{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_67036/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_67036","id":"gutenberg_67036","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67036","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Church of England -- Sermons -- 19th century","Sermons, English"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1860 William Skeffington edition by David Price.\nMany thanks to the British Library for making their copy available.\n\n\n\n\n\n PLAIN SERMONS\n\n\n PREACHED AT\n\n ARCHBISHOP TENISON\u2019S CHAPEL,\n\n REGENT STREET.\n\n * * * * *\n\n BY\n\n JAMES GALLOWAY COWAN,\n\n MINISTER.\n\n * * * * *\n\n * * * * *\n\n Second Series.\n\n * * * * *\n\n * * * * *\n\n LONDON:\n\n WILLIAM SKEFFINGTON, 163, PICCADILLY\n\n 1860.\n\n\n\n\n_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_\u2014_FIRST SERIES_.\n\n\n Plain Sermons, preached at Archbishop Tenison\u2019s Chapel, Regent Street.\n Fcap. cloth, price 3s. 6d.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n PAGE\n SERMON I.\n DEPENDENCE UPON GOD.\n\n Philippians, iv., 5, 6.\nThe Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in 1\neverything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let\nyour requests be made known unto GOD\n SERMON II.\n JUDGMENT HERE AND HEREAFTER.\n\n Malachi, ii., 17.\nWhere is the God of Judgment? 16\n SERMON III.\n THE WORLDLING REPROVED.\n\n St. James, iv., 13, 14, 15.\nGo to now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into 32\nsuch a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell,\nand get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the\nmorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that\nappeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For\nthat ye ought to say, If the LORD will, we shall live, and\ndo this, or that.\n SERMON IV.\n THE UNKNOWN GOD.\n\n Acts, xvii., 22, 23.\nYe men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too 48\nsuperstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your\ndevotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE\nUNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him\ndeclare I unto you.\n SERMON V.\n FAITH AND ITS BLESSEDNESS.\n\n St. John, xx., 29.\nThomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: 66\nblessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.\n SERMON VI.\n FAULTLESSNESS BEFORE GOD.\n (INNOCENTS\u2019 DAY.)\n\n Revelation, xiv., 5.\nThey are without fault before the throne of GOD. 76\n SERMON VII.\n PAST MERCIES REVIEWED.\n (NEW YEAR\u2019S EVE.)\n\n Genesis, xxxii., 10.\nI am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all 92\nthe truth, which thou hast showed unto Thy servant; for\nwith my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am\nbecome two bands.\n SERMON VIII.\n WORKING FOR GOD.\n\n St. John, ix., 4.\nI must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: 108\nthe night cometh, when no man can work.\n SERMON IX.\n CHRIST\u2019S TRUEST MANIFESTATION.\n\n St. John, xiv., 22.\nLORD, how is it that Thou will manifest Thyself unto us, 126\nand not unto the world.\n SERMON X.\n BLESSING ACCORDING TO PRAYER.\n\n St. Matthew, viii., 13.\nAnd JESUS said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou 146\nhast believed, so be it done unto thee.\n SERMON XI.\n CHRIST STILLING THE STORM.\n\n St. Matthew, viii., 26.\nAnd He saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little 161\nfaith? Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea;\nand there was a great calm.\n SERMON XII.\n UNITY WITH PEACE.\n\n Ephesians, iv., 1, 2, 3.\nI, therefore, the prisoner of the LORD, beseech you that ye 179\nwalk worthy of the calling wherewith ye are called, With\nall lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing\none another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the\nSpirit in the bond of peace.\n SERMON XIII.\n THE LAW IN THE GOSPEL.\n\n St. Luke x., 25.\nWhat shall I do to inherit eternal life? 193\n SERMON XIV.\n PRESENT SALVATION.\n\n II. Corinthians, vi., 2.\nBehold, now is the day of salvation. 211\n SERMON XV.\n CHRIST TOUCHED.\n\n St. Mark, v., 30.\nAnd JESUS, immediately knowing in Himself that virtue had 228\ngone out of Him, turned Him about in the press, and said,\nWho touched my clothes?\n SERMON XVI.\n PREACHING PARABLES.\n\n Ezekiel, xx., 49.\nAh LORD GOD! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables? 245\n SERMON XVII.\n LIVING AND DYING UNTO GOD.\n\n II. Corinthians, v., 8, 9.\nWe are confident and willing rather to be absent from the 264\nbody, and to be present with the LORD. Wherefore we\nlabour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted\nof Him.\n SERMON XVIII.\n RELIGIOUS ZEAL.\n\n II. Kings, x., 16.\nCome with me, and see my zeal for the LORD. 276\n SERMON XIX.\n CHRIST\u2019S COMING DESIRED.\n\n Revelation, xxii., 20.\nEven so, come, LORD JESUS. 289\n SERMON XX.\n TRUE PROSPERITY.\n\n Genesis, xxxix., 2.\nThe LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man. 305\n\n\n\n\nSERMON I.\nDEPENDENCE UPON GOD.\n\n\n PHILIPPIANS, IV., 5, 6.\n\n _The Lord is at hand_. _Be careful for nothing_; _but in everything\n by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be\n made known unto_ God.\n\n\u201cTHE Lord is at hand.\u201d It is doubtful whether this admonition is\ndesigned to recommend the foregoing precept, \u201cLet your moderation be\nknown unto all men,\u201d or whether it introduces and enforces the\ninjunction, \u201cBe careful for nothing.\u201d It may well do both: on the one\nhand, exhorting the disciples to lead (and that manifestly) an unworldly\nlife, seeing they were so shortly to be taken out of the world; and, on\nthe other hand, cheering them in their sorrows, suppressing their\nanxieties and quickening their faith, by the remembrance, that comfort,\nand peace, and perfect bliss would soon be theirs\u2014\u201cThe LORD is at hand.\u201d\n\nThe second advent of our LORD was always in the mind of the apostles. It\nis thought that they even counted upon its literal occurrence in their\nlifetime, as though the prophecies of it were among the things to be\nfulfilled before that generation passed away. Without subscribing to\nthis view, against which many objections may be taken, it may be readily\nadmitted that, as they were uncertain how soon it might happen, as they\nhad no ground for concluding that it would _not_ be in their time, so\nthey rightly laboured to impress upon the disciples its _possible_, if\nyou will its _probable_ nearness. Besides, they knew that, virtually, it\nwould be soon: for if CHRIST came not speedily in the flesh, speedily\nthey would be called out of the flesh to Him, and then would cease the\npleasures and cares of this world, and then would begin the possession\nand enjoyment of things eternal. How necessary then, that they who were\nbut pilgrims and strangers here, living a life that was soon to be ended\nand accounted for, should be warned against excess of worldliness,\nagainst building houses where they were but permitted to pitch tents,\nagainst turning aside out of the path of pilgrimage, and wasting or\nabusing the time for journeying! How cheering, too, for those who were\nperplexed, or burthened, or afflicted, to be reminded that perplexity,\nand toil, and grief were only passing clouds, and mere inconveniences by\nthe way\u2014that soon they should be rid of them altogether, and should only\nbe allowed to remember them to magnify their appreciation of attained\nrest and glory! And here let me observe, that the admonition \u201cBe careful\nfor nothing,\u201d is not in this place a reproof of the worldling, coming\nacross him in the path of mammon worship, of earthly aggrandisement, of\nforgetfulness of eternity, of GOD, of heaven, but is rather a\nconsolation, an encouragement, for those, who while walking, or\nendeavouring to walk, in the right way, are depressed and hindered by\ntrials, and perplexities, and afflictions. There are cares which man\nmakes for himself, for which he is to be blamed, whereof he deserves to\neat the bitter fruit. There are other cares which he suffers\ninvoluntarily, which GOD imposes upon him as discipline, which Satan\nthrusts upon him as temptations. With regard to the last, the\nChristian\u2019s cares, St. Paul offers advice and consolation, saying in\neffect\u2014Sink not beneath them, poor pilgrim; groan not on account of them;\nlet them not distract your aims and desires from the right object of\nsolicitude and hope. Weigh them in the right scales against the glories\nthat are coming, and they will surely be found light. Measure them\nbeside the joys of eternity, and they will be seen to be brief and\ntransitory. \u201cThe LORD is at hand\u201d to relieve you of them all, at His\nsecond advent, by the unclothing of death, by carrying you to Paradise.\nBe comforted, rejoice, rouse ye, and, without distraction, pursue your\nhopeful course. \u201cBe careful for nothing.\u201d\n\nWe know the force of such an exhortation in earthly things. We know by\nexperience how light is the labour which leads to rest, how possible it\nis to smile through present tears at the prospect of coming joy; what\npains, and self-denials, and dangers, and encounters, are readily\nembraced by those whom ambition prompts, and approval cheers, and reward\nawaits. Nothing is too hard to bear, nothing too dear to relinquish,\nnothing too formidable to meet, nothing too much to do; the hands that\nhung down are lifted up, the sorrow is banished, the toil becomes\npleasure, we rush to the fight, we delight in the race, forgetting the\npast, disregarding the present, hastening onward to the future, the rest,\nthe victory, the prize, the glory. It is easy, then\u2014not altogether, but\ncomparatively\u2014to obey the precept, \u201cBe careful for nothing\u201d in view of\nthe prospect, \u201cThe LORD is at hand.\u201d\n\nBut, after all, I cannot but think that something better than a prospect\nis hinted at in the text. The apostle goes on to urge, \u201cIn everything by\nprayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known\nunto GOD.\u201d He does not say, \u201cMake light of present cases, on account of\ncoming consolation.\u201d He does not bid the downcast lift up their eyes to\nthe hills, whence by and by cometh their help. It is not \u201cBear, endure,\nencounter in hope,\u201d but, \u201cGet rid of what burthens you, by laying it upon\nHim, Who is near, by your side now, to take it. Be careful for nothing;\nput every care upon GOD (the LORD who is at hand to take it), by prayer\nand supplication with thanksgiving.\u201d I say this is something better than\na prospect; better, because of its superior influence, and better,\nbecause of the immediate relief. The teaching of Advent, all important\nas it is, too often affects but little such poor creatures of the present\nas we are. We are exhorted to look back to the first coming of CHRIST,\nto see what He suffered and did for us, what a foundation He laid for us\nto build on. We are exhorted to look forward to the second advent, to\nconsider what CHRIST will do, to anticipate the glorious completion of us\nin Him as the building of GOD. We obey, and we are moved to faint\ngratitude for the one, to faint hope of the other. The retrospect and\nthe prospect considered, we both see from what rock we were hewn, and\ninto how beautiful a fabric we shall be fashioned; and, unless we are\nvery incapable of feeling, in the view of past and future, we strive to\naccept thankfully and to sanctify duly the present. But, oh! how little\nconstraining is the influence of a Saviour who _once_ visited the earth,\nof a Judge who shall _by and by_ visit it! How dim is the remembrance of\nlong past mercies! how distant is the prospect of heavenly consolations!\nEarth is now present with all its attractions and rewards. The world,\nthe flesh, and the devil are now assailing and afflicting us with their\nmany temptations. How can we resist the seen, and heard, and felt\nfascinations? How can we fill up the present void, and lull the present\npain, and endure the pressing trial, by proposing to ourselves the hopes\nof the future? Does the promise of food to-morrow fill the hungry\nto-day? Does the sight of the physician\u2019s prescription on the instant\nstay the pain and progress of inflammation? Will a drowning man float\ntill by and by a rope is brought and thrown to him? Will a discomfited\narmy rally and conquer, because reinforcements at some future time will\nreach the field? In each of these cases, the prospect will have _some_\ninfluence, but will it be adequate to the occasion? Must not the present\nbe met by the present? Do we not need, besides a Saviour of the past,\nand a Judge of the future, a LORD of the present? Yes, verily, and we\nare assured that we have Him in the words, \u201cThe LORD is at hand,\u201d and\nadvised how to avail ourselves of Him in what follows, \u201cBe careful for\nnothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving\nlet your requests be made known unto GOD.\u201d\n\nWe are too apt to have but a religion of the future; to forget that there\nis _at hand_ a LORD and Helper; to act as though the first opportunity of\nserving GOD were in the hour of death, as though the blessings of reward\nand favour were only to be had in heaven; to treat GOD, in short, as if\nHe were only the GOD of a future world. Such teaching as that of the\ntext reproves and corrects us. As other passages of Holy Writ instruct\nus to make GOD the aim of this present life, using life as an\napprentice-time to the profession of Christianity, as a season wherein to\nprove ourselves and be proved, and to set forth His glory; \u201cWhether we\nlive, we live unto the LORD.\u201d \u201cWhatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of\nGOD;\u201d so the text bids us make GOD the guide and supporter of this life.\n\u201cIn everything by prayer, with supplication, and thanksgiving, let your\nrequests be made known as to GOD. And the peace of GOD, which passeth\nall understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through CHRIST\nJESUS.\u201d\n\nThis is what we want to feel and act upon, that GOD is a GOD at hand, and\nnot a GOD afar off; that we may _now_ cast all our care upon Him, knowing\nthat He careth for us; that if we lay our burthen upon the LORD, He will\n_now_ sustain us: that if we commit our way unto Him, He will bring it to\npass; that He waits to be gracious, not till this life is over, but only\ntill we make known our requests, till we pray and supplicate, and give\nthanks. In proportion as we do not realise and act upon these\nassurances, we are blind to many of the charms, and insensible to many of\nthe helps and comforts of our holy religion: we frustrate, too, the\nfulfilment in ourselves of the truth, that godliness has the promise of\nthe life that now is: we run the risk of becoming earthly-minded, of\nbeing swallowed up of overmuch sorrow, of being cumbered with many cares,\nof being snared away and taken captive by the devil, of making shipwreck\nof our faith.\n\nO brethren, do not suppose that GOD only dwells on the margin of the\nhaven, that we are left to steer our course, to buffet with the waves, to\nstruggle against the storm, to repair the shivered mast, to stop the\nleakages, to sail into the harbour, and let down the anchor, and\ndisembark upon the shore before He meets us. With Him as our Captain we\nare to set out. He as our pilot must guide us. He must rule the waves\nand bring us through them. The way is His, as the haven is His; unless\nHe is with us throughout the first, we shall never reach the last. Grace\nis no reserved blessing. Heaven is no distant home. Grace is ever to be\nhad if we will seek it. Heaven is everywhere, if we will but realise it,\nfor where GOD is, is heaven.\n\nBut GOD is not manifest to all. His help is not given unsought. The eye\nof faith alone can see Him, the cry of faith alone be heard. As He will\nbe served for reward, so will He be asked for grace: we must be alert to\nsee what help we want; we must be prompt to seek it. We must acknowledge\nHim, or He will not guide us. We must cast our care upon Him, or He will\nnot take it. Unless we are careful for nothing, because we have\ncommitted our cares to Him, we must be full of cares, harassed by them,\ntroubled, afflicted, distressed; or, being careless, we shall be deemed\nworthless, and left to drift upon shoals and into quicksands, and to sink\nin the gulf of destruction.\n\nDo I speak to those who are careful for many things? I do not mean those\nwho are concerning themselves about worldly schemes, who would increase\ntheir wealth, their power, or their pleasure, who, regarding earth as\ntheir home, and resolving to make the most of it, are laying themselves\nout for many days, proposing to pull down their barns and build greater,\nto make to themselves a name, who are intent upon what they shall eat and\ndrink, and wherewithal they shall be clothed, how they shall get their\nfull of pleasure, how they shall cull all the advantages, and avoid all\nthe disagreeables of life. As the minister of GOD, I have nothing to do\nwith these, further than to cry out upon their folly and their sin, and\nto warn them that unless they repent and relinquish their cares, they\nshall be consumed by them. But do I speak to those who setting before\nthem as the business of life, the service of GOD, as the end of life, the\nglory of heaven, are yet, by personal infirmity, by peculiar exigencies,\nand difficulties, and anxieties, by a frowning or fascinating world, by\nthe wiles of Satan or by any other means, so troubled, so distracted, so\ndrawn off from the pursuit of their object, and the entertaining of their\nhopes, that they find themselves carnal when they would be spiritual,\nstanding still when they would be moving on, clinging to earth when they\nwould be rising to heaven, waging war when they would be enjoying peace?\nDo I speak to those whose weak and carnal nature will not be enlisted in\nthe hearty pursuit of godliness; whose crying temporal wants distract,\nand deafen, and deaden the yearnings of their better nature; whose\noccupation in the world seems to contend, and too successfully, for the\nbest of their thoughts and aims, whose natural losses and deprivations\nsadden and absorb them, creating a void which they cannot fill, taking\naway a guide whom they used to look to, a support upon which they were\nwont to lean; whose patient labours in well-doing have failed of success;\nwhose good is evil spoken of; whose many cares to train aright the\nchildren whom GOD gave them, have been repaid by waywardness; whose\nconscientious well-doing has brought upon them what should rather be the\nreward of ungodliness; who, in short, have not found in religion what\nthey hoped for and honestly sought, and who cannot render to religion\nwhat they would? Do I speak to these? Well! I ask, Have you sought to\nget rid of care, by casting it upon the LORD? or have you rather asked\nhuman counsel, and leant upon human support, and hewn out for yourselves\ncisterns, and built for yourselves a refuge, instead of running into the\nrefuge of GOD? Have you animated yourselves only by the thought of\ndistant help, of future peace? Have you lost sight of the LORD at hand,\nthe GOD of Providence, knowing, causing or assenting to, and waiting to\nguide, as you ask or ask not, the circumstances which try you? Have you\nrealised that nothing happens but by His consent, and that His consent is\ngiven or withheld, not by what He sees of you, but by what He hears from\nyou? Do you pray\u2014not simply uttering certain words put into your mouths\nin Church formularies, or books of private devotion, not framing acts of\ngeneral adoration, of vague acknowledgments of dependence and prayer for\nblessings, but presenting yourselves, in the utterance of your own\nfeelings, as in all things the servants of His will, the dependents and\npetitioners of His grace? Do you supplicate? Is each ascertained want\nlaid before Him in all its detail? Is every hindrance, every difficulty,\nevery desire made known to Him as soon as perceived by yourselves? Is\nyour care cast upon Him? Is He besought to take it, to relieve you of\nit, to tell you what to do respecting it? Can you say of all that now\ntries you, that nothing is uncommunicated to Him, no relief, no guidance\nunsought? And do you in everything give thanks. Ah, here, brethren, is\nthe test! Here doubtless will many of you, who are clear hitherto, be\nobliged to plead guilty. You do not give thanks. You recognise GOD as\nHim from whom you may seek all. You do not sufficiently acknowledge what\nyou have received. Of many special gifts, of power to bear with many\ntrials, of guidance in various difficulties, of blessings continued and\ntroubles not made worse (an important item), you make no acknowledgment.\nYou know of many blessings for which you ought to be grateful: you may\nguess at many more, and besides there are many which you do not know, and\ncannot guess at, which yet doubtless have been poured out upon you, or at\nleast have not been taken away from you. What of these? What of\neverything good in itself, or capable of being made good? What of the\ntemptations, what of the afflicting providences of which you are the\nobjects? You do not think, perhaps, that these are things to be grateful\nfor: but, remember, the command is, \u201cIn everything with thanksgiving.\u201d\nYes, the prayer, without the thanksgiving, is not prayer. It is only\npart dependence. It asks, it does not acknowledge. It does not rejoice\nthat GOD is yet operating; that He is chastening if He is not rewarding;\nthat therefore, you are still the creatures of His providence, and may\nhope for blessing if you do not frustrate it.\n\nO mend all that is amiss, quicken all that is slow, revive all that is\nready to perish. The LORD is at hand. Cast all your care upon Him.\nTrust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not to your own\nunderstanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct\nyour paths. In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving\nlet your requests be made known to GOD. See Him by faith Who is\ninvisible to natural eye. Lean on Him Whom the arm of flesh cannot\ntouch. Speak to Him in all your circumstances of weal or woe, of trial\nor blessing. Pray to Him for what you want, and acknowledge all that you\nreceive, of whatever kind, and ask Him what use to make of it. So rid\nyourselves of your cares, and then\u2014I do not say that you shall be left\nwithout trials, for GOD does not promise that, rather does He lead us to\nexpect trials as the signs and pledges of His love, but I do say that He\nwill give you nothing, and leave you nothing, but what is good for your\npersonal happiness and your eternal interest, and that in every trial,\nwhether sent by Him, or allowed to be inflicted by the agents of evil, He\nwill give you support, and guidance, and ardent hope, and abundant\nconsolation; yea, He will bestow on you His peace which passeth\nunderstanding, and which, whatever your circumstances, shall assuredly\nkeep your hearts and minds through CHRIST JESUS, unto eternal salvation.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON II.\nJUDGMENT HERE AND HEREAFTER.\n\n\n MALACHI, II., 17.\n\n _Where is the God of Judgment_?\n\nTHE prophet had been complaining of the priests for neglecting to inform\nand correct the people, and of the people for disregarding GOD\u2019S\nteaching. Reasoning and remonstrating with them, and supposing them to\nattempt self-justification, he tells them at last that they have wearied\nthe LORD with their words\u2014by which he means their acted and thought words\nrather than what they spoke\u2014and in answer to the question, which he knows\nthey would put, \u201cWherein have we wearied Him?\u201d he says, By presuming\nlicentiously that GOD is indifferent alike to good and evil, and has no\nmoral likings or dislikings\u2014\u201cWhen ye say every one that doeth evil is\ngood in the sight of the LORD, and He delighteth in them,\u201d\u2014or, if it were\notherwise, that at least He does not act upon His feeling\u2014\u201cWhere is the\nGOD of Judgment?\u201d the manifestation of the discriminating, the rewarding,\nor punishing LORD. I do not propose to enlarge upon the text in its\nhistoric relation to the Jews, but, applying it to ourselves, to show,\nfirst, that the question, \u201cWhere is the GOD of Judgment?\u201d is one which we\nChristians often ask in perverse unbelief, or in sad infirmity; and,\nsecondly, that the question is one which in a better sense we should\noften ask (as we do not), in order to discern His operations, to become\nacquainted and impressed with the truth, that there is a judgment of all,\n_here_ and _hereafter_.\n\n\u201cWhere is the GOD of Judgment?\u201d I say that this question is often asked\nin perverse unbelief, or in sad infirmity. Practically, we too often\nignore the idea of judgment altogether. Our reason suggests to us, that\nif there is a moral governor of the world, then surely good will be\napproved by reward, and evil marked by punishment. The Bible plainly and\nmost positively assures us, that, as rational and responsible creatures\nof GOD\u2019S hand, we are subject to a judgment which His goodness, His\ntruth, His justice, His holiness, cannot omit to pass on our every act,\nand word, and thought; that as purchased servants of CHRIST, we are set a\ncertain work to do, with the express understanding that we shall be\nfaithfully dealt with according to our treatment of that work, and are\nput upon a probation whereof at the end CHRIST _must_ take account, for\nHe has been made LORD and Judge for that very end, and has received a\ncommission from the Father, which He may in no single instance depart\nfrom. Yea, more than that, it tells us that the immediate effect on us,\nof all our good and evil, is _itself_ a judgment, contributing to the\nformation of the character which shall adapt us, and so consign us, to\nheaven or to hell. I say reason and the Bible so instructs us; and yet\nwe practically ignore the judgment. Of course I do not mean that we\nstrike it out of our creed, that we do otherwise than assent to it in\ntheory, that we altogether forget it in practice, but that we do not make\nit the ruling principle of our lives\u2014the impelling or restraining\ninfluence of every thought and deed. Am I not right? Reflect, dear\nbrethren, how many wrong things you do or desire, with little hesitation,\nwith no compunction, with no fear of judgment! Reflect, too, how many\ngood things you pass over or forego, or will take no trouble to attain,\nthrough want of consideration of the reward that belongs to them, and\nwhich therefore you are losing! How ready are you to taste each cup of\npleasure, to be engrossed with the pursuits of this world, to withhold\nwhat you should part with, to do what is wrong, to omit what is enjoined,\nin forgetfulness of the fact that for all these things GOD will bring you\nunto judgment! How impatient, too, under trials, how slow in spiritual\nwork, how little interested in the love and attainment of godliness; as\nthough these things were all loss, and suffering, and uninviting toil; as\nthough there were no recompense of reward! Yes, there is something in\nthe best of us, and much in the most of us, of practical disregard of\njudgment. Of course we know (and are in a measure influenced by the\nknowledge) that by and by we shall stand before GOD, to be blessed or\ncursed\u2014that it is necessary, therefore, to secure a good hope of\nacceptance, and to make our peace with GOD through JESUS CHRIST, and that\nthis is to be done by keeping all the ordinances of religion, and obeying\nin spirit the whole moral code, and striving to love and serve the LORD\nnow; or at least by repenting of all that is amiss, and praying earnestly\nfor pardon and quickening of our faith, before we die. But still, it is\nnot a _judgment_ that we contemplate\u2014a real scrutiny of our life\u2019s\nways\u2014an actual weighing of us in the heavenly balance, that we may be\nrewarded or punished for those ways, and accepted or rejected according\nto our actual state. We are wont to consider GOD as an arbitrary Being,\nnot absolutely bound by any laws, or promises, or threats, but free to\ntreat us as He will, and disposed, for CHRIST\u2019S sake, to be favourable to\nus\u2014if we ask Him\u2014without any regard to what we have been doing, and what\nwe actually are. I am not sure that you will admit this. But, brethren,\nto help you to do so, consider how general is a vague trust to CHRIST\u2019S\nmerits\u2014and GOD\u2019S goodness on account of those merits\u2014to cover all\nexcesses and defects of duty, to accept any kind of character, as though\nthere were no rule of reward, and no necessary qualification for heaven!\nHow rare is the conviction, that while CHRIST\u2019S merits are indeed the\nonly ground of our acceptance, and GOD\u2019S mercy is exercised on account of\nthose merits, yet the merits and the mercy are applied to us on condition\nthat we do certain works, and attain to a certain character in the\nstrength of the Holy Spirit given to incline and enable us; that we are\nto be rewarded or punished, accepted or rejected, strictly according to\nthe terms of that condition, and that the inquiry into its observance, in\nthe scrutiny of our past lives and of our present state, in the\npronouncing of them such as they were appointed to be, or the opposite,\nand the bestowal of the reward or punishment, is a strict judgment, in\nthe passing of which the Judge has no room for arbitrary favour, no\noption, if I may so speak, to do otherwise than, in view of the evidence,\nto apply the fixed law\u2014life for those whom it approves, death for those\nwhom it condemns.\n\nOh! there is a GOD of Judgment, and to us Christians there is no other\nGOD. CHRIST is full of merits. GOD accepts those merits, and is full of\nmercy on account of them. We cannot magnify the merits too much, nor\nrejoice too much in the mercy; provided (but provided only) that we\nremember that they are applied by rule, and that we must observe the\nrule, and be sure that GOD will in no wise, and in no case, depart from\nit. Trust to CHRIST\u2019S merits; hope for GOD\u2019S mercy, but count most\nsurely on judgment, as you are most surely the objects of it.\n\nBut, secondly, fully believing that there is a GOD of Judgment, the\nquestions arise, Where is He? In what court does He sit? When does He\njudge? The common notion (and my remarks have hitherto fallen in with\nit) is, that He is only in a future world, and that He will not exercise\nHis office till the last day. The notion is founded on a truth. CHRIST\nsits on the throne of GOD now, to send down grace, to intercede with the\nFather, to rule the Church. At the last day, and not before, He will\nleave that throne, and come forth in His glorious majesty to judge the\nquick and the dead, and to dispose of them in their appointed eternal\nabodes. We have a work to do, and a day set us to do it in, and account\nwill not be taken of it, and the hire given us, till the day is over.\nThere is a character to be formed ere we can enter heaven, and space, and\nopportunity, and power, are vouchsafed us for forming it. Respecting\nthese, then, judgment tarrieth. And even when our individual time is\nover, when our work ceases, and our probation closes, there are others\nleft to work and fashion themselves for eternity; and GOD has appointed\nthat we, without them, shall not be made perfect. There is to be but one\nglorious descent from the throne, one general resurrection, one great\nassize, one gathering of the saints into the highest heaven, one opening,\nand then one shutting for ever of the lowest hell. When our day is over,\nwe must, probably, as others do, sleep a night in the grave, and then on\nthe morning of the Resurrection shall appear the GOD of Judgment. But\nsurely, after all, there must be an earlier judgment! When the body is\nlaid down, and begins its sleep, the soul does not lie down and sleep\nwith it. \u201cThe body returns to the dust,\u201d we are told, \u201cbut the spirit\ngoes back to GOD who gave it;\u201d and lest we should imagine that this is\nbut a figurative way of describing a suspension of the spirit\u2019s life, we\nare informed in many places not only that it continues greatly alive and\nawake, requiring a place of conscious abode, but that it is at once\ndisposed of by GOD, and in a manner which shows an immediate judgment of\nit. As soon as Lazarus died, he was carried to Abraham\u2019s bosom, and\nthere was comforted: as soon as Dives died, in hell (a place of misery of\nsome kind) he lift up his eyes, being in torments. \u201cThis day shalt thou\nbe with Me in Paradise,\u201d was the promise of Him, Who could not promise\nidly. To be absent from the body is, for the saint, to be present with\nthe LORD, and a vision showed St. John the souls of the martyrs living\nand pleading beneath the altar. What does all this teach us, but that\nthe GOD of Judgment meets us at the gate of death, and there and then\njudges and disposes of us? It is somewhat speculative to inquire what is\nthe nature of the judgment. It is beyond us to understand how an\nimmediate judgment is compatible with a future one. We know not whether\nGOD at first privately intimates what He will at last publicly pronounce;\nwhether this is the actual, that only the formal decision; whether the\nscrutiny is now made, or only rehearsed; whether the soul is actually\ntried, or only committed for trial, and in the mean time so dealt with by\nimmediate imprisonment, or liberation on pledge to appear, as to hint,\nrather than plainly declare what shall be its ultimate fate; whether it\nenters at once into a state of actual, though partial, experience of joy\nor misery, companying with GOD, with CHRIST, with holy angels, or with\nSatan and evil spirits; or whether it is left in an antechamber where it\nbut anticipates the future reward, and actually receives none of it. All\nthis is mystery. But certain we are, brethren, that death, is in some\nsense the time of judgment, and consequently that in some way, at the\nvery moment of departure from this life we are confronted with the GOD of\nJudgment. Oh, that we could feel this! What a precious time and talent\nit would make our life; what an awful antechamber of GOD\u2019S presence! How\nwe should be deterred from doing evil; how stirred to do good! How\nshould we be watching, staff in hand; how resolutely should we do our\nwork, how patiently should we suffer! Could we then be at home in the\nworld, prone to sinful pleasures, distracted or engrossed by worldly\ncares, indifferent to sin and holiness? No, it would be impossible!\nCould we be idle, if we knew that our work would so soon be scrutinised?\nCould we delay the cultivation of a grace necessary for heaven, if we\nknew that the time for acquiring it might so soon be over? Could we\nhazard the interests of eternity, if we knew that we were separated from\nthem, not by a wide and lasting world, not by many, many years of\nforgetfulness in the grave, but only by a thin veil, through which they\nmight even now be albut heard and seen, which the next moment might be\nrent in twain, which at the most, in a few short years, will be wholly\ntaken away! Oh! brethren, we can risk our eternal hopes when they seem\ndistant\u2014we dare not, we could not, if we felt them close! Behold, the\njudge is at the door! Watch, lest it open and reveal Him! Behold the\nmessenger is coming; be ready, for He may be sent to summon you to the\npresence of the GOD of Judgment!\n\nBut we have not yet the full answer to our text. GOD is everywhere. He\nfills heaven and earth with His presence. And He is the same everywhere,\nand at all times; the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; and so He is\nthe GOD of Judgment, exercising judgment even in this life. It cannot be\notherwise. It belongs to His very essence to love righteousness and hate\niniquity. When He wills, it is done; when He feels, He acts; what He\nhates, He shrinks from\u2014and if He shrinks, is it not judgment? What He\nloves, He clings to\u2014and is not His presence favour, and support, and\nblessing? Brethren, I have often exhorted you not to shut GOD out of\nthis present world as if He belonged only to the future. Live in the\nworld to Him. \u201cWherever we live, we live unto the LORD.\u201d Live in the\nworld by Him. \u201cThe LORD is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in\neverything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests\nbe made unto GOD.\u201d And live in the world, under Him: for \u201cThe eyes of\nthe LORD are over the righteous, and the face of the LORD is against them\nthat do evil.\u201d Yes, the GOD of Judgment is _here_. You know it was so\nin Old Testament times. The deed of righteousness then brought its\nimmediate reward; the deed of sin its punishment. Murmur or disregard\ndrove away the pillar of fire, repentance and prayer brought it back.\nYou think it otherwise now perhaps, but \u201cI am the LORD, I change not.\u201d\nThe children of Israel were carnal babes, GOD therefore showed Himself to\ntheir natural eye. _We_ are men in CHRIST, and the vision, therefore, is\nto our faith. It was with perishable toys that _they_ were pleased: He,\ntherefore, rewarded or punished them with temporal things. It is\ndifferently, _in a measure_, that He deals with us; but not altogether\ndifferently. It is a mistake to suppose that GOD\u2019S favour was always\ntestified to the Jews by prosperity, His displeasure by adversity. Think\nof Abraham, of Job, of Moses, of Joseph, of the ungodly in great\nprosperity, and you will see the mistake. Temporal circumstances were\nmore often, then, the tokens of spiritual, but the spiritual has always\nbeen the reality; and in comparison with it, the token, not always\nafforded, is immaterial. Oh! do not suppose that when the Man CHRIST\nJESUS came on earth as the messenger of grace, the GOD of Providence\ndeparted. More real and constant is His presence now, and more\ninvariable His action. In respect of our service of CHRIST and\ncandidateship for heaven, there is a sense in which He leaves us unjudged\ntill the end. But, in another sense, as He must, from His very nature,\nbe always judging, so are we Christians the special objects of His\njudgment. No winking at _our_ ignorance, no long-suffering with _our_\nsin. Enlightened and enabled, we are responsible, and immediately made\nto answer, for all that is wrong; and, specially endeared to Him, we are\nimmediately rewarded for all that He approves. And this judgment is\nvisible, if we will but look for it even in our temporal circumstances.\nI do not say that the righteous are always what the world calls\nprosperous, and the wicked always what the world calls unfortunate,\nthough that is not seldom the case, much more often than, in our rash\njudgment, we suppose; besides, any kinds of temporal circumstances may be\nmade, and often are made, the sources of temporal reward or punishment;\nbut temporal things are not the best or the worst that GOD can give.\nThey are chiefly used by Him as means; and could I describe to you the\nblessings which poverty and bereavement and disappointment and affliction\nhave produced, and the curses which have accompanied riches and success,\nand immunity from loss and trial, you would see what effectual means they\nare, and would readily exclaim, \u201c_Here_ is the GOD of Judgment!\u201d But\nthere is a better and a worse judgment. You know how GOD hardened\nPharaoh\u2019s heart, because it was not softened; how He made Saul\u2019s\nperversity his punishment; how He stiffened Jeroboam\u2019s arm that he could\nnot draw it in from the deed of sin; what a sinful security He brought\nupon David for transgression; how Abraham grew rich by forsaking his\nhome; how Job resigned much and therefore received more; how Joseph,\nfleeing from Potiphar\u2019s wife, was made to prosper in all he did. These\nthings are types of great realities\u2014specimens of constant judgments. GOD\nstands over every man to watch what he does, and as soon as it is done,\nHe judges and rewards it. Ah! let the wicked tremble at this, and let\nthe righteous rejoice at it. A harassed or a calmed conscience may or\nmay not be an accompaniment of the judgment, but a judgment there will\nsurely be. Do you want an illustration? Why, then, should the man who\ncommits a trivial sin to-day fall into a greater sin to-morrow? Why\nshould a little resistance qualify for a great one? You say it is\nnatural. If you mean by that that is _spiritual_, that it is the acting\ninfluence of GOD\u2019S providence, I agree with you; but not otherwise. Man\nis not his own destroyer, nor his own saviour. It no more follows\nnaturally that a man should fall into a great sin after a little one, or\nshould conquer a strong temptation after overcoming a weak one, than that\nhe should soil his garments or his flesh much to-day, because he soiled\nthem a little yesterday, or that he should float in a flood because he\nhas turned aside from a pool! It is a judgment that makes him sin again,\nand a judgment that enables him to resist again. In the one case, it is\nthe angry withdrawal of grace, and the giving up to a reprobate mind, and\nthe delivery to Satan; in the other it is the approving increase of\ngrace, and the sending of angels to keep off the fiends. _Where is the_\nGOD _of Judgment_! Where, brethren, is He not, and when not acting?\nThis world is the throne of judgment. Every moment is the trial time.\nEvery act, every word, every thought, brings down upon it, on the\ninstant, the sentence and the execution of the sentence! Think of this\nand act upon it. The eyes of the LORD are over the righteous. The face\nof the LORD is against them that do evil. Strive, then, each action to\napprove to His all-seeing eye. Know that it is always Advent; that the\nbooks are always open, and the judgment always set, and the sentence ever\nready, \u201cBlessed\u2014or Cursed,\u201d and angels and demons looking out and waiting\nfor the signal of approach. The Last Judgment is the climax of the Death\nJudgment, the Death Judgment of the Life Judgment. Gain GOD\u2019S approval\nhere, and keep it here, and you shall not lose it hereafter. Forfeit it\nhere, and obtain it not again here, and you can never have it. There is\nno condemnation for them that are in CHRIST JESUS. The rest are already\ncondemned; though the GOD of Judgment gives them yet the chance\u2014(oh! let\nthem not trifle with it!)\u2014that if they will appeal quickly, a fresh trial\nmay be granted; and if they have made CHRIST their Advocate, the former\nsentence shall be reversed, and they, too, shall be blessed!\n\n\n\n\nSERMON III.\nTHE WORLDLING REPROVED.\n\n\n ST. JAMES, IV., 13, 14, 15.\n\n _Go to now_, _ye that say_, _To-day or to-morrow we will go into such\n a city_, _and continue there a year_, _and buy and sell_, _and get\n gain_: _Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow_. _For what\n is your life_? _It is even a vapour_, _that appeareth for a little\n time_, _and then vanisheth away_. _For that ye ought to say_, _If\n the_ Lord _will_, _we shall live_, _and do this_, _or that_.\n\n\u201cGO TO.\u201d It is the language of rebuke, of remonstrance, and yet of\nexhortation. \u201cCome, come, what are you doing? cease from it, for it is\nwrong. Come, let us reason together, ye that are forming worldly\nschemes, and laying out plans and works for the future, counting not only\non _some_ continuance, but even on a definite time of your own marking\nout, \u2018We will continue there a year.\u2019 Come, I say, be wise; consider\nwhat your life is, how brief, how fleeting, how easily taken away\u2014how\nuncertain of continuance\u2014and rule and consecrate every part of it, every\nwork, every prospective thought, with the limitation, \u2018If the LORD\nwill.\u2019\u201d\n\nThus is the worldling reproved and exhorted\u2014the man who is so foolish as\nto reckon surely upon what he knows is very uncertain, who is so sinful\nas to forget the providence of GOD, or at least not to submit himself to\nit. And, further on he is plainly told that this reckless confidence is\nsin:\u2014\u201cTherefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him\nit is sin.\u201d\n\nObserve here, my brethren\u2014and you will thereby see how directly this text\nis addressed, not to very gross and carnal offenders, but even to such as\nourselves\u2014that the Apostle does not cry out against the going into the\ncity and proposing to buy and sell and get gain there, or even against\nthe fixing of a particular period of sojourn; but against the doing of\nall this _without reference and submission to_, _without dependence upon\nthe will and providence of_ GOD; without remembrance that there is no\ncertainty of life, and power, and opportunity. \u201cWhat is our life\u201d \u201cIf\nthe LORD will?\u201d\n\nGOD does not forbid, rather He requires us to engage in worldly\noccupations. He has sent us into the world in need of food and raiment,\nwhich the majority of us can only get by working for them, and has\nendowed us with faculties and powers which have their legitimate exercise\nin worldly pursuits. There can be no question that by GOD\u2019S appointment\nman is to labour and trade, or employ himself in some way in worldly\nthings, for sustenance and for exercise of many of his powers. And if\nthis is so, then neither can there be any question, that it must be\nlawful to think in some way of the morrow, to provide what we shall need\nin it, to consider and plan for our employment and gain in it. It would\nbe quite impossible to carry on many callings\u2014more especially those which\nhave distinctly the approval of GOD, as husbandry, for instance\u2014if we\nmight not forecast, anticipate, provide, propose, and plan. And if all\nthis may be done, then we may and must mark out particular works and\nplaces, and specific periods of time, wherein to perform what we propose.\nIf a husbandman may not think of the harvest, how shall he do the duties\nof the seed time? If the merchant may not fix on a mart nor make\narrangements for sojourning there till he has disposed of his goods, nor\ncount the number of days which the ship will require for transporting\nthem, then how shall he know what wares to purchase? how shall he\npersuade himself to have anything to do with merchandise? Surely, he\nmust take for granted\u2014or at least he must act as if he took for\ngranted\u2014some certainty of time and opportunity, and so he must in one\nsense presume upon the future. Still, brethren, the very illustrations I\nhave chosen tell against counting on actual certainty. The husbandman\nploughs in hope and sows in hope; but knows all the time that the fowls\nof the air may rob him of his crop, that the needful rain or sun may be\nwithholden from it, that the worm, and the mildew, and the blast may\ndestroy it. The merchant freights his vessel with full knowledge\u2014(not\nalways without fear)\u2014that fire or storm may cause it to be lost in the\nsea, or that if it reaches the place of sale, there may then be no demand\nfor it. Each is obliged to admit contingencies; to prepare and act as if\nall power and all time and circumstances were in his own hands, while he\nknows and feels that it is far otherwise; that much may be uncontrollably\nagainst him; that he may be disappointed of all his hope. Nor does he\nomit altogether to provide for the contingency. He asks, \u201cWhat if I\nshould be disappointed, if my plans should fail, if the time should be\nprolonged or shortened against my expectation? What is to be done with\nthe gain, if anything happens to me?\u201d So he insures his vessel, and\ngives directions whither to carry, or what to do with his merchandise if\naught should render it unsaleable at the proposed mart, and he makes his\nwill! Wisely he takes into account what he calls \u201cchance,\u201d and therefore\nsobers his expectations and rules his plans by the consideration of what\nmay happen to frustrate them! A like consideration\u2014not of \u201cchance,\u201d for\nhe does not believe in chance, but of the possible unexpected operations\nof GOD\u2019S providence\u2014is to sanctify the Christian\u2019s plans and\nappointments, and to prevent him from becoming a worldling. He may think\nand say, what he will do on the morrow; he may set out on a long journey,\nor propose to himself a week, a month\u2019s, a year\u2019s, a ten years\u2019 sojourn\nin some distant city; he may make ample and long preparations for buying\nand selling, and getting gain; he may pull down his barns (if they are\nnot large enough) and build greater; he may entertain some thoughts of\npossibly enjoying, after years of toil and care, an old age of ease and\nhappiness, and so may make provision for that happiness. He need not,\nand should not, be ever saying to himself, \u201cIt is of no use my\nundertaking this business, I may not live to carry it out.\u201d \u201cIf I were\nsure of life, I would remove this and alter that, but let it be now, it\nmust do for my poor uncertain days.\u201d (The world would stand still, if\nmen were to act, or refuse to act, upon such arguments as these,\narguments not suggested by God.) No, brethren, whatever your calling,\nfollow it honestly and heartily; whatever your possessions, use them, and\nuse them so as to get the most legitimate good out of them, and do not\ndespise the opportunities and the goods which GOD has given you. But\nconsider when you propose to yourselves anything which draws by\nanticipation on the future, consider, I say, \u201cWhat is my life? It is\neven a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away,\u201d\nand qualify your scheme by saying to yourselves, \u201cIf the LORD will, I\nshould live and do this or that.\u201d Yes! and provide, as far as you can,\n_lest the_ LORD _should not will_. And here, brethren, we have suggested\nto us another reason for admitting an \u201cif\u201d into our counsels, and for\nallowing it to have its say, and for heeding well what it suggests. The\nChristian is allowed, and even required to follow a worldly calling, but\nstill he has a higher calling, which he must not neglect, which he must\nmost regard. Life was not given him only that he might eat and drink,\nand take his pleasure, and grow rich, and build palaces, and be filled\nwith knowledge, and perfected in accomplishments. These are but the\nlower employments of life, or its intermittent pastimes. Its business is\nreligion\u2014the laying hold on salvation, and following the holy service to\nwhich we are bound, wherein we are apprentices and probationers for\neternal glory, and whereby we are allowed and enabled to lay up treasure\nin heaven\u2014the dedication of ourselves to CHRIST our Saviour, to live\nunder His rule, and by His grace; to set forth His glory in all we do; to\nbecome qualified by unlearning and renouncing what is amiss, and\nacquiring new tastes, and inclinations, and powers, and fashioning\nourselves after His glorious image for the state to which He will call us\nwhen this life is over. \u201cIf the LORD will I should live and do this or\nthat.\u201d How does such a suggestion break in upon and check the presuming\nworldliness of the called of GOD! \u201cHere am I,\u201d it makes him exclaim,\n\u201cactually laying myself out for the engrossing and long-continued pursuit\nof worldly ends. Yet GOD may cut short my life in the midst of it, and\nif He does, without giving me time to resume my higher calling, to repair\nwhat is out of order, to fill up what is wanting, to make my peace with\nHim, to become fit for death\u2014oh, to what in that case will my folly and\nmy sin bring me! How shall I stand before Him at His awful Advent? What\naccount shall I render of my neglected stewardship? What will justify my\npresumption in His delay? What excuse my want of the wedding garment?\nSurely He will deal with me as with one who knew his Master\u2019s will, yet\ndid it not; who refused the glory which he was created, and redeemed, and\nsanctified to render; who has preferred Mammon to GOD, earth to heaven;\nwho has contracted the worldliness from which GOD shrinks, and despised\nthe holiness which alone He will accept!\u201d It is an awakening, a\nsobering, a solemn suggestion. It reveals to him the anomaly, the folly,\nthe sin, the peril of his condition, whatever the kind of worldliness\nwhich engrosses him. He a servant of CHRIST, a votary of religion, a\nworker for eternity, an heir of glory, forgetting his calling, neglecting\nhis best hopes and interests, perverting his time and powers, and\nopportunities from their highest and most necessary use, to gratify self\nwith childish pleasures, to heap up gold, to make to himself a name among\nthe pigmies of the earth; to become admired or stared at for his\nappearance or accomplishments; to excel in knowledge of languages, or\nsciences, or history, or for any other earthly end; when not only what he\nseeks must soon be yielded up (even if he succeeds in getting it), but\nalso through the seeking he must neglect all that GOD requires of him,\nand forfeit all that GOD offers! Oh, how silly, how sinful, how awfully\nhazardous the course he is pursuing!\n\nWhat, then? Shall he abandon it all in terror? Shall he hate the world\nand flee from it? Shall he become a hermit, refusing to receive good,\nand to do good in his generation? Shall he give up his earthly calling,\nforegoing the temporal advantages which are held out to him; not\nexercising the powers which are entrusted to him; supposing that the GOD\nwho put him into this world, and qualified him to fill a place in it, and\nstimulated him by pressing necessities, or by indwelling desires to seek\nprofit or pleasure, nevertheless meant him to have nothing to do with the\nworld; that because presently he is to die, now he ought not to live; but\nto drag a sad, inactive, solitary, impatient existence. Surely not! His\nplace now is in the world, his work is in the world; he refuses GOD\nservice in not exercising his worldly calling; he gives up the means of\nprobation, and the opportunities of development and improvement in the\nhighest powers and best graces, and disqualifies himself for heaven, if\nhe fulfils not his destiny on earth. Let him abide in his calling; let\nhim discharge its obligations; let him pursue its advantages, and cull\nits pleasures, and perform all its bidding; but throughout all, let him\nremember, and act upon the remembrance that he is not a mere worldling;\nand to keep him from being absorbed in the world, or grovelling in its\npursuits, to quicken him in concern for higher responsibilities and\nprivileges, to impress upon him that all that is of the world is\ntemporary and fleeting, that the world is passing away from him, and he\nfrom it, let him reflect frequently and seriously, \u201cWhat is my life? It\nis even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth\naway;\u201d and so let him temper the lower life (and raise himself above it),\nby piously resolving that its present occupations, its plans and hopes\nshall all be subject to the condition, \u201cIf the LORD will I should live,\nand do this or that.\u201d\n\nThat we all want to be influenced by such thoughts is too evident to need\nproof. The very best of us are wont practically to regard this earth as\nour abiding home, or the only stage upon which we shall ever act a part,\nand earthly pursuits and pleasures as the only aims and rewards of our\nbeing. We may write \u201cD. V.,\u201d or say, \u201cIf the LORD will,\u201d after every\nengagement, every proposed scheme. We may make our wills and set our\nhouses in order, and purchase a burial place, and carry about a shroud,\nand yet forget that we have to die. Grey hairs, or enfeebled frames, and\nthe perceptible growth within us of the seeds of mortal disease, and sick\nbeds, and sudden deaths around us, may cause us momentary misgivings, may\nmake us perhaps permanently a little uneasy: but still we live on, as\nthough there were no end of life; we put off preparation for death, and\nfor another state after death, as though we could not die till we chose\nto do so. Not for want of knowledge, of constant testimonies and\nreminders of the contrary are we thus confident (for we all know that our\nlife is but a vapour which the heat may presently dispel, or the wind of\nthe next moment cause to vanish), but because we do not feel ourselves to\nbe so entirely in the hands of an Omnipotent and mysteriously exercised\nProvidence, as to need to be constantly depending upon it, and asking of\nit, \u201cIf the LORD will;\u201d and so presenting to ourselves, in all its force,\nthe consideration that perhaps \u201cThe LORD may _not_ will.\u201d I speak to\nmen, and women, and children, full of present occupations and future\nplans. I bid you consider your occupations and review your plans. Do\nyou imagine that the first may be at any moment interrupted, and the last\nnever begun to be carried out? Some of you are almost exclusively\npleasure seekers; others, careless creatures of the present; others\nintent upon business, or profit, upon obtaining power, or knowledge, or\nfame; either reaping a worldly harvest now, or sowing for a future\nworldly harvest. Others are divided in care and desire between this life\nand the next. Others are in theory, and in much practice, living above\nthis world, using it but not abusing it, in it but not of it. Put the\nquestion to yourselves, all and each of you. Do you feel your life to be\nsuch a vapour, that it is in momentary risk of vanishing away; that only\nif the LORD will, will it appear a little time; that possibly He may not\nwill? You would say, \u201cyes,\u201d doubtless, if you were forced to answer\naloud, as you sit in church, interrogated by the messenger of CHRIST out\nof the Bible, just as to a question out of the Church Catechism, you\nwould give an answer out of the Church Catechism. But do you _feel_\n\u201cyes\u201d? Is it your sure and strong conviction? Do your lives say \u201cyes\u201d?\nI shall not be unjust to you, if I say that I stand in doubt of many of\nyou; that, alas! I have no doubt of some; that your hearts do not thus\nrespond; that your lives give a manifest contradiction.\n\nBrethren, I am not here to accuse, but to admonish and help. Let me\nsuggest, then, why you fail to realise such a palpable truth. It is,\nfirst, because you have an idea that the Advent is far off; and,\nsecondly, because, as I have reminded you in so many ways lately, you\nshut GOD too much out of this present world. The first disciples, as you\nmay see from St. Paul\u2019s and St. Peter\u2019s Epistles, were filled with the\nconviction that the Advent was very near, that the next moment might\nreveal it. This did not take them out of the world, for they believed\nthat CHRIST would come to them in the world. Neither did it make them\nforsake their earthly calling, for they knew that it was in that calling\nthat they were to serve GOD, and to prepare for His coming. But it\ncaused them always to have regard to the end, and it sanctified every\npursuit and plan with the thought, \u201cThe LORD may come,\u201d and so constantly\nsuggested the proviso, \u201cIf the LORD will.\u201d We have no such conviction of\nCHRIST\u2019S nearness, and therefore have little reference to it, and are\nfaintly impressed with it. We argue, the Judgment has tarried so many\nyears, it may therefore tarry many more. Death has so long spared us, he\nwill not come to us yet. We shall have time to finish our present\noccupations, we can enter upon and execute many fresh plans. We need not\nraise a doubt, \u201cIf the LORD will.\u201d\n\nBut, secondly, we shut GOD out of this present world. We forget that He\nis ever with us; that He is constantly exercising His providence over us;\nthat He is not ignorant, or indifferent, much less distant, when we\npropose and proceed to execute; that it is by His exercised permission,\nby His actual letting us go in anger, that we fall into sin; by His\ninclining, and helping, and carrying us, that we think, and attempt, and\nperform what is good; that thus watching and caring for us, and\nsurrounding us, He is at once the Witness, the Judge, the Rewarder of our\nevery thought and way; that consequently, when He has tried us enough, or\nwhen we have long wearied Him, He is at hand to decide about us, and,\ndeciding, to execute the decision. His forbearance and interference, the\nlength of the probation, the numbers and kinds of trial, are different in\ndifferent cases. He knows what is right and sufficient for each, and He\napplies it, and then He says, \u201cIt is enough. Thy righteousness is as\nlength of days. Well done, good and faithful servant;\u201d or, \u201cIt is of no\nuse that thou shouldst be stricken any more. Thou wilt revolt more and\nmore. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. Depart from\nme!\u201d And in either case the vapour is dispelled\u2014it vanisheth away.\n\nO for the full perception and realisation of this truth; that we are in\nthe hands of a watching, proving, waiting, judging, visiting GOD. It\nwould be hard then to do or propose anything, without immediately adding,\n\u201cIf the LORD will.\u201d\n\nTwo concluding thoughts suggest themselves.\n\nFirst, that life is of such different duration in different cases,\nbecause we have individual capabilities and responsibilities, and some by\nmany trials and length of days are proved, others quickly and easily made\nperfect, or wholly hardened; and because a discerning, ruling GOD is ever\nat hand to close the trial at the fit moment.\n\nSecondly, that we are individually kept uncertain of the duration of our\nlife, to counteract the sad proneness which belongs to us, of putting off\neternal interests, and following our own ways to the uttermost; to give\nto every moment, and every act of life, such vital importance, that we\nmay fear to squander or pervert it; to keep us ever mindful of our latter\nend, and always intent upon doing the LORD\u2019S work, and preparing\nourselves for heaven; that the GOD at hand may never be slighted, and the\nworld be always so loosely held, that we may easily and readily let go of\nit whenever the LORD will.\n\n\u201cGo to now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city,\nand continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye\nknow not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even\na vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For\nthat ye ought to say, If the LORD will, we shall live, and do this, or\nthat.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nSERMON IV.\nTHE UNKNOWN GOD.\n\n\n ACTS, XVII., 22, 23.\n\n _Ye men of Athens_, _I perceive that in all things ye are too\n superstitious_. _For as I passed by_, _and beheld your devotions_,\n _I found an altar with this inscription_, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. _Whom\n therefore ye ignorantly worship_, _Him declare I unto you_.\n\nTHE city of Athens was wholly given to idolatry. It was crowded with\naltars, dedicated to the supposed superior deities, to deified men, to\nabstract virtues, Love, Truth, Mercy, and the like. Whatever new god was\ndescribed and recommended to them was immediately recognised, and\nthenceforth worshipped; and, besides, the Athenians\u2019 love of something\nnew, led them to search out for and invent gods for themselves. Hence it\ncame to pass, that there were more idols in that one city than in all the\nrest of Greece: so that Satirist did not much exaggerate when he said\nthat in Athens you might more easily find a god than a man. It belongs\nnot to our present purpose to consider how this arose; to contemplate the\nstrange coexistence of so much superstition and so much cultivation of\nintellect, or to strive to enter into the feelings which animated Paul,\nwhen his spirit was stirred within him at the sight of the city wholly\ngiven to idolatry. We pass on to the time when the Apostle stood on\nMars\u2019s hill, in sight of many heathen altars, surrounded by Epicureans\nand Stoics and disciples of many other schools of philosophy, some\nstriving to silence him, others intent upon hearing something new from\nhim\u2014to meet the contentious gainsayings of the one, to enlist the\ncuriosity of the other; to make use of their various dispositions, of all\nthat he saw and heard, in promoting the glory of GOD, and, if it might\nbe, in leading them to salvation.\n\nIt must be borne in mind that some of these news-seeking Athenians\ninconsistently enough contended with him, because he taught what was\nnovel; while others, on that very account, were favourable to him, hoping\nthat he would set forth some strange gods\u2014some additional objects of\nworship to whom they might erect altars. \u201cYe men of Athens,\u201d he said, \u201cI\nperceive from actual observation that you, more than other people, have\ngreat regard for religion.\u201d This is the right meaning of the words\ntranslated: \u201cIn all things ye are too superstitious.\u201d It is not likely\nthat the Apostle would have commenced a speech intended to conciliate and\nenlighten them, with words that would at once affront them, and make them\ndeaf to all else he had to say. Besides, it is clear from what follows,\nthat he is not directly calling upon them to abandon what was false, but\nto understand and accept rightly a truth which they held in ignorance.\n\u201cI say nothing to you now upon the many gods whom you worship _by name_,\nbut, pointing to an altar inscribed to the Unknown GOD (it was probably\nin sight) I answer those who contend with me for speaking about the\nunknown, and gratify those who want to hear something new, by taking that\naltar as my text, and preaching to you about \u2018the Unknown GOD\u2019\u2014about no\nnew god, for He is already the object of your worship; but still about\none of whom much that is new to you may be said. Give ear to me, ye that\nare so full of reverence for the gods, while I describe to you an object\nindeed of your present reverence, but one of whose nature and operations\nand demands upon you, you know nothing.\u201d\n\nRespecting the existence of such an altar, we are told that the Athenians\nthrough the very excess of their idolatry (which led them to look for\ngods in every place and circumstance, and to ascribe every event, good or\nill, to the influence of some deity) had on more than one occasion, when\nan unusually severe pestilence had visited them, which they could not\nconnect with any of their known gods, conjectured that it must be the\ndoing of some god whom they did not propitiate with sacrifices, and,\nfailing to find out who it was, and yet fearing to neglect his worship,\nhad caused altars _without names_ to be erected, and offerings to be made\nto the nameless being; and that in course of time these altars came to be\ndescribed, and to bear a corresponding inscription, as severally the\naltars of an \u201cunknown god.\u201d There is no reason to suppose that they\nmeant to exalt that god above the others, that they had any clearly\ndefined ideas of the general operations of one unknown Being, much less\nthat they meant under that title to worship the GOD of the Jews; but with\na kind of natural instinct, a very vague feeling that something beyond\nand above what they knew, existed, they had stumbled, as it were, in the\ndark, upon a real truth, which was now to be revealed to them. \u201cWhom\ntherefore ye ignorantly worship\u2014Whom you are right in worshipping, but of\nWhose proper worship you know nothing, Him declare I, and reveal unto\nyou.\u201d You know how St. Paul went on, meeting without mentioning the\nerrors of the various sects of philosophers, that there was indeed a GOD\nwho made the world, and all things therein; that He was not a mere idol\nof wood and stone (\u201cdwelling not in temples made with hands\u201d), that He\nhad no such passions, and no such needs as they ascribed to Jove and Mars\nand their deified men (\u201cNeither is worshipped with men\u2019s hands as though\nHe needed anything\u201d), that He was not a sentiment\u2014an ideal thing\u2014a being\nbound by fate\u2014an indifferent spectator of men\u2019s ways. \u201cHe giveth to all\nlife and breath and all things.\u201d \u201cIn Him we live and move and have our\nbeing.\u201d \u201cHe hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in\nrighteousness by the man whom He hath chosen;\u201d to whom He has borne such\nsignal testimony in raising Him from the dead; in whose name, and at\nwhose command, I come to tell you of the resurrection from the dead, and\nto call you out of the ignorance which GOD will no longer wink at, and to\nurge upon you repentance and preparation for judgment. So he spoke of\nthe unknown GOD. Some mocked, and refused to understand; some were in\ndoubt and difficulty, and wished to hear more; others began to know Him\nwho had hitherto been unknown, and clave unto the Apostle, and believed.\nAnd shortly after Paul departed from Athens, never, as far as we know, to\nvisit again!\n\nIt would be interesting to consider the strange rise and spread of\nignorance which in course of time made the GOD, Who had been seen and\nheard and walked with in Eden, and had never left Himself without\nwitness, wholly unknown to the creatures of His hand, and the objects of\nHis providential care; to contemplate the idolatry of ignorant heathen\nman, not seeing GOD in all His works, not able to find Him even when\nlooking for Him and desiring to worship Him, believing in every god but\nthe true One, sometimes even offering sacrifices to devils; to discuss,\ntoo, how it is the world by wisdom knows not, and never has known GOD,\nthat intellect cannot search Him out, that intellect has even blinded\nmany to whom the unknown GOD was plainly exhibited; to ask how much of\nthis is natural, how much unnatural, how much judicial\u2014the punishment of\npride, the reward of loving darkness rather than light, because of evil\ndeeds. But interesting as would be the consideration of \u201cGOD unknown in\nthe world,\u201d there is a more important theme suggested by the text for us\nto dwell on, namely, \u201cGOD unknown in the Church.\u201d \u201cThere standeth one\namong you Whom ye know not.\u201d Let me speak to you on this, brethren.\n\nWhatever may be the state and disposition of the people whom the\nclergyman has to deal with in his various daily ministrations and his\nintercourse with the world, once a week, at least, he addresses an\nassembly in some sense given to religion. As he stands in the pulpit on\nthe Lord\u2019s Day he may adopt almost the words of St. Paul on the\nAreopagus: \u201cI perceive that you (and such as you) are more than the rest\nof mankind GOD-fearing, taking an interest in religion, listening to its\nteaching, partaking of its ordinances, supplicating, praising, serving\nGOD.\u201d\n\nIt may, indeed, occasionally be that some present themselves to see if\nthere is anything in the church for them to object to, or ridicule; that\nothers have come in conformity to the fashion, to hear something new, to\nsee and be seen; to make a show of respectability, to wile away an idle\ntime; and that many others, though proposing to themselves the observance\nof a religious duty, are so formal, so listless, so unreal, that it\ncannot be said of them that they are \u201cgiven to religion.\u201d Nevertheless,\nI repeat that the clergyman, as he stands in the pulpit, has before him\nthe best, _i.e._, the most religious of mankind; not mockers, and\nrevilers, and persecutors; not gainsayers, and despisers, and forgetters;\nbut real worshippers\u2014more or less reverential and earnest, more or less\nenlightened\u2014of the true GOD. But has he not in these same persons (as\nSt. Paul had in the Athenians) many worshippers of an unknown GOD? May\nhe not venture to say to almost all, \u201cWhom ye ignorantly worship, Him\ndeclare I unto you.\u201d Christian worshippers, my brethren, often have many\nidols, who share almost equally with GOD their interest and affections\nand service. They have, many of them, their \u201cism,\u201d their Paul, their\nCephas, or Apollos, their favourite dogma, their preferences and\nprejudices for some particular rites, and ceremonies, and modes of\nworship. In church, and out of church, their religion consists largely\nin giving heed to these things: GOD is in their thoughts, but not in all\ntheir thoughts, or not the chief, the engrossing object of their\nthoughts; He is one of many objects. You find this out if you listen to\ntheir remarks after service. \u201cSuch a chant went well or badly; the\npreacher\u2019s manner was pleasing, or the contrary; his language very\nornate, or very bald; the theme one they like, or one they do not like;\nthe rubric strictly observed, or strangely disregarded;\u201d and so on. Of\ncourse, as all these things are means to an end, and as the end is\ngained, or not gained, by their suitableness, or the opposite, it is\nlawful and right to give them some consideration: but I put it to you,\nbrethren, whether they are not too often regarded as themselves the end;\nas though, provided they were satisfactory, there was nothing more\nwanting; as though they were rightly as much the objects of interest as\nthe GOD in Whose service they are used, or, rather, as though regarding\nthem were regarding GOD!\n\nO brethren, we are too attentive to the system\u2014too regardless of the\nCentre! We want to know\u2014(to feel, I mean, for the Christian\u2019s knowledge\nis of the heart)\u2014that GOD is above all\u2014that where other objects have\nanything like an equal share of attention, where they hide Him from us in\nHis pure essence and direct influence, there He is ignorantly\nworshipped\u2014that He is a Spirit, not a chant, a voice, a figure of speech,\na rubric, a turning east or west. Through these we may reach Him; many\nof them are steps and accessories to worship; but if in these we rest,\nthen we set them up as idols, side by side with Him, and prove that to us\nHe is but as the unknown god of the Athenians.\n\nSee, dear brethren, I beseech you, if aught of this old error clings to\nyou, and pray GOD to clear you from it, and resolve henceforth to strive\nto keep clear. Treat means as means\u2014value them; be glad that they are\nbecomingly afforded you, and rejoice if they help you; but do not let the\nbest of them beguile you, nor the worst of them hinder you, from finding\nand worshipping GOD Himself; from going away filled with thoughts of Him.\n\u201cI prayed to GOD; I praised Him; I held communion with Him; I heard the\nthings of GOD from His messenger, and have now to go and live by what I\nhave done, and received, and heard.\u201d These are the thoughts to take away\nfrom church with you, and to prove to you that you wisely worship the\nknown GOD.\n\nI have dwelt much on this part of the subject, because of the general\nforgetfulness of it; a forgetfulness which prevents many from rendering\nacceptable service to GOD, and from obtaining the full help and comfort\nwhich religion affords to all who rightly use it.\n\nBut there are many other kinds of ignorant worship. It is possible to\ncast down all idols, and worship GOD alone, and yet err. The so-called\nspiritualist does this: the man who supposes that addressing himself\ndirectly to GOD, is sufficient, without the use of appointed forms and\nordinances; who attaches no importance to baptism and holy communion; who\nthinks that no grace accompanies their use, or that he can have the grace\nwithout the sign; who says that praying at home is a good substitute for\ncongregational worship; who boasts that he can read a sermon for himself,\nand a better one than he can hear in church; or that the Bible is\nsufficiently clear to him without an interpreter.\n\nSuch an one ignorantly worships an unknown GOD. He dictates, instead of\nobeying; he chooses, instead of submitting to what is appointed for him;\nhe puts reason in the place of faith; he refuses to walk in GOD\u2019S way of\nsalvation; he disputes the Divine wisdom in requiring him to be baptised,\nand to partake of the Cup and Bread of Blessing; in warning not to\nforsake the assembling of ourselves together; in asking, \u201cHow shall they\nhear without a preacher?\u201d in appointing a standing ministry; he rebels\nagainst GOD, when he disregards these ordinances; he makes GOD a liar\nwhen he presumes to deem them unnecessary. Oh, he has great need that\nthe GOD whom he ignorantly worships, should be plainly declared unto him!\n\nAgain, that man ignorantly worships GOD, who substitutes the forms for\nthe life of religion; who supposes that a sanctuary service atones for\nall want of service elsewhere; who prays in church, but not in his\ncloset; who hears the Bible read or expounded, but does not search it\ndiligently for himself; who receives sacraments, but does not foster, and\nuse, and develop the sacramental grace, which is entrusted to him as an\nawful talent to be increased and accounted for; who balances the religion\nof Sunday against the worldliness of the whole week; who every seventh\nday eases his conscience of its sin, by sighing out the general\nconfession, and forthwith takes to himself the comfort of the declaration\nof forgiveness, and then goes back to his old transgressions and\nomissions, till the holy day comes round again. Of course whoever does\nthis, or any part of it deliberately, is grossly, culpably ignorant of\nthe GOD whom he professes to worship; but it is not of such that I speak\nnow. I have in mind professing Christians, persons who busy themselves\nabout religion, who are regular in their attendance on means of grace,\nwho never wilfully desecrate the LORD\u2019S day, who knowing that unpardoned\nsin separates from GOD, and that without grace, life is unblessed, are\nanxious for pardon and grace, and frequently seek them in GOD\u2019S appointed\nways; but yet, forget, are not impressed with the danger of a relapse,\nand the sin of non-improvement, and so somehow or other, fall into a\nroutine of formal religion on Sunday, which is not in their thoughts,\nexcept as a matter that belongs to next Sunday all through the week.\nThis is to worship ignorantly an unknown GOD\u2014a GOD Who does not accept\nintermittent worship, Who bestows pardon only on repentance and amendment\nof life, Who gives grace for use, Whose sacraments are meals to sustain\nlife and strengthen for service, Whose Sabbath is a holy rest to refresh\nfor holy work, in Whom we live, and move, and have our being, Whose glory\nis to be our constant aim, His presence our perpetual joy. But these,\nand many other ignorances\u2014such as the disregard of particular attributes,\nthe picturing for oneself what GOD ought to be like, and so varying the\npicture according to the fancy of him who draws it, instead of searching\nhow, and what manner of GOD He has declared Himself to be, and what\nworship is appointed, and therefore acceptable\u2014these, I say, are the\nfaults of individuals, or of certain classes only. Let me now speak of\nan ignorance, a respect in which GOD is more or less unknown, which\nconcerns us all. And here, dear brethren, my object is not to censure,\nto blame you for what you have not, but pointing out to you the GOD whom\nScripture reveals, to help you to correct what is amiss, to fill up what\nis wanting in your conceptions of GOD, and so to attain to the\nblessedness of knowing Him fully, and to discharge the duty of\nworshipping Him in spirit and in truth.\n\nObserve St. Paul, while acknowledging the religious reverence of the\nAthenians, evidently deals with them as men who understood not the\ntruths, the objects, the blessings of religion; as those who when they\nhad built their altars, and celebrated their holy days, and offered their\nsacrifices, thought they had fulfilled all that religion required of\nthem, and who expected to get nothing by their religion, but exemption\nfrom certain grievous pestilences, or help perhaps in war\u2014mere occasional\nmiraculous manifestations of dreadful power\u2014who had no conceptions of\nsanctifying influence, of moral responsibility, of rewards of\nrighteousness. To them he declares GOD to be, One not far from them, One\nwhom they might find, in Whom they then lived and moved, and had their\nbeing, Who henceforth would not wink at any ignorance, Who was at present\ntreating them, and regarding them with a view to a coming judgment. Now\nwe are better (thank GOD, who maketh us to differ!) than these Athenians;\nbut still we want somewhat of the heart-knowledge which Paul would have\nimpressed on them. We want to be more fully convinced that religion is\nnot a pastime, but a business; that not only duty, but interest,\nmomentous interest, is involved in it, especially that it is not a mere\nconcern and preparation and provision for the future, but a present\nsubstantial reality; that GOD is not the object of distant worship; that\nHis wrath and His mercy are, not rarely, but constantly, being exercised\nhere; that He is not a departed LORD, Who has set us to do His work\nagainst His return, and will take no account of us till some far off day;\nthat He has not left us unrewarded, unpunished, unhelped in the present,\nnot caring what we are, what we do, what we suffer, so as when He comes\nback, we have either done what He appointed, or have assumed the position\nof penitents for offence, and supplicants of compassion.\n\nIs it not matter of experience that we are not sufficiently influenced by\nthe hopes and fears of religion, that we do not adequately reverence GOD,\nor seek Him, and rest on Him, because we suppose that He is afar off, and\nthat all that we have to expect from Him, will only begin to be realised\nin the next world? GOD, as a present GOD, is too much unknown to us. We\ndo not feel that He is now about us; that His eye is watching us, and His\narm upraised over each of us at every moment of our lives; that He is a\nguest actually in us, to be honoured and waited on now. We do not know\nof His present closeness, of His immediate rewards and punishments, His\npleasure or displeasure, His instant succour, or instant withdrawal from\nus, according to what He sees in us. We do all, and bear all in distant\nexpectation, and therefore we do negligently, and bear feebly and\nimpatiently. Could we realise the perpetual working, the instant\nretribution, the very touching of GOD now, it would be easy to regard and\nserve Him, it would be all but impossible to neglect Him. No man could\nprefer dross to gold, misery to bliss, death to life, if they were both\noffered him at the same moment. No one could hesitate whom to obey, whom\nto trust, whom to fear, whom to love, if GOD were seen on the one side,\nand fellow man on the other. It is because GOD, and the things of GOD,\nare supposed to be far off, that we first prefer the other, and then\npractically regard it as that which alone has real existence.\n\nWell, then, this is what we have to mend. I have been urging the mending\non these Sundays in Advent, in striving to show you that there is a GOD\npresent to superintend, and provide, and care for you in this life, and\nin every event and moment of this life; that there is an actual and\nimmediate judgment of every deed, good and evil, and that there is a\npresent business of religion, and a direct service of GOD to be now\nattended to. It is not head-knowledge that you want, but\nheart-perception, and realisation. You want to feel what you must know\n(because the Bible has told you that GOD is a GOD at hand, and not a GOD\nafar off); that godliness has the promise of the life that now is, as\nwell as of that which is to come; that the irreligious is condemned\nalready. No expectation, no delay, no vision. All fulfilled, immediate,\nand substantially real. You fancy, perhaps, that it cannot be so. You\nurge that it is contrary to your experience; you have served GOD, and not\nbeen rewarded; you have trusted in Him, and not been supported; you have\nsinned against Him, and not been punished. Brethren, believe me, you\nhave not. \u201cExperience\u201d means that which has been ascertained by trial.\nMake trial, and all will be proved. Devote yourselves now to GOD, follow\nHim, give up for Him to-day, and you shall be rewarded to-day. Sin\nagainst Him to-day, and you shall be punished to-day. Invoke His aid\nto-day, and you shall surely have it. Do not prescribe your own mode of\nvisitation. Be sure that He will use His, and watch for it, and seek to\nknow it, and then you will have an experience to quote. I only repeat to\nyou what He has said. When you know Him, you will find that He is true.\nThen wait on Him, acquaint yourselves with Him, serve Him in the present,\nand look for Him in the present, and you will find Him in the present.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON V.\nFAITH AND ITS BLESSEDNESS.\n\n\n ST. JOHN, XX., 29.\n\n _Thomas_, _because thou hast seen me_, _thou hast believed_: _blessed\n are they that have not seen_, _and yet have believed_.\n\nDOES our LORD mean to say that there was no blessedness in the sight\nwhich he then presented?\u2014that it was not a precious privilege actually to\nsee Him, to hear Him, to be perceptibly with Him? Would He, too,\nwithdraw and reverse the blessing He had formerly pronounced\u2014\u201cBlessed are\nthe eyes which see the things that ye see\u201d? Would He tell us that the\nkings and prophets, who saw the promises only afar off, who fancied and\nconjectured, and died in hope, were more blessed than the hearers of the\nSermon of the Mount, the spectators of the Transfiguration, the\ncompanions of that three years\u2019 ministry, the guests at Emmaus, the\ndisciple that reclined on His bosom? No, surely! The blessedness of the\nApostles, in certainly seeing, and being with CHRIST in the flesh, is, in\nits peace and joy, a blessedness which stands pre-eminent and alone, and\nmust do till again He is seen in Heaven. But peace and joy are not the\ngreatest blessings. That which calms, that which gladdens, is nothing in\ncomparison with that which sanctifies and elevates; and there is a\nblessedness which does this; and which, therefore, is greater. It is the\nblessedness which faith produces. \u201cBlessed (_i.e._, more blessed) are\nthey that have not seen, and yet have believed.\u201d Belief, faith\u2014what is\nit? It may be described as the assent of the understanding, to that\nwhich is not proved to any of our senses, but which appears credible\nbecause of the testimony given to it. We all have this faith, in human\naffairs. We all of us accept as true\u2014are convinced of their truth, and\nact upon the conviction\u2014things which are not proved to us, but are\nsupported by reliable statement. If you serve for wages, or sell goods\non credit, or become surety for another, or go out to seek a new home in\na distant land, you do it in faith. You cannot see into the heart, and\nbe sure of the honesty of your employer, your customer, your friend; but\nwhat appears, from what you are told by others of him, you rely on him.\nAnd so again, you do not actually know that there is such a land as you\npropose to seek, but you believe it, because of all that travellers have\nsaid of it, of the goods you have seen, the letters you have read, which\nare stated to have come from it. Of course, as the testimony varies in\nits credibility, this faith is of different degrees. You have such faith\nin your well-tried friend, in his integrity and his wisdom, that you\nknow, you say, that he will not deceive you, and that he cannot be\ndeceived himself. Others, of whom you know less, you believe more\nslowly. Some, you think, are not qualified to give testimony; they have\nthe thing second-hand, or they were not competent to judge of what they\nsaw, and heard, and felt; or they are not truthful, and may wilfully\nmisrepresent: and even, in the best cases, faith is sometimes misplaced.\nTherefore, your faith in human things, has always, perhaps (and should\nhave) a trace of doubt in it\u2014sometimes is weak, sometimes fails\naltogether. It would be wrong and injurious to have equal faith in all;\nbut, on the other hand, to be always doubting, to refuse to believe\nwithout seeing, would be misery, and folly, and mockery of self. Divine\nfaith is different: the accepting (that is) of what is recommended to us\nby the testimony of GOD, by well-proved miracles, by prophecies since\nfulfilled, by any other of GOD\u2019S witnesses. This is perfect. It admits\nof no doubts and qualifications. It is as sure of what it believes, as\nif it handled, and heard, and saw it: yea, surer, for its own judgment\nmight be deceived; but GOD knows all things and judges rightly, and GOD\ncannot deceive. Therefore, when GOD reveals, we may not question the\nplausibility of what is shown; we have no room for doubt as to His\nopportunities of knowing, His truthfulness in communicating what is\nnarrated. All we may do, is to ask\u2014Has GOD spoken, are these things His\ntestimony? And this we ought to do; for there is no blessing pronounced\nby the text on the credulous, who take everything as from GOD, without\nexamination. Thomas surely would have erred, if, simply because some one\ntold him of CHRIST\u2019S resurrection, he had straightway believed it. We\nare exhorted not to believe every spirit, but to try the spirits whether\nthey be of GOD. We have to examine miracles, to see whether they are\nreal or pretended, and prophecies, to see that they were not written\nafter the professed fulfilments, and all revelations, lest they should be\nspurious. Failing to do this, we might have followed Theudas, who came\nto nought, or Joan of Arc: we might become Mohammedans or Mormonites. We\nhave to guard against this; not to be credulous; to be sure that it is\nGOD that speaks: but then, being sure, whatever He describes, however\nincomprehensible or improbable, whatever He commands, no matter how\napparently unreasonable, whatever He promises, against experience,\nagainst opinion, against hope, to accept all, and rely on all, and lead\nthe life of reliance. Yes, brethren, this is the believing which alone\nis blessed; the believing which leads to doing. Faith is the evidence by\nwhich we see things naturally unseen; it is the substance, the very\nhandled reality, of things naturally only hoped for; and which, by its\nrevelations of beauty and bliss, by its sanctions and persuasions, and by\nall that it shows us of the present, and promises or threatens in the\nfuture, makes us fly to GOD, and cling to Him, and depend on Him, and\nlive for Him, and look for Him. Less than this\u2014mere assent of the\nunderstanding, without heart-embracing, and life-demonstrating, and\nexercising\u2014is not the belief that is blessed. Faith without works is\ndead, being alone. If then, brethren, you would be partakers of the\nblessedness promised in the text, you must have fully received, and be\nacting upon the form of religion which GOD has given you. You must have\nimplicit trust in Him for help and support and peace and blessing. You\nmust know that whatever He has described is real, whatever He has\npromised or threatened will surely be fulfilled, on the conditions He has\nlaid down; and you must testify and act upon your knowledge by a\ncorresponding life. I do not say that all this is demanded of you in\nperfection; that the hope of blessing is gone, if you fail of aught of\nit: but I do say that, if in anything you distrust GOD, if you question\nor demand further proof of, or are indifferent to anything He has\nrevealed, and deliberately do not live by it, then you cannot claim the\nbenediction of the text.\n\nBut it occurs to you to ask, perhaps, how it is that GOD selects\nbelieving, rather than seeing, on any other way of reception for special\nblessing.\n\nNow, it is not necessary that GOD should account to us for what He does\nor wills. Creatures of His hand, we are made for Him; dependents on His\nbounty, we must thankfully receive it in any way and form of bestowal.\nBut still there are reasons which may be briefly suggested for the\nselection of faith.\n\nFirst, then, faith embodies the entire trustful devotion to GOD, which,\nabove any assent to what is proved, any following of what is seen or\nheard, magnifies the honour of GOD, and so sets forth His glory. It owns\nHis truth, His providence, His love, and prompts to a free-will,\nspiritual, glorifying service of Him. Secondly, unless there are to be\nperpetual miracles, faith alone can be permanently and universally\ninfluential. If we are to be guided by sight, or hearing, or touching,\nthen the revelations to one generation would have to be repeated to each\nfollowing generation, and those of one country performed again in every\nother. Thus CHRIST would have had to continue on earth, to have visited\nevery land, and been crucified and raised from the dead in every land, or\nto have gathered all nations into Judea to witness what was done; and\nthis would have had to be repeated over and over again to our fathers, to\nus, to our children, or else some would have been without the necessary\ninfluence to serve, and love, and depend on Him. And more than this,\nsince the sights we see and the sounds we hear, are soon over, and leave\nbut a faint remembrance behind, we should be imperfectly influenced by\nthem, when CHRIST ceased to speak; or when He passed into another place\nwe should be without our object of worship, our instructor or hope. And\neven if these objections can be met, still the perpetuity of CHRIST\u2019S\nvisible presence, the beholding of His miracles, and hearing of His\nwords, would necessarily put a stop to all worldly occupations; would\nmake probation little more than a name; would constrain men by natural\ninfluences to a carnal or slavish adherence to Him, or would drive them\ninto reckless rebellion, and instant and irrevocable condemnation.\n\nBut again, faith is more blessed because it has greater\nprivileges\u2014because it reveals more clearly, brings nearer, than any sense\ncould do. If you only hear a loved one, do you not desire to see him?\nIf you see him, are you not unblessed unless you embrace him? And then,\nis there not an influence, a way of communicating, that surpasses this\u2014a\npurer, a more spiritual influence, one which brings you together, and\nkeeps you together, and makes you one\u2014love, which surpasses, which is\nindependent of, or only uses as accessories, the bodily senses? We are\ntoo apt, brethren, to talk of seeing as believing; to count sense above\nfeeling; to exalt what belongs to the body, above what belongs to the\nmind or spirit. Doubtless, the error arises from the way in which we\nspeak of faith giving way to sight in heaven, as though the eyes of the\nbody only, and not the mind and spirit, were to behold CHRIST then; as\nthough mental and spiritual perception were not better than bodily; as\nthough there were no assurance that faith is an abiding gift, and that,\ntherefore, while in heaven there will be much to gratify the eye of the\nbody, there will still be much more which faith alone can realise. My\nbrethren, the greatest eternal blessedness will be vouchsafed to faith,\nand the greatest blessedness of this state belongs to faith, because it\nis the exercise of man\u2019s noblest and best, and most reliable faculties,\nfar superior in excellence, far more certain in ascertaining the truth,\nthan ears, or eyes, or hands.\n\nOnce more, faith is blessed above seeing, because it grasps a set of\ntruths, and enjoys a class of pleasures which are different from those of\nthe senses, and which the senses cannot touch. GOD the Father invisible\nfor ever, GOD the Holy Ghost, blowing like the wind where it listeth, so\nthat you cannot see whence it cometh and whither it goes, ministering\nangels, spiritual influences, and consolations, and helps\u2014what can ear,\nor eye, or hand know of these? But faith knows them, hears them, sees\nthem, handles them, and joys in them. And this, brethren, exhibits the\nnature of faith\u2019s blessedness; that to it is revealed the whole spiritual\nworld; that the evidence which it needs, the object of its worship, its\nSaviour, its LORD, its hopes and fears, and encouragements and promises\nare never absent, and never missed, (but by its own dimness or voluntary\nblindness) whatever may become of the outward signs and boding presences.\nPicture to yourselves, brethren, the scene of that chamber where the\nraised CHRIST stood manifest, in the posture of blessing, before His\nadoring disciples. Imagine what Thomas had before felt, and what he now\nfelt. Then hear CHRIST say\u2014\u201cThe bliss of this moment might have been\nyours before, if you had sought to attain it by faith, and not by sight;\nand what you now see may be yours for ever, for in spirit I shall ever be\nwith you, and by faith you may ever behold Me! Blessed are they that\nhave not seen, and yet have believed\u201d; and that blessing, brethren, was\nfor us, if we will have it. If we believe, then we are thus blessed. If\nwe are not blessed, we may be. O let us lay hold on this truth, let us\ncultivate faith, let us pray to GOD for an increase of it, and let us\nperpetually exercise it in beholding Him Who is ever with us, to pardon\nour faithless sins, to restore us to His company, to breathe upon us\npeace and blessing.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON VI.\nFAULTLESSNESS BEFORE GOD.\n(INNOCENTS\u2019 DAY.)\n\n\n REVELATION, XIV., 5.\n\n _They are without fault before the throne of_ GOD.\n\nJOB declares that GOD puts no trust in His saints; that He charges His\nangels with folly; that in His sight the very heavens are not clean.\nThis language is, of course, figurative, and not to be taken literally;\nbut it well describes to us the transcendent holiness of GOD, and His\nutter abhorrence of all evil. In comparison of Him, heaven itself is not\npure, and angels, endued with wisdom, swift and constant to obey,\ndelighting in His will, even these are not perfect\u2014fall far short of\nperfection before Him. Job would show us the distance between GOD and\nman. St. John, however, in the chapter of my text, would exhibit another\ntruth, not contradictory, but rather supplementary to Job\u2019s, namely, the\nnearness, through grace, of man to GOD. The Apostle is describing, for\nthe comfort and encouragement of the tried and persecuted, a vision which\nhe had seen of some of those who have passed away from this world, and,\nas a kind of first-fruits, are already with GOD and the Lamb; and he\nsays, that \u201cin their mouth is found no guile; for they are without fault\nbefore the throne of GOD.\u201d\n\n\u201cWithout fault,\u201d means here, without spot or blemish; not only free from\nactual transgression, but wholly untainted by corruption of sin\u2014not\nwanting in anything that belongs to the perfect character of the approved\nof GOD.\n\nThat man in his natural state is altogether faulty, that even in his\nredeemed, and spiritualised, and sanctified state, while here on earth,\nhe has still many faults, are truths so plainly taught, so proved to our\nreason and experience, that it would be idle to enforce them. How, then,\ncan he ever stand faultless before the throne of GOD? Now some would\nanswer, that for CHRIST\u2019S sake GOD overlooks, that CHRIST, by His merits,\nhides man\u2019s faults; and so that the redeemed in heaven are not really\nfaultless, but that for CHRIST\u2019S sake faultlessness is reckoned, imputed\nto them. This is what may be called the popular answer to our question.\nBut, brethren, how utterly wrong it is seen to be, when we consider that,\nin order to exalt GOD\u2019S mercy and His wisdom in contriving justification,\nit sacrifices His truth and His holiness. GOD cannot call the faulty\nfaultless. He Who is Truth cannot enter with His Holy Son (Who is also\nTruth) into a plan of deceit, by which, to Himself, to them, to angels,\nto the whole universe, sin shall be presented as holiness. GOD may agree\nnot to reckon with men for their sins, to forget the past, on certain\nconditions to deal with the faulty as if they were actually faultless;\nbut He cannot\u2014I say it advisedly, it is beyond the limits of His power,\nas regulated by His truth\u2014He cannot call evil good. And, brethren,\nbesides, even if it were possible that by some strange agreement with the\nSon, sinful man should be passed off as holy, still his sin, while it\nremained, hide it, disguise it, call it by what name you will, must\nseparate from GOD. Charity might forbear to punish it, or to make\nmention of it. Charity might even gild it over; but Holiness deals not\nwith the name, but with the reality; and holiness must shrink from sin\nand thrust it away. This ought to be the most readily perceived and\nadmitted of all Scripture truths, that GOD cannot tolerate near iniquity;\nthat\u2014if I may venture reverently to use such words\u2014even if GOD were\nwilling to receive to Himself an unchanged sinner, the actual reception\nwould be morally impossible; the same heaven could not contain holiness\nand sin! No, brethren, if the sinner is to enter heaven, it must be, not\nbecause his name is changed, but his nature; he must be actually without\nfault before GOD. We see this to have been the case with those described\nin the text: for it is expressly said, \u201cIn their mouth was found no\nguile.\u201d Observe, it is not, GOD mercifully overlooked their guile for\nthe sake of His dear Son, the Guileless One; He charitably called them\nguileless; but \u201cin their mouth was found (the testimony of truth to the\nsearching of holiness) no guile: yea, for they are altogether blameless,\nwithout spot or blemish.\u201d It is an actual, not an imputed faultlessness\nthat is thus described. Now, how is it to be attained by sinful men?\nAnd here comes in a second answer of popular theology. At or after\ndeath, CHRIST meets the departed, and by His resurrection-power quickens\nthat which was dead, purifies that which was corrupt, spiritualises,\nsanctifies, and, as by a miracle, converts the sinner into a perfect\nsaint. This is an answer only second in popularity to the one we have\nbeen considering. Those who urge it, believe that man is naturally\ndepraved, that, under grace, he retains much, almost all, his old nature,\nthat he is very faulty in deed, in will and affections. They know that\nhe must be faultless to gain accession to heaven and dwell with GOD and\nthe Lamb, and this faultlessness they hope for and pray for; but there is\nno effort to acquire it; there is no concern for the absence, the\ncontinued absence of it; it is regarded as altogether a thing of the\nfuture; the free and perfect gift\u2014perfect at once\u2014to the released soul\nand the raised body. Men who hold this view, are often better than their\ncreed requires them to be. In love of GOD and devotion to Him, they\nstrive to abandon sin and cultivate holiness; but they have no definite\nobject in view of becoming faultless here, in order to be faultless in\nheaven. They seem to believe that they cannot get any nearer to\nfaultlessness whatever they do, and that those who have made no efforts,\nay, have even led ungodly lives, and, but for a few last sighs and\nejaculations, would have died ungodly deaths, are just as qualified, just\nas fit in many cases, just as sure recipients of instantly converting and\nperfecting grace in the next world!\n\nBut if this is so, why have we such solemn warnings, to the effect that\nas the tree falls, so shall it lie? \u201cHe that is righteous, then, shall\nbe righteous still. He that is filthy then, shall be filthy still.\u201d Why\nis it that in the representations which we have of the Judgment, men are\nalways dealt with according to what they were in life, \u201cInasmuch as ye\ndid it,\u201d \u201cInasmuch as ye did it not\u201d? Why is the pound taken away from\nhim that did not seek to increase it, and given to him who had gained ten\npounds, and the commentary subjoined, \u201cUnto every one which hath shall be\ngiven, and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away\nfrom him\u201d? Why is the boaster of his privileges\u2014\u201cIn Thy name have I cast\nout devils\u201d\u2014instantly dismissed with the words, \u201cDepart from me, I never\nknew you\u201d? Why are they reproved who called CHRIST LORD, LORD, but did\nnot the things which He said? What did St. Peter mean when he exhorted\n\u201cSave yourselves;\u201d and Paul, \u201cWork out your own salvation with fear and\ntrembling;\u201d \u201cLet him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall;\u201d\nand CHRIST Himself, \u201cBehold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to\ngive to every man according as his work shall be;\u201d \u201cBlessed are they that\ndo His commandments that they may have right to the tree of life, and may\nenter in through the gates into the city\u201d? Surely all this, as with a\nvoice from heaven, calls on us to put away the delusion, that mortal life\nis not a probation, that man has not a fitness to acquire in this life,\nin order that he may be faultless in heaven. The answer of truth,\nbrethren, to the question, \u201cHow can man be faultless in heaven?\u201d is,\nbriefly, By praying, and striving, through the blessing of GOD, the grace\nof the Spirit of CHRIST, and his own self-denial, and diligence, and\ncultivated holiness, to become less and less faulty here. After all, he\nwill never, on this side of the grave, be without spot or blemish, and\nperfect in holiness. Whatever CHRIST may do for him here, he will still\nhave much to be purged away, much to be quickened, much to be glorified.\nBut, be sure, there must be a seed-time here and a growing here, if there\nis to be a harvest hereafter. There must be a service, if there is to be\na reward; we must be faithful in a little, before we are made rulers over\nmuch; there must be a fitness, a partial, a main fitness acquired here,\nor no admission there to the inheritance of the Saints in light.\nCHRIST\u2019S work in us hereafter is not a transforming, but a completing, a\nfinishing, a perfecting work. \u201cTo him that hath\u201d\u2014that is, that has made\nuse of and improved what he hath\u2014\u201cto him more shall be given,\u201d and he\nshall abound. He who has traced in his soul and life the outline of the\nfeatures of the blessed JESUS, shall have the likeness filled up and\nfinished by the Divine artist, and be wholly conformed to His image. He\nwho has kept down the flesh, shall have the power of the flesh destroyed\nin him. He who has sought after holiness, shall be made perfect. A\ngreat change; much taken away, much added, but not a transformation. A\ngreat work, which can only be done then, and only by CHRIST; but which\nwill fail to be done then if materials are not provided for it now; if\nthe foundation has not been laid, and the walls have not been raised, and\nall made ready for the roof of GOD\u2019S adding, and the capping of the tower\nof glory. Yes; this is the qualification, without which you cannot be\nreceived, but, having it, cannot be refused. Labour and pray to be\nfaultless here, and CHRIST shall at the end perfect your faultlessness,\nand shall present you faultless before the presence of His glory with\nexceeding joy. But the text seems to speak not of those who had washed\naway defilements, had secured pardon of offences, had repaired faults and\nmade up deficiencies, in short, had been sinners, but, under the\noperation of the spirit of CHRIST, were become saints; but of those who\nnever had been faulty, spotted, or blemished \u201cThese are they which were\nnot defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they which\nfollow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.\u201d Of course, there must have been\nthe spot and blemish of original sin; but, apart from this\u2014which CHRIST\u2019S\napplied purifying power and all-sufficient merits would entirely\nremove\u2014there seems to have been in the lives of these persons no actual\nsin, no omission of righteousness. Now, as there is no man that liveth\nand sinneth not, it has been conjectured that the vision here exhibits\nthose who were taken away to GOD in their infancy, before they had the\npower or the will to do good or evil, and who, therefore, as far as\nactual deeds and feelings are concerned, not by work, or grace, or\nconviction, but absolutely and from the first were faultless: and\nprobably the selection of the description as the Gospel for this day, the\nfestival of the Holy Innocents, has gone far to confirm this conjecture.\nBut, brethren, this surely is not the meaning, at least the full meaning,\nof the words. They describe freedom from defilement and following of the\nLamb as things that might have been otherwise. They hold up for the\nexample and encouragement of those who were tempted to lust, and to\ndepart from following the living LORD, the praise and happiness of those\nwho are without fault in these respects; and therefore they suggest to\nus, I think, as the most profitable and foremost thought, the\nblessedness, the superior blessedness of those who never have contracted\nsin, nor failed in holiness.\n\nMen sometimes seem to fancy that the most glorious character in heaven,\nthe object of GOD\u2019S fondest love, will be the once deep-stained and\nwholly defiled, that have been washed in CHRIST\u2019S blood till they are\nbecome whiter than snow, the reckless, and rebellious, and blaspheming,\nwho have been subdued and converted; and that in comparison of these, the\nmainly regular righteous life will almost pass unnoticed. It is easy to\naccount for the supposition. We read, without due consideration, of her\nthat sinned much, and was forgiven much, and therefore loved much; of the\nreturned prodigal rejoiced over more than the son who had remained at\nhome; of the joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over\nninety-nine just persons who need no repentance; of publicans and harlots\ngoing into the kingdom of heaven before priests and scribes. We forget\nthat these things were said to men who were not really righteous, but\nself-sufficient; that they were an accommodation to their own kind of\nreasoning; that they were the justification of special works and\nfeelings, and peculiar demonstrations. Surely we are not to understand\nby them anything more than that sinners were _at times_ more in CHRIST\u2019S\nthoughts than saints; that on the recovery of one lost sheep, the joy\nover that one caused the rest for the moment to be put out of\nremembrance. Surely we are not to understand that GOD has less love for,\nand shows less favour to those who have uniformly served and honoured\nHim, than to those whose life has been one of contempt and rebellion, who\nhave refused to accept Him till they had made trial of all else; that\nGOD\u2019S power and glory are more magnified in the ultimate conversion of\nsuch a sinner, than in the steady control and improvement of a life-long\nsaint; that in themselves the reformed drunkards and defiled are better\nthan those who were always sober and pure; that their memories are more\nblissful, and their themes of praise more satisfactory; that they are\neven equal in favour, in bliss, in manifested honour to those who were\nundefiled and consistently obedient, whom Holy Scripture distinguishes on\nthis very account, of whom it relates, that they sing a song which no\nother can learn, signifying that they have a peculiar privilege and a\npeculiar joy! Brethren, be sure it is not so. GOD is abundantly\ngracious to all who call upon Him, late as well as early. No one,\nwhatever his past life, shall be refused who comes to Him through CHRIST.\nIn his late righteousness all his former sins shall be forgiven and\nforgotten; they shall not once be mentioned unto him. He shall have too,\nthe joy of the righteous, and shall dwell with GOD in heaven; but still\nHe Who makes one star to differ from another in glory, Who bestows\ndifferent measures of reward upon different capacities, and different\nattainments, has a special interest and a superior blessedness for those\nwho have never been stained, who have always stayed in their father\u2019s\nhouse, and have obeyed His will and loved His voice. In themselves they\nare dearer to Him, as more like JESUS; and for them, He has seats closer\nto the throne of CHRIST, and offices of honour near His person.\n\nIf this is so, if \u201cfaultlessness,\u201d in the sense of never blotted, never\nimperfect, is the state that is most blessed, then, brethren, we might\nperhaps be tempted to envy the fate of those whom we commemorate to-day,\nwho suffered so early for CHRIST\u2019S sake, and as soon almost as they were\nborn, were put to death. We might judge, too, that the little ones whom\nGOD so frequently takes away so soon after lending them, are summoned to\na higher blessedness than we can ever know; and therefore that not only\nwould it have been gain to die in infancy, but that it is positive loss\nto live to years of discretion and responsibility. Let us not err\nherein. We believe that the dear innocents, whose first consciousness is\nof bliss in heaven, whose reason begins to develop, and their will to\nexercise itself, only when sin is impossible, are not only unspeakably\nblessed, but that GOD specially loves them, and folds them to His bosom\n(as we did here), because of that innocence: no guile, no defilement\u2014all\nsimplicity and trust. Thankful then in their sober moments are all\nbereaved parents who are assured of their departed little ones\u2019 eternal\nsafety, and are spared the fears and anxieties, the heartrending\nrealisation of self-will developed, and the world\u2019s evil example\nfollowed, and the devil triumphant. The LORD gave, and the LORD hath\ntaken away; and, in that He has taken away, from the evil to come, Oh!\nblessed be the name of the LORD.\n\nBut, brethren, it is only because we fear for the future, that we\nthankfully accept such a present. Could we be sure that our little ones\nwould remain faultless, that they would not abuse the world, nor fall\ninto great error or misery, that they would grow in grace, and in the\nfear of the LORD, and at length surely attain to glory; then, not from\nselfishness, but for their sakes, we should covet length of days for\nthem. And rightly, for there is a better faultlessness, and a\ncorrespondingly higher blessedness than that of infants, who were allowed\nno opportunity (and possessed no power) to contract fault: it is the\nfaultlessness of those who shrink from the allowed opportunity, who\nrestrain the possessed power, and overcome the persuading will, who pass\nthrough the fire without the smell of it being left on their garments,\nwho make manifest by a life of self-denials, and resistances to\ntemptations, and patience and perseverance in well-doing, their\nintelligent deliberate love of GOD, and hatred of evil. These are the\ntried, the eagerly accepted, the specially loved. These do the LORD\u2019S\nwork, and set forth the LORD\u2019S glory. These shall indeed be welcomed\nwith a \u201cWell-done good and faithful servant,\u201d for them shall be reserved\nthe best seats on the right hand of GOD; and they shall joy in GOD, and\nGOD in them, with a peculiar joy, for they are likest unto CHRIST, Whose\nspotlessness was preserved among so many defilements, Who with heart, and\nmind, and life, consistently, unceasingly served GOD, and Who therefore\nis highly exalted, and has a name which is above all other names.\n\nOh it is no mean privilege, brethren, which you forego, when you leave\nthe ranks of the faultless, when you shrink from duty, or yield to sinful\npleasure, or contract any stain of ungodliness. Say not, \u201cIt is only for\nonce.\u201d It will surely be for more than once; but if it were not, still\nfrom being faultless that _once_ makes you blotted and blemished. Say\nnot, \u201cI can repent by and by, and GOD of His mercy will accept me, and I\nshall be myself again.\u201d You may not live to repent. Sin may disincline,\nthe Spirit provoked may leave you; but even if you do repent\u2014though GOD\nwill undoubtedly forgive, and in a sense restore you\u2014remember, you can\nnever be as you were before. You may be cleansed, but not as at first\nclean; admitted to heaven, but not to the band of the one hundred and\nforty-four thousand of undefiled; joined to the glorious choir of the\nredeemed, but not allowed, not able to sing the peculiar song of the\nfaultless.\n\n\u201cBut what,\u201d some would say, \u201cis the use of this preaching? We are all\nalready faulty; we can none of us have a place among these choice first\nfruits of GOD\u2019S harvest.\u201d Brethren, faultlessness, pure faultlessness,\nis no longer ours; but comparative faultlessness (and Bible\nfaultlessness, after all, is only comparative freedom from wilful sin)\nmay, and, I trust, does pertain to many of us; and for each degree of\nnearness to faultlessness, if I understand the Bible aright, there is its\npeculiar reward. I would put you on your guard against losing that\nreward, by sinking to a lower level. I would urge you to hold fast what\nyou have, to subdue yourselves, to resist the world and the devil, to be\never on the watch against danger, and to flee speedily from temptation,\nif it is too strong to fight against, to seek strength and sanctification\nin means of grace, to pray constantly (and strive constantly to make good\nyour prayer), that CHRIST would keep you from falling, and finally\npresent you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding\njoy.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON VII.\nPAST MERCIES REVIEWED.\n(NEW YEAR\u2019S EVE.)\n\n\n GENESIS, XXXII., 10.\n\n _I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies_, _and of all the\n truth_, _which thou hast showed unto Thy servant_; _for with my staff\n I passed over this Jordan_; _and now I am become two bands_.\n\nTHESE are Jacob\u2019s words. They form part of the prayer which he offered\nto GOD, when, on his return from Haran, he found that Esau was coming out\nagainst him with four hundred men.\n\nMingled feelings must have possessed Jacob at this time; strange\nremembrances must have been his! Twenty years ago he had passed over\nthat Jordan\u2014near which he now stood\u2014in flight from an enraged brother,\nmeditating and preparing vengeance for an act of fraudulent injury. What\na weary pilgrimage he had since followed; what sorrows, what desolations\nhad possessed his aching heart; how he had toiled and suffered wrong;\neven now was fleeing from it! Yet, those twenty years gone, he was\ncoming back, not to the prospect of peace and happiness, not to the hope\nthat his brother had forgotten his vengeance, or that he would easily be\nreconciled to him; but to face a mindful, aggravated avenger,\nstrengthened by four hundred followers. Surely he had fled and been in\nexile to no purpose! Surely, by deferring it, he had increased his\ntrouble! It must have been that Jacob now acutely remembered the cause\nof Esau\u2019s anger; that he meditated on the mean advantage that he had\ntaken, the base fraud to which he had been a party, the lying, the\nprofanity of his lips, the evil deeds which led to evil consequences.\nAh! now he felt that man cannot sin with impunity, that transgression and\npunishment are bound together as cause and effect, that vengeance, though\nit tarry, though it slumber, though we run from it, and hide from it\nmany, many days, will yet accomplish its purpose, will surely repay!\nYes; and did he not feel that vengeance had even followed him; that he\nhad been its victim all those twenty years; that the frauds of Laban,\nfrom first to last, and the strifes and dissensions of his own household\nwere the fruits of his deceit; that GOD had allowed them, that in a way\nHe had caused them in retaliation, in punishment of his sin! What an\nexperience to him, what a proof to us, my brethren, that sin will surely\nfind us out!\n\nBut Jacob must have had other and different thoughts\u2014thoughts which\npreponderated. As he called to mind his first passage over Jordan, did\nnot he remember the wonderful vision that was vouchsafed him of angels\ndescending to earth, ascending to heaven, in token of Divine providence,\nof the intercourse between man and GOD? Did he not remember the Voice\nwhich promised to be with him, to keep him in all places whither he went,\nto bring him again to this land, to give it to him and to his seed after\nhim? Did he not look along those twenty years, and remember that GOD had\nbeen with him, and that, by His command, he was now coming back; and did\nhe not hope, yes, even against hope, that GOD would be with him in the\ncoming struggle, that He would crown His mercy and goodness with a\npresent success, and with the establishment of himself and his seed in\nthe promised land? And one other remembrance surely he had. He\nremembered the vow which in the fresh reverence of GOD\u2019S presence, in\nglad and grateful acceptance of His promises, he had solemnly made, \u201cThe\nLORD shall be my GOD;\u201d and he must have remembered how often he had\nforgotten that vow, how generally he had slightly regarded it. These I\nsuppose to have been the feelings and remembrances which filled the\nbreast of Jacob, when he uttered the prayer in which our text occurs.\nObserve how that prayer exhibits the right ordering of these feelings,\nmaking prominent, putting uppermost thoughts and acknowledgments of GOD\u2019S\ngoodness; and, in the moment of greatest peril, pausing to review\nmercies, and to give thanks! There is no bitter lamentation of his hard\nlot throughout those years of promised blessing; there is no pleading\nwith GOD, that if he had sinned he had surely been punished enough; there\nis no mention of the merits of his contrite heart and amended life; there\nis no angry feeling against Esau, no supplication that GOD would smite\nand confound him. It is a godly, a model prayer. Betaking himself to\nGOD in the hour of danger, as his only confidence and help, he humbly\nurges no personal claim, but\u2014that he is in the place of GOD\u2019S commanding.\n\u201c\u2018Thou LORD that saidst unto me Return unto thy country and unto thy\nkindred,\u2019 I did not recklessly run into danger, I did not voluntarily\ngratify the natural yearning of my poor heart. Thou broughtest me here,\nO LORD protect me here;\u201d and then having put forth himself, though but\nsuch a little way, and coming to consider GOD, Who had shown him such\nwondrous goodness, Who had fulfilled for him so truthfully all His\npromises, he exclaims, \u201cI am not worthy of the least of all the mercies,\nand of all the truth which thou hast showed unto Thy servant: for with my\nstaff\u2014as a solitary, poor individual\u2014I passed over this Jordan, and now I\nam become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee.\u201d\n\nThis seems to me, brethren, a fit theme for a sermon on New Year\u2019s Eve.\nJacob, come back from Haran to Jordan, where he had made a covenant with\nGOD, may well typify our return to-night to the sanctuary of GOD, whence\nwe went forth refreshed and pledged last New Year\u2019s Eve. Jacob\u2019s\nreflections\u2014he is the pattern of a mediator\u2014may well provoke us to ask of\nthe days that are past, to remember all the way which the LORD our GOD\nhas led us. Jacob\u2019s prayer shows us how to speak to GOD, what we should\nfeel in His presence on such an occasion as this, how to propitiate Him,\nand to secure His defence and blessing in what lies before us.\n\nI will not attempt, brethren, to picture the circumstances through which\nyou have passed in the year which is now all but ended; many of them I\ncould only guess at, many of them, to me, would be unimaginable. Recall\nthem for yourselves and meditate on them. They will teach you much, and\ninfluence you much. I will address you simply as those who have made a\nhalt in the journey of life, and who want now GOD\u2019S blessing in the known\nand unknown dangers, anxieties, sufferings, and labours that lie before\nyou in the coming year.\n\nWell: let your requests be made known unto GOD with prayer; above\nall\u2014yes! I mean it\u2014_above all_, with thanksgiving.\n\nBut, first, before you approach GOD, to speak to Him, to ask of Him, to\nthank Him, be sure that you can say to Him, \u201cI am in the way of Thy\ncommandments.\u201d If at this moment you are contentedly different from what\nyou know He would have you to be; if you indulge, or do not resolutely\nrenounce any besetting sin; if you deliberately neglect any positive\nduty; if in will and affections, and aims, you are worldly and selfish,\nand do not seek to be otherwise; if you are planning anything, or hoping\nfor anything which GOD does not approve; if you are shrinking from,\ndesiring to avoid, what He appoints; if you have not made up your minds\nto try to be holy, to walk in the way of righteousness; then, brethren,\nyou are disqualified to pray to GOD. He hears not such. He has made no\npromises to them: they are not His. Go fashion yourselves (He will\nmercifully give you grace to do it) into the character that He loves; get\nyou into the paths that He has marked out; turn your face towards the\nHoly Land, and then come to tell Him of your felt unworthiness, to speak\nHis praise, to intreat Him to be with you, to defend and prosper you; and\nbe sure you shall be welcomed and blessed.\n\nBut, supposing you not disqualified to come, supposing you bent on\ncoming, consider now your right posture and deportment before GOD. Ask\nnothing of right, ask all out of felt unworthiness, and that, not simply\nthe unworthiness of the stranger, and alien, who want mercies which they\nhave never known, and speak to a GOD that has not hitherto been their\nGOD, as the publican cried, \u201cGOD be merciful to me a sinner;\u201d but such an\nunworthiness as belonged to the prodigal, such as he felt and groaned\nunder, when, reflecting on all the love and blessedness which he had\nexperienced in his father\u2019s house, and had despised, and sinned against,\nand seeing the Father coming towards him, ready to pardon, ready to\nembrace, ready to lead him home again, he was humbled to the very dust\nbefore Him, on account of his goodness, and declared himself unworthy to\nbe called His son. Oh, my brethren, if you do not feel unworthy, when\nyou approach the all-good and all-holy GOD, and if the feeling is not one\nenlightened by, and full of the remembrances of blessings already\nreceived, you are unfit to ask for further blessings. Not to have used\nGOD\u2019S blessings is great indignity; not to be thankful for them is base\ningratitude; but not to feel, that whether used or not used, appreciated\nor not appreciated, they are many and undeserved\u2014this is to deny that you\never received them, or, claiming them as a right, to defy GOD to withhold\nthem! Cultivate then, I pray you, this feeling of unworthiness; and,\nthat you may do so the more readily, review the mercies, the promises\nmade true which you have received; and tell out their number, their kind,\nand their magnitude to the GOD Who gave them, and would have them\nacknowledged. \u201cWith my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am\nbecome two bands.\u201d Now the argument of these words is, \u201cI do not come to\nThee, professing that I am a fit person to be helped, but I claim Thee as\na GOD who are wont to help such as I am. I am not worthy of the least of\nThy mercies: but yet Thou hast shown me marvellous mercies. I possess\nnow the evidences and pledges of Thy goodness. Therefore I pray for, I\nhumbly count on further blessing, not because I am a holy man, but\nbecause Thou art a good GOD, and My good GOD.\u201d It is an argument which\nprevails with GOD. He is pleased to see that we recognise His former\ngifts, that we make _them_\u2014and not ourselves, our love of Him, our\nobedience, our prayers, and fastings, and study of His Word, and use of\nHis grace\u2014the ground of application. He likes that His consistent\nfaithfulness should be invoked; that since He has made a beginning, just\non that very account, He should be looked to (so as it be humbly), to\ncontinue His work, and to accomplish it. When you go to GOD to ask for\nfresh blessings, you cannot take with you better and more effectual words\nthan those which make mention of, which exhibit as promises and pledges,\nwhat you have already received.\n\nBut these words are not simply an argument for further help; they are,\nbesides, a free acknowledgment, a pure praise of what has been given.\nThey may be the plea of a beseeching heart, but they are besides the\ntribute of a grateful heart; and it is in this sense, brethren, that I\nspecially wish you to adopt them to-night, and to make them a\nthanksgiving to GOD for past mercies reviewed. \u201cWith my staff I passed\nover this Jordan, and now I am become two bands.\u201d Jacob might have found\nmercies enough to enlist his gratitude in any one year, or circumstance\nof his exile and pilgrimage, and doubtless he reviewed each and all\nparticularly; but in his speech he comprehended all in a general mention\nof them, and summed them up, and demonstrated them by pointing to their\neffect. \u201cNow I am become two bands.\u201d Review your past mercies, consider\nhow GOD has been with you at all times, and has ever been doing you good.\nCall to mind what progress you have been able to make spiritual or\ntemporal; what success has attended you; what friends have been given\nyou; what dangers you have narrowly escaped; what sicknesses recovered\nfrom; what wounds been healed, what troubles overcome, what tears\nstaunched. Have they not caused you, like Jacob, to increase from the\nsolitariness and poverty of that passing over Jordan, to the riches and\nprosperity of the two bands? Perhaps you say, you cannot trace such\nprogress; you are much the same outwardly and inwardly, as you have been\nfrom the time that you can first remember. Then, brethren, you can\nfurnish your own testimony, that GOD has dealt better with you than He\ndid with Jacob, that your first state, your continued state has been all\nlike his last. O discern and bless GOD for those least heeded but\ngreatest mercies, the mercies which come to us at the beginning, and\nfollow us all the days of our life\u2014the continued prosperity of our\nfamily, the continued harmony and love, the bread always sure, the right\nunderstanding early implanted, the fear of the LORD from our youth.\nThere is a way of travelling in our days which is so smooth, that often\nwe cannot tell that we are moving; and there is a manner of blessing, so\nuninterrupted, so uniform, so without roughnesses and stoppages and ups\nand downs, that if we be not on the lookout, we may fancy that we are not\nblessed at all. Let not this be your case. Do not refuse to be\ngrateful, because all goes well with you, because there is nothing that\nneeds to be supplied, because nothing is taken away from you. Rather,\nlet the measure of your blessedness be also the measure of your praise\nand the strength of your resolution. \u201cSurely goodness and mercy have\nfollowed me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the\nLORD for ever.\u201d\n\nBut your object, perhaps, \u201cMine has not been this life of uninterrupted\nprosperity, but, on the contrary, one of continued adversity. It is\nJacob\u2019s first, not his last estate, that has been always mine.\u201d What do\nyou mean? That you were not born rich, nor influential, nor of honoured\nfamily? That you have not the wisdom of the philosopher, the dignity of\nthe prince, the opulence of the successful merchant, the leisure of\nindependent private life? That may be. Your state may be the reverse of\nall this, and yet be the state of the \u201ctwo bands.\u201d External prosperity\nin Jacob\u2019s time was commonly, yet not always, the sign of spiritual\nblessings; in Gospel days, with our better light, and greater power of\nappreciation of the reality, the sign is not so often afforded,\nfrequently the most favoured are without it; yea, and often it abides\nwith the unblessed as the mocking substitute for true blessedness. If\nyou are without GOD in the world; if you do not feel Him about your bed,\nand about your path; if you do not live in His fear, and hope for His\nmercies, and His rewards; if the thought of Him does not moderate your\nworldly joy, and direct your aims, and leaven your worldly work; if His\ncomfort does not dry your tears, His strength support you, His grace\nsanctify you, then\u2014no matter what your outward state, and your\npossessions, your powers, your happiness\u2014you are poor and unblessed. But\nif He is thus with you in all your ways, if you have resolved, and are\nkeeping the resolution, \u201cThe LORD shall be my GOD,\u201d then is yours the\nstate, or it is growing towards the state of the \u201ctwo bands.\u201d One more\nobjection somewhat akin to this last, must be answered. There are some\nwho say, \u201cMine was once the state of the two bands: it has long since\nbeen\u2014or it is fast becoming\u2014solitariness and the single staff. All thing\nare against me. Nothing that I put my hand to seems to prosper; I come\ninto misfortune; the fountains of joy are dried up; my hope, my stay, are\ntaken from me. When I look back upon the past, I look as it were up an\nincline down which I have rolled, or towards a pinnacle whence I have\nbeen cast down.\u201d Now, of course, my brethren, all this may be the result\nof the displeasure of GOD, consequent upon your sin, or neglect of Him.\nOutward adversity is sometimes the effect of His wrath, sometimes it is\nthe chastisement of displeasure, and the discipline of correction. If\nthen in your heart, you know that you deserve such wrath, or need such\ncorrection (even then it is a blessing, and you ought to praise GOD for\nit, but still) you may be sure that it is the mark of disapprobation,\nsomething for you to grieve over, and seek to have removed. But if the\ntestimony of your conscience is that you walk with GOD, then are these\nso-called reverses very blessings, not declines but advances, not\nhindrances but helps, tokens of GOD\u2019S love upraisings of you towards\nheaven. Oh be like Jacob; count all mercy, get rid of selfishness, and\nmeditate as he did, and you will prove that all is mercy, and proclaim\nit! You will find, for instance, that the loss of wealth took away with\nit the idol of your worship, the minister of your excessive pleasure;\nthat altered position broke down your pride; that worldly sorrow led you\nto seek heavenly comfort; that the perfidy of so-called friends made you\ncease to put your trust in man, and caused you to rely on the friend that\nsticketh closer than a brother; that sickness and infirmity reminded you\nof death, and stimulated you to preparation for judgment; that the loss\nof those you loved, uprooted your clingings to earth, linked you to\nheaven, revealed to you One whom you knew not; Whom above all you ought\nto love; Who is better to you than sons and daughters; Who is the true\nand abiding Father of the fatherless, and GOD of the widow. No matter\nwhat your circumstances, how many your troubles, I tell you on the\nauthority of God\u2019s Word, that if you love Him, they all work together for\nyour good; yea, they are all good in themselves. You will find them so,\nif you rightly review them, and each of you will be able to say, as\ntruthfully as Jacob did, with much more meaning, because of your better\nknowledge and superior blessedness in CHRIST, \u201cI am not worthy of the\nleast of all the mercies and of all the truth, which Thou hast showed\nunto my servant . . . I am become two bands.\u201d\n\nTry to feel this, brethren, and to express it this night to GOD; to tell\nout your praises for the mercies of your past life, and, in the review of\nthem, to pledge yourselves to Him, that you will strive henceforth to\nrecognise blessings more quickly, to use them better, to be more grateful\nfor them. Be these the thoughts and vows with which you consecrate the\nlast hours of a dying year. But, knowing that so soon as you set out\nagain, your enemy, whom sin has given the advantage over you, will come\nto meet you, to smite you, to turn you back from the Holy Land, forget\nnot this night to cry, \u201cDeliver me, I pray Thee, O LORD. Take away from\nme the sin which exposes me to assaults, which makes me vulnerable. Give\nme Thy strength: go before me with thy blessing.\u201d Do this, brethren,\npersevere in it day after day, night after night: wrestle with God,\nrefuse to let Him go\u2014you shall surely prevail: GOD will yield all you\nask; and, in honour of your victory, He will change your name from Jacob\nto Israel, that is, you shall no longer be remembered by the name of your\ndeceit and your sin. You shall be known, known to angels, known to Him,\nas princes, and prevailers with GOD.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON VIII.\nWORKING FOR GOD.\n\n\n ST. JOHN, IX., 4.\n\n _I must work the works of Him that sent me_, _while it is day_: _the\n night cometh_, _when no man can work_.\n\nI DWELL not on these words in their relation to the context. I pause not\nto consider whether their utterance was a justification of the\nSabbath-day miracle that was presently to be performed\u2014\u201cno opportunity\nmust be lost, no delay allowed of working the works of GOD\u201d\u2014or whether\nthey were but the thinking and resolving aloud (so characteristic of our\nLORD), by which He kept ever in mind His great mission, by which He\ncontinually stimulated and pressed on that human nature of His; willing\nindeed, but yet weak, though not sinful; and made it vigorously\nindustrious in the work of GOD; or whether, once more, CHRIST here but\npersonified Christians, and spoke not of Himself, not to keep Himself\nmindful and intent upon His work, but as their example and\nrepresentative, as though He had said, \u201cA work of GOD will now be\nmanifested in the restoration of this blind man. It will not be delayed\ntill the Sabbath is over. See me serving GOD and serving Him now, by\ninstant doing of all possible work. Consider me your example. Let this\nbe your resolution, \u2018I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it\nis day: the night cometh, when no man can work.\u2019\u201d It matters little to\nus what feeling or motive immediately prompted our LORD to speak the\ntext. His words at once commend themselves to us as those which we may,\nwhich we ought to adopt, even if they belong primarily to Him; which,\nrather, since they were the ruling maxim of CHRIST, must be the ruling\nmaxim of Christians.\n\nWell, then, these are our words (and CHRIST has shown us how to fulfil\nthem), \u201cI must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: the\nnight cometh, when no man can work.\u201d\n\n\u201cHim that sent me.\u201d Have we yet to learn, my brethren, that GOD sent us\ninto this world; that we came not here by chance, or on our own account;\nthat we are not independent beings, free to wander about or linger to do,\nor forbear to do, as we please? By the will\u2014for the accomplishment of\nthe purposes\u2014of GOD, we are here on a mission, His messengers, His\nagents, workers for Him. GOD has made all things for His own use and\nglory. None of us liveth unto himself\u2014He sent us forth. He gave us a\ncharge. He watches to see what we do with it. He waits for our return;\nrather, He appoints, and, whensoever He will, enforces our return. And\nwhat is the mission? What has He sent us to do? To work the works of\nGOD, and make them manifest, to promote, to show forth His glory, to\nbecome ourselves all that He would have us to be, and to light and guide\nothers to the same end. Work for GOD! How few ever think of such a\nthing! Work for themselves (and for others like themselves) for food to\neat and raiment to put on, for money, for power, for fame, for pleasure;\nmen understand this; they acknowledge the necessity of it, or the\ninviting, constraining desirableness of it, and they do it\u2014do it\ngenerally, do it well, and heartily. A really idle man, a man that works\nnot some works, is a rarity, an object of contempt when he is seen, a\ndespiser of himself. But, work for GOD! How many do that? Who does it\nheartily, and does it well? Whose thoughts are full of it, whose deeds\naccomplish it? What fruits come of it? There are some, not a few, thank\nGOD! who can give a satisfactory answer to such questions; whose lives\ncontinually give it, and whom GOD, for their works\u2019 sake in CHRIST,\ngreatly approves. But I speak now to the many, yea, I speak to all; for\nthe work of GOD so generally neglected, is by none perfectly performed.\nTo all, then, I solemnly address the questions: \u201cDo you work for GOD?\u201d\nand \u201cWhat work do you work for Him?\u201d You are tempted to justify\nyourselves. You are not the unbelieving, and rebellious, and profane of\nour race. You recognise a GOD of providence and grace, a moral ruler of\nthe world, a waiting Judge. To this GOD you say your prayers, His word\nyou read, and reverence, and receive. To Him you dedicate at least\nseveral hours of each seventh day; by His commandments you order your\ndaily life. You do no wrong to your neighbour by word or deed; you\nstrive to purify and sanctify your very feelings and thoughts; you\nbelieve in a Saviour; you accept His salvation; you try to love Him; you\npartake of His means of grace; you rest in Him, and look to Him for final\nredemption, and something you do occasionally by way of persuading\nothers; and something you give for the furtherance of religious works.\nIt is well, brethren, if you do this; if you go through the form, and do\nnot inwardly contradict what is outward, but rather incline to it.\n\nIt is well, I say, because it is hopeful, it will, by grace, lead you\nfarther; but if in your heart and soul you recognise GOD, and believe in\na Saviour, then I am sure that you will not adduce what I have mentioned\nas specimens of the works of GOD. Acknowledgments that GOD ought to be\nserved, pledges of service, they may be, but works they are not. And yet\nsome, perhaps, would urge, \u201cWhen the question was put, \u2018What must we do\nthat we may work the works of GOD?\u2019 did not CHRIST answer, \u2018This is the\nwork of GOD, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent\u201d? and, say they,\n\u201cDoes not this show that literal working, as we work in and for the\nworld, is not what GOD demands; that it is rather a mental assent, an\nentertaining and exercising of feelings, a believing, a thankful, a\nsanctifying remembrance of CHRIST\u2019S work; a trust in it, a carefulness to\ndo nothing that will render it ineffectual for our salvation, that is\nrequired of us? Surely, CHRIST has done the work Himself; we have but to\naccept it thankfully, and wait for it faithfully and holily.\u201d\n\nNow, my brethren, it may be easily shown that this is not believing in\nHim whom GOD hath sent. To believe in Him is to embrace Him as the\nAuthor, and Finisher, and Giver of Salvation; to be assured that\nsalvation can only be had from Him, in Him, and on His terms; to learn of\nHim, therefore\u2014and, of course, of His Apostles and Evangelists after Him,\nfor to them even clearer teaching was intrusted\u2014what are the terms, and\nthen to fulfil them resolutely and precisely. Do you need that I should\nquote the actual words, the chapter, and verse, in which CHRIST, through\nthe Spirit, tells us, that He has redeemed us to Himself; that He has\npurchased us for a peculiar people zealous of good works; that He has\nleft us a definite work to do against His return; that on His return He\nwill judge and reward us by our works; that He will condemn as workers\nagainst Him those who have not worked for Him; that it is vain to\nacknowledge Him and not do the things that He bids; that He has left us\nan example that we should follow His steps, in that He fulfilled all\nrighteousness, and went about doing good, and proposed to Himself, as\nthat which must be done, and done heartily and without delay, the works\nand the manifesting of the works of GOD, and made it His meat and drink\nto do the Father\u2019s will; that He has said plainly, that whosoever would\nnot take up the cross and follow Him could not be His disciple. O wo to\nthose who dare to say this means: Sit still in worldliness, and look at\nand admire Him doing the labour and pursuing the path of godliness\u2014that\nHe has attached all His promises to certain deeds; that He is ever\nrepresented as judging, not what men have thought and felt, but what they\nhave done and become by doing; that by the Spirit He has commanded \u201cWork\nout your own salvation with fear and trembling;\u201d and \u201cWhether ye eat or\ndrink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of GOD;\u201d and \u201cHe that\ngathereth not, scattereth abroad\u201d? Oh, my brethren, let us be honest; we\nknow, we dare not deny it, that a work, rather that many works are\nimposed upon us by GOD, and that it will not do for us merely to think of\nthem, to sigh over them, to approach them carelessly, reluctantly, to\ncall preferred employments by their name; but that with clear\nunderstanding with heart-devotion, with constant application and real\nlabour, we must do the works of Him that sent us.\n\nAnd, now, what are the works?\n\nThe first, and most vitally important, is, to \u201cwork out our own\nsalvation;\u201d not to attempt of ourselves to undo what Adam did; not by any\ncourse of zealous doing to seek to recommend ourselves to GOD as\ndeserving a reward, to propose to purchase heaven, to go to GOD the\nFather directly for it, and expect to get it from Him, either as a right\nor as a gift of compassion: but, knowing that it is only to be had of\nCHRIST, to seek it from CHRIST in appointed ways, in the measure, on the\nconditions which He has prescribed for all, and to fulfil the conditions.\nWe are not naturally born in grace; we do not naturally inherit glory.\nCHRIST, by right, the Saviour of all men, is, in fact, \u201cspecially\u201d only\nthe Saviour of them that believe; of them who actually apply to Him and\ndepend on Him, and remain in communion with Him for grace; who serve Him\nby fulfilling His commands and copying His example, who use His grace and\ngrow in it, and by its power transform themselves into the character\nwhich alone can dwell in heaven. Now, all this is work\u2014real, anxious,\nlaborious work; this obeying of CHRIST, this imitation of His example,\nand following in His steps, this putting off of the old man and putting\non of the new man. Are you intent upon it? Do you perform it? Consider\nthe means of grace, prayer, praise, divine instruction, holy communion;\ndo you faithfully and diligently use them? Read the Decalogue with the\ncommentary of the Sermon on the Mount. Can you honestly say, All this I\nkeep and do? Study the life of CHRIST\u2014is your life like it: like it in\nhumility, in self-denial, in labour, in fact, in hope, in aim? Examine\nyourselves. Are you cleansed from evil propensities\u2014are you adorned with\nChristian graces\u2014are you fit in person, in will, in desire, for a heaven\nfull of holiness, whose employment will be the doing of GOD\u2019S work, as\nangels do it, whose relaxation, if I may so speak, will be the\ncontemplation and the praise of GOD? What do you leave undone, what do\nyou transgress of GOD\u2019S will? What covetousness do you root out, what\nevil tempers do you subdue, what rash zeal do you curb, what indolence do\nyou overcome? Are you worldly, sensual, ill-natured, proud,\nself-seeking? Have you any trace of these stains upon you? Are you\nwanting in obedience, in patience, in holiness, in love of GOD? You\ncannot enter heaven, it would close its gates against you, you would flee\nfrom it as a place of torment, while you are in such a state. Now, what\nare you doing, or attempting to appropriate CHRIST\u2019S salvation, to secure\nGOD\u2019S approbation, to qualify yourselves in character, in taste and\ndesire for a purely spiritual, a gloriously holy heaven? You know what\nconcentrated thought, what single aim, what diligent, anxious,\npersevering labour are necessary to make you good scholars, able\nstatesmen, accomplished members of society, successful tradesmen, apt\nmechanics; or, to descend lower, ordinary earners of daily bread. You\nmay guess, then, what measure of these things is needed to perfect you in\nsaintliness, and therefore you are able to answer the question\u2014oh, how\nmust you answer it?\u2014whether you fulfil the acknowledged requirement of\nthe text, \u201cI must work the works of Him that sent me.\u201d\n\nBut, besides this, so to speak, selfish work, you have a work to do for\nand upon others. GOD Who wills to inform, and persuade, and save the\nworld, appoints men, appoints you to accomplish His will. Like as\nCHRIST, besides qualifying Himself to be the Saviour, had also to\nproclaim, and recommend, and bestow salvation, so have you, while putting\nyourselves in the way of salvation, and diligently pursuing it, to be\nlights, and voices, and helping hands to others. You are lights of the\nworld; you are ambassadors for CHRIST; you are your brothers\u2019 keepers;\nyou are teachers of GOD\u2019S Word, and advocates of His cause, and\ntreasurers of His gifts; you are under shepherds of CHRIST; you are\nfellow workers with Him, and dispensers of His manifold grace. GOD has\ngiven you these offices, and He has placed you where you may exercise\nthem. He has given you authority over your children, and servants, and\ndependents. He has lent you influence over friends and associates. He\nhas planted you in the midst of crowds of ignorant, indifferent, ungodly,\nthat you may work for Him, in guiding, and persuading, and leading to\nsalvation, in making manifest His glory. He has put into your power to\ncontribute something\u2014into the power of some to contribute much\u2014to the\nvarious associations (which are, in fact, your agents), for doing the\nwork of GOD in building and endowing additional churches, in providing\nmore clergymen at home, in sending missionaries to the colonist and the\nheathen. You think, perhaps, that in the chief part of what I have said,\nI have been describing the clergy, and not the laity. But, brethren, the\nclergy are nothing but representatives, representatives, on the one hand,\nof GOD, teaching, exhorting, ministering grace in His name, by and from\nHim; representatives, on the other hand, of your prayers, and praises,\nand your works. You know whose would be the blame, and how great the\nblame, and how terrible the consequences, if the minister only confessed\nto GOD and praised Him, and partook of His sacraments. It is just the\nsame, if he only teaches, and exhorts, and visits, and tends, and\nrelieves; an empty sign, a mockery, a provocation of wrath, which will\nsurely descend on those who cause it to be unreal, on those who do not\nmake it real. Ministers we are, coming from GOD to you, going to GOD\nfrom you. Oh, you cannot suppose that if you leave two or three\nclergymen to deal with thousands of people, to inform them, to persuade\nthem, to become acquainted with their wants, to relieve them out of their\nown poor means, you cannot suppose I say that in so doing, you are\nworking the works of GOD, that when you have said your prayers, and\nlistened to the sermon, and paid your pew rents, and dropped a\nsuperfluous coin into the plate of an occasional collection, you have\nobeyed and imitated CHRIST. No, brethren, you are under no such delusion\nof Satan. An awful responsibility is indeed upon the clergy. We have\nsworn to give ourselves wholly to a work in which your part is to\nsupport, and succour, and enable us. We are pledged to forego\nopportunities of acquiring fame, and gaining wealth and power, and taking\npleasure. Wo to us, if we disregard the oath, if we cling to the things\nwhich we profess to have renounced! But if we fail, that will not excuse\nyou; and if we are faithful without your adherence, the reward will be\nours, the blood guiltily shed, or guiltily unstaunched, will be upon your\nheads. It is a solemn theme which I am discussing this morning, and I\ndare not but speak plainly upon it. Our fidelity will not profit you if\nyou are not helpers of us. Our unfaithfulness, though we perish in it,\nwill be visited on you, if you do not enable us, if you do not constrain\nus, by the power with which you should endow us, by the jealous concern\nwhich you should have for our work, by the diligent co-operation which\nyou should exercise with us. It is easy to say, that you are not\nqualified for this, that your time is all engaged in your worldly\ncalling, that you cannot spare from the means of your support, from the\ncapital of your business, the money which the Church calls for. But,\nbrethren, consider, that though GOD requires you to maintain yourselves\nand your families, though your worldly callings are appointed for you by\nGOD, though He allows you to give much time to them, to advance and\nenrich yourselves by them, yet all this is on the condition that you do\nnot withhold from Him the direct service and offerings which constitute\nthe one thing needful, the reward of which is all that shall survive this\nlife, and this world! It was the fashion once among religionists to\ndespise, to pronounce unclean (unfitting for the Christian), the use of\nthe world, its callings, its profits, its pleasures. There is much\ndanger of an opposite fashion prevailing in our days. The confining of\nreligious service and worship to the honest, respectable, intellectual,\nliberal pursuit of some worldly vocation, \u201cthe religion of common life\u201d\nas it is called, being regarded, not as the companion,\u2014rather the\nhandmaid\u2014but the substitute (and a very good one, too) for pure spiritual\nreligion. Both are wrong. The Christian may use the world, and in the\nright use of it he may be serving GOD. But he must not abuse it; and he\ndoes abuse it, if he allows himself to be engrossed by it; if he brings\nhimself to a state, if he continues willingly in a state, where he is\nobliged to say, \u201cI cannot spare any time or any money, my first thought,\nand concern, and provision must be for this life.\u201d\n\nYou have heard, or read, perhaps, that a contented, conscientious, and\ncheerful abiding in and following of our worldly occupations, that even\nthe housemaid\u2019s sweeping and cleaning may be religious worship; and there\nis truth in the statement, otherwise the Apostle could not have exhorted\n\u201cWhether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of\nGOD;\u201d but, the Scriptural injunction means, \u201cProlong the remembrance of\nyour spiritual worship: testify your yearning to get back to it: keep the\nface shining, when you come down from the glorious mount, so that while\nthe world demands your bodies, your souls, your hearts and spirits may\nstill be given to GOD, and even the bodily acts spiritualised by doing\nthem in submission, in holy observance of the will of GOD, in thankful\nuse of the means of support and helps to usefulness, which He thus\naffords you.\u201d Worldly occupations and worldly goods are to the Christian\nwhat meals, and recreations, and sleep are to men generally: necessaries,\nsupports of the lower life, refreshments, and invigorators for something\nbetter. Give yourselves wholly to these and you become sensualists,\nidlers, sluggards; and give yourselves wholly to the world and you are\nfollowers of Mammon and forsakers of GOD! You see the right use of the\nworld, as far as this life is concerned, when the son toils to support an\naged parent, when the young man struggles to get on, that he may\nestablish a home, when the father seeks through his profession to provide\nfor his family, when the lover of literature diligently tries to make his\ncalling afford him money for books and time to read them. This is\nemploying the world as a necessary means to a desired end. And so you\nsee the right use of the world, in regard to a better life, in him who\nlabours and perseveres, and advances in it with the view of getting as\nmuch out of it as he can for GOD.\n\nBe sure that there are none so busy but, in the midst of their business,\nthey can think of what they like better; none so pressed for time, but\nthey can spare some of it, if they have a mind to; none so poor as to\nhave nothing to spend on what they covet. So use the world, and, in\nusing it, you will work the works of GOD, because you will often take\nfrom it, and often come out from it, for the direct and more purely\nspiritual works of GOD.\n\nBut CHRIST, our pattern, said not merely \u201cI must work the works of GOD,\u201d\nbut I must do them \u201cwhile it is day: the night cometh, when no man can\nwork.\u201d We know what that meant in His case. He had taken human nature\nin its weakness, and He had to bring it to its full strength, to fit it\nfor glory and exaltation to the throne of GOD. He had in His life to\nspeak the word of GOD to many people, and in many places, and each\nopportunity must be seized, or others would be forfeited. He had to\nrelieve present sufferings, and to supply present wants; to meet\nnecessities while they were pressing. Soon the time would come for Him\nto go to the Father: then He must be perfect; then He would have no more\nopportunity in the flesh for benefitting man and glorifying GOD; then He\ncould make no more preparation for the setting up of His Church.\n\nThe words have a similar meaning with regard to us; but in our cases the\nnecessity is more urgent, the delay more awful, because we have no fixed\ntime allotted us\u2014\u201cto-day, and to-morrow, and the third day I must be\nperfected.\u201d Our life is to be taken from us without our consent, and may\nbe taken at any moment; we have not power to lay it down when we will,\nand power to keep it as long as we will. And, besides, we have not been\nusing each year, each day, each hour, to the best advantage. We have\nleft undone much which we ought to have done, we have done much which we\nought not to have done. We have all this to correct, and yet to give\nfull attention to the works yet remaining.\n\nLook we in at ourselves, brethren, and see what requires to be done in us\nbefore we are fit for heaven. Listen to the cries of spiritual distress,\nand consider what has to be supplied. Think of the souls that are dying,\nand will soon be dead, if we do not revive them. Remember we what frail,\nshort-continuing, dying creatures we are; how soon at the latest, how\nsuddenly, it may be abruptly, without a moment\u2019s warning, we may be\ncalled to present ourselves, to be dealt with according to our fitness,\nto give account of our works for GOD.\n\nLet the arrival of a new year set us reviewing the past year, with its\ncatalogue of offences, of neglects, of things to be wiped out, debts to\nbe paid, progress to be quickened. Let us heed well its injunction and\nits warning, \u201cWhatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might,\nfor there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave\nwhither thou goest.\u201d Let us look up for the opening clouds and listen\nfor the Advent voice, \u201cBehold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me\nto give to every man according as his works shall be;\u201d and let us\ninstantly resolve and instantly begin to perform our resolution and\npersevere in it, nor dare to forget it: \u201cI must work the works of Him\nthat sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nSERMON IX.\nCHRIST\u2019S TRUEST MANIFESTATION.\n\n\n ST. JOHN, XIV., 22.\n\n _Lord_, _how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us_, _and not\n unto the world_.\n\nON the festival of the Epiphany, and on several Sundays afterwards, we\ncommemorate what are called manifestations of CHRIST; revelations and\nexhibitions of Him, in His nature, His person, His might, His wisdom, His\nvarious offices. In one sense, CHRIST\u2019S whole life, from the manger in\nBethlehem to the Mount of the Ascension, was a manifestation. It was not\npossible to see or hear Him, without becoming convinced\u2014if open to\nconviction\u2014that He was different from all other men, and superior to\nthem. His every deed, His every word, His every look, designedly or\nundesignedly proclaimed \u201cThis is GOD manifest in the flesh!\u201d Still,\nthere were some particular exhibitions of Himself, which, from the\nspecial circumstances attending them, the preparation made for them,\ntheir peculiar importance, their wonderful effects, or their relations to\ncertain classes or individuals, are entitled to be distinguished from the\nrest of that life-long Epiphany, and to be called _par excellence_ the\nmanifestations of CHRIST.\n\nOf this kind, was the exhibition to the shepherds, and again, that to the\nwise men of the East\u2014prefiguring, commencing the manifestation to the\nGentiles; the declaration that He must be about His Father\u2019s business,\nthe baptism by John, the show of His power in converting water into wine,\nin cleansing the leper, in calming the troubled sea, in casting out\ndevils; the unfolding of His wisdom in speaking parables, the preaching\nof judgment by the Son of Man\u2014all of which are in turn commemorated at\nthis season. Of this kind, again, were the teaching on the Mount, all\nthe miracles, the Transfiguration, the appearances after the\nResurrection, the Ascension, the wonders of Pentecost, the light that\nshone from heaven on Saul journeying to Damascus, and the voice that said\n\u201cI am JESUS whom thou persecutest.\u201d These were all pre-eminent\nmanifestations, as being designedly full of significance, making special\nrevelations to special persons; displaying, so to speak, the chief\nfeatures of CHRIST, and teaching most important lessons. Nevertheless,\nthey were rather preludes and signs of CHRIST\u2019S truest manifestation,\nthan that manifestation itself\u2014faint glimmers of coming light, rustlings,\nwarning movements, scarcely upliftings of the curtain that hung between\nthings spiritual and the would-be spectators of them\u2014parables, and\nprophecies. They left not those who saw them where they were, but they\ncarried them not whither they would be or should be. They bade them look\nand listen; but they revealed not the sight, nor spake the word. Strange\nas it may seem, CHRIST was not truly manifested till the clouds of heaven\nhid Him, and, in the flesh, He ceased to appear and speak till\njudgment-time. The truth was, as yet, not taught, but only hinted at,\nand men were not yet ready for it, and could not receive it. It is not\nin what we call the Gospels, but in the Epistles, that the truth as it is\nin JESUS is revealed. It is not in the miracles of His earthly ministry,\nbut in the spiritual wonders which, after Pentecost, the Apostles wrought\nin His name; that the real power of CHRIST, the power to bless, is seen\nand felt. All before was but a type, a shadow, a dream. The antitype,\nthe reality, the waking vision, belong to apostolic days, and to the days\nafter them. Then was the Gospel revealed, which before was only brought\nnigh. Then was the kingdom of Heaven opened. Then did JESUS, through\nthe Spirit, begin to speak and show Himself openly and plainly to Jews\nand Gentiles, and to draw all men to Him. Then did spiritual wisdom\nbegin to enlighten, and spiritual power begin to enable the hitherto\nblind and helpless. Then first, even to the Apostles, and then, by them,\nto the world, began to be displayed GOD manifest in the flesh. Up to\nthat time, though He was in the world, the world knew Him not. He stood\namong them, but they did not see Him; He spoke, but they did not hear:\nyea, though He had come to His own, they did not receive Him, till the\nPentecostal light made all clear, and the voice of the Spirit declared\n\u201cThis is the beloved Son of the Father,\u201d and the power of Divine grace,\nenabled and constrained to believe on His name, to receive Him\nintelligently and heartily, and through Him, and in a measure like Him,\nto become sons of GOD.\n\nThen and thus was CHRIST truly manifested, as it were in these last\ntimes.\n\nBut there is even yet a better manifestation, one more really worthy of\nthe name\u2014that, namely, which is made to the Disciples, but not to the\nworld.\n\nIn a sense, all that has hitherto been described was an external\nmanifestation\u2014a manifestation to the world. The Gospel was preached\nopenly, the credentials of its heralds were publicly exhibited, whosoever\nwould might hear and see; and only when they refused, and judged\nthemselves unworthy of eternal life, did the Apostles turn away from\nthem, or pass on to another place, shaking the dust off their feet as a\ntestimony against them. Even the inward grace, the power to see\nspiritually, to believe, and to accept CHRIST, was so far manifested to\nthe world, that it was offered to all, and was within the reach of all.\nThe Apostles, who taught men their need of salvation, and exhorted them\nto save themselves, both showed them the way and promised them the grace\nof salvation; and thus, therefore, was CHRIST openly, and with power,\nmanifested to the world. But, in the chapter of the text, CHRIST makes\nit a special promise to those that love Him, that He will manifest\nHimself to them. Judas (not Iscariot) rightly concludes that this is a\nmanifestation which shall be made to none but approved disciples; and,\naccepting the promise, he ventures to ask, respecting its fulfilment,\n\u201cLORD, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto\nthe world?\u201d\n\nIt must be borne in mind that the Jewish notion, a notion shared by the\ndisciples, was that the MESSIAH would manifest Himself in all the pomp\nand power of a triumphant earthly prince, exhibiting Himself to the whole\nworld, ruling all the nations of the earth, and demanding the homage and\nadoration of all men. They waited in expectation that the kingdom of\nIsrael would be restored, that Jerusalem would become the capital of the\nworld, that CHRIST would sit visibly on a splendid throne, in the midst\nof her, and that they would occupy the nearest places to Him of honour\nand power. This notion was still theirs, as we know, when CHRIST led\nthem out to the Mount of the Ascension; and we can well understand,\ntherefore, that Judas, and those with him, must at this time have been\ngreatly perplexed by the intimation, which CHRIST\u2019S promise conveyed,\nthat He was only to be manifested to those that love Him. It is out of\nthis perplexity\u2014not, as I said before, questioning the fact of a partial\nmanifestation, but unable to understand it, and seeking\nenlightenment\u2014that Judas asks, \u201cLORD, how is it that Thou wilt manifest\nThyself unto us, and not unto the world?\u201d\n\nThe words translated \u201cHow is it,\u201d render possible a threefold\ninterpretation of this question. 1st. LORD, what has happened\u2014how is it\ncome to pass that the original design (at least, what we suppose to be\nthe original design) of an universal manifestation is altered, and now\nonly a partial manifestation to be afforded? 2ndly. LORD, what has been\ndone by us, what special merits have we, whence is it that we are to be\nso signally favoured, and others passed over? 3rdly. LORD, what kind of\nmanifestation will that be which some eyes only shall perceive? In what\nway wilt Thou reveal Thy presence to us, so that the world, in the midst\nof which we dwell, into the midst of which, therefore, Thou must come to\nus, shall not partake with us of the vision. It is scarcely profitable,\nperhaps, to consider whether or no the first interpretation is\nadmissible; nor need we attempt to decide between the second and the\nthird. Let us rather combine them; and taking the question out of\nJudas\u2019s mouth, and adopting it as our own, let us reverently and\nteachably ask, as we need, of Him who giveth wisdom liberally, \u201cLORD, how\nis it, on what account, and in what way, that Thou wilt manifest Thyself\nunto us, and not unto the world?\u201d\n\nI. On what account is He partial? Why does He make us to differ? Not\nthen, for any recommendation we had to His favour\u2014for we were all\nconcluded under sin, and all guilty before GOD. Not again, for any\nmerits or deserts in His service, for at the best, if we have done all\nthat He set us to do (and who has?) we are yet but unprofitable servants.\nNo! there was nothing which should make GOD respect and choose us before\nothers; and we have done no work for which we can claim reward. GOD is\nno respecter of persons. It is impossible, by any mere natural deeds or\nefforts to please Him. We have all sinned and come short of His glory.\nWe all sin, and deserve wrath every day. But CHRIST, Who would have all\nmen to be saved, Who has died for all, and risen again for all, and sent\ndown His Holy Spirit ready to justify, to sanctify, to bless all, has\nnevertheless made the bestowal of His grace conditional. He requires a\ncertain \u201creceptivity\u201d for it. It is not thrust upon all, willing or\nunwilling, proud or humble, GOD-fearing or GOD-despising. Men must feel\ntheir need of it; and, feeling their need, they must express it, at least\nto Him, and must go to Him in His appointed ways to obtain it. CHRIST in\nsufficiency, in desire, the Saviour of all men, is, in fact, specially\nonly the Saviour of them that believe\u2014believe with that impelling desire,\nand that active faith, which make them flee to Him to be saved, and\nearnestly ask of Him, \u201cWhat must I do to be saved?\u201d And next, having\nthis fitness, this receptivity for grace, and so receiving it, CHRIST\nrequires men to treasure up the grace with reverence and godly fear; to\nuse it with diligence, with zealous effort, to improve it, to grow in it;\nto strengthen it constantly by all appointed means of sustenance and\nexercise; to accomplish with it all that He wills and directs to be done;\nto be heartily grateful to the Author, the Sustainer, the Finisher of\nSalvation. \u201cHe that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is\nthat loveth Me, and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I\nwill love him, and will manifest Myself to him.\u201d So then it is only to\nlove that the manifestation is made; and love is proved by obedience, and\nobedience is the hearty faithful performance, in the spirit as well as\nthe letter, of the expressed will of CHRIST.\n\nAnd here, brethren, before we go further, let us see in the light of\nthese conditions, why it is that religious influences affect so little\nthe vast mass of mankind. There is a manifestation of CHRIST to the\nworld. He is ever speaking in their ears and showing Himself to their\neyes. His Church, with its Bible, its means of grace and ministry, its\nduration and extension, besides being a standing miracle, the infallible\ncredential of His divine authority, the proof of His wisdom and His\npower, is a very exhibition of Himself, mighty and eager to save. The\nSpirit, which is with and in that Church, declares Himself to be able and\nready to enlighten, and persuade, and strengthen all, without exception,\nwithout delay, if only they will come to Him. And yet how many, not only\nof the recklessly profane, the grossly carnal, the resolutely blind and\ndeaf, but of the well-disposed, the moral, the albut exemplary, have no\nperception whatever of CHRIST! How many so-called Christians, not only\nin their business or their pleasure, when they turn away their eyes from\nthe manifested GOD, but even when they come up to the sanctuary, when\nthey read the Bible, when they kneel in prayer or stand to praise, when\nthey look Zionwards, when they are all attent, eyes and ears, yet see no\nsight, and hear no sound of CHRIST! The world which they have left is\nremembered, and stands before them in a life-like picture. The sights\nthey would not see, the sounds they would not hear, they cannot escape\nfrom; but CHRIST, the object of their worship, in some sense the desire\nof their eyes, they look for but cannot find; if He stands in the midst\nof them, they know it not!\n\nIs not this, brethren, the experience of many of you? You do not, of\ncourse, ever expect open visions, perceptions with natural eyes and ears\nof a spiritually manifested Saviour; but do you not often fail to obtain\nwhat you think (and rightly) you ought to aim at obtaining, a real,\nthough spiritual, a convincing, constraining, sanctifying, and cheering\nmanifestation of CHRIST? Do you not often, do you not almost always find\njust that wanting, which should make religion real? \u201cOh!\u201d you exclaim,\n\u201cwould that when I kneel down in church, to make solemn confessions, to\nutter supplications, to pray for pardon, for favour, for grace\u2014oh! that\nsuch a vision of CHRIST were afforded me, that I were possessed with such\nfeeling of His presence, as would prevent my turning away so readily from\nthe solemnity, to see who is coming into church, to admire or criticise\nthe dress or appearance of those beside me, to remember the worldliness\nof yesterday, to anticipate the worldliness of to-morrow. Oh! that when\nI sit with open Bible before me, and slight and slur over its difficult\nparts, and give little heed to the personal application of its histories,\nand treat albut with indifference its exhortations, its warnings, its\npromises, its threats\u2014Oh! that some voice would recall me from my\nwandering, and dispel my irreverence, and concentrate my devout attention\nwith its heard command, \u2018Thus, saith the LORD, Hear what the Spirit\nsaith.\u2019 Oh! that when I go about the world, and neglect my religious\nduty here, and transgress it there, yielding readily to temptation,\nhankering after, following worldliness, led by the persuasions, awed by\nthe frowns, constrained by the demands of the world, oh! that CHRIST\nwould stand at least before my spiritual vision, and utter to the ears of\nmy soul, \u2018Forbear. Take up thy cross. Follow me.\u2019 Oh, that He would do\nall this for others too: for those whom I love, who go farther out of the\nway, for the carnal, for the godless, for the souls that are carelessly,\nthat are deliberately perishing! Oh! that for His own honour\u2019s sake He\nwould openly show Himself and dispute\u2014with the Devil, with Mammon, with\nPleasure, with Folly\u2014the possession of the souls which He has purchased\nfor Himself! Why does He not give some proof, why does He not exercise\nsome persuasion which must be felt, which could not be disregarded? Oh!\nthat He would rend the heavens and come down; that He would cheer the\nsaint; that He would confound and convert the sinner by His manifested\npresence.\u201d\n\nIt is thus, if I mistake not, that we sometimes think and wish. But,\nbrethren, the words which prompted Judas to speak, reprove our thoughts.\nThey show us that it is not by oversight, by defect, by mismanagement, by\nany failure to accomplish what was intended, but by deliberate design, by\nexact fulfilment of what GOD proposed, that the real, the strong\ninfluences of Christianity are not brought to bear upon men generally.\n\nCHRIST manifests not Himself fully to the world. He never meant to do\nit. He never will do it, till he comes to judgment.\n\nGOD, we are told, \u201cwill have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom\nHe will He hardeneth.\u201d These awful words do not mean what some attempt\nto make out of them\u2014that there is an arbitrary election to salvation, and\nso for all others an inevitable destruction. They mean rather that while\nHis mercy is ready to flow, and is always flowing, if you desire it, you\nmust go to the fountain for it. GOD is under no necessity to save all\nmen. We do not confer a favour on Him by consenting to be saved. His\nglory will be manifested in destruction as in salvation. He desires to\nsave us. He will save us, and rejoice in our salvation, if we seek to be\nsaved: but if we are rebellious, or indifferent, if we will not comply\nwith the conditions on which only He will manifest His best presence to\nus, then we must not complain, if He makes good His declaration, and\nproves it by withholding Himself from us, that whom He wills (and in what\nway He wills) on them He has mercy, and all others, though He long bears\nwith them, and gives them much time and opportunity for conforming to His\nwill, yet is He content, yea, determined to leave them in their hardness,\nto confirm them in their hardness, because they will not be softened in\nthe way which He has chosen to prescribe.\n\nOh! my brethren, do not suppose that it is the weakness, the impotence of\nChristianity, the frustration of the will of GOD that is demonstrated in\nthe world\u2019s ungodliness, in the perdition of so many immortal souls. No!\nIt is rather the power of Christianity to keep its own for its own: it is\nthe glorious vindication of the sovereign will of Jehovah to save whom He\nwill; it is the corroboration of CHRIST\u2019S word, that none should come to\nthe Father but by Him; it is the terrible, deliberately-inflicted\npunishment of those that will not come unto Him that they might have\nlife; it is the manifestation, so to speak, of His non-manifestation: \u201cIf\nye will not love me, holding my commandments and keeping them, then you\ncannot be loved of My Father, and so cannot be loved of Me, and I will\nnot manifest myself to you.\u201d\n\nIt is ourselves, brethren, and not GOD that must be changed. The seed is\nscattered over all the field, but it grows only in the good ground. If\nCHRIST is not manifest to us, it is because we have not complied with the\nconditions of manifestation. He is faithful to His promise, but we have\nnot closed with the promise. Realising, then, that it is not binding on\nGOD to save us\u2014excepting on the terms which He has Himself laid down\u2014and\npresenting to ourselves the momentous interests at stake, let us comply\nwith GOD\u2019S terms, and let us strive to do so gratefully. Let us be at\npains to ascertain CHRIST\u2019S will; let us diligently and scrupulously keep\nit, endeavouring all the while to follow it, not as mere routine of\nmorality, but as active direct service of CHRIST Himself, and proposing\nto ourselves, as the motive to its observance, gratitude for CHRIST\u2019S\nsalvation, and as the reward of observance, the manifestation of CHRIST.\nSo doing, we shall soon find that there is a real, an unequalled power in\nChristianity to attract and constrain us; we shall soon know how it is\nthat CHRIST will manifest Himself to His disciples, while He is hidden\nfrom the world.\n\nII. I have left but little time for the consideration of the second form\nof our question, namely, in what way CHRIST will manifest Himself only to\nthe chosen. There is no need of a lengthy discussion of this subject,\nbecause, with all our spiritual short-sightedness, we are not like the\nJews, we can have no difficulty in understanding the possibility of\nCHRIST\u2019S manifestation of Himself to whom He will, and at the same time\nHis hiding of Himself from all others. We know that like as ghosts are\nsometimes said to appear to but one of a roomful, so if it pleased\nCHRIST\u2014and in any other way which He pleased\u2014He could stand visibly at\nthis moment before any one of us, and utter to that favoured ear\ndistinctly audible words, while the rest of us saw and heard nothing of\nHim.\n\nAnd there is no use in the discussion of the nature of CHRIST\u2019S truest\nmanifestation, because even if the preacher had realised it in all its\nperfect blessedness, his words would fail to describe what he had felt;\nyea, the best possible description would be wholly unintelligible to the\nnatural man who perceives not, and cannot perceive, the things of GOD,\nwhile it would be wholly unnecessary, rather would be solemn trifling\nwith those who have actually partaken of the blessedness. No, brethren,\nit cannot be spoken\u2014and if it could, I believe, it might not be\u2014how\nCHRIST shows Himself to those who love Him and keep His commandments. It\nis only in its realisation that you can understand what the promise\nmeans: \u201cWe will come unto Him and make our abode with Him.\u201d Go, fulfil\nthe conditions, and you shall receive the promise; and it shall disclose\nto you its own wonders, and its own transcendent bliss, and its own\nconstraining power.\n\nBut though we may not describe the manifestation itself, we may observe\nand recount the effects it produces. The Israelites might not come up to\nGOD and see Him face to face in the Mount, but they were allowed, and it\nwas good for them, to behold the shining of Moses\u2019s face when he returned\nfrom the Divine presence. Doubtless, to many, it was an additional proof\nof the being of GOD; to not a few it may have been an incentive to seek\nthe blessing of His favour. And so, brethren, it may be with us. Taking\nknowledge of those who have been with JESUS, we may see on them some\nreflection of His glorious self, some marks of a bliss which we shall\ncovet to share, which may stimulate us both to believe better in its\nreality and to strive more earnestly for its fruition. Yes! and\ncomparing ourselves with them very humbly, with unceasing prayer and\nwatching against false confidence, we may even discern on ourselves the\nfaint dawn, the first streaks of the Divine twilight, which tell (oh! how\nunspeakable the bliss!) that the dayspring is about to mount above our\nhorizon; that the Sun of righteousness is about to shine into our hearts\nwith all His glory.\n\nConsider, then, such as Abraham, who, after He had seen CHRIST\u2014for CHRIST\nwas often manifest before the Incarnation\u2014could himself resolutely\ndestroy his best earthly hope if GOD required it; Job, who, after the\nvision of perfect holiness, abhorred himself and repented; Jacob, who\nfelt (and felt throughout his life, we may be sure) how dreadful, how\nconsecrated was the place where GOD was met; Joseph, who possessed a\npower to resist effectually the sin, which so many dare to say there is\nno resisting (\u201cHow can I do this great wickedness and sin against GOD?\u201d);\nDaniel, who entered courageously into a den of lions; Simeon, who longed\nfor death, and the enjoyment of the permanent vision, after he had once\nseen CHRIST; Stephen, who died, almost like his Master, \u201cLORD JESUS\nreceive my spirit;\u201d and the many others, who endured and laboured, and\nresisted, and persevered, and rejoiced in tribulation, and hoped against\nhope, as seeing Him who is invisible. Yes, brethren, consider these.\nThink what they were, men of the same flesh and blood, of like\ninfirmities, and like sin with yourselves. Think how they secured the\nfavour of GOD, by the same simple means which are within the power of the\nleast of you, yea, and more within your power than theirs, at least of\nmost of them, because of the clearer light, and the better grace of\nGospel times. Think what a reflection they showed of the visions of\nCHRIST which they enjoyed. Think how real must have been their religious\nlife; how enviable their peace and bliss; what a glorious light they\nafforded for the example and encouragement of other men; and be no longer\ncontent that with all your faculties and opportunities, all your\nknowledge and invitations, all your proffers of Divine grace, all the\nperpetual revelations of CHRIST to those who desire Him, you yet should\nnever see Him; but resolutely accepting His terms, hold and keep His\ncommandments, and pray, and meditate, and labour to love Him.\n\nThen plead and watch\u2014you shall not plead in vain, nor watch very long\u2014and\nthe Father, and the Son, and the Spirit will surely come unto you and\nmake their abode manifestly within you, cheering you with the light of\nthe Divine countenance, strengthening you with the strength of Divine\ngrace, moulding you more and more into the image of CHRIST (which must be\nyours in perfection before you can partake of His fullest manifestation),\nabiding with you here, and shining clearly even in the deepest darkness,\nand by and by transplanting you, perfected in grace and spiritual\nperception, to the place where CHRIST is always seen, with an eye that\nshall never be dim, with a delight which, however it grows in desire,\nshall be more than satisfied, as you behold His face in righteousness,\nand are filled to overflowing with the fulness of His presence.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON X.\nBLESSING ACCORDING TO PRAYER.\n\n\n ST. MATTHEW, VIII., 13.\n\n _And_ JESUS _said unto the centurion_, _Go thy way_; _and as thou\n hast believed_, _so be it done unto thee_.\n\nWE must compare the narrative contained in St. Matthew\u2019s Gospel with its\nparallel in the 7th chapter of St. Luke, to obtain a clear and full idea\nof the circumstances which preceded the healing of the centurion\u2019s\nservant. St. Matthew records just so much of the history as would\nillustrate the teaching that the Gentiles from afar should be received,\nand many of the children of the kingdom cast out: St. Luke sets forth in\norder all the particulars, small and great, which he had been able to\nobtain from those who were eye-witnesses and ministers of the word.\n\nFrom the harmonised accounts we gather that a certain centurion, who had\nrenounced the worship of the \u201cgods many,\u201d and become a proselyte of the\ngate, hearing of the miracles of JESUS, sent certain elders of the Jews\nto beseech the exercise of His healing power upon a favourite servant,\nwho was grievously tormented, and at the point of death. He does not\nseem to have come at all himself. The deep sense which he entertained of\npersonal unworthiness would alone have deterred him; and, besides, he\nknew that there was a middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles,\nand that as yet JESUS was not sent but unto the house of Israel. The\nelders, come to JESUS, seek to enlist His sympathy and active interest,\nby pleading that the centurion, though not actually a Jew, was a friend\nof Jews, and had done much for the support of the Jewish worship. \u201cHe is\nworthy for whom Thou shouldst do this, for he loveth our nation, and\nhimself hath built us a synagogue. Come, then, and heal his servant.\u201d\nJESUS replies, \u201cI will come and heal him;\u201d and straightway sets out with\nthem. But when He was not far from the house, the centurion, alarmed at\nthe temerity of his former request, and shrinking instinctively from One\nso high and so holy, sent some of those around him to prevent further\ncondescension and trouble, on behalf of one so unworthy, and to suggest\nthat JESUS should but express His will (which he felt must be omnipotent)\nfrom the spot where He stood: \u201cSay in a word and my servant shall be\nhealed.\u201d The centurion had arrived at the knowledge of a great truth,\nnamely, that CHRIST\u2019S power was not confined to the scene of His bodily\npresence: and he described the process of reasoning by which he had\narrived at it. \u201cI am but a man, myself under authority, yet I have but\nto say, Go, come, do this, and, lo! it is done by my servants here,\nthere, or wherever else I appoint, while I remain still. How much more\nshalt _Thou_ speak and be obeyed, Thou who art Absolute and Supreme in\nauthority, Whose will all the spiritual armies of heaven observe, and are\nprompt and eager to perform. \u2018Speak the word only, and my servant shall\nbe healed.\u2019\u201d When JESUS heard it, He marvelled and said to them that\nfollowed, \u201cVerily, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no,\nnot in Israel.\u201d Twice we read that our LORD marvelled\u2014once at unbelief,\nand once at belief. And this is no mere figurative statement. Our LORD\nliterally marvelled. His human nature, much as He knew of what was in\nman, was taken aback by the unexpected and extraordinary display, in the\none case of perverse blindness, in the other of clear spiritual\nperception. \u201cVerily, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith.\u201d\nIt is remarkable that our LORD selects the centurion\u2019s _faith_ for\nadmiration. He dwells not on his care and anxiety for his slave, on his\ngeneral good will and good deeds, on his consciousness of unworthiness,\nhis resolute humility, \u201cLORD, I am not worthy that thou shouldst come\nunder my roof.\u201d No! it is his faith, to which JESUS gives this highest\npraise. That while he walked among His own people, who were taught of\nGOD, and was haughtily and indignantly treated, yea, despised; that while\nJews saw and albut felt His power, and refused to acknowledge it, a\nGentile, at a distance, should be filled with reverential awe of Him,\nshould assert so confidently the fulness of His power, should have such\nan insight into its spiritual working, should find and adduce proofs of\nthat power and its working, to satisfy himself, to plead to CHRIST\u2014this\nwas, indeed, worthy of note; this was, as yet, unparalleled. \u201cI have not\nfound so great faith.\u201d\n\nWe need not, however, suppose\u2014in fact we must not suppose\u2014that our LORD\nmeant to omit the commendation of the centurion\u2019s other good qualities:\nrather as they were all the fruits of faith, were they all praised in the\npraise of faith. Why did he love the Jews\u2014why did he build them a\nsynagogue\u2014why did he seek miraculous healing for his servant\u2014why did he\nemploy Jewish elders as his intercessors\u2014why did he, an important Roman\nofficer, feel unworthy of the company of a wandering Jewish peasant? Was\nit not through faith? faith in the true GOD, faith in the laws of His\nworship, faith in His awful holiness, and no less in His merciful\ngoodness, faith in His manifestation in JESUS of Nazareth? Yes, it was\nall of faith, and it was all admired and praised when JESUS marvelled and\nsaid, \u201cI have not found so great faith.\u201d But still the highest faith\u2014the\nthing most marvelled at and chiefly commended, was the spiritual\nperception of a bodily unseen LORD, the belief in His unlimited, and,\nunder all circumstances, available power. \u201cI have never seen Thee: yet I\nknow Thee who Thou art. Thou art not here, yet with a word Thou canst\ncause Thy power to be here, and to accomplish here all Thy will.\u201d\nBlessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed: and blessed\nare they precisely in the way of their own wise choice, \u201cGo thy way; and\nas thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.\u201d It was great honour\ngiven to CHRIST. It was the opportunity of a wondrous manifestation, and\nso we read, \u201cThe servant was healed in the selfsame hour.\u201d\n\nBut shall we suppose that the centurion, by his humility and his faith,\ndeprived himself of the bliss of receiving CHRIST, that CHRIST,\n_therefore_, turned away, and thought no more of him? Even in that case\nhe would not have been without his reward. The servant, who was dear to\nhim, was preserved and healed, the Jews, whom he loved, must have\nhonoured and loved him, when he had thus prevailed with GOD, and,\nbesides, what a conviction was his of the power of CHRIST, what a token\nof approval, in the fact that he had, as it were, proposed his own\nconditions for a miracle, and those conditions had been graciously\naccepted and fulfilled! He needed no vision after this to prove to him\nthat JESUS was the Son of GOD; no voice from heaven to speak to him\ncomfort and assurance of hope. He had sought CHRIST. He had found Him\nand been found of Him. Great was his reward; and his joy such as could\nnot be taken away. He would have been greatly blessed, then, had no more\nbeen done for him. But did that CHRIST, Who bestows such honour on\nhumility, Who so loves them that love Him and His, Who has made the best\nof His promises, yea, all of them to faith, did He, think you, give no\nfurther token, no higher blessedness to that centurion? Did He not\nrather prove to him, that he had made a wise choice, that he had chosen\nthe best kind of blessing, in asking for spiritual presence rather than\nbodily presence? Did He not manifest Himself to him, in that peculiar\nway of which the world knows, and can know nothing? Did He not go, He\nand the Father, and make spiritual and permanent abode with him? Yes,\nsurely, this is all implied in the words, \u201cGo thy way; and as thou hast\nbelieved, so be it done unto thee.\u201d\n\nThis view of the subject has its evident lessons and promises for us. Be\nit ours, brethren, to learn and practice the lessons, and doubt not but\nGOD will fulfil to us the promises.\n\nIn dismissing now the general subject, and attempting only to deduce\npractical instruction from the words of the text, I would ask you to\nnotice first, the kind of answer which prayer gets; it is blessed in the\nway it asks to be blessed. When the elders besought our LORD that He\nwould come and heal the servant, then we read, He went with them. When\npresently the centurion, through his friends, urges, \u201cSpeak the word\nonly, and my servant shall be healed,\u201d then CHRIST stays His own\nprogress, and sends on His grace. \u201cGo thy way; and as thou hast\nbelieved, so be it done unto thee.\u201d\n\nIt is thus that prayer is generally answered: what we ask for, that we\nobtain. _Generally_, I say, yet not always; for our wise and good LORD,\nwhen, in our ignorance, we prefer a wrong or a foolish request, sends us\nrather what He knows us to need, than what we ask. A father does not\ngive his beloved son stone for bread, nor a scorpion instead of a fish.\nAnd it may be, yea, it often is the case, that we ask GOD for what we\nthink would support us, or be of some other benefit to us, when its\nbestowal would cause us to stumble, or, perhaps, crush our spiritual\nstrength, or poison our spiritual life. And then, I say, of His wisdom\nand goodness, He sends us away _not empty_\u2014oh, no! none ask of GOD and\nobtain not, if they ask with right feeling\u2014but blessed in a different way\nfrom that we ventured to prescribe. This truth is worth a little more\nthought. There are many of you, brethren, I doubt not, who have again\nand again prayed to GOD (and very earnestly) to continue to you some\nblessing which you were in danger of losing, or to confer upon you\nsomething which you felt you wanted, and who yet were not answered\naccording to the prayer. Perhaps, you were failing in business, or your\ninfluence was being diminished, or your health breaking down, or your\nchild dying. Well, you earnestly, humbly, with faith and strong tears\ndeprecated the calamity again and again; but still it came upon you as\nthough you had never prayed; or you asked to be lifted out of your\npoverty or your misery, to be endowed with wisdom, to be made\ninfluential; you loved, and prayed GOD to make you loved again; you\nstruggled to get a situation which was just what you needed, you prayed\ncontinually that you might succeed. It was all without avail. \u201cNo\nanswer came.\u201d\n\nNo answer came! Say not that, brethren. Assuredly, an answer did come,\nif you prayed aright. It may be that you did not get what you wanted, or\nkeep what was departing; for GOD knew your choice was an unwise one, and\ntherefore of His love would not grant it. But He gave you a\ncompensation, and more than a compensation. Just as when CHRIST prayed\nthat the cup of His last agony might pass from Him. GOD rather\nstrengthened Him from heaven to endure the agony, and made it His way to\nglory\u2014so, when you have deprecated, or besought, against the will of GOD\nchoosing for you, He has enabled you to bear the calamity, to do without\nthe thing coveted, and has made all to work for your good. What He does\nit may be you know not now, but you shall know hereafter. And when in\nheaven\u2019s light you see that the continued or bestowed prosperity would\nhave made you proud and ungodly, that power or influence (though you\nmeant it not) would have been perverted by you to your ruin, that the\nchild taken away, had it remained, would have destroyed itself, and been\na curse to you, that the disappointment, and the toil, and the suffering,\nwhich you so prayed against, were just the things that planted and\nnurtured in you Christian graces, and worked out for your glory\u2014oh! then\nyou will see that GOD did answer your prayers, and you will bless him\nfervently for sending His own answer instead of the one you dictated.\n\nMeantime, in the light of this hope, remember always to add to your\nprayers for specific blessings the holy proviso, \u201cNevertheless not as I\nwill, but as Thou wilt.\u201d\n\nBut I said that generally, whenever, that is, there is no harm to\nourselves in what we ask, GOD gives us what we pray for; and I produced\nproofs, which might be multiplied manifold that it is so. \u201cGo thy way;\nand as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.\u201d Surely this is\nworth a thought; not only, or chiefly, as showing us GOD\u2019S marvellous\ncondescension and the efficacy of prayer, but as admonishing us that the\nheight, the amount, the nature of our blessedness, depends upon\nourselves, upon what we ask in prayer. What a solemn consideration is\nthis! GOD sits upon His heavenly throne, with listening ear and\noutstretched hands; angels wait to waft our supplications to His\npresence, the Holy Spirit to make intercession for us, the blessed Son to\npresent our cause and plead it! It only remains for us to ask. Whatever\nwe ask, if we are faithful, if it is good, we shall receive. What we ask\nnot, that we shall not receive. Think of that, brethren! Call to mind,\nas far as you can, what kind of prayers you have been wont to make.\nReview your past and present state. In anything are you spiritually\nunblessed? Have you only an inferior blessedness? Ah! have you not all\nthat you prayed for? Lack you not just that, which you never faithfully\nsought? This life, and the things of this life, have been often in your\nthoughts, and in your prayers, for yourselves and for others. You have\nprayed that GOD would preserve you, that He would defend you from danger\nand gross temptation, that He would give you health, and comfort, and\nearthly blessing, that He would protect and prosper those you love. You\nhave not prayed much for spiritual blessings, or you have been content\nwith supplicating inferior spiritual blessings. A clean heart, a renewed\nmind, lively faith, heavenly peace, joy in the Holy Ghost,\u2014if these are\nnot yours, do you not know why? It is because you never asked for them,\nor, at least, never asked with that appreciation, that earnestness which\nalone prevails with GOD. GOD is willing to give them. GOD has promised\nto give them. He stands ever ready to fulfil His promise. But,\nnevertheless, for these things he will be inquired of. The measure of\nthe expressed desire is the measure of the supply. Nothing less, in most\ncases nothing different, and always nothing more, may you expect from\nGOD, than that which you ask. O let the knowledge of this truth kindle\nin you desires, and teach you words wherewith to approach GOD. Miss not\nHis choicest gifts for want of asking. Prefer not for yourselves that\nwhich is earthy, and poor, and fleeting. Thrust not away\u2014and you do\nthrust away, if you do not woo\u2014perfect spiritual blessedness. When next\nyou kneel before GOD, whenever henceforth you kneel before Him, remember\nthat while He is the owner and ready-giver of all good gifts, it is yet\nonly what you ask that you will receive of Him. As thou hast believed,\nso shall it be done unto thee.\n\nBut, secondly, it is faith we see which gives force to prayer. \u201cAs thou\nhast believed.\u201d \u201cWhatsoever ye ask, believing, ye shall receive.\u201d \u201cLet\nhim ask in faith, nothing wavering.\u201d \u201cLet not him that wavereth think\nthat he shall receive anything of the LORD.\u201d GOD would have us wait on\nHim, with confidence in His sufficiency, with sure expectation that He\nwill give what we ask. If we lack this confidence and this expectation;\nif we make formal, rather than eager and hopeful requests; if we have any\nmisgivings as to the answer; if we secretly resolve what we will do, if\nthere is no answer; if we wait not, and watch not, for the answer, then,\nbrethren, we forfeit the blessing. GOD heareth not such\u2014we virtually ask\nHim not to answer us. We mock Him with the idle form of prayer. O ye\nwho ask GOD for guidance, at the same time questioning yourselves as to\nwhat ye shall do\u2014ye that pray against temptation, and forthwith yield to\nit\u2014ye that profess to cast care upon GOD, all the while being full of\ncares\u2014ye that beseech Him to help you, yet go on helping yourselves\u2014ye\nthat pray, and live as though you had not prayed, that call upon GOD, but\nwait not for his answer\u2014ye that are not certain, that feel not the\ncertainty, and act not, or forbear from acting upon it, that what you ask\nyou shall obtain, be sure that you shall go empty away, and that because\nof your unbelief. It is hollow formalism, it is fearful trifling, it is\nblasphemous mockery, to ask without faith, without sure calculation upon\nreceiving. You dare not treat an earthly friend so. You shall not, with\nimpunity, treat GOD so! Ah! here is the explanation of unanswered\nprayer\u2014prayer for that which is desirable and right\u2014it was not offered in\nfaith; the answer was not expected, and relied on; the life did not\nmanifest expectation and reliance! Would you indeed receive anything\nfrom GOD? Prefer your request, in full acknowledgment of GOD\u2019S ability,\nin faithful trust in His performance of all that you ask according to His\nwill, and show your faith by utter renunciation of all self-guidance and\nself-dependence, by patient waiting, by steadfast resistance of all that\nGOD forbids, and persevering pursuit of all that He commands. Impress\nthis upon yourselves as the spirit of your prayer, and the rule of your\nlives. Make yourselves such as GOD hears. Cleanse yourselves by the\npower of His grace from sin, that you may be allowed to approach Him.\nArm yourselves with the godly resolution that, come what will, you will\nserve the LORD; and seek, above all, His kingdom and the righteousness\nthereof. Examine yourselves, your peculiar wants and difficulties, that\nyou may inform your prayers, and make them pointed and particular,\nexpressing what you need and desire. Then offer them, with felt\nunworthiness, with holy adoration, in the certain conviction that He\nhears you, that He can supply your need, that He will supply it; and take\nto yourselves such just consolation and assurance, and let your life\nmanifest them, as if CHRIST, Who cannot lie and cannot fail, had audibly\ndeclared to you, \u201cGo thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done\nunto thee.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XI.\nCHRIST STILLING THE STORM.\n\n\n ST. MATTHEW, VIII., 26.\n\n _And He saith unto them_, _Why are ye fearful_, _O ye of little\n faith_? _Then He arose_, _and rebuked the winds and the sea_; _and\n there was a great calm_.\n\nIT was after a day of laborious teaching, that our LORD to escape for a\ntime from the crowds that thronged Him, to obtain rest and quiet, perhaps\nto exercise His ministry in other places, commanded the disciples to\nsteer the ship, in which He had been teaching, across the sea of Galilee,\nand to convey Him to the other side. Immediately, it would appear, that\nthey set out, He laid Himself down and fell asleep. Partaking of human\nnature in its infirmity, though not in its sin, He was worn out with\nlabour, and absolutely required, yea, hastened to rest. He sunk into a\ndeep sleep, then, as soon as He assumed the posture of repose. But anon,\na storm arose. One of those squalls (which so often come down upon lakes\nsurrounded by mountains) suddenly filled the air with boisterous wind,\nand so upraised and agitated the waves, that they dashed over the ship,\nand threatened it with destruction. The disciples, many of whom were\nfishermen, and others accustomed to occupy their business upon or beside\nthe water, must have been too familiar with storms to be easily\nfrightened. The darkening clouds, the howling wind, the troubled water,\nwould, of course, arouse them to energy, warning them that they were in\ndanger, and requiring them to watch and labour to save themselves; and so\nwe can well imagine them running hither and thither, with anxious looks,\nloosing or furling the sails, as might be necessary; avoiding quicksands,\nand rocks, and shallow places; lightening the ship of dangerous burthens;\ndirecting their course by the safest way, to the haven where they would\nbe. But either they must have been sorry sailors, with coward hearts,\nwhich we are not willing to believe, or their courage must have been\novercome by very unusual and imminent danger, ere they would have rushed\nto their Master, and cried to Him, in terror, \u201cLORD, save us, we perish!\u201d\nor, in rash reproach, \u201cCarest thou not, that we perish?\u201d Yes! I say,\nthere must have been unusual and imminent danger, and even something\nmore\u2014some supernatural portent\u2014thus to strike with terror, thus to fill\nwith despair.\n\nHowever this may be, they cried unto the LORD, and the LORD heard them.\nHe had slept calmly through the roar of the wind\u2014yea, even while the\nwaves washed over Him; but the cry of distress entered quickly into His\near, and He awoke to answer it. \u201cWhy are ye fearful, O ye of little\nfaith?\u201d were His awakening words. This is not a rebuke for coming to\nHim; they had done right therein. He would presently prove it by the\nmiracle He would work for them. Neither is it an assertion that there\nwas no real danger, that they had been too easily alarmed: for an\ninspired Evangelist, St. Luke, writing long afterwards, in the light of\nwhat CHRIST now said and did, expressly states that the vessel was filled\nwith water, and that they were in danger. No; it is an acknowledgment of\nthe danger, but it is also a pledge that it should be averted, and it is\na tender reproach for not being confident of deliverance. \u201cWhy are ye\nfearful, O ye of little faith?\u201d Am not I with you? Do not I know your\nwants? Have I not power and will to relieve them? Where is your faith,\nin the prophecies of what I have yet to do, that you suppose I am now to\nperish? Where is the confidence which becomes my followers?\u2014which\nothers, with less knowledge and encouragement, less ground of hope, have\nso fully shown. \u201cThough I walk through the valley of the shadow of\ndeath, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.\u201d Yea, though He slay\nme, yet will I trust in Him! Thus He reproves, and calms, and assures\nthem in their trouble, and then He proceeds to deliver them out of it.\n\u201cHe arose\u201d\u2014we read\u2014\u201cand rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a\ngreat calm.\u201d It was a wondrous manifestation of His Majesty. It was a\ngracious condescension to infirmity. It was a proof, too palpable to be\nresisted, too marvellous to be forgotten, that He is able to keep, and\nthat He will keep, in safety and in peace, those whose minds are staid on\nHim, who commit themselves to His keeping. Well may the disciples, in\nthe awful stillness of that calm, have been filled as much with\nreverential fear as with admiration. \u201cThey feared exceedingly, and said\none to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the\nsea obey Him?\u201d They had witnessed several of His epiphanies: they had\ntasted of the water made wine; they had seen the leper cleansed; and had,\nat least, heard on reliable testimony, that the centurion\u2019s servant was\nrestored\u2014yea, in the early evening of this very day, just before they\nleft the shore, JESUS had been casting out evil spirits, with His word,\nand had healed all the sick that were brought to Him: but in their eyes\n(whether they were right or wrong concerns us not now) this was a greater\nmiracle, greater in extent, greater in power, greater in the suddenness,\nthe certainty (felt by themselves, remember, as no other had been) and\nthe peace and joy of its effect. Much must it have informed their\nworship, much must it have increased their faith. Power did it give them\nto proclaim hereafter that they knew in whom they had believed, patience\nto endure for His sake, in His strength; peace in persecution, comfort in\nsorrow, hope amidst otherwise confounding terrors and dismay, that they\nhad actually experienced CHRIST\u2019S salvation from destruction; that the\nexperience had been vouchsafed them as a pledge of His constant care;\nthat they had been told, on its account, to trust\u2014never henceforth to be\nfearful, and of little faith!\n\nOf great importance, then, was that miracle of the Stilling of the Storm,\nif it meant no more, and accomplished no more than this: if it only\nshowed, that on a large, as on a small scale, over elements, as well as\nover diseases, on the sea no less than on the land, JESUS was \u201cmighty to\nsave\u201d; if it only furnished the eye-witnesses of His ministry with a\ngreat instance of His gracious power; if it only prepared them for their\nlife of storms and difficulties, and supported them in their dangers and\ndistresses, and kept them faithful and joyful.\n\nBut, surely, it has more meaning, and more worth, than this.\n\nFirst, it reveals to us, if I mistake not, a contention between spiritual\npowers (the Son of GOD on the one side, the Devil on the other), followed\nby a victory of the good, and a conspicuous defeat of the evil. That was\nno accidental raging of wind and waves, that was no operation of the GOD\nof providence using the elements to accomplish good purposes which was\nrebuked by the voice of the Son of GOD. Rebuke would be meaningless\naddressed to mere wind and wave: it would be blasphemous addressed to\nGOD. It is only when speaking to the Devil, to fevers and distempers,\nthe effects of demoniacal possession, to Peter or others, prompted by\nSatan, speaking his words, doing his work, that CHRIST uses rebuke. Here\nthen, surely, Satan was at work, and here he was confounded! The enemy\nof souls had never ceased to watch and seek to destroy the Saviour. He\nhad stirred up Herod against Him in His infancy. He had personally\nassailed Him in the wilderness. He was now using the elements, over\nwhich much power is often allowed him, as we see in Job\u2019s case, as his\nagents of evil. But with all his wisdom and perception, he knew not what\nwas in JESUS. He thought once that he could as easily have made Him\nsceptical as he did Eve, \u201chath GOD said,\u201d \u201cIf Thou be the Son of Man.\u201d\nHe thought now that while the Son of Man slept he was unconscious and\npowerless. And so in his folly he sought to wreck the vessel, and\noverwhelm Him whom it carried in the depths of the sea. Attempting this,\nhe did but give occasion for an additional manifestation of CHRIST\u2019S\nmission and power to destroy him and his works. On the shore, before He\nstarted, CHRIST had cast out devils. On the shore for which He was\nmaking He would again cast them out. On the sea He now meets them, and\nconfounds them. O what a mighty, what a galling conquest! Satan had let\nloose all the powers of the winds, he had lashed the waves into utmost\nfury, the disciples were dismayed, the Saviour was asleep, the ship was\nsinking. \u201cOnly a few moments,\u201d doubtless, he exultingly thought, \u201cand\nthere shall be a second destruction of man, the kingdom shall surely\nbecome mine, for there will be none to dispute it\u201d\u2014when, lo! the LORD\narose, and, with a word, made him undo the work he had done. \u201cPeace be\nstill;\u201d and the wind ceased, and there was a great calm! O signal\ndefeat! O earnest of the promise that the head of the serpent shall be\nbruised, that Satan himself shall be bound and trodden under foot, and\ncast into the lake of fire, and shall deceive and vex no more. Surely,\nthis is one of the chief scenes, one of the most mysterious and important\nevents, one of the most glorious manifestations of CHRIST\u2019S life on\nearth.\n\nBut this is not all its significance. The miracles of our LORD were\nacted parables\u2014types of spiritual things\u2014rather outward signs, not\nthemselves to be given up, but thereafter to be accompanied by inward\ngrace.\n\nThe ship on the sea of Galilee represents the Christian Church, or the\nindividual member of it. The sea is the world; the storm, with its\nadverse wind and difficult waves, figures the trials, the buffetings, the\npersecutions, the fears of this mortal life; the disciples are the types\nof weak yet willing human nature\u2014both our warnings and our examples; and\nCHRIST is Himself, yet, so to speak, but a figure of the true, dwelling\nin His Church in each faithful member, often apparently unheeding,\nunconscious, yet always our sure defence and deliverer, prompt to hear\nwhen called upon, able to comfort, mighty to save.\n\nThat entry into the ship, and sailing forth into the sea, represents our\nfirst journey, and each renewed journey to CHRIST, in Baptism, in\nConfirmation, in Holy Communion, in every fresh repentance, every vow,\nevery act of worship. Forth we go with Him. All is calm and hopeful.\nWe seem to have to journey over quiet waters. The shore of Heaven is\nstraight before us, and we are making for it. But, as soon as we set\nout, our envious, deadly enemy, hating our LORD, and hating us, plots our\ndestruction, and assays its accomplishment. Soon trouble takes the place\nof peace, winds of adversity toss and try us, hope begins to pale, terror\nto dismay, the waters go even over our soul, and He who should calm us,\nand sustain and cheer us, seems to have fallen asleep, to help us not, to\ntake no notice of us. It is the hour of GOD\u2019S trial, of the Devil\u2019s\ntemptation! What shall we do? If we are wise sailors, like as I have\nsupposed the disciples to have done, we shall meet the occasion with\nwell-directed energy; we shall keep the vessel away from the quicksands\nof pleasure, the shallows of pride, the rocks of offence, and the\nwhirlpools of sin. We shall cast out the weight that drags us down,\nsloth, indifference, besetting sin. We shall bear up against the\nboisterous winds of adversity. We shall resolutely and perseveringly\npursue the straight course through the waters, making for, looking for\nthe shore. Unless we do all this, we have no right to hope. But we must\ntake care, lest in, ay, even by doing it, we lose our hope. Satan\ndestroys many because they make no effort to save themselves; but he\ndestroys quite as many because they rely on their own efforts. It is a\nfact that we can do nothing by ourselves; that human wisdom,\nself-reliant, is sure to be confounded, and human effort, independent, to\nbe paralysed. But even if for the time we see what is right, and are\nsuccessful in doing it, he will enshroud us in such horrible darkness, he\nwill fill our ears with such dismal sounds, he will so toss and bewilder\nand overwhelm us, that presently weariness, perplexity, and despair will\ncause us to give up, to consent to our own destruction. The disciples in\nthat storm-tossed ship seem to have been bringing themselves well nigh\ninto this ruin, first to have relied on themselves, and then to have\ndespaired of themselves, all the while forgetting Who was with them, Who\nshould have been their guide, Who was their sure protector, when, all at\nonce, before it was too late, they remembered and aroused Him, and called\nHim to their aid. It was their bliss to find that \u201cthe saint\u2019s extremity\nis GOD\u2019S opportunity;\u201d that it is never too late, before destruction, to\ncall upon Him and be saved; but they were not allowed to enjoy this bliss\nunmixed with reproach for self-confidence and for want of confidence in\nHim. In all the storms and dangers which beset us on the sea of life,\nlet us take example from the disciples to call upon Him who can save us,\nand let us also take warning from them, not to forget His company, or to\nsuppose that He forgets us.\n\nSuch seems to be a sketch of the interpretation of the meaning and\ninstruction for us of this acted parable.\n\nAnd now, brethren, having learnt the general truth, let us pick out and\ndwell upon some of its particulars.\n\nAnd first, in setting out with CHRIST, expect storms and dangers. We are\ntoo apt to suppose that the war of life is to be waged only with men,\nthat the storms of life are only encountered in temporal things. We can\nwell understand that it was otherwise, that it must have been otherwise,\nwith the first founders of the Church, with confessors in the face of\nunbelieving Jews and heathen Romans, with the Reformers, with\nmissionaries now: but in our own case we calculate on a smooth and safe\njourney over the sea of time to the shore of eternity, ay, and after many\ndays, experience, we say, confirms our calculation. No sore temptations\ntry us; no conflict of good and evil principles tosses and tears us; no\ndespair threatens to drown us. We have trouble enough in the world, in\nearning our daily bread, in claiming and maintaining our own, in becoming\nrich, or powerful, or famous, in ruling those who rebel against our just\nauthority, who would gainsay our words, and frustrate our efforts. But\nin spiritual things this is not the case. We find it easy (I speak that\nwhich the manifest lives and apparent feelings of what are called\nrespectable men justify my speaking) to follow the course which we would\nin religion\u2014we worship in church, we read the Bible and pray at home\nwithout opposition. It costs us no trouble to keep the letter of GOD\u2019S\nchief commandments. We know nothing of spiritual wrestling, spiritual\nfear, spiritual despondency. Why should we? Our ways are mainly\nupright; our consciences not afraid, our duty plain and simple; and in\nCHRIST, therefore, our hope sure. I know that men think this (at least\nthey do not think otherwise), and in their lives they act it, even if\nthey dare not shape it into words. But, brethren, if it is so with you,\nlook to it, for the calm is more deadly than the storm. The Devil is the\ninveterate enemy and the untiring assailant of CHRIST and Christians.\nHis whole being and energy are concentrated in the aim and effort to bury\nthe ark of CHRIST in the sea of eternal destruction. If, then, you pass\nover that sea, and are enshrouded by no darkness, beaten by no winds,\ntossed by no billows, be sure that it is because CHRIST is not in your\ncompany. That Church has had its candlestick removed, which dwells in\nsecurity, peaceful and prosperous; and that individual has not CHRIST for\nthe tenant of his heart who experiences not what the storm-tossed vessel\ntypified. Satan is intent upon destroying every one that is CHRIST\u2019S.\nIf he attempts not your destruction, it is because he does not consider\nyou CHRIST\u2019S\u2014and, remember, though he is not all-wise, he is as an angel,\nand an archangel in perception\u2014because your vessel bears not CHRIST;\nbecause you are on no journey with CHRIST to cast out evil spirits and\ndrive them over steep places into the sea. O, my brethren, it is an\nawful sign, a death-boding distinction, when Satan lets us alone in this\nsea of life, and deems it unnecessary to keep us by violent efforts from\nreaching heaven. It is the expression of his informed and deliberate\njudgment that we are not going thither! O ye who dwell at ease and glide\nsmoothly along the journey of life, put back, take CHRIST on board, and\njoy when you find in yourselves the signs of His presence, the assaults\nof Satan, the warring within you of good and evil, the stirrings of\nconscience, the flutterings of spiritual fear. I do not mean become\nmorbid, and delight in what is mournful and terrible; but suspect and\nrefuse the peace which Satan offers without contest, and determine to\nhave only that which in CHRIST\u2019S strength you win and maintain.\n\nNext, consider the meaning of CHRIST\u2019S lying asleep in the storm, and\ninterfering not to control it, till so earnestly called up.\n\nIn providence and in grace GOD delights, so to speak, to hide Himself,\nthough He exhibits the results of His works. He is the Author of every\ngift, and the Ruler and Promoter of its use; but He puts it into our\nhands as His agents, and bids us with it accomplish His will. As the\nheart is the fountain of the blood which flows through our members, as it\nis bone and muscle that give strength to the arm, so is GOD the Source of\ngrace to the soul, and the prevailing Power of our efforts. Still, it is\nnot Himself prominently and foremost that does the work in the world, but\nwe from and by Him. The explanation of this economy seems to be, first,\nthat He would have us walk by faith\u2014remembering Him, relying on Him,\nworking for Him\u2014rather than by right, constrained, whether we will or\nnot, without feeling or desire, or dependence, to see, and admit, and\nfeel His power. And, secondly, that He would give us an individuality, a\ncertain dependent independence, which shall make us feel personal\nresponsibility, and allow us to deserve (in a sense) the recompense of\npersonal effort. Thus, He leaves the fool to say, There is no GOD, and\nrewards the faithful by revealing Himself to belief. Thus, while there\nis a GOD, while He is not far from us, while in Him we live and move and\nhave our being, we are required and stimulated to seek Him, to feel after\nHim, and find Him. Besides, or more properly _therefore_, we have to\ncall upon Him before He answers. Even when He had determined, and\ndeclared His determination, to bless the Israelites, He made the\ncondition, \u201cNevertheless, for these things I will be inquired of.\u201d He\nwould have us live by spiritual dependence. He would have us communicate\nto Him our wants. He would have us draw down by prayer the supply. And\nthis He effects by making it a law, that He will know nothing of us, at\nleast know nothing so as to heed for our good, but what we tell Him, and\nwill give us nothing but what we ask. I have so lately enlarged upon\nthis subject that I will add nothing upon it now, but to bid you remember\nthe necessity and the power of prayer.\n\nLastly, consider what is taught by that remonstrance, spoken in the\ninterval between awaking and acting, \u201cWhy are ye fearful, O ye of little\nfaith?\u201d I have already said that CHRIST did not disapprove the prayer,\nbut only the fear which had preceded it, the poverty of the faith which\naccompanied it. Neither did He demand of the disciples the impossibility\nof being undisturbed in the midst of such perturbation. It is\nnatural\u2014natural even to the Christian full of grace, to be affected by\nthe circumstances which attend him. CHRIST was so affected Himself, as\nHis prayers, and shrinkings, and watchings, and open teaching assure us.\nHe, who wept at human misery, though He was just going to put it to\nflight; He, who shrank from the trial which He had deliberately and of\nchoice encountered, has sanctioned and recommended (shall I say\nenforced?) by His example the same feelings in His disciples. He does\nnot forbid us to be human, but only requires us to leaven humanity with\ngodliness. Trials we are to have, and trials we ought to feel. To be\nstolid and callous is to be unchristian, for none ever felt trials as\nCHRIST did. But in our trials, while we feel, and weep, and shrink, we\nare not to be faint-hearted. We are to know in Whom we have believed.\nWe are, therefore, to bear them, and submit to them; but we are not to be\noverpowered by them. We are not to allow them to exercise such an\ninfluence as to make us forget that there is One greater than the storm,\nWho rules it even in its wildest raging, Who will cause it to cease when\nit is fitting, Who will not allow it to overwhelm us if we are dependent\non Him in its continuance, if we hope in Him to stay it. Terrible is the\ndarkness of the sky, powerful is the violence of the wind, drenching are\nthe waves, but the ship shall not sink, for CHRIST is in it. Whatever,\nthen, the terrors and the trouble of the present, we have hope, we have\nconfidence in the future. \u201cWhy art thou so cast down O my soul, and why\nart thou so disquieted within me? Hope in GOD for I shall yet praise\nHim, Who is the health of my countenance and my GOD.\u201d\n\nSuch is the teaching of CHRIST\u2019S remonstrance. And the time of its\nutterance, the delay to assuage the storm, teaches this further lesson,\nthat in this life CHRIST will give us comfort in trouble, but not\nnecessarily deliverance out of trouble. By and by He will indeed deliver\nus. But the best blessing here is not immunity, but trust and support.\nThere is a peace in war, a joy in sorrow, a strength in weakness, with\nwhich the world and the Devil cannot intermeddle. Seek we this, and be\nsure we are wanting in what CHRIST delights to afford, if we have it not.\nBut having it, bear we patiently, thankfully, all outward commotion,\nfaithfully expecting the time, when openly, as already inwardly, CHRIST\nshall arise and command \u201cPeace be still,\u201d and there shall be a great and\nabiding calm.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XII.\nUNITY WITH PEACE.\n\n\n EPHESIANS, IV., 1, 2, 3.\n\n _I_, _therefore_, _the prisoner of the_ LORD, _beseech you that ye\n walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye are called_, _With all\n lowliness and meekness_, _with longsuffering_, _forbearing one\n another in love_; _Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in\n the bond of peace_.\n\nIT was the prayer of our Blessed LORD\u2014what an earnest prayer it was,\ndelivered in what solemn and affecting circumstances\u2014that all His\ndisciples might be one, even as He and the Father were one. He had\nlaboured to secure this oneness, by teaching them that there was the same\ntruth for all to receive, and the same work for all to do. Individual\nfancies and theories were not to be indulged, where the whole teaching\nwas of GOD; pride was not to exercise itself where everything was\nreceived, and nothing earned; ambition was checked, by being told that,\nby seeking, it should lose, that he who would be first should be last.\nAll were equal in position, all equal in privileges. In serving one\nanother, in preferring one another\u2014by this alone could they please GOD;\nin this way only could they reach unto eminence. Devoted to a common\nLORD, directed by a common revelation, enabled by a common grace,\nexercised in a common work, cheered by a common hope, surrounded with\ncommon trials and difficulties\u2014what could there be within, without, past,\npresent, or future, which should prevent them from all thinking the same\nthoughts and doing the same works, sinking the individual in the company,\nclinging to one another, labouring together, knit together in a holy\nbond\u2014\u201cOne LORD, one faith, one baptism, one GOD and Father of all, Who is\nabove all, and through all, and in all.\u201d To think for oneself, what was\nit but to reject GOD\u2019S truth; to act independently, but to forsake their\nappointed work; not to serve and love the brethren, not to serve and love\nthe LORD; to separate from the Christian company, to go away from CHRIST?\n\nEven if the Spirit had not been given to effect this unity, if the Gospel\nhad not enforced it by the plainest denunciation of heresies and\nschisms\u2014crimes classed by it with the worst and lowest, and most certain\nto exclude from heaven; even if CHRIST had never prayed for their union,\nnor taught them that they were to be united, still, if the disciples of\nreligion were like the followers of any other cause, it might have been\nexpected\u2014it would have seemed morally impossible that it should be\notherwise\u2014that the remembrance and love of their Master, the cause which\nthey had taken up, the knowledge of the way in which alone it could be\nfurthered, their common relationship, and interests, and aims, and hopes,\nwould have kept them in one body, would have bound them fast to each\nother in the bonds of peace. And, doubtless, it would have been so, but\nfor the influence and machinations of the evil one. There could have\nbeen no other fruit from such seed, but that the enemy sowed tares in the\nsame field. In CHRIST, self had been denied and destroyed. His Church\nwas to be the embodiment and propagator of self-denial, self-submission,\nself-devotion. Such a Church threatened antichrist with certain\ndestruction: for antichrist is the spirit of self\u2014and selfishness\ndestroyed, where would be sin? Therefore, the Devil sought to break up\nor mar and impair the Church; and, to accomplish his object, infused into\nas many of its members as he could, the very spirit of self, which it was\ncommissioned to destroy. Alas! he was too successful in his fell work.\nSoon self began to ask, \u201cWhy should I not choose what to believe\u2014what to\ndo? Why should I not make to myself a name, and claim for myself\nauthority, and power, and reverence? Why should I not have private\nviews, and seek private ends? Why should I suffer, and forbear, and seek\nanother\u2019s good, rather than my own?\u201d The selfish question was father to\nthe selfish determination; and so, even in the Apostles\u2019 time, the faith\nwas mutilated here and denied there\u2014there were heresies, and schisms, and\nstrifes, and boastings of spiritual gifts, and withholding of temporal\nsubstance from GOD, and indulgence of lusts, and hatings, and revengings,\nand backbitings, and fightings, and denying of one another, among those\nwho were all called with one calling, enlightened and sanctified by one\nSpirit, appointed to \u201ckeep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.\u201d\nAnd so it has continued to the present time. There is no such reasoning,\nand questioning, and quibbling, and deciding for oneself what to believe,\nabout any other subject, as about the truth, which GOD has plainly taught\nand has clearly defined. There are no other divisions so numerous, so\nlamentable, so strife-begotten, and strife-engendering, as in the one\nbody of CHRIST. Pride, and ambition, and self-seeking, in all its worst\nforms; evil suspicions, revilings, hatred, persecutions, have abounded,\nand do abound, and boldly manifest themselves in that very community\nwhence self was to be expelled! Many antichrists are in the world, but\nas many in the Church. The very heathen repel our attempts to convert\nthem, by bidding us first agree what to believe ourselves. The worst of\nmen say they have a right to despise us for our bitter jealousies and\ndisliking of one another; and the taunt is common, and has been in some\nmeasure provoked, that religion is only a mask, a cloak to hide men\u2019s\nbasest passions and worst deeds.\n\nIt may be urged\u2014it ought to be urged\u2014that this is not altogether the\nfault of Christians. It was the will of GOD that the goats should be\nallowed to mingle with the sheep, that the tares should not be rooted out\nfrom among the wheat, that the net should contain small as well as great,\nworthless as well as good fishes. Hence they are \u201cnot all Israel, who\nare of Israel.\u201d And so the bad feelings and deeds, the things which are\nan offence and a reproach in Christendom, are to be charged not\naltogether to CHRIST\u2019S true followers, but to those who only in name are\nChristians\u2014to the world, in fact, intruding into, and mixing itself up\nwith, the Church.\n\nYes; this is so. The world has sought and found scope in the Church for\nthe wild exercise of its reason, for profane speculations, and whimsical\nfancies; for self-indulgence, too, in all its forms; for lusts, and\nstrifes, and false accusations, and enmities, and wickedness, of every\nhue and measure. The worst heretics and schismatics, the fiercest\npersecutors, the bitterest accusers of the brethren, are evidently not\ntrue followers, even in intention, of CHRIST; they are not rebels and\ntraitors, \u201cthey are not of us,\u201d they belong to the enemy, and have stolen\ninto our camp; and are now mixing themselves with us, and confounding,\nand harassing, and misguiding us, as part of the subtle warfare which is\nbeing waged by Satan against us. But still, alas! we are not clear. Too\nmany who deserve to be called something better than nominal Christians,\ntoo many\u2014ay, even of the best of us\u2014make no endeavour\u2014that is worthy of\nthe name\u2014to keep the unity of the Spirit; or, if they strive for unity,\nforget the bond of peace.\n\nIt is very common to find a man who has been at much pains to find out\nfor himself the doctrines and requirements of Christianity, who heartily\naccepts every article of the creed, who is scrupulously exact in keeping\nall the ordinances, who would think himself guilty of no ordinary sin, if\nhe frequented the place of worship of another sect, or contributed of his\nsubstance to their cause, who is yet all the while utterly indifferent to\nthe fact that almost every article of his creed, and every ordinance of\nhis Church, is ignored, and even denounced by some one or other of the\nmany bodies of men calling themselves Christian communities. He thinks\nit no business of his to defend the faith, or to vindicate the\nordinances. Let every man look to himself, is his maxim, and leave\nothers alone; or, perhaps, if he is momentarily interested in the matter,\nif a wish springs up that it were otherwise, he soothes himself, and\nspares himself further anxiety and labour, by suggesting that Christian\ncharity would not interfere with another\u2019s liberty. \u201cThese others,\u201d he\nreasons, \u201chave a religion, and follow it. It is not altogether the same\nas mine, but it is in many respects like it, perhaps in all essentials.\nAt any rate, it is better than none; it would be presumptuous to suppose\nthat they may not be saved by it. Therefore, if I must help in\nproselytizing any, it shall not be these mainly right, but the godless,\nthe followers of no religion!\u201d\n\nNow, brethren, such a man is utterly in fault: he is incurring the\nApostle\u2019s reproach of being carnal, in allowing divisions; he is\noffending against the very Christian charity which he thinks he is\nexercising; he is unconcerned about the due honour of GOD; he is\ndisobeying the injunction to endeavour \u201cto keep the unity of the Spirit.\u201d\nThe question is not, whether a man can be saved in heresy or schism, but\nwhether any Christian, who honours GOD and loves the brethren, ought to\nwink at heresy or schism? And the answer is plain\u2014he ought not! Is GOD\nhonoured, is He pleased, when the creature, to whom He reveals Himself,\nsays, in effect, Thus much of the Divine account I will accept; the rest\nI do not like, cannot reconcile with my private pre-conceived notions,\ncannot see to be reasonable, therefore, I reject it? Is GOD obeyed, when\nHis servant, instead of fulfilling His whole will, sets aside\ncapriciously, or for some selfish reason, certain positive precepts of\nthat will? Is any Christian in a certainly accepted and safe state, or\nin the way to it, who does not use, who ignores the need of, prescribed\nmeans of cleansing and sanctifying? And if he is not, how far is it\ncharitable, to let him remain as he is, without concern? My brethren, we\nall recognise it as the duty of every Christian to promote the knowledge\nand acceptance of the truth. Can we be said to discharge this duty, if\nwe care not about the mutilation or distortion of the truth? We all\nacknowledge that we ought to love one another, to have fervent charity\namong ourselves. Is it charitable\u2014is it not culpably selfish\u2014to have, as\nwe believe, the best, if not the only, right faith\u2014and not to be\nconcerned that others have it not? Is it not, too, strangely perverse to\nadmit, that those in separation are brethren, fellow-pilgrims,\nfellow-heirs, to hope to meet them in heaven, and to think, and feel, and\nlive in perfect harmony with them for ever; and yet here not to be\nconcerned that we never can give them the right hand of fellowship\u2014cannot\njourney with them, and help, and make for the inheritance together\u2014can\nnever even meet them in prayer and communion\u2014must let them be as utter\nstrangers? In earthly matters none of this would be tolerated, could\npossibly be. Why, then, can it be\u2014why is it in religion? Because we are\nnot jealous enough for the honour of GOD, because we do not truly love\nthe brethren, because we do not endeavour to keep the unity of the\nSpirit!\n\nBut it is possible to err\u2014there are many who do err\u2014on the other side;\nwho, in their zeal for the faith, insist that all shall think and do\nprecisely as they do, or shall forego the name of brethren: who have been\nat no pains to search out the ground of their own faith, and see how much\nof it is derived from GOD, and how much from man; who make no distinction\nbetween important and unimportant misconceptions; who class together the\nwilful teacher of error and the misguided learner, the originators of\nschism and the inheritors of it; who blame for their faults those whom\nthey should rather pity for their misfortune; who would make the path of\northodoxy as narrow as possible, and excommunicate all whom they could\ndetect treading on its borders; who not only see nothing right beyond\ntheir own Church, but are impatient of much that is within it; who split\nthe Church up into parties, and bring about the worst of\nschisms\u2014divisions, misgivings, and oppositions, among members of the same\nhousehold, continuing in the same house; who would have undue prominence\ngiven to certain doctrines; who fight for or against certain ceremonies\nand vestments, and certain kinds of music; who are ever looking for\nsomething to protest against, to blame, or to pity, in their\nfellow-worshippers or their ministers. These men think that they do GOD\nservice (for I speak not now of the wilful); they are intent upon serving\nHim; but it is like Saul before his conversion, with an ignorant and\npersecuting zeal. They want to establish and keep, what they think, the\nunity of the Spirit, but they care not for the bond of peace. If a\nmember of their own communion does not think as they do, they quarrel\nwith him, they bid him go, they would thrust him out: while, as for\nmembers of other Christian bodies, they think worse of them, they speak\nworse of them, they shun them more than they would an infidel or a\nreprobate! Let not this be thought exaggeration; not always, nor very\noften, let us hope, do they come to this growth; but of this kind, alas!\ntoo nearly of this measure there are not a few among both High Churchmen\nand Low Churchmen; and in this direction works all zeal that is not fully\nenlightened by GOD, that is not warmed with love for CHRIST, and love for\nthose whom CHRIST died to save and win. Zeal is good, earnest contention\nfor the faith is imperatively required of every Christian, but so is\nright knowledge and love. Right knowledge, I venture to say, while\ncondemning actual heresy and schism, would often be content with creeds\nin general terms, and would make much easier, than many strict\nreligionists conceive, the terms of communion, so as to include as many\nas were really desirous of being included; and love, Christian love,\nwould sigh and sorrow over differences, and yearn after separatists; and\nwould labour, and persuade, and spend, and be spent, and wrestle in\nprayer, to cement, to convert, to bring in. O it is _self_ that is so\nstern and strict in defining what is correct theology; it is antichrist\nin his worst mood, that would thrust out or cut off a brother sinner!\n\nMy brethren, understand clearly that you are most solemnly bound to\naccept yourselves, and to urge upon others, the whole teaching of GOD,\nnothing less and nothing more; to render yourselves, to persuade others\nto render, precise and perfect obedience. You may not be indifferent\nabout others, but you must not be overbearing. You are keepers and\nhelpers of the brethren, but you are not judges and avengers. It is your\nduty to honour GOD, and to maintain His honour; it is your mission to\npersuade others to honour Him also. GOD is honoured in unity, in\nagreement, in faith, in union, in practice, and service, and worship.\nYou have then to promote this unity; but, as a pre-qualification, you\nmust have so entered into the mind of the Spirit, as to know\u2014specially\nfor GOD\u2019S missionary work\u2014what liberty is allowed, and to feel, after\nyour poor measure, what CHRIST feels of love for each individual soul.\nIn the prosecution of your work, the text directs you\u2014You are called with\none calling, the Gentile is included with the Jew; the aim is union, not\nseparation, that all may be saved. By all means, save whom you can. Be\nlowly, let not self intrude, where CHRIST should be put forward; be meek,\nlet not self recoil where CHRIST would suffer; be patient, enduring,\nlong-suffering, slow to take offence, determined not to give offence,\nbent upon returning good for evil, forbearing one another in love, making\nevery allowance for wrong training, for natural prejudices, for\nindividual infirmities\u2014ay, and even perversities. Be very zealous for\nthe unity of the Spirit; but be sure that you are breaking, not\npromoting, that unity, wherever you sever or endanger the bond of peace.\nFollow this advice\u2014and I do not say you will root out heresy, and heal\ndivisions, but you will do much towards it. Argument, and censure, and\nridicule, and remonstrance, and denunciation, and persecution, have been\ntrying, ever since the Christian era, to establish the unity of the\nSpirit, and have rather destroyed it. Try you, whether he was not\nenlightened and sanctified by the Spirit, who said, and acted upon it,\n\u201cthat one ounce of love could do more than many pounds of controversy.\u201d\nMen may be repelled from you, by your orthodoxy, your zeal, your\nreasoning, your stout remonstrance. They will be subdued by your\nforbearance, and will come after you for your love!\n\nTo the best of you, I say, there is some indifference which you ought to\nshake off. To the best of you, I say, get farther from bigotry and the\nspirit of self.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XIII.\nTHE LAW IN THE GOSPEL.\n\n\n ST. LUKE, X., 25.\n\n _What shall I do to inherit eternal life_?\n\nWE have here the question of a Jewish lawyer, who is said, in propounding\nit, to have tempted our LORD. This does not necessarily, or even\nprobably, mean, that his object was simply to ensnare and entangle JESUS\nin his speech: but rather that he was putting Him to the test, that he\nmight judge of the qualifications and orthodoxy of the New Teacher. But,\nbesides this, he seems, from the commendation presently passed on him, to\nhave had a better motive; to have been like the scribe who was not far\nfrom the kingdom of heaven, to have felt personal anxiety about\nsalvation, and to have sought from our LORD, in an honest, though\nsomewhat professional and self-sufficient manner, the resolution of a\nreal doubt. \u201cWhat shall I do to inherit eternal life?\u201d He had listened\nto the words in which JESUS reminded His hearers, that they had greater\nprivileges than those who lived before them (\u201cBlessed are the eyes which\nsee the things that ye see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings\nhave desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them,\nand to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them\u201d), and\nrightly concluding that they were an announcement of the arrival of\nGospel times, and the setting forth of their speaker as the Great Gospel\nTeacher, he asked, what was there _new_ for him to hear and learn, and\nwhat consequently remained for him to do, that he might inherit eternal\nlife. The reply of our LORD is remarkable. \u201cWhat is written in the law?\nhow readest thou?\u201d There is nothing new, nothing taken away, nothing\nadded or altered. I come, to fulfil the ceremonial law, to enforce the\nmoral law, what does that bind upon thee? And he answering said, with\nmuch wisdom\u2014much spiritual discernment, \u201cThou shalt love the LORD thy GOD\nwith all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and\nwith all thy mind: and thy neighbour as thyself. And JESUS said unto\nhim, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live:\u201d _i.e._,\nshalt have eternal life. Observe, throughout this lawyer\u2019s speech, how\ncorrect is his theology. \u201cWhat shall I do to _inherit_ eternal life?\u201d\nnot to gain, to purchase, to earn it, but to inherit it. \u201cI do not claim\nit as a profitable servant, I am not so foolish as to suppose that I can\nprocure it by any surrender, or exchange, or labour. It comes (to those\nto whom it comes at all) as an inheritance, to the children of the\ncovenant, the heirs of faithful Abraham. And this heirship is not a\nnatural, but a spiritual one. I am a Jew outwardly, but I do not\ntherefore claim to be certainly a Jew inwardly. They are not all Israel\nwho are of Israel. Abraham\u2019s child according to the flesh, I would also\nbe, what I am not necessarily, what indeed I am not at all of mere\nnatural birthright, Abraham\u2019s child according to the promise.\u201d And next\nobserve, how he seeks to secure the inheritance. \u201cWhat shall I _do_?\u201d\nEternal life is not the reward of service, it is not the fruit of labour,\nit is the privilege of a spiritual relationship; but still it cannot be\nenjoyed by those who are indifferent about it, or by those who only\ndesire it. It must be laid hold on by real active efforts; it must be\nmaintained by a particular course of conduct; salvation must be worked\nout. \u201cWhat must I do\u201d to secure it? Truly he is an enlightened scribe!\nHe knows that eternal life is the free gift of a GOD, Who is no respecter\nof persons; Who recognises no birthright, no personal merits; Who will\nhave mercy on Whom He will have mercy: but that yet grace does not fall,\nas the rain from heaven, alike upon the barren and the fertile, the\nthankless and the thankful, the careless and the anxious, the indolent\nand the active; but is ever guided by a discerning and distinguishing\nhand, is ever bestowed upon righteousness. And so he asks, What is the\nrighteousness that inherits grace: knowing well what was the prescribed\nrighteousness of the law, how men were to be saved in times past; but\nexpecting that under the Gospel, an additional, perhaps a different\ncourse was to be followed.\n\nWe have already seen that CHRIST referred him back to the law, as\nrevealing and enacting all that was necessary. \u201cWhat is written in the\nlaw? How readest thou?\u201d It is in his answer to this question that we\nsee chiefly the perfection of his religious theory and his great\nintellectual superiority to the scribes generally. For, observe, he does\nnot reply \u201cWe must be circumcised; we must be sprinkled with the blood of\ngoats and heifers; we must keep the Passover; we must wait on the\ntemple-services; we must give tithes of all that we possess.\u201d Nor,\nagain, does he say, \u201cWe must observe all moral precepts; we must refrain\nfrom all idolatry; we must do justice and love mercy; obeying implicitly\nthe commandments of the two tables.\u201d No! in theory he is wiser than\nthat: he has no reliance on external rights and ceremonies: he is sure\nthat GOD demands something better than a servile conformity with certain\nprecepts and restrictions. GOD, he knows, looks to the heart, requires\nthe spirit rather than, _i.e._, beyond the letter. The law has taught\nhim this: Moses gave him from heaven ceremonies to perform, and moral\ncommandments to keep; but Moses told him, that mere outward conformity\nwith these things was not righteousness; that the law was spiritual; that\nthe acts done and refrained from under it were only exhibitions of a\nprinciple which must reign within: \u201cThou shalt love the LORD thy GOD with\nall thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with\nall thy mind, and thy neighbour as thyself.\u201d Even so, \u201cThou hast\nanswered right,\u201d said CHRIST. \u201cThou hast learnt under the law, all that\nthe Gospel would teach. To exhibit this is the bent of My life on earth,\nto enforce it will be the mission of My Church. Love is the fulfilling\nof the law. This do, and thou shalt live.\u201d\n\nIt appears to me, brethren, that in this conversation, carefully\nconsidered, we may find a clue to the satisfactory interpretation of\nthose perplexing sayings about the differences between the law and the\nGospel: \u201cThe letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.\u201d \u201cYe are not\nunder the law,\u201d \u201cthe ministration of condemnation;\u201d \u201cThe covenant that\nwas confirmed before of GOD in CHRIST, the law which was 430 years after\ncannot disannul.\u201d \u201cThe Law and the Prophets were until John.\u201d \u201cI am not\ncome to destroy the law.\u201d \u201cThis do and thou shalt live.\u201d\n\nIt is a common notion that there is an essential difference, amounting\neven to a contradiction between the law and the Gospel. GOD is\nsupposed\u2014as if He were an imperfect Being changing His ways\ncapriciously\u2014to have suspended the Covenant of Grace which He had made\nwith Abraham, from the time of Moses to that of CHRIST, and to have given\nthe Jews in its stead a Covenant of Works, which He well knew they could\nnot keep, and under which, therefore, they were sure to be destroyed: or,\nif He accepted any of them under the law, then, it is said, that inasmuch\nas their obedience was of course imperfect, He must have been content\nwith less than He had required, and have disregarded His own decree, \u201cThe\nsoul that sinneth it shall die.\u201d Nay, more than this: that He dispensed\nfor a time with the merits of CHRIST\u2019S atonement and the finding of\nsalvation through Him, and dealt with man on his own merits, and rewarded\nhim for an imperfect obedience. But now, it is urged, all this is once\nmore changed. The law, having served its purpose of showing men that\nthey could not obey GOD in the letter, having concluded them all under\nsin by disallowing the things they were prone to, and requiring what they\ncould not do, having disappointed and balked them in their efforts to\nobtain salvation by it, and so caused them to abandon its observance in\ndespair, and to inquire for another way of salvation\u2014thus being a\nschoolmaster to lead them to CHRIST\u2014has now been wholly repealed; so that\nwe have nothing more to do with it, being brought out of bondage into\nliberty, and what we find forbidden or required by it, is not forbidden\nor required by us _because it is in the law_, but may be done or left\nundone, notwithstanding what the law says, unless some eternally moral\nprinciple, independent of Jewish sanctions and restrictions, would be\nthereby violated! I have put this in plainer and stronger words than any\nof yourselves probably would use, or are accustomed to hear: but I have\nnot exaggerated the matter. In proof, let me ask, Are there not many who\nthink the rehearsal of the Decalogue out of place in the Communion\nservice? who object to moral preaching as savouring of the obsolete law?\nwho talk about the \u201cfilthy rags\u201d of their own righteousness, as if they\nwere something wrong in keeping in the law? who believe that CHRIST is\nglorified most when they do least? who boast of a liberty to use or use\nnot ordinances and means of grace? who reproach others with being, for\ninstance, Sabbatarians? who speak of the GOD of the New Testament almost\nas if the GOD of the Old Testament were another Being, of different\nattributes, enacting different laws? And even among those who have not\ndistinctly set the law and the Gospel in opposition, is there not a vague\nnotion that somehow the Old Testament does not concern us Christians, and\nthat our way of salvation is different from that of the Jews, and much\neasier to follow? O how do such persons reconcile with their notions\nCHRIST\u2019S teaching of the lawyer, whom He not only told to look for the\nway of salvation in the law, but commended for finding it there, and\nenjoined to keep it as the condition of salvation: \u201cThis do, and thou\nshalt live.\u201d\n\nThe fact is, the way of salvation has always been the same, since man\nbecame a sinner. Eternal life has always been a free gift in CHRIST.\nNot for their merits or deservings does GOD love men; not by their own\ninventions or labours do they procure acceptance. The precious blood of\nCHRIST shed (in effect) before the foundation of the world, has ever been\nthe fountain for sin; the intercession of CHRIST has ever been the means\nof reconciliation; the grace of CHRIST\u2019S sanctified human nature applied\nby the Holy Spirit has ever been the leaven of regeneration, of\nconversion, of perfection in holiness and fitness for the inheritance of\nthe saints in light. But GOD has never been indifferent to the way in\nwhich men receive His free gifts. He at first created man for His own\nglory, and He has redeemed, and would sanctify him for His glory. He\nmade man to love Him, to depend on Him, to render Him the grateful homage\nof a free-will service, to reflect His own glorious attributes of\nholiness and love. The sin of Adam and Eve was not that they ate of a\nparticular fruit reserved from them, but that they frustrated the end for\nwhich they were created; that they found not their delight in the way of\nGOD\u2019S will; that they chose for themselves out of Him; that they doubted\nHis truth, gave themselves over to the influence and dominion of another\nlord. They would have sinned as greatly, as hatefully, had they\nscrupulously refrained from the deed of sin, but in their hearts longed\nafter it, and in their hearts murmured against the restriction, and\ndisputed the importance or the justice of it. And so the holiness of\npardoned man does not consist in the mere mechanical, servile, or selfish\nrendering of outward obedience, in the number of enjoined things which he\ndoes, and the number of forbidden things which he avoids; but in the\ninward love and gratitude which he feels towards GOD, in his filial\nreverence of his Heavenly Father, in his delight to carry out GOD\u2019S known\nwill, and his anxiety to learn more, that he may do more of it, in his\nheart\u2019s beating, so to speak, in unison with GOD\u2019S heart, and his life\u2019s\nreflecting GOD\u2019S light and love.\n\nTo bring men to this state, that He may delight in them, that they may\nglorify Him in all things, is the purpose and aim of GOD\u2019S great scheme\nof salvation; and, to forward that scheme, is, and has been, the object\nof all His dealings with men of all times (when they have not been\njudgments of wrath, because mercy was refused), whether they have been\nencouragements or remonstrances, pleadings or rebukes, blessings or\nchastisements, the promulgations of moral laws, the laying on or taking\noff of positive or ceremonial commandments. None of these things could\nin themselves have made men what GOD willed them to be, loving children\nof a loving Father; yet they had, or were designed to have, their effect\nin bringing them back little by little to a right mind, and a right life.\nBut being used by a wise and discerning GOD, though their object was\nalways uniform, the use of them has varied, one being employed in this\ncase, another in that, according to the state of those on whom they were\nto operate. Thus Adam, fresh from the hand of GOD, full of knowledge and\nintelligence, and holiness and love, was left, it would appear\u2014but with\none commandment, the test of his integrity\u2014to worship and glorify GOD as\nhis own heart and mind dictated; while the Jews, coming out of Egypt,\nsunk in ignorance, given to idolatry, perverse in will and affections,\nwere dealt with as babes, albut without mind and without heart. To them\nit was necessary to declare, that there was but one GOD, to command them\nto worship Him, to prescribe every particular of the worship, to bid them\nnot blaspheme Him, to hedge them in by numerous restrictions, to write\ndown every item of their duty, to encourage their obedience by immediate\nrewards, to check their transgressions by instant punishments! They were\ntreated, in fact, just as wise and fond parents treat little children:\ntheir minds taught by pictures\u2014brazen serpents, pillars of light and\nfire, gorgeous tabernacles, sacrifices of bulls, and goats, and lambs,\nburnings of incense, and the like\u2014and their hearts and lives trained by a\ncourse of discipline suited to their comprehension, and a system of\nrewards and punishments which they could appreciate. These things were\nmeans to an end. They impressed upon the Jews, that reverence and\nobedience were due to GOD. They taught them to look to Him for reward\nand punishment, to love and fear Him. But like the arbitrary discipline\nwe use with children, and the toys which we give or take away from them\naccording to their conduct, they were to be set aside (as far as they\nwere childish) so soon as more intelligent and better influences could be\nemployed, and the children be taught to use their minds and hearts, in\nexercising reverence, and love, and fear, not in little observances and\nrestrictions, not in mere literal compliance with some particular\nexpressed laws, but according to the principle of love which would devote\nitself entirely, and which uses all its powers to find out what is\ndevotion, and to practice it.\n\nThus, I say, the Jews were dealt with from Moses to CHRIST, and then men\nwere bidden to put away childish things\u2014the Spirit being given to raise\nthem above childishness\u2014and henceforth to render enlarged, enlightened,\nloving service to GOD. They were not released from reverence and\nsubmission: very few commandments hitherto observed were repealed, save\nthose that were typical and ceremonial, and which, of course, gave way to\nthe antitype and to the new ritual of Christianity; but henceforth, they\nwere told, GOD would not be pleased with mere literal obedience: Do what\nyou did before, but do it in the spirit, and carry it farther, and search\nabout to see whether your own hearts and minds cannot regulate your lives\nin things not prescribed.\n\nIndeed, all this had been told them before, as the quotation of the\nlawyer from Deuteronomy alone would suffice to show; but it was not so\nstrictly required of them as it is of us, because allowance was made for\ntheir childish want of spiritual comprehension, and because the\nperfection of obedience was postponed till the full strength was given to\nrender it, as well as the enlightened mind to understand it.\n\nIn Gospel times the law is spiritualised, the observance of the\ncommandments is extended beyond the outward life, to the very thoughts\nand desires. To covet is to steal, to lust is to commit adultery, to\nhate is to murder! Hence, while in one sense, our obedience is easier,\nbecause we render it under the influence of enlightened minds and kindled\nfeelings, of love and gratitude\u2014whereas, the Jew was perpetually crossing\nand driving himself to keep a law which had no other recommendation to\nhim than that its observance preserved him from immediate chastisement\u2014in\nother respects, our obedience is not only more imperatively necessary,\nbecause our privileges and responsibilities are greater, but it must be\nmore precise, because any wilful deviation from it\u2014in us who are of a\nmature and enlightened age\u2014will surely indicate an unloving heart; and he\nthat has no love has no spiritual life!\n\nThis, after all, is the distinction between the good works of the Jew and\nthose of the Christian; not that the former sought salvation on account\nof them, while the latter makes them but the tribute of praise and love\nfor salvation\u2014for the Jew believed that he was saved by ordinances, not\nby works\u2014but that the Jew\u2019s was the enforced obedience of slavish fear,\nwhile the Christian\u2019s is the spontaneous expression of filial love. If\nthe Christian were perfect in moral perception, he would be a law to\nhimself, and would need but little of a written law; but not being thus\nperfect, he finds his greatest help to glorify GOD, in the studying and\nfollowing of the Mosaic laws, which are samples and specimens furnished\nby GOD, of acceptable works, and which, moreover, are a standard whereby\nhe may measure, not so much how near, as how far he is, from doing the\nwhole will of GOD.\n\nThis purpose, then, the law serves to Christians: it points out the ways\nin which love should exercise itself; and so, by confronting the\nnegligent or transgressing, proves to them the absence or the\nimperfection of their love. The Christian is not free from the\nobservance of one jot or one tittle of it, though he is no longer under\nthe law, but under grace; but even if he has kept it all, he is not\nnecessarily accepted: he has not rendered service pleasing to GOD, if his\nwill is not better than his power, his heart larger than his deeds! This\nthe lawyer knew theoretically; and yet, against his knowledge, he sinned.\nWhen asked what the law required him to do, he answered rightly, that the\nlaw required, above and beyond particular deeds, an impelling principle\nof love for GOD, and, for His sake, for man also. But then, when his\nanswer was commended, we are told that he, willing to justify himself\n(which means, either to excuse himself for past imperfection, or to\nattain presently unto the condition of the just, without becoming all\nthat was required of him) demanded, \u201cAnd who is my neighbour?\u201d showing\nthereby, how much his heart was behind his mind; betraying the fact, that\nwhile he professed entire devotion to GOD, he was really trying to find\nout with how stinted and formal an obedience, he could win and keep his\nfavour.\n\nIn review of this history, let me suggest to you, in very few words, some\nimportant truths.\n\n\u201cWhat shall I do to inherit eternal life?\u201d is a momentous question for\neach of you to ask of GOD, through His revealed word. For the\ninheritance never shall be yours, unless you observe the conditions upon\nwhich it was promised; and one of those conditions (a most important\none), is, that you should pursue constantly a course of righteousness,\nboth to glorify GOD by prescribed service, and to acquire by spiritual\nexercise the necessary character for heaven, without which none can enter\nit.\n\nTo do righteousness\u2014not simply to feel, or think, or speak righteously\u2014is\nwhat is plainly enjoined upon you. Still, you must remember that you are\nnot to propose to yourselves, as the approved course, the observance only\nof particular laws, the confining of religion to special times, and\nplaces, and objects, and deeds; the mere walking in a clearly marked out\npath, as though hands, and feet, and ears, and lips, without heart or\nmind, could work out salvation; as though, too, it were not practicable\nor desirable, that you should offer unto GOD any free-will service,\nsomething besides what He has asked you to do! Above all, having come to\nunderstand, that while the fruit of religion is in the life, the germ of\nit is in the heart; that without faith, and hope, and love, it is\nimpossible to please GOD; that the law to you is spiritualised; that you\nare brought out of the bondage of servants into the glorious liberty of\nsons; that not the mere letter of the law, but the spirit of it is to be\nyour guide; that outward deeds are not of themselves acceptable to GOD,\nbut only as signs of enlightened hearty feeling\u2014things done in faith and\nlove; that worship in the temple is nothing, unless you worship out of\nthe temple likewise; that bowing the knee, and praising with the lips,\nare an abomination, unless the spirit, too, is bowed and the soul\nupraised; that bodily sacrifice alone is no sacrifice, that it needs the\nbroken and contrite heart, and the devoted spirit\u2014while understanding, I\nsay, all this, and rejoicing in the reasonable, heart-sprung, spiritual\nservice of the Christian, beware lest you separate what GOD has joined,\nor substitute free-will for commanded service, using your liberty\notherwise than as servants of GOD; carrying out, as you suppose, the\nspirit of the law wholly in your own way, instead of keeping, while you\nspiritualise the letter of the law. \u201cThe time is come when, neither in\nJerusalem nor in this mountain, shall ye worship the Father,\u201d does not\nmean that appointed places of worship shall not be resorted to, but that,\nbesides, GOD shall be worshipped everywhere. A yearly celebration of the\nPassover is no longer necessary; but a continual feast is substituted for\nit. GOD seeks now to be worshipped in spirit and truth\u2014that is, not\nwithout the body, but in addition to the body, with the spirit. The\nletter by itself killeth, because it is formal, and leaves the noblest\npowers and feelings of man unengaged for GOD; but the letter, as the\ncarrying out of the Spirit, is still so imperative, so vital, that he who\ndoes not observe it foregoes the promise, \u201cThis do, and thou shalt live!\u201d\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XIV.\nPRESENT SALVATION.\n\n\n II. CORINTHIANS, VI., 2.\n\n _Behold_, _now is the day of salvation_.\n\nST. PAUL, having just quoted a prophecy of Isaiah, which relates to an\naccepted time and a day of salvation, in the text declares the fulfilment\nof that prophecy: \u201cNow is the accepted time; now is the day of\nsalvation.\u201d That which was then promised, is now performed; that which\nwas formerly but anticipated, and only embraced by faith, while yet afar\noff, is now realised and brought near. But the prophecy itself was\nmentioned by the Apostle, to enforce an entreaty, \u201cWe then as workers\ntogether with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of GOD\nin vain. For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the\nday of salvation have I succoured thee.\u201d It is evident, then, that St.\nPaul would impress upon the Corinthians that men are in danger of\nreceiving the grace of GOD in vain, of not benefitting by all the\nmerciful and bountiful provision made through CHRIST for their\nredemption, and justification, and sanctification, by not recognising\nthat this is the day of salvation, and so, not looking and preparing for,\nand receiving a present salvation.\n\nSalvation is, as you know, the result\u2014possible in all cases; certain,\nwherever the conditions are observed\u2014of redemption by CHRIST. In its\nperfection, it is absolute freedom from the guilt, the taint, and the\npower of sin, and complete, effectual, and abiding holiness of heart and\nlife. It belongs not to our proposed subject to consider at any length\nthe destruction from which this is a salvation, nor the manner in which\nit was wrought out for lost sinners by CHRIST, nor the blessedness of its\nperfect possession and fruition, which can only be had in heaven. We\nhave rather to do with what is present, than with the past and the\nfuture. We inquire not now, What has CHRIST done, or, What shall we\nreach by and by, but, What ought we to do now? What have we, or may we\nhave now? In what respects, to what extent, is salvation a thing of the\npresent?\n\nFirst, then, it is present in the offer to bestow it, and the\nexhortations and influences to lay hold on it. When CHRIST rose\nvictorious from the tomb, having paid the ransom for all the prisoners of\nthe law, and purchased the right and power of being their Saviour, He did\nnot immediately make all the men of His time actual partakers of the\nprivileges, nor did He provide that all who should thereafter be born,\nshould from their birth inherit the blessing, as from Adam they had\ninherited the curse. No man might say, \u201cCHRIST has died and risen again,\ntherefore, I am certainly saved, without any reserve or delay on His\npart, without any effort, almost without any desire, on my part.\u201d\nSalvation was then provided; rather, the fountain was then opened, and\nbegan to flow; but each man in his turn, at the call of GOD, and in the\nway of GOD\u2019S appointment, was, so to speak, to help himself to salvation.\nIn other words, what CHRIST did, was not to take all who were then living\ninto an ark, and to cause all that sprung from them to be born and\nbrought up in that ark; but simply to build an ark, and leave it open for\nall ages, and to offer helps to reach it, and to urge an entrance into it\nupon all men, by the entreaties and promises of His love, and the threats\nof His wrath.\n\nWe want to be impressed with this. We are too apt to look upon salvation\nas an accomplished fact, belonging to the past; to speak of the\nblessedness of being born after the atonement has been made; to take for\ngranted that we are actually saved, rather than that we have a present\noffer of salvation; and even to regard the ordinances of religion, as\nBaptism and Holy Communion, more as ceremonies of thankful faith,\nacknowledgments of obligation for past favours, than as means of laying\nhold on a now offered, and, as yet, unattained blessing.\n\nThink a moment, brethren: look into your ways and thoughts about\nreligion, and you will, perhaps, find that it is so with you; that,\nwhatever may be your theory, your practice does not assent to the truth,\nthat \u201cNow is the day of salvation\u201d; that you have now to be saved, yet to\nbe washed from sin, to have its power destroyed in you, to be qualified\nfor salvation, to lay hold on it, to work it out with fear and trembling,\nas that which, though commenced, is not certain to be completed\u2014which,\neven when got, may again be lost. It may occur to you, as an objection\nto this statement, that you use means of grace, and somewhat diligently;\nthat you exercise yourselves in prayer, and by Christian discipline; that\nyou depend continually upon the ever-present grace of GOD; that you count\nnot yourselves to have attained; that you seek to go on unto perfection.\nAll this may be true, and yet\u2014I beseech you ask yourselves whether it is\nnot so with you\u2014the latent feeling may be, that salvation is a thing\ninherited, already, in a measure, attained; and that what religion\nrequires of you, and what you render, is gratitude to the Giver, and a\ndue appreciation of the gift, sought to be testified and developed by a\nbecoming life, and an enlarging of the spiritual faculties, which by and\nby will have so much more to exercise themselves upon.\n\nBut, secondly, is not this, it may be urged, a right view and feeling?\nIs not this what the ministers of religion should labour to impress upon\nthe baptized: that they have received salvation\u2014the grace of GOD, which\nbringeth salvation? Are we not taught by the Church, and by the Bible,\nthat in baptism we were born again, that we then became children of\nGOD\u2014and if children, then heirs, joint heirs with CHRIST; that we are,\ntherefore, from that new birth as actually the inheritors of a blessing,\nas naturally we were inheritors of a curse; and that, thenceforth, it is\nproper for us to say, \u201cI heartily thank my Heavenly Father that he hath\ncalled me to this state of salvation through JESUS CHRIST\u201d? It is even\nso, brethren. \u201cNow is the day of salvation,\u201d may mean to us Christians,\n\u201cnow we _have_ salvation,\u201d rather than \u201cnow it is only offered to us.\u201d\nIt may be intended to stir us up to a consideration of our high calling,\nto an appreciation of the great gift already bestowed, to a remembrance\nof what GOD has already done for us, to a sense of His abiding presence.\nThere is no doubt\u2014whether this text teaches it or no is another\nquestion\u2014that the disciples of CHRIST have a present possession, as well\nas a present offer of salvation; and what I meant in the first part, was\nnot to hide this truth, but to guard against the error, to correct\nwhatever amount you might have of the feeling, that we have already a\nfinal gift, so complete that nothing can be added to it, so altogether of\nthe past, that we can do nothing in the present, but acknowledge the\ngoodness of GOD in bestowing it, and wait on Him patiently and holily\ntill He is pleased to reveal to us the full excellencies of the gift, and\nto enable us to enjoy them in the eternal heaven. Above all, I meant to\nprotest against, to awaken from the fearful delusion, that CHRIST has\nconferred absolutely on mankind, or upon any chosen number\u2014the elect\u2014the\nsalvation which, by His precious merits, He procured; that it is ours\nindependently of means of grace, without closing with present offers of\nit, and making present exertions, and showing present appreciation of it;\nthat it can be ours at all, without earnest seeking and praying for it,\nand strivings, and workings, and self-denials, and crucifyings of evil,\nand growth in grace, and perseverance unto the end. \u201cBy grace are ye\nsaved, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of GOD.\u201d Work out your\nown salvation, each individual of you; make that your own which was once\nprocured for all that would have it; work out your own salvation with\nfear and trembling. Your salvation (I speak to the baptized) is _begun_,\nyou have _present_ salvation\u2014_i.e._, you are in the way which leads to\nsalvation. You have guaranteed to you, on conditions, the helps\nnecessary to attain perfect salvation. You may derive, and should be\nderiving, present benefits from your salvation, and you should experience\npresent joy in it.\n\nYou have, I say, present salvation. You have been made members of that\nOne Body, which was sanctified, and which is able to sanctify all other\nbodies that are joined to it: you are branches of that glorious tree,\nwhose sap, pervading every healthy branch, gives it present strength and\ndevelops its beautiful growth, and by and by will produce the fruit of\neverlasting life. You have the life of CHRIST kindled in your souls.\nYour bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost. Now is the day of\nsalvation, and _present_ salvation, too; not merely past salvation\napplied, not that you are washed in a lake whose waters _once_ flowed\nfrom a glorious Fountain; not that you partake of a store of\nsanctification, long ago laid up; but that now each individual of you is\noperated upon by a present influence, deriving directly from the source,\nthe water of life, having sanctification produced in you by the\nnow-working and influencing Spirit. Creatures of the present, there is a\npresent salvation for you; and that does not mean merely that you have\nfor yourselves to seek and lay hold of a ready salvation, but that a\nmerciful and grace-giving GOD, a loving Saviour, an indwelling Spirit,\nare present with you, and personally operating upon you for your\nsalvation.\n\nDear brethren, try to understand and feel this. Do not suppose that\nGOD\u2019S gifts are in any way separated from the Giver by time or by\ndistance. Once for all, He resolved to give, but severally as each needs\nand rightly seeks, He gives; and when He gives, it is not by messengers,\nthrough long mediums, _but out of His own hand_. The bread which we\nbreak and the cup which we bless, are the communion of the Body and Blood\nof CHRIST. The bread is not the Body, nor the wine the Blood, nor is the\nreception of them the way of applying to us any stored up blessings; but\nwhen we keep the ordinance which CHRIST has appointed, then He fulfils\nHis promise of blessing us, and, with the sign, Himself the reality\nenters into our souls.\n\n There present in the heart,\n Not in the hands, th\u2019 eternal Priest\n Will His true self impart.\n\nAnd so of all other ordinances. They are nothing, and give nothing of\nthemselves. Their whole value\u2014but what an unspeakable value it\nis\u2014consists in their being appointed ways of bringing us into direct\ncommunication with a present GOD, our Father, our Saviour, our\nSanctifier!\n\nBut there is another view to take of present salvation\u2014namely, that from\nits very nature, it cannot be received at any one time in perfection, in\nsuch a state as to need no care to preserve it, no sustentation and\nrenewal, no constant direction and blessing from the Author, and\nRegulator, and Finisher of it. It is spiritual life. Who does not know\nto what hazards life may be exposed, and how, from its very nature, it\nrequires to be fed with proper food, and kept in health, and exercised,\nand developed? It is a spiritual sap. And what a mockery of life and\nsupport to the branch, would be one single, separated, unrenewed\nimparting from the vine, of the sap, which indeed ceases to be sap when\nthe flow from the trunk is interrupted! The work of salvation is GOD\u2019S\nwork, begun by Him, continued by Him, and to be completed by\nHim\u2014therefore, it must have His continued personal superintendence. He\nmust work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.\n\nThus is salvation _present_ as distinguished from the _past_.\n\nBut in another sense it is now the day of salvation. We have not to\nexpect it as a thing wholly future, we must not delay to close with it as\nthough there were a better time and way of doing that to be afforded\nhereafter. Salvation is present in its rewards and effects.\n\nThis, again, is a truth we need to be impressed with. We are wont to\nlook too much to the future, to _hope_ to be with GOD hereafter, to\n_long_ for salvation, to sigh for the season of sanctification. By and\nby we shall be comforted. By and by we shall be strengthened. By and by\nwe shall be holy and happy! Thus it is that we only expect salvation,\nthat we persuade ourselves that we are not to receive anything here by\nway of real spiritual joy and blessing, and that we are not required to\nreach any high degree of spiritual excellence here! But, brethren, how\nunreasonable is this persuasion. To believe that GOD is present with us\nand operating upon us, and pouring out His benefits upon us all our\nlives, and yet that we are none the better, that we do not derive any\nblessedness from Him: or, again, to believe that GOD has given us\nspiritual life, that He imparts to us, and constantly superintends, the\ngrace which justifies and sanctifies; and yet that we can, or at least\nneed make no use of this grace, not grow in it, not become purer, and\nholier, that it is ineffectual, that we may consent to its being\nineffectual till life is over\u2014O is not such a persuasion unreasonable,\nare we not ashamed of it? Imagine a mother not feeding or taking care of\nher infant, and yet counting on its thriving! or, fondly and diligently\ntending, taking care of her infant, and continuing to do so year after\nyear, yet perfectly satisfied though it gained no strength, did not grow,\nnor walk, nor speak, nor show the slightest sign of getting out of\nbabyhood! Imagine, I say, satisfaction with such a state, and hope all\nthe while, yea, conviction, that presently, when the usual number of\nyears were over the child would somehow be a man! Or, imagine the\nhusbandman expecting a harvest without sowing, or ploughing; or planting\nhis field diligently, and rejoicing in refreshing rains, and ripening\nsuns, yet not disappointed if the ear did not ripen, or even if the blade\ndid not spring up; not concerned about it, not expecting it, sure of\nharvest at the usual time, even if that usual time should be next week,\nand there were yet no sign of a crop! Imagine this! you say. Such\nimagination is idle; it is a mockery of common sense to suppose such a\nthing possible. Well, then, my brethren, what is to be said of the\nspiritual nurses of the new life of GOD in the soul, of the spiritual\nhusbandman of the seed of grace in the heart, who do nothing towards, or\nwho expect nothing of present salvation? Brethren, NOW is the day of\nsalvation, the day in which salvation is offered, in which it is actually\nconferred, in which it should be working and growing, yea, and bestowing\nits joy and peace. If in aught of this it fails, be sure there is some\nfault in yourselves\u2014it is not that grace is of itself unreal, or\nunproductive, but that you receive it in vain, that you do not\nsufficiently heed and reverence it, that you do not sufficiently guard\nit, and sustain and refresh it, that you do not sufficiently use it.\n\nThere ought to be in every baptized Christian, a gradual, steady, and\neven perceptible Christian progress. Our salvation ought to be ever\nnearer and nearer than when we believed, not only in the expectation of\nour complete adoption and removal to glory, but in our fitness for glory,\nand desire and hope of it. If we have the same evil tendencies, are as\neasily overcome by the same temptations, have the same dislike or\nimperfect taste for spiritual occupations, the same poor appreciation of\nreligious privileges and hopes as we had a year, a month, a week ago,\nthen assuredly our salvation stagnates, we are not using what GOD has\ngiven us, we are not yielding to, we are resisting His living influence!\nGrace, my brethren, is an useless gift, if it is to effect nothing: a\ntime of probation is an idle space, if there is no trial. Faith is\nlittle entitled to be called \u201cthe substance of things hoped for, the\nevidence of things not seen,\u201d if it produces no spiritual conviction: and\nas for hope\u2014what kind of anchor is it to the soul, if it is ever\nshifting, if it grasps nothing?\n\nIf any man is in CHRIST, he is a new creature, that is, he is becoming a\nnew creature, with new life, and powers, and energies, and tastes, and\naims, and hopes. He will grow in grace if he has rightly received it,\nand in the knowledge and love of CHRIST. He will manifestly (at least to\nhimself manifestly) be putting off the old man with his affections and\nlusts, and putting on the new man, which after GOD is created in\nrighteousness and true holiness. He will endure trials more and more\npatiently, as seeing more clearly Him who is invisible. He will resist\ntemptations more easily, and do good more consistently and gladly, and be\nmore pained and more penitent after every sin. He will have a growing\nlove of searching GOD\u2019S word, and speaking to Him in prayer and praise,\nand receiving Him in Holy Communion. He will gradually be raised above\nthe world, and will soar higher in imagination and affection and hope\ntowards heaven. Each day will have witnessed some advance\u2014or some more\nthan recovery if there has been a relapse. And when the night cometh,\nthe end of the day of attaining salvation, he will want but little to\ncomplete his resemblance to CHRIST, his pattern, and to perfect his\nsalvation.\n\nIf, then, brethren, you would obtain an answer to the momentous question,\nWhether you shall be saved, whether there is a good hope that you are in\nthe way of salvation, I would bid you not so much look back to your\nBaptism and Confirmation, and count the number of your attendances on\nHoly Communion, of the sermons you have heard, the prayers and praises\nyou have offered\u2014though these are all great things\u2014but rather, I would\nsay, ascertain whether you have present salvation, for the future depends\non the present; and to ascertain this, examine well whether you are\nputting off the old man and putting on the new, as I have just described.\nAs another test\u2014and a very great help in godliness, to which there is no\nequal in feelings and exercises\u2014inquire into your hope of future\nsalvation (by which I do not mean only your expectation, but also your\neager desire), and into your joy for present salvation.\n\nIf religion is a reality, it is a great reality. Its immediate blessings\nare so precious, and its prospects so transcendently glorious, that the\nman who is not filled with joy and desire on their account, has no part\nor lot in them, or is strangely culpably ignorant of his privileges and\nhis hopes. No wonder that he easily yields to sin, that he finds\nspiritual employments wearisome, that he makes no progress in salvation.\nIf GOD touches him and he feels not, if heaven has come down to him and\nhe knows it not, if glory is revealed to him, and he does not burn for\nit, if CHRIST has put him in the ark and he is not comforted by the\nimmediate deliverance and counting on the perfect salvation\u2014then, surely,\nhe has received the grace of GOD to little sanctifying, and so to little\nsaving purpose!\n\nO let him beseech GOD earnestly and perseveringly to give him spiritual\nsight and feeling, to fill him with joy and peace in believing, to make\nhim rejoice, not only for what he has, but for what he expects of\nsalvation; working, like St. Paul, in view of the crown laid up,\nconfident that, whether absent or present, he is accepted by GOD, knowing\nthat to depart is to be with CHRIST.\n\nBut, lastly, let him guard and pray against mistaking _present_ for\nperfect salvation, the road and discipline and growth for heaven, for\nheaven itself. The possession which he has, precious as it is, is not a\nperfect one; and, moreover, he may lose it. Remember Paul\u2019s care, lest\nhe should be a castaway, his caution to take heed lest we fall, his\nfearful sayings about forfeited grace. O brethren, seek as the best\nimmediate blessing and the best stimulus to godliness, an assurance of\nhope in perfect salvation. But be sure that it is founded upon the\nreception and right use and evident growth of grace, upon present\nsalvation; and, withal, be not high-minded, but fear. You know your own\nfrailties, the influences of the world, the subtlety and tremendous power\nof Satan\u2019s temptations. Any of these is sufficient to make you wander\nout of the right way, or stand still, or turn back, or to cause you to\nfaint in your spiritual course, and even to threaten the destruction of\nyour spiritual life. You are sure of GOD, of His favour, of His\nupholding, of His preserving you unto the day of perfect redemption; but\nyou are not sure of your observance of the conditions on which only you\nmay count on Him. And if you disregard these conditions, then are you\nplainly taught, by precept and example, that a neglected GOD will not\nabide with you, and a resisted Spirit will not strive with you, and that\ngrace received in vain will be taken away. Remember this, let it keep\nyou from presumption, make you watchful against temptation, always\nclothed in the armour of GOD, and wielding the sword of the Spirit, and\nabounding in the work of the LORD; praying, too, always, that the present\nmay be an earnest of the future, that the Spirit will sustain, and\nsanctify, and perfect you, and that GOD, Who has begun a good work in\nyou, will perform it until the day of JESUS CHRIST.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XV.\nCHRIST TOUCHED.\n\n\n ST. MARK, V., 30.\n\n _And_ JESUS, _immediately knowing in Himself that virtue had gone out\n of Him_, _turned Him about in the press_, _and said_, _Who touched my\n clothes_?\n\nA CROWD always waited on our LORD when He taught or walked openly. In\nthis case, there was an unusually great crowd following and thronging\nHim, because it had become known that He was on His way to work the\nmiracle of raising up a child from the point of death. It is not hard to\nguess what were the elements of this crowd. First, there were the idle,\ncurious multitude ever to be found where novelty or excitement is\npromised. Then there were those who knew not why they were come\ntogether, who were there because others were, who had no mind or interest\nin the matter. (There are always many of these in every crowd.) Then\nthere were the scribes and lawyers, always talking about, listening to,\nor disputing religious truths\u2014never coming, or caring to come, to the\nknowledge and practice of the truth. Then there were the seekers after\nloaves and fishes, who hoped to get something by coming. Then there were\nthe entrappers and enemies of our LORD, seeking for witness against Him,\nhoping to see some work done, to hear some word said which might form the\nground of accusation against Him. And, lastly, there were some\u2014a few\nonly\u2014whom faith impelled to seek from Him the healing of their diseases,\nthe relief of their burthens; and whom love drew after Him, to see Him,\nto serve Him, to dwell upon the gracious words that proceeded out of His\nmouth. Of the last class was a woman who had been afflicted with a\ngrievous malady for twelve years, who had tried all earthly means of\nrelief, and had grown worse under them, who was despised and shut out\nfrom the company of mankind by reason of her visitation, who had become\ndestitute in seeking cure. All things were against her. Her misfortunes\nwere what many would describe as more than could be borne. Her case was\nhopeless. Nothing seemed left to her but to succumb to helpless misery,\nand wait in groans and tears for death\u2014when, lo! a sudden gleam of\nbrightest hope burst upon her, there was a Physician Who could cure all\ndiseases, and His remedy was to be had without price! It does not appear\nwhether the fame of JESUS had reached her in some remote place, whence\nshe had dragged her poor afflicted body, sighing and groaning, wandering\nmany days, searching in many places; or whether, being \u201caccidentally,\u201d as\nmen say, near where the crowd passed, she had now heard, for the first\ntime, of the new Prophet; and, gathering from the passers-by that He was\ngoing to restore a dying damsel, concluded that the possessor of such\npower, so graciously exercised, could and would heal her too. Be that as\nit may, she had full faith in His ability: \u201cIf I may but touch his\nclothes I shall be whole.\u201d And, having such faith, she resolved to act\nupon it, making her way through the crowd, and doing that, through which\nher faith suggested the power would be transmitted. How she came to\npropose to herself, or who proposed to her, such a course, how much of\nignorance and superstition there was in it, is beside our present\nconsideration. Her faith, her perseverance, her humility, are rather the\nthings to be noted. Her faith, which was so strongly convinced of the\nexistence in JESUS, and the certainty of being able to obtain from Him\nthe grace of healing. Her perseverance, poor, feeble, tottering woman!\nwhich was not overawed by the greatness of the crowd, and did not give up\nwhen she was dragged hither and thither, hard pressed here, shut out\nthere\u2014perhaps even thrown down and trampled on more than once. Her\nhumility, which\u2014eager as she was for cure, bent, too, as she was upon\nhaving it\u2014made her fear the eyes of the crowd, though she cared nothing\nfor their thrusts and hard usage, which dared not face her Healer; which\ncaused her to shrink back from the first touch, and seek to hide herself,\nand steal away with the blessing.\n\nPausing here for a moment, brethren, to consider that this woman, in her\nmalady, is a type of all who are affected with the disease of sin; that\nin the fruitless issue of her recourse to earthly physicians, she\nallegorises the vanity, the mockery, of all human expedients to restore\nor ameliorate moral distempers; showing that such \u201cremedies\u201d do but cause\nto suffer more, and make worse\u2014pausing, I say, to consider this, and to\nreflect that herein we have a representation of ourselves as sinners, of\nour helplessness but for CHRIST, of our greater suffering and sure\ndeterioration, through our very efforts to become better without CHRIST;\nreflecting on this, realising it, and feeling it, are we able to go on\nand see in her discovering of the right Healer, in her efforts to be\nhealed by Him, in her faith, and perseverance, and humility, what we have\ndiscovered, what we believe, and what we do, and what we feel? O what a\npitiable sufferer is that, who hears with indifference or with lukewarm\ninactive belief, that there is a Physician that can make well; who knows\nthat He is ready, that restoration is to be had, and yet does not seek\nit; who even pleads infirmity as a reason for not striving to be cured;\nwho is deterred by the sight of a crowd that must be got through; who is\ndiscouraged by the first obstacle, and gets up and goes back after the\nfirst fall! And how blinded are the senses, and how dead the feelings of\nthe sinner, who does not feel the degradation of his state, but makes\nopen display of himself before the crowd, and with a bold front and\nunshrinking touch, comes to the All-pure and All-holy to be healed!\nLearn, fellow sinners, from this poor woman, what your sin is, how\ndefiling, how miserable, how sure to grow worse under human treatment.\nLearn, too, by Whom alone it can be healed, and with what efforts, and\nwhat feelings, you must seek the healing. For, consider how the\nAll-seeing eye and the All sympathising heart beheld and loved that\nwoman, for her deeds and feelings. _Before_ she touched Him, the virtue,\nthe power of healing, was made ready to flow; and, as soon as she had\ntouched, she was called forth, and commended, and owned, and further\nblessed: \u201cDaughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be\nwhole of thy plague.\u201d\n\nPartly, no doubt, for the sake of others, this manifestation and speech\nwere made. JESUS generally hid His wondrous works from the gaze of the\nmasses, and forbade that they should even hear of them by the hearing of\nthe ear: just as He concealed the meaning of His speech by veiling it in\nparables, hard to be understood, that mere curiosity might not be\nindulged, that faith might have some privilege over want of faith, that\nneedless provocation of His enemies might be avoided, and witness against\nHim withheld, that those who He knew would see and hear in vain, might be\nspared the greater condemnation of beholding and despising. Sometimes,\nhowever, an exception was made, and JESUS spoke and acted openly; that\nthose present might see, and those absent might hear of Him, and so come\nunto Him and be saved. This may have been the case here. Or, more\nprobably, the manifestation was not so much for the multitude, it was for\nthe inner circle; for Jairus, whose faith needed to be prepared, for the\nshock of the coming announcement\u2014\u201cThy daughter is dead, why troublest\nthou the Master any more?\u201d or for better heeding of the injunction, \u201cBe\nnot afraid, only believe;\u201d for the disciples, too, whom He would thus\nconfirm in the faith, and prepare for their mission and sufferings, whom\nHe would thus enable to record for our instruction and comfort, the\nthings which JESUS has done, which He is ever ready to do again. But,\nspecially, it was for the woman herself; that she might not suppose that\nshe had obtained _unknown_ possession of a blessing, or that it was the\nmere touch which cured her, and not the All-knowing Healer, pleased by\nher faith and so making effectual an otherwise useless act; that she\nmight become acquainted with Him, and so learn to love Him, and\ngratefully remember Him, and by and by, when she came to know his will,\nmight delight to do it; that she might have something more than she\nsought\u2014this is ever the rule of CHRIST\u2019S giving\u2014the \u201cGo in peace,\u201d as\nwell as the \u201cBe whole of thy plague;\u201d that she might be taught, and we,\nthrough her, that Divine mercy is ever to be acknowledged, and open glory\nto be given to GOD.\n\nThe history is replete with profitable suggestions\u2014lessons of faith and\npractice. Let us select three for present consideration.\n\nFirst, let us observe, that we may throng and press JESUS, and yet not\ntouch Him. \u201cThou seest the multitude thronging Thee, and sayest Thou who\ntouched me?\u201d Even so! The idle, curious, controversial, captious\nthronging is nothing accounted of: it is the touch of eager desire and\nhumble faith which alone is noticed. At first, brethren, we are tempted\nto think, that the most strangely indifferent, the most unblessed of men,\nare those who do not join the throng, and press about the LORD JESUS.\nThat He is in the sanctuary, and men do not enter into His presence\nthere; that He is teaching the way of life, and men will not hear sermons\nnor read the Bible; that He may be conversed with, and yet men will not\npray; that He may be touched, and yet sacraments are not received: this,\nwe think, is as strange as it is sad. And so, indeed, it is. But it is\nstranger and sadder, that any should come into the Sanctuary, and not\nperceive CHRIST\u2019S presence; that they should hear and read without\nlearning; that they should use words of prayer and yet not be heard; that\nthey should press and throng JESUS in ordinances, and never touch Him;\nderiving no benefit from Him, because they seek it not aright; being\nbeneath His eye, and yet unnoticed; crowding around Him, and upon Him,\nand yet unfelt! But assuredly, as of old it was, so it is now. If mere\nidleness brings men to the Sanctuary, mere observance of a decent\nfashion, if they come only to hear and see something new, to wile away\nthe time which hangs wearily upon them, to gain themselves a good name as\nrespectable and pious, if they are watching to see, what may be\ncriticised, what may be talked about and condemned, if they are rendering\nmerely a formal obedience, and offering only an outward service\u2014then, I\nwas going to say, CHRIST takes no more notice of them than if they were\nnot present; but I should rather say, He is wrathful against them for\nbeing present. He blinds their eyes, and turns away His own. He is dumb\nto them; they deaf to Him. He yields nothing to them, though they seem\nlike Moses to have cleft the rock. He feels them not, though they\nsqueeze and press! My brethren, it may be that some of you have long\nbeen in the company of CHRIST, have missed very few opportunities of\npublic worship, have become very familiar with the Scriptures, have often\nrepeated prayers and psalms, have been frequent communicants, and yet are\nnone the better in feeling and desire, have experienced no spiritual\nrelief, have no more love or perception of the truth, than if you had\nbeen utter strangers to CHRIST, and never been near Him nor heard of Him.\nHence it may be that religion is to you but a name: it profits you not,\nit affords you no delight, it exercises no influence upon you. Would you\nknow why? Because you have been but thronging and pressing, because you\nhave had no real sense of your misery, have entertained no real desire to\nbe relieved and blessed, and so have made no well-directed, persevering\neffort to touch CHRIST! You are, as you feel, no better, no wiser, than\nif there were no CHRIST, or you had never been near Him! And you will\nnever be wiser and better, however much you press and throng, till you\nrealise your want, and are convinced that CHRIST alone can relieve it,\nand come to Him faithfully, resolutely, humbly, to touch the hem of His\ngarment, and be healed of your plague. First, then, strive to know what\nyou want, and to be convinced that CHRIST can and will grant it; and,\nthen, feeling the desire of it, being sure from Whom alone it can be had,\nand how it must be sought, draw near\u2014with the feeling of necessity, with\nthe perseverance of desire, with the consciousness of unworthiness\u2014and\neffect the touch of faith. You shall not, in that case, remain\nunblessed; your plague shall be stayed, your faith shall be commended,\nyour effort crowned, your humility exalted; you shall have more than you\nsought; enlarge your desire as you will, it shall be more than satisfied:\nand He whom you would but touch, and then shrink away, shall call you\nforth, and own, and bless you, and give you everlasting peace and perfect\nsalvation.\n\nNext, let us observe, that nothing can keep back and nothing hide from\nCHRIST. We are sometimes tempted, in the deep sense of our unworthiness,\nin review of the distance between us and the Healer, of the many\nobstacles which intervene, to give up in despair, and say to ourselves,\n\u201cIt is of no use trying, I am not fit for such a blessing, and if I were,\nI cannot reach it.\u201d Now, consider, who could be more unfit, and who more\nunable to approach CHRIST than this poor woman. There was a positive law\nwhich forbade her coming; her touch was pollution: yet CHRIST reproached\nher not with disregarding that law, nor refused her because of it; and\nwhen she touched He did not recoil, but encouraged her. For _us_ there\nis no excommunicating law. From us CHRIST is pledged not to recoil.\n\u201cCome unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden,\u201d is an invitation,\na positive command. \u201cHim that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast\nout,\u201d is a most solemn pledge. Why, then, should we shrink? What shall\nwe fear? And as for difficulties and hindrances, our own infirmities,\nthe opposition of the world or the Devil, the sneers of despisers, the\ndistance, the crowd, the hurrying on, can aught compare with what\nthreatened this woman, and what she overcame? O are we not ashamed to\nforego salvation, to keep away from CHRIST, to desist from determination\nto reach Him, by any plea of personal infirmity, or of difficulty in the\nway? What in ourselves is worse than the twelve years\u2019 growing,\nenfeebling, overwhelming malady of this woman? What in aught around us\nis more impenetrable than the great crowd? and whenever was CHRIST as\ndistant from us as He was from her? And then as to the discouragement\nwhich Satan would suggest to us, that in our age we cannot, like this\npoor woman, get anything from CHRIST by stealth; that the power to heal\nflows not unconsciously; that He must see, and approve, and stay for us,\nand even anticipate us; and that by reason of our insignificance and the\nwide extent of His dominion, it is not reasonable to suppose that we\nshall be observed\u2014brethren, are we not assured, by the fact that _she_\nwas discerned, and watched for, and singled out from the great multitude,\nthat the gaze which is comprehensive enough to include all is particular\nenough to distinguish each; that there is nothing beneath His notice;\nthat He can get through, and will get through, all that stands between us\nand Him: that He who keeps vast globes in their orbits, takes thought\neven for sparrows; that He counts the hairs of each individual\u2019s head;\nthat He hears each sigh, and feels each sorrow; that the roar of the\nuniverse is not louder in His ear than the feeblest cry of distress from\nthe lowest of His creatures? O it is a blessed assurance, and one for\nwhich we should be heartily thankful, that it was always when there was\nmost to distract, that CHRIST was most closely attentive; that it was in\nthe most dazzling glare that He saw most clearly; that it was when He\nseemed most absorbed in other aims, that His notice and help were most\nreadily secured; that in the way to raise the daughter of Jairus, He was\nso easily stopped to heal and bless the woman with the issue of blood!\nNo sight too insignificant to escape His eye; no sound too faint to reach\nHis ear; no crowd so great as to hide the individual; no object so\nengrossing as to exclude from notice, or to hurry on from concern for the\nleast, the unworthiest of other objects!\n\nLastly, let us observe that power to heal was ready to flow wherever\nthere was a channel made for it. We are not, of course, to understand\nthat CHRIST healed unconsciously; that any mere formal touch secured, as\nit were, without the violation of His will, the grace which He was\nanointed to bestow; but we are to understand, that such is the law of\ngrace, that where there is a demand there is a supply; that like as the\nthirsty sand surely drinks in the rising wave, like as a sponge absorbs\nthe water into which it is plunged, so the sensibly void heart, the\nyearning desire, the faithful effort, the moral fitness, is sure of what\nit wants and seeks, if it is found in the place where what it wants\nexists. It is one of the most wonderful, most mysterious, and at the\nsame time most sure effects of CHRIST\u2019S incarnation that human nature,\nneeding and desiring, put into communion with Him, possessing,\noverflowing, shall have by the necessary operation of an invariable law,\nthe thing which it wants, and which He has to bestow. There is no\nchance, no mere probability in the case: CHRIST is the ever-flowing\nfountain; if you stand beneath, the water must come over you. He is the\nroot full of sap, if you are one of the branches joined to Him, the sap\nshall flow into and permeate you.\n\nIt is this which makes ordinances effectual signs of grace; means, not by\nwhich grace may _perhaps_ be bestowed, but by which it is _sure_ to be\nbestowed, if they are rightly used. The woman, whose history we have\nbeen considering, might have been disappointed in her hope: for CHRIST\nhad not taught her, nor made her any promise, nor prescribed to her any\ncourse; but He has so enlightened _us_ in the mystery of His Incarnation;\nHe has so pledged to us His grace; He has so shown us how to obtain it,\nthat we may most confidently say, \u201cIf I may but touch, I shall be whole.\u201d\nGrace, the manifold grace of CHRIST\u2019S glorified body\u2014the source of\nsanctification and every blessing, is ready to flow, and will flow as\nsoon as He is touched. Of course, as we have seen, this touch must be\ndirected by right feeling; but still, observe, there must be a touch.\n\u201cThy faith hath saved thee.\u201d Not because it kept thee still, sighing\nfor, talking of, waiting for Me, but because it roused thee, and made\nthee encounter so much, and do so much to come and touch Me. Faith gives\nquality to the touch, but, after all, the touch secures the blessing. So\nit ever is. The touch necessary, and the touch effectual. \u201cHe that\nbelieveth _and is baptized_ shall be saved.\u201d \u201cExcept ye eat the flesh of\nthe Son of man and drink His blood, ye have no life in you.\u201d The water\nof Baptism is the laver of regeneration. The bread which we break, and\nthe cup which we bless, are the Communion of the Body and Blood of\nCHRIST. Using the outward part rightly, you do certainly receive the\ninward grace: for as soon as CHRIST is rightly touched, and these are\nappointed ways of touching, immediately\u2014as it were, spontaneously\u2014virtue\nto heal goes out of Him.\n\nLet it not, however, be supposed, that this view of the way of healing\nand sanctifying makes CHRIST a servant of grace instead of the LORD of\ngrace; that it directs us to a mere storehouse to help ourselves, instead\nof sending us to a living, loving, discerning Saviour, of Whom we are to\ncrave the help and blessing which are His to give as He will. No,\nbrethren, it exalts ordinances, but only because they are CHRIST\u2019S\nordinances, the clothes in which He is clad, as He walks among us, the\ngarments through which power to heal is transmitted from Him to us. The\nuse of these things without a sense of unworthiness, without humility and\nfaith, is like the thronging of CHRIST by the crowd, not only\nunprofitable, but rude and profane; and this sense of unworthiness, this\nhumility and faith, together with the power and perseverance to act upon\nthem, are all the gifts of CHRIST, seed sown, increase given by Him\naccording to His will. Look, then, to the Physician, as well as to the\nremedy, to the Giver of grace as well as to the Channel of grace; and,\nknowing that without Him you can do nothing, and except from Him receive\nnothing, beseech Him to enable you to seek grace rightly, and then to\nbestow it freely, not for any worthiness, for any feeling, for any deed;\nbut simply because of your necessity, out of His boundless love.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XVI.\nPREACHING PARABLES.\n\n\n EZEKIEL, XX., 49.\n\n _Ah_ LORD GOD! _they say of me_, _Doth he not speak parables_?\n\nEZEKIEL had been commissioned with the utterance of a warning, in\nfigurative but very intelligible language, that GOD was about to bring a\ngreat calamity upon Jerusalem and all Judah; that young and old, good and\nbad, should be affected by it\u2014\u201cI will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall\ndevour every green tree and every dry tree\u201d; that the judgment should be\nirresistible \u201cthe flaming flame shall not be quenched,\u201d and the\ndestruction universal; \u201call faces from the south to the north shall be\nburned therein.\u201d According to some expositors, as soon as he received\nthis commission, concluding from his past experience that the Jews would\nprofess not to understand his message, or would say, that it was an\nexaggeration, or that it did not apply to them, and so disregard it, he\nentreated of GOD, in the words of the text, that such an excuse might be\ntaken away by the delivery instead of a plain and unmistakeable warning:\n\u201cO LORD, not a parable. Thy people will not heed parables.\u201d Whereupon\nGOD, in gracious condescension to His prophet, in determination to be\nheard and understood by the people, substituted for this first message,\nnot indeed wholly unfigurative language, but a simpler parable, which\ncarried with it to all its own interpretation. But it is better, I\nthink, to suppose, that Ezekiel does not here anticipate the people\u2019s\nperversity, and so persuade GOD at once to withdraw His words; but that\nhe narrates and grieves over the actual reception which the message,\nfaithfully delivered, had encountered. The people would not hear it.\nThey said it was obscure: a parable, an enigma, a poetical exaggeration.\nGOD did not speak to them by it; or, if He did, they could not tell what\nHe said. \u201cAh! LORD GOD\u2014alas! it is the old tale\u2014I told them Thy words,\nbut they would not hear; they turned away from me, saying, Surely we\ncannot understand him.\u201d\n\nWhichever was the case, whether Ezekiel only expected, or actually\nexperienced this treatment, we are sure that it was not wholly on account\nof special obscurities which veiled the matters he had to declare, nor on\naccount of any special deafness and hardness of heart which belonged to\nthat people. For every Christian teacher has had reason to anticipate,\nhas actually endured the like from Christian congregations.\n\nOften and often in preparing for the pulpit, is the preacher tempted to\nset aside some important theme, to withhold some wonderful truth, to\nforbear even to suggest some glorious consolation, because he believes\nthat in uttering it, he will not have the ears, or, if he has the ears,\nhe will not have the minds of his hearers; that they will not understand\nhis saying; and so, of course, will not receive it. Often and often,\ntoo, when having used the full liberty of a Christian prophet and\nwhatever ability GOD has given him, of simplifying to the utmost, and\nrecommending with all his energy, the Gospel message, he is constrained\nto feel, he is made, perhaps, by men\u2019s open speech to know, that he is\nregarded as the setter-forth of unmeaning, extravagant, or inapplicable\nwords. Of course, this charge is not always unfounded. We are not\ninspired: we often speak our own words; our minds may not have rightly\nconceived the subject we would discuss, or we may be wanting in ability\nto express clearly what we understand. Under various influences we do,\ntoo, at times speak more or less extravagantly, and our knowledge and\ndiscretion are not so complete, that we invariably select what is\nprecisely suited to our hearers. In such cases, we ought to expect, we\nhave no right to complain of, the rejection, the disregard, or the\nfruitlessness of our preaching. But, brethren, when we are sure that the\nfault lies not in the preacher, when he has taken pains to enter into and\nreveal the mind of the Spirit, to teach what he knows GOD would have you\nunderstand and believe, to urge what he knows GOD would have you do, to\ndescribe and recommend what he knows GOD would have you love and\nseek\u2014when he has done this, and you receive not his words, excusing\nyourselves by saying that he is obscure, or over-strict, or fanciful, or\nenthusiastic, or anything else\u2014oh! then has he not a right to complain to\nGOD? yea; and is it not his duty to remonstrate with you? Brethren, we\ncharge not such as you who are here assembled with the wilfulness of\nEzekiel\u2019s hearers. In you we do not suppose there is any actual\nunbelief, or deliberate dislike of the truth. It is not forced in your\ncase upon unwilling ears: for you come to hear it. It is not rejected\nbecause you hate it. Nevertheless, we have somewhat against many of you\nof Ezekiel\u2019s complaint, respecting your treatment of the read or preached\nWord of GOD.\n\nWe have to complain, brethren, that many of you are under the mistaken\nnotion that you have almost a right to select the preacher\u2019s theme, at\nleast to dictate its mode of treatment; and that if your right is\ndisregarded, then you are justified in excusing yourselves for not\nprofiting or heeding. Bear with me, beloved. Is it not the case, that\nyou sometimes find fault with the subject of the sermon? You do not want\nto hear so much about man\u2019s depravity: you do not like the preacher to\nmake such a point of observing religious ordinances: what a high standard\nof morality he sets up; how strict is the holiness he describes; why will\nhe discourse of the horrors of hell? So, again, of the manner of\ntreatment. You do not care for argument; you cannot enter upon theories;\nyou are weary of quotations of historical illustrations; the style is too\nflorid, or too bald: it is poetical; or it is commonplace; or somehow it\nis not what you like; and therefore\u2014I would not say you turn away from\nit, but you do not try, as much as you ought, to heed it; and you excuse\nyourselves for not improving under it by blaming the preacher.\n\nThe fact is, there is too often a great forgetfulness of the fact, that\nwhen the preacher speaks to you it is your part to be as listeners and\nlearners of GOD. It is not for you to choose the subjects, nor to\ndictate the method of teaching. It is true, perhaps, that your taste and\naptitude are greater for some subjects than others: it is true that you\nare more easily enlightened, and impressed, and influenced in some ways\nthan in others. It is natural, and I would not say it is wrong, for you\nto prefer those subjects and ways; but be sure nevertheless, that it is\nthe very contrary of wisdom and humility, of reverence for GOD, of regard\nfor duty and interest, not to give the most earnest heed to whatever GOD\nsays to you through His servant, to dare to treat it lightly, because\neither of the topic or the way of handling it. When a message comes to\nyou from GOD, surely it is no reason for not receiving it, that you would\nprefer a message about something else! And if the diction in which that\nmessage is clothed is hard or distasteful to you, while you may lament\nit, may ask for an explanation, may solicit consideration for your taste,\nor help in overcoming your distaste, you may not on any account disregard\nwhat has been said. The word gone forth shall not return. Where the\nseed has been sown, increase shall be expected. The day is coming, when\nall your opportunities and means of knowing GOD\u2019S will, and all your\nincentives to serve Him, shall be taken account of by Him Who has\nafforded them, and then shall the worst preacher, the most apparently\nobscure and inapplicable sermon you ever heard be a witness for or\nagainst you, to testify what regard you had for GOD\u2019S message, what\nhumility, what teachableness, what readiness to receive and to do what\nwas clear, what anxious diligence and pains to understand what was\nobscure.\n\nBrethren, you may choose what subjects you will hear discussed in the\nsecular lecture-hall, and if you do not like the entertainment you may\nrefuse to be entertained by it, and resolve to hear no more of it, to\ndismiss it altogether from your thoughts. But you do not come to church\nto be entertained; you have no option there of selecting or rejecting.\nIt is your misfortune (though it may be his fault) if the preacher does\nnot interest you, or the sermon immediately commend itself to your mind,\nand to your heart; but, being there, you must hear whatever is said, and\nhowever it is said; and having heard, be sure you must give account to\nGOD of the hearing! Settle this in your minds, impress yourselves with\nthe solemn authority of the preacher, and with the importance and\nresponsibility of heeding him, and it will be very seldom that you will\nobject even in thought, \u201cDoth he not speak parables?\u201d\n\nBut there are particular complaints, about which I would say a few words\nspecially.\n\nFirst, there is a complaint against the preaching of mysterious and\nprofound truths. If the preacher dwells upon such a subject as the\nIncarnation of CHRIST, the nature of CHRIST\u2019S presence with His Church,\nof the Spirit\u2019s indwelling, or the rationale of the efficacy of the means\nof grace; or if he attempts to explain any difficult text, no matter what\npains he may take to simplify the subject, how he may labour to show its\nimportance and to recommend its consideration, he is met at once with the\nobjection that he speaks parables, and so with a tacit refusal to heed.\n\u201cWhy puzzle one\u2019s brains,\u201d it is urged, \u201cwith such matters, when there\nare so many simple themes and easy lessons in the Gospel. I cannot\nunderstand such things. They are too profound. The preaching of them\nmay be clever, but it is thrown away upon me. I do not want to work and\ntask my mind, but to warm my feelings.\u201d Such is the reward the preacher\noften gets for taking unusual pains to edify his hearers! Such is the\nwilful, the determined ignorance of many of GOD\u2019S people respecting those\ntruths, the understanding of which most concerns them, and honours Him.\nIt ought to be sufficient to correct these unwise and unwilling, to\nremind them that whatever GOD has revealed He requires to be accepted,\nand that as there can be no acceptance of that which is not understood,\nit is a foremost duty of the Christian preacher and the Christian learner\nto employ themselves in the solution of Scripture difficulties, and the\ncomprehension of revealed mysteries. Such objectors do not intend it,\nbut they grievously slight GOD when they refuse to heed so much of His\nteaching, yea, they even cast a slur upon His wisdom in striving to teach\nwhat, according to them, cannot be learnt. And are they not unjust to\nthemselves? Have they really such narrow and shallow understandings, so\nimpossible to widen and deepen? Would they confess to such incapacity if\nthey were listening to a scientific lecture? would they complain if the\nlecturer introduced them to new facts, showed them fresh experiments,\nsuggested to them explanatory theories, sought to make them wiser than\nthey were? Would they shut their ears at the sound of the first new\nterm: would they shrink back at the first invitation to tread upon\nunfamiliar ground; would they protect themselves against being\nenlightened, by claiming to be hopelessly ignorant? Would they not\nrather make the most of the opportunity, opening ear and stretching mind\nto catch all they could, finding pleasure in being carried beyond and\nabove themselves, resenting indignantly a hint that the thing was out of\ntheir reach, professing, somewhat ostentatiously pretending a greater\ndelight and fuller understanding than they really had? O why is it the\nfashion to claim to be so wise in secular matters, to boast of ignorance\nin religion? It is well, indeed, that men should not sham to be wise in\nGOD\u2019S presence, but it is ill, very ill, that they sham to be ignorant,\nor that they should be content to be ignorant when they might be wise,\nignoring and disowning the powers which GOD has given them!\n\nTake these remarks, dear brethren, into your serious consideration.\nRemember that GOD has given you intelligent minds, in order that you\nmight think of and serve Him with understanding. Much, indeed, about Him\nis absolutely incomprehensible; much has He designedly withheld; before\nmany mysteries, has He put up the warning, \u201cDraw not nigh hither;\u201d but\nmuch has He told you plainly, and much has He propounded in sufficiently\nobscure or difficult terms, to task and exercise your minds in their\nnecessary unravelling. With respect to these things, as it is only by\nmuch resistance that you can withstand the temptations to which you are\nexposed; as it is only by great efforts that you can acquire the holiness\nwithout which no man shall see the LORD, so is it, only by real and often\nhard study, that you can attain unto the knowledge of which GOD has made\nyou capable, and in which He bids you grow. The elementary, the vitally\nnecessary truths of the Gospel are, it may be, within the immediate\ncomprehension of the simplest and most uncultivated understanding; but\nshall it, therefore, be said to you, shall you be allowed to say of\nyourselves, that you need not be concerned about anything beyond? Would\nyou be satisfied if you had only so much secular education as would\nenable you to spell out sign-post directions? Would it be no reproach to\nyou, having so many faculties and opportunities, only to be able to read\nand count? Would you miss nothing of duty, of interest, of pleasure, if\nyour intellect were uncultivated, if you were wholly unacquainted and\ntotally unable to appreciate arts and sciences, poetry, music,\nliterature, or any facts or theories not connected with your worldly\ncalling, not necessary to procure your daily bread? Would not life be\nirksome and intolerable, if held only on such terms? Would you not be\nashamed of attempting to hold it on these terms? Would you not consider\nthat you were robbing yourselves of all that was worth having? Would you\nnot admit that you had missed and ignored your high calling, your power\nto be enlightened and wise beings, and had sunk shamelessly and guiltily\nto the level, below the level\u2014for he answers the end of his creation\u2014of\nthe irrational brute? And shall you who feel such shame for worldly\nignorance, shall you who make such efforts to gain secular knowledge, who\nare ever widening your minds, and storing up in them as much as they will\nhold, who delight in growing wiser and more learned, who will study\nunwearily, and exercise all your intellect, and consume I know not what\ntime, in unravelling the worthless mystery of some enigmatical line in a\npoem of fiction\u2014shall you contentedly pass over the difficulties, and\nremain ignorant of the mysteries which meet you in nearly every verse of\nthe Word of GOD? Shall you be otherwise than glad and attentive when the\npreacher draws your attention to them? Shall you even unfairly and\nungratefully charge him with _speaking_ parables, when he is really\n_explaining_ parables?\n\nDear brethren, it is rarely that the public preacher, who has to take\nthought for the simpler ones of the flock, can enlarge upon profound\ntruths. When he does, take care that you make the most of the rare\noccurrence, and compensate for the forbidden frequency, by diligent\nprivate study, by ready use of that individual aid which the clergyman is\nas rejoiced, as he is bound, to afford you. Acquaint yourselves now, as\nfar as may be, with GOD, and the things of GOD. Furnish yourselves with\nthe answer, the want of which was such a reproach to Nicodemus, to the\nquestion\u2014\u201cHow can these things be?\u201d Show, at least, as much interest in\nsalvation, in sanctification, in heaven, in eternal bliss, as will lead\nyou to inquire what they are, and require, and promise. Get now the germ\nof that knowledge, which is to expand hereafter albut to an infinite\ngrasp, and is to revel in spiritual science. Cast away the reproach of\nknowing not; provide against the doom which awaits him that improves not\nthe talents entrusted him: \u201cFrom him that hath not, shall be taken away\neven that he seemeth to have.\u201d\n\nThere is another class of objectors\u2014to another kind of preaching. Those,\nnamely, who resist the force of plain exhortations to repentance,\nself-denial, submission, obedience, holiness, and the like; by persuading\nthemselves that the preacher urges these severely and unduly. Doth he\nnot speak parables, they say, exaggerating\u2014describing ideal duties?\nSurely, what he urges is not the thing really required of us; surely, if\nwe escape not with impunity, yet some allowance will be made for our want\nof it. Would he bring in all guilty? Would he cross every delight and\ndesire of our life? Would he expect us so to subdue the spirit, so to\novercome natural impatience, as never to resent, to shrink, to murmur?\nMust obedience be so uncompromising, so constant, so perfect, to be\nobedience at all? Is holiness so imperatively necessary? Surely the\npreacher is unreasonable, he is extravagant, he speaks parables. These\nobjectors are easily answered. In this matter no teaching of our own can\nbe more explicit, more exacting, more positive, and more unsparing, than\nthat of the New Testament. When we enforce these things, we are backed\nby an authority which cannot be questioned; and are able to prove that\nour words are those of soberness and truth. \u201cExcept ye repent, ye shall\nall likewise perish.\u201d \u201cIf any man will come after me, let him deny\nhimself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.\u201d \u201cWhosoever doth\nnot this, cannot be my disciple.\u201d \u201cWhosoever loveth me, keepeth my\ncommandments.\u201d \u201cIf any man love not the LORD JESUS, let him be anathema\nmaranatha.\u201d \u201cWithout holiness no man shall see the LORD.\u201d Are these\nwords parables, are they untrue, figurative, extravagant? And if not,\nwhat that we say, or can say, on this head, may be resisted or slighted,\nunder the plea, that is a parable?\n\nOnce more. When we discourse from the pulpit, on a living and near\nSaviour, an indwelling Sanctifier, a surrounding spiritual tempter, on\nheaven or hell, on enduring as seeing Him who is invisible, on having our\nconversation in heaven, on the evidence of things unseen, on the feeling\nand grasping, so to speak, as though they were substantial and at hand,\nof things hoped for\u2014oh! then, how many there are who hear us as though we\nwere dreamers or narrators of fables, speakers who should be allowed some\npoetic license; who, to make their speech attractive, or perhaps from the\nspontaneous dictation of their enthusiasm, use figures of rhetoric and\nspeak parables! I do not mean that these persons wilfully take up this\nposition, that they are intentionally, or in desire, gainsayers of the\ntruth, but merely that they do not enter into its conception, and cannot\nrise to its height. They lag behind, they are earthy, they see only the\nvisible, feel only the tangible to bodily senses. The temporal to them\nis real; the spiritual, not through unbelief, nor obstinacy, nor moral\nblindness, but from infirmity, and earthly-mindedness, and\nunspirituality, is regarded too nearly as unreal; and, therefore, when it\nis discoursed upon, they seem to be listening to empty dreams, and the\npreacher to be displaying flights of fancy.\n\nDear brethren\u2014I speak to such\u2014I know that many of you wish it were\notherwise; you would that your mind could conceive, and that your heart\ncould feel, these truths. In your best moments, you more than suspect\nthat the preacher is right after all, and you are wrong; that _you_ are\ndreaming, and not he; that his words are a parable only to those who will\nnot see and hear. It is not in man to afford you much help, in coming to\na right state. If I refer you to the Bible, which we do but echo from\nthe pulpit, you will still say, Ah! but does not this, too, speak\nparables? If I bid you go and exercise your reason, or consult others\nwho have done so, it is more than possible that you will come away from\nthe consultation\u2014alas! many do\u2014more convinced than before that we _do_\nspeak parables, that each one is a GOD to himself, that there is no other\ndevil than a man\u2019s own evil passions, that there is no hell but in a\nremorseful conscience, that eternity does not mean \u201cfor ever!\u201d No; there\nis no help for you in man, in yourselves, or in others. You must,\nindeed, purify and elevate your affections, so that they may wish for\nbetter things; you must bring down your reason from the high seat where\nit sits, and speculates, and dictates; you must try to accept the truth\nthat the natural man cannot receive nor judge of spiritual things; but,\nthen, you must go to GOD Himself, and humbly, teachably, earnestly ask\nfor that spiritual discernment which alone can see, and feel, and love\nthe things of GOD. Do this, not once, but often; not negligently or\nhastily, but earnestly and perseveringly; and presently, if not all at\nonce, yet gradually, most surely, your spiritual eyes shall be opened,\nyou shall see GOD, you shall love CHRIST, you shall perceive the motions\nof the Holy Spirit. The invisible world shall be unveiled, and shall be\nfound to contain all the beauties, all the horrors, and to hold out all\nthe hopes and fears, to be as real, as near, as sure to be ours, for weal\nor woe, according as we are, or are not, Christians, as the preacher or\nthe Bible, of which he is the expounder, asserts. Thenceforth you will\nnot complain of spiritual teaching that it is parabolic, of strong\nassertions of the obligation of Christian graces, that they are\nimmoderate, too exacting, too severe. No! heart and mind will testify,\nand life will approve, \u201cLo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no\nproverb.\u201d Yes; and knowing somewhat of GOD, and your relation to Him,\nand desiring to know more, whenever in your private reading of the Bible\na difficulty meets you, or whenever the preacher discourses, as it seems,\nin parables, you will give the most earnest and interested heed, to see\nif you cannot divine the mystery; and failing that, instead of remaining\nin willing ignorance, you will use all the means placed within your\nreach, the comparing of parallel places, your commentaries, and the\nprivate instructions of your clergyman, pleading all the while with\nCHRIST, and urgently beseeching of Him, \u201cLORD, thou knowest all things,\ndeclare unto me this parable.\u201d\n\nThus doing, you will soon find that to you it is given to know the\nmysteries of religion; and the knowledge, sanctified by the Spirit, will\nassuredly work in you a greater love of GOD, a more consistent and more\nsuccessful pursuit of holiness, a growing taste and eagerness for that\nbetter state, whence ignorance, in all its degrees, shall be banished for\never, and where we shall know even as now we are known.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XVII.\nLIVING AND DYING UNTO GOD.\n\n\n II. CORINTHIANS, V., 8, 9.\n\n _We are confident and willing rather to be absent from the body_,\n _and to be present with the_ LORD. _Wherefore we labour_, _that_,\n _whether present or absent_, _we may be accepted of Him_.\n\nTHE apostle had been speaking, in the preceding chapter, of the troubles\nand persecutions which he daily endured, and of the hopes and\nconsolations\u2014the life by faith rather than by right\u2014which made their\nendurance easy. Having touched upon the theme, he could not but enlarge\nupon it; and doing so, his ardent expectations carried him out of the\npresent, and made him covet and attempt to grasp the future. Before his\nenlightened eye and spiritualised heart, his affliction was light and its\ncontinuance brief; the present state was but as a tent, quickly to be\ntaken down, and then in its place should be digged the deep foundation\nand reared the abiding edifice of a building of GOD eternal in the\nheavens. Outstretched, then, were his thoughts, and desires, and earnest\nwere his prayers, not so much to get rid of what he had, as to attain\nwhat he hoped for and was promised. He knew indeed that the tabernacle\nmust be removed; that his present state must cease\u2014either by actual death\nor by a change, which the quick at CHRIST\u2019S coming must undergo, much the\nsame as death; he felt the burthen which was upon him; he yearned and\ngroaned to be rid of it; but looking to the end he disregarded the way;\ndwelling, not upon the change but what was to come after it, he sought\nnot death, but life. He longed, not to be unclothed, but clothed upon.\nNay, recognising the good, and so the desirableness of this life,\nshrinking too naturally from the thought of dissolution, he would keep\nthe present till he had the future, he would have what he wanted _added_\nto what he possessed, rather than _substituted_ for it. Present life was\nin many respects dear to him; he would that the evil were purged away\nfrom it, and the good left; and then that the good were augmented,\nenfolded, absorbed by the transcendent, satisfying perfect blessedness\nwhich GOD had promised, and for the attaining whereof He had bestowed His\neffectually working Spirit.\n\nAt this point he seems to have sobered himself, or perhaps rather to have\ndesignedly exhibited the latent soberness and contentedness which had\nguided him all along. \u201cWe are confident,\u201d he says, that is, of good\ncheer, well comforted, easily bearing what is, patiently waiting for the\nfuture; preferring, indeed (if a preference be allowed), to be absent\nfrom the body and fully present with the LORD; but still chiefly\nanimated, not by a selfish yearning for the quickest attainment of peace\nand glory, but by the noble, GOD-adoring ambition, of being and doing\nthat which is divinely approved. \u201cWherefore, in view of all that is and\nshall be, we make it our chief aim, we devote ourselves, not so much to\nreach heaven, to gratify self, as whether on earth or in heaven, to enjoy\nthe approval and favour of God.\u201d \u201cBe silent,\u201d he would say, \u201cye groans\nfor deliverance; check yourselves, ye eager aspirations for glory; let\nprinciple rule rather than desire, and let the principle be, whether we\nlive let us live unto the LORD, whether we die let us die unto the LORD.\nLet not dying or living be the engrossing thought, but that whether we\nlive or die we may be the LORD\u2019S.\u201d\n\nIn this, as in so many other respects, our bright exemplar, Paul, shows\nus both what we may allow and what we should aim at.\n\nAnd first he shows us that even the saint\u2014the approved of GOD\u2014may shrink\nfrom the thought of dissolution. \u201cWe groan, being burthened, because\u201d\n(this is the right translation) \u201cwe would not be unclothed,\u201d we would not\ndie. I envy not the man\u2014there is something unnatural, yea, and\nunspiritual, too, in him\u2014who does not shrink from the first thought of\ndeath coming to himself or to those whom he loves. For death, in its\nbest form, is a remembrancer of the wrath of GOD against the sinner, and\nit is in a sense a triumph\u2014no matter that it is short\u2014it is a defiling\nand withering touch\u2014no matter that it shall soon be wiped away, and its\nblasting undone\u2014of the foul and fierce enemy of GOD and holy man. It is\nthat, too, which cuts asunder the ties which we are allowed and\nencouraged to fasten here between ourselves and loved friends and\ndelightful pursuits and pleasing possessions. It is that, too, which\nabruptly closes the period of probation and preparation for heaven; which\nstays all cleansing and perfecting, which says imperatively to us, \u201cNo\nmore shall you remove, no more shall you acquire\u2014as you are shall you\nface GOD\u2014stereotyped are you for eternity.\u201d It is that, too, which\nenthrals and deadens the one half of us, though it liberates and quickens\nthe other, which separates the body from GOD, while it joins the spirit\nto Him, which, while it exalts the latter to Paradise, consigns the\nformer to the grave, to corruption, to temporary annihilation. Terrible\nis death to many, awful to all\u2014undesirable even to the saint\u2014and only\ntolerable because not so much of the soul\u2019s immediate gain as of the\nbody\u2019s future hope. For if it were proposed to us to choose for eternity\nbetween perfect disembodied bliss, and very imperfect bliss in the body,\nthere is no one, I conceive, who knows the capabilities of the body, both\nof rendering to GOD and receiving of Him, who would not prefer, and I\nthink rightly, life in the flesh to life out of it.\n\nThe words of St. Paul exhibit in himself, and seem to allow in others,\nthis shrinking from dissolution, this desire to keep the body, albeit\nchanged, perfected, caught up into the heavens; to be spared the pulling\ndown of the earthly tabernacle, even to make way for the heavenly eternal\nbuilding.\n\nBut St. Paul goes on to show that this desire was secondary to that of\nexchanging faith for sight, imperfection for perfection. He would not on\nany account remain earthy: he longed for the fullest and most glorious\npresence of GOD, and if it needs must be that the desired change and\nattainment could only be brought about by dissolution, oh, then he was\nready, he was willing rather to be absent from the body. He returned\nfrom the shrinking; he rallied from the fear; he was confident, well\ncontent, and desirous to die.\n\nAnd herein he is the pattern of a true Christian. He is not so in love\nwith death that he can see nothing in it to shrink from or fear, nothing\nto disturb him. He does not so hate this life as to hurry to be quit of\nit. With all its trials, and disappointments, and hindrances, and\nmiseries, there is much in it which is dear to him, in which he finds\ndelight, from which he is loth to part. GOD, too, is felt here, and seen\nby faith, and bestows appreciable blessings; here GOD\u2019S work is to be\ndone, here GOD\u2019S glory to be promoted. Therefore \u201cto live is CHRIST.\u201d\nBut still there are greater and better things beyond. There is a place\nwhere trouble never comes, where happiness is perfect, whose company, and\npossessions, and pleasures, are such, that nought on earth is worth\nhaving or thinking of in comparison of them. There is a state in which\nGOD\u2019S work may be done as angels do it, without hindrance from within or\nwithout; in which glory to GOD is easily, and fully, and delightfully\nrendered. There is a presence of GOD which is visible and palpable,\nwhere His voice is clearly heard, where He is beheld face to face, where\nthe everlasting arms are substantially felt as they embrace and uphold,\nwhere His love is perfectly realised and enjoyed, and perfectly\nreciprocated.\n\nWhat can be valued, or can interest in comparison of all this? What can\ncontent that is short of this? What can deter from the seeking of this?\nwhat valley seem dark and uninviting at the end of which this glory\nshines? what way be dreary and lonely, along which GOD\u2019S rod and staff\nare offered as supporters and comforters? This being the end and the\naim, if to attain it death must be passed through, then welcome death!\nWe are confident, full of cheer at the prospect, eager to set out\u2014\u201cTo die\nis gain.\u201d\n\nBut the best feature of the Christian, as exhibited in St. Paul, remains\nfor us to gaze on. After all, it is not the holiest ambition to aspire\nto heaven; it is not the highest vocation to enrich and perfect self.\nGOD has made us capable of heavenly bliss. He offers it to us. He would\nhave us seek it; He blesses and will reward the seeking. But still He\ndid not make and redeem us, He does not sanctify us only or chiefly for\nthis. The Christian\u2019s vocation is the service of GOD. The end of his\nbeing is the glory of GOD. And so our chief thoughts, and aspirations,\nand endeavours, are not to be deliverance from troubles, perfection in\njoy, getting out of the present into the future, exchanging earth for\nheaven; but, being and doing what GOD approves, wherever, in whatever\ncircumstances, GOD appoints. \u201cWherefore we labour, that whether present\nor absent we may be accepted of Him;\u201d that whether it pleases GOD to come\nto us while we are in the body, or to call us to Him out of the body, He\nmay find us prepared for what in either case awaits us; \u201cfor we must all\nappear before the judgment-seat of CHRIST, that every one may receive\naccording to the things done in the body.\u201d\n\nThe Christian may shrink from the first thought of death, and wish not to\nbe unclothed. He ought to aspire to heaven, and that he may reach it, be\nwell content, willing rather, to be absent from the body. But above all\nhe must labour in whatever state he is, therein so to be serving GOD, as\nto have His present acceptance and always to be prepared for His coming\njudgment.\n\nWe want to feel this and to act upon it. To put self with even its most\ninnocent instincts and best interests and noblest aspirations somewhat\naside, that GOD may be more nearly all in all; to be less filled with\ngroaning and coveting on our own account and more occupied in serving and\nglorifying CHRIST. It is well not to love this world, to have realised\nits vanity and misery, to have broken the links that would bind us to it,\nto refuse to find our perfect joy in aught that belongs to it. It is\nwell to yearn for deliverance from all that vexes and hinders and hurts;\nto desire ardently\u2014even to pray earnestly and continually for\u2014presence\nwith the LORD, and all that that presence implies, in Paradise, in\nHeaven. But when by GOD\u2019S grace we have come to this state, we are not\nperfect, we have not _begun_ to be perfect. No! we have only qualified\nourselves in mind and heart for the commencement of that which is\ndemanded of us in life, the single, contented, glad, immediate, and\nconstant service of GOD in the state and circumstances in which He has\nplaced us.\n\nBrethren, we are all dwelling in tabernacles, tents that have no firm\nfoundation; which are to be taken down and soon. The general judgment\nmay tarry, CHRIST may not come in His glorious majesty, and meet us while\nin the body: but if not then _death_ will surely come, and out of the\nbody we must go to meet CHRIST. How soon shall that be? How soon shall\nwe meet Him? Do you ever give these things a serious thought? Do you\never consider that the apparently capricious last enemy is wont to take\nthe young and strong as often as the old and feeble, and, _as_ he\nchooses, sometimes to sound the warning note from afar off, sometimes to\ncome silently, suddenly as a thief in the night? Do you feel\u2014I single\nout each man, each woman, each child that hears me, and in GOD\u2019S name I\nask that individual\u2014Do you feel that _you_ may be Death\u2019s next victim,\nthat ere the day is over you may be gone to your account, or at least the\nseeds of mortal disease may be beginning to grow in you? Oh, do not\nresist this appeal by persuading yourselves that the thing is improbable.\nLet it be enough that you know (and you do know) that it is possible,\nand, if possible, that you ought to entertain the possibility.\n\nWell now, let me farther ask, Are you prepared, are you preparing to die?\nAre you going to leave the vast concerns of an eternal state to the\nconsideration of a moment, a moment too which may be denied you, if not\nby the instant cutting of life\u2019s thread, by mortal fears and lingerings,\nand recoilings, by the engrossing pains of the body, by the locking up of\nthe senses in stupor or delirium? Are you putting off concern; heedless\nof thought and preparation for meeting GOD? Are you calculating upon\nbeing able to think and feel aright when you will, to ask and obtain\npardon for all that is wrong, to be excused for all deficiencies in a\nmoment, to do the work of life on a sick-bed, to satisfy GOD with the\ndregs of the cup of life, to become a passive recipient of the necessary\nholiness which GOD bids all acquire actively? Do you suppose it will\nsuffice to think of these things when the doctor tells you you cannot\nrecover; to send for the clergyman to teach and move you when the faculty\nof heeding is well nigh gone, to pray for you, if you are unable to pray\nfor yourself, to sigh over your body, if, alas! the soul has fled? Or\nare you now more or less possessed with religious thought and feeling,\nsitting loose to this world, weaning yourselves more and more from it,\nnerving yourselves for the last hour, sighing over and confessing your\nsins, trusting to CHRIST\u2019S mercy, aspiring to heaven, praying for\nacceptance? Whether you are indifferent to or merely postponing concern,\nfor self\u2019s best interests, or whether you are already absorbed by self\u2019s\nbest interests, let me remind you\u2014without presuming to set any bounds to\nGOD\u2019S mercy, without disputing that GOD has sometimes received those who\nfirst turned to Him on a death-bed, without caring to satisfy those who\nwant to know how little religion will save a man\u2014let me remind you, I\nsay, and do not be weary of the repetition, that to be truly acceptable\nto GOD, it is not enough that you entertain some religious thoughts, and\ngo through some religious forms at the last, or even that you are filled\nwith religious thoughts and feelings all your life long, you must be\nserving GOD now, in the day of your ability, at the call of every\nopportunity, in whatever state and circumstances you are placed, doing it\nas so much work set you to do and presently to be scrutinised and\naccounted for, rendering it as the faithful, grateful homage of a\npardoned and sanctified and loving sinner. Let this be your rule, a rule\nto be observed not only in theory but in practice also; not only in the\nrendering of obedience, but in the treating of all that you have, and the\naccepting of all that happens to you, as from the LORD\u2014\u201cWhether we live,\nwe live unto the LORD, or whether we die, we die unto the LORD.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XVIII.\nRELIGIOUS ZEAL.\n\n\n II. KINGS, X., 16.\n\n _Come with me_, _and see my zeal for the_ LORD.\n\nJEHU, the son of Nimshi, one of the captains of Israel, had been selected\nand anointed by Divine command, to supplant King Joram, to smite the\nwhole house of Ahab, and to avenge the poured-out blood of GOD\u2019S\nservants, the prophets. It is easy to account for the choice of such an\nagent. GOD, we believe, performs no miracle unnecessarily. When what He\nwants exists already, He searches it out and uses it; instead of making a\nnew creation, or changing and converting what, so to speak, comes first\nto hand. At this time He had need, for His purposes respecting Israel,\nof a man bold, impetuous, full of vigour, prompt to undertake, resolute,\ncourageous, uncompromising to perform. Such an one pre-eminently, was\nJehu; and therefore, said the LORD, \u201cI have anointed thee king over the\npeople of the LORD, even over Israel, and thou shalt smite the house of\nAhab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets,\nand the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel.\u201d\n\nWe know with what alacrity Jehu assumed his office, and set about the\ndischarge of its stern and bloody duties; how he drove furiously to slay\nJoram, assailing him the while with loud reproaches for tolerating the\nwicked doings of Jezebel; how he caused Ahaziah, king of Judah, to be\nslain; how he commanded Jezebel to be thrown from the window, and trod\nher under foot; how he effected the wholesale slaughter of seventy\npersons of King Ahab\u2019s sons, of all his great men, and his kinsfolks, and\nhis priests, until he left him none remaining; and how, too, returning\nfrom this destruction, he met forty-two of the brethren of King Ahaziah,\nand caused them all to be slain at the pit of the shearing house. The\nwords of the text introduce us to his last recorded deed of this kind,\nnamely, the destruction by subtlety of all the followers of Baal, and the\nsuppression of his worship throughout the land of Israel.\n\nIn reading this narrative, the questions naturally arise, How far were\nthe deeds of Jehu a performance of the Divine will? Was Jehu in any\nrespect, and if so, in what, a holy character? Under what influence did\nhe act, and forbear to act? May we consider these questions rightly, and\nlearn from them lessons of wisdom by GOD\u2019S grace to be carried out into\nholy practice!\n\nThere is, then, no doubt, because we may read the command for it, in\nplain words, that GOD willed the destruction of Ahab\u2019s whole house and\nthe extermination of the abominable idolatry of the Zidonians. Jehu\nseems, indeed, to have been unnaturally ready for the executioner\u2019s\noffice, to have discharged it savagely, and to have availed himself of\nwhat is never needed or allowed in GOD\u2019S service, of subtlety, fraud,\nlying: but still, making allowance for excesses, arising from his natural\ndisposition, from his professional familiarity with deeds of blood, and\nprobably from a proud misconception of the authority under which he\nacted, it must be admitted that, in the main, Jehu so far did the will of\nthe LORD.\n\nUnder what influence, prompted by what feelings, he did it, is a question\nless easy to answer decidedly. There are some\u2014and not a few\u2014who say that\nhis animus was altogether bad; that carnage was his delight; and that he\nwickedly, and for his own pleasure and private ends, availed himself of\nthe Divine commission, and served himself under the pretence of serving\nGOD. That Jehu was selfish there is great reason to believe, and\nsomething shall be said on that head presently; but that he was a\nhypocrite, that his principle, the motive under which he acted, was\nwholly bad, is proved not to be the case by the inspired commendation of\nhim. GOD has made even the wicked for Himself, He uses them to\naccomplish His purposes (as He did the Assyrians to punish the\nIsraelites, Satan to try Job, Judas to betray our LORD); but in such\ncases as they do of freely devised wickedness, what He overrules for His\nown good purposes, He condemns and punishes them for their offence,\nthough He makes use of it. Now, in Jehu\u2019s case, He praised and rewarded,\nand so there must have been something right in him: \u201cAnd the LORD said\nunto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right\nin mine eyes and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that\nwas in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the\nthrone of Israel.\u201d And the promise was fully realised.\n\nIt seems clear, then, that Jehu\u2019s deeds not only accomplished the Divine\nwill, but that they were done with that design; in obedience and in zeal.\nThey were a soldier\u2019s exact observance of orders, they were the fruits of\na servant\u2019s devotion to his master.\n\nWe should be able to leave this statement without qualification were it\nnot for two passages in the chapter of the text: the one, that in which\nJehu makes such boastful mention of his doings, \u201cCome with me, and see my\nzeal for the LORD;\u201d the other, that in which the inspired writer records,\n\u201cHowbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to\nsin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that\nwere in Bethel, and that were in Dan.\u201d From the first of these we are\ncompelled to infer that there was an evil leaven pervading his best\nobedience; and from the last, that other feelings often influenced him\nbeside zeal for GOD, and other lords had dominion over him; so that he\nwilfully desisted or was deterred from doing all that was required of\nhim. Hence it is plain that we must revise our estimate of his\ncharacter, to account both for his zeal and want of zeal.\n\nThe most satisfactory way of viewing him, to make him at all consistent,\nis to suppose that, after all he was not a changed and converted man, and\ndid not act from spiritual feelings; but that he was hitherto employed in\npursuits congenial to his natural taste, and so found his own pleasure in\ndoing the LORD\u2019S. In the destruction of Ahab\u2019s race and the overthrow of\nBaal, the soldier exercised the profession which he had chosen and loved.\nIn daring exploits and deeds of blood, he found a carnal gratification.\nMoreover, he was all the while strengthening and advancing his own cause.\nHis throne was unsafe while any of Ahab\u2019s posterity survived to dispute\nit with him, his people\u2019s allegiance was not sure while there was any\nlink with the Zidonians remaining; and the LORD\u2019S displeasure at the\nidolatry of Israel, he well knew, would show itself again, as it had done\nbefore, in the withholding of prosperity from them, and allowing them to\nbe harassed by their enemies. It was, then, a congenial and politic\ncourse which he had hitherto followed. It may have been done with\ngreater ardour and satisfaction, because it was the LORD\u2019S will; Jehu may\nnot at the time have had any distinct perception of the workings of a\nlower motive, but still he would, doubtless, have done all, and done it\nas readily and effectually had he owned no allegiance to GOD, and\nreceived no Divine command. This view of Jehu seems to be corroborated\nby the fact, that when the time was come for him to serve GOD in\ncomparative quietness, he served Him not; and when the performance of the\nDivine will in rooting out schism, threatened to break up the separation\nof Israel from Judah, by restoring the worship at Jerusalem, then he not\nonly desisted from the work of reformation, but gave his countenance to\nthe old error, and encouraged the people to go after the golden calves,\nthat were in Bethel and that were in Dan. And so that which he would\nhave others consider, and which, perhaps, he even believed himself, was\nzeal for GOD, was chiefly the indulgence of his own passions and the\nservice of self; and it came to pass, that he who had done well, even\naccording to all that was in GOD\u2019S heart, henceforth took no heed to walk\nin the law of the LORD GOD of Israel.\n\nSuch was Jehu\u2019s zeal\u2014a natural, or mixed, is not wholly selfish zeal, the\nzeal of Saul who sought to slay the Gibeonites, but spared Agag alive;\nthe zeal of the chief priests and Pharisees who put CHRIST to death, and\ndemanded Barabbas to be released; not the zeal of Phinehas, of Josiah, of\nHim who was always straitened till He did His Father\u2019s will; zeal not so\nmuch immoderate or blind, as blemished and partial; not being always\nzealously affected in a good work.\n\nThe review of such a character may be very profitable. How many of us,\nmy brethren, are very warm, very exact in serving GOD, in the things to\nwhich we are naturally inclined? How many of us, if we bid not others\n(as we too often do), \u201cCome with me, and see my zeal for the LORD,\u201d at\nleast flatter, and puff up ourselves, in the contemplation of the service\nwhich we are rendering to GOD? How many of us have only just as much\nzeal as squares with our own desires or interests; and in all else,\neither desist when GOD urges \u201cGo on,\u201d or persevere when He cries\n\u201cForbear!\u201d The zealous man has been advised, by a great moralist, always\nto suspect that pride, or interest, or ill temper, is at the bottom of\nhis zeal. Provided we guard against the grave error, so prevalent in the\nlast century, of despising and condemning all religious zeal, it is well\nto entertain this suspicion\u2014of ourselves, I mean\u2014till we have proved it\nto be false, or by repentance and amendment have made it false. For who\ndoes not know how much a proud, carnal, selfish, ill-tempered man or\nwoman may do in the service of self, which has the appearance of zeal for\nGOD? What pious labours men will undertake, if they happen to be in the\npath of their natural inclinations! What warfare they will wage against\nsins that they have no mind to! What platform speeches they will make,\nwhat pamphlets or letters publish, against the disciples of a religious\nschool to which they do not belong! They are zealously affected; they\ncome out and are separate; they are enthusiastic, energetic, noisy; they\nput forth all their own strength; they invoke the civil power; they would\nhave authority from the synagogue, if it were to be had, to punish all\nwho do not conform; they smite with the sharp sword of a bitter\npersecuting tongue or pen; they work, they speak, they give, they fight,\nthey endure\u2014all, they say, in zeal for the LORD; and yet, if you follow\nthem into the quiet scenes of life, if you come upon them where self has\nnothing to gain or enjoy, or where it has anything to lose or fear\nlosing, to all appearance they take no heed to walk in the law of the\nLORD GOD. It is very likely that they are not communicants; that they\nare irregular in their attendance at Church, or greatly wanting in proper\ndemeanour and devotion when there; that they aid but seldom, and\nslenderly, in the spread of religion around them, and the relief of GOD\u2019S\npoor; that they are rarely seen to open the Bible; not men of prayer;\nexhibiting tempers, and following ways which belong not to the holily\nzealous; tolerating beneath their own roof, or within the reach of their\ninfluence, something as hateful in the sight of GOD as the calves that\nwere in Bethel and that were in Dan.\n\nO how many who are zealous at one time, are without zeal at another! How\nmany who make a great show of religion, and talk much about it, and\ncontend in public for it, are utter strangers to its real influence, are\nwholly without love for it! How many, too, who honestly consider\nthemselves zealous for GOD, are only serving Him in the bent of their\nnatural inclinations, and taking no heed to Him, where self must be\ndenied; like men of cold temperament, despising bodily indulgence, yet\nmaking a god of mammon; prodigals, inveighing against covetousness;\ndestroyers of the temple of Baal, restorers of the calves of Bethel and\nDan; saints in some things, devils in others!\n\nO ye who boast of zeal, or claim to have it, take care that ye have it\ntowards GOD, and that ye are constant in it! Distrust the energy which\nworks only at times, and in some directions. Suspect the feeling which\nexcites and fills with ardour to-day, but is listless and dead to-morrow;\nwhich chooses for itself what to do for GOD, what to think of GOD, what\ntruth to meditate on chiefly, what practice alone to follow. Zeal for\nGOD is entire, regular, consistent devotion to Him. It fills the whole\nman with all spiritual desires and feelings; it works out in the whole\nlife; albeit, it is generally calm, and sober, and quiet, not boasting\nnor thrusting itself forward, not making much ado.\n\nDo not suppose, brethren, that in speaking thus on the subject of zeal, I\nwould discourage, in any degree, the entertaining of a fervent spirit, or\nwould allow, for a moment, that strong feeling and strong expression of\nit, and manifested earnest activity, are, in the slightest degree,\nincompatible with real religion. On the contrary, I would maintain that\nthere is no religion at all in the man or woman who is not\u2014allowing for\nthe differences of temperament\u2014stirred within by it, and impelled to\nspeak of and act upon it; who is afraid, or unwilling, or negligent, to\nshow it. Zeal, I maintain, is good\u2014nay, is necessary; zeal, which makes\none burn with the glowing thought of immortality, which rouses one to\nardent work and holy contention; which finds, and _must have_, its vent\nin the speech; which shows itself designedly, that it may impress others,\nand set forth the glory of GOD. Only, I would have you judge of that\nzeal in others, and find it in yourselves; not in what Jehu did, but in\nwhat he omitted, and ought to have done; not in that which indulges\nnatural desires, but in that which crosses them; not in that which\nsecures worldly advantages, but in that which disregards, and even\nsacrifices them; not in that which exists, or is quickened only in times\nand places of excitement, but which burns brightest and highest, and\nspreads farthest, in solitude and silence; not where there is immediate\npraise, or glory, or notoriety, in the sight of men, but in that which is\nseen alone by GOD. Seek to be zealous, rest not till you are zealous,\nfor there is no service of GOD, no acceptance with Him but through zeal:\nbut expect to find your zeal, know that there only GOD will find it, in\nyour deep conviction of sin, in the fervour of your penitence, in the\nuncompromising persecution of your own lusts, in the crossing of your own\nwill, in the refraining from that you would naturally choose to do, and\nthe performance of that you shrink from through worldly motives, in the\nearnestness of your prayers, in the frequency of your acts of communion,\nin the diligence of your searching of the Scriptures, in the munificence\nof your private charities, in the strenuousness of your efforts to do\ngood to others, in the secret contemplation and desire of heaven, in the\nsoul\u2019s appreciation of your high calling, in faithful love of GOD in your\nhearts! Have such zeal, and manifest and exercise it as often and as\nconsistently as the Holy Spirit enables you, and then the whole of your\nlife, within and without, from first to last, shall have the commendation\nwhich Jehu\u2019s at the beginning had; and an infinitely better promise shall\nbe fulfilled to you, Ye shall sit on the throne of heaven with CHRIST,\nand reign with Him for ever and ever.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XIX.\nCHRIST\u2019S COMING DESIRED.\n\n\n REVELATION, XXII., 20.\n\n _Even so_, _come_, LORD JESUS.\n\nAS it was the common belief of the early disciples that CHRIST was to\ncome in His glorious Majesty, to render unto every man according to his\nworks, so was it a common desire, a frequent prayer, that He would come\nquickly. They were not content with being merely mindful of the fact\nthat He would come at some time, they were not merely anxious to be\nprepared, lest He should come soon; but they looked for His coming, they\nhasted towards it, they loved the thought of His appearing. Some of\nthem, expecting that they should not taste of death till He had actually\nappeared to them in His fullest glory, looked ever with eager eyes for\nthe opening of the heavens, and the revelation of the Son of Man: others,\nbelieving that it was through the gates of death that they should enter\ninto CHRIST\u2019S presence and realise His Second Advent, wished to die,\ncourted death, yea, hardly resigned themselves to the Divine will, that\nthey should as yet continue in the flesh.\n\nPerhaps you may think that this was a natural rather than a spiritual\nframe of mind. On earth their portion had all along been one of sorrow\nand suffering, and evil reproach; and prophecy bade them look on for\naggravations of what they already endured, and for many additional and\ngreater troubles. What wonder, then, that they struggled to escape from\nthe present, that they shrunk from the future, that they prayed that\nCHRIST would speedily come to them, or that He would speedily take them\nto Himself! What wonder that St. Paul, for instance, amid his toils, and\nperils, and sufferings, and revilings, and failures, and disappointments,\nwith the prospect of nothing on earth but sorer persecution and greater\ntrials, should desire to be absent from the body, and to be present with\nthe LORD! What wonder that St. John, so cruelly entreated by foes, so\ndisregarded by should-be friends, when in the isle of his banishment the\nvoice of his LORD told of His speedy coming, should promptly and ardently\nrespond to Him, \u201cEven so, come, LORD JESUS.\u201d Having nothing, and\nexpecting nothing that flesh could desire; enduring much, anticipating\nmore that was undesirable, grievous, hateful, what wonder, you would ask,\nthat they yearned in their hearts to be delivered from such bondage, and\nto be transferred to the abode of peace and glory: that they offered\nfrequently and fervently those Advent prayers, \u201cThy kingdom come,\u201d \u201cLORD\nJESUS receive my Spirit,\u201d \u201cEven so, come, LORD JESUS\u201d! Even had they\nexpected no hereafter, had they supposed that the coming Judge would\nannihilate them, or that the grave would bury them in eternal\nforgetfulness, it would still have been natural for them to have courted\nand prayed for the cessation of toil and the end of suffering.\n\nSo some persons are wont to reason. It is natural, they say, for those\nto whom this world is a blank or a sea of troubles, to set their hopes on\nanother world. It is natural for those whose life here is all weariness,\nto be desirous to give up that life, even though they shall have no life\nhereafter.\n\nBut is it really natural? Does affliction naturally make us look\nheavenwards? Does a troubled life naturally reconcile us to the thought\nof speedy death, yea, and cause us to desire it, to pray for it?\n\nOn the contrary, do we not often find persons unspiritualised by\naffliction? Do not many maintain that their worldly troubles are the\nhindrance of religious thought and practice? Is not death by very\ninstinct shrunk from by well-nigh all, and most by those whose\ncircumstances seem to recommend it as naturally the greatest good?\n\nYou hear those who are vexed or thwarted, or oppressed, or wearied,\nexclaim in some moment of impatience or despondency, \u201cI am weary of my\nlife.\u201d You find some so worn out, like Job, by long and accumulated\ntroubles, that they continually sigh, and from the heart, \u201cOh! that I had\ngiven up the ghost!\u201d You hear the thoughtless, the proud, the obstinate,\nprotest \u201cI had rather die.\u201d But let them be taken at their word, let\nDeath show himself to be really close at hand, to be coming to them, and\nthey will recoil with horror from his touch, and piteously cry to be\nspared. Occasionally one is found who, lacking patience and perseverance\nto extricate himself lawfully from pressing difficulties, or, mad with\nvexation because he cannot accomplish some worldly scheme, or because he\nhas been frustrated in some wickedness: or because having done the\nwickedness, he fears to face the worldly consequences of his deed, not\nmerely says that he wishes to die, and prays for death; but then and\nthere ministers it to himself. Yet even in such cases, while he would\nescape from life, he does not deliberately seek death. Nay, when he\nfinds he is encountering death, he often desists from his half-done deed,\nor, if it be too late for that, shrieks frantically for others to rescue\nhim.\n\nThere are exceptions to all these rules, when men really wish to die,\nwhen they deliberately court and procure death; but they are sufficiently\nrare to vindicate the truth, that they are not natural.\n\nCertainly the desire and prayer of the first disciples to be removed from\nthis world were not natural. They did not despair in difficulties. They\nwere not unwilling to endure continued trials and sufferings. They were\nnot disgusted with life. All that CHRIST required of them they burned to\ndo; all that He laid upon them they rejoiced to bear; and while aught was\nundone or unsuffered, they chose and desired to remain; and even then, it\nwas not exhausted nature asking for rest, it was not weariness or dislike\nof life\u2019s lot which prompted the prayer, \u201cEven so, come, LORD JESUS:\u201d\nthey gloried in their then vocation, they loved their appointed work;\nthey would not relinquish it, they would not be unclothed, but clothed\nupon, advanced, and perfected: they loved CHRIST, and so yearned to see\nHim; they loved His service, and so coveted a state in which it could be\nmore fully and uninterruptedly rendered; they loved other men, the alien\nand the outcast, and so longed for the day when all the kingdoms of the\nworld should become the kingdoms of the LORD and of His CHRIST, when\nevery soul should be subject to and rejoice in His rule! They looked for\nCHRIST\u2019S coming, not because they supposed it would release them from His\nservice, and transfer them to an abode of luxurious immunity and rest and\nglory; but because they thought it was the necessary prelude to full\nusefulness, to entire submission to His will, to unremitted, glorious\nservice under His perceived eye, and in the perfection of His strength.\nThey thought death was gain, and they desired it, not as the time of\nsleep, the chamber of inactivity and oblivion, but as the door, the short\npassage, which led into a world wherein the kingdom of CHRIST was fully\nset up, and wherein they should unceasingly experience His rule, and act\nas its agents. They prayed that GOD would shortly accomplish the number\nof His elect, not with the carnal desire that their enemies might be\nconfounded, and that those then without might be kept without: nor yet\nwith selfish impatience for their own promised reward; but that the work\nof grace might be effectual, where now it seemed to be received in vain;\nthat the darkness which encompassed so many might be dispelled, that all\nIsrael might be saved, and might join them in glorifying GOD.\n\nThis was the feeling which prompted their Advent prayers; this was the\nfeeling which they laboured to arouse in those to whom they spoke, and in\nus, for whom they wrote. When St. Paul tells us, that to him to live was\nCHRIST, and to die was gain, that he desired to depart and be with\nCHRIST, though he was content to remain, he shows one of the many\nrespects in which we are to be followers of him. When St. John records,\nthat he replied to CHRIST\u2019S announcement, \u201cBehold, I come quickly,\u201d \u201cEven\nso, come, LORD JESUS,\u201d he personates the Church and every acceptable\nmember of it, and shows us the attitude and the feeling which becomes\neach one of those who wait for the LORD\u2019S appearing; even as St. Peter\ndoes in direct appeal: \u201cWhat manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy\nconversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of\nthe day of GOD?\u201d\n\nAlas! brethren, how far are we below the appointed standard of acceptable\ndiscipleship! How little is CHRIST\u2019S Second Advent in our minds, even as\na mere doctrine, a truth of Scripture! How small is the influence which\nit is allowed to exercise on our thoughts and affections, and lives! How\nseldom do we suggest to ourselves the possibility of its nearness! How\nfaintly, if at all, in what mere words\u2014words, which do not spring from\nfeelings, and are not illustrated by actions\u2014do we pray for its speedy\narrival!\n\nEven those among us, who are rightly mindful, who study to be prepared at\nall times, lest speedily and suddenly the Son of Man should come forth to\njudgment, or should send forth the angel of death to bring them to His\nbar\u2014even these can scarcely be said to desire the coming, which they\nthink of and prepare for: much less to pray for it, and to do what in\nthem lies to hasten it. Even if we are faithful servants, able to render\na right account whenever it shall be called for, we dread rather than\nhope for the day of our LORD\u2019S return. Even if we have our lamps trimmed\nand oil with us in our vessels, if instead of slumbering, we are\nwatching, would it not still be to us an unwelcome cry, \u201cBehold the\nbridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet Him\u201d? What would be the first\nfeeling of the best of us, if at this moment an angel stood revealed, and\nannounced \u201cThe day of the LORD is come\u201d? which of us can honestly,\nheartily say now, \u201cI would not live always. I would not live till\nto-morrow, if GOD graciously willed that I might die to-day?\u201d\n\nOf course there are many reasons why we should shrink from an immediate\nadvent. We all of us need to cast off some works of darkness: something\nis wanting in the spiritual armour of the best accoutred. We feel that\nwe have much work to do for GOD before the night cometh; we have many\ngraces to cultivate and many others to acquire, before we shall be fit\nfor CHRIST\u2019S coming; and, besides, naturally, the unprovided for, the\nunprotected, the unguided, that will be left behind, if we go, tempt us\nto linger, with eyes earthwards; and fashion chains to bind us down. But\nsetting aside all this, supposing it all changed, so that we were fit in\nall other respects for heaven, and nothing and no one on earth really\nrequired us, does not conscience convince us that still we would rather\nnot go yet, that we shall be the better pleased the longer we are allowed\nto stay, that our real prayer (that which our feelings suggest, though\nour mouths dare not utter it, nor our minds dwell on it) is \u201cLORD JESUS,\ncome _not_ quickly.\u201d\n\nWhy is this? I do not mean why is it in the case of the wilful, the\nsensual, the worldly\u2014there is no need to ask the question of them;\nCHRIST\u2019S coming will be their utter confusion, and the immediate\nforerunner of their destruction. It is easy to understand why _they_\nwish him to delay. But why is it in the case of the truly penitent, the\nreformed, the faithful, the holy, the comparatively ready for CHRIST\u2019S\nkingdom of glory? The foremost reason seems to be that they have never\nhad the courage to meditate calmly and sufficiently on death. The first\nthought of death alarms them. And this is natural, for death is part of\nthe punishment of sin, and all that reminds of sin should alarm. But it\nis only the _first_ thought that alarms. If they would give it further\nconsideration, they would see that death is deprived of his sting, that,\nmonster as he appears, to them he is harmless. \u201cThere is no condemnation\nfor them that are in CHRIST JESUS.\u201d Death is not their enemy, but their\nfriend. In fact, he is death no longer. He is an appointed minister to\ntake them out of what might be more properly called death\u2014this mortal\nlife\u2014and introduce them into real life. He does not separate them from\nCHRIST, but joins them more truly to Him. It is not a dark, bottomless\npit, with sides that cannot be climbed, to which he brings them, but a\nshort valley leading from the plain of this world to the city of glory,\nwhich he that enters passes through in a moment, ay, and less than a\nmoment, and is new born for eternity. Bring yourselves, brethren, to\nbelieve this, to feel the reality of it, to be sure that the moment your\nbody falls asleep in JESUS your spirit is wafted to Paradise, and begins\nto rest consciously on CHRIST, and to company with the spirits of the\njust departed. Then, though the nearness of death may for the moment awe\nyou\u2014because it is the antechamber which leads directly into the presence\nof so much holiness and glory\u2014it will have no power to fill you with\ndismay, no undesirableness to make you shrink from it. No, brethren, you\nwill think much of it, you will patiently hope for it, you will\nanticipate it and watch for it, and when it draws nigh, you will welcome\nit with joy, and hasten to be transferred by it from mortal life to\nimmortal!\n\nAnother fault is, that CHRIST is not sufficiently in all our thoughts.\nOur religion is too much of mere routine; our obedience is mechanical,\nunintelligent; our holiness is acquired, because of an imposed necessity;\nour faith is but historical. We do not feel what St. Paul felt when he\nsaid, \u201cTo me to live is CHRIST.\u201d By which it is clear he meant much more\nthan that CHRIST\u2019S service was his one employment, CHRIST\u2019S rewards his\none expectation, CHRIST\u2019S grace his only strength. He did not simply\nlook back to a crucified Saviour, nor forward to a coming Judge,\nbelieving himself to be made a servant, and to have by and by to render\nan account, to be liable to a judgment of his service; but meanwhile to\nhave no LORD near and over him. No! the CHRIST that had departed in the\nflesh was felt to have come back in the spirit. St. Paul saw Him by\nfaith, knew Him, walked side by side with Him, served Him personally,\nderived constant grace from Him, loved Him, and felt His love. CHRIST\nwas the Alpha and Omega of his being, the beginning, the motive power of\nall his thoughts, and words, and deeds, the companion of all his ways,\nthe object of all his aims: CHRIST the power of GOD unto salvation,\nCHRIST a very present help and comfort, CHRIST the hope of glory. Life\nwas full of CHRIST in its experiences, its aims, its delights, and hopes.\nGladly, therefore, would he retain it as long as GOD willed; but knowing\nthat death was gain, that after death CHRIST would be more palpably with\nhim, that he would be more able to appreciate CHRIST, that heavenly joys\nwould then be added to the joys he had on earth, he still longed for his\ndeparture, he desired ardently to be clothed upon, he loved the thought\nof CHRIST\u2019S final appearing, and his whole life acted the prayer which\nSt. John uttered, \u201cCome, LORD JESUS.\u201d\n\nBrethren, you must live as Paul did, you must appreciate life as he did,\nif you would desire death as he did. You must acquaint yourselves with\nCHRIST by study and meditation, by the Spirit\u2019s invoked aid. You must\nthink of a living LORD as well as of a dead Saviour. You must have\nreference in all your ways, not only to the first advent and to the last,\nbut, also, and I would even say chiefly, to the constant advent. You\nmust have come to perceive that the promise is fulfilled, \u201cLo, I am with\nyou alway.\u201d You must endure as seeing Him who is invisible. You must\ncarry CHRIST about with you. You must do all to the glory of Him, felt\nto be near, to be served and glorified. When you would go anywhither,\nyour first thought must be, \u201cWill CHRIST accompany me? Except thy\npresence go with me, O LORD, carry me not up hence.\u201d When you have aught\nto do or suffer, your realisation of a near and available helper must\nmake you begin with the prayer, \u201cO LORD, raise up thy power and come\namong us, and with great might succour us.\u201d Gratitude for benefits\nprovided so long ago will never prompt you to render due Christian\nservice, vague expectation of inconceivable joys will never quicken your\nsteps Zionwards. You must know CHRIST, feel Him, converse with Him,\ndepend on Him, and then, while you enjoy the life here, you will yet\nyearn for a place and a condition where you can have perfectly and\nuninterruptedly what now for so many reasons you have but in small part,\nand, \u201cThy kingdom come,\u201d \u201cEven so, come, LORD JESUS,\u201d will be your\nfervent and frequent prayers.\n\nI have spoken all along as if what we call \u201cdeath\u201d were the coming of\nCHRIST, which you ought to desire and pray for, because we have all come\nto take for granted that in our several cases death will surely precede\njudgment, that CHRIST will not be revealed in our time. I need scarcely\nremind you, that we do not know that; that at any moment the final advent\nmight take place, and so each one of us be caught up alive\u2014and never see\ndeath. If then, when you desire more of CHRIST, you think that through\nthe gate of death is the probable way of gaining it, and so look for\ndeath, you must not forget that there is another way, and that you may\npossibly first meet CHRIST face to face there. Be your desire to be more\nfully with CHRIST, and submissively leave to Him to decide how that\ndesire shall be accomplished, through death or without death. But in\neither case remember that your ultimate thought should rest upon the\nfinal advent, and your most fervent prayers be for it. Though you gain\nmuch by dying, being freed from many hindrances of perception of CHRIST,\nbeing made more fit for His presence, seeing Him more clearly, feeling,\nand hearing, and loving Him better, your state and privileges will still\nbe imperfect. You must stand before Him in glorified bodies before you\nare capable of being and receiving all that He graciously designs; and\nall the elect must stand there with you before His perfect gifts shall be\nbestowed. God does not will that we, without them, should be made\nperfect. The final advent, then, is to be the frequent subject of our\nprayers; the speedy completion of all God\u2019s preparatory measures, the\nswiftest communication, far and wide, of the knowledge of His name and\nwill, the quick filling up of the number of the elect.\n\nThis we are to pray for, and this we are to aid in accomplishing. CHRIST\nwill come when all is ready, and He has left us to make ready. First to\nprepare ourselves, then to prepare others. When this work of the\nforerunner has been done, the LORD Whom ye seek will come. He does but\ntarry till men be told of His coming, and persuaded to look for and\ndesire it. When we tell them, when we persuade them, we hasten His\ncoming\u2014that coming in perfect glory to bestow in perfection on us, on\nall, that which, till then, at the best must be imperfect.\n\nShould not this quicken our own growth in spiritual things? should it not\nprompt us to admonish, and persuade, and help others? should it not impel\nus to give more substantial aid to, to interest ourselves more about, to\npray more frequently and really for the success of missionary enterprise,\nthat those who have heard of CHRIST may be found out in their\nforgetfulness, and reminded of Him, that those who are as yet strangers\nand aliens may be brought into His household, and made fellow heirs with\nus, and expectants of His coming?\n\n\n\n\nSERMON XX.\nTRUE PROSPERITY.\n\n\n GENESIS, XXXIX., 2.\n\n _The_ LORD _was with Joseph_, _and he was a prosperous man_.\n\nIF you were asked, brethren, to make a list of what you consider\nprosperous men, what kind of persons what you put into it? Those, I\ndoubt not, with whom all goes smoothly, who come in no misfortune like\nother folk, who have riches in possession, acquire fame, are exalted in\nhonour; whose wishes are largely gratified, whose every project succeeds;\nwho, in short, experience no reverse, no temporary withdrawal or\nsuspension of good fortune, and peace, and pleasure. What is the first\nprosperous man that comes into your mind? Perhaps, a successful\nspeculator, who years ago made what is called a \u201clucky hit,\u201d and has gone\non repeating it, till he has become a millionaire. Perhaps, a\nprofessional man, whom fortune took by the hand as soon as he set out,\nand who has been hurried along with giant strides, favoured, flattered,\nwell remunerated, till he has reached the summit of success. Perhaps,\nsome uniformly thriving, respectable, happy tradesman, whose business\nprospers, who is always able to pay his way, can afford time and money\nfor pleasure, and has good heart and health to enjoy it; in whose\nhousehold there is no strife or division, no sickness, no vacated place;\nall present success, or bright hope. Or, perhaps, you fasten on an\nartisan, who is never out of work, who always meets with considerate and\nliberal employers, whose sobriety and uprightness, and other good\nqualities, are recognised and respected abroad, and rewarded by comfort,\nand affection, and well-doing at home.\n\nBut it is a clergyman who bids you select: so you must look about with a\nreligious eye. Then you pick out, perhaps, those who are naturally\nendowed with good will and resolution, and are strong to perform it; who\nhave been early trained in the right way, so that doing good has become\nhabitual and comparatively easy; who have no overwhelming concern about\nthe support of their lower life, are not distracted by worldly cares or\nby the claims of society upon them, nor much exposed to unspiritual\ninfluence; who have no immoderate passions, encounter no sore\ntemptations, but _can_, without hindrance, and _do_, from desire, live\ncalm, and easy, and creditable lives. These, you would say, are\nprosperous men, and so, in a sense, they are\u2014very prosperous\u2014and far be\nit from me to say, wrongly, or unhappily prosperous. We know, indeed,\nwhat snares riches bring with them, how many grave responsibilities are\nimposed upon all to whom much has been given, how dizzy one becomes\nthrough standing on a great height, and how easy and dangerous it is to\nfall from it. We know, too, that constant success is apt to make us\nself-reliant, forgetful of GOD, proud, imperious, uncharitable; and that\nuninterrupted peace and happiness in this world too often beguile us,\nsoftly indeed, but surely, out of all thought of heaven. And once more,\nwe know that an even temperament and an untempted life may easily lead to\nroutine-religion, to self-righteousness, to spiritual apathy and\ndeadness. On these accounts, we must not count them _surely_ happy who\nprosper in the world; but, on the other hand, we may not judge their\nstate certainly unhappy; nor deem the desire to be like them necessarily\nwrong or unwise. _If_ we can make sure of both worlds; _if_ we can have\nthe best of this, and not lose the other; _if_ no harm will happen to our\nspiritual state, and no fitness for it be unattained and unkept; _if_ GOD\nwill be surely with us, while we _thus_ prosper\u2014then religion does not\nrequire, rather forbids, that we should give up our good things, that we\nshould forbear to seek them, to use them, and to rejoice in them. All\nthese various states may, or may not be, truly prosperous. Wherefore be\nnot rashly carried away with admiration and desire of any of them; be\nslow to judge unfavourably of them, or to refuse, if you be called to any\nof them.\n\nBut what I would have you chiefly note now is that there are other kinds\nof true prosperity; rather, that if you would find out who truly prosper,\nand whether you yourselves are truly prosperous, you must look for other\nsigns than those of worldly success and happiness; you must not conclude\nthat the inward part, the very substance of prosperity, is wanting,\nbecause the outward life is sorely tried, and thwarted, and deprived, and\nsaddened.\n\nThe Spirit of Truth describes, in the chapter of the text, a truly\nprosperous man. Three several times, in a few verses, is Joseph\u2019s\nprosperity put prominently forward. Now just think what his life had\nbeen, and was, and was yet to be! He had been motherless from an early\nage; his father\u2019s love made him the object of his brothers\u2019 envy and\nhatred. He was thrown into a pit to die, and only escaped death to\nbecome a slave in a foreign land to a heathen master. Ere long he was\nmade the victim of a foul accusation; he was thrust into prison, and\nthere detained many long years; and when, at last, a hope of deliverance\ndawned upon him, he was cruelly disappointed by the king\u2019s servant, whom\nhe had kindly tended and reassured in trouble, and another two years of\nincarceration, of suspense worse than despair, had to be endured! Yet\nwas he _all the while_\u2014mark that!\u2014a prosperous man. The Scripture does\nnot say or mean that _by and by_ he attained to a prosperity, in which\nall his former adversity was forgotten. It is of the present, not of the\nfuture, that prosperity is predicated. Nor may we suppose that there was\nbut a _show_ of adversity, that Joseph was really what we call prosperous\nall the while, in that he enjoyed many advantages, that he made steady\nway towards greatness, that his troubles were but as the toils and\ndifficulties which, in a measure, the most successful have to encounter;\nor the just merits of misdeeds and the correction of faults. Up to the\ntime of his release from prison, all through the years which Scripture\nsays were prosperous, every hope and aim had been frustrated. It was not\nthat he had difficulty in entering upon his work, that he had much to\nresist and suffer from its pursuit; but that after it was done, the\nreward of it was denied him: he only climbed the hill, to be rolled back,\njust as he reached the summit. His child\u2019s life commended him to the\nlove of his father, _therefore_ he was thrust out. He won the good-will\nof his master, was diligent in his work, which prospered in his hand; was\ntrustworthy and trusted, rose to be overseer of the house, and _then_,\nwhen he had good hope of his freedom and of returning to his yearned-for\nhome, without any fault of his, he was degraded, branded with infamy, and\ncast into prison. Here, again, he deserved prosperity: the very jailor\nacknowledged it, and honoured and well treated him. The door, too,\nseemed to be opening for his deliverance, when a fellow-prisoner went\nforth full of his praise, an eye-witness of his sorrow, to make mention\nof him to Pharaoh\u2014but alas! the most strange forgetfulness took\npossession of the butler, and for two years the name of Joseph never\ncrossed his lips, nor thought of him entered his mind. And even when\ndelivered out of prison, and exalted by Pharaoh, he became but a chief\n_slave_, next the throne in dignity, second to the king in power, but\nstill not free to return to his home, still kept ignorant whether his\nfather was yet alive! Was this what we can call, by any stretch or\nlimitation, \u201cprosperity\u201d? And mark, that all his trouble came upon him,\nnot only _in_, but _for_, his well-doing. In obedience to his father, he\nwent to visit his brethren, and thus afforded the occasion of selling him\ninto bondage; because he did his duty to Potiphar, he was put into\ncircumstances of danger; by refusing to sin against GOD, he incurred the\nreproach and punishment of sin; by honestly asserting before Pharaoh, \u201cIt\nis not in me, I am nothing but a servant,\u201d he lost the opportunity of\nobtaining what the king would have been most ready to give him, and\nafraid to refuse, absolute freedom.\n\nMy brethren, you and I can hardly bear with trials, and sufferings, and\nreproaches, and ill-treatment, when we dimly suspect, or are actually\nconscious, that we have deserved them. How should we murmur, and cry\nout, and kick, and rebel, if we were thus treated for well-doing! With\nwhat words should we answer him who sought to calm and comfort us in such\ntrouble, by assuring us that we did wrong to count it adversity, that it\nwas indeed prosperity!\n\nYet GOD says that Joseph was a prosperous man. It is evident, therefore,\nthat we know not the meaning of prosperity, and must search in His\ndictionary for the interpretation of it. It is soon found: the first\npart of the text supplies it\u2014\u201c_The_ LORD _was with him_.\u201d\n\nAh! here is light from heaven. Prosperity does not mean the state of\ncareless independence; being what we will, having what we desire,\naccomplishing what we propose: it means, the state of dependence, of\nbeing kept and ordered by GOD\u2019S providence, treated as He wills, used in\naccomplishing His purposes. _By right_, we are GOD\u2019S, by creation, and\nredemption, and sanctification, sent into this world, reconciled and\nrestored after defection, enabled and commissioned to do the will of GOD.\nWe are as much the agents of His purposes as the elements, or any other\nof His creatures; and it would be just as reasonable, were it possible,\nfor the sun to complain that it is sometimes covered with clouds; the\nrain, that it has to descend and be absorbed in the earth, or lost in the\nsea, or scattered in snow; the wind, that it must blow when and where He\npleases, as for us to say of any state into which we are brought, of any\nwork to which we are put, or of any calling off from it, \u201cI like not\nthis; I am not prospered. All these things are against me\u201d! We have no\nright to independence; we ought not to be independent, and if we are, it\nis either because we have forsaken our appointed service, or because GOD\ndeems us unfit for it, and, therefore, uses us not! A chief part of\nJoseph\u2019s prosperity, remember, consisted not in the advancement of\nhimself, but in the accomplishment of GOD\u2019S work: \u201c_That which he did_,\nthe LORD made it to prosper.\u201d\n\nBut _by privilege_, as well as by right, are we GOD\u2019S. We are not mere\ntools in His hand: we are living agents, intelligent to understand His\nwill, free to do it or decline it, capable of loving it. We are,\ntherefore, taken into His counsel, made fellow-workers with Him, treated\nall along by Him according to our merits, finally rewarded according to\nour work; not, however, in the way of our own choice, but of His. O if\nwe realised this, and did our part according to the belief, we should\nnever murmur at, or question anything that is appointed us, or befals us.\nFor what does such questioning amount to, but an assertion that GOD does\nnot make the right use of us, or that He does not treat us worthily? And\nwhat is that, but to deny His wisdom, His justice, and His love? No man,\nwho is worth a thought, counts it adversity, that he is bound by the\nconditions, and must accept the trials, and do the work of his chosen\nearthly calling, that he is obliged, for instance, to serve in his shop,\nor pore over his books, or risk storms at sea, or face the dangers of\nwar; that, in short, he cannot be and do what he will, but must obey the\nlaw of circumstances\u2014why, then, should he reverse all this in his divine\nmission and heavenly calling, and demand a liberty, an immunity, a\nchoice, which common sense would tell him should not and could not be\ngranted?\n\nBut there is another, a chief consideration, which should incline us to\nbe sure that the ordering of GOD\u2019S providence is the conferring of True\nProsperity. GOD uses us, indeed, as servants, and appoints us our\nindividual work out of the several circumstances around us. But He\nlikewise makes us His friends, and uses the circumstances around us, as\nministers to us. It is in them that He speaks to us and visits us; it is\nby them, that He rewards and punishes us now; it is through them that He\ndisciplines and trains us, and perfects us for heaven. We were not made\nfor them, but they for us. And what shall we be saying of the Artificer\nand the Superintendent of their use if we question their general fitness,\nor the special application of them to ourselves? \u201cSorrow is not good for\nme.\u201d \u201cI am ruined by that disappointment.\u201d \u201cThrough taking that stay\nfrom me, I am become helpless.\u201d \u201cRemoving me thither is overwhelming me\nwith adversity.\u201d These, my brethren, are not only the expressions of\ningratitude, and the reasonings of unbelief, they are the dictations of\narrogant presumption dethroning the wisdom of GOD, and putting our folly\nin its place. We have no right to choose for ourselves: and if we had,\nhow could we do it? Is not GOD wise to know what is best for us? Is not\nHe good to apply it? Should we not fear the fulfilment of any hope, the\naccomplishment of any purpose of our own, and cry, \u201cO LORD, not as I\nwill, but as Thou wilt. Except Thy presence go with me, carry me not up\nhence\u201d! Should we not accept with full resignation, with heartfelt\ngratitude, any imposed condition, and say, \u201cIt is the LORD, let Him do\nwhat seemeth Him good,\u201d \u201cIt is good for me to be here.\u201d\n\nWe may reason this out, and the example of others proves it, and our own\nexperience confirms it. Admit the fact, that the LORD was with Joseph,\n_i.e._, that He used him as His agent, that He loved him, and designed to\ndeliver him from evil, and to bless him to the uttermost; and then look\nalong his life to see whether wisdom and love did not guide all his\ncircumstances to this end. It was GOD\u2019S will that Joseph should cause\nJacob to come into Egypt, and should sustain him there. How every step\nof his seeming adversity helped to accomplish this will! The telling of\nhis dream engendered the hatred of his brethren; that hatred sold him to\nthe Midianites, the Midianites brought him to Potiphar, the false\naccusation cast him into prison, in the prison he interpreted the king\u2019s\nbutler\u2019s dream, and therefore he was summoned to interpret the king\u2019s\ndream, and for so doing made the ruler of Egypt, and the dispenser of\ncorn to the famished nations. This brought the sons of Jacob to him:\nthis enabled him to dispose of them according to the will of GOD. Thus,\n\u201cthat which he did the LORD made it to prosper.\u201d And then of his\npersonal prosperity. Was not his father\u2019s preference likely to spoil\nhim? Did he not run daily risks from the hatred of his brethren? Was\nhis best state that of an honoured slave in Potiphar\u2019s household? Was it\nwell that he should daily encounter the temptations of his mistress? Was\nthere no good discipline in that prison-life? Did not deliverance come\nat the fitting moment, rightly so late, under such circumstances?\nSupposing he had chosen for himself, what else could he have chosen that\nwould have been better, or as good as GOD\u2019S choice for Him? And if,\nbrethren, we look along _our_ lives in the light of GOD\u2019S providence, is\nit not just so with us? Supposing us to be faithful servants of GOD, has\nnot all that has happened to us been for our good? Was it not well for\nus that we were removed from the state in which we were being spoiled,\nbecoming selfish and proud? Was it not good for us to be afflicted? Did\nnot some earthly loss make us seek to fill the void with heavenly\nconsolation? Are we not now better\u2014better in fact\u2014better in hope\u2014because\nGOD has prospered us in His own way, than if we had had what _we_ thought\nprosperity? Yes, surely; and had we been wise, in the hour of our worst\ntrial, we should have known that we were truly prosperous, in that GOD\nwas with us, that His jealous love had taken us from the foolish fondness\nthat was spoiling us, from the bitter envy that would not rest till it\nhad destroyed us, from the secular prosperity that would soon have made\nus forget our birthright, from the temptation that sought to defile us!\n\nIf we have been wanting in this wisdom hitherto, let us fill ourselves\nwith it now. Let us accept everything that befals us in the path of\nfaith and obedience as true prosperity; true prosperity, not only because\nit is accomplishing by us GOD\u2019S wise purposes, not only because it is\nadvancing us to glory, but because, it is the felt, the immediate, wise,\nloving operation on us of a present GOD, present to sustain, to comfort,\nto sanctify, to bless, present under a better covenant than that with\nJoseph, present more graciously, and more effectually; GOD the Father of\nour LORD JESUS CHRIST, GOD the Son, who has given Himself for us, and has\npromised to be with us always even to the end of the world, GOD the Holy\nGhost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, bringing near and applying\ntrue prosperity, and fitting us for it, and enlightening us to see it,\nand causing us to rejoice in it.\n\n * * * * *\n\n GLORY BE UNTO GOD.\n\n * * * * *\n\n F. Shoberl, Printer, 37, Dean Street, Soho, W.\n\n\n\n\n_Published by_\nWILLIAM SKEFFINGTON, 163, PICCADILLY.\n\n\n * * * * *\n\n BY JOHN JACKSON, D.D., LORD BISHOP OF LINCOLN.\n\nTHE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT: Sermons preached before the University of\nOxford. Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo, 5s. 6d.\n\nTHE SINFULNESS OF LITTLE SINS. _Contents_:\u2014I. The exceeding Sinfulness\nof Sin. II. Sins of the Temper. III. Sins of Pride and Vanity. IV.\nSins of the Thoughts. V. Sins of the Tongue. VI. Sins of Omission.\nTenth Edition. Fcap. 8vo, 3s. 6d.\n\n \u201cA very earnest and practical little volume, suited to all ages and\n classes.\u201d\u2014ENGLISH CHURCHMAN.\n\nREPENTANCE: ITS NECESSITY, NATURE, AND AIDS. _Contents_:\u2014I. The\nNecessity of Repentance. II. The Nature of Repentance. III. The\nProperties of true Repentance. IV. The Aids of Penitence. V. The Aids\nof Penitence (continued). VI. The Pardon of Penitence. Sixth Edition.\nFcp. 8vo, 3s. 6d.\n\nTHE PASTOR WHOLLY GIVEN TO HIS OFFICE. An Address to Candidates for Holy\nOrders. Fcp. limp cloth. 1s.\n\nTHE SPIRIT OF THE WORLD, AND THE SPIRIT WHICH IS OF GOD. A Sermon\naddressed to the Newly-confirmed, and preparatory to the Holy Communion.\nThird Edition. 1s.\n\n * * * * *\n\nJOB: a Course of Lectures preached in the Parish Church of St. James,\nWestminster, on the Fridays in Lent, A.D. 1855. By JOHN EDWARD KEMPS,\nM.A., Rector of St. James. Fcp. 8vo. 3s. 6d.\n\n _By the Same Author_.\n\nTHREE SERMONS ON THE WAR, preached in the Parish Church of St. James,\nWestminster. _Contents_:\u2014I. \u201cBe not High-minded.\u201d II. \u201cThe Lawfulness\nof War.\u201d III. \u201cHumble yourselves.\u201d Fcp. 8vo, 2s. 6d.\n\n * * * * *\n\nHINTS TO DISTRICT VISITORS, FOLLOWED BY A FEW PRAYERS SELECTED FOR THEIR\nUSE. By FRANCIS HESSEY, D.C.L., Incumbent of St. Barnabas, Kensington.\nThird Edition, cloth. 6d.\n\n _By the same Author_.\n\nCONFIRMATION QUESTIONS, IN SIX PAPERS. Intended for the use of the\nParochial Clergy in preparing Candidates for Confirmation and First\nCommunion. Price 2d.\n\nTHE SCHOOLBOY\u2019S WAY OF ETERNAL LIFE: HIS RELIGIOUS MOTIVES, TRIALS, AND\nDUTIES. A Course of Twelve Short Lectures. By the Rev. EDWARD\nHUNTINGFORD, D.C.L., late Fellow of New College, Oxford. Fcp. cloth.\n3s. 6d.\n\n _By the same Author_.\n\nTHE VOICE OF THE LAST PROPHET. A Practical Interpretation of the\nApocalypse. Fcp. cloth. 7s.\n\n * * * * *\n\nSERMONS IN DIFFERENT STYLES. Preached at St. James\u2019s Church, Piccadilly.\nBy the Rev. JOHN RICE BYRNE, M.A. Fcp. cloth. 2s.\n\nHYMNS FOR USE IN CHURCH. Collected by the Rev. H. W. BURROWS, B.D.,\nPerpetual Curate of Christ Church St. Pancras. Third Edition. 1s.\n\nTHE CHURCH AND THE PEOPLE. Twelve Sermons, preached at St. Luke\u2019s,\nBerwick Street. By HENRY WHITEHEAD, M.A., Curate of St. Matthew\u2019s,\nWestminster. Fcp. 8vo. 4s.\n\nA PRACTICAL TREATISE ON EVIL THOUGHTS: wherein their Nature, Origin, &c.,\nare Considered; with Rules for their Restraint and Suppression. By\nWILLIAM CHILCOTT, M.A. New Edition. 2s. 6d.\n\n \u201cIt is brimful of poetical feeling, of deep philosophy, and of\n imperishable truth.\u201d\u2014CHURCH AND STATE GAZETTE.\n\nA HELP TO THE PROFITABLE READING OF THE PSALMS FOR CHRISTIAN PEOPLE. By\nEDWARD WALTER, B.A., Rector of Langton, Lincolnshire. Fcp. 8vo. 4s.\n\nCONVERSATIONS ON HUMAN NATURE FOR THE YOUNG. By the late Mrs. CONYNGHAM\nELLIS. With an Introduction by SAMUEL, Lord Bishop of OXFORD. Fcp. 8vo.\n3s. 6d.\n\nSUMMER EXPERIENCES OF ROME, PERUGIA, AND SIENA, IN 1854, AND SKETCHES OF\nTHE ISLANDS OF THE BAY OF NAPLES. With Illustrations. By Mrs. J. E.\nWESTROPP. Post 8vo., 7s. 6d.","title":"Plain Sermons, preached at Archbishop Tenison's Chapel, Regent Street. Second Series","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":70351}