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XXX. 
 
 OBEDIENCE, THE LAW OF THE WILL. 
 
 ' • 
 
 James i: 22 : “ But be ye doers of the word^ and not hearers only^ deceiving your 
 9wn selves,''^ 
 
 The general obligation of obedience is here stated with great emphasis. 
 Indeed, the very design of Jam^s in this epistle, is to set forth what may 
 be termed the doctrine oi practice. Paul, for "example, elaborates the 
 principles upon which the gospel rests, with only an incidental and inferen¬ 
 tial application of these to the conscience. James, on the contrary, gives 
 himself with^'a blunt directness to the assertion of these principles as the 
 necessary elements of the Christian life. There is no contradiction between 
 the two, as some have supposed. It is the same gospel in both, approached 
 from different sides. Paul’s distinctive business is with grace as it lies in 
 the doctrine; James’ particular concern is with grace as it lies in the 
 experience. Paul is the theologian, James is the casuist. Paul constructs 
 the science, James points out its uses. Yet they both cross the separating 
 line enough to show that they are entirely at one in Christ Jesus. Paul, 
 in the sweep of his argument, will sometimes gather up the doctrine and hurl 
 it upon the conscience with a directness and vigor which James could not 
 hope to surpass. ' Again, James will pause in his exhortation to lay the 
 basis of doctrine, with a precision not inferior to that of Paul. 
 
 A fine illustration is afforded in the context. “ Every good gift and 
 every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of 
 lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of His 
 own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of 
 first-fruits of His creatures.” (vv. 17, 18). Could Paul himself state 
 more explicitly the sovereignty of Divine grace, or the necessity of the 
 new birth in order to salvation ? Yet see how the practical James fences 
 both against Antinomian perversion : “ but be ye doers of the word, and 
 not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any |;be a hearer of 
 the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face 
 in a glass : for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway 
 
 Ti 35338 
 
344 
 
 Obedience, the Law of the Will. 
 
 [April 22, 
 
 forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whosoever looketh into the 
 perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful 
 hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” 
 (vv. 22-25.) Here then James lays his doctrine of practice side by side 
 with Paul’s doctrine of faith: “ and the reconciliation between the two is 
 given by Paul himself, when he defines the faith by which we are justified 
 as the faith which worketh by love.” (G-al. v: 6). Nay, it is anticipated 
 in the Grospels, in that striking phrase so often employed, “ doing the 
 truth.” (John iii: 21 ; 1 John i: 6). ^ 
 
 By this exposition, I am led directly to the last topic in this series of 
 Discourses, to-wit: Obedience as the Law op the Will,* the definite 
 form in which its energy shall be expressed. 
 
 I. The path will be opened into this discussion by dwelling a little 
 upon THE ESSENTIAL ACTIVITY OP man’s NATURE ; the Consideration of 
 which is necessary to complete the view taken in the preceding Discourses. 
 The survey of all the powers with which man is endowed, compels the 
 conclusion that Grod designed him for action. 
 
 1. This will appear, in the first place, from the very nature of the soul. 
 We know nothing either of matter or spirit, save from their properties: 
 and perhaps the fundamental characteristic of the latter is that of self- 
 action. Matter is inert, and is moved upon from without. True, God 
 has displayed His wisdom and power by imprisoning within it certain 
 forces ; but these are held in equilibrium, so as to be in a state cf repose. 
 It is not until you disturb this balance by the intrusion of a foreign 
 influence, that you witness the peculiar behavior in the properties of mat¬ 
 ter which it is the ofiice of science to disclose. The calmness of this 
 sabbath morn, for example, arises from the antagonism of forces which 
 are quiescent simply because they are neutralized. Let this equilibrium 
 be disturbed but for an instant, and the tornado, which but a few days since 
 swept over a neighboring town, unroofs our dwellings and levels them to 
 the ground. 
 
 But when you turn from matter to spirit, you observe not only that it 
 is possessed of amazing energies, but that the development of these is 
 spontaneous. It moves forward by an action from within itself, and with 
 a consciousness of its own freedom and power. Indeed the contrast 
 between the two is presented in our complex organization. For when the 
 body sleeps, the dreams which we indulge prove the mind to be still in 
 action. Through the locking up of the senses, the spirit’s communication 
 with the outward world may be cut off; but the ceaseless activity of mind 
 
1877.] 
 
 Obedience, the Law of the Will. 
 
 345 
 
 is shown through those mental processes which even sleep cannot interrupt, 
 and which are sometimes as vivid as the thoughts by day. As soon there¬ 
 fore as you touch the spiritual part of man’s nature, you find that which 
 is essentially active, and which is always conscious of the spontaneity of 
 its own movement. When we rise above man to beings who are still more 
 spiritual, we discover an activity more conspicuous, because unembarrassed 
 by the flesh ; “ who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of 
 fire.” (Heb. i; 7.) We ascend at length to Him who is “before all 
 things and by whom all things consistand postulate a God who neither 
 slumbers nor sleeps, whose essential life is the source of all activity in 
 Himself and in the creature. You remember that word of Christ in 
 which there is so much of quiet majesty, “ m}’ Father worketh hitherto, 
 and I work;” (John v: 17), in which He puts Himself upon the plane of 
 equality with the Father, and afiirms His absolute divinity. But the point 
 of comparison is that necessary activity which, in the highest sense, is the 
 attribute of Him who is the Supreme Spirit: “ God is a Spirit; and they 
 that worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John iv: 24.) 
 Just so far then as man gives evidence of a soul, do you find that God 
 from the beginning intended him to be a creature of action. 
 
 2. This is further shown from the tendency in thought and feeling to 
 concrete into the external act, which is the natural product of both. Here 
 is man endowed with the faculty to know, placed in a world whose startling 
 phenomena like shocks from a Leyden jar rouse the dormant mind to 
 vigorous exercise. Thoughts multiply with a fecundity which would be 
 oppressive, were it not for the marvellous facility of framing themselves 
 into propositions and judgments—thus condensing into knowledge, the 
 mind’s furniture forever. The intellectual machinery once set in motion 
 can be arrested by no earthly power, and the activities of the day are 
 reproduced in the illusions of sleep by night. But we scarcely begin to 
 wonder at this productiveness of thought, before we strike a greater mar¬ 
 vel. This mental friction has kindled a fire which sets the heart aglow. 
 Though a man should think in ice, yet science tells us there is latent heat 
 in the cold icicle hanging from the eaves of a house ; and all history tes¬ 
 tifies to the reserved power which lies in those silent men of thought, who 
 at length burst from their quietude and like pyramids of fire set the world 
 ablaze with their energy. 
 
 This leads me at once to the greatest mystery of the whole—all this 
 thought and emotion flowing, through a decision or choice of the will, into 
 some external action which stands before the eye the embodiment and 
 
346 
 
 Obedience, the Law of the Will. 
 
 [April 22, 
 
 representative of both. What mean these mute, vet expressive gestures 
 of the body, if they be not the natural signs for the interpretation of 
 thought ? And this wonderful endowment of human speech by which 
 through arbitrary and conventional sounds, we give^’bodily form and shape 
 to our thoughts and desires—what is the significance of it, except that 
 God did not mean thought to be always silent? Man was intended for ^ 
 action ; and hence this mysterious necessity to translate what is within ; 
 this strange compulsion in man to produce himself out of himself—visibly 
 represented to his own eye, and to the eye of others, in that which is the 
 concrete embodiment of thought, passion, desire and will. ' 
 
 3. The proof of man’s essential activity is almost complete, when you 
 observe him placed in the bosom of a thousand relations. Constituted for 
 action, as we have already seen, we discover the sphere in which this 
 activity must be displayed. He is not placed upon an insulated stool with 
 glass feet, to sever all connection with the earth upon which he stands. On 
 the contrary, innumerable threadlike ties bind him to the race of which he 
 forms a part; and in working out the problem of human history, each 
 must be an integer in the equation—a unit in the vast total, without which 
 it could not be reached. Man, as he moves, touches the secret wires which 
 run through life in every direction, and gather to their centre at the throne 
 ol God. 
 
 What are we obliged to infer from these adaptations of man to his place 
 in the social sphere ? Born in a nest of relationships, he abides in them 
 until death; nay, he multiplies them by his own choice, or else under the 
 pressure of his surroundings, as they change from day to day. Yet, he is 
 fitted by nature to fill these varied relations, just as clearly as the bird is 
 fitted for the element in which it soars, or the fish for that in which it 
 swims. Created by his Maker a free spirit, action is the necessity of his 
 being; and therefore every faculty tends to express itself in outward form. 
 Thought glides into feeling—feeling concretes into the visible and repre- < 
 sentative act—and the being who is under this law of development, finds 
 himself in the associations which stimulate these tendencies, and draw 
 them out in their manifestations. If the proof of design is not apparent 
 here, then it cannot be inferred from any of the marvellous adjustments in 
 the natural world. The being who finds himself in a net-work of relation, 
 ships, through which he has the power to move, is shown by his fitness to 
 the place that he was intended to fill it with all the activity which belongs 
 to his nature. 
 
 4. The culmination of proof on this point, is found in the sense of per¬ 
 sonal responsibility in man to the justice and law of God. Would that I 
 
1877.] 
 
 Obedience, the Law of the Will. 
 
 347 
 
 had the power to represent the majesty, and yet the practicalness, of this 
 suggestion ! Consider it well, and what can be more solemn than the neces¬ 
 sity which is upon us to think ? And then, the equal necessity which is 
 upon us to feel ? And then, the logical compulsion upon us to act ? All 
 three moving in their respective spheres with the silent and resistless energy 
 which characterizes all the operations of nature. The earth makes no 
 noise, whilst it spins upon its axle, nor yet when it sweeps in a grander 
 orbit around the sun; yet all the planets yield unresistingly to that power 
 of attraction which God has made the law to every particle of matter 
 throughout the universe. So man, in obedience to that law of connexion 
 established between the faculties of the soul, is evermore passing through 
 the process by which thought and emotion crystallize into acts, which 
 make up the history of his life. Whether he reck of it or no—to borrow 
 a conceit from the ancient Schoolmen, the soul is perpetually throwing oft' 
 the shadowy forms of itself. Thoughts, affections, activities—taking em¬ 
 bodiment and shape in the words we breathe, in the desires we feel, in the 
 deeds we perform—all bearing a shadowy resemblance to the nature from 
 which they spring, going up before us to the solemn judgment, and stand¬ 
 ing there the silent witnesses of what we have been, and of what we are ! 
 
 Great God, can it be true ? These images of ourselves, produced out of 
 ourselves, shall they confront us there ? Shall these mysterious shadows of 
 our own life be cast upon the curtain of the Judgment ? Shall our very 
 thoughts take shape before us, to tell the universe exactly what we are? 
 No wonder that under this self-revelation before the Omniscient Judge, 
 “ every mouth shall be stopped and all the world become guilty before God. ” 
 (Rom. iii: 19.) Ah, my hearers, what shall we do in that day of expo¬ 
 sure, if there be not a covering for our guilt ? How shall we endure the 
 confusion and the grief, if there be no “Days-man” to throw the mantle 
 of His righteousness over our shame, and hide it from sight forever ? 
 
 II. Perhaps it has not been necessary to submit these proofs of the 
 essential activity of mans nature. Yet what is admitted without hesitation 
 may profitably be held under arrest, if only to deepen the conviction of the 
 truth. I wish now te show how the gospel addresses itself to his 
 
 ACTIVITY, IN THE OBEDIENCE WHICH IT EXACTS OF THE WILL. This, 
 you perceive, completes the circuit, and puts Christianity in direct con¬ 
 nexion with every department of the soul. We have Truth informing the 
 reason, Justice directing the conscience, Love actuating the heart, and 
 finally Obedience expressing the energy of the will. Viewed from these 
 four points of the compass, man will be recognized as capable at once of 
 knowledge, of duty, of desire, and of action. 
 
Obedience, the Law of the Will. 
 
 [April 22, 
 
 348 
 
 1. This may he inferred from the fact that the Gospel speaks so 
 directly to the understanding and the heart. This consideration is simply 
 initial, and gives the advantage of starting from the lowest plane. Upon 
 the supposition that no command can be found in the Scriptures laying its 
 authority upon the will, still the voice which speaks to the other powers 
 speaks of necessity to this. T could not be asked to stoop to an admission 
 •lower than this; and yet with this conceded, it is clear how the Gospel 
 lays its hand upon all the active powers in man. All those immense propo¬ 
 sitions respecting God, eternity, and the soul, coming by direct revelation 
 from heaven, arouse and feed the intellect until man lifts his head above 
 the stars, and holds communion with the angels in glory. Throughout the 
 ages, too, in the great Hereafter, this truth will expand before us in the 
 disclosures to be made of Jehovah in the splendor of His majesty, and in 
 the tenderness of His love. Just so far then does the Gospel provide, 
 both here and hereafter, for all the activity into which this knowledge will 
 at length transmute itself. In like manner, the affections of the heart are 
 stirred, when the Divine holiness is seen embosomed in grace—as the cloud 
 which tempers its brightness to the human gaze. God is revealed to us in 
 the tender relations of His covenant as the Father and portion of His 
 people, and we are taijght to “love Him who first loved us,” I John 
 iv: 19.) 
 
 If then the Gospel did nothing more than to excite the affections by 
 presenting an object infinitely worthy of their embrace, these affections 
 tend, as I have shown, to express themselves in outward acts—revealing- 
 man’s nature on its active side, as distinctly as on its intellectual, or its 
 emotional. The three are so bound together that, without any special 
 injunction of obedience, it would be implied in all that the Gospel reveals 
 either to the understanding or the heart. 
 
 2. The practical faith lohich the Gospel demands, appeals directly to 
 the human will. It cannot be necessary to remind you how this call to 
 immediate faith in the Redeemer sounds from every page of the sacred 
 word. The one, simple direction to every sinner, is “believe on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” (Acts xvi: 31.) 
 Under every form of language, it is urged upon the sinner as the one thing 
 to be done. Even the Old Testament economy, when we have the key to 
 unlock the meaning of its types and shadows, points through them all to 
 that faith in Christ which is more definitely expounded in the New Testa¬ 
 ment. “Before faith came,” says the Apostle, “we were kept under the 
 law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed ; wherefore 
 
1877.] 
 
 Obedience, the Law of the Will. 
 
 349 
 
 the law was our school-master to bring us unto Christ, that we might be 
 justified by faith.” (Gal. iii: 23, 24.) In truth, as may be seen from 
 the tenor of Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews, all the institutions of Moses 
 served for the construction of a language,* in which the doctrines of 
 redemption by sacrifice, and of sanctification by the Holy Ghost might be 
 revealed to the faith of the Church. 
 
 But this faith by which the sinner is justified and saved, is the obedi¬ 
 ence of the will to the great command of the Gospel, and draws upon the 
 whole activity of our nature. It is more than belief, or the mere assent 
 * of the mind to certain verbal propositions. It involves equally the affec¬ 
 tions of the heart and the determinations of the will, in the exercise of 
 that trust which is really its essence. “ What doth hinder me to be bap¬ 
 tized ? ” asks the Eunuch : “ if thou believest with all thine heart, thou 
 mayest ”—is the reply of Philip. (Acts viii: 36, 37.) Hear too the 
 explicit testimony of Paul : “ if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the 
 Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him 
 from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth 
 unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” 
 (Rom. x: 9, 10.) It is under the force of these and similar testimonies, 
 that our Standards define saving faith both as a grace and an act: a grace, 
 as the principle is implanted by the Holy Spirit in the new birth; (Eph. 
 ii: 8,) an act, as it is performed in the use of our rational faculties. (John 
 i: 12.) The Shorter Catechism gives this answer to the 86th question : 
 
 faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon 
 Him alone for salvation, as He is offered to us in the Gospel.” True faith 
 then, under any definition of it, includes that operation of the will in 
 % which obedience is yielded to the claims of God as our redeemer, and to 
 all the conditions upon which our salvation is suspended. In its funda¬ 
 mental requisition, therefore, the Gospel draws upon the whole nature of 
 « man, as a being of action. 
 
 I cannot dismiss this topic without recalling to your attention a thought, 
 not sufficiently enlarged upon in the discourse of last Sabbath. I refer to 
 the wonderful philosophy of the Gospel, in the urgency with which it 
 presses upon the sinner the duty of immediate faith in the Redeemer. 
 There is not a verse in the Bible which turns the inquirer back, to ascertain 
 whether his convictions are sufficient to warrant his coming to Christ. 
 
 *3ee this admirably discussed in a work entitled “ Philosophy of the plan of 
 Salvation.” 
 
350 
 
 Obedience, the Law of the Will. 
 
 [April 22, 
 
 This would be to throw the creature into the maelstrom of his emotions, 
 whirling in the fatal vortex by which he is sucked down at last and dis¬ 
 appears in the gloomy depths. The Holy Spirit knows too well that no 
 surer method can be devised to destroy feeling, than the direct effort to 
 create it—that the subtle essence evaporates in the manipulation of it— 
 and that it must be allowed to rush without stoppage to the concrete act 
 in which it culminates. Hence the holy impatience with which, in the ^ 
 Scriptures, man is hurried forward to the act of faith, in which ail pious 
 thought and feeling are embodied at last. The Holy Ghost, to whom is 
 assigned the office of applying the gospel to the heart, will not contravene ^ 
 the laws of man’s rational nature. He puts Himself in accord with them; 
 and works, with His omnipotent power, through them all. He enlightens 
 the mind, and rouses the conscience, and stirs the heart, and subdues the 
 will; and then produces all to the view, in the acts of obedience which 
 this will renders to the commands of grace. It is by the reaction of all 
 this upon the heart, that its affections are kindled to a warmer glow— 
 which again seek expression in the outward life ; and so by the action and 
 reaction, the warmth of spiritual life is kept equal at the heart and at the 
 extremities. 
 
 3. In this connexion, observe that faith must not only be exercised— 
 hut Christ must also he openly confessed before the world. “ Confession 
 with the mouth ” is, by the Apostle, closely conjoined with “ belief in the 
 heart.” (Rom. x: 9.) Yet there are not a few who seek to evade the 
 obligation to unite with the Redeemer’s Church upon earth. The reason¬ 
 ing by which this neglect is defended, is specious. “ Is not religion after 
 all only a matter betwixt the conscience and God ? Is it not enough to 
 repent of sin, and to embrace the Saviour, in the secrecy of my own heart? s 
 Why should I be subjected to the trial of changing front in the presence 
 of the world, and of running the hazard of bringing reproach upon the 
 Church by the irregularities into which I may possibly fall ?” Such are ( 
 the opiates by which an accusing conscience is sometimes put to sleep— 
 the pleas, by which perhaps many persuade themselves honestly that they 
 are free from censure. 
 
 The reply to all this special pleading is exceedingly simple. We can afford 
 to set aside all discussion of the question, in this, whether connexion 
 with the visible Church be an indispensable prerequisite to salvation ? We 
 are not required to tie the infinite and sovereign grace of God to any 
 ritual, as the necessary condition of salvation. We may expect to find 
 not a few in heaven, whose names were never enrolled upon the register of 
 
1877.] 
 
 Oledience, the Law of the Will. 
 
 351 
 
 the Church on earth. It is an immense relief to be discharged from the 
 responsibility of deciding upon cases like these, by remitting them to the 
 judgment of Him who alone has the prerogative. Still it remains true, 
 that Christ has constituted His Church an organized and visible society; 
 and that He has equipped her with laws and officers, with ordinances and 
 \ sacraments, “ for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, 
 for the edifying of the body of Christ.” (Eph. iv: 12.) It is still true, 
 that He has commanded every being who accepts the salvation He has 
 f wrought, to make visible profession of his faith by union with this Church, 
 in which the fellowship of the saints shall be constantly maintained. 
 Without adjudicating any of the cases which God reserves for trial at the 
 last day, we can take our stand just here ; and say, that it is immensely 
 perilous to refuse obedience to the least of God’s commandments. Whether 
 union with the visible Church be, or be not, essential to salvation, it may 
 not be safe for us to pronounce. But we can say, that no man can live in 
 neglect of any duty which the Saviour enjoins, even though it should be 
 only through a misapprehension of the judgment, without serious detri¬ 
 ment and loss to the interests of the soul. It must draw after it the for¬ 
 feiture of many blessings, which might otherwise have been enjoyed. The 
 decision has already been pronounced, “ whosoever therefore shall break 
 one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be 
 called the least in the kingdom of heaven.” (Mat. v: 19.) 
 
 Even though one may work his way safely along the edge of the Church, 
 in no way distinguished from the world, it must always be with a sense of 
 degradation under the meanness and cowardice which it involves; it must 
 ^ always be with a sense of peril, from which in the nature of things it is 
 impossible to be wholly divested; and it must be also with the sad forfei¬ 
 ture of many comforts and joys, which is not deplored simply from ignor¬ 
 ance of what really has been lost. See then how the Gospel lays hold 
 upon the active principle of our nature, in its requisition first upon the 
 exercise, and then upon the profession, of our faith in Christ. 
 
 4. This line of proof is strengthened by the fact, that ever^ Christian 
 is required to partake of the corporate life of the Church, and to assume 
 his portion of the common labor and *toil. Beyond a doubt, God could 
 dispense with all the work and anguish which He lays upon the Church 
 in the evangelization of the world. He could, in the flash of an instant, 
 convert the whole human race and not leave a single rebel against His 
 grace. The Holy Spirit, who had the key to your heart and to mine, 
 could as easily open the door of every other heart upon the face of the 
 earth. But God' has chosen to lay upon His Church, this duty of pro- 
 
 4 
 
352 
 
 Obedience, the Law of the Will. 
 
 [April 22, 
 
 claiming the Gospel by which the nations shall be saved; and the burden 
 which is laid collectively upon the whole body, is laid distributively upon 
 each component part of that body. 
 
 Remembering now that “ every beast of the forest is His and the cattlt 
 upon a thousand hills,” one cannot cease to wonder that God should leave 
 His Church to experience so much anguish in the propagation of the 
 truth. What an expenditure of effort, to raise the sum which is necessary 
 to support a few missionaries upon heathen soil! How difficult to keep 
 alive the feeble organizations in the scattered hamlets of our own land ! 
 What sacrifices are imposed upon the heralds of the Cross, in the poverty 
 and self-denial with which they proclaim “ the glad tidings of great joy ” 
 to sinful men ! It seems one of the deep mysteries of Divine Providence, 
 that all this should be entailed upon those who are engaged in His work 
 who could so easily relieve the pressure; until we recall the fact that the 
 discipline which is laid upon the individual believer, is needful also to the 
 collective Church. One conclusion is certainly established—that, in all 
 this work of toil and sacrifice in which the Church engages each of her 
 members, there is a clear recognition of that active principle in our nature, 
 upon the constant exercise of which our spiritual health, no less than our 
 natural, so much depends. 
 
 5* Passing from these four connected points, let it be noted that the Gospel 
 does not dispense with any of the relations in human society. It takes the 
 sinner just where Providence has assigned his lot, and makes him “a new 
 creature in Christ Jesus.” It sanctifies all the relations in which he is 
 embosomed, and converts them into means of grace. Ancient Sparta, you 
 remember, destroyed the family that the State might be supreme. The 
 youth were removed from parental care and control, given over to the 
 public nurse and the public school-master, to be trained not for the home, 
 but for the State. And it is the vice of many of the systems of modern 
 reform, that they sweep across the web of natural associations in accom¬ 
 plishing their benevolent designs—and fail at last, because they cannot 
 succeed in this disintegration of society. Christianity, on the contrary, 
 comes down into the world, not as a law, but as a life. Conscious of its 
 power, it seizes man in the midst of all the duties which he owes to his 
 home, to the commuity, to the State, to the world. It does not relax any 
 of these claims; but under their united pressure, it consecrates him to a 
 new service superior to them all. Thus does the Gospel in its refusal to 
 blot out any of our natural ties, respect the active feature in man’s nature. 
 It saves him in the heat of his action ; and then puts him down in the 
 sphere to which he naturally belongs, to be a witness to those who know 
 him best of the power and sweetness of Divine grace. 
 
1877.] 
 
 Obedience, the Law of the Will. 
 
 353 
 
 6. It is worthy of notice, that the discipline^ thi'ougli lohich we are 
 sanctified, falls upon us exactly in the sphere of our earthly activities. It 
 is not required of me to speak, just here, of the necessity for all this dis¬ 
 cipline. You recognize it as the key which unlocks the great mystery of 
 human life, and without which human history would be a riddle. But 
 ^ every problem opens to us under this statement, “ whom the Lord loveth 
 He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” (Heb. xii: 
 6.) Our probation, which originally was one of law, is now through the 
 I intervention of grace a probation of mercy. The virtues implanted in 
 the heart by the Spirit, are by this discipline reduced to practice, and form 
 the character suited to the unchanging life beyond the grave. You recol¬ 
 lect that exquisite hymn of John Newton, in which the fulness of reli¬ 
 gious experience, atones for the lack of poetic merit; 
 
 “ I asked the Lord that I might grow 
 In faith and love and every grace ; 
 
 Might more of his salvation know, 
 
 And seek more earnestly His face. 
 
 ’Twas He that taught me thus to pray, 
 
 And He, I trust, has answered prayer; 
 
 But it^has been in such a way, 
 
 As almost drove me to despair. 
 
 I hojped that in some favored hour, 
 
 At once He’d answer my request; 
 
 And by His love’s constraining power. 
 
 Subdue my sins and give me rest.” 
 
 Ah ! This is the way in which we would like the work of sanctifica¬ 
 tion to be advanced, by the sweet influx of Grod’s grace into the hearty 
 without the need of any conflict, or any sorrow ! 
 
 * “ Instead of this he made me feel 
 
 The hidden evils of my heart, 
 
 And let the angry powers of hell 
 Assault my soul in every part. 
 
 Yea, more : with His own hand He seemed 
 Intent to aggravate my woe; 
 
 Crossed all the fair designs I schemed, 
 
 Blasted my gourds, and laid me low. 
 
 Lord, why is this ? I trembling cried, 
 
 Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death ? 
 
 ’Tis in tliis way, the Lord replied, 
 
 1 answer prayer for grace and faith. 
 
354 
 
 Obedience, the Law of the Will. 
 
 [April 22, 
 
 These inward trials I employ, 
 
 From self and pride to set thee free, 
 
 And break thy schemes of earthly joy. 
 
 That thou mayest seek thine all in me.” 
 
 How rich the display of wisdom and love, which brings into harmony 
 the inward and the outward in every Christian’s experience—the inward 
 grace, and the outward discipline which cultivates it into practical virtue! 
 Just as the potter, who moulds the clay upon his wheel into the shape 
 lie desires, and then builds the furnace, filling its womb with the blazing 
 fire, into the heart of whose flame he places the vessel which he means to 
 harden for serviceable use : so Grod casts you and me into the furnace of 
 affliction, heated seven times hot, and brings us out without the smell of 
 fire upon our garments. 
 
 The general exposition of this truth, is not, however, what I now pro¬ 
 pose to your consideration. It is rather the fact, that this painful discip¬ 
 line overtakes us in the midst of the duties and activities of life. Here, 
 for example, is one of yourselves toiling through a lifetime to build a for¬ 
 tune, which will fill your old age with plenty ; and suddenly the whole 
 tumbles down upon your head, overwhelming you with bankruptcy and 
 ruin. Whatever may be the special lesson Grod has in this for you, others 
 cannot look upon you driven back to work, when the elasticity and 
 strength of youth have fled, without a profound conviction that life is 
 meant to be one of toil even to the end. 
 
 In like manner, with our sorrows ; Grod calls us to those tender offices of 
 fflve around the beds of the sick. The mournful ministry is drawn out 
 through weeks and month and years, during which, with a sweeter sym¬ 
 pathy and a deeper affection, we fold the sufferers in our arms. Will this 
 suffice ? Ah, no 1 the heart must gather itself up for the last great sacri¬ 
 fice of love, when it bows before the altar and says, “ The Lord gave, 
 and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job. i: 
 21.) Why is it, that these bereavements fall upon us just as we have 
 made the largest investment of affection ? Simply, because the discipline 
 would not reach us, if it did not touch the point that was the most tender, 
 and where the sensibilities are the keenest. But this is only another 
 illustration of the way in which the Grospel recognizes the activity of our 
 nature, and says : “ be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiv¬ 
 ing your own selves.” 
 
 7. In the last place, see the provision fo7'all the activity of mans 
 nature—in the great duty of loorship. God gives us His truth, which in 
 <[uiet meditation, we revolve and inwardly digest, assimilating it to the 
 
1877.] 
 
 Obedience, the Law of the Will. 
 
 355 
 
 mind, so that it grows in stature almost equal to that of an angel. Then 
 God reveals to the heart all that is beautiful and lovely in the person of 
 His incarnate Son, drawing out our affections until we exclaim in the 
 trustfulness of faith, “ My Lord, and my God ! ” Is this enough ? No : 
 We must fall into rank with the whole “sacramental host of God’s elect,” 
 and under the banner of the Church, subdue the nations by the truth, until 
 all “ the Kingdoms of this world, shall become the Kingdoms of our Lord 
 and of His Christ.” Will this answer ? No : this overflowing energy of 
 the sanctified heart must be gathered in from this wide diffusion, and 
 pour itself forth in solemn and adoring worship, before “ Him that sitteth 
 upon the throne and before the Lamb.” 
 
 We worship, whilst we live—we worship with that sublimest of all trust, 
 when at death we convey the soul with the last breath to Him that redeemed 
 it—and then we pass through the open gates and lay our worship, with 
 that of angels and Cherubim in the censer of our High Priest above, that 
 He may waive it forever before the throne of His Father in glory. Surely, 
 a being, who has such capacity for worship here on earth, and such a lifle 
 of worship lengthening through the eternity to come, cannot deny that 
 God has created him for action, and has made ample provision for its exer¬ 
 cise in the gospel of His grace. 
 
 What, my hearers, shall I say in the conclusion of this discourse ? Will 
 you tell me what I ought to say ? Well this; I do not know the length 
 of your line, how far it reaches into the knowledge of Christ Jesus, our 
 Lord : but be that knowledge little or much, express it in your life. 
 Whether you have scaled the heights of Christian experience, and from the 
 Delectable mountains can descry the towers of the distant city—or whether 
 you be struggling at the base beneath—whatever the measure of your hope 
 and love and joy, I ask for the production of it in the sphere of action. 
 Come out from your self. There is a monkery amongst Protestants, as bad 
 as that amongst the devotees of Rome. It is when a Christian locks him¬ 
 self up in the solitude of his own thought, in the exclusiveness of his own 
 experience—when he ties his hand to his side, and gives it to no form of 
 productive labor. Look at that Stylite of the ancient monasticism, upon 
 his pillar of stone, with arm stretched up to heaven until it has withered to 
 its socket. Wherein are you better than he, if in this day of Christian 
 eflort you lie a drone in the Christian hive, and bear no fruit of honest 
 Christian toil to the Master’s feet? Here are we in this great city, with 
 thousands around us profaning God’s name, and desecrating His Sabbath— 
 what are you and I doing in the way of testimony against this abounding 
 
356 
 
 Obedience, the Law of the Will. 
 
 [April 22 
 
 iniquity, or in the way of effort to bring sinners to the knowledge of the 
 truth ? Lift up your voice in the service of Grod ! I bind you to it, by the 
 nature God has given you as creatures of action. I bind you to it, by the 
 genius of Christianity which opens a sphere for your holiest energies. I 
 bind you to it, by the faith you have professed in Christ, your Redeemer. 
 I bind you to it, by the sacremental emblems through which you have 
 recorded your vows—by the red wine which symbolizes the blood shed for 
 the remission of sin—by the bread broken to represent the bruising of Him 
 who died under avenging law to pay our debt to justice. Ry all these 
 tokens of God’s love to you and of your obligation to serve Him, come 
 with a contrite heart and take the Lord’s cross upon your shoulder, and the 
 Lord’s testimony upon your tongue. Fasten yourselves to the chariot of 
 your King, as he rides forth gloriously to victory. Then shall it be yours 
 to receive the crown of life, with the benediction of the Judge,” well done 
 good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”