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 BX 5131 .B55 1839 
 Blunt, Henry, 1794-1843. 
 Discourses on some of the 
 doctrinal articles of the 
 
V 
 
DISCOURSES 
 
 ON" SOME OF 
 
 THE DOCTRINAL ARTICLES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 ALSO, 
 
 LECTURES 
 
 ON THE 
 
 HISTORY OF SAINT PETER. 
 
 BY THE REV. HENRY BLUNT, A.M., 
 
 RECTOR OF STREATHAM, SURREY ; 
 LATE FELLOW OF PEMBROKE COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; AND CHAPLAIN TO 
 HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF RICHMOND. 
 
 FIRST AMERICAN, FROM THE LAST LONDON EDITION. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 HOOKER AND CLAXTON. 
 1839. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 It was long since observed by an eminent author, that he 
 lived in an age in which it was " criminal to be moderate.'' 
 The writer of the following pages, would fain believe, that 
 his lot has been cast in an age, when the virtue of modera- 
 tion, is beginning to be more justly appreciated ; when there 
 is, among the members of the Church of England at lea-st. 
 an increasing desire, to merge their common differences, and 
 to draw more closely together, in the defence, and in the 
 practice, of their common Christianity. While, therefore, 
 he feels the greatest diffidence, in venturing to publish upon 
 such a subject as that of the present work, he feels also the 
 greatest confidence, that the attempt will be received in the 
 same spirit of candour and moderation, with which he trust:- 
 it was undertaken. It is impossible, in treating upon subjects 
 so diverse, and so difficult, as those embraced by the Articles 
 of our Church, not, in some instances at least, to cross the 
 prejudices, and to contravene the opinions, probably of all his 
 readers. When this is the case, the author hopes that he 
 shall be found speaking with the modesty which becomes 
 him, and never expecting the acquiescence of the reader, one 
 
iv 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 syllable beyond the point, to which he is accompanied, by the 
 plain, and undeniable statements, of the Word of God. 
 
 So far as the author knows himself, he believes, that he 
 is not entrammelled, by any human system, but that he has 
 endeavoured to bear in mind continually that injunction of 
 our Church, that, " No man shall either print or preach to 
 draw the Article aside any way, but shall submit to it in the 
 plain, and full meaning thereof, and shall not put his own 
 sense, or comment, to be the meaning of the Article, but 
 shall take it in the literal and grammatical sense."* That 
 this has been his constant endeavour he is certain ; that he 
 has never failed in fulfilling it, he will not say ; but of this 
 he is sure, that, should it appear to others, that he has been 
 mistaken, he will carefully re-consider any disputable point, 
 and without hesitation retract, what he has here advanced, if 
 convinced, that he has, however undesignedly, put a false 
 gloss upon the Article, or substituted " his own sense or com- 
 ment," for the opinion of the Church. 
 
 After having for years, mnst cordially and unreservedly 
 received the Articles of the Church of England as entirely 
 agreeable to the inspired Word of God, the author has risen 
 from this deliberate review of them, with his mind more 
 deeply than ever impressed by the piety and sagacity of the 
 holy men who compiled them, and with his heart more than 
 ever filled with gratitude to God that his lot has been cast 
 in the Church to which he belongs. Of this Church, he feels 
 convinced that the highest ornament and the strongest bul- 
 wark, are to be found, not in the rank, and learning, and holi- 
 
 * Rubric prefixed to the Articles. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 iiess of her prelates, not in the activity and piety of her 
 clergy, not in the devotedness of the great body of her true 
 disciples to her best and spiritual interests, but in the fact, 
 that every great and vital truth of the Word of God, is em- 
 bodied in her unequalled Liturgy, and her invaluable Articles, 
 which continue from generation to generation, instrumentally, 
 to lead her children into the paths of peace, and to educate 
 them for the many mansions of their Father's house. 
 
 While these remain essentially unaltered, we need enter- 
 tain no fears for the safety of our Church ; there is a vitality 
 in them which, in times gone by, has enabled her to survive 
 when oppressed by the heaviest of all burdens, even the dead- 
 ness of her own nominal followers ; and there is buoyancy 
 in them, which, in times to come, will cause her ark to float 
 upon the waters of that moral deluge, that may even now be 
 gathering round her, but which will only lift her the higher 
 above the rocks and quicksands of earth, and raise her the 
 nearer to the heaven to which she points. 
 
 In the arrangement of the work the writer has attempted 
 to unite the most simple explanatory statements, with the 
 most direct appeals to the conscience, and to the heart. 
 Where he has differed from the acknowledged authorities, 
 upon any of the subjects of which he treats, he has generally 
 contented himself with giving the Scriptural arguments for 
 the difference. It would not have been difficult to have 
 corroborated most of his statements by the declarations of 
 the early Reformers, especially Luther and Melancthon, and 
 that truly great, and much misrepresented man, Archbishop 
 Cranmer ; but this would have been to have changed the 
 1* 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 character of the work, and to have thrown an air of preten- 
 sion over that which the writer only desired to make plain, 
 perspicuous and useful. It will be seen, that the author 
 does not consider that the Articles are grounded upon the 
 doctrines which are strictly Calvinistic ; i. e., such doctrines 
 as were held by Calvin, but rejected by the other great lights 
 of the blessed Reformation, Rather he is of opinion that 
 they are chiefly founded upon the views which the immortal 
 Luther, guided by the Spirit of God, was led to take of all 
 the most important doctrines of the Divine Word ; although, 
 at the same time, he fully agrees with Bishop Tomline, that 
 the Articles of the Church of England, are neither Lutheran, 
 nor Calvinistic, nor Arminian,-— but Scriptural. 
 
 It was to the younger members of his congregation that 
 the author particularly addressed these Discourses ; and it is 
 to the young that he more especially reverts while commit- 
 ting them to the press. His earnest prayer is, that this feeble 
 effort may be blessed to the benefit of that class of his readers 
 by proving effectual, through Divine grace, to " strengthen, 
 establish, settle" them, in all those great and vital points, 
 which concern the well-being of their souls in time and inj 
 eternity, and by making them such " lively members 1 ' of the 
 Church here below, that they shall finally, not be excluded 
 from " the Church of the First-born, whose names are writ' 
 ten in heaven." 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 DOCTRINAL ARTICLES. 
 
 DISCOURSE I. 
 On " Article IX. Original, or Birth Sin" 13 
 
 DISCOURSE II. 
 On « Article X. Of Free Will" 34 
 
 DISCOURSE III. 
 On " Article XI. Of the Justification of Man" ... 56 
 
 DISCOURSE IV. 
 On " Article XII. Of Good Works."—" Article XIII. 
 Of Works before Justification."—" Article XIV. Of 
 Works of Supererogation" 79 
 
 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 On " Article XV. Of Christ alone without Sin." — " Ar- 
 ticle XVI. Of Sin after Baptism."—" Article XVIII. 
 Of obtaining Eternal Salvation only by the Name of 
 Christ" 98 
 
viii CONTENTS. 
 
 DISCOURSE VI. 
 On " Article XVII. Of Predestination and Election" . 118 
 
 DISCOURSE VII. 
 On " Article XXVII. Of Baptism" 144 
 
 DISCOURSE VIII. 
 On « Article XXVIII. Of the Lord's Supper" ... 165 
 
 DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 On the duty of every Christian Government to provide 
 Christian Instruction, and to maintain Christian Wor- 
 ship" ia5 
 
 HISTORY OF SAINT PETER. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 Peter brought by Andrew to our Lord Jesus Christ. His 
 confession of sinfulness .211 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 Peter walking upon the water 227 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 Peter's confession of faith. His answer to the inquiry, 
 " Will ye also go away ?" 242 
 
CONTENTS. EI 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 Peter rebuking Christ. Present at the Transfiguration 260 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 Peter's inquiry, " What shall we have therefore ?" Our 
 Lord's reply to this inquiry. The second coming of 
 the Son of man 277 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 Peter refuses to have his feet washed by Christ . . . 293 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 Peter present at our Lord's agony 314 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 Peter's denial of his Lord. Peter's repentance . . . 3$1 
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 
 Peter's interview with his risen Saviour. Peter's death 348 
 
DISCOURSES 
 
 ON SOME OF 
 
 THE DOCTRINAL ARTICLES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
DISCOURSES. 
 
 DISCOURSE I. 
 
 PSALM LL 5. 
 
 " Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother 
 conceive me." 
 
 At the present moment, when the prospects of 
 the Church of England form the subject of conver- 
 sation among many, and of deep and earnest 
 thoughtfulness and prayer with not a few, every 
 thing belonging to her acquires an additional inte- 
 rest, and comes home to the hearts of her trcie 
 members with peculiar force. 
 
 It would seem, therefore, to be the duty of her 
 ministers to improve this opportunity, and to en- 
 deavour, while men are contending for her exter- 
 nals — which, important though they be, will bear no 
 comparison with her inward and spiritual well- 
 being — to lead their people to a better acquaintance 
 with, and a deeper interest in, her truly apostolical 
 2 
 
14 
 
 DISCOURSE I. 
 
 constitution and her accurately scriptural formula- 
 ries. It is indeed painful to think how few, com- 
 paratively, even among the members of our Church, 
 are intimately acquainted with those invaluable 
 documents, those bulwarks of our faith, the Articles 
 and Homilies ! So unquestionable is this ignorance, 
 that nothing is more common than to hear men 
 who are nominally her members, actually deny in 
 conversation some of those great truths which the 
 holiest of her confessors and martyrs sealed with 
 their blood ; which she has herself distinctly assert- 
 ed, and even laid as the foundation upon which all 
 her superstructure of services and offices is built ; 
 and, moreover, which are among the most promi- 
 nent, most influential, most essential to the salvation 
 of the soul of the sinner, of any that are to be found 
 in the revelation of God. 
 
 Having, then, an earnest desire that none should 
 content themselves with a nominal or an ignorant 
 adherence to a Church, of which it may be truly 
 said, that the better it is understood, the more deep- 
 ly does it entrench itself in the judgment and in the 
 hearts of its members ; and having a still stronger 
 anxiety, that of the souls committed to our charge 
 none should be "destroyed for lack of knowledge,"* 
 
 * Hosea iv. 6. 
 
ARTICLE IX. 
 
 15 
 
 I purpose bringing before you in succession some 
 of the most important doctrinal Articles of our 
 Church ; believing that, although to many these 
 Discourses may, and I fear must be, extremely de- 
 ficient in the interest which other subjects might 
 supply, and that to some they will be a mere re- 
 capitulation of well-known truths, they may be 
 made, especially to the younger and inquiring 
 members of our congregation, the means, under 
 God, of informing, strengthening, establishing, set- 
 tling them in " the things belonging to their peace," 
 and of enabling them to be " ready always to give 
 an answer to every man that asketh them a reason 
 of the hope that is in them."* 
 
 Before we speak upon the subject of that par- 
 ticular Article which we have selected for this 
 morning's consideration, it may be well, very short- 
 ly, to mention the origin of this portion of the for- 
 mularies of our Church. 
 
 At the time of the blessed Reformation, the dif- 
 ferent Churches w T hich separated themselves from 
 communion with the Church of Rome, deemed it 
 advisable to publish Confessions of their Faith. Ac- 
 cordingly, Edward the Sixth published, by his 
 royal authority, forty-two Articles, " agreed upon," 
 
 * 1 Peter iii. 15. 
 
16 
 
 DISCOURSE I. 
 
 as it is stated, " by the Bishops and other learned 
 and good men in the Convocation held at London, 
 in the year 1552, to root out the discord of opinions, 
 and establish the agreement of true religion." 
 These Articles were repealed by Queen Mary, 
 but Queen Elizabeth, in the beginning of her reign, 
 established the present Thirty-nine Articles, which 
 were founded upon the original forty-two Articles, 
 from which they do not greatly or essentially differ. 
 Cranmer and Ridley* are believed to have been the 
 chief framers of the original Articles, and it is cer- 
 tainly not too much to assert, that, for a deep and 
 thorough knowledge of Scripture, an intimate ac- 
 quaintance with the opinions and tenets of the 
 early Christians, and, above all, fpr the modera- 
 tion and caution, the charity and perspicuity which 
 pervade them, they will bear comparison with any 
 uninspired writings which have ever yet been given 
 to the world. 
 
 Having been led by the services of the two prece- 
 ding Sundays, to consider those great truths, the per- 
 
 * " Ridley. — I grant that I saw the book, but I deny that I 
 wrote it. I perused it after it was made, and I noted many things 
 for it. So I consented to the Book. I was not the Author of it. 
 These Articles were set out, I both willing and consenting to 
 them. 1 '' — Ridley's Examination in Fox's Martyrs, p. 1317. 
 
ARTICLE IX. 
 
 17 
 
 sonality of the Holy Ghost, and the existence and 
 offices of the ever-blessed Trinity, it does not ap- 
 pear necessary to recapitulate what has been al- 
 ready brought before you ; we shall, therefore, com- 
 mence our observations by an examination of the 
 Ninth Article of our Church, which treats expressly 
 upon 
 
 " Original or Birth Sin." 
 " Original sin," says the Article, " standeth not in 
 the following of Adam, (as the Pelagians do vainly 
 talk), but it is the fault and corruption of the nature 
 of every man that naturally is engendered of the 
 offspring of Adam." By the phrase, " naturally en- 
 gendered of the offspring of Adam," the Article in- 
 tends to make an implied exception with regard to 
 our blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, he being 
 supernaturally engendered; and, as all Scripture 
 clearly shows, being " holy, harmless, undefiled," 
 and therefore as entirely free from original corrup- 
 tion, as he was from all taint of, and liability to, 
 actual sin. 
 
 The Pelagians were the followers of Pelagius, 
 who lived at the end of the fourth, and the former part 
 of the fifth century, and was a native of Wales. 
 " His real name was Morgan, which in the Welsh 
 language signifies the same as Pelagius in Greek." 
 2* 
 
18 
 
 DISCOURSE I. 
 
 " He denied original sin, and the necessity of grace, 
 and asserted that men might arrive at a state of im- 
 peccability in this life/' Our Article then states, in 
 opposition to the opinion of this man and his follow- 
 ers, that we are not merely guilty before God, be- 
 cause we imitate the example of Adam, but be- 
 cause, as the offspring of Adam, we are actually 
 born into the world, the inheritors of a fallen and 
 corrupt nature. That there is corruption in us before 
 any outward circumstances could have tended to 
 make us corrupt. So that, were we exposed to no 
 evil example, were there nothing of external temp- 
 tation to lead us astray, we should still possess this 
 innate " fault and corruption." This assertion is 
 grounded especially upon this passage of Holy 
 Writ, among many others, " Nevertheless, death 
 reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that 
 had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's trans- 
 gression." When the Apostle speaks of death 
 reigning over them that had not so sinned, he evi- 
 dently speaks of infants, those who died at too early 
 an age to have had any opportunity of imitating 
 their first parent, and therefore whose sin could not 
 stand in the following of Adam. And his argu- 
 ment is this, — " Death passed upon all men, for that 
 all have sinned,"* or because all have sinned ; sin, 
 
 * Rom. v. 12. 
 
ARTICLE IX. 
 
 19 
 
 therefore, is the cause of death ; but death has also 
 passed upon infants, who are unable actually to 
 commit sin, therefore, even in infants, there is this 
 original fault " and corruption," or they would not 
 fall victims to that which is declared in Scripture 
 to be the punishment of sin. 
 
 This, then, sufficiently establishes the assertion 
 of the Article, without dwelling upon those well- 
 known texts, " Who can bring a clean thing out of 
 an unclean."* " Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, 
 and in sin did my mother conceive me."f " We 
 were by nature the children of wrath, even as 
 others."J 
 
 Nothing, then, can be more distinctly demon- 
 strated from Scripture, than the existence of this 
 " Original or Birth Sin," a doctrine which has met 
 with more opposition than almost any other of the 
 vital truths of the religion of Jesus Christ. 
 
 We proceed to the next clause of the Article 
 
 * Job xiv. 4. t Psalm ii. 5. 
 
 X Eph. ii. 3. Upon this last passage, Melancthon says, " Chil- 
 dren of wrath is a Hebrew phrase; it signifies guilty or con- 
 demned, not only for their actual offences, but for that corruption 
 of nature which we bring with us into the world, not contract 
 from example." — Melancthon 's Common Places, quoted by Scott, 
 Contin. Milner, vol. ii. p. 223. 
 
20 
 
 DISCOURSE I. 
 
 before us, which states the effects of this original 
 malady of our fallen nature, " Whereby man is 
 very far gone from original righteousness, and is 
 of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh 
 lusteth always contrary to the spirit, and, there- 
 fore, in every person born into this world, it de- 
 serveth God's wrath and damnation." We will 
 not, in a discourse which is intended simply to in- 
 struct those who are seeking scriptural instruction 
 for the purpose of its great and blessed practical 
 results, viz., that it may be a " light to their feet, 
 and a lantern to their paths,"* occupy your time 
 by adverting to the interminable controversies 
 which have arisen upon the first phrase of this 
 paragraph, " Very far gone from original right- 
 eousness ;" it is enough merely to mention that, 
 while some divines contend that all which is in- 
 tended to be implied by these words is, that there 
 is a natural tendency to evil," or a strong " evil 
 bias" in our nature; others, taking the terms of 
 the Latin Article.-)- to explain the English, interpret 
 it, " altogether removed from original righteous- 
 ness," and as regards the things of God, entirely 
 alienated from them. Happily, however, neither 
 the Word of God, nor the word of the Church, 
 
 * Psalm xcxi. 105. 
 
 f Quam longissimd distet. 
 
ARTICLE IX. 
 
 21 
 
 has left so important a doctrine to be determined 
 by a single phrase. This is the language of the 
 Bible :— 
 
 M Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart 
 is only evil continually."* " The heart is deceitful 
 above all things, and desperately wicked ; who can 
 know it?"f "There is none that understandeth, 
 there is none that seeketh after God."J " They are 
 all gone out of the way; they are together become 
 unprofitable ; there is none that doeth good, no, not 
 one."§ 
 
 The language of our Church is, as might rea- 
 sonably have been expected, most fully and entire- 
 ly in accordance with the revealed Word of our 
 God. 
 
 Hear, for instance, the following extract from 
 the Homily for Whit-sunday : " Man, of his own 
 nature, is fleshly and carnal, corrupt and naughty, 
 sinful and disobedient to God, without any spark 
 of goodness in him, without any virtuous or godly 
 motion, only given to evil thoughts and wicked 
 , deeds."|| Again, from the second Homily on " the 
 misery of man," after quoting those passages of 
 Scripture which record our fallen and corrupt 
 
 * Gen. vi. 5. t Jer. xvii. 9. X Rom. iii. 11. 
 § Rom. iii. 12. || Page 390, edit. 1802. 
 
22 
 
 DISCOURSE I. 
 
 state, it adds, " Thus we have heard how evil we 
 be of ourselves, how of ourselves, and by our- 
 selves, we have no goodness, help, or salvation, 
 but contrariwise, sin, damnation, and death ever- 
 lasting."* " We have heard how that of our- 
 selves, and by ourselves, we are not able either 
 to think a good thought, or work a good deed, so 
 that we find in ourselves no hope of salvation, but 
 rather whatsoever maketh unto our destruction."! 
 Again, from the Homily, "on the nativity of our 
 Saviour Jesus Christ."J By the fall of Adam, " it 
 came to pass, that as before he was blessed, so now 
 he was accursed ; as before he was loved, so now 
 he was abhorred ; as before he was most beautiful 
 and precious, so now he was most vile and wretch- 
 ed in the sight of his Lord and his Maker ; instead 
 of the image of God, he was now become the 
 image of the devil ; instead of the citizen of hea- 
 ven, he was become the bond-slave of hell, having 
 in himself no one part of his former purity and 
 cleanness, but being altogether spotted and defiled; 
 insomuch that now he seemed to be nothing else 
 but a lump of sin, and therefore by the just judg- 
 ment of God was condemned to everlasting death." 
 It is unnecessary, after these extracts from our ac- 
 
 * Page 14. t Page 15. J Page 338. 
 
ARTICLE IX. 
 
 23 
 
 credited formularies, to say which of the two in- 
 terpretations of " very far gone from original right- 
 eousness," appears to possess the authority of the 
 Church. But we have not yet concluded the 
 Article. It continues thus, " and this infection of 
 nature doth remain, yea, in them that are rege- 
 nerated, whereby the lust of the flesh, called in 
 Greek, pfov^a <fapx%, which some do expound the 
 wisdom, some sensuality, some the affection, some 
 the desire of the flesh, is not subject to the law of 
 God. And though there is no condemnation for 
 them that believe and are baptised, yet the Apostle 
 doth confess, that concupiscence and lust hath of 
 itself the nature of sin." 
 
 Here the article distinctly marks the fact, that 
 even in the regenerate, notwithstanding their change 
 of heart, and a renewal of nature, and pardon of 
 transgression, there is still " this infection" re- 
 maining, so that they are never, while in this world, 
 perfectly subjected to the law of God, but are con- 
 tinually exposed, throughout the whole of their 
 Christian course, to the attacks of sensuality, and 
 the desires of the flesh. How entirely the view 
 taken, in the clause we are considering, of this in- 
 fection of our nature remaining in the regenerate, 
 is conformable to the Word of God, will imme- 
 
24 DISCOURSE I. 
 
 diately appear from the Epistle to the Romans, 
 where St. Paul declares, speaking, as we most fully 
 believe, of his own Christian experience after he 
 had become regenerate, " The good that I would, 
 I do not ; but the evil which I would not, that I do." 
 " For I delight in the law of God after the inward 
 man ; but I see another law in my members, warring 
 against the law of my mind, and bringing me into 
 captivity to the law of sin which is in my members."* 
 Surely nothing can more clearly illustrate the " in- 
 fection of our nature," which the Article says, 
 " doth remain in them that are regenerated," than 
 these admissions of St. Paul. If, however, there be 
 any who do not believe that the Apostle, in these 
 verses, really spoke of himself, after his conversion, 
 we would refer them to the fifth chapter of Gala- 
 tians, where they will find the same truths as 
 unequivocally stated in a passage which no Com- 
 mentator has ever doubted was applied to the 
 regenerate. " This I say then, W alk in the Spirit, 
 and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 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 cannot" (although true converts, 
 and therefore undoubtedly regenerated,) " do the 
 
 * Rom. vii. 19, 22, 23. 
 
ARTICLE IX. 
 
 25 
 
 things that ye would."* But let us turn to the most 
 blessed conclusion of this humiliating Article, viz., 
 that although all partake of this original sin, al- 
 though all retain " the infection" of it throughout 
 life, and are in a greater or less degree, from time to 
 time, drawn aside by it fiom the laws of God, and 
 from the paths of holiness, and though these very 
 desires which thus draw them have " the nature of 
 sin," yet that " there is no condemnation for them 
 that believe and are baptised. 
 
 This is the healing that came upon the wings of 
 the second Adam, for the great and deadly wound 
 inflicted upon all his posterity by theirs/. In vain 
 did Satan hope that by the ruin of our great federal 
 Head, and the consequent degradation of the whole 
 species, he should insure the destruction of the 
 whole ; " God so loved the world that he gave His 
 only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him 
 should not perish, but have everlasting life."f Here 
 then was a remedy, quite co-extensive with the 
 disease, nay, more than co-extensive, for has not 
 the unerring Word declared, " Where sin abounded,, 
 grace did much more abound : that as sin hath 
 reigned unto death, even so might grace reign 
 
 * Gal. v. 16, 17. t John Hi. 16. 
 
 3 
 
26 DISCOURSE I. 
 
 through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus 
 Christ our Lord."* 
 
 The result then of the whole Article is this, that 
 as by the sin of the first Adam all men fell, and 
 the nature of all men became corrupt, " so that 
 the flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit; and 
 therefore in every person born into this world, it 
 deserveth God's wrath and damnation ;" so through 
 the atoning sacrifice of the second Adam, all " that 
 believe and are baptised," are freed from condem- 
 nation, and are made partakers of everlasting life. 
 
 And now, brethren, were we to conclude here, 
 although perhaps we might hope that we had ex- 
 plained the Article before us, and shown its perfect 
 accordance with the declarations of Omnipotence ; 
 nay, more, though we might venture to trust that 
 most of our hearers would acquiesce in the conclu- 
 sions at which we have arrived, still not a single 
 individual might carry away from this house of 
 prayer a deeper conviction of his own lost and 
 ruined state by nature, and of his own actual sin- 
 fulness and unprofitableness. Yet this is the point, 
 which, if it be not effected, would leave all our de- 
 clarations of general sinfulness merely " as sound- 
 ing brass or a tinkling cymbal." 
 
 * Rom. v. 19, 20, 21. 
 
ARTICLE IX. 
 
 27 
 
 How difficult, how utterly impossible is it for 
 any human teacher to produce this conviction of 
 sin : we may convince the mind, but it is God 
 alone who can convince the conscience and really 
 reach the heart. May that blessed Being, even 
 God the Holy Ghost, whose peculiar perogative it is 
 thus to convince of sin, send home this day the 
 arrow of conviction to the hearts of some who have 
 hitherto, from very carelessness and thoughtlessness, 
 escaped all personal application of this most hum- 
 bling doctrine. 
 
 We will not occupy your time by supposing that 
 we address gross and outward sinners, persons 
 living in the commission of profaneness, of impiety, 
 of adultery, of fornication, or of any of those works 
 of darkness, which, though hidden from the eye of 
 man, are, as the Word of God assures us, all writ- 
 ten " in the light of God's countenance," all prepared 
 against that great and coming day, when men shall 
 need no other accusers than these, and no other 
 witnesses, to strike them speechless, and to testify 
 to the justice of their condemnation. To such it is 
 unnecessary to speak : we would rather address 
 ourselves to the moral, and the upright, and the 
 amiable ; you who have filled, and are filling, the dif- 
 ferent relationships of life in the most irreproachable 
 and unexceptionable manner, and its duties with so 
 
28 
 
 DISCOURSE I. 
 
 much honour and equity, that even your enemies, 
 if you have any, are compelled, like Pilate of old, 
 to say, " I find no fault in this man." 
 
 It is to you especially that we speak, when we 
 declare, that all which we have this day advanced 
 of the sinfulness and corruption of our nature, and 
 of the entire absence of original righteousness, ap- 
 plies as distinctly and as completely to yourself, be 
 your rank and station what they may, as to the 
 guiltiest and the most abandoned of your fellow- 
 sinners. All the virtues upon which you pride 
 yourself will not, in any, the slightest degree, avail 
 you, as proving that you are an exception to the 
 general rule of a fallen nature, a corrupt and sinful 
 heart, a mind alienated from God and His righteous- 
 ness, which is the lot of every child of Adam. 
 Your virtues may exist ; we do not in the least de- 
 sire to deny it, we do not wish even to underrate 
 them ; the fall of Adam did not destroy them, it left 
 much, very much of amiability, and kindness, and 
 honour, and integrity, in the corrupt and guilty 
 heart; there they lie, like the beautiful fragments of 
 some fair column, each fair and lovely in itself, yet 
 each a ruin, and were all collected, forming but a 
 ruin still. The column which was shattered to 
 atoms by the fall of Adam, was the holiness of our 
 nature, its purity, and piety, its love to God, and 
 
ARTICLE IX. 
 
 29 
 
 likeness to His image, and conformity to His will. 
 These in the natural heart, have all disappeared, 
 and those moral virtues, of kindness to your friends, 
 and affection to your family, and honour and inte- 
 grity to all, in which you are rejoicing, are merely 
 like the leaves of the capital of the column, which 
 are here and there scattered amidst the ruin of the 
 mass, undestroyed indeed, but, as regards the 
 column in its present state, utterly useless. Put 
 them all together, and you could not re-erect the 
 shattered pillar, no not one single foot of it ; all that 
 you could gather up would be but these mere orna- 
 mental appendages, which, detached from the shaft 
 on which they grew, are as worthless as they are 
 fair and frail. To convince you of sin, therefore, 
 we would not inquire into the duties of the second 
 table of God's commands, easy as it might, perhaps, 
 be to convict you even there, of unworthy motives, 
 amidst your proudest virtues ; but we would urge 
 you to try yourself by the duties of the first table, 
 your allegiance to God. 
 
 God demands your whole heart ; He requires truth 
 in the inward parts ; purity in the imagination and 
 thoughts. How will you answer when tried by 
 such a standard 1 Are there no thoughts admitted 
 
 into your hearts, and entertained there, which are 
 3# 
 
30 
 
 DISCOURSE I. 
 
 dishonourable to God, injurious to your neighbour, 
 disgraceful to yourself? Have you no thought 
 there which you would scruple to declare, even be- 
 fore this assembly of sinners like yourself? Would 
 you have no objection to repeat aloud before all 
 here present, every vain and foolish and wicked 
 imagination which has occupied your mind since 
 you arose this morning, or even since you entered 
 these doors? How much more need you then to 
 be ashamed before a perfectly pure and holy God, 
 Not to speak of proud, covetous, vain, ambitious, 
 wanton thoughts, how many thoughts of unthank- 
 fulness for the mercies of God, of impatience under 
 His trials, of repinings under His Providences, of 
 disregard and forgetfulness of Himself. Are you 
 free from these things? Does a single day ever 
 pass over you without, we will not say one such 
 sinful imagination, but without many such, breaking 
 in upon ypu, and carrying you away captive almost 
 before you are sensible of their attack. If this be 
 the case, and if you have lived twenty, thirty, or 
 forty years in this world of sin, who can tell the 
 length of that dark scroll written within and without, 
 with guilty thoughts, unprofitable words, and un- 
 holy actions, which no eye but God's has seen, and 
 no hand but His has registered ? 
 
ARTICLE IX. 
 
 31 
 
 Again, God commands that " all men should 
 honour the Son even as they honour the Father."* 
 Have you through life fulfilled this great and ob- 
 vious duty? Have you loved the Lord Jesus 
 Christ with all your heart, and mind, and soul, 
 and strength? Have you dwelt upon the great 
 things He has done and suffered for you, till your 
 soul has been filled with the deepest gratitude, and 
 your heart with the most obedient, self-denying 
 love? Have you hated, and endeavoured to re- 
 nounce, all sin, remembering what it cost this ador- 
 able Saviour to redeem your souls ? Alas ! who 
 can come forth acquitted— who can pass unscathed 
 through such an ordeal? Who will not, if he know 
 his heart, be obliged to confess, " Here, O my God, 
 I stand utterly condemned ; I have no word to 
 speak, no cause to show why judgment should not 
 be passed on me." What is the result, then, at 
 which we arrive ? Is it not this, that were there 
 no scriptural foundation for the truths of which we 
 have this day spoken ; were the whole doctrine of 
 " original, or birth-sin," blotted from the Bible, our 
 case at least, as sinners before God, would not be 
 in any, the slightest degree, improved or altered 
 by it; there would still remain sufficient, fully suf- 
 
 * John v. 23. 
 
32 DISCOURSE I. 
 
 cient in the lives and in the hearts, even of the best 
 among us, to sink us to perdition. How strange 
 then is it, that men deny this doctrine, and dispute, 
 and cavil, and contest it, as if, could they once get 
 rid of this, they should stand acquitted before God ; 
 while, if they knew their own hearts, they would 
 admit that of all those wretched beings who have 
 now commenced an eternity of woe, there is not 
 an individual who has not merited and obtained his 
 sad pre-eminence in misery, by his own neglect of 
 the Saviour, his own continuance in sin, his own 
 apostacy from God. 
 
 May the review of these great truths send each 
 of us to his own heart in serious, earnest self-ex- 
 amination :— Am 1 a sinner by nature and by prac- 
 tice 1 Am I convinced, with the Apostle of old, 
 that " in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good 
 thing ;"* and do I in consequence " abhor myself, 
 and repent in dust and ashes Pf 
 
 Be assured, brethren, there is not one soul among 
 us who can answer these inquiries as the Word of 
 God would have us answer them, who shall not, 
 in God's good time, if he approach Him through 
 the blood of his dear Son, if he seek repentance 
 and pardon, as His gifts, through the atoning 
 
 * Rom. vii. 18. t Job xlii. 6. 
 
ARTICLE IX. 
 
 33 
 
 merits and everliving intercession of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, shortly hear those blessed words, " I, 
 even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions 
 for mine own sake, and will not remember thy 
 sins,"* 
 
 * Isa. xliii. 25. 
 
34 
 
 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 JOHN VI. 44. 
 
 « No man can come to me, except the Father which hath 
 sent me draw him." 
 
 The tenth Article of our Church, to which we 
 are to apply ourselves this morning, is, perhaps, 
 among the most difficult that we shall meet with 
 throughout the whole of the inquiry in which we 
 are engaged. Let us then approach it in a spirit 
 of true humility, not expecting to find that subject 
 plain and simple which godly men in all ages have 
 found obscure and difficult, but contented if we 
 can discern the language of our God in the words 
 of our Church, and if we can, by the aid of the 
 Spirit of wisdom and truth, deduce some useful 
 practical lessons from a subject, upon which too 
 many are satisfied to reason, and to speculate, and 
 to dogmatize, until all spiritual benefit is frittered 
 away, and the mind itself, fatigued and harassed, 
 in "wandering mazes lost," finds no rest for the 
 
ARTICLE X. 
 
 35 
 
 sole of its weary foot. This is the language of the 
 Tenth Article— 
 
 " Of Free Will 
 
 " The condition of man after the fall of Adam 
 is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, 
 by his own natural strength and good works, to 
 faith and calling upon God." 
 
 You will observe how naturally and incontro- 
 vertibly this declaration grows out of the pre- 
 ceding Article. In that Article, our Church has 
 pronounced her opinion in favour of the corruption 
 and alienation from God of "the nature of every 
 man that naturally is engendered of the offspring 
 of Adam." Believing, then, his corruption to be 
 thus complete, it follows, as a matter of indis- 
 putable truth, that he can have no inclination or 
 will, and consequently no power to turn and pre- 
 pare himself to faith and calling upon God : for, 
 if he naturally possessed this will, if he had by 
 nature any, the smallest desire after God, any, 
 the smallest inclination to believe, to obey, and 
 to call upon God, then by so much his corruption 
 would not be entire ; as regarded, at least, these 
 duties of the Christian life, he would not be at all 
 "gone from original righteousness." 
 
 And this appears to be nearly all that our 
 
36 
 
 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 Church intended to assert in the Article before 
 us, that in consequence of the fall of Adam, his 
 corrupt and fallen posterity will never naturally 
 choose, and therefore can never naturally perform 
 that which is spiritually good before God. 
 
 There is, therefore, the most perfect consistency 
 between the statements of the preceding Article 
 and of the present. The former represents man 
 as shapen in iniquity, and conceived in sin; the 
 latter represents him as unable, in consequence of 
 the fall of Adam, " by his own natural strength," 
 to emerge from this state of guilt and pollution. 
 
 That the Church maintains the same opinion in 
 all her formularies, may be seen by a very brief 
 reference to her Homilies and Liturgy, which are 
 entirely pervaded by the doctrine of the Article 
 before us. Take for example the following extract 
 from the first Homily on Repentance So must 
 we beware and take heed, that we do in no wise 
 think in our hearts, imagine, or believe, that we 
 are able to repent aright, or to turn effectually 
 unto the Lord, by our own might and strength. 
 For this must be verified in all, 'without me ye 
 can do nothing.'* Again, 'Of ourselves we are 
 not able so much as to think a good thought.' 
 
 * John xv. 5. 
 
ARTICLE X. 
 
 37 
 
 And in another place, 'It is God that worketh in 
 us both the will and the deed.'* For this cause, 
 although Jeremiah had said before, ' If thou re- 
 turn, 0 Israel, return unto me, saith the Lord :' 
 yet afterwards he saith, ' Turn thou me, O Lord, 
 and I shall be turned.' "f The same truth will 
 be found, expressed with equal clearness, in the 
 Homily on " The Misery of all Mankind." In 
 the second Homily on " The Passion," in the 
 third part of the " Homily for Rogation Week," 
 to all of which I would rather refer you than 
 quote from them, in the hope that such a reference 
 may induce some among you, not only to read 
 but attentively to search those valuable documents, 
 which, however obsolete in their phraseology, well 
 deserve to occupy the next place to the Word of 
 God itself in the heart of every inquiring member 
 of the Church of England. 
 
 If from the Homilies we pass to the Liturgy, 
 we shall find the same doctrine equally prevalent. 
 At one time we declare our solemn conviction to 
 Almighty God that, " Through the weakness of 
 our mortal nature, we can do no good thing with- 
 out";]; Him. At another, we beseech him, that as 
 
 * Phil. ii. 13. t 8vo. Oxford, p. 455. 
 
 t Collect for the First Sunday after Trinity. 
 
 4 
 
38 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 by his " special grace preventing us, He does put 
 into our minds good desires, so by his continual 
 help we may bring the same to good effect."* 
 And at all times, and in all our services, we speak 
 the language of those who feel in their hearts 
 that they " have no power of themselves to help 
 themselves,"! and therefore continually beseech of 
 God to " incline" their hearts to serve Him, and 
 to keep his law. 
 
 It would, however, be saying little to assert 
 that the Church were consistent with herself, if 
 we could not also show that she were equally con- 
 sistent with the revealed Word of God. 
 
 Perhaps the language of my text alone would 
 sufficiently bear us out in the assertion, " No man 
 can come to me, except the Father who hath sent 
 me draw him," but the Old Testament and the 
 New are equally full and unambiguous upon this 
 important point. If, for instance, in the Prophets, 
 Ephraim bemoan himself, this is his language, 
 " Surely after that I was turned, I repented ;"{ and 
 again, " Turn thou me, and I shall be turned."§ If 
 David ask for help, it is with a consciousness of 
 
 * Collect for Easter-day. 
 
 t Collect for the Second Sunday in Lent. 
 
 t Jer. xxxi. 19. § Jer. xxxi. 18. 
 
ARTICLE X. 
 
 39 
 
 weakness which seems scarcely able to find ex- 
 pressions sufficiently strong ; thus he prays that 
 God would " open his eves," and " quicken," and 
 "strengthen," and "enlarge"* his heart, — "create 
 in him a clean heart, and renew a right spirit 
 within him."f If the apostles speak of the natural 
 man, they hesitate not to describe him as a corpse, 
 from which all will, all power, all strength, with 
 respect to spiritual things, yea, even life itself has 
 departed. 
 
 Enough then has, we trust, been said, to show 
 that, in the Article before us, our Church is con- 
 sistent with truth, with herself, and with the re- 
 vealed Word of her God, when she says that 
 " after the fall of Adam" man " cannot turn and 
 prepare himself, by his own natural strength and 
 good works, to faith and calling upon God."J 
 
 * Ps. cxix. 18. 25. 28. 32. f Ps. li. 10, 11. 
 
 $ It may also be worthy of remark, that on this subject our 
 Church agrees entirely with the opinion of all the Reformers, as 
 expressed in the celebrated " Confession of Augsburgh," drawn 
 up by Luther and Melancthon in 1530, in the eighteenth article 
 of which we read, that "The human will possesses liberty for 
 the performance of civil duties," or the duties between man and 
 man in civil life, and to choose things subject " or submitted to 
 reason ; but it has not power wi hout the Holy Spirit to perform 
 spiritual righteousness." — ScoWs Continuation of Milner, p. 35. 
 
40 
 
 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 We proceed to the second portion of the Article. 
 " Wherefore we have no power to do good works, 
 pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace 
 of God by Christ preventing" (or going before) "us, 
 that we may have a good will, and working with 
 us when we have that good will." 
 
 In the Ninth Article, as you will recollect, there 
 is a direct reference made to the Pelagians, whose 
 opinion it was especially intended to controvert. 
 That fact forms a key to the intention of the Ar- 
 ticles generally, for almost all of them were con- 
 structed to correct some error which had at one 
 period or another crept into the Church. Thus in 
 the passage of the Tenth Article which we have 
 just read, there are allusions to the false opinions 
 of two classes of heretics, the Pelagians and the 
 Semi-Pelagians. 
 
 " The Pelagians thought that man was so entire in 
 his liberty that there was no need of any other grace 
 but that of pardon, and of proposing the truths 
 of religion to men's knowledge, but that the use 
 of these was in every man's power."* In opposition 
 to this, the Article distinctly declares, that*of our- 
 selves " we have no power" to avail ourselves of 
 these things, even if they were proposed to us. 
 
 * Bishop Burnett on the Articles, p. 162. 8vo. Oxford. 
 
ARTICLE X. 
 
 41 
 
 Again the Semi-Pelagians asserted, that " an as- 
 sisting inward grace was necessary to enable a 
 man to go through all the harder steps of re- 
 ligion; but with that they thought that the first turn, 
 or conversion of the will to God, was the effect of 
 a man's own free choice."* In opposition to this 
 unscriptural statement, the Article not only de- 
 clares that the " grace of God by Christ" must 
 work with us when we have a good will, but that 
 it must go before us, that " we may have this good 
 will." 
 
 Towards the middle of the last century, if we 
 may judge by many of the printed discourses 
 which we meet with* there was much actual Pela- 
 gianism in the religion of the Christian world, but, 
 blessed be God, since the re' urn to the doctrines of 
 the Reformation has, by His grace, been rapidly ex- 
 tending, this error has almost entirely disappeared. 
 It became, in fact, too flagrant for the improved 
 degree of Scriptural light abroad in the world, and 
 Satan's efforts, therefore, have long been, and now 
 are, employed in deluding men with the less fla- 
 grant, but scarcely less dangerous, error of those 
 to whom, the conclusion of the Article so incontro- 
 
 * Ibid. 
 4* 
 
42 
 
 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 vertibly replies, viz., those who think they need 
 assisting, but not " preventing" grace. 
 
 It is astonishing to find how many there are, 
 even among the members of the Church of Eng- 
 land, who, perhaps unconsciously, but nevertheless 
 unquestionably, hold these Semi-Pelagian doctrines. 
 Consider for a moment, whether there may not be 
 some, even among yourselves, who are not wholly 
 freed from them. You have no hesitation in allow- 
 ing that the grace of God must assist a man's own 
 endeavours, but you would not as readily confess, 
 that the same grace must originate them. You 
 would hesitate to avow that the good work must 
 be begun in your heart by some external power, 
 that God must first change, or turn, or incline the 
 heart, before it can believe, or love, or obey. This 
 is the important link in the chain which is so often 
 wanting, and without which the whole chain falls 
 broken and powerless to the ground. For remark 
 only the absolute inconsistency to which it drives 
 you. You acknowledge the truth of those affecting 
 views of human depravity and corruption of heart, 
 which the Ninth Article asserts, and which all 
 Scripture has affirmed. You acknowledge that 
 man must use his best efforts, and his most sincere 
 endeavours, and that the grace of God must assist 
 
ARTICLE X. 
 
 43 
 
 him in carrying them on to perfection. But do 
 you see no chasm, no hiatus here ? Where are 
 these best endeavours to spring from, where all is 
 bad? In what are these holy resolutions to take 
 their rise, where all is unholy and polluted 1 Can 
 it be in the soil of the natural heart, which the 
 Word of God has declared to be " only evil and 
 that continually," that these seedling graces are in- 
 digenous? Can it be amid the fruits of the natural 
 heart, the whole of which our Lord has emptied 
 out before us, and shown them to be only " evil 
 thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, 
 false witness, blasphemies," that we are to find the 
 blessed fruits of righteousness, and godliness, and 
 true holiness, thickly intermingled ? Can they grow 
 spontaneously in such a worse than barren soil, or 
 thrive amidst such noxious and poisonous com- 
 panions ? Is it not then an obvious absurdity to as- 
 sert that if the grace of God merely co-operate with 
 our honest endeavours, all will be well. Surely far 
 more than this is absolutely indispensable to the 
 production of a single fruit of holiness and true 
 righteousness. And this the Article distinctly pro- 
 vides for, when it says that the work must begin 
 from God ; when it asserts that the grace of God 
 must first give us the "good will" and then work 
 
44 
 
 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 with us, in carrying the good intentions which He 
 has given us into effect. So perfectly consistent 
 with that declaration of Holy Writ, " For it is God 
 that worketh in you both to will and to do, of his 
 good pleasure." 
 
 It is most important that you should, by earnest 
 self-examination, discover, and by the assistance of 
 God's good Spirit abjure this error, if you are still 
 entangled in it. Until this has been effected, you 
 can never participate in those lowly views of your- 
 self, and those exalted views of the sovereignty of 
 God, without which true spirituality of mind can- 
 not exist : for it is not until the heart is fully per- 
 suaded of its own ruined state by nature, and of its 
 consequent inability of itself to repair ihe ruin, that, 
 " With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, 
 and with the mouth confession is made unto salva- 
 tion."* 
 
 There is no doubt that the great and general 
 opposition to the vital truth of which we are speak- 
 ing is to be traced, in the first instance, to the pride 
 and self-sufficiency of our corrupt nature. But 
 when these are in some degree diminished, there is 
 often to be found a strong hostility to the doctrine, 
 in many minds, arising from a total misapprehen- 
 
 * Romans x. 10. 
 
ARTICLE X. 
 
 45 
 
 sion of it. Let us then endeavour for a few moments 
 to apply the remedy, of at least a clear statement 
 of the difficulty, which may, by God's grace, re- 
 move any mistaken notions upon the subject, and 
 prepare the mind for the sincere and cordial recep- 
 tion of this great scriptural truth. 
 
 You, then, who conscientiously differ from your 
 Church in this particular, perhaps are led to do so 
 by the following misapprehension of the subject 
 under consideration. You consider that if the 
 work of turning and " preparing ourselves to faith 
 and calling upon God" must thus so entirely origi- 
 nate in God, then man becomes a mere machine, 
 and ceases to be either a free agent or a responsible 
 being. This arises, perhaps, in a great measure, 
 from confounding free agency with free will. If, 
 as we believe, all men are by nature in a state of 
 alienation from God, and if the power of escaping 
 from this state were actually denied to any, then 
 there would be to some a natural impossibility of 
 turning to God ; they would not be free agents, 
 which they unquestionably are, or they could not 
 be responsible : but if the means of so turning to 
 God are offered to all, and if the stubbornness and 
 the corruption of the will alone prevent them from 
 accepting the means, then there is not a natural 
 
46 
 
 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 but only a moral impossibility, and this moral 
 impossibility, instead of extenuating, only enhances 
 their guilt. The man is a free agent, but he will 
 not avail himself of the power which is offered 
 him ; as our Lord said of the Jews, " Ye will 
 not come to me that ye might have life."* 
 Most earnestly would we desire that every one 
 among you, who has ever felt the difficulty of this 
 great truth, would view it thus ; for we cannot but 
 believe that much of the opposition now manifested 
 towards the doctrine would be at an end, if it were 
 seen thus to leave the free agency of man, and con- 
 sequently his responsibility, so entirely untouched. 
 The example of the patriarch Jacob has been con- 
 sidered as well illustrating this difficult subject. 
 What led him at the close of his life, to go down 
 into Egypt? Was he compelled to go thither? 
 Was he not a perfectly free agent ? Was he not as 
 free to remain in Canaan after the famine com- 
 menced, as before ? How was it, then, that at his 
 advanced age, he should have undertaken so im- 
 probable a task, so toilsome a journey? Was there 
 any restraint, any compulsion ? Was it not that he 
 knew that his beloved son Joseph was there? that 
 
 * John v. 40. 
 
ARTICLE X. 
 
 47 
 
 as soon as he heard of the wagons which his son 
 had sent for him, his heart fainted within him for 
 joy ? Surely this was no restraint, no compulsion, 
 nothing was done against his will ; his will itself 
 was changed, and instead of desiring any longer to 
 remain where he was, all his desire, all his anxiety 
 now was to go to his beloved and long-lost son. So 
 it is with ourselves. From the beginning to the end, 
 our free agency is left untouched, our responsibility 
 unimpaired. When God bestows the will to turn to 
 him, we being willing in the day of his power,* 
 are as anxious to turn to him, as we have ever been 
 in the days of our stubbornness and darkness to turn 
 away.f 
 
 * See Psalm ex. 3. 
 
 t Perhaps Luther, in his celebrated treatise "the bondage of 
 the will," has stated this most difficult subject as clearly as it can 
 be stated. He says, " In fact there is no restraint either on the 
 Divine or the human will; in both cases the will does what it 
 does, whether good or bad, simply, and as at perfect liberty, in 
 
 the exercise of its own faculty A man who has not the 
 
 Spirit of God, does evil willingly, and spontaneously. He is not 
 violently impelled against his will, as a thief is to the gallows. 
 .... Again, when the Holy Spirit is pleased to change the will 
 of a bad man, the new man still acts voluntarily ; he is not com- 
 pelled by the Spirit to determine contrary to his will, but his will 
 itself is changed; and he cannot now do otherwise than love the 
 good, as before he loved the evil." — Milner, vol. ix. p. 280, 281. 
 
48 
 
 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 In conclusion, we would briefly endeavour to 
 establish the truth of this great doctrine by your 
 own personal experience. We would say, then, to 
 those among you who are the most disinclined to 
 receive the important fact, that man cannot, by his 
 own natural strength, turn to God ; what testimony 
 does your own heart bear to its truth, or to its 
 falsehood ] 
 
 You have, from time to time, heard the blessed 
 truths of the Gospel freely and fully proposed to 
 you ; you have been told that " its ways are ways 
 of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace ;"* you 
 have been directed to the Lord Jesus Christ as an 
 all-sufficient Saviour; and at the same time as one 
 whose " yoke is easy, and his burden light ;"f you 
 have been convinced that your mortal life, when 
 weighed in the balance against the eternity which 
 is awaiting you, is comparatively less than the 
 lightest particle of dust which you can cast into 
 the scale : less in duration, less in importance, less 
 in every thing by which men usually value the 
 objects of their desires. We say you are perfectly 
 convinced of this, we will not insult your under- 
 standing, by supposing, even for a moment, that 
 you doubt it. Now, then, let us inquire whether 
 
 * Prov. iii. 17. t Matt. xi. 30. 
 
ARTICLE X. 
 
 19 
 
 these acknowledged truths have produced that in- 
 fluence upon your hearts and lives, which, if you 
 believe them to be true, every individual would 
 most unhesitatingly assume them to have produced. 
 Are you at this moment, living to that little speck 
 of time, of which you cannot conceal from your- 
 self your utter contempt, or to that eternity, the 
 grandeur and the dignity, and the unutterable im- 
 portance of which, overpowers your contempla- 
 tions? in other words, are you making God, and 
 his Christ, and his heaven, and his "great salva- 
 tion," the first objects of your thoughts, your 
 motives, your actions, your life, or this world, and 
 its contemptible littleness? 
 
 If you are honest, you may possibly be com- 
 pelled to confess that, notwithstanding all your 
 convictions, your hearts, your thoughts, your life, 
 are the world's, and the world's alone. If so, can 
 you, after this, attempt to impugn the doctrine 
 which has this day been set before you, that man 
 " cannot turn and prepare himself by his own 
 natural strength, to faith, and calling upon God ?" 
 You are yourself* yes, every ungodly man is, a 
 living testimony to its truth. Upon every other 
 subject so entirely affecting self, your own peace, 
 your own welfare, your own happiness, a thou- 
 5 
 
50 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 sandth part of the reasoning, the exhortation, the 
 conviction which you possess on this, would have 
 been sufficient, and more than sufficient, to have 
 produced a distinct and striking practical result. 
 Half this degree of conviction, for instance, that 
 you were heir to an estate, and would you never 
 yet have sought it ? Half this degree of assurance, 
 that your house was in flames, and would you 
 never yet have stirred one step to escape them? 
 It would be trifling to make such inquiries seriously. 
 You know that you would. Then why has no real 
 result been produced by your convictions with re- 
 gard to time and eternity? You will perhaps at- 
 tempt to evade the full force of the reply by 
 saying, because you have not deemed it necessary ; 
 because you do not consider that such a change 
 of heart and life are really needed : because you 
 have always intended to effect this change, at 
 some future time, but it has not been your pleasure 
 to effect now. It is in vain to answer thus ; the 
 only answer which would on any other subject 
 satisfy a man of common consideration, is that 
 with which the Word of God has furnished us, 
 and which is equally irrefragable upon this, viz., 
 because " the natural man receiveth not the things 
 of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto 
 
ARTICLE X. 
 
 51 
 
 him, neither can he know them, because they are 
 spiritually discerned,"* because, therefore, you 
 " cannot turn and prepare yourself by your own 
 natural strength and good works to faith and call- 
 ing upon God," and you have never either desired 
 or sought a better strength than your own. Here 
 is the reason that in spite of your convictions, you 
 are at this moment, all that you have ever been ; 
 a believer in an eternity, and yet devoted to the 
 follies and trifles of time ; a professed follower of 
 God, and yet living six-sevenths of your days in 
 an almost total forgetfulness of Him ; the possessor 
 of a jewel of unutterable value, and yet your 
 thoughts, and desires all centered, and settled, upon 
 the care of the worthless casket, in which, for a 
 few short years, it is contained. 
 
 Do not imagine, that if this solution be the true 
 one, then may you sit down contentedly, and say, 
 " I am not turned to God, and I cannot turn myself 
 to him; therefore at least I am guiltless, and if I 
 perish, I perish at an unjust tribunal." No, bre- 
 thren, we must not leave you with a feeling so false, 
 and so derogatory to the character of Him with 
 whom you have to do. We grant that you are 
 not turned to God, and that you cannot turn your- 
 
 * 1 Cor. ii. 14. 
 
52 
 
 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 self-— that you cannot be turned, as the Article 
 says, " by your own natural strength." Here, 
 then, is the solution of the whole matter. You 
 have contented yourself with striving, if you have 
 striven at all, in your own " natural strength," 
 while a giant's arm is upon you, and unseen by 
 you, holds you down to earth, with a power which 
 laughs your feebleness to scorn. You have strug- 
 gled to arise from your thraldom, and shake off 
 your enemy, while in fact you are utterly unable, 
 even to turn yourself beneath his grasp. Let us 
 then suppose that now, for the first time, your eyes 
 are open to your real state, — and what are you to 
 do? Be not dismayed; look fairly at this enemy 
 who is standing over you, and under whose 
 bondage you have so long lingered ; it is your own 
 corrupt will Struggle no longer then, in your 
 natural strength, in the unequal conflict ; it is 
 enough to see your enemy — to know that by you 
 he must for ever be invincible : it would be a con- 
 tradiction in terms, to say, even that you ever 
 willingly or heartily opposed him ; every faculty 
 of the mind, every affection of the heart, is a dis- 
 guised traitor, and in reality in league with him. 
 If you are in earnest in your opposition, your 
 course is plain, and the victory is insured to you. 
 
ARTICLE X. 
 
 53 
 
 Call on the strong for strength, cease from your 
 own unaided efforts, cry with " an exceeding great 
 and bitter cry," for help from the sanctuary and 
 strength from out of Zion; cry with the heart- 
 broken consciousness of utter helplessness which 
 the Apostle felt when he cried, " O wretched man 
 that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of 
 this death !"* And " if the Son therefore shall 
 make you free, ye shall be free indeed."f Be 
 assured, this is no doubtful declaration, for has he 
 not himself declared, " If ye then, being evil, know 
 how to give good gifts unto your children, how 
 much more shall your heavenly Father give the 
 Holy Spirit to them that ask him |"J Is it not 
 then a certainty, as much as the existence or the 
 love of God himself is a certainty, that there 
 never was, and that there shall never be, an in- 
 stance of one human being who shall cry in sin- 
 cerity, " Turn thou us, O good Lord, and so shall 
 we be turned,"§ who shall not experience the 
 power of his God exerted in his behalf, and who 
 by that invincible power shall not be brought into 
 the glorious liberty wherewith Christ makes his 
 people free.|| Yes, brethren, be but earnest, per- 
 
 * Rom. vii. 34. t John viii. 36. X Luke xi. 13. 
 
 § Service for Ash-Wednesday. |] See Gal. v. 1. 
 
 5* 
 
54 
 
 DISCOURSE II. 
 
 severing in your entreaties, and you shall be re- 
 lieved from the bondage from which no human 
 power can liberate you ; your will shall still be 
 free, but then, free not as at present, to serve and 
 follow sin, but free to love and obey God, and 
 Jesus Christ whom he hath sent; free "to run the 
 way of God's commandments ;" free to choose 
 those commands as among your greatest blessings; 
 free to " delight in the law of God after the inward 
 man,"* and to exclaim with him of old, respect- 
 ing all that now appears to you irksome and bur- 
 densome, and even hateful, " 0 how 1 love thy 
 law !"f 
 
 To the people of God among you, time will only 
 allow me to speak a single word ; to you this doc- 
 trine is a blessed and a soul-encouraging doctrine* 
 You delight in referring all to God ; you love to 
 acknowledge that he alone has made you to differ 
 from others, and to return all the praise and ail the 
 glory to his holy name. Bear in mind only, more 
 and more continually, the purpose for which he 
 first worked in you, that you might have a good 
 will, and now works with you, since you have this 
 good will ; it was that you might be " a chosen 
 generation^ a royal priesthood, an holy nation," 
 
 * Rom. vii. 22. t Ps. cxix. 97. \ Pet. ii. 9. 
 
ARTICLE X. 
 
 55 
 
 " a peculiar people zealous of good works."* Ful- 
 fil, then, by God's grace, the great end of your 
 being ; devote all you are, and all you have, to his 
 holy and happy service, "Being confident of this 
 very thing, that He which hath begun a good 
 work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus 
 Christ."t 
 
 * Titus ii. 14. t Phil. i. 6. 
 
56 
 
 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 GALATIANS II. part of ver. 16. 
 
 " We have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justi- 
 fied by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the 
 law ; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justi- 
 fied." 
 
 As in commencing the consideration of that Ar- 
 ticle of our Church which we brought before you 
 on Sunday last, we were constrained to say that it 
 was the most difficult that would come under our 
 notice, so we must say of that which is to form 
 our subject to-day, that it is the most important, 
 and the most comfortable of all the Articles pro- 
 pounded by our Church. It is the most important ! 
 for what question can for a moment be put in com- 
 petition with the inquiry, " What shall I do to be 
 saved?" It is the most comfortable! for what an- 
 swer can stand an instant's comparison with the 
 reply, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou 
 shalt be saved." 
 
 We need not inform you that this inquiry and this 
 reply, are embodied in the Article now before us. 
 
ARTICLE XI. 
 
 57 
 
 "XI. Of the Justification of Man." 
 Before we read the Article, let us come to a 
 clear and distinct understanding of the subject upon 
 which it treats. What then is meant by " the justi- 
 fication of man?" It is certainly not merely his 
 pardon, for the idea of pardon is very distinct from 
 and very inferior to the idea of justification. Con- 
 ceive, for an instance, a prisoner charged with 
 some crime, and brought before the tribunal of his 
 country. He is found guilty of the crime laid to 
 his charge, but he is afterwards pardoned. He 
 escapes the punishment of his guilt, but he does not 
 escape the imputation of guilt ; he is not justified. 
 The judge looks upon that man as a guilty man, 
 and he must for ever look upon himself in the same 
 light. Nothing can replace the pardoned criminal 
 precisely in the same position in society, which he 
 occupied before he committed, or was convicted of 
 a crime. Now suppose a prisoner charged with 
 some delinquency,, of which it appears upon his 
 trial that another man is the perpetrator, and that 
 he is wholly innocent. In this case he leaves the 
 bar with a very different character from the for- 
 mer ; he departs an innocent man, without the 
 shadow of an imputation resting upon his charac- 
 ter ; he is, in fact, completely justified in the eyes 
 of the judge, of the jury, of himself, and of all the 
 
58 
 
 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 world. The question then before us is this. How 
 can a man stand before the tribunal of God and 
 come away from that tribunal, not merely pardon- 
 ed, but, as in the case we have been imagining, ac- 
 tually innocent, perfectly justified, no stigma left 
 upon his character, no stain upon his conscience, 
 no spot of sin upon his soul ? It is clear that it can- 
 not be, as in the case we have imagined, by his never 
 having transgressed, because as the law of God 
 now stands, and as we have already demonstrated, 
 (while considering the 9th Article,) " there is no 
 man that sinneth not."* It must therefore be either 
 by a total change in the law which he has broken, 
 so that when tried according to its provisions it 
 may appear that he never has transgressed ; or by 
 some other method which although it cannot find 
 an exact parallel in human judicature, has been 
 originated and acted upon by the King of kings, 
 and Lord of lords. 
 
 By the first of these, the change or abrogation of 
 the law of God, this justification can certainly never 
 be effected ; for our Lord has said respecting that 
 moral law, to which we refer, and which we all 
 have broken, "One jot or one tittle shall in no 
 wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled."t There- 
 
 * 1 Kings viii. 46. 
 
 t Matt. v. 18. 
 
ARTICLE XI. 
 
 50 
 
 fore, there can be no hope of a change in the ver- 
 dict, from any change in the law. It is then to 
 some other method that man must look to be ac- 
 counted innocent, nay more than innocent, to be ac- 
 tually righteous before God. And the intention of 
 the 11th Article is simply to propound this method. 
 These are the words of the Article, " We are ac- 
 counted righteous before God, only for the merit of 
 our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not 
 for our own works or deservings." 
 
 The method then appears to be this, that in our 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, God of his infinite 
 mercy has provided for us a surety or a substitute, 
 who shall do for us what we could never do for 
 ourselves, viz. offer to God a most perfect and un- 
 exceptionable obedience, and that for the sake of 
 this obedience even unto death, involving therefore 
 all the unspeakable merits of the atonement, we, 
 who believe, should be " accounted righteous before 
 God." Or, as expressed in the language of Scripture, 
 "He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew 
 no sin ; that we might be made the righteousness of 
 God in Him."* 
 
 The Article then continues, " Wherefore, that 
 we are justified by faith only, is a most wholesome 
 
 « 2 Cor. v. 21. 
 
60 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 doctrine, and very full of comfort; as is more 
 largely expressed in the Homily of Justification."* 
 
 Strictly speaking, as you will have seen from the 
 former part of the Article, we are justified by the 
 merits of Christ only; when the Article, therefore, 
 says, " we are justified by faith only," it merely refers 
 the effect, from the cause, to the instrument. The 
 merits of Christ are the casual means, but faith, or 
 a simple reliance upon those merits, is the instru- 
 mental means, and it is quite clear that it is as cor- 
 rect to state, that we are justified by the one, as by 
 the other. 
 
 But while we are thus exalting faith, we must be 
 careful to remember that it is but an instrument. 
 It connects the sinner with the Saviour, but that is 
 all; as to its own merit, faith is as worthless as 
 hope, or joy, or love, or any other grace, in causing 
 or deserving the justification of its possessor. This 
 is very strikingly asserted at the close of the 2d part 
 of " The Homily on Salvation," where it is said that 
 " John the Baptist, although a virtuous and godly 
 man, referred all the people from himself to Christ, 
 for the forgiveness of their sins, saying, ' Behold, 
 yonder is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins 
 
 » It is singular that there should be no Homily with this title. 
 There can, however, be little doubt that the Homily entitled, " Of 
 the salvation of all mankind," is here referred to. 
 
ARTICLE XI. 
 
 61 
 
 of the world.' (John i. '29.) So our faith in Christ saith 
 unto us thus : — It is not I that take away your sins, 
 but it is Christ only ; and to him only I send you 
 for that purpose, forsaking therein all your good 
 virtues, words, thoughts, and works, and only put- 
 ting your trust in God."* 
 
 To demonstrate that this great doctrine of Justifi- 
 cation by faith only, is " wholesome," as our Article 
 calls it, or sound, it would be necessary and it 
 would be perfectly easy to show that it is, in fact, 
 the one great leading doctrine from Genesis to 
 Revelation. As our time will not admit of this, we 
 can only assert that, every portion of the book of 
 inspiration preaches the truth, which the Apostle 
 preaches when he says, " That no man is justified 
 by the law in the sight of God, it is evident : for, 
 The just shall live by faith. "f " Therefore, we con- 
 clude that a man is justified by faith without the 
 deeds of the law."J And still more distinctly in the 
 text, " We have believed in Jesus Christ, that we 
 might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by 
 the works of the law ; for, by the works of the law 
 shall no flesh be justified." Indeed these quotations 
 are of themselves amply sufficient ; for if it be the 
 
 * Homilies, 8vo. Oxford, p. 23. 
 + Gal. iii. 11. | Rom. iii. 28. 
 
 6 
 
62 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 unerring Word of God, one assertion of that Word 
 is as convincing, as one thousand, If it be objected 
 to this statement, that when the Apostles so clearly 
 assert that no man is justified by works, they gene- 
 rally add, by the " works of the law," and always 
 intend the ceremonial law, it may not be useless to 
 mention, that precisely the same thing is said of 
 Abraham, " If Abraham were justified by works, he 
 hath whereof to glory,"* while we need not remind 
 you that Abraham was justified more than 400 
 years before the ceremonial law was given. It is 
 then too obvious to admit of argument, that the de- 
 clarations of the Apostles include all laws and all 
 works, and distinctly assert that in the matter of 
 justifying a sinner before God, all ceremonies, all 
 obedience, all virtues, all graces, all Christian duties, 
 all Christian ordinances are utterly and entirely 
 fruitless, and that " the merits of Christ Jesus alone," 
 applied to each heart by a true and living faith, 
 must form the plea of each individual, of all that 
 countless multitude who shall be acknowledged as 
 the accepted people of God, and shall dwell around 
 the throne of God, and of the Lamb, throughout 
 eternity. 
 
 We shall not occupy your time by quotations 
 
 « Rom. iv. 2. 
 
ARTICLK XI. 
 
 69 
 
 from the Homilies, because the particular Homily 
 referred to in the Article (viz., the Three Parts of 
 il the Homily on the Salvation of man,"*) is so 
 replete with this doctrine, that none who will take 
 the trouble to refer to it, can fail of conviction. 
 We shall content ourselves in corroboration of the 
 doctrine, with a passage from the celebrated ser- 
 mon of the judicious Hooker on Justification, 
 which deserves your attention not more from the 
 great name of its Author, than from its own dis- 
 tinctness and beauty. " The righteousness wherein 
 we must be found," says this admirable writer, " if 
 we will be justified, is not our own ; therefore, we 
 cannot be justified by any inherent quality. Christ 
 hath merited righteousness for as many as are 
 found in Him. In Him God findeth us, if we be 
 faithful ; for by faith we are incorporated into 
 Christ. Then, although in ourselves, we be al- 
 together sinful and unrighteous, yet even the man 
 who is impious in himself, full of iniquity, full of 
 sin, him being found in Christ through faith, and 
 having his sin remitted through repentance; him 
 God beholdeth with a gracious eye, putteth away 
 his sin by not imputing it, taketh away the punish- 
 
 * This Homily is from the Pen of Archbishop Cranmer him- 
 self.— See Cranmer's Works. Oxford, 1S33. 
 
64 
 
 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 ment due thereto by pardoning it, and accepteth 
 him in Christ Jesus, as perfectly righteous as if he 
 had fulfilled all that was commanded him in the 
 law — shall I say, more perfectly righteous than if 
 himself had fulfilled the whole law. I must take 
 heed what I say ; but the Apostle saith, ' God made 
 Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we 
 might be made the righteousness of God in Him.' 
 Such we are in the sight of God the Father, as is 
 the very Son of God himself. Let it be counted 
 folly, or frenzy, or fury, or whatsoever, it is our 
 comfort and our wisdom ; we care for no know- 
 ledge in the world but this, that man hath sinned 
 and God hath suffered, that God hath made him- 
 self the Son of Man, and that, men are made the 
 righteousness of God/' 
 
 We shall, therefore, consider the wholesomeness 
 or soundness of the great doctrine in question, 
 abundantly established, and proceed to consider 
 the comfort of it. The Article asserts that this 
 truth, " we are justified by faith only," is, " very 
 full of comfort." To prove this to those among 
 you, who, by Divine grace, have been led to the 
 full reception of its peace-giving declarations, will 
 be sufficiently easy, but to convince those to whom 
 it is at present experimentally unknown, is indeed 
 
ARTICLE XI. 
 
 65 
 
 a most difficult, and, of ourselves, a hopeless task. 
 One thing, however, we may attempt : we may- 
 show you that your present doctrine is an un- 
 comfortable one, so uncomfortable, that as long 
 as you retain it, you can never know that " peace 
 of God which passeth all understanding,"* the last, 
 best legacy which the Prince of Peace bequeathed 
 to his faithful followers. 
 
 We need not particularize all those different 
 methods which the pride, or the ignorance, or 
 the wisdom of man has invented to occupy the 
 place of this great doctrine of the Bible. We 
 may class them together, and address all those 
 among you who have been deceived by any one 
 of them in the same language. We address you, 
 then, who are hoping at the last great day, that 
 you shall be " accounted righteous" because God 
 is merciful, and you have endeavoured to do your 
 duty honestly, and uprightly, and virtuously in your 
 different vocations: You, also, who in addition to 
 this plea of the correctness of your moral duties, 
 have provided yourself with another, and hope, 
 that having in the different relations of life per- 
 formed your own part well, the merits of the Lord 
 
 * Phil. iv. 7. 
 6* 
 
66 
 
 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 Jesus Christ will avail to fill up your deficiencies : 
 You, again, who have gone beyond the two pre- 
 ceding classes, and hope, that correct moral duties, 
 and assiduous attention to spiritual duties, to prayer, 
 to sacraments, to reading the Scripture, will -fully 
 supply your portion, and, the merits of the Saviour 
 being freely added to them, cannot fail to satisfy 
 God. We address you, one and all, and say upon 
 the authority of the Word of God and of our 
 Church, that your views are not only as we have 
 proved them to be, unwholesome, but most uncom- 
 fortable. They are all founded upon this one great 
 error, that God will accept an imperfect obedience 
 if it be sincere, in the place of that perfect obe- 
 dience which He has a right to claim, and which 
 He unquestionably does claim, at the hand of every 
 individual sent into the world. 
 
 We ask you then from what portion of the re- 
 vealed Word you derive this opinion? We can 
 show you the first great declaration respecting 
 obedience; it is this, "Do this and live," or as 
 amplified and explained by Moses, " Cursed is 
 every one that continueth not in all things that 
 are written in the book of the law to do them."* 
 You will observe, there is not a single exception ; 
 
 * Gal. iii. 10. 
 
ARTICLE XI. 
 
 67 
 
 you must do all the things that God commands ; 
 and more, you must " continue," yes, from the 
 hour of your birth, to the moment of your death, 
 you must continue to do them all, or there is no 
 hope from this Covenant. Now we ask you in 
 return to show us from the Word of God, any 
 single passage, or any correct combination of pas- 
 sages, to prove that God has,, under the gospel dis- 
 pensation, ever modified this command first given 
 to Adam, and reiterated to Moses ; that God has 
 ever promised to accept those who endeavour con- 
 scientiously to " continue in all things that are 
 written in the book of the law," to do them, al- 
 though they only imperfectly succeed in the endea- 
 vour. It is impossible. There is no such passage 
 to be found. It would be an insult to the purity, 
 and holiness, and justice- of God to expect to find 
 it. God can accept nothing but a perfect obe- 
 dience, or He would cease to be a perfect God. 
 Yx)u are standing then altogether upon a wrong, 
 a false, an unwholesome imagination, — a mere 
 imagination,, no shadow of foundation for which 
 is to be found in the Scripture of truth. The only 
 difference that God has ever made in this first 
 great law of perfect and unerring obedience, is, 
 that when it became manifest that no perfect law 
 
68 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 could be given which man would keep, a perfect 
 God who would neither offer an imperfect law, nor 
 accept an imperfect obedience to a perfect law, 
 sent His only-begotten Son into the world to ren- 
 der this perfect obedience, which no created being 
 had ever rendered. Therefore we find in the lan- 
 guage of prophecy the Saviour saying, " A body 
 hast thou prepared me, Lo ! I come to do thy will, 
 O my God."* I come to do what has never yet 
 been done, to work out and " to bring in everlast- 
 ing righteousness." God therefore obtained from 
 the Surety that which He could never have re- 
 ceived from us, and God still exacts this perfect 
 righteousness from every individual who approaches 
 Him ; but now, as the righteousness of Christ, or, 
 as it is called in Scripture, " the righteousness of 
 God," it is ready for every believing penitent who 
 is willing to receive it and to come before God, 
 clothed in that, and in that alone, and desiring 
 with the Apostle to be found in Him, (i. e., in 
 Christ,) " not having mine own righteousness which 
 is of the law, but that which is through the faith 
 of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by 
 faith." 
 
 But grant for a moment that the scheme which 
 
 * Hcb. x. 5 ; Psalm xl. 7; Heb. x. 7. 
 
ARTICLE XI. 
 
 69 
 
 we have been contending against were really true 
 and " wholesome," and would it not be still most 
 uncomfortable 1 For suppose that your views were 
 correct; that together with the righteousness of 
 Christ there must be, in the way of merit, some- 
 thing of your own to offer, before you can feel that 
 you are " accounted righteous before God ;" that 
 like the Israelites of old, you have a certain " tale of 
 bricks" to render; then, we would ask, who is to 
 count them off at the end of each day's work, and 
 give you your discharge, and suffer you to lie 
 down in quiet 1 Who is to tell you when the tale 
 is complete, and when you are really justified before 
 God 1 In the true scheme of the Gospel this is so 
 easily ascertained, that the veriest babe in Christ 
 could answer you. He would tell you that when, 
 by God's grace, you close with the offers of a cru- 
 cified, and all-sufficient Saviour, and cast your soul 
 upon Him in a holy and scriptural confidence, that 
 he has power enough, and grace enough, to receive 
 you, to pardon you fully, and to love you freely — 
 that even then, we may say to you, as St. John to 
 the young converts in his days, " I write unto you, 
 little children, because your sins are forgiven you 
 for his name's sake," that you are then accounted 
 righteous before God, that you then begin to " run 
 
70 
 
 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 with patience the race that is set before you, look- 
 ing unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith." 
 This is God's method of justifying the sinner. How 
 different is your own ! you can never feel assured 
 that you are really justified before God. The "full 
 assurance of faith," as the Apostle to the Hebrews 
 calls it, must ever be unknown to you ; there must 
 always be, even to the most scrupulous, and most 
 careful, and most pains-taking among you, a strong 
 degree of uncertainty and doubt. You will always 
 be subject to some such corroding and distressing 
 feelings as these — " That act of charity was misera- 
 bly imperfect, such a mingling of motives, such a 
 deficiency of love !" " That prayer could never 
 reach the mercy-seat, such wandering thoughts, 
 such unholy imaginations !" " That duty can never 
 be well-pleasing to my heavenly Father, such re- 
 luctance and unwillingness, and almost dislike, even 
 during the performance !" " Can I have done, shall I 
 ever do, my part in this great work ?" Such, if 
 really conscientious, will be the feelings even of the 
 best of those among you who are looking to any 
 thing, however trifling, however minute, to fill up 
 the measure of the meritorious offering of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, as the procuring cause of your justifi- 
 cation. And such, although they know it not, is 
 
ARTICLE XI. 
 
 71 
 
 one of the most frequent causes of the dispiriting 
 and gloomy feelings which religion imparts to nine- 
 tenths of those who make a kind of outward pro- 
 fession of it, without really obtaining the full and 
 genuine feeling of the great truth of the text within 
 their souls. We have often, in the course of our 
 ministry, seen those whose days and nights have 
 been occupied upon this important subject, reading, 
 praying, thinking, striving, wearied in duties until 
 they become irksome and almost hateful, and yet 
 never knowing the feeling of a settled peace of soul. 
 And why ? simply because they have never been 
 rightly instructed in the great work — have never 
 been taught to look altogether from themselves, and 
 their own performances, to obtain peace — have 
 never been led to cast themselves fully, entirely, and 
 unreservedly, upon the " full, perfect, and sufficient 
 sacrifice" of the Lord Jesus Christ. Until this be 
 done, there can be no justification, no pardon, and 
 therefore no abiding scriptural peace. 
 
 If we speak to any such at present, we would en- 
 treat you to listen while we address a few words to 
 the true people of God, and may you learn by hear- 
 ing what they possess, to discover what you stand in 
 need of. 
 
 To you, then, Christian brethren, we apply the 
 
72 
 
 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 words of the text, and say, " You have believed in 
 Jesus Christ that you might be justified by the faith 
 of Christ, and not by the works of the law." But 
 whence was this? Were you born thus? Was 
 there never a period when you also were standing 
 aside, without any feelings of religion which could 
 be pronounced, " very full of comfort V 9 Was 
 there never a time when any among you felt it diffi- 
 cult even to thank God for your creation, (as our 
 Church teaches you to do,) because you were so 
 uncertain as to the coming eternity, that you felt 
 your creation rather a grievance than a blessing to 
 you ? And what has made you thus different from 
 your former selves'? How are you now enabled to 
 say, even from the ground of your hearts, " Lord, 
 it is good for us to be here ;" with all the trials and 
 the troubles of life, I bless thee for my creation ; I 
 bless thee for calling me to pass over this little 
 isthmus between two eternities, because I have, 
 through thy grace, obtained the promise of the life 
 which now is, and of that which is to come. I ask 
 you, Christian brethren, how did you obtain this 
 comfortable, peaceful, blessed feeling ? Did you 
 acquire it from the proud consciousness of what is 
 called a well-spent life ? Did you obtain it by 
 looking back upon a perfect obedience to a perfect 
 
ARTICLE XI. 
 
 73 
 
 law, which was fully sufficient to satisfy the strictest 
 demands of God 1 Surely not thus did you acquire 
 your present peace and your hope of future glory, 
 or the inspired Word of our God would not have 
 declared, "If there had been a law given which 
 could have given life, verily righteousness would 
 have been of the law." No, the law did for you that 
 for which it was given — not to insure a perfect 
 obedience, but to convict you of your imperfect 
 obedience : thus it became your schoolmaster to 
 bring you to Christ. You have so frequently 
 broken its precepts, and deserved its punishments, 
 that although you have retained it, and ever will 
 retain it, as a rule of life, you have long since given 
 up the idea of a meritorious obedience to it as utter- 
 ly hopeless, and you have fled from the terrors of a 
 broken law to the love, and compassion, and 
 righteousness of a crucified Saviour. You dis- 
 covered, by the teaching of the Spirit of God, that 
 you must go to Christ, and to Christ alone, for the 
 means of justification before God, and by the aid of 
 that Spirit you approached the Saviour, and fell at 
 his feet, and cried, " God be merciful to me a sin- 
 ner." You went for pardon and for justification ; 
 you carried nothing with you but your sins, and a 
 most earnest, heartfelt desire, to repent of them and 
 7 
 
74 
 
 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 forsake them ; you went simply to receive, not to 
 pay ; you went as a beggar for an alms, as a cul- 
 prit for your reprieve, as a condemned prisoner for 
 your life ; you believed that He, whom you sought, 
 not only could, but would give what you sought. 
 And what was the consequence ? You received all 
 that you had asked — all that God had promised; 
 you received pardon and acceptance, forgiveness 
 of all that had gone before, grace and strength pro- 
 mised and pledged to you, for all that is to come. 
 " Therefore," as the Apostle says, " therefore being 
 justified by faith you have peace with God." You 
 have no corroding fears for the past, no desponding 
 anxieties for the future: you cannot have, or at 
 least, you need not have ; you have been " account- 
 ed righteous through the merits of Christ," you 
 have been made partaker of " the righteousness of 
 God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and 
 upon all them that believe ;" yes, " unto all and upon 
 all," therefore, " unto and upon" the weakest, fee- 
 blest, youngest believer, who ever with the hand of 
 an infant faith, touched the hem of the Saviour's 
 garment, and with His kind and merciful permis- 
 sion, drew that garment as a covering over his own 
 pollution, and nakedness, and sin. 
 
 There is with you no question now. whether you 
 
ARTICLE XI. 
 
 75 
 
 have done enough to co-operate with your Saviour 
 in this great work ; therefore there is no doubt 
 with you, whether enough be done ; no uncertainty 
 whether you are, or are not, justified before God : 
 you feel the full force and consolation of the Apostle's 
 words, " Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by 
 grace ; to the end the promise might be sure to all the 
 seed."* That it might not be a matter of doubt, but of 
 assurance to all the seed, to every member in Christ's 
 redeemed family, who has thus approached Him in 
 a true and living faith, to receive that as an act of 
 free favour, which others, in vain, are toiling to 
 deserve. 
 
 From this point then, you commence your Chris- 
 tian life ; being justified freely, you now "run the 
 way of God's commandments," " obeying from 
 the heart that form of doctrine which has been de- 
 livered to you ;" delighting in the service of Him 
 who loved you, and gave himself for you ; de- 
 ploring your many short-comings, repenting of your 
 many sins, but still holding on your way, through 
 good and ill, through weal and wo, the hand of 
 your Lord guiding and supporting you in " all holi- 
 ness and godliness of living," and you yourselves 
 bringing forth the fruits of faith, and resting in a 
 
 * Rom. iv. 16. 
 
76 
 
 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 simple, childlike reliance upon the declaration of 
 our God, that ".whom he called, them he also justi- 
 fied, and whom he justified,"* them also he shall 
 one day glorify for ever and ever. 
 
 And now, brethren, we once more, and only for 
 a few moments, return to you whom we before ad- 
 dressed. Do you clearly perceive the difference 
 between these persons and yourselves, as regards 
 the Lord Jesus Christ ? 
 
 You are willing to take the Saviour with you 
 when you go up for justification to the tribunal of 
 God ; they depended upon his taking them. You 
 would not expect to be accounted righteous for your 
 own merits alone ; they would not for a moment 
 imagine that they had ever done a single deed which 
 deserved the name of merit ; if reminded of them, 
 they would ask with unfeigned astonishment, " Lord, 
 when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or 
 naked, or in prison, and ministered unto thee?"+ To 
 you, the Lord Jesus Christ is a valuable coadjutor ; 
 to them, he is " all in all ;"J for he is " made unto 
 them, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, 
 and redemption."|| You are " working for salva- 
 tion," as an object at which you shall one day 
 arrive; they are " working from salvation," as the 
 
 * Rom. viii. 30. t Matt. xxv. 1 1 Cor. xv. 28. |j 1 Cor. i. 30. 
 
ARTICLE XI. 77 
 
 object at which they started. AH that you are doing 
 is intended in some degree to propitiate God ; all 
 that they are doing is flowing from a sense of holy 
 obedience, and from a grateful love to God. who 
 first loved, and pardoned, and justified them. We 
 leave it to yourselves to determine which of these 
 two views must tend the most to promote the glory 
 of God our Father, the honour of Christ Jesus our 
 Lord, and the comfort and happiness of his people. 
 But we must not leave it to you to imagine that 
 the difference is slight, or immaterial, that it is a 
 mere difference in the amount of comfort, or of 
 wholesomeness of doctrine. It is an absolute and 
 irreconcilable difference. It is the difference be- 
 tween light and darkness, between life and death. 
 The one view of justification is a mere figment 
 from the brain of man, the other is the great truth 
 of God which will determine our eternity ; for upon 
 it will hang the decisions of the day of judgment! 
 All religion is therefore utterly vain which does 
 not centre and settle here. The unrighteous cannot 
 enter heaven, for thus has the unerring Word of 
 God pronounced, M Know ye not that the unright- 
 eous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God ?"* but 
 then all are unrighteous until they have been justified 
 * 1 Cor. vi. 9. 
 7* 
 
'8 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 by the merits of the Lord Jesus applied by a living 
 faith. Can you resist the inference— That they 
 who are not thus justified, can never, by any possi- 
 bility, be admitted there ? 
 
 May God of his infinite mercy grant that these 
 words may sink deep into our hearts, giving us no 
 peace, no rest, until we have ascertained that this 
 great and blessed work has been effected in our 
 souls, and are thus enabled to experience the full 
 comfort of the declaration of the Spirit of our God, 
 " There is now no condemnation to them which are 
 in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but 
 after the Spirit."* 
 
 * Rom. viii. 1. 
 
ARTICLES XII. XIII. XIV. 
 
 79 
 
 DISCOURSE IV. 
 
 COL. I. part of ver. 10. 
 
 " That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, 
 being fruitful in every good work. 
 
 It is a remarkable assertion of the Apostle to the 
 Corinthians, but not more remarkable than true, 
 "Now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three ; but 
 the greatest of these is charity."* And who can 
 doubt it ! Without any reference to the obvious 
 fact, that while the two former are transitory, the 
 last is perpetual, is it not evident that after all, faith 
 and hope are but as the scaffolding of the spiritual 
 house, while the house itself, the glorious super- 
 structure, is love. Love to God and love to man ; 
 love to every created being throughout all time, 
 love to the blessed inmates of the heavenly mansions 
 throughout eternity. The object then of all re- 
 ligion is to give to fallen man the power and the 
 will, which as we have seen he has not by nature, 
 
 * 1 Cor. xiii. 13. 
 
80 
 
 DISCOURSE IV. 
 
 to live this life of love on earth, that he may be fitted 
 and educated for the eternity of love in heaven. 
 Every thing connected with this high feeling as re- 
 gards our fellow-men, is comprehended in Scrip- 
 ture in the expressive term, "Good works." And 
 it is to this important subject, that the 12th, 13th, 
 and 14th Articles will at present direct our attention. 
 
 There are four great errors continually springing 
 up in the natural heart of man with respect to this 
 deeply important topic. These have been corrected 
 by our Church in the three Articles to which I have 
 referred, and which therefore shall be taken to- 
 gether for the subject of our consideration. The 
 first of these errors, viz. that a man can be justified 
 before" God for his works' sake, was sufficiently 
 considered under the 11th Article, and therefore, 
 will not now require our attention. The second is 
 of this nature, That all works of honesty, and 
 charity, and uprightness, must necessarily be so 
 pleasing in the sight of God, that let them be per- 
 formed by who they may, they cannot fail to draw 
 down upon the performer the love and the grace or 
 favour of God ; that, in fact, they at least render 
 men fit to receive this favour, even if they do not 
 actually purchase it. Against this error, an error 
 indeed expressly of the Pelagians and Papists, but 
 
ARTICLES XII. XIII. XIV. 
 
 SI 
 
 not less expressly an error of every natural and un- 
 converted heart, the 13th Article protests in the fol- 
 lowing decisive manner — 
 
 " XIII. Of Works before Justification. 
 " Works done before the grace of Christ — " 
 You will observe our Church takes especial care 
 not to recognise them as good works, although she 
 is evidently referring to those which would be call- 
 ed so in the world. She contents herself with say- 
 ing, " Works done before the grace of Christ and 
 the inspiration of his Spirit, are not pleasant to God, 
 for as much as they spring not of faith in Jesus 
 Christ : neither do they make men meet to receive 
 grace, or (as the school authors say) deserve ' grace 
 of congruity:' yea, rather, for that they are not 
 done as God hath willed and commanded them to 
 be done, we doubt not but they have the nature of 
 sin." 
 
 There are few Articles of the Church which are 
 more staggering to the heart of "the natural man" 
 than this, and yet few that more immediately 
 approve themselves to the heart of the " spiritual 
 man." 
 
 The Article simply asserts that no works per- 
 formed before Justification, i. e. as we demonstrated 
 in the last Discourse, before we have been led to 
 
82 
 
 DISCOURSE IV. 
 
 close with the offers of reconciliation to God 
 through Christ, and have been thus " accounted 
 righteous" through his merits, are " pleasant to 
 God." Consider only for a moment the declara- 
 tions of the Articles which have preceded this, and 
 you will see that it is utterly impossible to come to 
 any other conclusion. The 9th Article has declared 
 that we are " very far gone from original righteous- 
 ness," that " the flesh is always lusting against the 
 Spirit," and " deserving God's wrath and damna- 
 tion." The 10th Article has shown that from this 
 condition man " cannot turn and prepare himself," 
 i. e. without the grace of Christ, and therefore has 
 no power to do good works " pleasant and accepta- 
 ble to God." It is, then, the following consequence 
 of these great, and solemn, and humiliating truths, 
 that every " work done before the grace of Christ," 
 must be unpleasant to God, and even as the close 
 of the Article strongly, but not more strongly than 
 scripturally, asserts, must " have the nature of sin." 
 We say, not more strongly than scripturaliy ; for 
 the Apostle to the Romans has asserted the same 
 thing, almost in the same words, when he says, 
 " whatsoever is not of faith is sin."* 
 
 This is the portion of the Article which is a 
 
 * Rom. xiv. 23. 
 
ARTICLES XII. XIII. XIV. 
 
 83 
 
 stumbling-block to many readers; the feelings of 
 their minds with respect to it are of this nature. 
 Can it be possible that all the amiable, honest, just, 
 and honourable actions of a man's life, performed 
 before he has received M the grace of Christ," can 
 possess the nature of sin, in the sight of our merciful 
 Father? Is he so severe a judge that he will not 
 look with an eye of satisfaction upon those many 
 virtuous deeds of virtuous men, which gladden the 
 countenance and cheer the souls of all around them, 
 and which deserve and receive " the blessing of him 
 that was ready to perish," and cause " the widow's 
 heart to sing for joy 
 
 This is perhaps stating the ©bjection as fairly 
 and as strongly as it can be stated, and yet w r e 
 doubt not that to the reflecting people among you, 
 a very little consideration will induce you to agree 
 to the justice of the verdict which our Church 
 pronounces even upon such acts as these. Indeed 
 the very reason which our Church gives for her 
 decision, will go far towards removing the objec- 
 tion from every unprejudiced mind. She says that 
 these works " have the nature of sin," simply, be- 
 cause " they are not done as God hath willed and 
 commanded them to be done." God has com- 
 
 » Job xxix. 13. 
 
84 
 
 DISCOURSE IV. 
 
 manded, not that they should be left undone, but 
 that they should be done from love to his name, 
 that they should be the fruits of a true and living 
 faith; if then, they are performed, — but performed 
 from any other motive, for it is unnecessary to 
 refer to their inherent imperfection and corruption, 
 — but if they are performed from any other motive 
 than God has commanded, it is clear that as re- 
 gards God and the actor of those works, they 
 " have the nature of sin," they are the breach of 
 a command, instead of the fulfilment of one, and 
 however estimable in the sight of our fellow-men, 
 cannot be pleasant to him whose will they are 
 opposing. For instance, if we are charitable to 
 obtain the praise of men ; if we are benevolent to 
 gratify the feelings of a heart bleeding at the sight 
 of others' woes; if we are liberal, because it fos- 
 ters our vanity; if we are just, because it satisfies 
 our high-mindedness ; if we are kind and conde- 
 scending, because it ministers to our pride ; can 
 we affect surprise that, however pleasing to God 
 may be the actions taken abstractedly, and without 
 reference to the actor, they have " the nature of 
 sin" when taken with reference to the actor, and 
 are really sinful as regards his motives, principles, 
 and objects. 
 
ARTICLES XII. XIII. XIV. 
 
 85 
 
 There is an incident in ancient history, which 
 may, perhaps, tend to illustrate this. You will 
 recollect in Roman story, that at a time when the 
 discipline of the army peculiarly required the most 
 entire and positive obedience to the orders of the 
 commander, that commander forbade that any in- 
 dividual should leave the ranks, upon any pretence, 
 under pain of immediate death. The order was. 
 as you will remember, violated by his own son, 
 who, indignant at the insults, and menaces, and 
 scorn, of some champion of the enemy, spurred 
 forth to meet him, and having slain him in single 
 combat, brought back the trophies to his father's 
 feet. 
 
 We need not remind you, that the conqueror 
 was ordered to immediate execution. The act of 
 heroism, which, if performed in obedience to com- 
 mand, would have deserved and received the 
 crown, performed as it was, in direct opposition 
 to command, conducted its perpetrator, and with 
 perfect justice, to the scaffold. We are not de- 
 fending the feeling, or the morality of the act, but 
 its justice, which is the only part of the incident 
 which forms any parallel to the subject before us. 
 
 It was just that the commander should order the 
 delinquent to execution ; it is just that God should 
 8 
 
86 
 
 DISCOURSE IV. 
 
 view with displeasure, and treat as sins, those acts 
 which, however grateful to the natural feeling, are 
 destitute of all that can give them value in his 
 eyes, because they are done with no single refer- 
 ence to himself, because they are performed nei- 
 ther in obedience to his will, nor in love and honour 
 to his name, nor with any desire for his glory. 
 
 The third error into which men have fallen re- 
 specting good works, is, that it is possible to pre- 
 sent so large an abundance of them to God in the 
 life of a truly converted man of God, that he may 
 render far more of them, out of his great zeal and 
 love to God, than God ever required at his hands. 
 This, I need scarcely tell you, is the Romish doc- 
 trine of " w T orks of supererogation." Upon this it 
 is unnecessary to dwell ; if there be a Protestant 
 inclined to maintain so unscriptural a dogma, it is 
 enough for him to consider what God really re- 
 quires, before he presumes to pronounce that more 
 can be rendered. Almost a single extract from the 
 Divine Word will set this at rest for ever. Our 
 Lord himself has said, " Thou shalt love the Lord 
 thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 
 and with all thy mind," and, " thy neighbour as 
 thyself."* It is perfectly evident that before works 
 
 * Matt. xxii. 37 and 39. 
 
ARTICLES XII. XIII. XIV. 
 
 87 
 
 of supererogation can commence, works positively 
 enjoined, and commanded, must have been com- 
 pleted. We do not ask, where then is the man 
 who has thus perfectly loved both God and his 
 neighbour ; we might allow for a moment, that 
 such an one could be found, but granting this, 
 what possibility could exist of giving more love 
 than could be given when he gave the whole 
 heart ; or doing more duties than could be done, 
 when he is already engaged to the utmost efforts 
 of his whole soul, and mind, and strength, in per- 
 forming what is absolutely required of him? The 
 inquiry involves a contradiction even in terms; the 
 point is too obvious to reason upon ; and our Ar- 
 ticle therefore wisely shuts it up with the single 
 observation, "Christ saith plainly, When ye have 
 done all that are commanded to you, say, We are 
 unprofitable servants." 
 
 But there is yet a fourth error with respect to 
 this same subject, the very contrary to these which 
 w r e have already considered, but still not less an 
 error than those which have preceded it. This is 
 the error of the Antinomians, who contend that in 
 the persons of the justified, neither evil works nor 
 good works are of any account : that sin in them 
 will not offend God, and that works of piety, or 
 
88 
 
 DISCOURSE IV. 
 
 holiness, or charity, are not necessary to please 
 him : in fact, that every thing beyond the one great 
 doctrine and the one great privilege of the justified, 
 the " being in Christ" is utterly valueless and im- 
 material. It is for the purpose of counteracting 
 this most licentious doctrine, as well as for esta- 
 blishing that truth which we considered in the last 
 Discourse, — that we are not " accounted righteous" 
 " for our own w^orks or deservings," — that the 
 twelfth Article w 7 as appointed. These are the 
 words of the Article : 
 
 " XII. Of good Works. 
 "Albeit that good works, which are the fruits of 
 faith, and follow after justification, cannot put 
 away our sins and endure the severity of God's 
 judgment, yet are they pleasing and acceptable 
 to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of 
 a true and lively faith; insomuch that by them a 
 lively faith may be as evidently known, as a tree 
 discerned by the fruit." 
 
 Upon the former part of this Article, which 
 refers to the first error that we have enumerated, 
 and plainly declares that " good works cannot put 
 away our sins," we need not dwell, having shown 
 this most distinctly from the Word of God and the 
 authority of our Church, while explaining the 
 
ARTICLES XII. XIII. XIV. 
 
 89 
 
 doctrine of justification. Neither need we cor- 
 roborate it by the Homilies ; it is sufficient to refer 
 you to the Homily,* in three parts, dedicated to 
 this express subject. We will, therefore, on this 
 portion of the Article, only add a single testimony, 
 too valuable to be omitted, from the admirable 
 sermon of Hooker, from which we quoted in the 
 last discourse, and which is as clear upon the ne- 
 cessity of good works in their place, and the utter 
 fruitlessness of them when taken out of their place, 
 as the last passage which we cited from him, was 
 upon the nature of the sinner's justification. These 
 are his words — " The best things we do have some- 
 what in them to be pardoned ; how then can we do' 
 any thing meritorious or worthy to be rewarded 1 
 Wherefore we acknowledge a dutiful necessity of 
 doing well ; but the meritorious dignity of doing 
 well, we utterly renounce. We see how far we 
 are from the perfect righteousness of the law. 
 The little fruit we have in holiness, is, God know- 
 eth, corrupt and unsound ; we have no confidence 
 in it; we challenge nothing in the world for it. 
 We dare not call God to reckoning, as if we had 
 him in our debt-books. Our continual suit to him 
 
 See Homily on " Good Works." 
 8* 
 
90 
 
 DISCOURSE IV. 
 
 is, and must be, to bear with our infirmities, and 
 pardon our offences."* 
 
 The Article before us having decided this point, 
 continues most justly and scripturally to observe, 
 though " good works cannot put away our sins," 
 which the mere legalist believes that they can ; or 
 "endure the severity of God's judgment," which 
 the Council of Trent expressly decreed that they 
 could ; " yet are they pleasing, and acceptable to 
 God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a 
 true and lively faith."f 
 
 Nothing can be more scripturally correct, or 
 more scripturally guarded, than these expressions 
 of our Church ; they give that weight and promi- 
 nency to good works which the Word of God 
 gives, but nothing further. They do not even 
 distinctly assert that no man can enter heaven 
 without good works, because, though unquestion- 
 ably such is the rule, yet the compilers of our 
 Articles, well knew that there might be, and that 
 indeed there must be, many exceptions. For, as 
 the first part of the Homily on good works, quaint- 
 ly, but truly says, " I can show a man that by 
 faith, without works, lived and came to heaven ; 
 but without faith never man had life. The thief 
 
 * Disc. Just., sec. 7. 
 
 t See Burnet on Art. 12. 
 
ARTICLES XII. XIU. XIV. 
 
 91 
 
 that was hanged when Christ suffered, did believe 
 only; and the most merciful God justified and 
 saved him. And because no man shall say again 
 that he lacked time to do good works, for else he 
 would have done them ; truth it is, and I will not 
 contend therein : but this I will truly affirm, that 
 faith only saved him."* 
 
 As long as we believe in the possibility of what 
 is called " a death-bed repentance," however rare ; 
 as long as we would not exclude from heaven even 
 those who are called to God at the eleventh hour, 
 and in the last closing scene of life are led by the 
 grace of God to lay hold of that salvation which 
 Christ has purchased for them ; so long we must 
 also believe that it is possible for the truly penitent 
 and converted sinner to enter into the kingdom of 
 God, with heart and affections fully prepared to 
 bring forth a harvest of good fruits to the glory of 
 God, though time and opportunity have been on 
 earth denied him. 
 
 It is, however, of the rule, and not of its excep- 
 tions, that we would speak ; and all Scripture de- 
 monstrates that the rule is, " He that abideth in me, 
 and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit."f 
 We say that all Scripture is full of this important 
 
 * P. 40. 8vo. ed. Oxford, 1802. t John xv. 5. 
 
92 
 
 DISCOURSE IV. 
 
 doctrine; asserting at one time, that "In Christ 
 Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor 
 uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love."* 
 At another, showing that good works are u pleas- 
 ing and acceptable unto God," w r hen it declares, 
 " God is not unrighteous to forget your work and 
 labour of love."f And again, " I heard a voice 
 from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are 
 the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth ; 
 yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their 
 labours, and their works do follow them."J 
 
 But, brethren, it is not enough that we acknow- 
 ledge this, as a matter of orthodox and spiritual 
 truth ; the question is, do we steadily, perseveringly 
 and consistently act upon it as the rule of our lives ? 
 Are we thus engaged in "bringing forth much 
 fruit" to the glory of God? What a libel upon 
 Christianity are the unfruitful lives of its professors ! 
 The worldly followers of a religion, one of whose 
 first injunctions is that the world should be crucified 
 to us, and we unto the world.§ The self-pleasing 
 followers of a Saviour, who distinctly declared, 
 " Whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after 
 me, cannot be my disciple."|| The unkind and un- 
 amiable, and unlovely followers of Him whose 
 
 * Gal. v. 6. t Heb. vi. 10. J Rev. xiv. 13. 
 
 § See Gal. vi. 14. || Luke xiv. 27. 
 
ARTICLES XII. XIII. XIV. 
 
 93 
 
 example and whose Word have said, " This is my 
 commandment that ye love one another as I loved 
 you."* 
 
 Let us then, in conclusion, shortly apply the great 
 lesson before us. And here it is obvious, that I can 
 address myself only to the converted and renewed 
 people of God, and for this simple reason, that, as 
 we have seen both from the 12th and 13th Article, 
 none other but they who are really justified before 
 God, can perform what holy Scripture and our 
 Church denominate "good works." To you, 
 then, we would not be content to say, you must be 
 just, and honourable, and charitable, and amiable, 
 and condescending, and humble, and meek, and 
 affectionate, and true, but we would say with the 
 Apostle, " Whatsoever things, are true, whatsoever 
 things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatso- 
 ever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of 
 good report ; if there be any virtue, if there be any 
 praise, think on" and practise " these things."f Yea, 
 we would go farther still, and say with our divine 
 Master, " What do ye more than others ?"{ imply- 
 ing in the strongest possible manner that the true 
 follower of God must not only believe more, but " do 
 more than others." So far from the free salvation, 
 
 * John xv. 12. f Phil. iv. 8. \ Matt. v. 47. 
 
94 
 
 DISCOURSE IV. 
 
 of which you are the blessed subjects, exonerating 
 you in any, the smallest degree, from those moral 
 duties which it is the boast of the world, though 
 God knows it is an empty boast, that they perform; 
 more, infinitely more, is expected from the man of 
 God, than is even aimed at by the man of the world. 
 Is the worldly man, for instance, punctual in all his 
 engagements, upright and honourable in everything 
 which he undertakes ; you must be more scrupu- 
 lously so, you must excel him in the measure of 
 your good works, as much as you undoubtedly al- 
 ready excel him in the motives of them. He per- 
 forms all these duties, because they are expected of 
 him by his fellow-men, because they are part and 
 parcel of that code of honour to which every high- 
 minded man of the world considers himself amena- 
 ble, and without a scrupulous attention to which he 
 could not for a single day maintain his footing in so- 
 ciety. You are expected to perform them, and if you 
 are a sincere follower of God, you will perform them, 
 as the fruits of a true and lively faith. Knowing 
 how much God has done for you, utterly undeserv- 
 ing, you will endeavour to act in such a manner 
 towards your fellow-men, though equally undeserv- 
 ing, not, as shall best serve your interest in a selfish 
 world, but as shall be most acceptable to a God of 
 
ARTICLES XII. XIII. XIV. 
 
 95 
 
 purity, a God of justice, a God of love. Gratitude 
 alone would insure this at your hands, for know- 
 ing what you have received, you will be always 
 asking, " What shall I render ?"* but more than 
 gratitude demands it. Your good works must be 
 the evidence of your gratitude, but they must also 
 be the fruits of " a true and lively faith." " With- 
 out holiness no man shall see the Lord ;"f and 
 has not the Word of God itself declared that the 
 Lord Jesus Christ " became the author of eternal 
 salvation unto all them that obey him. "J We do 
 not scruple therefore to tell you that " faith with- 
 out works is dead, being alone,"§ that you may 
 boast of the highest spiritual attainments, of the 
 most exalted faith, of the deepest experience, and 
 yet, wanting those Christian virtues, which endear 
 man to his fellows, and which liken him to the 
 meek, and lowly, and forgiving, and compassionate 
 Redeemer, you are in reality destitute of that sav- 
 ing faith from which they necessarily spring, and 
 you have therefore neither part nor lot in the salva- 
 tion which it secures. 
 
 My Christian brethren, we own we do at all 
 times feel it necessary to speak strongly upon these 
 
 * Psalm cxvi. 12. t Heb. xii. 14. 
 
 t Heb. v. 9. § James ii. 17. 
 
96 
 
 DISCOURSE IV. 
 
 practical subjects, because we firmly believe that 
 one unholy and inconsistent, or even worldly and 
 fruitless professor of religion, does more injury to 
 the true cause of the Redeemer, than many open 
 reprobates. And yet, alas ! are there none such 
 among us? Are there none who, holding all the 
 great and saving truths of the Gospel with the 
 most perfect accuracy, may yet derive many a 
 lesson of amiability, and disinterestedness, and hu- 
 mility, and brotherly kindness, and affectionate 
 forbearance, from some who are not yet known 
 to be partakers of the "grace of Christ?" Are 
 there none who would find it difficult, in looking 
 back upon the week which has just closed upon 
 us, to distinguish a single " good work" — a single 
 fruit of faith, laid as a thank-offering upon the 
 altar of their God ? Surely these things ought 
 not so to be ; for is it not thus, that we cause the 
 way of truth to be evil spoken of, " the name of 
 God to be blasphemed,"* the Saviour to be "wound- 
 ed in the house of his frisnds,"f and the preaching 
 of the everlasting Gospel, with its one great truth, 
 "justification by faith only" to be treated by the 
 ignorant, or the malevolent, as an unholy and licen- 
 tious fable ? 
 
 * Rom ii. 24. Titus ii. 5. t Zech. xiii. 6. 
 
ARTICLES XII. XIII. XIV. 
 
 97 
 
 If, therefore, you love " the truth as it is in 
 Jesus ;" # if you love the Saviour who proclaimed 
 it; if you love your own souls, and your own 
 eternity, be constant in well-doing ; whether it be 
 to spiritual duties, or to temporal duties, that the 
 occasion calls you, be first and foremost in them 
 all, " doing whatsoever your hand findeth to do 
 with your might,"f " letting your light so shine be- 
 fore men, that they may see your good works, and 
 glorify your Father which is in heaven"J — " being 
 filled with the fruits of righteousness which are 
 by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of 
 God."§ 
 
 * Eph. iv. 21 . t Eccles. ix. 10. 
 
 , X Malt. v. 16. § Phil. i. 11. 
 
 9 
 
98 
 
 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 ■,'M 
 
 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 ACTS IV. part of verse 12. 
 
 " There is none other name under Heaven given among men, 
 whereby we must be saved." 
 
 Having on the last occasion of addressing you, 
 considered the three Articles, viz. 12th, 13th, and 
 14th, which treat of " Good Works,'' it is my in- 
 tention to-day, to bring before you the three Ar- 
 ticles, viz., 15th, 16th, and 18th, which treat upon 
 the important subjects of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and of Sin. The two of these, which will form 
 the first subjects of our observations this morning, 
 are the 15th and the 18th. 
 
 " XV. Of Christ alone without sin. 
 
 " Christ, in the truth of our nature, was made 
 like unto us in all things, sin only excepted, from 
 which He was clearly void, both in his flesh and 
 in his spirit." 
 
 That this commencement of the Article is 
 founded entirely upon the declarations of God's 
 Word, will be immediately apparent from these 
 
ARTJCLES XV. XVI. XVIII. 
 
 99 
 
 well-known passages of Scripture : " Forasmuch 
 as the children are partakers of the flesh and 
 blood, he also himself likewise took part of the 
 same." Therefore was our Lord certainly made 
 like us " in the truth" or the reality " of our na- 
 ture."* That he was void of sin, " both in his 
 flesh and in his spirit," is equally apparent from 
 these declarations, — " In all points tempted like 
 as we are, not without sin."f " The prince of 
 this world," Satan, " cometh, and hath nothing in 
 me. "J " He did no sin, neither was guile found in 
 his mouth ;"§ and many other passages which are 
 familiar to us all. 
 
 It is impossible to read these valuable documents 
 of our Church without being continually struck 
 with that providential direction, by which their 
 compilers were led to controvert ancient heresies, 
 by asserting the true and scriptural views of all 
 these important subjects, and thus to correct by 
 anticipation, those errors which should in after 
 ages spring up, to delude and deceive the people 
 of God. We have in this first sentence, the dis- 
 tinct opinion of the holy men of our Church, not 
 only upon one of the errors of Socinus, that Christ 
 
 * Heb. ii. 14. 
 t John xiv. 30. 
 
 t Heb. iv. 15. 
 § 1 Pet. ii. 22. 
 
100 
 
 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 was peccable, but also upon that modern revival 
 of the heresy of Nestorius, which, by asserting 
 that the nature of our blessed Lord was a " fallen 
 nature," and his flesh " sinful flesh," applies language 
 to the flesh of Christ, which even they would not 
 apply to Christ himself, thus making two persons 
 in Christ, which was the very essence of Nestorian- 
 ism, opening at once the floodgates to those low 
 and unworthy views of the Saviour of the world, 
 which are as much at variance with the .express 
 declarations of his eternal Godhead, as they are 
 opposed to the leading doctrines of Christianity, his 
 " perfect sacrifice," and perfect manhood. 
 
 For as the Article before us truly adds, " He 
 came to be the Lamb without spot, who by sacri- 
 fice of himself once made, should take away the 
 sins of the world, and sin, as St. John saith, was 
 not in him."*' If, therefore, our Lord had had 
 only a fallen nature to offer, instead of being " the 
 Lamb without spot,"f his would have been a 
 blemished sacrifice, and he would himself have 
 needed thai with which no other being throughout 
 the universe could have supplied him, a perfect 
 offering to satisfy the justice of God. 
 
 " But all we the rest," continues the Article, 
 
 * 1 John iii. 5. t 1 Pet. i. 19. 
 
ARTICLES XV. XVI. XVIII. 
 
 101 
 
 " although baptized, and born again in Christ, yet 
 offend in many things, and if we say we have no 
 sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not 
 in us."* 
 
 What has been already remarked respecting the 
 former clause of the Article, is equally true with re- 
 gard to this. It was originally levelled against the 
 Pelagians, who maintained that "persons after bap- 
 tism might live without sin," and in this they were 
 countenanced by some of the Anabaptists of former 
 days, and are, we fear, even now followed by some 
 sectaries at the present day. 
 
 It is perhaps vain to have recourse to argument 
 to convince those, whom the daily experience of 
 their own hearts and lives leaves unconvinced ; or 
 else we might remind them of the irresistible testi- 
 mony afforded by that form of daily prayer which 
 probably none among them habitually neglect, 
 " Forgive us our trespasses." Whence can come 
 the daily need of such a petition, directed by our 
 Lord himself, and adopted in every age by the 
 holiest people of God, if there can be a state in 
 which the believer while on earth lives free from daily 
 sin ? Surely, the more devoted, the more consistent, 
 the more closely we are enabled by God's grace to 
 
 * 1 John i. 8. 
 
 9* 
 
102 
 
 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 walk in the commandments and laws of our hea- 
 venly Father, the more sensible will the heart be- 
 come, of every, the slightest, deviation from those 
 laws. While the indifferent or the formalist will pass 
 through days, and weeks, and months, without ex- 
 periencing, perhaps, one reproachful feeling, one 
 distressful consciousness that he has deviated from 
 the strait and narrow path, the renewed child of 
 God will never lay his head in peace upon his 
 pillow, until he has sought and found forgiveness 
 through the blood of Christ, for the numberless sins 
 of omission and of commission which if unforgiven, 
 each day, as it passes away for ever, carries up 
 with it to the throne of the Eternal, and registers in 
 the book of God's remembrance. 
 
 Having thus borne its true and scriptural testi- 
 mony to the sinlessness of Christ and the sinfulness 
 of man, the Church in the 18th Article continues 
 thus : 
 
 " XVIII. Of obtaining eternal salvation only by 
 the name of Christ. 
 " They also are to be had accursed that presume 
 to say, that every man shall be saved by the law or 
 sect which he professeth, so that he be diligent to 
 frame his life according to that law, and the light 
 of nature. For Holy Scripture doth set out unto us 
 
ARTICLES XV. XVI. XVIII. 
 
 103 
 
 only the name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must 
 be saved. 
 
 In these days of spurious liberality, it is not sur- 
 prising that this Article, misunderstood as it so fre- 
 quently is, should have been so widely reprobated. 
 It has been publicly asserted, and upon the authority 
 of the Article before us, that the Church of England 
 is as intolerant as the Church of Rome, and con- 
 demns all to perdition who do not hold the truths 
 of God's Word precisely as she herself holds them. 
 Nothing, as we shall see in the sequel, can be more 
 unjust, or more untrue; still we are well aware, that 
 explain it as we may, there will always be much in 
 the great truth contained in the Article, which will 
 be hostile to the feelings of the natural heart. So 
 long as the sentiment of the well-known distich re- 
 tains its popularity in the world, 
 
 " For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight, 
 His can't be wrong, whose life is in the right," 
 
 the multitude will always be opposed to the great 
 Scriptural doctrine, of the Article before us. This, 
 however, will in no degree influence the true Chris- 
 tian ; his inquiry will never be, what is the opinion 
 of the world, upon any point connected with his 
 duty to God : it will be simply this, " What saith the 
 Lord ? Is the voice of my Church, upon this sub- 
 
104 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 ject, in accordance with the voice of my God ? If 
 it be, let those reject the voice who have already 
 rejected the speaker, but let the language of my 
 heart always be, 4 Speak, Lord, for thy servant 
 heareth.'"* Thus, then, saith the Lord, "This is 
 the. stone which was set at nought of you builders, 
 which is become the head of the corner. Neither is 
 there salvation in any other ; for there is none other 
 name under heaven given among men whereby we 
 must be saved."f And again, " He that hath the 
 Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God 
 hath not life."J " He that believeth not, is con- 
 demned already, because he hath not believed in the 
 name of the only-begotten Son of God."§ 
 
 This, then, at once strikes at the root of all that 
 false, and hollow affectation of liberality, which 
 would encourage the natural heart of man in its 
 pride, and obstinacy, by teaching that whatever be 
 " the law" which we follow, or " the sect" to which 
 we belong, if we but " be diligent to frame our lives 
 according to that law," all will be well. This as- 
 sures us upon the authority of God himself, that so 
 far from man not being accountable for his religious 
 creed, and consequently not punishable for its de- 
 
 * 1 Sam. iii. 9. t Acts iv. 11, 12. 
 
 1 1 John v. 12. § John iii. 18. 
 
ARTICLES XV. XVI. XVIII. 
 
 105 
 
 fects, so far from that man's faith being necessarily 
 right, whose life is not pronounced to be wrong, by 
 the world around him, that every man to whom the 
 Gospel has ever been proposed, or who, from pro- 
 vidential circumstances, might, had he so pleased, 
 have become acquainted with it, shall most assured- 
 ly, if he have not found pardon, and peace with 
 God, through the name of Jesus, and through that 
 alone, be in the end a cast-away. We well know 
 how unpalatable such a truth as this must be, to 
 every individual who is endeavouring to build himself 
 up in the false and futile expectation, that what he 
 considers a good life, or sincerity in the creed 
 which he professes, although that creed exclude all 
 the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel, even to the 
 Divinity or atonement of the Lord Jesus, shall at 
 the last great day be found sufficient. But we dare 
 not conceal, we dare not modify even the terms in 
 which God himself, in the person of the only-be- 
 gotten Son, has pronounced this affecting, this vital 
 truth. He has said it, and one jot, or one tittle of 
 His Word, shall by no means pass away till all be 
 fulfilled ; " He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be 
 saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."* 
 This is the sentence of Him who was love itself, 
 
 * Mark xvi. 16. 
 
106 
 
 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 and shall man affect to be more charitable, than his 
 Maker ? Shall man, for the sake of not inflicting 
 a moment's pain, or of not giving lasting offence 
 to his fellow-sinners, presume to alter the terms of 
 such a message, and say, that any thing short of a 
 full and entire recognition of the great truths of 
 the Gospel, a full and complete dependence upon 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, and upon him alone, will 
 be sufficient for the salvation of a soul? No, 
 brethren, we dare not do it; better to plant a sting 
 in every heart before us at this moment, which has 
 not yet made its peace with God through the only 
 Saviour; better to be convicted by a world's unani- 
 mous sentence, of bigotry, of superstition, of un- 
 charitableness, of illiberality, and an utter igno- 
 rance of all that man, in the vain pride of his in- 
 tellect, thinks worthy of his attainments ; yes, bet- 
 ter far to be treated, as the Apostles before us 
 were, as " the offscouring of all things,"* than 
 by concealing, or modifying this awful truth, to 
 leave you undisturbed in your error, and your self- 
 complacency, until the last great day shall unde- 
 ceive you. We repeat then, and we pray, that 
 while repeating it, the Spirit of God may so stamp 
 it upon your souls, that the ceaseless flow of time 
 
 * 1 Cor. iv. 13. 
 
ARTICLES XV. XVI. XVIII. 
 
 107 
 
 may have no power to efface, and to obliterate it; 
 that they M are to be had accursed," who presume 
 to tell you that your sincerity, or your ignorance, 
 or your wisdom, or your imaginary holiness (for 
 real holiness out of Christ there can be none), will 
 avail to save you, so that you " be but diligent to 
 frame your life," according to what you imagine 
 to be God's law, and the light of nature; Christ, 
 and Christ alone, " is the way, the truth, and the 
 life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Him."* 
 In Him, you are, as we have already seen, "justi- 
 fied by faith," and at " peace with God ;"f out of 
 Him, and all virtues, all obedience, all rectitude of 
 moral conduct, are, as regards your soul's salvation, 
 literally nothing worth ; you are exposed, helpless, 
 destitute, and forlorn, to the avenging tempest of 
 the wrath of God, " a fiery deluge and without an 
 ark." 
 
 Here then would we, as Christian ministers, take 
 our stand. All other points are comparatively tri- 
 fling, but this, this indeed, is vital. Upon this, we 
 would urge you, we would pray for you, we would 
 intreat you, we would run every risk, even to the 
 offending you, and wearying you, and driving you 
 from us, rather than at the great day you should 
 
 * John xiv. 6. t Rom. v. 1. 
 
108 
 
 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 be enabled to say, the Lord Jesus Christ was never 
 clearly proposed to me as the only Saviour of my 
 soul : I heard of Him as the world hears of Him, 
 but never as my only hope and my only safety. 
 Are there then, any of you, is a single person 
 among you destitute of this hope, this safety, this 
 refuge ? Is there one who is experimentally igno- 
 rant, that " there is none other name under heaven 
 given among men, whereby we must be saved ?" 
 To that one we would say, this day the Lord 
 waiteth to be gracious, this day He freely offers to 
 you pardon and peace. He " stretches forth His 
 hands"* (it is God's own metaphor), to receive you 
 to Himself, only cast yourself fully and unreservedly 
 upon Him, commit your soul to Him as unto a gra- 
 cious Creator, and His blood shall cleanse, His 
 righteousness justify, and His promised Spirit re- 
 new, and sanctify your soul. Yours shall be on 
 earth, the privileges of the children of God, and in 
 heaven, an abundant entrance into their Father's 
 mansion. 
 
 There is yet one other subject, but purely a 
 speculative one, connected with this Article, upon 
 which, perhaps, it may be expected that we should 
 touch. If the words of our Church be literally 
 
 * Rom. x. 21 ; Isa. v. 25, &c. 
 
ARTICLES XV. XVI. XVIII. 
 
 109 
 
 true, that it is an accursed thing to say, that any 
 man shall be saved " by the law or sect which he 
 professeth," then what opinion must be given upon 
 the state of the heathen world ! There are, as it 
 is supposed, upwards of six hundred millions of im- 
 mortal souls at the present moment, living upon 
 the earth in utter ignorance of that holy name, 
 " whereby men must be saved." Every century, 
 therefore, more, probably, than eighteen hundred 
 millions of persons, are passing to their long and 
 last account, having no hope, and without God in 
 the world."* What opinion are we to give re- 
 specting their final state T It might be sufficient to 
 repeat our Lord's own answer when subjected to 
 a very similar inquiry, " Lord, are there few that 
 shall be saved?" And Jesus answered, "strive to 
 enter in at the strait gate."f But as our Church 
 has been supposed by some to have overstepped 
 her accustomed prudence, and to speak plainly, 
 where God has intended to speak obscurely, a few 
 moments will not be misapplied, in the considera- 
 tion of the passage in question. And here, although 
 in so saying we shall differ from many with whom 
 we usually agree, we cannot but confess that 
 Bishop Burnet's interpretation of that portion of 
 
 * Ephes. ii. 12. t Luke xiii. 23, 24. 
 
 10 
 
110 
 
 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 the Article which refers to those to whom the 
 Christian religion has never been revealed, appears 
 to us a very sound and correct one, viz., that there 
 is " a great difference to be observed between the 
 words, 'saved by the law,' and saved Hn the law :'* 
 the one condemned, but not the other. To be 
 saved by a law or sect, signifies that by the virtue 
 of that law or sect such men who follow it may 
 be saved ; whereas to be saved in a law or sect, 
 imports only that God may extend his compassions 
 to men that are engaged in false religions. The 
 former only is condemned by this Article, which 
 affirms nothing concerning the other."t Of this 
 w r e are quite certain, because God himself has pro- 
 nounced it, that " there is none other name," but 
 the name of Christ, by which men can be saved ; 
 therefore w r e must be most careful, that while we 
 do not draw a single inference which shall increase 
 the severity of God, beyond what Scripture has 
 distinctly revealed concerning it, so neither must 
 
 * We are aware that in the Latin copy of the Article it is ex- 
 pressed, " in lege aut secta ;" but as the English and Latin Arti- 
 cles are of equal authority, it is clear that the compilers never 
 intended by the Latin phrase to express "in the law or sect;" for 
 had they done so, they would most certainly so have rendered it 
 in the English copy. — Author. 
 
 t Bishop Burnet, p. 240, 8vo., Oxford, 1814. 
 
ARTICLES XV. XVI. XVIII. 
 
 Ill 
 
 we increase the mercy of God, so that it shall in- 
 terfere with his justice or his truth: we can there- 
 fore only say, that all who shall be saved must be 
 saved by Christ ; but whether his atoning blood 
 may not be efficacious, for the remission of the sins 
 of those, who have never had the opportunity of 
 acquiring a knowledge of his sacrifice, whether his 
 name may not be " a savour of life unto life,"* to 
 some who, having never heard it, can never have 
 called upon that blessed name, it is not for man to 
 determine, although it is nowhere forbidden man to 
 to hope and to believe it. Our Church has wisely 
 expressed no opinion upon this most difficult point, 
 and we would imitate her prudence, resting our 
 hopes of the salvation of these benighted souls, 
 upon our knowledge of the character of that God 
 with whom we have to do, and the infinite love and 
 " unsearchable riches of Christ ;"f and resting our 
 certainty, that they shall receive justice at the 
 hands of God, upon that express declaration of 
 his own unerring word, " There is no respect of 
 persons with God. For as many as have sinned 
 without law, shall also perish without law : and as 
 many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged 
 by the law ; (for not the hearers of the law are 
 
 * 2 Cor. ii. 16. t Ephes. iii. 8. 
 
112 
 
 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 just before God, but the doers of the law shall be 
 justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not 
 the law, do by nature the things contained in the 
 law, these, having not the law, are a law unto 
 themselves: which show the work of the law writ- 
 ten in their hearts, their conscience also bearing 
 witness, and their thoughts the mean while accus- 
 ing, or else excusing one another;) in the day when 
 God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ 
 according to my Gospel."* That the heathen, 
 then, can be saved, may, we think, be believed 
 without impugning a single word of the written 
 testimony of our God — that they shall be saved, 
 the last day only can determine. 
 
 There yet remains the third of those Articles, 
 which we proposed to consider this morning, upon 
 which to offer a few brief observations : it is the 
 16th and entitled, 
 
 " XVI. Of sin after Baptism. 
 
 " Not every deadly sin, willingly committed 
 after baptism, is sin against the Holy Ghost and 
 unpardonable. Wherefore the grant of repentance 
 is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after 
 baptism." 
 
 Having, on a former occasion, spoken at length, 
 
 * Rom. ii. 11—16. 
 
ARTICLES XV. XVI. XVIII. 
 
 113 
 
 upon the " sin against the Holy Ghost,"* it will 
 here be only necessary to remark, that the object 
 of this portion of the Article is to show, in opposi- 
 tion to those schismatics who were called Nova- 
 tians, that repentance may be sought, and found, 
 even by those who, after having been united by 
 baptism to the Church of the Redeemer, and re- 
 newed in the spirit of their mind, have fallen into 
 wilful sin. The error in the ancient Church upon 
 this point, was, that no sin committed after baptism 
 could obtain pardon ; and the consequence was, as 
 is invariably the case, that error in theory, led to 
 error in practice ; that many, and among them was 
 the Emperor Constantine, delayed their baptism 
 until the hour of death, probably that they might es- 
 cape the possibility of falling away. All Scripture, 
 however, controverts this error ; vain would be that 
 petition of the Lord's prayer to which we have be- 
 fore alluded if forgiveness were withheld from per- 
 sons sinning after baptism. While the opinion of 
 the Apostolical Church on this subject, may be very 
 conclusively gathered, from this declaration of St. 
 Paul to the Galatians, " If any one is overtaken 
 in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a 
 one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, 
 
 * In the Lectures on the History of Christ, Part 2, Lecture IV. 
 10* 
 
114 
 
 # 
 
 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 lest thou also be tempted." Showing at once, 
 that throughout the whole Church of Christ, even 
 they who " are spiritual" and therefore certainly, 
 all may be tempted, and all may fall into sin, and 
 all may be renewed again unto repentance. 
 
 The Article continues, " After we have received 
 the Holy Ghost, we may depart from grace given, 
 and fall into sin, and by the grace of God we may 
 arise again and amend our lives. And therefore 
 they are to be condemned, which say, they can no 
 more sin as long as they live here, or deny the 
 place of forgiveness to such as truly repent." 
 
 With what remarkable prudence, does our 
 Church here speak, upon one of those weighty 
 and mysterious subjects, which have so long di- 
 vided the body of Christ. She does not say, as 
 doubtless many of her followers would have de- 
 sired her to say, " We may depart from grace 
 given and fall into sin, but, by the grace of God, 
 we must arise again and amend our lives;" she 
 contents herself with affirming, " we may arise 
 again and amend our lives," thus leaving the con- 
 tested subject of " final perseverance" untouched 
 neither contradicted, nor affirmed. Of all the high, 
 and mysterious doctrines of salvation, there ap- 
 pears to be none, upon which the Word of God 
 
ARTICLES XV. XVI. XVIII. 
 
 115 
 
 has spoken so little authoritatively as upon this 
 subject. Well, therefore, would it be for us all to 
 imitate the wisdom of holy Scripture, and the 
 modesty of our Church, upon points of such ex- 
 treme, and inscrutable difficulty. The practical 
 view is the only view, which is essential to the 
 well-being of our souls, and therefore the only one 
 which we should be anxious that all should receive, 
 as the undoubted truth of God ; and the practical 
 view is this, that the grace of God is continually 
 extended over us, that it will never be withdrawn 
 by God from any one of His believing and obey- 
 ing people ; but, that " we may depart from grace 
 given," and that if by the prevalence of powerful 
 temptation, we are led to deviate from the strait 
 and narrow path, God's grace is still within our 
 reach, and will, if sought, enable us to " arise 
 again and amend our lives," and regain our foot- 
 ing on the heavenward path. More than this, 
 brethren, we do not feel it necessary to say. It is 
 unquestionably true, that " He which hath begun a 
 good work in you, will perform it until the day of 
 Jesus Christ ;"* but it is equally true that, as 
 Hooker well expresses it, " To our own safety, 
 our own sedulity is required." To our own ulti- 
 
 * Phil. i.6. 
 
116 
 
 DISCOURSE V. 
 
 mate perseverance in grace, therefore, our own 
 constant endeavours, after holiness must be most 
 closely allied ; and wretched indeed will be the fate 
 of those, who are driven to seek for comfort on a 
 dying bed, as he, of old, who asked his chaplain, 
 " Can they who have been once elect fall from 
 grace ?" and upon being answered in the negative, 
 then took courage, from the conviction that he had 
 once been among that happy number. Building up 
 their spiritual house, not on the only true founda- 
 tion, not upon a present dependence upon the love, 
 and sacrifice, and righteousness of a crucified Re- 
 deemer, but upon some mysterious, or imaginary 
 transaction, between God, and their souls, the 
 sanctifying effects of which have long since passed 
 away for ever. No, my beloved brethren, while 
 you remember for your comfort and encourage- 
 ment, that " the foundation of God standeth sure, 
 having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are 
 His;"* never forget that this seal of your Christian 
 character has two sides, and that if that be engraven 
 on the one, we have the same Divine authority for 
 knowing that this is inscribed upon the other, " Let 
 every one that nameth the name of Christ depart 
 from iniquity." 
 
 * 2 Tim. ii. 19. 
 
ARTICLES XV. XVI. XVIII. 117 
 
 Let me then urge you. brethren. " by the mercies 
 of God."* to fear sin. all sin, even the least sin. as a 
 " deadly" ev[]r as that which alone can cast both 
 soul and body into hell. " Watch and pray lest ye 
 enter into temptation,''^ knowing that as the small- 
 est aperture is sufficient to sink the largest vessel, 
 so also the smallest sin allowed in the soul, will make 
 an opening, through which every wave of corruption 
 will flow in, until, unless the grace of God be mira- 
 culously exerted in your behalf, all will be lost- 
 While therefore you live in the fullest reliance upon 
 the promises of God, the fullest enjoyment of your 
 privileges, live also in the daily, hourly waiting upon 
 a throne of grace, for strength to serve God accept- 
 ably, with reverence, and godly fear ; knowing thai 
 He who is a sun and shield to His people, is, to 
 every evil-doer, whatever his profession of service, 
 M a consuming fire."§ 
 
 * Rom. xii. 1. * Matt. s. 25. 
 
 I Matt. xxvi. 41. § Deut. iv. 24, and Heb. Xfi. 29 
 
118 
 
 DISCOIRSE VI. 
 
 DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 2 PETER L, part ver. 10. 
 
 " Give diligence to make your calling and election sure." 
 
 We arrive this morning at the 17th Article of 
 our Church; an Article upon which the compilers, 
 appear to have bestowed more minute attention, 
 and to have exercised, if possible, a greater degree 
 of thoughtfulness and care, and to have been assist- 
 ed with wisdom from on high, even in a more signal 
 manner, than in any other, which they have handed 
 down to us. Well have they said, that " the godly 
 consideration" of the sublime subjects it contains, 
 " is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort;" 
 but wisely have they added, that it is so only, " to 
 godly persons, and such as feel in themselves the 
 working of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works 
 of the fl jsh, and their ( arthly members, and drawing 
 up their minds to high, and heavenly things." May 
 the spirit of God render our consideration of these 
 high mysteries, " a godly consideration ;" not suffering 
 
ARTICLE XVII. 
 
 119 
 
 us to intrude, into " the secret things, which belong 
 to the Lord our God," or to attempt to explain what 
 God has hidden, or to presume to speak dogmatically, 
 or confidently, upon subjects which shall never be 
 made clear to us here below; but may He bestow 
 upon us the wisdom, to take a simple, and scriptural, 
 a charitable, and practical view of a question, upon 
 which it is in vain to hope, that even true Chris- 
 tians shall perfectly agree, until they arrive at that 
 blessed place, into which neither misconception, nor 
 controversy shall enter, but where all shall be union, 
 and harmony and peace. 
 
 1 shall, as on former occasions, confine myself 
 simply to the declarations of the Article before us, 
 which are of themselves, fully sufficient to occupy 
 our attention, without entering into the immeasura- 
 ble fields of this vast subject that lie beyond. 
 " XVII. Of Predestination and Election." 
 " Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose 
 of God, whereby (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 by Christ to ever- 
 lasting salvation, as vessels made to honour." 
 It is impossible for any person of common atten- 
 
120 
 
 DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 tion to read the Word of God, without discovering 
 that throughout the pages both of the Old and New 
 Testament, the Almighty is represented as taking a 
 more immediate, and intimate interest in the affairs 
 of men, than merely foreknowing, and superintending 
 them. God is spoken of, in fact, as interfering from 
 time to time in the appointment, and choice of human 
 instruments, as well as in ruling, and overruling all. 
 This Divine appointment or choice occurs, indeed, so 
 frequently in Holy Writ, that it cannot be over- 
 looked and it may tend to the better understanding of 
 the declaration of our Church, if we shortly examine 
 the different senses in which the term is employed, 
 that we may discover with what intention our 
 Church has applied it in the Article before us. 
 
 First, then, we find the term choosing adopted in 
 various portions of the Divine Word, with reference 
 to certain offices, or employments, to which indivi- 
 duals were in some especial manner, chosen or 
 elected of God, Such, for instance, was the case of 
 Saul, the first king of Israel, of whom we find the 
 prophet Samuel asserting in the presence of all the 
 people, " See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen.' ,# 
 So again with reference to the twelve Apostles, 
 
 * 1 Sam. x. 24. 
 
ARTICLE XVII. 
 
 121 
 
 " Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you 
 twelve?" 
 
 Again, we find choice, or election, spoken of 
 with reference to national advantages, and national 
 privileges, of which many examples might be ad- 
 duced. For instance, with regard to the children 
 of Israel, we read in Deut. vii. 6, " The Lord thy 
 God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto 
 himself ;" and again in Isaiah lxv. 9, speaking of the 
 same people, we find the Almighty saying, " Mine 
 elect shall inherit it;" and again, verse 22, M Mine 
 elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands." 
 While St. Peter adopts the same method of speak- 
 ing of the Christian Church, as a body, the visible 
 Church of Christ, as having been elected into the 
 same place of spiritual privileges, and spiritual ad- 
 vantages, from which the Jews had by transgression 
 fallen, when he says, "ye are a chosen generation, 
 a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people." 
 
 Thus far, probably, no one will demur to the ex- 
 planation, which has been offered ; but there is still 
 a third sense, in which the same phrases of electing 
 or choosing appear to be employed in Holy Writ ; 
 and this is election, not of nations, but of persons, 
 and not merely to the external means of salvation, 
 or to Church privileges, but to everlasting life. 
 11 
 
122 DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 The great difficulty is, among the number of 
 passages which immediately present themselves to 
 the mind of every attentive reader of Holy Writ, to 
 select such only as offer the least temptation to those 
 endless discussions, and verbal differences, which 
 have always perplexed this mysterious subject. 
 For this purpose, we are disposed to omit all refer- 
 ence, to the many testimonies borne throughout the 
 Epistles, to the doctrine upon which we are com- 
 menting, and by which it is usual to establish its 
 truth; we will not even detain you, by considering 
 that unanswerable passage, " We are bound to give 
 thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of 
 the Lord, because God hath from the beginning 
 chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of 
 the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he 
 called you by our Gospel to the obtaining of the 
 glory of our Lord Jesus Christ ;"* but we will go at 
 once to the Gospel itself, and to the words of Him 
 who spake as never man before, or since, has 
 spoken; leaving it to yourselves to search for the 
 corroboration, or refutation of these high doctrines, 
 in those inspired writings of the Apostles, which 
 have ever been considered by the Church, as the 
 best commentary upon the words of their Master. 
 * 2 Thesa. ii. 13, 14. 
 
ARTICLE XVII. 
 
 123 
 
 We shall first, then, refer to our Lord's declara- 
 tion respecting his Apostles. 
 
 We have already quoted a passage, in which he 
 says, " Have 1 not chosen you twelve?" where the 
 word is evidently used in reference to the disciple- 
 ship ; is it not, then, a little remarkable that our 
 Lord uses again the same word, and infers that He 
 has not chosen the twelve, when he says expressly, 
 " I speak not of you all ; I know whom I have 
 chosen." It is not easy to reconcile these two de- 
 clarations, without allowing that, in the former, our 
 Lord spoke only of an election to the apostleship, 
 while, in the latter, he spoke of an election to eternal 
 life; in the first of which Judas was included, 
 although not in the second. 
 
 Add only to this, the other clear and explicit state- 
 ments of our Divine Master himself, as recorded by 
 St. John, " All that the Father giveth me, shall come 
 to me." " And this is the Father's will which hath 
 sent me, that of all which he hath given me 1 should 
 lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last 
 day." " I have manifested thy name unto the men 
 which thou gavest me out of the world : thine they 
 were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept 
 thy Word." " I pray for them, I pray not for the 
 world, but for them which thou hast given me, for 
 
124 
 
 DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 they are thine," " And I give unto them eternal 
 life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any 
 man pluck them out of my hand. My Father who 
 gave them me is greater than all ; and no man is 
 able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." 
 
 The distinction in these passages, between those 
 who are given to Christ, and those who are not 
 given, is so obvious, that we do not fear to rest the 
 whole question, of the doctrine which we are con- 
 sidering, upon these declarations of our Lord, and to 
 say with a celebrated Reformer,* that " if in the 
 whole Scripture there were no more places to prove 
 it, . . . this alone were sufficient." 
 
 If, however, the nature of this discourse would ad- 
 mit of it, we should be willing to refer this import- 
 ant subject of "predestination unto life," and our 
 " election in Christ," to your own experience, and 
 to your own hearts, and permit them to determine 
 the question. We would take aside every indivi- 
 dual child of God among you at this moment, and 
 suffer the truth of the doctrine to stand, or fall, ac- 
 cording to his reply to this inquiry, Did you, in your 
 own case, first choose God, or did God choose 
 you 1 
 
 When you were in the thoughtlessness, and care- 
 
 * John Knox's Treatise on Predestination, p. 57. 
 
ARTICLE XVII. 
 
 125 
 
 lessness of childhood, what led you to the knowledge 
 of your Maker, and your Redeemer 1 When you 
 were forgetting him in your youth, and beginning, 
 or perhaps more than beginning, to tread the down- 
 ward path, who arrested your steps? Who held 
 you back, when on the very brink of everlasting 
 ruin ? Who, when you were resolutely bent upon 
 disregarding him, and dishonouring him, when you 
 had indeed wandered far from him, reasoned with 
 you, strove with you, and drawing you " with the 
 bands of love," at the last overcame you, and car- 
 ried you home " on his shoulders rejoicing ?" 
 
 And were you alone in sin, had you no compa- 
 nions in iniquity, and where are they ? Have they 
 also returned to God ? Are they now among his 
 people ? What then, you were not alone in sin, 
 but you have been alone in your repentance, alone 
 in your present state of acceptance with God ! 
 Who then has made you to differ? Who has 
 snatched you, as a brand from the burning 1 Who 
 has saved you, where others, in the midst of equal 
 privileges, and equal opportunities, have been cut 
 off' in their career of impenitence and sin, and, as 
 we fear, for ever perished '? We are convinced 
 that each would answer, It was God, even my 
 God : thanks be to God for exercising his grace, 
 11* 
 
126 
 
 DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 according to his sovereign will, and not according 
 to my deservings. " So then it is not of him that 
 willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that 
 showeth mercy."* 
 
 Yes, brethren, this is one of those subjects 
 which derive their most unanswerable arguments 
 from the testimony of our own consciences, from 
 what we feel within us, and from what we see 
 around us. I would not stir one hair's breadth to 
 induce any human being to receive these opinions, 
 until his own experience has preached them to him, 
 or his own heart has anxiously sought them, as 
 the channel through which to pour the full flood 
 of its gratitude to the Giver of all its blessings. 
 
 We have seen, in the course of our inquiry, that 
 there are three methods, in which the terms of 
 electing, or choosing, are applied in Holy Writ ; 
 the election to an office, the election of nations or 
 communities to external privileges, and the election 
 of persons to eternal salvation. We have next to 
 investigate which of the three is adopted by our 
 Church in the Article before us. The very first 
 words of the Article appear to us to decide the 
 question, " Predestination to life." Not, therefore, 
 predestination to office, or employment ; not, as 
 
 * Rom. ix. 16. 
 
ARTICLE XVII. 
 
 127 
 
 some explain it, predestination to any national ad- 
 vantages, or outward means of grace, but " pre- 
 destination to life," to spiritual life here, and to 
 eternal life hereafter. 
 
 Should there be any, however, who do not consi- 
 der these opening words to be so decisive upon this 
 point as we are led to believe, it may perhaps as- 
 sist them in coming to a right conclusion, if they 
 will only take an unprejudiced view of the remain- 
 der of the passage, which we have already quoted. 
 In this, the Church distinctly declares, that the pre- 
 destination of which she is speaking is " the ever- 
 lasting purpose of God, to deliver from curse, and 
 damnation, those whom he hath chosen in Christ, 
 out of mankind." Now it is evident, that if the 
 compilers of our Article had intended to refer only 
 to national election, they would scarcely have em- 
 ployed such terms as these, for they must too well 
 have known, that many who were in the fullest 
 enjoyment of all the outward ordinances of re- 
 ligion, might eventually not be delivered from 
 " curse and damnation," but after all their external 
 advantages, make- shipwreck of their faith, to the 
 eternal ruin of their souls. When therefore the 
 compilers say that the predesti nation of which they 
 speak, is a "predestination to life," and the election 
 
128 
 
 DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 of which they speak, is the choice out " of man- 
 kind," of those whom God will "deliver from curse 
 and damnation," and will bring by Christ to ever- 
 lasting salvation," it certainly does appear, that 
 however wise men, and good men, may differ as 
 to their interpretation of Scripture, upon this point, 
 they cannot easily differ, as to their interpretation 
 of the views of our Church, respecting this great 
 subject. We do not hesitate to say, that we be- 
 lieve the opinion of our Church, upon the question 
 of particular election to eternal life, to be as deci- 
 sive as any opinion she has ever expressed in her 
 accredited formularies. 
 
 Although we thus clearly state our own convic- 
 tion of the sentiments of our Church upon this 
 point, we would desire to exercise the greatest 
 moderation, while maintaining them. We believe 
 that many holy men, who are ranged among her 
 true, and attached followers, do not view this sub- 
 ject in the same light. We are unable to agree 
 with them ; but this difference of sentiment neither 
 diminishes our respect for their piety, nor our 
 opinion of their sincerity or their judgment. We 
 are willing to concede to them the point, that these 
 doctrines are not to be brought forward in the ordi- 
 nary course of Christian instruction, in any other, 
 
ARTICLE XVII. 
 
 129 
 
 or more prominent positions than they occupy in 
 the revealed Word of our God. We are willing to 
 consider them, not as topics of discussion for the 
 young Christian, but as consolations for the estab- 
 lished believer, as the solace of the depressed, the 
 sustenance of the fainting, the support of the de- 
 parting servants of the Lord ; and surely they 
 who differ from us should, on their part, be willing 
 to concede to us, that if we believe we find such 
 doctrines in the Word of God, and if we feel them 
 to be necessary to our own stability, and to our 
 own comfort, we should be left in the peaceful en- 
 joyment of them, without having deductions, which 
 we never draw, and conclusions, which we never 
 arrive at, forced upon us as our own, and the hor- 
 rible consequences of these imaginary deductions, 
 and conclusions, visited upon our heads. However, 
 then, we may differ upon these high subjects, which, 
 after all, must ever be more speculative than prac- 
 tical, let us, my brethren, resolve that, as regards 
 ourselves, they shall never, under any degree of 
 provocation, lead us to the adoption of bitterness of 
 language, or acerbity of feeling; or even to the 
 diminution of Christian love, towards those of 
 whom, whatever be the differences between us 
 upon these mysterious points, we believe, and re- 
 
130 
 
 DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 joice to believe, that they are the followers of the 
 same Master, with a love as fervent, and a service 
 as acceptable, as the best among ourselves. 
 
 All that, as your minister, I w T ould require of 
 you is, to " search the Scriptures daily and see 
 whether these things be so." Search them, not in 
 a controversial spirit, a spirit in which no religious 
 question, and still less one so deeply mysterious 
 as that before us, ought ever to be approached ; 
 but search them, with a prayerful desire to be led 
 into all truth, that you may be the better able to 
 glorify the God of truth. The days, we trust, shall 
 arrive, when the differences of opinion to which 
 we have just adverted, shall make no diminution 
 in the regard with which each member of the body 
 of Christ shall behold every other member ; when 
 the terms Arminian and Calvinist, Orthodox, and 
 Evangelical, shall be forgotten, and when the only 
 distinction known within our Church, shall be, that 
 which must always arise from the ever-varying 
 degrees of love to God, and conformity to his will, 
 and holiness of of life, and charity of thought, and 
 word, and action, manifested in the progressive 
 sanctification of all his children. 
 
 The Article before us, having then, as we be- 
 lieve, clearly propounded the doctrine of election 
 
ARTICLE XVII. 
 
 131 
 
 unto everlasting life, of " those who are chosen in 
 Christ out of mankind," continues thus to speak of 
 its practical results: "Wherefore they which be 
 endued with so excellent 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 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."* 
 
 This plain and beautiful passage seems written 
 expressly with a view to that declaration of the 
 Spirit of God which we meet with in Romans viii. 
 30, " Whom he did predestinate, them he also 
 called ; and whom he called, them he also justi- 
 fied ; and whom he justified, them he also glori- 
 fied." It distinctly marks the progress of the true 
 people of God, from their first effectual calling by 
 the Spirit of Grace, through their justification, 
 their adoption, their sanctification, up to their ever- 
 
 * It is, perhaps, scarcely necessary to remark that, throughout 
 this passage, every clause, " They through grace," &c, "They be 
 justified," &c, is a predicate true only if the election spoken of 
 by our Church be admitted to be a personal election; but abso- 
 lutely false, if it be considered a national election. 
 
132 
 
 DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 lasting felicity ; and asserts that all is of grace, of 
 free, boundless, undesarved grace, from their first 
 election of God before all time, throughout their 
 holy obedience to God in time, and to their final 
 glorification with God, when time shall be no longer. 
 
 While upon this portion of the Article, it is 
 important to remark, as we have before had occa- 
 sion to do, the extreme caution and watchfulness 
 of our Church, not to admit a single questionable 
 statement into these valuable documents. You will 
 observe that the subject of reprobation, or the Cal- 
 vinistic doctrine, that as certain persons are elected 
 to eternal life, so certain persons are elected to 
 eternal condemnation, is left entirely untouched. 
 The compilers of our Articles were never tempted 
 to enter upon those unhallowed deductions, with 
 which men are so apt to delight themselves on this 
 high subject, saying, If it please God to elect cer- 
 tain persons in Christ, to " bring to everlasting sal- 
 vation, as vessels made to honour," then must he, 
 by this act, condemn, or, at the very least, pass by 
 all others, and seal them up under final condemna- 
 tion. Not a word of this kind is to be found in 
 our Articles, in our Homilies, or in our Liturgy; 
 no, not although you search the accredited formu- 
 laries of our Church from end to end, will you find 
 
ARTICLE XVII. 
 
 133 
 
 a single sentence breathing such a doctrine. The 
 fact is, that, upon this point, it has, at least so it ap- 
 
 pleased our Church also to assert nothing.* 
 
 Far be it, then, from me to speak dogmatically, 
 where our Church is silent, but, as regards my own 
 opinion, as there may be those among you who 
 might desire to know the sentiments of your 
 minister upon so weighty, so tremendous a point, 1 
 feel no hesitation in declaring, that I believe the 
 doctrine of reprobation, to be as utterly at variance 
 
 * There are indeed some excellent cautions towards the latter 
 part of the Article ; but we do not think that these invalidate 
 what we have just asserted, or refer in any degree to the doctrine 
 of reprobation, but simply to an unhallowed, and licentious view 
 of the great doctrine propounded in the former part. Thus, after 
 declaring that the godly consideration of predestination, is full of 
 sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons, 44 as 
 well because it doth greatly establish and confirm their faith of 
 eternal salvation, to be enjoyed through Christ, as because it doth 
 fervently kindle their love to God," the Article proceeds to show 
 that the consideration of the same subject by curious and carnal 
 persons, lacking the Spirit of God, 44 is a most dangerous down- 
 fall, whereby the devil doth thrust them either into desperation or 
 into recklessness of most unclean living ;" plainly referring to 
 those who argue, that if they are elected, no sin can hinder them, 
 and if they are not elected, no holiness can help them. 
 
 12 
 
134 
 
 DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 with all that is revealed to us of the character of 
 God, as with those many unequivocal declarations 
 of his Divine Word, that " He willeth not that any 
 should perish, but that all should come to repent- 
 ance." That he has " No pleasure in the death of 
 a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his 
 wickedness and live." While it appears to me that 
 the inspired writers, and even our Lord himself, 
 speaking, as they often do, very distinctly upon the 
 doctrine of election, always take especial care to 
 except the doctrine of reprobation.* Thus, in the 
 
 * That this is the view of all the best authorities in our Church 
 might easily be shown, but a single passage from Hooker must suf- 
 fice : — " For if God's electing do, in order, (as needs it must,) pre- 
 suppose the foresight of their being that are elected, though they 
 be elected before they be ; nor only the positive foresight of their 
 being, but also the permissive of their being miserable, because 
 election is through mercy, and mercy doth always pre suppose 
 misery ; it followeth, that the very chosen of God acknowledge to 
 the praise of the riches of his exceeding free compassion, that 
 when he in his secret determination set it down, 1 Those shall live 
 and not die? they lay as ugly spectacles before him, as lepers .... 
 miserable, worthy to be had in detestation ; and shall any forsaken 
 creature be able to say unto God, 1 Thou didst plunge me into the 
 depth, and assign me unto endless torments, only to satisfy thine 
 own will, finding nothing in me for which I could seem in thy 
 sight so well worthy to feel everlasting flames V " — Hooker's An- 
 swer to Tr avers, page 482, Edit. 1622. 
 
ARTICLE XVII. 
 
 135 
 
 description of the final judgment in the twenty-fifth 
 chapter of St. Matthew, our Lord appears to take 
 for granted the former of these doctrines as a well- 
 established truth, when he says, " Then shall the 
 King say unto them on his right hand, Come ye 
 blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared 
 for you from the foundation of the world ;" while at 
 the same time, he appears as distinctly to exclude 
 the latter doctrine when he adds, " Then shall he 
 say also to them on his left hand, Depart from me, 
 ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared" (not for 
 you, but) " for the devil and his angels." 
 
 If, then, " We receive God's promises as they be 
 generally set forth to us in Holy Scripture," and 
 not as they be limited or restricted by the results of 
 human reasoning, we shall, on the one hand, neither 
 desire to reject, nor to explain away, nor to render 
 futile, such mysterious doctrines as those which we 
 have been considering ; nor shall we, on the other 
 hand, be afraid to give their full and literal, mean- 
 ing to such promises as these : " Whosoever will, 
 let him take of the water of life freely." " Come 
 unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, 
 and I will give you rest." While in fact, we shall 
 hold the doctrine of this Article, viz. particular 
 election, as it is most plainly propounded by our 
 
136 
 
 DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 Lord, when he said, " All that the Father giveth me 
 shall come to me," we shall hold the great doctrine 
 of universal redemption,* which appears to be with 
 equal plainness involved in the concluding passage, 
 " Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." 
 Whether we are able or unable to reconcile these 
 apparently conflicting statements is of little moment ; 
 both are to be found in the unerring word of God, 
 and therefore each is of equal importance and of 
 equal truth ; and receiving both in humility and 
 in love, we shall raise our heartfelt acknowledg- 
 ments upon every review of these blessed and life- 
 giving truths, to " God the Father, who hath made 
 us and all the world ; to God the Son, who hath re- 
 
 * The doctrine of universal redemption, (very different from 
 the figment of universal pardon,) is most emphatically stated in 
 the 31st Article of our Church, which says, " The offering of 
 Christ once made is that perfect Redemption, propitiation and 
 satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world, both original and 
 actual." That this was the opinion of the chief compiler of our 
 Articles, may be seen from many parts of his works ; e. g. " This 
 is the honour and glory of our High Priest, wherein he admitteth 
 neither partner nor successor. For by his one oblation he satis- 
 fied the Father of all men's sins." — Cranmefs Answer to Gar- 
 diner, p. 372. " Mark here, he saith, ' Come all ye ;' wherefore 
 then should any man despair to shut out himself from these 
 promises of Christ, which be general and pertain to the whole 
 world."— Sermons, p. 182, Edit. 1584. 
 
ARTICLE XYIL 
 
 137 
 
 deemed us and all mankind ; and to God the Holy 
 Ghost, who sanctifieth us and all the elect people of 
 God." — (Catechism of the Church of England.) 
 
 We have seen, then, that the end to which we 
 are elected by God, is everlasting life; but we must 
 never forget that faith and holiness are the means 
 through which we must pass to it; that there is no 
 instance in sacred writ in which this end and these 
 means are disunited. All tend to this point, that 
 "we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus 
 unto good works, which God hath before ordained 
 that we should walk in them." " For whom He 
 did foreknow, he also did predestinate," says the 
 Apostle, u to be conformed to the image of his Son." 
 It is then perfectly clear, that none are among the 
 elect people of God, who do not obey the call to 
 that faith in a crucified Redeemer, ;< without which 
 no man living shall be justified," and to that " holi- 
 ness, without which no man shall see the Lord :" 
 that none are predestinated to everlasting life, who 
 are not " conformed to the image of the Saviour," 
 i. e., imitating him in their life and conversation : 
 that none are " chosen in Christ out of the world." 
 who are not also " created in Christ Jesus unto 
 good works." Bear then continually in mind, bre- 
 thren, that if you are elect to the enjoyment of ever- 
 12* 
 
138 
 
 DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 lasting life, it can only be " through sanctification of 
 the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the 
 blood of Jesus Christ;"* that if, as the Article ex- 
 presses it, " Predestination to life is the everlasting 
 purpose of God," concerning you " whom he hath 
 chosen in Christ out of mankind," it is equally 
 his everlasting purpose " that you should be holy 
 and without blame before Him in love."f No man 
 ever was or ever can be elected to the end, who 
 was not elected in the way which leads to it. Be 
 assured, therefore, that unless you are united by a 
 living faith to the Saviour — unless you are con- 
 tinually striving after conformity to His will, obedi- 
 ence to His laws, love to His person, hatred to, and 
 abstinence from all sin, you have no evidence, you 
 can have no evidence, that your names are written 
 in the Lamb's book of life ; for be ye sure of this, 
 that no man who is not found cleansed and purified 
 by the Spirit of Christ, and walking while on earth 
 in the straight and narrow way which alone leads 
 to heaven, can ever hope to be ultimately found in 
 that heaven the gate of which, though " wide 
 enough to admit the greatest sinner, is too narrow 
 to admit the smallest sin." " Give, therefore, dili- 
 gence, to make your calling and election sure;" 
 
 * 1 Pet. i. 2. t Ephes. i. 4. 
 
ARTICLE XVII. 
 
 139 
 
 not simply to obtain an assurance of it, as some 
 would explain away the meaning of the passage, 
 but to make it sure, firm, secure, steadfast. Re- 
 collect, an Apostle could declare, " I keep under my 
 body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any 
 means when I have preached to others, I myself 
 should be a cast-away ;" and let the recollection 
 urge you to greater zeal, greater prayerfulness, 
 greater holiness, " Giving all diligence to add to 
 your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to 
 knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, 
 and to patience godliness, and to godliness brother- 
 ly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity;" 
 " for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall." 
 
 In conclusion, if I address any of you who are 
 unable to receive the truths, of which we have this 
 day spoken, as the truths of God, " Let not your 
 hearts be troubled, neither be afraid." " Then 
 shall ye know, if ye follow on to know the Lord," 
 is his own most gracious promise, and in due time 
 will assuredly be fulfilled to all who seek it. If you 
 need the consolation or encouragement which this 
 blessed doctrine is so well calculated to bestow, 
 we doubt not that it will be given you: if you need 
 it not, and do not, and cannot receive it, be careful 
 not to be tempted to scorn those who hold it, lest 
 
140 
 
 DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 haply you be found even to fight against God. Be 
 content to rest upon that Rock of Ages on which 
 we are all resting; to dwell on those things on 
 which all the children of God agree, and to leave 
 those on which they differ, till a day of brighter 
 light, and more unclouded sunshine. It is an un- 
 speakable blessing to know that there is not any 
 difficulty, and, blessed be God, there has never been, 
 among real Christians, any controversy respecting 
 the one great truth which is the basis of our hope, 
 the foundation of our eternity, viz., " The blood of 
 Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin ;" and he is 
 able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God 
 by Him. If your souls are ever tempest-tossed 
 upon that ocean of the mysteries of God which man 
 can never fathom, here they may find an anchorage, 
 whence neither wind nor wave can drive them. It 
 is a declaration so plain " that he may run that 
 readeth it;" # and yet so powerful, the guiltiest 
 sinner upon earth, needs no plea more availing to 
 enable him to stand before the bar of God, in gar- 
 ments of as unspotted whiteness as ever graced 
 the angels and archangels who surround his throne. 
 "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." 
 None can be saved who fly not to that cleansing 
 
 * Hab. ii, 2. 
 
ARTICLE XVII. 
 
 141 
 
 blood, none can be lost who go as penitent believers 
 there. On this vital point, you who deny the doc- 
 trine of election believe no less ; and we who hold the 
 doctrine believe no more. Here upon this keystone 
 of the arch of our salvation, all true believers, of 
 every kindred, and nation, and people, and tongue, 
 have taken their fixed and final stand. Heaven 
 and earth may pass away, ?nust pass away, but 
 amidst the ruin of a falling world, this keystone 
 of the arch shall remain unshaken, and not an indi- 
 vidual, from our great forefather Adam, to his last 
 and youngest son, who has firmly set his foot upon 
 that arch, but shall be pronounced a conqueror, and 
 " more than conqueror, through Him thatloveth us." 
 May we, brethren, be found, upon that great and 
 coming day, thus planted upon the Rock of Ages; 
 may we even now taste something of the stability 
 and comfort which this can alone impart, and on 
 that day when all else shall for ever pass away 
 from beneath our feet, may we, firmly fixed on this 
 immovable foundation, take up the Conqueror's 
 song and exclaim, " Thanks be to God who hath 
 given us the victory through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ !"* 
 
 * "In chapters ix. x., &c, of the Epistle to the Romans, St. 
 Paul treats the sentence of Predestination. For from that alone 
 depend all things ; that is, who will or not receive the Word, who 
 
142 
 
 DISCOURSE VI. 
 
 will or not believe, who are to be delivered from sin, who bunded, 
 
 who condemned, and who justified And assuredly this 
 
 firm sentence and immovable necessity of predestination is most 
 necessary. For so weak are we, that were it placed in our hands, 
 very few or none would be saved. For the devil would overcome 
 all. But now since this firm and most certain sentence of God 
 cannot be changed nor reversed by any creature, there is a hope 
 surely left us of conquering sin at length, how much soever it 
 now rage in the flesh. But here those inquisitive persons are to 
 be checked, who, before they have learned Christ and the virtue of 
 the cross, pry into the abyss of predestination, and vainly seek to 
 know whether they are predestinated or not. For these will 
 doubtless lead and precipitate themselves by their own foolish 
 curiosity into the snares of conscience or desperation. But do thou 
 in the process of learning sacred truth, follow the train and order 
 delivered by the Apostle. First, learn to know Christ that thou 
 mayest confess thine own powers of no avail but to sin. Then 
 wrestle diligently with the flesh by faith, as he teaches in chap, 
 vii. Presently, when thou have come to the viiith chap., that is, 
 
 when thou hast had trial of tribulation and the cross, then, 
 
 for the first time, this necessity of predestination will grow sweet, 
 then, for the first time, thou wilt perceive in chapters x. xi. how 
 full of comfort is predestination. For unless thou hast experienced 
 tribulation; unless thou hast felt thyself brought, as we see in David 
 and other saints, sometimes to the gates of hell, thou canst not 
 handle the sentence of predestination without danger, and, as it 
 were, a blasphemous murmuring of nature against God. It is ne- 
 cessary, therefore, that the old Adam should be mortified and the 
 senses of the flesh bruised, and that the babes in Christ should 
 grow to riper age before they drink this strong wine." — Luther's 
 Preface to Ep. to the Romans. Works, vol. v. 100. Witeb. 1554. 
 
ARTICLE XVII. 
 
 143 
 
 The above passage (for calling his attention to which the 
 Author is indebted to a note in the Rev. V. Short's History of the 
 Church of England) seems entirely the groundwork of the 17th 
 Article of our Church, and fully justifies us in saying that the 
 Article is more Lutherian than Calvinistic. At the same time, 
 it differs as widely from the views of those who imagine election 
 to be confined to national privileges (for where would be the 
 " strong wine," " meracum," in the doctrine of national election ?) 
 as it does from those who, with Calvin, consider personal election 
 to be a doctrine lying at the foundation of our faith, and upon 
 which "the babes in Christ" are to be built, instead of reserving 
 it for the topstone of the arch, the crowning truth of our religion, 
 revealed for the comfort and encouragement of those who have al- 
 ready learnt " to know Christ" and have found by experience, that if 
 their salvation were placed in their own hands, " the devil would 
 overcome all." In truth, it is a doctrine which the head must con- 
 descend to learn from the heart. 
 
 As an example of the spirit in which such truths should be main- 
 tained, see an affecting letter of the martyr, John Bradford, M To 
 certain men not rightly persuaded in the most true, comfortable, 
 and necessary doctrine of God's holy election and predestination." 
 — Letter lxvii. 
 
144 
 
 DISCOURSE VII. 
 
 DISCOURSE VII. 
 
 TITUS III. 4,5, 6. 
 
 " But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour 
 towards man appeared, not by works of righteousness 
 which we have done, but according- to His mercy He 
 saved us, by the washing of regeneration and the renew- 
 ing of the Holy Ghost ; which He shed on us abundantly, 
 through Jesus Christ our Saviour." 
 
 The only two doctrinal Articles which now 
 remain to be brought under review, are the 27th 
 and 28th, which contain the opinions of our Re- 
 formers upon the two sacraments which " Christ 
 ordained in his Church," " Baptism, and the Supper 
 of the Lord." 
 
 The 27th Article, which is confined to the very 
 important subject of Christian baptism, will afford, 
 under the Divine blessing, profitable matter for our 
 present consideration. 
 
 It is almost unnecessary to remind you, that bap- 
 tism is that initiatory rite established by the great 
 Founder of our holy religion, the Lord Jesus Christ 
 
ARTICLE XXVII. 
 
 145 
 
 himself, when he said, " Go ye, therefore, and teach 
 all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Fa- 
 ther, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 
 Through this Divine ordinance, as through a por- 
 tal, it is not too much to say, speaking generally,* 
 that all true converts are required to pass before 
 they can be considered members of the visible 
 Church of the Redeemer upon earth, or inheritors 
 of its blessings in eternity, — " He that believeth, 
 and is baptized, shall be saved." 
 
 Rightly to understand the important post oc- 
 cupied by this Christian sacrament at the very 
 threshold of the religion we profess, it is well to bear 
 in mind the nature of that initiatory ceremony which 
 stood equally at the threshold of the religion which 
 Christianity superseded. We find, then, that at 
 eight days old every male of the children of Israel 
 was solemnly dedicated to the God of Israel by the 
 rite of circumcision. In this rite the infant entered 
 into covenant with God, and became one of that 
 visible Church of God on earth, of which the 
 Apostle predicates such illustrious things, when he 
 says, " To whom pertaineth the adoption, and the 
 
 * " Q. How many sacraments hath Christ ordained in his 
 Church ? — A. Two only, as generally necessary to salvation." — 
 Catechism of the Church of England. 
 
 13 
 
146 
 
 DISCOURSE VII. 
 
 glory, and the covenants." To every child, then, 
 who was circumcised according to the letter of 
 God's law, a free access was opened to all the 
 abundant spiritual blessings which the chosen peo- 
 ple of God enjoyed, since, all infant as he was, 
 he was included in the covenant which God had 
 made with Israel ; and, unless from his own subse- 
 quent misconduct he forfeited these blessings, he 
 was numbered among the true Israelites,* the pos- 
 sessors of the land of promise here, the inheritors 
 of the land of promise hereafter. 
 
 It was natural, then, that in the Christian dispen- 
 sation, which is called in Scripture " the better 
 covenant," and with reference to which it was de- 
 clared that Christ should, " in all things have the 
 pre-eminence" over Moses, there should be some 
 initiatory rite by which the infant children of be- 
 lievers should be brought into covenant with God, 
 and be permitted, at as early an age, to enjoy at 
 least all the spiritual advantages which had been 
 enjoyed in the Jewish Church, and with as large an 
 addition to those advantages as the freeness and 
 the fulness of the Gospel dispensation exceeded 
 those of the Jewish. 
 
 What might so reasonably have been anticipated 
 
 * "They are not all Israel, which are of Israel." — Rom. ix. 6. 
 
ARTICLE XXVII. 147 
 
 from the mercy and tender compassion of our God, 
 his own word, as we shall see, assures us is come 
 to pass ; and it is in dependence upon the authority 
 of that word, that our Reformers declared such 
 great and glorious things respecting Christian bap- 
 tism, as we find throughout all the offices of our 
 Church. 
 
 To demonstrate this, I shall commence by refer- 
 ring you to the first answer in the Church Cate- 
 chism, in which the child is taught to declare, re- 
 specting his baptism, that therein he " was made a 
 member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor 
 of the kingdom of heaven." While, in answer to 
 " What is the inward and spiritual grace of bap- 
 tism ?" he is taught to reply, " A death unto sin, 
 and a new birth unto righteousness ; for, being by 
 nature born in sin, and the children of wrath, we 
 are hereby made the children of grace." And 
 this is in perfect accordance with the baptismal 
 service, in w 7 hich the Church teaches us to pray 
 that the infant then brought to God " may receive 
 remission of his sins by spiritual regeneration ;" 
 and, having so asked, she again, in " the full assu- 
 rance of faith," that " whatsoever we ask in prayer 
 believing, we shall receive," if it be according to 
 
i 
 
 148 DISCOURSE VII. 
 
 the will* of God, and the mind of the Spirit, directs 
 us to return our humble and hearty thanks to Al- 
 mighty God, "that it hath pleased him to regenerate 
 this infant mind with his Holy Spirit, to receive him 
 for his own child by adoption, and to incorporate 
 him into his holy Church."f 
 
 The doctrine which our Reformers propounded 
 so plainly in the Catechism, and in the Baptismal 
 Service, will be found stated with equal clearness 
 and truth in the Article now before us. 
 
 " XXVII. Of Baptism. 
 
 " Baptism is not only a sign of profession and 
 mark of difference, whereby Christian men are 
 discerned from others that be not christened, but it 
 is also a sign of regeneration, or new birth, where- 
 by, as by an instrument, they that receive baptism 
 rightly are grafted into the Church ; the promises 
 of forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption to be the 
 sons of God, by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed 
 and sealed ; faith is confirmed, and grace increased 
 by virtue of prayer unto God."J Our Church de- 
 
 * I John v. 14. t Baptismal Service. 
 
 t I did not notice the concluding passage of the Article, viz., 
 "The baptism of young children, is in any wise to be retained 
 in the Church, as most agreeable with the institution of Christ," 
 because it appeared needless to enter upon the arguments by 
 
ARTICLE XXVII. 
 
 149 
 
 clares, then, in these words, that by " regeneration 
 or new birth," they that " receive baptism rightly 
 are grafted into the Church," and have " the pro- 
 mises of forgiveness of sin, and of their adoption 
 to be the sons of God, by the Holy Ghost, visibly 
 signed and sealed." Now let us endeavour to dis- 
 encumber ourselves of all human systems, and for- 
 getting the long, and angry, and bitter controversies 
 which have arisen upon these points, refer simply 
 to the Word of God, and discover how far the 
 Church is borne out, in these her declarations, by 
 the authority of that Word, from which, as Chris- 
 tians, and especially as Protestant Christians, we 
 can desire no appeal. 
 
 We commence, then, as the most striking and 
 remarkable of all the declarations of Scripture 
 upon this head, with the words 'of the text, "Not 
 by works of righteousness which we have done, 
 
 which infant baptism is proved to be according to the will of God, 
 while addressing a congregation who entertain no doubts upon 
 the subject. The fact that baptism supplies the place of circum- 
 cision, and the certainty that, unless it did so, it would be difficult 
 to show that the dispensation under which we live is in all things 
 that "better covenant" which the Spirit of God pronounces it; 
 this, added to the uniform practice of the Christian Church for 
 nearly one thousand years, appears fully sufficient to satisfy the 
 mind of every unprejudiced inquirer. 
 
 13* 
 
150 
 
 DISCOURSE VII. 
 
 but according to his mercy he saved us, by the 
 washing of regeneration and renewing of the 
 Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly, 
 through Jesus Christ our Saviour." 
 
 Here, then, is a case in which the Spirit of God, 
 speaking of baptism, uses the phrase, " The wash- 
 ing of regeneration," as synonymous with it, 
 meaning therefore, unquestionably, that the wash- 
 ing of baptism is the sign and seal of the washing 
 of regeneration; and therefore fully authorising 
 our Church to use the language which we have 
 seen that she adopts respecting this important 
 sacrament. 
 
 That this is no isolated passage, but that the 
 general tenour of Scripture bears us out in expect- 
 ing these great things from Christian baptism, 
 when " rightly received," may easily be demon- 
 strated. We find St. Peter replying to the in- 
 quiry of the three thousand converts on the day 
 of Pentecost, " What shall we do ?" " Repent, and 
 be baptised, every one of you, in the name of 
 Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall 
 receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the pro- 
 mise is unto you and to your children, and to all 
 that are afar ofT, even as many as the J^ord our 
 God shall call." And again, " Arise, and be bap- 
 
ARTICLE XXV11. 
 
 151 
 
 tized, and wash away thy sins, calling upon the 
 name of the Lord." Acts xxii. 16. So, also, in 
 Eph. v. 26, " That he might sanctify and cleanse 
 it with the washing of water, by the Word." 
 And, no doubt, grounded upon this, and similar 
 statements in Holy Writ, is that declaration of 
 the Nicene Creed, which has been in use in the 
 Church of Christ since the year 339,* " 1 acknow- 
 ledge one baptism for the remission of sins." 
 While in perfect agreement and consistency with 
 this belief, we are informed that it was the practice 
 of the Christian Church in the East to sing after 
 baptism the thirty-second Psalm, " Blessed is he 
 whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is 
 covered," &c, and, according to St. Ambrose, 
 that " the Priest spoke to the person baptized in 
 this manner, God the Father Almighty, who hath 
 regenerated thee by water and the Holy Ghost, 
 and forgiven thee thy sins,"f &c, clearly show- 
 ing that the primitive Church took for granted 
 that the spiritual effects, the " inward and spiritual 
 grace" of the sacrament were its accompaniments 
 in every case in which it was "rightly received." 
 Indeed St. Paul himself assumes, with the same 
 feeling of Christian charity, the same truth with 
 
 * Bishop Sparrow. t Dean Comber. 
 
152 
 
 DISCOURSE VII. 
 
 regard to his Galatian converts, when he says, 
 " As many of you as have been baptized into 
 Christ have put on Christ."* And to show that in 
 this passage the Apostle does not intend by the 
 phrase " putting on Christ," merely to express that 
 they had adopted a Christian profession, he con- 
 tinues, " there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is 
 neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor 
 female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if 
 ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and 
 heirs according to the promise." In which passage 
 the Apostle evidently intends by " putting on 
 Christ," the putting him on spiritually, as well as 
 professedly, the being " renewed in the spirit of 
 their mind," and the putting on " the new man 
 which after God is created in righteousness and 
 true holiness." So far is he from saying this in a 
 merely general manner of the Galatians as a 
 Church, that he adopts a form of speech when he 
 says, " As many of you," which clearly individua- 
 lizes, as much as our Church does when she teaches 
 us to thank God for the bestowal of the blessing in 
 every particular case. And yet it would indeed 
 be difficult to imagine that of all these Galatian 
 
 * See the very striking observations upon this text in Luther'a 
 Commentary on Galatians iii. 17. 
 
ARTICLE XXVII. 
 
 153 
 
 converts, not one was ever found who deserted 
 the faith to which he had been brought, or for- 
 feited the spiritual blessings of which he had at 
 baptism been made partaker, or, as our Church ex- 
 presses it, " fell from grace given." 
 
 The great duty then of every Christian parent in 
 bringing his child to the water of baptism, which we 
 should deduce from the encouraging, and, as we 
 trust, scriptural view of this holy sacrament, is to 
 " draw near with a true heart in full assurance of 
 faith," asking great things of God, and expecting 
 great things from Him, and believing that He who 
 instituted this holy sacrament as a sign and seal of 
 spiritual regeneration, will, when it is " rightly re- 
 ceived," be present by his Divine Spirit, to ac- 
 company it then and there by the blessing of which 
 it is the seal and sign, that the child so offered to 
 God may be then filled with the Spirit of God, 
 may be made a new creature in Christ Jesus, and 
 may by God's grace " continue Christ's faithful 
 soldier and servant unto his life's end." 
 
 " Would to God," my brethren, to adopt the 
 language of an eminent prelate who has occasion- 
 ly addressed you from this place, " that this truth 
 were better understood, and this primitive, this 
 reasonable baptism more generally practised ! Then 
 
154 
 
 DISCOURSE VII. 
 
 we should not find so many who, though born of 
 water as far as concerns the baptismal rite, are 
 evidently not made new creatures by the Spirit 
 who renews and sanctifies the soul."* We say 
 then, and we could wish that the view which we 
 have been endeavouring to take of this important 
 spiritual ordinance, might be deeply impressed 
 upon the mind of every Christian parent, for we 
 believe that it would tend greatly, not only to im- 
 prove the feelings with which all would bring their 
 children to the baptismal font, but to improve also 
 the manner in which all would educate their children 
 from their very earliest years, in the heartfelt love 
 of that God and Saviour who had already done 
 such great things for them. We say, Christian 
 parents, look well to your privileges, rejoice in them, 
 plead them in prayer before God, and act upon 
 them in all your intercourse with your children. 
 Tell them they have a God who loves them, a Sa- 
 viour who died for them, a Holy Spirit who sancti- 
 fies them ; be instant with them in season and out 
 of season, that they in return may love, and serve, 
 and imitate their Divine and blessed Master. We 
 dare not assert that in every such case, the event 
 will be, that your children shall really inherit the 
 
 * Bishop of Chester's Lectures on St. John, p. 83. 
 
ARTICLE XXVII. 
 
 155 
 
 kingdom of heaven, because we know that " sons 
 of Belial" were found both in Eli's and in [Samuel's 
 family, but we doubt not that it will be so in an 
 incalculably greater number of cases than most 
 Christians have faith enough to believe; and we 
 know not that there is a single instance either in 
 Scripture, or in the record of Christian experience, 
 where such means have been faithfully and perse- 
 veringly employed, and any reason has been left us 
 to fear that the event has been otherwise. 
 
 We have now, however, what may appear to 
 some a difficult task, to reconcile the language of 
 our Church in her Catechism, in her Baptismal ser- 
 vice, and in the Article before us, with the lives, 
 alas ! of too many of her professed members. It 
 has often been, and it no doubt in justice fairly may 
 be asked, Whence comes it if every individual mem- 
 ber of the Church of England b.; thus spoken of 
 as regenerated, or born anew of the Spirit, so 
 many in after life, evidence no signs of any such 
 change having ever taken place at all ? To this 
 we reply, that although we believe that our Church 
 speaks in the language of Scripture and of truth, 
 when she thus identifies baptism with the "washing 
 of regeneration," we believe also, that she speaks 
 only in the language of charity and of hope, when 
 
156 
 
 DISCOURSE VII. 
 
 she afterwards trusts that every baptized member 
 of the communion has fulfilled the terms of his 
 baptismal covenant, has nurtured the seed of Divine 
 grace, and as she originally asked for him, has 
 " ever remained in the number of God's faithful 
 and elect children." Precisely as in her other sa- 
 crament, of the Lord's Supper, she, in the same 
 judgment of charity, assumes that her members 
 " have duly received those holy mysteries,"* and 
 in consequence assures them, that they " are very 
 members incorporate in the mystical body of the 
 Son of God, and heirs through hope of his ever- 
 lasting kingdom. 
 
 Now it is perfectly true, that although in the 
 service of this solemn sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper we speak thus, and assume thus without 
 the least hesitation, that " all w r e" who approach 
 the table of the Lord " have duly received these 
 holy mysteries," yet that, with the utmost stretch 
 of Christian charity, we must still fear that there 
 are many at all times in the Christian Church, 
 who in the language of the 29th Article, " do 
 carnally and visibly press with their teeth the 
 sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, yet in 
 no wise are they partakers of Christ." No en- 
 
 * Communion Service. 
 
ARTICLE XXVII. 
 
 157 
 
 lightened Christian, however, is offended at the 
 discrepance between the language and the fact, 
 simply because we know that the Church is not 
 now gifted with the power of " discerning spirits/' 
 or of reading the heart ; and therefore is not only 
 fully justified, but is bound in Christian charity 
 to hope the best of all, and of each of her mem- 
 bers. 
 
 This, indeed, appears to be the key to the right 
 understanding of the motive and intention of our 
 Church in all her services.* It is obvious that if 
 the Church have but one set of services for her 
 members, she must so construct those services as 
 to apply to the case of her real and spiritual, and 
 not her nominal members. Bearing this in view, 
 it is not remarkable that she should act in faith 
 upon the declaration of her God, that his " pro- 
 mises are to us and to our seed," and concluding, 
 that the parents and the sponsors of the children 
 presented at the baptismal font, are themselves 
 
 * E. g., In the rauch-controverted portion of her Burial Ser- 
 vice, where, " in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to 
 eternal life," firmly fixed in the hearts of her members, they are 
 taught to offer their hearty thanks to God for delivering their 
 brethren out of the misery of this sinful world, — a thanksgiving 
 which can only be consistently offered in the spirit of charity and 
 of hope. 
 
 14 
 
158 
 
 DISCOURSE VII. 
 
 among the faithful, devoted, prayerful, servants of 
 the Most High, she is bound to expect that the 
 infant will " rightly receive" Christian baptism, 
 that God will hear and answer petitions so scriptur- 
 al, so reasonable, so entirely for the honour and 
 glory of his own great and holy name, and that 
 the child will " lead the rest of his life according 
 to this beginning." 
 
 That she is often disappointed, that in after 
 years we are compelled to mourn over the aliena- 
 tion from God, of those, over whom as infants, 
 we have united in the prayers and thanksgivings 
 of the Church, only proves that while our Church 
 is true to her God, and to his revealed Word, 
 by suppressing nothing of all the blessings which 
 he has promised to his people, we parents are in 
 too many cases untrue to the best interests of our 
 children, and to our own souls, by not coming up 
 to the baptismal font with more enlarged and 
 scriptural views of these blessings, and that our 
 children have not improved the gift of God which 
 is in them, but have permitted the holy seed to re- 
 main unwatered by the dews of the Spirit, for 
 which they have neglected to ask ; and uncultured 
 by the aid of the great Husbandman, whom they 
 have forborne to seek. 
 
ARTICLE XXVII. 
 
 159 
 
 We must now pass on to the important and 
 individual application of this high subject. This, 
 then, brings us to the great practical question in 
 which all are interested, not merely we who are 
 parents in the welfare of our children, but all in 
 the welfare of their own souls. I address myself 
 then to you, my brethren, as baptized members of 
 the Church of England, and say to each individual 
 among you, your Church once beheld you brought 
 as one, " by nature born in sin, and the child of 
 wrath," to the water of baptism, and there having 
 offered her prayers that you might undergo that 
 spiritual change, without which, as Christ himself 
 has said, you " cannot enter into the kingdom of 
 God," she returned her thanksgivings that you had 
 undergone this change, had been born anew of 
 water and of the Holy Ghost, made a child of 
 God by the Spirit of adoption, and incorporated 
 into the Church of the Redeemer. Now 7 , brethren, 
 we require you to ask yourselves, honestly and 
 conscientiously, and as in the presence of Him 
 who seeth the heart, whether in your own case, 
 this reasonable belief of your Church has been 
 fulfilled ; and that you may be enabled to answer 
 the inquiry, remember the words of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ himself, " That which is born of the 
 
160 
 
 DISCOURSE VII. 
 
 flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is 
 Spirit." Have you then, like Samuel and like 
 Timothy, been so born of the Spirit, from your 
 earliest infancy, that the unholy, and sinful plea- 
 sures of the flesh, have possessed no hold upon you, 
 that you have not indulged them, have not tole- 
 rated them, have not allowed them, even for a mo- 
 ment, to gather strength by your supineness or 
 indifference, but have been led to seek a power 
 greater than your own to repel and to vanquish 
 them ? And, further than this, have you reason to 
 hope that spiritual things have ever been your de- 
 light, the real element in which your souls would 
 live, and in which alone they can breathe freely 
 and unrestrainedly '? If these things be so, " happy 
 are ye ; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth 
 upon you;" for then you may indeed indulge the 
 hope that you have from your earliest infancy been 
 brought among the spiritual children of the family 
 of God, and educated for your Father's kingdom. 
 
 But, perhaps, such evidences as these are want- 
 ing. Then would we ask, have you the distinct, 
 yet equally satisfactory and encouraging feelings, 
 that whereas you once were blind, now you see ; 
 that you have been renewed by the Spirit of God : 
 that old things have passed away, that all things 
 
ARTICLE XXVII. 
 
 161 
 
 have become new ; and that by God's own free 
 and sovereign grace you have been brought out of 
 darkness, and misery, and sin, into the glorious 
 light, and liberty, and holiness, of his redeemed 
 people ] That you, through grace, have been 
 taught to deplore and to forsake the sins and follies 
 of your youth, your once cherished lusts and un- 
 holy passions, and are now endeavouring, even 
 now, though it be at the eleventh hour, to serve the 
 Lord Jesus Christ in all holiness and godliness of 
 living. 
 
 Or, again, are you conscious that this testimony 
 also is absent, that spiritual feelings, the faith and 
 penitence, the joy and hope, of the believer, are 
 still to you as unknown and disregarded things; 
 that the world, and the things of the world, form 
 your home and enjoyment : that pride and vanity, 
 sensuality and uncharitableness, or even some of 
 the darker children of the natural heart, are still, 
 as they have ever been, the welcomed inmates of 
 your bosom 1 Upon what then do you ground 
 your assurance that you are, at the present mo- 
 ment, " a member of Christ, a child of God, and 
 an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven?" Upon 
 your baptism ? Surely you have not the hardihood 
 to avow such a conviction. As well might Simon 
 14* 
 
162 
 
 DISCOURSE VII. 
 
 Magus, who was baptized by an Apostle, have 
 contravened the decision of St. Peter, " I perceive 
 that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the 
 bond of iniquity," by pointing to the waters of 
 baptism, as that any baptized member of the Chris- 
 tian Church, should take comfort to himself while 
 in a state of alienation from God, and disobedience 
 to his commands, and indifference to the Saviour 
 of the world, from having once been made the 
 subject of the prayers and thanksgivings of his 
 Church. No, brethren, " by their fruits ye shall 
 know them ;" there is no other test here, there will 
 be none other on the great day of account. Liv- 
 ing thus, and dying thus, it is vain, utterly vain, for 
 you to hope, when standing before the bar of God, 
 that it will avail you to plead baptismal regenera- 
 tion. Where are its fruits? what have been its 
 effects? where is the renewed heart? "the death 
 unto sin," the " new birth unto righteousness," the 
 love to the Saviour, which must ever be features 
 in the character of " a member of Christ ?" where 
 the love to God, which must ever be the feeling of 
 " a child of God ?" where the meetness to be par- 
 taker of the worship, and the joys, and the services 
 of the heavenly temple, which must ever mark 14 an 
 inheritor of the kingdom of heaven ?" Alas ! are 
 
ARTICLE XXVII. 
 
 163 
 
 all these absent, and yet do you imagine that no 
 total change of heart, and affections, and mind, 
 and life, in you can be required 1 Banish for ever 
 such a delusion, or it will be your ruin. Be as- 
 sured, if God be true, that if you have lived, and 
 are now living, in sin, if you have entirely or 
 partially forgotten God, and been content to re- 
 ceive the wages, and to act as the servants of 
 " the world, the flesh, and the devil," his bitterest 
 enemies, no slight improvement, no merely moral 
 reformation, will avail you. You may denominate 
 the change which God requires of you, by any 
 term ; you may speak of it in any language you 
 prefer; we will not contend for names, but things: 
 a change, an entire change, must be wrought in 
 you, or you will not see the kingdom of God. 
 " The whole head is sick, and the whole heart 
 faint," even unto death, and unless the whole head 
 be enlightened by the Spirit of God, and the whole 
 heart renewed by the Spirit of God, the spiritual 
 death of the present hour will be inevitably suc- 
 ceeded by the eternal death of banishment from 
 God, and from the presence of his glory. We do 
 then most earnestly exhort you, who have never 
 yet thought seriously of your baptismal covenant, 
 to read over carefully the service of your Church 
 
164 DISCOURSE VII. 
 
 which contains it, to examine yourselves by it, to 
 inquire, before you come to the second sacrament 
 of your Church, whether you have ever been last- 
 ingly benefited by the spiritual blessings of the first 
 sacrament — whether your part of the baptismal 
 covenant has ever yet been performed — whether 
 the devil and his works, the world and its vanities, 
 the flesh and its lusts, have ever yet been really 
 and conscientiously renounced — whether, in fact, 
 you have any sensible evidence that you have been 
 born anew of the Spirit ; and if not, to be most 
 earnest in persevering prayer to God, that you 
 may be a partaker of that spiritual renewal, with- 
 out which the kingdom of heaven will be as cer- 
 tainly, as effectually, closed against the baptized 
 and nominal worshipper of God, as against the 
 most dark, and obdurate, and guilty, of the unbap- 
 tized worshippers of wood and stone. For never 
 did the God of truth declare a more solemn, a 
 more awakening truth than this, " Except a man 
 be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of 
 God." 
 
ARTICLE XXVIII. 
 
 165 
 
 DISCOURSE VIII. 
 
 1 COR. X. 16. 
 
 " The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the commu- 
 nion of the blood of Christ 1 the bread which we break, is 
 it not the communion of the body of Christ V 1 
 
 The Article which comes under our present con- 
 sideration, and which will conclude the series, is 
 the Twenty-eighth Article of our Church, and 
 treats upon the important subject of the Sacra- 
 ment of the Lord's Supper. 
 
 It will perhaps tend to the better comprehension 
 of the subject before us, if, as while speaking of 
 the other sacrament, we shortly remind you of the 
 origin and institution of this solemn rite, before we 
 proceed to comment upon our Church's exposition 
 of it. 
 
 Nothing can be more simple, and to an awakened 
 heart, to one who has been taught to love God, and 
 Jesus Christ whom he hath sent, nothing can be 
 more affecting, than the Gospel narrative of the 
 institution of the Lord's Supper. Hear it, then, in 
 
166 
 
 DISCOURSE VIII. 
 
 the plain yet beautiful language of Holy Writ, and 
 may all our hearts be warmed and elevated by the 
 views it affords us, of the wisdom and loving-kind- 
 ness, the consideration and tender compassion of 
 our great High Priest, who first appointed it ! 
 "And when the even was come," say the evan- 
 gelists,* " Jesus sat down and the twelve Apostles 
 with him. And he said unto them, With desire I 
 have desired" (or I have most heartily desired) " to 
 eat this passover with you before I suffer : For I 
 say unto you, T will not any more eat thereof, until 
 it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God." This, then, 
 was the last passover of which the Lord Jesus 
 Christ was to be partaker ; it was more than this, 
 it was the last Passover which God would recog- 
 nise in his Church; it was the final rite of the old 
 dispensation, the death-song of Judaism. All that 
 the Passover had ever typified, was that night to 
 be realized ; the true Paschal Lamb was to be de- 
 livered to the slaughterers ; " the blood of sprin- 
 kling," which should, throughout all ages, secure 
 the people of God, by a spiritual deliverance far 
 more wonderful, and far more blessed, than the 
 temporal deliverance of the first-born in Egypt, 
 was on that coming morn to be poured forth; 
 
 * Matt. xxvi. 20. Luke xxii. 14. 
 
ARTICLE XXVIII. 
 
 167 
 
 when he, the Lamb of God, the great propitiation, 
 should close the series of fourteen hundred Pass- 
 overs, by the sacrifice of himself. Our Lord then 
 * heartily desired" to partake for the last time of 
 this solemn rite with his beloved Apostles ; he 
 "heartily desired" that the shadow should pass 
 away, and the great and glorious reality, which 
 should bring pardon and peace to a ruined world, 
 should be consummated : yes, strange as it may 
 seem, " he heartily desired" that coming meal, al- 
 though a more sorrowful one he had never been 
 partaker of, or one more calculated to arm with 
 ten-fold anguish, the sufferings that awaited him. 
 
 And now his desire had been fulfilled, that even- 
 ing meal was over, the final Passover was con- 
 cluded, and the Lord of Life, and his disciples, still 
 lingered in the supper-room, delighting in that spi- 
 ritual converse which made their hearts burn within 
 them, and presented to them no feeble foretaste, of 
 the communion of the saints in bliss. The bread 
 and wine, always accompaniments of the Jewish 
 Passover, still remained upon the table : when Je- 
 sus, no doubt during some solemn pause in the con- 
 versation, when all minds were filled with the 
 thought of those approaching sorrows, of which 
 
168 
 
 DISCOURSE VIII. 
 
 our Lord had on that evening, for the first time 
 plainly spoken, took up the bread, and breaking it, 
 and pouring forth his blessing upon it, delivered it 
 to his disciples, with these few, but emphatic words, 
 "Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you; 
 this do in remembrance of me." Likewise also " he 
 took the cup," and blessing that in like manner, "he 
 gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it." And 
 he said unto them, " This cup is the new testament, 
 in my blood, which is shed for you,"* and " for 
 many, for the remission of sins."f " Verily I say 
 unto you, I will drink no more henceforth of this 
 fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new 
 with you in my Father's kingdom." 
 
 How simple, how touchingly beautiful is the 
 whole of this Gospel narrative. Our Lord well 
 knew, not only the corruption, but the coldness, 
 and ingratitude of the human heart. He knew 
 that years, nay centuries must pass away, and that 
 the history of his dying love should fall upon men's 
 ears, and on men's hearts, like a tale of other times, 
 in which they were little interested ; while even to 
 the few, the happy few, who should in all ages 
 adore and venerate that Saviour's name, there 
 would be still the strong temptation to suffer their 
 
 * Luke xxii. 20. t Matt. xxvi. 28. 
 
ARTICLE XXVIM. 
 
 169 
 
 hearts to dwell upon " the things which are seen 
 and are temporal," to the frequent forgetful ness of 
 those, which " are not seen and are eternal." To 
 meet, then, this never-ceasing, never-slumbering 
 tendency of our corrupt and fallen nature, was no 
 doubt the primary intention of the striking incident 
 we are considering. "This do in remembrance of 
 me." And mark how small a thing it was that the 
 Saviour of the world requested of his followers; 
 as though he had said, When in times to come, 
 you assemble together in my name and in my wor- 
 ship, I ask of you no great, no costly sacrifice ; I 
 only ask to live in your memory and in your love. 
 I only desire to see, and to let an unbelieving world 
 see, that in every generation, throughout all time, 
 there shall still be some who will remember the 
 transactions of this awful night, who will adore 
 and love the despised Saviour, and acknowledge 
 him in this, the lowest point of his humiliation, as 
 their Redeemer and their God. Add. then, this 
 little act, this slight memorial of all the sorrow- and 
 the anguish you will this night witness, of all the 
 agonies of that scene, from which to-morrow's sun 
 will hide his face, add only this slight memorial 
 from time to time, to your accustomed sacrifice of 
 prayer and praise ; eat one piece of broken bread. 
 15 
 
170 
 
 DISCOURSE VIII. 
 
 and drink one drop of wine, in the name of the 
 Crucified. Do this in remembrance of me, at those 
 your solemn festivals, from this my hour of suffer- 
 ing, until I come again in peace and receive you 
 unto myself. 
 
 Who could resist such an appeal? who dis- 
 obey such a command? — neglect so easy, so 
 merciful a request? It were impossible. More 
 than eighteen centuries have passed away, since 
 in that upper chamber, in some obscure house in 
 the city of Jerusalem, the words which conveyed 
 the request, were spoken by that lowly sufferer to 
 his broken-hearted followers ; and is it too much to 
 say, that " their sound is gone out into all lands, 
 and their words into the ends of the world ?" 
 From that night to the present hour, all ranks, ail 
 classes of Christian believers, have united in fulfill- 
 ing this last request of their Redeemer. Kings have 
 descended from their thrones, and laid aside their 
 crowns, and for a time forgotten all their earthly pa- 
 geantry, and knelt in reverence to the King of kings, 
 and been partakers of his humble feast. High and 
 low, rich and poor, all who name the name of 
 Christ, have remembered, and rejoiced to remember, 
 his dying love, by accepting this his dying invitation. 
 Century after century has passed away, the monu- 
 ments of human greatness have mouldered into dust, 
 
ARTICLE XXVIII. 
 
 171 
 
 the laws inscribed upon tablets of brass have perish- 
 ed, dynasties and empires have risen and fallen and 
 are forgotten, and these few simple sentences — this 
 short, affecting memorial, has outlived them all — 
 never obliterated, never even suspended ; no single 
 week, we might perhaps with perfect truth assert, no 
 single day, has ever yet passed by, which did not 
 witness some little assemblage of the followers of the 
 Redeemer "doing this in remembrance of Him;" 
 and thus, as the Apostle says, " showing forth the 
 Lord's death until he comes." 
 
 Can we then wonder, since such was the origin 
 of this holy service, that in the primitive Church it 
 was partaken of every day ? While the person of 
 the Redeemer was fresh in men's recollections, 
 while the transactions of that awful night were vi- 
 vidly impressed upon their feelings, it is difficult to 
 conceive a single day passing over them without 
 the last accents of the Saviour's voice, " Do this in 
 remembrance of me," sounding in their ears. 
 While the memory of that " man of sorrows," toil- 
 ing up the hill of Calvary bearing his cross, and 
 soon after stretched in unutterable agonies upon it, 
 showing what he was content to "do in remem- 
 brance" of them, lived strongly upon their hearts, 
 it is difficult to imagine that a day could have gone 
 
172 
 
 DISCOURSE VIII. 
 
 by, without their longing for the hour at which they 
 might commemorate such agonies, such love, by 
 complying with the last request of their departed 
 Master. Brethren, the wonder is, — and if men's 
 hearts were what they should be, such could have 
 never been, — the wonder is, that from days, the 
 celebration of this service should have been trans- 
 ferred to weeks, and from weeks to months, and 
 from months to some few widely-scattered days of 
 festival, between whose long and dreary intervals, 
 the heart of the recipient has ample time to grow 
 cold, and hard, and careless, to the blessings he so 
 rarely commemorates. Until at last this service of 
 love is dropped aside like some forgotten, and un- 
 profitable ceremony, to be again no more remem- 
 bered. Stay, did I say no more remembered? I 
 greatly wronged the power, not of memory, but of 
 conscience. It is remembered: how awfully and, 
 alas! usually how unprofitably remembered, let 
 death-beds tell. There, when the last sad hour is 
 hastening on, when all is doubt, and uncertainty, 
 and terror — when every human aid has been 
 sought, and yet all baffled, utterly baffled, and 
 obliged to recede before the advancing step of 
 man's great enemy, there is it well remembered, 
 whi!e some such thoughts as these pass solemnly 
 
ARTICLE XXVIII. 
 
 173 
 
 before the mind : " There was One who died for 
 sinners, and in whose name I also was baptized, 
 and to whose Church I also nominally belonged. 
 He was once in circumstances such as I am now ; 
 and as he stood upon the brink of eternity, he left 
 one last, one small request, to every individual who 
 should thereafter follow him ; that request I have 
 been well acquainted with even from my earliest 
 years, have, month after month, heard it reiterated 
 by his servants, and have, month after month, deli- 
 berately turned my back upon the opportunity of- 
 fered me of fulfilling it. Send, send quickly for a 
 minister of Christ; let me in this last hour com- 
 pensate for thirty, forty, fifty years of gross neglect 
 and disobedience to Him, whom I shall soon see 
 face to face !" Most wretched and miserable sub- 
 stitute, to offer the obedience of an hour, instead of 
 the devotedness, the affection, the holy acknowledg- 
 ments of a life. 
 
 Brethren, from what you have this day seen of 
 the institution of this blessed ordinance, I leave it to 
 your own reflection to answer the inquiry — Does 
 this appear to you to be in any degree the intention 
 or the object of the ordinance — to lull the fears of a 
 departing sinner, to give an anodyne to conscience, 
 when for the first time awakened to a sense of sin 
 15* 
 
174 
 
 DISCOURSE VIII. 
 
 and danger? No two things were ever more at 
 variance, than is the scriptural, and profitable use 
 of the holy Sacrament, with this unscriptural abuse 
 of it. It was intended to commemorate the dying 
 love of the Redeemer, by those whose hearts are 
 filled with the consciousness of its unutterable value ; 
 not to propitiate his anger, by those who have never 
 thought of him. or cared for him, until they knew 
 that shortly they were to be dragged, before his 
 judgment-seat. It was intended to cheer, and 
 strengthen the living, while in the daily conflict, 
 and race, and struggle of this world's duties ; not to 
 pacify the dying, by speaking peace, where peace 
 is not. It was intended as a feast of love, by which 
 all Christians, might enjoy spiritual communion 
 with Christ, their living Head, and with each other 
 as the members of the same body, and the children 
 of the same family, in anticipation of that far more 
 glorious feast, where the Lord shall be bodily pre- 
 sent, and whence no child of his shall be excluded ; 
 but it was not intended, for the selfish meal of the 
 departing solitary, who knows not, who cares not 
 for Christian intercourse, or for the body of the 
 Lord's believing people, toiling and travailing upon 
 earth ; who has never held an hours communion 
 with them, but who now asks a hasty viaticum for 
 
ARTICLE XXVIIi. 
 
 175 
 
 his last dread journey, lest his " feet stumble upon 
 the dark mountains,"* and he faint by the way. 
 
 Let us now turn to the Article, that we may see 
 the intentions of this solemn ordinance, as they are 
 there expressed, upon the authority of our Church. 
 
 * XXVIII. Of the Lord's Supper. 
 
 " The Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of 
 the love that Christians ought to have among them- 
 selves, one to another.'' Our Church, therefore, 
 acknowledges that it is the sign of this " Communion 
 of Saints,'* by which they hold fellowship with each 
 other, and with Christ, their living Head, but that it 
 is not only this, "but rather,'' she continues. " is a 
 sacrament of our redemption by Christ's death ; 
 insomuch that, to such as rightly, worthily, and 
 with faith receive the same, the bread which we 
 break is a partaking of the body of Christ, and 
 likewise the cup of blessing a partaking of the 
 blood of Christ." 
 
 This declaration is evidently founded upon the 
 words of the text, " The cup of blessing which we 
 bless, is it not a communion," (or " a communicationf 
 to us,") of the blood of Christ ; the bread which 
 we break, is it not the communion of the body of 
 Christ ?" By which is clearly intended that great 
 
 * Jer. xiii. 16. + Archbishop Seeker. 
 
176 
 
 DISCOURSE VIII. 
 
 and mysterious truth, elsewhere asserted by our 
 Church, that " The body and blood of Christ are 
 verily and indeed taken and received by the faith- 
 ful in the Lord's Supper."* 
 
 It is not necessary in this congregation, to de- 
 monstrate the difference between this view of the 
 Church of England, and the transubstantiation of 
 the Romish Church, or the consubstantiation of 
 the Lutheran Church ; that it should ever have 
 been confounded with them, as it has been with the 
 latter, even in the high places of the land, is only a 
 proof, that men of great talent, and of great ac- 
 quirement, are, unhappily, often ignorant of some 
 of the very first truths of Christianity, and of some 
 of the plainest and most important doctrines of 
 their own Church. All that our Church asserts, is 
 simply this, that when " received by the faithful," and 
 " rightly received," for you will observe that she 
 limits all the benefits in this case, as in baptism, to the 
 right reception of the Sacrament, there is a strength- 
 ening and refreshing of our souls by the spiritual 
 communication to us of the body and the blood of 
 Christ, as there is in the common course of nature 
 a strengthening and refreshing of our bodies by 
 partaking of " bread and wine." When we come 
 
 * Church Catechism. 
 
ARTICLE XXVIII. 
 
 "77 
 
 to the Lord's table, in that state of penitence and 
 faith, to which Christ has invited all his people, and 
 to which, by his good Spirit, he is daily and hourly 
 bringing them, then, and then only, do we reap the 
 good of the ordinance, for then, and then only are 
 we spiritually partakers of the body and blood of 
 our Redeemer. " Then we dwell in Christ, and 
 Christ in us; we are one with Christ, and Christ 
 with us;" we are more than ever, closely united to 
 the Saviour ; he is formed in us " the hope of 
 glory,"* we receive anew, the pardon of our sins, 
 the consolation and strengthening of our souls, and 
 find experimentally that our Lord's own declara- 
 tion is a blessed truth, " My flesh is meat indeed, 
 and my blood is drink indeed." Coming to the 
 celebration of this high festival, then, " rightly, wor- 
 thily, and w r ith faith," our Church assures us that 
 these good thing sshall not be wilhholden from any 
 individual amongst us, but are the heritage of us 
 and of our children for ever. 
 
 Are there any among you who will feel that this 
 one word " worthily" strikes at the root of all the 
 encouragement, and destroys all the comfort, that 
 lias gone before. This is simply from a miscon- 
 ception of the requirements of that word : this is 
 
 * Col. i. 27. 
 
DISCOURSE VIII. 
 
 from affixing a meaning to the term "unworthily,"* 
 which the Apostle, who first made use of it, never 
 did. Thus we find some among you declaring, 
 " So long as I am engaged in my present occupa- 
 tions, I can never worthily approach the table of 
 the Lord." Others, again, " So long as I am sur- 
 rounded by the cares of a large family, or by the do- 
 mestic troubles to which I am exposed, I should not 
 be a welcome guest !" Dear brethren, there never 
 was any thing more false, and futile, than such ob- 
 jections as these. Was the Saviour, when he spake 
 the words, " This do in remembrance of me," sur- 
 rounded by men of leisure, by men unincumbered 
 by worldly cares, and earthly occupations ; or by 
 men who had no domestic troubles, no family 
 anxieties ? Far from it. Is not one of the first 
 things which we hear respecting the disciples, after 
 the resurrection of their Lord, that they returned 
 to their usual avocations, and were toiling all night 
 long upon the sea of Galilee ?+ Are you more 
 heavily burdened with this world's business now, 
 than they were then ? Can you say as they could 
 say, "Even unto this present hour, we both hunger, 
 and thirst, and are naked, and buffeted, and have 
 
 * 1 Cor. si. 27, 29. 
 
 t John xxi. 3. 
 
ARTICLE XXVIII. 179 
 
 no certain dwelling-place, and labour, working 
 with our own hands ?" Or, again, was the Lord 
 of life, himself so entirely free from all domestic 
 anxiety, when at the very hour of which we speak 
 he had a widowed mother, unprovided with a home, 
 who was to occupy his thoughts even upon the 
 cross, and through whose soul the sufferings of her 
 only Son should on that coming morning pierce as 
 with a sword '?* No ! never since the hour when 
 this high and holy solemnity was first imagined, 
 have twelve men with hearts more filled with sor- 
 row, with anxiety, with trouble, and with darkest 
 apprehension of the gloomy future, met around the 
 table of the Lord, than they who then sat down to 
 its first, and holiest celebration. If these then, be 
 your excuses, brethren, learn that they form most 
 excellent reasons, for your constant attendance upon 
 this holy ordinance, but not a shadow of an argu- 
 ment do they furnish for staying away. If you 
 are in trouble, here you may find a solace ; if in 
 difficulty, guidance : if in anxiety, peace. How 
 many a full heart has gone up to the table of 
 the Lord, overwhelmed with a burden which it 
 was totally incompetent to bear, and at that table 
 has been able to cast all, all without exception 
 
 * See Luke ii. 35. 
 
180 
 
 DISCOURSE VIII. 
 
 and without reserve, upon the Lord of the feast, 
 and has gone back again, comforted and rejoicing. 
 
 Much harm has been done, by good men upon 
 this subject, by holding out a degree of worthiness, 
 as essential to the due reception of these holy mys- 
 teries, which neither the Scripture nor the Church 
 has ever hinted at. All that the Word of God 
 says upon the necessary degree of preparation, is 
 simply this: "Let a man examine himself, and so 
 let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup." 
 All that the Church responds to this is, let them 
 " examine themselves, whether they repent them 
 truly of their former sins, steadfastly purpose to lead 
 a new life, have a lively faith in God's mercy 
 through Christ, with a thankful remembrance of his 
 death, and be in charity w 7 ith all men."* Now we 
 would ask, is there a single word in this statement, 
 which ought to act as a prohibition to any indivi- 
 dual who feels a real repentance for sin, a true faith 
 in the Saviour, and a grateful recollection, for all 
 the blessings treasured up for him in Christ Jesus? 
 In short, for any penitent and believing sinner, 
 who is desiring to live to God here, and to live 
 with God hereafter? Is there a word which 
 speaks of high Christian attainment, or deep Chris- 
 
 * Church Catechism. 
 
/ 
 
 ARTICLE XXVIII. 181 
 
 tian experience? No, the Church evidently con- 
 templated — it could contemplate no other — that the 
 invitation should embrace every individual, among 
 her sincere members, from the youth who yesterday 
 completed his pupilage and was received into full 
 communion with the Church by " the laying on of 
 hands;" to the aged soldier of Christ, the veteran 
 in her ranks, who can exclaim, " I have fought a 
 good fight, I have finished my course, I have 
 kept the faith." All are equally invited, enjoined, 
 expected to be present. No individual can absent 
 himself without sin, nay, without a double sin, a 
 sin of disobedience, and a sin of ingratitude. 
 
 In this respect, there is not a shadow of distinc- 
 tion between the two Sacraments of our Church, 
 both are equally considered as " generally necessary 
 to salvation ;" both therefore are equally considered 
 as binding, and equally binding upon all; and it 
 would be extremely difficult to show that the man 
 who wilfully absents himself from the second Sacra- 
 ment, stands in any degree, in a holier relationship 
 to God, than the man who voluntarily neglects the 
 first. Yet who is there among you who would 
 deny your children the blessing of Christian bap- 
 tism ? And will you be more cruel to your own 
 souls, than you are to your own flesh and blood I 
 16 
 
182 
 
 DISCOURSE VIII. 
 
 Will you deny them the opportunity of feeding by 
 faith, upon that which alone is " meat indeed, and 
 drink indeed ?" Above all, will you deny the Lord 
 of life, the Saviour who died for you, his one last 
 request, " Do this in remembrance of me." Bre- 
 thren, is there one among you, who to these in- 
 quiries would venture to reply, " I will V? We cannot 
 believe that there is an individual who could thus 
 harden himself against his own mercies. As there 
 is not one who would thus speak, we pray that 
 there may not be one who would thus act in open 
 defiance of the command of his Redeemer. These 
 considerations, however, we leave with yourselves, 
 as long as we are compelled to open our doors at 
 the close of the sermon, to give any of those com- 
 mitted to our charge an opportunity to escape 
 from a service which is their highest privilege, 
 and if they were wise, would be their greatest plea- 
 sure; so long shall we, God permitting, never cease 
 to sound in your ears, the duty, and the privilege, 
 you are neglecting. 
 
 While to you, and we thank God for the very 
 large and steadily-increasing number of you, who 
 deiight to every return of this holy, and sanctify- 
 ing, and strengthening ordinance, and who are, we 
 trust, renewed in the spirit of your minds, and re- 
 conciled to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord ; 
 
ARTICLE XXVIII. 
 
 183 
 
 we would only say, let nothing ever keep you vo- 
 luntarily from a mean of grace, of which past expe- 
 rience has so fully proved to you the excellency 
 and the power. Let every return of it, not only 
 be a pledge to you of the Saviour's love to your 
 souls, but let it be also a pledge to Him of your in- 
 creasing love to his service. Bear in mind, however, 
 that his own Word has said, " Ye cannot drink the 
 cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils and although 
 this, doubtless, applied distinctly to idolatry, it goes 
 far to prove, that by coming to his table, you do in 
 the most solemn manner avow vour allegiance to 
 
 J o 
 
 him, and proclaim open, irreconcileable hostility to 
 his enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil; that 
 you by this act solemnly declare that you have 
 given " yourselves, your souls, and bodies," to be 
 his, and his alone; that you acknowledge with the 
 Apostle, that you are not your own, but his who 
 has bought you with his blood. 
 
 Beloved, think how much is implied in that ac- 
 knowledgment ; what holiness, what purity, what 
 love, what self-denial, what heavenly-mindedness, 
 what gratitude. And while the acknowledgment 
 of this gift involves, on your part, such high and 
 holy duties, hear what blessed privileges it involves, 
 on his part, who has vouchsafed to receive the 
 
184 
 
 DISCOURSE VIII. 
 
 gift, and to secure these privileges to yourselves. 
 " Holy Father, keep through thine own name, those 
 whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as 
 we are." " Father, I will, that they also whom 
 thou hast given me, be with me, where I am, that 
 they may behold my glory." Your course then is 
 plain, it is through the alone merits of your Redeem- 
 er, from duties here, to joys hereafter; from the 
 Church militant, to the Church triumphant ; from 
 the imperfect communion of sinners like yourselves, 
 to the perfect communion of saints in glory ; from 
 the table of your Lord, and his spiritual presence, 
 upon earth, to the bridegroom's feast, the Supper of 
 the Lamb, the personal presence of your Redeemer, 
 in the kingdom of your Father. 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 185 
 
 DISCOURSE IX.* 
 
 ON THE DUTY OF EVERY CHRISTIAN GOVERNMENT TO PRO- 
 VIDE CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION, AND TO MAINTAIN CHRIS 
 TIAN WORSHIP. 
 
 ISAIAH XLIX. 23. 
 
 " Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their Queens thy 
 nursing mothers." 
 
 And of whom spake the Prophet these remark- 
 able words 1 Of the Church of the living God. 
 Not of that Church, in the darkness, and helpless- 
 ness of her infancy, when confined to the chosen 
 nation of the Jews, but of that same Church, when, 
 as we learn from the context, God should have 
 " lift up his hand to the Gentiles, and set up His 
 standard to the people ;"f when she should have 
 broken forth on the right hand, and on the left, and 
 
 * This Discourse was written without the slightest view to 
 publication, and is now only appended to the Discourses on the 
 Articles, in deference to the wish expressed by many members of 
 the Congregation. 
 
 t Isaiah xlix. 22. 
 
 16* 
 
186 
 
 DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 possessed the gale of her enemy ; in fact, of the 
 Church of God, under the Christian dispensation. 
 I have therefore selected the passage, not with the 
 intention of dwelling upon the words, but upon the 
 principle, the important principle, developed in 
 them, viz. the duty of a Christian Government, to 
 become the nursing father and nursing mother of 
 the Church of the Redeemer. 
 
 During such times as the present, when unprece- 
 dented efforts are making, for the furtherance of 
 some great attempt to destroy the union, that has 
 so long and so happily subsisted in this country, be- 
 tween the Church and State, I feel it compulsory 
 upon me, to depart from my ordinary subjects of 
 ministration, to endeavour to furnish my hearers 
 with a few of those many arguments, which may 
 legitimately and scripturally be urged in defence of 
 the Church Establishment of our country. You 
 will not, brethren, hear the observations, which I 
 am about to offer you, with the less attention, if I 
 tell you, that the arguments which sustain them, 
 will have little of novelty to recommend them, 
 since I have preferred selecting those, which after 
 carefully considering the subject for myself, and 
 reading what others have written upon both sides 
 of the question, appear to be the most conclusive, 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 187 
 
 and the least assailable. Neither will you be in- 
 clined to listen to me, with less than your usual 
 candour, if I remind you that in the disputes which 
 have latterly agitated, and are at present agitating, 
 in so violent a manner, both Dissenters and Church- 
 men, I have taken no part. The subject has never 
 been, however distantly, alluded to from this place ; 
 first, because I have always felt that the plain and 
 simple topics of scriptural instruction afford suffi- 
 cient, and far more than sufficient occupation for 
 these brief and hallowed opportunities ; and that 
 if, during the week, the minds of men are exer- 
 cised, as they must ever be, in this great metropolis, 
 in the toils of labour, or the vicissitudes of trade, 
 or the anxieties of professional duties, or the con- 
 flict of political opinions, the Sabbath ought to be 
 a day of mental repose, as well as of bodily rest, 
 that no harassing, or irritating topics, should ever 
 be permitted to interrupt its hallowed hours ; and 
 that, above all, no subject, no word, no thought 
 should cross the mind, while in the House of God, 
 which does not, as the Word of God expresses it, 
 " make for peace ;" and, secondly, Because my 
 hearty desire has always been, that every conscien- 
 tious Dissenter should be exempted from all that 
 he can honestly, and as in the sight of Him who 
 
188 
 
 DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 knows the heart, really consider a burden ; because 
 I respect a conscientious Dissenter, as much as a 
 conscientious Churchman ; and because in justice 
 both to Dissenters, and to Wesleyans, I am bound 
 to add, that during the whole period, now more 
 than ten years of my ministry in this parish, I have 
 never in a single instance met with opposition, or 
 contumely, or unkindness from them ; but, on the 
 contrary, when occasionally brought into contact 
 with them, I have received from them that treat- 
 ment which as fellow-labourers in the Lord's vine- 
 yard, we should expect from men earnestly and 
 faithfully engaged in the same work as ourselves. 
 
 It is unnecessary, we hope, to add, that nothing 
 which shall be spoken on the present occasion, 
 shall be in any degree at variance with feelings 
 such as these ; that called upon, as I conceive my- 
 self to be, by the passing events around us, to en- 
 deavour to defend the Church, of which I am a 
 very humble, but attached, and devoted member, I 
 obey the call, with the fullest conviction, that "the 
 weapons of our warfare are not carnal ;" that 
 unless we bring to the task, a really charitable 
 feeling towards those who differ from us, and an 
 earnest desire to avoid all fierce, and angry, and 
 bitter controversy, the God whom we serve will 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 169 
 
 withhold His blessing, and we shall run and labour 
 in vain. 
 
 We shall first, then, endeavour to show that a 
 Church Establishment provided by the State, and 
 in immediate connection with it, is according to the 
 will of God, and the experience of antiquity : and, 
 secondly, That the blessings and advantages of a 
 Church so constituted, are of a nature, and carried 
 forth to an extent, which no Church, established on 
 any other principles, could hope to emulate. 
 
 It is frequently said, by those who are opposed 
 to the existence of a Church Establishment, that it 
 is unfair to derive any arguments in favour of it, 
 from any thing antecedent to the Christian dispen- 
 sation. This objection, if it be an honest one, and 
 such we are willing to suppose it, must, we think, 
 arise from a very limited and superficial view of 
 the dispensations of God. For, however the frame- 
 work may have been changed, a true knowledge 
 of those dispensations will lead us to confess, that 
 the principles, the all-important principles involved, 
 are in every case substantially the same. 
 
 We hesitate not, then, to go back even to the 
 days of Abraham, to prove not merely the pro- 
 priety, but the bounden duty, the imperious obliga- 
 
1JU DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 tion, of every Government, to provide the opportu- 
 nities of religious worship for its people. 
 
 I need scarcely remind you that the peculiar 
 characteristic of Abraham, which was selected by 
 God himself, for the marks of His especial appro- 
 bation, was this, '< Abraham shall surely become a 
 great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the 
 earth shall be blessed in him ; for, I know him, that 
 he will command his children and his household 
 after him, and they shall keep the way of the 
 Lord to do justice and judgment." 
 
 We find, that when Abraham first obeyed the 
 call of God, in coming out of the land of his na- 
 tivity, accompanied only by Sarai his wife, and Lot 
 his nephew, and the children of Lot's family, one 
 of his first acts was to establish the family altar, 
 and as a family, to call on the name of the Lord. 
 Again, we find that when, as the inspired writer 
 tells us, he became " very rich in cattle, in silver, 
 and in gold;" when his trained servants, born in 
 his own house, and capable of bearing arms, 
 amounted to three hundred and eighteen; and 
 therefore when his whole retinue, including wo- 
 men and children, could not have been less, at the 
 very lowest computation, than one thousand souls, 
 that is, when he had become a Prince, and a Po- 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 191 
 
 tentate, he did that for the many which he had 
 before done for the few ; he erected the altar, and 
 he commanded his subjects, as he had before com- 
 manded his servants, that they should keep the way 
 of the Lord. Now can we for a moment suppose, 
 that if Abraham had counted his retinue by thou- 
 sands and by millions, instead of by tens and by 
 hundreds ; in fact, if he had become the head of 
 some mighty monarchy, he would have ceased to 
 do that for which his Lord had so graciously, and 
 so remarkably commended him ! Or, can we ima- 
 gine that God, who applauded the act when con- 
 fined to Abraham's family, would have condemned 
 it when extended to his empire ! Surely it is not 
 too much to assert, that, if God can look with plea- 
 sure upon the family altar, erected by him whom 
 He has placed at the head of the family, He must 
 look with ten-fold pleasure upon the national altar 
 erected at the command, and maintained bv the 
 authority of him whom He has Himself placed at 
 the head of the nation. 
 
 If we pass on from Abraham to the other Patri- 
 archs, and especially to Jacob, we shall see the 
 same principle distinctly recognized. When he 
 became great, and God had blessed him abun- 
 dantly, or, in his own language, when he became 
 
192 
 
 DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 " two bands,"* we find it recorded of him, that he 
 provided religious opportunities for his followers, 
 that he erected the altar of God in the midst of 
 them, with the same regularity as he had done for 
 himself, when at the commencement of his career, 
 a poor and houseless wanderer, " with his staff"f 
 alone, he passed over Jordan. 
 
 We maintain, then, that in all these cases there 
 was the principle established, of those in authority 
 providing the opportunities of religious instruction, 
 and worship, for the people commmitted to their 
 charge ; it matters not, upon how small a scale it 
 was exercised, but here was most distinctly the 
 principle recognised, and applauded by God, during 
 the whole of the patriarchal dispensation ; for what 
 has been proved respecting Abraham and Jacob, 
 may be proved of all the other patriarchs. And if 
 it be the acknowledged duty of the father thus to 
 provide religious iustruction for his children, the 
 master for his household, the chief for his followers, 
 where will you pause in the series before you arrive 
 at the summit — the king for his people? 
 
 You cannot stop short of this conclusion, unless 
 you are prepared to say, that though as a father, or 
 a master, you are bound by certain responsibilities, 
 
 * Gen. xxxii. 10. 
 
 t Gen. xxxii. 10. 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 193 
 
 as a magistrate, or a legislator, you are absolved 
 from them : you cannot stop short, unless you are 
 prepared to say, that in all our natural relations, 
 we are bound to think and act as believers, and in 
 all our political relations, we are bound to think 
 and act as unbelievers. 
 
 If from the Patriarchal, we turn to the Mosaic 
 dispensation, we find this principle not merely re- 
 cognised, but forming the very marrow and essence 
 of the whole, and distinctly appointed by God him- 
 self. Indeed the Jewish Church, establishes so unan- 
 swerably, the subject in debate, that the only method 
 by which it has been ever attempted to be met, is. 
 by asserting that it was a temporary and typical 
 dispensation, and therefore cannot be fairly applied 
 to ourselves. Now acknowledging, as we most 
 unfeignedly do, that it was both a temporary, and 
 typical dispensation, we also acknowledge that all 
 that was strictly Jewish, and temporary, and typical, 
 in the Church Establishment of the Jews, was to 
 be done away, and most unquestionably, these have 
 been done away ; but then, we contend that its 
 moral principles, and moral obligations, neither 
 are, nor can be abrogated. We believe, that it is 
 only by confounding two things, which are perfectly 
 separate and distinct, viz., the typical, with the mo- 
 17 
 
194 
 
 DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 ral portion of the dispensation, that the false im- 
 pression, conveyed by the enemies of a National 
 Church, can possibly stand. 
 
 The result, then, at which we arrive, from this 
 portion of the subject before us, is the following. 
 We would ask, is it at all analogous with God's deal- 
 ings with his people, that a principle so clearly, and 
 plainly developed, in the Patriarchal, and in the 
 Jewish dispensations, as this — that those in civil au- 
 thority should esteem it their bounden duty to pro- 
 vide religious instruction and worship for those 
 committed to their charge — should be utterly un- 
 known in the Christian dispensation 1 Is there any 
 other principle, common to the two former, which 
 is excluded from the third ? And is it not, then, 
 contrary to all probability that the unchangeable 
 Jehovah should depart from his own positive 
 arrangements, when founded not upon the tempo- 
 rary circumstances of a peculiar people, but, as in 
 this case, on the immutable relationship between 
 God and man, and between man and his fellows? 
 If we pass from the Old Testament to the New, 
 we shall content ourselves with this most power- 
 ful negative argument in our favour, that there is 
 nothing against an Establishment in the Gospels or 
 Epistles; and to those among you, who know best 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 195 
 
 the method of instruction in the New Testament, 
 this negative argument will have great weight. To 
 enter fully into the force of this, you must remem- 
 ber, that it is not made use of to establish any new 
 regulation, or its value might be questionable ; but 
 that it is simply brought forward in proof of 
 the fact, that the Divine arrangement, which we 
 have seen pervading all the history of the Church 
 of God previously to the Christian dispensation, 
 was to continue untouched, as to its principle, 
 during the ages which were to succeed the de- 
 velopement of that dispensation. It is, in fact, 
 precisely the same kind of argument, and equally 
 strong, as that by which we prove that the Chris- 
 tian Sabbath is a Divine institution. Nothing is 
 actually declared in the New Testament, respecting 
 the establishment of religion by Government, or the 
 establishment of a Sabbath. Both were already in 
 existence : both had been established long before : it 
 is enough, that neither was abrogated. Our Lord 
 found his hearers, educated in the strongest possible 
 prepossessions, in favour of a national religion, there 
 was no need therefore of enforcing this duty. They, 
 in fact, knew nothing of a religion supported in any 
 other manner than by the State ; all, then, that ap- 
 pears requisite for our Lord to have done upon this 
 
196 
 
 DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 point was, to leave his disciples as he found them. 
 And is not this precisely what He has done? Did 
 our Lord convey a single hint, or did he commis- 
 sion his disciples who were to fill up his outline, to 
 convey a single hint of a contrary tendency ? No ; 
 with the exception of one solitary text, none have 
 ever ventured to assert that he did. And look only 
 for a moment at this exception, and you will see 
 its total inapplicability to the present question. 
 The text to which I allude is, as you are doubtless 
 aware, our Lord's reply to Pilate, " My kingdom is 
 not of this world." When and where was it made 1 
 Was it at all in relation to the Church ? Had it 
 any reference to the establishment of his religion ? 
 Not the smallest. It was the declaration of our 
 Lord when standing at the bar of the Roman 
 governor. He was accused of forbidding his 
 countrymen to pay tribute to Csesar, and of saying 
 that he was Christ, a King, and his reply is, " My 
 kingdom is not of this world ; if my kingdom were 
 of this world, then would my servants fight that I 
 should not be delivered to the Jews." However 
 possible, then, it may be, by taking half the sentence, 
 to make it appear to apply to Church Establish- 
 ments, no unprejudiced man, we apprehend, could 
 read the whole, without seeing that it applied 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 197 
 
 simply, and entirely, to the accusation, that our 
 Lord was endeavouring to erect a temporal king- 
 dom in opposition to the power of Cassar, and to 
 establish this kingdom by the sword. So import- 
 ant is it not to build an argument upon half a pas- 
 sage of Scripture, but to weigh well the whole, and 
 to examine well the context, before we venture to 
 claim the support of God's Word. There is not in- 
 deed a single sentence, from the beginning of St. 
 Matthew, to the end of Revelation, which, without 
 the grossest perversion of Scripture, or the most pal- 
 pable neglect of the context, can be adduced, as an 
 argument against the interference of the civil power, 
 in the establishing and maintaining a national reli- 
 
 <_> CD 
 
 gion. Considering that, as we have seen, all our 
 Lord's first disciples, were nurtured in the preju- 
 dices of a national religion, is it probable, is it pos- 
 sible, that this should have been the case — that 
 these prejudices should have been left untouched, if 
 our Lord had really been opposed to them 1 Did 
 he ever act in a similar manner with regard to any 
 other subject ? Take, for instance, the ceremonial 
 law, established by God himself, as undoubtedly as 
 that the interference of the civil power with reli- 
 gion was established by God himself. For the 
 abolition of the former, the most explicit declara- 
 17* 
 
 ■ 
 
198 
 
 DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 tions were vouchsafed by God to man ; for the aboli- 
 tion of the latter, not one word, as we have seen, 
 has ever yet been communicated. What then are 
 we to believe? What must every unprejudiced 
 mind conclude, when, of two duties, equally en- 
 forced, the former is distinctly abrogated by the 
 same voice which ordained it, and the latter is 
 passed over in silence ? surely we must confess, 
 that the latter principle remains unaltered, unre- 
 moved, unshaken. " The account, then, of scriptural 
 injunction," as an able writer of the present day 
 has well expressed it, " stands thus — in favour of 
 Establishments, much ; against Establishments, no- 
 thing."* 
 
 Without attempting to found the fundamental 
 principle for which we are contending, upon any 
 of the single and scattered declarations of the di- 
 vine Word, such as the prophecy of the text and 
 many others, powerful though they be : we would 
 leave it upon this simple, broad, and intelligible, and, 
 as we believe, irrefragable foundation — That the 
 principle of a national Church was encouraged by 
 God himself under the Patriarchal dispensation, 
 established by God himself under the Jewish dis- 
 pensation, and left untouched by God himself when 
 remodelling that sacred Establishment, under the 
 
 * Essay on the Church, p. 15. 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 ]99 
 
 Christian dispensation. That it is, in fact, founded 
 on those moral obligations, from which no possible 
 change of circumstances can set us free, and like 
 the divine institution of the Sabbath, though veiled 
 for a while under Jewish types and Jewish ceremo- 
 nies, has come down to us stripped of these, and 
 yet retaining all the force and obligation, the beauty 
 and freshness of its divine original; equally binding 
 upon man in his domestic character, in his social 
 character, in his political character, equally impera- 
 tive upon him as a father with his children, as a 
 master with his servants, as a king with his sub- 
 jects: and never to be disregarded, without infring- 
 ing the laws, and contemning the authority of God 
 our Maker. 
 
 With regard to the practice of antiquity, it is 
 sufficient in a single word to assert, what no one 
 can deny, that with the exception of the first three 
 hundred years in the Church's history, when every 
 emperor was an unbeliever, or a persecutor, or 
 both, and therefore when Christianity could not be 
 the religion of the State, there never was a period 
 when the religion of Christ was not fostered and 
 protected by the Government.* And that during 
 the whole, or the greater part, of those first three 
 
 * See Sermons on this subject by the Bishop of London, and 
 by the Rev. Dr. Dealtry. 
 
200 
 
 DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 hundred years, miraculous powers remained in the 
 Church, as if to protect its infancy, until the first 
 Christian emperor, immediately upon his conver- 
 sion, should establish it as the religion of the 
 country, and throw over its institutions, the shield 
 of the civil power: a duty, which was not more 
 clearly seen by Constantine, than it was gratefully 
 and unhesitatingly accepted by the whole body of 
 the Christian Church; not a single dissentient voice 
 having ever been raised, not an individual Christian 
 foretelling, or foreseeing, that a day could arrive 
 when the connexion between Church and State, 
 should be called an unholy union, or when good 
 men, of any persuasion, would unite to dissolve 
 and to destroy it. Upon this point, we will only 
 add a single observation, that however conscien- 
 tious Dissenters may at the present moment view 
 this question ; from the beginning, even among 
 themselves, it was not so ; that in fact the greatest, 
 the holiest among their forefathers, are all found 
 ranged on the side of an Establishment, and fight- 
 ing its battles. It is sufficient to mention the names 
 of Owen, Baxter, Flavel, Howe, Henry, and 
 Doddridge, in support of the assertion; and to 
 show that they were not lukewarm friends of that 
 cause, of which many of their descendants are 
 the enemies, we will quote a single passage of that 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 201 
 
 most eminent non-conformist, the truly wise and 
 pious Dr. Owen, who, when preaching before the 
 long Parliament, thus expressed himself : — " Some* 
 think if you (the Parliament) were well settled, 
 you ought not, in any thing as rulers of the nation, 
 to put forth your power for the interest of Christ ; 
 the good Lord keep your hearts from that appre- 
 hension !" " If once it comes to this, that you 
 shall say you have nothing to do with religion, as 
 rulers of the nation, God will quickly manifest, that 
 he hath nothing to do with you, as rulers of the 
 nation.' ? f A sentiment which we pray that the 
 Spirit of God may keep constantly before the eyes, 
 and write upon the heart, of every legislator of a 
 Christian nation, who expects to enjoy the blessing 
 and favour of the Most High upon his efforts for 
 the good of the nation. 
 
 II. But we must proceed to the second division 
 of our subject, the peculiar advantages of an 
 Established Church. 
 
 Of the blessings, and advantages of a Church 
 
 * Owen's Works, vol. xiv. p. 415. Edit. 1826. 
 
 t Vol. xv. p. 499. — Perhaps Dr. Adam Clarke's well-known 
 testimony in favour of Church Establishments, ought also to be 
 referred to. See his note on 1 Kings xiii. 33, which concludes 
 thus: — M Whatever the reader may do, the writer thanks God for 
 the religious Establishment of his country. For abuses in Church 
 and State he is the last to contend." 
 
202 
 
 DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 Establishment, every individual, whether Church- 
 man, or Dissenter, or Infidel, is, however he may 
 deny it, or however he may in truth be ignorant of 
 it, most unquestionably a partaker. Wherever a 
 church is built, and an active and godly minister is 
 appointed, every i-ank and class in the adjoining so- 
 ciety, and every individual in that society, whether he 
 enter the church, or whether he do not, is in some de- 
 gree improved and benefited. To those who become 
 partakers of its ordinances, the benefits are suffi- 
 ciently obvious. The higher classes, who, amidst the 
 refinements of luxury, or the allurements of intellec- 
 tual pride, might not be willing to go far out of their 
 way, to hear the self-denying doctrines of the Gospel, 
 are met by them at their very doors ; and are told 
 the truth, the plain and life-giving truth, from God's 
 Word, with an authority which nothing but the 
 official character of a duly appointed minister of 
 God, and we might also add, of a parochial mi- 
 nister, necessarily independent both of their smile, 
 and of their frown, can competently insure. In 
 what is termed the " voluntary system," the minis- 
 ter must be exposed to an interference from his 
 congregation, from which the parochial minister, 
 alone is free. The importance of this, in securing 
 an unfettered ministration of the Word of God, is 
 too obvious to require a single observation. Again 
 
DISCOURSE TX. 
 
 203 
 
 ihe poorer and less-informed classes, are brought 
 under the teaching, and hallowing, and comforting 
 influences of the Divine precepts and promises, 
 both in public ministration and private visiting, 
 with a frequency, I may almost say, a constancy, 
 with which no other institution can supply them ; 
 and let me add, at free cost, which, except in a 
 national Church, is, and must be, almost unknown. 
 We speak it in no disparagement to other religious 
 bodies, for we love and revere every order of 
 Christians, who " love the Lord Jesus Christ in 
 sincerity ;" but we state it merely as a fact which 
 the very constitution of their order requires, that 
 even the poor, who attend their places of worship, 
 are expected (we do not say compelled, but expect- 
 ed) to contribute, and, as is w T ell known, do, in the 
 aggregate, contribute largely to the maintenance of 
 their ministers. Now what is the case in the Es- 
 tablishment ? There, and there alone, can it be 
 said, that "The poor have the Gospel preached to 
 them," " without money and without price/' Look 
 at the ten thousand parish churches scattered over 
 the face of the country, and we refer to the country, 
 because, however the " voluntary system" of Dis- 
 sent may thrive in the large and wealthy towns, it 
 has. even to the present hour, been literally unable 
 to obtain the smallest footing in many of our re- 
 
204 
 
 DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 mote villages, from the absolute incapacity of their 
 poor inhabitants to contribute any thing to its sup- 
 port — we say then, look at the numerous parish 
 churches scattered over the face of the country, 
 scarcely a village from among whose trees you 
 do not behold that beautiful and heart-cheering 
 sight, the village spire. See these churches, as 
 many of you, no doubt, have rejoiced to see them, 
 filled on the Lord's day with agricultural labourers 
 of the poorest description ; who have been trained 
 in the Sunday-school, instructed privately, as well 
 as publicly, and prepared carefully by their resident 
 minister, for Confirmation and for the Sacrament of 
 the Lord's Supper ; and who, during their whole lives, 
 remain under his plain, and affectionate instruction, 
 seated on the same benches on which their fathers, 
 and their grandfathers have sat, and heard the word 
 of life ; and yet, with the exception of the trifling fees 
 for the occasional offices of the church, which occur 
 but rarely, in the life of any individual, not one far- 
 thing have the occupants of those benches, from ge- 
 neration to generation, ever contributed, or been ex- 
 pected to contribute, towards the maintenance of the 
 church, or the support of the minister. What but a 
 national Establishment, could ever have the power, 
 however it might possess the will, to make such an 
 abundant provision upon such easy terms? 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 205 
 
 We have said that those without, as well as 
 those within the pale, are benefited by our Church 
 Establishment. Observe only the effect of a single 
 church thus planted in the midst of a moral and a 
 spiritual wilderness, and surely you will not doubt 
 it. Take, for instance, any of those churches 
 which have been lately built at the sole charge of 
 the nation, and which, although situated in the 
 midst of a dense, and ignorant population, would 
 seldom, we may confidently assert, have been 
 erected, had they waited for the expression of 
 their necessity, from those who stood the most in 
 need of them. For, as has been unanswerably 
 demonstrated,* religious instruction, is the great 
 exception to that general rule, which regulates 
 the supply by the demand. In other cases, it 
 may be true ; in religion, it is unquestionably 
 false ; there is no demand until long after the 
 supply has been brought: there is no feeling of 
 our need, until that feeling has been originated 
 by the blessing of God upon those very means 
 by which it is afterwards to be supplied. Take 
 then, we say, for instance, any one of the churches 
 lately built by Government, and look only at the 
 effect produced upon those who never enter it, 
 
 * By Dr. Chalmers. 
 18 
 
206 
 
 DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 upon " them that are without.''* Do they derive 
 nothing from its charities, nothing from its influ- 
 ence, nothing of increased security, to their proper- 
 ties and their persons, from a more scripturally 
 enlightened, and therefore a better conducted po- 
 pulation growing up around them? Nothing of 
 improvement among their dependents, from the 
 spread of that moral influence, or that intellectual 
 cultivation which thrives under its widely-spreading 
 branches ? Surely, taking it, and I have intention- 
 ally so taken it, upon the lowest grounds that the 
 merest worldling could desire, it is impossible not 
 to concede the fact, that every parish church, i. e., 
 every church which insures the Sunday and the 
 week-day ministrations, of an appointed minister, 
 to an appointed people, is a blessing, a peculiar 
 blessing, both to those who are brought into imme- 
 diate contact, with its ordinances, and to those who 
 dwell in its vicinity. 
 
 In conclusion, we would only add, that if our 
 Church Establishment be thus, as we believe it is, 
 a blessing to all, whether they are indifferent to it, 
 or dissent from it, or are opposed to it, of how 
 much greater blessing is it, under God, to those 
 who are " the lively members" of its blessed insti- 
 tutions, who partake of its scriptural services, and 
 * Col. iv. 5. 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 207 
 
 who profit by its imperfect, but scriptural, and 
 faithful ministrations. 
 
 Brethren, if you really love the great and glori- 
 fied Head of the Church, you will love the Church 
 which He has purchased with his blood ; and as 
 one of the purest, and most efficient branches of it, 
 you will love, and venerate, and unceasingly pray 
 for the Established Church of your native country. 
 You will draw the closer to her in this, which, if 
 dark clouds foretell the tempest, may soon be her 
 hour of need. You will uphold her religious insti- 
 tutions, you will maintain her union with the State, 
 you will stand by her most scriptural character- 
 istics, her apostolical episcopacy, and her episco- 
 pally ordained ministry — you will support her best, 
 her truest, her spiritual interests. You will love 
 her too well to cling to her abuses, which it is the 
 mark of a true affection to be the first to deplore, 
 and, as far as in you lies, the first to remedy. You 
 will, therefore, stand as far aloof from those who 
 would alter, and improve nothing, as from those 
 who would rush in, with bold and desperate foot, 
 "where angels fear to tread." You will love her, 
 not as a mere political engine, but as the handmaid 
 of the Lord, because she has for centuries ho- 
 noured Him, whom it is the dearest desire of your 
 heart to honour ; finally, you will love her, be- 
 
208 
 
 DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 cause, within her walls, you have first learnt " the 
 way to Zion;" because, from her pulpits, you have 
 found guidance, and instruction, and encourage- 
 ment, and peace. She has been your spiritual 
 parent, nurse, and counsellor ; and you will in re- 
 turn, be her faithful children, her uncompromising 
 supporters, her enlightened, and prayerful, and 
 steady friends. You will say of her, the Church of 
 God, as David said of old of the city of God, " If 
 I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget 
 her cunning. If I do not remember thee,"* in thy 
 trouble to help thee, in thy dangers to assist thee, 
 in thy difficulties to pray for thee, " let my tongue 
 cleave to the roof of my mouth ; yea, if I prefer 
 not Jerusalem above my chief joy."f And you 
 will, if you are the true, and consistent members 
 of such a Church, pass from the worship of her 
 courts below T to that blessed place, of which the 
 Apostle declared, " I saw no temple there, for God 
 Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple of it: And 
 the city had no need of the sun, neither of the 
 moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten 
 it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.";); 
 
 * Psalm cxxxvii. 5. t Psalm cxxxvii. 6. 
 
 t Rev. xxi. 22, 23. 
 
LECTURES 
 
 ON THE 
 
 HISTORY OF SAINT PETER. 
 
LECTURES. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 LUKE V. 8. 
 
 "When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, 
 saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." 
 
 Having found, upon a former occasion, that the 
 biography of one, eminent in the writings of the 
 Old Testament, offered many valuable lessons, both 
 to the Christian minister and the Christian hearer, 
 it is my intention, during the present season of 
 Lent, to bring before you some of the remarkable 
 passages in the life of one of the great and good 
 men under the New Testament dispensation. 
 
 The individual, whose history I have selected for 
 this purpose, is Simon Peter — of whom it is not too 
 much to assert, that, after our blessed Lord himself, 
 there is no one for whom a stronger prepossession 
 is excited in our bosoms, no one with whom we 
 more early sympathize, or, in the affecting inci- 
 
212 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 dents of whose eventful history, we take a more 
 lasting interest. 
 
 In the prosecution of this endeavour, I shall con- 
 fine myself to some of the most striking incidents 
 in the life of Peter, narrated in the Gospels, the 
 length of the present season not being sufficient to 
 admit of our embracing the whole of the instructive 
 details of his eventful biography contained in the 
 Scriptures. 
 
 May the divine grace so co-operate with the im- 
 perfect attempt, as to render it instrumental, through 
 the power of the Holy Spirit of God, to the impart- 
 ing to us some portion of that fervent love to the 
 person of the Lord Jesus Christ, that zealous attach- 
 ment to his service, that implicit obedience to his 
 commands, which so remarkably characterized this 
 distinguished apostle ! 
 
 Of the early history of Simon Peter, nothing has 
 been handed down to us by the pen of inspiration : 
 the earliest record which is given of him in the word 
 of God, is contained in the first chapter of St. John's 
 Gospel. 
 
 From the period when John the Baptist became 
 acquainted with the Saviour of the world, at the 
 waters of Jordan, he preached him as " the way, 
 the truth, and the life," to his own disciples. Among 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 213 
 
 these disciples of the Baptist, was Andrew, Simon 
 Peter's brother, the first who, directed by the testi- 
 mony of John, devoted himself to the service of the 
 Messiah. No sooner had he seen and conversed 
 with Jesus, than, as we find in the forty-first verse 
 of the chapter to which we have already alluded, 
 Andrew, naturally anxious to dispense to those he 
 loved, something of the gratitude and joy with 
 which his own heart was overflowing, " first find- 
 eth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We 
 have found the Messias ; and he brought him to 
 Jesus." 
 
 Here then is the commencement of the scriptural 
 biography of Peter — the hour in which he is carried, 
 by the active exertions of a brother's love, to the 
 feet of the Redeemer. All that preceded this im- 
 portant event, is considered by the inspired historian 
 as undeserving of a single word. Let others teh 1 of 
 the early genius and precocious talents of those whose 
 history they narrate: to the Evangelist, the point 
 alone from which the narrative becomes worthy of 
 his pen, is the hour which beholds the subject of 
 his history brought to an acquaintance with the 
 Saviour of the world. What a lesson is this to us, 
 my Christian brethren ! 
 
 That portion of our lives which we, perhaps, are 
 
214 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 apt to dwell upon with the greatest delight, the 
 pleasures and follies of our youth, the exploits of 
 our manhood, the unsanctified pursuits in which so 
 many of our later years have been wasted, form in 
 the sight of the saints and angels, no portion of 
 our history. They recognise us only from the time, 
 that " being made one with Christ, and Christ with 
 us," we commence a new life unto the Lord ; and 
 having become members of his blessed family, we 
 become objects of the deepest interest and the ten- 
 derest anxiety even to the inhabitants of heaven. 
 They reckon our years not from the day we were 
 born, but from the time we were " born again," and 
 made heirs of the kingdom ; of all prior to that 
 event, the best which we can hope and ask at the 
 hands of God is, that it may be blotted out of the 
 book of his remembrance; that it may be cast into 
 the depths of the sea, and never be permitted to rise 
 up against us to shame us in this world, or to con- 
 demn us in that which is to come. But, my bre- 
 thren, while the real Christian believes, and rejoices 
 to believe this, how does it affect the man of the 
 world? Do I not address some, and perhaps even 
 of those advanced in life, who, in this view, are but 
 as infants ? Do 1 address any who have lived three- 
 score years and ten, and whose spiritual life has not 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 215 
 
 even now commenced ? Surely here is deep cause 
 for earnest, solemn reflection, for fervent and heart- 
 felt prayer : fifty, sixty, seventy years thrown away 
 upon a worthless and unsatisfying world — not a 
 year, not a day, not an hour, really given to God. 
 You were born a stranger to him, and you are a 
 stranger still. The day of reckoning is at your 
 doors, and you have nothing ready for the account. 
 Would to God that this might be the resolution of 
 your hearts to-day : — " the time past of my life shall 
 suffice to have wrought the will of the Gentiles ;" 
 henceforth I will resolve, in the strength of the Lord, 
 to begin in earnest to live to God. Let your spiri- 
 tual history now commence, if you have never yet 
 been made acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 never yet been brought into the blessed relationship 
 of his family ; M to-day, while it is called to-day, 
 harden not your hearts;" earnestly seek that spirit 
 of adoption whereby you can alone be enabled to 
 begin, in the children's language, " to cry Abba, 
 Father," and in the children's spirit, to look for the 
 children's home. 
 
 While commencing the spiritual history of Peter, 
 we cannot but remark the pleasing circumstance, 
 that it was his own brother Andrew, who first led 
 him to his Lord and Saviour. If it be true, (and 
 
216 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 who will venture to deny it ?) that the enjoyment of 
 the social affections is the highest temporal gratifi- 
 cation, and the interchange of the kindly offices of 
 love the most beloved occupation here below — 
 then how nearly do these approach to the delights 
 of a holier state of existence, and the occupations 
 of a higher order of intelligences, when they are 
 purified by the love of God, and consecrated to the 
 cross of Christ ! If it be interesting to the parent to 
 mark the first opening efforts of the infant mind, 
 and to trace the first springs of thought in the in- 
 fant breast, how much more delightful is it to be 
 made instrumental in sowing the first seeds of spi- 
 ritual knowledge and in teaching the first lessons of 
 spiritual love ! To behold the little countenances of 
 our dear children lighted up, and their eyes sparkling 
 with intelligence, while listening to a theme which 
 angels themselves desire to look into; and to feel, 
 while thus engaged, that we are opening up in their 
 young hearts sources of future peace and joy, over 
 which the present changeful state of things shall 
 exercise no control, but which shall continue to flow 
 on, when time itself has ceased to flow. If there 
 be anything which can increase those natural feel- 
 ings of love that exist between the husband and the 
 wife, the parent and the child, the brother and the 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 217 
 
 sister, surely it is the being thus made the blessed 
 instruments in the hand of God, in bringing these 
 near and dear connexions within the still closer 
 bonds of the Gospel of Christ. 
 
 Deeply does the Christian feel for those who can- 
 not sympathise with him here ; deeply does he pity 
 those to whom such blessings are unknown : even in 
 this world there is no other real security for the 
 strongest ties, for there is no such love as this en- 
 genders. The relationship between the spiritual 
 father and his spiritual children, is the closest, dear- 
 est, most enduring, that can be found on earth ; and 
 when this is superadded to the ties of natural affec- 
 tion, when the several members of a Christian family 
 are thus " knit together in love" in Christ Jesus, 
 then it is, that family union assumes almost a hea- 
 venly character, and those who are bound by its 
 sweet influences here will not be separated through- 
 out eternity. 
 
 We have now beheld Simon Peter, by the affec- 
 tionate efforts of his own brother Andrew, brought 
 to an acquaintance with the Messiah ; but it does 
 not appear, that from this hour he became one of 
 his constant attendants, or that this was the period 
 when he entirely devoted himself, heart and soul, 
 to the labours of the Apostleship. We find that for 
 19 
 
218 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 a little period, he returned to the usual avocations 
 of a fisher's life, to his boats and to his nets ; and 
 although, doubtless, not forgetful of the high privi- 
 lege he had once enjoyed, yet obviously requiring 
 a more distinct and decisive command from the 
 Lord of heaven and earth, before he became sensi- 
 ble of the glorious destiny which awaited him. The 
 circumstances under which this command was 
 vouchsafed, are related in the fifth chapter of St. 
 Luke's Gospel, where we read that our Lord having, 
 upon the lake of Gennesaret, taught the people out 
 of Simon Peter's ship, desired him to launch out 
 into the deep, and to let down his nets for a draught. 
 No sooner had this injunction been complied with, 
 than so vast a multitude of fishes were taken, that 
 " the nets brake and the vessels themselves began to 
 sink." Then it was that Peter, enlightened by the 
 Holy Spirit of God, began really to discover the 
 divine nature, and to be convinced of the super- 
 natural power of Him whom he had already ac- 
 knowledged as the Messiah of God ; and the 
 immediate consequence was that recorded in the 
 text, " he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart 
 from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord !" 
 
 Behold the remarkable effect of a single un- 
 clouded view of the incarnate Deity ! An over- 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 219 
 
 whelming sense of the greatness of the Saviour, 
 and of the nothingness, and less than nothingness, 
 of his sinful creatures. How uniformly has this 
 been the result, in all ages, of a clear and visible 
 manifestation to fallen man of the second person of 
 the ever-blessed Trinity. Thus, in the case of the 
 holy and devoted Job, after he had beheld that glo- 
 rious vision of the eternal God, which he describes, 
 we see him humbled in the dust, we hear him saying, 
 in the voice of the deepest penitence and self-abhor- 
 rence, " I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, 
 but now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor my- 
 self, and repent in dust and ashes." Thus was it also 
 with Isaiah, when he beheld the Lord sitting upon his 
 throne, and surrounded by the glorious seraphim : 
 " Then said I, Wo is me, for 1 am undone, because 
 I am a man of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen 
 the King, the Lord of hosts." Thus is it, even at 
 the present moment, with ourselves; never are the 
 power and the perfections of the Saviour truly 
 brought home to the heart, without being accom- 
 panied by a self accusing, self-condemning know- 
 ledge of our own souls. The first language of the 
 convicted sinner is, " Depart from me, for I am a 
 sinful man, 0 Lord P Not that he really desires 
 the departure of his Saviour, but that he is so over- 
 
220 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 whelmed with a sense of the power and the purity 
 of Christ, and with the guilt and weakness of him- 
 self, that he cannot but acknowledge that he is " not 
 worthy that the Saviour should come under his 
 roof/' or take up his promised abode within his 
 bosom. 
 
 We say that this is still the invariable effect of a 
 real manifestation of the Saviour to the hearts of 
 his fallen creatures. It is true, you may have 
 heard, read, and spoken of Christ from your very 
 infancy, and no such effect have been produced; 
 but this will not disprove our assertion, because 
 you may have heard and read, and spoken of 
 Him, and, alas ! know him not. But the moment 
 you do know him, the moment he fulfils to you his 
 gracious promise of manifesting* himself to his 
 people as he does not to the world ; the moment 
 you are enabled by the divine Spirit really to see 
 " the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,"f 
 you will find that the declaration of Peter is the 
 only appropriate language of your heart, " I am a 
 sinful man, O Lord !" 
 
 Is not this, my Christian brethren, the first feel- 
 ing of the convicted conscience ? are not these the 
 first utterings of the awakened heart? We do not 
 
 * See John xiv. 21, 22. t 2 Cor. iv. 6. 
 
LECTURE L 
 
 221 
 
 hesitate to say, that the divine Spirit never, in any 
 single instance, really reveals a saving knowledge 
 of Christ, without at the same time thus convincing 
 of sin. The depth of this feeling, the intensity of 
 its anguish, the length of its duration, will vary 
 in almost every different instance, for it is a fatal, 
 though common mistake, to imagine that upon this 
 point the experience of one believer forms a model 
 or a measure for another. In some the soul is per- 
 mitted to be long bowed down by a sense of sin ; 
 and days of sorrow and nights of watchfulness are 
 wearily endured before peace is applied, and the 
 Comforter fulfils his blessed office: in others, the 
 conviction is so closely followed by the reception 
 of the Saviour's promises, or rather, so identified 
 with it, that there is nothing known of the deeper 
 pangs and acuter agonies of a guilty conscience ; 
 but, be assured of this, that in all, yes, in every 
 imaginable case — in the case of the most moral, 
 the most virtuous, the most lovely — the plague of 
 an evil heart must be acknowledged; sin must be 
 felt, must be deplored, must be confessed before 
 God, or the great work is undone, the Saviour is 
 not clearly seen, the reconciliation to God is not 
 effected. 
 
 My brethren, I would beseech you to apply this 
 19* 
 
222 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 to your own souls. Have you ever enjoyed, do 
 you now enjoy, such a sight of your Redeemer, by 
 the eye of faith, as compels you to confess your 
 sinfulness, and to cry for pardon ; to acknowledge 
 from your heart " that you have left undone those 
 things which you ought to have done, and you 
 have done those things which you ought not to 
 have done, and there is no health in you V If this 
 has never yet been the language of your soul, be 
 assured that you have not seen him, neither known 
 him. " You may have heard of him by the hear- 
 ing of the ear," but you cannot say, "Now mine 
 eye seeth thee." O! seek unceasingly for this 
 spiritual vision ; pray that you may be able to say, 
 " Whereas I was blind, now I see." It is the sight 
 of Jesus which (speaking not from the experience 
 of an individual, but from the testimony of all ages 
 of the church of Christ) alone possesses a convert- 
 ing efficacy here — it is the same blissful sight 
 which shall alone possess a transforming efficacy 
 hereafter ; for mark the testimony of inspiration it- 
 self to this important truth : " Now we are 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." 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 223 
 
 No sooner had Peter made the confession of 
 which we have been speaking, than we read that 
 Jesus said unto him, "Simon, fear not, from hence- 
 forth thou shalt catch men : And when they had 
 brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and 
 followed him."' 
 
 Observe in these words the two-fold lesson they 
 impart ; the tenderness of the Saviour — " Fear 
 not;" the obedience of the new disciple — "He 
 forsook all, and followed Jesus." When we speak 
 to you of a Saviour, blessed be God, w 7 e speak of 
 a Being unchanged and unchangeable, " the same 
 yesterday, to-day, and for ever." Were these his 
 words to Peter? and are they not, then, assuredly 
 his words to you? Yes; even to you and to your 
 children to the end of time. There is not an indivi- 
 dual to whom I now address myself, who has ever 
 said, or who shall ever say, from the bottom of a 
 broken contrite heart, "I am a sinful man, O 
 Lord :" to whom that Lord shall not reply, " Fear 
 not." How blessed an assurance to the truly peni- 
 tent ! how comforting a declaration to the sorrow- 
 ing soul ! Are you saying, with the deeply 
 repentant Psalmist, " There is no soundness in my 
 flesh, because of thine anger ; neither is there any 
 rest in my bones, by reason of my sin. For mine 
 
224 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 iniquities are gone over mine head : as an heavy 
 burden they are too heavy for me to bear." Then 
 hear the reply of that gracious Being to whom you 
 complain — "Fear not;" "though your sins be as 
 scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; though 
 they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool :" 
 " for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Are 
 you not only deploring the guilt of your sins, but 
 lamenting at the same time the weakness of your 
 faith '? " Fear not," says the all-powerful and 
 compassionate Redeemer, " my grace is sufficient 
 for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weak- 
 ness." Be assured, therefore, upon the testimony 
 of that revealed word which cannot alter, and 
 shall not fail, though heaven and earth shall pass 
 away ; be assured upon this evidence, that the be- 
 lieving penitent has no ground for fear; that the 
 same Saviour addresses you, at this hour, in the 
 same accents of tenderness and compassion, which 
 he addressed eighteen hundred years ago to Peter ; 
 and that His pardon, His grace, His glory, are 
 your own. Fall low before his feet, as Peter did 
 with a humble and a contrite spirit ; plead before 
 His throne of grace with the outpourings of a full 
 heart, and He will raise you as he did this convict- 
 ed sinner, and be Himself your portion for time 
 and for eternity. 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 225 
 
 But, my Christian brethren, we may not finish 
 here: the love of the Saviour is indeed infinite, and 
 unutterable, and entire ; but remember that he is 
 u become the author of eternal salvation unto all 
 them" only " that obey him." " Peter forsook all, 
 and followed Jesus." Are you endeavouring to 
 imitate so exalted an example? to forsake, not a 
 portion of that which is offensive to the eve, and 
 contrary to the word of our God, but all, every be- 
 setting sin, every uncharitable temper, every doubt- 
 ful pleasure, every worldly entanglement which 
 opposes you, or impedes you in following Jesus ; 
 making no single reserve for any favourite pleasure, 
 or any questionable profit, but faithfully and boldly 
 plucking them out, and casting them from you, as a 
 free-will offering, at the command of your Redeem- 
 er? Who among us is there thus really striving to 
 forsake all for Christ ? A careful examination of 
 our thoughts, our words, our actions, even for this 
 single day which is passing over us, would, we fear, 
 leave the holiest without an answer, and without 
 excuse. Yet, my brethren, this it is to be a Chris- 
 tian ; time can make no alteration in the require- 
 ments of that name ; it is still in this sense obliga- 
 tory upon all who bear the name of Christ, to for- 
 sake all, to deny themselves, to take up the cross, 
 
226 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 and to follow Christ. What shall we then say to 
 these things ? Who is there that does not stand 
 self-convicted before that God who seeth the heart 1 
 Who is there that will refuse to say, " God be mer- 
 ciful to me a sinner !" Who is there that will not 
 heartily unite in this most appropriate petition of 
 our Church : — "Grant, O merciful God, that as 
 thine holy apostles, leaving all that they had with- 
 out delay, were obedient unto the calling of thy Son 
 Jesus Christ, and followed him ; so we, forsaking all 
 worldly and carnal affections, may evermore be 
 ready to follow thy holy commandments, through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 227 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 MATT. XIV. 29. 
 
 44 And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walk- 
 ed on the water, to go to Jesus." 
 
 Simon Peter, having now become one of our 
 Lord's constant attendants, and having been ordain- 
 ed one of his twelve apostles, is henceforth to be 
 found, in every incident of importance, holding a 
 most prominent situation among the followers of our 
 Lord, and bearing a most distinguished part. 
 
 Is there an undertaking of peculiar hazard and 
 danger, requiring the highest exertion of faith and 
 the most unbounded display of courage — such, for 
 example, as the walking upon the surface of the 
 troubled deep? this undaunted apostle is foremost in 
 the attempt. Is there a doubt cast upon the devoted 
 attachment of the followers of our Lord, and from 
 the lips of our Lord himself, " Will ye also go 
 away t" — this affectionate being is the first, from the 
 full outpourings of a loving heart, to repel the impu- 
 
228 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 tation : " Lord, to whom shall we go ? thou hast the 
 words of eternal life." Is there an inquiry which 
 could probe the faith, and accurately ascertain the 
 degree of light and knowledge which the apostles 
 possessed, " Whom say ye that I am V 9 — this super- 
 naturally instructed disciple is the man unhesitating- 
 ly to reply, " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the 
 living God." 
 
 May the same Spirit who, upon each of these 
 deeply interesting occasions, influenced the heart of 
 Peter, be present with us this morning, while we 
 endeavour profitably to consider the conduct of the 
 apostle, under the first of these widely differing cir- 
 cumstances ; and may this Divine Teacher impart to 
 us some blessed por on of Peter's courage, of Peter's 
 wisdom, and of Peter's love ! 
 
 The incident to which I shall at present call your 
 attention is contained in the 14th chapter of St 
 Matthew's Gospel, where we read, that after a day 
 spent in the most laborious and fatiguing acts of 
 beneficence and charity; after miraculously heal- 
 ing the sick and feeding the fainting multitude, our 
 Lord had withdrawn himself from the presence of 
 his beloved disciples, to spend the greater portion 
 of the night in secret communion with his heavenly 
 Father. A night of fervent prayer, after a day of 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 229 
 
 ceaseless labour ! What an example for us, my 
 brethren, who are too ready to consider the 
 smallest feelings of fatigue, even if not induced by 
 doing the works of him who sent us, an excuse 
 fully sufficient for the intermission or the diminu- 
 tion of our communion with Heaven. O ! that 
 there might be a larger portion of the Spirit which 
 influenced our Divine Master shed abroad upon us 
 his unprofitable servants ! — that there might be 
 more of that secret communion with God, that inti- 
 mate and habitual intercourse with him, the dearth 
 of which spreads such a meagerness and coldness 
 over all the labours of us his ministers, and such 
 a formality and deadness over the best services of 
 you, his people! While our Lord was thus en- 
 gaged on the mountains which surrounded the lake, 
 his disciples were on board their vessel, tossed with 
 the w r aves, for the wind was contrary. Many a 
 weary hour had passed, and they are doubtless 
 anxiously longing for the presence of their Divine 
 Master ; when in the fourth watch, about three 
 o'clock in the morning, they beheld him walking 
 towards the vessel upon the surface of the sea. No 
 sooner had his accents of encouragement and as- 
 surance reached their ears, " It is I, be not afraid," 
 than Peter answered, "Lord, if it be thou, bid me 
 20 
 
230 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come : 
 and when Peter was come down out of the ship, 
 he walked on the water to go to Jesus." How- 
 striking, how unprecedented an instance of courage 
 and of faith ! At a single word from the lips of 
 his Divine Master, the undaunted apostle unhesi- 
 tatingly steps upon the surface of the tempest- 
 tossed ocean, and firmly believes that he shall find 
 a solid footing upon those soft and yielding waters. 
 What motive could be sufficiently powerful for 
 such a daring ? Was it the mere desire of dis- 
 tinguishing himself above his fellow T s? Was it an 
 ambitious anxiety to place himself upon an equality 
 with his Omnipotent Master? No, surely; these 
 were motives which never found a momentary 
 entertainment in Peter's bosom. Observe the lan- 
 guage of the request ; it is not merely, Enable me 
 to walk upon the waters ; give me power to per- 
 form as great a miracle as thou art thyself perform- 
 ing ; let me do as man has never done ; but, " Bid 
 me come unto thee upon the waters," that was the 
 feeling which sanctified the request ; Peter hears 
 the voice of his beloved Master, and if sanctioned 
 by one word from him, the most tremendous of the 
 elements shall not separate them; though the winds 
 blow a tempest around his head, he will venture 
 
LECTURE It. 
 
 231 
 
 through ; though the waters be unfathomable be- 
 neath his feet, he will venture on. The true Chris- 
 tian, who has experienced the powerful influence of 
 the love of Christ upon his own heart, is no longer 
 surprised to find that Peter dared to walk upon the 
 water, when he reads that it was to go to Jesus. 
 What encouragement is there in this incident for 
 the believer! what comfort for those who are com- 
 mencing the spiritual life, and desiring to draw 
 near with faith to the Saviour ! Upon such a sub- 
 ject, you cannot ask more than your Redeemer will 
 readily grant : you cannot ask too much — ye are 
 not straitened in God, ye are straitened only in 
 your own selves ; you cannot seek too near an 
 access, too close a union with him in whom you 
 believe. Imagine the greatest obstacles you can 
 imagine to be between you and your God, and they 
 sink into insignificance when compared with the 
 opposing elements between Peter and his Lord. 
 But you will perhaps reply, that yours are spiritual 
 obstacles; when you would approach God, you 
 have a fearful host of disobedient thoughts, and 
 rebellious desires, and evil tempers, and impure 
 passions, drawn up in battle-array before you, and 
 continually driving you far from him in whom 
 your soul would delight, successfully opposing your 
 
232 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 every effort to approach him. Here is no sufficient 
 reason for despair ; that all-powerful voice which 
 bid Peter come to his Divine Master, even through 
 the opposing tempest, can call, and cheer, and en- 
 courage you, and make you more than conqueror 
 over these most fearful adversaries of your soul. 
 
 But, perhaps, to some whom I address, there are 
 obstacles widely different from these. You cannot 
 draw near as you could desire to God, because 
 your strength is perfect weakness ; every resolution 
 fails in the hour of trial ; day testifies unto day. 
 and night unto night — a sad, sad catalogue of bro- 
 ken determinations and successful temptations and 
 a yielding softness of spirit, which shrinks from 
 the attacks of your great adversary, and falls be- 
 fore the slightest blow in the day of battle. To 
 you I would also say, there is comfort in this view 
 of the power of your Redeemer. Was he, in the 
 days of his flesh, able to fix the flowing ocean? 
 and has he not power to fix your wandering 
 thoughts, and to stay your wavering resolutions? 
 Was he able to make the liquid waters solid as a 
 pavement of adamant beneath the feet of Peter? 
 and is there any thing too weak for him to 
 strengthen, too yielding for him to render firm? 
 No; be assured your very weakness is your 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 233 
 
 strength, if it but lead you to cast yourself unre- 
 servedly upon the Lord Jesus, the fountain of 
 strength, for your support. But remember, that it 
 was only in the power of the Lord that Peter 
 ventured : had he attempted it in his own, he 
 would inevitably have sunk beneath the waves. If 
 you are really sincere in the desire of drawing 
 nigh unto God earnest in the prayer, " Bid me 
 come unto thee," the word of Christ will not be 
 wanting to encourage you, the power of Christ will 
 not be wanting to enable you to go to him, though 
 all the weakness, and all the wickedness, of your 
 fickle and corrupt nature, should place themselves 
 between you. 
 
 Thus far we have seen a most instructive and 
 beautiful exhibition of Peter's courage and faith; 
 we are now to behold the imperfection of these 
 Very graces exhibited, and in the self-same hour, 
 and by the self-same individual. It is perhaps not 
 unworthy of observation, that in sacred history we 
 invariably find that the recorded defects of the 
 people of God are on the side of their most con- 
 spicuous graces. Thus, the recorded sin of the 
 father* of the faithful was want of faith — of the 
 meek and gentle Moses.f that he spake unadvisedly 
 
 * Gen. xii. 12, 13. t Psalm cvi. 32, 33. 
 
 20* 
 
234 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 with his lips — of the patient Job*, that he was im- 
 patient — of the man after God's own heart, that he 
 was sensualf — of the tender-hearted John,J that he 
 was vindictive — of the lion-hearted Peter,§ that he 
 was cowardly. The Spirit of God has recorded 
 these failures of the best of men, to convince us, 
 if we are capable of conviction, that man, even in 
 his best estate, is " deceitful upon the weights, al- 
 together lighter than vanity itself;" and that if 
 tried by his own merits in the balance of the sanc- 
 tuary, he would, under the most favourable circum- 
 stances, infallibly be found wanting. 
 
 Peter had not only boldly ventured on that path 
 of miracle, but had proceeded some little distance 
 upon it with the most perfect security ; when, to 
 our surprise and dismay, we read, that, " when he 
 saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid ; and, be- 
 ginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me !" 
 What an instantaneous transition ! from a boldness 
 which had voluntarily courted an unknown danger, 
 to a timidity which feared, where his own experi- 
 ence might have convinced him that it was safe. 
 And shall we, my brethren, harshly condemn the 
 faithful apostle for his act of faithlessness? Our 
 
 * Job iii. 1,2, 3. 
 t Luke ix. 54. 
 
 t 2 Sam. xi. 4. 
 § Matt. xiv. 30. 
 
 4 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 235 
 
 Lord once said,* " Let him that is without sin 
 among you cast the first stone." So would we 
 now say, let him who would have dared to place 
 his foot where Peter did, condemn him for his want 
 of courage ; if you believe, that at a single word of 
 bidding from your Divine Master, you would unhesi- 
 tatingly have taken one step with this intrepid dis- 
 ciple, you may be privileged to arraign him, that 
 he advanced no further. " It was," says the Evan- 
 gelist, " when he saw the wind boisterous, that he 
 began to sink." He had, therefore, withdrawn his 
 steadfast gaze from his Divine Master, and was 
 faithlessly looking around upon the dark clouds, 
 and the still darker waters. How does every word 
 of this instructive narrative, agree with the be- 
 liever's experience, and come home to the believer's 
 heart ! When is it that the Christian fails ? When is 
 it that the Christian desponds ? When is it that the 
 Christian begins to sink? Not in the hour, however 
 great the trial or afflicting the dispensation, that the 
 eye of faith is steadfastly fixed upon his Saviour: 
 this is not the hour when the Christian sinks : it is 
 when he forgets and disobeys that most important 
 command, " Look unto me, and be ye saved ;" 
 when his path is overcast, and trouble and tempta- 
 
 * John viii. 7. 
 
236 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 tion so thickly surround him, that his thoughts are 
 led to fasten themselves upon these outward diffi- 
 culties, or inward trials, and thus to be withdrawn 
 from the fountain of strength and succour. Chris- 
 tian brethren, this is a temptation against which, 
 we cannot too earnestly or too constantly be upon 
 our guard ; for it is one of the most common and 
 most successful with which our spiritual enemy 
 assails us. Let nothing induce you to turn the eye 
 of faith, even for a passing hour, from the Saviour 
 of sinners; while you look on him, you are safe: 
 danger begins the moment that you cease to do so: 
 once turn aside, because the cloud is dark, or the 
 wind is boisterous ; give the reins to a desponding 
 imagination ; follow out the delusive reasonings 
 of a deceitful or a doubting heart, and the inevitable 
 effect will be, that every moment so spent, will the 
 more widely separate you from. Him, who alone 
 can be your refuge, and your support. Your 
 strength, your only strength, consists in cleaving 
 daily, hourly, momentarily (as the parasitic plant 
 of a summer clings to the oak of ages,) to your 
 Redeemer, and drawing from his unsearchable 
 riches and his inexhaustible fulness, a sufficiency 
 for all your poverty, and for all your need. 
 
 While we thus comment upon the apostle's faith- 
 
LECTURE II. 23? 
 
 Jessness, let us not forget that it was the act of a 
 moment, and but a moment : no sooner did he begin 
 to sink, than he cried, 44 Lord, save me !" There was 
 no faithlessness in that petition. Even at his lowest 
 estate, the true believer is a believer still. He may 
 begin to sink, but the cry of fear with him will also 
 be the cry of faith: while sinking, his eye will once 
 more rest upon a merciful and pardoning Saviour; 
 while falling, he will cry with the falling Psalmist, 
 <; O cast me not away from thy presence, and take 
 not thy Holy Spirit from me ;" and with that sin- 
 ning believer he will find restoring grace, with that 
 sinking apostle, he will feel the outstretched arm. 
 
 Continuing the history, we are told that " Jesus 
 stretched forth his hand and caught him, and said 
 unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst 
 thou doubt ?" Behold the blessed effects of a sin- 
 gle heartfelt prayer. Though beginning to sink, it 
 was not too late ; though possessing but little faith, 
 it was not too feeble. It was enough for our com- 
 passionate Redeemer, that it was the cry of one 
 who had no hope but in his mercy, yet in that 
 mercy had the most unshaken confidence. These 
 were the wings which carried that short petition, 
 " Lord, save me !" directly to the heart of him, to 
 whom it was addressed. This then is a true speci- 
 
238 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 men of acceptable prayer. With such an exam- 
 ple, and such an encouragement before us, let me 
 urge you to ask yourself, Are these the feelings 
 which occupy my heart, when I raise my voice in 
 prayer? have I ever offered one such earnest, 
 heartfelt petition as this of Peter at the throne of 
 grace ? You have this day uttered many prayers ; 
 you have made use of a form of words truly scrip- 
 tural, truly spiritual, truly applicable to all the mul- 
 tiplied necessities of the largest congregation ; but 
 you may have been no more benefited by these 
 petitions, than the beggar would be enriched by- 
 walking over a golden pavement. Did you pray 
 the prayers, even which your lips have uttered ? 
 When you repeated, " Lord, have mercy upon us, 
 miserable sinners," was there any feeling of misery 
 — any real conviction that you were sinners — any 
 heartfelt desire for mercy ? When your minister, 
 solemnly addressing himself to the omnipotent Je- 
 hovah, exclaimed, " 0 God, make speed to save 
 us," and you replied, " O Lord, make haste to help 
 us," was this a mere formal repetition of a request 
 in which you had no interest ; or was it an ear- 
 nest expression of real feeling, warm from the 
 heart, dictated by a sense of weakness, which you 
 acknowledge yourselves utterly unable to remedy? 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 239 
 
 Was it urged by a conviction as heartfelt as that 
 of the drowning Peter, that if God do not help you, 
 if Christ do not save you, you must perish, and 
 perish everlastingly 1 Without these feelings, there 
 may be many words, but there is no prayer. 
 Prayer is simply the faithful utterance of those 
 desires, and of those necessities, of which, even 
 when unutterecl, the heart is full. It cannot, there- 
 fore, exist without the consciousness of your own 
 helplessness, and of your Saviour's all-sufficiency: 
 without these feelings, hours of prayer will be un- 
 heeded ; with them, be assured, the smallest whis- 
 per that faith shall ever utter, will not return unan- 
 swered. 
 
 But we must hasten to the conclusion of the 
 incident upon which we have been engaged. 
 " When they were come into the ship, the wind 
 ceased,'' and, as St. John has added to his narra- 
 tion, " immediately the ship was at the land 
 whither they went." What the disciples had la- 
 boured to effect during the livelong night, by their 
 own exertions, and without avail, is performed in 
 a moment by the power and presence of their 
 Master. Before he enters, we are told, " the ship 
 was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with 
 waves, for the wind was contrary." When he 
 
240 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 enters, the wind ceases and the vessel moves for- 
 ward, through the still waters, to the haven where 
 it would be. My Christian brethren, do I address 
 any among you whose souls resemble at this hour 
 this tempest-beaten vessel? who have ploughed your 
 way hitherto with toil and difficulty through the 
 dark waters of a dreary world, but have wandered 
 widely from your course, and even now have no 
 comfortable assurance, that the morning light will 
 find you making the land of your inheritance? 
 Here are glad tidings for you ; tidings which we 
 pray the Spirit of God to carry home to your 
 hearts : here is One whom the winds and the sea 
 obey, who is willing to become the inmate of your 
 bosom, and there to take up his lasting abode, and 
 to speed you on your way rejoicing. It is his ab- 
 sence that has raised the storm you cannot quell, 
 and which has kept you, and will for ever keep 
 you from the wished-for haven. In vain you la- 
 bour to advance by your own poor and hopeless 
 efforts : watch after watch of your short night is 
 passing, and the shore is still far, far beyond your 
 view. O ! believe me, it is his presence which can 
 effect what neither man nor angel can attempt: 
 it is his presence, though you know it not, which is 
 all you need. Admit him freely in all his offices 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 241 
 
 as Prophet, Priest, and King, into your heart, and 
 from that hour the tempest within, and the storm 
 without, shall alike be hushed, and you shall be 
 carried forward calmly, peacefully, and joyfully, 
 through the still waters, to that haven where you 
 would be. You shall not only see, but enter that 
 blissful country, where Christ for ever reigns, " the 
 King of kings and Lord of lords." 
 
 21 
 
242 
 
 LECTURE HI. 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 MATT. XVI. 18. 
 
 " I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this 
 rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not 
 prevail against it." 
 
 At the present day, when the pretensions of the 
 church of Rome have assumed a prominency which 
 in this Protestant kingdom has been long denied 
 them, it behoves every member of our national 
 Establishment, as far as his leisure and ability will 
 permit, to make himself master of the doctrinal 
 subjects in dispute. I do not mean to say that he is 
 bound to enter the dry and barren field of polemical v 
 divinity, and to lose his time and his temper in the 
 mazes of religious controversy; but simply, with 
 the Bible in his hand and with earnest prayer for 
 the divine teaching, to examine the great leading 
 points of difference between the churches ; that he 
 may not himself be " carried away with every wind 
 of doctrine," and that he may be able wisely to give 
 to others " an answer of the hope that is in him." 
 We have lived so long in a state of security, that 
 
LECTURE HI. 
 
 243 
 
 many of us are really ignorant of the chief causes 
 which led our forefathers to separate from a church 
 which had made M the word of God of none effect, 
 through their traditions.'' The consequence of this 
 ignorance is, that men hesitate not to assert, that 
 the differences between the churches, are little 
 more than verbal differences; not considering that 
 such an acknowledgment, if it were true, would dis- 
 tinctly prove the reformed religion to be, what the 
 Romanist has always pronounced it, an unjustifiable 
 schism. 
 
 Feeling the truth of these reflections most power- 
 fully myself, I trust you will bear with me, if, while 
 speaking upon the words of the text, I am led to 
 dwell upon them in a more argumentative manner 
 than has usually been adopted in these Lectures. 
 At the same time 1 shall feel it my bounden duty, 
 as it is on all occasions my earnest desire, most 
 scrupulously to avoid every angry and irritating 
 consideration ; and while endeavouring to speak the 
 truth in sincerity, to endeavour equally to speak it 
 in love ; remembering that if our creed be more 
 pure, and our church more scriptural than those 
 from whom we differ, a double wo will be ours, if 
 the spirit in which we differ be not more heavenly, 
 the temper more chastened, and subdued. 
 
244 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 Our Lord, in the chapter from which the text is 
 taken, had asked his disciples, saying, " Whom do 
 men say that I the Son of Man am V 9 " And they 
 said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist, some 
 Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 
 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 
 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the 
 Christ, the Son of the living God." A confession 
 of faith which, whether we consider the period at 
 which it was made, or the great peculiarity and 
 fulness of it, is the most remarkable, which the 
 pages of inspiration have presented to us. It is, 
 indeed, impossible to convey in our own language, 
 without tautology, all the accurate precision of the 
 original, which might have been thus literally ren- 
 dered : " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the God, 
 the living God ;" marking most emphatically, that 
 Peter not only believed, as even a heathen centurion 
 could confess, that Jesus Christ was the " Son of 
 God," but that he was the only Son, of the only 
 God of heaven and earth. 
 
 It was in reply to this confession, that " Jesus an- 
 swered and said unto Peter, Blessed art thou, Simon 
 Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto 
 thee, but my Father which is in heaven." Man 
 may be powerful in imparting the knowledge of 
 
lecture m. 245 
 
 this world, which comes to naught ; man may im- 
 part the knowledge even of spiritual truth, but in im- 
 parting faith he is utterly powerless. This is the 
 prerogative of the Divinity himself: " Flesh and 
 blood" never shall and never can convey it : " all 
 thy childen are taught of Thee," says the prophet, 
 and never can the seed of saving faith be sown in 
 the heart, but by the power of God the Holy Ghost. 
 Our Lord having therefore pronounced him blessed, 
 who received this precious gift, thus continued, 
 ik And I say also unto thee, Thou art Peter, and 
 upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates 
 of hell shall not prevail against it." 
 
 It will be unnecessary for me to inform the gene- 
 rality of my hearers, that this is the remarkable 
 declaration of our Lord, upon which the arrogant 
 pretensions of the church of Rome to supremacy, 
 and infallibility, have been founded. It is here, 
 according to her exposition of the passage in ques- 
 tion, that our Lord appointed Peter his vicegerent 
 upon earth, the acknowledged head of his church, 
 and with ample power to bequeath, and to perpe- 
 tuate this astonishing authority to his successors, 
 throughout all ages, even unto the end of time. If 
 our Lord had really, by these words, conferred any- 
 such remarkable authority or power upon Peter, 
 21* 
 
246 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 it would still remain for the Romanist to demon- 
 strate that this authority had descended to the 
 bishops of Rome, of whom, as an old writer has 
 well remarked, " whether they are Peter's succes- 
 sors in place or no, is a question ; but that they are 
 not his successors in the truths of Christianity, is 
 past all question." We, however, do not believe 
 that the words of the text, were intended to con- 
 vey any such supremacy even to Peter, but that 
 when our Lord said, " Upon this rock I will build 
 my church," he spoke not of Peter, but of the con- 
 fession of faith, or rather the object of his confes- 
 sion, which Peter had just made. To this opinion 
 one of the most eminent of the ancient fathers, St. 
 Chrysostom, has added the full w<eight of his valua- 
 ble testimony ; for he expressly says, " Upon this 
 rock, that is, upon the faith of his profession." But 
 not to enter too deeply into this inquiry, which 
 would occupy, as it has indeed already done, 
 volumes of controversy, I would merely offer two 
 of the many arguments by which this unjustifiable 
 assumption of the church of Rome has been contro- 
 verted. First, I would remind those of my hearers 
 who consult the original language of the Scriptures 
 of truth, that when our Lord says, " Thou art 
 Peter, or thou art a stone," he makes use of a 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 247 
 
 masculine substantive, and one usually applied by 
 the classical writers to a fragment of a rock, or 
 such a stone as a man can lift. When he continues 
 the sentence, " and upon this rock," he changes the 
 word into a feminine noun, which is always em- 
 ployed by the classical writers to express the solid 
 rock itself; and he continues to refer to this femi- 
 nine noun throughout the sentence. A change of 
 expression which, to say the least, would be ex- 
 tremely improbable, if our Lord were speaking of 
 the same person, or the same thing throughout. 
 
 To those of my hearers with whom this argu- 
 ment cannot be expected to avail, I would address 
 one, the weight of which may be appreciated by all. 
 If our Lord had really thus conspicuously pointed 
 out Peter, to the notice of the other disciples, as the 
 acknowledged head of his church, should we not 
 have beheld him on every future occasion recog- 
 nised as their chief, by his companions ? Instead 
 of this, we do not find that in any single instance 
 he ever assumed such supremacy, or that it w r as 
 ever offered him. Nay, so wholly unconscious do 
 the disciples appear to have been of any such dis- 
 tinction, that we find them, to the very end of our 
 Lord's residence among them, disputing M which of 
 them should be greatest/' A point upon which 
 
248 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 there could have been no possible ground for dis- 
 pute, if the sentence before us (as the Romanists 
 explain it) had long before, and on the authority of 
 Christ himself, for ever decided the question. I 
 would only add upon this subject, a paraphrase of 
 the verse under consideration, which may put it in 
 a clear light to the English reader : " I say unto 
 thee, that I have rightly given unto thee, the name 
 of Peter, which signifies a stone, for thou hast, by 
 this confession, proved thyself a living stone in that 
 foundation of my prophets and apostles, whereof 
 / myself am the chief corner-stone, and the solid 
 rock upon which my church shall be so surely 
 built, that the powers of hell shall not prevail 
 against it." 
 
 It is then true, my brethren, that there is a church 
 of which not the apostle Peter, but the Lord Jesus 
 Christ himself, is the everlasting foundation ; and 
 has it pleased a merciful God, that your lot should 
 be cast in a land, where a living branch of that 
 true church is planted ? Bless the Lord for this 
 above all your other mercies. Rejoice not that 
 you are rich, or healthy, or powerful, but in 
 this rejoice, that God has brought you within the 
 blessed sounds of the gospel of life, and within the 
 pale of that church, which his own right hand has 
 
LECTURE III. 249 
 
 planted. But while you thus rejoice, rejoice with 
 trembling: great are your mercies, countless are 
 your privileges, but be assured that fully in propor- 
 tion also is your responsibility. No church how- 
 ever pure, no outward ordinances however perfect, 
 no services however scriptural, can of themselves 
 ensure salvation. You will not be saved as a con- 
 gregation, but as individuals. The gates of hell 
 cannot prevail against the church because it is 
 built upon the rock of Christ, but they may, and 
 unquestionably will be found, on the last day to 
 prevail against many nominal members who have 
 swelled the ranks, and filled the temples, of the 
 purest church. The inquiry, then, for each- is this: 
 " Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, 
 which is Jesus Christ ;" has this foundation been 
 deeply laid, by the Spirit of God, in my own soul? 
 have I been thus turned from death unto life ? and 
 am I now, walking not after the flesh, but after the 
 Spirit? If these things be so, then indeed may we 
 affirm that you are a true member of the true 
 church of the Redeemer ; then we may say to vou 
 individually, what Christ has here declared of his 
 church at large — " The gates of hell shall not pre- 
 vail against" you : for it is to you that he speaks, 
 when he says, " My sheep hear my voice, and I 
 
250 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 know them, and they follow me : and I give unto 
 them eternal life, and they shall never perish, nei- 
 ther shall any man pluck them out of my hand." 
 
 Our Lord having uttered his remarkable prophecy 
 of the perpetuity of his church, thus continues to 
 address himself to Peter — " I will give unto thee the 
 keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou 
 shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and 
 whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed 
 in heaven." " To bind and to loose" were terms in 
 common usage among the Jews, " meaning simply 
 to prohibit and to permit." 
 
 The authority therefore thus bestowed upon Peter, » 
 and the other apostles, alluded not to persons, but to 
 doctrines; it was the power to bind, or to pro- 
 hibit, such things as might be detrimental to the 
 interests of the infant church ; and we find them 
 afterwards using this pow T er, for example, by bind- 
 ing or forbidding circumcision to the believers, and 
 the eating of things offered to idols, of things stran- 
 gled, and of blood : and the power to loose, was 
 the power to allow their followers to continue the 
 observance of these non-essentials, the prohibition 
 of which might have wounded the tender con- 
 sciences of the new converts : and we find an 
 example of the apostles' use of this authority, by 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 251 
 
 their allowing purification (although a remnant of 
 the ceremonial law) to Paul, and four other bre- 
 thren, for the purpose of avoiding scandal. By 
 " the keys of the kingdom of heaven," is intended 
 simply the power of first opening the doors of the 
 new religion, through which, as the kingdom of 
 grace here, believers were to pass to the kingdom 
 of glory hereafter; and accordingly we find Peter, 
 on the day of Pentecost, as regarded the Jews, and 
 afterwards at the house of Cornelius, as respected 
 the Gentiles, thus engaged ; being on these occa- 
 sions honoured as the first person, who instru- 
 mentality opened both to Jews and Gentiles, the 
 doors of the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 Let us, however, pass from these subjects of 
 Biblical criticism, to one of those affecting inci- 
 dents, with which the life of Peter is replete, and 
 which is well calculated to minister delight and en- 
 couragement to all who hear it. Our Lord had, as 
 we find recorded in the 6th of St. John, throughout 
 a long and impressive discourse, been delivering 
 some of the deepest, and, to unenlightened minds, 
 most staggering doctrines of his gospel. He had, 
 for the first time, taught his hearers that vital truth 
 of the new revelation, " Except ye eat the flesh of 
 the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no 
 
252 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 life in you f and in reply to the suppressed mur- 
 murs, and discontent of his auditory, instead of 
 qualifying his statements to meet their carnal ap- 
 prehensions, he added the still more distasteful doc- 
 trine, " no man can come to me, except the Father 
 which hath sent me draw him." 
 
 These are the humbling truths which have in all 
 ages roused the indignation, and awakened the ani- 
 mosity of the natural heart ; truths for which even 
 the divine eloquence of our Lord himself, and the 
 affectionate tenderness with which he promulgated 
 them, could obtain no favourable reception ; for we 
 are immediately informed, "From that time many 
 of his disciples went back, and walked no more 
 with him." 
 
 If our Lord, when he took upon him our nature, 
 did not disdain to partake with us of its sympa- 
 thies, and its infirmities, this must have been to 
 his feeling heart one of the most trying events of 
 his ministry. To the common observer, indeed, 
 u the crown of thorns" might seem to wound more 
 deeply, the Roman spear to do its work more ter- 
 ribly, but those who know the value of immortal 
 souls, will readily acknowledge, that the spear and 
 the thorns could give no pang equally acute, with 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 253 
 
 that inflicted by the sight of one backsliding dis- 
 ciple ! 
 
 Truly distressing is it to the minister of peace, 
 to drive even the most indifferent, and the most 
 hardened from the blessed sounds of that salvation, 
 which it is his duty, and his delight to offer with 
 equal freeness unto all : how much more painful 
 is it, then, my brethren, when those who have for 
 a time listened with pleasure, and received the 
 word with joy, and heard it gladly, " go back and 
 walk no more with him !" Yet even when this 
 occurs, with such an example before his eyes, the 
 minister of Christ will not complain — *' The dis- 
 ciple is not above his master, nor the servant above 
 his Lord. It is enough for the disciple to be as his 
 master, and the servant as his lord." — If it be our 
 painful lot, to behold those among you, who we 
 hoped might have been " our joy and crown of 
 rejoicing, in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 at his coming," turning aside in disgust at the plain- 
 ness, or in contempt at the humbling nature of those 
 truths, which we feel it our bounden duty to im- 
 part, we will not qualify or compromise the terms 
 of our message ; we will not alter one iota of the 
 declarations of God, to disarm your enmity, or to 
 conciliate your good-will; neither will we con- 
 
 22 
 
254 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 demn or reproach you for these things we will 
 rather " pray the Lord of the harvest, that he may 
 send forth other labourers into his harvest," who 
 may gather in the full sheaves where we have 
 only gleaned the scattered ears; who may be abun- 
 dantly fruitful, where we have been barren ; who 
 may, without suppressing the truths of Scripture, 
 be enabled to present them more unexception- 
 ably, and to enforce them more successfully. We 
 will rest contentedly upon the promises of our God, 
 and believe with the prophet of old, " I have la- 
 boured in vain, I have spent my strength for 
 naught and in vain ; yet surely my judgment is 
 with the Lord, and my work with my God." 
 " Though Israel be not gathered," the Lord shall 
 be glorified. 
 
 The inspired historian, having mentioned this fact, 
 of the departure even of " many of the disciples," 
 immediately adds our Lord's affecting comment 
 upon it: " Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye 
 also go away 1 Then Simon Peter answered, Lord, 
 to whom shall we go ? Thou hast the words of 
 eternal life. And we believe, and are sure, that 
 thou art that Christ, the son of the living God." 
 How near do such little incidents as these appear 
 to bring us to the heart of Jesus, and of him whose 
 
LECTURE IK. 
 
 255 
 
 life we are considering ! we can almost behold the 
 affectionate Redeemer looking round upon his " little 
 flock," and while marking their diminished num- 
 bers, making that inquiry which must have touched 
 the hardest heart; we can imagine we see the zeal- 
 ous Peter pressing forward from the circle, and al- 
 most interrupting the reproachful inquiry, eager to 
 disclaim, for his brethren and himself, the possibility 
 of such an act, burning to relieve his own bosom by 
 a voluntary confession of a faith already matured 
 unto certainty, and a regard which, even then, had 
 ripened into love. Who can read his answer, 
 "Lord to whom shall we go? thou hast the words 
 of eternal life," without rejoicing that a reply so en- 
 couraging to the heart of every believer was thus 
 elicited, and without sincerely desiring to appropri- 
 ate it to himself? Be assured, brethren, that there 
 are states of mind in which these incidents, which 
 the careless reader of his Bible is apt to consider 
 trifling and unimportant, come home with the most 
 irresistible energy and power — times when we are 
 unable to apprehend the blessed doctrines, or to ap- 
 ply the precious promises of Scripture; but when a 
 single brief, and touching sentiment like this will 
 carry a balm to the wounded spirit, or suggest a 
 prayer to the prayerless heart. Often have I heard 
 
256 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 one of the most interesting writers of the present 
 day declare, that at a period of his life, when his 
 soul was powerfully tempted to " deny the Lord 
 who bought him," and to fall back into the mazes 
 of infidelity from which he had even then but par- 
 tially escaped, the only declaration of Scripture 
 upon which he could not find a momentary resting- 
 place, was that which we are now considering, that 
 during this awful and long-continued conflict, in 
 the solitude of a sick room, a prey to pain and 
 weakness, greatly needing those consolations which 
 the errors of a false religion, and the heartless dog- 
 mas of scepticism, never could "Supply, unable to 
 close with the blessed offers of salvation through the 
 blood of Jesus, and yet willing to cling, as with a 
 dying hand, to his cross, the affecting exclamation 
 which burst continually from his lips, and alone im- 
 parted even a hope of peace, was this: — "Lord, 
 to whom shall I go? thou hast the words of eternal 
 life." A cry of faith, faint and imperfect indeed ; 
 so imperfect and so faint, that had man been the 
 judge, it never would have reached the mercy-seat, 
 and yet a cry which, presented by a merciful High 
 Priest, entered into the ears of the Lord God of 
 Sabaoth, and brought " help from the sanctuary, 
 and strength from out of Zion." 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 257 
 
 But, my brethren, melancholy is the state of 
 those, who leave the great question undecided till 
 such an hour as that ; with a body weakened by 
 suffering, and a mind impaired by disease, to have 
 to struggle against our mighty enemy, and to seek, 
 for the first time, a refuge from his attacks ; to be 
 asking, " To whom shall I go?" when you ought to 
 be saying, " I know whom I have believed:" to be 
 preparing for the conflict, when you ought to be 
 ready to say, " I have fought the good fight, I have 
 kept the faith ;" to be putting on the helmet at 
 the very hour when you ought rather to be looking 
 for the crown. 
 
 Why will you thus delay 1 Why will you not 
 now voluntarily ask the question, which your fears 
 will then compel you to ask, " To whom shall we 
 go ?" We are now able to reply to you, " Behold 
 the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the 
 world." Our gracious Redeemer now assures you, 
 M Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast 
 out." Trifle not with these offers, I beseech you, 
 my beloved brethren, as if they were for ever within 
 your reach, and waiting your approval. It may 
 not always be in our power thus to offer, or in 
 yours to accept these gracious proposals. There is 
 a time when long indifference may have closed the 
 22* 
 
258 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 ears, or habitual sin have hardened the heart 
 against every message of a Saviour's love. There 
 is a time when the Spirit may cease to strive with 
 you, when he may "laugh at your calamity, and 
 mock when your fear cometh ;" when you may be 
 given over to the waywardness of your own will, 
 or to the undisturbed indulgence of your own indif- 
 ference. If we could lead you to the bedside of one 
 of the many who, in this vast parish, are yearly 
 passing from time into eternity, without any saving 
 knowledge of him to whom they are going, such a 
 sight would preach far " louder than a thousand 
 homilies," the urgent necessity, while in full pos- 
 session of your health, and of your faculties, of 
 seeking Him who alone " has the words of eternal 
 life." 
 
 You do not know, God grant you never may 
 know, by experience, the miseries of the chamber 
 of sickness, when unillumined by the rays of the 
 gospel of peace ; the agonies of a dying hour, with 
 the great work of salvation left undone. A God to 
 go to, but no Father — a Judge, but no Saviour — an 
 eternity opening before your eyes, but no heaven in 
 which to spend it ! 
 
 O ! to whom shall you go at that hour, if you do 
 not now fly to the Saviour of sinners, and find par- 
 don for your sins, and peace for your souls ? 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 259 
 
 Rest not, then, we urge you, by all the hopes 
 and fears of a blissful or miserable eternity, rest not 
 upon an undefined expectation of God's mercy, 
 without having approached him through that Re- 
 deemer who is the only " way" which mercy has 
 ordained. Be not content with any thing short of 
 this experience of the Apostle, " that you believe 
 and are sure," that the Saviour of sinners is indeed 
 your Saviour, that his offers are accepted, his merits 
 pleaded, his righteousness applied, his commands 
 obeyed by you, according to the grace which is 
 given unto you, that all these things are truly yours, 
 even as you " are Christ's, and Christ is God's." 
 
260 
 
 } 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 MATT. XVI. 22. 
 
 " Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be 
 it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee." 
 
 So deep is the corruption of our nature, and so 
 frequent the waywardness of our will, that we are 
 never more liable to fall into sin, than when upon 
 the highest pinnacle of spiritual elevation. Have 
 we experienced much of the divine presence in 
 the hour of prayer, we scarcely rise from our 
 knees before some successful temptation reminds us 
 that, notwithstanding our near approach to the 
 mercy-seat, we are earth-born sinners still. Have 
 we been enabled to overcome some spiritual enemy, 
 to resist some carnal inclination, to minister sucess- 
 fully to the necessities of some poorer, or more 
 ignorant fellow-creature, a feeling of satisfaction or 
 self-complacency too often succeeds effort, in a 
 manner so unexpected, and for which we are so 
 little prepared, that we find sin has mingled with, 
 and ruined the duty, almost before it had been con- 
 
LECTURE IV. 
 
 261 
 
 eluded. Who that has ever looked attentively into 
 his own heart will deny this ? And who that does 
 not deny it, will scruple to confess, with anguish of 
 soul, and with a secret aspiration for penitence and 
 pardon, " that every imagination of man's heart is 
 only evil continually?" 
 
 These reflections have naturally suggested them- 
 selves, from a review of that portion of the narra- 
 tive in which we are at present engaged. In our 
 last Lecture, we beheld Peter deserving, and re- 
 ceiving the approbation of his Saviour for his as- 
 tonishing confession of faith, and his affecting 
 demonstration of love. We are now to see him 
 subjected to the rebuke of his Divine Master, for an 
 improper exhibition of that same zeal which had 
 lately distinguished him in so honourable a manner 
 above his fellows. Our Lord, anxious to correct 
 the misapprehension of his followers upon the ten- 
 dency of his mission, and the nature of his king- 
 dom, endeavoured to prepare their minds for the 
 ignominy and suffering which shortly awaited him. 
 " From that time forth," as we read in the 16th 
 chapter of St. Matthew, " began Jesus to show 
 unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jeru- 
 salem, and suffer many things of the elders, and 
 chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and be 
 
262 LECTURE IV. 
 
 raised again the third day. Then Peter," Peter 
 always foremost either in good or ill, " took him, 
 and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from 
 thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee ;" or, as the 
 marginal reading gives it, " Pity thyself," O Lord, 
 spare thyself ! The affectionate heart of the apostle 
 could not bear the thought of such indignity and 
 such suffering, awaiting the Master whom he loved, 
 and his impetuous temper could not brook in silence 
 to hear of it, although foretold by that Master him- 
 self, and declared that "thus it must be." 
 
 Upon no other occasion did our Lord so deeply 
 resent, or so severely reprove, the trangression of 
 an apostle. " He turned, and said unto Peter, Get 
 thee behind me, Satan ; thou art an offence unto 
 me, for thou savourest not the things that be of 
 God, but those that be of men." 
 
 Perhaps the first feeling excited in our minds, by 
 this reproof, is rather a feeling of dissatisfaction. 
 We are almost tempted to complain, that the punish- 
 ment was disproportioned to the offence. Our 
 hearts plead for Peter, and we cannot bear to see 
 him in disgrace. But, my brethren, the only method 
 in which fairly to estimate the criminality of the ad- 
 vice, is to follow it out into action, and then to mark 
 its tremendous consequences. Our Lord checked 
 
LECTURE IV. 
 
 263 
 
 midway in his career of suffering ; that was the 
 advantage proposed. Man's redemption unpur- 
 chased, would have been the inevitable result ; the 
 everlasting doors, unopened ; and the great enemy 
 of souls, who had overcome the first Adam, triumph- 
 ing, for ever triumphing, over the broken promises, 
 and the unsuccessful mission of the second. These 
 were the results for which Peter, however unwit- 
 tingly, was pleading. Can we be surprised, there- 
 fore, that at such a moment our Lord should 
 recognise in the advice of his disciple, only the 
 evil suggestions of Satan himself? 
 
 My brethren, there is a word of counsel, a word 
 of warning, Which by God's grace may be profi- 
 table to us all. What was the origin of Peter's 
 error? It was not merely the abundance of his 
 love for his Divine Master ; this will never lead us 
 into sin, never be imputed to us as our guilt : never 
 therefore, could have drawn forth so deeply cutting 
 a reproof. Be assured that there was more than 
 met the ear of man in Peter's counsel ; there was 
 a root of bitterness, unseen by human eye, but 
 clearly discerned and obviously laid open by our 
 Lord when he said, " thou savourest the things that 
 be of men." That was the head and front of his 
 offending. The fear of men, the love of men, the 
 
264 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 good opinion of men, worldliness in its most de- 
 structive form, had struck its fibres into Peter's 
 heart: and had they not been thus at once eradi- 
 cated by the great Husbandman, they would soon 
 have taken root downwards, and borne fruit up- 
 wards, a prolific and a deadly harvest. 
 
 Peter had dreamed so long of a temporal king- 
 dom, of earthly grandeur and promotion, that the 
 painful sounds of suffering and death grated harsh- 
 ly upon his ears; and while urging his Master to 
 escape them, it is too probable that some little hope 
 was lingering in his bosom, that what was evaded 
 by the master, would not be required of the dis- 
 ciple; that if these sufferings, and degradations, 
 were put away from Christ, they would not be pre- 
 pared for Peter. Our Lord, therefore, has left this 
 pointed reproof of one of the dearest of his fol- 
 lowers, for ever upon record, that no future believer 
 may indulge a hope that he shall be held guiltless 
 where Peter was rebuked ; that if from worldly con- 
 siderations, you be led to compromise the honour of 
 God, to prefer in your own case, or to recommend 
 in the case of others, the soft and easy path of safety 
 in preference to the sterner and more rugged walk 
 of duty, whatever be the alleged or the real motive, 
 which dictates such a choice, you are from that mo- 
 
LECTURE IV. 
 
 265 
 
 ment " an offence," an adversary to him whom you 
 profess to follow. 
 
 How important a consideration to every one 
 among us! Where is the believer, whom Satan 
 does not, at some period of the spiritual course, 
 piy with temptations similar to this? To the more 
 advanced Christian, it may not, perhaps, be a fre- 
 quent method of successful assault; but to the 
 younger of my hearers I would particularly apply 
 the case in question. Is there no friend without, 
 no faithless counsellor within, who, when he beholds 
 you really determined by God's grace, to do or to 
 suffer all that the revealed word of God demands, 
 is apt to whisper in your ear, " This be far from 
 thee," this cannot be required of thee? Or when 
 you clearly distinguish, from the light of the divine 
 word, that the religion which you profess has ever 
 been, and is intended ever to be, a self-denying re- 
 ligion ; when you see around you practices and 
 habits which you are convinced are utterly incon- 
 sistent with the principles of the Gospel of Christ: 
 and when you endeavour, by God's grace, to sepa- 
 rate from these things, and to walk more worthy 
 of the vocation wherewith he has called you, do 
 you never receive counsel such as this — do you 
 never hear the insidious voice, perhaps, from your 
 23 
 
266 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 own friends, perhaps from your own family, " Pity 
 thyself, spare thyself;" "Be not righteous over- 
 much ?" Is this language not utterly unknown to 
 you, my brethren ? Then be assured, by whom- 
 soever spoken, that it is the language of an adver- 
 sary, the voice of Satan, an injury to your souls, 
 " an offence" to your Saviour. Be warned by the 
 words of Christ himself, that whatever would keep 
 you back from an unshrinking fulfilment of all 
 God's commandments, from an entire devotedness 
 to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, even with the cross 
 upon your shoulders, upon the path of painful duty, 
 stands self-condemned by these words of your Re- 
 deemer ; for such advice " savoureth not the things 
 which be of God, but the things which be of men." 
 This is the test, to which we would urge you to 
 bring every counsel you receive, every advice 
 which may be offered, " to the law and to the 
 testimony ; if they speak not according to this 
 word, it is because there is no light in them." 
 
 Whatever savours of the things which be of 
 men, that is to say, whatever rule of conduct has 
 for its foundation, the desire of propitiating the 
 favour, or averting the opposition of men ; what- 
 ever is founded upon the ungodly, though, alas ! 
 too fashionable doctrine of expediency, or worldly 
 
LECTURE IV. 
 
 267 
 
 policy, with no reference to the will, or the honour, 
 of God, is unscriptural, unholy, and unsafe. It 
 may, for a time, have fewer crosses, and less anx- 
 ieties: you may congratulate yourself, upon your 
 wisdom and your prudence ; but be assured, that 
 the end will be bitterness and vexation of spirit. 
 Better, infinitely better, to take up at once the 
 cross, to bear the opprobrium, to become, if need- 
 ful, a by-word and a reproach, than, by a constant 
 succession of timid, temporizing efforts, always 
 shrinking from the confession of your real feelings, 
 always attributing your refusal of sinful enjoyments 
 to any motive but the true one, to suffer the men of 
 this world, as David says, " foolishly to think that 
 vou are even such an one as themselves;" or worse 
 than this, to remain so long " halting between two 
 opinions," that when at last the book of life be 
 opened, you shall too late discover, that your name 
 is not enrolled therein ; that you have never been 
 decidedly with the Saviour, and that therefore he 
 has pronounced you to be against him; that as you 
 have not suffered with him, so neither shall you be 
 glorified together. 
 
 The course of the history in which we are en- 
 gaged, has now brought us to one of the most 
 beautiful incidents in the life of our Lord — his 
 
268 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 transfiguration; the particulars of which astonish- 
 ing event, are thus related : " It came to pass that 
 Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John." 
 All the disciples were not to be thus highly favoured. 
 Our Lord had selected these three ; and if we in- 
 quire why these, in preference to the remainder, 
 it was doubtless, because as they alone were soon 
 to be the witnesses of his dreadful agony in the 
 garden, the most touching proof of the reality, 
 and infirmity of the manhood of Christ, they su- 
 pereminently required this strongest evidence of 
 the truth of his divinity. 
 
 Jesus, then, taking Peter, James, and John, 
 "went up into a mountain to pray;" yes, great 
 and unquestionable as was the inherent power of 
 our divine Saviour, every mighty work which he 
 performed on earth, was ushered in by prayer. 
 Was he to be announced at his baptism as the be- 
 loved Son % we are told it was " while Jesus was 
 praying that the heavens opened and the Holy 
 Ghost descended." Was he about to ordain his 
 apostles ? " he continued all night in prayer to 
 God." Did he intend to spend the day in preach- 
 ing? we read, that, "rising up a great while be- 
 fore day, he departed into a solitary place, and 
 there prayed." Did he design to encourage the 
 
LECTURE IV. 
 
 269 
 
 falling apostle 1 "I have prayed for thee, that thy 
 faith fail not." Did he seek consolation for him- 
 self? " being in an agony, he prayed more 
 earnestly." Thus was it also in the instance we 
 are considering. " As he prayed, the fashion of 
 his countenance altered, and his face did shine 
 as the sun, and his raiment was white as the 
 light." 
 
 You will observe, it was " as he prayed." O ! 
 my brethren, how wonderfully does God honour 
 prayer ! Not a blessing does he promise, except in 
 answer to humble, fervent, faithful prayer. He 
 who had appointed that all these glories should be 
 manifested, to exalt the Saviour in the eyes of his 
 people, appointed also that even he, the eternal Son 
 himself, should for our sakes ask for them. 
 
 What can you then expect to receive at the 
 hands of God unasked for ! Not even a con- 
 tinuance of temporal mercies, of the garments 
 which wax old, or of the bread which perisheth : 
 and if not of this poor pittance, which our heavenly 
 Father bestows on you, in common with the beasts 
 that perish, still less can you expect to receive, un- 
 sought, the bread of life, the garment of salvation. 
 Be assured then of this, my beloved brethren, that 
 if you ever hope to be the object of the transform- 
 23* 
 
270 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 ing power of the Holy Spirit, it is by prayer that 
 you must seek it; never do his blessed influences 
 so fill, and renovate, and spiritualize the soul, as in 
 the hour of prayer ; never are you so closely 
 assimilated to that glorified state which awaits you, 
 as when you are enabled to draw near in secret 
 communion to the mercy-seat, and, raised for a 
 time above earth, and its concerns, feel and speak, 
 and think, almost in the language and the thoughts 
 of heaven. 
 
 " And behold there talked with him, two men, 
 which were Moses and Elias, who appeared in 
 glory." 
 
 It was not enough that our Lord, thus transformed 
 and glorified, presented himself before his disciples; 
 he also called into his presence, these two of the 
 most eminent of his departed servants — Moses, 
 who had long since gone the way of all flesh, and 
 seen corruption ; and Elijah, who had passed out 
 of time into eternity, but never tasted death. 
 Could a more convincing proof have been offered 
 that Christ was the King of quick and dead, and 
 that " all live to him," than, that while thus silting 
 as a sovereign, in his robes of state, he should re- 
 ceive this splendid embassy from the land of 
 spirits? Could a more instructive spectacle, a 
 
LECTURE IV. 
 
 271 
 
 more satisfying evidence of the possibility of the 
 general resurrection, and the general judgment, 
 have been presented to the eyes of the astonished 
 disciples, than these two most appropriate represen- 
 tatives of those, who in the graves shall one day 
 hear the voice of Christ, and shall come forth, and 
 of those w T ho shall be alive at his coming, and 
 shall meet the Lord in the air, and receive their 
 appointed sentence ? 
 
 Truly it was a sight, which had it only passed 
 before the eyes of the apostles with a momentary 
 brilliancy, and disappeared, would have well re- 
 paid for years of earthly trouble; but there is 
 something still untold — this supernatural visit did 
 not pass in silence: the disciples not only saw these 
 bright ones, but heard the heavenly music of their 
 voice. 
 
 And upon what subject did they descant ? what 
 could be of sufficient interest to engage the tongues 
 of these spirits of just men made perfect ? 
 
 Did they converse upon the greatness of the 
 Saviour's majesty, or the glories of his kingdom ; 
 upon the blessed company they had left, or the 
 holy and happy service in which eternity, to them 
 begun, was rolling on its blissful way ? Nothing of 
 all this engaged these holy visitants. " They 
 
272 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 spake," says the evangelist, of " his decease, which 
 he should accomplish at Jerusalem." 
 
 Doubtless, for the merciful purpose of reconcil- 
 ing the minds of the apostles to that tremendous 
 scene, of which they were so shortly to become 
 the painful witnesses. These heavenly visiters de- 
 sired to know nothing, to speak of nothing, during 
 their short return to earth, but " Jesus Christ, and 
 him crucified !" How wonderful a tribute to this 
 unutterably high and holy subject ! " To the Jews, 
 a stumbling-block, to the Greeks, foolishness ;" to 
 the nominal Christian, weariness ; but to the church 
 of the first-born assembled in heaven, the one great 
 subject which engages every tongue, brightens 
 every eye, fills every heart. And shall we, my 
 brethren, discard this sacred theme, this mystery 
 of mysteries, which immortal angels desire to look 
 into, and glorified saints rejoice to speak upon! 
 Lamentable is it for the church of God, lamentable 
 for those who preach and those who hear, when 
 the pride of worldly wisdom raises them above 
 these humbling truths, and when a system of cold 
 morality, assumes the place of this theme of 
 heavenly love. And lamentable is it also, my 
 Christian brethren, when any subject, be it what it 
 may, usurps the place of this one momentous 
 
LECTURE IV. 
 
 273 
 
 truth ; aye, even when the elevating suhject of 
 Christ glorified obtains an undue pre-eminence, 
 above the saving subject of " Christ crucified," a 
 theme of which eternity itself shall not grow 
 tired : for even among the spectacles of heaven, 
 we read of " the Lamb as it had been slain ; n even 
 among the songs of heaven, we hear the reiterated 
 chorus, " Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to 
 God by thy blood;'' even there is the recollection 
 of the cross of Christ which adds unspeakably to 
 the lustre of his crown. 
 
 Continuing the narrative, we find that no sooner 
 did the disciples behold this splendid company, than 
 " Simon Peter said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for 
 us to be here." Yes, even the natural heart can 
 appreciate this ; it is good to be present during a 
 vision of glory, far better than to hear of suffering 
 humiliation, and death. " If thou wilt, let us make 
 three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, and 
 one for Elias." St. Luke adds to this account of it, 
 that Peter said this, " not knowing what he said." 
 Surely he could not have known what he said, 
 when he thus proposed that the citizens of heaven 
 should once more become " strangers and pilgrims 
 upon earth :" he could not have known what he 
 said, when he offered a temporary tabernacle of 
 
274 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 man's erecting, as a residence for those who dwelt 
 within the walls of that " city, whose builder and 
 maker is God." Here, then, again the zealous 
 Peter "spake unadvisedly with his lips;" for be ye 
 sure, my brethren, that there is not one resident in 
 the courts above, who would return to earth for the 
 most glorious of worldly portions, or even for the 
 dearest of earthly friends. The language of the low- 
 est saint in that blessed place unquestionably is, "I 
 would rather be a door-keeper in the house of my 
 God," than to dwell in the proudest palaces, or rule 
 the richest kingdoms upon earth. When, in some 
 moment of deep and heartfelt regret for those who 
 have gone before us to their rest, we are tempted, — 
 and who is not so tempted ? — almost to desire that our 
 departed friends might again revisit us, might again 
 " take sweet counsel together, and go up with us to 
 the house of God as friends," or unite their voices to 
 ours in prayer and praise, and once more take up 
 a temporary abode in earthly tabernacles, we in- 
 deed " know not what we say." — " It is good for us 
 to be here :" blessed for us, who are at present 
 " living by faith, not by sight," to enjoy these im- 
 perfect communications with our God, to be " upon 
 the Mount," and approach as near to heaven, as 
 this state of imperfection will admit; but what 
 
LECTURE IV. 
 
 275 
 
 would even the highest of these enjoyments be to 
 those blessed spirits, who now see God's face in 
 righteousness, and know, even as they are known ? 
 O if you hope that you have one friend, one rela- 
 tive in those blissful scenes, instead of unavailing re- 
 grets for their absence, or desires for their return, 
 be more unceasingly earnest, more devotedly per- 
 severing, in following them, even as they followed 
 Christ; always bearing in mind the consolatory as- 
 surance, that you may go to them, though they 
 cannot return to you. Wait but a little while, 
 and the services of the heavenly temple, will be 
 open to yourselves, and you shall again unite with 
 those you love in praises which shall not weary, 
 and in a worship which shall never cease. 
 
 But we must briefly conclude this instructive 
 subject : " While Peter yet spake, behold a voice 
 out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved 
 Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him. 
 And when the voice was passed, Jesus was found 
 alone." How glorious a testimony from God him- 
 self, to the pre-eminence of the " beloved Son !" 
 Moses and Elias are overshadowed bv the bright 
 cloud, and vanish from the sight, but Christ remains! 
 The law and the prophets yield to the far clearer 
 and more glorious dispensation of the Gospel. 
 
276 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 The veil which had long been drawn over this 
 great truth, is for ever thrown aside, and Jesus stands 
 confessed " the blessed and only Potentate, the King 
 of kings, and the Lord of lords !" 
 
 " Hear ye him," was the death-note of the old 
 dispensations, as they passed into oblivion. 
 
 " Hear ye him," is the inspiring cry of the church 
 militant, as she goes on her way warring and tra- 
 vailing upon earth. 
 
 " Hear ye him," will form a portion of the chorus 
 of the church triumphant, when, having " overcome 
 by the blood of the Lamb," she shall sit down an 
 honoured and a glorious bride, at the everlasting 
 table of the Lord. 
 
 How can we, then, your fellow-labourers, and 
 " helpers of your joy," leave a more hallowed 
 sound upon your ears? what more valuable admo- 
 nition, can we pray the blessed Spirit of God, to 
 carry home to your hearts, than these words of the 
 great Jehovah himself, " This is my beloved Son, 
 hear ye him ?" 
 
 That you may so hear that adorable Redeemer, 
 as to believe, receive, and obey him, may God of 
 his infinite mercy grant ! 
 
LECTURE V. 
 
 277 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 MATT. XIX. 27. 
 
 M Then answered Peter, and said unto him, Behold, we have 
 forsaken all, and followed thee ; what shall we have there- 
 fore ?" 
 
 An abundance of this world's goods has been in 
 all ages among the greatest impediments to a con- 
 sistent following of the Lord Jesus Christ. Seldom 
 in the days of his earthly sojourn, do we read that 
 the rich, or the mighty, or the noble, were called 
 into his kingdom. " Have any of the rulers be- 
 lieved in him V 9 was the triumphant inquiry by 
 which, in the early infancy of the Gospel, its fol- 
 lowers were shamed into silence. It was to the 
 poor especially that the Gospel was preached ; it 
 was from the ranks of the poor and the destitute 
 that many were chosen, " rich in faith, and heirs of 
 the kingdom ;" and while the Saviour of the world 
 was despised by the great and rejected by the 
 wealthy, he daily partook of the poor man's fare, 
 lodged in the poor man's dwelling, and selected 
 24 
 
278 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 from the poor man's kindred, the companions of his 
 ministry, and the promulgators of his Gospel. 
 
 In the 19th chapter of St. Matthew, we have an 
 interesting account of our Lord's conversation with 
 a young and wealthy ruler, who appeared desirous 
 of embracing the new religion ; he was contented 
 patiently to listen to our Lord's injunction, " Keep 
 the commandments," because he vainly flattered 
 himself that his character was unimpeachable ; but no 
 sooner did he hear the words, " Sell what thou hast 
 and follow me," than we are told, " he went away 
 sorrowful, for he had great possessions." Then 
 said Jesus unto his disciples, " Verily I say unto 
 you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the king- 
 dom of heaven." You who are labouring unremit- 
 tingly to " join house to house, and lay field to field," 
 without a thought or a desire beyond (he attainment 
 of these perishable possessions, learn from the lips 
 of your Redeemer the true nature of the work in 
 which you are engaged. You are merely assisting 
 the great enemy of your souls, in forging those gold- 
 en chains, with which he binds you to his cruel ser- 
 vice. Difficult as the work of salvation unquestiona- 
 bly is, to every fallen child of Adam, to the rich, and 
 to the man " hastening to be rich," the difficulty is 
 infinitely increased : with a profusion of the gifts of 
 
LECTURE Y. 
 
 279 
 
 God, the ungrateful heart of man becomes, in gene- 
 ral, strangely alienated from the heavenly Giver : 
 with an earnest desire after wealth, comes an in- 
 creasing indifference to spiritual duties and spiritual 
 privileges ; with an attainment of wealth, comes 
 frequently a sordid selfishness, deadness of heart to 
 God, coldness to the brethren. Few Christians 
 perish from the cutting winds of adversity, many 
 wither and fall away beneath the burning sun of 
 prosperity. Intimately was he acquainted with the 
 human heart, who looking round upon the splendid 
 mansion of his friend, and remarking the exulting 
 expression of his countenance, exclaimed, " Aye, 
 these are the things that make a death-bed terrible?" 
 
 Simon Peter, who was present at the interview, 
 upon which we have been commenting, no sooner 
 witnessed the departure of the young man, and 
 heard our Lord's instructive warning, than, as we 
 read, he answered and said unto Jesus, " Behold, we 
 have forsaken all, and followed thee: what shall we 
 have therefore I" 
 
 If it be, and who will deny it ? a most difficult 
 achievement to forsake all for Christ, this inquiry 
 of Peter will convince us, that it is even yet more 
 difficult to do it with simplicity of purpose and sin- 
 gleness of heart — to suffer no intermingling of un- 
 
280 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 worthy motives to influence us, in the great work 
 of dedicating ourselves to God. In reference to 
 this, watch over yourselves, my brethren, with a 
 most jealous eye, upon every step of the Christian 
 course ; analyze carefully your motives, scrutinize 
 your intentions, see that "the recompense of the 
 reward," especially of the temporal reward, hold 
 not too prominent a station in your hearts ; if you 
 be poor, see that your religious duties be not to re- 
 commend you to the rich ; if young, that they be 
 not to attract the notice, or the praise of men. 
 Whatever be your station, whatever be your age, 
 let your prayer and your effort be, to follow the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, in all godly sincerity, with a 
 single eye to his glory, and an utter disregard of 
 every thing compared with the one attainment, 
 which alone is worthy of you, the approbation of 
 your God. 
 
 How greatly do we all need these cautions ; for, 
 alas ! how prone we are to sully every effort in 
 the cause of Christ by the mixture of unholy mo- 
 tives, and to desecrate every offering by an undue 
 estimation of its worth. Observe even Peter, the 
 warm-hearted, the spiritually-minded Peter, unable 
 to restrain those natural feelings, which would 
 make a merit of the smallest act of self-denial for 
 
LECTURE V. 
 
 281 
 
 the Lord's sake. " Behold !" — an exclamation of 
 astonishment — " we have left all, and followed 
 thee." We should imagine, that the man who 
 could speak thus, had come from palaces of cedar, 
 and laid crowns and sceptres at the feet of Jesus ! 
 Who would believe, that a paltry fishing-boat and 
 its mended nets, were the all of which he predi- 
 cates so largely? Yet this is constantly the man- 
 ner in which men speak of sacrifices for the sake of 
 Christ. However trifling, however valueless, some 
 unjust or unholy profit, if relinquished at the com- 
 mand of God, how is it magnified into importance, 
 amid the littlenesses of our obedience ! But turn 
 we from the demand of Peter, to the astonishing 
 reply of his indulgent Master: " Verily, I say unto 
 you, that ye which have followed me, in the regene- 
 ration, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne 
 of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, 
 judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Observe, my 
 brethren, how immensely disproportionate, will be 
 the rewards of heaven, to all the self-denials and ser- 
 vices of earth ! Instead of the forsaken fishing-boats 
 upon the sea of Galilee, thrones of glory, in the eter- 
 nal kingdom ! instead of the seat of the publican, an 
 assessorship with Christ ! Who could have antici- 
 pated such a reply to the inquiry, " What shall we 
 24* 
 
282 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 have therefore V\ We can imagine, that the heart 
 of Peter, must have sunk within him, under a sense 
 of utter unworthiness, when he heard of such an 
 unspeakably splendid return, for so poor, and pitiful 
 an offering. 
 
 O ! my brethren, I trust that the heart of every 
 one among you, responds to this feeling ; reflect 
 only for a moment, and it cannot be otherwise. 
 When you have forsaken all for God, what have 
 you sacrificed? — Some paltry gratification, which 
 perishes in the using. When you have given up 
 your whole soul and body to him, what have you 
 bestowed? — A poor, unworthy, blemished offering, 
 which after all, was not your own, but his who had 
 already bought it with a most costly price. When 
 you have done all for him, what are you at your 
 best estate 1 — " Unprofitable servants, who have 
 done what was your duty to do.'' Are you not 
 ashamed to be for ever talking of merits and re- 
 wards, as if the Most High were your debtor ; as 
 if he were actually enriched by a few indifferent 
 prayers, or an occasional act of self-denial, obe- 
 dience, or charity ? Does it never occur to you 
 that the condescension and forbearance of God 
 are infinitely more exercised, by the acceptance 
 of such imperfect services, than your obedience 
 
LECTURE V. 
 
 283 
 
 is magnified by the performance of them ; and 
 that your debt of gratitude to God is therefore 
 obviously increased, instead of cancelled, by such 
 payments as these I We cannot picture to our- 
 selves an individual, we cannot conceive the state 
 in which that man's heart must be, who can be- 
 lieve that standing before the judgment-seat of 
 Christ, a pardoned sinner, he shall demand repay- 
 ment for his sufferings, and his services, and his 
 charities upon earth : nay, we cannot imagine 
 one. who, when he shall be most graciously re- 
 minded of these things by our Lord, shall not 
 rather ask, with feelings of unaffected surprise, 
 * Lord, when saw I thee an hungered and fed 
 thee, naked and clothed thee, a stranger and took 
 thee in ?" Surely then, instead of demanding. 
 What shall we have ! the inquiry of a grateful 
 heart will be, What shall we do ? How can we 
 more promote the honour and glory of God ? How 
 can we more devote ourselves, our time, and our 
 substance, to him who is " not only able, but will- 
 ing to do abundantly for us, above ail that we can 
 ask or think ?" 
 
 Bui while we feel it thus a duty, to discountenance 
 an over-anxious estimation of our own imperfect 
 offerings, it is truly encouraging to observe in the 
 
284 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 passage before us, that our gracious Redeemer is 
 not unmindful of them. No sooner has he revealed 
 the paramount degrees of blessedness awaiting his 
 disciples, than clearly to demonstrate that his re- 
 wards should be as numerous as his servants, and 
 that in the dispensation of his gifts none should be 
 forgotten, he immediately adds, " Verily, I say unto 
 you, there is no man," marking that the blessing 
 he is about to promise should not be limited to the 
 apostles, " there is no man that hath left house, or 
 brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, 
 or children, or lands, for my sake and the Gospel's, 
 but he shall receive an hundred-fold now in this 
 time ; houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mo- 
 thers, and children, and lands, with persecutions, 
 and in the world to come eternal life." If then 
 you seek assurance of your reward, behold it here ; 
 but observe that it is at the same time coupled with 
 the assurance of suffering. A real, heartfelt recep- 
 tion of the Gospel of Christ may, and often does, 
 bring with it, even at the present day, a species of 
 persecution — the jeer, the taunt, the private sar- 
 casm, the public ridicule : it may be accompanied 
 by the coldness of worldly friends, or the loss of 
 the good opinion of those you love ; it may sepa- 
 rate the wife from the husband, the child from the 
 
LECTURE V. 
 
 285 
 
 parent, not as the necessary consequence of the 
 Gospel of peace, but, as the apostle expresses it, 
 of " the carnal heart, which is enmity against 
 God." Our Lord well knew, that these would in 
 all ages be amongst the most painful trials of his 
 followers ; and therefore he left on record this 
 blessed assurance of a proportionate reward, and 
 observe how admirably adapted to the necessities 
 of his people. 
 
 We will imagine a case which we trust is not 
 common at present, but which we fear is at no 
 time positively unknown. Your devotion to the 
 commands of your Redeemer, your desire " to live 
 godly in Christ Jesus," no longer to be conformed 
 to this world, but to be transformed by the renew- 
 ing of your mind," has alienated from you the af- 
 fections of your natural counsellors and friends ; 
 the members of your own family look coldly upon 
 you ; where you w r ere accustomed to meet with 
 kindness, you encounter reproach, and in the bit- 
 terness of your first feeling of anguish, you are 
 ready almost to ask, how can even a Saviour re- 
 compense me for these things? It is in this state 
 of mind that you will learn to appreciate the beau- 
 tiful compensation of the promise. It is here, on 
 earth, and in these tender relationships, that you 
 
286 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 have suffered thus acutely for the sake of Christ; 
 then, independently of your purchased reward 
 hereafter; independently of the real joys which 
 even here, the Saviour's felt and acknowledged 
 presence will bestow, you shall be abundantly 
 recompensed. For every relative you have lost, 
 for every friend you have estranged from you, 
 "you shall receive," says our Lord, "an hundred- 
 fold now in this present time, brethren, and sisters, 
 and mothers." Those who bear the Saviour's 
 image, and love the Saviour's name, love also the 
 Saviour's people, and will be to you, even while 
 on earth, more affectionate, more valuable, more 
 endeared, than the nearest earthly relative, unin- 
 fluenced by these spiritual feelings, could have ever 
 been. These are " the brethren, and sisters, and 
 mothers," who shall never fail you, but having 
 gladdened your path by the endearments of Chris- 
 tian friendship here below, shall be united to you 
 yet more closely, when you shall together " shine 
 forth as the sun in the kingdom of your Father." 
 
 The next incident, to which I shall desire your 
 attention, in the life of him upon whose history we 
 are commenting, is one of the deepest interest to 
 every believer ; one in which, we shall find Peter 
 himself not so much a speaker, as a hearer, sitting 
 
LECTURE V. 
 
 287 
 
 at the feet of his Divine Master, and making an in- 
 quiry upon a subject, which has in all ages deeply 
 engaged the thoughts, and attentions of the true 
 Church of Christ ; but perhaps at no one period 
 since that inquiry was made, so universally as at the 
 present. We are informed, in the 24th chapter of 
 St. Matthew, that the disciples, filled with admira- 
 tion at the architectural magnificence of the tem- 
 ple, had called the attention of our Lord to its beau- 
 ties, and in reply, that he had forewarned them that 
 the time was coming, when " there should not be 
 left one stone upon another, which should not be 
 thrown down." The inspired historian then con- 
 tinues : " As Jesus sat upon the Mount of Olives, 
 the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell 
 us when shall these things be ? and what shall be 
 the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the 
 world V The reply to the former of these inquiries, 
 44 When shall these things be V* occupies the first 
 twenty-eight verses of the chapter, clearly foretell- 
 ing that tremendous visitation, which the pages of 
 history have since so faithfully verified. Our Lord 
 then answers the latter question, " What is the sign 
 of thy coming ?" in these words ; " Immediately 
 after the tribulation of those days," — a tribulation, 
 be it remembered, which, though it commenced 
 
288 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 with the destruction of Jerusalem, has not even yet 
 run the whole of its terrific course — "the sun shall 
 be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, 
 and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the pow- 
 ers of the heavens shall be shaken, and then shall 
 appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven ; and 
 then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they 
 shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of 
 heaven with power and great glory." 
 
 The mind in its present state of imperfection, 
 much as it cannot but desire to see the day of the 
 Son of man, shrinks from the scrutiny of such a 
 vision. That we shall all one day behold, face to 
 face, the Saviour of whom we now speak, and 
 hear, and read, and think ; that we shall see with 
 our own eyes the print of the nails, and the mark 
 of the spear ; that we shall indeed look upon him, 
 " whom having not seen, we love," is as certain as 
 the promises of God can render it — a certainty to 
 which the heart of the true believer turns with "joy 
 unspeakable and full of glory;" and never does he 
 say, " thy kingdom come," without rejoicing that 
 Time is winging on his way his rapid flight, and 
 hastening the wheels of his chariot. Most naturally 
 then did Peter ask, " What shall be the sign of thy 
 coming V Most naturally does the church, as if 
 
LECTURE V. 
 
 289 
 
 with one voice and one heart, reiterate the inquiry. 
 Upon such a subject we would not presume to dog- 
 matize ; great injury has been already done to the 
 cause of truth, and to the minds of inquiring Chris- 
 tians, by an attempt to speak plainly and positively, 
 where God himself has intentionally spoken ob- 
 scurely. We doubt not that " the day of the Lord," 
 come when it may, " shall," to the many, " so come 
 as a thief in the night;" and that therefore, when 
 the world in general is least anticipating it, there is 
 the greatest probability of its arrival. But of this 
 also w 7 e feel assured, that as no great event, no re- 
 markable revolution has ever happened in the histo- 
 ry of the world without having been distinctly fore- 
 seen by many reflecting, thoughtful, penetrating in- 
 tellects ; so no great event has happened, or ever 
 will happen, in the church of Christ, which will not 
 have been " looked for and hastened unto" by many 
 among his prepared and expecting people. 
 
 We would say therefore to you, with reference 
 to this great event, what our Lord has said unto all, 
 
 watch," " for ye, brethren, are not in darkness, 
 that that day should overtake you as a thief." The 
 book of prophecy is in your hands; the remarkable 
 events of the days in which our lot is cast, are form- 
 25 
 
290 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 ing a rapid commentary upon the most ambiguous 
 of its pages. Suffer not these things to be without 
 their practical influence upon your hearts. Fix an 
 humble eye upon the signs of the times ; search the 
 Scriptures of truth with reference to the return 
 of your Redeemer, which, from the continual al- 
 lusions to it in the writings of the New Testament, 
 was never intended to be overlooked ; and although 
 it is our firm conviction that you will not find suffi- 
 cient evidence to attach you to any of the numer- 
 ous theories at present rife, we believe you will find 
 sufficient, fully sufficient, to make you seriously 
 thoughtful, sufficient to make you "seek" more 
 earnestly " those things which are above, where 
 Christ sitteth at the right hand of God," and more 
 ardently to long, and more faithfully to look, for " the 
 coming of the son of man." 
 
 In conclusion, let me endeavour briefly, but prac- 
 tically, to apply this portion of the subject. Are 
 you my brethren, waiting for the coming of your 
 Lord ? Have you ever considered it a Christian's 
 duty to make this inquiry? Do you really believe 
 that he shall come ? And are you anxiously expect- 
 ing that solemn event? As Christians you assuredly 
 are ; you read it in your Bibles, you acknowledge 
 it in your creeds. Let me then ask, how are you 
 
LECTURE V. 
 
 291 
 
 evincing by your life and conversation, that this 
 is indeed an article of your faith, an object of your 
 hope '? 
 
 Observe for a moment the manner in which we 
 act under similar circumstances in the common 
 affairs of life. The friend you most love has gone 
 to some far-distant clime, but he has promised, to 
 return ; you believe his promise, the time is fixed, 
 and is unquestionably certain, but he has not men- 
 tioned to you the day. During the interval, in what 
 manner do you conduct yourselves 1 As the term of 
 his long absence wears away, does he not engross 
 every thought, and occupy every feeling, and form 
 a prominent part in every arrangement \ You re- 
 collect every thing which used to afford him plea- 
 sure, and you prepare it for his reception ; you re- 
 member every thing that gave him pain, and you 
 most cautiously, most scrupulously avoid it ; you 
 think no sacrifice too great, no recollection too 
 minute, if it may but enable you to minister to his 
 delight, and to gratify him on his arrival. Your 
 heart is so occupied with his promised return, that 
 it is far less delightful to you to associate with 
 others, than to think of and remember him. Every 
 morning sees you at the throne of grace, praying 
 that another sun may not set before your anticipa- 
 
292 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 tions have been realized, and you are not, you can- 
 not be satisfied with any thing short of the fulfil- 
 ment of this prayer. 
 
 Now, my Christian brethren, I would ask you 
 to apply this to the state of your minds with re- 
 spect to the promised return of your Lord ? Do 
 you know any thing of such feelings as these? 
 Do you in any respect so feel, and so think, and 
 so act, with regard to his arrival? If not, what 
 further proof do we require that either you do not 
 believe him, or you do not love him as you ought ? 
 If you believed him, you would live as those who 
 were expecting his coming ; if you loved him, you 
 would live as those who longed for it. In every 
 act of your life there would be a reference to this 
 wished-for event. In your most sorrowing hours, 
 you would " weep as though you wept not ;" and 
 in your most joyful hours, " rejoice as though you 
 rejoiced not;" in your busiest hours, you would 
 " buy as though you possessed not ;" and every 
 day and every hour, you would '< use this world as 
 not abusing it." You would be careful to allow 
 yourselves in no posture of mind, in no indulgence 
 of tempers, in no occupations or amusements, in 
 which you would blush to be found by your Lord. 
 
 You acknowledge, you cannot but acknowledge, 
 
LECTURE V. 293 
 
 that all this is perfectly true if applied to the return 
 of any earthly friend : what argument then will 
 you use to prove that it does not and ought not to 
 be applicable to the return of that " friend who 
 sticketh closer than a brother?" Will you say 
 that you have no such love for him, who so loved 
 you as to give himself for you; that the Bible re- 
 quires no such love, that his people have never felt 
 such love, that you cannot be expected to desire 
 his presence with the same feelings with which you 
 desire the presence of those you love on earth. 
 So saying, you would only demonstrate that at 
 least one of the signs of our Lord's return is suffi- 
 ciently visible — " the love of many shall wax cold." 
 It was not so with the holy men of old ; it was not 
 so with David, for he expressly said, " there is none 
 upon earth whom I desire in comparison of thee." 
 Although the mutual love between him, and 
 Jonathan, was as he himself expresses it, " won- 
 derful, passing the love of women," it was as no- 
 thing, and less than nothing, in comparison of his 
 love to God. In this love, be assured, every true 
 child of God, in every age, has partaken ; in this 
 desire for the Saviour's return, his true people have 
 in all ages united ; in this anxiety to keep them- 
 selves unspotted from the world against his wished- 
 25* 
 
294 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 for coming, all his redeemed servants sympathize. 
 Try then the state of your spiritual affections by 
 this test ; observe what would be the effect upon 
 your heart, and mind, and expectations, if you 
 were assured that the day of the Lord was even 
 now about to dawn upon you ; if the reply to your 
 inquiry, "What is the sign of thy coming?" were 
 to be, " Behold, I come quickly," would it sound 
 the knell of your departing pleasures, of all in 
 which your hearts, and minds, and thoughts are 
 now engaged ; or could you really welcome it as 
 the fulfilment of every prayer, the completion of 
 every hope ? Could you reply from your heart, 
 " even so come, Lord Jesus," this is the hour which 
 I have prayed for, hoped for, lived for, " even so 
 come, come quickly." 
 
 This, and this alone, is the reply of those who, 
 with their loins girded and their lamps burning, 
 are awaiting for the return of their Lord. This, 
 then, be assured, is the reply of all those who shall 
 go in with him to the wedding, and shall sit down 
 for ever at the marriage supper of the Lamb. 
 That it may, therefore, before the bright advancing 
 sign of the Son of man shall be seen in the heavens 
 before he shall come to you, or you shall depart to 
 him, be the heartfelt reply of every soul here pre- 
 sent, may God of his infinite mercy grant ! 
 
LECTURE VI. 
 
 295 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 JOHN XIII. 8. 
 
 M Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus 
 answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with 
 me." 
 
 It is one of the striking peculiarities of the method 
 of teaching adopted by our Divine Master, that the 
 truths which it was the object of his life to promul- 
 gate were not elaborately preached in a series of con- 
 tinuous discourses, but rather incidentally touched 
 upon in some striking apothegm, or shadowed forth 
 under some significant symbol. Thus, it was while 
 sitting upon Jacob's well, that our Lord so beauti- 
 fully discoursed upon " that well of water which 
 springeth up into everlasting life." It was while 
 looking upon " the fields white already to the har- 
 vest," that he so strikingly alluded to that eternal 
 harvest, when both " he that soweth and he that 
 reapeth shall rejoice together." It was when the 
 people followed him for the bread that perisheth, 
 that he delivered one of the most instructive of his 
 discourses upon " the living bread which came 
 
296 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 down from heaven." It was at the feast of taber- 
 nacles, while beholding the Jewish ceremony of 
 pouring forth the water of Siloam, " in the last day, 
 that great day of the feast, that Jesus stood and 
 cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto 
 me, and drink." 
 
 In the incident with which the present Lecture 
 commences, we shall find an additional and pecu- 
 liarly beautiful testimony of the truth of this remark, 
 while we behold our Lord, by one of the most 
 significant actions of his life, illustrating one of 
 the most important doctrines in his Gospel. We 
 are told in the 13th of St. John, that at the supper 
 which took place before the feast of the passover, or 
 rather at the antepast, for it is evident that it oc- 
 curred upon the same evening, " Jesus laid aside his 
 garments, and took a towel and girded himself. 
 After that he poured water into a basin, and began 
 to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with 
 the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh 
 he to Simon Peter, and Peter," whose love for his 
 divine Master could but ill bear to behold him so 
 servilely employed, " said unto him, Lord, dost 
 thou wash my feet ? Jesus said, What I do thou 
 knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." 
 At present you behold only the act itself, mysterious 
 
LECTURE VI. 
 
 297 
 
 and unaccountable ; hereafter you shall be fully 
 satisfied of its wise and merciful intention. 
 
 My Christian brethren, surely for our sakes this 
 was written ; for us and for our children. For 
 will not your own experience justify me in saying, 
 that the Lord has dealt thus upon many, and most 
 important occasions with yourselves? How many 
 an act of your gracious Redeemer, many a dark 
 and mysterious providence in your lives, which 
 was once utterly unintelligible, is even now made 
 clear and satisfactory ! You have, for instance, been 
 visited with unexpected adversity; your situation 
 in life is changed from affluence to poverty ; or 
 your trials have been of a different nature — you 
 have been bereaved of those dear relatives, and 
 friends, with whom your tenderest affections were 
 bound up ; and this, perhaps, at a time when they 
 were most valuable, most useful, most endeared. 
 Some of you, I doubt not, have lived to see, that 
 these were acts of wisdom, and of mercy ; and 
 some, perhaps, though fully reconciled to the blow, 
 and prostrated in the dust before the chastening 
 visitation, and able to say with the Shunammite of 
 old, " It is well," cannot yet discern that it was 
 love which held the rod ; to you, my afflicted bre- 
 thren, your gracious Redeemer at this day speaks 
 
298 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 as he spoke to Peter, " What I do thou knowest 
 not noic, but thou shalt know hereafter." As years 
 roil on, if you are a child of God, you will look 
 back not only with contentment, but even with 
 gratitude, upon those dark and trying dispensa- 
 tions ; in many instances it will, 1 doubt not, be 
 vouchsafed to you even here to distinguish that God 
 has done all things wisely and mercifully, and that 
 some of your most painful trials have been among 
 your choicest blessings. But should this not be 
 given to you, should you be doomed to pass not 
 only through this pilgrimage state, but even out of 
 it, in utter ignorance of the motive of your severest 
 chastenings, rest your hearts in their most troubled 
 hours upon this gracious declaration of your Lord, 
 " Thou shalt k\ow hereafter." His intentions 
 will not be for ever thus hidden from his children. 
 In infancy the child takes much from his father 
 upon trust ; as he grows up, it is the parents de- 
 light to explain to him every act and every word. 
 So will your heavenly Father also deal with you. 
 All shall one day be made plain to you, and you 
 shall see that He who " never willingly afflicts or 
 grieves the children of men," has not laid upon 
 you one cross, has not inflicted one pang, which he 
 could with safety to your best interests, or to his 
 
LECTURE VI. 299 
 
 own glory, have ventured to withhold. Surely it 
 will bring an increase, even to the joys at God's 
 right hand, to trace out the paths by which he 
 carried you thither, although you may behold them 
 covered with thorns, and moistened with your tears. 
 
 But we must return to the incident before us. 
 Peter, unconvinced, and unsatisfied by our Lord's 
 explanation, suffered the natural impetuosity of his 
 temper to render him even more peremptory than 
 before. " He saith unto him, Thou shalt never 
 wash my feet. Jesus answered him, if I wash thee 
 not, thou hast no part with me." Here is at once 
 the key to the mystery before us : Jesus literally 
 washes the disciples' feet, to signify to them most 
 impressively that they need him, spiritually to wash 
 and purify their hearts. 
 
 My brethren, a more important declaration was 
 never made by the Saviour of the world than that 
 with which he here addresses you. " If I wash 
 thee not, thou hast no part with me." You may be 
 the members of the visible church of Christ, you 
 may bear the name of Christ, you may be baptised 
 with a Christian baptism, and attend upon Christian 
 ordinances ; but if, in the sense here alluded to, you 
 have not been washed by Christ, that is, cleansed 
 from the guilt of your sins by his blood, and purified 
 
300 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 from the power of them by his Spirit, you have no 
 part in his atoning sacrifice now, you will have no 
 place in his kingdom hereafter. Most solemnly would 
 I urge this consideration upon your consciences, as 
 one of the most deeply important that can engage 
 them. Thousands are living in grievous error upon 
 this point, and I dare not hope, that none of you are 
 among the number. If there be but one, then let 
 me obtain his serious attention while I thus address 
 him. You believe that you are safe, because you 
 are externally a member of a truly scriptural 
 church, and a regular attendant upon her valuable 
 services. As the handmaid of Christ your church 
 is invaluable, and she is well able, under the divine 
 blessing, instrumentally, to guide your path, and to 
 support your footsteps, from the time when she 
 first receives you into her fold, " a child of God and 
 an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven," until the 
 hour when she speaks her parting benediction, and 
 returns her " hearty thanks" to him, in w r hom you 
 have believed, that he has taken you to himself. 
 But if you put her in the place of your Redeemer, 
 if you are seeking that at the hands of the servant 
 which the Master, and the Master only, can supply, 
 you will find too late, that although like " the mixed 
 multitude," who went up with the true Israel of 
 
LECTURE VI. 
 
 301 
 
 God out of the land of their captivity, you may 
 have swelled the ranks and echoed the prayers of 
 his people, you have neither part, nor lot, in the pur- 
 chased inheritance. 
 
 " If I wash thee not," are the words of our Lord. 
 " The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin 
 be assured that he has not " washed you from your 
 sins in his blood," unless you have gone to Him 
 with a truly penitent heart, humbly confessing your 
 sins, earnestly desiring pardon, and entirely depend- 
 ing upon the merits of his sacrifice, and interces- 
 sion, to reconcile you to God. Now, we would 
 solemnly ask you, has any such transaction as this 
 ever passed between God and your soul 1 Have 
 you ever been led to see the guilt and the heinous- 
 ness of sin, to feel the plague of a corrupt heart, 
 and to pray for its removal ? Have you ever been 
 thus made the subject of the cleansing efficacy of 
 the blood of Christ, and of the transforming, renew- 
 ing influences of his Spirit ! I do not say, can you 
 remember the day, can you name the hour, when 
 such a change was effected ? There may be, we 
 are all well aware, much enthusiasm upon this sub- 
 ject, but O ! let not the enthusiasm of others, be a 
 cloak for your coldness and indifference. If such a 
 change as this, have ever taken place in your 
 26 
 
302 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 heart, you must be sensible of it. It is too momen- 
 tous ever to be forgotten. " A man," says Arch- 
 deacon Paley,* who assuredly was no enthusiast, 
 u might as easily forget his escape from a ship- 
 wreck." Be not satisfied then until you have ascer- 
 tained this great truth with regard to your own soul ; 
 search narrowly, probe deeply, see whether there 
 be " in you an evil heart of unbelief," or whether 
 you have scriptural grounds for believing that the 
 u blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things 
 than the blood of Abel," has been applied to your 
 conscience, and that you have thus been washed by 
 Christ; for remember, that if not, the word of 
 Christ himself is passed, that "you have no part 
 with him." 
 
 Peter now convinced by the declaration which 
 we have been considering, of the great importance 
 of this symbolical action of our Lord, " said unto 
 him, Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my 
 head." His prayer, now that he was enabled to 
 understand the spiritual meaning of the act in which 
 our Lord was engaged, resembled the prayer of 
 David, "Lord, wash me thoroughly from my 
 iniquity, and cleanse me from my sins." "Jesus 
 saith unto him, He that is washed, (or as it might 
 
 * See Paley's Sermon on the Doctrine of Conversion. 
 
LECTURE VI. 
 
 303 
 
 have been rendered, i he that is bathed,') needeth 
 not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit." 
 He who has just come from the bath, although his 
 feet may be soiled by the dust upon which he has 
 trodden, is, in other respects, clean every whit ; or, 
 applying this to ourselves, you have been made the 
 subjects of the cleansing efficacy of the blood of the 
 41 Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," 
 " Ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified, 
 in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of 
 our God." You therefore need not to be again 
 thus washed, again justified ; but we beseech you, 
 rest not upon any former act of pardon, let not the 
 high privilege of having been forgiven all trespasses, 
 make you indifferent to your continual short-comings 
 and sins ; be assured that you do still unquestionably 
 need the daily, hourly application of the blood of 
 Christ, for the cleansing of that pollution, which is 
 contracted at every footstep in this world of sin : 
 you therefore faithfully, humbly, and penitently, 
 must also continually resort to " the fountain opened 
 for sin and for uncleanness," " that the God of peace 
 may sanctify you wholly, that your whole spirit, and 
 soul, and body, may be preserved blameless unto 
 the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 Our Lord having performed the significant ac- 
 
304 
 
 LECTURE Vr. 
 
 tion, upon which we have been speaking, and 
 again taken his place at the table, and enlarged 
 upon the great Christian duty of humility, so ob- 
 viously taught us by that astonishing instance of 
 it, which he had just exhibited proceeds thus to 
 address his assembled disciples ; " Verily, verily, 
 I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me." 
 " Then," says the inspired historian, " the disciples 
 looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. 
 Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his 
 disciples whom Jesus loved ; Simon Peter therefore 
 beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should 
 be of whom he spake." He who is here alluded 
 to, as the disciple whom Jesus loved, was, as we 
 find from the twenty-first chapter of his Gospel, 
 St. John : he it was to whom, as possessing so high 
 a place in the intimacy and affection of our Lord, 
 even " leaning upon his bosom," Simon Peter ap- 
 plied himself to obtain an answer to his question. 
 
 My brethren, would you inquire any thing at the 
 hands of God 1 do you earnestly desire instruction 
 and guidance ? then seek an interest in the prayers 
 of those who are admitted to the closest, communion 
 with God ; they can ask for you, many things that 
 you, through ignorance or inability, cannot ask for 
 yourselves ; for, " the effectual fervent prayer of a 
 
LECTURE VI. 
 
 305 
 
 righteous man availeth much." Above all, be sure 
 that you make every inquiry, present every petition, 
 through the intercession of that friend who is near- 
 est to the throne of grace, even through the only- 
 begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father ; 
 all that he asks for you will assuredly be obtained ; 
 for, if "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous 
 man availeth much," the effectual fervent prayer of 
 a perfect Mediator must be irresistible. 
 
 "He then," continues the historian, "lying on 
 Jesus' bosom, said, Lord, who is it ?" How beau- 
 tiful is this union of the closest intimacy, and the 
 most profound respect ! St. John, though permitted 
 to lean upon his Saviour's bosom, remembered still 
 the immeasurable distance there must ever be be- 
 tween them. " Lord, who is it ?" At those mo- 
 ments when you are admitted to the nearest union 
 that created, finite beings can ever know, with him 
 who is uncreate and eternal, beware of the slightest 
 approach to familiarity: in all your inquiries, in all 
 your prayers, while they breathe the spirit of a 
 child, and are dictated by the confiding love of a 
 son, forget not the reverence due to a father: re- 
 member that God himself has said, " If I be a fa- 
 ther, where is mine honour ? If I be a master, 
 where is my fear?" 
 
 26* 
 
306 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 Our Lord having, in answer to Peter's inquiry, 
 distinctly pointed out the traitor, thus began, as we 
 learn from the parallel passage in St. Luke's Gos- 
 pel, to caution Peter himself against his approach- 
 ing danger: "Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath de- 
 sired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat : 
 but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: 
 and when thou art converted," when thou hast re- 
 covered from the fall which I foretell, " strengthen 
 thy brethren." How awful a warning was this 
 to Peter ! your great adversary " desires to have 
 you :" at the same time how encouraging ! — he 
 does but " desire :" as the lion chained, he rages 
 open-mouthed ; but there is a limit which he can- 
 not pass. 
 
 My Christian brethren, you stand at the present 
 hour in the same danger that Peter stood; you 
 have the same adversary, and he is still filled w r ith 
 the same determined animosity, still actuated by 
 the same dreadful desire to sift out from you all 
 that is valuable, and to leave only the " chaff, which 
 shall be burned with unquenchable fire." Eighteen 
 hundred years, of too successful enterprise against 
 the souls of men, are not likely to have weakened 
 his strength, or diminished his cunning ; he is still 
 the same indefatigable opponent who ruined Judas, 
 
LECTURE VI. 
 
 307 
 
 and who almost triumphed over Peter; and he is 
 at this moment urging all his efforts of cunning 
 and strength, and all his inexhaustible resources 
 of trial and temptation, against the soul of every 
 individual who names the name of Christ. He is 
 incessantly striving for the ruin of each, even of 
 the youngest, the poorest, the most inconsiderable 
 among you, and is desiring your soul as anxiously, 
 as unceasingly, as if it were the only prize upon 
 this world's surface worthy of his efforts. May 
 we not then, ought we not, as those who have the 
 charge over you in the Lord, seriously to ask you, 
 Against such an enemy, where is your resource ? 
 what is your strength ? You will not find it in your 
 own resolutions — you need not seek it in your own 
 heart. There is no armour of earthly temper 
 which is proof against his fiery darts, no weapon 
 that you can form against him, which shall prosper. 
 He who was too cunning for Solomon, too strong 
 for Samson, will not be baffled by your wisdom, or 
 subdued by your strength. " Resist the devil, and 
 he will flee from you," is the declaration of God's 
 own word ; but resist him, in the power of your 
 own might, and he will laugh you to scorn. It is 
 from the armory of heaven alone, that weapons 
 can be brought, fitted for this spiritual warfare. 
 
308 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 Do you, then, seek them there? Does every day 
 behold you earnestly imploring, through the merits 
 of the Redeemer, arms from on high to enable you 
 to fight the good fight 1 It is through the prayer 
 of your ever blessed Intercessor that you can alone 
 find grace equal to your need ; it is from the power 
 of the Spirit that you will alone obtain strength 
 equal to your day. " I have prayed for thee" — 
 there is your refuge. " When the enemy comes 
 in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up 
 a standard against him" — there is your strength : 
 leave these aids unsought, and your defeat is inevi- 
 table: seek them constantly, faithfully, and fervent- 
 ly, and we do not say you will be invulnerable, 
 but we do not hesitate to say you will be invinci- 
 ble — " kept by the Power of God, through faith, 
 unto salvation." 
 
 Happy had it been for Peter, if, thus warned, 
 thus counselled, by the awful declaration that there 
 was an enemy full of power, and full of cunning, 
 watching for his halting, and striving for his ruin, 
 he had instantly acknowledged his weakness, and 
 betaken himself to the strong for strength. There 
 was time for reflection, time for self-searching, time 
 for prayer. Had he instantly cast himself at the 
 feet of Jesus, and poured out the heartfelt acknow- 
 
LECTURE VI. 
 
 309 
 
 ledgments of his own utter incapacity to struggle 
 with the approaching enemy, he would, doubtless, 
 have been saved from the hour of temptation; the 
 shield of celestial temper, would have been thrown 
 over him, and the fiery darts of the wicked one, 
 would have fallen harmless at his feet. But, alas ! 
 the warning voice, although it was the voice of his 
 Master and his God, sounded but in vain. " Peter 
 said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee 
 both into prison and to death." 
 
 Then his Divine Master, clearly perceiving the 
 evidences of that " haughty spirit which goeth be- 
 fore a fall," thus distinctly and solemnly foretold 
 his approaching sin ; " I tell thee, Peter, the cock 
 shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice 
 deny that thou knowest me." Peter, unsubdued, 
 unsoftened hurried forward by the tempter, who 
 plies his efforts with such rapidity, that when we 
 have once entered upon the treacherous deep, wave 
 follows wave in incalculably quick succession — 
 "Peter said unto him, Though I should die with 
 thee, yet will I not deny thee ;" thus putting the 
 final seal to the sentence which now became irre- 
 vocable. O ! my brethren, " let him" among you 
 " that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." 
 Peter firmly believed that he could die for Christ, 
 
310 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 and yet he lived to deny, and to abjure him. At 
 this moment, then, how can the most sincere, most 
 faithful, most confident among you, be more se- 
 cure ? Every thing of stability which belongs to 
 the creature, vanishes before the tremendous onset 
 of the powers of darkness. You possess nothing 
 in which Peter was deficient ; how then can you 
 expect to stand, where Peter fell 1 Your heart is 
 devoted to your Redeemer — and was not Peter's 1 
 your conscience acquits you of any premeditated 
 intention to deny him — and did not Peter's ? your 
 confidence urges you to declare, that worlds should 
 not tempt you to such an act — and what was the 
 language of Peter ? Alas ! it is indeed only the 
 hour of trial which reveals us to ourselves; and 
 that hour shows us, that at our best estate we are 
 nothing, and less than nothing, and vanity. You 
 may now scoff at the probability of danger ; you 
 may imagine your rock so strong, that it shall 
 never be removed: but you will find a season? 
 when your solicitations to sin will be urgent, and 
 its pretences plausible, and its opportunities easy, 
 and the hopes of recovery or concealment probable, 
 and the sin itself unusually fascinating ; in such an 
 hour, if you are trusting to your own strength, you 
 will assuredly fall. There is not that sin, even to 
 
LECTURE VI. 
 
 311 
 
 the betrayal of your friend, and the denial of your 
 God, to which, in an hour of presumptuous confi- 
 dence, the natural heart may not be seduced. 
 
 My younger brethren, yours is the age, and 
 yours the state of Christian feeling, when men are 
 most confident of their stability, and therefore 
 when they are most liable to fall. It is to you, 
 then* we would particularly apply this example. 
 Avoid every thing approaching to self-confidence, 
 and let the constant desire of your heart, and effort 
 of your life be, to maintain a humble, lowly, self- 
 distrusting, prayerful walk with God : be assured 
 it is not any grace already received, it is not any 
 resolution made, it is not any experience obtained, 
 which can keep you from falling, if you are 
 walking carelessly, or confidently : at the same 
 time, be ye equally assured, that it is not any 
 temptation, not all your spiritual enemies, however 
 numerous, or however powerful, who shall prevail 
 against you, if you are depending simply upon 
 your God ; then, indeed, you shall " never perish, 
 neither shall any man pluck you out of his hand." 
 While, therefore, you are thus simple in your trust 
 and earnest in your watchfulness, you are safe ; it 
 is the separating these things, which the unerring 
 word of God has for ever united, which will be 
 
312 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 your ruin. " If you look to stand in the faith of 
 the sons of God," says the judicious Hooker,* 
 " you must hourly, continually be providing and 
 setting yourselves to strive. It was not the mean- 
 ing of our Lord and Saviour in saying, « Father, 
 keep them in thy name,' that you should be care- 
 less to keep yourselves. To your own safety, your 
 own sedulity is required. And then, blessed for 
 ever and ever be that mother's child, whose faith 
 had made him the child of God. The earth may 
 shake, the pillars of the world may tremble under 
 us, the countenance of the heavens may be ap- 
 palled, the sun may lose his light, the moon her 
 beauty, the stars their glory; but concerning the 
 man that trusteth in God — what is there in the 
 world that shall change his heart, overthrow his 
 faith, alter his affections towards God, or the affec- 
 tion of /God to him? If I be of this note, who 
 shall, make a separation between me and my God ? 
 * * * I know in whom I have believed; I am 
 not ignorant whose precious blood has been shed 
 for me : I have a Shepherd full of kindness, full of 
 care, and full of power : unto him I commit my- 
 self : his own finger has engraven this sentence on 
 
 * See the whole of this beautiful and well-known passage, 
 Hooker's Work?, fol. edit. 1622, p. 550. 
 
LECTURE VI. 
 
 313 
 
 the tables of my heart — ' Satan hath desired to 
 winnow thee like wheat, but I have prayed for 
 thee that thy faith fail not.' Therefore the assur- 
 ance of my hope I will labour to keep as a jewel 
 unto the end ; and by labour, through the gracious 
 mediation of His prayer, I shall keep it" 
 
 27 
 
314 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 MARK XIV. 37. 
 
 " He cometh and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, 
 Simon, sleepest thou 1 couldest not thou watch one hour ?" 
 
 " Cease ye from man," is one of those divine in- 
 junctions, which, although presented to us in the 
 word of God, and daily and hourly impressed upon 
 us by the providences of God, is most difficult of re- 
 ception and arduous in practice. Our lot is cast 
 for the present among weak, imperfect sinning mor- 
 tals like ourselves, and we feel it to be one of the 
 happiest circumstances of that lot, that as we are 
 all blest with the same sympathies, and partakers 
 of the same sorrows and the same joys, these sor- 
 rows are divided, and these joys are multiplied, 
 when in the union of Christian fellowship, we suffer, 
 or rejoice, together. But as every virtue has some 
 nearly related vice, so every happiness in our pre- 
 sent state of imperfection has some kindred sorrow 
 for ever at its side ; the very sweetnesses of human 
 
LECTURE VII. 
 
 315 
 
 friendship, are too often preparing us for the bitter- 
 ness of disappointment; and the staff upon which 
 we delight to lean, only supports us for a time, that 
 it may gradually crumble into dust beneath our 
 w r eight, or suddenly break and pierce us while it 
 fails us. 
 
 We are now entering upon a scene in which the 
 weakness of human friendship, the utter helplessness 
 of human friends, the necessity in our hour of need 
 of ceasing from man, and resting our souls upon 
 the Rock of Ages, will be loudly taught us, by the 
 frailty, and infirmity, even of the warm-hearted 
 Peter himself. 
 
 Immediately after those events which were brought 
 before you in the last discourse, Jesus " went forth 
 with his disciples into a place called Gethsemane, 
 over the brook Cedron, where was a garden into 
 which he entered and his disciples : and Jesus saith 
 unto them, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yon- 
 der ; and he taketh with him, Peter, James, and 
 John." 
 
 The same disciples who had been witnesses of 
 his transfiguration and his glory, were now to be 
 the witnesses of his humiliation and his suffering. 
 James and John had but a short time before boldly 
 asserted, that they were able to be baptised with 
 
316 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 Christ's baptism of suffering, and to drink of his cup 
 of sorrow. Peter had just declared that he was 
 ready to go with him, even to prison, and to death. 
 Of all his disciples, none had so confidently courted 
 the conflict, none, therefore, had less reason to com- 
 plain that they were now placed in the front row of 
 the battle, and made a spectacle to men and angels 
 of the weakness of man's best determinations, and 
 the infirmity of the strongest faith. 
 
 Then, continues the evangelist, " Jesus began to 
 be sore amazed and very heavy." This was the 
 period of our Lord's greatest suffering, and the 
 acutest agony. The horrors of the cross were not 
 to be compared with the terrors of the garden ; in 
 the former his bodily sufferings were predominant, 
 but here, his mental agonies. 
 
 That evil spirit, who, after the temptation in the 
 wilderness, had " departed from him for a season," 
 now returned with tenfold greater virulence, to 
 grapple with him in his hour of weakness, and if it 
 were possible, to frustrate for ever the one great 
 purpose of his mission. 
 
 Doubtless, when our Lord entered the garden, he 
 could discern those hosts of spiritual enemies, who, 
 unseen to mortal eye, unknown to mortal apprehen- 
 sion, were thronging the midnight air, waiting the 
 
LECTURE VI[. 
 
 317 
 
 appointed time when they might struggle hand to 
 hand, with the second Adam, as they had once, 
 alas ! too successfully, assailed the first. That time 
 had now arrived. " This is your hour," said our 
 Lord to the conspirators, " and the power of dark- 
 ness." 
 
 Every description which the evangelists give, of 
 the state of mind in which our Lord entered upon 
 the conflict, prove the tremendous nature of the as- 
 sault, and the vivid and perfect anticipation of its 
 terrors, which possessed the mind of the meek and 
 lowly Jesus. 
 
 Thus the expression employed by St. Matthew, 
 signifies literally, that Jesus was " surrounded" with 
 grief; that of St. Mark, that he began to be " ex- 
 ceedingly astonished, and to be overwhelmed with 
 anguish ;" that of St. John, that his soul was in the 
 greatest " perturbation." Then it was that our 
 blessed Lord, in his human nature, almost over- 
 powered by what should come upon him, about to 
 pour out his soul, " with strong crying and tears," 
 before the throne of his heavenly Father, anxious at 
 such an hour, to secure every aid to which suffering 
 mortality can fly for refuge, expected to derive 
 something of support and consolation, from human 
 sympathy, and human friendship. For we read, 
 27* 
 
318 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 that he said to the three disciples, whom he had se- 
 lected as, of all his dearest companions, the dearest 
 to his heart, " My soul is exceeding sorrowful even 
 unto death ; tarry ye here and watch with me." 
 
 What an entreaty was this from the Lord of life 
 to his poor helpless creature ! " Watch with me 
 at once the highest duty, and the sublimest privilege, 
 ever offered to created beings ! To be thus, as it 
 were, united to the Saviour in his last conflict ; while 
 he alone fought the battle with those powers of 
 darkness, from which mere mortality w T ould have 
 shrunk defeated and dismayed, to be permitted to 
 watch, and to pray with him, to strengthen his fail- 
 ing hands, to cheer his fainting spirit, freely to offer 
 all at least of those poor services, which man could 
 offer at such an hour, and in such a contest ! Thus, 
 as Aaron and Hur of old, held up the arms of the 
 exhausted Moses, that Israel might triumph over 
 Amalek, so were those beloved disciples now re- 
 quired to hold up the arms, and aid the prayers of 
 their fainting Master. Surely one such hour in 
 Gethsemane, would not have been too dearly pur- 
 chased by a participation in Calvary itself. 
 
 And now, were we strictly to confine ourselves 
 to the history of him upon whose life we are com- 
 menting, we should tarry with Peter at the gate 
 of the garden, and await the return of Jesus ; but, 
 
 ♦ 
 
LECTURE VII. 
 
 319 
 
 my Christian brethren, however deeply we may 
 be interested in Peter, we cannot but be far more 
 deeply interested in Peter's Lord. Let us, then, 
 for a few moments, follow the Lamb of God into 
 the inmost recesses of the garden ; let us behold 
 his sufferings and his agony'; let us listen to his 
 reiterated prayer: so shall we, under the divine 
 blessing, derive a more profitable lesson from the 
 Master than the disciple could ever teach us. 
 
 Behold, then, the Lord Jesus, having withdrawn 
 about a stone's throw from his disciples, prepares 
 alone to encounter the spirits of evil : and yet he is 
 not alone, for his Father is with him.* 
 
 Listen to the first words, which, after he has 
 fallen upon the ground, in deepest anguish of spirit, 
 burst from his lips : He said, " O, my Father." 
 Surely, never before, throughout the eternity of 
 his existence, had these words been prompted by 
 such feeling as now filled and oppressed his bosom ! 
 
 How blessed was it for our Lord, how blessed is 
 it for us his children, that in our utmost extremity 
 we have still a Father. Human counsellors may 
 forsake, earthly aids may fail us in the day of trial ; 
 companionless and friendless we may be — orphans 
 we can never be ; we have a Father always near, 
 
 * See John xvi. 32. 
 
 \ 
 
320 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 always powerful, always desirous to hear, and 
 willing to answer the cry of his children. " If it 
 be possible," continues our suffering Redeemer, 
 "let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not my 
 will, but thine be done." " And being in an agony 
 he prayed more earnestly ; and his sweat was, as 
 it were, great drops of blood falling to the ground." 
 This was but the beginning of sorrows ; and yet 
 even here behold the tremendous penalty of sin. 
 See the Son of God crushed even to the earth, be- 
 neath the weight of man's accumulated guilt ; 
 bleeding at every pore, from inward agony ; writh- 
 ing beneath the terrible attack of the tempter, and 
 praying, earnestly praying, that if the great work 
 for which he now was struggling, could be effected 
 with less of suffering, his hour of agony might be 
 shortened, and this most bitter cup be taken from 
 his lips. 
 
 My Christian brethren, " is this nothing to you, 
 all ye that pass by?" Have you no personal 
 interest in this appalling scene? Know you not 
 the cause of the tremendous conflict which that 
 garden witnessed ? the reason that this man, who 
 " knew no sin," knew so much suffering ? — Alas ! 
 this is what it cost, to redeem our souls ! It was 
 now, that the Lord of life " was wounded for our 
 transgressions;" he was bearing the penalty, which 
 
LECTURE VII. 
 
 321 
 
 we had fully merited : he was now agonizing be- 
 neath the wrath of God, submitting to the assaults 
 of the tempter, oppressed by the sins of the whole 
 world, suffering, the innocent for the guilty, that he 
 might bring us to God. 
 
 We beseech you, brethren, when you next 
 dwell in imagination upon the delights of some 
 favourite sin, think of its effects as you behold 
 them here. Let your answer to the tempter be, 
 " Get thee behind me, Satan," — I am no longer 
 deceived by the specious beauty of the exterior; I 
 have now seen sin, in all its undisguised, and 
 terrible deformity; I have seen its fearful effects 
 in the garden of Gethsemane: and 1 desire, by the 
 help of my God, never again to look with a mo- 
 mentary complacency, or to enter into a momentary 
 alliance with that enemy, to ransom me from whom 
 my adorable Redeemer thus prayed, and agonized, 
 and bled. 
 
 It was in the very midst of these, his acutest 
 sufferings, that our blessed Saviour bethought him- 
 self of the friends, whom he had left at a little 
 distance, to comfort him by their watching, and to 
 strengthen him by their petitions ; and. as we are 
 told, Jesus, seeking that solace which he now so 
 greatly needed, rose up from prayer and came to 
 his disciples. What then must have been the feel- 
 
322 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 ings of bitterness, which wrung the deeply-sensi- 
 tive and affectionate heart of our Lord, when 
 he discovered his followers not watching with 
 anxiety, not praying with fervency, but " sleeping 
 for sorrow." 
 
 What a picture of the slothfulness and in- 
 difference of fallen man ! how distressing an evi- 
 dence of the carnal security even of the apostles ! 
 Much may no doubt be spoken in extenuation : 
 they were borne down by grief; they had been 
 long watching ; the midnight air was damp and 
 cold ; but when we have said all, a fearful reckon- 
 ing will still remain. 
 
 Upon this, however, it best becomes us to be 
 silent; our own watchings are two drowsily per- 
 formed, our own prayers too faithlessly offered, to 
 permit us to raise our voices against these sleeping 
 disciples ; let us rather observe, and imitate the 
 meekness of our perfect Master, who never yet 
 has " broken the bruised reed, or quenched the 
 smoking flax." Jesus said unto them, more in 
 sorrow than in anger, " Why sleep ye ?" and then, 
 as if almost overlooking the neglect of the others, 
 in the still greater delinquency of Peter, he turned 
 to him and said, " Simon, sleepest thou ? Couldest 
 not thou watch one hour V 9 Thou hast offered to 
 die with me — canst not thou watch with me 1 St. 
 
LECTURE VII. 
 
 323 
 
 Mark assures us, " They wist not what to answer 
 him." 
 
 Do we not grieve for human nature ? — do we 
 not grieve for Peter ? — do we not grieve for our- 
 selves, while witnessing such a scene ? He who 
 had before so loudly professed, to be now so guiltily 
 silent; he who had for his own convenience or 
 emolument watched through so many a lonely 
 night in his fishing-boat upon the sea of Galilee, to 
 be now unable to watch a single hour with his suf- 
 fering Master. 
 
 My Christian brethren, weep not for Peter, but 
 for yourselves and for your children. It is not 
 Peter's likeness alone which we are now portray- 
 ing ; look closely, and you will find some striking 
 features of your own. Have you not all made 
 great professions of service to your Lord? Have 
 you not all virtually declared, that you would be 
 u Christ's faithful soldiers and servants unto your 
 lives' end ;"* do you not constantly renew this dedi- 
 cation to him of all yon are, and all you have, in 
 the sacrament of his supper, the military oath 
 which ought to bind you to your leader? Should 
 he then visit you in person, as he has declared he 
 will — should he be present with you now in spirit, 
 
 * Baptismal Service. 
 
324 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 as he has declared he is, how would he find you 
 occupied? As regards the service of the Lord 
 Jesus, are you watching, or are you sleeping ? 0 ! 
 if your hearts return a faithful answer, how many 
 must reply, that although their professions have 
 been as loud as Peter's, their watching has been 
 as careless, and their sleep as sound. 
 
 Let us enter yet a little more closely into this 
 important, this heart-searching subject; let us 
 solemnly inquire of every one among you, have 
 you ever really watched one hour with Christ? 
 Did you ever spend one hour in secret communion 
 with him, or in serious meditation upon all that he 
 has done and suffered for you ? Perhaps you will 
 think this too long a period to have been thus en- 
 gaged ? Then let us again inquire — have you never 
 watched one hour with the world ? Do you think 
 an hour too long when spent upon its worthless ser- 
 vices ; nay, are there not some of you, who do not 
 think a whole night too long to be spent in the tem- 
 ples of sin, or in the retreats of folly ? But when 
 you are called upon to watch and pray, you are 
 wearied, utterly wearied, before one little hour has 
 run its course. Would that our Lord could make 
 the same excuse for you which he so mercifully 
 offered for his sleeping disciples ! " The spirit in- 
 deed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Would 
 
LECTURE VII. 
 
 325 
 
 that of every one here present, we might truly 
 say — whatever be the weakness of your corrupt 
 nature, there is a heart still right with God, a spirit 
 which indeed is willing, which hates the bondage 
 of the world ; and most unwillingly submits to its 
 degrading trammels ! which courts not voluntarily 
 its sinful pleasures, but when overtaken by the nox- 
 ious torpor which they shed around them, struggles 
 against that sleep of death, and rouses itself, and 
 seeks earnestly more grace, that it may be enabled 
 to shake off its slumbers, and work out its salvation, 
 while it is day. 
 
 You best know, my brethren, whether there be 
 such a heart in you, whether yours is the spirit 
 which loves the world, or which sighs that it is so 
 restrained and fettered down to earth, by the poor 
 tenement of clay in which it dwells, and longs, ar- 
 dently, constantly longs, for the hour when it shall 
 breathe a purer atmosphere, and live amid the joys 
 at God's right hand. 
 
 Three times did the Lord thus visit his disciples ; 
 three times did he, after all his kindnesses and all 
 his warnings, find them sleeping; and twice did he 
 retire from them in utter disappointment, to weep, 
 and pray, and agonize alone. 
 
 No human fellowship, no mortal aid was ex- 
 28 
 
326 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 tended to him in these hours of suffering. "Of 
 all whom God had given him he had lost none ;" 
 yet not one individual could he find sufficiently 
 wakeful, sufficiently interested, sufficiently affec- 
 tionate, to watch and pray with him one hour; no 
 single being into whose bosom he could pour the 
 tide of his anguish, save into the bosom of his 
 God. Well did the pious psalmist say, " Put not 
 your trust in princes, nor in any child of men, for 
 there is no help in them." 
 
 At the strongest, man is too weak ; at the 
 wealthiest, too poor ; at the firmest, too fickle for 
 your support ; to-day making protestations of fide- 
 lity, to-morrow demonstrating their utter empti- 
 ness and insufficiency. " Cease ye from man ;" 
 seek that friend who neither slumbers nor sleeps, 
 whose " gifts and callings are without repentance," 
 whose friendship knows no change, whose love 
 knows no decay, and who has himself declared, 
 whatever be your danger or your sorrow, " Before 
 they call, I will answer; and while they are yet 
 speaking, I will hear." 
 
 It was when our Lord was thus destitute of hu- 
 man succour, that, as the apostle to the Hebrews 
 assures us, " He was heard in that he feared ;" " for 
 there appeared an angel from heaven strengthen- 
 
LECTURE VII. 
 
 327 
 
 ing him." The messenger of God rejoiced to per- 
 form the office, which man, ungrateful man, ne- 
 glected. 
 
 And does not the child of God experience this at 
 the present hour'? When the heart of the proud 
 is closed against you, and the face of the rich is 
 turned away from the poor man, the throne of 
 grace is still open to you, the Lord does not refuse 
 to lift up the light of his countenance upon you : 
 and when no word of kindness, no voice of sym- 
 pathy is heard from man, many are the messages 
 of tenderness and love which your heavenly Fa- 
 ther conveys into your drooping hearts, by those 
 invisible agents whose delight it is to " minister 
 unto such as shall be the heirs of salvation." 
 
 Jesus cometh unto Peter and his companions 
 " the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now 
 and take your rest ; it is enough, the hour is come, 
 behold the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands 
 of sinners." Twice had he roused them from their 
 slumbers, and enforced upon them the pressing dan- 
 gers of their situation, and the urgent necessity of 
 instant, fervent, prayer ; adding, " Watch and pray, 
 lest ye enter into temptation;" ye have neither 
 watched nor prayed for me, O ! neglect not to do 
 it for yourselves. But at his third visit, how differ- 
 
328 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 ent was the language of their divine Master: 
 " Sleep on now, and take your rest ;" the time for 
 prayer, the time for watching has run out ; those 
 precious moments in which you might have gather- 
 ed strength for the coming conflict, have been irre- 
 trievably wasted ; the hours which I have spent in 
 agony, you have passed in sleep ; it matters little 
 now whether you wake or sleep; your desertion is 
 certain, your fall is inevitable. 
 
 My brethren, let these words of solemn import 
 sink into your souls. Many have been your warnings; 
 many have been your awakening calls ; often while 
 sunk in lethargy, and indifference, have the words 
 of your Saviour been urged upon you by the voice 
 of his ministering servants, " Awake, thou that 
 sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall 
 give thee light." 
 
 You cannot deny the frequency, the urgency of 
 these calls ; but are there none among you who will 
 confess that no sooner have you heard them, than 
 you have again composed yourselves to sleep, for- 
 gotten all that has been promised, all that has been 
 threatened, until another warning, or another threat- 
 ening, has broken in upon your slumbers, only 
 again to leave you, when its short-lived impression 
 has died away, in apathy and indifference ? 
 
LECTURE VU. 
 
 329 
 
 The great Jehovah himself has said, " My Spirit 
 shall not always strive with men." 
 
 Be warned, then, we implore you, before warnings 
 themselves are rendered nugatory. Believe that the 
 Lord is this day expostulating with you, is this day 
 solemnly inquiring, "why sleep ye?" is this day 
 urging upon you the necessity, the instant necessity, 
 of watchfulness and prayer, that you may be 
 brought home to God through the sufferings and 
 death of his dear Son. Are you still determined 
 upon postponement, still dreaming of delay, and 
 looking forward to " a more convenient season" 
 than the present? Then it is our duty, our deep- 
 ly painful duty, to declare to you that, which if you 
 thus persevere must be the inevitable result ; upon 
 you will be passed this awful sentence : " Sleep on 
 now, and take your rest ;" it is enough ; mercy can 
 no longer plead for you, justice now must have her 
 perfect work. The neglected warnings, the pro- 
 mises despised, the convictions slighted, the wasted 
 hours, the unheeded agony of your Redeemer, all 
 cry aloud for justice — grace offered and contemned 
 is now withdrawn; the word preached shall not 
 profit you ; it may still reach your ear, but its 
 awakening power shall be for ever taken from it, it 
 shall not penetrate your heart. Those heavenly 
 28* 
 
330 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 sounds which come with healing on their wings to 
 others, shall fall with withering blight on you. To 
 others " a savour of life unto life," to you " a savour 
 of death unto death." Who can imagine a more 
 awful, a more pitiable lot ! You may live to behold, 
 as time rolls on, many whom you know, some whom 
 you love, called by the joyful sound of the Gospel, jus- 
 tified, sanctified, and in God's good time for ever glo- 
 rified; while you remain unchanged, unedified, un- 
 blest, a sad, and fearful monument, of warnings too 
 often, and too long neglected. The sleep in which you 
 voluntarily indulged, vainly thinking that you might 
 at your good pleasure rouse yourself, now become 
 habitual, judicial, confirmed ; no waking interval, 
 no cessation to your slumbers, until they shall be 
 broken by the last trumpet of the archangel, and 
 you shall be summoned into those regions of sorrow 
 from which sleep will be for ever banished ; where 
 there will be no eye that slumbers, no heart that 
 rests throughout a dark and cheerless eternity ; 
 where their " worm dieth not, and the fire is not 
 quenched." 
 
LECTURE VIH. 
 
 331 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 LUKE XXII. 61. 
 
 " And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter 
 remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto 
 him, before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice." 
 
 The incident to which we are now to request 
 your attention is perhaps the most painful, and the 
 most improving, in the biography we are review- 
 ing — Peter's denial of his Divine Master ! So 
 entirely is this distressing event identified with 
 Peter's memory, that although we may find many 
 persons who are ignorant of the striking, and 
 beautiful instances of zeal, and of courage, of 
 fidelity, and of love, with which his history is 
 replete, we shall scarcely find an individual, how- 
 ever unversed in sacred lore, who does not well 
 remember Peter's denial, and all its attendant cir- 
 cumstances of cowardice and ingratitude, of dupli- 
 city and profaneness. Here, then, is one valuable 
 lesson imparted at the very outset— the imperish- 
 
332 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 able nature of every act, and thought, and word 
 of sin. Eighteen hundred years have passed away 
 since this admirable apostle fought the good fight, 
 kept the faith, witnessed a good confession, and re- 
 ceived the crown of martyrdom ; yet does this 
 single act of apostacy and sin keep its place upon 
 the Christian records, and hang as a dark cloud 
 over the brightness of his memory. Would that 
 it might please the Spirit of God to fix this humiliat- 
 ing fact in your recollection, that you may never 
 enter upon the smallest act of transgression, with- 
 out bearing in mind, that all you are doing, you 
 are doing for eternity ! The memory of every 
 criminal pleasure, of every guilty indulgence is 
 immortal ; no power on earth can teach you to for- 
 get it ; long after your course of sin shall be con- 
 cluded, and your head laid in the dust, and your 
 virtues, the virtues of the natural man, passed into 
 oblivion ; the act of dishonesty, of duplicity, of 
 unchastity, or of unkindness, of which, perhaps, 
 you thought but little in the committal, shall be 
 spoken of among men, shall be remembered before 
 God. Every deed of sin is engraven, as with the 
 point of a diamond, upon the everlasting tablets, 
 and although the ceaseless flood of time is for ever 
 passing over them, it cannot obliterate a single 
 
LECTURE VNL 333 
 
 syllable of recorded evil. O ! were it not for the 
 cleansing efficacy of the blood of the Lamb, shed 
 for every penitent believer, how could the holiest 
 among us bear to contemplate this awful truth ? 
 
 " Simon Peter," says the evangelist, " followed 
 Jesus afar off unto the high priest's palace, and so 
 did another disciple ; that disciple was known unto 
 the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the 
 palace of the high priest : but Peter stood at the 
 door without. Then went out that other disciple, 
 and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought 
 in Peter." Here was the commencement of Peter's 
 sin. Had not our Lord most solemnly warned him 
 that this night he should deny his Master ? — was 
 it therefore wise, was it even justifiable, that he 
 should thus cast himself into the very furnace of 
 temptation 1 It is in vain, my brethren, that you 
 commence every morning of your life with that 
 most necessary petition, " Lead us not into tempta- 
 tion," if, before the sun has set, you willingly throw 
 yourselves into it; nay, if at the very moment you 
 utter it, your heart acknowledges that you do not 
 in sincerity, desire to be kept from its allurements 
 — that in fact you love the temptation, while you 
 hope to escape the sin : such prayers rise not above 
 
334 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 the cloudy atmosphere of earth ; they never reach 
 the mercy-seat of God. 
 
 But again, had not our Lord, in reference to 
 these very trials, and these very sufferings, which 
 were awaiting himself, distinctly declared unto 
 Peter, " Thou canst not follow me now ?" Why 
 then was he not content with the gracious promise, 
 " Thou shalt follow me afterwards ?" Why did he 
 not wait till that appointed time, when he should 
 be providentially called to sufferings, and to death, 
 and being thus called, would have been certain to 
 receive grace equal to his day? Alas! the time 
 when these reflections might have sunk deep into 
 his heart with most powerful effect, and have 
 arisen to the throne of grace in all-availing prayer, 
 had been slumbered fruitlessly away; he had not 
 watched, he had not prayed, he had neglected to 
 " put on the whole armour of God," and he was 
 now about to cast himself unarmed " upon the 
 thick bosses of the bucklers" of his spiritual 
 enemies. Who that knows the strength of Satan, 
 and the weakness of unassisted man, can doubt 
 for a single moment that defeat, and shame, and 
 ruin, were the inevitable result ? 
 
 Very profitable is it to the Christian, to mark 
 step by step, the manner in which the powers of 
 
LECTURE VIII. 
 
 335 
 
 darkness advanced to the unequal conflict; how 
 they favoured the approach of their intended 
 victim, and shielded him from the attacks of other 
 opponents, that " the fiery darts of the wicked one" 
 might be pointed with a surer aim, and strike with 
 a more deadly effect. No opposition was made 
 by the conspirators, to his following his Divine 
 Master; no active adherent of the chief priests, 
 and elders, drove him back; notwithstanding his 
 act of violence to the servant of the high priest, he 
 is permitted to arrive perfectly unmolested at the 
 gates of the palace ; there, however, an unexpected 
 impediment did arise, and we are for a moment 
 induced to hope, that he may still escape that scene 
 of temptation. The gates of the palace are locked ; 
 his entrance, therefore, appears impossible; no- 
 thing seems left for him but to return to his com- 
 panions, and betake himself, as they had done, to a 
 place of safety. Alas ! not so does Satan suffer 
 himself to be deprived of his expected prey ; a 
 friend is found, even in the high priest's palace, to 
 open the door, and bring in Peter. 
 
 Thus it is invariably, upon the commencement of 
 every course of sin ; the indefatigable enemy of 
 your souls, removes all obstructions, levels all oppo- 
 sition ; if you will but walk with him upon forbidden 
 
336 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 paths, he will take care that, for a time at least, 
 they shall be both smooth and flowery; if you but 
 condescend to stand at the door of forbidden plea- 
 sures, never will he permit you to be kept waiting; 
 if you but entertain the guilty inclination, Satan 
 himself will produce the favourable opportunity, and 
 sooner than you should be disappointed, he will find 
 for you, as he did for Peter, some friend, whose 
 offices of intended kindness, shall open a way for 
 your present desires, and your future ruin. 
 
 " And when they had kindled a fire in the midst 
 of the hall, and were set down together, Peter sat 
 down among them, and warmed himself at the fire, 
 and sat with the servants to see the end." 
 
 Observe in this, the continuation of Peter's delin- 
 quency. Had he not thus voluntarily intermingled 
 with the avowed enemies of his Lord, there would 
 have been no danger; for there would have been 
 no opportunity of denying him. His entrance 
 into the palace might be, perhaps, excused, from 
 the supposition that it was from fervent love to 
 his Divine Master, and with a zealous desire, at 
 all hazards, to rescue, or to serve him ; but his 
 quietly taking his seat among the servants of the 
 high priest, and waiting like them, at the hall fire, 
 M to see the end," is perfectly inexcusable. 
 
 There is something almost more distressing in the . 
 
LECTURE VIII. 
 
 337 
 
 sight of Peter, thus selfishly engaged at such a 
 time, and such a place, than in Peter subdued by 
 fears, from which the boldest might have shrunk, 
 and acting the denier and the recreant. 
 
 But, my brethren, much as there is to humble, 
 there is nothing in all this to astonish those who 
 know the deep depravity of our fallen nature. This 
 is the usual process of temptation : you enter upon 
 some questionable path of morals or of conduct ; you 
 intermingle with the men of the world, the servants 
 of pleasure and vanity, the avowed or concealed 
 enemies of your Divine Master ; and what is the 
 result? Coldness of heart, and deadness of feeling 
 towards a suffering Redeemer are speedily super- 
 induced ; you become as totally different a person 
 in the society of the men of the world from what you 
 have ever been, while living in close communion with 
 your God, as Peter amid the high priest's servants, 
 differed from Peter at the paschal supper. Your 
 own comfort, your own ease, your own pleasures, 
 are soon preferred to Christ ; and being thus gradu- 
 ally alienated from him you once have loved, your 
 affections are seared, your heart is hardened, and 
 your conscience is ultimately prepared, for the still 
 greater sin of denying and abjuring him. If you 
 would be safe, there must be no compromise, no 
 29 
 
I 
 
 338 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 temporizing: you must not consider how you shall 
 act when in the company of the ungodly ; you must 
 resolve that you shall not be found in such company ; 
 you must say, with David, " I will not know a 
 wicked person f the language of Jacob must be the 
 firm resolution of your heart ; " 0 my soul, come 
 not thou into their secret ; unto their assembly, 
 mine honour, be not thou united ;" with Caleb, you 
 must determine, at all hazards and costs to "fol- 
 low the Lord fully," and the event will be, that 
 you will be kept in the hour of temptation, and will 
 know by blessed experience, that "peace of God 
 which passeth all understanding." 
 
 It was while Peter was thus seated among the 
 servants in the hall, that, as we read, " a damsel 
 came unto him," saying, " Thou also wast with 
 Jesus of Galilee;" but he denied before them all, 
 saying, " I know not what thou sayest." Observe 
 carefully, my brethren, the tendency of this first 
 reply of Peter; it was not a direct and positive de- 
 nial ; Peter when accused of having been with Jesus 
 of Galilee, had not yet attained sufficient hardihood 
 to declare that he never was with the Saviour, that 
 he knows not the man— but he rather trusts, that 
 an equivocating answer will be sufficient to secure 
 his safety, and yet enable him to escape the guilt of 
 
LECTURE VIH. 
 
 339 
 
 a more distinct and absolute falsehood. " I know 
 not what thou sayest," I do not distinctly hear, I 
 do not quite understand the charge. Alas ! is not 
 this the manner in which too many even at the pre- 
 sent hour, endeavour to satisfy their own consciences, 
 and at the same time to keep well with the world ; 
 not quite to deny their Lord, but so to escape from 
 sinful compliances, that, while they evade the guilt 
 of the committal, they may also evade the danger 
 or the ridicule of the refusal. It is this misplaced 
 ingenuity, brethren, which, while it deceives your 
 friends, injures the cause of your Redeemer, grieves 
 his Holy Spirit, and does not clear your own souls. 
 The straight path, is the only safe path for the Chris- 
 tian, for it is the only path which leads to life ; 
 every other, after all its windings and all its turn- 
 ings, infallibly leads down to the chambers of 
 death. 
 
 Peter had scarcely time to congratulate himself 
 upon the success of his evasion, when another maid 
 saw him. and said unto them that were there, This 
 fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth ; and again 
 he denied with an oath, " I do not know the man." 
 Observe how the sin darkens as it proceeds ; it is 
 no longer an equivocation ; by whatever name it 
 might have been before denominated, it is now an 
 
340 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 absolute and undeniable falsehood : " I do not know 
 the man :" a falsehood, backed by perjury, strength- 
 ened by an oath. Who could believe that the man 
 who is thus solemnly swearing that he does not 
 even know our gracious Redeemer, was the same 
 who, but a short time since, had uttered that most 
 affecting declaration : " Lord, to whom shall we 
 go, thou hast the words of eternal life?" Had 
 Judas declared, " I know not the man, 1 ' we should 
 have been ready to reply, " Truth, for thou hast 
 never known him ;" but when Peter makes the same 
 declaration, pity and regret stifle every word of 
 condemnation. 
 
 Doubly painful to a Christian are the transgres- 
 sions of a child of God, when, beholding what he 
 is, we remember what he has been. When we see 
 those among you who " have tasted that the Lord 
 is gracious," who have sat at their Father's table 
 and eaten at their Father's board, content to feed 
 with the prodigal " upon the husks which the swine 
 did eat;" when we behold you who have once 
 loved the service of your God, and the name of 
 your Redeemer, again turning aside to folly, leaving 
 the" paths of pleasantness and peace," and denying, 
 by your lives and conversations, the Lord who 
 bought you; then it is that we cannot but take up 
 
LECTURE VIII. 
 
 341 
 
 the lamentation of the prophet; "O that my head 
 were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, 
 that I might weep day and night for the slain of the 
 daughter of my people." We can pray for others, 
 hut we cannot but weep for you. When we behold 
 you listening unmoved, to truths which once had 
 power to awaken your conscience and to melt your 
 heart: when we see you join in the scoff, and the 
 ridicule, against those with whom you once rejoiced 
 to mingle; when we find you no longer loving the 
 name of Jesus as " the chiefest among ten thousand 
 and altogether lovely ;" no longer anxiously striving 
 to fulfil the least of his commandments : O, with 
 what painful emphasis do those words of the apostle 
 come home to our hearts : " It is impossible* for 
 those who were once enlightened and have tasted 
 the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the 
 Holy Ghost, if they shall fall away, to renew them 
 again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to them- 
 selves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an 
 open shame. 
 
 But the measure of Peter's iniquity was not yet 
 full. M After a while, came unto him they that 
 stood by. and said to Peter, Surely, thou art also 
 one of this man's disciples, for thy speech betrayed; 
 
 * Marking its extreme difficulty. 
 
 29* 
 
342 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 thee. Then began he to curse and to swear, say- 
 ing, I know not the man." Here was the comple- 
 tion of Peter's guilt ; the disgraceful act of the 
 denial repeated the third time, and now accompa- 
 nied by horrible oaths, and imprecations. Ought 
 we not, before such an example passes from our 
 memories, earnestly to pray, " Lead us not into 
 temptation," and permit us not, O Lord, to lead 
 ourselves thither ; since Peter fell, who can be safe? 
 Lord, 44 hold thou up our goings, that our footsteps 
 slip not." 
 
 " Immediately, while he yet spake," continues St. 
 Luke, " the cock crew." Surely no malefactor 
 condemned to suffer for the violated laws of his 
 country, ever heard his last hour strike upon the 
 prison bell with half the agony of feeling, with 
 which that cock-crowing rang upon the ears of 
 Peter ! Still was there a sight which smote far 
 deeper than that sound : " The Lord turned and 
 looked upon Peter." Who can portray the silent 
 eloquence of that last look ? What volumes must 
 it have spoken to the heart of the fallen apostle ! 
 Could he behold that well-known countenance, and 
 again repeat, " I know not the man V Could he see 
 his divine Master " as a sheep before her shearers is 
 dumb," and again break forth into oaths and im- 
 
LECTURE VIII. 
 
 343 
 
 precations? Could he bear the reproach of that 
 meek eye, and yet remain in the guilty scene amidst 
 these enemies of his Saviour, and of his own soul? 
 No ! that single glance was all that was required to 
 send home the arrow of conviction and repentance 
 to his bosom ; he instantly remembered the word 
 that the Lord had spoken, and he " went out and 
 wept bitterly." 
 
 Blessed be God that such an act of sovereign 
 grace, and pardoning mercy, has been bequeathed 
 to us ; that as we have witnessed Peters fall, the 
 fruit of his own presumption, we are enabled also 
 to witness Peter's recovery, the fruit of his Saviour's 
 love. It was that single look of his Redeemer 
 which brought back the erring sheep to the fold of 
 the good Shepherd. Have you, my brethren — an d 
 who has not — in thought, or word, or deed, by your 
 worldliness or pride, by your unchastity or un- 
 charitableness, virtually denied a spiritual and hum- 
 ble, a pure and merciful Saviour? Then, while 
 you receive the solemn warning, receive also the 
 blessed encouragement of the scene before you. 
 The Lord amidst all his sufferings, took not his 
 thoughts of mercy for a single moment from his 
 sinning disciple. 
 
 Be assured he has not taken his merciful regards 
 from you ; he is still looking wistfully and affection- 
 
344 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 ately for your return. He did not wait until Peter 
 looked on him with an eye of penitence, before he 
 looked on Peter with an eye of pity. He does not 
 wait until you repent, he freely offers his M prevent- 
 ing grace"* to enable you to repent. He does not 
 content himself with calling home his wandering 
 sheep, but he seeks those that are lost; and when 
 he has found them, he carries them home " on his 
 shoulders rejoicing." Can you really believe this 
 without saving from your heart, " Draw me, and I 
 will run after thee ;" " Turn thou us, good Lord, 
 and so shall we be turned?" If I address any 
 whose heart convicts him that by life and conver- 
 sation he has denied him whose name he bears, 
 (and remember that every forbidden act is unques- 
 tionably an act of denial,) to him I would most af- 
 fectionately say, — let this be your immediate re- 
 source; fix your thoughts, and your hearts, earnest- 
 ly and steadily upon your Redeemer, for he, and he 
 alone, has both the power and the will, to restore 
 your soul, and to reconcile you to your heavenly 
 Father. Let this be your instant, fervent prayer — 
 Lord, " look thou upon me, and be merciful unto 
 me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy 
 name." Your wanderings cannot have been too 
 
 * See the Tenth Article of our Church. 
 
LECTURE VIII. 
 
 345 
 
 wide, your sins too heinous, your denials too re- 
 peated or too aggravated, to hinder the effect of 
 that look of power, that look of guidance, that look 
 of love : through the influence of divine grace, it 
 will not only speak to your heart, but change your 
 heart, and bring you, in penitence and contrition, 
 back to the fold from which you have wandered. 
 
 Observe, in conclusion, the immediate effects of 
 Peter's repentance: " he went out and wept bitter- 
 ly." He no longer remained among the enemies 
 of his Lord; he instantly forsook a scene of so 
 much temptation, and to him of so much sin. We 
 are not again told that he continued " warming 
 himself in the high priest's palace," or " waiting to 
 see the end." That single glance of power from the 
 eye of his Redeemer, had driven Satan from his 
 prey, and dissolved the chains which he had wound 
 about his captive ; the " snare w r as broken, and he 
 was delivered." 
 
 My beloved brethren, if you are really in ear- 
 nest in your penitence, this also will be your course; 
 you will immediately, and for ever, forsake those 
 scenes, and those habits, and those companions, 
 who have induced you to deny your Lord ; cost 
 what it may, of ease, or pleasure, or comfort, 
 like Peter, you will instantly go out from them ; 
 
346 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 worlds would not tempt you back, to tread that 
 path of danger from which, by the preventing 
 grace of God, you have been so mercifully extri- 
 cated. But although the first proof, this was not 
 the only proof of Peter's penitence. " He went out 
 and wept bitterly;" not in expiation of his sin, for 
 all the tears which sinning, suffering mortality has 
 ever shed, are utterly unavailing to wash away the 
 faintest trace of guilt ; he wept from very bitter- 
 ness, from anguish of soul that he had so deeply of- 
 fended One, so gracious and so merciful. He was 
 assured of his forgiveness, for that look had told 
 him that no anger lingered in that pure and perfect 
 bosom. But did this thought arrest his tears? No; 
 it was this which bade them doubly flow; he 
 could hear his Master say, " You have denied me 
 and disgraced me ; the tongue of my friend has 
 wounded me far more deeply than all the thorns 
 and nails of my enemies ever can ; I freely forgive 
 you, I have prayed for you, and this moment de- 
 monstrates that I have not prayed in vain ; you have 
 escaped the destroyer ; go, and sin no more." 
 
 My Christian brethren, our Lord now speaks to 
 you, as his silent glance then spoke to Peter. He 
 offers you a free and full forgiveness, deeply as you 
 have wounded him, if you will but " look on him 
 
LECTURE VIII. 
 
 347 
 
 whom you have pierced, and mourn because of 
 him :" if you will now, like Peter, forsake your sins 
 and deeply deplore them, you shall hear of them 
 again no more for ever. But let not the assurance 
 of the Saviour's pardon diminish the tide of the 
 sinner's tears; this is the mourning upon which 
 your Lord has pronounced a blessing ; this is the 
 short-lived sorrow which ushers in the everlasting 
 joy : be willing with a broken and a contrite heart, 
 now " to go forth weeping, bearing precious seed," 
 and the word of your God is pledged to you, " that 
 you shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, 
 bringing your sheaves with you." 
 
348 
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 
 JOHN XXI 18. 
 
 " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, 
 thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest, 
 but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch out thy 
 hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither 
 thou wouldest not." 
 
 At the close of the last Lecture, we beheld Peter 
 fully convinced of the guilt of his distressing act of 
 cowardice and apostacy, and going forth, in the 
 bitterness of his anguish, to pour into the bosom of 
 his heavenly Father, the confessions of a broken 
 and contrite heart. Who can describe the feelings 
 of this affectionate disciple, during the whole of the 
 dreadful day which succeeded the act of his denial? 
 that day which saw the meek and perfect Saviour 
 nailed to the cross, a spectacle to men and angels, 
 of the infinity of the love of God, and of the de- 
 pravity of man. If the cries of the infuriated popu- 
 lace, " Crucify him I" the imprecations of the priests 
 and elders, the wild mockery of the licentious sol- 
 diery, were able to penetrate the place of Peter's 
 
LECTURE IX. 
 
 349 
 
 retirement, how must every sound have added ten- 
 fold anguish, to his bitter lamentations ; how often 
 must he have felt, while hearing these dreadful suf- 
 ferings of his Divine Master — " I have added to the 
 sorrows of this man of grief; I have at least im- 
 planted one sting in that heart, at which all the 
 fiery darts of Satan now are levelled ; I, who have 
 1 eaten bread with him, have lifted up my heel 
 against him.' " How deep must have been the com- 
 punction, how overwhelming the sorrow, which 
 such reflections would produce in such a heart as 
 Peter's ! 
 
 No evangelist has mentioned the name of Peter 
 in the narrative of that day of sorrows. The be- 
 loved disciple John, took his station beneath the 
 cross of his suffering Master ; the virgin mother 
 was present at that hour, and realized the prophecy, 
 " A sword shall pierce through thine own heart 
 ^also." The women who came, from Galilee were 
 within sight of that sad scene ; but of Peter, the 
 zealous, forward Peter, there is no mention. He 
 would not again expose himself to his spiritual 
 enemies ; he would no longer, trust himself to his 
 own courage, or his own fidelity ; doubtless, those 
 hours were spent in sorrows, which the world 
 could never know, and in heartfelt communings 
 30 
 
350 
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 
 with his God, which the world could not under- 
 stand. A veil, therefore, has been drawn across 
 those sacred hours by all the evangelists. It is 
 enough to know, that Peter's tears, and prayers, 
 went up as a memorial before God, and that that 
 gracious Being, who, while hanging on the 
 accursed tree, could bestow the rewards and in- 
 heritances of Paradise, could not but plead suc- 
 cessfully with his heavenly Father, for the returning 
 sinner, upon whom, even in the very hour of his 
 fall, Christ himself had looked with pardoning 
 love. 
 
 " Very early in the morning," says St. Mark, 
 " the first day of the week," Mary Magdalene, and 
 the other women, came unto the sepulchre, so little 
 expecting the great and glorious event which had 
 occurred, that they brought sweet spices to pre- 
 serve that body from decay, which had already 
 risen triumphant over death and the grave, and, 
 according to prophecy, " seen no corruption." 
 
 It was at this visit to the sepulchre, that an 
 angel from heaven appeared to them, and thus 
 announced the fact, for which they were so utterly 
 unprepared : " Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which 
 was crucified — he is risen ; he is not here." 
 
 Time would fail me were I to dwell upon the 
 
LECTURE IX. 
 
 351 
 
 great and wondrous truth which was thus pro- 
 claimed ; the seal of all which had preceded it; 
 the entire accomplishment of the prophecies and 
 the types: the complete demonstration to mankind 
 that God the Father, had fully accepted the ransom 
 which God the Son, had so freely offered. As 
 soon as he had exclaimed with dying lips, " It is 
 finished," the great work of redemption is complete, 
 he went down into the grave, not as its victim, but 
 as its Lord, " conquering and to conquer," that he 
 might set his foot upon the serpent's head, even in 
 the very heart of his own dominions. Had Christ 
 remained within the noisome walls of the sepulchre, 
 it might fairly have been declared that he had been 
 unable to discharge the infinite weight of debt 
 which sinning man had contracted ; that he had 
 been foiled in those labours of love, and that the 
 last great cry upon the cross, instead of being, as 
 it truly was, the conqueror's shout of victory, was 
 merely the death-cry of a suffering, defeated im- 
 postor. The very fact, therefore, that death could 
 not hold him ; that over him, Satan and the grave 
 possessed no power; that at his own free will, he 
 was able to shake from him those chains which 
 mere mortality could not have escaped, established 
 for ever these most blessed truths — that the power 
 
352 LECTURE IX. 
 
 of death was broken ; the might of Satan crushed ; 
 the work of redemption finished ; and — blessed, 
 thrice blessed consideration ! — " the garments of 
 salvation" fully prepared and freely offered to 
 every believing penitent " who names the name of 
 Christ, and departs from iniquity." 
 
 It is not, however, so much with these elevating 
 subjects, with the great truth announced by the 
 angel at the sepulchre, that we are at present en- 
 gaged, as with the merciful manner in which that 
 truth was proclaimed: "Go, tell his disciples and 
 Peter, that he is risen from the 4ead." How 
 singularly striking is this message of the heavenly 
 minister ! We should not have been surprised had 
 he said, Go, tell his disciples and John, whom 
 our Lord so dearly loved, or his sorrowing mother, 
 or the affectionate Mary ; but that Peter, the err- 
 ing, fallen Peter, should have been selected as of 
 all the little company of believers the most deeply 
 interested in this great truth, the only individual, to 
 whom an express message should be transmitted, is 
 indeed a most remarkable and most affecting in- 
 stance of that u love which beareth all things, en- 
 dureth all things," and even under the deepest 
 provocations " never faileth." He who best knows 
 the heart of man, well knew that Peter's heart 
 
LECTURE IX. 353 
 
 was bleeding at that hour, from the effects of his 
 late transgression ; and he also knew, that no balm 
 could be applied so truly healing and conso latory, 
 as one word of kindness and love from his risen 
 Master ; therefore did our Lord select the sinning, 
 repenting, broken-hearted Peter, as the only indivi- 
 dual to whom lib sent a particular announcement, 
 that as he had died for his sins, he had now risen 
 for his justification. 
 
 My brethren, if you have ever felt the weight of 
 unforgiven sin, or the plague of your own hearts," 
 the misery, I might almost say, the agony, and the 
 anguish, of having offended God, grieved his Holy 
 Spirit, denied by your words or actions the Lord 
 your Redeemer, you will be able to appreciate the 
 blessedness of that short message, that single word 
 of kindness, " Tell Peter that I am risen you 
 will yourselves have felt that there is no such cure 
 for a spirit wounded by transgression, a heart bro- 
 ken by the consciousness of sin, as one word of 
 forgiveness from your Redeemer and your God. I 
 would fain believe that there are many among you, 
 who, having themselves experienced the blessedness 
 of such an act of mercy, can deeply sympathize 
 with Peter; you who have prayed in the words of 
 the Psalmist, "Lord, pardon my sin, for it is great;" 
 30* 
 
354 
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 
 and have heard from the lips of your offended 
 Maker, " I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy 
 transgressions for mine own sake, and will not re- 
 member thy sins;" you who, when you deserved 
 and expected only words of wrath, have found 
 promises of mercy, and words of love, carried 
 home by the Spirit of God to your grieving 
 hearts; you, and you only, can tell what must 
 have been the joy of Peter, at finqyng himself still 
 the object of the affectionate recollection of his 
 Lord, at learning that he was still remembered by 
 name as one who was written in the Lamb's book 
 of life. 
 
 Pleasing is it to behold in the Gospel of this 
 day,* the natural ardour with which Peter ran to 
 visit the empty sepulchre; and not content with 
 merely looking upon these vestiges of him, who 
 for so short a time had made the grave his bed, 
 enters at once into the cavern, that his own eyes 
 might see, and his own hands handle, all that now 
 remained on earth of one so doubly dear to him. 
 
 But we may not dwell upon these things ; we 
 must hasten forward to the consideration of the 
 last meeting which sacred history has bequeathed 
 to us, of the penitent apostle, and his risen Saviour; 
 
 * Preached on Easter Sunday. 
 
LECTURE IX. 
 
 355 
 
 that interview in which our Lord so tenderly re- 
 proved, and at the same time so affectionately in- 
 structed Peter in his future conduct, and so plainly 
 predicted his future fate. 
 
 Peter and the rest of his disciples had departed 
 unto Galilee, in pursuance of our Lord's declara- 
 tion, that he would -manifest himself to them there, 
 While waiting for this promised interview, so for- 
 getful do they appear to have been of all those 
 brilliant prospects of temporal glory, in which they 
 had lately indulged, that they are actually returned 
 to their original occupation, and are to be found 
 once more engaged with their boats and their nets. 
 What an astonishing instance of humility in men, 
 to whom the word of their Lord was pledged, 
 that " in the regeneration, they should sit upon 
 twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." 
 While engaged in the laborious occupation to which 
 we have alluded, our Lord appeared to them stand- 
 ing on the shore, and having made himself known 
 to them by a miracle, we are informed that that 
 disciple whom Jesus loved said unto Peter, " It is 
 the Lord." 
 
 What a moment of extreme anxiety must not 
 this have been to the penitent apostle ! He had, 
 as we have seen, received a message of kindness 
 
356 
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 
 from his forgiving Master ; he was conscious, that 
 his repentance was earnest and sincere ; still it was 
 natural, that he should feel that there was a most 
 painful uncertainty, as to the manner in which he 
 should now be received. My brethren, so to feel 
 was truly in the course of nature, but it was not in 
 the course of grace ; it is a weak faith, which hesi- 
 tates to cast itself upon the infinite compassion of 
 its God, when seeking him through " the way, the 
 truth, and the life," which he has ordained. Such 
 was not Peter's faith ; his heart does not appear 
 for a single moment, to have harboured the re- 
 motest doubt of his acceptance. No sooner did he 
 hear that it was the Lord, than without an instant's 
 hesitation, an instant's misgiving, "girding his 
 fisher's coat around him," " he cast himself into 
 the sea, and swam to the shore," that he might be 
 the first to throw himself at the feet of his indulgent 
 Master. How beautiful an instance, of the actings 
 of a truly scriptural faith ! Would that it might 
 be realized, in the experience of every individual 
 whom we now address, and in our own soul ! 
 Does the revealed word of God assure you that, 
 as a reconciled penitent, your transgressions are 
 blotted out, your sins are forgiven 1 Then be as- 
 sured, that you are not honouring your Lord and 
 
LECTURE IX. 
 
 357 
 
 Saviour, if you do not live up to your high and 
 holy privileges; if you still keep at a distance from 
 him ; still tremble with a slavish fear ; still follow 
 him afar off, and with a sinking heart. This was 
 not the spirit, w r hich influenced Peter. He knew 
 that his Lord had looked upon him in mercy ; he 
 knew that he had deeply grieved and bitterly wept 
 for sin : he knew that he should meet with a kind 
 and merciful reception. These were with him 
 matters of positive knowledge, not of faint and 
 uncertain hope; and, therefore, in the fullest de- 
 pendence upon the infinity of his Master's love, he 
 burst through the opposing element, to cast himself 
 at his feet. Men, in their wisdom, may call this 
 presumption ; but be assured, it goes by a far dif- 
 ferent name, in the courts of heaven. Never is 
 God more highly honoured, than when you most 
 implicitly depend, humbly and scripturally, upon 
 that covenanted love, which is the brightest attri- 
 bute of his all-perfect character; when you rely 
 the most entirely, build the most largely, upon the 
 simple declarations of his promises in Christ Jesus ; 
 and whatever have been your sins, your denials, or 
 your wanderings, having truly lamented and for- 
 saken them, you draw near, cleansed in the blood 
 of Jesus, and cast yourselves with the most child- 
 like confidence, into the arms of his mercy. 
 
358 
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 
 But tenderly as our Lord dealt with his penitent 
 and humbled disciple, it was necessary, for the sake 
 of others as well as for the correction of Peter him- 
 self, that he should manifest before his brethren 
 the present state of his feelings as regarded that 
 Saviour, whom he had so lately and so disgracefully 
 renounced. Three times had he publicly denied his 
 Master, and therefore, three times must he as pub- 
 licly declare his renewed feelings of gratitude and 
 love. " So when they had dined," says the evan- 
 gelist, " Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of 
 Jonas, lovest thou me more than these ?" Thou hast 
 once said, " though all men should be offended be- 
 cause of thee, yet will not I." Dost thou still assert 
 this dangerous pre-eminence ? Peter saith unto 
 him, " Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee/' 
 He does not again hazard a reply, as to the relative 
 strength of his affections : I know that I love thee, 
 but I dare not now venture to affirm, that I love 
 thee more than these. Again the painful question 
 was repeated, " Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou 
 me?" " He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest 
 that I love thee V Yet a third time, is the inquiry 
 urged upon him ; then, as we read, " Peter was 
 grieved because he said unto him a third time, 
 Lovest thou me?" He replied, " Lord, thou know- 
 
LECTURE IX. 
 
 359 
 
 est all things, thou knowest that I love thee ; Jesus 
 saith unto him" — prove the reality of thy love by 
 the active sincerity of thy obedience — " Feed my 
 sheep." 
 
 Invaluable to the Christian is this brief narrative, 
 because it sets before him in the plainest and most 
 engaging manner, the method in which our blessed 
 Redeemer accosts not Peter alone, but every truly 
 penitent believer. 
 
 Consider, my brethren, the application of it to 
 yourselves. The Lord, from the throne of his glory, 
 has beheld your denials and your sins; he has also, 
 in many instances, we trust, beheld your penitence 
 and your tears ; and he now asks you all individu- 
 ally, the penitent and the impenitent, " Lovest thou 
 me V 1 Here is the great test of your repentance ; 
 here is the proof whether you have " been accepted 
 in the beloved ;" for to whom much is given the same 
 loveth much. 
 
 How will you then answer the inquiry ? Care- 
 fully examine your own hearts, and ascertain whe- 
 ther you possess this feeling of grateful, fervent, ac- 
 tive love to the Redeemer ; without which there can 
 be no pardon, no saving union with God the Son, no 
 relationship to God the Father ; for as our Lord 
 himself most unequivocally declared to the Jews, 
 
360 
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 
 " If God were your Father, ye would love Me." If 
 you have been, as too many are, in the habit of con- 
 sidering all love to Christ as bordering upon enthu- 
 siasm or fanaticism, or originating not in the sober 
 revelations of God, but in the heated imaginations 
 of visionary men, how will you reply to this 1 
 Three times do you find your Lord eliciting the 
 state of Peter's mind by this single inquiry, " Lovest 
 thou me?" Is it not then our bounden duty, as the 
 ministers of Christ, often and earnestly to inquire 
 of you, " Do you indeed love the Lord Jesus 
 Christ?" 
 
 If you do not, he has himself assured you that 
 you are not a child of God : if you are not a child 
 of God, you are not ripening for that blissful eternity 
 which will be spent by his children in the many 
 mansions of their Father's house : if you are not a 
 child of God, you must be a child of Satan, for there 
 are but two families into which all the inhabitants of 
 the earth are divided ; and if your title be not clear- 
 ly made out to the one, you must indisputably be 
 enrolled in the other. Are you then conscious of 
 this love to a crucified Saviour 1 Can you really 
 say with Peter, " Lord, thou knowest all things ; 
 thou knowest that I love thee V Can you even say, 
 " Thou knowest that I desire to love thee ?" " If 
 
LECTURE IX. 
 
 361 
 
 ye love me, keep my commandments," is a proof 
 which Christ himself has offered of this important 
 fact. Look, therefore, into your hearts for the good 
 tree ; look into your lives for its invariable fruits. 
 They will not, they cannot be wanting, if the living 
 germ be within ; if they be not there, it is sufficient 
 to demonstrate that the principle is absent, that the 
 constraining love of Christ is not shed abroad in 
 your hearts, by the Spirit which he alone can give 
 unto you. 
 
 Time warns me, that we must bring this instruc- 
 tive narrative to a conclusion: " Verily, verily," said 
 our Lord to Peter, " when thou wast young, thou 
 girdedst thyself and walkedst whither thou wouldest ; 
 but when thou shalt be old thou shalt stretch forth 
 thine hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry 
 thee whither thou wouldest not. Follow me." 
 
 How fully this admirable apostle obeyed the in- 
 junction, the last he ever received from the lips of 
 his Divine Master, every account which has been 
 transmitted to us, most abundantly establishes. 
 Next to St. Paul, there was no apostle who, by the 
 value of his writings, the variety of his labours, the 
 exemplary holiness and usefulness of his life so 
 closely followed the footsteps of his Lord, as Simon 
 Peter. There was no apostle who appeared from 
 31 
 
362 
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 
 this hour so remarkably, by the power of divine 
 grace, to have overcome the natural frailties of his 
 temper and disposition, as St. Peter. He had, as 
 we have seen, before been so much the victim of a 
 faithless timidity, that he had denied his Master, 
 from the fear of the high priest's servants. He now, 
 in the presence of assembled multitudes, at the peril 
 of his life, unhesitatingly declared, " Let all the 
 house of Israel know assuredly, that God had made 
 that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both 
 Lord and Christ." He had before defended him- 
 self, almost with rudeness, when his Divine Master 
 had predicted his denial and desertion. In after 
 ages, he humbly and silently permitted Paul " to 
 withstand him to the face." Those were among 
 the unquestionable evidences of his love to his 
 Lord : he became humble, meek, loving, and obe- 
 dient ; inferior to no one in every good and perfect 
 work, in labours of love, in the conversion of souls. 
 
 Years pass away, and we are warned by the 
 history before us, that there is no escape from man's 
 last enemy ; that although we may live long, and 
 labour usefully, and glorify our Redeemer unceas- 
 ingly, by thought, word, and deed, there is no total 
 reprieve from that sentence, which sin, the sin of 
 
LECTURE IX. 
 
 363 
 
 Adam, the sin of our own souls, has passed upon us 
 all — « The wages of sin is death." 
 
 " When thou art old," said our Lord, " thou shalt 
 stretch forth thy hand, and another shall gird thee, 
 and carry thee whither thou wouldest not." How 
 literally fulfilled, the eldest historian of the Church 
 of Christ has sufficiently attested, since he relates, 
 that about thirty years after the death of his Divine 
 Master, the aged Peter suffered martyrdom at 
 Rome; requesting as the only favour which he 
 would demand at the hands of men, that he might 
 be crucified with his head downwards, from a feel- 
 ing of the most unfeigned humility, that the fate en- 
 dured by the Lord Jesus, was too honourable for 
 his frail and sinning servant. It is also related, 
 and we mention it to mark the spirit which influ- 
 enced his latest breath, that Peter first followed his 
 wife to the stake, and that the last words of encou- 
 ragement with which he cheered her departing 
 spirit were, " Remember the Lord." 
 
 Such was the close of the life of that eminent 
 apostle upon whose history we have been comment- 
 ing — a most painful, degrading, dreadful death. 
 How widely different from the calm and placid 
 scene from which the spirit of the patriarch, whose 
 life we last year reviewed, was permitted to take 
 
364 
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 
 its peaceful flight ! We behold the venerable Jacob 
 lying on his bed, a bed indeed of death, but scarce- 
 ly either of sickness or of pain ; surrounded by his 
 children and his grandchildren, beloved, revered and 
 respected : ever}' effort which the most affectionate 
 attention could make to smooth his dying pillow, 
 every word which he spoke treasured up in the hearts 
 of those around him, and bequeathed to the Church 
 of Christ to the latest posterity ; and at last his pla- 
 cid spirit gently loosened from its earthly resting- 
 place, and wafted into the bosom of his God, with- 
 out an effort or a pang. 
 
 We behold, on the contrary, the aged Peter fast- 
 ened to the cross amid the rabble rout of pagan 
 multitudes ; his head hanging in the dust ; his hands 
 and feet transfixed with nails; his whole frame con- 
 vulsed with agony ; his dying testimony given to the 
 winds, or heard only to be the scoff and jeer of his 
 unfeeling enemies; no pitying friend to wipe his 
 brow, to quench his burning thirst, or to suggest 
 one word of consolation to his departing spirit ; and 
 when the tortured body could endure no longer, the 
 soul torn from its earthly tabernacle by that rude 
 wrench at which humanity shudders ! How widely 
 different were the ends of these, the beloved chil- 
 dren of the same Father, the redeemed servants of 
 
LECTURE IX. 
 
 365 
 
 the same Saviour ! and yet are we sure that Peter, 
 amid the horrors of the cross, was as effectually 
 supported, as entirely comforted by the felt pre- 
 sence of his Divine Master, as Jacob upon his bed 
 of down. 
 
 Christian brethren, what must be the power of 
 that principle of faith in a crucified Redeemer, 
 which can thus sustain and comfort frail mortality, 
 11 when the flesh and heart faileth V What must 
 be the might of that Saviour, who can, under the 
 most terrific circumstances, thus for his believing 
 children draw the sting of man's last enemy ? We 
 would pray, if it be the will of your heavenly Fa- 
 ther, that death may so gently approach every indi- 
 vidual whom we now address, that you may not 
 hear the rustling of his wings, until you find him at 
 your side: but you must have seen from the exam- 
 ple before you, that he may also come, even to the 
 dearest disciple of your Lord, in a far different 
 manner, armed with terrors at which the strongest 
 heart must quail. Do you not then desire a pro- 
 tector who can, under every imaginable circum- 
 stance, vanquish this formidable enemy, and hold 
 you harmless from his most dangerous assaults/ 
 Such a protector, such a saviour, such a friend, is 
 this day offered you. Cast yourselves unreservedly 
 
366 
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 
 upon him. Seek in him your " righteousness, sanc- 
 tification, and redemption ;" deny yourselves ; take 
 up your cross and follow him, and he will be to 
 you, all that he ever was to Peter — your guide in 
 health, your joy in sickness, your hope in death; for 
 he has promised to walk with you through that 
 dark valley ; with his rod and his staff, to comfort 
 you, to struggle for you, to fight for you, to van- 
 quish for you, until you shall be proclaimed " more 
 than conquerors through him that loved you," and 
 shall ascend with Peter to the unspeakable joys at 
 God's right hand. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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