DISCOURSES 
 
 ON THE 
 
 OFFICES AND CHARACTER 
 
 OF 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 BY HENRY WARE, Jr. 
 
 MINISTER OF THE SECOND CHUW;H IN BOSTON. 
 
 ^Whom the Father hath sanctified and sent.' 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 BOSTON, 
 
 DAVID REED, 81 WASHINGTON STREET, 
 
 PRINTED BY I. R. BUTTS AND CO. 
 
 1826, 
 
TO THE REV. FRANCIS PARKMAN 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Jis we have been so intimately and happily 
 united in our labors for the promotion of religion in 
 our associated churches; I am unwilling to be sepa- 
 rated from you in the present attempt to extend its truth 
 and influence, I therefore join your name with my own, 
 and beg you to regard it as a slight expression of the 
 esteem and affection of 
 
 Your friend and brother, 
 
 H. WARE, Jr 
 
The following discourses were written in the ordina- 
 ry course of duty, most of them without any purpose 
 of publication. But when the author observed that he 
 had, undesignedly, almost completed a regular series, he 
 was led to hope that their publication might not be use- 
 less. To the friends who encouraged his design, and 
 aided him in their preparation for tlie press, he ac- 
 knowledges himself under many obligations ; of which 
 he would specify that of the main hint of the tenth ser- 
 mon, given him several years ago. 
 
 In discourses written as these have been, without re- 
 ference to each other, and at distant intervals during a 
 period of several years, there will of course be many 
 repetitions of the same or similar thoughts ; and nothing 
 of the connexion of parts or uniformity of design can be 
 expected, which should be found in a professed series. 
 Neither will the reader look for such discussions of the 
 several important questions which arise, as might be ex- 
 pected in a regular theological treatise. These are only 
 sermons — designed to be plain and practical, to help the 
 christian in his devotions, rather than in his speculations. 
 
VI 
 
 That they may aid believers in rightly appreciating their 
 relation to the Saviour, and cultivating the sentiments 
 and habits which it requires, is the writer's highest wish 
 and ardent prayer. 
 Boston, May, 1825. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 DISCOURSE I. 
 Christ the Foundation 9 
 
 ' DISCOURSE II. 
 
 Jesus the Messiah y . . . . 21 
 
 DISCOURSE III. 
 
 Sufficiency and Efficacy of Faith in the Messiah . 35 
 
 DISCOURSE iv. 
 Jesus the Mediator 41 
 
 DISCOURSE V. 
 Jesus fhe Saviour 57 
 
 DISCOURSE VL 
 Jesus the High Priest 70 
 
 DISCOURSE VII. 
 
 The Atonement by Jesus Christ 81 
 
 DISCOURSE VIII. 
 Jestw the Intercessor 89 
 
vm 
 
 DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 Christ the Judge of the World 105 
 
 DISCOURSE X. 
 On Honoring the Son 116 
 
 DISCOURSE XI. 
 The Example of our Lord 127 
 
DISCOURSE 1. 
 
 CHRIST THE FOUNDATION. 
 
 1 Corinthians, iii. 11. 
 
 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is 
 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 In the preceding verses, the Apostle has been speaking 
 of the divisions which prevailed in the Corinthian church, 
 and which had arisen from their unchristian devotion to 
 particular teachers. He rebukes them for separating into 
 different parties under different heads, one of Paul, ano- 
 ther of Cephas, and another of ApoJlos. He reminds them 
 that these men are not to be regarded as heads of the 
 Church, but as ministers in it. ' Who is Paul, and who is 
 Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed ;' not in whom. 
 * The one planted, the other watered ; but he that planted 
 and he that watered are one' — engaged in one work, pur- 
 suing one end, serving one master, and therefore not to be 
 set up against one another by their followers, and made 
 occasion of contention. * We are laborers together with 
 God' for your salvation. ' Ye are God's husbandry ;' it 
 is our business to watch and cherish the plants. ' Ye are 
 God's building ;' it is our business to toil in its erection, 
 and complete it a holy temple unto the Lord. * I have 
 laid the foundation, and another has built upon it. But 
 let every man take heed how he builds thereon ; for other 
 foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus 
 Christ ;' and do ye be careful that ye regard not us, nor con- 
 tend concerning us, as if we were ourselves the foundation. 
 
 2 
 
10 CHRIST THE FOUNDATION. 
 
 The caution which the apostle thus administers to the 
 Corinthian church, has not ceased to be important; and if 
 we would be saved from the folly and ruin of neglecting it, 
 it will become us to consider diligently of what, and m 
 -what sense^ Jesus Christ is the foundation. This will be - 
 the object of the present discourse. 
 
 1. Jesus is the foundation of the Church. It is built 
 upon him as the chief corner stone. This figure is not 
 uncommon with the writers of the New Testament. In 
 more than one instance they speak of the Church, or the 
 company of believers, as a Temple, each believer one of 
 the stones of which it is formed, and Jesus himself, the 
 foundation, or corner stone. Agreeably to this idea, Je- 
 sus is represented in our text as the only foundation on 
 which the church can stand, and in which believers should 
 trust. 
 
 The church is that society or collection of the good, 
 who have been brought home to God and been fitted for 
 heaven, through the instrumentality of the dispensations of 
 grace upon earth. It is a permanent body, existing alike 
 in all ages. It is one body, though of many members. It 
 must then have some common head, and common bond of 
 union ; and that is Christ. The members are united in 
 him as the branches in the vine, and draw nourishment 
 and support from one stock. If there be any other head, 
 bond of union, source of nourishment and strength, it ceases 
 to be the Church ; and those individual members who 
 abide not in him, are like branches severed from the vine, 
 * cast forth and withered.' Without him, they can do 
 nothing. They can find neither life, nor light, nor sup- 
 port, nor the power to bring forth fruit. 
 
 The believers at Corinth seem not sufficiently to have 
 considered this ; and hence the apostle rebukes them as 
 carnal. Instead of beins; satisfied with the authoritv of 
 Christ, they separated fi-om him and fi-om one another in 
 an unwise contention concerning the superiority of favorite 
 teachers — whom they thoughtlessly exalted to be their mas- 
 ters, altliough admonished that ' one only was their mas- 
 ter.' The reprimand of the apostle is here recorded as a 
 
CHRIST THE FOUNDATION. 11 
 
 warning to all who should afterwards believe. Yet by how 
 many has it been unheeded ! Every age has witnessed 
 other men, and fallible men, set up at the head of the cor- 
 ner, instead of that elect and precious One whom God ap- 
 pointed. As the Samaritans erected a temple on mount 
 Gerizim in opposition to that at Jerusalem, so the sects in 
 Christendom have often erected some authority in prefer- 
 ence to that of Christ. There is still too much of this. 
 ' I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas,' is still 
 a cry too frequently heard. Faith is yet established on 
 the speculations of fallible men, and the salvation of the 
 soul rested on the teaching of human wisdom. 
 
 This is an error frequently and pointedly censured by 
 Jesus and his Aposdes. It is virtually, though not profes- 
 sedly, a renunciation of his authority, a rejection of his 
 rule, a rebellion against his government. The man who 
 surrenders his judgment to the dictation of other men, in- 
 stead of appealing to die written word of Christ's instruc- 
 tion ; and the church, which fetters itself by articles drawn 
 up in language which man's wisdom teaches, instead of 
 walking in the wide liberty of the charter of God's truth ; 
 — have laid another foundation than that which is laid, and 
 are obnoxious to heavy rebuke. 
 
 2. In the next place, Christ is the only foundation be- 
 cause the christian religion rests on his authority. He 
 is its prime and only sufficient teacher. The religion is to 
 be learned from him, and to his word the final appeal must 
 be made. No representations of what it is, or of what it 
 teaches, are to be trusted, except so far as they are per- 
 ceived to be conformable to his own, as uttered in his life, 
 and recorded by his evangelists, or illustrated by his apos- 
 tles. 
 
 The wisdom of man is an uncertain and insufficient 
 guide. For Christianity is not something to be discovered 
 by us ; but is a revelation from heaven, sent for our ac- 
 ceptance, concerning which we have nothing to do, but to 
 study and receive it. It affords no scope for invention or 
 discovery. We may not add to it, nor take from it. We 
 may speculate concerning it, but may not affix our specu- 
 
12 CHRIST THE FOUNDATION. 
 
 lations as a part of it. And if we receive the alterations 
 or additions, which are found in the traditions of the church 
 or the books of its teachers, we may be sure that we re- 
 ceive error. For the greatest corruption in doctrine and 
 morals prevailed, when the teachers had hidden the Bible, 
 and set up tradition and authority in its stead ; when they 
 placed themselves in the seat of Jesus, and men obeyed 
 them instead of him. In this way. the true light, which 
 ought always to have been set like a city on a hill, was hid- 
 den as it were under a bushel, and an almost pagan dark- 
 ness overshadowed the world — a darkness, visible and 
 heavy — a darkness, that was ' felt' — which was scattered, 
 only by uncovering the light of God's holy word, and re- 
 storing the forgotten ascendancy of Jesus Christ. 
 
 The teaching of Jesus must be regarded as the fountain 
 of christian truth. The instructions of others, are but 
 streams flowing from it ; some nearer the source, and 
 some more distant from it ; but all likely to be more or less 
 aiFected by the character of the channel which conveys 
 them, and the soil through which they pass. Even the 
 words of the apostles are not to be taken before those of 
 Christ. For to them the spirit was given by measure, to 
 him ' without measure.' The treasure in them was in 
 * earthen vessels,' and they ' knew but in part.' The spirit 
 preserved them from injurious errors in communicating 
 and recording the truth ; but still they are not to be put on 
 a level with their infallible master, nor their episdes to be 
 esteemed and admired beyond his discourses. They 
 wrote for particular churches, on special occasions, often- 
 times on subjects of temporary interest and questions of 
 controversy, now settled and forgotten ; and this it is, which 
 makes some passages in their writings so hard to be under- 
 stood. Jesus, on the other hand, though adapting himself 
 to present circumstances, yet had in general a wider refer- 
 ence to all who should in any age believe on him. He was 
 laying the foundation of a temple for all people, while the 
 disciples were building upon it for particular communities. 
 Hence he is more easily and generally understood, and his 
 teaching is more universally applicable. Not that the epis* 
 
CHRIST THE FOUNDATION. 13 
 
 ties are to be in any degree undervalued — for there are 
 large portions of them still of universal and most important 
 application. I only mean, we are to bear it in mind that he 
 is the master of the apostles, no less than of ourselves; and 
 that we are safest in deriving the first principles of our faith 
 from his own lips and life, and then interpreting the apos- 
 tles accordingly. And this is our duty — not only because, 
 as I said, he is our master and not they — but because, also, 
 a great part of the perplexing and unhappy consequences 
 arising from unintelligible and superstitious doctrine, and 
 from misapprehension of scripture, have sprung from this 
 very source — the leaning on the apostles instead of on 
 Jesus — the learning Christianity from their obscure discus- 
 sions of particular questions at Rome, or Corinth, or Gala- 
 tia, instead of taking it from the plain exposition of their 
 master, who spoke for the edification of all men, in all 
 ages, and under all circumstances. We shall avoid a great 
 evil by going directly to him, first of all. We are indeed 
 to build ' on the foundation of the prophets and the apos- 
 tles ;' but let no man forget that Christ is the ' chief corner 
 stone,' and that it is in him,* that ' the building, being fitly 
 framed together, is enabled to become a holy temple, ac- 
 ceptable to God.' 
 
 3. Again, Jesus Christ may be considered as the foun- 
 dation, because to believe in him as the predicted Messiah, 
 is the fundamental article of the christian faith. This is 
 important to be remarked, because it presents an answer 
 to an inquiry often made, in which all are interested, What 
 doctrine is to be regarded as truly fundamental and essen- 
 tial ^ The manner in which our text is worded, fairly sug- 
 gests a reply. 
 
 The term Christ, as is well known, is not the name of 
 the person, but the title of office. It indicates the station 
 or character, and is equivalent to the Messiah, or the 
 Anointed. The proper name of our Lord's person is Jesus; 
 by which he is designated throughout the Evangelists. 
 
 * Eph. ii. 21. The pronoun in the original is in the singular 
 number ; e> 'if. 
 
 2*- 
 
14 CHRIST THE FOUNDATION. 
 
 The official title, Christ, did not become a proper name 
 until after the resurrection. For until then the great unde- 
 cided question among his countrymen was, whether he were 
 truly the Christ or not. It was the belief that he was so, 
 which distinguished his disciples from the other Jews, and 
 they accordingly called him Jesus, the Christ — the Messiah 
 — the Anointed ; from which use it readily passed into a 
 name, as in our text, and throughout the Epistles. 
 
 The primary importance of this article of faith, thus de- 
 monstrated by its becoming inseparably associated with the 
 very name of the Saviour, points it out to us as the funda- 
 mental article of the christian's belief. All the other truths 
 and doctrines of the christian system grow out of this and 
 rest upon it. . Upon this depends the authority of the mas- 
 ter, and the allegiance of the disciples. While this stands, 
 these remain. If this be removed, they fall. 
 
 A slight glance at the history of the New Testament 
 confirms this position. The Messiah had been predicted 
 by many of the prophets, and his coming was anxious- 
 ly awaited by the Jewish people. At the time of our 
 Lord's appearance the expectation had become general 
 and impatient. Men thronged around him, ' musing in 
 Lheir hearts whether this were the Christ or not.' The 
 chief people sent messengers to inquire, and they put the 
 question to himself: ' Tell us plainly, art thou the Christ.' 
 This was the great controversy between the believers and 
 the Jews. Upon the decision of this, depended the whole 
 question of his authority and claims. Those who admitted 
 it, followed and obeyed him. Those who denied it, cruci- 
 fied and rejcctecfhim. Throughout the book of the x\cts, 
 therefore, we find that it is this which was the burden of 
 ihe Aposdes' preaching. * God hath made this same Jesus, 
 whom*ye crucified, both Lord and Christ.' ' Proving from 
 the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.' ' This Jesus, whom 
 I preach to you, is the Christ.' To establish this, was the 
 «>bject which they had at heart. To establish this, they 
 labored, and reasoned, and entroated. For they knew that 
 when this should be granted, all else would follow of course. 
 When they should have persuaded men to acknowledge 
 
CHRIST THE FOUNDATION. 15 
 
 him as the Messiah, they knew that his instructions must 
 be received as the message of God, and his religion stand 
 and prevail by its divine light and power. Consequently 
 we find drawn up by them no authoritative list of essential 
 articles, no precise and dogmatical creeds, " which, except 
 a man keep whole and undefiled, he shall without doubt 
 perish everlastingly.'* No ; these were the inventions of 
 w^eaker men in more ignorant times, w^ho cared more for 
 their own and less for their master's influence. The Apos- 
 tles were satisfied to proclaim this as the one essential arti- 
 cle, the distinguishing principle of the Christian, on the re- 
 ception of which a man should be numbered among the 
 believers. They preached to men Jesus the Christ. 
 They declared what he had done and taught, and left them 
 to derive his system from his own life and instructions, 
 labours and sacrifices — aiding them, to be sure, by their 
 reasonings and illustrations ; but at the same time declaring, 
 * we have no dominion over your faith.' Would to God, 
 that all teachers had been as modest and consistent ! Would 
 to God, that all Christians would understand and abide by 
 the liberty thus allowed them — acknowledging no founda- 
 tion but this, Jesus the Christ, and taking heed ' how they 
 build thereon.' 
 
 4. We are likewise to regard Jesus Christ as the foun- 
 dation, because he is the source of all satisfactory religious 
 knowledge. 
 
 Jesus called himself, ^ the Light of the world ;' and he 
 is truly the fountain and depository of whatever light we 
 possess on the great subject of religion. There is to us, 
 strictly and properly speaking, no other. We know nothing 
 on the subject, clearly and certainly, but what we learn 
 from him, or have been enabled to attain in consequence of 
 what he has taught us. It is true that we gather something 
 of the existence, attributes, and providence of God from 
 the works of nature ; but how little should we be able to 
 do it, without the aid of revelation ? We find the great prin- 
 ciples of morality and accountableness in ' the law written 
 
 * The language of the Mhanasian Creed. 
 
1^6 CHRIST THE FOUNDATION. 
 
 on our hearts ;' but it is our previous acquaintance with the 
 christian revelation, which enables us to see them so dis- 
 tinctly there, and they have been very obscurely discerned 
 by those who have not the benefit of this aid. We might 
 learn something also from the great human lights, which 
 have adorned and instructed the world in all ages ; but not 
 enough, amidst their own vague and contradictory notions, 
 to be a sure and satisfactory guide. For it is certain, that 
 however great the wisdom of the world may have been, 
 still ' the world by wisdom knew not God.' 
 
 Whiit man might be capable of learning under any cir- 
 cumstances, from his own unassisted inquiry, it were unpro- 
 fitable to discuss. All history declares the plain and incon- 
 trovertible fact, that by his own unassisted inquiry he has 
 learned comparatively nothing. The certainty and defi- 
 niteness of the very first principles, he owes to the instruc- 
 tion of Jesus; and if he have added any thing by his own 
 efforts, it is because he has built upon this foundation, and 
 been guided by this light. Who knows any thing of God, 
 ' but the Son, and he to whom the Son has revealed him ?' 
 Who understands any thing of the purposes of the divine 
 will, but they who have received it from Jesus ? Look over 
 the history of the world. Brethren; in former and in pre- 
 sent times, in christian and in pagan lands : — where do you 
 find religious knowledge, and from what fountains does it 
 flow ? Do you not trace all its streams to Nazareth ? Do 
 you not find every beam emanating from the Star of Beth- 
 lehem ? And is not every region dark and unwatered, which 
 these do not visit ? Look also to your own minds, and con- 
 sider whether you possess any valuable knowledge con- 
 cerning God, any certain and satisfactory truth, any sus- 
 taining and peace-giving acquaintance with things invisible 
 and futiu'e, which is not derived from the christian doctrine. 
 And will you not say, then, with earnest faith, ' Lord, to 
 whom should we go ? Thou hast the words of eternal life.' 
 
 5. Again, we are to regard Jesus Christ as the founda- 
 tion of true morality ; as not only revealing the true system 
 of religious faith, and the character and purposes of God; 
 
CHRIST THE FOUNDATION. 17 
 
 but as bearing an anthorized communication concerning 
 right and wrong, and establishing the laws of virtue. 
 
 It is a distinction of his religious system, that it is enni- 
 nently a system of morals, resting on authority. There 
 have been other moral systems, but they have rested on 
 speculation, and were therefore imperfect both in theory 
 and in practice. There have been other religious systems, 
 but they have been separated from morality; and have pro- 
 duced the monstrous absurdity of open and undisguised 
 alliance between religion and vice. Religion among the 
 pagan nations has been engaged in little else than expedi- 
 ents to a[»pease capricious divinities, and devices for recon- 
 ciling the consciences of men to their sins, and keeping the 
 state in order by mystery and spectacle. Jesus builds his 
 whole system on opposite principles, and makes a thorough, 
 undeviating, searching morality, its essential and vital spirit, 
 without which piety is but hypocrisy, and worsliip but blas- 
 Phemy. 
 
 The character of his morality, also, diners from that 
 which has been taught by the wise, and prevailed in the 
 customs of the world. They have appealed to the sensi- 
 tive sentiment of honor, and endeavored to make men vir- 
 tuous from selfishness and pride. They have cultivated a 
 spurious virtue, upon the soil of interest, policy and expe- 
 diency. They have set value on the superficial and showy, 
 rather than the deep and real. They have sometimes 
 placed virtue in passion, and sometimes in insensibility, 
 and sometimes in the useless and wasteful seclusion ot 
 indolent contemplation. The moral principle of the world 
 has thus been always unfixed and wavering ; it has fluc- 
 tuated with fashion and circumstances, and changed as 
 humor or accident might dictate. For the guides of 
 the world have erected their systems on false theories^ 
 and on wrong and inadequate motives ; or if they had 
 not done so, yet they could settle nothing and control 
 no one, for they had no authority. But Jesus speaks with 
 authority — the authority of a commissioned messenger from 
 the moral Governor and Judge of men. He communicates, 
 from the instructions of Infinite Rectitude, the knowledge 
 
18 CHRIST THE FOUNDATION. 
 
 of duty, the boundf^ries of right and wrong, the definitions 
 and motives of virtue, the promises and tlireats of retribu- 
 tion. 
 
 The nature and requisitions of true morality are thus 
 established by one who has a right to establish them, and 
 from whose word there can lie no appeal. Our own feel- 
 ings, passions, and whims, by which we are so ready to be 
 ruled, must give up the reins to his law. To tliat must 
 be yielded the decision in all questions of conduct and duty. 
 If God had not spoken, we might have inquired, what will 
 be convenient or pleasant, what will gratify our passions, or 
 promote our present interests ; but now the inquiry must 
 be, ' what doth the Lord our God require of usr"' what is 
 the language of Christ ? what is the spirit of his religion ? 
 how are we instructed by his example ^ The conduct which 
 cannot bear the scrutiny of such questions, is wrong. The 
 morality which is not conformable to this standard, is un- 
 sound and false. No matter if it be agreeable to some 
 theoretical rule of abstract right, or some high toned princi- 
 ple of honour, or some proud and unswemng law which we 
 hav'e laid down to ourselves. No matter if it conform to 
 Some strong feeling within, which claims to be the voice 
 of God, or to some urgent circumstances of expediency, 
 which, we persuade ourselves, are the monitions of his 
 providence. Still if it contradict the pure and holy rule of 
 Christ; if it be inconsistent with the benevolent and devout 
 spirit of his gospel ; it is fundamentally and utterly to be 
 condemned ; it is immoral and bad. For true morality 
 stands only in the instructions of him who is the way, the 
 truth, and the life, and no other foundation can man lay. 
 
 G. We may say once more, Christ is the only founda- 
 tion of the bdiever''s hope. It is from him and his gospel, 
 that v/e learn those truths concerning the mercy and placa- 
 bility of God, which give hope of pardon on repentance, 
 and of acceptance in our imperfect attempts to please him ; 
 — from him alone, also, that we derive sufficient assurance 
 of a future life, and an existence of eternal purity and 
 peace. Upon these points the understanding might specu- 
 late, and sometimes plausibly conjecture ; but what could 
 
CHRIST THE FOUNDATION. 19 
 
 it ever know ? What did it ever know in the uninstructed 
 lands of heathenism ? The whole history of the world 
 teaches us, that on these points, so interesting to man's 
 heart, so essential to man's happiness, there has been noth- 
 ing but superstition and dim conjecture, except where the 
 gospel has been revealed. It is the message of Jesus 
 Christ, which has taught the grace of Almighty God ; 
 which has proclaimed his long suffering and compassion ; 
 which has encouraged sinners to repent and return by invi- 
 tations of forgiving love ; which has declared the kind al- 
 lowance of our Father for unavoidable imperfection, and 
 thus given courage to human weakness. It is this only, 
 Vv'hich proclaims to a world lying in wickedness, that ' God 
 hath not appointed it to wrath, but to obtain salvation through 
 the Lord Jesus Christ ;' and "■ hath sent his Son into the 
 world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through 
 him might be saved.' Man — doubting, frail, tempted, fear- 
 ful — hears the voice of love, and looks up in the humble 
 assurance of faith. No longer an alien, but a son, he seizes 
 the outstretched hand of his blessed Lord, and goes on his 
 way rejoicing. 
 
 There is another hope which he founds on the same 
 rock — the hope of a coming immortality. Once he was in 
 bondage through the fear of death. But now, his Saviour 
 hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to 
 light. The bitterness of death is past. There is light 
 within the tomb. There is a visible region of glory beyond 
 it. And the child of earth, who once shuddered and was 
 wretched in the dread of everlasting extinction, is now able 
 to smile upon the dreary pathway to the grave, and triumph 
 over the terrors of corruption. 
 
 What an inestimaWe privilege is this ! With his open 
 bible before him, and the image of his gracious Saviour in 
 his mind, how does the conscience stricken penitent rejoice 
 amid his tears, in the hope of offered pardon ! How does 
 the humble and self-distrusting believer, who stands trem- 
 bling and abashed in the presence of infinite purity — find 
 comfort in the encouraging accents of Christ's soothing 
 voice, and the iiope of acceptance at the throne of grace. 
 
20 CHRIST THE FOUNDATION. 
 
 How does the reasoning and dying offspring of the dust — 
 to whom existence, and friendship, and virtue are dear — 
 rejoice with holy gratitude in the hope, that his existence 
 shall be renewed, and his desires satisfied, in heaven. 
 Thanks be to God for this uns))eakable gift — this glorious 
 hope, wliicli, in every season of trial and every stormy strait 
 of sorrow and fear, is ' an anchor to the soul, sure and 
 steadfast.' 
 
 It is not necessary to go farther than this. We perceive 
 that the foundation of the christian church, and of all true 
 religion in the world ; and of individual faith, knowledge, 
 virtue, find hope ; is laid in Jesus Christ. All our religious 
 light, security, and peace rest upon this rock. Other we 
 have none and can have none. Let us leave this, and 
 where sliall we go ? who will teach us the words of eternal 
 life ? who instruct us in the things which pertain to our 
 everlasting peace ? who guide us to the Father of love, and 
 open to us the gate of heaven ? Every other guide is un- 
 certain, every other path is dark. Men have followed 
 them, and gone astray ; have walked in them, and stum- 
 bled ; have sought rest in them, and found none. There 
 is none other commissioned from heaven, but the son of the 
 virgin. 'There is no name given among men whereby 
 we can be saved, but that of Jesus Christ,' 
 
DISCOURSE II. 
 
 JESUS THE MESSIAH 
 
 Matthew xvi. 15, 16. 
 
 Hesaithunto them, But ichoni say ye that I am? and Simon Peter 
 
 answered and said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. 
 
 The question which our Lord here proposes to his dis- 
 ciples, whicli agitated with intense interest the whole Jew- 
 ish nation during his ministry, has lost none of its interest 
 or importance in the lapse of ages. It was, and is, the 
 question upon which rests the decision of his claims to the 
 obedience and gratitude of mankind. It is a question, too, 
 which has received different answers, even from his own 
 disciples in his own church, as it did from his countrymen 
 while he lived. The passion for speculation, and the fond- 
 ness for opinion, have found exercise even on this subject, 
 and have thrown perplexity and debate on what is in itself 
 plain and simple, and has been most clearly decided, in the 
 only important particular, by the express authority of Scrip- 
 ture. To the Scriptures then we have recourse ; and it is 
 truly matter of gratitude, that a distinct reply to the inquiiy 
 is there recorded, which satisfied our Lord, and which con- 
 sequently ought to satisfy us. If it was sufficient for Peter 
 to know and acknowledge him as the Messiah, it must also 
 be sufficient for us. No man may demand or desire a more 
 full and satisfactory reply, than that which drew upon the 
 Apostle the memorable blessing. No man may doubt, that 
 a similar blessing awaits all, who shall make the same pro- 
 fession with equal earnestness, faith and devotion, and carry 
 3 
 
22 JESUS THE MESSIAH. 
 
 it out to the same practical consequences. In order to this, 
 we must understand what such a profession implies ; what 
 is intended by his being ' the Christ, the Son of God ;' and 
 what is the value of faith in him as such. To illustrate 
 these objects is the purpose of the present discourse. 
 
 It is to be remarked, first of all, that the titles given to 
 our Lord in the text, are unquestionably synonymous, and 
 are used to indicate the same office. The ancient Jews 
 familiarly employed the phrase Son of God as one of the 
 names of the Christ, or Messiah. They used them both 
 promiscuously, to denote that great prince and deliverer, 
 whom they also styled King of Israel and Son of David, 
 and whom they were expecting to fulfil the prophecies. 
 That the titles are thus equivalent to each other, is ren- 
 dered evident by many passages in the New Testament. 
 Thus in the beginning of our Lord's ministry, Andrew 
 came and told Peter, ' We have found the Messiah.^ 
 Philip said to Nathaniel, ' We have found him of whom 
 Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write.' And Na- 
 thaniel cried out to Jesus, ' Thou art the Son of God, thou 
 art the King of Israel.' It is obvious that each of thom, 
 using different language, intended to express the same thing 
 — that this was the expected Messiali. Again ; when the 
 elders and scribes demanded of Jesus if he were the Christ, 
 he replied indirectly, 'Hereafter shall the Son of man sit 
 on the right hand of the power of God.' They immediate- 
 ly exclaimed, ' Art thou then the Son of God T In this 
 case nothing can be plainer than that the two phrases are of 
 the same import. There is also a passage in the first epis- 
 tle of John, in which their equivalency ' is stated with the 
 precision of a syllogism.'* 
 
 ' Whosoever belie veth that Jesus is the Christ, is born 
 of God.' 
 
 * Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world.* 
 
 * Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that be- 
 lieveth that Jesus is the Son of GodJ* 
 
 ' It is thus plain, that, according to the usage of the Jewish 
 
 * Gen. Repository, vol. ii. p. 252, note. 
 
JESUS THE MESSIAH. 23 
 
 people, adopted and sanctioned by Jesus and the Apostles, 
 the title Son of God has precisely the same significance 
 with that o\ Messiah.^ As if to intimate this, the evange- 
 lists are wont to place them together ; so that we read in 
 numerous passages, ' the Christ, the son of God,' evidently 
 put in apposition, as interpreters of each other. 
 
 The term, Messiah, or Christ, is the special, peculiar, 
 distinguishing title accorded to Jesus. Its original signifi- 
 cation is the Anointed ; and it embraces whatever office or 
 duty it was the purpose of his mission to perform. In a 
 word, it is his official designation ; and its importance and 
 completeness may be estimated by remarking, that it was 
 by this title he was predicted, expected, announced, re- 
 ceived, acknowledged, and persecuted, preached to the 
 nations, and believed on in the world. From the davs of 
 the prophets who foretold his appearing, to the song of the 
 angels at his nativity, and the establishment of his kingdom 
 amongst the gentiles, this is his chosen title ; and by this it 
 is declared that ' the kingdoms of this world shall become 
 the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ.' 
 
 Under this title his coming was predicted. When Dan- 
 iel spake of him, he called him ' Messiah the Prince ;' and 
 Isaiah alluded to the name when he said, ' Jehovah hath 
 anointed me to preach glad tidings.' 
 
 Under this title his advent was anxiously expected. The 
 Jews waited long for their promised deliverer and king, and 
 the name by which they knew him was the Messiah. When 
 the Baptist came, they earnestly asked, if he were the Christ ; 
 and they pressed in crowds around the path of Jesus with 
 the same inquiry. Even the Samaritans had this expecta- 
 
 * ' To be the Son of God, and to be the Christ, are but different ex* 
 pressions of the same thing.' ' It is the very same thing to believe 
 that Jesus is the Christ, and that Jesus is the Son of God ; express it 
 how you please. This alone is the faith, which can regenerate a man, 
 and put a divine spirit into him ; that is, make him a conqueror over 
 the world, as Jesus was.' Dr. Patrick, Bp. of Ely, as quoted by 
 Locke in the Postscript to his First Vindication. 
 
 On the whole subject of faith in Jesus as the Christ, I refer the reader 
 very earnestly to that invaluable treatise of Locke, The Reasomibleness 
 of Christianity as delivered in the Scriptures. 
 
24 JESUS THE MESSIAH. 
 
 tion ; so that the woman at Sichar said, ' I know that when 
 the Messiah cometh, who is called Christ, he will tell us 
 all things.' 
 
 Under this title he was announced hy the angels at Beth- 
 lehem, * unto you is born this day a Savior, who is Christ 
 the Lord.' 
 
 Under this title he was received and acknowledged. The 
 twelve followed him, because they had 'found the Mes- 
 siah.' Peter in our text and elsewhere, Martha at the 
 grave of Lazarus, and the man blind from his birth, con- 
 fessed and honored him as the predicted Messiah. As 
 such the multitudes waited on him, and ' would take him 
 by force to make him king,' and welcomed him with ho- 
 sannas to the holy city. 
 
 As the Messiah he became subject to persecution. The 
 authorities of the land decreed, ' that if any man should con- 
 fess him to be the Christ, he sliould be put out of the syna- 
 gogue.' They accused him of blasphemy before their own 
 council, because he claimed to be the Son of God, that is 
 the Messiah : and before the Roman magistrate they ar- 
 raigned him for treason, in saying ' that he himself is Christ 
 a king.' As such, the soldiers mocked him with a crown 
 and sceptre, and the brutal multitude at the foot of the cross 
 insulted his suffering with the ciy, 'If thou be the Christ, 
 save thyself 5 come down from the cross, and we will be- 
 lieve.' 
 
 It was as the Messiah, likewise, that he was preached to 
 the nations and believed on in tlie world. Wherever the 
 apostles went with the message of heaven, this was the bur- 
 den of their preaching, ' reasoning out of the scriptures and 
 proving that Jesus is the Christ.' To this when the people 
 consented, they were baptized and acknowledged as disci- 
 ples ; and on this truth churches were gathered and found- 
 ed. The disciples were so familiarly known from this lead- 
 ing article of their faith, that the name of Christians was 
 given them at Antioch, and has adhered to them to the pre- 
 sent time. 
 
 Thus Ft appears that the title generally used in the Scrip- 
 tures, to designate the peculiar character and essential office 
 
JESUS THE MESSIAH. 25 
 
 of Jesus, is that of the Messiah. We proceed to inquire 
 concerning the nature and objects of the office thus desig- 
 nated. 
 
 It is a remarkable feature in God's moral government of 
 the world, that it is constituted of successive dispensations, 
 each more perfect than the preceding, by which increasing 
 knowledge and more perfect institutions have been given 
 to men, ' as they were able to bear them.' In the early 
 communications of God, we find frequent intimations of a 
 purpose to make a final and complete revelation, and to 
 establish on earth, as the greatest boon of divine benevo- 
 lence, a permanent dispensation of truth and grace ; — be- 
 neath which a purer knowledge of God should prevail, the 
 dominion of evil should be shaken, and order, peace and 
 happiness hold universal sway. To introduce this state of 
 things, was the duty assigned to the Messiah. For this 
 purpose he was commissioned and sent forth. And what- 
 ever might be necessary for the accomplishment of this 
 great moral design, forms part of his commission, and is 
 comprised in the objects of his office. 
 
 To this end, as the very title by which he is known, in- 
 dicates, he was set apart and consecrated. The ariointing 
 was a solemn form of consecration, by which the priests and 
 kings, and sometimes the prophets,* were separated to their 
 respective services among the chosen people. It was the 
 most significant act in an august and imposing ceremony of 
 inauguration. It was the sacred sign of devotion to the ap- 
 pointed office or work ; and came at last to stand for the 
 thing signified, in cases where the sign itself had not been 
 used. Thus Cyrus is called the anointed, when commis- 
 sioned for the overthrow of Babylon, and the restoration of 
 the Jews ; and the patriarchs and even the whole people 
 of Israel are so named, f because separated from the rest 
 of mankind for the accomplishment of peculiar purposes in 
 the moral government of the world. In conformity with 
 this usage, the holiest and chief messenger of God to man, 
 
 * See 1 Kings xix. 16. t Psalm cv. 15 ; Hab. iii. 13. 
 
 3* 
 
26 JESUS THE MESSIAH. 
 
 appointed to effect the most important changes and intro- 
 duce the perfect dispensation ; to take place, in the govern- 
 ment of the church, of all the priests and kings and pro- 
 phets, who had under tiie former economy been its media- 
 tors, instructors, and rulers ; — is for this cause styled 
 emphatically the anointed ; * above his fellows,' says the 
 Scripture, because consecrated to a duty and dignity with 
 which none other can compare ; ' with the holy spirit and 
 with power,' because it was not for temporal and earthly, 
 but for spiritual and eternal purposes. 
 
 We may, therefore, without indulging a fanciful analogy, 
 consider the Messiah as uniting in his own character all the 
 sacred offices of the ancient church, to which the oil of 
 consecration was applied ; and use them for the illustration 
 of his character. This we may the rather do, because each 
 title is freely accorded to him in the sacred writings. 
 
 The office of the Prophets was to instruct, to teach, to 
 admonish, and to foretell future events. They were the 
 guardians of the public religion and morals, appointed to 
 watch against corruption and sin, and to proclaim the warn- 
 ings and judgments of heaven against infidelity and crime. 
 It was not an hereditary office, but one of special appoint- 
 ment, at least in its higher departments, to which express 
 inspiration was necessary, and to which miraculous powers 
 were often added. This office, unquestionably, and in its 
 highest character, was comprehended in that of the Mes- 
 siah. In this character Moses is supposed to have spoken 
 of him : ' A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up to 
 you from among your brethren, like unto me.' In this cha- 
 racter the people expected him : 'Art thou that Prophet.^' 
 was their inquiry ; and when they accompanied him with 
 hosannas to Jerusalem, 'This is Jesus,' said they, 'the Pro- 
 phet of Galilee.' So his disciples described him, ' a Pro- 
 phet mighty in word and deed.' So he called himself, 
 when he said, ' It cannot be that a Prophet should perish 
 out of Jerusalem.' And such he proved himself by the 
 works of supernatural power which attested his divine au- 
 thority ; by the holy instructions which flowed from his lips, 
 surpassing all tlie moral wisdom of man ; by the fidelity of 
 
JESUS THE MESSIAH. 27 
 
 his earnest and affectionate warnings, his pathetic expostu- 
 lations, his powerful rebukes, his authoritative denunciations, 
 such as no other man ever uttered — before which the proud 
 and hardened quailed as he spake, the ministers of justice 
 were driven back, and the prejudiced and powerful silenced ; 
 and by his many predictions concerning tlie future, — which 
 the world has shuddered to see accomplished, and which 
 even our eyes behold in a course of fulfilment. 
 
 The office of Priest is also supposed to be comprehended 
 in the Messiahship of Jesus. It is observable, hovvever, that 
 this title is never given him in the New Testament, except- 
 ing in the Epistle lo the Hebrews, and there it is in a pecu- 
 liar relation and for peculiar purposes, which cannot be con- 
 sidered in the present connexion. The priesthood amongst 
 the Jews was an hereditary office, confined to the family of 
 Levi. It was an office separated from the world, conse- 
 crated to religious duties, devoted lo the service of the tem- 
 ple, and especially engaged in the various ceremonies of an 
 extensive ritual, and the offerings and incense of the altar. 
 It is plain, therefore, that although Jesus was literally a Pro- 
 phet, he could not have been literally a Priest; because he 
 was of Judah, not of Levi, and was not in any sense attach- 
 ed to the temple, or occupied in its service. But in as far 
 as he was separated from the world, and set apart to the 
 promotion of religion, and lived wholly in a state of conse- 
 cration to God ; so far he might be regarded as possessing 
 the sacred character of the priesthood; just as his disciples, 
 for similar reasons, are called, ' kings and priests unto God,' 
 and ' a royal priesthood.' So far, also, as his sufferings in 
 our behalf operate as a means of leading us to repentance 
 and holiness, and of effecting that forgiveness of sin, which 
 it was the office of the Jewish high priest to announce on 
 the annual day of propitiation ; so far Jesus may be regard- 
 ed as the ' high priest of our profession.' 
 
 The office of the Messiah may be in part also explained 
 by that of King. The kings of Israel are familiarly known 
 in the Old Testament as ' the Lord's anointed ;' and as the 
 Messiah was to spring from their race, and sit on the throne 
 of his father David, and their government was to be on his 
 
28 JESUS THE MESSIAH. 
 
 shoulder ; so he was to be accounted King, no less than 
 Prophet. It may be remarked, indeed, that it was pecu- 
 liarly and eminently as King, that the prophets had spoken 
 of him, and his countrymen expected him. ' King of Is- 
 rael,' was one title equivalent to ' Messiah ;' and ' Kingdom 
 of heaven,' was the phrase that expressed the state of the 
 church beneath his influence. When ' God anointed him 
 W'ith the holy spirit and with power,' it was to be Prince 
 over his spiritual kingdom among men. The people were 
 looking for a temporal prince, who should literally accom- 
 plish the words of the p* omise, and ' sit on the throne of his 
 father David ;' and therefore it was, that they sought ' to 
 take him by force and make him King.' He was on this 
 pretence arraigned before the Roman authority, as one who 
 made himself King in opposition to the Emperor. And 
 therefore when Pilate asked him, if he were a King, he de- 
 nied it not ; but only said in explanation, ' my Kingdom is 
 not of this world.' Peter accordingly declares him • a 
 Prince and Savior ;' and Paul speaks of the period when, 
 having accomplished his royal labors, and ' put down all 
 rule, authority, and power,' he shall ' deliver up the King- 
 dom to God, even the Father.' 
 
 All this implies that the office of JMessiah embraces that 
 of King, and that he is, in the language of Daniel, ' JMes- 
 siah the Prince.' To him is committed the dominion over 
 the moral provinces, which form the church of God. He 
 is made supreme in all concerns of religion and truth, of 
 conscience and duty. The command is given to him over 
 the heart and life, the opinions, the character, and the des- 
 tination of the intelligent children of earth. This is the most 
 splendid and extensive kingdom ever set up among men ; 
 an empire, to which the magnificence and power of all the 
 empires that have flourished in the past ages of time, are 
 not to be compared, and to which all the concerns of all the 
 states of the world are to be finally made subservient. Al- 
 ready is this in part effected. Already does his peaceful 
 and spiritual authority sway the minds of men beyond the 
 power of human law, and the authority of human custom. 
 Already are the maimers of the nations and the policy of 
 
JESUS THE MESSIAH. 29 
 
 princes modified and guided by his superior influence. Bui 
 he has not yet taken to himself all iiis power. As know- 
 ledge and li2;ht advance, the minds of men shall be vet 
 more completely subjected to him ; all hearts shall bow be- 
 fore him, and 'every tongue confess him to be Lore!.' 
 Human power shall be controlled by his rule, human laws 
 be limited by his precepts, and all the institutions of earth 
 be moulded in conformity with his spirit. God shall lift the 
 arm of his providence over the nations, 'and overturn, and 
 overturn, and overturn,' till ' the kingdoms of this world 
 shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, 
 and he shall reign forever and ever.' 
 
 Such is a general description of the work which the 
 Messiah was commissioned to perform, and of the effects 
 which his ministrations were to produce. He was to make 
 the final revelation of God's will ; to establish a church 
 which, as a spiritual empire beneath his authority, should 
 perpetuate the knowledge and influence of religious truth ; 
 to spread light and happiness and peace by means of his 
 institutions ; to free men from the bondage of superstition, 
 the degradation of vice, and the terrors of death ; in a word, 
 to set up the dominion of God's holy and parental govern- 
 ment, and prepare men for heaven by bringing them on 
 earth to the love and practice of those holy graces which 
 form the bliss of the good hereafter. ' To tliis end he was 
 born and to this end he came into the world, that he might 
 bear witness to the truth ;' — the truth, which ' makes free' 
 from corruption and sin, and ' sanctifies' the soul. 
 
 Three remarks follow from our subject, 
 
 1. It is evident from what has been said, that the cha- 
 racter in which our Lord appears, and in which he claims 
 to be received and honored, is an official character simply. 
 He comes to the w^orld invested with a certain ofHce, whose 
 main duties have been mentioned, and is an object of atten- 
 tion and reverence as holding that oflice. It is the digriity 
 of the commission, which is evidently referred to in all these 
 representations. They plainly have no allusion to the na- 
 ture of his person, or the rank of his being, or his original 
 Station of existence. They suggest no subtle discussions 
 
30 JESUS THE MESSIAH. 
 
 concerning his essence and attributes. They are satisfied 
 with pointing him out to us as one ordained to accomplish 
 the most beneficent purposes of heaven, and for this reason 
 demanding the taith and obedience of man. 
 
 Let us, then, be satisfied with knowing and holding this ; 
 for it is all which the Scriptures have made essential on the 
 point, or of which they seem anxious to persuade us. It 
 has happened indeed, that men have ever been solicitous 
 to ascertain something further, and have persuaded them- 
 selves that a very positive decision is necessary on points 
 relating, not only to the authority, but to the nature of 
 Jesus. Perhaps it is not to be expected that we should be 
 free from all solicitude on this subject. But whatever our 
 solicitude may be, it should never blind us to the fact, that 
 it is the receiving of Jesus in the offices and relations to 
 which the Father has appointed him, which the Scriptures 
 make the essential thing ; and no decision of ours on more 
 intricate and curious questions can affect our christian 
 claim, if they do not affect our faith and obedience on this 
 great point. If w^e truly hold this, all our knowledge on 
 other questions could add nothing to our conviction of the 
 certainty and obligation of his truth, or to the support and 
 comfort of our faith. Because, in any case, he that re- 
 ceives him, receives the Father who sent him, and he that 
 rejects him, rejects the Fadier. His doctrines and his 
 promises, his precepts and his threatenings, have divine 
 authority ; and in no case could they have more. His 
 life has accomplished all, which it was in any case designed 
 to accomplish, and his death has all the efficacy, which it 
 pleased God to appoint it to have. To what purpose then 
 our anxiety to ascertain the mystery of his nature f Why 
 fancy it essential to understand the secret of his being ? 
 When we receive Jesus as the Messiah, we know that we 
 receive him as we are commanded to receive him. It is 
 the good profession of Peter and of Martha ; it drew the 
 express commendation of their Lord ; it is that for which 
 the Apostles argued, and on which the early churches were 
 founded ; and why should we suffer ourselves to be per- 
 plexed by the contentions ai^d mysteries of later ages, when 
 
JESUS THE MESSIAH. 31 
 
 we may find rest in that simple doctrine, which gladdened 
 the hearts of the first disciples, and secured the unity of 
 the primitive body ? 
 
 2. For the same reasons, the profession of this faith by 
 others should be sufficient ground of accounting them 
 christians and admitting them to fellowship. So the Apos- 
 tles thought and practised, and we have no right to depart 
 from their example. Indeed if we do not stop here, it is 
 difficult to say where we may stop. If we may add one 
 to the article, which they have declared essential to the 
 christian uame and fellowship, how many may we not add ^ 
 We should learn a caution from tlie history of the church ; 
 for this proneness to increase the catalogue of fundamental 
 truths, has been a most fruitful source of confusion and 
 misery. Every generation and every separate body has 
 some peculiar m.ode of viewing religious truth, and some 
 favorite doctrine of its own, which it soon magnifies into a 
 matter of essential importance, and expects to find in all 
 who profess to be Christians. It is forthwith added to the 
 list of fundamentals, and made part of the standard to 
 which all must conform. Tiiis conformity to a various 
 and many colored system has been the attempt of all ages. 
 To secure it, the peace of the church has been sacrificed, 
 the rights of conscience and man trampled upon, and op- 
 pressions exercised in the name of Christ, which might 
 disgrace the most savage tyranny that has ever warred 
 against human peace. And all to what purpose : To 
 secure a uniformity of belief in a multiplicity of articles ; a 
 thing which never has been, and which, it is time for us to 
 know, never can be effected, while God is pleased to allow 
 to men liberty of conscience ; and to coerce conscience is 
 a crime, which always has been, and ever must be, attended 
 with misery. But leave the conscience free, and set up 
 no faith beyond that which Jesus demanded and Peter 
 professed, then the divisions of Christendom might end, and 
 * the broken churches be healed.' That uniformity, which 
 has been hitherto sought for by compulsion and fire, will 
 spring up spontaneously as soon as believers shall think it 
 sufficient to honor a common master in his favorite and 
 distinctive office. 
 
32 JESUS THE MESSIAH. 
 
 Undoubtedly other articles belong to the christian sys- 
 tem, and he who has received this, will learn them of his 
 Master. What is to be insisted upon is, that we have no 
 right to dictate on the subject, nor to reject any one who 
 holds this, on the ground that he has understood some of 
 his Lord's instructions in a different sense from our under- 
 standing of them. ' By taking Jesus to be the Messiah, he 
 is made a subject of his kingdom ; that iS; a Christian. To 
 say that an explicit knowledge of, and actual obedience to, 
 all the laws of his kingdom, is what is required to make 
 him a subject ; is what was never said of any other king- 
 dom. A man must be a subject, before he is bound to 
 obey ;'* and he is bound to obey the Lord of the kingdom, 
 and not his fellow^ subjects. ' He stands or falls to his 
 own master.' How shall we dare to exclude any one 
 from the title and privileges of his reign, because he will 
 not substitute some other for the simple profession of Peter ? 
 How shall we dare to say, you shall not pass over the 
 Jordan of life, because you cannot utter the complicated 
 Shibboleth that we have framed ? 
 
 S. In the last place, those who receive Jesus as the 
 IVIessiah, acknowledge him to be their teacher and supreme 
 guide in religion and duty, from whose authority there lies 
 no appeal. ' All things,' he says, ' are committed to me 
 by my Father ;' ' neither came 1 of myself, but he sent 
 me.' He is presented to the attention of men, not as one 
 whom they would do wisely to accept, but whom also they 
 are at liberty to refuse. For such is the commission he 
 bears, that they cannot refuse him, without rejecting the 
 Father who sent him. ' He that honoreth not the Son 
 honoreth not the Father.' In regard to other teachers, it 
 is optional with us to learn of them or not. We may be- 
 come their disciples if we please ; but there is no obliga- 
 tion to become so. We may read their volumes, if we 
 please ; but, if we please, we may neglect them. But not 
 so in regard to God's anointed. Such are his pretensions, 
 concerning. whom a voice came from heaven, 'This is my 
 
 * See Locke's Second Vindication, Works, fol. ii, G25. The form of 
 the sentence is a little varied to suit it to the connexion. 
 
JESUS THE MESSIAH. 33 
 
 beloved son, hear him ;' that if we turn to him a deaf 
 and prejudiced ear, it is at the peril of our souls. It is in 
 a manner the essence of his office, that it has clothed him 
 with a divine right over us. Whether we will hear, or 
 whether we will forhear, that right exists, and his message 
 is the message of God. He is our master, and guide, and 
 king, and we cannot escape the obligation to follow his 
 instructions and obey his laws. There must be no inter- 
 ference with his authority, no hesitation in our allegiance, 
 no partial compliance with his requisitions. But at all 
 times, in all places, in all concerns ; in the cares of life, 
 and in the purposes of the heart ; in the duties of the world, 
 and in the preparation for death ; his doctrine must be our 
 supreme law, and his precepts our only path. 
 
 Let us be persuaded, my dear brethren, to know and to 
 feel this. Let the impression sink deeply in our hearts, 
 that the moral sway of Christ extends, without exception, 
 to all we are, and purpose, and do, and hope. Let us 
 feel — and oh that we might act upon the feeling — that in 
 him we have a friend, sent to us from God, that he may 
 lead us to heaven. As such let us acknowledge and wel- 
 come him. Tlie anthems of angels announce his nativity ; 
 the voice of God bears witness at his baptism ; the powers 
 of nature wait upon him and obey him while he lives, they 
 are shaken and convulsed when he dies ; the grave refuses 
 to retain him, and his resurrection declares him to be the 
 Son of God with power. He sends forth his light and 
 truth, and the moral darkness of the world is dissipated. 
 The temples of superstition fall, the halls of false philosophy 
 are deserted, the humble and neglected are elevated to 
 dignity and hope, the troubled are made acquainted with 
 peace, the contrite are foigiven, and the dying smile with 
 hope. 'Old things are passed away, and behold all is 
 become new.' Happy are they, who have eyes to see, 
 and ears to hear, and hearts to (ee\, what the grace of God 
 h.is thus accomplished for the children of men ! Happy 
 they, who are partakers of this moral regeneration ! who 
 know, ii'oiii persouai experience, tlie worth of these mes- 
 
 4 
 
34 JESUS THE MESSIAH. 
 
 sages of life, and the joy and peace they impart to the 
 believing. But miserable they, who have no sense of the 
 greatest work which has been wrought upon our world ; 
 who have no share in that joy which tunes the voices of 
 heaven, and changes tlie face of earth. Unhappy men ! 
 who see it all, and yet perceive it not ; who hear it all, and 
 yet understand it not ; who have thus shut themselves out 
 from the most elevated happiness of earth, and the sub- 
 limest, the only satisfying prospects, which are offered to 
 the human soul. ' Oh, that they were wise ; that they 
 would understand this 5 that they would consider their latter 
 end!' 
 
DISCOURSE III. 
 
 SJUFFICIENCY AND EFFICACY OF FAITH IN THE 
 
 MESSIAH. 
 
 1 John v. 5. 
 
 WJio is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is 
 
 the Son of God. 
 
 To receive Jesus as the Son of God, the appointed 
 Messiah, is, we have already seen, to receive him in the 
 character in which he is especially revealed, and with the 
 profession which he himself declared sufficient. It is the 
 primary and fundamental article of the system, in which, 
 however they may otherwise differ, all believers are agreed, 
 and which all may find sufficient who will receive it in the 
 true spirit. For small and simple as it may appear, it 
 comprises 'the wisdom of God and the power of God,' 
 and has that efficacy w^hich shall 'overcome the world.' 
 
 It is sometimes howev^er, thought inconceivable, that 
 belief in a proposition apparently so inadequate should pro- 
 duce such vast effects. When we hear with what energy 
 the gospel operates, and what extensive effects it is de- 
 signed to produce ; we fancy there must be some exten- 
 sive, complicated, wonderful machinery; and with a ready 
 feeling of incredulity we object, that so simple a statement 
 of the christian faith must be wholly feeble and inefficient. 
 
 To this objection, which indeed may seem plausible, I 
 will first offer a reply, and then attempt to describe the ope- 
 ration of this principle so as to prove that it is not deficient 
 in ener2;y. 
 
36 SUFFICIENCV AND EFFICACY 
 
 The objection proceeds on a wrong assumption. It pre- 
 sumes that we are capable of deciding beforehand what 
 fl^ilh would be sufficient or insufficient for the purposes of 
 religion, and that we are at liberty to receive or reject ac- 
 cording to the estimate of our own judgment. But certain- 
 ly we are not to trust our own antecedent judgment in a 
 case like this. The christian system is not an invention of 
 ours, neither can we control the power it may exert, or 
 determine the consequences that may flow from it. Tiie 
 whole is dependent on that divine authority by which it has 
 been communicated tons. It is matter of revelation and 
 command ; and if this simple faith be written in its records, 
 we have no right to interpose our judgment, and say it must 
 be insufficient. If the express declaration of Scripture be, 
 that it shall 'overcome the world,' we have no right to step 
 forward and allege that it is impossible. 
 
 Besides ; why should we imagine it inadequate to the 
 purposes for which it is ordained f Is it not the manner of 
 God to bring about great effects from apparently feeble 
 causes.^ It is so in every part of his works. His mightiest 
 rivers, which roll over immense regions and bear the fertil- 
 izing influence of his providence to cities and nations — are 
 collected by him from the drops that trickle from the rocks 
 of the mountains, and the vapors that fall in dew upon their 
 sides. His tremendous forests, that cover continents with 
 their shade, are reared by him from a few seeds, so small 
 that the wind blows them about as it were in sport. The 
 countless multitudes of his children, who have acted and 
 been happy on this stage of being, and are to crowd the hab- 
 itations of eternity with life and bliss — were gi'adually collect- 
 ed from the few particles of dust which composed the first 
 man's frame. So true it is, that he displays his power and 
 scatters his blessings, by the operation of small means, 
 raliicr than by large exertions, gradually, rather than sud- 
 denly. So true it is, that in all his ways, 'God chooses 
 the weak things of the world to confound those that are 
 mighty.' Why then should it be thought incredible thai 
 this simple truth, Jesus is the Christ, should be that which 
 is to justify and sanctify, and save a miserable world : 
 
OF FAITH IN THE MESSIAH. 37 
 
 Small it may be, and insignificant it may seem to man's 
 perverted vision ; but it may be all powerful in His hands, 
 who has caused a few Galilean peasants to change the face 
 of empires, and is able even of the stones to raise up chil- 
 dren to Abraham. 
 
 This objection is also sometimes urged through a misun- 
 derstanding of the actual state of the question. It is argued 
 against, as if we had asserted this to be the whole, as well 
 as the foundation of Christianity ; as if we made no account 
 of the building that is to be raised upon it; as if we incul- 
 cated a ' faith without works.' But this misapprehension 
 might be easily removed. If one should say, that die root 
 is the essential part of the tree, he would not be supposed 
 to mean that the branches and fruit are of no value ; and if 
 one should carefully plant the root in his ground, we should 
 take it for granted, that he desired, and would cherish, the 
 branches and fruit. So it is in the christian system. 
 When we call this doctrine the essential article, we do not 
 undervalue all others, nor declare that there is none other. 
 But we mean, that if this be faithfully planted and take root 
 in the man, the rest of the system will grow from it, and 
 the fruits of the spirit be borne upon its branches. And 
 therefore we say, that if we see a man earnestly cultivating 
 this, it should be satisfactory evidence to us that he is a 
 disciple, deserving our charity and fellowsiiip. We have 
 no right to discard him because his trunk leans a little to 
 another direction from our own, nor because the branches 
 are a little more or a little less numerous. If they bear 
 fruit, well ; we may judge from that, whether the root have 
 been well planted and whether the tree be good. 
 
 Consider then, the natural operation and direct tendency 
 of this principle. One believes, sincerely and religiously, 
 that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Now I ask, is it 
 possible for him to stop here, and no consequences to fol- 
 low .'' If he do not believe it sincerely and religiously — if he 
 take it only as any other historical truth, but not as having 
 more concern with himself than the fact that Alexander 
 was a conqueror, or Xerxes a king of Persia, tlien undoubt- 
 jcdly he may stop at the barren assent. But if, as i said, 
 4* 
 
38 SUFFICIENCY AND EFflCACY 
 
 he believe it sincerely and religiously, is it not impossible 
 that he should rest here ? For what is implied in such a 
 belief.^ A belief in God, the Supreme Governor and 
 Fatlier, who had for ages spoken of that Messiali by his 
 prophets, and whose purposes he w^as sent to fulfil — a belief 
 in his character, authority, purposes, and will as the moral 
 ruler of men — a belief that all the instruction of Jesus rests 
 on the authority of God, and a consequent reception of 
 whatever he teaches, as the true doctrine of religion ; a 
 belief that the way of acceptance and life is revealed by him, 
 and that to disregard and disobey him, is to disregard the 
 authority of God, and to subject ourselves to his displeas- 
 ure to whom we are accountable at last. The mind of 
 him who religiously believes that Jesus is the Christ, can- 
 not escape these consequences. They are momentous, 
 they are affecting, they are practical consequences. They 
 touch the springs of action, they agitate him with hope and 
 fear, they teach him that he has an infinite interest at stake, 
 thev make him anxious for his eternal destiny. He feels 
 that here he is bound by obligations which cannot be 
 broken ; that there is but one path left him, that of implicit 
 submission to the instructions of this heavenly messenger, 
 and a life of devotion, repentance and holiness. Since it 
 were an insane inconsistency, to acknowledge this power- 
 ful truth, and yet live disregardful of its authority and unin- 
 fluenced by its requisitions. 
 
 It is to be considered, also, that this faith is something 
 more, much more, than mere belief, inasmuch as the idea 
 of confidence or trust, makes an essential part of it. To 
 believe that Jesus is the Son of God, is to have confidence 
 m him as such. IMany examples might be adduced in 
 which this sense is most obviously implied : as where our 
 Lord says, ' Let not your heart be troubled ; ye believe in 
 God, believe also in me.' In these expressions is manifest- 
 ly intended confidence, trust. Indeed nothing can be plain- 
 er, than thit there can be no real religious faith, without im- 
 plicit trust in its object. And accordingly, all the exam- 
 ples of faith, which the apostle has collected in his eleventh 
 chapter to the llebievvs — Abraham and Moses, the prophets 
 
OF FAITH IN THE MESSIAH. 39 
 
 and the martyrs, — ai'e indisputably examples of confidence 
 in divine providence, trust in divine promises. And the 
 faith by which the christian, like tljose ancient worthies, is 
 to overcome the wojld, is in like manner constituted of firm 
 unreserved trust. 
 
 In this manner, then, a true reception of Jesus and trust 
 in him, as the commissioned Messiah, the authorized Teach- 
 er, the appointed Legislator and Guide, inevitably leads to 
 the christian graces; they are the legitimate and necessary 
 consequences. If such a faith exist, it cannot stand alone ; 
 it must, it will, pervade and influence ilie soul, it will be 
 seen and felt in the thoughts, the sentiments, the desires, 
 the dispositions, the actions. It is not itseli' the whole ; but 
 it gives life to the whole. Every principle, necessary to 
 the christian system and to acceptance with God, is con- 
 nected with it and flows from it. 
 
 There are one or tw^o passages in close connexion with 
 that of our text, which confirm this estimate of its moral effi- 
 cacy. In the fifteenth verse of the preceding chapter, it 
 is written — ' Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son 
 of God, God dwelieth in him and he in God.' What strong- 
 er assertion could we desire.^ And how can we fancy any 
 weakness in that faith, to which the aposde bears the 
 strong testimony, that God is in him who professes it, and 
 he in God ^ 
 
 Again he says, ' Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the 
 Christ, is born of God.' What further testimony could be 
 desired to the efficacy of this faith ? He who truly pos- 
 sesses it, is regenerate, is become one of the adopted fam- 
 ily of God, one of the household of heaven; and thus in 
 him the very purpose of the christian dispensation is accom- 
 plished. 
 
 The same apostle tells us, that the very object of 
 wrifing his Book of the Gospel, v/as, to establish the faith 
 ' that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believ- 
 ing they might have life through his name.' Words cannot 
 more distinctly state the necessary article of faith, or more 
 decidedly assert its efficacy. Who can account it insuffi- 
 cient, when John declares that it opens the doors of life ^ 
 
40 SUFFICIENCY AND EFFICACY 
 
 Add to these, the words of our text — ' Who is he that 
 ov^ercometh the world, but lie that believeth that Jesus is 
 the Son of God ?' 1 ask therefore again, what further can 
 we desire? What stronger testimony can be given to the 
 strength of tliis principle r* If it be sufficient to overcome 
 the world, to give life through his name, to effect the chris- 
 tian regeneration, and a spiritual union with God ; to what 
 purpose can it be insufficient, to what work unequal ? If 
 this faith be weak, what faitli shall be called strong ? 
 
 Having thus established from various considerations, the 
 sufficiency of the principle laid down in our text ; let us fur- 
 ther illustrate the subject by inquiring ia what manner it 
 operates so as to secure this effect. 
 
 It operates by strengthe-nng tiie soul with such princi- 
 ples, and filling it with such resources, that it does not need 
 the world for its happiness, but is capable of being happy 
 independently of it. Tiie world ruins a man by its temp- 
 tations to sin, because he foolishly imagines indulgence 
 in sin necessary to his happiness. The world makes 
 a man miserable by its uncertainties and calamities, be- 
 cause he has set his heart upon its prosperity to make 
 him happy. If it were not so, if he had provided sufficient 
 sources of happiness in things independent of a sinful and 
 changing world ; then he certainly would not run into these 
 destructive indulgences, nor wreck his peace by trusting to 
 the deceitful joys of life. And this is precisely the work 
 of Faiih. It furnishes him with other means and resources 
 of felicity, so rich, so abundant, that he has no \\ec{\ to 
 draw upon sin or pleasure, and therefore is not corrupted 
 by them, nor made wretched by temporal losses. 
 
 This may be better understood, perhaps, by observing 
 the same thing in otiier examples. It is very observable, 
 in the experience of life, that different iricn, equally eager 
 in the pursuit of happiness, place their dependence for 
 happiness in very different things; so that what is al)solute- 
 ly essential to one, may be of no iniportance to another, 
 because his affections lie elsewhere. For example : here 
 is one, who pursues sensual indulgence, lives for his appe- 
 tites, and is wretched ii" they be restrained. Here is ano- 
 
OF FAITH IN THE MESSIAH. 41 
 
 iher, wlio regards property as the chief good, and being 
 wholly devoted to its acquisition, passes by with suprenje 
 indilierence tliose indulgences whicli are essential to the 
 other. Here is a third, who is solicitous for nothing hut 
 the acquisition of knowledge and literary eminence, who 
 feels that for himself happiness can be found only in retire- 
 ment and study; and he would feel small disturbance at a 
 reverse of fortune afFcicting him in other respects. Instances 
 of this sort are of daily observation — where one man pur- 
 sues with the extremest earnestness, and loses with tlie 
 deepest affliction, what another would think worth no pains 
 to acquire, and would relinquish without a sisjh. This 
 depends entirely upon what each had persuaded ijimself to 
 be essential to his happiness. The loss of the merest triile, 
 if he have accounted it essential to his happiness, may rack 
 him with intolerable pangs. The heaviest calamity, if he 
 have placed his happiness elsewhere, may scarcely cost 
 liini a tear. Ahab, the 2:reat king of Israel, had set his 
 heart upon an insignificant vineyard, and because he could 
 not obtain it, thought himself too wretched to live. But 
 Paul the Apostle, ' suffered the loss of all tilings,' and gave 
 them up cheerfully, because to none of them had he trusted 
 for happiness, but his w^iole soul w^as absorbed in some- 
 thing else. 
 
 This explains to us the pow'er of Faith, and shows the 
 secret of its operation. If avarice is able to overcome sen- 
 suality, so that the miser is scrupulously temperate ; if the 
 love of learning can overcome the love of pleasure, so that 
 the student will deny himself even to the loss of health ; ii 
 the desire of distinction will overcome the love of ease, and 
 of friends, and every other affection, so that the ambitious 
 conqueror will live on a long life of hardship, privation, and 
 danger, because his only happiness is to be great ; — then. 
 I ask, do you not understand how the noble and celestial 
 princi])le of Faith, may overcome all these; yea, may 
 * overcome the world ?' Do you not see how this mighty 
 principle — which extends to things infinite, and glories im- 
 measurable, and ages that cannot end — may become a 
 utTLiNG PASSION in the soul ; may open a fountain of felic- 
 
4^ SUFFICIENCY AND EFFICACY 
 
 ity which sliall mnke all others tasteless ; may offer to 
 inquiring man an honor and peace, in possessing which 
 he shall think himscli' more than recompensed for the loss 
 of all others? As ttje mother — who once, in the young 
 hour of beauty and enjoyment, sailed round the giddy 
 circle of pleasure, and could imagine no happiness of life 
 but in the party and the dance, in admiration and gaiety; 
 but now, with her little charge about her, rarely goes from 
 home, and is satisfied to sit by them night and day, so 
 changed that she regrets no enjoyments abroad, and feels 
 not a desire to partake what was once her only pleasure — 
 so he that is wedded to heavenly faith, absorbed in its new 
 and purer employments and satisfactions, sees nothing to 
 regret in the forbidden things of the world ; is not unrea- 
 sonably troubled by its cares, nor tempted by its seductions, 
 nor ovenvhelmed by its disappointments; — he has pleas- 
 ures independent of it, in the brightness and excellence of 
 which, all others are dim, and in the enjoyment of which, 
 the loss of others is unregretted. 
 
 Superiority to natural and temporal evil is not the chief 
 purpose of the gospel, and yet, it is a common thing in the 
 New Testament to declare, that the disciples shall be de» 
 hvered from, it, and unaffected by it. Our Lord, for 
 example, commands his followers not to be anxious con- 
 cerning their food and clothing, or the evils of poverty, 
 nakedness and want ; promising that if they seek the king- 
 dom of God and its righteousness, all needful good will be 
 added thereto — which is certainly a promise of deliverance 
 from these temporal evils. So also he promises that ' every 
 one who hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or 
 father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, lor my 
 name's sake, shall receive an hundred fold, and shall 
 inherit everlasting life.' Here too is a large promise of 
 deliverance from temporal evil. What was intended by 
 these promises ? That they should actually never suffer 
 want, but live in abundance ? That they should actually 
 receive a hundred fold more of house and lands and 
 other possessions ? No one s;i})poses it. What then did 
 our Lord mean ? We may ascertain this point by inquir- 
 
OF FAITH IN THE MESSIAH. 43 
 
 ing, why such possessions are so desirable, and why lo be 
 deprived of them is such an evil. Tiie single reason is, 
 that they are esteemed necessary to happiness. If then a 
 man can be just as happy without them, it is no longer an 
 evil to him to be deprived of them. If the want of them 
 do not make him unhappy, it is not an evil to him to want 
 them. The want of luxury and ease is no evil to the con- 
 tented peasant, who has always lived in exposure, hardship, 
 and labor, though it would be insutFerable to the nobleman, 
 who has been accustomed to fare sumptuously every day. 
 So, likewise, if one receive a full and fair equivaleiit for 
 the good of which he is deprived, he does not regard that 
 privation as an evil. The enthusiast, who abandons for- 
 tune, prosperity, and friends for the solitude and devotion 
 of a monastery, conceives himself to have received a fidl 
 equivalent for his sacrifice, and it is therefoie to him no 
 evil. And let a man's privations be what tliey niay, to him 
 they are no calamity, so long as he feels that they are I'ully 
 compensated to him. 
 
 It is on this principle, and through the compensating 
 power of Faith, that we are enabled to understand our 
 Lord's promises respecting temporal evils. He does not 
 mean that his followers shall receive a hundred fold in 
 Icind, but in happiness ; that is to say, they shall find that 
 the happiness and hope of true religion, are more tlian a 
 balance for their sufferings and privations ; so that they 
 would a hundred times rather endure these, than relinquish 
 their ))rofession in order to be free from them. This is 
 perfectly obvious and true — as true now, as when it was 
 uttered by our Lord. Why do we desire worldly good, 
 and flee worldly evil ^ Because we desire happiness. 
 But if religion warrants to us happiness independent of 
 worldly good, and in spite of worldly evil, then we have 
 what we desire ; then our faith overcomes the world. 
 That it does this, there are ' clouds of witnesses.' The 
 apostles and martyrs, who endured all things, and in the 
 midst of all ' sang praise to God ;' and humbler christians, 
 in the depths of poverty and distress, yet cheeriul, content, 
 and rejoicing ; men, injured, threatened, persecuted; yet 
 
44 SUFFICIENCY AND EFFICACY 
 
 patient, serene, and uncomplaining, while they can appeal 
 to Him wlio juHges righteously ; men, lingering in pninkil 
 sickness, cut off from the engagements of life, their pros- 
 pects blasted, their hopes disappointed, their props torn 
 away — yet not cast down nor dismayed ; but finding in the 
 power of faith and heavenly hope, a compensation lor their 
 trials, and a victory over the world. 
 
 Equally complete is their triumph over spiritual evil. 
 They walk amid the deceitful disguises and fiual ambushes 
 of sin, unseduced and unharmed. Though the passions 
 within ally themselves to the solicitations widiout, and war 
 against their souls ; though the constitution of their bodily 
 frame, and the temper of their mind, the circumstances in 
 which they are thrown, the company which they frequent, 
 and the cares which occupy them ; all combine to intro- 
 duce some disorder into their spirits, to alluie or surprise 
 them to what is wrong, and to array them, even against 
 their wills, in disobedience to God ;- yet, over this fearlul 
 coiubination, against which unassisted man might combat 
 in vain, these men of faith triumph. ' God hath given 
 them the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.' Faith, 
 where its dominion is established in the soul, acts like some 
 superior charm, to quell the inferior nature, and awe the 
 rebellious passions to submission. It brings up to them 
 the image of the glorious master to whom they are bound ; 
 of the holy God, who is watching that he may judge them ; 
 of the future world, whose inheritance depends on their 
 purity ; and of all the misery and horrors, which follow in 
 the train of unsubjected passion and voluntary sin. These 
 press upon their minds, with united and intuitive operation, 
 and with the spontaneous indignation of the patriarch they 
 put the temptation to flight with the cry, ' How can I do 
 this great wickedness, and sin against God.' 
 
 We perceiv^e, then, the power of Faith. It is a practi- 
 cal principle, resting on the basis of a simple truth. It is a 
 moral principle, swaying the affections and will; not barely 
 a conviction of the uuderstanding, but a feeling persuasion, 
 an unwrouglit s(.Mitiment of the heart. It is confidence, trust, 
 reliance, oa one who has divine authority, and on whom it 
 
OF FAITH IN THE MESSIAH.. 45 
 
 is infinitely for our interest to lean. It excludes from the 
 mind the power of inferior principles and motives, and for- 
 tifies it against the attacks of external calamity. 
 
 We may learn from this, my brethren, how to try and 
 prove our own faith, and when to be satisfied with it. We 
 may learn not to estimate its value by the number of pro- 
 positions of which it is compounded, but by the spirit with 
 which we embrace it, and the power it exercises over us. 
 The question is not, Do we lay stress on a multitude of 
 fundamental articles ? Are we skilful to discriminate the 
 shades of difference between error and truth upon subjects 
 of intricacy and controversy f Do we love to be occupied 
 in mysterious musings, and to be involved in contemplation 
 of deep and perplexing inquiries ? These are not the 
 marks of a saving faith. But the question rather is, have 
 we acknowledged Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, so 
 heartily, that he is really and habitually our master, and 
 that his authority rules and controls us in all things f so 
 that this faith works by love, purifies our hearts, and over- 
 comes the world ^ Is it the parent of holy desires, pure 
 dispositions, good living, and earnest aspirations after the 
 excellence and bliss of heaven .'' It is for these qualities 
 that faith is valuable. It is by these that it works out our 
 salvation. It is this efficacy in reforming, purifying, eleva- 
 ting, spiritualizing the human character, that constitutes the 
 glory of the gospel. When it has done this, it has accom- 
 plished its great work. If it be doing this for us, w^e may 
 be satisfied that our faith is neither fatally erroneous, nor 
 weak. But if it be pure as that of angels, and yet do not 
 display this moral power, it is no better than * sounding 
 brass, and a tinkling cymbal.' 
 
DISCOURSE IV. 
 
 JESUS THE MEDIATOR. 
 
 1 Timothy, ii. 5. 
 
 t'or there is one God, and one Mediator bettoeen God and men — the 
 
 man Christ Jesus. 
 
 There are few passages of scripture in which a doctrine 
 is expressed more distinctly and unequivocally than in this. 
 It states, in terms, which do not admit of misconstruction, 
 the great fundamental article of all religion, that there is 
 * one God j' and the prime truth of revealed religion, that 
 there is 'one mediator between God and men.' It speaks 
 of them as separate beings, distinct in nature, divei'se in 
 office, and not to be confounded together. It intimates no 
 mysterious union of natures, by which the mediator is God 
 as well as man, and the supreme Deity is mediator between 
 himself and his creatures. But simply declares the plain, 
 intelligible facts, that ' there is one God, and one Mediator 
 between God and men, tlie man Christ Jesus.' 
 
 The Apostle is thought to be referring in these words, to 
 the opinions of the Jews, to whose notions and feelings there 
 is frequent tacit allusion in aii his writings. Th«y prided 
 themselves in their ancient claim to be God's people ; they 
 fancied him to be exclusively their God, and the privileges 
 of revelation to be confined to themselves. But the apos- 
 tle in the preceding verses tells them, no — ' God will have 
 all to be saved,' Gentiles as well as Jews, ' and come to 
 the knowledge of the truth ;"" and then adds in our text, 
 that to Gentile as well as Jew, there is but one and the 
 same God, and to all alike one and the same Mediator. 
 
JESUS THE MEDIATOR. 47 
 
 All preference and distinction is now done away, and the 
 chosen descendants of Israel have no longer any privileges 
 above their brethren of other nations. 
 
 But we have less concern with this allusion of the apostle^ 
 than with the great truth which he inculcates. To the 
 whole family of man, there is but one God — a truth, once 
 strange and heretical, though to our minds so familiar. 
 However separated into tribes, however distinct in history, 
 character, and manners; however cast asunder by the 
 physical boundaries of the globe, or the artificial barriers of 
 society ; however divided by interest or policy, or alienated 
 by traditionary enmity ; still the bond of nature connects 
 them together, they have one Father, and one God hath 
 created them. ' He hath formed of one blood all that 
 dwell upon the face of the earth, and hath appointed the 
 bounds of their habitation.' They have not indeed recog- 
 nised this common and universal Sovereign ; but have be- 
 stowed upon others the honors due to him alone. Super- 
 stition and folly have multiplied the objects of adoration, 
 and peopled heaven and earth and sea with peculiar divin- 
 ities. They have sometimes bowed down to the host of 
 heaven, and sometimes to the monsters of earth, and some- 
 times to the workn^anship of their own hands, and have 
 warily divided their worship between rival gods. But 
 amidst the whole, may be heard the invariable testimony of 
 nature, that the true object of all adoration is but one — one, 
 infinite, independent, mind ; the origin and cause, the sup- 
 port and end, of all other beings and all other things. He 
 that fashioned the resplendent heavens, and rolled abroad 
 their glorious and countless worlds of light; who moulded 
 the beautiful earth, and cast forth the waters of the wonder- 
 ful sea, and peopled all with their innumerable tribes, infi- 
 nitely diversified in structure, in pow ers, and in happiness ; 
 is One, and one only. ' Though there be that are called 
 gods, whether in earth or in heaven — as there are Gods 
 many and Lords many — yet to us there is but one God, 
 the Father, of whom are all tilings, and we in him.* 
 
 This doctrine of the divine unity is essential to true reli- 
 gion. Erring in this, the pagan nations have strayed alike 
 from truth and from moralhv in their religion, and beerl 
 
48 JESUS THE MEDIATOR. 
 
 lost in the most debasing corruptions and the most mischiev- 
 ous superstitions. And it is not strarige that it should have 
 been so ; for the moral character of the religion and of the 
 worshippers will be conformed to that of the object of wor- 
 ship ; and where these are numerous, some of them must 
 be bad. So long as but one infinite object of worship is 
 acknowledged, right reason will teach that He must be 
 all present and all perfect ; but where divinities are multi- 
 plied, as they cannot all be perfect, nor all exercise the 
 same jurisdiction, their varieties of imperfection will of 
 course give countenance to varieties of vice, and a crowd 
 of gods afford shelter to a crowd of sins. So it has proved 
 in the history of the world ; vice and profligacy, irreligion 
 and impiety, have increased with the multiplication of ob- 
 jects of religious homage. Among the chosen people, cor- 
 ruption and immorality crept in with the introduction of 
 subordinate divinities ; and all the vices, which in so great 
 measure destroyed their religious character and made nuga- 
 tory the power of their religious law, may be traced to the 
 demoralizing influence of idolatry. 
 
 Let us then see to it, that we be not led, under any form, 
 or any pretence, to depart from this great principle. It has 
 ever been found the only true basis of piety, the only sufli- 
 cient security of virtue. * Beware lest any man spoil you 
 of this, by philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of 
 men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.' 
 Be jealous over this with a godly jealousy ; remembering 
 that the first of all the commandments is ushered in witli 
 the proclamation, ' Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one 
 Lord !' and that our Master, in solemn prayer, has made 
 the declaration, ' This is life eternal to know Thee, the only 
 true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.' 
 
 And who is Jesus Christ, whom God has sent f 
 
 The doctrine concerning him is expressed in the other 
 clause of our text ; ' and one Mediator between God and 
 men, the man Christ Jesus.' 
 
 Observe here the truth of that divine saying, ' My 
 thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my 
 ways, saith the Lord.' Men have imagined that they could 
 not sufficiently multiply the objects of religious adoratioij, 
 
JESUS THE MEDIATOR. 49 
 
 But in the simplicity of that mighty universe, which man's 
 imagination cannot grasp, there is but one such object. 
 Men have fancied that they could not interpose too many 
 friends anti advocates between their insignificance and the 
 high majesty of heaven ; they have crowded the access 
 with numberless mediators to solicit benediction for them, 
 and have filled churches and altars and cloisters with the 
 images of saints who might pray for them — until the face 
 of the great Supreme has been hidden, and their depend- 
 ance on Him has been forgotten. But the simplicity of 
 God's government rejects this crowd of suitors, whom man 
 would thrust forward to shelter his weakness, and appoints 
 ONE mediator between himself and his offspring — one, to 
 be the medium of his communications to them, and of their 
 approaches to him. There is One on the throne, and One 
 before the throne. When the supplicant draws nigh, his de- 
 votion is neither doubtful nor distracted. He knows that 
 there is but One to be addressed ; he feels that there is 
 but One by whom he may obtain access ; and his soul is 
 absorbed in a single undivided act of trust and praise. 
 
 The title of Mediator is in four several passages ascribed 
 to Jesus in the New Testament. In order to understand 
 clearly its import, we must consider that a Mediator is one 
 who acts between two persons or parties. He is the medi- 
 um between them, the medium of intercourse or communi- 
 cation. And as such an one, among men, is needed, not 
 in the ordinary current of affairs, but on occasions of differ- 
 ence or dissension ; it has happened that the name is most 
 usually given in the sense of a peace-maker, or one who 
 effects reconciliation. In this sense it is doubtless applica- 
 ble to our Lord ; for one important object of his mission 
 and religion is to reconcile men to God ; that is, to render 
 them his friends by doing away their dislike to his holy 
 law, and uniting them to him in love and obedience. 
 Hence God is said ' to be in Christ reconciling the world to 
 himself.' And to this end, it is written, ' it pleased the 
 Father that in him should all fulness dwell, and, having 
 made peace by the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile 
 all things to himself.' 
 5* 
 
50 JESUS THE MEDIATOa. 
 
 It is not, however, in this sense only, but in a more eX* 
 tended sense, that we ar^ to understand this title ; as indi- 
 cating, not only one who makes peace, but one who, in a 
 general sense, is the medium of communication betiveen God 
 and men. This is the meaning which the word bears in 
 the New Testament. Thus Paul says, speaking of the 
 law, [Gal. iii. 19.] ' it was ordained by angels, in the hand 
 of a mediator.' What is meant by Moses being thus called 
 the mediator of the law, may be learned from his own 
 language in speaking of the same transaction ; [Deut. v. 5.] 
 ' I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to show 
 you the word of the Lord.'"^ In this instance the name is 
 manifestly given him, not in the restricted sense of a peace- 
 maker, but in that of his being the medium of communica- 
 tion. In no other sense is it applied to Moses. 
 
 It is obviously in the same sense applied to Christ in the 
 epistle to the Hebrews [viii. 6.] where he is styled ' the 
 Mediator of a better covenant, established upon better 
 promises,' than that of Moses. Now as Moses was Medi- 
 ator of the ancient covenant, inasmuch as through him it 
 was communicated to the people ; it must be in the same 
 sense, that Jesus is called the ' Mediator of a better cove- 
 nant.' 
 
 This example serves to define and settle the term in its 
 application to our Lord, and teaches us how to understand 
 it in the other passages in which it occurs. Thus when 
 the apostle contrasts the mildness of the new dispensation 
 with the terrors which accompanied the introduction of the 
 old, [Heb. xii. 24.] he mentions ' Jesus, the Mediator of 
 the new covenant;' evidently as the chosen messenger of 
 love by whom it was brought. 
 
 In the same sense we are to understand him, [Heb. ix. 
 15.] where he speaks of the Mediator as having died that 
 he nrught certify the new covenant and render it * of force ;' 
 as all testaments he adds, are required to be ratified with 
 blood. So also are we to interpret die title in our text. It 
 has pleased God to have intercourse with his creatures, to 
 
 * Hoc est, eram vester /uttrnns, interpree, internuncius, Dei ad vqb 
 Jegatus, Hchulz ; in loc. 
 
JESUS THE MEDIATOR. 51 
 
 establish w'th them a covenant, and pledge to thera his pro- 
 mises. He, tl)rough whose instrumentality this is done, is for 
 that reason called 'the Mediator between God and men.' 
 
 * The law came by Moses,' who was thus mediator of the 
 old covenant ; * but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ,' 
 who was thus mediator of the new. By the same channel 
 of mediation God has also appointed that his offspring shall 
 have access to him, through him ' come to the Father,' and 
 
 * in his name,' address their praises and supplications. ' I 
 am the way, and the truth, and the life ; no man cometh 
 unto the Father but by me.' 
 
 There are thus two divisions under which the office of 
 mediator presents itself; the one as bringing down to men 
 the messages of God, the other as bearing up to God the 
 oiFerings of men. 
 
 In regard to the first, it has been well observed by a pro- 
 found and celebrated writer, that the whole system of the 
 divine administration toward man is a system of mediation; 
 and that the mediatorial office of Christ is therefore analo- 
 gous to the whole economy of the divine dispensations. 
 'The visible government which God exercises over the 
 world, is by the instrumentality and mediation of others.' 
 
 ' We find by experience that God does appoint medi- 
 ators, to be the instruments of good and evil to us, the in- 
 struments of his judgment and his mercy.'* As far as we 
 can observe, this method is universal. He rules his crea- 
 tures, not by speaking to them with his own voice, not by 
 touching them with his own finger, but through the medium 
 of other beings and inferior agents. Men are created, not 
 by an express and direct exertion of the forming Power, 
 but are brought into being through the medium of parents. 
 Life is supported, not by the immediate energy of the 
 Almighty, but by ^the subordinate provisions of labor and 
 food ; and this food is sent not directly from God, like the 
 manna in the desert, but by the circuitous operation of sun- 
 shine and rain, and a multitude of established natural 
 causes. When he would bless, he raises up human bene- 
 factors ; when he would rebuke, he rouses human enemies. 
 He bestowed his favors on Israel through the minisUy oi 
 
 * Butler's Analogy^ Part II. chap, 5. 
 
52 JESUS THE MEDIATOR. 
 
 Moses, Joshua, David, and Cyrus; he inflicted punishment 
 for their crimes by tlie hands of the Philistines, the Assyri- 
 ans, the Babylonians, and the Romans. 
 
 When therefore we are told, that in tlie afKiirs of salva- 
 tion, there is a ' Mediator between God and men,' we 
 are taught what is perfectly coincident with the uniform 
 method of divine procedure ; we behold ' a beautiful anal- 
 ogy, in a very considerable and important point, between 
 the settled method of God's natural providence, and the 
 extraordinary operations of his grace.'* As in the natural 
 so in the spiritual world, we discern the agency of God 
 only through the action of second causes. We behold his 
 glory, not in its own essential refulgence, but ' in the face 
 of Jesus Christ.' We receive ' all spiritual blessings in 
 heavenly things,' through Christ ; through him ' come 
 grace and truth;' through him Ms the kindness of God 
 toward us ;' through him is ' repentance and the remission 
 of sins ;' ' peace with God,' and ' the gift of eternal life.' In 
 a word, whatever we have received pertaining to life and 
 godliness, is derived to us from God through him. It is he, 
 coming from God, who has taught us all that we know^, and 
 made certain all that we hope. Except in him, we have 
 no provision of light and strength, no secure principle of 
 virtue, no assurance of clemency and grace. The com- 
 munications of God are the foundation on which we rest ; 
 and they have been made through the mediation of his son. 
 The second division of this doctrine implies, that Christ 
 is also the channel through which men are to hold inter- 
 course with God. ' As all the distinguishing spiritual ben- 
 efits, which we enjoy, have been conferred upon us through 
 Christ; so our services and sacrifices, which we are ena- 
 bled to perform and offer, should be presented to God the 
 Father in and through him.'f It was his direction to the 
 aposdes, that they should ask ' in his name.' The apos- 
 tles enjoined it on the churches, to approach God in praise 
 and prayer, in thanksgiving and confession, ' through him,' 
 * by him,' and ' in his name.' The injunction has ever 
 
 * James Foster, 
 t Lardner's Sermon on John xvi. 24. 
 
JESUS THE MEDIATOR. 53 
 
 been observed ; and the constant devotions of believers 
 ascend to God through Jesus Christ. Thry come to the 
 mercy seat, not in their own name, but in that of the 
 Mediator, and hope to be heard because they come through 
 him. 
 
 As this is the prescribed and f;amiliar form of prayer, il 
 is important to understand what is intended by it ; since, if 
 we would have it done acceptably, it must be done intelli- 
 gently. Let us inquire, therefore, what is implied in pray- 
 ing ' through Christ,' or 'in the name of Christ.' 
 
 It is not intended, we may first of all remark, that we 
 are not to come to God directly, and address him person- 
 ally ; but quite the contrary. ' Ye shall ask me nothing,' 
 said our Lord ; ' but whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in 
 my name, he will give it you.' The express doctrine of 
 his religion is, that men shall address the Father, and the 
 Father only. And therefore, the offering of prayers 
 through Christ, cannot be understood to mean that they 
 are first to be presented to him, and by him presented to 
 God. All the precepts and examples of scripture direct 
 us to God himself, personally j and the phrase in ques- 
 tion, as we shall presently see, bears a meaning which does 
 not contradict them. 
 
 Neither are we to understand it as forbidding all acts of 
 worship in which this form of words is not used. For we 
 have repeated instances of both ascriptions and supplica- 
 tions by the apostles, in which this form does not appear. 
 
 It is the principle on which our devotions are framed, 
 and the spirit in which they ai-e uttered, rather than any 
 verbal or formal exactness, which these scriptural direc- 
 tions enjoin. The sacred writers express little solicitude 
 about the mere form of prayer. 
 
 Neither are we to understand by prayer through Christ, 
 that we are to ask to have our desires granted ' for the 
 sake of Christ ;' for this is an expression without authority 
 or warrant in the holy volume. The expression is once 
 found in our version in connexion with the forgiveness of 
 sins, which God is said to have granted ' for Christ's sake.*^ 
 This however is an acknowledged mistranslation of the 
 
54 JESUS THE MEDIATOR. 
 
 orij^lnal word. It should be, as in all other passages re- 
 lathig to this subject, in or through Christ.* To ask in 
 prayer /or Christ^s sake, is without example or authority in 
 tlie sacred writings, and is a very different thing from 
 asking through Christ. 
 
 In what sense then is this form of words to be understood.^ 
 
 A little examination will satisfy us, that it is in this. 
 We are to pray, as tlie disciples of Christ, guided by faith 
 in him, and influenced by the devout dispositions which he 
 requires ; — ' through him,' because through the directions 
 he has given for acceptable pra}'er, and the encouragement 
 he has offered to sincere worshippers ; ' in his name,' 
 because by his authority, confiding in his warrant, com- 
 manded and invited by him, members of that family which 
 he has brought nigh to God, and given access to the throne. 
 
 That this is the general sense of these expressions will 
 be rendered obvious by observing how they are used in 
 other instances. 
 
 The Levrtes blessed the people, and Israel went out to 
 battle, ' in the name of the Lord ;' that is, very evidently, 
 by his authority and direction, by faith in him. The pro- 
 phets spake ' in the name of the Lord,' and our Saviour 
 says, ' 1 am come in my Father's name ;' plainly meaning, 
 by his authority and direction, receiving from him their 
 commission. So the apostles })reached and wrought mir- 
 acles ' in the name of Jesus ;' by his authority, under his 
 commission, by faith in him. So they commanded the 
 believers ' to do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus ;' 
 that is, in compliance with his authority, and conformably 
 to the spirit of his religion. To pray ' in his name,' is one 
 of the things they were to do, and must have a similar in- 
 terpretation. It is to pray by his authority, according to 
 his instructions, by faith in him, in the character and with 
 the spirit of his disciples. 
 
 It is not uncommon in the Scriptures to use the name of 
 a person for his doctrine or religion. Thus it is said, 
 ' ]\Ioses is preached every sabbath day ;' meaning the reli- 
 gion of Moses. ' We preach Christ,' meaning the religion 
 
 * Ephesians iv. 32. ev Xg/9-T*. 
 
JESUS THE MEDIATOR. 00 
 
 of Christ. We are said ' to put on Christ,* ' to be in 
 Christ,' ' to profess Christ,' and a muhitude of similar 
 phrases; by which is intended, that we are to embrace, 
 to adopi, to profess, the religion of Christ. So also in the 
 instance of prayer through Christ, we may understand 
 through his religion, or doctrine ; since it is entirely 
 through the influence of his religion, its instructions, direc- 
 tions, encouragements, and promises, that we are enabled 
 to worship God acceptably. It is these which prepare our 
 minds, and lead us to the mercy seat. We approach, 
 because the instructions which Jesus has given, and on 
 which our faith relies, guide us thither. That is to say, as 
 before, we come as his disciples, wider his authority, and 
 hy faith in him. It is this coming in the character of his 
 disciples, which- gives us hope that we shall be heard. 
 Aiid this hope or expectation is well founded, just in pro- 
 portion as we are truly his disciples, and pray fervently in 
 his faith. There is no charm in the words, no talisman in 
 the forms we utter, no mysterious efficacy by which they 
 force their way upward, from whatever heart they may 
 rise. We might as well pray in the name of Mahoniet, as 
 in that of Christ, if we do not pray as disciples of Christ — 
 not nominally and outwardly, but heartily and consistently 
 as his disciples. It is in this circumstance that we are to 
 trust, and not in the belief that Jesus seconds every prayer, 
 and carries it to the Father. For he expressly says, ' \e 
 shall ask in my name ; and I say not unto you, that 1 will pray 
 the Father for you ;' that is, it is not from this circumstance 
 that you are to take encouragement ; you are not to de- 
 pend for acceptance on my intercession ; — and he adds, 
 ' For my Father himself loveth you, because ye have lo\ ed 
 me, and have believed that I came out from God.' Here 
 he states availing prayer in his name, to be that which 
 comes from those who love him, and have faith in him, 
 that is, from his disciples ; not that which trusts for accept- 
 ance to his interposition only. For fully as that interces- 
 sion may be offered for the faithful, it is nowhere promised' 
 to the insincere. So also says the Apostle John ; ' What- 
 soever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his 
 commandments, and do those things which are pleasing in 
 
56 JESUS THE MEDIATOR. 
 
 his sight.' Which likewise conducts us to the same coii- 
 ckision — that prayer, in the consistent character of disciples, 
 is that prayer in his name, which meets acceptance and 
 blessing. 
 
 In this sense it is, that the mediation of Christ opens the 
 way of access to God. And in this doctrine, as there is 
 evidently an admonition lor the presumptuous, so there is 
 encouragement for ihe humhle and distrustful. For how 
 abundantly have the instructions, the aids, the invitations of 
 a kind and compassionate God been spread forth, to make 
 the way to his mercy seat accessible and free, and to 
 remove all impediments which might obstruct or alarm. 
 How graciously has the Mediator toiled, how earnestly en- 
 treated, how willingly suffered, that the path of promise 
 might not be hidden, and that none of God's offspring might 
 leave the way of life for lack of a cheering voice, or an 
 assisting arm. So eminently is the gospel a system of 
 grace ! And Oh, with what devout gratitude should we con- 
 template this evidence of it! Weak, ignorant, sinful^ in our 
 best desires and purest offerings, and therefore oftentimes 
 dreading to approach directly to him who is infinitely pure 
 and ' cannot look on sin ;' how consoling is it to know, 
 that there is one to offer encouragement and hope, and 
 lead us tenderly by the hand to our Father's feet ; one, 
 who himself has shared our infirmities, and can therefore 
 pity them ; who has himself borne our weakness, and en- 
 dured temptations, though without sin ; and who, gentle 
 and forbearing, 'breaks not the bruised reed, nor quenches 
 the smoking flax,' and utters no accents to the humble 
 and believing, but those of encouragement and peace ! 
 
 Brethren, let us remember this in our prayers, let us be 
 emboldened and consoled by it in our apprehensions and 
 despondency. ' Seeing that we have this great high priest, 
 Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession, and 
 come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain 
 mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.' 
 
DISCOURSE V. 
 
 JESUS THE SAVIOUR. 
 
 Matthew i. 21. 
 
 Jiiid thou shalt call his name Jesus ; for he shall save his people 
 from their sins. 
 
 It was a custom among the Israelites, of which frequent 
 examples are recorded in their sacred books, to bestow 
 upon their children significant names, intimating either the 
 feelings of the parent, or the circumstances of the birth, or 
 the character and destiny of the offspring. Such are 
 all the names in the patriarchal history ; some of which, as 
 those of Israel and Sarah, were changed in commemora- 
 tion of some epocii in their lives, or to mark their altered 
 fortunes. It is further observable respecting this custom, 
 that the name was often framed by a combination of one 
 of the names of God. Thus Isaiah means the salvation of 
 the Lord ; Elisha, salvation of God; Elijah, God the 
 Lord, or the strong Lord. ; Elihu, he is my God hirnsdf; 
 Lemuel, God with them; and a child, given as a pledge of 
 deliverance to Judah in the reign of Ahaz, was called Im- 
 manuel, that is, God ivith us. As this prophecy was also 
 applied to the Messiah, he is on that occasion once called 
 Lnmanuel ; intimating that by his residence among men, 
 the presence of God would be particularly manifest. There 
 can be no ground then for the opinion that this name im- 
 plies a divine nature in Jesus, as if the very God, literally 
 and personally, came to abide with us. For, as we see, 
 this application of the name of God to men was a common 
 6 
 
58 JESUS THE SAVIOUR. 
 
 thing ; and if Christ's being once called Iramanuel could 
 argue that he was truly God, a man's being always called 
 Elijah, Elihu, or Lemuel would no less certainly prove 
 him to be truly God. It was in his case, as in the others, a 
 significant name, and not an assertion of personal divinity. 
 
 The n?Lme Jesus is also one of appropriate significancy. Jt 
 means Saviour. It intimates the deliverance which he was 
 sent to accomplish. It designates the sense in which he 
 was to bless the world. Thus his very name is a memorial 
 of his office ; so tha^ we cannot speak of him without being 
 reminded both of the honor which he had from God, and 
 the blessing which he brought to men. We call him 
 Christ, the anointed of God ; Jesus, the Saviour of men. 
 
 It is in the character of a Saviour that we are to consider 
 him at this time ; in doing which, we may follow the sug- 
 gestion of our text, and inquire, under three heads, 
 
 I. Whom he is to save ; 
 
 IT. From what he is to save ; 
 
 III. How he is to save ; 
 or, in other words, we shall speak of the subjects, the 
 nature, and the method of the salvation which he came to 
 effect. 
 
 I. We are to consider, whom he is to save. Our text 
 says, * He shall save his people.^ Who are to be under- 
 stood by this designation ? 
 
 If we reflect for a moment on the circumstances under 
 which the Messiah came, we shall perceive that the Jewish 
 nation is primarily intended. This had been eminently dis- 
 tinguished as God's People, having enjoyed for ages the 
 peculiar manifestations of his favor. Prophets from God 
 had spoken of the time when his grace should visit them 
 with yet higher glory, in a prince and deliverer of the house 
 of David, whose splendid reign was always described in 
 closest connexion with their destinies. To them accord- 
 ingly, his mission was addressed. He came not to the Gen- 
 tiles, but to the lost sheep of Israel. Among them, and 
 for them, his personal labors were devoted. For them 
 his prayers and tears were given to the last moment of 
 his life. It was only vdien they had rejected his gospel 
 
JESUS THE SAVIOUR. 59 
 
 with incurable obstinacy, that his apostles were directed to 
 carry its message to other nations. ' It was necessary,' as 
 Paul said, 'that this word of God should first be spoken to 
 them.' It was therefore fitting that he should be announced 
 as the Saviour of ' his people ;' and this theTather, as their 
 deliverance, which was the first object, shall be the final 
 eftect of his ministry. That alienated and broken family 
 shall be brou2;ht back to its inheritance, and ' all Israel be 
 saved.' 
 
 This, however, is not a suflicient answer to our inquiry, 
 for salvafion is not confined to this people. We accord- 
 ingly find it written, that ' he came to seek and to save 
 that which was lost.' Who are intended by this term r 
 How lost ? By what means, and in what way, lost f The 
 answer is, lost in sin, strayed away from obedience and 
 goodness, lost therefore to happiness. As the younger 
 son, who departed from his father's house and became a 
 wretched vagabond in a strange land, is on that account 
 described as ' lost ;' so they who have forsaken God's pa- 
 ternal presence and service, and hved in thoughtless and 
 vicious habits of disobedience, till the peace of virtue is 
 gone, and the misery of sin overtakes them, are also said 
 to be ' lost.' And how truly said ! lost to duty, and there- 
 fore to happiness ! lost, their peace of mind, their serenity 
 of conscience, honor, comfort, and hope ; strangers to his 
 presence who made them, rebels against his grace who 
 loves them ; and — if they will not arise and come to their 
 Father, who is ready to welcome their returning and con- 
 trite steps — perishing with the famine of the soul, and lost 
 forever. These are the objects of the Saviour's compassion- 
 ate search. 'This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all 
 acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save 
 sinners.'* 
 
 He is also said to be ' the Saviour of the world.' For 
 the world itself was lost. The knowledge and worship of 
 the true God was gone from it. Men groped after the way 
 of acceptance and truth, but could not find it. Religion, 
 the true mistress of human virtue and happiness, had been 
 thrust aside, and bloody superstition and impure idolatry 
 
CO JESUS THE SAVIOUR. 
 
 reigned in her stead. ' Darkness covered the earth and 
 gross darkness the people,' and sin and misery ruled tri- 
 umphant over the world which God had formed for happi- 
 ness and goodness. Then it was that ' the Father sent the 
 Son to be the Saviour of the world' — sunk as it was, in 
 hopeless corruption, from which human wisdom had striven 
 10 raise it in vain. It was an object alone worthy oi divine 
 interposition. If mankind had been incorrupt in religion 
 and morals, there iiad been no occasion for a special mes- 
 senger from heaven, no necessity for his supernatural light, 
 for his instructions in righteousness, for the motives to re- 
 pentance which he furnished, for the solemn warnings 
 which he published, for the holy promises which he pro- 
 claimed, for the offers of pardon which he brought. Men 
 might have been ignorant and barbarous, and subjected to 
 all the miseries of this transitory state ; yet if they had been 
 holy, worshippers of God, righteous among men, where 
 could have been the call for the labors and sacrifices of 
 an ambassador of God ? It was only because the world 
 was lying in wickedness, and men were dead in trespasses 
 and sins, that God sent forth his Son with the dispensation 
 of truth and grace. And to whom was this dispensation 
 addressed ^ To all that have need of it ; to all that are 
 ' lost;' to 'the world ;' to all men. There is no exception, 
 no limitation. The gracious proclamation speaks indiscrim- 
 inately to all, and offers a rich, impartial, unbounded pro- 
 vision, for the guidance and redemption of the world. 
 
 II. We were to consider, in the next place, the nature of 
 this salvation, or from what Jesus is to save. ' He shall 
 save his people from their sinsJ* 
 
 This is in perfect conformity with the remarks already 
 made. The great root of evil and wretchedness is sin ; and 
 its prevalence is the only cause which renders a Saviour 
 necessary. Freedom from sin is freedom from all essen- 
 tial ill. With this also, the language of Scripture strikingly 
 corresponds. It represents salvation to consist in the re- 
 moval of sin and its consequences, and the substitution in 
 its place of holiness, with its happy consequences and last- 
 ing rewards. Jesus came ' to put away sin ;' ' to give re- 
 
JESUS THE SAriOUE. 61 
 
 pentance and remission of sins ;' ' to bless in turning away 
 every one from his iniquities;' * to redeem from all iniqui- 
 ty, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of 
 good works.' This is the constant language of the New 
 Testament, which no man can read without the persuasion, 
 that a moral regeneration, a deliverance from the power of 
 sin and perfection in purity and holiness, is the purpose to 
 be effected by the gospel ; that in this consists its salvation, 
 commencing upon earth, and consummated in the glory 
 and bliss of eternity. 
 
 A strict adherence to the language of the Scriptures on 
 this point, will keep us from the error of imagining, that the, 
 evil from which Jesus saves is the curse of man's original 
 condition, the fearful destiny in which he is involved by na- 
 ture. Now it is not only perfectly inconceivable that a 
 benevolent being should have subjected his creatures to 
 such a miserable fate, prior to their sinning, or even to their 
 existing ; but, which is more to the purpose, the sacred 
 writers perpetually teach, that the misery to be saved from 
 is that of sin, not of natural condition ', that the wrath to be 
 escaped is that which visits their own transgressions, not 
 that which awaits them because they are men, or to which 
 they are naturally subjected. They speak of no evil prior 
 to or greater than that of sin. They speak of no curse 
 antecedent to this, or independent of it. And they propose 
 to save from this as the grand, the essential, the all com- 
 prehensive ill, leading to infinite consequences of wretched- 
 ness and despair. 
 
 We are very ready to suppose that the work of redemp- 
 tion is some expedient for getting rid of the punishment 
 due to sin — as if that were of all things the most to be de- 
 sired ; and thence we are easily led to persuade ourselves, 
 that we may so take advantage of the work which has 
 been wrought as to escape the punishment; though we may 
 not have relinquished the sin. Thus to avoid the penalty, 
 and yet enjoy the transgression, has always been a chief 
 object of false religions, and men would fain believe that it 
 has been accomplished in the true. But let us not be de- 
 6* 
 
62 JESUS THE SAVIOUR. 
 
 ceived. No such preposterous compromise has been 
 made. It is inconsistent with all that we have been taught 
 either by experience or religion. For what says experi- 
 ence ? The penalty of sin often continues to visit the sin- 
 ner long after he has repented and reformed. The imj)ie- 
 ty, indiscretion, and vices of youth, for example, are follow- 
 ed with suffering and shame through life, and burden the 
 memory with bitter thoughts as long as reflection lives. 
 But it would not be so if the grand design were simply to 
 provide an escape from punishment, or to devise some 
 means of abolishing it. In this case all such suffering must 
 have been done away at once. Let us not then be deceived. 
 Even the assurance of pardon, is no assurance that the con- 
 sequences of transgression shall be altogether removed. 
 For what says the Scripture ? 'Thou wast a God that for- 
 gavest them, though thou tookest vengeance on their iniqui- 
 ties.' 
 
 And if wo inquire of religion, as taught either by nature 
 or by revelation, what is it, in strict truth, which God 
 designs especially to promote by liis government and his 
 dispensations ? Happiness ? Yes, unquestionably. But 
 how ? happiness only f at any rate ? of any description ? 
 If so, there were no need of laws and restraints, and moral 
 means, and insthutions of discipline and instruction ; for he 
 might by the arbitrary appointments of his will lavish it 
 abundantly on his creatures. But surely it is not so. 
 Being a holy God, whose abhorrence of sin is equal to his 
 desire of happiness, and in whose view there is no true 
 happiness where there is not holiness ; he, therefore, makes 
 holiness the primary object of his government, and the 
 moral perfection of his offspring, the favorite pur])ose of 
 his dispensations. Nothing will answer in the place of this. 
 He cannot be satisfied by some plausible device for remit- 
 ting punishment, nor by shifting it off upon some other than 
 the transgressor, nor even by arbitrarily excluding all suf- 
 fering from his universe. It is not suffering, but sin, which 
 he would exterminate ; he could esteem no salvation 
 accomplished for his children, until this principle of all evil 
 is itself utterly eradicated. 
 
JESUS THE SAVIOUR. 63 
 
 Let us not, then, be deceived in regard to the nature of 
 this salvation. It is not the abolition of punishment, but of 
 sin. As when a man is saved from a disease, it is by re- 
 moving the disease, that is, by curing him of it ; so he is 
 saved from his sins by being rid of them. It would avail 
 little to deliver the sick man from his pangs, if his disoider 
 were still unreheved, and bearing him down imperceptibly 
 to the grave. And it would avail little to deliver the sinner 
 from punishment, and the sufferings which follow in the 
 train of vice, if his evil dispositions were left unrebuked. 
 For while he remains a moral being, he may choose for 
 himself what happiness he pleases, yet if he cannot relish 
 that of virtue, he will find no content. Let his fetters be 
 stricken off, let the fire be quenched, and the gnawing 
 worm be dead ; open to him the rich paradise of heaven, 
 and give him place among the obedient and holy worship- 
 pers around the throne of God ; yet if he have not been 
 redeemed from sin, nor his affections reclaimed from its 
 love, there is no beauty nor bliss for him there ; but he 
 wanders among them a discontented stranger, self-torment- 
 ing and solitary, without compLmio;], enjoyment or home — 
 his depraved habits and corrupted taste rendering insipid 
 and loathsome, the light and felicity of eternity. 
 
 III. We were to consider, in the third place, the manner 
 in luhich this salvation is effected; or hoiv Jesus saves 
 from sin. 
 
 The main point to be insisted upon under this head is, 
 that the character of the means must be conformable to 
 that of the end to be gained. The end to be gained, as 
 we have just seen, is a moral salvation. Our Lord must 
 consequently have employed moral means. The misery 
 from which man is to be delivered, originates in and de- 
 pends upon the wrong state of his mind and affections. It 
 is to be removed, it can be removed, by no arbitrary 
 appointments of place or condition, by no exertion of abso- 
 lute power, like the striking off of chains at a blow. It 
 can be only by the operation of spiritual and moral reme- 
 dies, suited to the spiritual and moral malady, which shall 
 
64 JESUS THE SAVIOUR. 
 
 act gradually on the spirit, and restore it to health, vigor, 
 and virtue. 
 
 The christian dispensation is a provision of means for the 
 regeneration of free, intelligent, voluntary agents, existing 
 in a state of probation. Now it is essential to the nature 
 of such beings, in such a state, that they be subjected to a 
 moral government, and be influenced through a moral 
 process. If it were otherwise, then He, who desires the 
 salvation of all, and has evinced that desire by tlie costly 
 apparatus of his dispensations from the beginning of the 
 world, need only to have spoken the word, and all would 
 have been changed at once into iioly and happy beings. 
 But this has not been done, because it would be inconsist- 
 ent with their very nature ; would defeat the very purpose 
 of probation ; would put an end to their moral agenry, and 
 convert them into merely mechanical instruments, incapable 
 of either choosing or attaining virtue. Designing, there- 
 fore, to treat them agreeably to the nature, which he has 
 bestowed upon them, and which he would not char.ge nor 
 contradict, he has instituted corresponding means of solva- 
 tion. He has not sent his Son to touch them with a wand, 
 to re-create them by some inexplicable and unpariicipated 
 operation, lilce a spell or charm. But to ' sanctify them 
 through the truth;' to ' justily them through faith;' to re- 
 generate them ' by the word of God.' 
 
 It is plain, then, that there is nothing either arbitrar)^ or 
 compulsory in the gospel dispensation. Salvation is of- 
 fered to men, but not forced upon them. It is left to de- 
 pend upon the use which is made of those privileges and 
 aids, which the grace of God has bestowed. It is thus 
 entirely conditional. It is dependent on every man's free 
 choice. If he will go into the ark, lo, it is open, and there 
 is room enough ; but he is not compelled to go in. The 
 waters of life flow by him in copious and inviting streams ; 
 if he will come and take them, he shall live forever ; but 
 let him act his own pleasure, there is no constraint. The 
 table of heaven is spread, and urgent invitations are sent 
 abroad, and a joyous welcome awaits those who will be 
 guestSi But it rests with themselves to accept or refuse." 
 
JESUS THE SAVIOUR. 65 
 
 Jesus has thrown wide the doors of everlasting day, and 
 poured a strong light on the true path of peace. He has 
 placed himself at its entrance, to invite and urge and warn 
 men — by their allegiance to God, by the miseries of their 
 present condition, by die welfare of their souls, by the in- 
 conceivable glories of heaven — to pursue the way of holi- 
 ness and life. He has offered them guidance, direction, 
 aid and blessing. They need but come to him, and they 
 shall have life. 
 
 It is thus that salvation is hy grace. Grace provides the 
 means. Sinful and undeserving man, by an act of essential 
 benignity, hy the unmerited favor of divine love, is put in 
 the condition to escape from sin, and reach the bliss of 
 heaven. It is a general provision for the human race ; not 
 a plan for the recovery of a selected few, nor a favor be- 
 stowed upon individuals ; but an impartial offer of mercy 
 to all — which offer having been made, and the opportunity 
 having been given, each one is then, separately, to ' work 
 out his own salvation with fear and trembling.' The grace of 
 God makes the most ample and munificent provision, even, 
 as it were, the wings of an angel ibr his flight upward ; but 
 if he will not stretch them and rise, it sends down no char- 
 iot of fire to bear away his reluctant soul. 
 
 I do not know that this portion of the subject needs fur- 
 ther illustration ; but we may readily find it, by recurring 
 to the history of the Old Testament. Tiie expressions 
 which are applied to the christian salvation, were also ap- 
 plied to the deliverance of the Israelites from bondage in 
 Egypt. They were said to be ' redeemed' and ' saved,' 
 and the name given to their leader into Canaan was that 
 of Saviour. Joshua is the same name as Jesus. Now 
 that people were ' saved' and 'redeemed,' through the mi- 
 raculous means of salvation which God with a strong hand 
 brought to them, and by their using those means accord- 
 ing to his connnandments. He ledeemed them, not by 
 literally paying any ransom to their masters, nor by provid- 
 ing substitutes in their stead, nor by offering in any way an 
 equivalent for their service ; but by opening for them a 
 w^ay of escape, through which they might pass to Heedom 
 
CG JESUS THE SAVIOUR. 
 
 and independence, and guiding them in it by his presenee 
 and power. So does he save us through Jesus Christ — by 
 opening to us a free path of escape from sin and misery, 
 and guiding and aiding us in it, through the perils of life to 
 our heavenly home. These cases illustrate one another. 
 In each the gracious power of God opened the way and 
 provided the means ; and in each, man nuist walk in the 
 way and use the means ; else, instead of inheriting the 
 blessing, he perishes in the wilderness. 
 
 But what arc the means of salvation which Jesus has 
 thus instituted r They are, in one word, the revelation which 
 he has made of the doctrines and promises of true religion, 
 and whatever provision exists for perpetuating and promot- 
 ing its influence. Divine truth is the great instrument of 
 regeneration and sanctification. Every circumstance in 
 the communication of this which tends to insure its efiica- 
 cy, is part of that great system of means by which Jesus 
 would operate for the redemption of man. The ministry 
 and death of our Lord himself, the recorded word of the 
 New Testament, the establishment of teachers and a 
 church, the institutions of worship, preaching, and ordi- 
 nances; — the arguments which convince the understanding, 
 the commandments which control the conduct, the motives 
 which persuade the will and subdue the passions, the en- 
 treaties which move the affections, the warnings which 
 assail the fears and the promises which elevate the hopes ; 
 all being adapted by a moral operation to lead men to faith, 
 repentance, and holiness, are to be regarded as constitut- 
 ing a vast and universal system of means, wiiich Christ was 
 sent to establish, to maintain, and to superintend ; which 
 operates uniformly and uninterruptedly, like the sun and air 
 and dew upon the natural creation ; always active and fer- 
 tilizing, but needing the co-operation of human labor for 
 their complete and best effect. 
 
 The efficacy of these means is essentially promoted by 
 their association with the personal labors and sufferings of 
 him, who died to establish them among men. By that 
 painful but voluntary death, he gave the most solemn proof 
 of the infinite value of his work. He exhibited the most 
 
JESUS THE SAVIOUR. GT 
 
 disinterested evidence of his own earnestness and love. 
 He made the most affecting manifestation of the strength of 
 the divine abhorrence of sin, and of the greatness of the 
 divine compassion for man. It was thus provided, that if 
 any had been unaffected by his teaching, uninfluenced by 
 his example, unmoved by the wonders of his life, and the 
 holy tenderness and zeal with which he had devoted him- 
 self for them ; they might at least be touched when they 
 should see him pouring out his soul for them in death, aiid 
 so be won by his cross. And with how many has it proved 
 so ! They have resisted all his teaching, persuasion, and 
 entreaty ; they have been able to see without emotion, the 
 beauty of his spotless life, and his laborious benevolence. 
 But when they were brought to his cross, and saw that he 
 was not only willing to teach and rule them, but with un- 
 paralleled love to die for them ; they have been able to 
 resist no longer. Their hard hearts have melted. Their 
 proud spirits have yielded. In the moment of tenderness ^ 
 they have abjured their sins, and resolved to live unto him 
 * who loved them and gave himself for them.' 
 
 Is it thus that we have applied to ourseh^es the rich 
 grace of the gospel ? Have we thus felt the pov/er of its 
 motives and laws, and surrendered our souls to the influ- 
 ence of its holy and benevolent spirit ? Have we experi- 
 enced the worth of the doctrines and promises of a gracious 
 Saviour ? 
 
 That we need all this, how can we be ignorant ! Liable, 
 as we are, to infirmity and temptation, subjected to evil 
 passions, exposed to stray from duty, and God, and peace, 
 in pursuing the concerns of the world ; how much and how 
 constantly do we need the instructions and sanctions of our 
 divine master, the encouragement of his promises, and the 
 aid which he provides from above ! If we listen to his 
 awful and delightiul revelations, and fill our hearts witli a 
 commanding and habitual sense of them ; then the power 
 of sin is weakened ; its sceptre and chains are broken ; we 
 go forward in the light and liberty of the children of God. 
 ' The son has made us free, and we are free indeed.' But 
 if, slighting these means of guidance and salvation, we 
 
GS JESUS THE SAVIOUR. 
 
 seek to pass forward unsupported and alone ; how serious 
 is the danger that we sliall be lost in error, overcome by 
 temptation, corrupted by tlie world, and miserable in the 
 end. For where is there security, except where Christ 
 has provided it .^ Where is there 'joy and peace,' except 
 ' in believing .^' And ' how shall we escape, if we neglect 
 so great salvation ?' 
 
 Is there any one, then, moved by such considerations, 
 anxious for the welfare of his soul, and earnest to know, 
 wiiat he shall do to be saved ? Let him receive in answer 
 the words of the apostle ; ' Believe in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and thou shalt be saved.' Every direction and 
 every preparation is included in futh ; for when you have 
 gone with faith to the word of the Saviour, you trust an 
 infallible guide, who cannot lead you astray. A true faith 
 and reliance on him, will insure to you the right influence 
 of the means he has provided, and the spiritual aid he has 
 promised. 
 
 Do you ask further, how you shall attain, cherish, culti- 
 vate this faith ? Let it be answered, by diligent and 
 earnest attention to the means of religion. Hope for no 
 attainments, except you use the means for arriving at them. 
 Least of all expect a powerful and ruling faith in Christ, 
 without the luost devoted use of the means which he has 
 instituted. Be instant in prayer ; be frequent in medita- 
 tion ; study the scriptures ; be punctual at the worship 
 and ordinances of God's house ; seek instruction from 
 the works of pious men, and in the conversation of 
 those who are themselves religious. Use these methods 
 vigilantly and perseveringly. It is not the occasional use 
 of them, occasional reading, meditation, and prayer, which 
 will keep the heart right, or maintain the ascendancy of 
 religious principle. The habit is necessary. These things 
 must be done customarily and constantly. For the prin- 
 ciple of the religious artection, which rests ultimately in 
 God, is like tliat of the child to its parents. And how is it 
 that that affection, not in a few, but nearly witnout excep- 
 tion, in all children, is rendei'ed so strorc;, lively, and per- 
 manent : The reason is that the cliiid i& always with its 
 
J*ESUS THE SAVIOUR. 69 
 
 parents, continually lives with them and speaks with them, 
 knows and feels that it receives every thing from them, 
 their image becomes inwoven with all its thoughts, affec- 
 tions, and plans, and makes part of its essential happiness. 
 Any man that will take care to be thus always with God, 
 to think of him, and to refer to him, and to make the 
 messages of his love by Jesus Christ as familiar as a 
 mother's accents of love to her child ; may render his 
 religious principle as strong and fervent. But the filial 
 affection of the most devoted child in the land, might be 
 chilled and destroyed, if he kept himself as httle acquainted 
 with his parents, as many men are with God. Learn wis- 
 dom from this example. Have not the folly to hope for 
 the great end, except you devotedly pursue the prescribed 
 means. It is these upon which God pours the blessing, 
 and which shall guide us at last ' through faith unto salva- 
 tion.' 
 
DISCOURSE VL 
 
 JESUS THE HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 Hebrews ix. 26. 
 
 But now, once, in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away 
 
 sin by the sacrifice of hiviself. 
 
 It is observable of the manner in which the apostles 
 speak of our Lord, that they seem anxious to accumulate 
 expressions which shall evince their admiration and devo- 
 tion. And in order to excite in others the same sentiments, n 
 they take care to select such language and illustrations, as 
 shall convey to their minds the most favorable impressions 
 concerning his excellence and dignity. These are conse- 
 quently varied according to the previous opinions and hab- 
 its of tliose whom they address ; since that illustration 
 which should ascribe to him the highest honor in the opin- 
 ion of one, might be associated in the mind of another with 
 very opposite feelings. This is only saying in other words, 
 that they adapted themselves to the habits of thinking and 
 state of mind of those whom they addressed. This is what 
 Paul means when he says, ' that he became all things to all 
 men, that he mijrlit by all means save some.' It was on 
 this principle, that he strove to win the attention of the 
 Athenians, by representing the God whom he would preach 
 to them, not as a strange divinity, but as that 'Unknown 
 God' whom they already worsliipped ; and that he quoted 
 to them, in corroboration of liis doctrine, the words of ' one 
 of tiieir own poets.' 
 
 It is upon this principle, also, that the epistle to the He- 
 brews is written. It is designed to conciliate the Jews to 
 
JESUS THE HIGH PRIEST. 71 
 
 the new religion, by exhibiting it in such lights and under 
 such illustrations, as would render it to them most effective. 
 In order to this, the author institutes a parallel between 
 some portions of the Mosaic and the Christian institutions. 
 The Jews would seem to hav^e felt it as an objection to the 
 doctrines of our Lord, that they threatened the abolition of 
 the ancient ceremonials ; and many, who could hardly 
 doubt that he was the Chi'ist, were yet ready to regard it 
 as a deficiency in his system, that it provided no splendid 
 temple, nor sanctuary, no sacrifices, nor priests, like the 
 venerable faith which had been communicated to their 
 fathers. To meet this very natural feeling among his coun- 
 trymen, the apostle explains to them, that these things may 
 be considered as existing in the Christian no less than in 
 the Jewish dispensation. Heaven is a temple, and that 
 pai't of it which is accounted the peculiar residence of God, 
 may be called the sanctuary, or holy of holies. The death 
 of Christ, considering its moral cause and purposes, may be 
 deemed a sacrifice ; and he himself, considering the de- 
 sign of his office, may be regarded as our high priest. And 
 not only so, but it is a more splendid temple, a richer sac- 
 rifice, a greater liigh priest. He would thus make it appear, 
 that the Mosaic religion had no advantage over the Chris- 
 tian in respect to ordinances ; that, in truth, it had possess- 
 ed only the shadow, of which the substance is in the gospel. 
 Under the first covenant there was a tabernacle magnifi- 
 cently furnished, which he describes; under the second 
 covenant there is ' a greater and more perfect tabernacle, 
 not made with hands.' Into that, the high priest entered 
 with the blood of beasts ; so did Christ into this, with his 
 own blood. Under that covenant, the sign of cleansing and 
 pardon was ' the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes 
 of a heifer sprinkling the unclean ;' under this, it is the 
 blood of Jesus Christ, ' who, through the eternal spirit, 
 offered himself to God.' But the Jewish high priest offer- 
 ed for himself as well as for the people ; Jesus is greater, 
 who needs no offering for himself. The Jewish high priest 
 offered every year ; but Christ, only ' once, now, in the 
 
72 JESITS THE HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 end of the world, hadi appeared, to put away sin by the sac- 
 rifice of himself.' 
 
 Upon the parallel thus instituted by the apostle, two re- 
 marks may be made. First, it is observable, that in ad- 
 dressing the Hebrews, nothing coiUd be more natural, or 
 more likely to attract their regard to the new faith. It was 
 illustrating the higli dignity of our Lord, and the purpose of 
 his office, in a manner conformable to their previous relig- 
 ious associations and habits. It thus adapted itself to their 
 sacred prejudices, and prepared the way for the gradual 
 removal of them. And secondly, as it was a mode of il- 
 lustrating our Lord's character and office peculiarly suited 
 to them ; so it is one which — with the exception of a few in- 
 cidental allusions, and the occasional occurrence of sacrifi- 
 cial terms — is nevef used except in reference to them, nor 
 by any writer except the author of this epistle. To other 
 nations, indeed, not familiar with the religious persons and 
 institutions of the Mosaic law, this mode of illustration is 
 difficult to be appreciated. After the best explanations it 
 remains not a little obscure. This circumstance deserves 
 to be considered, because it may convince us that the essence 
 of our Lord's office does not consist in this form of repre- 
 senting it ; since if it did, it would be the general form ; 
 and instead of being nearly confined to one epistle, would 
 be in ordinary use among the apostles, and the title of high 
 priest as familiar as that of Saviour. Jesus himself could 
 not have passed through his whole ministry without allud- 
 ing to it, nor the apostles have been utterly silent respecting 
 it in their preaching, as from the book of Acts they appear 
 to have been. We owe to it some of the most interesting 
 and affecting views of our Lord's offices ; but they never 
 would have been given in the same form to any of the Gen- 
 tile Christians, and cannot, therefore, as regards the form, 
 be essential to their right apprehension. Our object must 
 be to ascertain the great and leading truth couched beneath 
 these representations ; to separate what is essential from 
 what is accidental, and take the substance rather than the 
 form. 
 
 In order to this let us briefly examine the language of 
 
JESUS THE HIGH PR[EST. US 
 
 the epistle, and show what inferences should be drawn from 
 it for the direction of our faith and affections. 
 
 The apostle represents our Lord as holding the same 
 place in the christian system which the high priest had 
 maintained in the Jewish. He had already described him 
 as sustaining the office of Mediator, like Moses in the pre- 
 vious dispensation ; and now, that he may show how all 
 honor is accumulated on him, and that he has a name above 
 every name, he declares him to hold in the church forever 
 that most sacred function and high place of government, 
 which had formerly passed from one to another in the fam- 
 ily of Aaron. 
 
 The high priest was the chief religious personage, or, as 
 we may say, the head of the ancient church. He possess- 
 ed a dignity of office and a sacredness of person to which 
 none else approached. He had the supreme charge over 
 all holy places, things, and services. He alone had permis- 
 sion to enter the most holy place, and that, only on the 
 most solemn occasion and in the most imposing ceremony. 
 To this high office there is no successor in the christian 
 church, but Jesus Christ. He is the only rightful head, 
 and such he continues forever. 
 
 The most remarkable circumstance in the duty of the 
 high priest, to which especial reference is had in this epis- 
 tle, was his entering once a year into the holy of holies to 
 make atonement for the sins of the people. In this he was 
 distinguished from the other priests, who might offer other 
 sacrifices in the outer court, but might not enter the holiest 
 place, nor participate in that peculiar rite. Upon that oc- 
 casion he was first to make atonement for himself and his 
 household, by burning incense before the mercy seat, and 
 sprinkling the blood of the bullock seven times upon it and 
 before it. He was then to slay a goat as a sin offering for the 
 people, and in like manner to sprinkle the blood upon and 
 before the mercy seat, and make an atonement for the holy 
 place, for the tabernacle, for the altar, and for the people. 
 He was then to take another goat, and laying his hands on 
 its head, confess over it all the sins of the people, ' putting 
 7* 
 
74 JESUS THE HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 them upon the head of the goat,' and then send liim away 
 into the wilderness, ' that he might bear away their sins into 
 a land not inhabited.'"^ 
 
 This is the scene to which particular allusion is made in 
 what is here said of the high priest's office. The essential 
 point upon which stress is laid — for we are not to seek a 
 parallel in every minute detail — may be found expressed 
 in the words of our text. The object of that service, like 
 that of our Lord's ministry, was ' to put away sin.' The 
 high priest having entered the holiest place, with the blood 
 of the sacrifice, put the sins of the people on the head of 
 the goat, and sent them away. Jesus entered into heaven, 
 says the apostle, with his own blood, and ' put away sin by 
 the sacrifice of himself.' The purpose is the same in both 
 instances ; and the means were so far similar, as that the 
 shedding of blood is insisted upon in each. The inquiry 
 therefore is suggested, in what sense are we to understand 
 that sin is put away by the effusion of blood in sacrifices. 
 
 There are two senses in which sin may be said to be 
 ' put av;ay.' The first is the literal and absolute sense, 
 when a man, having reformed and become righteous, is no 
 longer a sinner. His sins are in the strictest sense put 
 away, because in fact they no longer exist. The other is 
 a figurative or ritual sense — when any one is, in certain 
 circumstances, considered or treated as holy and free from 
 sin, because of certain ritual formalities and conditions. In 
 such case sin is said to be ' put away,' because in respect 
 of ceremonial privileges and external religious advantages, 
 the ill consequences and incapabilities of a sinful state are 
 removed. 
 
 Now it is clearly in the latter sense only, diat sins could 
 be removed by the sacrifices of the Jewish law, and by the 
 annual propitiation. By the sprinkling of blood on the 
 mercy seat, the peo})le were not actually made righteous, 
 nor were their sins truly carried away by the scape goat 
 into the desert. It was wholly a ceremonial and em- 
 blematical scene. It was an appointed sign of ceremonial 
 
 ^ Leviticus, xvi. 
 
JESUS THE HIGH PRIEST. 75 
 
 absolution. God, as the king of the people, had establish- 
 ed this method of proclaiming from year to year, that they 
 should be treated as free from sin, and be still favored as 
 his peculiar people. Not because by this act they became 
 sinless, nor because their transgressions were sufficiently 
 punished in the sufferings of the bullock and the goats. 
 For this same atonement was extended to the lioly place, 
 the altar, and the tabernacle. They were all purged by the 
 sauie sacrifice, though they had been guilty of no sin. It 
 could not therefore be designed as an actual puiification of 
 the people, but as emblematical merely. It could have no 
 effect to change the mind of God in regard to them, or his 
 dealings toward them ; it could only manifest his propitious 
 disposition, and proclaim his gracious Ibrbearance. 
 
 Beneath all this however, there was doubtless couched 
 a moral meaning and a mornl lesson. It was all combined 
 with positive instructions concerning duty and strongest 
 prohibifions of vice. For the grosser sins no sacrifice was 
 appointed ; and none were availing, in any case, to actual 
 pardon and acceptance, except the transgressor were peni- 
 tent and reformed. The most explicit language on this 
 point is frequent throughout the Old Testament. There 
 was a spiritual meaning to these rights ; but, like other acts 
 of worship, they procured no spiritual blessings, except to 
 the pious and obedient. To impress lessons of piety and 
 obedience was one purpose of their institution ; and this 
 was very much effected by the character of clemency and 
 readiness to forgive which they perpetually attributed to the 
 Almighty ; thus winning transgressors to repent, and en- 
 couraging the humble and distrustful to return to their duty. 
 In this way a moral effect was the end at wiiich they aimed, 
 and which they had a tendency to produce. It was their 
 final design, their legitimate result; leading, through the 
 pomp and solemnity of an affecting and significant emblem, 
 to contrition, and reformation, and the literal putting away 
 of sin. 
 
 If we now turn to the office of the Christian high priest, 
 we find that it was the wliole purpose of his ministry, from 
 first to last, * to put away sin' in the strictest sense of 
 
76 JESUS THE HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 the terms ; to bring men to repentance, to produce refor- 
 mation and virtue, thus to cause them to ' be born again,' 
 to render them ' new creatures,' to make them ' partakers of 
 a divine nature.' This was the great end of all which he 
 did and taught and suffered. It was the pur})ose of all his 
 doctrines. It was the object and tendency of all his pre- 
 cepts. It was the aim of the sanctions of his religion. It 
 was the chosen work of his life ; the w^ork, which he com- 
 missioned his Apostles to carry on, and established his 
 church to maintain, throughout all ages. And wherever 
 the gospel has been preached, this has been its distinguish- 
 ing and glorious triumph. It has abolished, or at least 
 weakened, the empire of sin ; has rescued men from its 
 power, taught them to hate its influence, and led them to 
 seek for happiness in driving it from them and cultivating 
 the holy spirit of virtue. 
 
 What was thus the one great purpose to be accomplished 
 by the Messiah, toward etlecting wdiich all his offices and 
 every part of his labor combined ; was also the purpose to 
 be accomplished in his sacrifice as high priest. It is a 
 moral purpose; designed 'to put away sin,' not ritually, 
 figuratively, but literally, absolutely ; not by transfer of 
 guilt, or substitution of another to suffer in place of the 
 guilty, nor by any mystical spell which may change sin to in- 
 nocence by a touch ; but as a moral means, operating like 
 other moral means, through the senses and affections, by 
 emotion, sympathy, admiration, fear and love — persuading 
 to penitence, devotion, and obedience. The death of 
 Jesus, independent of his life, character, and labors, avails 
 nothing ; and connected with them, it operates as part of 
 the great system of means which effects its purpose by a 
 spiritual influence. 
 
 It is true, that a similar influence is ascribed to the sacri- 
 fice of our Lord, as to the sacrifices of the Jewish law. 
 But what have we seen that to be .'* Not an actual, abso- 
 lute, literal, cleansing from sin. This is no where pre- 
 tended. The whole authority of the prophets is against it. 
 The voice of tliis epistle is ag.iinst it. ' It is not possible,' 
 it says, * that the blood of bulls and of goats should take 
 
JESUS THE HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 i7 
 
 away sin.' It has no connexion with sin, nor power over 
 it, nor influence over the divine mind in regard to it. Its 
 efficacy consists in its being the appointed sign to men of 
 the divine clemency and grace. As the blood of the pass- 
 over lamb upon the door posts was ' a token' to the inhab- 
 itants of the house, that they should be saved ; so the 
 blood of all the sacrifices was a ' token,' or sign, that God's 
 mercy was extended toward them. He had annexed to 
 it this signification. And just so when he delivered his 
 Son to death, it was for a sign — the most convincing and 
 satisfactory which could be given — of his inexhaustible 
 mercy, of his willingness to forgive and save ; a sign, that 
 as * he did not spare his own Son, so he was ready wuth 
 him freely to give us all things.' It was therefore well 
 called a ' sacrifice.' It signified, what the Jewish sacrifices 
 signified ; that God, holy as he is, and abhorring all iniquity, 
 is yet plenteous in redemption and ready to forgive ; that 
 he is waiting to be gracious, and encourages his prodigal 
 children to return ; that he is readv to enter with them 
 into a new covenant, and allow them henceforth a new 
 opportunity of approving themselves to him. 
 
 Such is its resemblance to the sacrifices of the ancient 
 covenant ; a resemblance, which evidently does nothing to 
 destroy the moral nature of the influence it exerts. Those 
 availed in ritual blemishes by a positive ritual appointment ; 
 but in regard to moral guilt, only by their power to impress 
 the mind, and move to penitence and holiness. And who 
 is not aware that precisely in this mode the blood of Jesus 
 avails to the cleansing and salvation of man?' Who pre- 
 tends that it shall reconcile to God, except through the 
 faith, repentance, and obedience which it produces ? that 
 it shall bring to him any heart, which does not come with 
 its own affections ? any soul, which does not surrender 
 itself to his love and law ? And who does not know that 
 in the impression of that scene, in the affecting and pathetic 
 circumstances under which the Lord of glory was devoted 
 to the cross, there is that which is peculiarly suited to touch 
 the sensibility of the soul, to awaken the sleeping con- 
 science, to rouse to admiration, wonder and love to grati- 
 
78 JESUS THE HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 tude, remorse, and repentance f Who can know that all 
 this suffering was needful to establish the new dispensation 
 of grace, and effect the removal of sin, and lead men to 
 heaven ; — without being profoundly impressed with a sense 
 of the evil of sin, and the riches of the divine compassion ? 
 Who that allows himself to reflect and feel, can look un- 
 moved on the token of his mercy which God has there 
 given, or the sign of his grace which he has there dis- 
 played ? It reminds him of the horrible evil of sin, which 
 brought the Saviour into the world to suffer and die ; of 
 the placability of the Father, who provides for the return 
 and acceptance of his children, and ' reconciles the world 
 to himself, not imputing their transgressions to them ;' and 
 of the aggravated guilt which they must incur, who should 
 harden their hearts against all this mercy, and continue in 
 sin while grace thus abounds. He acknowledges the 
 power of the cross; he bends before the persuasive en- 
 treaties of tlie Saviour's sufferings ; and turns to God with 
 his whole heart. Herein is the power of the sacrifice — it 
 has eifectually put away his sins, and saved his soul. 
 
 That there is no other efficacy in our Lord's sufferings, 
 except in the mode which has now been described, I do 
 not assert. But thus much is clear — that this is the only 
 operation which we can understand, or with which we 
 can perceive that man has any practical concern. In 
 the mind and counsels of God, there may be consequences 
 which we do not discern and cannot penetrate. An impor- 
 tance is plainly attributed to the Messiah's death in the 
 Scriptures, which is ascribed to that of no other person. 
 It is spoken of with peculiar emphasis and feeling, and is 
 connected in a peculiar manner with the terms of pardon 
 and life. We may therefore be certain that it holds a most 
 important place in the christian scheme, that we owe to it, 
 perhaps, much more than we can at present know, far more 
 than we can distinctly apprehend. But what we can ap- 
 prehend, what we do understand, should be enough to sat- 
 isfy us. ' The secret things belong unto the Lord our 
 God ;' it is not for us curiously to pry into them, nor should 
 we perhaps be made better if we could discover them, 
 
JESUS THE HIGH PRIEST. 79 
 
 What God has been pleased to reveal, is enough for our 
 gratitude, guidance, and peace. True humility will be 
 content with this, and not ambitiously seek to explain what 
 the Scriptures have not explained. If we can discern the 
 powerful moral operation by which our Lord's death con- 
 vinces men of sin, of righteousness and of judgment, and 
 sanctifies their souls ; it is enough, or more would have been 
 told. Let us be content to rest in humble ignorance of 
 whatever mysterious purposes may be otherwise effected, 
 and fear lest our solicitude to know more should destroy 
 the practical and saving influence of what is already certain. 
 
 But besides the view of our Lord's character as high 
 priest which we have now taken, there is yet another, on 
 which this epistle dwells with still stronger emphasis and 
 pleasure — and that is, his personal character, as exhibiting in 
 its traits of benevolent sympathy and tenderness, a pledge 
 of the placability and grace of God, and an encouragement 
 to the frailty and apprehensions of man. There are few 
 portions of scripture more delightful than these to the peni- 
 tent, timorous, self-distrusting believer. The power of per- 
 suasive and pathetic language is almost exhausted in de- 
 scribing the compassion of our great high priest, and in set- 
 ting forth the comfort and animation, which his example 
 and sufferings should impart. Even the Jewish ritual had 
 taught that God is not inexorable, but willing to forgive. 
 But in the character and labors, the tenderness and suf- 
 ferings of Jesus, it is yet more touchlngly exhibited. Here 
 he invites us with a voice of kindness, and cheers us with 
 the countenance of love. We may come no longer in ab- 
 ject fear and servile dread, ' like slaves beneath the throne; 
 but boldly ;' ' for we have not an high priest who cannot 
 be touched with the feeling of our inlirmities, but who was 
 in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin ; and 
 having himself sufferer], being tempted, is able to succor 
 those who are tempted ;' ' who is able also to save those to 
 the uttermost who come to God by hiin, seeing he ever liv- 
 eth to make intercession for ihcnn.' 
 
 What shall we add to this language of the scriptures ? It 
 speaks more plainly than we can express, and with an au- 
 
80 JESUS THE HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 tliority which we should not dare assume, of the abounding 
 grace of God, as confirmed to us by the ministry and 
 death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us rejoice in it. Let 
 us strive to be worthy of it. Let us surrender to it our 
 faith, our trust, our affections. For where will be our 
 apology or our hope, if, unmoved by this rich and wonder- 
 ful abundance of invitation, compassion, and aid, we should 
 suffer ourselves to be strangers to his love, aliens from his 
 presence, rebels against his law ! if we should be found 
 capable of thus trampling under foot the Son of God, and 
 doing despite to the spirit of grace, and counting the blood 
 of the covenant, wherewith we are sanctified, an unholy 
 thine; 1 
 
DISCOURSE VII. 
 
 THE ATONEMENT BY JESUS CHRIST 
 
 Romans v. 11. 
 
 And not only so , hut we also joy in God, through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. 
 
 The apostle, in the preceding part of this epistle, has 
 employed himself in showing, that Jew as well as Gentile is 
 to be saved by the grace of God ; that therefore the boast- 
 ing of the Jew in liis law is vain ; and that the Gentile can- 
 not be required to conform to that law, in order to his ad- 
 mission to the Christian dispensation. In this he had re- 
 ference to the great controversy of the age. The Jews, 
 glorying in their exclusive privileges as the people of God, 
 insisted that there could be no favor to the Gentiles, ex- 
 cept through a previous initiation to their church. Paul, 
 on the other hand, contended strenuously for the rights of 
 the Gentiles, independently of the Mosaic institutions. He 
 asserted that God was in Christ introducing a new dispen- 
 sation of grace for all men, in which they might freely par- 
 take without first passing through the ceremonials of the 
 former faith. 
 
 Having thus cut off from the Jews their favorite ground 
 of boasting, and showed the title of the Gentile believers 
 to be as good as theirs ; the aposde begins die present 
 8 
 
82 THE ATONEMENT BY JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 chapter with exhibiting the causes of rejoicing which per- 
 tain to the Gentile christians. 
 
 The first is the hojye of glory, to which the grace of God 
 has introduced them, and to which they had been previous- 
 ly strangers. The second is, their sufferings for the gos- 
 geVs sake — ' we glory in tribulations also' — because they 
 lead to increased attainments in the spirit and virtues of 
 religion, and thus prepare the way for its peace and bliss. 
 The third is their relation to God as their God ; we joy in 
 God ; this they could not do formerly, as being Gentiles, 
 who had not the true knowledge of God, and were not ad- 
 mitted to the privileges of his people ; but now, being 
 brought nigh in the establishment of the new covenant ' we 
 joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we 
 have received the atonement.' 
 
 It is the third ground of the believer's glorying, or joy, 
 which forms the text of our discourse. In considering this, 
 we find four topics of remark. 
 
 1. The meaning of the word atonement as here used. 
 
 2. The persons who receive this atonement. 
 
 3. The mode in which it is received. 
 
 4. The joy occasioned by its reception. 
 
 I. We are to speak of the meaning of tlie word Atone- 
 ment. 
 
 Here it is to be observed, first of all, that this is the only 
 place in the New Testament in which the word occurs. It 
 is not again used in the christian scriptures by any writer, 
 in any connexion, in relation to any subject. It is never 
 used in relation to the terms of pardon, or acceptance with 
 God, to explain the ground of the sinner's hope, or to illus- 
 trate any of the works or offices of Christ ; neither in rela- 
 tion to his life, his doctrines, his sufi:erings, or his death. 
 This is a fact of which we should be thoroughly aware ; 
 that the writers of the New Testament, throughout that 
 volume, have never found occasion to introduce the word 
 atonement. We meet with it nowhere except in our text. 
 
 In the next place it is to be remarked, that as occurring 
 in this passage, it is universally acknowledged to be a clear 
 and unquestionable mistranslation of the original word. In 
 
THE ATONEMENT BY JESUS CHRIST. bi5 
 
 every other case in which the same word occurs it is ren- 
 dered reconciliation ; as when the apostle says, ' he hath 
 given unto us the ministry of reconcihation.' So it should 
 have been rendered here. Doddridge remarks, that it has 
 so evident reference to the word reconciled in the context, 
 that ' it is surprising it should have been rendered by so 
 different a word in our version.'* Other commentators 
 speak to the same effect. 
 
 A single glance at the connexion in which the text stands 
 will satisfy us that this interpretation is necessary to the 
 sense of the passage. For there is an obvious allusion to 
 the language of the verse immediately preceding. ' If,' says 
 the apostle, ' when we were enemies, we were reconciled to 
 God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, 
 we shall be saved by his life.' Then follows our text, in 
 which he declares that those who are thus reconciled, ' re- 
 joice in God through Jesus Christ, by whom they have re- 
 ceived this reconciliation.'' 
 
 A glance at the word Atonement itself, may also con- 
 vince us that the true meaning is Reconciliation. The re- 
 mark has been made, and may be profitably repeatedjf that 
 to atone, in its primary use, signified to reconcile. It is 
 formed by the union of the two words, at and one. Per- 
 sons who have once differed, on being reconciled, are set 
 at one. To put at one, or to at-one, is originally to recon- 
 cile ; consequently atonement is reconciliation. This we 
 know to have been the signification of the word as it was 
 used at the period when our translation of the Bible was 
 made ; it was undoubtedly the meaning attached to it by 
 the translators. 
 
 Let us remember then, that the word ' atonement,' in 
 the only instance in which it is found in the New Testa- 
 ment, is the same with ' reconciliation.' But what is to be 
 understood by reconciliation ? 
 
 To answer this will require few words; for it is the com- 
 
 * Family Expositor, in loc. note. 
 
 t See especially Dr Ware's Letters to Trinitarians and Calninists. 
 Letter V. p. 95. 
 
84 THE ATONEMENT BY JESUS CHRIST, 
 
 prehensive term which expresses, in one view of the subject, 
 the entire purpose of the Saviour's mission. The world was 
 estranged from God, worshipping false divinities, and pur- 
 suing evil practices. Its inhabitants had wandered from God, 
 and were ' aliens,' ' afar off.' He sent his Son to bring tliem 
 near, to acquaint them with his character, to restore them 
 to their allegiance, to make them his friends, and thus, in 
 one word, to reconcile them. Hence the aposde calls the 
 ministry of the gospel the ministry of ' reconciliation ;' be- 
 cause ' God is in Christ reconciling the world to himself, 
 not imputing their trespasses unto them.' This he repre- 
 sents to be the burden of the message with which the 
 preachers of the word are charged — ' we are ambassadors 
 for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray 
 you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.' 
 
 Thus much respecting the signification of this important 
 w^ord. We proceed to consider, 
 
 II. Who are said to receive the atonement. 
 
 The idea conveyed by this language of the sacred writ- 
 ers, is that of two parties at variance. There is an aliena- 
 tion between God and his people. A reconciliation is to 
 take place. Which party is to receive it ? Which party 
 makes, and which receives the offers of peace ^ 
 
 The answer to this will depend upon the reply to a pre- 
 vious question. Which party is at vai'iance, which at en- 
 mity ? Is God at variance with his children, or they with 
 him.'^ has he forsaken them, or have they forsaken him ? 
 is he the enemy of men, or are they the enemies of God ? 
 The reply to this question is ready upon every heart and 
 tongue. God has never estranged himself from men, nor 
 forsaken them, nor been their enemy. ' He has hated 
 nothing which he has made.' His name is Love ; and in 
 long suffering love he has forborne them and been patient 
 with them, pitied them as a Father his children, showered 
 down mercy, and made punishment his strange work. The 
 history of the world bears testimony that he has never 
 ceased to be gracious ; and that if there have been any 
 separation between him and his human family, it has taken 
 place on the part of his wayward offspring. They have 
 
THE ATONEMENT BY JESUS CHRIST. 83 
 
 neglected and forgotten him ; they have been thankless 
 and disobedient. They have disliked his law, been impa- 
 tient beneath the restraint of his government, and unwilling 
 to retain him in their knowledge. The alienation was en- 
 tirely on their part ; it is their enmity which is to be sub- 
 dued and forgiven, and it is they therefore who are to re- 
 ceive the reconciliation. 
 
 With this statement the Scriptures perfectly accord. 
 The aspect of all the dispensations is that of God's love. 
 His infinite and unchangeable benignity, his free and un- 
 failing mercy, shine conspicuously in all. They do not 
 exhibit him as a stern avenger, an inexorable sovereign, a 
 God of terror and wTath ; but as gracious and merciful, 
 plenteous in redemption, full of compassion. The enemy 
 of sin, indeed, and sometimes displaying his indignant dis- 
 pleasure in works of severity and destruction ; but long 
 suffering toward the guilty, and not desirous that any should 
 perish. Notwithstanding the sins of man, he so loved the 
 world, that he sent his Son to save it. * He magnified his 
 love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ 
 died for us.' He did not need to be rendered propitious, 
 to be persuaded to extend favor to man ; for he was 
 already waiting to be gracious, the hand of forgiveness was 
 already stretched out. It was men, who needed to be in- 
 duced to seek forgiveness. They had set themselves afar 
 off, and needed to be persuaded to come near. And 
 therefore the language of scripture is, ' God is in Christ 
 reconciling the world to himself;' not, himself to the world. 
 
 It is sometimes thought, that God receives the atone- 
 ment ; that it is a means used to reconcile Him to the 
 world, and to persuade or enable him to grant pardon and 
 favor, which otherwise he might be indisposed or unable 
 to bestow. But the uniform representation of scripture 
 certainly is, that this atonement flows from his grace, not 
 that his grace is the consequence of the atonement ; that 
 He sent his Son to live and suffer for the salvation of men, 
 not that the Son lived and suffered in order to win the good 
 will of God toward them. It would be dishonorable to 
 
 8* 
 
86 THE ATONEMENT BY JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 our heavenly father, to suppose any other one to have more 
 compassion than he, and to be the first in devising and 
 prosecuting a plan for human redemption. The scripture 
 expressly speaks of reconciling men to God, never of re- 
 conciling God to men. Let us adhere to this important dis- 
 tinction. Let us receive with grateful emotions this plain 
 statement of God's inherent and essential grace. Let us 
 neither question it, by ascribing it to the previous labors of 
 one more gracious than himself, nor abuse it by ungrateful 
 continuance in rebellious sin. 
 
 III. The next observation to be drawn from our text, 
 relates to the mode in which this atonement, or reconcilia- 
 tion, is received : ' through Jesus Christ.' He is the me- 
 dium through which are communicated all the purposes and 
 revelations of God. He is the messenger by whom are 
 made known the kind purposes of the Father toward his 
 children, and by whom is preached ' peace to those who 
 are afar off and to those who are nigh.' He came, com- 
 missioned with all the authority and power, all the wisdom 
 and holiness, that should be necessary to convince, and per- 
 suade, and win men to their allegiance to God. And by 
 employing all these powers, by exercising all these gifts, 
 by establishing a new dispensation, by his instructions, doc- 
 trine, and example, by his life and sufferings, his labors and 
 death,— he did all that was needful to teach men the way 
 of return, and lead them back to God. 
 
 Especially were the anguish and patience of his final 
 sufferings, and his fearful death upon the cross, appointed 
 and powerful means of affecting the souls of men, and re- 
 storing them to the love of duty and of God. To this por- 
 tion of his ministration, therefore the work of reconciliation 
 is frequently attributed. ' He died, the just for the unjust, 
 that he might bring us to God.' ' He made peace by 
 his cross.' He thus exhibited the earnest desire of our 
 heavenly Father to reclaim his wandering children to the 
 ways of pleasantness and peace. He thus exhibited a 
 spectacle, which none can contemplate without emotion ; 
 which thousands have thought upon and wept — wept those 
 tears of sorrow and contrition which have issued in repent- 
 
TRE ATONEMENT BY JESUS CHRIST. 87 
 
 ance, and been led, humble and suppliant, to the footstool 
 of God's mercy, and thence upward in the path to heaven. 
 What multitudes have thus felt the power of this reconcil- 
 ing grace ! They have cast the burden of their sins at the 
 foot of the cross, and, in the strong figure of the Apoca- 
 lypse, have ' washed their garments, and made them white, 
 in the blood of the lamb.' 
 
 IV. We were to speak, lastly, of the joy or glorying 
 occasioned by this doctrine in the mind of the believer. 
 
 Here let us go back, and observe the state of feeling in 
 the aposde's own mind. He had been setting aside the 
 boasting of the Jews in their peculiar privileges as God's 
 chosen people, and proving that they had no reason to ex- 
 clude or despise the Gentiles. And now, in the name of 
 the Gentiles, he is bringing forward the grounds of their 
 religious boasting. The select nation can no longer glory 
 in God as their peculiar divinity* Once indeed it was 
 so, and we Gentiles were aliens and strangers ; but now, 
 we also are brought near and called into his family ; we 
 also are partakers of his revealed religion, and the hope of 
 his glory ;^we, therefore, as well as they, may 'joy in God, 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom w^e have now re- 
 ceived reconciliation.' The apostle was thinking of the 
 general fact, which was so frequently the theme of his 
 preaching and episdes, and to establish which he so anx- 
 iously labored ; the fact, that in the gospel, the distinction 
 between Jew and Gentile was abolished, the middle walls 
 of partition thrown down, and all nations placed in a state 
 of reconciliation ; — that general fact, to which most of the 
 passages refer which speak of the world being reconciled 
 and redeemed by the ministry and death of Jesus Christ. 
 When the apostle contemplated this glorious truth, which 
 evinced the equal and impartial mercy of the universal 
 parent, no wonder that his heart was enlarged, and that ho 
 spake of it here and elsewhere in ardent accents of joy and 
 triumph. 
 
 It should be equally matter of religious rejoicing to us. 
 To see the diffusion of an impartial and universal religion, 
 which gives one light and one hope to all the sons of men, 
 
SS THE ATONEMENT BY JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 which brings every nation and kindred and tongue into an 
 equal stale of favor, which collects in one the family in 
 lieaven and on earth, and unites it under one name ; how 
 shall we not triumph and rejoice in this great and sublime 
 truth, this mystery, as the apostle calls it, ' which was 
 kept secret since the world began, but is now made mani- 
 fest to all nations.' 
 
 There is not only reason for joy in this general sense, but 
 in a particular and personal sense. For by this gracious me- 
 thod of reconciliation we are, individually, put in the condi- 
 tion to be pardoned, accepted, and saved ; individually intro- 
 duced to a participation of the highest privileges which 
 God has bestowed on his children upon earth, and of the 
 most glorious hopes which he lias opened to them in heaven. 
 We have each of us, personally, been taken from that state 
 in which our fathers were once exposed, ' without God 
 and without hope,' and made to ' sit in heavenly places in 
 Christ Jesus.' If we have any right sense of our privileges 
 this will be reason for joy indeed ; — joy, that the highway 
 of life is opened before us, and that nothing may hinder 
 us from glory, honor, and immortality, if we be but faithful 
 to ourselves ; joy, in God, who has thus manifested his 
 divine love, and not suffered even our sins to separate us 
 from his mercy. To him tiien be our gratitude given. 
 'All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself 
 by Jesus Christ.' Of his own voluntary and unsolicited 
 grace, unmoved, except by the inherent and immutable 
 benignity of his own nature, he sent his Son to bestow on 
 us that light, to secure for us those advantages, tg establish 
 for us those means, by which pardon and life may be ours ; 
 to toil for us, that we might be free, to die for us, that we 
 might live. To him, therefore, be our gratitude and 
 praise ; in him be,=our joy ; in him, as our God and Father, 
 be our trust and hope. 
 
 Such is the doctrine of our text and of the New Testa- 
 ment. Thus is it calculated to excite gratitude to our 
 heavenly Father, and heighten our devotion. 
 
DISCOURSE VIII. 
 
 JESUS THE INTERCESSOR 
 
 Romans viii. 34. 
 
 Jt is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at 
 
 the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 
 
 This is one of the only two passages in the New Testa- 
 ment, which speak of Jesus as making intercession. In 
 what this intercession consists, we are nowhere distinctly 
 told The passage before us does not describe it, and 
 the other passage in Hebrews [vii. 25] speaks of it only 
 in a general and figurative adaptation of a ceremonial 
 observance of the Mosaic ritual. This consisted in the 
 sprinkling of blood on the mercy seat, upon the annual day 
 of propitiation. In conformity with this, some have been 
 fond of representing the intercession of Jesus, as tne 
 sprinkling of his blood before the throne of God in heaven. 
 But this is to speak without any distinct sense ; lor we 
 know that there is no material throne in heaven, and that 
 he did not strictly bear thither the blood which flowed 
 upon the cross. It is but a strong figure, which needs to 
 
 be explained. . .• r u\^ 
 
 Others suppose it to signify simply the presenting ot Ins 
 humanity, (as they term it,) that is, his ascended human 
 body, before God, to remind him, by its presence, oi Ins 
 gracious promises to men, and of what had been suttered 
 
90 JESUS THE INTERCESSOR. 
 
 for them. They suppose this perpetual exhibition of the 
 body in which he suffered, to be the essence of that inter- 
 cession which he makes for his church. 
 
 Others sup])ose it to consist in his perpetually pleading 
 his merits before God, and claiming the reward of his obe- 
 dience and death, in the salvation of the saints. 
 
 It is not necessary to discuss all, or either, of these 
 opinions. They are merely inferences from single unde- 
 fined expressions, like that of our text, and may seem to 
 be more or less plausible, according to the general notions 
 of that religious system which any one may have adopted. 
 
 Let us then pass by these, and examine the subject for 
 ourselves. 
 
 To intercede or to make intercession, signifies to inter- 
 pose in behalf of another, to some third person, who has 
 power to show him favor. This may be done either by 
 action or by word. Whatever therefore our Lord has 
 done, by his life, death, labors, or prayers, in behalf of 
 rnan, may be considered as part of his intercessory office. 
 
 For by all these, he stepped in, like Aaron with the 
 censer to stay the plague, between man and ruin, and by 
 all helped forward his salvation. It is consequently sup- 
 posed by many, that this language is only a general ex- 
 pression to signify, that he ' exercises kind offices' in be- 
 half of men. In this case, however, it is plain, that inter- 
 cession would be precisely the same thing as the exercise 
 of his mediatorial office. All the services, which Christ 
 has rendered man, are done by him as mediator. That 
 office comprehends every exercise of liis love, every dis- 
 play of his benevolence, every effort to extend salvation. 
 Intercession should be regarded as one of these modes of 
 exertion, rather than as all. Even if it were allowable to 
 consider the term as including all his kind offices toward 
 man, or as an indefinite phrase to signify whatever it may 
 be which he does for man in his exalted state ; yet it may 
 be more strictly exact to understand it as intending inter- 
 cession by prayer. This seems to be the more usual sense 
 of the word, both in our own language, and in that of the 
 original scriptures. 
 
JESUS THE INTERCESSOR. 91 
 
 The doctrine tlien seems to be, that our blessed Lord, 
 who poured out his prayers as well as his life for men, 
 when on earth ; forgets not in his exalted state also, to 
 seek their benefit by his prayers; and thus to express the 
 interest, which he still takes in that race for which he 
 labored and died. 
 
 It will be my object to illustrate the truth of this doc- 
 trine, to clear it from objection, to explain its purposes, 
 and unfold its uses. 
 
 1. We may remai'k, in the first place — that Jesus should 
 be engaged in such an office, is perfectly consonant to all 
 that we know of the mode of the divine administration, and 
 to all that we understand of the method of God's opera- 
 l?ons in the universe. He has every where established a 
 uniform system of mutual dependence. Nothing stands 
 by itself. No being exists alone. All lean upon each 
 other. Every individual is made to help others, and to 
 receive help from others. It is a large, comprehensive 
 arrangement of beneficence ; in which God's kind purposes 
 are elFected by causing his creatures to do kind offices to 
 one another. The very worlds which roll through space, 
 are dependent on each other, and influence each other. 
 Men are dependent on one another for existence and for 
 happiness. The parent and child^ the teacher and pupil, 
 the ruler and subject, the rich and poor, all are needful 
 to each other. And look where we may, every thing 
 and every being seems made, not for itself only, but for 
 the benefit of odiers also. 
 
 The intercessory office of Jesus may be regarded as part of 
 this wide spread and all-embracing system. Agreeably to 
 this universal law of kindness, God has appointed, that his 
 children on earth shall receive favor and blessing through 
 tlie various instrumentality of his dear Son. It is his favor- 
 ite procedure to bestow his gifts by means of intermediate 
 agents ; to withdraw himself, as it were, from immediate 
 action and observation, that he may exercise the virtues 
 and good affections of his children on one another. Thus 
 in the present instance, he would multiply the objects of 
 their affection and gratitude, by appointing that favors shall 
 
92 JESUS THE INTERCESSOR. 
 
 be conveyed to them through the intercession of theii 
 Saviour. 
 
 This is also conformable to the method of his providence 
 and grace as recorded in the scriptures. The frequent exam- 
 ples of prevalent intercession, both in the Old and New Tes- 
 taments, prove to us, that this is one of the means by which 
 God has appointed to dispense blessing. When the de- 
 struction of Sodom was threatened, how did his condescend- 
 ing mercy listen to the importunate pleading of Abraham, 
 and promise to spare at his entreaty. When the people of 
 Israel had rebelliously sinned, how often were they forgiven 
 and their punishment delayed, at the interposition of Moses. 
 So too the prayers of David and Samuel, of Elisha and 
 Solomon were acceptable, and the offending friends of Job 
 were pardoned at his intervention. And when the people 
 had transgressed beyond mercy in the days of Jeremiah, 
 the prophet was commanded, as the most decided expres- 
 sion of God's displeasure, ' therefore pray not thou for this 
 people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither 
 make intercession to me ; for 1 wiU not hear thee.' 
 
 The authority of the New Testament is even more deci- 
 sive than that of the Old. The principle of acceptable in- 
 tercession is very frequently recognized. Christians are 
 commanded to pray for one another. The aposdes request 
 the brethren to pray for them, and they offer their own 
 prayers for the brethren. Paul directs that 'intercessions 
 be made for all men.' ' Confess your faults one to 
 another,' says James, 'and pray for one another. The 
 prayer of faith shall heal the sick, and the Lord shall raise 
 him up.' Paul earnestly prays in behalf of his country- 
 men, and often assures the churches to which he writes, that 
 he never forgets them in his addresses at the throne of grace. 
 
 It thus appears, that, among the good services which 
 men are made to render to one another, this of intercession 
 stands prominent and conspicuous. As they are bound to 
 ' do good as they have opportunity,' so they are taught that 
 they liave an opportunity, whenever they hold communion 
 with their heavenly Father. 
 
 If it be so with all ; if every righteous man have this 
 privilege ; if the ear of the Almighty be thus open to the 
 
JESUS THE INTERCESSOR. 93 
 
 ciy of every benevolent heart; bow mucb more must it be 
 so to the voice of his chosen, his anointed, his dearly be- 
 loved Son f If this be a means of cultivating benevolence 
 and dispensing favor in the hands of all his children, how 
 •peculiarly must it be so in his hands, to whom the great work 
 of love was appointed, and whose desire of man's happiness 
 is so earnest and extensive ? How must his heart. Overflow- 
 ing with that love which passeth knowledge, delight to pour 
 itself out before the seat of his Father's mercy, in petitions 
 of grace for the erring, of pardon for the penitent, of 
 sti'ength for the weak, of aid for the tempted ! How must 
 he delight to add to all other demonstrations of interest in 
 their souls' well-being, this of a tender recollection of them 
 in his prayers ! 
 
 Consider how it was during his residence upon earth. 
 Several of liis prayers are recorded in the gospels, and 
 among them are prayers of intercession. ' The enemy hath 
 desired you,' said he to Peter, ' that he may sift you as 
 wheat ; and I have prayed for thee, that thy faith may not 
 fail.' He prayed particularly for Peter, because his ardor 
 and rashness exposed him to especial peril. When stretch- 
 ed upon the cross, he prayed for his enemies ; and before 
 that Lcene of suffering began, he poured out his soul in the 
 most affectionate strain of supplication for his chosen disci- 
 ples. This, his longest, his most striking act of devotion, 
 was almost exclusively an act of intercession. He appear- 
 ed as their advocate before the Father. He pleaded for 
 them with earnest and profound feeling ; appearing to con- 
 centrate the whole strength and tenderness of his disinter- 
 ested love, in this official act of friendly intercession. 
 
 Will any one suppose, that his ardent devotion to the in- 
 terests of his followers and the church, expired when he 
 left them in the world ? that he no longer cared for them, 
 when he had ascended from their sight, nor took concern 
 in their improvement, purity, and peace f Or will any one 
 imagine, that he no longer possessed the privilege of inter- 
 ceding with his Father ? that when risen to his glory, the 
 liberty and efficacy of this benevolent act were taken from 
 him ? It cannot be. It were not possible that he should 
 9 
 
94 JESUS THE INTERCESSOR. 
 
 have changed his feelings, and lost his solicitude for that 
 work in which he had lived and died, suffered and triumph- 
 ed, been humbled and glorified. Neither could it be pos- 
 sible, that he, who watched over and instructed his grow- 
 ing church, and sought for it God's choice blessing, to the 
 very moment when the cloud received him from human 
 sight ; should, from that moment, have ceased to plead its 
 cause in the presence of that God to whom he had as- 
 cended. 
 
 The representations of the New Testament confirm this 
 idea. It is very evident from them, that during the apos- 
 tolic age — that is, until the destruction of Jerusalem, and 
 the extinction of the Jewish polity — our Lord did continue 
 to manifest an active and personal interest in the concerns 
 of his followers and the prosperity of his church. * Lo, I 
 am with you always,' said he, ' even unto the end of the 
 world ;' by which we understand, what the term so fre- 
 quently means in the christian scriptures, the end of the 
 Jewish world, the close of the Jewish age, or dispensation. 
 That this promise was fulfilled by his actual, occasional 
 presence with them, is manifest from several passages. 
 He appeared personally to Paul for his conversion. He 
 seems afterwards to have appeared to him on other occa- 
 sions. And there are frequent intimations, that the disci- 
 ples received from him direction and council, in a manner 
 wholly unknown in later times, after the infant church had 
 obtained a firm footing in the world. All the aid which he 
 thus vouchsafed to his struggling and suffering followers, was 
 in furtherance of that magnificent design to which he had 
 devoted himself. And can we then suppose, that it ceased 
 to hold a place in his near and unceasing communion with 
 God ? Is it not most consistent and reasonable to believe, 
 that he, who had so magnanimously consecrated himself to 
 this holy cause, and been its advocate in one sphere, should 
 continue to be its advocate in another sphere ? Is it not 
 most agreeable to all our conceptions of the benevolence 
 and devotion of Jesus, to believe that the apostle states the 
 literal fact when he. says in our text, that he, who died for 
 us, and rose again, and is at God's right hand, also makes 
 
JESUS THE INTERCESSOR. 95 
 
 intercession for us? Should we not expect to find, that as 
 he ' ever lives,' so he ' ever makes intercession f" 
 
 Still, however, objections may arise to the doctrine thus 
 stated. Some of these it was our second purpose to 
 consider. 
 
 II. 1. The first objection which occurs to me as likely 
 to be made to these statements, arises from a general feel- 
 ing of incredulity in regard to what does not come within 
 the limits of actual personal knowledge. We are not easily 
 brought to conceive, that the employment of beings in the 
 invisible world can have any near connexion with us, or 
 our lot be a matter of knowledge or interest to them. And 
 hence we are inclined to receive with a certain hesitating 
 incredulity, the idea that Jesus intercedes for us in heaven. 
 
 This seems to me to be owing to our too much dividing 
 this world in our thoughts from the coming state. We are 
 so engrossed with present things, that we regard the visible 
 and invisible states, not only as separate, but altogether dis- 
 tinct and unconnected. This is doubtless an error ; and 
 the removal of this, would remove all difficulty on this ac- 
 count — a difficulty arising from false associations of feeling, 
 rather than from any well-grounded reason. 
 
 For we are to reflect, that, in truth, the connexion be- 
 tween these states is most real and intimate, the one being 
 a continuation of the life commenced in the other. Now 
 there is this essential difference between the condition of 
 us w^ho remain upon earth, and the spirits of those who have 
 departed to the unseen state. Their condition we have 
 never experienced nor witnessed ; and therefore we cannot 
 fully understand its character nor sympathise in it. It is to 
 us the untravelled region of imagination and hope, of which 
 we have heard that it is, but have not seen what it is. But 
 with our condition, they, on the contrary, are familiarly 
 acquainted ; they have once taken part in it ; they know 
 the feelings, the employments, the exposures, the pleasures, 
 the trials of earthly existence ; they can enter into all the 
 joys and sorrows, hopes and fears, anxieties and raptures 
 of their friends below. Although, therefore, we, from our 
 inexperience and ignorance, may seem to be utterly discon- 
 
96 JESUS THE INTERCESSOR. 
 
 nected from them, and from all concern or sympathy with 
 them ; yet they, who have been so recently dwellers upon 
 earth, must still feel that they are not wholly severed from 
 us. They must still have a lively recollection of what pass- 
 ed and affected them in this important abode of their pro- 
 bation ; must still take an interest in the scenes and the 
 friends wliich they have left ; must be desirous to promote 
 if possible their welfare, and anxious to avert from them 
 evil. It is as if they had gone to a distant continent, 
 whence their hearts still run back to family and home, and 
 rejoice in tidings from the land that they loved. 
 
 We cannot view this matter differently, unless we sup- 
 pose, either that the memory of this first period of life is 
 blotted out from the soul at death ; or else that the affec- 
 tions are so changed as to become at once indifferent to all 
 that they knew and cherished here. But we cannot indulge 
 either supposition. Every thing that is taught us respecting 
 a future life gives the assurance, that there is a close con- 
 nexion between that and the present ; that that, in truth, is 
 a direct continuance of this ; linked intimately to it by the 
 consequences of action and character which follow from 
 this world to that. There can then be no obliteration of 
 the memory. To a state of retribution the recollection of 
 the past state of duty is essential. For there could be no 
 just punishment of sins of which the sufferer is not in some 
 sense conscious, and no righteous recompence of services 
 which are not in some sense remembered. Besides, it is 
 plain that nothing but an express and arbitrary act of om- 
 nipotence could blot the memory of past existence from the 
 soul — an act, which we have not the slightest reason or au- 
 thority to warrant us in supposing. 
 
 Neither have we any ground for supposing any super- 
 natural change in the affections at that moment. Man, risen 
 from death, is still man — the same man, so far as regards his 
 character, feelings, and affections, that he was when he fell 
 asleep. If these be not the same, his personal identity is 
 gone. Admitted to the joys of heaven, he still must be 
 conscious that he has just quitted the society of earth, and 
 must have a desire that those whom he loved below should 
 
JEStJS THE INTERCESSOR. 07 
 
 be united with him above — a desire stronger than ever, we 
 should think, because heightened by an actual sense of hea- 
 venly felicity. If our Saviour represents the selfish rich man, 
 as anxious, that his brethren might not come to the same 
 place of torment; how reasonable to suppose that the good 
 — who were less selfish and more attached to their earthly 
 friends, — should be solicitous that those friends should 
 come to the same place of bliss; and, though they might 
 not be able to send them a messenger from Abraham's bo- 
 som, yet should seek, by prayer at least, to obtain for 
 them the blessing. 
 
 There is therefore no good reason for that distinction of 
 interests, which we are so apt to imagine placed between 
 the two states. We deceive ourselves, because we have 
 never experienced the neai-ness of the connexion. We 
 should reflect that the inmates of the other world have ex- 
 perienced it. If we would in imagination exchange places 
 with them, and consider with what feelings we should look 
 back upon this spot of our infant being ; we should under- 
 stand how close is the tie which binds together the invisible 
 and visible worlds, and how strongly it is felt by them, 
 though so little realized by us. We should be persuaded, 
 that their thoughts and affections still run back to former 
 scenes and friends, and that the prayers of heaven, where 
 angels rejoice over penitent sinners, do not forget to men- 
 tion the friends of earth. We then, instead of the cold in- 
 credulous assent which we now give to the doctrine of 
 Christ's intercession, should feel that nothing could be more 
 natural, or more agreeable to his character and office. If 
 our fellow-men carry with them the recollections of earth, 
 and the desire to benefit their friends ; how much more 
 must He, the whole object of whose life was to fit men for 
 that world ; who left upon earth a mighty work but just 
 commenced; who left the church he had just founded 
 struggling for its existence, and the dearest desires of 
 whose heart can be accomplished only by its growth and 
 prosperity. The work which he begun is still going on, as 
 important, as interesting, as glorious, as ever. He cannot 
 be separated from it. However others might be able to 
 9* 
 
98 JESUS THE INTERCESSOR. 
 
 forget all their labors and objects of interest on earth, it 
 cannot be so with the Messiah ; for heaven and eternity are 
 interested in them. However to others the two states might 
 become distinct and separate, to him they could never be 
 so. For what his truth has begun to effect here, is going 
 on to its completion there. It is only by knowing its whole 
 progress, that he can ' see of the travail of his soul and be 
 satisfied.' He cannot cease to care for it, to be engaged 
 for it, and to speak of it in the everlasting communion 
 which he holds with his Father. He cannot be unconcern- 
 ed for any spirit here, which he hopes to welcome to glory- 
 there . 
 
 2. Another objection to this doctrine may be, that no 
 consequences are discernible. If Jesus were truly inter- 
 ceding for men, we should perceive its effects in their con- 
 version and subjection to him. His religion would not be 
 so slighted, its extension would not be so limited. But as 
 it has spread so imperfectly, and so many who have receiv- 
 ed are yet so litde affected by it, it is not easy to believe 
 tliat Jesus has been actually employing so efficient means. 
 
 This objection proceeds upon the supposition, that the 
 intercession of the Mediator must necessarily be all-prevail- 
 ing ; that such must of course be its virtue, as to occasion 
 at once the perfect accomplishment of his great work. But 
 we have no authority for such a supposition. It is w^ithout 
 sufficient reason or warrant, that we fancy the Deity pledged 
 to grant immediately, unreservedly, and perceptibly, tlie 
 petitions of the intercessor. 
 
 It is true, when our Lord uttered his prayer at the tomb 
 of Lazarus, he said, ' I know that thou hearest me always.' 
 He had asked for permission lo exercise his power in rais- 
 ing his friend from the dead, and he gave thanks that it was 
 granted ; ' Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.* 
 But this, it is plain, refers only to his power of working mira- 
 cles on earth. And it must be observed, that there is a great 
 difference between such operations on the bodies of men, 
 and the influence of religion on their souls. The souls of 
 men are subject only to a moral influence. There can be 
 no reformation or holiness by compulsion. Reformation 
 
JESUS THE INTERCESSOR, 9^ 
 
 and holiness come only through the operation of truth, by- 
 motive, argument, persuasion. These are the means which 
 God has established in the world, and which Jesus came to 
 bring. And if his intercession should have the effect to work 
 a miracle in every heart, it would be to supercede at once, 
 and render useless, all those extensive means, which, with 
 so great pains and cost, have been instituted for man's salva- 
 tion. But it plainly cannot be designed to interfere with 
 and frustrate, but only to aid, that vast and gracious system ; 
 and therefore this objection — which simply amounts to this, 
 that it has not overturned the whole provision of moral means 
 in the christian dispensation — is entirely destitute of weight. 
 
 Indeed the objection might be urged quite as plausibly 
 against the whole system of revelation itself. It is an obvi- 
 ous fact, that revelation does not accomplish the whole of 
 that extensive good, which it was designed to effect. The 
 gospel was sent into the world to abolish the empire of sin, 
 and establish the prevalence of holiness. Yet it has never 
 done it. The dominion of sin is still powerful and exten- 
 sive, and multitudes live and die without righteousness or 
 religion. This is true even of the christian world ; how 
 much more true of the whole world ! Now we might quite 
 as safely reason, that the gospel has not been announced, 
 because we do not witness its promised perfect operation, as 
 that Jesus does not intercede, because we do not witness 
 what we should suppose to be the complete efficacy of such 
 intercession. The truth is, that nothing at present has its 
 full and perfect effect. Every thing is in tendency, rather 
 than in result. The design and tendency of the govern- 
 ment of providence are to happiness ; yet there is a great 
 deal of unhappiness. But this unhappiness is no objection 
 to a thoughtful mind against the benevolent tendency of the 
 system. 
 
 Besides ; the objection we are considering adopts the 
 veiy inadmissable supposition, that we are acquainted with 
 all the results of our Lord's intercessory labors ; that we 
 actually know how far they avail, and where they cease to 
 avail. Whereas, in truth, we know nothing about it, and 
 can know nothing. How can we tell that many favors and 
 
100 JESUS THE INTERCESSOR. 
 
 deliverances, which we least suspect, and of whose existence 
 even we know nothing, are not owing to this very circum- 
 stance ? How can we tell, if this were to cease, what 
 would be the diminution of the general influence of relig- 
 ion, and of its peace and joy in our own breasts ? From 
 the nature of the case, we must necessarily be profoundly 
 ignorant in regard to all particulars. It is much the game 
 as in regard to the efficacy of prayer. We know that it 
 avails, that ' the fervent, effectual prayer of a righteous man 
 avails much.' But who can tell in precisely what instances 
 and to what extent ? We have the public institutions and 
 ordinances of our faith operating in the midst of us, and 
 within the sphere of our constant observation. Yet we are 
 wholly unable to estimate the extent and determine the Hm- 
 its of their influence. Many persons profess that they are 
 unable to discern in it any degree. It were therefore to be 
 expected that the operation of our Lord's intercession would 
 be imperceptible. It might be great and powerful, and yet 
 we be altogether unable to detect it. 
 
 3. Another objection to the doctrine may be that it ope- 
 rates against the character of the Supreme Father. It seems 
 to imply, that he is less disposed to show favor to his child- 
 ren, and that he needs to be solicited and persuaded by 
 some being more benevolent than himself. 
 
 This objection is grounded entirely in misapprehension ; 
 as will be evident from considering, what I proposed as the 
 third head of discourse, 
 
 III. The purpose to be answered by the intercession of 
 Jesus. 
 
 The objection just named supposes this purpose to be, to 
 change the dispositions of God from wrath to favor, and ren- 
 der him wilhng, or induce him, to be kind to his offspring. 
 Now if this were the purpose, the objection would be in- 
 superable against the doctrine, since it would contradict the 
 whole testimony of the scriptures concerning the character 
 of God. For although his displeasure against sin is unques- 
 tionable and severe, yet nothing is more certain than that his 
 disposition toward his creatures is that of a Father — is love, 
 grace, antecec;lent to any solicitation, independent of all ex- 
 
JESUS THE INTERCESSOR. 101 
 
 tenial causes. The objection is indeed valid against any 
 notion of intercession or mediation, which should attribute 
 to it the production of such a disposition ; which should 
 suppose, for example, a perpetual contest going on between 
 Jesus the Advocate, and God the Judge, in which the one 
 insists on the extreme penalty of the law, and the other 
 pleads, that having already endured it himself, it should not 
 be again visited on the offenders. Or such views as are 
 sometimes given by Watts in his hymns : 
 
 Rich were the drops of Jesus' blood, 
 
 That cahn'd Gods frowning face ; 
 That sprinkled o'er the burning throne, 
 
 And turn'd the wrath to grace. 
 
 But the doctrine, which I have stated, is not liable to the 
 objection which rightfully lies against such representations 
 as this. It ascribes no such purpose to the work of Christ, 
 for it does not admit any such to be needed. It stands on 
 the same foundation with the doctrine of prayer. It pre- 
 supposes that God is gracious, does not undertake to ren- 
 der him so. It is the appointed means, by which his 
 grace, already abundant and active, is sought and bestow- 
 ed. If I beseech God to grant a daily blessing, it is not 
 because I imagine him indisposed to bestow it, and need- 
 ing to be persuaded to do it ; but for just the contrary 
 reason, that he is disposed ; and it is suitable and becom- 
 ing in me, dependent as I am, to apply to him, acknow- 
 ledging my dependence and need ; besides that he has 
 commanded it, as a means of obtaining blessing. So also 
 if I offer petitions in behalf of a friend, it is for the very 
 reason that I know God to be dispoied to bless, and to 
 have appointed this as one means of procuring favor. It is 
 suitable too and becoming, that his children should in this 
 way express and exercise their srood feelings toward each 
 other. It is part of that vast connected system of benevo- 
 lence and mutual improvement, which has already been 
 referred to. We regard our Lord's intercession as a part 
 of the same system. He appears at the throne of grace in 
 behalf of his friends — not because God needs to be en- 
 treated and rendered willing to grant blessing j but because, 
 
102 JESUS THE INTERCESSOR. 
 
 already waiting to be gracious, he has appointed this me- 
 thod of dispensing blessing. It is also suitable and becom- 
 ing, that he, who is the head of the church, and whom 
 God sent to ' lead many sons to glory,' should in this way 
 express his care for them, and his interest in them, and be 
 the means of procuring for them that felicity, for which 
 he labored and died. 
 
 Precisely what we owe to it, the exact nature and ex- 
 tent of the aid, strength, favor, which may be thus commu- 
 nicated to believers, it is not possible for us to know. But 
 that it is something real and great, we have no right to 
 doubt. We cannot precisely ascertain how much or 
 what we owe to our prayers, or wherein human interces- 
 sions avail. The christian poet has said, speaking of the 
 humble piety of the retired man, who lives unheeded by 
 the world — 
 
 Perhaps she owes 
 Her sunshine and her rain, her blooming spring 
 And plenteous harvests, to the prayer he makes, 
 When, Isaac like, the solitary saint 
 Walks forth to meditate at even tide, 
 And think on her, who thinks not of herself. — Cowper, 
 
 So also the christian, perhaps, owes much of the efficacy 
 of his faith and the serenity of his spirit, the peace and 
 joy which he has in believing, his deliverance in temptation, 
 and his consolation in trouble, and whatever holy influences 
 he may rejoice in, to the intercession of his Lord. At any 
 rate, one consequence is certain. The doctrine has a 
 tendency to excite gratitude, and to promote the growth of 
 religious affections. To believe that we are thought of in 
 heaven; that our benevolent and truest friend there takes 
 an interest in us ; that the gracious Father of our spirits 
 has appointed that mention shall be continually made of 
 the infirmities, the trials, the penitence, the temptations, 
 the sorrows of his children — so that their state may never 
 be forgotten, and that angels may rejoice in their welfare ; 
 to believe this, must strongly conduce to excite devout and 
 grateful affections, to make us feel that we have to do with 
 something bettei: than the follies and sins of time, to make 
 us realize that we are immortal and ought to be holy, and 
 
JESUS THE INTERCESSOR. 103 
 
 to bring us, humble, rejoicing, confiding, to the throne of 
 mercy, consecrated to His service, who has loved us with 
 an everlasting love. 
 
 This is what may be called the moral efficacy of the 
 doctrine ; and may lead us to consider, as was in the last 
 place proposed, 
 
 IV. The practical uses of the subject. 
 
 These, to one who is persuaded of its truth, cannot be 
 slight. If we know that some valued friend, whose heart 
 is one with us, and who earnestly desires our good, makes 
 it one of the offices of his devotion to mention us affection- 
 ately before God and implore his benediction upon us ; 
 who of us can fail to be touched by such an act of friend- 
 ship ^ who would not be led to strive that he might be 
 worthy of the prayers thus presented, and not forfeit the 
 blessings thus implored ? The great Apostle to the Gen- 
 tiles frequently reminds his bretliren, that ' always, in all 
 his prayers, he makes mention of them before God.' How 
 likely was tliis to impress them with an affectionate and 
 holy awe ! How solicitous must it have rendered them to 
 reward his kindness, and not to provoke the displeasure of 
 that gracious Being to whom they were commended ! 
 And who can doubt, that, in all succeeding ages of the 
 church, multitudes of souls have been impressed and won 
 by the reflection, that their minister remembered them 
 daily and nightly, in his prayers ; that when thoughtless of 
 themselves, he had not ceased to be concerned for them ; 
 and that his friendly intercessions for them, if despised and 
 neglected on their part, would rise up to their shame and 
 condemnation at last .^ How. often also, has the minister, 
 amid the toils and anxieties, the trials and disappointments 
 attendant on his labors, been comforted by the assurance, 
 thot the faithful of his flock . are bearing him up in their 
 prayers at the mercy seat ; that, in sympathy and love, 
 they implore for him that aid and guidance, which only 
 can support and cheer ! This assurance is balm to his 
 spirit. It gives him animation and confidence, and makes 
 his heavy burdens light. If then christians would but 
 realize, that he, who is more than a friend, more than a 
 
104 V JESUS THE INTERCESSOR. 
 
 pastor — the author and finisher of the faith which gives 
 them life — ' who died for them, and rose again, and is 
 seated at the right hand of God,' — who will come again 
 to judgment in the clouds of heaven, and from whose own 
 voice they hope to receive a welcome to the joys of their 
 Lord — that he ' makes intercession for them ;' — how 
 powerfully might it operate to inspirit their devotion, to 
 excite their zeal, to quicken their improvement, to console 
 them in trouble, to encourage them when doubtful and 
 desponding ! 
 
 Let us seek to secure to ourselves this good influence. 
 When we raise our desires to Him, from whom cometh 
 our help, it may warm and animate us to remember, that 
 we have an ' advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the 
 righteous.' Offered through him, as the appointed way to 
 the Father, our prayers cannot be frustrated nor lost. 
 
 The same thought may help to make us watchful. If 
 we have an habitual persuasion that our virtue and salvation 
 are anxiously desired by our Lord, we cannot fail to be 
 more anxious for them ourselves, and to watch for them 
 diligently. Jf Peter had borne humbly in mind his Mas- 
 ter's words — ' Simon, I have prayed for thee, that thy faith 
 fail not' — he would have bepn earnestly on his guard and 
 not have fallen. But he forgot it, and his faith failed. So 
 may ours fail, if we will not secure it by the grateful re- 
 collection of what is still done in our behalf. 
 
 We may find this persuasion of particular worth to us in 
 times of temptation, sorrow, and spiritual despondency. 
 When we deeply feel our weakness and insufficiency, when 
 the world is dark, and our hearts are gloomy, and peace 
 seems departed ; then we may find in this doctrine a sooth- 
 ing and strengthening power. We lean upon the compas- 
 sion of one, who ' wns in all points tempted as we ai'e,* 
 and was * made perfect through suffering.' We feel se- 
 cure of sympathy from him, who suffered for us in his 
 humiliation, and does not forget us now that he is exalted ; 
 and while we meclitate and pray, the cloud is gradually 
 removed, and we are restored to the brightness and calm- 
 ness of spiritual peace. 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 CHRIST THE JUDGE OF THE WORLD. 
 
 John v. 22. 
 
 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment 
 
 to the Son. 
 
 Our knowledge of the character and dispensations of 
 God is derived from two sources ; his works and his word ; 
 each of them addressed to, and interpreted by our under- 
 standing. His works — by which we mean the whole con- 
 stitution of nature, so far as exposed to the view and in- 
 vestigation of man — offer the most convincing proofs of 
 the existence, perfections and agency of the omnipresent 
 spirit ; and afford instructions, to a certain extent, clear 
 and unquestionable, concerning his will and purposes. 
 This is the religion of nature. His word contains the 
 religion of revelation ; a more complete discovery of his 
 perfections and government, and comprising information 
 respecting his designs and law, of which his works teach 
 nothing. Especially in what regards the final purposes of 
 God respecting the human race, and the mode in which 
 they shall be accomplished ; revelation unfolds what reason 
 could never have gathered from nature. That there is a 
 God, and that he rules the universe, ' all nature cries aloud 
 through all her works.' '• That he delights in virtue,' is 
 also evinced by the law written on the heart. But of the 
 great purpose of the present administration, of the final 
 10 
 
106 CHRIST THE JUDGE OF THE WORLD. 
 
 issue of this state of things, and the destiny which awaits 
 man at the close of his mortal career ; nothing is taught 
 with certainty, and little can be even distinctly conjectured, 
 from the intimations of nature around us, or the working of 
 reason within us. What is known upon these points, is 
 derived from revelation. There we learn distinctly the 
 objects of our existence, the intentions of our IViaker con- 
 cerning us, the means of securing his favor, the certain- 
 ty of another life, and the true way to avoid its misery 
 and ensure its bliss. The important mysteries of the di- 
 vine administration are laid open before us — ' even that mys- 
 tery, which was kept secret since the world began, but is 
 now made manifest by the writings of the prophets, accord- 
 ing to the commandment of the everlasting God.' 
 
 These scriptures especially teach — what the works of 
 God could never tell us — by what agency and through 
 whose intervention the eternal benefits ol divine grace are 
 offered and secured to man. They alone unfold the offices 
 of the Mediator between God and men, who brings the 
 instructions and promises of a new covenant, and announces 
 the peculiar relations and duties thence arising. All this, 
 however, although not recorded in the volume of nature, is 
 yet consistent with whatever that volume teaches. The 
 dispensing of grace by Jesus Christ is an arrangement of 
 the divine will altogether analogous to the other dispensa- 
 tions of God. It is conformable to all that we discern of 
 the uniform and general procedure of providence. Every 
 tiling in the universe is conducted through the ministration 
 of subordinate agents. God bestows existence and sup- 
 ports it, not by his own direct action, but through interme- 
 diate agency. He guides and ruleS; dispenses favor and 
 manifests displeasure, by the operation of second causes, 
 interposed between himself and his children. All things 
 are his ministers and messengers to his offspring, in which 
 and through which he is manifested, and they are his min- 
 isters and messengers to one another. It is one vast and 
 unbroken system of mediation, ministration. 
 
 In perfect conformity to this, when he would establish 
 among men tne way of salvation and bring them to ever- 
 
CHRIST THE JUDGE OP THE WORLD. 107 
 
 lasting life, he sent to them a Mediator — who should exe- 
 cute all which might be necessary to fulfil the pur}30ses of 
 the new dispensation, and be the head and prince of God's 
 spiritual kingdom. 
 
 In order to the complete accomplishment of this exten- 
 sive work, the scriptures inform us that the authority of 
 Judge is given to him ; that he, who oversees and guides 
 the whole progress of the great spiritual kingdom among 
 men, and is in God's stead to carry it forward to its con- 
 summation ; is also to be the final distributer of its awards. 
 To this effect our text contains an express assertion ; ' The 
 Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to 
 the Son.' This is repeated further on ; ' He hath given 
 him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the 
 Son of man.' The same is implied in several of our 
 Lord's parables, and especially in that which describes him 
 as coming in the clouds, with the angels and glory of his 
 Father, ' to separate the evil from the good, as a shepherd 
 divides the sheep from the goats.* The Apostle Paul 
 says, * We must all stand before the judgment seat of 
 Christ.' In his address to the Athenians, he stated in 
 express terms, ' that God has appointed a day in which he 
 will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom 
 he hath ordained.' Peter also, addressing Cornelius, ' tes- 
 tified, that it is he who is ordained of God to be the judge 
 of quick and dead ;' an expression, which he repeats in his 
 first epistle, and which Paul u,ses in his second epistle to 
 Timothy.''^ 
 
 These passages decide what is the doctrine of the New 
 Testament on this point. It has been the acknowledged 
 doctrine of the church in all its divisions. It may have been 
 understood in senses somewhat various, but in some sense 
 it has been universally received. 
 
 Nothing can be more interesting to the human soul, than 
 the solemnities of judgment. Nothing can be better 
 worthy our habitual reflections, than the fact that there will 
 be a righteous retribution when life shall have closed. All 
 that pertains to that judgment, and to him who shall ad- 
 
 * J Peter iv. 5. 2 Timothy iv. 1. 
 
108 CHRIST THE JUDGE OF THE WORLD. 
 
 minister it, must be matter of deepest and most affecting 
 interest. No one, who suffers himself to think at all, can 
 think of it with indifference. I therefore ask attention to the 
 remarks suggested by our text, concerning the nature of 
 the office which Christ thus holds, the authority by which 
 he exercises it, the reasons of his appointment to it, and 
 the duties which are consequently imposed upon us. 
 
 I. The nature of this office. 
 
 The passages already cited teach, that it is to be exe- 
 cuted at the final consummation of all things, when tlie 
 issues of this probation shall be made known, and every 
 man shall receive * according to the deeds done in the 
 body.' i\t that time, it is the Son of man, who shall sit on 
 the throne of the kingdom, and welcome the righteous to 
 the joy of their Lord, and deliver the unprofitable to outer 
 darkness. 
 
 The inquiry is here suggested, whether we are to under- 
 stand that this shall be strictly the act of the Saviour, 
 present in his own person ; or whether we are to suppose 
 it intended only to represent, that the doctrines and laws 
 of his religion shall determine the final state of every indi- 
 vidual. Is he Judge, in the sense that he personally ad- 
 ministers the sentence, or in tlie sense, that it is by his law 
 that judgment shall be passed f 
 
 Each of these interpretations may find support from 
 some passages of the Scriptures, apd it may not be easy to 
 satisfy ourselves which is the truth. 
 
 In regard to the first, it is strongly countenanced by 
 the direct phraseology of the New Testament, in a multi- 
 tude of instances. Jesus is there represented as personally 
 appearing, sitting, speaking, and pronouncing judgment, in 
 a manner which seems at first to require a literal interpre- 
 tation. It does not at once suggest the idea, that nothing 
 else is intended, but that the final distribution of rewards 
 and punishments shall be made according to the rules of 
 his gospel. 
 
 But then, on the other hand, it is well understood, that 
 in commo!! language, and most frequently in the language 
 of the Bible, one is said to do what he causes to be done. 
 
CHRIST THE JUDGE OF THE WORLD. 109 
 
 or provides for doing. According to which sense, we may 
 understand Christ to be called the Judge of the world, 
 because he provides the rules and publishes the laws by 
 which judgment shall proceed. He himself authorizes tliis 
 interpretation, when he says, ' If any man hear my words 
 and believe not, I judge him not ; he hath one that judgeth 
 him; the word that I have spoken, ihe same shall judge 
 him at the last day.' It seems also to corroborate this 
 interpretation, that he promises his disciples, that they shall 
 ' sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel ;' 
 and also that Paul says, ' Know ye not that the saints shall 
 judge the world ? Know ye not that we shall judge angels ?' 
 Now we do not for a moment suppose that the apostles 
 shall be actually seated on twelve thrones, and take part in 
 the distribution of rewards and punishments to God's crea- 
 tures ; much less that all christians shall be so employed ; 
 for they are all to be themselves subject to judgment. And 
 still less do we imagine, that they shall be exalted to pass 
 sentence upon angels. We do not hesitate to understand 
 by this language, that the doctrine they hold is the rule by 
 which all shall be judged, that the gospel they profess is 
 the standard by which sentence shall be passed. And why 
 are we not warranted in adopting the same exposition in 
 the instance of our Lord ? Why not use as a key to the 
 other expressions his own declaration, that it is *the word 
 which he hath spoken, that shall judge them at the last 
 day ?' 
 
 It must be acknowledged, however, that perfect satisfac- 
 tion upon this point is not easily obtained. Neither can it 
 be considered essential. There is necessarily much per- 
 taining to the last great day and hs dread events, which 
 the day only can reveal. It is sufficient for us, that we 
 know by what law our actions shall be tried, and by how 
 strict a standard our lives shall be judged. It will be the 
 same thing, as regards our own state, whether our condition 
 be silently determined by the word of Christ, which was 
 given for our direction ; or whether it be audibly announced 
 from his lips. In either case, it will be bliss for those who 
 are received, and woe for those who are rejected. 
 10* 
 
1 10 CHRIST THE JUDGE OF THE WORLD. 
 
 II. We come to the second point proposed ; the authority 
 by which our Lord exercises this office. Is it original, or 
 is it derived ? Is it his own, or does he receive it from 
 another ? 
 
 This is a question which can, of course, be answered 
 only by the written testimony of revelation. Conjecture 
 and reasoning upon this point are equally unprofitable and 
 out of place. Only that word, which informs us that he 
 holds the office, can tell us by what authority he holds it. 
 
 And here there is no deficiency of information, nor want 
 of explicitness. Every passage to which we have refer- 
 red, either directly asserts, or necessarily implies, that the 
 authority is derived from the Father. ' The Father hath 
 committed all judgment to the Son.' ' He hath given me au- 
 thority to execute judgment.' ^ He is ordained of God to 
 be judge of quick and dead.' No language can be more 
 unambiguous than this. Words could not deny more 
 strongly all claim on our Lord's part to an original inde- 
 pendent authority in this particular. 
 
 But notwithstanding this, it is remarkable, that men have 
 been sometimes ready to forget this plain language of our 
 Lord, and be rather guided by the suggestions of their own 
 understanding. For, they argue, it is impossible that the 
 office of judging the world should be delegated. It is a 
 work to which only omniscience and omnipotence are equal; 
 and these qualifications cannot be communicated to a finite 
 being. For which reason, they say, it is necessary that 
 the Judge should be the supreme deity himself; and hence 
 they conclude that Jesus is himself the Almighty God. 
 
 Upon remarks of this sort we may observe, in the first 
 place, that we have no right to say what powers God can 
 or cannot communicate, what authority he can or cannot 
 delegate. It is presumption in beings like us. How do we 
 know that he may not impart to one of his creatures know- 
 ledge wide enough and power large enough to execute 
 righteous judgment on the human race, without making it 
 omnipotent or omniscient? What right have we to say that 
 one cannot receive from God authority and wisdom suffi- 
 cient to rule his church of this world, without makine: it 
 
CHRIST THE JUDGE OF THE tVORLD. IH 
 
 extend to all worlds ? Why is it impossible to believe that 
 God may ' commit all judgment' to another ? 
 
 It is hazardous to reason on this point in opposition to 
 the plain language of revelation. Jesus Christ declares, 
 that this authority is delegated, and refrains from all lan- 
 guage which may imply underived wisdom, or native right. 
 In words immediately following our text, he adds, ' I can 
 of mine own self do nothing ; as I hear I judge ; and my 
 judgment is just, because 1 seek not my own will, but the 
 will of the Father who sent me.' Shall we suffer any no- 
 tion respecting the impossibility of a judgment without inde- 
 pendent omniscience, to contradict this decisive language f 
 
 But further still. The very circumstance which we are 
 ready to rely upon as proving that Jesus could not execute 
 judgment, if he possessed only delegated power ; is the 
 very circumstance assigned in the sacred volume as a rea- 
 son for its being delegated. Judgment, it is sometimes af- 
 firmed, cannot be impartial and just in the hands of one of 
 limited knowledge. Who can feel safe, it is asked, to 
 commit his eternal destiny to the decision of one who is 
 not omniscient ? Such is the wisdom of man. But not 
 such the wisdom of God. He has seen fit to ' give' Jesus 
 this authority. And why ? For the very reason which 
 men assign for its being impossible — ' because he is the Son 
 of man.' This is so frequently implied, that we might 
 almost fancy it designed as a rebuke to man's presumptuous 
 argument on the subject. ' He hath appointed a day' says 
 Paul, ' in which he will judge the world in righteousness — 
 iy the man whom he hath ordained.' He himself says, 
 * My judgment is just.' Why ? Because my knowledge 
 and power are infinite ? because I am the eternal and un- 
 erring God ? Not at all. This is what men may say ; 
 but Christ assigns a very opposite reason : ' because I seek 
 not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.' 
 
 It may well be added here, that, even on the supposition 
 of the union of the divine and human natures in the person 
 of our Lord ; this speculative reasoning is altogether unsat- 
 isfactory and deceitful. For in that case, the scriptures 
 speak of him as judge, never in his divine nature, but only 
 
112 CHRIST THE JUDGE OF THE WORLD. 
 
 and always in his inferior nature. He hath authority, not 
 because he is God, but ' because he is the Son of man.' 
 So likewise says Paul — 'the man whom he hath ordained.' 
 So that, whatever ground may be taken, the scriptures deny 
 that the possession of divine attributes is essential to this 
 work. If it be said, that an influence is derived to the in- 
 ferior nature by its union with God ; this is undoubtedly 
 true. This is what Jesus teaches, and what we insist upon 
 always. ' The Father dwells in him,' and acts by him. 
 It is not his own will, but the Father's. He judges as he 
 hears, not according to his own will, but according to that 
 of the Father who sent him: But this is a very different 
 thing from possessing imderived and inherent audiority. 
 
 But still it may be urged, that judgment is ascribed to 
 God in the scriptures, as his peculiar work ; and how is this 
 consistent with Christ being Judge, if he be not God ? 
 
 Its consistency will be very apparent, if we take into 
 view this obvious and simple consideration ; that while it 
 has pleased the Father to ' commit all judgment to the 
 Son,' it is His infinite wisdom, justice, goodness, which rule 
 in the Son, and accomplish the great work. He has not 
 left him incompetent, but has given to him *the spirit with- 
 out measure.' ' It hath pleased the Father that in him all 
 fulness should dwell.' In a word, 'God judges the world 
 by him.^ 
 
 In this view of the subject, every thing is consistent and 
 satisfactory. Let us hear no more of reluctance to submit 
 to him who is thus appointed. If we will consent to take 
 the doctrine as it stands in the scriptures, and will not strive 
 to be wise above what is written ; we shall find nothing in 
 it to perplex our understandings, nothing that needs the 
 remedy of our speculations, but every thing to warrant our 
 steadfast confidence, our fervent faith, our unfeigned ado- 
 ration. 
 
 If, however, we desire a little further satisfaction, we 
 may find it in the remarks which occur under the next 
 head of discourse ; in which it was proposed 
 
 III. To consider the reasons of this appointment; to in- 
 quire briefly and humbly into some of the causes why the 
 
CHRIST THE JUDGE OF THE WORLD. 113 
 
 Father of the universe, the kind and equal parent of all, 
 should himself judge no man, but commit nil judgment to 
 the Son. 
 
 We may undoubtedly find one reason in the circumstance 
 to which we have already alluded — that it is the general 
 method of God's administration to provide for and rule his 
 creation by the agency of intermediate ministers. From 
 this method we do not know diat there is any departure. 
 To maintain a uniformity with the general system, we may 
 readily suppose to be one reason of this judicial appoint- 
 ment. As he had led his people by Moses and Joshua, and 
 taught them by the prophets, and chastened them by the 
 heathen, and enlightened men by a special messenger, and 
 reconciled and saved them by a chosen mediator ; so he 
 would in like manner judge the world by his Son. It is 
 one instance among multitudes of what is the established 
 ordinance of the divine government. 
 
 Another reason for this appointment is contained in the 
 remarkable expression of a verse, which I have already 
 more than once cited. ' He hath appointed him to execute 
 judgment, because he is the Son of man.' There is some- 
 thing indescribably affecting in the disclosure which is thus 
 made of the tenderness of our heavenly Father. He, who 
 has made all and has a right to all, has not only forborne 
 and cherished his sinful offspring here, and made punish- 
 ment his strange work upon earth ; but has extended his 
 forbearance even to the last sad trial ; has, if we may so 
 represent it, descended from his throne of majesty, and 
 stript it of those terrors of vengeance and indignation, be- 
 fore which neither stubborn guilt nor timid innocence w^ould 
 be able to stand ; and has pui-posed to issue the decisions 
 of that awful day — not even from the milder seat of pater- 
 nal justice — but from the serene and sympaihizing lips of 
 the once human Saviour ; of one who had been in the 
 world and known the trials and weaknesses of flesh ; who 
 had himself combated temptation, and endured suffering, 
 and been acquainted with grief; who is therefore capable 
 of being touched with a feeling of our infirmities, and ex- 
 tending compassion to those who are oqt of the way. With 
 
114 CHRIST THE JUDGE OF THE WORLD. 
 
 such an Advocate and Judge, of whom all that we have 
 known has been benevolent, tender, and forbearing, — we 
 feel assured that mercy shall reign in the midst of judg- 
 ment ; that while severity flashes on the criminal, there 
 shall yet be no room for unrelenting wrath ; but every in- 
 firmity shall receive compassion, and all possible allowance 
 be made for the weakness of the flesh and the seductions 
 of the world. Let the timid and desponding disciple be 
 comforted and at peace. Let the tempted and tried, the 
 sorrowing and fearful, give way to no despair. For it is 
 to him, who bore our infirmities and carried our sorrows, 
 who breaks not the bruised reed, nor quenches the smok- 
 ing flax ; it is to him that judgment has been committed, 
 * because he is the Son of man.' 
 
 Thus has this appointment been made for the purpose 
 of manifesting the compassion of God. ' Mercy belongeth 
 unto thee, O Lord 3 because thou renderest to every man 
 according to liis works.'* Rich indeed that mercy ! which 
 began with the mission of the Saviour, and is consummated 
 in the gracious tenderness of the judgment seat ! What an 
 aggravation to the guilt of that man, who can still go on, 
 hardening himself in sin ! and who will carry nothing but 
 corrupt and obstinate disobedience to the presence of eter- 
 nal love ! 
 
 TV. We were to notice, in the last place, the duty which 
 is in consequence of this doctrine imposed upon us. This 
 is stated by our Lord himself in the words succeeding our 
 text — ' that all men should honor the Son, even as they 
 honor the Father.' In consequence of this appointment to 
 judge the world, it becomes our duty to render to him the 
 reverence, submission, and confidence, which appertain to 
 the great Sovereign in whose name he acts. The honors 
 which belong to the prince, are demanded for his ambassa- 
 dor. The Lord said, ' They who receive you receive me ; 
 and they who receive me, receive him who sent me.' ' God 
 bath highly exalted him, and given him a name abov^e every 
 name j that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, 
 
 * Psalm Ixii, 12. 
 
CHRIST THE JUDGE OF THE WORLD. 115 
 
 and every tongue confess him to be Lord, to the glory of 
 God the Father.' This is one appointed test of devotion 
 to God. A right spirit of subjection and submission to 
 Him, will necessarily be manifested by confidence, faith, 
 and trust in him, whom He has commissioned — to refuse 
 which, is an evidence of disrespect toward the Sovereign 
 himself. 
 
 But this is not our only duty. If Christ is to sit on the 
 judgment seat, we are to stand before it, and give account 
 of every work which we have done, and of every secret 
 thought, whether it be good or whether it be evil. For 
 that day we are to prepare. The thought of it should 
 have influence upon the whole habitual frame of our minds, 
 and the entire character of our lives. It sliould make sin 
 our abhorrence and holiness our delight. It should excite 
 us to diligence in the work of obedience and faith, that we 
 may be found blameless and accepted at last. It should 
 lead us to familiar acquaintance with that word according 
 to which our destiny shall be determined, and to the devout 
 performance of every duty it enjoins; that so we may be 
 welcomed to the joy of our Lord, and not be cast out with 
 the rejected and impenitent. 
 
 Finally, brethren, since so momentous consequences de- 
 pend on the account we are to give at the judgment seat of 
 Christ, let us accustom ourselves to reflect on the nature 
 of this office, on the audiority by which he is invested with 
 it, the reasons for which it is committed to him, and the 
 duties which thence are demanded of us. Let us thus 
 cherish and confirm our conviction of the supremacy of 
 the God and Father of all, and of that excellent grace 
 which is here exhibited. Let us habitually reverence and 
 submit to the avithority which he has laid upon his Son. 
 Let us feel with what diligent and grateful fidelity, and with 
 what scrupulous dread of sin, we should look forward to 
 the day of final recompense ; when the penitent and be- 
 lieving s]i;ilj view wi h joy the smiles of the Redeemer's 
 face; vvJisn tiie unbelieving and disobedient shall taste ten- 
 fold anguish from tlie very tenderness of that compassion- 
 ate Judge, who shall pity while he condemns. 
 
DISCOURSE X. 
 
 ON HONORING THE SON 
 
 John v. 22. 
 That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. 
 
 It is impossible to contemplate the character and offices 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, without perceiving that exalted 
 honor is due to him. The insensibility of that man can 
 hardly be conceived, who should be able to question or 
 withhold it. We yield a tribute of respect to the good men 
 with whom we meet in the ordinary intercourse of life ; and 
 every distinguished benefactor is accounted to deserve the 
 distinguished gratitude and respect of his fellow-men. No 
 one therefore, who has the common feelings of a man, can 
 deny to Jesus Christ his claims to reverence, gratitude and 
 honor — whose character exhibits the perfection of moral 
 excellence, whose history is connected with the most won- 
 derful works of universal benevolence, worthy the counsels 
 of heaven ; who was declared to be the Son of God by a 
 voice from above ; proved himself the friend of men by his 
 labors in their cause, and the conqueror of death by his 
 resurrection from the tomb; who is declared to be • the 
 brightness of God's glory and the express image of his 
 person,' and to whom God has committed the judgment of 
 the world. Even those, who have rejected his revelation, 
 and denied his authority as a divine messenger, have been 
 unable to speak of him in any accents but those of admira- 
 
ON HONORING THE SON. 117 
 
 tion. One of the most eloquent tributes in his praise, was 
 from the pen of an open infidel. What then should be the 
 feeling of his disciples, who believe that he came from 
 God, and that 'the Father dwelt in him' and taught by him, 
 and constituted him our Prince and Saviour and Judge ? and 
 that ' to receive him, is to receive the Father who sent him ?* 
 Their hearts must surely burn within thein when they think 
 of him. They must anxiously inquire what are the honors 
 demanded for him, that they may not be remiss in render- 
 ing them. 
 
 The expression of our text is a remarkable one, and of- 
 fers some important suggestions relative to so interesting a 
 topic. These we shall perhaps pursue to the most satisfac- 
 tory result by inquiring first why, and secondly how, we are 
 to honor the Father, that we may thence be instructed why 
 and how we are to honor the Son. 
 
 I. We are to consider, in the first place, why we are to 
 honor the Father. Upon what reasons are founded the 
 honors due to him f 
 
 Of the infinite Being who is called God, we can com- 
 prehend but little. ' Who by searching can find out God.^* 
 Who can find out the Almighty to peifection ?' We know 
 not the essence of the Deity, nor can we fully comprehend 
 the mode of his existence. Our whole knowledge of him 
 is comprised in a few facts. We know that he exists and 
 exists through all extent, omnipresent, and omniscient. That 
 he is a spirit ; that is, he is not the subject of any of our 
 senses, and exists in a manner so different from our mode 
 of existence, that he may be equally present in all places. 
 That he is eternal ; there never was a point of time in which 
 he was not, and there never shall be a time when he shall 
 cease to be. That he is infinitely powerful ; capable of 
 doing all which is possible to be done, while not all the col- 
 lected force of the countless multitudes of other beings 
 could offer opposition. These facts respecting the Deity, 
 constitute what are called his natural attributes. They en- 
 ter into the very definition of God ; so that a being, who 
 does not possess these attributes of almighty power, univer- 
 sal presence, infinite knowledge, and spirituality, is not God. 
 11 
 
118 ON HONORING THE SON, 
 
 Now the question is, whether it be these attributes, which 
 require of us the honors we pay to God ? Though witli- 
 out these he would not be God, yet is it these, upon which 
 are built religious homage and allegiance ? There is one 
 simple consideration, which, I think, may satisfy us, that it 
 is not, certainly not entirely nor chiefly ; and that is, that if 
 these natural attributes were united with an evil and ma- 
 lignant character — supposing such a union possible — we 
 could not be bound to render to that Being the same hom- 
 age, which we now render to our beneficent Creator. If, 
 for example, Satan, the personified principle of evil, — 
 selfish, perverse and malicious — were a self-existent, all- 
 knowing, all-powerful, omnipresent, eternal, spirit ; still, we 
 should not for a moment imagine, that the honors, now paid 
 to the infinitely Good, would of right belong to him. 
 
 If then, these attributes do not form the ground of the 
 honors rendered to the Father ; what are the divine perfec- 
 tions to which they are rendered ? Obviously, those which 
 we call the moral perfections — his essential holiness, his 
 perfect rectitude, unerring wisdom, unwavering truth and 
 faithfulness, impartial justice, infinite goodness and mercy. 
 He is clothed with righteousness, purity and love — the kind 
 Creator, the observing Governor, the gracious Father ; 
 earnestly desiring first the perfect virtue, and then the per- 
 fect happiness, of every living being. For these attributes 
 he is reverenced ; for these it is that angels and archangels 
 praise him, and hymns of adoration ascend from the lips 
 of glorified spirits ; for these it is that his people bend in 
 awe before him, for these that his children love him, and 
 his saints bless him. ' Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, 
 and magnify thy name ^ For thou only art holy.' ' Praise 
 the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever.'* 
 
 Such are the reasons for which God is honored. You per- 
 ceive that they niay easily be reduced to two ; first, his own 
 character; second, the relation in which he stands to his crea- 
 tures. He is infinitely excellent and glorious in himself, and 
 to us he is Creator and Proprietor, Governor and Father. 
 
 We take these remarks to guide us in speaking of the 
 
 ^ A note upon this passage will be found at the end of the volume. 
 
ON HONORING THE SON. 119 
 
 honor due to the Son of God. As we honor the Father, 
 because of his own cliaracter, and because of his relation 
 to us ; so we honor the Son, because of his character, and 
 because of his relation to us. As it is not the divine na- 
 ture simply — not the natural attributes of eternity, omni- 
 presence, and spirituality — on account of which divine ho- 
 mage is rendered, but rather the moral perfections of 
 character ; so likewise honor is demanded for the Saviour, 
 not simply on account of his nature, whatever it may be — 
 not because he is more or less elevated in precedence of 
 existence or native powers ; but rather because of his per- 
 fections of character, and the offices in which he stands 
 related to us. For it is evident, beyond all dispute, that a 
 Being of precisely the same natural rank as our Lord, but 
 without the same character and offices, would have no pe- 
 culiar claims to honor from men ; and that, on the other 
 hand, these claims would be precisely the same, whatever 
 his nature or rank might be, so long as his relations to man 
 were unchanged, and he sustained the place to which God 
 has exalted him in his spiritual dispensations. If, when we 
 receive him as God's Ambassador and Son, clothed with 
 divine authority and wisdom, we obey him as our Master, 
 and love him as our Saviour, and reverence him as our 
 Judge — then we honor him as the Father. If, when we 
 see the same holy attributes which we adore in God, dis- 
 played in the benevolent and spotless life of Jesus, we are 
 led to emotions of admiration and love — then we honor 
 him as we honor the Father. We receive him in the offices 
 and relations to which God appointed him, and thus in fact 
 receive and honor Him v/ho sent him. 
 
 It never must be forgotten, that ' all things are of God.' 
 He is the beginning and end, the support and head of every 
 thing which exists. Jesus indeed is ' Head over all things 
 to the church ;' but the apostle tells us, that he 'was made' 
 so by God. God is the origin and foundation of all. His 
 relation to us he assumed of his own pleasure ; he sustains 
 it of his own right and power. Our relation to Him is de- 
 rived from the very frame of our nature, and the original 
 purpose of our creation. We are his offspring, he is our 
 Creator. In these respects our relation to the Lord Jesus 
 
120 ON HONORING THE SON. 
 
 Christ differs. It did not commence with the act of crea- 
 tion, is not founded in the original constitution of nature, 
 but is founded by an express appointment of our Creator 
 and Father. It originates in the purposes of his redeem- 
 ing iove, and is in every respect dependent upon his ordi- 
 nance. This distinction is important to be kept in view, if 
 we would understand the subject rightly. It is amply sup- 
 ported by the perpetual testimony of the scriptures. It is 
 repeatedly asserted in express terms, and every where im- 
 plied in their language respecting Jesus. Why does he 
 hold the place of Lord and Christ ? Because, saith Peter, 
 ' God hath made this same Jesus whom ye crucified, to be 
 both Lord and Christ.' Why does he sustain the impor- 
 tant rank of Prince and Saviour ? Because, saith the 
 Apostle, ' him hath God exalted to be a Prince and Sa- 
 viour.' In a word, whence hath he his name above every 
 name, and why in that name must ' every knee bow, and 
 every tongue confess him to be Lord .^' The Apostle 
 replies, because ' God hath highly exalted him, and given 
 him that name.' And for whose glory is all this to be 
 done ? The same Apostle declares, ' to the glory of God — 
 the Father.' 
 
 In all this we find fully maintained the distinction be- 
 tween the honors which christians are to render to their 
 God and to their Saviour. The infinite God claims them 
 in his own name, by his own right, for his own glory. 
 Jesus claims them, not in his own name, nor by his own 
 right, nor for his own glory. He refers them constantly to 
 the Father. Even in the powerful language of our text, 
 he challenges to himself no independent honors, but ex- 
 pressly founds his title on the appointment of God. 'The 
 Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment 
 to the Son ; that all men should honor the Son even as 
 they honor the Father.' Here he declares that he is ajj- 
 pointed to be Judge, not that he is so by inherent right ; 
 and that in the execution of that ofiice he is to be honored 
 as the Father who appointed him, and in whose place, and 
 for whose glory he acts. In this manner the honor de- 
 manded for Jesus, is on account of the offices to which 
 
ON HONORING THE SON. 121 
 
 God has exalted him ; his own authority or right is never 
 alleged as a ground of it, as it always is in the case of God 
 himself. * Of himself,' he says, ' the Son can do nothing.' 
 * All power is committed to me of my Father.' 
 
 I have thus endeavored to exhibit the foundation of our 
 Lord's claims to honor from his disciples. They rest upon 
 the perfection of his character, and the places to which 
 God has exalted him. As we bow to the authority of 
 God, so, brethren, let us acknowledge these claims. Let 
 us bow in that name above every name, with which the 
 eternal God hath glorified his Son. Since it hath pleased 
 Him to bestow upon him the spirit ' without measure,' and 
 to cause ' the fulness of the Godhead to dwell in him,' let 
 us not be backward in those ascriptions which are justly his 
 due ; but let * every tongue confess him to be Lord, to 
 
 THE GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER.' 
 
 But what are these honors, and how to be rendered ? 
 This is the second topic of which I proposed to treat. 
 
 II. And here also, as under the other head, we shall be 
 guided by considering how we honor the Father, 
 
 In the first place, we honor the Father by the direct 
 offering to him of supreme worship, by the express and 
 immediate presentation of adoration and prayer to him, as 
 the ever present, all guiding, and infinitely powerful Sove- 
 reign of the universe ; who can hear, who receives, and 
 who will reward, this tribute to his glory. 
 
 Now the question is, whether the honors to the Son 
 are to be in the same sense divine and supreme ; worship, 
 is this high degree ; adoration, praise, prayer. There are 
 several reasons which show it to be impossible. The re- 
 marks already made, prove it ; for, we have seen, they show 
 these honors to be derived from different sources. The 
 Father is to be honored as the infinite and sole origin and 
 support of all beings and all things, from whom we came, 
 and for whose glory all things exist. But Jesus derived 
 his power and offices from the will of the supreme Father, 
 and his honors result not to himself alone, but to the 
 Father's glory. Which decisively evinces that those hon- 
 ors are not supreme worship. 
 11* 
 
122 ON HONORING THE SON. 
 
 Besides, our Lord himself determines the point very 
 simply and satisfactorily. As there is but one object of 
 supreme worship, he repeatedly and emphatically — as if 
 for the express purpose of preventing all doubt and mis- 
 take — declares that object to be the Father. He never 
 says, Pray to God ; in which expression, if we believed 
 Jesus to be God, we might possibly suppose him to include 
 himself; but he always says, ' Pray to the Father,^ ' wor- 
 ship the Father ;' ' Pray to thy Father who is in secret ;' 
 • after this manner therefore pray ye ; Our Father who art 
 in heaven ;' ' The true worshippers sliall worship the 
 Father.' He himself, repeatedly, in the presence of his 
 disciples and of the Jews, prayed ; and in every instance 
 to the Father. Nay, and what is more still — as if anxious 
 to remo/e all cause and every possibility of mistake — he 
 said to his disciples, ' in that day' (that is, after the resur- 
 rection) ' ye shall ask me notJiing ; verily, verily, I say 
 unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father, in my name, 
 he will give it you.' Language cannot be more explicit 
 than this. A more plain and positive declaration cannot 
 be given, that we must pray to the Father only. It goes 
 decisively to prove, that the honor spoken of in our text, 
 cannot be supreme worship, or divine homage. 
 
 This conclusion is fortified by looking once more at the 
 expressions of our text. Our Lord is speaking of his 
 character as Judge ; which, he says, is ' committed to h'm 
 of his Father ;' and therefore, while he exercises it in the 
 place and by the appointment of the Father, ' men should 
 honor him as the Father.' Now this is in accordance with 
 a very obvious and simple principle, which has never been 
 misunderstood in any other case — that he who executes an 
 office in the name of his King, is to be respected in that 
 office as the king. The magistrate is \p be Imn ired as 
 he who appoints him, the ambassador as he who delegates 
 him ; and to insult or disobey the ambassador or judge, is 
 to insult or disobey the king or nation for wlii( h that officer 
 acts. Yet though the one is honored as the other, the 
 forms and testimonials of that homage are not exactly the 
 same, nor even of equal dignity. It was according to ihe 
 same mode of speech, that our Lord said to his apostles, 
 
ON HONORING THE SON. 123 
 
 * He that receiveth you receiveth me.' No one supposes 
 from this mode of expression, that no difference was made 
 in the reception of the apostles and of their master, or in 
 other words, that the same respect was or ought to be 
 shown to both. And when he immediately adds, ' He 
 that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me,' we under- 
 stand it in a similar sense. The honor to Jesus is as 
 much the same with that to God, as the respect to his 
 apostles is the same with that to their master. This sort of 
 language, indeed, is readily understood, and has never led 
 to any mistake, except in the instance of our text. Let us 
 not misunderstand it there. Let us render to the Father 
 the honor which is due to the Independent Creator, Pre- 
 server, and Ruler of all ; to the Son as the Teacher, Law- 
 giver, Saviour, and Spiritual Prince, whom he has appoint- 
 ed ; to the one, as sitting upon the throne ; to the other, as 
 the Lamb before the throne ; to tlie one therefore as re- 
 ceiving prayer ; to the other as him through whom it is 
 conveyed. Let us join the crowd of celestial worshippers 
 who cast their crowns before the throne, and worship ' Him 
 who liveth forever and ever,' and ' who hath created all 
 things ;' who also ' sing a new song' to the Lamb, who 
 ' was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by his blood.' 
 
 But direct worship, we are to remember, is not the only 
 mode in which we honor the Father. We honor him by 
 the exercise o( faith in him ; by reposing in his character 
 and providence and word, a thorough confidence, unre- 
 served and cheerful trust. When this is done by magnan- 
 imously bearing his will, acquiescing in his appointments, 
 and rejoicing in his government — even if it be silently, it is 
 a tribute greater than words can pay, a homage which the 
 tongue alone cannot render. Even so we honor the Son 
 of God by the exercise of yrt?YA in him. 'Ye believe in 
 God, believe also in me.' The reliap.ce on the truth of 
 his promises, on the excellence of his character, on the di- 
 vinity of his mission, and the sufficiency of his work for 
 our salvation — which is all implied in faith — is an unequiv- 
 ocal tribute of honoi''to the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Again, we honor the Father by love to him. This is 
 ' the first and great commandment ; thou shall love the 
 
124 ON HONORING THE SON. 
 
 Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy strength, 
 and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.' In like man- 
 ner, we honor the Son by our love to him ; by cherishing 
 his image with deep and earnest affection ; by delighting to 
 meditate on his character and think of his excellencies ; 
 by commemorating whenever we may, his labors, sacrifices, 
 and death in our behalf. The love, which the sincere dis- 
 ciple cherishes for his holy master, is a tribute of the truest 
 honor. It burns in his bosom and elevates his soul, as it 
 did that of the apostles ; so that there are seasons, when, 
 kindling into rapture like theirs, he is ready to exclaim, 
 * Whom not having seen we love, and in whom, though 
 now we see him not, yet believing, we rejoice \\'\\h. joy 
 unspeakable and full of glory.' 
 
 Gratitude also forms part of the honors which we ren- 
 der to the Father. That is a most acceptable homage which 
 is offered by the glowing and grateful heart, lilting itself up 
 to God on account of unnumbered and unmerited favors — 
 life, strength, reason, friends ; the blessings of earth, the 
 revelations of heaven ; the support of his providence, the 
 guidance of his word, the aid of his spirit. A similar 
 honor we yield to the Son by the gratitude we cherish 
 toward him — for his disinterested labors, his condescending 
 love, his gracious sacrifices ; for the life he spent in our 
 service, for the death he died in our behalf, for his interces- 
 sions at the right hand of God. It is a similar feeling and 
 a similar honor to the Son as to the Father. 
 
 Further ; we honor the Father by obedience. There 
 is no mode, indeed, by which we so surely demonstrate 
 our supreme reverence for the Creator and Governor of 
 men, as by the unreserved subjection of heart and life to 
 the obedience of his law. It is the highest and most ac- 
 ceptable tribute we can bring. Ten thousand offerings of 
 eloquent praise and costly gifts are light in comparison of 
 the great gift of the heart and life. So too we yield the 
 highest tribute of honor to our Lord Jesus, when we obey 
 his gospel in the spirit of it. Who honors him, like him 
 that obeys him f Who is his friend, but he that ' keeps 
 his commandments ?^ It is not by contentions respecting 
 the dignity of his nature, and vehement declamation con- 
 
ON HONORING THE SON. 125 
 
 cerning the love and praise which are his due, that we 
 most effectually promote his glory. Tlje living, acting 
 eulogy ot'him who hreathes his spirit, imitates his example, 
 and keeps his commandments, is an ofFeriiig infinitely more 
 worthy. 
 
 In these several ways the injunction may be observed to 
 ' honor the Son even as w^e honor the Father.' God is 
 our Creator and Sovereign, and claims our reverence, 
 faith, love,. gratitude, and obedience. Jesus Christ is our 
 Lord and Teacher, our Prince and Saviour, and claims 
 our reverence, faith, love, gratitude, and obedience. Let 
 them be yielded to him. Let the homage be rendered, 
 which belongs to him whom God has ordained to be the 
 religious head of the present dispensation of grace, and to 
 judge the world in righteousness. We sit beneath his 
 empire ; let us be subject to him. In truth and holiness, 
 in matters of conscience and duty, let us have no master 
 upon earth but him. This is his rightful claim ; let it be 
 given to no one else. We break our allegiance if we 
 yield to any other the dominion over our faith, or the keep- 
 ing of our consciences. This dominion has been granted 
 to Jesus alone. If any other exercise it, he is a usurper. 
 If any allow it to be exercised, they have rebelled against 
 their spiritual prince, and taken from his head the crown 
 of honor which God had placed there. 
 
 And yet — how prone are we to substitute some easier 
 show of allegiance, in place of this thorough submission of 
 life and conscience ! How ready are we to be loud in pro- 
 fessions and acclamations, while in fact we have another 
 master and follow another guide ! The disgrace of the 
 church in all ages has been its infatuated adherence to 
 human authority, and its willing subjection to human heads. 
 The crown has been torn from him, whose right it is to 
 reign, and placed — not unfrequently with bloody hands — 
 on the brows of arrogant and ambitious persecutors, who 
 ostentatiously became the infallible interpreters of a book 
 which they had sealed, and the capricious masters of the 
 consciences of the christian world. And thus, while the 
 banner of the cross was made to float proudly amid their 
 armies, and pomp and parade, and splendid ceremony 
 
126 ON HONORING THE SON. 
 
 called the wondering multitude to gaze at the honors which 
 were lavished on the Saviour of the world ; in the mean 
 time, his authority was virtually trodden under foot, and 
 the hearts of men were far from him. 
 
 The church is not yet entirely purified from these sad 
 corruptions. The disciples do not yet sufficiently under- 
 stand what constitutes the true honor of their master and 
 of his gospel. Too many think it sufficient to cry ' Lord, 
 Lord,' without ' doing the things which he says.' Too 
 many are still bowing down to creeds and confessions, idols, 
 which their own hands have made, and which draw away 
 their reverence from the true word of life. Too many 
 are still taking from human lips the interpretation of God's 
 will, while its sacred records lie by them unsearched, and 
 the voice of him, who ' spake as never man spake,' is not 
 allowed to reach the understanding or the heart, till it has 
 been mingled with the interpretation of some later master. 
 Alas, how has the Son of God been robbed of his honors ! 
 how have they been transferred to men ! Brethren, do 
 not suffer yourselves to be so deceived. If you call any 
 one master, you withdraw your allegiance from him who 
 should be your only master, you exalt a frail man to the 
 seat of judgment where God has placed his Christ, you 
 surrender your faith and salvation to the wisdom of a falli- 
 ble being, who ought to be sitting \^ith you at the feet of 
 your common Lord, and you are thus exposed to the 
 hazard of his weakness, errors, and sins. Take therefore 
 his word for your guide. All that you may say, or believe, 
 or profess, respecting his dignity, exaltation, and authority, 
 is but empty words, but unmeaning profession, if your con- 
 sciences are subject to any other dominion, or your life to 
 any other law. When you are so subject to the spirit and 
 influence of his truth, that men shall take knowledge of 
 you that you have been with him, and learned of him ; 
 then you will have yielded to him the only sufficient tribute. 
 — the only valuable and acceptable homage, which man on 
 earth can bring. Then you may know that you are his. 
 and that your labor is done ; for he who hath the Son hath 
 the Father also, and he who hath the Father, hath ever- 
 lasting life. ^ 
 
DISCOURSE XI. 
 
 THE EXAMPLE OF OUR LORD. 
 
 Hebrews xii. 2. 
 Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith. 
 
 The Apostle had been naming, in the preceding chap- 
 ter, a long catalogue of those who were eminent for their 
 faith in former days. In the first verse of the present 
 chapter, he represents them as a * cloud of witnesses,' sur- 
 rounding christians, by whose presence they should be 
 excited to run well the race set before them. In thus 
 expressing himself, he evidently alludes to the public 
 games, which were of such celebrity and consequence in 
 that age of the world. He urges christians to persevere, 
 like combatants in the race, who struggled hard for the 
 prize, and to be animated by the attendant crowd of wit- 
 nesses ; and as a further incitement, directs them in our 
 text, to be also looking unto Jesus, ' the author and finisher 
 of their faith.' Commentators, who are skilled in the ori- 
 ginal languages, and acquainted with the customs of former 
 times, tell us, that the titles here given to Christ are those 
 which belonged to him w4io presided at the games. Mac- 
 knight accordingly translates, ' the captain and perfect er of 
 the faith ;' and observes, that ' the aposde, having exhorted 
 the Hebrews to run the race set before them, compares 
 Jesus to the judge of the games, whose office it was to 
 determine who were the conquerors, and to make them 
 perfect as combatants by bestowing on them the prizes.* 
 
128 THE EXAMPLE OF OUR LORD. 
 
 But there is something further implied than even this. 
 The apostle speaks of him as one who has himself run the 
 same race, in spite of its discouragements and hardships, 
 and is now enjoying its rewards ; ' who, for the joy set 
 before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is 
 now set down at the right hand of the throne of God ;' 
 whom we are, therefore, to regard as an example to our- 
 selves, and to animate our flagging spirits by remembering, 
 that as ' he overcame, and is set down with his Father on 
 his throne ; so, if we overcome, we shall sit down with him 
 on his throne.' 
 
 The disciples of Jesus are thus, in the passage before 
 us, directed to ' look unto him' as their Leader, their 
 Judge, and their example ; exalted at the right hand of God's 
 throne, because ' he endured the cross, and despised the 
 shame.' — By the example of their Master, thus honored 
 and exalted, the disciples are exhorted to be encouraged 
 and strengthened. It is this exhortation upon which we 
 are to meditate at the present time. Brethren, I wish you 
 to contemplate Jesus to day as your Example. I wish to 
 bring up to your minds and hearts the pattern of your be- 
 loved and honored Lord ; and to show you how great 
 encouragement, aid, comfort, and holy peace, may be ob- 
 tained in all duty, trial, and sorrow, by habitually and fer- 
 vently looking unto him. 
 
 The power of example is too well known to need to be 
 much insisted on. Maii has been called — and with some 
 propriety — the creature of imitation. The character of 
 children is very much formed on the model of their pa- 
 rents, and of those companions with whom they familiarly 
 associate. Every parent knows the importance of this 
 consideration in selecting the person by whom his children 
 shall be instructed, and the school at which they shall find 
 companions. The power of example is plainly seen in the 
 formation of national character. Every separate commu- 
 nity among men, whether larger or smaller, is distinguished 
 by certain peculiarities of chai'acter and habit. These are 
 to be traced almost exclusively to the influence of example 
 — the manners of one generation being caught by the 
 
THE EXAMPLE OF OUR LORD. 129 
 
 next, and transmitted down from sire to son indefinitely. 
 The power of example is also seen in the religions of the 
 world. Men have imitated the deities whom they have 
 worshipped, and formed in themselves the characters which 
 they supposed to exist in their gods. * The gods of the 
 heathen are vanity and a lie ; they that make them are like 
 unto them ; so is every one that trustelh in them.' When 
 the divinities, to whom worship and devotion were paid, 
 were believed to be possessed of human passions, and to be 
 guilty of human vices ; when their histories were filled 
 with selfishness, cruelty, revenge, lust, and every immorali- 
 ty ; it is not strange that men took countenance from the 
 examples, and went to an extravagant dissoluteness of man- 
 ners, into which, without such encouragement, they could 
 hardly have fallen. — As much of the prevalent vice of 
 heathen nations is to be ascribed to this cause ; so, doubt- 
 less, much of the prevalent virtue of the christian world is 
 to be attributed to the character of the true God, as he is 
 there worshipped. In christian lands, too, the efficacy of 
 example has been witnessed and valued in the use, which 
 has always been made of the lives of the apostles, saints, 
 and martyrs. In memory of their excellence some churches 
 have established festivals, and others have published re- 
 cords of their lives, and circulated volumes in their praise. 
 There can be no doubt, that much has in this way been 
 done to excite and strengthen in the practice of religion 
 and virtue. Living and breathing patterns of excellence 
 are placed before the way-faring christian. He witnesses 
 their ardor, is made acquainted with their anxious labors, 
 hears of their severe trials and persevering fidelity ; and by 
 observing how they watched and prayed, toiled and suffer- 
 ed, learns to go and do likewise. 
 
 Our own experience may perhaps confirm to us these 
 remarks. How often has a holy zeal been kindled within 
 us, while we have read of the faith and patience of some 
 eminent servant of God who has gone before us ! How 
 have our resolutions to do and to suffer been confirmed, 
 when we have listened to the story of another's unshaken 
 
 12 
 
130 THE EXAMPLE OF OUR LORD. 
 
 fidelity and unwearying perseverance ! Next to the reading 
 of the scriptures, and the appointed preaching of God's 
 word, religion doubtless owes more to the persuasion of 
 pious example, than to all other causes. Every cliristian 
 can remember instances in which it has given ardor to his 
 faith, and confidence to his virtue, and comfort to his 
 troubles. The thought of what Howard did has prompted 
 the benevolence of thousands ; and the zeal of Clarkson 
 has kindled a flame in a multitude of souls. Many are 
 they that have been affected and won by the beautiful life 
 of Fenelon, and caught the contagion of religion from the 
 breathing spirit of Watts, or the singular excellence of 
 Cappe. In a word, whatever other means may have 
 been enjoyed, it is the example of the holy and good, which 
 has excited the energy of theii' minds, and made them 
 capable of great and perilous enterprises, and filled them 
 with longings after perfection. 
 
 But if such be the value and effect of contemplating 
 those who have exhibited before us christian faith and 
 obedience ; if we may be thus moved and animated by the 
 example of imperfect men, who after all have followed 
 their holy Master only at a distance ; what might not be 
 the effect of bringing home to our minds, and setting before 
 us in our lives, the perfect example of that blessed Master 
 himself.^ I fear, brethren, that we place him too far from 
 us. I fear that we too much neglect to bring him near, 
 and keep him before us, and realize the manner of his 
 conversation and life ; and that he requires us, not only to 
 do according to his commandment, but according to his 
 example. Yet why should we not realize this ? Why not 
 literally make him our Pattern ? why not in every season, 
 ' look to him,' think how he did in a similar situation, what 
 dispositions he indulged on similar occasions, how he w^ould 
 conduct himself and how feel, in circumstances like our 
 own f Is not this practicable ? Would it not greatly assist 
 us ? Would it not often deliver us in perplexity and error ^ 
 It is true, he lived many ages ago. But time and distance 
 are nothing in a case like this. The mind has power to 
 
THE EXAMPLE OF OUR LORD. 131 
 
 bring him near, and he is as important and personal a 
 friend now, as if we had lived in his own day. It is true 
 also, his example is in a sense so perfect, that we may not 
 hope to equal it. But this should be no discouragement. 
 It should rather animate us the more. It is an old proverb, 
 that he who aims at the sun, to be sure will not reach it, 
 but his arrow will fly higher than if he aimed at an object 
 on a level with himself. Just so, if other men are our 
 standard, we shall never be better than other ^«en; prob- 
 ably not so good. But if we imitate Jesus, we shall cer- 
 tainly rise above them, though we shall come far short ot 
 him. Besides ; there is nothing impracticable in the vir- 
 tues of Jesus ; that is to say, nothing, which is above the 
 earth and the concerns or wants of the earth, m sucn a 
 sense as to be unsuitable to men, or to render it romantic 
 for them to practise it. On the contrary, his is one ot 
 the most practical characters in the world ; exhibmng 
 specimens of the very dispositions, principles, habits, which 
 are of the most constant and indispensable need in the 
 intercourse and duties of life. What more so, than his 
 invariable gentleness, his untiring benevolence, his ready 
 forgiveness, his humility and condescension, his meekness 
 and patience, his cheerful contentment, his activity in duty, 
 his fortitude in suffering, his unreserved trust in divine 
 providence, his holy submission to the divine will .? 1 hese 
 are the prominent features in his human character, ihese 
 are the qualities in which he should be our example ; they 
 are qualities every day, every hour needed, and the pos- 
 session of which would render every day, every hour, 
 tranquil, lovely, and happy. And this example is set be- 
 fore us as one which we should by no means gaze at with 
 despair, because exhibited by one, who— in the language 
 of holy writ—' was made in all points like unto his breth- 
 ren ; who took not on him the nature of angels, but the 
 seed of Abraham ; as the children are made partakers ot 
 flesh and blood, so he also himself took part in the same ; 
 was in all points tempted like as we are, though without 
 sin ; and, though a son, yet learned obedience by the 
 
132 THE EXAMPLE OF OUR LORD. 
 
 things which he suffered.' In this language of the sacred 
 volume, we find him represented as passing through the 
 infirmities and trials of life, obeying and suffering, in all 
 things like his brethren, and in all things an example to his 
 brethren; who, by witnessing his temptations and trials, 
 his ' strong crying and teai's,' his obedience and faithful- 
 ness, may learn what they ought to do, and how they 
 should do it ; and may be comforted, strengthened, and 
 supported in all, by looking unto him. In respect of such 
 things, says the apostle, ' he is not ashamed to call them 
 brethren ;' and how encouraging to them may be the 
 thought, that, in seeking to become ' heirs of God,' they 
 are 'joint heirs with Christ !' 
 
 Is there not something possible — I had almost said, 
 something easy — in setting up before us such a pattern ? 
 If we should do it faithfully, would not our hearts cleave to 
 it f and should we not soon learn to loathe every path, in 
 which we had not seen his pure feet tread ? Should we 
 not delight to gaze upon his benevolence and piety, his 
 activity and patience, his humility and fortitude ? and 
 while we contemplated them familiarly, should we not 
 even copy them involuntarily, and grow like him, as a 
 child grows like its beloved parent, — unconsciously, and 
 because we could not escape the celestial contagion f 
 
 It must be evident, then, that our Lord's example is not 
 such a one as we cannot follow ; but has been most wisely 
 and kindly adapted to our situation and wants. If then the 
 power of example over man be great, as we have seen, 
 and that of good men have done so much to influence and 
 form human character ; the value of this example, if faith- 
 fully applied to our lives, and assiduously followed,, must 
 be great beyond all calculation. There is no good feeling 
 which it might not perfect, no amiable virtue which it 
 might not form, no suffering which it would not enable us 
 to bear, no temptation which it might not help us to subdue. 
 It would be a present aid, a sure counsellor, an unerring 
 guide, in every perplexity, trial and duty. The world 
 might fling around you her most fearful shades of darkness 
 
 1. 
 
THE EXAMPLE OF OUR LORD. 133 
 
 and despair, and every human power be ready to shrink 
 from the path in which providence should lead you ; but 
 yet, steadfastly looking unto Jesus — who once endured it 
 all, — observing how he struggled, how he conquered, and 
 how he is exalted ; you would feel a strength by which 
 you might dissipate the cloud and the terror, and find 
 every mountain and hill brought low; — yea, you might 
 even, as the Lord promised his disciples, ' tread on ser- 
 pents, and scorpions, and all the power of the enemy ; 
 and nothing should by any means hurt you.' 
 
 This may be made yet plainer by observing its opera- 
 tion in a few particular cases. 
 
 You desire to kn6w by what dispositions toward God 
 you may attain his acceptance. You know, indeed, that 
 supreme love to him is the commandment ; but you would 
 learn more definitely in what this love consists, and in what 
 kind of demeanor it exhibits itself. — ^ Look unto Jesus, 
 and learn of him' — the fairest, the fullest example of per- 
 fect love. You see it in him an essential, all-pervading, 
 ever-operating principle ; not distinct and separate from 
 every other feature of his character, but inwoven with all 
 the others and inseparable from them ; the spirit of all, 
 rather than a spirit by itself. It is exhibited in a calm, 
 equal, and unwavering contentment ; because he entirely 
 trusts Him whom he loves : in quiet, solemn and constant 
 intercourse with Him in prayer ; not in noisy and extrava- 
 gant raptures, but in the deep and fervent communion of a 
 full heart, whose feeling is too real to be loud. Especially 
 it is exhibited in anxious efforts and ready sacrifices to do 
 his will, and accomplish the appointed work of his good 
 pleasure. Fix your eye upon this beautiful pattern of 
 perfect piety, follow these steps, and you will never need 
 be at a loss for the path of the perfect love of God. 
 
 Perhaps you are beset with temptation. The world and 
 sin entice you. They have spread their snares, and placed 
 you amid bad and seducing companions, from whom you 
 can hardly hope to escape without corruption. Your reso- 
 lutions are assailed, and your faith seems about to be 
 12* 
 
134 THE EXPMPLE OF OUR LORD. 
 
 wrecked. — ' Look unto Jesus ;' remember him, tempted in 
 all points as you are, that he might be able to * succor 
 those who are tempted.' Remember how he struggled 
 with the adversary of souls in the desert, and overcame the 
 strongest solicitations — solicitations, to which yours are not 
 to be compared. Remember how the trial of his soul 
 wrought an agony in the garden, when so strongly tempted 
 to refuse the cup that was prepared for him. Remember 
 how, in those trying seasons, he summoned to his aid the 
 word of God, and baffled the tempter with this * sw^ord of 
 the spirit;' and how he waxed strong and became con- 
 queror by persevering in prayer. Go thou, and do likewise. 
 No temptation is too powerful for him, who will watch and 
 pray like his holy Lord ; and do not thou lose an honor- 
 able place in his kingdom by weakly shrinking from a con- 
 test, in which he hath taught thee how to fight, and to be- 
 come more than conqueror. 
 
 Here is another man, beset by the sin of Pride. A lofty 
 spirit and high heart are his glory. He despises others, 
 and lives only to aggrandize himself. My friend, ' look 
 unto Jesus.' He — the Author and Finisher of our faith — 
 the noblest personage that ever walked the earth — who 
 possessed more than human knowledge and wisdom, and 
 wielded the powers of heaven — are you greater than he, 
 that you should thus exak yourself, while he was so hum- 
 ble, so lowly, so unassuming ? Behold him, who stript 
 himself of his honors, who took ' the form of a servant,' 
 who came, ' not to be ministered unto, but to minister,' — 
 and blush for your own swelling importance. There is no 
 pride in Jesus— How unbecoming then in you ! How des- 
 picable do the vam and haughty appear, by the side of the 
 unassuming and condescending humility, which graced the 
 life of the Son of God I How little able will you be to in- 
 dulge emotions of arrogance and self-sufficiency, if you faith- 
 fully set before you that beautiful and affecting example ! 
 
 Here is another, the slave of angry and revengeful pas- 
 sions, easily provoked to wiath, and betrayed to violence. 
 * Look unto Jesus ; learn of him, who was meek and lowly 
 
 3^ 
 
THE EXAMPLE OF OUR LORD. l35 
 
 in heart.' Is there any thing more lovely than his equable 
 and long suftering gentleness — ' who though reviled, reviled 
 not again, though he suffered, threatened not, but submit- 
 ted liimseh" to him that judgeth rigliteously.' Why may 
 not you do likewise ? Why will you not do likewise ? 
 Why should not patience and meekness be honorable in 
 you, as well as in him ? and why should revenge and pas- 
 sion be less odious ? Be but famihar with his quiet tem- 
 per, and feel how lovely it is in him ; and you cannot 
 cherish those opposite dispositions, which will then be hate- 
 ful in your sight. 
 
 Again ; you are perhaps suffering from the injuries of 
 men, and the injustice of the world ; you have been wrong- 
 ed, or disgraced, or persecuted ; and how shall you con- 
 duct yourself under these aggravated evils ? ' Look unto 
 Jesus,' and take instruction from his example. You see in 
 him no boiling indignation, no impatience of revenge, no re- 
 turning of malice for malice. But his spirit, though oppress- 
 ed, still retains its serenity, and turning from the injustice of 
 man, finds repose on the justice of God. Be not you, then, 
 impatient. Be not you overwhelmed by passion or despair. 
 Your sufferings cannot compare with his ; and shall you not 
 at least strive to bear them like him ? You cannot meet equal 
 injustice ; and will you not seek at least for equal compos- 
 ure ? Behold him, who had spent the faithful days of a 
 laborious life in doing good ; whose only care was to ben- 
 efit mankind ; and who displayed an extent of active be- 
 nevolence never before even imagined ; yet assailed by 
 those very persons for whom he had been laboring, cruelly 
 arraigned before and unfeeling tribunal on a false pretence, 
 and subjected to all the ignominy and torture of a mock 
 trial — smitten — buffeted — scourged — derided — insuked — 
 dragged away to a lingering and disgraceful death. Have 
 you endured hardship and injustice to be named with this ? 
 Yet no murmur escapes him — no passion ruffles his com- 
 posure — no resentment flashes from his meek and sup()li- 
 cati'g eye — no accent of wrath or threatening comes from 
 his oppressed and dying bosom ; but even in the last mo- 
 
 
136 THE EXAMPLE OF OUR LORD. 
 
 ment of mortal agony, he lifts his compassionate voice in a 
 prayer of mercy — ' Father forgive them, for they know 
 not what they do !' In the hour of suffering and despair, 
 reflect upon this scene ; try if you cannot catch something 
 of the spirit of your master, and bear your trial like him. 
 
 Perhaps you have afflictions of another kind. Calamity 
 and death visit your dwelling, and the lights in which you 
 rejoice are quenched by your side. Your friends are re- 
 moved, your hopes are destroyed, and you sit in thick 
 darkness, desponding and alone. Here, toOj the example 
 of Jesus may cheer and sustain you. Look therefore to 
 him. Call to mind the instructions which he, the author 
 and finisher of your faith, has given, concerning the govern- 
 ment of your Father, and the purposes of his providence. 
 Call to mind also the day when he bore the calamities 
 which God had appointed him ; when he was emphatically 
 * a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;' when he 
 might have cried to you and said, ' Come and see, all ye 
 that pass by, if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.' 
 Yet you see him, not giving way to the grief, not overcome 
 by the sorrow ; but struggling against it ; looking up to 
 God with serene and holy trust ; casting his spirit on his 
 Father with unrepining and tranquil submission : — ' The 
 cup which my Father hath given me, shall [ not drink it ?' 
 This is no example of unfeeling composure, of Stoical in- 
 sensibility, of unnatural fortitude. Jesus struggled — even 
 to an agony — that he might attain it. Go, heart-broken 
 mourner, and do likewise. Go, as he did, and pray — not 
 once, but twice and thrice ; and God will answer you too, 
 by ' an angel from heaven to strengthen you' — not indeed 
 in a visible form, but in an inward })eace. It is no sin to 
 mourn and weep. Jesus wept. The sin lies in refusing 
 to look for comfort, in obstinately murmuring against the 
 hand of God, in complaining of his severity. Jesus even 
 prayed that ' the cup might pass from him.' But not re- 
 piningly, not rebelliously. He added, with filial submis- 
 sion, ' Nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done.' 
 Brethren, this example is of infinite worth to us. Dwell 
 
 ^ 
 
THE EXAMPLE OF OUR LORD. 137 
 
 upon it in the day of your sorrow. Imitate it in the hour 
 of your trouble. You will not fail to attain something of 
 the peace which the Saviour promised to his followers, 
 and which God gives to all those, ' whose hearts are stayed 
 on him, and who trust in him.' 
 
 In these various ways may the contemplation of our 
 Lord's example help to guide and support us in the weary 
 pilgrimage of life. Through its vicissitudes of joy and sor- 
 row, duty and suffering, perplexity and fear, it may keep 
 our hearts equal and our faith firm. At its close, it may 
 deliver us from fear, and make us more than conquerors 
 through him that hath loved us. And in heaven — it may 
 have helped to prepare us for the peace of that holy rest, 
 which remains for the people of God. 
 
 Blessed be God, who hath given us such a leader ! 
 Happy, thrice happy vsre, if we be enabled successfully to 
 follow him ! 
 
NOTE REFERRED TO ON PAGE 118. 
 
 It has been objected to the reasoning on pages 118, 119, that it is 
 inconclusive, because it keeps too much out of sight the fact, that it 
 is the entire character of the Deity, and not any one portion of it, 
 which constitutes him the object of worship. The fact is undoubtedly 
 so, and therefore the statements in this passage are, perhaps, too broad 
 and unqualified ; yet I think that they will not be found essentially in- 
 correct by those who will give a careful attention to the whole course 
 and bearing of the remarks. The argument will be perceived to be this : 
 The honors rendered to the Father are grounded on his character, and 
 on the relations which he sustains to his creatures. By his character 
 I understand his moral attributes, while these relations grow out of his 
 natural attributes. It is the former, principally, as I say in the dis- 
 course, (p. 118.) on account of wH-^i worship is rendered ; although at 
 the same time (p. 117.') th« 'atter are essential to his very existence as 
 God ;-^and— it should have been expressed as well as implied,— his 
 relation to us is founded on them. 
 
 How then is this statement applied to the Son ? We are in like man- 
 ner to honor him on account of his character and of the relations he 
 sustains toward us ;— relations, founded, not as those of God, on his na- 
 tjiral attributes but on the appointment of the Father : as is explained 
 at length on pages 119, 120. So that even if it were true that the 
 natural perfections of God are in every respect an equal ground of 
 divine honors with the moral, yet the conclusion respecting the honors 
 due to our Saviour remains the same ;— his relations to us being ground- 
 ed, not, like those of God, on the perfections of his nature, but on 
 the appointment of his Father. 
 
 Or if it be said that these relations of God spring in part also from 
 his moral perfections ; still the conclusion is the same, for still the re- 
 lations and offices of Jesus spring from the appointment of God.