. Adam mirjld 
 have been, because his nature was pure ; we cannot be, 
 because our nature is polluted. Our fet parent might 
 hold communion with his Maker by that direct inter- 
 course which was provided by his inward thoughts. 
 But his fallen descendants cannot regain this privilege 
 Avithout such real union with their new Head, as the 
 ordinances of grace have been appointed to supply. The 
 root of all holy contemplation, the ground of intercourse 
 mth God, is that living communion with the Second 
 Adam, whereby the gifts, which in His sacred Person 
 He bestowed upon humanity at large, may become their 
 individual portion. 
 
 Do men think little, then, of the system of sacraments ? 
 Do they suppose that they can come to Christ as well 
 by themselves ? They forget that the efficacy of these 
 ordinances depends not only on the earnestness with 
 which men approach God, but on the reality of those 
 gifts which Christ bestows upon His brethren. For 
 what gives moment to these ordinances is, that they 
 are the appointed means whereby the Head of man's 
 race joins Himself to His brethren. They are the 
 
200 
 
 THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 
 
 "joints and bands/' whereby the whole body ha? 
 nourishment ministered. This is a divine and super- 
 natural work : supernatural, therefore, and divine must 
 be the means through which it is effected. And these 
 means are declared in the express words of Scripture 
 to be the Sacraments of grace. " As many of you as 
 have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ." 
 And again, " we being many are one body, for we are 
 all partakers of that one bread." And again. Our 
 Lord says in St. John's Gospel, " Except ye eat the flesh 
 of the Son of God, and drink His blood, ye have no life 
 in you." He spoke not of course of natural efficacy, or 
 a carnal banquet, but of that spiritual participation of 
 His flesh and blood, which is bestowed on those who 
 " discern the Lord's body." It is because He is the 
 only channel through whom fallen man can commune 
 with the Father, that those Sacramental ordinances 
 whereby we are " found in Him" are essential to our 
 welfare. 
 
 And hence is the ministry of men required. Instruc- 
 tion might be had from books or private study; but the 
 circumstance which renders the ministry of men indis- 
 pensable is the necessity of that union with the body 
 of Christ, whereby we participate in the new nature 
 which He has bestowed upon humanity. " For He 
 gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some 
 evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the per- 
 fecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for 
 the building up of the body of Christ." By this means 
 are the children of the first Adam rescued from the 
 debasement of the fall, and grafted one after another 
 into the body of the Second. This is the work of God's 
 
THE GOSPEL MIXISTRT. 
 
 201 
 
 spirit, using as His instrument the hands of men. For 
 " by one spirit are we all baptized into one body." 
 
 Does it seem strange that so momentous a work as 
 man's spuitual recover}- should be brought about through 
 means so simple as the washmg of water, or the conse- 
 crated elements of bread and wine ? I answer, that 
 our birth into the new man is throughout strange and 
 supernatural ; it is not that natural intercourse which 
 our first parent possessed with the author of his being. 
 TVhat wonder, then, that the means by which it is 
 effected should be strange and mysterious ? How mar- 
 vellous is that earthlv derivation which connects us 
 with Adam : how singTilar is it that all his descendants 
 should be the perpetual reproduction of his fallen being. 
 We see this, and therefore beheve it. And shall we be 
 surprised if the law of our union with the second Adam 
 is equally mysterious ? " Blessed are they that have 
 not seen, and jet have believed." 
 
 One difference there is, however, between the law of 
 
 natural descent, and the law of spiritual union, between 
 
 the bond which attaches us to the first man, and that 
 
 which connects us with the second, namely, that the 
 
 last is not like the first, independent of our will. Our 
 
 union with Adam is natural, as we did not bring it 
 
 about, so we cannot end it : our union with Christ is 
 
 supernatural, but it is in our power to break it off by 
 
 unbelief or by sin. Its maintenance depends upon 
 
 those acts of Christ, whereby He joins Himself to us in 
 
 Sacraments ; but it depends also upon our faith and 
 
 love. Therefore should all Christian men co-operate 
 
 in that work, for which the Christian ministry was 
 
 ordained. For by all acts of common worship do men 
 
 14 
 
202 
 
 THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 
 
 maintain their part in that body of Christ, to which in 
 Sacraments they are specially admitted. 
 
 But though this work requires the participation of 
 the individuals who would profit by it, yet is it a 
 common work and needs the intervention of those who 
 have common authority. For men cannot apply Christ's 
 merits to themselves by their private will; unless He 
 first applies His merits to them from without by His 
 public ministry. Else would the first movement to- 
 wards their recovery be internal and spontaneous, as 
 the Pelagians teach, instead of resting on that eflBcacy 
 of the New Head of our race, which implies the exist- 
 ence of a Church, and the influence of an external Sa- 
 viour. Hence the need of Sacramental rites, and of 
 the perpetual sacrifice, and of a ministry of reconcilia- 
 tion, and of an earthly absolution. All these depend 
 upon the truth that the Intercession, of the one great 
 High Priest is a reality which we cannot appropriate to 
 ourselves by the mere exercise of our thoughts, but 
 which He must bestow upon us through some actual 
 channel of intervention. Let us have but a deep sense 
 of the greatness of that loss which was entailed upon us 
 by the fall, of the immensity of that interval which 
 separates us from God, and of the absolute necessity of 
 His gracious interference, through whom only we are 
 re-united to our ofiended Creator, and we shall be in no 
 danger of supposing that we can dispense with those 
 means whereby He joins us to Himself The value of 
 the Christian ministry must stand or fall according as 
 men value the mediation of Christ. To deem highly 
 of the means of grace is to attach great weight to the 
 presence and efficacy of the New Head of humanity. 
 
THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 
 
 203 
 
 And this is the true mode of holding communion with 
 the unseen world ; it is the real imparting of God's na- 
 turOj the antidote to the fall, the "feast of fat things 
 well refined/' to which prophets and kings looked forth 
 with rapturous expectation. 
 
SERMON XIX. 
 
 THE SACKAMENTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 [Preached before the University of Oxford, March 10th, 1850.] 
 
 I. St. John, iv. 2, 3. 
 
 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that 
 Jesus Christ is come in the fleshy is of God: And every spirit that 
 confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God; 
 and this is that spirit of Antir Christ j whereof ye have heard that it 
 should corned 
 
 Here is a statement brouglit before us of the utmost 
 moment — how we are to discriminate between God's 
 Spirit and that which is opposed to Him, between Christ 
 and Anti-Christ, between truth and error. Its import- 
 ance is enhanced by its place, amidst the latest portions 
 of Scripture; and by the earnestness with which the 
 warning is repeated by the holy Apostle. He returns 
 to it in the seventh verse of his second Epistle : " Many 
 deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not 
 that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a de- 
 ceiver and an Anti-Christ." 
 
 Now though this passage found its immediate fulfil- 
 ment in the heresies of the early age, yet those who 
 appreciate the depth of Holy Scripture will not suppose 
 
THE SACRAMENTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 205 
 
 that its meaning was thereby exhausted. For the first 
 heresies by which the Gospel was opposed, did but in- 
 dicate what was the natural course of error; and thus 
 show in what manner human passion must always come 
 into collision with Divine truth. The same phenomena 
 must perpetually recur, so long as man's nature is cor- 
 rupt, and God's counsels are unalterable. So that the 
 general principle which is here laid down will be found 
 applicable in every age. For the Apostle enounces it 
 as an universal truth, that the main opposition to the 
 Gospel, the principle which deserves to be called Anti- 
 Christian, that which is the Anti-Christ itself, is to be 
 found here — in the denial that the work effected by the 
 Son of God has been effected through His taking our 
 flesh. Let us consider then, first, what is the exact 
 nature of that truth, which the Apostle declares to be 
 essential — "every spirit which confesseth that Jesus 
 Christ is come in the flesh, is of God." This will lead 
 us to inquire, secondly, what that error is by which it 
 is contradicted. And thus we shall be able, in conclu- 
 sion, to appreciate the nature and extent of their oppo- 
 sition. 
 
 Now the doctrine insisted upon by the Apostle, may 
 be said in one word, to be that of Mediation. He is not 
 speaking to persons who were ignorant that such a 
 being had existed as Our Lord Jesus Christ, or that 
 through His instrumentality advantages had been be- 
 stowed upon men. But he dwells on the point that it 
 was through the taking our flesh that these benefits 
 were conferred by the Son of God. They resulted, that 
 is, from the fact that He became truly a middle person 
 between us and the Father. For on this rests not only 
 
206 
 
 THE SACRAMENTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 the sacrifice offered upon the cross, but that whole work 
 of Atonement, whereby man is reconciled to God. 
 When mankind fell, in their first father Adam, no mean 
 was left for their recovery save through their Second 
 Head, Jesus Christ. In the fulness of time there came 
 forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, wherein the an- 
 cient purity of man's being was again exhibited. Into 
 this new heir and representative of manhood did the 
 Godhead pour all the divine gifts, which can have been 
 originally designed to be the portion of the human 
 family. In Him were all graces concentrated, which 
 could render the creature acceptable in the eyes of the 
 Creator. Thus was Christ fitted not only to be the one 
 sacrifice for sin — ^the only perfect offering which should 
 ever be presented to the Father, but likewise to be the 
 sole Mediator, the only channel, through whom divine 
 gifts should be bestowed upon men. They came from 
 God to Him by unity of nature, they come from Him 
 to His brethren by sanctification and grace. Thus did 
 Our Lord render His own humanity the true medium 
 for communicating that renewed nature, which should 
 leaven the whole mass of corrupted mortality, and de- 
 clare Mediation to be the great law of the Gospel king- 
 dom, the central fact in the economy of grace. The 
 spiritual manna, whereby the new Israel is sustained 
 in its weary journey through the wilderness of life — 
 what is it but that very Body which He endued with 
 life-giving energy by the taking of the manhood into 
 God? This is that great truth of the actual Mediation 
 of the God-man, which ancient heresy robbed of its 
 reality, but which the Apostle declares to be charac- 
 teristic of the Gospel. We may sum it up in St. Pauls 
 
THE SACRAMENTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 207 
 
 words : " as we have born the image of the earthy, we 
 shall also bear the image of the heavenly :" the process, 
 namely, which has its end in the resurrection of saints, 
 has its beginning in the regeneration of sinners. 
 
 II. And can this truth possibly be gainsayed ? Is 
 there any principle which can be arrayed against it ? 
 Is it not so suited to the wants of man, as to convey its 
 evidence in itself? How comes it then to be in theory 
 but partially admitted among ourselves; and to be 
 almost universally disallowed in act ? For whatever 
 may be the language of our Public Offices, yet silent 
 Churches, deserted altars, infrequent Eucharists, are 
 but too plain a witness to the national unbelief. The 
 counteracting system must appeal surely to some prin- 
 ciple of our nature, and be built upon some law, which 
 we are compelled to admit. And so it doubtless is : for 
 if the principle of mediation be our revealed mode of 
 intercourse with God, yet is there another channel, 
 which the very constitution of our being forbids us to 
 neglect. This compound being, compacted of soul and 
 body, has in it two distinct principles, and while the 
 one supplies our means of holding converse with our 
 brethren, our relation to God depends upon the other. 
 For the external frame, which enables us to play our 
 part in the delusive pageant of life, is not really our- 
 selves. And the hidden principle, which witnesses by 
 intuitive consciousness in each man's bosom, claims 
 natural kindred with the Most High. For it is still the 
 image of that parent Spirit, which has never been 
 wholly expunged from the minds which it created. 
 
 Hence arises the feeling, of which men are naturally 
 possessed, that the inward spirit can address itself by 
 
208 
 
 THE SACRAMENTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 immediate resort to the Supreme Mind. Whether man 
 walks abroad to meditate in the lonely valley, or whe- 
 ther conscience opposes itself to temptation amidst the 
 throng of life — in either case his thoughts arise to the 
 Being who created him, with a confidence that no me- 
 dium of intercourse can increase the closeness of that 
 relation, whereby the mind tends towards its parent 
 source. And especially when he enters into some ma- 
 jestic temple, which the piety of early times has reared 
 to the unseen God, and hears " the pealing organ blow, 
 to the full- voiced quire below :" then does his heart 
 swell within him, " all heaven" rises up before his eyes, 
 and he feels a strong conviction that enthusiasm, mys- 
 tery, divine communion, are not things which are for- 
 bidden to the mere worshipper of nature : seeing that 
 they ally themselves with those modes of access with 
 Himself, which the Highest has left open to every being, 
 in whom remain traces of the Divine Mind. 
 
 III. Such, brethren, are the two systems of opinion 
 which we have to contrast : that which the Apostle 
 declares to be the truth of God, and that which he stig- 
 matizes as the Spirit of Anti-christ. And these two 
 we may term respectively the Sacramental and Anti- 
 sacramental systems of religion. For since the doctrine 
 of Our Lord's Mediation is founded upon His taking 
 our flesh : since its primary law is the re-creation in 
 His person of our common nature, the entrance of 
 divine graces into humanity in its Head and Chief ; — 
 therefore some medium is required, by which those 
 things, which were stored up in Him, maybe distributed 
 to His brethren. To speak of the Head as the fountain 
 of grace, is to assume the existence of streams, by which 
 
THE SACRAMENTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 209 
 
 it may be transmitted to His members. Now this 
 function is so j)lainly assigned to Sacraments, that 
 nothing else can be alleged to sujDply their place. If 
 union with Christ be union with His manhood, it is 
 clearly through those means, whereby we become 
 members of His Body that we are united to Himself 
 Now it is explicitly revealed that we are " haptized into 
 one body," and that " those who are haptized into Christ, 
 have put on Christ." And what perpetuates our union, 
 save that participation in His flesh and blood, which is 
 not less distinctively declared to be the means whereby 
 we continue to be one body in Himself? 
 
 On these means of union are built all those affections 
 and sympathies, which ripen into the fulness of the 
 divine hfe. Prayer, praise, the converse of the thoughts ; 
 public worship or private meditation — all these are 
 means of intercourse with Christ, which have their 
 origin in the Christian's oneness with the Church's 
 Head. Not that communion with Christ is confined to 
 the occasions of Sacramental approach ; but they supply 
 the principle, on which all the other ordinances of 
 grace are dependent. For that real union must under- 
 lie them all, whereby men are truly, and not only in 
 name united in Christ. And this union has its being 
 through that Sacramental relation, whereby we are 
 members of His Body, of His flesh, and of His bones, 
 And as this is the Sacramental, so that which is opposed 
 to it may be called the Anti-sacramental system. For 
 its characteristic is the assertion of such immediate 
 union between the creature and the Creator, that no 
 hnk is needed to unite them. The Unembodied Power, 
 the Merciful One regarded only according to His 
 
210 
 
 THE SACRAMENTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 Divine nature, is supposed to be so near to each man's 
 spirit, that each man's thoughts need only to travel forth 
 in order to find Him. To what purpose then were 
 priest, or altar, or Sacrament— nay, to what purpose 
 the mediating humanity of the Son of God Himself, 
 since that which is desired is attained without them. 
 
 Neither let it be supposed that the contrariety 
 between these two systems is a mere technical distinc- 
 tion ; resulting from certain arbitrary rules, which 
 have been observed in the dispensation of divine bless- 
 ings. To suppose that artificial restraints had been 
 imposed on the free course of that spiritual life, which 
 is the principle of man's recovery, would be intolerable 
 to earnest minds. Our short-sighted wisdom could not 
 indeed have prescribed limits beforehand to the divine 
 counsels ; but it is not forbidden us to meditate on the 
 actions of Supreme Goodness, and to observe the light 
 which they throw on the great cause of all things — 
 the nature of God Himself. Now this may be seen 
 especially in the case before us. For what is all reli- 
 gion but the reaching forth of the finite after the in- 
 finite, the supplying of those wants, which our higher 
 nature renders us competent to feel, but which our 
 lower nature renders us incompetent to satisfy ? 
 
 For there is a double nature in man. His finite 
 being is bounded by the conditions of time, and place, 
 and circumstance. These assign his individual position 
 in the world of being. But then he is conscious of 
 another mode of existence. The unlimited combina- 
 tion of his thoughts opens a vista into the infinite. 
 They can find satisfaction in nothing, which is less un- 
 bounded than themselves. So that the thoughts which 
 
THE SACRAMENTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 211 
 
 range at large through the unseen and eternal, lead us 
 up to God Himselfj as the only centre and end of the 
 beings whom He has created. 
 
 Now in what manner can the limited be brought into 
 relation with the unlimited? How can the finite 
 become one with the Infinite ? Is this a process w^hich 
 is confined to man's intellect alone ? Is a privilege 
 allowed to the superior part of his being, which his in- 
 ferior nature does not share ? What were this but the 
 error of the Gnostics ; and how singular to recognize the 
 ancient delusion among those who smile at the fanciful 
 shape in which their omi opinions were formerly drest ? 
 For what was the alleged ojDposition between matter 
 and God, but the idea that in the limitations of our 
 finite being lay the origin of evil, and that to escape 
 from them was to enter at once upon a higher mode of 
 existence. And this is identical with the thought, that 
 though our complex nature is bound down to earth by 
 the law of its material being, yet that in the mind we 
 have an open door, which enables us at once to enter 
 into communion with God. If this were so, then would 
 the alienation, which has separated man from God, be 
 attributable, not to the perverseness of his will, but to 
 the conditions of his nature. It would seem as though 
 the pure spirit, which could range unchecked through 
 the regions of the infinite, were contaminated by its 
 imprisonment in those material frames, which gave to 
 its several portions an individual life and separate con- 
 sciouness. So that the material structure would be the 
 true cause of debasement, and man would be separated 
 from his Maker by the accident of isolation, and not by 
 the malignity of sin. 
 
212 
 
 THE SACRAMENTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 Such is the necessary result of denying that Sacra- 
 mental system which is built upon the notion of Our 
 Lord's humanity. For it is to imply that a channel of 
 intercourse exists already ; and where can such a thing 
 be looked for, save in that portion of our nature which 
 retains the most lively traces of the Image of God ? 
 And this erroneous estimate of man's nature leads to an 
 analogous misconception respecting the nature of God. 
 A false Anthropology finds its complement in a false 
 Theology. For if the limitation of his being is the secret 
 of man's weakness^ God's excellence must consist in His 
 exemption from the like defect. So that mere infinity 
 would be supposed to be the characteristic of God. And 
 thus would those Moral Attributes be lost sight of, 
 which rest upon His Personal existence as the Only 
 Good. And we should be precipitated into that abyss 
 of Pantheism, in which the heresies of modern times 
 will finally result. 
 
 Thus does the identity between ancient and recent 
 error render the Apostle's warning against the one no 
 less applicable to the other. And as the error is the 
 same, so is the principle which is opposed to it the same 
 also. Is it asked how can things which are wholly 
 diverse be brought into relation with one another, how 
 can the finite become one with the Infinite ? the answer 
 is given in one word, through the Incarnation of Christ. 
 Let us confess only " that Jesus Christ is come in the 
 flesh," and however far we may be from comprehend- 
 ing this mystery, we cannot choose but believe it. For 
 was not this the very work which was efiected by " the 
 taking of the manhood into God?" "Were not the finite 
 and the infinite bound together by that personal exist- 
 
THE SACRAMEXTAL SYSTEM. 213 
 
 ence, whereby man and God were united in the instant 
 of His taking our flesh ? Thus did Deity become capa- 
 ble, in the human nature of the Word, of sympathizing 
 with human sorrows ; and manhood became capable of 
 being the seed of grace, through its being taken into 
 God. The one was able to participate through its in- 
 ferior natm'e in the weakness of limited humanity ; the 
 other through its aUiance with a superior nature was 
 endued with heavenly efficacy. Thus did Our Lord's 
 humanity become that very source of life, which is dis- 
 tributed through Sacraments as the life of His brethren : 
 the Infinite Head communicates Himself through these 
 channels to His finite brethren : God is in Christ recon- 
 cihng to Himself the world : so that the efficacy of 
 these ordhiances depends wholly upon om^ estimate of 
 Him, with whom they ally us : and to accept His Me- 
 diation as a truth is to receive that Sacramental sj^stem, 
 whereby He is come in the flesh as the re-creator of 
 mankind. 
 
 Here let us pause for a moment to observe the utter 
 futility of that common notion, that the casual perusal 
 of Holy Scripture will enable men to appreciate the 
 mysteries of God's kingdom. True, the word of God, 
 when studied with that aid which is supplied by His 
 Church's teaching, is the \evy mirror which reflects the 
 secrets of the divine will. But here we have a point of 
 primary importance ; in what manner, namely, man is 
 brought into relation with God ; and nothing is more 
 common than to hear men decide it by appeahng to 
 some detached words of Holy "Writ. Whereas it has 
 been shown that elementary as this question is, direct 
 as is its relation to all the practical afiairs of life, its 
 
214 
 
 THE SACRAMENTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 settlement involves the deepest of all considerations; 
 it implies an inquiry into the nature of man, and into 
 the nature of God, which leads into the most mysterious 
 secrets of Theology. 
 
 ly. To such an inquiry the present time is too brief 
 to do justice ; it will be sufficient to observe the prac- 
 tical conclusion which the text suggests — the absolute 
 contrariety, namely, between those two systems which 
 have been opposed to one another. The Sarcamental 
 and Anti-sacramental systems are two diflferent religions, 
 and to rest our hope of salvation on the one, is to say 
 anathema to the other. Such is plainly the force of the 
 Apostle's words. To affirm the doctrine of Mediation 
 and to deny it — to assert the reality of those things, 
 which the Son of God effected by coming in the flesh, 
 and to call their reality into question — are as much op- 
 posed as light and darkness, as truth and error. The 
 discrepancy may pass unobserved for a time, as at the 
 commencement of the Arian struggle, that dispute was 
 at times evaded by an ambiguous phraseology ; but it 
 is a fundamental question, on which rests the Church's 
 life or death, and which, when once discerned, must of 
 necessity be decided. Nothing is more hateful than to 
 raise unnecessary contentions in the Church of Christ. 
 But " to every thing there is a season, and a time to 
 every purpose under the heaven. There is a time to 
 keep silence, and a time to speak — a time of war and a 
 time of peace." And it was the Apostle of love who taught 
 us that every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ 
 is come in the flesh, is a deceiver and an Anti-christ. 
 
 For take the case of the Sacrament of Baptism. In 
 this ordinance of the Gospel a natural emblem of puri- 
 
THE SACRAMENTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 215 
 
 fication was invested with supernatural force. The 
 washing of the body must always have seemed typical 
 of the inward ablution of the mind. But Baptism re- 
 ceived a new meaning, when it was no longer " the put- 
 ting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a 
 good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus 
 Christ, who is gone into heaven, and is on the right 
 hand of God." Thus did it find an analogy in that new 
 world on which Noah entered through the deluge wa- 
 ters : for " we are buried with Him by Baptism into 
 death, that like as Christ was raised again by the glory 
 of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness 
 of Hfe." In Baptism, that is, we partake of that hal- 
 lowed nature, ^srhich entered into the line of humanity 
 in the New Head of our race, that from Him it might 
 be communicated to all His brethren. Thus does the 
 recreation, which began in Him, extend to His mem- 
 bers. For Christ, according to His manhood, is " the 
 first-born of every creature, the beginning of the crea- 
 tion of God." And into us also there is a new life in- 
 fused by supernatural process, which is the spring of 
 our new being. " If any man be in Christ he is a new 
 creature ; old things are passed away, behold all things 
 are become new." The Apostle's words are too weighty, 
 surely, to be resolved into a mere figure of speech : if 
 we are really to be saved, we need a real, and not a 
 metaphorical regeneration. Yet how shall it be obtained, 
 save through the extension of that divine power, which 
 became one with manhood, in the miraculous instant of 
 Our Lord's conception ? In this manner is the finite re- 
 constructed by the Infinite. And thus is a true work 
 effected in Holy Baptism, whereby heaven and earth 
 
216 THE SACRAMENTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 are brought into union ; Christ is truly born again in 
 all His members ; and the seed of the corrupt is super- 
 seded by that of the regenerate Adam. 
 
 Such is the Sacramental theory ; now take the oppo- 
 site one. And by the opposite one is not meant only 
 the theory of those who reject Baptism ; for the parties 
 who employ it as it was employed by Jews or Heathen, 
 are not less really opposed to its Christian signification, 
 as our means of union with the manhood of Christ. For 
 the use of Baptism may be retained as a harmless con- 
 cession to custom, or as an indulgence in the taste for 
 acted services, or as a graceful adoption of ancient man- 
 ners, or as a sign or seal of past acts and future expec- 
 tations ; but unless it be believed to be the real means 
 of union with the manhood of Christ, it can only be a 
 superfluous and unnecessary action. And on this sup- 
 position, the movement whereby a child who is born in 
 the corrupt image of his parents, is refashioned after the 
 perfect image of God, cannot have an external source 
 in that re-creation of nature, which began in the Incar- 
 nation of Christ, but must have an internal one in that 
 rectification of the child's nature, which has its begin- 
 ning in his individual mind. Men may seek a further 
 cause of this movement in God's immediate influence on 
 the minds of His creatures (they may assume that in 
 some cases there is an arbitrary gift of prevenient 
 grace) ; but such a theory leads directly to Fatalism, 
 because it implies that those renewing gifts, without 
 which corrupt nature cannot be restored, are bestowed 
 only on those whom the Almighty, by arbitrary selec- 
 tion, impels to use them. And yet to attribute capa- 
 bility of action to every child, but to suppose that it 
 
THE SACRAMEXTAL SYSTEM. 217 
 
 waxes effectual through that grace of God, which He 
 bestows on those whom He discerns will use it, is not 
 less distinctly allied to the Pelagian heresy. For to 
 rest the efficacy of Baptism, in this manner, on foreseen 
 obedience, is to suppose that God's grace can be pur- 
 chased by human merit. 
 
 But whether men's denial of the doctrine of Bap- 
 tismal grace be rested on Fatalism or on Pelagianism, 
 it is equally incompatible with the Mediation of Christ. 
 For in either case Baptism is of no real efficacy. It is 
 not the mean through which a supernatural work is 
 done, but the sign by which a natural work is repre- 
 sented. There is no engrafting into the nature of 
 Christ; but the mere eliciting of those principles of the 
 child's nature which belong to its original stock. That 
 fundamental Article of the Creed, the doctrine of " one 
 Baptism for the remission of sins," is contradicted. The 
 office of Our Lord's manhood is superseded. So far as 
 regards practice, there is a virtual denial that Jesus 
 Christ is come in the flesh. 
 
 And is not this sj'stem absokitely incompatible with 
 that which was before exhibited ? Are they not two 
 different religions ? If we adopt one, must we not dis- 
 card the other ? Can we confess Christ's Mediation, 
 and also deny it ? Allow the one, and the Sacramental 
 system is a groundless superstition : allow the other, 
 and the Anti-Sacramental system is a presumptuous 
 unbelief. 
 
 The same contrast might be exhibited in respect to 
 the Holy Eucharist. If Our Lord's intercession as man 
 be a real act, whereby we participate through that per- 
 petual oblation, wherein we show the Lord's death till 
 
218 
 
 THE SACRAMENTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 He come^ then should this service be the very centre 
 of our worship, and the basis of our prayers. We 
 should look upon it as our continual means of partici- 
 pating in that divine nature, which mercifully submitted 
 to the conditions of humanity, in order that the finite 
 might be pervaded by the Infinite. Is such a thing 
 impossible ? Then has not God become man : then is 
 Christianity a dream, and the Doctrine of the Cross a 
 fable. For if nature can save us, then is it an idolatry 
 to rest on grace ; but if we can only be saved by grace, 
 then to rest on nature is an infidel delusion. 
 
 Which of these systems, brethren, shall be adopted 
 by ourselves ? I ask not as if the question were doubt- 
 ful, but because the Church looks to this place, and to 
 this congregation, to show that they are ready to testify 
 to the truth by their deeds. For why have you a 
 faculty of theology, and a local government, and insti- 
 tutions which are independent of the popular voice, and 
 associations which bind you to past times, save that in 
 you the Church should have a rallying-point in mo- 
 ments of trial, and a safeguard against the sudden move- 
 ments of popular caprice ? For if thou altogether 
 holdeth thy peace at this time, then shall there enlarge- 
 ment and deliverance arise to Israel from another place ; 
 but thou and thy Father's house shall be destroyed : 
 and who knoweth whether thou art come into autho- 
 rity, for such a time as this ?" It can never be expected, 
 indeed, that a Rationalistic religion will want sup- 
 porters, when unchecked scope is given to that lawless- 
 ness of the human will, which not even the strongest 
 coercion could master. Yet there is a majesty in truth, 
 which is strong enough finally to prevail. Especially 
 
THE SACRAMEXTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 219 
 
 when such an appeal addresses itself to the young, 
 ■whose truthfulness is guaranteed by the independence 
 of their age, as well as by the hereditary integrity of 
 our nation. 
 
 For the principles which have been set before you 
 will come into colKsion not now only nor once, but 
 during those long j^ears, when it will be yours to guide 
 the public sentiment, and give utterance to the public 
 voice. Pro^dde yourselves then, I beseech jon, with 
 true principles of action, that when you have entered 
 upon the arena of middle life, you may not be compelled 
 to rescind your judgment, and retrace your steps. Yet 
 think not that such principles are to be gained only by 
 intellectual culture, or that to admit the irrefragable 
 conclusions of logic is an Evangelical belief Among 
 the most telling arguments against Sacramental grace 
 is the experience of ungodly men, who having sinned 
 against it by riot in their youth, sin against it by incre- 
 dulity in their age. For with our moral as with our 
 intellectual opportunities, those who are the last to use 
 are commonly the first to disparage them. Who so 
 ready to undervalue that incomparable discijDline, which 
 the poets, historians, and philosophers of ancient time 
 supply to the understanding, as those whose self-will or 
 idleness has shrunk from sustaining it? Nor is it un- 
 natural that men should desire to charge their defects 
 upon their circumstances, rather than on themselves. 
 Especially is this the case in the things of the Spirit : 
 for what argument so sways with men as their own 
 consciousness, and what so probable, therefore, as that 
 ungodliness should engender unbelief? Inquire why 
 men deny Sacramental gracC; you will find the common 
 
220 
 
 THE SACRAMENTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 reason to be that they have themselves misused it. 
 Having cut themselves off from Christ's presence by 
 deadly sins, and impatient of so tedious a mode of re- 
 concilement as confession, repentance, and amendment, 
 they seek some shorter road of approach to God. And 
 such they fancy themselves to possess in that excite- 
 ment of feeling, which brings them into natural relation 
 with their Maker. And they forget that the thing 
 which they despise is the Mediation of Christ and His 
 true presence with His people. For these depend on 
 that coming in the flesh, which has its effect through 
 those Sacramental ordinances which they have slighted. 
 Thus do they shut their eyes to the true Sun of right- 
 eousness, and walk in the light of their fire, and of the 
 sparks which they have kindled. 
 
 So close is the alliance between a pure life and a 
 right creed. Would 3^ou be fitted then to engage safely 
 in the contentions of the world ; to maintain the ancient 
 institutions of yom country, and to vindicate the real 
 dignity of man, your present self-denial, purity, and 
 faith, must be the true husbandry which will jDrecede 
 so honourable an harvest. Do not wait for a new place, 
 or fresh associates, or a riper age; but live q2oio in 
 purity of heart, if you would not loose the power of 
 appreciating truth in time to come. For truth comes 
 only from that Infinite Source, whose presence must be 
 anticipated by grace in this life, if we would possess 
 His full fruition in life everlasting." 
 
SERMON XX. 
 
 CHURCH UNION. 
 
 St. John, xv. 5. 
 
 I am the vine, ye are the hranches.'' 
 
 This is almost the only parable, if such it may at all 
 be termed, in St. John's Gospel. The last surviving 
 Apostle was too much charged with the realities of Our 
 Lord's teaching, or his hearers were too well prepared 
 for the strong meat of the Gospel, to make it needful 
 that he should linger in similitudes. Therefore we 
 should expect a peculiar measure of reality in the 
 parable before us. 
 
 Each of Our Lord's examples has its leading feature. 
 The parable of the leaven describes the unseen and 
 silent manner in which the faith of Christ spread from 
 one to another, till it had infected the whole Pagan 
 world. The parable of the growing crop describes the 
 gradual increase which it maintained from generation to 
 generation. The parable of the sower shows its origin 
 in God's word. The mustard seed is emblematic of the 
 rapidity of its growth. But what this parable appears 
 to teach is, that the principle of growth is its principle 
 of extension. It has some inward law of life in it. 
 The parts caimot increase save by being united to the 
 
222 
 
 CHURCH UNION. 
 
 whole, and the extension of the whole depends on the 
 life of the members. 
 
 This is what we mean by speaking of a thing as an 
 organized being. A crowd of men is equally a crowd, 
 whether some are added, or some are taken away from 
 it, but a man's body is imperfect if it loses certain 
 limbs, and the limbs have no life when severed from 
 the body. A field is made by throwing smaller fields 
 together, but a tree must have that gradual develop- 
 ment which can bring forth strength and shape out of 
 the constituent rudiments of its nature. The reason is, 
 that there lies hid in it a secret principle of connexion, 
 which we call its life, on the endurance whereof its 
 growth is dependent. It may have dead branches 
 indeed, which need to be cut out and burned. But so 
 long as this principle of connection lasts, it will continue 
 to extend itself. What this secret of life is, we can 
 only dscover by discerning its effect in the living 
 branches ; there is no severing between the trunk and 
 them : the life flourishes in them, and they flourish 
 through its influence ) the law of their growth is the 
 uniting principle of all organized bodies. 
 
 Now such a principle, this parable declares, is to be 
 found in the Church of Christ, in the Gospel kingdom. 
 It is not a mere heap of difierent men, or [difierent 
 societies — there is in it such oneness as comes from the 
 presence of a common life ; and that life acting through 
 its difierent parts, and quickening its various members. 
 Such is the lesson which the Holy Ghost deemed 
 material enough to be set forth by the last oracle of 
 inspired Scripture. 
 
CHURCH UXION. 
 
 223 
 
 Let us turn then to the history of God's will. How 
 was it that He dealt with men in early times ? We 
 find nothing of this sort existing among the patriarchs. 
 Their religion was the solitary worship of unconnected 
 hearths, if not of separate individuals. There must 
 always be personal religion; but among them, as 
 among those at present who are unacquainted with the 
 fulness and freedom of the Gospel, there was nothing 
 else than personal religion. At length came the Jewish 
 Covenant. This bound men, no doubt, in a national 
 union ; but it was a gift only to a single people, and it 
 de23ended only on carnal ordinances. Something was 
 wanting, which might at once be as wide as the family 
 of man, and might contain in it such a living princi|)le, 
 that all the better part of man's nature might be 
 quickened by it into growth. 
 
 Where was this principle to be found ? In God only 
 is life. From Him it first proceeded, and He only can 
 give it back when it has been lost. " Every good gift 
 and every perfect gift is from above." Now it might 
 have jDleased Him to bestow His gifts separately upon 
 mankind, through the private intercommunion of the 
 Holy Ghost with the individual spirits of men. This 
 appears to have been done in Patriarchal times : this 
 may be done for what we know at present. But this 
 was not what it pleased the wisdom of God to do in the 
 promulgation of the Gospel. For as by one man 
 entered death, by one came also justification. For 
 when the fulness of time was come, it j)leased God to 
 send forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the 
 law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. The 
 Church of Christ began with the Incarnation of the 
 
224 
 
 CHURCH UNION. 
 
 Son of God. The race of man was lost. His stock 
 was hopelessly corrupted. Therefore did God bestow 
 upon human nature a new life, when Deity took up its 
 dwelling in it ; that through the efficacy of that sancti- 
 fied humanity, the principle of holiness might spread 
 as freely as the leprosy of sin. When St. John, there- 
 fore, describes the doctrine of the Incarnation, he says, 
 that the true light, which lighteth every man, i. e. the 
 Word or Wisdom of God, was coming into the world. 
 " And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." 
 This was the mystery of Our blessed Lord's taking that 
 manhood, which He joined to His Deity, never again to 
 be divided. And with it He first wrought that satis- 
 faction on the cross, in which His humanity supplied 
 the victim which was ofiered for our sins. For " we see 
 Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for 
 the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour ; 
 that He by the grace of God should taste death for 
 every man." 
 
 Nor yet was this all His work. " He not only died 
 for our sins, but rose again for our justification." This 
 risen humanity of the Son of God became the source of 
 all holiness and enlightenment for all His brethren. 
 Whatsoever he gained, He gained for their sakes, that 
 the holiness which had been so perfectly enshrined in 
 the temple of His human body, might flow from Him, 
 as from a living source, into all who were united to 
 Him. " For it pleased the Father that in Him should 
 all fulness dwell. And having made peace by the 
 blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto 
 Himself" And therefore, says Our Lord, speaking of 
 the purification of His human nature through the dis- 
 
CHURCH UXIOX. 
 
 225 
 
 cipline of His earthly life, "for their sakes I sanctify 
 Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the 
 truth." 
 
 Hence it is, then, that all Christians are described as 
 so really united to the Son of God, that to Him and 
 them one common name is applicable. The truth, in- 
 deed, of each man's separate existence, is asserted by 
 that dotitrme of the resurrection of the body and the 
 judgment to come, which witnesses that we shall stand 
 singly before the tribunal of Christ to give an account 
 of our deeds. Would God that we remembered this 
 more constant^. "Would God that we felt the truth 
 which Scripture declares, that all shall be judged be- 
 fore men and angels " according to their works." But 
 this individual responsibility, this single consciousness, 
 this separate Hfe or death of our soul, is not inconsistent 
 with our having a place in that great family of God's 
 elect, which we call the Church of the Eedeemed. Now 
 this place we have through our union with the human 
 nature of the Second Adam, just as our place in God's 
 natural creation is through union with the first. And 
 by reason of the reality of this union does Christ speak 
 of all Christians as one in Himself, and St. Paul de- 
 clares that the promises which were made to Abra- 
 ham's spiritual progeny were in truth fulfilled in Christ. 
 "To Abraham and his seed were the promises made. 
 He saith not, and to seeds as of many, but as of one, 
 and to thy seed, which is Christ." Thus closely is 
 Christ Our Lord identified with His people. For "we 
 are members of His body," says St. Paul, "of His flesh, 
 and of His bones. This is a great mystery, but I speak 
 concerning Christ and concerning the Church." Our 
 
226 
 
 CHURCH UNION. 
 
 Lord's liumanity, indeed, has its place in heaven, where 
 it ^^ever liveth to make intercession for us;" "but 
 through that power of the Holy Ghost, first bestowed 
 at Pentecost, and still acting through all the ordinances 
 of the Church of God, its spiritual presence is more near 
 and real than are the material objects of this visible 
 world. 
 
 Therefore does our Church witness that Christ is pre- 
 sent with us " after an heavenly and spiritual manner." 
 This is what He Himself sets forth as the peculiar con- 
 sequence of His Ascension. " What and if ye shall see 
 the Son of God ascend up where He was before. It is 
 the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing." 
 By virtue of His place in heaven, and of that divine 
 influence which He there exercises through the power 
 of the Holy Ghost, does He bestow upon men that re- 
 ality of union, whereby they are engrafted into Him- 
 self. When He took leave of this lower and visible 
 state, "I will not leave you comfortless," were His 
 words, " I will come unto you." For " lo, I am with 
 you always, even to the end of the world." And there- 
 fore would the Holy Ghost " instruct the world in right- 
 eousness," " because I go to My Father," and according 
 to the flesh ye see Me no more. So real is the union 
 of Christians with Christ their head — thus is it a truth 
 and no figure, that He sufiers in His members upon 
 earth, that in their trials He is persecuted, that their 
 life is hid in Him, that He makes His abode in them, 
 that He " is the head over all things to His Church, 
 which is His Body, the fulness of Him that filleth all 
 in all." 
 
 And hence arises that truth of the oneness of Christ's 
 
CHURCH rxiox. 
 
 227 
 
 Churchy which we declare to be a fundamental doctrine 
 of the Christian revelation by repeating it in the Creed. 
 
 " I believe in one Catholic and AjDostolic Church." 
 This oneness is not a mere technic al^ artificial contriv- 
 ance suggested by the advantages of order and the 
 blessings of concord^ it does not result from such acci- 
 dental arrangements as lead the people of Great Britain 
 to obey a single sceptre, or the European nations to use 
 common letters, it flows of necessity from the nature of 
 that union which we have together in the Church. Our 
 union is because we are members of that body of Christ 
 which is common to us all. Had there been many 
 Adams, the famihes of men had been unrelated and 
 distinct. But now hath God ^- made of one blood all 
 nations of the earth." Therefore that wonderful ac- 
 cordance and sympathy which unites East and West in 
 a common bond. And so is it with the higher nature 
 of those who are born into the Church of Christ. Eor 
 it was His mission " to gather together in one the child- 
 ren of God which were scattered abroad." 
 
 In this fact, therefore, we have an exact fulfilment 
 of the parable before us. The parable indeed has been 
 delivered to us as the most striking statement of the 
 actual truth. Christ's servants are bound together by 
 a real princij)le of life. This life results from the in- 
 fluence of that human nature which he took for our 
 sakes. Though He has ascended on high, yet is He 
 truly with us by the power of the Holy Ghost. He is 
 Hke the sun in heaven, which retains its place in the 
 firmament, and yet is present on earth through the 
 eflSuence of its beams. Not that Christ's Sacramental 
 presence is to be accounted for by those ordinary laws, 
 
228 
 
 CHURCH UNION. 
 
 which explain the force and operation of distant bodies 
 — that it is a mere emanation from some material 
 source : the supernatural oneness, which He bestows 
 upon His people, is a real mean whereby loliole Christ 
 gives Himself to men. Thus is the Father's power 
 present among us. He seeks to reconcile all men to 
 Himself through the §on of His love. God's kingdom 
 is in truth set up among men. That which Daniel dis- 
 cerned is come to pass. What Joel spoke of is 
 accomplished. " It shall come to pass in the last days/' 
 saith God, " that I will pour out of My spirit upon all 
 flesh." This is the mystery of the Christian covenant. 
 Here is the fulness and freedom of the Gospel. It is 
 bound no longer to tribe or lineage, to profession or 
 speech ; it is no more dispensed by favoured selection 
 to individual worshippers or single households ; the Sun 
 of Kighteousness hath arisen with healing in His 
 wings ; the grace of God which bringeth salvation to 
 all men hath appeared ; God commandeth all men every 
 where to repent ; His temple doors stand open ; all may 
 come in and worship ; we have boldness to enter into 
 the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living 
 way, which He hath consecrated for us through the 
 veil, that is to say His flesh. 
 
 And now to turn shortly to the practical results of 
 this wonderful truth. We see in it as well the sacred- 
 ness, as the necessity of Gospel ordinances. They are 
 not a mere dead framework, a technical system of arti- 
 ficial helps, which may be cleared away like rubbish so 
 soon as their work is done. This was true, indeed, of 
 the Jewish system, though it had been appointed by 
 God Himself, but God forbid that the ministration of 
 
CHURCH UXIOX. 
 
 229 
 
 death should be compared to the ministration of the 
 Spirit. When we sj^eak of Christian ordinances^ we 
 may use St. Paul's words, for we are not ashamed of 
 the Gospel of Christ/' because to every one that believ- 
 eth, it is " the power of God unto salvation." By 
 reason of this power, is there a true influence in public 
 worship, in Sacraments a true presence of Christ, His 
 human nature becomes the real source ef grace to all 
 His brethren, for His flesh is meat indeed, and His 
 blood is drink indeed. And this should especiallj' im- 
 press upon us the sacredness of our Christian calling. 
 What kind of life is to be required of those who are 
 truly members of the Lord's Body ? How well does 
 our Catechism direct the first lis23ings of the infant 
 tongue, heartily to "thank our heavenlj^ Father," for 
 havhig by Baptism " called us to this state of salva- 
 tion," and to pray God to give us His grace that we 
 may " continue in the same unto our life's end. Now 
 the sort of life which maj' be exj)ected of Christians, 
 dejDends on the nature of that union, by which they are 
 engrafted into Christ. What the}' want is not the bare 
 performance of certain duties — an ordinary routine of 
 harmless existence — they are engrafted into Christ, and 
 as He is, so are they in this world. The low notion 
 which many entertain of the ordinances of the Christian 
 covenant ranges well enough with their low standard 
 of Christian obedience. Love cannot flourish without 
 faith; great gifts will be the natural ground of great 
 watchfulness. This is what the Apostle sets forth as 
 the especial motive to Christian purity. Shall I take 
 the members of Christ, and make them the members of 
 an harlot? God forbid." And this principle we may 
 
230 
 
 CHURCH UNION. 
 
 apply to all the graces of the Christian character, which 
 will be produced only through that influence of God's 
 Spirit, by Avhich Christ Our Lord works mightily 
 through all His living members. For "every branch 
 in Me that beareth not fruit, He taketh away; and 
 every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it 
 may bring forth more fruit." 
 
 There can be no vigour without life, nor life without 
 growth, nor growth unless we discern our participation 
 in Christ Our Lord. His strength must be ours ; our 
 life hid in Him : " I have prayed for thee, and when 
 thou art converted strengthen thy brethren." 
 
SERMON XXL 
 
 THE PRIVILEGE OF WORSHIP. 
 
 Hebrews x. 19. 
 
 Having boldness to enter into the holiest hy the hlood of Jesus. 
 
 The restoration of the privilege of worship was one 
 main part of that re-creation of mankind^ which was 
 effected in Christ. For man had been created to be the 
 High Priest of this visible world. Heaven and earth 
 are for ever rendering service to God. Their order^ 
 beauty, and magnificence, reflect their Maker's glory. 
 But it remained for man to interpret the unconscious 
 homage of these silent worshippers. How strikingly 
 was this task performed by the Psalmist ! " Praise the 
 Lord upon earth ye dragons and all deeps : fire and 
 hail, snow and vapour, wind and storm, fulfilling His 
 word. Mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all 
 cedars: beasts and all cattle, worms and feathered 
 fowls." Thus was all creation called on to co-operate 
 Avith that heir and ruler of the world, who is emphati- 
 cally called " the creature" in Holy Writ, as having 
 been put in authority over its other inhabitants. 
 
 Such was the rehgion of nature, while the two earhest 
 representatives of the human race performed their ap- 
 
232 THE PRIYILEGE OF WORSHIP RESTORED. 
 
 pointed functions; and offered up "themselves, their 
 souls and bodies, a Hving sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto 
 God, which was their reasonable service." But this 
 exalted office was forfeited by the fall. For when the 
 high priest of nature abandoned his duty, he renounced 
 his rights. He became conscious at once of his degra- 
 dation. " That God heareth not sinners," is written on 
 man's conscience as with a pen of fire. For " the sacri- 
 fice of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord." 
 Therefore did the heir of creation hide himself from his 
 Maker's sight. He had been made a little lower than 
 the angels, that he might hold immediate intercourse 
 with the Being, in whose likeness he had been formed ; 
 but now he betook himself to the dark covert of the 
 forest, like the beasts. That his ancient privilege might 
 be restored, it was necessary that his ancient nature 
 should be revived ; that he should be renewed in know- 
 ledge after the image of Him that created him. We 
 have " boldness to enter into the holiest through the 
 blood of Jesus." 
 
 Two points, then, shall be set before you : first, by 
 what means was this privilege regained for collective 
 humanity : secondly, how does each individual secure 
 his single share in the common exaltation. 
 
 I. The privilege of worship, which was lost in Adam, 
 was given back in Christ. His taking our nature was 
 that second birth whereby humanity was re-formed; 
 He became " the beginning of the creation of God." Be- 
 cause the natural man had lost his right to draw near 
 to God, it was given back for the benefit of the collective 
 universe through that man who was above nature. 
 Through Him were allayed those groans and pangs with 
 
THE PRIYILEGE OF WORSHIP RESTORED. 233 
 
 which the whole creation had travailed. Therefore 
 when angels announced His approach, it was to secure 
 " glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good- 
 will towards men." Both these objects were accom- 
 plished when God could once more receive pure worship 
 from the representative of His creatures. Once more 
 could the Highest look with satisfaction into this lower 
 world and say, " this is My beloved Son, in whom I am 
 well pleased." 
 
 Now, as this right was regained when the manhood 
 was taken into God, so the whole course of Our Lord's 
 doings. His Hfe, death, and perpetual advocacy, supply 
 the means of its exercise. The heir of man's nature — 
 in His pilgrimage through this lower world, He offered 
 to God that perfect obedience w^hich is due from the 
 creature to the Creator. Since God is the fountain of 
 excellence, the first condition of rendering to Him per- 
 fect service is to be like Himself It was the very 
 crime, therefore, of the heathen that they did not like 
 to retain God in their knowledge. By whom then could 
 this service be adequately rendered, but by Him who 
 was at once " the image of the invisible God," and " the 
 first-born of every creature?" Such was Our Lord's 
 declaration of His earthly course, when, as the Church's 
 Head, He addressed Himself to the Father : " I have 
 glorified Thee on earth, I have finished the work which 
 Thou gavest Me to do." And then followed that signal 
 act of obedience, wherein " He gave His life a ransom 
 instead of many." For this, too, w^as the voluntary 
 performance of that office, for the sake whereof He had 
 been " made a little lower than the angels." " No man 
 
 taketh My life from Me, but I lay it down of Myself : 
 
 16 
 
234 THE PRIVILEGE OF WORSHIP RESTORED. 
 
 I have power to lay it dowii^ and I have power to take 
 it again." And when this work of advocacy had been 
 completed on earth, its further course and full consum- 
 mation was transferred to heaven. For He did not lay 
 aside the trappings of humanity, nor relinquish that 
 participation, which He had vouchsafed to man's nature. 
 As in Him it had been pure from sin, from the first 
 moment that He had borne it ; so had He perfected it, 
 that it might endure that exaltation, to which it was 
 admitted. His lower nature had been " crowned through 
 the suffering of death with glory and honour." There- 
 fore did He entreat that exaltation for it as a gift, which 
 His higher being participated by nature. " Now, 0 Fa- 
 ther, glorify Me with Thine own self, with the glory 
 which I had with Thee before the world was." 
 
 Thus is humanity at large admitted, in the person of 
 its great High Priest, into the immediate presence of 
 the Creator. God " hath raised us ujo together, and 
 made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." 
 For His advocacy for our race is not abandoned, but 
 exalted. He is still the " Lamb slain from the founda- 
 tion of the world." The Son of Man " ever liveth to 
 make intercession for us." It was not that He gained 
 us re-admission by the sacrifice of His life, and then left 
 us, as of old, to render service to God through our indi- 
 vidual excellence ; He who took our nature still bears 
 it ; in Him alone is our approach to the Father ; our 
 acceptance is as members of Him; He continues to be 
 "' Head over all things to the Church, which is His 
 Body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." If the 
 privilege of worship be restored, and humanity as of 
 old has access to God, it is that " this man, because He 
 
THE PUmLEGE OF WORSHIP RESTORED. 235 
 
 continuetli ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood." 
 For He has offered " one perpetual sacrifice for sins." 
 In this wise, then, has access to the Creator been given 
 back, and man has again become High Priest in behalf 
 of the universe of God. The privilege has been restored 
 in the Second Adam, which was forfeited in the first. 
 For His advocacy for mankind still continues : the sea- 
 son of its humiliation is past, but its validity remains. 
 
 II. But how does each man participate in the right, 
 to which humanity at large has thus been re-admitted ? 
 How does every one share in that privilege of worship, 
 which was regained for mankind by the true Heir of 
 the race ? Only through that " Head over all things 
 to the Church," who " is the Saviour of the Body." " In 
 Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made 
 nigh by the blood of Christ." " Through Him we have 
 access by one Spirit unto the Father." But if this be 
 so, what was the condition of men who lived before the 
 Son of God was manifest in the flesh ? Was prayer for 
 them a prohibited service ? Was there no permission 
 to draw near to God? How could there be such per- 
 mission save through the advocacy of Christ ? "I am 
 the door, by Me if any man enter in he shall be saved." 
 And again, " I am the way, the truth, and the life : no 
 man cometh unto the Father but by Me." It was a gene- 
 ral truth, surely, which St. Peter set forth, when he 
 declared that " there is none other name under heaven 
 given among men, whereby we must be saved." It re- 
 sulted from that state of alienation into which mankind 
 had fallen, and from the absolute necessity that grace 
 should be bestowed from without for their recovery. 
 
 For who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? 
 
236 THE PRIVILEGE OF WORSHIP RESTORED. 
 
 Not one." Therefore God commended His love to us, 
 in that when we were yet sinners Christ died for us." 
 The race of man was spiritually dead, and that life 
 should flow into it was essential to its revival. But this 
 blessing was not absolutely withheld during those long 
 years of preparation, while as yet it was not fully mani- 
 fest. In the world of grace as in that of nature it was 
 first twilight and then dawn, before the Sun of Righte- 
 ousness shone forth in His glory. But only through 
 Christ, as He was manifest in hope and promise, could 
 the prayers of men, even in that age, be accepted. There 
 was no other mean of drawing near to God. Holy men 
 looked to that victory which should be gained by the 
 expected seed of the woman, when they exclaimed with 
 dying Jacob, " I have waited for Thy Salvation, 0 
 Lord." " I do not look forward to the redemption by 
 Sampson or Gideon," so are the words paraphrased by 
 an ancient Jewish Targum, " but to the redemption 
 through Thy Word.'' ~ 
 And this hope had been bestowed upon the family of 
 man, so ^soon as the privilege of nature had been for- 
 feited. One moment indeed there was, in which it 
 seemed that man's race was altogether lost, in which 
 Satan's object seemed to be consummated, in which there 
 seemed to be a failure in God's purpose of mercy — the 
 interval, namely, between man's fall and the promise of 
 his regeneration. For during that interval man was 
 like the fallen angels themselves, without right or title 
 to draw near to the God whom he had offended. There 
 was none to speak on his behalf, for he who had fallen 
 was himself the High Priest of nature, whose office was 
 to draw near to God as the head of creation. From 
 
THE PRmLEGE OF TTORSHIP RESTORED. 237 
 
 what quarter, therefore, could he look for help, since 
 the universe around him had participated in the ruin, 
 which himself had caused ? We read, therefore, of no 
 prayer from man to God in that gloomy inter^^al. Most 
 like it was to another awful moment, which once again 
 will shed its lurid gloom over the world, that moment 
 which will be lighted up with the flame of a perishing 
 universe, when the day of grace will be past, and the 
 hour of Judgment be come. As the day of grace will 
 then be over, so was there a like awful interval before 
 it began. And as in that day men will call on rocks 
 and mountains to hide them, because the day of grace 
 is past, so was it, likewise, before the day of grace ar- 
 rived. Therefore did Adam and his wife hide them- 
 selves from the presence of the Lord God in the midst 
 of the trees of the garden. 
 
 And this it is which renders probable that which 
 Scripture has not expressly declared, that sacrifice was 
 not a human contrivance, but a divine appointment. If 
 the reaching forth towards God had originated on the 
 side of man, to offer sacrifice of his possessions might 
 have been suggested by the feeling of his own mind. 
 But since he had no right to draw near to God, since 
 that road of intercourse which existed by nature had 
 been closed upon him ; since it was only through God's 
 mercy in Christ that the door was re-opened, and that 
 man obtained a second chance ; therefore the mean of 
 approach by which his hope and devotion was expressed, 
 could hardly have been adopted except by his Maker's 
 sanction. To offer sacrifices was to express a hope 
 through Christ, which hope was only built upon the 
 promise. Perhaps in the acceptance of Abel's offering, 
 
238 THE PRIVILEGE OF WORSHIP RESTORED. 
 
 while that of Cain was rejected, we see an early instance 
 that man cannot attain to God's favour, save through 
 participation in Christ. This Vfas assuredly the lesson 
 which the whole J ewish ritual was intended to teach. 
 And how is it at present, now that Christ our Passover 
 is sacrificed for us, now that His advocacy has been 
 exalted from earth to heaven, and that He has achieved 
 that victory, on which depends our salvation. For 
 " Christ is not entered into the holy places made with 
 hands, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the pre- 
 sence of God for us." It must still therefore be His 
 effectual intercession for mankind, to which only we 
 trust. Without it the fallen race of man could not draw 
 near to God. If our prayers are to be effectual, if we 
 are allowed to offer them, if our services are pleasing, 
 and our persons accepted, it can only be through the 
 continual pleading of that perfect Intercessor, in whom 
 was restored the forfeited privilege of nature. 
 
 And herein lies one peculiar value of those holy 
 mysteries which are the appointed means of joining us 
 to Christ. These ordinances may be looked at on the 
 one side as respects their sacramental efficacy, as they 
 are the means whereby divine gifts are bestowed by 
 God. But they possess also a sacrificial character, be- 
 cause in them we participate in that perpetual offering 
 of Christ Our Lord, through which the privilege of wor- 
 ship is restored to the creation. For what is meant by 
 individual participation in Christ, but that by some 
 mysterious law of the divine economy, His members 
 have part in that public intercession, which the true 
 High Priest is forever discharging for the whole Church 
 of His elect, at His Father's right hand ? Unless they 
 
THE PRIVILEGE OF WORSHIP RESTORED. 239 
 
 are found in Him, unless they are members of His 
 Body, how can they participate in the great work, by 
 w^hich their ascended Head restores the forfeited privi- 
 leges of humanity ? To this it is that men are admitted 
 by baptism, whereby they are allowed to take full part 
 in that worship, from which even the children of Chris- 
 tians are by nature aliens; and therefore does the 
 Apostle rest its efficacy on " the resurrection of Christ, 
 who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of 
 God, angels, and authorities, and powers, being made 
 subject unto Him." 
 
 And as men are first admitted to this exalted service 
 by their baptism, so is it a peculiar effect of the Holy 
 Communion to continue and maintain it. For "as 
 often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do 
 show the Lord's death till He come." Distinct, then, 
 from its sacramental influence as a means of grace, is 
 that sacrificial efficacy, whereby the Holy Eucharist is 
 our mean for maintaining the privilege of worship. It 
 rests upon that great truth of our ascended Lord's per- 
 petual Intercession, which is the grand charter of His 
 Church. "We have access wdth confidence through 
 the faith of Him." Now, that which He does above 
 in the one heavenly temple gives efficacy to the ser- 
 vices, whereby through the ministry of His earthly 
 priests He is exhibited to God. What they offer is no 
 fresh Christ, no new victim, no additional sacrifice ; " by 
 one sacrifice He hath perfected for ever them that are 
 sanctified." It is only through that " one sacrifice of 
 Himself, once offered," that their service is effectual. 
 And since when he had offered one perpetual sacrifice 
 for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God, there- 
 
240 THE PRIVILEGE OF WORSHIP RESTORED. 
 
 fore that which passes in the heavenly temple, gives 
 efficacy to the service of our earthly altars. This it 
 must be which our Church intends, when she censures 
 those sacrifices of masses, in which she understands that 
 some new victim was thought to be created. Whereas 
 it is Christ alone — the one perfect Head of Adam's race 
 — Christ who has ascended into heaven — who is even 
 at the right hand of God — whose slain humanity is the 
 thing of value in the Christian sacrifice. He is not pre- 
 sented, therefore, below as a fresh victim, but by His 
 own effectual Priesthood in the heaven of heavens. 
 Though the earthly ministration be a real sacrifice, yet 
 it is not calculated to add anything to the value of His 
 offering ; it is only the means whereby the work is par- 
 ticipated. Ever since it was transferred from these 
 lower courts to the heavenly temple, it has been the 
 one sole sacrifice of value, which man's race could pre- 
 sent to God ; He who presents it is the true High Priest 
 of collective humanity, the real heir of man's race, who 
 effects that end for which Adam was created, and truly 
 intercedes on behalf of the universe of God. Those who 
 minister in His earthly courts cannot add, therefore, to 
 the value of what He has effected : when they offer the 
 Christian sacrifice, the sole reason why that which they 
 do is important, is because by their act men participate 
 in that work of intercession, which the Great High 
 Priest is discharging for the whole Church of the Elect; 
 so that things done on earth are one with those which 
 are done in heaven. 
 
 And this may lead us, in conclusion, to estimate the 
 real evil of undervaluing the Church's collective sacri- 
 fice; and especially its crowning act, that holy Eucha- 
 
THE PRmLEGE OF WORSHIP RESTORED. 
 
 241 
 
 rist, whereby " we show forth the Lord's death till He 
 come." The main error of all such neglect is, that it 
 throws us back from the law of grace to the law of na- 
 ture. And therefore it robs us of that true mode of 
 access, which the Priesthood of Christ alone secures. 
 For in Him alone has man become again the high priest 
 of creation. And how, then, can we reclaim our for- 
 feited inheritance, save by maintaining our oneness 
 with that Head, through whom only we receive it ? 
 That Christians may pray always, and everywhere, is 
 the very gift which has been bestowed upon them as 
 members of Christ. But this right of access has been 
 restored only in Him, in whose public acts, therefore, 
 it is essential that they should participate. " Having 
 an High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near 
 with a true heart, in full assurance of faith ; not forsah^ 
 iag the assemhling of ourselves together T 
 
 For man's lost inheritance has not simply been given 
 back; it has been exchanged in truth for a higher 
 honour. If the Gospel had but restored man's birth- 
 right, then might men draw near to God when they 
 would and how, and one mode of worship were as avail- 
 able as another. And that such is the case, is an opi- 
 nion which not unreasonably commends itself to the 
 natural mind, seeing that this was indeed by nature 
 man's access to God. We walk forth, men say, under 
 the vault of heaven, and how can we pay a better ser- 
 vice to Him, to whom at such moments we seem nearest 
 in thought? Those who trust, therefore, to natural 
 reason, suppose, not strangely, that thus may the Crea- 
 tor be best approached. But in Christ Our Lord has 
 there l^een a path laid open, which is not only beside, 
 
242 THE PRIVILEGE OF WORSHIP RESTORED. 
 
 but above nature. He has Himself taken our being/ 
 that in Him might be a better and fuller approach to 
 God. This is that " new and living way, which He 
 hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, 
 His flesh." It was a painful path, marked with the 
 blood of Him who first trod it ; its first steps led up 
 the hill of Calvary, though its last scaled the sky. But 
 now is it a path of peace, and joy, and holy hope, to 
 all who in true faith follow the steps of their ascended 
 Lord. For they plead His perpetual sacrifice, they 
 neither need nor find other victim ; " by one sacrifice 
 He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." 
 
SERMON XXIL 
 
 THE MEDIATION OF CHKIST. 
 
 I. TiMOTHYj ii. 5. 
 
 There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man 
 ' Christ Jesus." 
 
 The doctrine of a Mediator holds a leading j^lace in 
 the re-creation of mankind. "For if by one man's 
 offence death reigned by one ; much more they which 
 receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteous- 
 ness, shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ." The 
 meaning plainly of this doctrine is, that under the Gos- 
 pel covenant, the God-man, Jesus Christ Our Lord, is 
 the sole channel throu^rh which God and Man are 
 brought into connexion. Whatever God bestows upon 
 man, w^hatever man offers to God, passes through this 
 medium. 
 
 Such a system was not unkno^^^l under the Jewish 
 covenant. The law was "ordained by angels in the 
 hand of a mediator." The people said unto Moses, 
 " speak thou with us, and we will hear : but let not 
 God speak with us, lest we die." And therefore the 
 promise made to Moses was, that thy brother "shall be 
 to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him 
 instead of God." Thus m God's dealings with men was 
 
244 
 
 THE MEDIATION OF CHRIST. 
 
 Moses a mediator between Jehovah and the children 
 of Israel. On the other hand, as respects man s deal- 
 ings with God, Aaron was their appointed mediator. 
 For he "was taken from among men in things pertain- 
 ing to God, to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins." 
 But now a new Mediator has been substituted both for 
 the one and for the other. " There is one Mediator be- 
 tween God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." Let us 
 consider the function which Our Lord has mercifully 
 undertaken to discharge, and then how He executes it. 
 
 I. To be the middle party, through whom God com- 
 municates with man, and man with his Maker, is to be 
 at once the channel of gifts, and the medium of peti- 
 tions. That which man owes to God, in the widest 
 sense of which the term is capable, is service. Praise, 
 prayer, offering, sacrifice, " the calves of our lips," our 
 hearts' devotion — what are all these but individual 
 parts of that general surrender of himself to God, which 
 is the Christian's habitual purpose. " I beseech you, 
 therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye pre- 
 sent yourselves a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto 
 God, which is your reasonable service." But these 
 things are not effectual in themselves : they avail only 
 through the intercession of that new Head of our race, 
 in whom all His true members are accepted. If we 
 draw near, it is because we have "an High Priest over 
 the house of God ;" we have " boldness to enter into the 
 holiest through the blood of Jesus ; by a new and living 
 way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the 
 veil, that is to say. His flesh." 
 
 But this head shall not be enlarged upon, because it 
 was treated in the last sermon : let us look to the other 
 
THE MEDLiTIOX OF CHRIST. 245 
 
 side of the Mediator's office ; that He is the channel 
 through whom gifts are bestowed by God on His crea- 
 tures. Now this is plainly implied^ when we say that 
 through Christ alone are God and man brought mto 
 connexion. The common mercies of nature — life, health, 
 preservation, sustenance — are of course bestowed upon 
 Christians as they are upon others — they come from the 
 general mercy of the Creator; but the blessings of the 
 Gospel — the blessings of the new covenant — those which 
 concern that new creation, by which it was God's pur- 
 pose to redress the evils of the fall — these are not be- 
 stowed according to the law of nature, but through that 
 system of Mediation, which has been substituted in its 
 place. So that the functions both of Aaron and of 
 Moses are now wholly absorbed in the Mediation of 
 Christ. He is not only the High Priest of man's na- 
 ture, but through Him alone are " good gifts" bestowed 
 upon man. The gifts of grace, the great gift of the 
 Gospel, come through Him only who has purchased 
 them by His blood. 
 
 II. And now then, secondly, how does Our Lord exe- 
 cute this office ? He discharges it through His man's 
 nature : the Mediator between God and man is the man 
 Christ Jesus. Holy Scripture teaches us in what man- 
 ner this was done. When man lost his connexion with 
 God through the fall, when his participation in heavenly 
 gifts was thus dammed up and obstructed — it was God's 
 good pleasure to restore in yet larger measure, through 
 the new Head of his race, those gifts which had been 
 forfeited in the old one. " If throuprh the offence of one 
 many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the 
 gift by grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ, hath 
 
246 
 
 THE MEDIATION OF CHRIST. 
 
 abounded unto many." Thus did the Second Adam 
 become the fountain of grace, from which the collective 
 seed of His brethren was to be replenished. In His 
 man's nature were gathered together all heavenly gifts, 
 that from that great deep they might overflow into the 
 whole generation of His kindred. He is " the Head, 
 from which all the body by joints and bands has nou- 
 rishment ministered." And " of His fullness have all 
 we received, and grace for grace." For " we are mem- 
 bers of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones." 
 
 Now it was the very principle of Our Lord's earthly 
 course, that when manhood was in His person taken 
 into God, it was endued with that life-giving power by 
 gift, which pertained to Deity by nature. For "it 
 pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. 
 And having made peace by the blood of His Cross, by 
 Him to reconcile all things unto Himself." Here is de- 
 scribed the process of man's regeneration. It had its 
 origin in God's love, the ultimate source of all spiritual 
 recovery. Its further course was the sanctification of 
 the humanity of the Word, through personal oneness 
 with Deity. And then followed the communication of 
 the same gifts from the Church's Head to His believing 
 brethren. For God " hath made Him Head over all 
 things to the Church, which is His Body, the fullness of 
 Him that filleth all in all." One part of this work is 
 set forth in the Gospels, where grace, which is God's 
 love in action, is spoken of only as it was communicated 
 to that man's nature of the Eternal Son, which became 
 its earthly receptacle. " The child grew and waxed 
 strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of 
 God was upon Him." Of any other gift of grace we 
 
THE MEDIATION OF CHRIST. 
 
 247 
 
 hear nothing in the Gospels : that which is there set 
 forth is, how " the Word was made flesh and dwelt 
 among us, full of grace and truth." But when this part 
 of the Gospel mystery had been completed, and the 
 sanctified humanity of the Son was to return to man- 
 kind through the agency of the blessed Spirit, we read 
 that " great gTace was upon them all." For from Him, 
 as " the beginning of the creation of God," was the like 
 gift bestowed upon others. As " the first man Adam 
 was made a living soul, so was the last Adam made a 
 quickening spirit." Thus was the law of Mediation 
 fulfilled ; and as our natural life, and all the faculties 
 of earthly being were transmitted through descent from 
 our first parent, so were all graces of the Spirit, and the 
 whole blessed seed of heavenly gifts bestowed upon 
 mankind, through inherence in the second. 
 
 And now let us pass on to consider some of the efiects 
 of this momentous doctrine. First, it shows us the 
 reality of that great change, which has been wrought 
 by Christ Our Lord in the condition of mankind. For 
 He has not only undertaken the office of Mediator, but 
 become one. The work of redemption was a real work, 
 by which all the relations of heaven and earth were 
 permanently altered. God looks otherwise than He did 
 on man's race, and man is othermse circumstanced than 
 He was towards God's nature. " We know," it is said, 
 " that God heareth not sinners, but if any man be a 
 w orshipper of God and doeth His will, him He heareth." 
 What opening had there been, then, for man's recovery, 
 but that " when we were without strength, in due time 
 Christ died for the ungodly." Thus does man become 
 the object of God's approval ; a child of Adam becomes 
 
248 
 
 THE MEDIATION OF CHRIST. 
 
 that well-beloved Son in whom God is well pleased, His 
 brethren share that honour which has been merited by 
 the true JosejDh, their filthy garments are exchanged 
 for the purity of His spotless apparel, " God is in Christ, 
 reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing to them 
 tJieir trespass&s!' And as there is here a change in God's 
 estimate of man, so is there a real alteration in man's 
 nature. For this nature has been so far exalted in Him, 
 as to be already made capable of royal honour. Already 
 has God " raised us up together, and made us sit together 
 in heavenly places in Christ J esus." Already are men 
 said to be " buried with Christ in Baptism," to be " cru- 
 cified with Him," to be "risen with Christ," to partake, 
 that is, even in this world of His gifts of grace, that in 
 the next they may be prepared to partake His glory. 
 All these things flow from that real change, whereby 
 God and man have been set at one together. The man- 
 hood of Our Lord, as ancient Avriters express it, is the 
 bridge whereby the gulf between heaven and earth has 
 been spanned over. Thus have men become comrades 
 with God's higher servants ; the true J acob's ladder is 
 set up ; and " the angels of God ascend and descend on 
 the Son of Man." All this follows from the reality of 
 that Mediation, which the Son of God did not refuse to 
 undertake. He did not merely undertake the part or 
 discharge the functions of man, but became one. He 
 truly entered into the line of Adam's race, that He might 
 sanctify humanity in Himself. " Because the children 
 were partakers of flesh and blood. He also Himself took 
 part of the same." " When He cometh into the world 
 He saith, sacrifice and ofiering Thou wouldest not, but 
 a body hast Thou prepared Me." And we share, there- 
 
THE MEDIATION OF CHRIST. 
 
 249 
 
 fore, the honour which has been conferred on Him, in 
 that " God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a 
 name that is above every name, that at the name of 
 Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and 
 things on earth, and things under the earth." 
 
 Again, another conclusion to which this subject con- 
 ducts us, concerns that principle of faith, which is 
 spoken of in Scripture as the cardinal point of the Chris- 
 tian's duty. Faith is defined, in the Epistle to the He- 
 brews, to be " the realizing things hoped for, the put- 
 ting to the proof things not seen." Christian faith « 
 the apphcation of this principle to the realities of the 
 Gospel. And since by the Gospel is meant the law of 
 Christ's Mediation; since its essential feature is that 
 what was lost in Adam, is given back through Christ, 
 therefore its crowning characteristic is, that it involves 
 a personal reliance ; it is a belief not in Christianity, 
 but in Christ. The blessings which Christianity has 
 introduced into the world are various and important. 
 Its moral law is the jDurest which has ever been pro- 
 claimed to mankind. It first taught the lesson of uni- 
 versal philanthropy. Its views of man's nature are deep 
 and comprehensive. These considerations are sufficient 
 to secure the admiration of reflecting men ; but thej^ 
 have nothing to do with saving faith ; for they are a 
 belief not in Christ, but in Christianity. Saving faith 
 is a belief in Him, whom " God hath set forth to be a 
 Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance unto Israel, 
 and forgiveness of sins." It is a personal affiance, which 
 realizes those acts of Christ our Lord, whereby He me- 
 diates between man and the Father. 
 
 Now it is not to our present purpose to consider the 
 
 17 
 
250 
 
 THE MEDIATION OF CHRIST. 
 
 whole nature of this principle of faith^ to observe that 
 it implies the action of the will as well as of the reason, 
 and is only genuine when it works by love. All this 
 follows from the personal nature of its object : it is be- 
 lief in Him whom we are to imitate ; and it springs 
 therefore from that implanted principle of divine grace, 
 which is the beginning of all human improvement. 
 " Eor by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not 
 of yourselves, it is the gift of God." But our present 
 purpose is not with the character of saving faith, but 
 with its object. It is faith in Christ. It is belief in 
 His Mediation. It is to accept Him as the only meri- 
 torious sacrifice for man's transgressions. It is to be- 
 lieve that God hath made Him to be sin for us, who 
 knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness 
 of God in Him." 
 
 But the work of Christ's Meditation was not com- 
 pleted in that mighty crisis of the world's destiny, which 
 closed His earthly ministry. That which was " finish- 
 ed" on the cross was the immolation of the victim, not 
 its efficacy. He who took our nature ever liveth in 
 that nature to make intercession for us. Would we 
 believe then in the Mediation of Christ, we must see in 
 Him our continual Advocate with the Father. Faith 
 in Christ is to discern that no prayers can ascend under 
 the Gospel covenant from man to God, save what our 
 Great High Priest presents upon the heavenly altar. To 
 look on man's ancient privilege of prayer as given back, 
 to suppose that we could approach God when we chose 
 and how, independently of that office of intercession 
 which the Head of the Church is for ever maintaining 
 for all its members, would be to renounce dependence 
 
THE MEDIATION OF CHRIST. 
 
 251 
 
 on the Mediation of Christ, and therefore to abandon 
 that saving faith, of which the God-man is the personal 
 object. Such would be the result if we lost sight of 
 that peculiar efficacy which belongs to the Church's 
 public service, and forgot that our inherence in Christ's 
 body was the very condition which gave virtue to our 
 private devotion. 
 
 But further, as faith in Christ's mediation is to trust 
 in His sacrifice as the sole ground of pardon, and in 
 His Intercession as the sole mean whereby the Father 
 can be approached, so is it to believe that through Him 
 alone are all gifts of grace bestowed by God upon His 
 creatures. As saving faith must mount up to heaven 
 in its hour of supplication, and discern the Son of Man 
 standing where St. Stephen beheld Him, so must it 
 realize the truth that all gifts of grace were gathered 
 together m His man's nature, that from Plim they might 
 issue, as from an unfailing source, for the salvation of 
 His brethren. This is that smitten Rock which was 
 exhibited in type to the sons of J acob, that from its 
 riven side might flow forth the imperishable stream 
 which refreshes the true Israel. This present work, 
 then, of His man's nature ; its present influence as the 
 fountain opened for sin and for uncleanliness — saving 
 faith must realize and discern. And what is it to dis- 
 cern it ? It is to perceive and confess that those gifts 
 of grace which few will deny to be necessary, are not 
 only bestowed by God, are not only to be asked of 
 Christ, but that they are given through Our Lord's 
 Mediation, through the intervention of that nature 
 which He took that He might be one with us — that 
 they are bestowed through the manhood of the Incar- 
 
252 
 
 THE MEDIATION OF CHRIST. 
 
 nate Son — that this is the channel through which they 
 are communicated — that as through Him alone we can 
 approach God^ so through Him alone does God bestow 
 Himself upon the faithful. 
 
 And how is the manhood of Christ the channel for 
 communicating graces ? This is no natural process ; it 
 is not founded on that law of man's being, whereby his 
 mind is like an open door, fitted for communicating 
 wdth other spiritual intelligences. Our means of com- 
 municating wdth Christ's manhood can be gathered only 
 from God's revealed will. And here two main occa- 
 sions are disclosed, w^herein the sanctified humanity of 
 the Son of Man is communicated to His brethren. For 
 " as many of you as have been baptized into Christ," 
 says St. Paul, " have put on Christ." And again, " we 
 are buried with Him by Baptism into death, that like 
 as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the 
 Father, even so we also should walk in newness of 
 life." This is the first step in that spiritual work, 
 whereby the Blessed Comforter was to bring Christ back 
 to His people. " For by one Spirit are we all ba|)tized 
 into one body." 
 
 And as baptism is declared in Holy Writ to be the 
 commencement of this union, so is the Lord's Supper 
 set forth as the occasion wherein it is increased and 
 strengthened. " We being many, are one bread and 
 one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread." 
 Its very purpose is to supply the true manna, whereof 
 the food of earthly Israel was but a sign — the real sus- 
 tenance of God's spiritual people throughout all their 
 wanderings in this worldly wilderness. " I am the liv- 
 ing bread, which came down from heaven ; if any man 
 
THE MEDIATIOX OF CHRIST. 
 
 253 
 
 eat of this bread, he shall Uve for ever; and the bread 
 which I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the 
 life of the world." It belongs, then, to saving faith to 
 discern this side likewise of Our Lord's Mediation, to 
 perceive that He is that Second Adam, from whom are 
 derived the blessings of grace, as from our first parent 
 proceed the gifts of nature. To speak of Christ Our 
 Lord as though He had effected His work upon the 
 cross, in order that we might afterwards draw near of 
 ourselves to God, is to leave out of account that inter- 
 vention of our Great Head, which is not less necessary 
 as the channel of grace than as the mean of supplica- 
 tion. All this, of course, is a spiritual and not a mate- 
 rial work. His humanity is not communicated like 
 that of our earthly parent, by birth, but through that 
 divine efficacy, whereby. the Holy Ghost renews the 
 bodies and souls of those whom He inhabits. But it is 
 not less a real work, whereby the whole nature of man 
 must be renewed even in this present world, even as 
 their carnal bodies will be refashioned on the day of 
 the resurrection. And to lose sight of it, would be so 
 far forth to overlook the reality of Our Lord's Media- 
 tion, to fail to discern " the Lord's Body," and to expect 
 those gifts according to the law of nature, which can 
 only be found according to the law of grace. And this 
 were to substitute faith in Christianity for faith in 
 Christ. 
 
 For saving faith is not to know what Our Lord has 
 done for humanity, to recognize the excellence of His 
 system or the holiness of His life. It is not the cold 
 assent of the critical spectator, who approves the wis- 
 dom with which the Gospel is designed, and admires 
 
254 
 
 THE MEDIATION OF CHRIST. 
 
 its appeals to the sj^mpatliies of mankind. The Chris-- 
 tian's faith is that which lays hold on Christ as his Sa- 
 viour, through that true work of Mediation, whereby 
 the law of grace has been substituted for the law of na- 
 ture. It looks to the God-man as the sole sacrifice for 
 all transgressions. It trusts to His Intercession as the 
 alone mode of access to the Father. It looks, finally, 
 to Him, as having centred in His own humanity those 
 gifts of grace, which are the unfailing source of regene- 
 ration to mankind. Those heavenly treasures which 
 the Creator may in the first instance have designed to 
 bestow directly and individually upon men, are now 
 given only through the humanity of that Second Adam, 
 through whom alone we can draw near to God. " There 
 is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ 
 Jesus." Through Him alone do all prayers ascend from 
 man to God, through Him are all spiritual gifts bestowed 
 by God upon His creatures. 
 
 All this must true faith realize and accept. It must 
 look to Christ as a personal Mediator, and from His 
 man's nature accept the gifts which shall regenerate 
 ours. It must seek to discern the Lord's Body. It 
 must wait upon Him in the ordinances of His love, 
 wdth firm persuasion that from Him there issues suffi- 
 cient grace for the salvation of a world. This is the 
 effect of that grace of faith, of which the practical at- 
 tainment is so main a part of our Church's continual 
 teaching. But it is well that we should meditate at 
 times on the principle itself, that we should remember 
 what that principle implies, from which flow all the 
 practical graces of the Christian character. For it is 
 no idle form of words, no heartless principle of reason- 
 
THE AIEDIATION OF CHRIST. 255 
 
 ing, nor yet any mere appeal to the feelings of man- 
 kind : it is the real acceptance of a living gift : the gift 
 of Christ's Mediation and the renewal of man by God's 
 grace. 
 
SERMON XXIII. 
 
 OLD AND NEW REASON. 
 
 1. St. John, v. 19, 20. 
 
 " We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wicked- 
 ness. And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given 
 us an understanding J that we may know Him that is true : and we 
 are in Him that is true^ even in His' Son Jesus Christ'' 
 
 No statements of Scripture are more distinct than 
 those which testify, that without divine guidance it is 
 impossible to understand the truths of the GospeL 
 " The anointing which we have received of Him abideth 
 in yoUj and ye need not that any man teach you : but 
 as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and 
 is true, and is no lie." Nor is this saying peculiar to 
 the beloved Apostle, whose meditative disposition might 
 be expected to dwell on the original and intuitive depths 
 of the Gospel : the same truth is witnessed by the in- 
 spired pupil of the schools of Tarsus, in whom the 
 powers of illustration and argument were more pre- 
 dominant. He, too, tells us that " the natural man re- 
 ceive th not the things of the Spirit of God ) neither can 
 he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 
 But he that is spiritual judge th all things, yet he him- 
 self is judged of no man." 
 
OLD AXD NEW REASON. 257 
 
 Now to this truth the world makes great objection. 
 You require us, it is said, to accept men's testimony 
 because they are spiritual, when we have no proof that 
 they are spiritual except their testimony. If there were 
 any recognized, ascertainable criterion of the spiritual 
 mind, we should readily admit its dictates ; but those 
 who claim its possession refuse to abide by any tangible 
 test of their pretensions. If inward consciousness were 
 any proof to a man's self, it would plainly be no proof 
 to his neighbors. And how often are men themselves 
 deceived. Our Lord tells us that those who persecuted 
 His Church would think they did " God service," and 
 St. Paul witnesses to the sincerity with which he be- 
 lieved that he " ought to do many things contrary to 
 the name of Jesus of Nazareth." The same thing is 
 proved by experience ; whether we look to the common 
 affairs of daily life, or to the opinions of those stronger 
 thinkers, whose names are recorded by history. How 
 many men whose aspect and demeanour show that they 
 enjoy the world as much as their neighbours, lay claim 
 to a spirituality which rests only on their own profes- 
 sions. Yet whom do they deceive but themselves ? 
 Though spirituality may not admit of any positive test, 
 yet there is sufiicient negative proof for the condemna- 
 tion of such claimants. For are they not as shrewd in 
 business as their neighbours ? Are they less indulgent 
 to themselves than other men? Does not the self- 
 complacency of their countenances show that they have 
 pampered their minds, rather than chastised their 
 bodies ? Yet such men claim a superiority to the ordi- 
 nary class of persons, which has no basis except in their 
 own conceit. And what has time witnessed respecting 
 
258 OLD AND NEW REASON. 
 
 those bolder claimantSj who have gained for a season 
 the confidence of their fellows ? Have not the private 
 intimations of God to his individual spirit, been the 
 plea of every enthusiast from Montanus to Swedenborg? 
 If any such claims avail, why are the pretensions of 
 these men to be rejected ? If such testimony is to go 
 for anything, it must in its very nature be independent 
 of all appeal, because it professes to be the immediate 
 voice of Him, who cannot be in error. So that Scrip- 
 ture itself would be superseded by such an interpreta- 
 tion of its pages, and Our Lord's own commission would 
 be overthrown by those who thus understand Him. 
 
 Such is the tenor of the common argument : and 
 hence it is concluded that the Scriptural appeals to a 
 higher principle of judgment, are not to be taken in 
 their plain and natural sense ; that however good in 
 theory, they afford no practical guidance in the conduct 
 of life. 
 
 But is there no way, then, of stating this doctrine, 
 which may reconcile the assertions of Scripture with 
 the experience of mankind ? Such a course we must 
 seek after ; and with a view of discovering it, let us in- 
 quire on what ground stands the authority of natural 
 reason, and whether it may not be assailed by the same 
 objections, which are brought against that higher faculty 
 of judgment, to which revelation refers. For on what 
 do we rest the cogency of natural reason ? Is it the 
 acuteness of the individual who employs it ? It is by 
 individuals that reason must be exercised. But if it be 
 held responsible for all the errors to which their use of 
 it may give birth, the old reason which we have by na- 
 ture will not escape better than that new reason which 
 
OLD AXD NEW EEASOX. 
 
 259 
 
 rests on Eevelation. For has not it also entangled men 
 in contradictions innumerable ? Was not the delusion 
 of the Alchymists as strange as that of the Mormons ? 
 If Swedenborg be an example of the uncertainty of in- 
 spiration, is not Mesmer a warning of the weakness of 
 reason ? So that if contradictions show the inutility of 
 every principle, against which they may be alleged, this 
 natural faculty likewise must be relinquished as useless ; 
 and we should prove by argument, that by argument 
 nothing can be proved. Now since the mind revolts 
 from such universal scepticism, let us consider what 
 safeguards may be found in the case of natural reason, 
 and whether a corresponding principle may not guide 
 us in that higher sphere, which is the object of our 
 search. Neglect such cautions, and we cannot trust 
 even to the old reason of man : employ them, and we 
 shall not be involved in contradictions by the new rea- 
 son of the Gospel. 
 
 Now what gives its security to natural reason ? Its 
 safeguard is that common sense, which corrects the 
 aberrations of individual eccentricity. There is a cer- 
 tain limited field, indeed, in which men may employ 
 such logical deduction and scientific accuracy, as may 
 guarantee the relations between their premises and their 
 results. But the great mass of human affairs does not 
 admit of being adjusted with so much accuracy. And 
 in respect of them, there prevails a certain average, pre- 
 dominant conviction, whereby those false judgments, 
 which would otherwise find currency even in worldly 
 matters, are removed and exploded. This is called 
 common sense, not by reason of its homely humble char 
 racter, but rather in testimony of its higher origin, as 
 
260 
 
 OLD AND NEW REASON. 
 
 something truly connatural to mankind at large, and as 
 grounded in the primeval constitution of his general 
 nature. For whence does this judgment arise ? How 
 comes it to be superior to the wisdom of individuals ? 
 Why do the keenest and most searching intellects ac- 
 knowledge its control ? Why do those who are most 
 distinguished from their brethren by the powers of analy- 
 sis and reflection- — who have deeply scrutinized the 
 secrets of their own minds — ever recognise the common 
 conviction of their race as a fixed foundation, on which 
 to build their judgments ? Why is common consent 
 the basis of the profoundest ethical philosophy? This, 
 surely, is to recognize something sacred in the consenti- 
 ent judgment of mankind. Yet on what is its sanctity 
 dependent ? How can the voice of the people be the 
 voice of God ? For men do not make truth, but find it. 
 
 Those original relations, which lie in the nature of 
 things, are independent of their judgments. Neither 
 may reason, like the physical constituents of the earth, 
 be increased by material aggregation. Add up the col- 
 lected faculties of a whole tribe of animals, and they 
 would not make that of a man. The one could not be 
 formed out of the other by any system of multijDlication. 
 There is a difference in kind, which could not be com- 
 pensated by the addition of parts. And so is it with 
 mankind. The value of its decision does not lie in the 
 concurrence of many wills. What we seek after is the 
 voice of humanity itself ; the collective sentiments of 
 the race ; that which makes itself felt, whether men will 
 or no, amidst the caprices of individuals ; that which 
 underlies all single judgments, and supplies the antece- 
 dent basis, which they are compelled to acknowledge. 
 
OLD AXD NETT REASON. 
 
 261 
 
 This judgment is valuable, because in truth it is the judg- 
 ment of man's Maker, the impress which has been left 
 upon our common being by its original Author ; and we 
 share in it, because we are each the offspring of him that 
 was first made of the eai;th." Since everyone of us is a 
 member of that original family, which the Almighty was 
 pleased to create in His own image, that inherent wisdom 
 which remains to us, as a part of our common nature, is 
 truly " the breath of the power of God, and a pure influence 
 flowing from the glory of the Almighty." We cannot 
 doubt its decisions, because it is God Himself, speaking 
 to us through that nature which He has formed : "in 
 Him was life, and the life was the light of men." 
 
 If common reason were not built upon this principle, 
 we might be disposed to distrust its verdict ; yet unless 
 we could trust it, what is there in heaven or on earth, 
 which we should be able to believe ? Such an as- 
 surance, therefore, is a means of authenticating those 
 primary convictions, which act before inquiry, and 
 which thus land us in the results, by which they are 
 themselves confirmed. For on that intuitive judgment, 
 which is God's voice speaking through the common 
 nature of our race, depends in truth the whole of our 
 knowledge. How else can we be sure that our senses 
 are trust- worthy informants, and convey true intima- 
 tions respecting the external world ? Or to take a case 
 of still greater moment, what else assures us of the 
 existence of that Infinite and Absolute Being, who is 
 the real Parent of our thoughts ? These two convictions 
 must have their commencement somewhere, and whence 
 can it be, save in that intuitive conviction of our race, 
 from which they cannot be eradicated ? And the result 
 
262 
 
 OLD AND NEW EEASON. 
 
 to which they lead supplies the explanation of their 
 own origin. For it assures us of the existence of that 
 Being, from whom they were implanted in the general 
 family of His children. " He that cometh to God must 
 believe that He is." And then follow all those other 
 truths, which are the natural result of our dependence 
 on that common Author, in whose image man was 
 formed. Hence arises the conviction that the world is 
 held in the hands of Infinite Power ; that in this Abso- 
 lute and Final Being, all those traces of moral excel- 
 lence, which are written in our hearts, find their 
 perfection ; that to Him is due the tribute of our 
 thoughts and actions ; — whatever belongs to conscience 
 and the higher being of man, and the natural feelings 
 of responsibility, has this origin. It is the consequence 
 of that common nature, which speaks through the 
 intuitions of the heart, and which can give proof of 
 its authority by appeaHng to that original creation, 
 whereby God " made of one blood all nations of the 
 earth." Thus does God first kindle our apprehension 
 through the intuitive perceptions of each single being, 
 and then discover to us that our mtuitions are well- 
 founded, by showing them to be based on that common 
 nature, which is the reflex image of its Maker. 
 
 Hence it is, then, that natural reason is entitled to 
 regard. Weak as it is, when the expression of indi- 
 vidual caprice, it is irresistible so long as it is built on 
 the common principles of our nature. In the first case 
 it is uncertain and self-contradictory, because the voice 
 of man — in the second it is fixed and consentient, as 
 being the voice of God. This is not the time to inquire 
 how we are to discriminate these two forms of natural 
 
OLD AND jSEW reason. 
 
 263 
 
 judgment, or by what means the one is in practice to 
 be distinguished from the other. The present inquiry ^ 
 looks to a higher object. From natm-e we ascend to 
 grace, from the first Adam to the Second, from old to 
 new reason, aud here too it may be seen that no real 
 confidence can be placed in our conclusions, unless we 
 build them upon the principles of that new creation, 
 which it was the especial end of the Gospel to bestow. 
 
 For what is meant by the Gospel ? It was the coming 
 in of God's kingdom, the re-creation of man's nature in 
 Jesus Christ, the institution of a new fiimily, in which 
 all the members of Christ have their corporate life, as 
 the children of men derive their natural being from the 
 old Adam. For Christ Jesus was truly the New Head of 
 humanity, the fresh " beginning of tlie creation of God," 
 from whom all its principles took that new growth, 
 which pertains to their higher nature. " If any man 
 be in Christ, he is a new creature : old things are passed 
 away : behold all things are become new." Now along 
 with the aflections and will of man, there must be 
 an alteration likewise in his capacities for knowledge. 
 It would be no new creation, no fresh being bestowed 
 upon mankind, unless from "the first-born of every 
 creature" there flowed a higher judgment into the 
 nature, which He vouchsafed to partake. Do we appeal 
 then to the decision of natural reason — we are not re- 
 ferring to the judgment of this individual or that, all 
 such sentences must needs share the infirmity of the 
 being who promulges them, but we are building on that 
 common verdict of nature, which is God's impress upon 
 our souls. And in like manner when we speak of neio 
 reason, of the higher faculty of a divine perception, of 
 
264 
 
 OLD AND NEW REASON. 
 
 the spiritual judgment of renewed humanity, what is 
 meant is "no private interpretation" of Holy Writ, no 
 individual claim to an inspired judgment, but that 
 Divine voice of the re-created nature, which tells us of 
 those higher mysteries, which the blessed Spirit has 
 communicated to the family of regenerate man. " We 
 speak wisdom," says the Apostle, " among them that 
 are perfect ; yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of 
 the princes of this world, that come to naught ; but we 
 speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden 
 wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our 
 glory ; which none of the princes of this world knew, 
 for had they known it, they would not have crucified 
 the Lord of Glory. But as it is written, eye hath not 
 seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart 
 of man, the things which God hath prepared for them 
 that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us 
 by His Spirit ; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, 
 the deep things of God." 
 
 What is sought, then, is the judgment of the regene- 
 rate race, that higher principle which was claimed for 
 himself and his brethren by the inspired Apostle : " we 
 have the mind of Christ." Now this wisdom is too 
 vast to be apprehended by those faculties which man 
 received by creation. " The first man knew her not 
 perfectly, no more shall the last find her out. For her 
 thoughts are more than the sea, and her counsels pro- 
 founder than the great deep." " For who hath stood 
 in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and 
 heard His word?" Is this gift, then, denied to the 
 children of men? Has wisdom never revealed itself 
 among them ? Has there not been one child of Adam 
 
OLD AND NETT REASON. 
 
 265 
 
 " in whom were hid all the treasures of wisdom and 
 knowledge?" Yes, there has. For ^'the Word was 
 made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His 
 glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, 
 full of grace and truthr Thus was there manifest 
 among us " the image of the invisible God, the first-born 
 of every creature." In Him was set forth the perfec- 
 tion of man's nature, free from all those evils which 
 had been entailed upon it by the sin of its first pos- 
 sessor. Therefore did it reflect perfectly the likeness 
 of its Creator, because He who clothed Himself with it 
 was truly " the image of God." In His Person was the 
 gift of a superior reason bestowed upon mankind; and 
 that blessing which Adam had impaired by sin, was 
 given back in a higher than its original perfection in 
 Christ Jesus. He is made of God unto us wisdom 
 and righteousness," because He is " Christ the power of 
 God, and the wisdom of God." And " we beheld His 
 glory," says the beloved Apostle, " the glory as of the 
 only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." 
 For not only did He possess that divine vision to which 
 all the secrets of the heavenly world lay exposed, but 
 in Him alone was there a perfect expression of that 
 human intuition, w^hich discerns the true nature and 
 purposes of this. So that real faith not only acts on 
 those new views of things, which He revealed by His 
 insight into the unseen state, but likewise apprehends 
 those new relations of things present, which His con- 
 duct exhibited. To " have the mind of Christ/' is not 
 only to enter into the secrets of the kingdom of God, 
 but it is to have that practical character by which they 
 
 are appreciated. It teaches that to be "meek and 
 
 18 
 
266 
 
 OLD AND mW REASON. 
 
 lowly in heart" is true honour, and that to forgive an 
 injury is more noble than to avenge it. 
 
 But was this gift exhibited in its perfection in the 
 new Head of our race, and yet no provision made for 
 communicating it to His members ? Was our race ex- 
 alted in Him, that it might be more depressed in His 
 brethren ? Is He not " made tmto us wisdom ?" If He 
 was " the beginning of the creation of God/' do not the 
 very words imply that there must be some to follow 
 Him ? And so St. Paul expressly teaches, speaking of 
 the Church as " His Body, the fulness of Him that 
 filleth all in all." For as the ends of Adam's being 
 w^ould not have been complete, unless a progeny had 
 followed him 5 so likewise the object of Christ's Incar- 
 nation would have been frustrated, unless He had seen 
 " His seed unless in their growth He had seen of 
 the travail of His soul," and been " satisfied." And 
 what else could be the meaning of Our Lord's declara- 
 tion, " Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of 
 the world?" Why should He tell His disciples, 1 will 
 not leave you comfortless, I will come to you ?" He 
 plainly taught that the higher wisdom, which had 
 dwelt in the hallowed temple of His own humanity, 
 should be bestowed as the means of insight and obedi- 
 ence on those, whom He associated as members to Him- 
 self For this was the very work which God the Holy 
 Ghost so mercifully vouchsafed to discharge, when He 
 became the medium through which the Manhood of 
 the Ascended Son was present with His people. " The 
 Spirit shall guide you into all truth;" "He shall receive 
 of Mine, and shall show it unto you." 
 
OLD AND NEW REASON. 267 
 
 Now the nature of this gift will lead of itself to a 
 perception of the channel through which Our Lord im- 
 parts it. It is that endowment which Our Lord be- 
 stowed upon His Apostles, when He "opened their 
 understanding, that they might understand the Scrip- 
 tures." It is the same power, whereby He afterwards 
 opened the heart of Lydia, " that she attended unto the 
 things which were spoken of Paul." It was the very 
 gift which He promised to His servants, " even the 
 spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because 
 it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him, but ye know 
 Him, for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." 
 Without this guidance, therefore, the written declara- 
 tions of truth would be an unprofitable stud}^ They 
 would be as unfruitful as would the phenomena of the 
 visible world, if no faculties of observation, no powers 
 of inference, were implanted in us by nature. As the 
 gifts of natural intuition are needful for the compre- 
 hension of things earthly, so to comprehend things 
 heavenly, we need the gifts of divine intuition. With 
 the one endowment was our race provided through the 
 first creation ; the re-creation of mankind in Christ was 
 the commencement of the second. Natural reason tells 
 us of the existence of God ; but to understand God in 
 Christ is the gift of the Gospel. Keason may teach the 
 unity of the Creator ; but the deeper truth of the 
 Blessed Trinity, and of that diversity of Persons, 
 which opens a way to the scheme of man's redemption, 
 belongs to the higher faculty of divine illumination. 
 Reason suggests the spiritual nature of the Great Cause 
 of all ; but the truth that God has become Incarnate, 
 
268 
 
 OLD AND NEW REASON. 
 
 is« appreciated only through the guidance of that 
 Holy Ghost/' without which " no man can say that 
 Jesus is the Lord." 
 
 It w^as the practical appreciation of these and such 
 truths of the Gospel, which Our Lord promised to His 
 Disciples, as the result of His continual presence with 
 them by spiritual power. Is it asked then, as a fact, 
 how these things have been maintained in the world ? 
 Not merely by individual argument, though individuals 
 have often argued for them with earnestness and force, 
 but by that higher testimony of the collective body of 
 the Church, which has a different and higher claim to 
 regard. For in things sacred the Church's judgment 
 has the same weight, which the common consent of 
 men possesses in things profane. As the one discovers 
 the law of God's natural guidance, so the law of His 
 spiritual guidance is indicated by the other. Therefore 
 have the Creeds, by which the true interpretation of 
 Holy Scripture has ever been maintained, had their 
 authority not from private wit, but from the Church's 
 testimony. Is it asked what Avere taken in the earliest 
 times to be the fundamental truths, which were re- 
 vealed in Scripture — the answer is supplied by the 
 Apostles' Creed, as being the belief which in the first 
 age of the Church was required at Baptism. Do we 
 advance further to the period when Arian subtil ty be- 
 guiled the Church ? The Creed of Nice is the bulwark 
 which was raised against it. That which is called the 
 Creed of St. Athanasius contains in like manner the 
 truth, which the universal Church in her most numer- 
 ous Councils opposed to the perversities of Nestorius 
 and of Eutyches. Had these errors been opposed only 
 
OLD AND NEW REASON. 
 
 269 
 
 by private reasoners, something plausible might no 
 doubt have been produced on the one side, as well as 
 on the other. The case would have resembled one of 
 those private arguments, by which the most certain 
 truths of natural morality may be assaulted. Against 
 such dangers we refer always to that common consent 
 of mankind, which supplies the only barrier against 
 eccentricity. And if the great truths of Scripture are 
 assailed, our appeal must be in like manner to that 
 common feeling of the whole Christian family, which 
 is as plainly the voice of our New Head, as natural 
 reason is that of the original Creator. For a new 
 creation implies a new reason; the gift of a higher 
 faculty follows of necessity from the renewal of the 
 powers of man : and in respect therefore of things sa- 
 cred, there must of necessity be an appeal to the com- 
 mon consent of regenerate nature. 
 
 This, then, is the security whereby the gift of a 
 higher reason may be guarded from those absurdities, 
 which the judgment of the world imputes to it. The 
 new reason of God's unseen kingdom is not more vague, 
 uncertain, and self-contradictory, than that old reason, 
 whereby the children of men administer this. Is the 
 Gospel rule capable of abuse, so is that of nature. The 
 one has its laws, and its criterion, as well as the other. 
 Each may be employed by individuals at their will ; 
 but in neither can any individual lay claim to authority. 
 For that which one man advances may be disputed by 
 another. Let the wisest and best individual give his 
 interpretation of the words of Scripture, let him be 
 Saint or Martyr, Bishop or Eeformer, and however deep 
 be his insight into revealed truth, he may be matched 
 
270 
 
 OLD AND NEW REASON. 
 
 by some opponent of equal pretensions. So is it plainly 
 respecting things natural ; we have no safeguard against 
 the discrepancy of the greatest minds : and experience 
 witnesses that it may be so likewise respecting things 
 divine. And as such fallacious use of reason may 
 often delude whole parties and families of men, so may 
 large and weighty portions of the Christian world be 
 misled in their judgments. There is no promise that 
 national Churches shall enjoy an immunity from re- 
 ligious error^ any more than common reason guarantees 
 nations from natural mistakes. And yet the body is in 
 each instance rather to be trusted than the individual 
 — at least in those cases, wdiich do not imply logical 
 deduction and scientific reasoning, but which are an ap- 
 peal to such intuitive judgments as rest on the deep 
 convictions of the natural or the regenerate heart. Lot 
 indeed served God alone in a reprobate city, and 
 Athanasius stood fast amidst an Arianizing world, but 
 these are both extreme case ; w^hereof the one does not 
 prove that truth was lost to the Church, nor the other 
 that conscience was extinguished in the world. If the 
 men of Sodom were " sinners before the Lord exceed- 
 ingly," it was not because they had been born without 
 conscience, but because they had stifled it by their 
 crimes : if Athanasius stood alone, it was only till 
 fuller explanation could enlighten the Church respect- 
 ing the real nature of his protest. Such instances then 
 do not disprove the truth of that general rule, which 
 leads us to appeal from individual caprice to national 
 judgments. For in so doing we are approximating to 
 that universal law of common consent, which is the 
 ultimate appeal. For this has been shown to be the 
 
OLD AND NETV EEASON. 
 
 271 
 
 voice of God^ speaking through the very constitution 
 of that nature^ which Himself has formed. And if this 
 could mislead, what could remain to guide us? To 
 what could we trust, if not to the original principles 
 which our Maker has laid down as the very framework 
 of our thoughts ? 
 
 Now, as it is a part of natural piety to trust to God's 
 voice, speaking through the constitution of our minds, 
 so to trace His guiding hand, as seen in the direction of 
 the common Body of His Church, is the direct mandate 
 of His sovereign will. For is it not His assurance to 
 the Universal Church that "the gates of hell shall not 
 prevail against it?" Is not His Church guaranteed 
 therefore from such fundamental error, as would he 
 fatal to its being ? If the existence of conscience be a 
 sort of virtual promise from the Maker of our being 
 that the intuitions of universal nature cannot deceive, 
 are not those declarations, whereby Christ Our Lord 
 has promised His perpetual Presence to the collective 
 body of His Church, an assurance of equal certainty, 
 that it will never finally become apostate ? As we rest, 
 then, in one case on the consent of man, as showing the 
 deep principles of humanity, so in the other do we 
 appeal to the common testimony of the regenerate mind, 
 as exhibiting those principles which originated in the 
 new creation. And as the natural judgment will not 
 justify individuals in overstepping their allotted pro- 
 vince, but shows itself in the consentient acting of the 
 principles by which mankind is governed, so must the 
 judgment of the Church be collected according to those 
 laws, and in conformity to those maxims, which were 
 appointed for its guidance by Him who founded it. 
 
272 
 
 OLD AND NEW REASON. 
 
 The Church's judgment will ever be expressed in ac- 
 cordance with the rules of its constitution, and through 
 the ordained organs by which its voice is expressed. 
 In their unity will the great mass of the lay voice con- 
 cur. What had been Our Lord's meaning in telling 
 men to refer a disputed point to the Church's adjudica- 
 tion, unless it had possessed an organization through 
 which to speak, and officers through whom to decide ? 
 When the Apostle says " we have no such custom, nei- 
 ther the Churches of God," or when he refers the settle- 
 ment of a difficult question to the time when they were 
 " gathered together with the power of the Lord Jesus," 
 he plainly looks to the Church of Christ as a body 
 which, like other bodies, could give utterance to its 
 will. For " He gave some Apostles, and some prophets, 
 and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers : 
 for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the 
 ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ. Till 
 we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowl- 
 edge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the 
 measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ : that we 
 henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and 
 carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight 
 of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in 
 wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may 
 grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even 
 Christ. From w^hom the whole Body, fitly joined to- 
 gether, and compacted by that which every joint sup- 
 plieth, according to the effectual working in the measure 
 of every part, maketli increase of the Body, unto the 
 edifying of itself in love." 
 
 The higher reason then to which Scripture refers, 
 
OLD AND NEW REASON. 
 
 273 
 
 and its reference to spiritual guidance, is no vague ad- 
 mission of an uncertain and self-contradictory principle 
 — no idle concession to individual conceit. It is but 
 the necessary result of that renewal of man's nature, 
 which must be accompanied by higher faculties as well 
 as by improved affections. It is built upon that re- 
 creation of humanity in the Son of God, w^hereby our 
 nature was made participant of heavenly blessings. 
 From Him, as " the beginning of the creation of God," 
 w^as a higher rule of judgment bestowed upon His breth- 
 ren. This rule, like the law of natural reason, is capable 
 of abuse; it provides no criterion of truth unless its 
 principles of interpretation are regarded; but when duly 
 used, it is the parent of a better knowledge than the 
 children of this world can possess. For "the Son of 
 God is come, and hath given us an understanding." 
 Through Him, the one Mediator between God and man, 
 come all the blessings of the regenerate being. As the 
 faculties of nature were bestowed as an immediate gift 
 by the Creator, so the new reason of re-created nature 
 is the gift of Christ Our Lord to His brethren. " For 
 of His fulness have all we received and grace for 
 grace." 
 
 Now from this truth follow two practical conclusions 
 — one applicable to those who minister in the kingdom 
 of God ; the other to all its members. It should never 
 be forgotten that none can claim that supernatural 
 guidance which is an especial promise of the Gospel 
 covenant, unless they are members of that Body of 
 Christ, which is the dwelling-place of His Spirit. If 
 " the Son of God hath given us an understanding, that 
 we may know Him that is true," it is because " we are 
 
274 
 
 OLD AND NEW REASON. 
 
 in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ." 
 AYe cannot Hmit indeed that abundant stream of God's 
 mercy, which may far overflow the channel, through 
 which He usually bestows it. But none can claim this 
 gift, who are not members of His Body, of His flesh, 
 and of His bones. And this union is not obtained 
 through the uncertain medium of such private will, as 
 partakes rather of the waywardness of individual 
 caprice ; it has its authorized and established course 
 through that Sacramental action of God the Holy 
 Ghost, whereby men are engrafted into the Body of 
 their Incarnate Saviour. It does not belong to every 
 one therefore to claim this gift, merely because his 
 fancy witnesses that he possesses it : it is the Church's 
 gift, just as natural reason is the endowment of the 
 human family ; and as men possess the earthly power 
 through true descent from the family of the first Adam ; 
 so it is only through real union with the Incarnate Son. 
 and through genuine sympathy with His Body mysti, 
 cal, that men can possess the higher power of the spi- 
 ritual understanding. 
 
 Again, another caution regards those whose ofiice is 
 to minister the Gospel. Their claim to teach must be 
 ever limited " by the proportion of faith." When they 
 profess to explain the oracles of God, what right have 
 they to prefer their individual caprice to that teaching 
 of the Holy Ghost, whereby the common body of the 
 Church is withheld from fundamental error ? If men teach 
 what is contrary to that public testimony, into which the 
 Church has been guided by the Spirit, neither station nor 
 ability will exempt them from the reproach of opposing 
 the Gospel. When the Prayer-Book therefore preaches 
 
OLD AXD NEW REASON. 
 
 275 
 
 one tiling, and the Sermon another, when one language 
 is used at the font, and another in the pulpit — this is 
 not because the teaching of the Spirit is defective, but 
 because the reason of man is fallacious. Would " the 
 Priest's lips keep knowledge," he must recognize the au- 
 thority of that public guidance, without which there 
 can be no fixed interpretation of Scripture^ and no last- 
 ing agreement among men. 
 
SERMON XXIV. 
 
 PREDESTINATION. 
 
 Daniel vii. 13, 14. 
 
 ^' I sa w in the night visions, and behold one like the Son of Man came 
 with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and 
 they brought Him near before Rim. And there was given Him do- 
 minion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all jpeople, nations, and 
 languages, should serve Him ; His dominion is an everlasting domin- 
 ion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall 
 not be destroyed." 
 
 Thus long beforehand was the Prophet instructed 
 respecting the certainty of those events, which must be 
 fulfilled in their season. For " known unto God are all 
 His works, from the beginning of the world." Nor 
 were these great things known to Him only, as to an 
 indifferent spectator ; they were the objects of His coun- 
 sel, the effects of His mercy : " He hath determined the 
 times before appointed." And His appointments affect 
 the individual destiny of men : " we have obtained an 
 inheritance, being predestinated, according to the pur- 
 pose of Him, Avho worketh all things after the counsel 
 of His own will." The Holy Scriptures are distinct in 
 their assurance that man's fortunes are in this wise 
 bound up with the pre-arrangements of God. " Whom 
 
PREDESTINATION. 
 
 277 
 
 He did foreknow. He also did predestinate." And 
 those who are thus pre-appointed are declared to be 
 chosen or elected by Almighty God, through the free 
 exercise of His sovereign will. Jacob was the object 
 of His choice rather than Esau, " that the purpose of 
 God according to election might stand ; not of works, 
 but of Him that calleth." Those who are thus favoured 
 are spoken of as " elect according to the foreknowledge 
 of God the Father." And since this doctrine is so 
 plainly revealed in Scripture, it is neither safe nor 
 reverent to abstract from it our thoughts. Not safe, 
 because any Scriptural doctrine, which is habitually- 
 suppressed (as by many persons is the doctrine of God's 
 predestination), will certainly force itself again into 
 notice, and perhaps disturb " the proportion of faith ;" 
 — not reverent, because it is presumptuous in man to 
 esteem God's words indifferent or injmious; and to sup- 
 pose that no importance can attach to truths, which 
 were deemed weighty and practical by inspired Apos- 
 tles. Does not St. Paul tell the Thessalonian Chris- 
 tians, " we give thanks to God always for you all — 
 knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God ?" Did 
 he not feel himself "bound to give thanks alway to 
 God, because God" had " from the beginning chosen" 
 them "unto salvation?" Why were things true at 
 Thessalonica, which are false or dangerous among our- 
 selves — and how venture we to suppress a matter, which 
 the Apostle of the Gentiles felt himself " houncV to 
 declare ? 
 
 Let us, then, in the first place inquire what has led 
 many to deny, or at least admit, this truth ; and 
 secondly, what is its due extent and meaning. 
 
278 
 
 PREDESTINATION. 
 
 I. Predestination and election have often been ob- 
 jected tO; because supposed inconsistent with the respon- 
 sibility of man. Predestination has been understood by 
 many to mean, that previous to man's birth or even to 
 the world's existence a decree was passed by Almighty 
 God, by which some persons were inevitably fated to 
 salvation ; the residue of the world, by their omission 
 from this favoured number, being doomed with equal 
 certainty to everlasting ruin. Those who have thus 
 stated the matter have not been content to affirm it as 
 a fact, involved in a manner to us unknown by some 
 inevitable necessity ; still less have they been willing 
 to refer it to any supernatural foresight of men's future 
 actions : it has been brought forward as a decree, as a 
 sentence passed on men spontaneously .by their Maker 
 before their birth, the unchecked supremacy of His 
 irresistible will, whereby the larger part of His intelli- 
 gent creatures has been consigned to endless misery, 
 without opportunity of trial or possibility of escape. 
 Such a view of things has been defended, on the ground 
 that it is eminently humbling to man, and peculiarly 
 conducive to God's glory. How far this is true ab- 
 stractedly it is needless to ask, and whether it may not 
 puff up those who are, or think themselves, God's 
 elected favourites : the first question respects its accord- 
 ance with Holy Writ, and whether it really rests on 
 inspired authority. 
 
 Does this view of things then consist with the words 
 of Our Lord ? Does it accord with His gracious ex- 
 pressions of regret at the sight of Jerusalem ? " When 
 He was come near. He beheld the city and wept over 
 it." " 0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the 
 
PREDESTINATION. 
 
 279 
 
 prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, 
 how often would I have gathered thy children together, 
 even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, 
 and ye would not." Or again, take the words of the 
 Almighty by His ancient prophet. " If the wicked 
 will turn from all his sins, that he hath committed, and 
 keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and 
 right, he shall surely live, he shall not die." 
 
 " Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should 
 die, saith the Lord God : and not that he should return 
 from his waj's and live ?" It were needless to multiiDly 
 passages, since these are but a specimen of the general 
 language of Holy Writ. And can it be conceived that 
 the Being, from whom such promises proceed, by His 
 own decree precludes those to whom they are addressed, 
 from the possibility of accepting them ? Is not the very- 
 supposition an insult to his character? Can the God 
 of truth declare His anxiety for men's repentance, while 
 at the same time He Himself renders their repentance 
 impossible? "Shall not the judge of all the earth do 
 right ?" And would not such a state of things be in- 
 consistent with the responsibility of man, as well as 
 derogatory to the truth of his Maker ? For by blame 
 is meant the censure which is past on those who miglit 
 do well, but do otherwise. It cannot attach therefore 
 to involuntary offences. With man's power to mil, the 
 sinfulness of his transgressions must be abandoned. So 
 that the accountableness of man — a truth witnessed by 
 his own consciousness — is overthrown by the same sys- 
 tem, by which the truth of Holy Scripture is invalidated. 
 
 It is not of course denied that the creation of 
 responsible agents involves an inscrutable mystery, 
 
280 
 
 PREDESTINATION. 
 
 such as our present capacities are unable to explore. 
 For since free agency implies the power of willing 
 amiss, as well as the power of willing rightly, it 
 would seem that if men had been created under a 
 law, which forbad the possibility of failing, there could 
 not in the nature of the case have been such a thing 
 as responsibility. What indeed is the exact nature of 
 that power of evil, which appears in this way to be 
 essential to the existence of excellence : why Infinite 
 Love ordained that the world should exist, since there 
 can be such a thing as a being of whom Infinite Wisdom 
 has declared that it were " good for him that he had 
 never been born" — these are questions with which reli- 
 gion is not really concerned, and which philosophy has 
 never been able to settle. But that " God will have 
 all men to be saved," is not a mere dictate of philosophy : 
 it is a statement of revealed religion, which is fast bound 
 to the truth of Him who "cannot lie." "Hath He 
 said, and shall He not do it ; or hath He spoken, and 
 shall He not make it good ?" Every man can do what 
 he can ; and Scripture plainly declares, that every one 
 who does what he can will be saved. We may con- 
 fidently say, therefore, with Bishop Taylor, " our faith 
 concerning God must be, as Himself hath revealed and 
 described His own excellencies." " But he that believes 
 God to be cruel or unmerciful, or a rejoicer in the un- 
 avoidable damnation of the greater part of mankind, or 
 that He speaks one thing and privately means another, 
 thinks evil thoughts concerning God, and such as for 
 which we should hate a man, and therefore are great 
 enemies of faith."* It would be contrary to natural 
 
 * Taylor's " Holy Living," cap. i. s. 1. 
 
PR.EDESTIXATIOx\. 
 
 281 
 
 piety to believe the promises of Scripture to be a 
 mockery ; it would be a denial of human responsibility 
 and of divine truth. 
 
 But how can we give full weight to the unquestion- 
 able statements of the Apostle, while we guard against 
 violating natural piety, and insulting the majesty of 
 God? AYhat is required is such an interpretation as 
 may allow them due importance, and yet respect the 
 analogy of Scripture. It has too often happened that 
 those who have fixed their eyes on God's general pro- 
 mises have shut them to the assurances of an mdividual 
 predestination, forgetting that no explanation can be 
 satisfactory, which does not do ample justice to the one 
 statement, without detracting from the other. Now 
 what are the exact conditions of the case before us ; 
 what is the precise statement of Scripture respecting 
 the divine Predestination ? Three especial terms are 
 employed by St. Paul in its expression : foreknowledge, 
 predestination, election. The first of these may be 
 recognized without difiiculty; for all who believe in 
 God, attribute to Him the power of universal foresight. 
 Such a condition, therefore, is assigned to the divine 
 nature, by those who never question the responsibility 
 of men. How His unlimited knowledge of future con- 
 tingencies is compatible with the unbiassed freedom of 
 inferior agents, is a difiiculty of philosophy rather than 
 of religion. It is enough for our present purpose, that to 
 admit the existence of a God is to acknowledge a Being 
 to subsist, before whom the map of the future is as 
 plainly spread out, as the present or the past before 
 created intelligences. And considering that time and 
 space are kindred ideas, which have their birth within 
 
282 
 
 PREDESTINATIOISr. 
 
 ourselves, and are forced upon us by tlie laws of our 
 limited existence, there can be no ground for wonder 
 that as the Being of the Incomprehensible One can- 
 not be bounded by space, so the element of time should 
 not interfere with the infinite presentiality of eternity. 
 
 The foreknowledge of God then presents no difiiculty, 
 because it does not limit the responsibility of His crea- 
 tures. It concerns God and not man. It results from 
 that exemption from the law of time, w^hich renders the 
 Eternal One a spectator of the future : its cause is the 
 divine infinity, not the absence of human free-agency- 
 But it is otherwise with Predestination. This has 
 plainly man for its object. It is the pre-appointment 
 or previous settlement of man's destiny. And Election 
 in like manner is the choosing of certain men out of the 
 vast mass of Adam's descendants. The only remaining 
 question, therefore, in this case respects the thing to 
 which persons are chosen ; and for what it is that they 
 are appointed. Are they pre-appointed to final salva- 
 tion ? Does the election single out those who will ul- 
 timately be the children of glory, so that none who are 
 excluded from the favoured number need seek to be 
 admitted — all who are within it are sure of heaven ? 
 Or is the pre-appointment to some immediate advan- 
 tages, by which man's state indeed may be greatly al- 
 tered, but which do not ensure future haj^piness, unless 
 present opportunities shall be duly improved ? Li the 
 first place, human responsibility is plainly at an end, 
 because wdiere no risk is, there can be no trial : the 
 second alternative pre-supposes an individual election 
 as much as the other, but addresses men as still re- 
 quiring exertion, because still liable to failure. Which 
 
PREDESTINATION. 
 
 283 
 
 of these is the language of Holy Writ ? Predestination 
 is twice spoken of by St. Paul : in both cases it is con- 
 nected with a peculiar relation to that Second Person 
 in the Ever-Blessed Trinity, who became the Head of 
 man s race, that He might bestow a new character upon 
 all its members. " Whom He did foreknow, He did 
 predestinate to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, 
 that He might be the first-born among many brethren." 
 Again, God " predestinated us unto the adoption of chil- 
 dren b}^ Jesus Christ to Himself" In the only two 
 passages* then in which Predestination is spoken of in 
 Holy Scripture, its simple reference to man's salvation 
 is qualified by the consideration, that it is an appoint- 
 ment to membership in that new familj', which has 
 been substituted for the original race of man. And as 
 man's indi\ddual responsibility is left wholly- untouched, 
 when it is said that he possesses that fallen nature 
 which he has from Adam ; so it does not appear why 
 his responsibiUty should be destroyed by the possession 
 of that renewed nature, of which Christ was the founder. 
 Exclude the element of time, which is irrelevant to the 
 dealings of the Almighty, and the decrees of God res- 
 pecting the fallen or the renewed family of man, would 
 leave the responsibility of each equally unaffected. 
 
 Again, if from Predestination we turn to Election, 
 here we find nothing in the terms themselves, which 
 excludes the idea of responsibility. It does not seem 
 that men are chosen to final salvation, but chosen to 
 that state of which final salvation is the fitting issue. 
 No words of Holy Scripture, perhaps, are stronger than 
 
 * Romans, viii. 29, 30. 
 
 Eph. i. 5, 11. 
 
284 
 
 PREDESTINATION. 
 
 those in which St. Paul tells the Thessalonians that 
 God hath " from the beginning chosen you to salvation, 
 through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the 
 truth." What more is wanted, it may be said, than 
 this ? Almighty God elects men by arbitrary decree 
 to that course of conduct, of which eternal life is the 
 necessary result. But if the effects of this appointment 
 were irrespective of the responsibility of its objects, then 
 would the disobedience of those who reject God's will 
 be referrible to the same law with the obedience of those 
 who serve Him. For unless something besides God's 
 appointment be supposed to concur in the salvation of 
 the one, there remains nothing but God's appointment 
 to which we may attribute the destruction of the other. 
 Now this is inconsistent with the language of Scripture. 
 God is said to " endure with much long-suffering the 
 vessels of wrath fitted for destruction." There is no 
 such thing as an election to unholiness. Those who 
 are ordained to condemnation" are such as by their 
 own act " turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness." 
 And those who are chosen, are still required to make 
 their " calling and election sure." So that we may con- 
 fidently declare that " God hath commanded no man 
 to do wickedly, neither hath He given any man license 
 to sin." 
 
 The statements of Holy Writ, therefore, do not in- 
 volve any conclusions which interfere with the respon- 
 sibility of mankind. And yet it cannot be doubted 
 that an Election of individuals to the privileges of the 
 Gospel, and their Predestination to membership in 
 Christ, will to many seem insufficient to support the 
 weight of the Apostle's words. Their judgment is 
 
PREDESTIXATION. 
 
 285 
 
 builtj not without reason, on the general tone of his 
 language. It is certainly an irreverent evasion of the 
 force of Scripture, to suppose that some common-place 
 event or change could be all which was designed by 
 its most grave and serious expressions. This is a com- 
 mon fault in men's interpretation of God's Word. It is 
 the natural result of their disbelief in that unseen 
 kingdom of grace which is round about them. How 
 can its secrets be revealed to embodied beings, except 
 through the medium of images, drawn from the visible 
 creation? If these are dealt with only as figures of 
 speech, the reality of things spiritual cannot be appre- 
 ciated. When men hear of union with Christ," of 
 His being " present " in His Church to the end of the 
 world, that Christians are risen with " Him, that He 
 must be " formed " within them, that they are " mem- 
 bers of His Body, of His flesh, and of His bones " — 
 how many explain away these wondrous expressions, 
 by which the mystery of the new creation is set forth, 
 as though they were in truth flowers of rhetoric, which 
 mean nothing? They had rather suppose that an 
 Apostle could use great words, which himself did not 
 comprehend, than beheve that God can do great things, 
 which pass their own comprehension. St. Paul's lan- 
 guage they attribute to a temper, which loved exag- 
 gerated expressions, because their own temper inclines 
 them to deny that there can be reality in the mysteries 
 of God. Such an error should be carefully avoided in 
 the interpretation of Scripture. We must find some 
 object adequate to support the weight of those fervent 
 expressions, in which the Apostle speaks of Predesti- 
 nation, and of our Election in Christ. These are plainly 
 
286 
 
 PREDESTINATION. 
 
 no trivial blessings : they must make some momentous 
 difference in the condition of mankind, and be worthy 
 to be set forth as among the great gifts of the Gospel. 
 No explanation of their meaning can be satisfactory, 
 which does not recognize their importance, and tally 
 with that place which is assigned them in the counsels 
 of God. 
 
 And here then we must turn back to the text. What 
 is it which met the eyes of the wondering Seer, to whom 
 the mighty vision of the future days w^as unfolded ? 
 While he was instructed respecting the temporal for- 
 tunes of the world, while the transitory forms of earthly 
 power passed before him like a majestic dream, he was 
 admitted also to the sight of heavenly objects, and a 
 greater than the empires of this world was presented to 
 his gaze. " In the days of these kings shall the God 
 of Heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be de- 
 stroyed." Its delegated founder was to be the heir of 
 humanity itself, " one like the Son of Man," who was 
 presented before " the Ancient of days," as the true re- 
 presentative of His creatures. All this looks to some 
 momentous series of events, whereby the collective his- 
 tory of man's race was deeply affected. The dominion 
 of the Son of Man, the " Kingdom of God " is exhibited 
 as truly influencing the destiny of all mankind, and as 
 the great event in the world's history. It is introduced 
 as consequent on those achievements by which the 
 world's temporal condition has been most widely 
 altered : but these are supposed to be of inferior mo- 
 ment and less durable effect. " His dominion is an 
 everlasting dominion, and His kingdom that which shall 
 not pass away." Let us consider, then, the nature of 
 
PREDESTINATION. 
 
 287 
 
 the great tiling^ which was thus foreshown in the coun- 
 sels of Gocl, and whether it was not an adequate object 
 for those mighty icords, in which the divine doings are 
 expressed by the Apostle. 
 
 What then is the tJdng, of which the Apostle wrote 
 to the Christians of Rome, as being " the powder of God 
 unto salvation ?" What was that " Kingdom of God," 
 which on his first entrance into the Capital of the 
 world, he " expounded and testified both out of the law 
 of Moses, and out of the Prophets, from morning till 
 evening ?" That which had so much altered the situa- 
 tion of the world, which formed the grand era in its 
 history, was the introduction of the system of Media- 
 tion : the re-creation of humanity in Jesus Christ." 
 " Circumcision and uncircumcision," the old distinctions 
 between the favoured and unfavoured nations, " availed 
 no more, but the new Creation in Jesus Christ." Now 
 to appreciate this new system, it is necessary to bear in 
 mind what was the old one, in which man had pre- 
 viously been placed. What was the law of man's 
 original creation ? When the Almighty had built up 
 the frame of this wondrous universe. He placed a crown 
 upon His works, by giving His own image to a being, 
 who should be its delegated Lord. "God said, let us 
 make man in our image, after our likeness; and let 
 them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over 
 the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the 
 earth." " And God blessed them, and God said unto 
 them, Be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth, 
 and subdue it ; and have dominion over the fish of the 
 sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living 
 thing, that moveth upon the earth." This was the 
 
288 
 
 PREDESTIXATIOX. 
 
 charter of man's inheritance : thus did he become a Ifi- 
 crocosm^ a little universe, because the Image of Him, 
 by whom this vast universe was constructed. And 
 therefore it is from relation to this parent Being, that 
 all those excellencies are derived, of which man is pos- 
 sessed. AYhat are imagination, genius, taste, but a 
 portion of that inheritance, which was bestowed upon 
 him, because he was by nature the image of his Crea- 
 tor? Hence the feeling that our minds have a natural 
 power of holding intercourse in thought with their 
 Maker — a feeling which led even a heathen to those 
 words, which were sanctioned by the Apostle, " for we 
 are also His offspring." This conviction, by which 
 under the guidance of natural piety men were led to 
 address themselves in prayer to their invisible Creator, 
 was not man's own invention ; it was the relic of that 
 real intercourse, of which man's creation in his Maker's 
 image was the cause. Spirits would seem to have a 
 natural relation to one another : certainly such a rela- 
 tion obtains between human intelligence, and that 
 Original Intelligence, who is the parent of our thoughts ; 
 in whom "was life, and the life was the light of men." 
 
 Such, then, was man's condition by nature. And if 
 Adam had stood fast in his original estate, this door of 
 nature would have provided immediate access to God. 
 The creature would, no doubt, have tended more and 
 more to his Creator. But when this access was lost by 
 man's sin, it pleased God to give a new door of ap- 
 proach. There was a moment, indeed, when man 
 seemed altogether shut out from his Maker, when he 
 hid himself from God's presence in the midst of the 
 trees of the garden. This was the only period when 
 
PREDESTIXATION. 
 
 289 
 
 fallen nature was altogether unalle\dated by dhdne 
 mercj' ; and had this period continued, the race of man 
 had doubtless perished m its birth. But no sooner had 
 man fallen, than a Second Adam was promised; a new 
 Head to man's race ; a fresh beginning of the creation 
 of God." On Him did those who preceded His coming 
 depend in expectation, as all subsequent generations 
 have built their hopes upon the realit}^ of His presence. 
 For " when the fulness of time was come, God sent 
 forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 
 that we might receive the adoption of sons." Thus was 
 the new Adam a more perfect ^* image of the imdsible 
 God," a better " first-born of every creature ;" the Vir- 
 gin's Son more than supplied that loss, which humanity 
 had received through the first Eve. And henceforth 
 were all blessmgs to flow into manhood through this 
 channel. There was one Mediator between God and 
 men, the man Christ Jesus." His humanity became 
 the new fountain, in which all divine gifts were gathered 
 together ; that thence they might flow forth, Hke the 
 rivers of Eden, to water the whole earth. As all na- 
 ture, therefore, was gathered together in the first man, 
 so all grace in the Second. The endowments of reason, 
 the properties of understanding — these we possess 
 through inherence in that line of the old man, of whose 
 organization we are severally types. And those spi- 
 ritual qualities, the possessions of our higher nature, 
 are in like manner handed do^vn through that line of 
 the New Man, which is the basis of spiritual life. And 
 as the law of carnal propagation is our mean of depend- 
 ence on the one, so are we bound to the other by that 
 Sacramental system, through which the humanity of 
 
290 
 
 PREDESTINATION. 
 
 the Incarnate Son transmits itself to His brethren. For 
 the first man was made a living soul^ the last Adam 
 is made a quickening spirit." 
 
 Such, then, is the Thing which is set forth as the 
 scheme of Mediation. And is it not of sufficient mo- 
 ment to support the weight of the Apostle's words ? 
 Look at it in its relation to the Almighty. Does it not 
 display the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and 
 knowledge of God ? If the old creation exhibited them 
 so wonderfully, are they not still more manifest in the 
 new ? If to create a world was great, was it not greater 
 to renew it ? The wonders of the first are enlarged 
 upon in the divine words of ancient Scripture : " Where ^ 
 wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth ? 
 Declare if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid 
 the measures thereof, if thou knowest ? Or who hath 
 stretched the line upon it ? Whereupon are the foun- 
 dations thereof fastened, or who laid the corner-stone 
 thereof : when the morning stars sang together, and all 
 the sons of God shouted for joy ?" And still more must 
 we adore the Creator's workmanship, when we pass 
 from the material works of God to His rational crea- 
 tures. For take all the attainments of human genius 
 — the inspiration of the poet, the profound meditation 
 of the philosopher, the artist's conception of beauty, the 
 orator's control over the mind — are not these all ex- 
 pressions of that original constitution of nature, which 
 it received from its Maker's hand ? Are they not his 
 workmanship, who " set the world in" man's " heart ?" 
 Must not all, therefore, have been present to His divine 
 thought, when out of the lifeless clay He formed this 
 
PREDESTIXATION. 
 
 291 
 
 image of Himself? Do they not declare the glory of 
 Him, " who hath put wisdom in the inward parts," and 
 "given understanding to the heart." Now, if this 
 natural creation manifested His glory, is it not still 
 more manifested in the new birth of the Gospel? If 
 the gifts of intellect magnify their Author, much more 
 the gifts of grace. The kingdom of nature has its mys- 
 teries; its deep and large designs call forth the admira- 
 tion of earthly spectators. But it is " by the Church" 
 that "to the principalities and powers in heavenly 
 places" is " known the manifold wisdom of God." These 
 noblest counsels of the Almighty depend on "the eter- 
 nal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus Our 
 Lord." If His wisdom was shown in Adam His dis- 
 obedient creature, much more in that " well-beloved 
 Son, in whom" He was " well pleased." As the policy 
 of those who have reared earthly monarchies has been 
 illustrated by the success of their designs, as worldly 
 history testifies to the sagacity of those who founded 
 the commonwealth of Greece, or fostered the youthful 
 ascendancy of Rome, so it is only through its re-crea- 
 tion in Christ Jesus that humanity at large ceases to be 
 an enigma, and can give full scope to the endowments 
 of which it is possessed. Thus only is the end of man's 
 being accomplished. " Blessed be the God and Father 
 of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all 
 spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ ; accord- 
 ing as He hath chosen us in Him, before the foundation 
 of the world, that we should be holy and without blame 
 before Him in love : having predestinated us unto the 
 adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, accord- 
 
292 
 
 PREDESTINATION. 
 
 ing to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the 
 glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted 
 in the beloved." 
 
 And as this is a work which holds a great place in 
 the counsels of God, so if we look to the condition of 
 man, we see reason enough in the importance attached 
 to it. For what wider diversity is there in the condir 
 tion of mortals, than that some of them are appointed 
 to be heirs, while others remain altogether strangers to 
 that covenant of grace, which has been bestowed upon 
 mankind ? No doubt both in the one case and the 
 other, men will be judged according to their oppor- 
 tunities : the Christian will have a stricter account to 
 render, for " to whom men have committed much, of 
 him they will ask the more." But his position is plainly 
 one of signal advantage. " Prophets and kings," said 
 Our Lord, " have desired to see those things, which ye 
 see, and have not seen them." But to what can men 
 attribute such distinction, save to that free grace of God, 
 which worketh according to the counsel of His own 
 will? What else gives men a place in the Church of 
 the redeemed, to which so many millions of mankind 
 are not admitted ? To be born of a royal line is an 
 earthly distinction : it is described usually as one of 
 those gifts of fortune, which is appointed for few; but 
 far higher is the privilege of that divine birthright, to 
 which all the members of Christ have been elected. 
 For why did not their birth precede that re-creation of 
 man's race, of which the Son of God Himself became 
 the model and Head ? Why is not their lot cast in 
 those populous regions of the earth, where no Sacra- 
 ments extend the line of His renewed race ? Are not 
 
PREDESTINATION. 
 
 293 
 
 these special and peculiar gifts of election, worthy of an 
 especial thankfulness from those who are favoured be- 
 yond so many of the family of man? We may well 
 apply the words of Moses to the members of the spirit- 
 ual Israel; "ask now of the days which are past, 
 which were before thee, since the day that God 
 created man upon the earth, and ask from one side 
 of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any 
 such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard 
 like it ?" " Hath God essayed to go take Him a nation 
 out of the midst of another nation — according to all that 
 the Lord your God did for you before your eyes ?" 
 Surely such special acts of mercy deserve that special 
 admiration, with which the Apostle contemplates the 
 election of the children of God. For this is a favour, 
 towards which no effort on their part in the slightest 
 degree co-operates : the gift is wholly antecedent to their 
 faith, love, obedience, gratitude — in the great mass of 
 men who are elected by baptism into the Church of 
 Christ, their will is not required even to consent to the 
 deed : as by birth they were children of the old, so by 
 new birth do they become members of the Second 
 Adam : they find themselves " no more strangers and 
 foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the 
 household of God." 
 
 These mighty results of election into Christ are in- 
 finitely enhanced, if we consider how it operates in 
 respect of the enemies of man's safety. Men would 
 appreciate better the importance of that new creation 
 in Christ, to which they are freely chosen through ad- 
 mission into His Body, if they understood those dan- 
 gers, by which they are still hemmed in, and that power 
 
294 
 
 PREDESTINATION. 
 
 of evil, whioh tliey have to encounter. Satan and his 
 angels are no unreal foes ; they have truly power to 
 oppose our salvation : the world of evil has a real exist- 
 ence, and cannot be conquered save through the power 
 of the cross. For to what do men trust, that they have 
 so little sense of the perils of their state ? Is it to the 
 freedom of their will ? But was not Adam foiled in the 
 perfecthess of his innocence ? And how then can his 
 weaker children expect to resist? One champion only 
 has conquered for us, as well as Himself ; we must be 
 found in Him, if we would be in safety ; we must par- 
 take Plis nature, if we would share His victory. This 
 is the very hope of God's calling, " which He wrought 
 in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set 
 Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places," 
 " and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him 
 to be Head over all things to the Church, which is His 
 Body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." 
 
 This gift then we cannot estimate, unless we appre- 
 ciate our danger. The enemies of our souls have access 
 to the house of our life. A world of evil is arrayed 
 against us. " We wrestle not against flesh and blood, 
 but against principalities, against powers, against the 
 rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual 
 wickedness in high places." It is when we discern this 
 danger, that we feel how great is the blessedness of that 
 safeguard, which the great Head of the renewed race 
 extends to all his children. " My Father which gave 
 them Me is greater than all, and no man is able to 
 pluck them out of My Father's hand." " Fear not little 
 flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the 
 kingdom." Nothing, then, shows more clearly how 
 
PREDESTINATION. 295 
 
 suitable are those earnest words, wherein the Apostle 
 sets forth the blessings bestowed on God's elected people, 
 than the external dangers against which they find a 
 safeguard in the presence of Him, who has triumphed 
 over their common foe. Did He wrestle with Satan in 
 the days of His humiliation? Did He triumph over 
 that enemy in the wilderness, at the garden, and on 
 the cross ? And shall He not prevail likewise in all His 
 servants ? Shall not those who have been chosen to 
 be members of Himself be kept likewise from assaults, 
 which no power on their part could otherwise resist ? 
 Thus is there a path provided, wherein those who are 
 joined to Christ, may follow Him, if they will, from 
 earth to heaven. Their course is guarded through the 
 wilderness of this world, as Israel's of old through the 
 fiery waste. This it is which our Article expresses, de- 
 scribing the safety which is afforded to Christ's servants, 
 through their union with Him in whom only is life. It 
 sots forth the several stages of man's pilgrimage ; the 
 very resting place, the shelter, the guidance, by which 
 only he can accomplish that dangerous march. " Pre- 
 destination to life is the eternal purpose of God, where- 
 by (before the foundations of the world were laid) He 
 hath constantly decreed by His counsel, secret to us, to 
 deliver from curse and damnation those whom He hath 
 chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them hy 
 Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to 
 honour. Wherefore they which be endued with so ex- 
 cellent a benefit of God, be called according to God's 
 purpose by His spirit working in due season: they 
 through grace obey the calling : they be justified freely : 
 they be made sons of God by adoption : they be made 
 
296 
 
 PREDESTINATION. 
 
 like the image of His only begotten Son Jesus Christ : 
 they walk religiously in good works, and at length by 
 God's mercy they attain to everlasting felicity." Such 
 is the glorious course, which the mercy of the Most 
 Highest has provided for those who " go from strength 
 to strength ;" who in their journey draw water out of 
 the wells of salvation, till before the God of gods they 
 appear in Zion. This is the pre destined or pre-ap- 
 pointed path from the Egypt of this world to the Canaan 
 of rest. This is the road along which all God's people 
 must travel. To be in Christ is their security. Thus 
 are they guarded against the perils of the waste. Its 
 fiery serpents shall not bite, its drought appal, its heat 
 oppress them. This road has God Himself prepared 
 for their safety. 
 
 And is not the blessing which is thus provided suf- 
 ficient to support the weight of the Apostle's words ? 
 The object of God's foreknowledge is the journey of His 
 servants along that narrow way which He has appointed 
 as the path to glory. Against its dangers He has pre- 
 ordained one especial means of safety — to be members 
 in that mystic Body, which is partaker of the hallowed 
 nature of His Incarnate Son. Into this blessed Unity 
 His own merciful goodness elects mankind. Thus do 
 they become " fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the 
 household of God." For this is God's host : His Church 
 and family : the great company of those who travel to 
 Zion. No doubt there are single pilgrims, who are 
 aided by the mercy of their heavenly King; but His 
 especial pre-appointment respects that new Israel, which 
 a greater than Moses is leading to the heavenly Canaan. 
 The choice and will of all men lay open from everlast- 
 
PEEt)ESTIXATIOX. 
 
 297 
 
 ing to His infinite knowledge, but His puqDose and 
 ordination concerned that Gospel kingdom, into Tvliich 
 men are admitted bj actual union with the Son of His 
 love. " Whom He did foreknow, He also did predesti- 
 nate to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that 
 He might be the first-bom among many brethren." It 
 is the Head, therefore, and heir of humanity, who is 
 the true object of the predestination of God. For Him 
 it is that a kingdom is ajopointed. He is that " Son of 
 Man," who was " brou2:ht near to the Ancient of davs " 
 when dominion and glory was pre-ordained for Him. 
 And the predestination of His brethren, like their other 
 gifts, they share only as they are one with Him. They 
 partake of the privilege of the race, in that they are 
 admitted to partnership with their Elder Brother. As 
 God gave mankind dominion over this lower world, 
 when He gave to Adam empire over the beasts, so He 
 gave His ser^^ants safety from the powers of ill, when 
 He assigned a spiritual empire to the Second Adam. 
 Thus is the race looked at in its Head. Its safety is 
 ascertained by His ascendancy. Its permanence is se- 
 cured by His perpetual presence. Alreadj^ is it looked' 
 at as holy, because found in Him. Thus is the new 
 Isriiel admitted to that favour, of which their earthly 
 forefathers were typically possessed. Because they are 
 looked at in their Head, " He hath not beheld iniquity 
 in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel." 
 Already, therefore, is the Church exalted in its Lord. 
 God " hath raised us up together, and made us sit to- 
 gether in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Ah-eady 
 is it "the holy Church," because the ointment which 
 
 was poured upon its Head, has flowed down even to 
 
 20 
 
298 
 
 PREDESTINATION. 
 
 its lowest members. And as these signs of grace and 
 glory, so too the predestined design which contemplated 
 His exaltation must needs be partaken by all His mem- 
 bers. And this is the true predestination of God's 
 people. It embraces the whole family of the redeemed, 
 because its object is that Head, from whom they cannot 
 be dissevered. Its law is their inherence in His mystic 
 Body. It was recognized, finally, in those wondrous 
 words which in the last hours of His humiliation He 
 addressed to the Father : " Father, I will that they also, 
 whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am : 
 that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given 
 Me : for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the 
 world." 
 
 The statements which have been made will lead us 
 to two conclusions — first, how the responsibility of man 
 can be combined with God's predestination ; secondly, 
 by what means due weight can be attached to the 
 Scriptural notices of this important subject. 
 
 Yirst — The responsibility of man depends, of course, 
 on his personal existence ; but the promises of God refer 
 to the re-creation of his common nature, which was 
 wrought by the Incarnation of Christ. For man con- 
 sists of two main parts; the one his individual being, 
 with which Will and Consciousness are intimately asso- 
 ciated, and in which lies his personal responsibility; the 
 other those general powers and qualities, which he in- 
 herits from his kind. Now, though the gift of grace 
 extends to the modifying of the will, yet it was more 
 especially this common nature which was re-created in 
 Christ. And it was the renewal of this general line of 
 humanity, which was pre-determined by the special 
 
PREDESTIXATIOX. 
 
 299 
 
 appointment of the Almighty. The predestinating de- 
 cree of God was that the line of Adam should be re- 
 newed in Christ. It extends itself to all men, so far as 
 the}' partake of that new nature which was thus intro- 
 duced into the world ; just as all men by inheritance 
 from the first Adam are subject to the natural Provi- 
 dence of God. But as the decrees of nature leave that 
 responsibility untouched, to which man's consciousness 
 witnesses, so likewise do the decrees of grace. If Adam's 
 nature had been handed down in greater purity, the 
 responsibility of individuals would still have existed, 
 though a different field would have been afforded for 
 its actions. And so is it under that Gospel system, 
 which is founded on the Mediation of Christ. The 
 gifts of grace have exalted the nature of man, but not 
 extinguished his personaUty: they have altered his 
 op23ort unities, but left his responsibility untouched. 
 
 Again, we ma}^ see how due weight is to be assigned 
 to those statements of Holy Scripture, which treat of 
 the benefits bestowed by Predestination, and of the 
 blessedness of the elect. The true mamier of doing 
 justice to such expressions, is to attach adequate im- 
 portance to the re-creation of man's nature in Christ. 
 The words of Scripture will never be undervalued, so 
 long as the tiling which God mercifully effected through 
 the Mediation of Christ, is properly ajopreciated. If 
 men believe that the Une of Adam was renewed in 
 Christ, that a higher nature was introduced into the 
 world, that the being of God's intelligent creatures was 
 re-constructed, that all blessings flow into the redeemed 
 family through inherence in the Head and founder of 
 their race — they cannot suppose that the words in 
 
300 
 
 PREDESTINATION. 
 
 wliich this change is expressed are exaggerated, because 
 no words can exaggerate a change, which the very con- 
 ception of mortals is not competent to grasp. What 
 may be appointed for others it is not needful to ask, or 
 how He who is just as well as holy, will deal with those 
 whose opportunities are different, and their law diverse. 
 But we cannot over-estimate the importance of that 
 change, wdiich has made the one main alteration in the 
 history of mankind. We are assured that not the 
 greatest of those who were born of women, is equal in 
 privilege to the least member of the kingdom of Christ. 
 To forget this distinction then is to fall into inevitable 
 confusion, because it is to lose the clue, which guides 
 us in unravelling man's whole history. 
 
 And hence it may be understood how men, who 
 called themselves Ciiristians, could fall into so fatal an 
 error as to deny that responsibility, to which their own 
 consciousness could not choose but witness. It was 
 surely a strange boldness that men should despise at 
 once this individual witness, and also that consentient 
 testimony which the voice of fifteen centuries declared 
 itself to have received from the Apostles. If men 
 trusted to God's voice speaking in themselves, did it 
 not witness to their own accountableness ; if they trusted 
 to the same voice speaking through others, how could 
 they be indifferent to what all Christians attested to be 
 the recorded mind of the Spirit? It is not a sufficient 
 explanation of this phenomenon to refer it to the rash- 
 ness and irreverence of an individual innovator. There 
 must have been something in the temper of the age, 
 which prepared men to receive Calvin's words. And 
 such there plainly was. In the convulsive moments of 
 
at 
 
 PREDESTINATION. 301 
 
 tliat great crisis, men were looking round for some fresh 
 basis, on which to found the privileges of the Gospel ; 
 they were impatient for a new law of Church union, 
 and for a communion which should be independent of 
 Sacramental oneness with the Body of Christ. Such 
 they fancied themselves to have found. The events 
 which followed have sufficiently proved the vanity of 
 their thought ; it is now seen that those who reject the 
 appointed means of oneness with Christ, will soon cast 
 off all dependence on His Mediation. The followers of 
 Calvin, in every case in which the development of their 
 principles has been unchecked, have moved forward 
 into the more consistent heresy of Socinus. But it was 
 not the intention of the Genevese Keformers to deny 
 Christ's work, or to undervalue the election of His ser- 
 vants. What means remained open to them, by which 
 to explain the law of God's predestination ? Since they 
 w^ould not recognize the importance of those common 
 blessings which are bestowed through membership in 
 the Church of Christ, they were compelled to transfer 
 the Apostle's words to the individual condition of man- 
 kind. Man's separate responsibility was crushed under 
 the weight of those expressions, which were designed 
 to set forth God's great work in the pre-aj)pointment of 
 His Church, and the consecration of its Head. Such 
 were the effects of rejecting what is plainly spoken re- 
 specting the common union of the family of Christ, and 
 of their real oneness with their Incarnate Lord. And 
 as this was the cause of error, so must the contrary 
 course be its remedy. Would we appreciate and do 
 justice to these lofty words? Would we reverence duly 
 
302 
 
 PREDESTINATION. 
 
 the predestination of God^ and be thankful for our elec- 
 tion in Christ Jesus — then must we appreciate the im- 
 port of the Church's blessings, and know the value of 
 being members in our risen Lord. Let communion 
 with Christ be felt to be a real gift, let our inherence 
 in His Body be accepted as a true oneness, let the re- 
 creation of man's race be allowed to have been in deed, 
 and not only in figure, effected by the coming of the 
 Second Adam, and that course of blessings, which is 
 consequent on these mighty facts, will most naturally 
 be expressed in lofty words. Has man's race been truly 
 born anew in its Head ? Is this new creation truly ex- 
 tended through the ordinances of grace to His earthly 
 members ? Have all Christians such a glorious heritage 
 for which to account ? Are they guarded by such an 
 unseen helper against the foes which encircle their path ? 
 Can they seek for help against their own weakness? 
 Is this law fated to continue to the end of the world ? 
 May all take advantage of it ? Will God be always on 
 our side, so long as we are found in Christ ? And is 
 there not ground then to exclaim, in the earnest words 
 of the great Apostle, " we know that all things work 
 together for good to them that love God, to them who 
 are the called according to His purpose. For whom 
 He did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be con- 
 formed to the image of His Son, that He might be the 
 first-born among many brethren. Moreover whom He 
 did predestinate, them He also called ; and whom He 
 called, them He also justified ; and whom He justified, 
 them He also glorified. What shall we then say to 
 these things ? If God be for us, who can be against 
 
PREDESTINATION-. 303 
 
 US ?" " For I am persuaded that neither death;, nor 
 life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor 
 things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor 
 dej^th, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate 
 us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our 
 Lord." 
 
BOOKS OF THE CHURdH AND FOR THE CHURCH; 
 
 PUBLISHED BY H. HOOKER. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE INCARNATION, Viewed in its Re- 
 lation to Mankind and tlie Clmrcli, by Archdeacon Wilberforce. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF HOLY BAPTISM; by Archdeacon Wil- 
 berforce. 
 
 SERMONS ON THE NEW BIRTH OF MAN'S NATURE ; by 
 Archdeacon Wilberforce. 
 
 SAYINGS OF THE GREAT FORTY DAYS, Contemplated as the 
 Outlines of the Kingdom of God; by Rev. George Moberly, 
 D. C. L. 
 
 CHRIST THE DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS; or. The Unconscious 
 Prophecies of Heathendom ; by Richard C. Trench. 
 
 LAST ENEMY, Conquering and Conquered ; by Right. Rev. George 
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 LIFE AND LETTERS OF THE REY. HENRY VENN; first 
 American, from the last London Edition. 
 
 THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES OF THE CHURCH; Illus- 
 trated with Proofs from the Scriptures, and the Primitive Church, 
 by E. Bickersteth, M. A., Curate of Holy Cross and St. Giles. 
 
 THE STAR OF THE WISE MEN ; being an Exposition of the 
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 THE ELEMENTS OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE, a Treatise upon 
 
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 This work will comprise about 400 octavo pages, and be ready in 
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