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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/24396-h.zip b/24396-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cc3ece8 --- /dev/null +++ b/24396-h.zip diff --git a/24396-h/24396-h.htm b/24396-h/24396-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5fc2a92 --- /dev/null +++ b/24396-h/24396-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3821 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>The Wesleyan Methodist Pulpit in Malvern</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.headingsummary { margin-left: 5%;} + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: left; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { + border-collapse: collapse; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + } + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + color: gray;} + + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">The Wesleyan Methodist Pulpit in Malvern, by Knowles King</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Wesleyan Methodist Pulpit in Malvern, by +Knowles King + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Wesleyan Methodist Pulpit in Malvern + Sermons Preached at the Opening Services of the Wesleyan + Methodist Chapel, in 1866 + + +Author: Knowles King + + + +Release Date: January 21, 2008 [eBook #24396] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WESLEYAN METHODIST PULPIT IN +MALVERN*** +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>Transcribed from the 1866 John Snow and Co. edition by David Price, +email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<h1>THE WESLEYAN METHODIST PULPIT IN MALVERN.</h1> +<p style="text-align: center">SERMONS<br /> +<span class="smcap">preached at</span><br /> +THE OPENING SERVICES<br /> +<span class="smcap">of the</span><br /> +WESLEYAN METHODIST CHAPEL,<br /> +<span class="smcap">In</span> 1866,<br /> +AT MALVERN,<br /> +<span class="smcap">by</span></p> +<table> +<tr> +<td> +<p><span class="smcap">Rev. W. M. Punshon</span>,</p> +</td> +<td> +<p><span class="smcap">Rev. W. Arthur</span>,</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p><span class="smcap">Rev. J. H. James</span>,</p> +</td> +<td> +<p><span class="smcap">Rev. C. Prest</span>,</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p><span class="smcap">Rev. J. Priestley</span>,</p> +</td> +<td> +<p><span class="smcap">Rev. G. Smith</span>,</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Rev. G. Wood</span>.</p> +</td> +<td> +<p style="text-align: center"></p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p style="text-align: center">With a Preface by Knowles King.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">LONDON:<br /> +JOHN SNOW & CO., IVY LANE,<br /> +<span class="smcap">paternoster row</span>;<br /> +WARREN HALL & CO., CAMDEN ROAD.<br /> +1866.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 3--><a name="page3"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 3</span><span class="smcap">to</span><br /> +RALPH BARNES GRINDROD,<br /> +<span class="smcap">of malvern</span>,<br /> +<span class="smcap">m.d.</span>, <span class="smcap">ll.d.</span>, <span +class="smcap">f.l.s.</span>, <span class="smcap">f.r.g.s.</span>, <span +class="smcap">f.g.s.</span>, &c., &c.,<br /> +This Volume of Sermons<br /> +<span class="smcap">is respectfully inscribed</span>,<br /> +<span class="smcap">in thankful acknowledgment of the learned</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">doctor’s great gift of healing</span>;<br /> +<span class="smcap">but more especially of his large charity</span>,<br /> +<span class="smcap">and high christian character</span>.</p> +<h2><!-- page 5--><a name="page5"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +5</span>PREFACE.</h2> +<p>The Sermons which make up this volume were preached at Malvern, in 1866, +at, and immediately after, the opening services of the Wesleyan Chapel +there.</p> +<p>This beautiful and commodious building owes its erection to the piety +and energy of the Rev. W. M. <span class="smcap">Punshon</span>, who, in +the year 1862, proposed by Lectures, and otherwise, to raise a fund for +building Wesleyan Chapels in places of summer resort.</p> +<p>This proposition was well responded to by Mr. <span +class="smcap">Punshon’s</span> friends, and the Wesleyan public, and +forty thousand pounds have already been expended in the erection of new +Chapels at Ilfracombe, Dawlish, the Lizard, Brighton, Weymouth, Eastbourne, +Walmer, Folkestone, Bournemouth, Blackpool, Lancing, Llandudus, Rhyl, +Saltburn, Bray, Matlock, <i>Malvern</i>, Keswick, Bowness, and the Isle of +Wight. Others are in progress.</p> +<p>These Sermons are published with the consent of the several preachers, +but it must be stated that they were <!-- page 6--><a +name="page6"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 6</span>preached without any view +to publication, and now appear in print, nearly word for word, as they were +delivered, extempore, from the pulpit. Some of them, indeed, have +never been committed to writing by the authors; for instance, of the +beautiful sermon of Mr. <span class="smcap">Arthur</span>, “not a +word” was written by him either before or since its delivery.</p> +<p>This will account for the fact that the subjects are not treated with +any degree of scientific exactness, as essays might require; but in a +manner intended to suggest useful thoughts to serious audiences.</p> +<p>Although myself of the Church of England, I have had many opportunities, +during the past thirty-five years, of hearing discourses from Wesleyan +ministers, and making personal acquaintance with them; and I believe the +following Sermons are a fair specimen of the Wesleyan teaching in this +country.</p> +<p>Why should not the Church of England and the great Wesleyan body be +united? Circumstances are entirely altered since Wesley, and his +coadjutors, were compelled to run away from the Church of England. +Now, thank God, the majority of our clergy, like the Wesleyan ministers, +are zealous, and energetic, and <!-- page 7--><a name="page7"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 7</span>evangelical men; popular in the style of their +addresses, distinguished by the vigour of their pastoral ministrations, and +incessant in them; paternal in their care of the poor, of broad and social +Christian sympathies, and earnestly pursuing the secular and religious +education of the young. Why should not the priests of the Church of +England and the ordained Wesleyan ministers be permitted to exchange +pulpits as they may think fit? There is little danger that a Wesleyan +minister would proclaim unsound doctrine. Such an evil is much more +shortly and sharply rectified by Wesleyan discipline, which the Courts of +Law uphold, than by any mere legal action to which the Church of England is +bound.</p> +<p>May it please God, by His Holy Spirit, to make these Sermons effectual +for the spreading of His truth and the quickening of His people.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">KNOWLES KING.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Sidmouth House</span>, <span +class="smcap">Malvern</span>,<br /> +<i>December</i> 3, 1866.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>If any profit shall accrue from this +publication</i>, <i>it will be given to the religious institutions at +Malvern</i>.</p> +<h2><!-- page 9--><a name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 9</span>THE +LIVELY STONES.<br /> +REV. W. MORLEY PUNSHON.</h2> +<blockquote> +<p>“Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an +holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by +Jesus Christ.”—1 <span class="smcap">Peter</span> ii. 5.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>There is a manifest reference in the fourth verse to the personage +alluded to in Psalm cxviii. 22, 23: “The stone which the builders +refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the +Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.” And this +passage is applied by Christ to himself in Matthew xxi. 42: “Jesus +saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the +builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the +Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.” The +Apostle therefore places the beginning of any connection with Christianity +in coming to Christ, and assures believers that in their union with Him +alone consists the fulness of their dignity <!-- page 10--><a +name="page10"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 10</span>and privilege. +And there is no truth that will more readily be acknowledged, or receive a +heartier acquiescence from the heart of a believer. What could we do +without Jesus? In our every necessity He is our “refuge and +strength,” in our perils He compasses us about with songs of +deliverance, his life is our perfect example, his death is our perfect +atonement. Well might the Apostle interrupt the course of his +argument with the grateful apostrophe, “Unto you, therefore, which +believe, He is precious;” and exhort them “that ye should show +forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into his +marvellous light.” The text presents us with topics of +meditation worthy of our prayerful study, as it reveals to us—</p> +<p>I.—<span class="smcap">The Character</span>.<br /> +II.—<span class="smcap">The Privilege</span>.<br /> +III.—<span class="smcap">The Duty of Believers</span>.</p> +<p>I. You observe that in the text believers are presented as a +spiritual house and a holy priesthood; two different illustrations, which, +if you translate the word here rendered “house” by the more +sacred word “temple,” will be found to have the same religious +significance, and a close connection with each other. Coming to <!-- +page 11--><a name="page11"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 11</span>Christ as +the foundation-stone of the building, “disallowed indeed of men, but +chosen of God, and precious,” the Church rises into a spiritual +temple. From Christ, the great High Priest, “consecrated after +no carnal commandment,” believers rise into a holy priesthood by a +majestic investiture that is higher than the ordination of Aaron. +There are two points in the character of the ransomed Church which are +illustrated in these words:—<i>spirituality</i> and +<i>holiness</i>.</p> +<p>Take the first thought, spirituality. They are lively or living +stones, built up into a spiritual house. Any one who thoughtfully +observes the successive ages of the world’s history, will not fail to +discover that each generation of men has in some important particulars +progressed upon its predecessor. There has been not only an +accumulation of the treasures of thought and knowledge but an increase of +the capacity to produce them. Hence in every age there has been a +higher appreciation of freedom, a quickened enterprise of enquiry, the +stream of legislation has refined and broadened in its flow, improvement +has extended its acreage of enclosure, and principles proved and gained +have become part of the property of the world. Our nature has had its +mental childhood. The established laws of mind admit only of a +gradual communication <!-- page 12--><a name="page12"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 12</span>of knowledge. It was necessary, +therefore, that men should be first stored with elementary principles, then +advanced to axioms and syllables, and afterwards introduced into the +fellowship of the mystery of Divine truth. Hence any reflective mind, +pondering upon the dealings of God with men, will discover a progressive +development of revelation, adjusted with careful adaptation to the +preparedness of different ages of mankind. In the first ages God +spake to men in sensible manifestations, in visions of the night, by +audible voice, in significant symbol. As time advanced the sensible +manifestations became rarer, and were reserved for great and distinguishing +occasions. From the lips of a lawgiver, in the seer’s vision, +and in the prophet’s burden of reproof or consolation, the Divine +spake, and the people heard and trembled. At length, in the fulness +of time, the appeal to the senses was altogether discarded; the age of +spirituality began, and in the completed revelation men read, as they shall +read for ever, the Divine will in the perfected and royal word. And +this progress, which appears through all creation as an inseparable +condition of the works of God, present in everything, from the formation of +a crystal to the establishment of an economy, is seen also in the +successive dispensations <!-- page 13--><a name="page13"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 13</span>under which man has been brought into +connection with heaven. You can trace through all dispensations the +essential unity of revealed religion. There have never been but two +covenants of God with man—the covenant of works and the covenant of +grace; never but two religions—the religion of innocence, and the +religion of mercy. Through all economies there run the same +invariable elements of truth. The first promise contains within +itself the germ of all subsequent revelation—the Abrahamic covenant, +the separation of Israel, all the rites and all the prophecies, are but the +unfoldings of its precious meaning. Sacrifice for the guilty, +mediation for the far-off and wandering, regeneration for the impure, +salvation through the merit of another; these are the inner life of the +words, “the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s +head.” The gospel therefore was preached unto Abraham. +Moses felt the potent influence of “the reproach of +Christ.” David describeth the blessedness of “the man +unto whom God imputeth not iniquity.” “Of this salvation +the prophets enquired and searched diligently.” Christ was the +one name of the world’s constant memory, “to Him gave all the +prophets witness,” and from the obscurest to the clearest revelation +all testified in tones which it was <!-- page 14--><a +name="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 14</span>difficult to +misunderstand. “Neither is there salvation in any other, for +there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be +saved.” The patriarchal dispensation had no elaborate furniture +nor gorgeous ritualism. The father was the priest of the household, +and as often as the firstling bled upon the altar it typified the faith of +them all in a better sacrifice to come. Then came the Jewish +dispensation with its array of services and external splendour, with its +expressive symbolism and its magnificent temple; and then, rising into a +higher altitude, the fulness of time came, and Christianity—the +religion not of the sensuous but of the spiritual, not of the imagination +awed by scenes of grandeur nor bewildered by ceremonies of terror, but of +the intellect yielding to evidence, of the conscience smitten by truth, of +the heart taken captive by the omnipotence of love—appeared for the +worship of the world. Our Saviour, in his conversation with the +Samaritan woman, inaugurated, so to speak, the dispensation of the +spiritual, “The hour cometh, and now is,”—there is the +moment of instalment, when the great bell of time might have pealed at once +a requiem for the past and a welcome to the grander future, “when the +true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in +truth.” <!-- page 15--><a name="page15"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 15</span>Requiring spiritual worship, it was natural +that God should have “built up a spiritual house,” wherein he +should dwell in statelier presence than in “houses made with +hands.” Hence there is now rising upon earth, its masonry +unfinished, but advancing day by day, a spiritual temple more magnificent +than the temple of Solomon, costlier than the temple of Herod. +“Destroy this temple,” said the Saviour to his wondering +listeners, “and in three days I will raise it up.” +“Forty and six years was this temple in building, and will thou rear +it up in three days?” “But He spake of the temple of His +body.” “What, know ye not that <i>your</i> bodies are the +members of Christ?” Yes! believers everywhere are stones in the +spiritual house, broken perhaps into conformity, or chiselled into beauty +by successive strokes of trial; and wherever they are, in the hut or in the +ancestral hall, in the climates of the snow or of the sun, whether society +hoot them or honour them, whether they wrap themselves in delicate +apparelling, or, in rugged homespun, toil all day for bread, they are parts +of the true temple which God esteems higher than cloistered crypt or +stately fane, and the top stone of which shall hereafter be brought on with +joy.</p> +<p>The second representation of a believer’s character is +<i>holiness</i>, “a <i>holy</i> priesthood.” In the <!-- +page 16--><a name="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 16</span>Jewish +dispensation the word was understood to mean no more than an outward and +visible separation unto God; the priests in the temple and the vessels of +their ministry were said to be ceremonially “holy.” But +more is implied in the term as it occurs in the text and kindred passages +than a mere ritual and external sanctity. It consists in the +possession of that mind which was also in Christ Jesus, in the +reinstatement in us of that image of God which was lost by the disobedience +of the fall. You will remember numerous scriptures in which holiness, +regarded as the supreme devotion of the heart and service to God, is +brought out as at once a requirement and a characteristic of a +Christian. “What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy +conversation and godliness?” “Be ye holy, for I am +holy,” “as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in +all manner of conversation.” “God hath not called us to +uncleanness but unto holiness.” “Having these promises, +dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh +and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” And it is +absolutely necessary that this grace should be cultivated if we would +either fulfil the mission of our priesthood or abide in the Divine presence +for ever. Holiness is requisite whether to see the <!-- page 17--><a +name="page17"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 17</span>Lord or to walk before +men unto all well-pleasing; and as living witnesses, transcripts of +<i>His</i> holiness, enabled by his grace to maintain purity of heart and +life, God has promised to establish those who put their trust in Him. +Some Christians have been deterred from the search after this blessing of +heaven by the mistakes of those who have endeavoured to expound it, or by +the hypocrisy of those who have assumed its profession that they might the +better sin. It is marvellous how many different views of it have at +times obtained currency in the world. By some it has been resolved +into a sort of refined Hinduism, a state in which the soul is +“unearthed, entranced, beatified” by devout contemplation into +a pietistic rapture; others have deemed that the best way to secure it was +a retirement from the vexing world, a recreant forsaking of the active +duties of life, as if it consisted in immunity from temptation rather than +in victory over it. Others have placed it in surpliced observance or +in monastic vow; an equivocal regard to patterns of things in the heavens +which common men mistake for idolatry. Others again, reversing the +old Pythagorean maxim, and wearing the image of God upon their ring, have +expressed it by unworthy familiarity, a continual adverting to the gifts of +<!-- page 18--><a name="page18"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 18</span>the +spirit, and the experience of the soul in the flippancy of ordinary +conversation, as did some of the fanatics of the Commonwealth. Others +have represented it as a perpetual austerity, an investiture of our family +circles with all the hues of the sepulchre, and a flinging upon the face of +society the frown of a rebuking fretfulness, which would make the good of +an archangel evil spoken of in this censorious world. But the +scriptural holiness which believers long for, and which the Church is to +spread through the land, is not a necessary adjunct of any or all of +these. It is not the acting of a part in a drama, but the +forth-putting of a character in life, the exhibition in harmonious action +of the humble love and filial fear with which men “work out their +salvation.” “A holy priesthood.” It is +remarkable of this spiritual priesthood that it descends in no particular +succession, nor limits its privileges to any exclusive genealogy. The +holiness which is at once its distinctiveness and its hallowing comprehends +and can sanctify all relations of life. Let the minister have it, and +the love of Christ, his supremest affection, will prompt his loathing of +sin and his pity for sinners; will fire his zeal and make his words burn, +and will often urge him to cast himself upon the mercy-seat that his +labours may <!-- page 19--><a name="page19"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +19</span>not be in vain. Let the merchant, or the manufacturer, or +the man of business have it, and it need neither bate his diligence nor +hold him back from riches; but it will smite down his avarice and restrain +his greed of gold; it will make him abhor the fraud that is gainful, and +eschew the speculation that is hazardous, and shrink from the falsehood +that is customary, and check the competition that is selfish; and it will +utterly destroy the deceptive hand-bill, and the cooked accounts, and the +fictitious capital, as well the enormous dishonesties as the little lies of +trade. Let this holiness actuate the parent, and in his strong and +gentle rule he will mould the hearts of his children heavenward, and train +them in the admonition of the Lord, until, a commanded household, comely in +their filial love, they shall reverence their Father who is in +heaven. Let the child be impressed with holiness, and he will have +higher motives to obedience than he can gather from the constraint of duty +or from the promptings of affection. Let the master be holy, and +while he upholds authority he will dispense blessing. Let the servant +be holy, and service will be rendered with cheerfulness, “not with +eye-service as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing +God.” Let the man be holy, and vigorous health and <!-- page +20--><a name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 20</span>lofty intellect +and swaying eloquence and quenchless zeal will all be offered to God. +Let the woman be holy, and patient prayer will linger round the cross, and +ardent hope will haunt the envied sepulchre, and pitying tenderness will +wail on the way to Calvary, and the deep heart-love will forget all selfish +solicitudes in the absorbing question, “Where have they laid my +Lord?” Let the world be holy! and the millennium has come, and +wrong ceases for ever, and the tabernacle of God is with men, and +earth’s music rivals heaven’s. Brethren, let us seek this +blessing for ourselves. There, at the foot of the Throne, let us +plead the promise, “I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you +shall be clean.” Imagination, intellect, memory, conscience, +will;—sanctify them all. “Then will we teach +transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto +Thee.” It is done, surely it is done. The hands are upon +us now. We kneel for the diviner baptism, for the effectual and +blessed ordination. Listen, the word has spoken, “Ye are an +holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by +Jesus Christ.”</p> +<p>II.—Certain blessings are presented to us in the text as the +heritage of this spiritual and consecrated Church. <i>Increase</i> +and <i>acceptance</i>. <!-- page 21--><a name="page21"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 21</span>The spiritual house is to be built up firm and +consolidated on the true foundation. The services of the holy +priesthood are to be “acceptable to God through Jesus.” +Take the first thought. “Ye are built up a spiritual house, an +holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by +Jesus Christ.” The fact of God’s constant supervision +over his Church and care for its stability and extension is one that is +impressed with earnest repetition upon the pages of his word. +“Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that +shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be +removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken, but there the +glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and +streams.” “Then shall thou see and flow together, and +thine heart shall fear and be enlarged, because the abundance of the sea +shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto +thee.” “Then shall the mountain of the Lord’s house +be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the +hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.” “As I live, +saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all as with an +ornament, and bind them on thee as a bride doeth.” From these +passages, and many others breathing the <!-- page 22--><a +name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 22</span>same spirit, we may +legitimately infer that it is the purpose of God that the kingdom of +Messiah shall be universal; that the Church shall increase in steady and +cumulative progression, and realize in herself all the “glorious +things” which by the holy prophets were “spoken of the city of +God.” And in this matter God has not left himself without a +witness. The present existence of the Church, after it has +encountered and outlived all varieties of opposition, is in itself a proof +which even its enemies, if they were not stupid and indocile learners, +might ere this have discovered, that the eternal God is its refuge, and +that the Highest will establish it for ever. From its institution it +has had in the heart of every man a natural and inveterate enemy. The +world has uniformly opposed it, and it has been unable to repel that +opposition with weapons out of the world’s armoury; for it is +forbidden to rely upon the strength of armies or upon the forces of +external power. Fanatics have entered into unholy combination. +Herod and Pilate have truced up a hollow friendship that they might work +against it together. Statesmen have elaborated their policy, and +empires have concentrated their strength; the banners of battle have made +hideous laughter with the wind; the blood of many sainted confessors has +been shed like water, <!-- page 23--><a name="page23"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 23</span>and the vultures of the crag have scented the +unburied witnesses and have been ready to swoop down upon the slain. +And yet the Church is living, thriving, multiplying; while the names of its +tyrants are forgotten, and their kingdoms, like snow-flakes on the wave, +have left no trace behind. No inborn strength will account for this +mystery. No advance of intelligence nor philosophic enlightenment +will explain this phenomenon. The acute observer, if faith have +cleared his eye or opened an inner one, will go back for the explanation to +an old and unforgotten promise, and will exclaim when he sees the Church +struggling, but triumphant, like the fire-girdled bush at Horeb, “God +is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, and +that right early.” And not only in the preservation from her +enemies but in her unfailing progress among men in every age, has God shown +that his purpose is to build up the spiritual house. The rapid spread +of the truth in primitive times was a marvel and a mystery to those who saw +not the arm which upheld it and the power which bade it multiply and +grow. The whole history of gospel extension is indeed a succession of +wonders. It began with a Pentecost, local, but prophetic of a +universal one, when “its sound shall have gone <!-- page 24--><a +name="page24"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 24</span>out into all the earth +and its words to the end of the world.” In the times of the +Apostles, and of their immediate successors, it overleaped the boundaries +of nation after nation, acquired lodgment and proselytes in the proudest +cities, subjugated the barbaric magnificence of Asia Minor, had its +students in the schools of Greece, and its servitors in the imperial +household at Rome. In its triumphant course it attacked idolatry in +its strongholds, and that idolatry, though fortified by habit and +prejudice, and sanctioned by classic learning, and entwined with the +beautiful in architecture and song, and venerable for its wondrous age, and +imperial in the dominion which it had exercised over a vassal world, fell +speedily, utterly, and for ever. And in each succeeding age, obscured +sometimes by the clouds of persecution, and sometimes by the mists of +error, its progress has been gradual and sure. If it has not +dissipated it has relieved the darkness. It has stamped itself upon +the institutions of mankind, and they reflect its image. It has +insinuated its leavening spirit where its outward expressions are not, and +there is a vast amount of Christian and humanizing sentiment abroad, a sort +of atmosphere breathed unconsciously by every man, whose air-waves break +upon society with unfelt but influencing pressure, <!-- page 25--><a +name="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 25</span>but its source is in +the gospel of Christ. The building rises still! In distant +parts of the great world-quarry stones of diverse hardness, and of diverse +hue, but all susceptible of being wrought upon by the heavenly masonry, are +every day being shaped for the temple. Strikes among the workmen, or +frost in the air, may suspend operations for awhile, but the building +rises! Often are the stones prepared in silence, as in the ancient +temple-pile, with no sound of the chisel or the hammer. The +Sanballats and Tobiahs of discouragement and shame may deride the work and +embarrass the labourers; but one by one the living stones, polished after +the similitude of a palace, are incorporated into it. Yes! the +building rises, and it shall rise for ever. God has promised increase +to the Church, and her enemies cannot gainsay it. From the more +effectual blessing on churches already formed, from the reversal of the +attainder, and the bringing into his patrimonial portion of the +disinherited Jew, from the proclamation in all lands of the message of +mercy, they shall throng into the city of our solemnities until “the +waste and the desolate places, and the land of her destruction shall even +now be too many, by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee +up shall be far away.” What Christian <!-- page 26--><a +name="page26"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 26</span>heart, looking for this +promised blessing, rejoices not with exceeding joy? At the foundation +of the second temple, amid the flare of trumpets and the clang of cymbals, +while the young men rent the air with gladness, there were choking memories +in many a Levite heart that chastened the solemn joy and were relieved only +by passionate tears; but at the upbuilding of the “spiritual +house” the young and the old may feel an equal gladness, or if some +memories steal over the spirit of primitive days, and of the joys of a +forfeited Eden, they may be stilled by the memory of the grander and +abiding truth, that—</p> +<blockquote> +<p>“In Christ the tribes of Adam boast,<br /> +More blessings than their father lost.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Brethren, have you this joy? Does it pleasure you that the +building rises? Do your hearts thrill with gladness as you hear of +accessions to the Church and the conversion of sinners to God? Do you +love the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob? Have a +care if you feel not this sympathy, for ye are none of his. If it is +within you a living, earnest emotion, give it play. “Let the +children of Zion be joyful in their King.”</p> +<p><i>The second privilege is the acceptance of her service and sacrifice +through Jesus Christ</i>.—To us, <!-- page 27--><a +name="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 27</span>who are mean and +unworthy, it is no small privilege to be assured of welcome when we come to +God. To us, who are guilty and erring, it is no small privilege that +we can come by Jesus Christ. The hope of acceptance is necessary to +sustain the heart of the worshipper, which without it would soon sink into +despair. The apostle, you perceive, places the ground of the +acceptance of our services upon our union with Jesus Christ.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>“Vain in themselves their duties were,<br /> + Their services could never please,<br /> +Till join’d with thine, and made to share<br /> + The merits of thy righteousness.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>He is careful to impress upon us that in our holiest moments no less +than when we are wayward and criminal, our trust for personal safety, and +our only chance of blessing are from our exalted Daysman, who can lay his +hand upon us both. Our praise would be unmeaning minstrelsy, our +prayers a litany unheard and obsolete, all our devotional service a +bootless trouble, but that “yonder the Intercessor stands and pours +his all-prevailing prayer.” It is “through Him we +<i>both</i>,” the Jews who crucified Him and the Gentiles, who by +their persevering neglect of Him crucify Him afresh, “have access by +one spirit unto the Father.” The words of promise touching the +<!-- page 28--><a name="page28"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +28</span>acceptance of the worship of the Church are explicit and +numerous. “They shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, +and I will glorify the house of my glory.” “That I should +be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of +God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being +sanctified by the Holy Ghost.” “In the place where my +name is recorded, there will I accept.” “In every nation +he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with +Him.” Oh, comforting thought, when I am convinced of my own +sinfulness, and restless and disquieted wander about in distress, and lie +down in sorrow, there is One who hears the stammered entreaty, and smiles a +pardon to my agonized cry, “God be merciful to me a +sinner.” When in my daily life I encounter a terrible +temptation, a temptation so strong that it tries my strength to the +uttermost, and gives my heart a struggle and a bitterness which no stranger +may know, there is One who marks my resistance and counts my enduring faith +for righteousness, and whispers me that by and bye, he that overcometh +shall wear the conqueror’s crown. When in some moment of +unguardedness I grieve the good Spirit, and become unwatchful, and in +remorseful penitence I could almost weep my life away, the <!-- page +29--><a name="page29"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 29</span>offering of my +contrition is accepted, and there is One who heals my backsliding and +soothes my fretting sorrow. My prayers offered in secret, pleading +for purity and blessing, my praises, when the full heart, attuned, gives +its note of blessing to swell the choral harmony, wherewith all God’s +works praise Him, the active hand, the ready tongue, the foot swift and +willing in his cause, the service of labour, the service of +suffering,—all these, if I offer them rightly and reliantly, are +acceptable unto God by Jesus Christ. There is no room for distrust or +for misgiving. I need not fear that, after all my efforts, I shall be +met with an averted glance, or with a cold denial. The promise +standeth sure, “To that man will I look.” Oh, if there +had been a pause after this announcement, how would the eager solicitudes +of men have gathered round it, and waited for the coming of the +words. Where wilt thou direct thy look of favour? To him who is +noble, or wealthy, or intelligent? To him who with scrupulous +rigidness fasts twice in the week, and gives tithes of all that he +possesses? To him whose quick sensibility revels in all expressions +of the beautiful, or whose graceful impulse moves him in all works of +charity? No, to none of these, but, “To him that is poor, and +of a contrite spirit; and that trembleth at my word.”</p> +<p><!-- page 30--><a name="page30"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +30</span>III.—If there be this assurance of acceptance, how solemn +and resistless is the call to duty, “To offer up spiritual sacrifices +acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” Sacrifice, properly +speaking, is the infliction of death upon a living creature for the +purposes of religious worship, but <i>this</i> sacrifice and offering, +happily, God requires not at our hands. No filleted firstling need +now be led to the altar, the flocks of Kedar and the rams of Nebaioth may +browse quietly in their pastures, for the Great Sacrifice has been offered, +and it <i>abides</i>—“<i>one sacrifice for sins for +ever</i>,” needing no repetition, one for ever! unexhausted in its +virtue, and unfailing in the blessing it confers. But in a secondary +sense the recognized and fulfilled duties of the Church are fitly called +sacrifices, for they cannot be properly discharged without the alienation +from ourselves of something that was our own, and its presentation, whether +time, ease, property or influence, to God. Brethren, to this duty you +are called to-day. The name you bear has bound you. The holy +priesthood must offer up spiritual sacrifices. Suffered to become +Christians, permitted, a race adulterous and dishonoured as you were, to be +united to Christ and partakers of his precious grace, the spell of these +high privileges enforces every obligation, and hallows every claim. +<i>Ye</i> <!-- page 31--><a name="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +31</span>are not your own. First offer yourselves upon the altar, +renew your covenant in this the house of our solemnities, on this the +instalment of our great Christian festival. It will be easy to devote +the accessories, when the principal bestowment has been rendered. I +claim from you this sacrifice for God. <i>Yourselves</i>, not a +half-hearted homage, not a divided service, not a stray emotion, not a +solitary faculty; <i>yourselves</i>, <i>you all</i>, and <i>all of you</i>; +your bodies, with their appliances for service; your souls, with their +ardour of affection; intellect, with its grasp and power; life, with its +activity and earnestness; endowment, with its manifold gifts; influence, +with its persuasive beseechings. I claim them all. “I +beseech you therefore, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a +living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable +service.” This consecration made, all else will follow in the +train; litanies of earnest supplication will rise from the full heart; the +“prayer will be offered as incense; the lifting up of the hands as +the evening <i>sacrifice</i>.” Glad in its memory of the past, +and hopeful in its trust for the future, the hosanna of gratitude will +rise; “the <i>sacrifice</i> of praise continually; the fruit of our +lips giving thanks to his name.” The property received +gratefully from heaven will be offered freely and <!-- page 32--><a +name="page32"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 32</span>bountifully for Christ; +and some outcast housed in a safe and friendly shelter, some emancipated +slave or converted Figian, some Indian breaking from his vassaldom of caste +and Shaster, and longing to sit at Jesus’ feet and hear his word, +will say rejoicingly of your liberality, “Having received of +Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet +smell, a <i>sacrifice</i> acceptable, well-pleasing to God.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 33--><a name="page33"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +33</span>CHRIST’S WORK OF DESTRUCTION AND DELIVERANCE.<br /> +REV. JOHN H. JAMES.</h2> +<blockquote> +<p>“That through death He might destroy him that had the power of +death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were +all their lifetime subject to bondage.”—<span +class="smcap">Hebrews</span> ii. 14, 15.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>There is a special and ordained connection between the incarnation and +the death of our blessed Lord. Other men die in due course after they +are born; he was born just that he might die. He came “not to +be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give” his “life a +ransom for many.” It is therefore evident that the theology +which magnifies the incarnation at the expense of the atonement is +fundamentally, fatally defective. The brotherhood of Christ with +every son of Adam is a blessed truth, but it is by no means the whole +truth, nor can it be practically available <!-- page 34--><a +name="page34"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 34</span>and influential apart +from the offering of his body upon the cross as a sacrifice for sin. +This is very clearly and strongly put in the text. The incarnation of +the Son of God is proved from the Old Testament, and shown to have had +reference to his redeeming death. Many purposes were answered by his +becoming partaker of flesh and blood. His influence as a teacher, the +power of his spotless example, his identification with the needs and +sorrows of humanity, and the deep sympathy resulting therefrom,—these +and similar ends were contemplated and fulfilled. But the grand +purpose was disclosed and accomplished on the cross, where God made his +soul an offering for sin. “Forasmuch then as the children are +partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself likewise took part of the +same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, +that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all +their lifetime subject to bondage.”</p> +<p>The death of Jesus, then, and the end to be accomplished by it, +constitute the central, vital, culminating truth of Christianity. The +apostle puts the death of Christ in a striking point of view,—as a +work done, rather than a calamity suffered. And it was a double +work,—a work of destruction on the one hand, and of deliverance <!-- +page 35--><a name="page35"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 35</span>on the +other,—of destruction in order to deliverance. That is the +conception of his mission embodied in the first promise. The bruising +of the serpent’s head by the bruised heel of the Saviour, in order to +repair the ruin wrought by the tempter, suggests very significantly the +truth which is so explicitly announced here. And a similar +combination runs through the ancient providential history. The +destruction of the old world in order to the salvation of the righteous, +and the fulfilment of the promise of redemption; and the destruction of the +first-born of Egypt in order to the deliverance of Israel, are instances in +point. But the death of Christ upon the cross in order to the +emancipation of the slaves of Satan is the most glorious and perfect +illustration. Let me ask your attention to the work of Christ’s +death,</p> +<p>I.—<span class="smcap">As it is a Work of Destruction</span>.</p> +<p>II.—<span class="smcap">As it is a Work of Deliverance</span>.</p> +<p>I. <span class="smcap">As it is a Work of +Destruction</span>. “That He might destroy him that had the +power of death, that is, the devil.”</p> +<p>1. <i>Satan</i>, <i>then</i>, <i>is a person</i>, <i>and the enemy +of Jesus</i>, <i>who died to destroy him</i>.</p> +<p>(i.) The personality of the devil is necessarily implied in the +words of the text. The theory <!-- page 36--><a +name="page36"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 36</span>which seeks to divest +all that is said about the devil in Scripture of everything like +personality, and to refine it away into figurative representation of +“the principle of evil,” is as unphilosophical as it is +unscriptural. How can we conceive of moral evil in the +abstract? How can we think of it apart from the depraved will of some +intelligent being? Whatever theories may be held respecting the +difficult question of the origin of evil, it is surely inconceivable that +it should exist independently of some living, conscious, intellectual +author. No truer or more philosophical solution can be found than +that of the Bible, which attributes it to the devil,—a being +originally good, who fell from his first estate, broke his allegiance to +the Creator, and so became the leader of a vast and fearful rebellion +against Almighty God. The case of man shows us the possibility of a +being existing in a holy but mutable state, and lapsing, under certain +inducements, into sin. What the inducements were in the instance of +the prince of darkness we are not told; and thus the question of the origin +of evil seems to be insoluble by us. But the identification of it +with the personal defection of Satan is far more intelligible and +reasonable than the attempt to treat it as a metaphysical +abstraction. All the representations of the Bible on <!-- page +37--><a name="page37"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 37</span>the subject are +instinct with the awful personality of the devil. He is our +“adversary;” he is “the accuser;” he is “the +God of this world;” he is “the prince of the power of the air, +that wicked one that now worketh in the hearts of the children of +disobedience;” he that hath “blinded the minds of them that +believe not;” he “leadeth” sinners “captive at his +will.” Surely that is a bold and unscrupulous theology which +resolves all these clear and strong expressions into the mere ideal +impersonation of a principle. O no! Satan is a being of subtle +intelligence, with a depraved, unconquerable, malignant will; a dread +living power, with whom we have continually to do, who “desireth to +have us, that he may sift us as wheat,” and with whom, if we wish to +get to heaven, we must be prepared to fight at every step of our way.</p> +<p>(ii.) And he is emphatically the enemy of Jesus, who came to +“destroy” him. “I will put enmity between thee and +the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.” It was in +pursuit of his designs against the living God that Satan persuaded our +first parents to commit sin; it was by lying insinuations against God that +he deceived her who was “first in the transgression.” Of +course, he is the enemy of man. Of course, his design is to inflict +ruin and misery on men, <!-- page 38--><a name="page38"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 38</span>and to bring them to his own state and place of +torment. But he does this by seducing them into rebellion against the +Most High. Hatred of God is the spring of all his conduct, the motive +of every enterprise which he undertakes. And Jesus, the Son of God, +the vindicator of the divine honour, is necessarily the sworn eternal foe +of the devil; and He has come into our world as into the arena of a supreme +conflict for the defeat and overthrow of Satan; has assumed the very nature +which the foul fiend seduced and degraded, in order that, in that same +nature, he might avenge the wrong done to the being and government of God, +and put an eternal end to the usurpation and tyranny of his enemy.</p> +<p>2. <i>The devil</i> “<i>had the power of +death</i>.”</p> +<p>(i.) We must not understand this as meaning that Satan has direct, +independent, and absolute control over death, inflicting it how, and when, +and where, and on whom, he will. The later Jewish writers taught the +horrible doctrine that the fallen angels have power or authority generally +in reference to life and death. But this never was the case. +Death was the sentence pronounced by God upon man, and it could only be +inflicted by his appointment and concurrence. The power of life and +death is necessarily in God’s hands, and his only.</p> +<p><!-- page 39--><a name="page39"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +39</span>(ii.) But Satan had the power of death, in this sense; +namely, that he tempted man to commit the sin which “brought death +into the world, and all our woe.” He enticed Eve to sin, partly +by denying that her offence would be visited with the punishment of +death. “Ye shall not surely die,” was the lie by which he +contradicted and defied the God of truth, and induced the woman “to +eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and +evil.” And so, he was “a murderer from the +beginning.” “God made man to be immortal, an image of his +own eternity; nevertheless, through envy of the devil came death into the +world.” In this sense, then, as the author and introducer of +that sin whose “wages” is death, Satan “had the power of +death.”</p> +<p>(iii.) Moreover, it is the work of Satan to invest death with its +chief terrors. We shrink indeed from the humiliating prospect of +corruption and decay; we cling fondly to those companionships, +associations, and pleasures, from which death for ever separates us; we +deprecate and dread the blighting of our earthly hopes, and the ruthless +frustration of our schemes. These are very painful accessories of +death; but they are not its sting; they do not make it a poison for the +soul as well as for the body. “The <!-- page 40--><a +name="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 40</span>sting of death is +sin.” That sting has been drawn for the Christian, and death +hath no terrors for him. But, had the power of the devil in death +been unassailed and uncounteracted, the dissolution of the body and the +eternal ruin of the soul would have been alike complete and +irrecoverable. By the consciousness of guilt, Satan has infused an +element of insupportable terror into death. For it is that +consciousness which makes death dreadful. It is quite probable that, +if man had not sinned, his body would have undergone some great change, +that it might be fitted for that “kingdom of God,” which +“flesh and blood cannot inherit;” but such change would have +inflicted no pain, and involved no humiliation; it would only have been a +change “from glory to glory;” and would have been anticipated +with no sentiments contrary to desire and hope. But death, besides +its own inherent ghastliness, is rendered dreadful through the malice of +the devil, and the guilty fear of the penal hereafter which haunts all +those who are in his power.</p> +<p>3. <i>Jesus died to destroy</i> “<i>him that had the power +of death</i>.” He has indeed provisionally destroyed death +itself for all “the sons of God.” “Death, the last +enemy, shall be destroyed.” But it is not absolutely and +immediately abolished. The <!-- page 41--><a name="page41"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 41</span>death of the body remains, even for God’s +people, as a sad and humiliating monument of the evil of sin; but to them +it is not now a punishment, but the mode of their birth into a new and more +glorious life.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>“Mortals cry, ‘A man is dead!’<br /> +Angels sing, ‘A child is born!’”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>It may be truly said of the hour when a good man dies, that it is the +hour when he enters into life. And this is because Jesus destroyed +“him that had the power of death.” He did not annihilate +him, the word does not mean that, but He neutralized, counteracted, +stripped him of his power. The whole design and effect of death, when +in the power of the devil, has been defeated and reversed by the death of +Christ. Though the bodies of his people be consigned to the grave, it +is in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to everlasting life. +That melancholy seed-time in which we cast the dust of our beloved into the +earth, is the prelude to a glorious harvest; that when “He giveth his +beloved sleep,” is preparatory to their awaking to glory and +immortality. “It is sown in corruption, it is raised in +incorruption; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown in +dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a +<!-- page 42--><a name="page42"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +42</span>spiritual body.” This is what Christ’s death has +done for the bodies of his people; and is it not an entire breaking of the +power of the devil over death? As to their souls, death delivers them +from the burden of the flesh, that they may be in joy and felicity with +God. “Absent from the body,” they are for ever +“present with the Lord.” Death is no longer a dark and +dreadful phantom, rising from the abyss, to drag down his victims and gorge +himself upon them. He is an angel, pure and bright, sent to summon +God’s beloved to their Father’s house above. That which +men naturally dread as the crown and climax of all evils, becomes an object +of wistful longing, for God’s servants have “a desire to depart +and be with Christ, which is far better.” This stripping away +of Satan’s power, this destruction of “him that had the power +of death,” is due to the death of Jesus. He thus redeemed us +from the debt of death, “acknowledging the debt in the manner in +which he removed it.” “Christ, by giving himself up to +death, has acknowledged the guilt, and truly atoned for it; He has, in one +act, atoned for the sinner and judged the sin.” By dying for +sins, He expiated that which gives to death its “sting,” its +power to injure and to terrify. He</p> +<blockquote> +<p>“Entered the grave in mortal flesh,<br /> +And dwelt among the dead,”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page 43--><a name="page43"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +43</span>that He might put an end to Satan’s power in and over +death. Some sound and excellent divines are of opinion that, in the +interval between his death and resurrection He literally “descended +into hell,” and there, in personal conflict, grappled with and +overthrew the devil. However this may be, it is certain that the +bruising of his heel by Satan was the chosen means for his bruising of +Satan’s head. Our enemy, who brought death into the world, is +entirely baffled and defeated, as to the purpose and effect of that +calamity, in the case of all who believe in the death of Christ. +Their last act of faith gives them “the victory through our Lord +Jesus Christ.” Then the God of peace “finally beats down +Satan under their feet.” Death is “swallowed up of +life.” What power over death has the devil in such a +case? Is it not wholly counteracted? Is not death a wholly +different, nay, opposite thing to what he intended, when by tempting and +conquering our first parents he brought it into the world? The body +of the good man “is buried in peace, and his soul is blessed for +evermore.” He shall never more, through the long eternity of +bliss, be assailed or injured by “him that had the power of +death:” nor shall he see his enemy again, unless it be to triumph +openly over him, in that day when <!-- page 44--><a name="page44"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 44</span>“death, and hell shall be cast into the +lake that burneth with fire and brimstone.” Many good people +are unduly afraid of the devil, and especially they are in dread of his +possible power in their last moments. But we may dismiss this fear as +altogether needless and unworthy. Christ has not only rendered our +great enemy utterly powerless for evil, but has, by his own most precious +death, compelled even Satan into the service of the sons of God. He +has turned the supreme calamity brought into the world by the arch-fiend +into the supreme glory and joy of all who believe in himself. To all +those who are by Jesus’ death “to life restored,” the day +of death is infinitely preferable to the day of birth, for then beginneth +that new life which shall never die. “I know whom I have +believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have +committed unto Him until that day.”</p> +<p>II. <span class="smcap">Let us now contemplate the work of Jesus, +in his death</span>, <span class="smcap">as a work of +deliverance</span>. “And deliver them who, through fear of +death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” If we +ascertain the import of this description of those whom Christ died to +deliver, we shall easily understand the nature and mode of the deliverance +wrought out for them.</p> +<p>1. <i>They were in bondage</i>. They were in fact <!-- page +45--><a name="page45"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 45</span>enslaved by +“him who had the power of death.” This is a very fearful +view of our natural state, and one which contradicts all the conclusions of +our own vanity and self-complacency. Unconverted men believe that +Christians are slaves, fettered by doubts, scruples, self-accusations; +bound in the bands of moral routine, and able only to move in certain +prescribed grooves; afraid to do as they list. According to their +notion, true liberty consists in throwing off religious restraints, and +following as much as may be “the devices and desires of our own +hearts.” But this is a terrible delusion, which only serves to +show the depth and subtlety of him who, besides having “the power of +death,” is also “the father of lies,” the great deceiver +and ensnarer of mankind. History is full of analogous examples among +men. In how many instances have the most cruel and remorseless +tyrants made use of the passions and brute force of the multitude to secure +their own elevation to absolute power, inducing their victims to forge and +rivet their own chains. And it is so in this case. Sinners are +the slaves of Satan; those evil desires and inclinations which they so +recklessly obey are but the tools and bonds of the great oppressor. +The wicked man sells his soul to the devil for the price of indulgence in +“the pleasures <!-- page 46--><a name="page46"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 46</span>of sin, which are but for a +season.” There is a very easy way of testing this question of +freedom or bondage in sin. If you are really free, free to do as you +like, you can do good as well as evil; you can give up your companionship +with iniquity, and break your covenant with darkness, as readily, and with +as little difficulty, as you made the compact. Let the man who +rejoices in his liberty to sin try to abandon iniquity; he will surely find +it an impossible task. However clearly he may discern the purity, +justice, and goodness of God’s law, however passionately he may long, +and however earnestly he may strive, to regulate his life by it, he will +find himself “carnal, sold under sin;” he will “find +another law in his members warring against the law of his mind, and +bringing him into captivity to the law of sin and death.” It is +easy to float with the stream, and the stronger the current the more +buoyantly and exultingly it bears you on. But try to breast the +current. You will soon find that you have undertaken a task which is +“impossible with men,” and will sink exhausted and undone with +the vain endeavour. Alas! Satan is in very truth the lord of every +enslaved soul, not rightfully, only by virtue of the foulest usurpation; +but he is so in fact, and he “binds our captive souls fast in his +slavish chains.” <!-- page 47--><a name="page47"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 47</span>And by this bondage unto sin he holds us +captive to death. His law is “the law of sin and death;” +and till Christ redeem and actually deliver us, we are bound over to endure +“the bitter pains of eternal death.” It is an awful +thought, but it is as true as it is awful. Our cruel and relentless +jailer keeps us in the prison of sin, shut up under his power, with a view +to our everlasting death. May we be made conscious of our +enslavement, for till we become so, we are not likely to seek for +deliverance!</p> +<p>2. <i>The sure sign of bondage to Satan is continual +subjection</i>, <i>or rather liability</i>, <i>to the fear of +death</i>. It would scarcely be true to say of the great mass of the +unconverted, that they are continually haunted and incommoded by the fear +of death. Their general condition is one of thoughtless and careless +ease, but they are always, even through their whole life, liable to be thus +haunted and incommoded. Whenever the thought of death is brought home +to them, as in the course of events it is ever and again sure to be, they +are appalled and terrified. They then feel that death has a sting, +and they have some foretaste of its sharpness and venom. They see +nothing in death but the ruin of all their earthly hopes and schemes, and +nothing after death but “a certain fearful looking for of judgment +and fiery <!-- page 48--><a name="page48"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +48</span>indignation which shall devour the adversaries,” and when +they seem to be themselves stricken by the hand of death, how do the +terrors of hell make them afraid!</p> +<blockquote> +<p>“O death, how shocking must thy summons be,<br /> +To him that is at ease in his possessions!”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>There is a difference however, and a very great one, between the fear of +death and the fear of dying. Many good people are often tormented by +the latter kind of fear. It is frequently the result of a sensitive +organization, or ill health, or a naturally gloomy temperament; and many +who have been much troubled by it through life have found it to vanish +completely when the supreme moment came. But the fear of death is +founded on the consciousness of unpreparedness for it, and on the +anticipation of the punishments which it will bring. Every unsaved +sinner has abundant reason for the fear which, however he may laugh it off, +will assuredly at times gain the mastery over him. The brooding sense +of insecurity; the secret sudden pang, stabbing him in the midst of his +wildest joys; the desperate effort never to think, and the resolute refusal +ever to speak of death; tell their tale, and show that the slaves of Satan +are always liable to the fear of death. O, if this be your case, it +is high <!-- page 49--><a name="page49"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +49</span>time to look to yourselves! If you cannot bear the thought +of death; if the great and solemn hereafter is haunted by images that scare +and threaten you; if you “put far away the evil day;” be sure +there is something radically wrong. Be sure, by that token, that you +are the slave of the devil. Be sure that you “are in jeopardy +every hour.” Never rest, never for a moment be satisfied, till +you can look death calmly in the face, and discern for yourself the life to +come, and your inheritance in heaven.</p> +<p>3. <i>For we all may have deliverance from our bondage to +Satan</i>, <i>and from this characteristic effect and sign of it</i>. +The death of Jesus has provided this deliverance for us. By depriving +Satan of his power over death, by expiating that sin which is the sting of +death, and so entirely reversing and counteracting its penal efficacy, +Christ hath wrought out for us a great salvation. And when we commit +ourselves to Him, relying on the efficacy of his atonement, our chains are +broken, and our craven fears are banished. Among the “first +words” of newly-converted souls none are more common or triumphant +than these, “I am not afraid to die now! I have a hope beyond +the grave!” It is indeed a mighty deliverance. What calm, +what security, what blessed hope does it inspire! To lose all <!-- +page 50--><a name="page50"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 50</span>fear of +the last and greatest of human calamities; to look into the face of that +which was “once an uncouth hideous thing,” and to find that +through our Saviour’s death it hath become “most fair and full +of grace;” to see no longer a dark and shrouded fiend arrayed in +mortal terrors, and poising an envenomed dart for the purpose of laying us +low, and compassing our lasting ruin; but a shining and smiling messenger +from the King of kings, bidding us to an everlasting banquet in his royal +palace; is not this true, priceless, boundless liberty,—worth +toiling, striving, suffering, dying for? This flower of immortal hope +blooms for each of us at the foot of the cross. If by the death of +Jesus we gain spiritual life, we shall rejoice in hope of the glory of God, +and shall look forward to the day of our death as the day of our eternal +marriage with the King of glory. Let us not lose this unspeakable +privilege! Let us, by faith in the death of our Lord, secure our +freedom and our birthright! And, as we think of our smitten friends, +let us thank God for their final deliverance from the power of death, and +their admission into everlasting life. Finally, let us more and more +glory in that cross whereby our Saviour Christ “hath abolished death, +and hath brought life and immortality to light.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 51--><a name="page51"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +51</span>INCONSIDERATION DEPLORED.<br /> +REV. JOSHUA PRIESTLEY.</h2> +<blockquote> +<p>“And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their +wickedness.”—<span class="smcap">Hosea</span> vii. 2.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Is it possible for any man to conceive of truths more fitted to arrest +the attention and impress the heart than are those contained in this +volume? It has been said that if a blank book had been put into our +hands, and every one of us had been asked to put into it the promises we +should like to find there, we could not have employed language so explicit, +so expressive, and so suited to all our varied wants, as is here. And +may I not say that no facts and declarations and appeals could be more +fitted to rouse the conscience, and to regulate the life, than those we +here find. Alas! however, with what affecting appropriateness may the +Almighty say of Englishmen as of Israelites—of persons living +eighteen <!-- page 52--><a name="page52"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +52</span>centuries after Christ’s death, as of those living eight +centuries before it—“They consider not in their hearts that I +remember all their wickedness.”</p> +<p>This passage brings before us two parties. One is the speaker, the +other the persons addressed. It states a fact respecting each. +Let us look at these facts:—</p> +<p>I. “I remember,” says Jehovah, “all their +wickedness.” What an idea does this statement furnish of the +unlimited vastness of the Divine mind! For if He remembered all the +evil deeds of all the Israelites, He remembered the evil deeds of all other +persons. If He remembered all the evil deeds of all then living, He +remembered all the evil deeds of all who ever had lived. And if He +remembered all evil deeds, assuredly He remembered all good ones. The +Scriptures declare this fact for the comfort of the righteous. What a +cheering declaration to a good man is that found in Hebrews vi. 10, +“For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, +which ye have showed toward His name, in that ye have ministered to the +saints, and do minister.” What a vast number of incidents are +included in the space of but one year in the history of each one of +us! What a still vaster number in the whole period of life! And +when we think of the ten hundred millions of mankind <!-- page 53--><a +name="page53"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 53</span>now peopling our globe; +when we add to these the almost countless millions that have departed, and +realize the fact that every incident of every individual of them is +remembered—remembered as distinctly too as if one solitary incident +were all that memory was charged with, what an idea is given us of the +vastness of the Divine mind! What can we do but wonder and adore!</p> +<p>My text says much, but like many others, it means more than it +says. How much of what Scripture intends to teach us shall we fail to +learn, if we do not consider what is included and involved, as well as what +is affirmed! This declaration imports three things. It +imports—</p> +<p>1. That God observes all our wickedness. To remember a thing +implies knowledge of it. This knowledge the Scriptures frequently +declare the Divine Being to possess. They tell us that His eyes run +to and fro the earth, beholding the evil and the good; that all things are +naked and open to His eyes. They go further. They teach us that +He is always present with us all, that there is no part of this earth, of +the vast universe, from which He is ever absent. David expresses +himself strikingly on this point—“Whither shall I go from Thy +spirit?” says he, “or wither shall I flee from Thy +presence? If I <!-- page 54--><a name="page54"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 54</span>ascend up into heaven, Thou art there: if I +make my bed in hell (hades), behold, Thou art there. If I take the +wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even +there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me. If I +say, surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light +about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee; but the night +shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to +Thee.” Psalm cxxxix. 7–12. How certainly therefore +does God observe all our wickedness! Did we but constantly realize +this fact what a restraining power it would exert over us when we are +tempted to evil. A man left his cottage very early one morning taking +with him a sack, and accompanied by his son, a little boy. That boy +was a Sunday scholar, and little suspected his father’s errand. +After proceeding some distance the father entered a turnip field, and +throwing down his sack, looked in this direction and in that to see whether +any one was observing him. On discovering the father’s object, +the child said, “Father, there was one way you did not +look.” “Indeed,” replied he, hastily; “which +was that?” “You did not look upward,” was the +rejoinder, “and God is observing you.” That was a word in +season. The father’s <!-- page 55--><a name="page55"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 55</span>arm was paralyzed. He took up his sack +and returned home. Remember, my friends, that the sleepless eye of +the Omnipresent One is upon you. The man that goes forth at the +still, dark, hour of midnight to plunder our habitations, how startled +would he be if an inmate should noiselessly and suddenly present himself +before him—the servant that robs his master, the circulator of base +coin, the man of fraud—would these practise their misdeeds if they +realized this truth: “Thou God seest me?” Would the +slanderer, or backbiter, or hypocrite, indulge their habits if they +realized this truth? Of what immense benefit would the realization of +this truth be, both personally and socially!</p> +<p>2. When God says that He remembers all our wickedness, He means us +to understand that He will exhibit it all. Why did He tell this +people that He remembered all their wickedness? The Scriptures answer +that question. They inform us that He intends to make use of the +stores of which memory is possessed, and that He intends to make this use +of them—to hold them up to the gaze of the universe. They teach +us that the conduct of every individual will be investigated and +published. “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with +every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.” +“Every idle <!-- page 56--><a name="page56"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 56</span>word that men shall speak, they shall give +account thereof in the day of judgment.” Important purposes +will he answered by this. A declaration will be made of the +righteousness of God in condemning the ungodly. He will hold up to +view the nature and extent of the requirements He made of us, their +reasonableness and beneficialness we shall all acknowledge. He will +then make known the innumerable acts of goodness He bestowed—His +forbearance to inflict punishment, and the various methods He employed to +bring us to repentance. And by the side of all this He will exhibit +our conduct toward Him—our ingratitude, our disobedience, our +perverseness. And with what enormity will these things then appear +invested! So guilty will thy conduct then appear, O sinner, that thou +wilt be constrained to exclaim: “Thou art righteous, O Lord, which +art, and wast, and shall be, because Thou hast judged thus.” +What an exhibition will he made on that day!</p> +<p>3. When God says that He remembers all our wickedness, He means us +to understand that He will punish for it all, if it be not repented +of. The maintenance of law and order in the universe require the +Divine Being to display His abhorrence of transgression. And how can +that abhorrence be suitably displayed otherwise than <!-- page 57--><a +name="page57"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 57</span>by punishment? +And the punishment must be of a degree to represent the guiltiness of the +conduct. It must be impartial, and be inflicted therefore on every +transgressor. The rich man cannot buy exemption from it. The +man of mighty intellect, or powerful eloquence, cannot persuade himself, +not to say the righteous Judge, into the belief that he ought to be +exempt. The man of good desires and pious resolutions, he who was +born of praying parents, and often bowed his knees at the footstool of his +Maker, but delayed to surrender his heart, cannot escape. No, my +friends, the decree of the Almighty has gone forth, it is +irreversible—there is none more righteous, and none that will more +certainly be fulfilled: “Though hand join in hand the wicked shall +not be unpunished.” “The wicked shall be driven away in +his wickedness.” “The wicked shall be turned into +hell.” What a mercy that we are not receiving our merited +punishment at this moment! And why are we not? Because the God +whom we have so shamefully and inexcusably resisted and provoked “is +long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all +should come to repentance.” Opportunity is afforded for +repentance. He employs means to bring us to repentance. How +good, how loving, God is! “God is love.”</p> +<p><!-- page 58--><a name="page58"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +58</span>Can any of you still resist the strivings of his Spirit? +“Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die?”</p> +<p>Christ has died that you might live, live with Him in His kingdom of +glory for ever. He shed for you His precious blood. For you He +now intercedes at the right hand of the Majesty on high. And if you +come to Him, however guilty you are, truly sorry for your sins, and believe +His own gracious declaration, that He came into the world to save sinners, +to seek and to save that which was lost, He will pardon and bless +you. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and +the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and +just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all +unrighteousness.”</p> +<p>God remembers all our wickedness. How much of it do you +remember? How little of it do any of us remember! The past is +to a large extent a vague and dim expanse. Many of you have climbed +these noble hills, and as you stood on the summit, you observed that +distinct as were the objects near, those remote were quite +indistinct. It is but a few conspicuous objects you can discern at +any considerable distance. Just so it is in reviewing our past +lives. We can call to mind a few things. We can remember +well—ah, we cannot forget, we have often wished <!-- page 59--><a +name="page59"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 59</span>we could, an act of +rebellion against our parents of which we were once guilty; of obstinacy +toward a master; of ingratitude toward a benefactor; of dishonourableness +toward a friend, or unkindness toward a neighbour. There are several +sad deeds in the life of every one of us which we cannot forget, but how +many which we have all forgot. The things we can remember are as the +milestones to the weary traveller, far, far apart. Yes, we forget, +but God does not. He remembers them all. There is not a single +improper word we have ever uttered, not a wrong feeling we have cherished, +not an ungodly deed we have done, not a duty we have neglected, but God +knew it, will exhibit it, and if unrepented of, will punish for it. +Hear it, ponder it, hide it in the depths of your heart, God remembers all +our wickedness.</p> +<p>Having considered the import of the declaration as it regards Almighty +God, we come now to consider—</p> +<p>II. The charge against the Israelites. They are not charged, +you observe, with denying the truth the Divine Being affirms respecting +Himself, or even with doubting it. They admitted it, believed it, but +it was unpalatable to them, and therefore they put it away from their +thoughts. What a melancholy exhibition of character was <!-- page +60--><a name="page60"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 60</span>this! And +yet does not this declaration hold true of greatly more than one-half of +the population of this evangelized land? Does it not hold true of +every <i>drunkard</i>? Could he spend his hard-earned money in that +which stupifies his mind, injures his body, degrades his character, +shortens his life, and destroys his soul; and besides all this, brings want +and wretchedness on his family, and makes himself a scandal and reproach to +humanity—could any man yield himself to the power of intoxicating +liquor that considered what is involved in such a course?</p> +<p>Does not this charge hold true of every <i>sensualist</i>? Could +any man become the victim of degrading passions, could he consent to +sacrifice the mental and moral part of his nature—the man to the +animal—if he considered what was due to himself, to society, and to +God?</p> +<p>Does not the charge hold true of the <i>pleasure hunter</i>? As a +condiment, as a relaxation, pleasure seeking, if of the right sort, is not +only allowable but commendable. He who gave life intended it to be a +joy. To be always seeking after pleasure, however, exercises a +dissipating and debilitating influence on the mind, and prevents the +acquirement of true nobleness and worth of character. And would a +creature, which is the highest workmanship of Infinite Excellence with +which we are <!-- page 61--><a name="page61"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +61</span>acquainted, yield himself to this, if given to the consideration +of the fact the Almighty here states respecting himself?</p> +<p>To mention but one other class of character, does not the charge hold +true of <i>the fraudulent</i>? Would a man rob his soul to enrich his +pocket, would he narrow his heart to expand his purse, would he build up a +character that is to endure for ever with such ill-tempered mortar as +falsehood; would he be willing to encounter all the piercing looks and +accusing words with which those he wronged will one day assail him, if he +had taken his relationship to God, and man, and eternity, into +consideration?</p> +<p>What incalculable mischief and misery this neglect of consideration has +wrought in our world! Had our first parents considered the sad +consequences that would ensue to themselves and their posterity, would they +have plucked the forbidden fruit? Through what a long and mournful +list of events that have happened from that day to this might I easily go, +all of which would have been avoided if right consideration had been +given! Every day during those six thousand years a multitude of such +events have happened. Is there one of you but can recal deeds +respecting which you say with bitterness of heart, I wish I had given it +consideration—I wish I had considered it more fully?</p> +<p><!-- page 62--><a name="page62"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 62</span>My +young friends permit me to urge consideration upon you. Your welfare +for both worlds is largely in your own keeping. You can secure it or +destroy it. But to secure it, consideration is essential. If +you don’t addict yourselves to reflection you will be largely at the +mercy of impulse, be enticed probably by evil companions, and get wrong +perhaps in a thousand ways. Reluctant as you may feel at first to +engage in it—uninteresting as you may deem it, do not, as rational +creatures, prefer the pleasing to the right and good. The young man +of reflection is more respected, more valuable, and unspeakably more happy, +than the frivolous and vain. If you forget all else I say, do not +forget this—it is the declaration of your loving Father in heaven, +who wishes to welcome you there, but can welcome those only who yield to +Him a filial love—“I remember all their wickedness.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 63--><a name="page63"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +63</span>THE FRIEND WHOSE YEARS DO NOT FAIL.<br /> +REV. W. ARTHUR, M.A.</h2> +<blockquote> +<p>“And thy years shall not fail.”—<span +class="smcap">Hebrews</span> i. 12.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>You know that these words are taken from the hundred and second +Psalm. There, they are addressed to God the Creator; here, to Christ +the Redeemer. In both cases they express the same truths. Man +finds himself here, looks out to what he can see around him, and then in +thought passes on to what he cannot see. He knows that a very little +while ago he was not here, he was not anywhere. He has an instinct +within which tells him that though it is so short a time since he was not +the time will never come when he will not be—an instinct that cries +for a permanent foundation. He is not such foundation +himself—he feels that. He stands upon the foundation of the +earth: he did not lay it; it did not lay itself. Those layers of rock +were not their own framers. But the foundation <i>was</i> laid. +<!-- page 64--><a name="page64"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +64</span>“Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of +the earth.”</p> +<p>He is under a covering as well as on a foundation. He did not +pitch that canopy, nor fix those lights, nor hang those curtains by whose +silent closing and withdrawing the light is heightened or dimmed. +“The heavens are the work of thy hand.” But will these +last? Will this earth that I stand upon last? No; I see on it +the marks of age and decay as on myself. Like me it will +perish. And those heavens that are over me, they shall +perish—will all things perish? Will everything that is go out +of being? “Thou remainest.” They shall wax old, it +is true, but that is only as if a garment waxed old; “As a vesture +shalt thou fold them up and they shall be changed.” All this +that the eye can see above, below, around, is to the great King but as the +robe upon the Sovereign to his person, and dominion, and when he folds up +that vesture and lays it aside he will command another wherewith to show +his glory to his subjects. “They shall perish; but thou +remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture +shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, +and thy years shall not fail!”</p> +<p><!-- page 65--><a name="page65"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 65</span>We +have here a preacher, a listener, a subject: changeful nature, mortal man, +immutable Godhead.</p> +<p>Changeful nature is a perpetual preacher, evermore proclaiming to us the +twofold lesson, our own mortality and God’s immutable glory and +power. “Thy years shall not fail.” What strange +language applied to the Divine Being—perfectly natural as applied to +us—“years!” Our life is finite, our life is +measured, our life is dealt out to us in parcels. For us to speak of +our “years” is natural, but when we look up to Him that is +unmeasured, infinite, eternal, then this word “years” becomes +but the representative of our small transient life when trying to contrast +itself with his broad and Infinite Being. We are constantly speaking +of two things wherewith we find ourselves related—space and time: and +what are they? We hardly know. We know but something like this: +space is a measured distance in infinity; time a measured duration in +eternity.</p> +<p>We are launched in the midst of a sea of eternity, and all the time that +comes to us comes by solemn public measurement, measurement conducted in +the most formal and stately manner by the hand of the Creator. He +made that heaven from which we can never shut <!-- page 66--><a +name="page66"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 66</span>our regard—we +must see it; and in it He set those lights “for signs and for seasons +and for days and for years.” He might easily have given us a +being that would have flowed on evenly from its beginning to its close +without anything to mark it off into stages. We may almost watch a +sunbeam starting from the sun and racing all the way to our world, passing +over it, far on beyond it, till our eye and even our thought cannot follow +it, and never anything to check or register its progress.</p> +<p>But not so the career that God has appointed to us. Everything is +dealt to us under an economy of measure, of trust and of account. +“For signs”—He set those things above us for signs. +Cannot earth be a sign to herself? Cannot man be his own +directory? Cannot the seas and the mountains and the rivers and trees +and houses be their own tokens? Try this. Let that ship at sea, +on which the fog has settled, ask the waves to say where is north, south, +east or west; and when the gale springs up and the clouds cover the heavens +let her ask the winds to tell how far from port. No, if the heavens +give no signs she has none, she cannot tell where she is or whither she is +going.</p> +<p>Suppose you find yourself within a mile of the house in which you were +born: you know, <!-- page 67--><a name="page67"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 67</span>as you think, every step of the way as well as +you know your own bedroom; but there is neither sun nor moon nor star, the +heavens are completely shut off and you are left to earth alone. Will +the trees tell you the way? Will the houses show themselves? +Will the road be its own exhibitor? No, if heaven fails you you +cannot even see your own hand. You are under the perpetual preaching +of the sky, that all your hours and all your movements are dependent upon +heaven!</p> +<p>“For seasons” as well as for signs. The Lord might +easily have established our lifetime under a different economy; might have +given us one perpetual summer, or a perpetual spring, or a uniform +co-existence of all the seasons, the fruits being sown, ripening and reaped +simultaneously. But not so. He has settled two things so +clearly that none, even the most sordid worm that ever wriggled under the +clay, showing himself above it as little as possible, can help seeing +them. First a fixed order that nothing can change and that proclaims +one Lord, one will, one dominion, one plan. The seasons come in +regular succession. Every man living knows when the summer is gone +that winter is coming. That will not and cannot be changed. +Were the whole world to conspire in one effort <!-- page 68--><a +name="page68"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 68</span>that spring should come +next it would be unavailing. The winter is coming. But with +this fixed order is established perpetual change, variety, mutability, so +that although we know the season that is coming we know not what kind of a +season it shall be, and all our temporal interests hang upon that +question. When the merchant has got his stock, when the man of +pleasure has fixed for his party, when the General has planned his +campaign, when the Admiral has laid down the arrangements for the battle, +when the grand politician has perfected the plot for a new crisis of the +world, what must they do? Not look to what the earth but what the +heaven will do. Everything depends upon that. They cannot +decide the market price even of hard sovereigns, they cannot foretell the +value of their wheat, they cannot determine the life and health of their +soldiers or the hours and effect of movements independent of that one +consideration, what will the heavens do? Three days rain will change +a whole campaign or a harvest. By the arrangement of the seasons we +are constantly kept at the door of Divine mercy, begging “Give us +this day our daily bread.” That eternal voice preaching through +all our temporal interests is to us the solemn, never-ceasing protest +against worldliness, earthliness, <!-- page 69--><a name="page69"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 69</span>vanity, living for time, living for the body; +and, above all, against every impure or ungodly method of attempting to +secure our temporal aims.</p> +<p>“For days” as well as for seasons. The season passes +slowly, but the day—oh what a solemn appointment is that! When +the Lord made the sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night it +would have been very easy for Him to make two suns so that we should bask +in perpetual daylight. But no, it was his will that our life should +be cut into very short lengths and that by a mark so deep, broad, black, +that the dullest man could not escape its impression. The dark gulf +that lies between the dead day and the day unborn is the ever recurring +remembrancer—Thy days are numbered; thy life is held under law; thy +time is a measured current of golden sands. Every particle as it +comes may easily slip away, if unwatched <i>will</i> slip, and once past +thy hand it will be borne off by the rushing river and thou shalt never see +it again, but if caught, held and brought to the mint of the great King it +will there be turned into precious coin to serve in perpetuity the double +purpose of enriching man and recording the majesty of God. Seize upon +thy days as they pass! The heavens tell thee to do it; the dark <!-- +page 70--><a name="page70"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 70</span>and +mantled earth tells thee; thy drowsy faculties tell thee; thy weary limbs +tell thee; all are saying “numbered, numbered, numbered.” +Life is running away fast.</p> +<p>Not only for days but “for years.” The days, as I have +said, are short; they pass rapidly, and we calculate that the days of our +years are threescore years and ten. And when you come to multiply 70 +by 365 it makes a very large number, and if we have lost a few handfuls of +days, well, cannot we make them up? Have we not been young, and are +we not in this pleasant watering place, where one must see life and have a +little pleasure, and if we do throw away a few days, why, cannot we recover +them? Can we say that of the years? Are the years so very +plentiful—such a large number assured to you that you can afford to +squander a few, to turn them not only to useless purposes but to bad +ones. Can you?—the years!—oh is not it wonderful, the way +in which thy Lord and my Lord, thy Creator and my Creator, marks out before +our eye the progress of the years?</p> +<p>Perhaps you may remember in childhood watching the day as it grew and +spread itself out, making conquests from the night and winning moments, +minutes, hours, till you began to think the day was going to do away the +night. You <!-- page 71--><a name="page71"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 71</span>saw it stretching over the hours that once were +dark till it seemed as if the tips of the sunset touched the tips of the +sunrise, and still the light was gaining so that in a little time the +darkness would be all driven away and it would be day the twenty-four hours +round. But just then the night began to come back and the day grew +shorter, dimmer, colder, and the darkness spread itself over the light till +it seemed as if in its turn the day was going to be quenched and darkness +to wrap up the whole twenty-four hours. But then the day +returned.</p> +<p>Was it an accident this first time? Would it ever occur +again? You watched it: just the same process and at the same time, +and you began to feel—it is a wheel! with its regulated, measured +appointed movement; steady, by rule it rises to a certain point, and then +comes down to a certain point, then turns again and comes up. It is a +perfectly balanced wheel, making its revolution steadily, steadily. I +did not fix those revolutions: the great Architect did! He knows how +many the wheel itself can perform; He knows what each revolution marks off +and what it accomplishes, and He knows too how many shall measure off my +thread of life. I do not know the number, you do not know; but this +we do know, it is marked upon the dial, and we are <!-- page 72--><a +name="page72"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 72</span>tolerably sure it is +not more than threescore and ten. Suppose you saw the dial of life +before your eye as plain as that dial is and the hand pointing twenty, +thirty, forty, fifty of the divisions gone—gone never to +return! Suppose you felt that that hand was pressing forward and +would point and point to successive lines till at last, without a +moment’s warning, the hour will strike and it is over, no +recall! Man of twenty, proud of thy youth! man of fifty, proud of thy +maturity! man of seventy, proud of thy years! are you prepared to meet your +God? Has your time been spent with a view to eternity? Has the +measure of your days been taken? Has the course of your years been +run in holiness? If not, by the deep voice of the heavens above thee; +that voice which evermore is speaking; by the night and the day, and the +season and the year, I charge thee prepare to meet thy God. For thy +time is passing and eternity at hand.</p> +<p>“Thy years shall not fail.” The thought of man never +feels that it can say this to nature. He sees the stones themselves +have marks of age and decay—the very mountains, the very seas tell of +change and limit. And in the skies too far off for us to trace decay +we trace something else—measure. Everything is measured. +The moon goes by measure and the sun by measure, <!-- page 73--><a +name="page73"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 73</span>and the way of the +stars is all measured. There are clear tokens that not one of them is +its own master or gives its own law. One government moulds them +all. They say “We serve.” I take up the blade of +grass and at once feel He that made that grass made the light of day, the +dew of the morning, the beast that feeds upon it. One law pervades +them all. I take up the corn. He that made that made the sun +that ripens it and the soil that fattens it, and my blood that is my +life. Everywhere is one mind, one plan, one hand, one sceptre, and +all nature says “I serve, I serve. There is a force external to +myself. I am measured. I move by rule.” “I +revolve,” says every wheel in the heaven, “I roll round by +regular law.” “Measure” always means +“beginning.” That which is measured must have +begun. Beginning always suggests the possibility of end. That +which once was not hereafter may not be. Nature fails to fill the +mind of man in any one of the three directions—the past, the future, +the outward and the infinite. It cannot fill up this thought of ours +that claims an eternity before, an eternity coming, an infinity on every +side; and we feel nature is like ourselves—a servant, a creature, a +machine, an organ, and every part of it proclaims a mind that lived before +it.</p> +<p><!-- page 74--><a name="page74"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +74</span>Then will all things fail? all decay? No—“Thy +years shall not fail.” We turn to Him that made the law whereby +the blade of grass grows, that whereby the sun statedly comes to it, that +whereby the animal feeds upon it, that whereby the man lives upon the +animal, and that whereby the human mind reigns over the animal, cultivates +the grass and makes use of the light. We come to that great Being +whom all these things indicate and proclaim. In Him we find no +external law or force compelling Him. At his footstool all say +“We serve,” and to all He says either “Be” or +“Do” or “Do not.” We find in Him no internal +decay. Years come, ages come, worlds arise and worlds pass away, but +“Thou art the same”—the same in strength, the same in +youth, the same in beauty, the same in glory, the same in wisdom. +Never old, only “ancient of days.” “Over all, God +blessed for ever. Amen.”</p> +<p>The years of his divine existence shall never fail, the years of his +redeeming reign shall never fail. As I said, this Scripture is quoted +from the hundred and second Psalm. If you turn to it you will find in +it a contrast between man’s perishing life and the eternal lifetime +of the Lord; and especially the glorious lifetime of his Messiah and +Messiah’s kingdom. “My days are like a <!-- page 75--><a +name="page75"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 75</span>shadow that declineth, +I am withered like grass.” The Bible makes everything +preach—it makes the sparrow preach and the bush preach, and the grass +and the lily. It makes even the very shadows preach—“My +days are like a shadow that declineth.” Perhaps sometime in the +morning you have stood and seen the great tree lying on the east of the +hill, throwing its shadow broad and thick over the hill-side as if it +really was a substance. But as the sun went up in the sky that shadow +gradually shrank down until it totally disappeared under the leaves of the +tree. My days are like that shadow—perhaps not like that +only. You may have seen in the very bright moonlight shadows lying +across the street till they looked solid as if they were something, so much +so that the young colt started from them. But a cloud passed over the +moon and where was the shadow? My days are like that. +“But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto +all generations.” The remembrance of man is calling to mind +those who are no more; the remembrance of God is calling to mind Him that +is unseen. “Thy remembrance shall endure unto all +generations. Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion: for the time +to favour her, yea, the set time is come. For thy servants take +pleasure in her stones, and favour <!-- page 76--><a +name="page76"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 76</span>the dust thereof. +So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the +earth thy glory.” Not only will his days endure but his kingdom +will endure; not only will it endure but it will go forward with a +perpetual progress. “Thou shall arise and have mercy upon +Zion.” The Lord is building a city in the world, a city that +hath foundations, a city that is compacted together, a city that has its +families and houses and companies, its solemnities and social joys; a city +that is all one brotherhood though composed of every nation and kindred and +people. The Lord will arise in his strength to build this city and +one of the signs for his time to favour her is when her children take +pleasure in her stones and favour the dust thereof. We have that sign +in our day. God’s children are taking pleasure in the stones of +Zion and favouring the dust thereof. Let us then, looking at the +sign, lift up our eye for the fulfilment of the promise, “When the +Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in his glory.” We are +trying to build Zion and the Lord is pleased to see it; but let us call +upon Him—“Appear in thy glory! Do thou come and +build! Give us the living stones, bring them to us by thy power out +of the rocks, out of the heights and depths we cannot reach unto wilt thou +not bring living stones to thy <!-- page 77--><a name="page77"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 77</span>temple?” Call and He will come and +He will build, and “the heathen shall fear the name of the +Lord.”</p> +<p>You will say, “They have not heard it yet”—but they +shall. You say many that have heard it do not fear it, but they +shall, they shall fear the name of the Lord—“and all the kings +of the earth thy glory.” The kings fear his glory! They +think of ancestral glory, courtly glory, military glory, political glory; +they do not think about Christ and his glory. But they shall, they +shall fear his glory. The proudest kings in the earth shall feel that +the glory of Jesus Christ of Nazareth is to them much as the sun is to that +shadow I have spoken of upon the hill. Their glory must pale and pass +away. It is but a little time ago, only nineteen centuries ago, since +Christ had no kingdom in the earth, no follower, no temple, no power. +Now is there a monarch in the world will come out and say, “I shall +sweep the name, the law, the love, the power of Christ out of the +earth?” No, of all powers now acknowledged there is none so +deep, wide and mighty.</p> +<p>Every day adds to that power; every year opens to it new spheres, new +languages, new adherents, and on will it go and on till the whole earth is +subdued under the power of the Lord and his <!-- page 78--><a +name="page78"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 78</span>Christ. What is +the instrument of its progress? “He will regard the prayer of +the destitute and not despise their prayer.” Not despise +prayer! Why, do not the wise men of the world despise prayer? +Do not many talkers tell us that prayer is a thing not to be looked upon as +a force in the light of elevated reason? You may despise it if you +please and try to rear a kingdom over human souls on a system that +does. God will not despise it, Christ will not despise it. +There is a kingdom to be invoked by prayer, with its throne and its crown +and its sceptre. All the powers of that kingdom are moved with the +cry of a destitute heart. It is so, and you cannot alter it. +“This shall be written for the generation to come,” how you go +and write down that prayer is of no effect, and we will write “He +will not despise their prayer,” and let the “generation to +come” judge. Your predecessors, eighteen hundred years ago, +wrote what you say—ours wrote these words, and see the kingdom of +Christ to-day! “This shall be written for the generation to +come: and the people.” What people “shall praise the +Lord?” The people that are in Jerusalem? No. In +Rome? in Athens? No. What people? The people that are not +anywhere; the people that are neither in heaven nor in earth; “the +people that shall be <!-- page 79--><a name="page79"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 79</span>created.” “That shall be +created”—existences now not existing, beings now not being, +offspring of God and members of the family of immortals not yet +born—they shall praise the Lord. Coming up out of the dark of +that great future they shall rise to obey the King we worship and to praise +the Saviour we love. “For He hath looked down from the height +of his sanctuary: from heaven did the Lord behold the earth.” +Ay, from that holy place, that sanctuary—from that high place, that +heaven—He looked to behold this earth, this vile place, this base +place. Yet it was not to curse it—He looked “to hear the +groaning of the prisoner; and to loose those that are appointed to +death.” Here in every corner of the world you will see a man +who is appointed to death, accused, guilty, a lawbreaker, with witness +heard and evidence taken and judgment recorded—the sentence is +against him. Oh, if we had an eye such as looks from above how many +might we see in this fair congregation who are condemned to death. +You know it; you are breakers of eternal law; just judgment is against you; +you are appointed to death, and unless you are delivered from that +condemnation die you shall, die by a public execution before all worlds in +the great day. But He comes to deliver them “that are appointed +to death”—<!-- page 80--><a name="page80"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 80</span>to bring you pardon, to bring yon salvation, to +bring you mercy, to make you a child of God, to blot out all the sin that +you have committed. Christ died that you might be delivered; reigns +that you may be delivered, and this day He is speaking to thy heart that +thou mayest turn from thy sin, seek mercy and follow Him in the way of +life.</p> +<p>So the Psalmist goes on ever anticipating the growth and stability of +this kingdom. “He weakened my strength in the way; He shortened +my days.” God does not make his Church and work to depend upon +the length of any man’s days. “I said, O my God take me +not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all +generations. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and +the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou +shalt endure? yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture +shall thou change them, and they shall be changed; but thou art the same, +and thy years shall have no end.” Ay, and there is something +else that has no end. The heavens shall perish, the earth shall +perish. God will endure. And will nothing else endure. +Yes, “The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed +shall be established before thee.” The servants, the children +of God, those that are <!-- page 81--><a name="page81"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 81</span>born again by the Spirit’s grace, those +that come to Christ, the Messiah, and through Him recover, by adoption, the +place in the family of God that was lost by sin, they shall continue, they +shall be established. What! when the earth flees away? Yes, +when the earth flees away. What! when the heaven falls? Yes, +when the heaven falls; they shall be established with the same immortality +as their Father in heaven. “Thy years shall not +fail.” God will not fail; Christ will not fail; the Rock of +Ages will not fail; and all and every one that through Christ is in God +will never fail. The world will pass away, the word of God will not +pass away, and the child of God will not pass away.</p> +<p>Take then this word to thy heart and say “Thy years shall not +fail.” It will give you a worthy fear. Man is always +rightly or wrongly fearing something. One is afraid of a man that has +him in his power. He says, “If I offended him I should lose my +bread; it would be as much as my living is worth; I must take care not to +offend him;” and rather than offend that man he will stain his +conscience and offend his God. Come back in twenty years and ask +where that man is, and they will take you to his grave, and that was what +you were afraid of! Another fears this bright, witty, active young +man, whose <!-- page 82--><a name="page82"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +82</span>word either cuts or flatters with amazing power. He feels as +if he could not face him; as if he could not bear that he should look him +in the face and call him a saint or tell him he had been praying to God or +been commending his soul for mercy to Christ. If he said these things +to him it would actually appear as if it was something against him, +something he ought to be ashamed of! Come back in twenty years and +enquire for him—perhaps you will find him in a mad-house, perhaps in +a gambling-house, perhaps in chains among convicts. Perhaps you will +find a broken-hearted mother in black, wishing that he had never been born, +and that is what you are afraid of! Another is afraid of the +fashion. Every one does it, and if he did not do it he would be +remarked. Every one says there is no harm in it, and if he scrupled +they would make fun of him, and on this account he will do a thing that he +knows ought not to be done. Come back in two generations and enquire +from the grandchildren of these people about this fashion and you will find +they are all laughing at the folly of their grandfathers and +grandmothers. And that is what you are afraid of! Set the Lord +alway before you. Say, “Thy years shall not fail. Thou +art worthy to be feared. I will fear thee. Thou hast +power—power over my breath, over <!-- page 83--><a +name="page83"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 83</span>my body, over my day, +over my night—power to destroy both body and soul in hell; power to +kill, power to make alive; power to condemn, power to save; power to cast +me down, power to lift me up to heaven—I will fear thee, O God in +Christ, and be thou my only fear.”</p> +<p>Set the Lord alway before you and there you will find a sure +refuge. Nature is changing and decaying, and we are changed faster +than nature. We are all passengers in a ship that is floating in an +ocean and has fire in her hold. This air around us has an ocean in +it, an ocean of real water, and did God will it a little change in the +weight of the air would bring a universal deluge. This earth has fire +in it, stores of fire, and did God will a very little change in the +chemistry of the air it would be a universal blaze. We are +passengers, I say, in a ship sailing in an ocean with fire in the hold, and +we know that the fire is to break out and that the moment will come when +the ship will be burnt up. You and I are pacing this deck with the +fire beneath, and the day, the hour, the moment, that the signal will be +given no man living can tell. Are we prepared to meet our God? +Can we look forth from this frail world unto that infinite bosom of eternal +rest and say, “Thou art mine and I am thine to all +eternity?” You may look to other <!-- page 84--><a +name="page84"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 84</span>refuges but they are +not secure, to other coverts but they are not safe. Here is the Rock +of Ages and that rock is cleft for you. God manifest in the +flesh. Behold Christ crucified and flee to Him, flee for refuge, flee +to-day; once in Christ you will know that you are safe. Let the storm +come, let the winds blow, let the floods beat, let the fires break out, +safe! safe! safe! Nothing can move Him and nothing can touch +thee. Thou shalt “dwell under the shadow of the Most +High.”</p> +<p>Set the Lord alway before thee and you will have an unfailing stay, an +unfailing resource. Many things you may think will not fail. +Here is the old man, and his friends tell him he does not fail, and how he +likes to hear it! “Thy years do not weigh thee +down.” He goes on and it seems as if to him the years come as +the snow falls on the mountains, not to enfeeble but to embellish. He +does not fail. Ay, but he will fail and be bowed down to the +dust. And the wiry woman that has gone through enough to kill many +and yet hath more spirit and energy than the young. Ay, she shall +fail too; you will see her smitten and trodden under the grass. +“Well I know I must fail,” one says, “I <i>am</i> +failing, but then there is my boy, I shall never want some one to lean +upon, I can trust him.” Ah! <!-- page 85--><a +name="page85"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 85</span>he may fail; you may +stand by the grave where they are saying, “Dust to dust,” or +you may with your hands over your eyes look upon a sadder grave where his +character lies corrupting. Another says, “Well, I know I am +failing, but there is my daughter so good and sweet and true—I shall +never want a comforter for my old age.” Ah, you do not know, +she may fail, you may have to weep over her coffin or to blush over her +faults. And another says, “Well, I have never depended upon +anything but my own honest industry. I have something to rely +upon. Mine is not speculation, it is good steady business—I can +trust it.” Can you? can you? God may permit you by one +mistake to undo the doing of a life. “But I am not depending +upon the chances of business—my position is secure—settled +property. I shall not fail.” Are you sure? You know +not the ways by which earthly things can make themselves wings and flee +away; or if they do not flee you may depart from them. Another says, +“Well, I have never trusted to anything but my right hand and I shall +not want—wherever I go I can take care of myself.” Ay, +but suppose the right hand should fail? As long as the strong arm and +the strong will work together it is well, but suppose a day should come +when an invisible knife should pass between the <!-- page 86--><a +name="page86"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 86</span>arm and the will: and +the will said, “Stretch forth!” but the arm hung idle by the +side. It may fail. “Well, but my heart never fails me; +whatever goes wrong I can make the best of it.” But suppose +your heart should fail and that you became one of those to whom the +grasshopper was a burden, one that made the worst of everything, that could +look no difficulty in the face. Your heart may fail, your flesh may +fail, your money may fail, your employ may fail, your friends may fail, +everything upon earth may fail. If you have Christ for your friend +you will never fail, if you have God for your Father you have a shelter, a +home, a comfort that will never fail. If you have not you have +nothing that you can count upon. Then come this day, come and say to +all the shadows, “I trample over you, I clasp the substance. +Holy God, my Eternal Father, let me be reconciled to thee! Be thou my +God! Make me thy child! Give me a part and a lot in the family +of the holy! For the sake of Jesus, who is the same yesterday, +to-day, and for ever, write my name in thy book of life and cover me from +the storm that is coming, so that amid the change of life and the ruin of +death, the awe of the judgment-day, my spirit may abide under an +everlasting shelter! may look forward to the eternity that is to be and say +to it, ‘Welcome—<!-- page 87--><a name="page87"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 87</span>open all thy scenes—uncover thy deepest +secrets—world of the unknown, bring out all that thou hast hidden, +for all things are mine, for I am Christ’s, and Christ is +God’s.’” Amen and Amen.</p> +<h2><!-- page 89--><a name="page89"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +89</span>GOD’S CONTROVERSY WITH MAN.<br /> +REV. CHARLES PREST.</h2> +<blockquote> +<p>“Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel; and because I will +do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.”—<span +class="smcap">Amos</span> iv. 12.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>This chapter refers to the condition of Israel at the time of this +prophecy, and to the expostulation and threatened procedure of God +concerning the nation. God’s people had revolted from Him; they +had sunk into idolatry; they had been often reproved, but had hardened +their necks, and therefore the Lord, after recapitulating the calamities +which had befallen them, and which all came in the way of fatherly +chastisements for their recovery to righteousness, and indicating that his +anger was not turned away, says, “and because I will do this unto +thee”—and because having done this repentance does not appear, +then prepare to meet me. That is, meet me in battle. If you +will not submit, <!-- page 90--><a name="page90"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 90</span>then let the battle be fought; if you will not +bow down to these kind modes of discipline—kindly intentioned, +however terrible in execution, then prepare to meet me. This +expostulation proceeds upon a very intelligible principle—a +principle, however, which we sometimes sadly forget, and which we are too +much in the habit of neglecting—on the principle that man is an +accountable creature; and secondly, that God will call him to account for +his conduct.</p> +<p>God has a controversy with man, with us—a controversy with us +because of our sin, our sin being an outrage against the divine love; a +controversy with us because He is right and we are wrong; because He +designs the welfare of all, and the sin that we love is productive of +universal destruction; a controversy with sinners that can only be +terminated in one of two ways—a controversy with every unconverted +person here to-day. Do not deceive yourselves: if you are strangers +to the life of God, you are in opposition to Him, and with you as sinners +there is a controversy only to be terminated—first, by your +submission, your repentance—and, thank God, He has prepared a perfect +and suitable method for our submission, and for our repentance. If He +has a controversy with us, He wills it to be terminated in such a mode as +shall secure the <!-- page 91--><a name="page91"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 91</span>original purpose of his great love, which our +sin has outraged. Christ has appeared in our behalf, and for this +purpose has offered a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, +and satisfaction for our sins. For this purpose the Divine Spirit +waits in all our assemblies, and now in this place, that any of you who are +now enemies to Him by wicked works, being pricked in your hearts on account +of your sins, and groaning under your condemnation, may fly for refuge to +the hope set before you in Christ Jesus our Lord. So God would have +this controversy terminated. So He invites you in his great mercy to +terminate it. And for this purpose we are ministers of +reconciliation, and “we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye +reconciled to God.”</p> +<p>There is but one other way of terminating this controversy, and that is +by our destruction. If we will abide in our controversy, if we will +wage the battle to the end, this destruction must ensue, here is no method +else—no escape any where between the one extreme and the other; it is +submission and life, it is battle and death—death eternal. O +that death eternal! What is it? Not the annihilation of your +souls. What is the death of a soul? The loss of the life of +God—the loss of communion with God. The soul is made for such a +communion: this is its true life; <!-- page 92--><a name="page92"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 92</span>it has no satisfaction apart from this +enjoyment. There cannot be communion without love; that is the soul +of communion; and if you renounce the reign of love, and come under the +dominion of enmity, you cut yourselves off from the life of God, you die, +and must endure the bitter pains of eternal death. I pray God that +you may terminate this controversy, and thank God that you may do so, by +the submission of your hearts to his merciful provision of salvation, that +so you may live in hallowed Christian blessedness here, and inherit perfect +fellowship and communion with God hereafter.</p> +<p>We should humble ourselves in the presence of that great calamity which +has fallen upon our flocks and upon our herds. I think it is well in +times of public calamity that public attention should be called to these +things; and our attention has been called thereto—not, it is true, by +the governing authorities of the country. No matter for that. +It is right that we should listen to the admonition that we have received +in our own denomination, and do all we can rightly to humble ourselves, and +above all, earnestly to pray to God that He would take away the evil from +us, and that, in taking away the evil, He would render us the less liable +to promote the dire necessity of future visitation. Let me then call +<!-- page 93--><a name="page93"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 93</span>your +attention to some general principles connected with God’s dealings +with the nations.</p> +<p>There is a national as well as an individual providence. In the +ancient government of God over the nations of the earth, in his dealings +with his own people and with the heathen peoples about them, his hand was +clearly discerned on many occasions, and his arm sometimes made bare. +There were the predictions of certain events to come, and there was the +recognised accomplishment of those predictions sometime afterwards. +Then, again, you find miraculous interpositions of correction, of +punishment, or of deliverance. If you turn your attention to the +history of God’s Church, you find all these things manifest; you find +Israel in Egypt; then the command that they should be allowed to pass away +from their bondage; you find Egypt resisting the command, and God sent +among the people of Egypt signs and wonders, and plagues by the hand of +Moses, but they submitted not. He called them to obedience, but they +rebelled. By and bye, He slew their firstborn, the chief of all their +strength, and then the people came out with silver and with gold. +Nations are not simply chastised in this world, they are also +punished. Every one of us shall give an account of himself to God at +the last great day, and <!-- page 94--><a name="page94"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 94</span>strictly speaking, the punishment of separate +individuals will not begin in this life; but nations cannot be judged +collectively hereafter; they are dealt with here; and God’s dealings +with the nations stand out in his palpable acts with these Egyptians. +They saw the hand of God for a time, but they fell back into their ancient +rebellion and pursued the Israelites to the Red Sea, and God made that sea +a way for his ransomed and destroyed the pursuing host. Go through +the entire history of God’s ancient people. You find the +Assyrians round about Jerusalem, you see the angel of God going forth, and +that mighty host is destroyed. Go through all the dealings of God +with heathen nations, and you find these physical manifestations of +God’s power. In our day there are no such manifestations as +these. In modern times the events of the divine government are not so +authoritatively predicted, and the exceedingly foolish attempts of some +people to interpret prophecy and to apply it arbitrarily to passing events +cannot be too severely condemned. They tend greatly to prejudice the +proper interpretation of Scriptural prophecy before the world, and deserve +severe reprehension, and should be altogether discountenanced by all men of +sound mind. In our day we have not these authoritative predictions of +events. But <!-- page 95--><a name="page95"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 95</span>amid all this there is a tendency to ignore the +action of God in the government of the world altogether. Instead of +recognising his presence or acknowledging his power, the varied +events—political, social, and otherwise—events like the one to +which I have just referred, affecting the nation, are denied their true +character; and the view that I have ventured to place before you in many +places would be treated with ridicule. Men say, when they look at +political events, that they are to be traced to the conclusions of +well-directed political economy, or to the failure of the application of +sound principles of government. I know very well that if the +pestilence comes there are men who trace it to no higher than physical +causes. I know very well that if great calamities happen in storm or +tempest the physical cause is alone recognised. And with reference to +the scourge of our cattle clever men look, as they ought, after the +physical causes. They look, as I think they are bound, to the +development of the evil influences leading to such a result. But if +men now-a-days are Christian enough to recognise God in the parliament of +this country there is no great response, unless it be a response of +ill-concealed scorn; and even among people who profess more of Christianity +there is a danger of leaving the stern, <!-- page 96--><a +name="page96"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 96</span>enlightened, and +faithful recognition of God which distinguished our fathers, and of +looking, in some fancied superiority of our intellect—which is but a +fancy; for there were wise men before us—for explanation in +something, in anything oft-times, rather than the recognition of +God’s power.</p> +<p>Remember this, however, brethren, that the principles of God’s +government in our day are the same which have inhered in that government in +all ages—that, however human circumstances may differ, however the +nations of this world may alter, however the powers of men may vary time +after time, God’s government is an immutable thing; it changes +not. The perfect idea of a human government is this—I do not +say it is realised—to have certain fixed principles that are to +abide, and then in the application of those principles to find an +elasticity which shall meet every conceivable alteration of circumstances +about us. That is the idea of a perfect human government; but human +governments do not attain to it. The government of God, however, is +perfect. The great principle is love—“God is love;” +its great end, the welfare of man; the purpose of that government, the +spread of Christianity for the welfare of mankind.</p> +<p>There is no expediency in this government, as <!-- page 97--><a +name="page97"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 97</span>men understand +it. The governments of this world are too much founded upon +expediency—the government of this country for the last sixty or +seventy years lamentably founded upon it. There was a time when there +was less of it here, but the disciples of expediency increase, and it is +now rather “What is convenient?” than “What is +right?” There is an expediency taught in the Bible, but it is +nothing more than the best way of doing the right thing. It never +truckles. The government of God knows nothing of our human +expedients; it knows a great deal of Divine arrangements, and God as truly +governs as though in his government of the nations He should work signs and +wonders and divers miracles daily.</p> +<p>God has spoken in the history of our own country. Look at some of +the startling events of the last two hundred years. You look at the +act of our noble, intelligent, never-to-be-sufficiently-admired, firm old +English ancestors, in driving James the Second from his throne, and working +out the glorious Revolution of 1688. Well, if you look at all this +politically, you speak of their wisdom, their fortitude, and their +indomitable spirit; you speak too of storm and tempest all working in their +favour. Aye, aye, but the hand of God was there, as much in sending +away that <!-- page 98--><a name="page98"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +98</span>unworthy King as God’s hand was in sending Nebuchadnezzar to +feed among the oxen. God’s hand may not appear in our modern +times as in former days, but faith sees that hand in the common affairs of +mankind. But because we do not see the operation, because the +operation is not palpable to men’s senses, the agency of God is +forgotten. Depend upon it, it is a great mistake to imagine that if +we could see, now and then, some great miracle wrought, we should get into +the habit of recognising the power and wisdom of God. The Israelites +were fed in the desert by miracle, and rebelled against God whilst they ate +the food miraculously given to them. The wonder—the perfection +of the Divine operation is this, that without disturbing in our little +individual history any of the common affairs which arise in every-day life, +without working any miracle at all, and whilst to the eyes of men all +things continue as they were from the beginning, whilst there is nothing +observable in the method, He works all things together for the good of them +that love Him, combining opposing forces and blending together the elements +of life and of death in one grand atmosphere of benediction for the welfare +of the righteous, and all this without disturbing the ordinary course of +cause and effect. The power of God impresses itself <!-- page 99--><a +name="page99"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 99</span>not merely through the +lower links of the chain of providence—cause and effect, but upon the +higher part of that chain which sends down its influence, its intelligence, +its all-wise benevolence, to work out the welfare of those that are the +objects of his love.</p> +<p>So it is with nations. You will see public events rising up in +connection with ordinary causes, but we ought to acknowledge the great +First-cause. The principles of divine government which operated in +the old time are now as surely in operation as they were then. They +are not antiquated: they are not at all supplanted; they operate in the +same way, to the same ends; they operate to national and personal benefit, +to national and personal reproof, or, in the neglect of such admonition, to +national and personal punishment, showing us that God’s government is +now the government which it was in the ancient days, and that though we see +no miracles in our day God is as much in the midst of unthinking multitudes +as when men were startled by the visible interposition of his Almighty +power.</p> +<p>Let us look, then, at the state of things about us now. Is there +not sufficient cause in this land to lead us to humble ourselves, to +improve the admonition of our God; that we should prepare <!-- page +100--><a name="page100"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 100</span>to meet Him, +in the only way in which we can meet Him to our profit, by our personal +submission to a greater extent; and if we love our country, that we should +put ourselves into a position to bring the nation out of any state of +rebellion against God, to lead it back to a more perfect reconciliation +with Him? What evils have we now to deplore? Why, a great +number. It is a blessed land after all; and there is more of +Christianity found in it than in any other in the world. There is +doubtless more of the direct influence of Christianity in our population +than you will find elsewhere, and certainly more of the indirect influence +upon the constitution of the nation, upon our legislation, upon our +national—aye, and upon our domestic habits. There is a large +amount of the indirect influence of Christianity in our midst, for which we +have cause to be thankful. But then, on the other hand, how much is +there of evil? There is great evil in our midst. There is +first, what really our fathers had not so much to do with—there is +the presence and power of a subtle, of a most ably-wrought and +powerfully-patronised Popery, about which we have been asleep for too long +a time, Popery, which is inimical to the welfare of any nation, and +inconsistent with the political happiness, prosperity and security of any +people. You <!-- page 101--><a name="page101"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 101</span>have not far to go for the proof of +this. You have only to go to the present miserable condition of +Ireland to prove it. It is all very well for disclaimers to arise +from the men who created the disloyal element of this mischief, but they +must esteem the Protestants of this country more credulous than I hope they +will prove if they expect them to believe their present +protestations. What else have you? You have the presence of +this Popery also where Protestantism alone ought to be known. You +have it dishonestly intruded into the temples of Christian truth; and you +have the pernicious nonsense of miserable and disgraceful antics obtruded +into what men call divine worship, utterly beneath the dignity of sensible +men. You have another thing. You have infidelity, and in the +pulpit too—the pulpit in high places—infidelity in its worst +form. You have all this, and no power, and very little inclination +exists to correct it. You have all this, and multitudes love to have +it so. That is one form of evil, leading to many other forms, and +causing all thoughtful men to deplore the condition of churches cursed with +a schism like this, with a false doctrine and heresy so utterly opposed to +the truth and to the salvation of men. Well, then, look, at the +profanity of the people around us. Look at the ungodliness of decent +<!-- page 102--><a name="page102"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +102</span>people. I am not here to-day to call your attention simply, +as people sometimes do, to the lowest classes of society. They are +bad enough. They are a festering mass at the foundation of all the +greatness of the nation; they are a mass which, if not corrected in their +tendencies, may at any time be quickened into an activity that will utterly +wreck the entire superstructure of all that as Christians and as Englishmen +we hold dear. But higher up, where there is no profaneness or +criminality, or gross and disgusting visible intemperance, what other evils +are there? There is decency, but there is an absence of the +recognition of God. God is not in men’s thoughts. And +there is a fearful and fatal indifference as to the claims of religion that +has come over the nations. Multitudes neglect public worship. I +apprehend the least evidence that anybody can give of religious impression, +or of recognition of the claims of religion, is that they should attend the +public worship of Almighty God. You find, however, hundreds of +thousands in this nation who never attend divine service. If our +churches and chapels in London were to be attended next Sunday by the usual +number of persons, and those besides who ought to attend were disposed to +try to gain admission at any one time during the day, we have not half +churches and chapels <!-- page 103--><a name="page103"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 103</span>enough to hold them; whilst, as it is, the +room provided is not occupied. This indifference is a fearful +thing. Paul yearned over his countrymen, but in some respects our +countrymen are worse than Paul’s. “I could wish,” +said that glorious, patriotic man—that grand old man, that most +blessed and chief of all the Apostles, with heaven in his view, his career +well-nigh ended, his work done, and Churches rising up around him of which +he was the father—not churches built upon other men’s +foundations—“I could wish myself accursed from Christ for my +brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” Yet “I bear +them record, that they have a zeal of God, but not according to +knowledge.” In England, at this day, there are multitudes of +whom it may be said, “God is not in all their thoughts.” +And the heathenism spread about us is as bad in its developments as in any +other part of the world, and more aggravated in its character because of +its immediate proximity with the light and truth of our blessed +Christianity. There is in this land, too, an absorbing of men in +worldliness: this, perhaps, comes nearer to us. In my time I have +seen worldliness not only enthralling obviously and professedly worldly +men. I have seen worldliness come into the Church—aye, among +Methodists. How many <!-- page 104--><a name="page104"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 104</span>young men have I seen, earnest, zealous, +devoted, doing just that work for God which must be done by young men if +the population of this land is to be won to Christ—they enter into +business-life, by-and-bye God prospers their industry, and they begin to +thrive in the world; and what then? Oh, then this fervour +abates—they get immersed in earthly things. We lose their +activities in the Church; the ungodly part of the world lose the influence +of a blessed example and of their Christian teaching. They are too +busy to attend to the service of God at all on the week days, they say to +their ministers: “We will find the money if you will send men to do +the work among these poor people.” Find money to do it! +So they ought: but do they think they place the Church under obligation by +doing that? Not a whit. They ought to be thankful to the +Church, and to the God of the Church, that He will have their money, that +God permits them gratefully to recognise in this way their stewardship; but +I say to every such person, if you think you can purchase exemption from +personal devotion to God, and from such devotion as shall lead you to +spread the truth by your personal labour, to the utmost extent of your +ability, you are greatly mistaken. We can have no such compositions +of <!-- page 105--><a name="page105"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +105</span>God’s claim; you must not dream of them. There is a +feebleness, therefore, of the Church; oft-times arising from this cause, a +feebleness we must seek to cure, as it only can be cured, by an increase of +our own personal godliness.</p> +<p>But how do we stand just now? God has sometimes admonished this +nation for its ungodliness. I do not speak of the nation now as +profane or criminal. Take the best view of it. And I remember +that a great theologian has said, the true view of man’s depravity is +not that every man is profane or intemperate or mischievous—the great +proof of the universal depravity of man is found in man’s +ungodliness—in his not recognising the claims of God, and not bowing +to his love. We have had admonition after admonition, within our own +lives, most of us. Not long since God sent a pestilence into our +midst—on two remarkable occasions. Well do I remember the state +of the people where I was labouring in one of the large towns of this +country, with between three and four hundred deaths, from cholera, +occurring every week. The people were alarmed. There was a +national day of humiliation and prayer; our places of worship were +crowded. The people were alarmed, but they were not permanently +impressed. God heard prayer; yes, he delights to hear prayer. +God <!-- page 106--><a name="page106"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +106</span>answered it; he delights to answer it. The evil passed +away; the concern passed with it; and I shall never forget the contrast +between the congregations on the day of humiliation, and when they were +summoned to thank God for the removal of the scourge. “Were +there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?”</p> +<p>It is only four years ago that another check came upon the +nation—that one of our great branches of national industry became +suddenly paralysed; and what mercy was there in that! There was the +good hand of God in the administration of that chastisement, in the conduct +of the people under such calamities, and in the absence of mischievous, +designing men from among them. I have known the time when that +population would have been inflamed by a calamity of far less consequence +to acts of the greatest violence. God’s hand was there. +He chastised the nation; but He guided the chastisement. And now +again, another evil has come upon us—a greater evil, perhaps, than +people imagined at first—this plague among our herds. There +will be great loss to individuals, and no doubt there will be great loss to +all; for it is impossible for so much wealth or money’s worth to be +destroyed in any nation without all the people in the nation feeling it +more or less. I <!-- page 107--><a name="page107"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 107</span>think it right, therefore, that we have been +called to recognise the hand of God therein—to look through all +external causes to his hand. It is a very dangerous thing, a thing I +have never done in my life, and never would do, to talk about the +providence of God in its punitive power, to talk about retribution in the +application of God’s providence in individual cases. It is very +unwise to do that, and sometimes it may be most uncharitable. It is +different, however, in God’s dealings with a nation. We are +admonished, or punished, by a great national calamity that has stirred all +classes of men each in their own way, and has raised all their activities +in order to see if evils of this kind may not be checked in their +operation. This evil is present with us. And then, as to other +evils that may arise. If you look abroad into the world, to the +relations of this country to other nations, you have peace just now; but he +would be a bold man who should predict the continuation of this peace for +any length of time. No, your statesmen cannot keep the peace of +nations; and the folly of our boasting about the peace-working power of our +commercial relations has already be seen. We cannot give peace to the +world. Who can tell how soon the calamity of war may afflict this +country? Not I trust on its shores; but what is this land <!-- page +108--><a name="page108"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 108</span>that it has +any right to expect a perpetual immunity from the horrors of war in her +midst? Do not say these things will pass away. Do not say these +things are remote. They may quickly overtake us, and we should be +careful that we do not provoke our God to hasten any of his judgments or to +aggravate present ones. If you are delivered from calamity—if +this great national calamity, for such it is, has not touched you, or at +least not so touched you as to inconvenience you at all, remember to give +sympathy to those that are suffering from it; and let thankfulness for your +present mercies manifest itself in that godly amendment of life which shall +prove your best contribution to the future safety and the prosperity of the +nation. If we neglect this we place ourselves in opposition to +God’s government, and are in danger, by our opposition, of being told +to prepare to meet God in conflict. Individual sinners do so who +refuse repentance; nations do so that will not submit to God. You +that are living without God, pray what prospect have you, what prospect of +victory? The potsherd of the earth may strive with the potsherd, but +woe to the man that strives with his Maker. The God whom you are +called upon to meet is the “God that formeth the mountains, that +createth the wind, that declareth unto man what is his <!-- page 109--><a +name="page109"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 109</span>thought, that maketh +the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, the +Lord, the God of hosts, is his name.”</p> +<p>Let the ungodliness of this land increase—and it will increase if +we neglect the manifestation of godliness in opposition to it—and +what then? There will be the culmination of national sin, and there +will be the enactments of Parliament against the law of God, as on a former +memorable occasion in France; let it come to that, and let a crisis arise; +and though your statesmen should be the most sagacious, and have all the +ability which has ever distinguished the foremost men of the Government of +this land; let your Parliament be intelligent and patriotic; let your sons +be as brave on flood or field as their fathers; let your commerce be ever +so flourishing, your arts ever so perfect, your literature ever so +exalted—none of these things would save the nation—none of +these things would be an effectual shield against calamity; and upon the +wreck of this grand old realm—wrecked by its ungodliness, made rotten +at its base by sin—upon the wreck of this nation which, had it been +godly, would have borne the shock of all the earth, and dashed it back like +foam—on the wreck of Britain shall be written, “The nation, the +kingdom, that will not serve thee shall perish.” That +inscription <!-- page 110--><a name="page110"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +110</span>has been often written upon empires as magnificent, as powerful, +and as illustrious as this.</p> +<p>What, then, is our duty? What have we to do with this? We +who are gathered together in this chapel may say, can we arrest the course +of the nation? Can we turn back the floods of ungodliness? Can +we go out and produce an influence that may avert these calamities? I +do not say that you alone can do this; but I do say, that you are bound to +contribute your utmost to the check of these evils, with as perfect a +heart, and with as earnest a purpose, and as free a will, as though your +hand could dash back the evil and rescue the nation from its danger.</p> +<p>Our immediate duty is repentance. That is the duty of the +nation. But the word nation is a comprehensive one; we lose ourselves +in it. We may do as we are in danger of doing with the word Church, +lose sight of our own individual responsibility in confused ideas of what +the Church collectively is to do. God cannot yield in this conflict; +his righteousness forbids this. The nation must yield and become +obedient, or the result indicated must follow. If then the nation is +to repent, where is that repentance to begin? Why in this place +to-day, so far as we are concerned. In whose hearts must this <!-- +page 111--><a name="page111"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +111</span>repentance commence? Why in the hearts of every one of you +unconverted persons, that are rather contributing to the ungodliness of the +country than to the increase of its spiritual power. You may not be +drunkards, you may not be profligate; but if you are living without the +recognition of God’s love and the enjoyment of his favour, you are +ungodly; and your first duty is to repent. There is no salvation +without this repentance, let some modern preachers say what they +will. The Master of all preachers sent the Apostles forth, and they +preached everywhere that men should repent. There is a fashionable +preaching, I am told, that has no repentance in it. So much the worse +for the people that listen to such error. There is no merit in +repentance; the only meritorious cause of your salvation is the +blood-shedding and the present and perfect atonement of Christ. But +“the law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.” The +old Puritans were right who said, that the soundest conversions were those +with which the law had most to do. Mount Sinai exhibited proofs of +God’s love, and Christ, who died for us on Calvary, is the author and +enforcer of the whole law. There must be the bowing down of your +souls to the claims of the law, the struggle for amendment, the +renunciation of sin, the <!-- page 112--><a name="page112"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 112</span>recognition of your own hopelessness, and the +cry, “What must I do to be saved?” “Who shall +deliver me from the body of this death?” Then comes Christ, and +peace, and joy; a participation in the divine nature; and a power to +contribute practically to the repentance of the nation. This is your +duty.</p> +<p>You Christian people, too, are called upon to repent. Depend upon +it as we go through life an act of repentance, once for all, will not do: +we shall need repentance daily. When a man is admitted to the favour +of God it is that his mouth should be stopped, it is that he should +entertain penitential feeling as long as he lives—not the penitence +of guilt, but the penitence of gratitude. The recollection, I am a +sinner, will inspire and maintain such penitence; and a blessed end that +man will make, who in the full meaning of the words, pours out the prayer +at the last, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” We need +repentance—we all need it. Let us turn our attention to +ourselves, and ascertain how much we have contributed to the existing evils +of the nation. How much have we contributed to the present state of +things which in the judgment of sober Christian concern may be held to have +provoked the anger of God? We may have contributed to these evils, +and I dare say we have, in two <!-- page 113--><a name="page113"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 113</span>ways: first, by neglect of duty. There +are sinners about you, you need not go far to find them—perhaps there +are some ungodly people in your own houses. What have you ever done +to make them godly? What effort have you made, what kind of an +example have you set them in your words, in your tempers, in your spiritual +aspirations? Now tell yourselves honestly. You have been living +with them up to this day, living with them during this day. What have +you said to them? Do your conduct and your words condemn their sin, +and invite them to reconciliation with God? What does conscience say +to this? What does the recollection of the past few hours say to +this? There are wicked people about you: some of you have leisure; +what have you done for your ungodly neighbours? What poor man’s +house have you visited? What wretched sinner have you talked +to? You have passed along the streets, and have seen sin abounding; +have you ever tried to check it? Have you ever thought it worth while +to follow some half dozen people deeply immersed in sin, and by patient, +earnest, godly admonitions, counsels, and entreaties, have you sought the +salvation of their souls? Have you done this? “Oh!” +you busy men say, “we have not time.” I know better; you +must not tell practical men that; they know that all of <!-- page 114--><a +name="page114"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 114</span>us waste a great deal +more time than we want for such a purpose. It is not a question of +time at all, but a question of inclination. Have we done so? +Are evils abating by our instrumentality? Do not say, “I could +do very little.” Do what you can! “If I could move +a multitude I would do it.” No, that will not do. You +good women, are you doing all the good you can in your families? Do +you mothers give yourselves to the right training of your children? +Fathers, are you practically anxious for the spiritual good of your +families? Do you help your wives to bring up a godly family, which +shall prove a blessing to the nation; and not such an one as Dr. Paley +says, as shall turn out wild beasts upon society. You have little +ability; well, if you have not ten talents, do not bury the one +talent. Paul did one thing, and that was the secret of all his +greatness—he did <i>his</i> duty. Do you do <i>yours</i>? +There was a simplicity of purpose about him, an earnestness of endeavour, a +thoroughness in the doing of it that made him what he was, the greatest of +all apostles and the greatest man that the Christian Church has +known. Take that simple rule, you young people; strive to spread the +influence of a godly example among all about you: do what you can, in a way +consistent with <!-- page 115--><a name="page115"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 115</span>your position in life, and in a way consistent +altogether with modesty, humility, and a deep devotion to God, and you will +not labour in vain. We are guilty of sins of omission, and we need +repentance.</p> +<p>But how have we contributed to the evils of the nation by our +activities? Some of you were converted, perhaps, when you had lived +to be twenty years of age, some of you thirty or forty, some perhaps were +older; what kind of lives had you led before that time? How many of +your former companions did you injure by a godless example? perhaps by +foolish words, perhaps by ungodly actions. God has rescued you; where +are they? What has become of the seed you then planted in their +minds? If God drew out the roots of vice by his grace from your +hearts, the influence of this evil remains elsewhere. What mischief +is often done by men prior to their conversion in their families! +When you see there is so much wickedness in the land, then say, “What +have I done to increase it?” And I think we shall all find +great need to repent; great need to set an example of repentance to all +about us.</p> +<p>The first thing, then, is this deep humiliation of heart that shall +bring us all to bow before God, and cause us to join in the prayer, +“Enter not into judgment with thy servants, O God, for <!-- page +116--><a name="page116"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 116</span>in thy sight +shall no man living be justified.” But, then, you Christian +professors must bestir yourselves. This repentance must not be a +passing emotion, not a temporary influence, however powerful; but there +must be a correspondent continued effort to promote it amongst your +families and neighbours, and to the utmost extent of your power in the +world; engaging meanwhile in earnest prayer; and then consecrating +yourselves more fully to this work under the influence of two things, a +deep sense of personal responsibility and of the constraint of divine +love. Submit, then, to this will of God. Know the rod, and Him +that hath appointed it. If the multitudes about you do not know it +you know it. If God be not recognised, let it be yours to recognise +Him amid the surrounding worldliness, and depend upon it your purity of +heart shall increase, and you will see God in all things, in all +calamities, and in all joys. It is a strange thing that nations and +individuals see God more readily in trouble than they do in their +joys. Amid the immunities from ill which Christian people often enjoy +how little they think of God. Trouble comes, calamity comes, and we +owe the quickening of our religious feelings, strangely enough, more to our +fears than we to our gratitude. And it will be well if we are so +quickened by present calamity.</p> +<p><!-- page 117--><a name="page117"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +117</span>Thus let us prepare ourselves to promote that condition of +feeling in the nation which shall lead us to meet God not in conflict but +in the way of his judgments, to bow to his rule, to abate our ungodliness, +and to become as a nation wise and understanding.</p> +<p>One remark as to the popular interpretation of the text. You will +have to meet God speedily in your death. You should prepare to meet +Him, for you cannot resist; you cannot flee from Him. Let us prepare +to meet Him by embracing the mercy which He offers, receiving the love +which He communicates to us, and devoting the rest of our lives to his +service and glory. You are called upon, then, and I think for these +reasons properly called upon, to contribute to and to promote the +humiliation of the nation. Whatever other people do, humble +yourselves before God. And let not the impression be a temporary one, +but in the future seek that practical love which constitutes the repentance +necessary to the nation, and necessary to you that you may prompt the +repentance and reformation of those about you, and which can alone save the +land of our fathers from calamity and make her more fully what she ought to +be, “a praise in the earth.” Amen!</p> +<h2><!-- page 119--><a name="page119"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +119</span>THE PROPHETIC THEME.<br /> +REV. GERVASE SMITH.</h2> +<blockquote> +<p>“Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched +diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: +Searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in +them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, +and the glory that should follow.”—1 <span +class="smcap">Peter</span> i. 10, 11.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>There is a peculiar interest attaching to the writer of this +epistle. Although it was probably in old age, when a large experience +of labour and sorrow had chastened his spirit, and in prospect of +martyrdom, that he composed these chapters, they bear unmistakable proofs +of his own vigour of thought, and suggest many reminiscences of his +remarkable life. Whether you regard him as a man, a Christian, or an +apostle, he presents an illustrious subject for the student of these modern +times. His history puts before us many and serious defects; but there +is <!-- page 120--><a name="page120"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +120</span>much more to approve and admire: and while a feeling or sorrow +lingers over the one, the other is so marked and prominent that it secures +your sympathy, and you are drawn towards the man with an ineffable +affection. There is a candour, and honesty, and generosity, and +heroism, which gives to his character a most healthy tone. The +qualities of his mind and heart, when sanctified by grace, become really +noble; and if it were right, you would like to forget his failings in +presence of so much that is both manly and good.</p> +<p>His two epistles are a precious legacy to the Church. The first is +addressed to the “scattered strangers:” but whether this +expression refer to Jews, or converted Gentiles, or both, or to the +“dispersed” of the ten tribes, there is no satisfactory +evidence. We are in similar doubt as to the place from which it was +written. The <i>Church at Babylon</i> is named in the last chapter; +but there was a Babylon in Egypt, and another in Assyria, and Rome itself +is thus figuratively designated.</p> +<p>The style of the apostle’s writing is just what you would expect +from the man himself. Vehemence, majesty, and, at the same time, ease +and freedom, are manifest in every page.</p> +<p>The chief design of this epistle is to administer <!-- page 121--><a +name="page121"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 121</span>comfort to those +already suffering; and to prepare others for the affliction they were about +to endure. The first chapter adduces several considerations to uphold +their constancy. One is that they are <i>the chosen of God</i>; +“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through +sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of +Jesus Christ: grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.” Then, +as the elect of God, they had a <i>good hope of heaven</i>. +“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which +according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, +by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance +incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven +for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, +ready to be revealed in the last time.” A third consideration +is, that though in the midst of trial, their Saviour was with them, and the +end of their faith was sure. “Whom having not seen, ye love; in +whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy +unspeakable, and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the +salvation of your souls.” And, finally, they were to remember +that this subject of their salvation had been matter of earnest enquiry +among the prophets, <!-- page 122--><a name="page122"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 122</span>whose labours are now made to contribute to +their comfort. “Of which salvation the prophets have enquired +and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto +you: searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was +in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, +and the glory that should follow.”</p> +<p>I.—<span class="smcap">The Student</span>, <span +class="smcap">and</span><br /> +II.—<span class="smcap">His Theme</span>.</p> +<p>I. “The prophets have <i>enquired and searched +diligently</i>.”</p> +<p>The term “prophet” is most properly applied to one who is +divinely instructed as to future events, and divinely inspired to make them +known. In an accommodated sense it is given to the apostles and +public teachers of the primitive Church. And now it is conventionally +used to denote a somewhat less honourable class. “The prophets +of our day” are many. From the positive style they have +adopted, you would suppose that the gift of prescience had come upon them +in a far more absolute form than upon the prophets of old. With more +dogmatism and less authority do they pronounce upon “the times and +seasons.” Though failure on failure happens, this seems rather +to nerve their confidence; and <!-- page 123--><a name="page123"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 123</span>every successive mistake is followed by +another guess with increased assurance.</p> +<p>1. <i>Who are the prophets referred to in the text</i>? They +are the men to whom the term is strictly applicable. We do not forget +such names as Moses and Samuel, and Elijah and Elisha, and others; but +their prophecies are not given with the formality of those distinct books +to which perhaps St. Peter refers. In point of time Jonah comes just +with his message of woe to the city of Nineveh. Amos the herdman and +Hosea his contemporary follow. Then Joel with his thunder, and Isaiah +with his evangelism; Micah with his earnestness; Nahum with his sublimity; +and Zephaniah with his severity, take their place in about equal +succession. Jeremiah then appears with all his weightiness of matter +and solemnity of manner. Habakkuk in briefer form takes up the same +subjects. Daniel with great grandeur of style dwells on the topics of +the text. Obadiah stands between him and Ezekiel as though to make +them both more prominent. At a later period come Haggai and +Zechariah; and then Malachi closes the illustrious train, taking the last +pen from the wing of inspiration, or putting the signet upon the scroll of +prophecy. Some of these may be especially referred to; but we include +them all: for “to Him give all the <!-- page 124--><a +name="page124"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 124</span>prophets witness; +that in his name whosoever believeth in Him shall have forgiveness of +sins.”</p> +<p>(i.) They were <i>men</i>; not angels, or belonging to some order +of being superior to ourselves; but they were members with us of the same +human family, and “subject to like passions as we are.” +They were <i>sinners</i>: born with the old taint of corruption; subject to +hereditary guilt, depravity, and death, and exposed to all the evils to +which flesh is heir. They were <i>redeemed sinners</i>, included in +that same covenant of mercy of which we make our boast. They were +therefore <i>personally interested</i> in those truths which became the +subject of their search.</p> +<p>The original promise belonged to them as well as to us. They +claimed an interest in the leading facts of patriarchal history, and in the +gorgeous ceremonial of the Mosaic Institute. All the events of divine +providence which were preparing the way for the Messiah’s coming, and +the predictions which they themselves uttered, had some personal +bearing. They were not uninterested students of past history, of +present circumstances, or of future events. Their own destinies were +involved in the truths they taught.</p> +<p>(ii.) They were <i>good men</i>. That the Divine Being has +sometimes made “false prophets” means of carrying out his +purposes there can be <!-- page 125--><a name="page125"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 125</span>no doubt. But he is a daring man who +would venture from this either to justify or extenuate an impure +ministry. Sanctuary services are too pure and solemn to be performed +by any but “<i>clean hands</i>.” The instruments which +God ordains are holy. With a miserable exception here and there, even +the enemies of truth have not denied to the ancient prophets the crown of a +good character. Try them by any recognised standard of virtue, and +they will not be found wanting. Trace the minutest circumstances of +their private life; their self denial; their exposure to danger; their +fearlessness in denouncing sin; their being proof against corruption; their +zeal; their sympathy; their benevolence—and they present a startling +contrast with the priests of Paganism, or the false prophets among the +Jews.</p> +<p>Call to mind the meekness of Moses; the heroism of Elijah; the gratitude +of David; the sweetness of Hosea; the fervour of Isaiah; the tenderness of +Jeremiah; the constancy of Daniel; the faithfulness of Ezekiel—and +you unhesitatingly endorse the inspired oracle, that they were “holy +men.” And although some of the prophets are remarkable for +particular features of character, they are not wanting in all the others +which are requisite to constitute <i>goodness</i>.</p> +<p>But what a magnificent portrait could you <!-- page 126--><a +name="page126"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 126</span>present to the mind +as you review the whole! The characteristics of these different men +meet and blend in the photograph; and you look upon a being—human it +is true, but sanctified by grace, and fitted to exercise “a more +telling influence upon the destines of the world,” than the mightiest +statesman, or the profoundest philosopher, or the noblest warrior of which +history can boast. Like the hues of the rainbow, which in all their +softness and sweetness and sublimity, rejoice to span the heavens together, +and make up one token of the covenant, do the prophets stand before us as +one class of men, unfolding the covenant of mercy, and offering light and +life to a dying and dark world.</p> +<p>(iii.) They were <i>inspired good men</i>. And here is +suggested one of the most formidable dangers of the present day. An +attempt is being made to dry up the most fruitful source of confidence +which the Christian has in the truth of his Bible:—viz., its plenary +inspiration. We know that this is not new; but the lover of +“the Book” had charmed himself with the hope that the +controversy was over, and the truth triumphant. He is now, however, +alarmed on finding that in addition to the old adversaries—the +infidel, the sceptic, and the profane—he has to enter the lists with +new combatants altogether; and among the <!-- page 127--><a +name="page127"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 127</span>rest, the descendants +of those glorious Reformers, who, centuries ago, shook the papal power to +its centre; melted the Bible’s chain in the martyr’s flame; and +liberated the mind of a continent from the most crushing spiritual +despotism the world ever knew. It is a distressing sound to hear +those academic halls, which have been the greatness and the pride of +Germany, resounding with pernicious error, not to say, positive +blasphemy. Looking at the subject in the light of heaven we +gratefully and confidently say that “the word of the Lord endureth +for ever;” but humanly speaking, the Bible is in danger. And we +must be prepared to meet it with a zeal, “such as in the +martyr’s glowed, dying champions for their God.” The +plenary inspiration of the Scriptures, and therefore of the +prophets—is our impregnable stronghold, and must never be +abandoned. The apostle says, when referring to the Old +Testament—“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is +profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in +righteousness. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of +man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy +Ghost.” And by this inspiration we do not merely mean that some +general ideas were poured into their minds, which they clothed in their own +language, and then published <!-- page 128--><a name="page128"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 128</span>them to the world as a revelation from +heaven. If the Bible be inspired <i>at all</i>, it is <i>fully</i> +inspired. Otherwise, you cannot tell where to make the distinction +between what is divine and what is human. You must either maintain +the truth of the <i>whole</i> book, or abandon your conviction of its +supreme authority. We adopt the statement that the prophets +“composed their works under so plenary and immediate an influence of +the Holy Spirit that God may be said to speak by them to man, and not +merely that they spoke to men in the name of God, and by his +authority.” Mark the wide distinction which is here +suggested. Take the case of an earnest and trustworthy +minister. He tells his congregation that he is anxious to give them +the truth; and has been to God in his closet asking for light. In +answer to prayer he believes that the Holy Spirit has given him light; and, +confident that it is the truth, he announces it to the people. But +you would not say that that man is inspired. There may be much of +what is fallible and human with what is truthful and divine. Suppose, +however, that on some Sabbath morning, he could with authority stand up and +say that what is now about to be declared is not his, but +God’s—that he is in ignorance of what the utterance will really +be, and that in simple fact, God is to speak through <!-- page 129--><a +name="page129"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 129</span>him, using his lips +only as the medium of communication; you have here an instance of what is +meant by plenary inspiration. And this we say is the case with the +prophets. These “holy men of God spake <i>as</i> they were +moved by the Holy Ghost. Not in the <i>words</i> which man’s +wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth.”</p> +<p>2. <i>Their Conduct</i>. They “enquired and searched +diligently.”</p> +<p>(i.) What is implied in the <i>search</i> they made? It +would seem as if for the moment the thought of their inspiration was +dropped; and like other earnest students of the Bible, they now search to +ascertain the meaning of their own, and each other’s +prophecies. There is here, however, an incidental, though strong +proof of the justice of their claims. The predictions they uttered +were not their own conceptions; not the product of their own reasoning; and +perhaps not even engraven on their own memory. They gave expression +to statements beyond themselves, and the meaning of which at the time, they +did not understand. And when (if we may so say) the breath of +inspiration had passed from them, they sat down to discover by diligent +search the import of those utterances which they had made. They had +<i>written</i> for <i>the world</i>: they now <i>enquired</i> for +<i>themselves</i>. Their <i>predictions</i> are by <!-- page 130--><a +name="page130"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 130</span>the grace of God, the +property of the Church: their <i>search</i> is for their own personal +benefit. The truths they proclaim, become the power of God to their +own comfort and purity.</p> +<p>The metaphor is taken from the employment of a miner who digs deeply +into the caverns of the earth that he may find its treasures; and by their +appropriation enrich himself. The prophets were not satisfied with +the mere knowledge of the fact that the mine existed, and that its contents +were more brilliant than any of Golconda, and beyond the price of +rubies. They went to dig for themselves; and seizing the precious +pearls of truth, they enriched and beautified and ennobled their own +character, until their shining became too glorious for earth: they were +then translated to heaven to sparkle amid eternal sunshine, and burn in +glory for ever. How solemnly does the Great Teacher’s +injunction sound in our ears—“Search the Scriptures; for in +them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of +Me.”</p> +<p>(ii.) The <i>earnestness</i> of their search. They +“enquired and searched <i>diligently</i>.” This word is +forceful and signifies to trace out or explore thoroughly. The idea +which the apostle intends to convey is thought to be this: “they +perceived that in their communications there were so <!-- page 131--><a +name="page131"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 131</span>great and glorious +truths which they did not fully comprehend, and they diligently employed +their natural faculties to understand that which they were appointed to +impart to succeeding generations.” There is much of simplicity +and power in the account which Daniel gives of his own <i>search</i>. +“In the first year of” the reign “of +Darius”—“I (Daniel) <i>understood by books</i> the number +of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, the prophet, +that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of +Jerusalem. And I <i>set my face</i> (marking earnestness and +diligence and resolve) unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and +supplication” the meaning of these things. You are not +surprised at the visit of the man Gabriel, who was caused to fly swiftly; +and, touching him at the time of the evening oblation, said, “O +Daniel I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. I +will show thee that which is noted in the Scriptures of truth.”</p> +<p>Now, if the prophets had thus with earnest diligence to search out the +meaning of their own predictions, what but our capacity should be the +measure of our toil? Nor is this labour to be confined to the +pulpit. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear +Him.” If you want to know the meaning of your Bible, you must +<!-- page 132--><a name="page132"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +132</span>prayerfully study it. “These in Berea were more noble +than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all +readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things +were so.”</p> +<p>Here then is our Student: himself a study for all who are anxious to +comprehend this book. There are only three orders of being by whom +God has spoken to the world: Christ; the angels; and <i>men</i>. And +among these men the prophets hold the first rank. At an early +period—the elements of religion being already revealed—a new +method of communicating truth was employed; and man rose from the position +of an <i>observer</i>, to the dignity and majesty of the prophet. In +some instances he is removed at once into this office without previous +training. But generally God walks among “the schools of the +prophets;” and laying his hand upon the chosen one, He bids him go +forth. His very call seems to constitute him an extraordinary +man. Both his appearance and actions make him singular. He +stands alone. The mountain or the sequestered vale is his abode; and +he is only seen among men when he has some message from God. Clothed +in his sackcloth, he appears at the court, the city, and the village; and +having pronounced the coming woe, or stated the imposed duty, or <!-- page +133--><a name="page133"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 133</span>offered +pardon, he mysteriously disappears; and is seen no more, till the burden is +again upon him, and forces him to come forth and speak. There is a +fire in his eye, but it is inspiration, not wildness. There is a +majesty in his gait, as though he is either great himself, or is employed +by one who is. There is a solemnity of countenance and a nobility of +manner, which say that he is not often among mortals, but dwells in a +higher sphere. In language which more fully pertains to us as +Christians, his “conversation is in heaven.” Carried up +by the Spirit perhaps to the summit of the mountain which covers his +retreat, views of the future break upon his vision. His eye burns; +his lips quiver; his bosom heaves. And opening his mouth, he pours +forth in more than angelic cadences, the designs of God concerning men, and +kingdoms, and the human race. It may be that to himself all this is a +mystery. He therefore gathers up every utterance, and carries them to +his mountain home. In that consecrated cave he spreads out the +panorama; and lifting up his eyes to heaven for light, he traces the +picture to see what “the Spirit of Christ which was in” him +“did signify.”</p> +<blockquote> +<p>“Sweet is the harp of prophecy; too sweet<br /> +Not to be wronged by a mere mortal touch,<br /> +Nor can the wonders it records be sung<br /> +To meaner music, and not suffer loss.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page 134--><a name="page134"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +134</span>II. <span class="smcap">The Theme</span>.—It is here +presented in a twofold aspect. First, in its <i>entirety</i>: and +secondly, in one of its <i>branches</i>.</p> +<p>1. The great subject of prophetic enquiry is +<i>salvation</i>. “Of which <i>salvation</i> the prophets have +enquired and searched diligently.”</p> +<p>(i.) In its <i>nature</i>. Is there a word in universal +language which has as much meaning in it as this word salvation? It +takes within its range all time and all eternity. Though specially +designed for man, it has its influence upon every order of being God has +made, and presents the most glorious manifestations of God himself which +the world possesses. It glares upon sin with indignation, but throws +its arms of mercy around the sinner; offers to him a deliverance from the +guilt and power and pollution and inbeing of evil; gives him the favour and +image of his Maker; assures to him victory over his final adversary; +introduces him to, and acquits him before the great white throne; and +arrays him in all the glories of an everlasting heaven.</p> +<p>To understand it fully comes not within the range of angelic intellect; +and yet it demands our highest regard, as it has had the attention of +enquiring prophets. ’Tis true they had not the light upon it +that a better dispensation has given to us. It is not to be expected +that they should <!-- page 135--><a name="page135"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 135</span>be penetrated with its glory as we ought to +be; but they were so impressed by its grandeur, that their thoughts were +raised above all merely temporal deliverances, and they felt that their own +interests were wrapped up in the theme. “And thus,” we +are told, “did this sweet stream of their doctrine, as the rivers, +make its own banks fertile and pleasant as it ran by, and flowed still +forward to after ages; and by the confluence of more such prophecies, grew +greater as it went, till it fell in with the main current of the gospel in +the New Testament both acted and preached by the Great Prophet himself whom +they foretold as to come, and recorded by his apostles and evangelists, and +thus united into one river clear as crystal. This doctrine of +salvation in the Scriptures hath refreshed the city of God, his Church +under the gospel, and still shall do so till it empty itself into the ocean +of eternity.”</p> +<p>(ii.) This salvation <i>in its provision</i>, is <i>of +grace</i>. “Who prophesied <i>of the grace</i> that should come +unto you.” The apostle does not mean to say by this clause, +that there is something in the theme <i>exclusively</i> adapted to those to +whom he wrote. But we understand him to mean, in general terms, that +the ancient seers searched diligently into that system of mercy, which +should in after times, and under the Christian dispensation, be more fully +revealed.</p> +<p><!-- page 136--><a name="page136"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +136</span>The word “grace” may have reference to <i>the +manner</i> in which this scheme should be made known; intimating that it +was by <i>divine favour</i> that the new economy supervened upon the +old. But we take it rather to denote <i>the gospel salvation +itself</i>. It is altogether a system of grace. In its +projection; in its development; in its accomplishment; in its application; +in its final consummation, it is all of grace. “By grace ye are +saved.”</p> +<p>We are not among the number of those who doubt or deny the entire and +absolute fall of man. Whatever good there was in him was then +destroyed; whatever evil there is in him, was then induced. He is +fallen in mind and soul and body. Physically, morally, spiritually, +he is a wreck. But was no vestage left of that divine image in which +he was created? Not one. No lingering desire to regain his +glory and the position he had lost? None. Was he altogether +dead to virtue and his Maker’s claims? Yes, altogether. +But was his nature so far polluted as that no trace of his original purity +could be discovered? Not a trace to be seen even by an Omniscient +eye. And was there left to him <i>no</i> inherent power to do that +which is good? None whatever. “From the sole of the foot +even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, +and putrifying sores: they have not <!-- page 137--><a +name="page137"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 137</span>been closed, neither +bound up, neither mollified with ointment.”</p> +<p>Then see his position. If his fall, which is so entire, is his own +act, he is as much amenable to his Maker as he was before. The fact +of his fall will not lesson his obligations: nor will it impose upon God +any necessity to show mercy. He therefore stands before his Judge a +condemned criminal; and the course which the Judge shall take is entirely +within himself. There is nothing which can force Him to show +favour. If He say, die, He is as justly glorious as He was +before. If then, there is <i>no</i> obligation upon God to save: and +if He <i>does</i> determine to be gracious, the salvation <i>must be</i> of +grace. Oh, is it possible to conceive the solemnity of that moment +when the destinies of untold millions were in the balance? Can you +picture the suspense of heaven and hell when waiting Jehovah’s +fiat? Surely for the moment the pulse of nature throbbed not; +heaven’s music ceased to flow, and the howl of the pit was +hushed. Then God, on his azure throne, holding in one hand the sword, +and in the other the sceptre, stretched out the sceptre saying, +“Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found a +ransom.”</p> +<p>Your salvation is of grace. You are required to <i>pray</i>; but +you are saved by grace. You are <!-- page 138--><a +name="page138"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 138</span>required to +<i>believe</i>; but you are saved by grace. You are required to +<i>labour</i>; but you are saved by grace. You are required to +<i>suffer</i>; but you are saved by grace. You will have to +<i>die</i>; but when you stand a spirit glorified before the throne, it +will be by grace.</p> +<p>(iii.) Salvation in <i>its object</i> is the soul. +“Receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your +<i>souls</i>.” By the soul we understand the immaterial +principle or spiritual part of man; which though united with the body, is +perfectly distinct from it.</p> +<p>As to its <i>nature</i>, it is possessed of intelligence, volition, +sensation. It has capacities for enjoyment and suffering: for both +good and evil. Its <i>immortality</i> is assured to us by the mouth +of God. It may be lost. With all its dignity and glory, it may +be for ever crushed by the divine hand, but never destroyed. While, +however, it may be lost, it may be saved. The grace which can calm +its fears, and satisfy its hopes, and purge its impurity, and consummate +its bliss is now manifested. How insignificant does everything appear +when compared with <i>its</i> salvation. The blotting of the sun, the +desolation of an universe is a trifle when put in the balance with an +immortal spirit. Let the sceptic doubt its immortality, and the +atheist deny, and the scoffer jest; but let us <!-- page 139--><a +name="page139"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 139</span>look forward to the +judgment-seat and beyond it, for “the soul, immortal as its sire, +shall never die.”</p> +<p>(iv.) Salvation, <i>in its attainment</i>, is <i>by +faith</i>. “The end of your faith.”</p> +<p>There is no article of our religion more plainly revealed than +this—“By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of +yourselves: it is the gift of God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, +and thou shalt be saved. Whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, +but hath eternal life. He that believeth shall be saved.” +Faith is the simplest operation of the mind; and may therefore strictly be +said to be incapable of definition. Still it is easy to say what is +meant by the term when applied to personal salvation. It means the +trust of the heart on the atonement of Christ, as the condition of +pardon. “With the heart man believeth unto +righteousness.” It is however of the highest importance that +the thought of its <i>simplicity</i> be made prominent. Let us not +undervalue religious knowledge; for to some extent it is absolutely +necessary. But do not mystify the plan of mercy, and perplex the +anxious seeker by requirements which the gospel has not made +prominent. Many a poor sinner exercises faith in Christ who cannot +give a <!-- page 140--><a name="page140"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +140</span>philosophical disquisition as to its nature. It is not +necessary to be thoroughly acquainted with the science of optics in order +to see. A man may look through a telescope before he can define the +refraction or reflection of light. Now all that is included in the +word salvation hangs on this simple condition.</p> +<p>The question may be regarded perhaps more nice than wise as to +<i>why</i> such a condition should have been appointed; and yet it will +sometimes force itself upon the thoughtful mind. The answer to it +must in great measure be conjectural, but may we not suppose that +<i>one</i> design of it was to do away with the last vestige of +self-righteousness in man? If Moses had struck the rock with +something more powerful than the little rod, the gushing of the waters +might have been attributed to his own strength. If Jericho had been +taken by a regular siege, the glory of its conquest would have been +ascribed to military science and the prowess of arms. If some heavy +conditions had been imposed upon the sinner, he would have <i>claimed</i> +his pardon.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>“But, ‘how unlike the complex works of man,<br /> +Heaven’s easy, artless, unencumbered plan,<br /> +No meretricious graces to beguile,<br /> +No clustering ornaments to clay the pile.<br /> +<!-- page 141--><a name="page141"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +141</span>From ostentation as from weakness free,<br /> +It stands like the cerulean arch we see,<br /> +Majestic in its own simplicity.<br /> +Inscribed above the portal from afar,<br /> +Conspicuous as the brightness of a star,<br /> +Legible only by the light they give,<br /> +Stand the soul-quickening words—Believe and Live.’”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>2. The apostle next concentrates attention upon one leading +<i>branch</i> of this great theme.</p> +<p>Having put the whole subject before us in the word salvation, he now +fixes our thought upon <i>the relation which Christ sustains to +it</i>. “Searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of +Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the +sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” The +testimony which is here said to be borne to Christ, is by the Spirit, and +the signification of the Spirit in the testimony is that which the prophets +sought. He who in the text is called “the Spirit of +Christ,” in the following verse is designated the Holy Ghost, so that +there can be no doubt as to the person referred to. He is variously +spoken of as “the Spirit of God”—”the Spirit of the +Father”—“the Spirit of the Son”—“the +Holy Spirit,” and He is the third person in the Holy Trinity. +“In the entire and undivided unity of the Godhead, there is a Trinity +of personal subsistences; <!-- page 142--><a name="page142"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 142</span>consubstantial, co-equal, and +co-eternal.” It was this “Spirit of Christ” who +inspired the prophets; for these “holy men of God spake as they were +moved by the Holy Ghost.”</p> +<p>(i.) They sought the signification of the Spirit as to the +<i>Saviour’s person</i>. “Searching +<i>what</i>.” This expression is said to mean either what +<i>time</i>; or what <i>people</i>; or what <i>person</i>. But +looking at the whole passage it seems most naturally to refer to Him who is +the subject of these predictions. They therefore diligently enquired +as to who He was, of whom they, under inspiration, had been speaking.</p> +<p>(ii.) They also studied the prophecies as <i>to the time of his +coming</i>: “What manner of time?” This phrase has a +twofold application. It may refer to that particular period of the +world’s history when the Saviour should come to endure his sufferings +and enter into his glory. So Daniel reckoned up the number of the +weeks, and sought to understand the time.</p> +<p>It may also have reference to “the character and condition of the +age” when He should become incarnate. “What <i>manner</i> +of time?”</p> +<p>We are now brought to the testimony itself which the Spirit beforehand +gave.</p> +<p>(iii.) <i>The Saviour’s sufferings</i>, in their relation to +our salvation. “The sufferings of Christ.”</p> +<p><!-- page 143--><a name="page143"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +143</span>We limit ourselves to two thoughts: these sufferings <i>were +predicted</i>, and those predictions <i>were fulfilled</i>. Nearly +the whole of the Old Testament has a connection with them. They are +predicted by the very page which records the fall. “And I will +put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: +it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” +Under the patriarchal economy there was a significant allusion to them in +the offering up of Isaac. The Mosaic types were prophecies. The +paschal lamb; the smitten rock; the brazen serpent; and the scape-goat on +the day of expiation, exhibited this feature of Messiah’s +character. Well nigh every page of the prophets is marked by blood +and sorrow. The Psalmist, in thrilling tone, enquires, “My God, +my God why hast thou forsaken Me?” And in the last struggles of +death Jesus quoted the passage in its application to himself. The +fifty-third chapter of Isaiah is an unapproachable description of a +suffering person. Its reference to Christ has been extorted from the +Jew, and is confidently believed by every Christian. The notion of +two Messiahs—the one suffering and the other conquering—is an +unworthy subterfuge, and stands opposed to both fact and Scripture. +Daniel is second only to Isaiah in his minute and <!-- page 144--><a +name="page144"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 144</span>powerful description +of the Redeemer’s sufferings. Zechariah almost closes the book +by the startling cry, “Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, and +against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the +Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered; and I will turn mine hand upon +the little ones.”</p> +<p>That these Scriptures have been fulfilled who can doubt that believes +the gospels? Just before the Saviour’s ascension, and while yet +partaking of the valedictory feast with his disciples, “He said unto +them, these are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, +that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, +and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning Me. Then opened He +their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures, and said +unto them, thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to +rise from the dead the third day.” We pass by the pain and +hunger and thirst which are the attributes of humanity; but from his very +incarnation may it be said that his sufferings began. Mark the +meanness of his birth; the poverty of his circumstances; the persecution +which drove Him from his infant-home, and think of his manner of life prior +to the public announcement of his character, and you say with the <!-- page +145--><a name="page145"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +145</span>prophet—“A man of sorrows, and acquainted with +grief.”</p> +<p>Now look into Gethsemane’s innermost recess and you see an amount +of suffering unendurable except under heavenly strengthening; “And, +being in an agony, He prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were +great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And there appeared +an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him.” Betrayed by +a disciple, He is apprehended by the “multitude with swords and +staves:” then arraigned before the high priest; then before Pilate: +then taken before Herod and clothed in the purple; then bound and dragged +again before Pilate: then smitten by the ruffianly attendants, and forsaken +by his followers He is condemned to die. After the Roman fashion He +is led away bearing his own cross to the fated hill. Here is the +consummation of their cruelty, of his suffering, and of heaven’s +suspense. The leader of an army to the battle-field looks with +anxiety to that moment of the day which decides the conflict; and either +covers him with a nation’s glory, or overwhelms him in a +nation’s disgrace. The fate of empires has hung on the actions +of an hour; and the liberties of a continent have trembled for an instant +in the balance. But the salvation of a world was hanging on <!-- page +146--><a name="page146"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 146</span>Calvary till +the Sufferer exclaimed: “It is finished.”</p> +<p>You will not suppose that we have exhibited all, or even a principal +part of “the sufferings of Christ.” We do not wish to +underrate this bodily distress; but oh, compare it not with the depth of +the soul’s agony. The hand of man which smote Him was malignant +and painful too; but the hand of God with the sword of justice in it, fell +in dreadful weight and pierced his spirit. His being betrayed and +forsaken by the disciples was a source of pain; but it was when the Father +hid his face that his sufferings were complete. “My God, my +God, why hast thou forsaken Me?”</p> +<p>In addition to the general scope of prophecy, there are many minute and +particular predictions of suffering which were fulfilled. The +Psalmist says—“Yea mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted, +which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.” +And you call to mind the betrayal of our Saviour. David says again, +“They pierced my hands and my feet.” And when He was +crucified the nails were driven through these parts of the body. +Isaiah says, “He was numbered with the transgressors;” and we +know that He was crucified between two thieves. Prophecy says, +“They part my garments <!-- page 147--><a name="page147"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 147</span>among them, and casts lots upon my +vesture.” History says, “And they crucified Him, and +parted his garments casting lots.” Prophecy says, “A bone +of Him shall not be broken.” History says that when the +soldiers “came to Jesus and saw that He was dead already, they brake +not his legs.” Prophecy says, “They gave me also gall for +my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” +History says, “They gave Him vinegar to drink mingled with +gall,” when He said “I thirst.” You are not +surprised then, that after the fulfilment of so many and varied +predictions, Jesus should have spoken to the two doubting disciples with a +somewhat sterner voice than was his wont: “O fools, and slow of heart +to believe all that the prophets have spoken, ought not Christ to have +suffered these things, and to enter into his glory.”</p> +<p>(iv.) See the connection between this salvation and the Saviour, +with regard to <i>the glory</i> resulting from his passion and death. +“And the glory,” or glories, “that should +follow.” We distract not your mind with the many meanings of +the word “<i>glory</i>.” In the text it signifies the +honour accruing to the Redeemer himself, and the benefit resulting to the +world from his sufferings. It will apply to <i>his resurrection</i>; +for even <!-- page 148--><a name="page148"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +148</span>of this the prophets had some knowledge. “Thou wilt +not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see +corruption.” It has also reference to the Saviour’s +<i>exaltation to</i> and <i>session at the right hand of the Father</i>: +for this is the result of his humiliation. “We see Jesus, who +was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned +with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for +every man.” But it has another meaning. The glory +resulting from “the sufferings of Christ,” is to be seen in +<i>the carrying out of his own scheme of mercy</i>, and <i>the universal +happiness of man</i>. Nothing short of this can satisfy the scope of +the text; the expectation and claims of the Messiah; or the call of the +Church. It was no less an object than this—the saving of a +whole world—that brought Christ from heaven and raised up the Church +on earth. If you look or labour for anything short of this, you +degrade your Master and dishonour yourselves. You have got too large +a machinery at work for anything less than this. You will cripple the +energies and damp the ardour of our Captain’s embattled hosts, if you +are satisfied with anything short of the conquest of a world. The +question therefore is, have we any fair prospect of, and guarantee for, +universal glory?</p> +<p><!-- page 149--><a name="page149"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +149</span>The text itself affords ground of hope that in the Scriptures we +shall find all we desire. An intimation is given that the prophets +themselves not only predicted it, but by their diligent search, apprehended +and believed it. And let us not suppose that our faith in a happy +world rests on a few dark or obscure expressions thinly scattered over the +Bible, and requiring more than ordinary penetration to find them at +all. Science by gigantic strides seems almost to have reached its +perfection. We are told that by its light the philosopher can, from a +single bone put into his hands, discover the existence of a “great +wingless bird” of another hemisphere, and can construct “its +skeleton so exactly, that when all the bones” arrive in this country +“the correspondence between them and their conjectural +portraits” is complete; that the astronomer is able by his +calculations to tell the existence of a planet, which observation proves to +be strictly true. But wonderful as is all this, we are not reduced to +any such necessity with regard to the future of the gospel. We have +not to take a few dark sayings, or enigmatical expressions, or hieroglyphic +inscriptions, and as we best may spell out the universal spread of +truth. As with the light of a sunbeam, or with “the point of a +diamond,” is it revealed. <!-- page 150--><a +name="page150"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 150</span>He that runs may +read. Abraham saw it: “And in thy seed shall all the families +of the earth be blessed.” Jacob saw it: “The sceptre +shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until +Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people +be.” David saw it: “Ask of Me, and I will give thee the +heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy +possession.” Isaiah saw it: “The wolf also shall dwell +with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf, +and the young lion, and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead +them.” Oh what a state of security and peace!</p> +<p>“Lift up thine eyes round about, and see; all they gather +themselves together, they come to thee; thy sons shall come from far, and +thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.” Let the Church no +more hang down her head with grief. Look up, and see what is +approaching. “All they gather themselves together, they come to +thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at +thy side.” A general confluence of the nations is at hand, and +all will flow into the church. “Then thou shalt see, and flow +together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the +abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of <!-- page +151--><a name="page151"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 151</span>the Gentiles +shall come unto thee.” The vast-swelling multitude with their +wealth shall come and beg admission. “We have now to beg people +to come into the church: the day is coming when they shall ask +permission. “Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the +doves to their windows?” Who <i>are</i> these myriads making +their way to Christ? “And as the doves to their +windows?” There is a storm at hand: the people foresee it, and +run for refuge. “Thy gates shall be open continually; they +shall not be shut day or night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of +the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.” So constant +is the pouring in that the doors must be kept open. It is now a rare +thing to see a convert approaching; but then the stream will be continuous, +and the houses of prayer open night and day.</p> +<p>“Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the +breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy +Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.” The very wealth which is +now in heathen hands shall be consecrated to the further spread of the +gospel. “And thou shalt suck the breast of kings:” for +they shall become “nursing fathers and queens nursing mothers;” +and the reign of the Messiah shall be one of peace. “Violence +shall <!-- page 152--><a name="page152"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +152</span>no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy +borders: but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates +Praise. The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for +brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto +thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no +more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be +thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. +Thy people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land for +ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be +glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a +strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time.” Do not +say that this glorious chapter is exceptional. It is only a sample, +and the bulk is equal in beauty. If the Bible, then, be true, a +redeemed universe is hastening upon us. Paradise created even cannot +put before us the glory of paradise restored. All the events which +are passing over us—even those which appear the most +alarming—are under an influence which will make them tributary to the +final issue. “Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who +only doeth wondrous things, and blessed be his glorious name for ever; and +let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and +Amen.”</p> +<p><!-- page 153--><a name="page153"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +153</span>1. Let us learn a lesson of <i>veneration for the +Scriptures</i>. Unless it be the great doctrine of atonement, there +is no truth to which the Christian clings, assailed with greater bitterness +in our days than the plenary authority of the Bible. Moreover the low +views on this question which many professing Christians hold and teach, are +most deplorable and damaging. We expect opposition from the avowed +adversaries of the Book; but, the source of truth is now imperilled by +indifference and treachery. The whole volume has a divine +origin. “God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in +times past by the prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his +Son.”</p> +<p>2. A lesson of <i>love to the Saviour</i>. “He hath +died” for us, “the just for the unjust, that He might bring us +to God.” Do not forget your personal interest in those +sufferings to which the text refers. They are in the strictest sense +<i>vicarious</i>. He suffered not for his own sins, but for +yours. You may realise their saving efficacy, and be “made meet +for the inheritance of the saints in light.” How great are his +claims upon our affection and service!</p> +<p>3. A lesson of <i>duty to the world</i>. The salvation of +the whole race is provided by “the sufferings;” and is included +in “the glory.” A sanctified <!-- page 154--><a +name="page154"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 154</span>universe is to be the +result of the Saviour’s cross: and to a large extent He has made the +Churches responsible for the conversion of the world. A weight of +obligation rests upon each member which cannot be put into language. +The wailings of a dying race call loudly for our zeal. The groans of +the lost gather strength as they ascend the pit. The voice of heaven, +from angels, saints, and God, urge us onward in the discharge of +duty. Oh, the wreck is on the billow; hasten with the means of +safety. The plague-spot is in the camp; offer the incense of +atonement. And let all your efforts be put forth in faith, and under +a deep impression of the truth of Cecil’s memorable words: +“Faith is the master-spring of a Minister,” as well as of every +Christian. “Hell is before me, and thousands of lost souls are +shut up there in everlasting agony. Jesus Christ stands forth to save +men from rushing into this bottomless abyss. He sends me to proclaim +His ability and love. I want no fourth idea.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 155--><a name="page155"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +155</span>THE MIND WHICH WAS IN CHRIST JESUS.<br /> +REV. GEORGE WOOD.</h2> +<blockquote> +<p>“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ +Jesus.” <span class="smcap">Philippians</span> ii. 5.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The Saviour left His followers an example that they should tread in His +steps; and His example in everything that appertains to His human nature, +is not only practicable but essential. We cannot imitate His power, +or His wisdom, or His miracles, or His sufferings, or anything in which His +Divine nature was manifested or employed; but we can imitate His meekness, +His patience, His zeal, His self-denial, His superiority to temptation, His +abandonment of the world, His devotion to His Father’s will, in +short, all those habits of mind and life which distinguished His earthly +career. And with this <!-- page 156--><a name="page156"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 156</span>perfect example before us, we need never be in +doubt or perplexity as to what is our duty; we may test our motives and our +conduct by the teaching and example of Christ, and if we possess His mind +we shall endeavour to copy His life—to “walk as Christ also +walked”—to be in this world as Christ also was.</p> +<p>This Epistle was addressed by the Apostle Paul to a Church which he +tenderly loved, and for whose prosperity he constantly prayed. He had +suffered much in the establishment of Christianity at Philippi, and the +Philippians had suffered much in the maintenance of their profession of +faith, chiefly from their fellow-citizens who continued heathen. The +Apostle was a prisoner at Rome, with the prospect of martyrdom as the +termination of his glorious career. Undaunted by the prospect, he +declares his readiness—nay, more—his “desire to depart +and be with Christ.” He exhorts the Philippians to +steadfastness, fidelity, and patience amid the sufferings to which they +were exposed from without; and to simplicity and “lowliness of +mind” amongst themselves. He sets before them the conduct of +Christ in His condescension, and the glory of Christ in His exaltation; and +exhorts them to imitate the Saviour’s humility, that they might share +His triumph. “Let this <!-- page 157--><a +name="page157"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 157</span>mind be in you, which +was also in Christ Jesus.”</p> +<p>This text is of universal application. It applies to us. The +highest dignity attainable in this world is conformity to Jesus +Christ. In what then does conformity to Jesus Christ consist? +In other words, what are those elements of character and conduct which +distinguished Him, and which are to be copied by us in our daily life?</p> +<p>I. The first which we mention, and which is prominent throughout +the whole of His history is <i>meekness</i> or <i>humility</i>. +Dignified as was His character, high as were His claims, glorious as was +His mission, He was never arrogant or boastful, proud or +ostentatious. He neither sought the homage of the multitude, nor the +society of the rich and the great. He accepted these if offered, but +He never sought them. It is a fact that Christ never demanded, yet +never declined the worship of men during His earthly sojourn. The +Apostles shrunk from it, Angels rebuked it when offered to them, Christ +never did. It was sometimes given, it was never declined. He +did not obtrude Himself upon the attention of the multitude as the Saviour +of the world; but ate, and drank, and slept, and walked, and lived amongst +them, and was in <!-- page 158--><a name="page158"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 158</span>every respect a man with men. He +sometimes escaped from the society of the rich, that He might mitigate the +sorrows, and promote the interests of the poor. He never sought human +applause, and frequently retired from the scene of the most astounding +miracle, charging the subject of His healing and His blessing to +“tell no man” of Him. He might have taken the throne, and +reigned “King of the Jews,” in a political and worldly sense, +had He been covetous of regal honours, or ambitious for worldly +power. But He had a higher mission. His kingdom was “not +of this world,” and He came “not to be ministered unto, but to +minister.”</p> +<p>It cannot, however, be asserted that Jesus was insensible, or altogether +indifferent, to the temptations to popularity and power to which He was +exposed; if so, His example is of no practical utility to us. He did +not feel as we feel, and we can gather no instruction, and no motives from +His history or experience. But we believe that He “was in all +points tempted <i>like</i> as we are;” that as a man He was the +subject of all the emotions, affections, and impulses which we feel. +He could weep, and love, and hate, and fear, and pure as His nature was, He +had to battle with the various temptations of the world and the wicked one, +all the more perhaps because of the sinlessness of His holy humanity.</p> +<p><!-- page 159--><a name="page159"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +159</span>Great and frequent were the provocations of His enemies, but He +never lost His temper—He never forfeited the claim to be called +“the meek and lowly Jesus.” If you follow Him to the +house of Caiaphas the high priest, to the judgment hall of Herod or of +Pilate, or to the Cross itself—though He was buffetted, accused +falsely, condemned, spit upon, crucified—He passed through all the +same calm, humble, holy Being. There was no retaliation, no +resentment. There was majesty in His very meekness. And this is +an important element in the Saviour’s character and conduct, which as +Christians we must acquire and exhibit.</p> +<p>Undue elevation in circumstances of prosperity and fame, is as injurious +to our spiritual progress, as irritation and depression are in +circumstances of adversity and trial; and both are to be avoided. The +Saviour left us an example—a bright and a beautiful example—O +how few of us copy it in this respect. When the voice of flattery and +praise is heard—when we are raised to posts of influence and +honour—when the sun shines brightly upon our daily pathway—how +few of us keep our meekness and humility; how few of us carry all our +honours back to Him who gave them; how few of us so improve and sanctify +our talents as that He shall have the glory. And on <!-- page +160--><a name="page160"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 160</span>the other +hand when fortune frowns upon us—when the world despises +us—when our “own familiar friend, in whom we trusted, lifteth +up his heel against us,” alas! how few of us “calmly sit on +tumult’s wheel,” and leave events to God. It is easier to +sing and preach about such a disposition than it is to acquire and exhibit +it; but it is attainable and it is essential—“Let this mind be +in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”</p> +<p>II. <i>Simplicity</i> and <i>unity</i> distinguish the character +and conduct of Christ. In all His intercourse with friends and foes, +His adherence to truth and righteousness is marked and constant. He +was criticised and catechised and calumniated, but His transparency of +character was never destroyed. His enemies opposed and threatened, +but He never hesitated in the path of duty, or in His devotion to His +Father’s will. However captious their questions, and whether +they related to political or spiritual matters, He invariably turned them +against His opponents, and made them minister to the cause of truth and +righteousness. Sometimes He stood single-handed against a multitude +of foes, they were often vacillating, cowardly, and inconsistent with +themselves; but not so the Saviour. With what authority did He rebuke +their selfishness, their duplicity, their sin; and yet how confidently <!-- +page 161--><a name="page161"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 161</span>could +He appeal to His bitterest opponents as to the simplicity and purity of His +own character and life—“Which of you convinceth <i>Me</i> of +sin?” The proud and supercilious Pharisees sought “to +entangle Him in His talk;” they charged Him with blasphemy, with +disregard for the Sabbath, with breaking the law, and they disputed His +authority to act as He did; but their cunning could not ensnare, their +threatening could not intimidate. Satan sought by a threefold +temptation to turn Him aside; he desired Him to question, in the first +place, the providence of God, then to tempt an interposition of Providence +by exposing Himself to unnecessary danger, and finally to fall down and +worship him; but our Lord indignantly repelled the tempter, and maintained +His purity; and “angels came and ministered unto Him.” +“I must work the works of Him that sent me,” was the motto of +His life—the simple purpose of His mind; nor did He shrink from any +portion of that work however hazardous and difficult. “My +meat,” said He, “is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to +finish His work.”</p> +<p>In this simple purpose of the Saviour’s mind and conduct we have a +beautiful example. Nothing is so difficult, in days like these, as +the maintenance of a pure and simple mind. Duplicity, <!-- page +162--><a name="page162"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 162</span>deception, +and selfishness pervade all ranks and conditions of men. You find +them in the shop, in the market-place, in the family, and alas! in the +church itself; and nothing but a resolute resistance, directed and +sustained by the grace of God, can make the Christian proof against these +evils. O imitate the Saviour. Mark out for yourselves a +definite line of conduct, consistent with your Christian profession, and +adhere to it firmly, in spite of custom or contempt, and in the prospect of +death itself.</p> +<p>Simplicity produces unity. There is nothing complex in the +character and life of Christ. Every part is in perfect keeping with +the whole. His teaching, His miracles, His conduct, illustrate each +other, and combine to prove His true Messiahship, and exhibit the +perfection of His life. If there were glaring inconsistencies in the +history of Jesus—if the four Evangelists had written documents which +could not be harmonized—if the moral teaching, and the moral conduct +of Christ were at variance—if His pretensions were not justified by +His works—then we might deny His Messiahship, and disregard Him as +our Great Example. But it is not so. What He taught He +practised; what He promised he performed; the work He came from heaven to +accomplish He actually “finished,” even to the shedding of <!-- +page 163--><a name="page163"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 163</span>His +blood. “The cup which my Father hath given me to drink,” +said He, “shall I not drink it?” Thus the example of +Christ forbids all fickleness and falsehood. It condemns all false +appearances; and says to all His followers, with an authority and force +which even the words themselves do not contain, “Let your +communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these +cometh of evil.” What a wonderful and glorious change would the +observance of such a rule effect in the church, and in the world! +“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”</p> +<p>III. The mind of Christ is distinguished by its <i>sympathy</i> +and <i>ceaseless activity</i>. He could <i>weep</i> at the grave of +Lazarus, before calling back His friend to life. He could <i>stop</i> +at the gate of Nain, to cheer the heart of a bereaved widow, by restoring +to life her only son. He could condescend to <i>touch</i> the +loathsome leper, and thus make him clean. He could <i>stoop to hold a +conversation</i> with a penitent adulteress. He could <i>work a +miracle</i> to feed a hungry multitude. He could <i>look</i> +conviction into Peter’s heart, and thus send the faithless Apostle +out of His presence weeping bitterly. O there was nothing cold, +ungenerous, or selfish in the nature of Christ. He was never too much +occupied to listen to the <!-- page 164--><a name="page164"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 164</span>tale of sorrow, nor too dignified to afford +relief. He was never unapproachable. The finest sensibilities, +the purest affections, the deepest sympathies were exhibited in actions, +which, had there been no ultimate purpose in His mission, would have marked +Him as a benefactor of our race, and carried down His name and His fame to +the latest posterity. And this, in a humbler degree, we are called +upon to imitate. How little like the Saviour is the man whose heart +is hard, whose temper is irritable, and who has no bowels of compassion for +the destitute and afflicted. How little like the Saviour is the man +who prides himself upon superior extraction or superior position, and looks +down with contempt upon the poor and the penniless. The Son of Man +came to seek, and to save the lost: and when John’s disciples asked +Him for evidence that He was Christ, His reply was simply this: Go tell +your master the things which ye have seen and heard; “the blind +receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the +deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached +unto them.” What an outline is this of the Redeemer’s +daily toil! How He “went about doing good!” How He +wandered among the cities and villages of Judæa and Samaria; sharing +the rough hospitality of fishermen—<!-- page 165--><a +name="page165"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 165</span>the barley-bread of +the poorest peasant; working miracles of healing; teaching doctrines of +profoundest import; contending with His enemies, the Pharisees and Scribes; +and conducting the minds and the hearts of His disciples and the multitudes +away from their superstitions and their prejudices, to the heart of His +Father’s love, and the results of His own suffering and sacrifice in +their behalf: nor did this sublime and ceaseless activity terminate until +He hung upon the cross—and then only to be renewed in ceaseless +intercession at His Father’s throne. And again He left us an +example. This active sympathy is the very genius of our holy +religion—the spirit which it breathes—the life which it +lives—the pure and blessed element in which it grows and becomes +perfect. Happy is the man who thus imitates the Saviour—whose +“weariness of life is gone,” by the employment of his talents +and his time in “doing and receiving good.”</p> +<p>IV. All these elements of character in Christ were directed and +sustained by the <i>holiness of His nature</i>. This is undeniable +His enemies being judges. Even devils testified to +this—“We know Thee, who Thou art, the holy one of God;” +they could not resist His Divine authority; they could not impeach His +human purity; and <!-- page 166--><a name="page166"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 166</span>in order to secure His condemnation at the +last, the chief-priests were compelled to resort to bribery and +falsehood. And ever since the bitterest opponents of His religion +have been constrained to reiterate Pilate’s verdict with regard to +Himself—“We find no fault in this man.”</p> +<p>It is difficult to estimate aright the holiness of Christ as an example +to us. It is difficult to discover how far, or whether at all, the +Divinity of Christ acted on the humanity in relation to His holiness. +We believe, however, that the holiness of His humanity was altogether +distinct from His Godhead; and though He “did no sin; neither was +guile found in His mouth,” He was none the less exposed to +temptation; but amid the vanity and vice which everywhere abounded and +surrounded Him, He walked, and worked, and lived in the maintenance of that +holiness which we may imitate; not a holiness resulting from the union of +the Divine with the human, but a holiness belonging only to the +latter. Had He yielded to temptation, the whole of His mission would +have failed, His teaching would have had no force, His example would have +perished with His fame, and His death would have had no saving merit +whatsoever. But His holiness remained inviolate; and now it is the +ground and the pattern of ours. It is not enough that you <!-- page +167--><a name="page167"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 167</span>be meek and +lowly; it is not enough that you be simple and ingenuous; it is not enough +that you be sympathetic and affectionate; you must be <i>holy</i>. +“Jesu’s is a <i>spotless</i> mind.”</p> +<p>Brethren, suffer me to urge the exhortation of the text. O the +dignity, the blessedness of this conformity to Christ! Will you seek +it for yourselves. You and I are only Christians so far as we +resemble Christ, not a bit farther. Jesus is Himself the perfect +embodiment of His own teaching, the living, acting example of all those +elements of character and conduct which fit intelligent and immortal +spirits for the Paradise of God. Therefore, “let this mind be +in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Seek it! exhibit +it!!</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">warren hall</span> <span +class="smcap">and co.</span>, <span class="smcap">printers</span>, <span +class="smcap">camden road</span>, <span class="smcap">london</span>, <span +class="smcap">n.w.</span></p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WESLEYAN METHODIST PULPIT IN +MALVERN***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 24396-h.htm or 24396-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/3/9/24396 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Wesleyan Methodist Pulpit in Malvern + Sermons Preached at the Opening Services of the Wesleyan + Methodist Chapel, in 1866 + + +Author: Knowles King + + + +Release Date: January 21, 2008 [eBook #24396] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WESLEYAN METHODIST PULPIT IN +MALVERN*** + + +Transcribed from the 1866 John Snow and Co. edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + +THE WESLEYAN METHODIST PULPIT IN MALVERN. + + + SERMONS + PREACHED AT + THE OPENING SERVICES + OF THE + WESLEYAN METHODIST CHAPEL, + IN 1866, + AT MALVERN, + BY + REV. W. M. PUNSHON, REV. W. ARTHUR, + REV. J. H. JAMES, REV. C. PREST, + REV. J. PRIESTLEY, REV. G. SMITH, + REV. G. WOOD. + With a Preface by Knowles King. + + LONDON: + JOHN SNOW & CO., IVY LANE, + PATERNOSTER ROW; + WARREN HALL & CO., CAMDEN ROAD. + 1866. + + TO + RALPH BARNES GRINDROD, + OF MALVERN, + M.D., LL.D., F.L.S., F.R.G.S., F.G.S., &c., &c., + This Volume of Sermons + IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, + IN THANKFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE LEARNED + DOCTOR'S GREAT GIFT OF HEALING; + BUT MORE ESPECIALLY OF HIS LARGE CHARITY, + AND HIGH CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The Sermons which make up this volume were preached at Malvern, in 1866, +at, and immediately after, the opening services of the Wesleyan Chapel +there. + +This beautiful and commodious building owes its erection to the piety and +energy of the Rev. W. M. PUNSHON, who, in the year 1862, proposed by +Lectures, and otherwise, to raise a fund for building Wesleyan Chapels in +places of summer resort. + +This proposition was well responded to by Mr. PUNSHON'S friends, and the +Wesleyan public, and forty thousand pounds have already been expended in +the erection of new Chapels at Ilfracombe, Dawlish, the Lizard, Brighton, +Weymouth, Eastbourne, Walmer, Folkestone, Bournemouth, Blackpool, +Lancing, Llandudus, Rhyl, Saltburn, Bray, Matlock, _Malvern_, Keswick, +Bowness, and the Isle of Wight. Others are in progress. + +These Sermons are published with the consent of the several preachers, +but it must be stated that they were preached without any view to +publication, and now appear in print, nearly word for word, as they were +delivered, extempore, from the pulpit. Some of them, indeed, have never +been committed to writing by the authors; for instance, of the beautiful +sermon of Mr. ARTHUR, "not a word" was written by him either before or +since its delivery. + +This will account for the fact that the subjects are not treated with any +degree of scientific exactness, as essays might require; but in a manner +intended to suggest useful thoughts to serious audiences. + +Although myself of the Church of England, I have had many opportunities, +during the past thirty-five years, of hearing discourses from Wesleyan +ministers, and making personal acquaintance with them; and I believe the +following Sermons are a fair specimen of the Wesleyan teaching in this +country. + +Why should not the Church of England and the great Wesleyan body be +united? Circumstances are entirely altered since Wesley, and his +coadjutors, were compelled to run away from the Church of England. Now, +thank God, the majority of our clergy, like the Wesleyan ministers, are +zealous, and energetic, and evangelical men; popular in the style of +their addresses, distinguished by the vigour of their pastoral +ministrations, and incessant in them; paternal in their care of the poor, +of broad and social Christian sympathies, and earnestly pursuing the +secular and religious education of the young. Why should not the priests +of the Church of England and the ordained Wesleyan ministers be permitted +to exchange pulpits as they may think fit? There is little danger that a +Wesleyan minister would proclaim unsound doctrine. Such an evil is much +more shortly and sharply rectified by Wesleyan discipline, which the +Courts of Law uphold, than by any mere legal action to which the Church +of England is bound. + +May it please God, by His Holy Spirit, to make these Sermons effectual +for the spreading of His truth and the quickening of His people. + + KNOWLES KING. + +SIDMOUTH HOUSE, MALVERN, +_December_ 3, 1866. + + * * * * * + + _If any profit shall accrue from this publication_, _it will be given to + the religious institutions at Malvern_. + + + + +THE LIVELY STONES. +REV. W. MORLEY PUNSHON. + + + "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy + priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by + Jesus Christ."--1 PETER ii. 5. + +There is a manifest reference in the fourth verse to the personage +alluded to in Psalm cxviii. 22, 23: "The stone which the builders refused +is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing; it is +marvellous in our eyes." And this passage is applied by Christ to +himself in Matthew xxi. 42: "Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in +the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become +the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in +our eyes." The Apostle therefore places the beginning of any connection +with Christianity in coming to Christ, and assures believers that in +their union with Him alone consists the fulness of their dignity and +privilege. And there is no truth that will more readily be acknowledged, +or receive a heartier acquiescence from the heart of a believer. What +could we do without Jesus? In our every necessity He is our "refuge and +strength," in our perils He compasses us about with songs of deliverance, +his life is our perfect example, his death is our perfect atonement. +Well might the Apostle interrupt the course of his argument with the +grateful apostrophe, "Unto you, therefore, which believe, He is +precious;" and exhort them "that ye should show forth the praises of Him +who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." The text +presents us with topics of meditation worthy of our prayerful study, as +it reveals to us-- + +I.--THE CHARACTER. +II.--THE PRIVILEGE. +III.--THE DUTY OF BELIEVERS. + +I. You observe that in the text believers are presented as a spiritual +house and a holy priesthood; two different illustrations, which, if you +translate the word here rendered "house" by the more sacred word +"temple," will be found to have the same religious significance, and a +close connection with each other. Coming to Christ as the +foundation-stone of the building, "disallowed indeed of men, but chosen +of God, and precious," the Church rises into a spiritual temple. From +Christ, the great High Priest, "consecrated after no carnal commandment," +believers rise into a holy priesthood by a majestic investiture that is +higher than the ordination of Aaron. There are two points in the +character of the ransomed Church which are illustrated in these +words:--_spirituality_ and _holiness_. + +Take the first thought, spirituality. They are lively or living stones, +built up into a spiritual house. Any one who thoughtfully observes the +successive ages of the world's history, will not fail to discover that +each generation of men has in some important particulars progressed upon +its predecessor. There has been not only an accumulation of the +treasures of thought and knowledge but an increase of the capacity to +produce them. Hence in every age there has been a higher appreciation of +freedom, a quickened enterprise of enquiry, the stream of legislation has +refined and broadened in its flow, improvement has extended its acreage +of enclosure, and principles proved and gained have become part of the +property of the world. Our nature has had its mental childhood. The +established laws of mind admit only of a gradual communication of +knowledge. It was necessary, therefore, that men should be first stored +with elementary principles, then advanced to axioms and syllables, and +afterwards introduced into the fellowship of the mystery of Divine truth. +Hence any reflective mind, pondering upon the dealings of God with men, +will discover a progressive development of revelation, adjusted with +careful adaptation to the preparedness of different ages of mankind. In +the first ages God spake to men in sensible manifestations, in visions of +the night, by audible voice, in significant symbol. As time advanced the +sensible manifestations became rarer, and were reserved for great and +distinguishing occasions. From the lips of a lawgiver, in the seer's +vision, and in the prophet's burden of reproof or consolation, the Divine +spake, and the people heard and trembled. At length, in the fulness of +time, the appeal to the senses was altogether discarded; the age of +spirituality began, and in the completed revelation men read, as they +shall read for ever, the Divine will in the perfected and royal word. +And this progress, which appears through all creation as an inseparable +condition of the works of God, present in everything, from the formation +of a crystal to the establishment of an economy, is seen also in the +successive dispensations under which man has been brought into connection +with heaven. You can trace through all dispensations the essential unity +of revealed religion. There have never been but two covenants of God +with man--the covenant of works and the covenant of grace; never but two +religions--the religion of innocence, and the religion of mercy. Through +all economies there run the same invariable elements of truth. The first +promise contains within itself the germ of all subsequent revelation--the +Abrahamic covenant, the separation of Israel, all the rites and all the +prophecies, are but the unfoldings of its precious meaning. Sacrifice +for the guilty, mediation for the far-off and wandering, regeneration for +the impure, salvation through the merit of another; these are the inner +life of the words, "the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's +head." The gospel therefore was preached unto Abraham. Moses felt the +potent influence of "the reproach of Christ." David describeth the +blessedness of "the man unto whom God imputeth not iniquity." "Of this +salvation the prophets enquired and searched diligently." Christ was the +one name of the world's constant memory, "to Him gave all the prophets +witness," and from the obscurest to the clearest revelation all testified +in tones which it was difficult to misunderstand. "Neither is there +salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given +among men whereby we must be saved." The patriarchal dispensation had no +elaborate furniture nor gorgeous ritualism. The father was the priest of +the household, and as often as the firstling bled upon the altar it +typified the faith of them all in a better sacrifice to come. Then came +the Jewish dispensation with its array of services and external +splendour, with its expressive symbolism and its magnificent temple; and +then, rising into a higher altitude, the fulness of time came, and +Christianity--the religion not of the sensuous but of the spiritual, not +of the imagination awed by scenes of grandeur nor bewildered by +ceremonies of terror, but of the intellect yielding to evidence, of the +conscience smitten by truth, of the heart taken captive by the +omnipotence of love--appeared for the worship of the world. Our Saviour, +in his conversation with the Samaritan woman, inaugurated, so to speak, +the dispensation of the spiritual, "The hour cometh, and now is,"--there +is the moment of instalment, when the great bell of time might have +pealed at once a requiem for the past and a welcome to the grander +future, "when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and +in truth." Requiring spiritual worship, it was natural that God should +have "built up a spiritual house," wherein he should dwell in statelier +presence than in "houses made with hands." Hence there is now rising +upon earth, its masonry unfinished, but advancing day by day, a spiritual +temple more magnificent than the temple of Solomon, costlier than the +temple of Herod. "Destroy this temple," said the Saviour to his +wondering listeners, "and in three days I will raise it up." "Forty and +six years was this temple in building, and will thou rear it up in three +days?" "But He spake of the temple of His body." "What, know ye not +that _your_ bodies are the members of Christ?" Yes! believers everywhere +are stones in the spiritual house, broken perhaps into conformity, or +chiselled into beauty by successive strokes of trial; and wherever they +are, in the hut or in the ancestral hall, in the climates of the snow or +of the sun, whether society hoot them or honour them, whether they wrap +themselves in delicate apparelling, or, in rugged homespun, toil all day +for bread, they are parts of the true temple which God esteems higher +than cloistered crypt or stately fane, and the top stone of which shall +hereafter be brought on with joy. + +The second representation of a believer's character is _holiness_, "a +_holy_ priesthood." In the Jewish dispensation the word was understood +to mean no more than an outward and visible separation unto God; the +priests in the temple and the vessels of their ministry were said to be +ceremonially "holy." But more is implied in the term as it occurs in the +text and kindred passages than a mere ritual and external sanctity. It +consists in the possession of that mind which was also in Christ Jesus, +in the reinstatement in us of that image of God which was lost by the +disobedience of the fall. You will remember numerous scriptures in which +holiness, regarded as the supreme devotion of the heart and service to +God, is brought out as at once a requirement and a characteristic of a +Christian. "What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy +conversation and godliness?" "Be ye holy, for I am holy," "as He which +hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation." +"God hath not called us to uncleanness but unto holiness." "Having these +promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of +the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." And it is +absolutely necessary that this grace should be cultivated if we would +either fulfil the mission of our priesthood or abide in the Divine +presence for ever. Holiness is requisite whether to see the Lord or to +walk before men unto all well-pleasing; and as living witnesses, +transcripts of _His_ holiness, enabled by his grace to maintain purity of +heart and life, God has promised to establish those who put their trust +in Him. Some Christians have been deterred from the search after this +blessing of heaven by the mistakes of those who have endeavoured to +expound it, or by the hypocrisy of those who have assumed its profession +that they might the better sin. It is marvellous how many different +views of it have at times obtained currency in the world. By some it has +been resolved into a sort of refined Hinduism, a state in which the soul +is "unearthed, entranced, beatified" by devout contemplation into a +pietistic rapture; others have deemed that the best way to secure it was +a retirement from the vexing world, a recreant forsaking of the active +duties of life, as if it consisted in immunity from temptation rather +than in victory over it. Others have placed it in surpliced observance +or in monastic vow; an equivocal regard to patterns of things in the +heavens which common men mistake for idolatry. Others again, reversing +the old Pythagorean maxim, and wearing the image of God upon their ring, +have expressed it by unworthy familiarity, a continual adverting to the +gifts of the spirit, and the experience of the soul in the flippancy of +ordinary conversation, as did some of the fanatics of the Commonwealth. +Others have represented it as a perpetual austerity, an investiture of +our family circles with all the hues of the sepulchre, and a flinging +upon the face of society the frown of a rebuking fretfulness, which would +make the good of an archangel evil spoken of in this censorious world. +But the scriptural holiness which believers long for, and which the +Church is to spread through the land, is not a necessary adjunct of any +or all of these. It is not the acting of a part in a drama, but the +forth-putting of a character in life, the exhibition in harmonious action +of the humble love and filial fear with which men "work out their +salvation." "A holy priesthood." It is remarkable of this spiritual +priesthood that it descends in no particular succession, nor limits its +privileges to any exclusive genealogy. The holiness which is at once its +distinctiveness and its hallowing comprehends and can sanctify all +relations of life. Let the minister have it, and the love of Christ, his +supremest affection, will prompt his loathing of sin and his pity for +sinners; will fire his zeal and make his words burn, and will often urge +him to cast himself upon the mercy-seat that his labours may not be in +vain. Let the merchant, or the manufacturer, or the man of business have +it, and it need neither bate his diligence nor hold him back from riches; +but it will smite down his avarice and restrain his greed of gold; it +will make him abhor the fraud that is gainful, and eschew the speculation +that is hazardous, and shrink from the falsehood that is customary, and +check the competition that is selfish; and it will utterly destroy the +deceptive hand-bill, and the cooked accounts, and the fictitious capital, +as well the enormous dishonesties as the little lies of trade. Let this +holiness actuate the parent, and in his strong and gentle rule he will +mould the hearts of his children heavenward, and train them in the +admonition of the Lord, until, a commanded household, comely in their +filial love, they shall reverence their Father who is in heaven. Let the +child be impressed with holiness, and he will have higher motives to +obedience than he can gather from the constraint of duty or from the +promptings of affection. Let the master be holy, and while he upholds +authority he will dispense blessing. Let the servant be holy, and +service will be rendered with cheerfulness, "not with eye-service as +men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God." Let the man be +holy, and vigorous health and lofty intellect and swaying eloquence and +quenchless zeal will all be offered to God. Let the woman be holy, and +patient prayer will linger round the cross, and ardent hope will haunt +the envied sepulchre, and pitying tenderness will wail on the way to +Calvary, and the deep heart-love will forget all selfish solicitudes in +the absorbing question, "Where have they laid my Lord?" Let the world be +holy! and the millennium has come, and wrong ceases for ever, and the +tabernacle of God is with men, and earth's music rivals heaven's. +Brethren, let us seek this blessing for ourselves. There, at the foot of +the Throne, let us plead the promise, "I will sprinkle clean water upon +you, and you shall be clean." Imagination, intellect, memory, +conscience, will;--sanctify them all. "Then will we teach transgressors +thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto Thee." It is done, surely +it is done. The hands are upon us now. We kneel for the diviner +baptism, for the effectual and blessed ordination. Listen, the word has +spoken, "Ye are an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices +acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." + +II.--Certain blessings are presented to us in the text as the heritage of +this spiritual and consecrated Church. _Increase_ and _acceptance_. The +spiritual house is to be built up firm and consolidated on the true +foundation. The services of the holy priesthood are to be "acceptable to +God through Jesus." Take the first thought. "Ye are built up a +spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices +acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." The fact of God's constant +supervision over his Church and care for its stability and extension is +one that is impressed with earnest repetition upon the pages of his word. +"Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that +shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be +removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken, but there the +glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams." +"Then shall thou see and flow together, and thine heart shall fear and be +enlarged, because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, +the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee." "Then shall the +mountain of the Lord's house be established in the top of the mountains, +and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto +it." "As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them +all as with an ornament, and bind them on thee as a bride doeth." From +these passages, and many others breathing the same spirit, we may +legitimately infer that it is the purpose of God that the kingdom of +Messiah shall be universal; that the Church shall increase in steady and +cumulative progression, and realize in herself all the "glorious things" +which by the holy prophets were "spoken of the city of God." And in this +matter God has not left himself without a witness. The present existence +of the Church, after it has encountered and outlived all varieties of +opposition, is in itself a proof which even its enemies, if they were not +stupid and indocile learners, might ere this have discovered, that the +eternal God is its refuge, and that the Highest will establish it for +ever. From its institution it has had in the heart of every man a +natural and inveterate enemy. The world has uniformly opposed it, and it +has been unable to repel that opposition with weapons out of the world's +armoury; for it is forbidden to rely upon the strength of armies or upon +the forces of external power. Fanatics have entered into unholy +combination. Herod and Pilate have truced up a hollow friendship that +they might work against it together. Statesmen have elaborated their +policy, and empires have concentrated their strength; the banners of +battle have made hideous laughter with the wind; the blood of many +sainted confessors has been shed like water, and the vultures of the crag +have scented the unburied witnesses and have been ready to swoop down +upon the slain. And yet the Church is living, thriving, multiplying; +while the names of its tyrants are forgotten, and their kingdoms, like +snow-flakes on the wave, have left no trace behind. No inborn strength +will account for this mystery. No advance of intelligence nor +philosophic enlightenment will explain this phenomenon. The acute +observer, if faith have cleared his eye or opened an inner one, will go +back for the explanation to an old and unforgotten promise, and will +exclaim when he sees the Church struggling, but triumphant, like the +fire-girdled bush at Horeb, "God is in the midst of her, she shall not be +moved; God shall help her, and that right early." And not only in the +preservation from her enemies but in her unfailing progress among men in +every age, has God shown that his purpose is to build up the spiritual +house. The rapid spread of the truth in primitive times was a marvel and +a mystery to those who saw not the arm which upheld it and the power +which bade it multiply and grow. The whole history of gospel extension +is indeed a succession of wonders. It began with a Pentecost, local, but +prophetic of a universal one, when "its sound shall have gone out into +all the earth and its words to the end of the world." In the times of +the Apostles, and of their immediate successors, it overleaped the +boundaries of nation after nation, acquired lodgment and proselytes in +the proudest cities, subjugated the barbaric magnificence of Asia Minor, +had its students in the schools of Greece, and its servitors in the +imperial household at Rome. In its triumphant course it attacked +idolatry in its strongholds, and that idolatry, though fortified by habit +and prejudice, and sanctioned by classic learning, and entwined with the +beautiful in architecture and song, and venerable for its wondrous age, +and imperial in the dominion which it had exercised over a vassal world, +fell speedily, utterly, and for ever. And in each succeeding age, +obscured sometimes by the clouds of persecution, and sometimes by the +mists of error, its progress has been gradual and sure. If it has not +dissipated it has relieved the darkness. It has stamped itself upon the +institutions of mankind, and they reflect its image. It has insinuated +its leavening spirit where its outward expressions are not, and there is +a vast amount of Christian and humanizing sentiment abroad, a sort of +atmosphere breathed unconsciously by every man, whose air-waves break +upon society with unfelt but influencing pressure, but its source is in +the gospel of Christ. The building rises still! In distant parts of the +great world-quarry stones of diverse hardness, and of diverse hue, but +all susceptible of being wrought upon by the heavenly masonry, are every +day being shaped for the temple. Strikes among the workmen, or frost in +the air, may suspend operations for awhile, but the building rises! +Often are the stones prepared in silence, as in the ancient temple-pile, +with no sound of the chisel or the hammer. The Sanballats and Tobiahs of +discouragement and shame may deride the work and embarrass the labourers; +but one by one the living stones, polished after the similitude of a +palace, are incorporated into it. Yes! the building rises, and it shall +rise for ever. God has promised increase to the Church, and her enemies +cannot gainsay it. From the more effectual blessing on churches already +formed, from the reversal of the attainder, and the bringing into his +patrimonial portion of the disinherited Jew, from the proclamation in all +lands of the message of mercy, they shall throng into the city of our +solemnities until "the waste and the desolate places, and the land of her +destruction shall even now be too many, by reason of the inhabitants, and +they that swallowed thee up shall be far away." What Christian heart, +looking for this promised blessing, rejoices not with exceeding joy? At +the foundation of the second temple, amid the flare of trumpets and the +clang of cymbals, while the young men rent the air with gladness, there +were choking memories in many a Levite heart that chastened the solemn +joy and were relieved only by passionate tears; but at the upbuilding of +the "spiritual house" the young and the old may feel an equal gladness, +or if some memories steal over the spirit of primitive days, and of the +joys of a forfeited Eden, they may be stilled by the memory of the +grander and abiding truth, that-- + + "In Christ the tribes of Adam boast, + More blessings than their father lost." + +Brethren, have you this joy? Does it pleasure you that the building +rises? Do your hearts thrill with gladness as you hear of accessions to +the Church and the conversion of sinners to God? Do you love the gates +of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob? Have a care if you feel +not this sympathy, for ye are none of his. If it is within you a living, +earnest emotion, give it play. "Let the children of Zion be joyful in +their King." + +_The second privilege is the acceptance of her service and sacrifice +through Jesus Christ_.--To us, who are mean and unworthy, it is no small +privilege to be assured of welcome when we come to God. To us, who are +guilty and erring, it is no small privilege that we can come by Jesus +Christ. The hope of acceptance is necessary to sustain the heart of the +worshipper, which without it would soon sink into despair. The apostle, +you perceive, places the ground of the acceptance of our services upon +our union with Jesus Christ. + + "Vain in themselves their duties were, + Their services could never please, + Till join'd with thine, and made to share + The merits of thy righteousness." + +He is careful to impress upon us that in our holiest moments no less than +when we are wayward and criminal, our trust for personal safety, and our +only chance of blessing are from our exalted Daysman, who can lay his +hand upon us both. Our praise would be unmeaning minstrelsy, our prayers +a litany unheard and obsolete, all our devotional service a bootless +trouble, but that "yonder the Intercessor stands and pours his +all-prevailing prayer." It is "through Him we _both_," the Jews who +crucified Him and the Gentiles, who by their persevering neglect of Him +crucify Him afresh, "have access by one spirit unto the Father." The +words of promise touching the acceptance of the worship of the Church are +explicit and numerous. "They shall come up with acceptance on mine +altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory." "That I should be the +minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, +that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being +sanctified by the Holy Ghost." "In the place where my name is recorded, +there will I accept." "In every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh +righteousness, is accepted with Him." Oh, comforting thought, when I am +convinced of my own sinfulness, and restless and disquieted wander about +in distress, and lie down in sorrow, there is One who hears the stammered +entreaty, and smiles a pardon to my agonized cry, "God be merciful to me +a sinner." When in my daily life I encounter a terrible temptation, a +temptation so strong that it tries my strength to the uttermost, and +gives my heart a struggle and a bitterness which no stranger may know, +there is One who marks my resistance and counts my enduring faith for +righteousness, and whispers me that by and bye, he that overcometh shall +wear the conqueror's crown. When in some moment of unguardedness I +grieve the good Spirit, and become unwatchful, and in remorseful +penitence I could almost weep my life away, the offering of my contrition +is accepted, and there is One who heals my backsliding and soothes my +fretting sorrow. My prayers offered in secret, pleading for purity and +blessing, my praises, when the full heart, attuned, gives its note of +blessing to swell the choral harmony, wherewith all God's works praise +Him, the active hand, the ready tongue, the foot swift and willing in his +cause, the service of labour, the service of suffering,--all these, if I +offer them rightly and reliantly, are acceptable unto God by Jesus +Christ. There is no room for distrust or for misgiving. I need not fear +that, after all my efforts, I shall be met with an averted glance, or +with a cold denial. The promise standeth sure, "To that man will I +look." Oh, if there had been a pause after this announcement, how would +the eager solicitudes of men have gathered round it, and waited for the +coming of the words. Where wilt thou direct thy look of favour? To him +who is noble, or wealthy, or intelligent? To him who with scrupulous +rigidness fasts twice in the week, and gives tithes of all that he +possesses? To him whose quick sensibility revels in all expressions of +the beautiful, or whose graceful impulse moves him in all works of +charity? No, to none of these, but, "To him that is poor, and of a +contrite spirit; and that trembleth at my word." + +III.--If there be this assurance of acceptance, how solemn and resistless +is the call to duty, "To offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God +by Jesus Christ." Sacrifice, properly speaking, is the infliction of +death upon a living creature for the purposes of religious worship, but +_this_ sacrifice and offering, happily, God requires not at our hands. +No filleted firstling need now be led to the altar, the flocks of Kedar +and the rams of Nebaioth may browse quietly in their pastures, for the +Great Sacrifice has been offered, and it _abides_--"_one sacrifice for +sins for ever_," needing no repetition, one for ever! unexhausted in its +virtue, and unfailing in the blessing it confers. But in a secondary +sense the recognized and fulfilled duties of the Church are fitly called +sacrifices, for they cannot be properly discharged without the alienation +from ourselves of something that was our own, and its presentation, +whether time, ease, property or influence, to God. Brethren, to this +duty you are called to-day. The name you bear has bound you. The holy +priesthood must offer up spiritual sacrifices. Suffered to become +Christians, permitted, a race adulterous and dishonoured as you were, to +be united to Christ and partakers of his precious grace, the spell of +these high privileges enforces every obligation, and hallows every claim. +_Ye_ are not your own. First offer yourselves upon the altar, renew your +covenant in this the house of our solemnities, on this the instalment of +our great Christian festival. It will be easy to devote the accessories, +when the principal bestowment has been rendered. I claim from you this +sacrifice for God. _Yourselves_, not a half-hearted homage, not a +divided service, not a stray emotion, not a solitary faculty; +_yourselves_, _you all_, and _all of you_; your bodies, with their +appliances for service; your souls, with their ardour of affection; +intellect, with its grasp and power; life, with its activity and +earnestness; endowment, with its manifold gifts; influence, with its +persuasive beseechings. I claim them all. "I beseech you therefore, by +the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, +acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." This +consecration made, all else will follow in the train; litanies of earnest +supplication will rise from the full heart; the "prayer will be offered +as incense; the lifting up of the hands as the evening _sacrifice_." +Glad in its memory of the past, and hopeful in its trust for the future, +the hosanna of gratitude will rise; "the _sacrifice_ of praise +continually; the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name." The +property received gratefully from heaven will be offered freely and +bountifully for Christ; and some outcast housed in a safe and friendly +shelter, some emancipated slave or converted Figian, some Indian breaking +from his vassaldom of caste and Shaster, and longing to sit at Jesus' +feet and hear his word, will say rejoicingly of your liberality, "Having +received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of +a sweet smell, a _sacrifice_ acceptable, well-pleasing to God." + + + + +CHRIST'S WORK OF DESTRUCTION AND DELIVERANCE. +REV. JOHN H. JAMES. + + + "That through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, + that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were + all their lifetime subject to bondage."--HEBREWS ii. 14, 15. + +There is a special and ordained connection between the incarnation and +the death of our blessed Lord. Other men die in due course after they +are born; he was born just that he might die. He came "not to be +ministered unto, but to minister, and to give" his "life a ransom for +many." It is therefore evident that the theology which magnifies the +incarnation at the expense of the atonement is fundamentally, fatally +defective. The brotherhood of Christ with every son of Adam is a blessed +truth, but it is by no means the whole truth, nor can it be practically +available and influential apart from the offering of his body upon the +cross as a sacrifice for sin. This is very clearly and strongly put in +the text. The incarnation of the Son of God is proved from the Old +Testament, and shown to have had reference to his redeeming death. Many +purposes were answered by his becoming partaker of flesh and blood. His +influence as a teacher, the power of his spotless example, his +identification with the needs and sorrows of humanity, and the deep +sympathy resulting therefrom,--these and similar ends were contemplated +and fulfilled. But the grand purpose was disclosed and accomplished on +the cross, where God made his soul an offering for sin. "Forasmuch then +as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself +likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him +that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who +through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." + +The death of Jesus, then, and the end to be accomplished by it, +constitute the central, vital, culminating truth of Christianity. The +apostle puts the death of Christ in a striking point of view,--as a work +done, rather than a calamity suffered. And it was a double work,--a work +of destruction on the one hand, and of deliverance on the other,--of +destruction in order to deliverance. That is the conception of his +mission embodied in the first promise. The bruising of the serpent's +head by the bruised heel of the Saviour, in order to repair the ruin +wrought by the tempter, suggests very significantly the truth which is so +explicitly announced here. And a similar combination runs through the +ancient providential history. The destruction of the old world in order +to the salvation of the righteous, and the fulfilment of the promise of +redemption; and the destruction of the first-born of Egypt in order to +the deliverance of Israel, are instances in point. But the death of +Christ upon the cross in order to the emancipation of the slaves of Satan +is the most glorious and perfect illustration. Let me ask your attention +to the work of Christ's death, + +I.--AS IT IS A WORK OF DESTRUCTION. + +II.--AS IT IS A WORK OF DELIVERANCE. + +I. AS IT IS A WORK OF DESTRUCTION. "That He might destroy him that had +the power of death, that is, the devil." + +1. _Satan_, _then_, _is a person_, _and the enemy of Jesus_, _who died +to destroy him_. + +(i.) The personality of the devil is necessarily implied in the words of +the text. The theory which seeks to divest all that is said about the +devil in Scripture of everything like personality, and to refine it away +into figurative representation of "the principle of evil," is as +unphilosophical as it is unscriptural. How can we conceive of moral evil +in the abstract? How can we think of it apart from the depraved will of +some intelligent being? Whatever theories may be held respecting the +difficult question of the origin of evil, it is surely inconceivable that +it should exist independently of some living, conscious, intellectual +author. No truer or more philosophical solution can be found than that +of the Bible, which attributes it to the devil,--a being originally good, +who fell from his first estate, broke his allegiance to the Creator, and +so became the leader of a vast and fearful rebellion against Almighty +God. The case of man shows us the possibility of a being existing in a +holy but mutable state, and lapsing, under certain inducements, into sin. +What the inducements were in the instance of the prince of darkness we +are not told; and thus the question of the origin of evil seems to be +insoluble by us. But the identification of it with the personal +defection of Satan is far more intelligible and reasonable than the +attempt to treat it as a metaphysical abstraction. All the +representations of the Bible on the subject are instinct with the awful +personality of the devil. He is our "adversary;" he is "the accuser;" he +is "the God of this world;" he is "the prince of the power of the air, +that wicked one that now worketh in the hearts of the children of +disobedience;" he that hath "blinded the minds of them that believe not;" +he "leadeth" sinners "captive at his will." Surely that is a bold and +unscrupulous theology which resolves all these clear and strong +expressions into the mere ideal impersonation of a principle. O no! +Satan is a being of subtle intelligence, with a depraved, unconquerable, +malignant will; a dread living power, with whom we have continually to +do, who "desireth to have us, that he may sift us as wheat," and with +whom, if we wish to get to heaven, we must be prepared to fight at every +step of our way. + +(ii.) And he is emphatically the enemy of Jesus, who came to "destroy" +him. "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed +and her seed." It was in pursuit of his designs against the living God +that Satan persuaded our first parents to commit sin; it was by lying +insinuations against God that he deceived her who was "first in the +transgression." Of course, he is the enemy of man. Of course, his +design is to inflict ruin and misery on men, and to bring them to his own +state and place of torment. But he does this by seducing them into +rebellion against the Most High. Hatred of God is the spring of all his +conduct, the motive of every enterprise which he undertakes. And Jesus, +the Son of God, the vindicator of the divine honour, is necessarily the +sworn eternal foe of the devil; and He has come into our world as into +the arena of a supreme conflict for the defeat and overthrow of Satan; +has assumed the very nature which the foul fiend seduced and degraded, in +order that, in that same nature, he might avenge the wrong done to the +being and government of God, and put an eternal end to the usurpation and +tyranny of his enemy. + +2. _The devil_ "_had the power of death_." + +(i.) We must not understand this as meaning that Satan has direct, +independent, and absolute control over death, inflicting it how, and +when, and where, and on whom, he will. The later Jewish writers taught +the horrible doctrine that the fallen angels have power or authority +generally in reference to life and death. But this never was the case. +Death was the sentence pronounced by God upon man, and it could only be +inflicted by his appointment and concurrence. The power of life and +death is necessarily in God's hands, and his only. + +(ii.) But Satan had the power of death, in this sense; namely, that he +tempted man to commit the sin which "brought death into the world, and +all our woe." He enticed Eve to sin, partly by denying that her offence +would be visited with the punishment of death. "Ye shall not surely +die," was the lie by which he contradicted and defied the God of truth, +and induced the woman "to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge +of good and evil." And so, he was "a murderer from the beginning." "God +made man to be immortal, an image of his own eternity; nevertheless, +through envy of the devil came death into the world." In this sense, +then, as the author and introducer of that sin whose "wages" is death, +Satan "had the power of death." + +(iii.) Moreover, it is the work of Satan to invest death with its chief +terrors. We shrink indeed from the humiliating prospect of corruption +and decay; we cling fondly to those companionships, associations, and +pleasures, from which death for ever separates us; we deprecate and dread +the blighting of our earthly hopes, and the ruthless frustration of our +schemes. These are very painful accessories of death; but they are not +its sting; they do not make it a poison for the soul as well as for the +body. "The sting of death is sin." That sting has been drawn for the +Christian, and death hath no terrors for him. But, had the power of the +devil in death been unassailed and uncounteracted, the dissolution of the +body and the eternal ruin of the soul would have been alike complete and +irrecoverable. By the consciousness of guilt, Satan has infused an +element of insupportable terror into death. For it is that consciousness +which makes death dreadful. It is quite probable that, if man had not +sinned, his body would have undergone some great change, that it might be +fitted for that "kingdom of God," which "flesh and blood cannot inherit;" +but such change would have inflicted no pain, and involved no +humiliation; it would only have been a change "from glory to glory;" and +would have been anticipated with no sentiments contrary to desire and +hope. But death, besides its own inherent ghastliness, is rendered +dreadful through the malice of the devil, and the guilty fear of the +penal hereafter which haunts all those who are in his power. + +3. _Jesus died to destroy_ "_him that had the power of death_." He has +indeed provisionally destroyed death itself for all "the sons of God." +"Death, the last enemy, shall be destroyed." But it is not absolutely +and immediately abolished. The death of the body remains, even for God's +people, as a sad and humiliating monument of the evil of sin; but to them +it is not now a punishment, but the mode of their birth into a new and +more glorious life. + + "Mortals cry, 'A man is dead!' + Angels sing, 'A child is born!'" + +It may be truly said of the hour when a good man dies, that it is the +hour when he enters into life. And this is because Jesus destroyed "him +that had the power of death." He did not annihilate him, the word does +not mean that, but He neutralized, counteracted, stripped him of his +power. The whole design and effect of death, when in the power of the +devil, has been defeated and reversed by the death of Christ. Though the +bodies of his people be consigned to the grave, it is in sure and certain +hope of the resurrection to everlasting life. That melancholy seed-time +in which we cast the dust of our beloved into the earth, is the prelude +to a glorious harvest; that when "He giveth his beloved sleep," is +preparatory to their awaking to glory and immortality. "It is sown in +corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in weakness, it is +raised in power; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is +sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." This is what +Christ's death has done for the bodies of his people; and is it not an +entire breaking of the power of the devil over death? As to their souls, +death delivers them from the burden of the flesh, that they may be in joy +and felicity with God. "Absent from the body," they are for ever +"present with the Lord." Death is no longer a dark and dreadful phantom, +rising from the abyss, to drag down his victims and gorge himself upon +them. He is an angel, pure and bright, sent to summon God's beloved to +their Father's house above. That which men naturally dread as the crown +and climax of all evils, becomes an object of wistful longing, for God's +servants have "a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far +better." This stripping away of Satan's power, this destruction of "him +that had the power of death," is due to the death of Jesus. He thus +redeemed us from the debt of death, "acknowledging the debt in the manner +in which he removed it." "Christ, by giving himself up to death, has +acknowledged the guilt, and truly atoned for it; He has, in one act, +atoned for the sinner and judged the sin." By dying for sins, He +expiated that which gives to death its "sting," its power to injure and +to terrify. He + + "Entered the grave in mortal flesh, + And dwelt among the dead," + +that He might put an end to Satan's power in and over death. Some sound +and excellent divines are of opinion that, in the interval between his +death and resurrection He literally "descended into hell," and there, in +personal conflict, grappled with and overthrew the devil. However this +may be, it is certain that the bruising of his heel by Satan was the +chosen means for his bruising of Satan's head. Our enemy, who brought +death into the world, is entirely baffled and defeated, as to the purpose +and effect of that calamity, in the case of all who believe in the death +of Christ. Their last act of faith gives them "the victory through our +Lord Jesus Christ." Then the God of peace "finally beats down Satan +under their feet." Death is "swallowed up of life." What power over +death has the devil in such a case? Is it not wholly counteracted? Is +not death a wholly different, nay, opposite thing to what he intended, +when by tempting and conquering our first parents he brought it into the +world? The body of the good man "is buried in peace, and his soul is +blessed for evermore." He shall never more, through the long eternity of +bliss, be assailed or injured by "him that had the power of death:" nor +shall he see his enemy again, unless it be to triumph openly over him, in +that day when "death, and hell shall be cast into the lake that burneth +with fire and brimstone." Many good people are unduly afraid of the +devil, and especially they are in dread of his possible power in their +last moments. But we may dismiss this fear as altogether needless and +unworthy. Christ has not only rendered our great enemy utterly powerless +for evil, but has, by his own most precious death, compelled even Satan +into the service of the sons of God. He has turned the supreme calamity +brought into the world by the arch-fiend into the supreme glory and joy +of all who believe in himself. To all those who are by Jesus' death "to +life restored," the day of death is infinitely preferable to the day of +birth, for then beginneth that new life which shall never die. "I know +whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which +I have committed unto Him until that day." + +II. LET US NOW CONTEMPLATE THE WORK OF JESUS, IN HIS DEATH, AS A WORK OF +DELIVERANCE. "And deliver them who, through fear of death, were all +their lifetime subject to bondage." If we ascertain the import of this +description of those whom Christ died to deliver, we shall easily +understand the nature and mode of the deliverance wrought out for them. + +1. _They were in bondage_. They were in fact enslaved by "him who had +the power of death." This is a very fearful view of our natural state, +and one which contradicts all the conclusions of our own vanity and +self-complacency. Unconverted men believe that Christians are slaves, +fettered by doubts, scruples, self-accusations; bound in the bands of +moral routine, and able only to move in certain prescribed grooves; +afraid to do as they list. According to their notion, true liberty +consists in throwing off religious restraints, and following as much as +may be "the devices and desires of our own hearts." But this is a +terrible delusion, which only serves to show the depth and subtlety of +him who, besides having "the power of death," is also "the father of +lies," the great deceiver and ensnarer of mankind. History is full of +analogous examples among men. In how many instances have the most cruel +and remorseless tyrants made use of the passions and brute force of the +multitude to secure their own elevation to absolute power, inducing their +victims to forge and rivet their own chains. And it is so in this case. +Sinners are the slaves of Satan; those evil desires and inclinations +which they so recklessly obey are but the tools and bonds of the great +oppressor. The wicked man sells his soul to the devil for the price of +indulgence in "the pleasures of sin, which are but for a season." There +is a very easy way of testing this question of freedom or bondage in sin. +If you are really free, free to do as you like, you can do good as well +as evil; you can give up your companionship with iniquity, and break your +covenant with darkness, as readily, and with as little difficulty, as you +made the compact. Let the man who rejoices in his liberty to sin try to +abandon iniquity; he will surely find it an impossible task. However +clearly he may discern the purity, justice, and goodness of God's law, +however passionately he may long, and however earnestly he may strive, to +regulate his life by it, he will find himself "carnal, sold under sin;" +he will "find another law in his members warring against the law of his +mind, and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin and death." It +is easy to float with the stream, and the stronger the current the more +buoyantly and exultingly it bears you on. But try to breast the current. +You will soon find that you have undertaken a task which is "impossible +with men," and will sink exhausted and undone with the vain endeavour. +Alas! Satan is in very truth the lord of every enslaved soul, not +rightfully, only by virtue of the foulest usurpation; but he is so in +fact, and he "binds our captive souls fast in his slavish chains." And +by this bondage unto sin he holds us captive to death. His law is "the +law of sin and death;" and till Christ redeem and actually deliver us, we +are bound over to endure "the bitter pains of eternal death." It is an +awful thought, but it is as true as it is awful. Our cruel and +relentless jailer keeps us in the prison of sin, shut up under his power, +with a view to our everlasting death. May we be made conscious of our +enslavement, for till we become so, we are not likely to seek for +deliverance! + +2. _The sure sign of bondage to Satan is continual subjection_, _or +rather liability_, _to the fear of death_. It would scarcely be true to +say of the great mass of the unconverted, that they are continually +haunted and incommoded by the fear of death. Their general condition is +one of thoughtless and careless ease, but they are always, even through +their whole life, liable to be thus haunted and incommoded. Whenever the +thought of death is brought home to them, as in the course of events it +is ever and again sure to be, they are appalled and terrified. They then +feel that death has a sting, and they have some foretaste of its +sharpness and venom. They see nothing in death but the ruin of all their +earthly hopes and schemes, and nothing after death but "a certain fearful +looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the +adversaries," and when they seem to be themselves stricken by the hand of +death, how do the terrors of hell make them afraid! + + "O death, how shocking must thy summons be, + To him that is at ease in his possessions!" + +There is a difference however, and a very great one, between the fear of +death and the fear of dying. Many good people are often tormented by the +latter kind of fear. It is frequently the result of a sensitive +organization, or ill health, or a naturally gloomy temperament; and many +who have been much troubled by it through life have found it to vanish +completely when the supreme moment came. But the fear of death is +founded on the consciousness of unpreparedness for it, and on the +anticipation of the punishments which it will bring. Every unsaved +sinner has abundant reason for the fear which, however he may laugh it +off, will assuredly at times gain the mastery over him. The brooding +sense of insecurity; the secret sudden pang, stabbing him in the midst of +his wildest joys; the desperate effort never to think, and the resolute +refusal ever to speak of death; tell their tale, and show that the slaves +of Satan are always liable to the fear of death. O, if this be your +case, it is high time to look to yourselves! If you cannot bear the +thought of death; if the great and solemn hereafter is haunted by images +that scare and threaten you; if you "put far away the evil day;" be sure +there is something radically wrong. Be sure, by that token, that you are +the slave of the devil. Be sure that you "are in jeopardy every hour." +Never rest, never for a moment be satisfied, till you can look death +calmly in the face, and discern for yourself the life to come, and your +inheritance in heaven. + +3. _For we all may have deliverance from our bondage to Satan_, _and +from this characteristic effect and sign of it_. The death of Jesus has +provided this deliverance for us. By depriving Satan of his power over +death, by expiating that sin which is the sting of death, and so entirely +reversing and counteracting its penal efficacy, Christ hath wrought out +for us a great salvation. And when we commit ourselves to Him, relying +on the efficacy of his atonement, our chains are broken, and our craven +fears are banished. Among the "first words" of newly-converted souls +none are more common or triumphant than these, "I am not afraid to die +now! I have a hope beyond the grave!" It is indeed a mighty +deliverance. What calm, what security, what blessed hope does it +inspire! To lose all fear of the last and greatest of human calamities; +to look into the face of that which was "once an uncouth hideous thing," +and to find that through our Saviour's death it hath become "most fair +and full of grace;" to see no longer a dark and shrouded fiend arrayed in +mortal terrors, and poising an envenomed dart for the purpose of laying +us low, and compassing our lasting ruin; but a shining and smiling +messenger from the King of kings, bidding us to an everlasting banquet in +his royal palace; is not this true, priceless, boundless liberty,--worth +toiling, striving, suffering, dying for? This flower of immortal hope +blooms for each of us at the foot of the cross. If by the death of Jesus +we gain spiritual life, we shall rejoice in hope of the glory of God, and +shall look forward to the day of our death as the day of our eternal +marriage with the King of glory. Let us not lose this unspeakable +privilege! Let us, by faith in the death of our Lord, secure our freedom +and our birthright! And, as we think of our smitten friends, let us +thank God for their final deliverance from the power of death, and their +admission into everlasting life. Finally, let us more and more glory in +that cross whereby our Saviour Christ "hath abolished death, and hath +brought life and immortality to light." + + + + +INCONSIDERATION DEPLORED. +REV. JOSHUA PRIESTLEY. + + + "And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their + wickedness."--HOSEA vii. 2. + +Is it possible for any man to conceive of truths more fitted to arrest +the attention and impress the heart than are those contained in this +volume? It has been said that if a blank book had been put into our +hands, and every one of us had been asked to put into it the promises we +should like to find there, we could not have employed language so +explicit, so expressive, and so suited to all our varied wants, as is +here. And may I not say that no facts and declarations and appeals could +be more fitted to rouse the conscience, and to regulate the life, than +those we here find. Alas! however, with what affecting appropriateness +may the Almighty say of Englishmen as of Israelites--of persons living +eighteen centuries after Christ's death, as of those living eight +centuries before it--"They consider not in their hearts that I remember +all their wickedness." + +This passage brings before us two parties. One is the speaker, the other +the persons addressed. It states a fact respecting each. Let us look at +these facts:-- + +I. "I remember," says Jehovah, "all their wickedness." What an idea +does this statement furnish of the unlimited vastness of the Divine mind! +For if He remembered all the evil deeds of all the Israelites, He +remembered the evil deeds of all other persons. If He remembered all the +evil deeds of all then living, He remembered all the evil deeds of all +who ever had lived. And if He remembered all evil deeds, assuredly He +remembered all good ones. The Scriptures declare this fact for the +comfort of the righteous. What a cheering declaration to a good man is +that found in Hebrews vi. 10, "For God is not unrighteous to forget your +work and labour of love, which ye have showed toward His name, in that ye +have ministered to the saints, and do minister." What a vast number of +incidents are included in the space of but one year in the history of +each one of us! What a still vaster number in the whole period of life! +And when we think of the ten hundred millions of mankind now peopling our +globe; when we add to these the almost countless millions that have +departed, and realize the fact that every incident of every individual of +them is remembered--remembered as distinctly too as if one solitary +incident were all that memory was charged with, what an idea is given us +of the vastness of the Divine mind! What can we do but wonder and adore! + +My text says much, but like many others, it means more than it says. How +much of what Scripture intends to teach us shall we fail to learn, if we +do not consider what is included and involved, as well as what is +affirmed! This declaration imports three things. It imports-- + +1. That God observes all our wickedness. To remember a thing implies +knowledge of it. This knowledge the Scriptures frequently declare the +Divine Being to possess. They tell us that His eyes run to and fro the +earth, beholding the evil and the good; that all things are naked and +open to His eyes. They go further. They teach us that He is always +present with us all, that there is no part of this earth, of the vast +universe, from which He is ever absent. David expresses himself +strikingly on this point--"Whither shall I go from Thy spirit?" says he, +"or wither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, +Thou art there: if I make my bed in hell (hades), behold, Thou art there. +If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of +the sea, even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold +me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall +be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee; but the night +shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee." +Psalm cxxxix. 7-12. How certainly therefore does God observe all our +wickedness! Did we but constantly realize this fact what a restraining +power it would exert over us when we are tempted to evil. A man left his +cottage very early one morning taking with him a sack, and accompanied by +his son, a little boy. That boy was a Sunday scholar, and little +suspected his father's errand. After proceeding some distance the father +entered a turnip field, and throwing down his sack, looked in this +direction and in that to see whether any one was observing him. On +discovering the father's object, the child said, "Father, there was one +way you did not look." "Indeed," replied he, hastily; "which was that?" +"You did not look upward," was the rejoinder, "and God is observing you." +That was a word in season. The father's arm was paralyzed. He took up +his sack and returned home. Remember, my friends, that the sleepless eye +of the Omnipresent One is upon you. The man that goes forth at the +still, dark, hour of midnight to plunder our habitations, how startled +would he be if an inmate should noiselessly and suddenly present himself +before him--the servant that robs his master, the circulator of base +coin, the man of fraud--would these practise their misdeeds if they +realized this truth: "Thou God seest me?" Would the slanderer, or +backbiter, or hypocrite, indulge their habits if they realized this +truth? Of what immense benefit would the realization of this truth be, +both personally and socially! + +2. When God says that He remembers all our wickedness, He means us to +understand that He will exhibit it all. Why did He tell this people that +He remembered all their wickedness? The Scriptures answer that question. +They inform us that He intends to make use of the stores of which memory +is possessed, and that He intends to make this use of them--to hold them +up to the gaze of the universe. They teach us that the conduct of every +individual will be investigated and published. "For God shall bring +every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or +whether it be evil." "Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall +give account thereof in the day of judgment." Important purposes will he +answered by this. A declaration will be made of the righteousness of God +in condemning the ungodly. He will hold up to view the nature and extent +of the requirements He made of us, their reasonableness and +beneficialness we shall all acknowledge. He will then make known the +innumerable acts of goodness He bestowed--His forbearance to inflict +punishment, and the various methods He employed to bring us to +repentance. And by the side of all this He will exhibit our conduct +toward Him--our ingratitude, our disobedience, our perverseness. And +with what enormity will these things then appear invested! So guilty +will thy conduct then appear, O sinner, that thou wilt be constrained to +exclaim: "Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shall be, +because Thou hast judged thus." What an exhibition will he made on that +day! + +3. When God says that He remembers all our wickedness, He means us to +understand that He will punish for it all, if it be not repented of. The +maintenance of law and order in the universe require the Divine Being to +display His abhorrence of transgression. And how can that abhorrence be +suitably displayed otherwise than by punishment? And the punishment must +be of a degree to represent the guiltiness of the conduct. It must be +impartial, and be inflicted therefore on every transgressor. The rich +man cannot buy exemption from it. The man of mighty intellect, or +powerful eloquence, cannot persuade himself, not to say the righteous +Judge, into the belief that he ought to be exempt. The man of good +desires and pious resolutions, he who was born of praying parents, and +often bowed his knees at the footstool of his Maker, but delayed to +surrender his heart, cannot escape. No, my friends, the decree of the +Almighty has gone forth, it is irreversible--there is none more +righteous, and none that will more certainly be fulfilled: "Though hand +join in hand the wicked shall not be unpunished." "The wicked shall be +driven away in his wickedness." "The wicked shall be turned into hell." +What a mercy that we are not receiving our merited punishment at this +moment! And why are we not? Because the God whom we have so shamefully +and inexcusably resisted and provoked "is long-suffering to us-ward, not +willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." +Opportunity is afforded for repentance. He employs means to bring us to +repentance. How good, how loving, God is! "God is love." + +Can any of you still resist the strivings of his Spirit? "Turn ye, turn +ye, why will ye die?" + +Christ has died that you might live, live with Him in His kingdom of +glory for ever. He shed for you His precious blood. For you He now +intercedes at the right hand of the Majesty on high. And if you come to +Him, however guilty you are, truly sorry for your sins, and believe His +own gracious declaration, that He came into the world to save sinners, to +seek and to save that which was lost, He will pardon and bless you. "If +we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in +us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our +sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." + +God remembers all our wickedness. How much of it do you remember? How +little of it do any of us remember! The past is to a large extent a +vague and dim expanse. Many of you have climbed these noble hills, and +as you stood on the summit, you observed that distinct as were the +objects near, those remote were quite indistinct. It is but a few +conspicuous objects you can discern at any considerable distance. Just +so it is in reviewing our past lives. We can call to mind a few things. +We can remember well--ah, we cannot forget, we have often wished we +could, an act of rebellion against our parents of which we were once +guilty; of obstinacy toward a master; of ingratitude toward a benefactor; +of dishonourableness toward a friend, or unkindness toward a neighbour. +There are several sad deeds in the life of every one of us which we +cannot forget, but how many which we have all forgot. The things we can +remember are as the milestones to the weary traveller, far, far apart. +Yes, we forget, but God does not. He remembers them all. There is not a +single improper word we have ever uttered, not a wrong feeling we have +cherished, not an ungodly deed we have done, not a duty we have +neglected, but God knew it, will exhibit it, and if unrepented of, will +punish for it. Hear it, ponder it, hide it in the depths of your heart, +God remembers all our wickedness. + +Having considered the import of the declaration as it regards Almighty +God, we come now to consider-- + +II. The charge against the Israelites. They are not charged, you +observe, with denying the truth the Divine Being affirms respecting +Himself, or even with doubting it. They admitted it, believed it, but it +was unpalatable to them, and therefore they put it away from their +thoughts. What a melancholy exhibition of character was this! And yet +does not this declaration hold true of greatly more than one-half of the +population of this evangelized land? Does it not hold true of every +_drunkard_? Could he spend his hard-earned money in that which stupifies +his mind, injures his body, degrades his character, shortens his life, +and destroys his soul; and besides all this, brings want and wretchedness +on his family, and makes himself a scandal and reproach to +humanity--could any man yield himself to the power of intoxicating liquor +that considered what is involved in such a course? + +Does not this charge hold true of every _sensualist_? Could any man +become the victim of degrading passions, could he consent to sacrifice +the mental and moral part of his nature--the man to the animal--if he +considered what was due to himself, to society, and to God? + +Does not the charge hold true of the _pleasure hunter_? As a condiment, +as a relaxation, pleasure seeking, if of the right sort, is not only +allowable but commendable. He who gave life intended it to be a joy. To +be always seeking after pleasure, however, exercises a dissipating and +debilitating influence on the mind, and prevents the acquirement of true +nobleness and worth of character. And would a creature, which is the +highest workmanship of Infinite Excellence with which we are acquainted, +yield himself to this, if given to the consideration of the fact the +Almighty here states respecting himself? + +To mention but one other class of character, does not the charge hold +true of _the fraudulent_? Would a man rob his soul to enrich his pocket, +would he narrow his heart to expand his purse, would he build up a +character that is to endure for ever with such ill-tempered mortar as +falsehood; would he be willing to encounter all the piercing looks and +accusing words with which those he wronged will one day assail him, if he +had taken his relationship to God, and man, and eternity, into +consideration? + +What incalculable mischief and misery this neglect of consideration has +wrought in our world! Had our first parents considered the sad +consequences that would ensue to themselves and their posterity, would +they have plucked the forbidden fruit? Through what a long and mournful +list of events that have happened from that day to this might I easily +go, all of which would have been avoided if right consideration had been +given! Every day during those six thousand years a multitude of such +events have happened. Is there one of you but can recal deeds respecting +which you say with bitterness of heart, I wish I had given it +consideration--I wish I had considered it more fully? + +My young friends permit me to urge consideration upon you. Your welfare +for both worlds is largely in your own keeping. You can secure it or +destroy it. But to secure it, consideration is essential. If you don't +addict yourselves to reflection you will be largely at the mercy of +impulse, be enticed probably by evil companions, and get wrong perhaps in +a thousand ways. Reluctant as you may feel at first to engage in +it--uninteresting as you may deem it, do not, as rational creatures, +prefer the pleasing to the right and good. The young man of reflection +is more respected, more valuable, and unspeakably more happy, than the +frivolous and vain. If you forget all else I say, do not forget this--it +is the declaration of your loving Father in heaven, who wishes to welcome +you there, but can welcome those only who yield to Him a filial love--"I +remember all their wickedness." + + + + +THE FRIEND WHOSE YEARS DO NOT FAIL. +REV. W. ARTHUR, M.A. + + + "And thy years shall not fail."--HEBREWS i. 12. + +You know that these words are taken from the hundred and second Psalm. +There, they are addressed to God the Creator; here, to Christ the +Redeemer. In both cases they express the same truths. Man finds himself +here, looks out to what he can see around him, and then in thought passes +on to what he cannot see. He knows that a very little while ago he was +not here, he was not anywhere. He has an instinct within which tells him +that though it is so short a time since he was not the time will never +come when he will not be--an instinct that cries for a permanent +foundation. He is not such foundation himself--he feels that. He stands +upon the foundation of the earth: he did not lay it; it did not lay +itself. Those layers of rock were not their own framers. But the +foundation _was_ laid. "Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the +foundation of the earth." + +He is under a covering as well as on a foundation. He did not pitch that +canopy, nor fix those lights, nor hang those curtains by whose silent +closing and withdrawing the light is heightened or dimmed. "The heavens +are the work of thy hand." But will these last? Will this earth that I +stand upon last? No; I see on it the marks of age and decay as on +myself. Like me it will perish. And those heavens that are over me, +they shall perish--will all things perish? Will everything that is go +out of being? "Thou remainest." They shall wax old, it is true, but +that is only as if a garment waxed old; "As a vesture shalt thou fold +them up and they shall be changed." All this that the eye can see above, +below, around, is to the great King but as the robe upon the Sovereign to +his person, and dominion, and when he folds up that vesture and lays it +aside he will command another wherewith to show his glory to his +subjects. "They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax +old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they +shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail!" + +We have here a preacher, a listener, a subject: changeful nature, mortal +man, immutable Godhead. + +Changeful nature is a perpetual preacher, evermore proclaiming to us the +twofold lesson, our own mortality and God's immutable glory and power. +"Thy years shall not fail." What strange language applied to the Divine +Being--perfectly natural as applied to us--"years!" Our life is finite, +our life is measured, our life is dealt out to us in parcels. For us to +speak of our "years" is natural, but when we look up to Him that is +unmeasured, infinite, eternal, then this word "years" becomes but the +representative of our small transient life when trying to contrast itself +with his broad and Infinite Being. We are constantly speaking of two +things wherewith we find ourselves related--space and time: and what are +they? We hardly know. We know but something like this: space is a +measured distance in infinity; time a measured duration in eternity. + +We are launched in the midst of a sea of eternity, and all the time that +comes to us comes by solemn public measurement, measurement conducted in +the most formal and stately manner by the hand of the Creator. He made +that heaven from which we can never shut our regard--we must see it; and +in it He set those lights "for signs and for seasons and for days and for +years." He might easily have given us a being that would have flowed on +evenly from its beginning to its close without anything to mark it off +into stages. We may almost watch a sunbeam starting from the sun and +racing all the way to our world, passing over it, far on beyond it, till +our eye and even our thought cannot follow it, and never anything to +check or register its progress. + +But not so the career that God has appointed to us. Everything is dealt +to us under an economy of measure, of trust and of account. "For +signs"--He set those things above us for signs. Cannot earth be a sign +to herself? Cannot man be his own directory? Cannot the seas and the +mountains and the rivers and trees and houses be their own tokens? Try +this. Let that ship at sea, on which the fog has settled, ask the waves +to say where is north, south, east or west; and when the gale springs up +and the clouds cover the heavens let her ask the winds to tell how far +from port. No, if the heavens give no signs she has none, she cannot +tell where she is or whither she is going. + +Suppose you find yourself within a mile of the house in which you were +born: you know, as you think, every step of the way as well as you know +your own bedroom; but there is neither sun nor moon nor star, the heavens +are completely shut off and you are left to earth alone. Will the trees +tell you the way? Will the houses show themselves? Will the road be its +own exhibitor? No, if heaven fails you you cannot even see your own +hand. You are under the perpetual preaching of the sky, that all your +hours and all your movements are dependent upon heaven! + +"For seasons" as well as for signs. The Lord might easily have +established our lifetime under a different economy; might have given us +one perpetual summer, or a perpetual spring, or a uniform co-existence of +all the seasons, the fruits being sown, ripening and reaped +simultaneously. But not so. He has settled two things so clearly that +none, even the most sordid worm that ever wriggled under the clay, +showing himself above it as little as possible, can help seeing them. +First a fixed order that nothing can change and that proclaims one Lord, +one will, one dominion, one plan. The seasons come in regular +succession. Every man living knows when the summer is gone that winter +is coming. That will not and cannot be changed. Were the whole world to +conspire in one effort that spring should come next it would be +unavailing. The winter is coming. But with this fixed order is +established perpetual change, variety, mutability, so that although we +know the season that is coming we know not what kind of a season it shall +be, and all our temporal interests hang upon that question. When the +merchant has got his stock, when the man of pleasure has fixed for his +party, when the General has planned his campaign, when the Admiral has +laid down the arrangements for the battle, when the grand politician has +perfected the plot for a new crisis of the world, what must they do? Not +look to what the earth but what the heaven will do. Everything depends +upon that. They cannot decide the market price even of hard sovereigns, +they cannot foretell the value of their wheat, they cannot determine the +life and health of their soldiers or the hours and effect of movements +independent of that one consideration, what will the heavens do? Three +days rain will change a whole campaign or a harvest. By the arrangement +of the seasons we are constantly kept at the door of Divine mercy, +begging "Give us this day our daily bread." That eternal voice preaching +through all our temporal interests is to us the solemn, never-ceasing +protest against worldliness, earthliness, vanity, living for time, living +for the body; and, above all, against every impure or ungodly method of +attempting to secure our temporal aims. + +"For days" as well as for seasons. The season passes slowly, but the +day--oh what a solemn appointment is that! When the Lord made the sun to +rule the day and the moon to rule the night it would have been very easy +for Him to make two suns so that we should bask in perpetual daylight. +But no, it was his will that our life should be cut into very short +lengths and that by a mark so deep, broad, black, that the dullest man +could not escape its impression. The dark gulf that lies between the +dead day and the day unborn is the ever recurring remembrancer--Thy days +are numbered; thy life is held under law; thy time is a measured current +of golden sands. Every particle as it comes may easily slip away, if +unwatched _will_ slip, and once past thy hand it will be borne off by the +rushing river and thou shalt never see it again, but if caught, held and +brought to the mint of the great King it will there be turned into +precious coin to serve in perpetuity the double purpose of enriching man +and recording the majesty of God. Seize upon thy days as they pass! The +heavens tell thee to do it; the dark and mantled earth tells thee; thy +drowsy faculties tell thee; thy weary limbs tell thee; all are saying +"numbered, numbered, numbered." Life is running away fast. + +Not only for days but "for years." The days, as I have said, are short; +they pass rapidly, and we calculate that the days of our years are +threescore years and ten. And when you come to multiply 70 by 365 it +makes a very large number, and if we have lost a few handfuls of days, +well, cannot we make them up? Have we not been young, and are we not in +this pleasant watering place, where one must see life and have a little +pleasure, and if we do throw away a few days, why, cannot we recover +them? Can we say that of the years? Are the years so very +plentiful--such a large number assured to you that you can afford to +squander a few, to turn them not only to useless purposes but to bad +ones. Can you?--the years!--oh is not it wonderful, the way in which thy +Lord and my Lord, thy Creator and my Creator, marks out before our eye +the progress of the years? + +Perhaps you may remember in childhood watching the day as it grew and +spread itself out, making conquests from the night and winning moments, +minutes, hours, till you began to think the day was going to do away the +night. You saw it stretching over the hours that once were dark till it +seemed as if the tips of the sunset touched the tips of the sunrise, and +still the light was gaining so that in a little time the darkness would +be all driven away and it would be day the twenty-four hours round. But +just then the night began to come back and the day grew shorter, dimmer, +colder, and the darkness spread itself over the light till it seemed as +if in its turn the day was going to be quenched and darkness to wrap up +the whole twenty-four hours. But then the day returned. + +Was it an accident this first time? Would it ever occur again? You +watched it: just the same process and at the same time, and you began to +feel--it is a wheel! with its regulated, measured appointed movement; +steady, by rule it rises to a certain point, and then comes down to a +certain point, then turns again and comes up. It is a perfectly balanced +wheel, making its revolution steadily, steadily. I did not fix those +revolutions: the great Architect did! He knows how many the wheel itself +can perform; He knows what each revolution marks off and what it +accomplishes, and He knows too how many shall measure off my thread of +life. I do not know the number, you do not know; but this we do know, it +is marked upon the dial, and we are tolerably sure it is not more than +threescore and ten. Suppose you saw the dial of life before your eye as +plain as that dial is and the hand pointing twenty, thirty, forty, fifty +of the divisions gone--gone never to return! Suppose you felt that that +hand was pressing forward and would point and point to successive lines +till at last, without a moment's warning, the hour will strike and it is +over, no recall! Man of twenty, proud of thy youth! man of fifty, proud +of thy maturity! man of seventy, proud of thy years! are you prepared to +meet your God? Has your time been spent with a view to eternity? Has +the measure of your days been taken? Has the course of your years been +run in holiness? If not, by the deep voice of the heavens above thee; +that voice which evermore is speaking; by the night and the day, and the +season and the year, I charge thee prepare to meet thy God. For thy time +is passing and eternity at hand. + +"Thy years shall not fail." The thought of man never feels that it can +say this to nature. He sees the stones themselves have marks of age and +decay--the very mountains, the very seas tell of change and limit. And +in the skies too far off for us to trace decay we trace something +else--measure. Everything is measured. The moon goes by measure and the +sun by measure, and the way of the stars is all measured. There are +clear tokens that not one of them is its own master or gives its own law. +One government moulds them all. They say "We serve." I take up the +blade of grass and at once feel He that made that grass made the light of +day, the dew of the morning, the beast that feeds upon it. One law +pervades them all. I take up the corn. He that made that made the sun +that ripens it and the soil that fattens it, and my blood that is my +life. Everywhere is one mind, one plan, one hand, one sceptre, and all +nature says "I serve, I serve. There is a force external to myself. I +am measured. I move by rule." "I revolve," says every wheel in the +heaven, "I roll round by regular law." "Measure" always means +"beginning." That which is measured must have begun. Beginning always +suggests the possibility of end. That which once was not hereafter may +not be. Nature fails to fill the mind of man in any one of the three +directions--the past, the future, the outward and the infinite. It +cannot fill up this thought of ours that claims an eternity before, an +eternity coming, an infinity on every side; and we feel nature is like +ourselves--a servant, a creature, a machine, an organ, and every part of +it proclaims a mind that lived before it. + +Then will all things fail? all decay? No--"Thy years shall not fail." +We turn to Him that made the law whereby the blade of grass grows, that +whereby the sun statedly comes to it, that whereby the animal feeds upon +it, that whereby the man lives upon the animal, and that whereby the +human mind reigns over the animal, cultivates the grass and makes use of +the light. We come to that great Being whom all these things indicate +and proclaim. In Him we find no external law or force compelling Him. +At his footstool all say "We serve," and to all He says either "Be" or +"Do" or "Do not." We find in Him no internal decay. Years come, ages +come, worlds arise and worlds pass away, but "Thou art the same"--the +same in strength, the same in youth, the same in beauty, the same in +glory, the same in wisdom. Never old, only "ancient of days." "Over +all, God blessed for ever. Amen." + +The years of his divine existence shall never fail, the years of his +redeeming reign shall never fail. As I said, this Scripture is quoted +from the hundred and second Psalm. If you turn to it you will find in it +a contrast between man's perishing life and the eternal lifetime of the +Lord; and especially the glorious lifetime of his Messiah and Messiah's +kingdom. "My days are like a shadow that declineth, I am withered like +grass." The Bible makes everything preach--it makes the sparrow preach +and the bush preach, and the grass and the lily. It makes even the very +shadows preach--"My days are like a shadow that declineth." Perhaps +sometime in the morning you have stood and seen the great tree lying on +the east of the hill, throwing its shadow broad and thick over the +hill-side as if it really was a substance. But as the sun went up in the +sky that shadow gradually shrank down until it totally disappeared under +the leaves of the tree. My days are like that shadow--perhaps not like +that only. You may have seen in the very bright moonlight shadows lying +across the street till they looked solid as if they were something, so +much so that the young colt started from them. But a cloud passed over +the moon and where was the shadow? My days are like that. "But thou, O +Lord, shalt endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations." +The remembrance of man is calling to mind those who are no more; the +remembrance of God is calling to mind Him that is unseen. "Thy +remembrance shall endure unto all generations. Thou shalt arise and have +mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time is come. +For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust +thereof. So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the +kings of the earth thy glory." Not only will his days endure but his +kingdom will endure; not only will it endure but it will go forward with +a perpetual progress. "Thou shall arise and have mercy upon Zion." The +Lord is building a city in the world, a city that hath foundations, a +city that is compacted together, a city that has its families and houses +and companies, its solemnities and social joys; a city that is all one +brotherhood though composed of every nation and kindred and people. The +Lord will arise in his strength to build this city and one of the signs +for his time to favour her is when her children take pleasure in her +stones and favour the dust thereof. We have that sign in our day. God's +children are taking pleasure in the stones of Zion and favouring the dust +thereof. Let us then, looking at the sign, lift up our eye for the +fulfilment of the promise, "When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall +appear in his glory." We are trying to build Zion and the Lord is +pleased to see it; but let us call upon Him--"Appear in thy glory! Do +thou come and build! Give us the living stones, bring them to us by thy +power out of the rocks, out of the heights and depths we cannot reach +unto wilt thou not bring living stones to thy temple?" Call and He will +come and He will build, and "the heathen shall fear the name of the +Lord." + +You will say, "They have not heard it yet"--but they shall. You say many +that have heard it do not fear it, but they shall, they shall fear the +name of the Lord--"and all the kings of the earth thy glory." The kings +fear his glory! They think of ancestral glory, courtly glory, military +glory, political glory; they do not think about Christ and his glory. +But they shall, they shall fear his glory. The proudest kings in the +earth shall feel that the glory of Jesus Christ of Nazareth is to them +much as the sun is to that shadow I have spoken of upon the hill. Their +glory must pale and pass away. It is but a little time ago, only +nineteen centuries ago, since Christ had no kingdom in the earth, no +follower, no temple, no power. Now is there a monarch in the world will +come out and say, "I shall sweep the name, the law, the love, the power +of Christ out of the earth?" No, of all powers now acknowledged there is +none so deep, wide and mighty. + +Every day adds to that power; every year opens to it new spheres, new +languages, new adherents, and on will it go and on till the whole earth +is subdued under the power of the Lord and his Christ. What is the +instrument of its progress? "He will regard the prayer of the destitute +and not despise their prayer." Not despise prayer! Why, do not the wise +men of the world despise prayer? Do not many talkers tell us that prayer +is a thing not to be looked upon as a force in the light of elevated +reason? You may despise it if you please and try to rear a kingdom over +human souls on a system that does. God will not despise it, Christ will +not despise it. There is a kingdom to be invoked by prayer, with its +throne and its crown and its sceptre. All the powers of that kingdom are +moved with the cry of a destitute heart. It is so, and you cannot alter +it. "This shall be written for the generation to come," how you go and +write down that prayer is of no effect, and we will write "He will not +despise their prayer," and let the "generation to come" judge. Your +predecessors, eighteen hundred years ago, wrote what you say--ours wrote +these words, and see the kingdom of Christ to-day! "This shall be +written for the generation to come: and the people." What people "shall +praise the Lord?" The people that are in Jerusalem? No. In Rome? in +Athens? No. What people? The people that are not anywhere; the people +that are neither in heaven nor in earth; "the people that shall be +created." "That shall be created"--existences now not existing, beings +now not being, offspring of God and members of the family of immortals +not yet born--they shall praise the Lord. Coming up out of the dark of +that great future they shall rise to obey the King we worship and to +praise the Saviour we love. "For He hath looked down from the height of +his sanctuary: from heaven did the Lord behold the earth." Ay, from that +holy place, that sanctuary--from that high place, that heaven--He looked +to behold this earth, this vile place, this base place. Yet it was not +to curse it--He looked "to hear the groaning of the prisoner; and to +loose those that are appointed to death." Here in every corner of the +world you will see a man who is appointed to death, accused, guilty, a +lawbreaker, with witness heard and evidence taken and judgment +recorded--the sentence is against him. Oh, if we had an eye such as +looks from above how many might we see in this fair congregation who are +condemned to death. You know it; you are breakers of eternal law; just +judgment is against you; you are appointed to death, and unless you are +delivered from that condemnation die you shall, die by a public execution +before all worlds in the great day. But He comes to deliver them "that +are appointed to death"--to bring you pardon, to bring yon salvation, to +bring you mercy, to make you a child of God, to blot out all the sin that +you have committed. Christ died that you might be delivered; reigns that +you may be delivered, and this day He is speaking to thy heart that thou +mayest turn from thy sin, seek mercy and follow Him in the way of life. + +So the Psalmist goes on ever anticipating the growth and stability of +this kingdom. "He weakened my strength in the way; He shortened my +days." God does not make his Church and work to depend upon the length +of any man's days. "I said, O my God take me not away in the midst of my +days: thy years are throughout all generations. Of old hast thou laid +the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. +They shall perish, but thou shalt endure? yea, all of them shall wax old +like a garment; as a vesture shall thou change them, and they shall be +changed; but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end." Ay, +and there is something else that has no end. The heavens shall perish, +the earth shall perish. God will endure. And will nothing else endure. +Yes, "The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall +be established before thee." The servants, the children of God, those +that are born again by the Spirit's grace, those that come to Christ, the +Messiah, and through Him recover, by adoption, the place in the family of +God that was lost by sin, they shall continue, they shall be established. +What! when the earth flees away? Yes, when the earth flees away. What! +when the heaven falls? Yes, when the heaven falls; they shall be +established with the same immortality as their Father in heaven. "Thy +years shall not fail." God will not fail; Christ will not fail; the Rock +of Ages will not fail; and all and every one that through Christ is in +God will never fail. The world will pass away, the word of God will not +pass away, and the child of God will not pass away. + +Take then this word to thy heart and say "Thy years shall not fail." It +will give you a worthy fear. Man is always rightly or wrongly fearing +something. One is afraid of a man that has him in his power. He says, +"If I offended him I should lose my bread; it would be as much as my +living is worth; I must take care not to offend him;" and rather than +offend that man he will stain his conscience and offend his God. Come +back in twenty years and ask where that man is, and they will take you to +his grave, and that was what you were afraid of! Another fears this +bright, witty, active young man, whose word either cuts or flatters with +amazing power. He feels as if he could not face him; as if he could not +bear that he should look him in the face and call him a saint or tell him +he had been praying to God or been commending his soul for mercy to +Christ. If he said these things to him it would actually appear as if it +was something against him, something he ought to be ashamed of! Come +back in twenty years and enquire for him--perhaps you will find him in a +mad-house, perhaps in a gambling-house, perhaps in chains among convicts. +Perhaps you will find a broken-hearted mother in black, wishing that he +had never been born, and that is what you are afraid of! Another is +afraid of the fashion. Every one does it, and if he did not do it he +would be remarked. Every one says there is no harm in it, and if he +scrupled they would make fun of him, and on this account he will do a +thing that he knows ought not to be done. Come back in two generations +and enquire from the grandchildren of these people about this fashion and +you will find they are all laughing at the folly of their grandfathers +and grandmothers. And that is what you are afraid of! Set the Lord +alway before you. Say, "Thy years shall not fail. Thou art worthy to be +feared. I will fear thee. Thou hast power--power over my breath, over +my body, over my day, over my night--power to destroy both body and soul +in hell; power to kill, power to make alive; power to condemn, power to +save; power to cast me down, power to lift me up to heaven--I will fear +thee, O God in Christ, and be thou my only fear." + +Set the Lord alway before you and there you will find a sure refuge. +Nature is changing and decaying, and we are changed faster than nature. +We are all passengers in a ship that is floating in an ocean and has fire +in her hold. This air around us has an ocean in it, an ocean of real +water, and did God will it a little change in the weight of the air would +bring a universal deluge. This earth has fire in it, stores of fire, and +did God will a very little change in the chemistry of the air it would be +a universal blaze. We are passengers, I say, in a ship sailing in an +ocean with fire in the hold, and we know that the fire is to break out +and that the moment will come when the ship will be burnt up. You and I +are pacing this deck with the fire beneath, and the day, the hour, the +moment, that the signal will be given no man living can tell. Are we +prepared to meet our God? Can we look forth from this frail world unto +that infinite bosom of eternal rest and say, "Thou art mine and I am +thine to all eternity?" You may look to other refuges but they are not +secure, to other coverts but they are not safe. Here is the Rock of Ages +and that rock is cleft for you. God manifest in the flesh. Behold +Christ crucified and flee to Him, flee for refuge, flee to-day; once in +Christ you will know that you are safe. Let the storm come, let the +winds blow, let the floods beat, let the fires break out, safe! safe! +safe! Nothing can move Him and nothing can touch thee. Thou shalt +"dwell under the shadow of the Most High." + +Set the Lord alway before thee and you will have an unfailing stay, an +unfailing resource. Many things you may think will not fail. Here is +the old man, and his friends tell him he does not fail, and how he likes +to hear it! "Thy years do not weigh thee down." He goes on and it seems +as if to him the years come as the snow falls on the mountains, not to +enfeeble but to embellish. He does not fail. Ay, but he will fail and +be bowed down to the dust. And the wiry woman that has gone through +enough to kill many and yet hath more spirit and energy than the young. +Ay, she shall fail too; you will see her smitten and trodden under the +grass. "Well I know I must fail," one says, "I _am_ failing, but then +there is my boy, I shall never want some one to lean upon, I can trust +him." Ah! he may fail; you may stand by the grave where they are saying, +"Dust to dust," or you may with your hands over your eyes look upon a +sadder grave where his character lies corrupting. Another says, "Well, I +know I am failing, but there is my daughter so good and sweet and true--I +shall never want a comforter for my old age." Ah, you do not know, she +may fail, you may have to weep over her coffin or to blush over her +faults. And another says, "Well, I have never depended upon anything but +my own honest industry. I have something to rely upon. Mine is not +speculation, it is good steady business--I can trust it." Can you? can +you? God may permit you by one mistake to undo the doing of a life. +"But I am not depending upon the chances of business--my position is +secure--settled property. I shall not fail." Are you sure? You know +not the ways by which earthly things can make themselves wings and flee +away; or if they do not flee you may depart from them. Another says, +"Well, I have never trusted to anything but my right hand and I shall not +want--wherever I go I can take care of myself." Ay, but suppose the +right hand should fail? As long as the strong arm and the strong will +work together it is well, but suppose a day should come when an invisible +knife should pass between the arm and the will: and the will said, +"Stretch forth!" but the arm hung idle by the side. It may fail. "Well, +but my heart never fails me; whatever goes wrong I can make the best of +it." But suppose your heart should fail and that you became one of those +to whom the grasshopper was a burden, one that made the worst of +everything, that could look no difficulty in the face. Your heart may +fail, your flesh may fail, your money may fail, your employ may fail, +your friends may fail, everything upon earth may fail. If you have +Christ for your friend you will never fail, if you have God for your +Father you have a shelter, a home, a comfort that will never fail. If +you have not you have nothing that you can count upon. Then come this +day, come and say to all the shadows, "I trample over you, I clasp the +substance. Holy God, my Eternal Father, let me be reconciled to thee! +Be thou my God! Make me thy child! Give me a part and a lot in the +family of the holy! For the sake of Jesus, who is the same yesterday, +to-day, and for ever, write my name in thy book of life and cover me from +the storm that is coming, so that amid the change of life and the ruin of +death, the awe of the judgment-day, my spirit may abide under an +everlasting shelter! may look forward to the eternity that is to be and +say to it, 'Welcome--open all thy scenes--uncover thy deepest +secrets--world of the unknown, bring out all that thou hast hidden, for +all things are mine, for I am Christ's, and Christ is God's.'" Amen and +Amen. + + + + +GOD'S CONTROVERSY WITH MAN. +REV. CHARLES PREST. + + + "Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel; and because I will do + this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel."--AMOS iv. 12. + +This chapter refers to the condition of Israel at the time of this +prophecy, and to the expostulation and threatened procedure of God +concerning the nation. God's people had revolted from Him; they had sunk +into idolatry; they had been often reproved, but had hardened their +necks, and therefore the Lord, after recapitulating the calamities which +had befallen them, and which all came in the way of fatherly +chastisements for their recovery to righteousness, and indicating that +his anger was not turned away, says, "and because I will do this unto +thee"--and because having done this repentance does not appear, then +prepare to meet me. That is, meet me in battle. If you will not submit, +then let the battle be fought; if you will not bow down to these kind +modes of discipline--kindly intentioned, however terrible in execution, +then prepare to meet me. This expostulation proceeds upon a very +intelligible principle--a principle, however, which we sometimes sadly +forget, and which we are too much in the habit of neglecting--on the +principle that man is an accountable creature; and secondly, that God +will call him to account for his conduct. + +God has a controversy with man, with us--a controversy with us because of +our sin, our sin being an outrage against the divine love; a controversy +with us because He is right and we are wrong; because He designs the +welfare of all, and the sin that we love is productive of universal +destruction; a controversy with sinners that can only be terminated in +one of two ways--a controversy with every unconverted person here to-day. +Do not deceive yourselves: if you are strangers to the life of God, you +are in opposition to Him, and with you as sinners there is a controversy +only to be terminated--first, by your submission, your repentance--and, +thank God, He has prepared a perfect and suitable method for our +submission, and for our repentance. If He has a controversy with us, He +wills it to be terminated in such a mode as shall secure the original +purpose of his great love, which our sin has outraged. Christ has +appeared in our behalf, and for this purpose has offered a full, perfect, +and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for our sins. For +this purpose the Divine Spirit waits in all our assemblies, and now in +this place, that any of you who are now enemies to Him by wicked works, +being pricked in your hearts on account of your sins, and groaning under +your condemnation, may fly for refuge to the hope set before you in +Christ Jesus our Lord. So God would have this controversy terminated. +So He invites you in his great mercy to terminate it. And for this +purpose we are ministers of reconciliation, and "we pray you in Christ's +stead, be ye reconciled to God." + +There is but one other way of terminating this controversy, and that is +by our destruction. If we will abide in our controversy, if we will wage +the battle to the end, this destruction must ensue, here is no method +else--no escape any where between the one extreme and the other; it is +submission and life, it is battle and death--death eternal. O that death +eternal! What is it? Not the annihilation of your souls. What is the +death of a soul? The loss of the life of God--the loss of communion with +God. The soul is made for such a communion: this is its true life; it +has no satisfaction apart from this enjoyment. There cannot be communion +without love; that is the soul of communion; and if you renounce the +reign of love, and come under the dominion of enmity, you cut yourselves +off from the life of God, you die, and must endure the bitter pains of +eternal death. I pray God that you may terminate this controversy, and +thank God that you may do so, by the submission of your hearts to his +merciful provision of salvation, that so you may live in hallowed +Christian blessedness here, and inherit perfect fellowship and communion +with God hereafter. + +We should humble ourselves in the presence of that great calamity which +has fallen upon our flocks and upon our herds. I think it is well in +times of public calamity that public attention should be called to these +things; and our attention has been called thereto--not, it is true, by +the governing authorities of the country. No matter for that. It is +right that we should listen to the admonition that we have received in +our own denomination, and do all we can rightly to humble ourselves, and +above all, earnestly to pray to God that He would take away the evil from +us, and that, in taking away the evil, He would render us the less liable +to promote the dire necessity of future visitation. Let me then call +your attention to some general principles connected with God's dealings +with the nations. + +There is a national as well as an individual providence. In the ancient +government of God over the nations of the earth, in his dealings with his +own people and with the heathen peoples about them, his hand was clearly +discerned on many occasions, and his arm sometimes made bare. There were +the predictions of certain events to come, and there was the recognised +accomplishment of those predictions sometime afterwards. Then, again, +you find miraculous interpositions of correction, of punishment, or of +deliverance. If you turn your attention to the history of God's Church, +you find all these things manifest; you find Israel in Egypt; then the +command that they should be allowed to pass away from their bondage; you +find Egypt resisting the command, and God sent among the people of Egypt +signs and wonders, and plagues by the hand of Moses, but they submitted +not. He called them to obedience, but they rebelled. By and bye, He +slew their firstborn, the chief of all their strength, and then the +people came out with silver and with gold. Nations are not simply +chastised in this world, they are also punished. Every one of us shall +give an account of himself to God at the last great day, and strictly +speaking, the punishment of separate individuals will not begin in this +life; but nations cannot be judged collectively hereafter; they are dealt +with here; and God's dealings with the nations stand out in his palpable +acts with these Egyptians. They saw the hand of God for a time, but they +fell back into their ancient rebellion and pursued the Israelites to the +Red Sea, and God made that sea a way for his ransomed and destroyed the +pursuing host. Go through the entire history of God's ancient people. +You find the Assyrians round about Jerusalem, you see the angel of God +going forth, and that mighty host is destroyed. Go through all the +dealings of God with heathen nations, and you find these physical +manifestations of God's power. In our day there are no such +manifestations as these. In modern times the events of the divine +government are not so authoritatively predicted, and the exceedingly +foolish attempts of some people to interpret prophecy and to apply it +arbitrarily to passing events cannot be too severely condemned. They +tend greatly to prejudice the proper interpretation of Scriptural +prophecy before the world, and deserve severe reprehension, and should be +altogether discountenanced by all men of sound mind. In our day we have +not these authoritative predictions of events. But amid all this there +is a tendency to ignore the action of God in the government of the world +altogether. Instead of recognising his presence or acknowledging his +power, the varied events--political, social, and otherwise--events like +the one to which I have just referred, affecting the nation, are denied +their true character; and the view that I have ventured to place before +you in many places would be treated with ridicule. Men say, when they +look at political events, that they are to be traced to the conclusions +of well-directed political economy, or to the failure of the application +of sound principles of government. I know very well that if the +pestilence comes there are men who trace it to no higher than physical +causes. I know very well that if great calamities happen in storm or +tempest the physical cause is alone recognised. And with reference to +the scourge of our cattle clever men look, as they ought, after the +physical causes. They look, as I think they are bound, to the +development of the evil influences leading to such a result. But if men +now-a-days are Christian enough to recognise God in the parliament of +this country there is no great response, unless it be a response of +ill-concealed scorn; and even among people who profess more of +Christianity there is a danger of leaving the stern, enlightened, and +faithful recognition of God which distinguished our fathers, and of +looking, in some fancied superiority of our intellect--which is but a +fancy; for there were wise men before us--for explanation in something, +in anything oft-times, rather than the recognition of God's power. + +Remember this, however, brethren, that the principles of God's government +in our day are the same which have inhered in that government in all +ages--that, however human circumstances may differ, however the nations +of this world may alter, however the powers of men may vary time after +time, God's government is an immutable thing; it changes not. The +perfect idea of a human government is this--I do not say it is +realised--to have certain fixed principles that are to abide, and then in +the application of those principles to find an elasticity which shall +meet every conceivable alteration of circumstances about us. That is the +idea of a perfect human government; but human governments do not attain +to it. The government of God, however, is perfect. The great principle +is love--"God is love;" its great end, the welfare of man; the purpose of +that government, the spread of Christianity for the welfare of mankind. + +There is no expediency in this government, as men understand it. The +governments of this world are too much founded upon expediency--the +government of this country for the last sixty or seventy years lamentably +founded upon it. There was a time when there was less of it here, but +the disciples of expediency increase, and it is now rather "What is +convenient?" than "What is right?" There is an expediency taught in the +Bible, but it is nothing more than the best way of doing the right thing. +It never truckles. The government of God knows nothing of our human +expedients; it knows a great deal of Divine arrangements, and God as +truly governs as though in his government of the nations He should work +signs and wonders and divers miracles daily. + +God has spoken in the history of our own country. Look at some of the +startling events of the last two hundred years. You look at the act of +our noble, intelligent, never-to-be-sufficiently-admired, firm old +English ancestors, in driving James the Second from his throne, and +working out the glorious Revolution of 1688. Well, if you look at all +this politically, you speak of their wisdom, their fortitude, and their +indomitable spirit; you speak too of storm and tempest all working in +their favour. Aye, aye, but the hand of God was there, as much in +sending away that unworthy King as God's hand was in sending +Nebuchadnezzar to feed among the oxen. God's hand may not appear in our +modern times as in former days, but faith sees that hand in the common +affairs of mankind. But because we do not see the operation, because the +operation is not palpable to men's senses, the agency of God is +forgotten. Depend upon it, it is a great mistake to imagine that if we +could see, now and then, some great miracle wrought, we should get into +the habit of recognising the power and wisdom of God. The Israelites +were fed in the desert by miracle, and rebelled against God whilst they +ate the food miraculously given to them. The wonder--the perfection of +the Divine operation is this, that without disturbing in our little +individual history any of the common affairs which arise in every-day +life, without working any miracle at all, and whilst to the eyes of men +all things continue as they were from the beginning, whilst there is +nothing observable in the method, He works all things together for the +good of them that love Him, combining opposing forces and blending +together the elements of life and of death in one grand atmosphere of +benediction for the welfare of the righteous, and all this without +disturbing the ordinary course of cause and effect. The power of God +impresses itself not merely through the lower links of the chain of +providence--cause and effect, but upon the higher part of that chain +which sends down its influence, its intelligence, its all-wise +benevolence, to work out the welfare of those that are the objects of his +love. + +So it is with nations. You will see public events rising up in +connection with ordinary causes, but we ought to acknowledge the great +First-cause. The principles of divine government which operated in the +old time are now as surely in operation as they were then. They are not +antiquated: they are not at all supplanted; they operate in the same way, +to the same ends; they operate to national and personal benefit, to +national and personal reproof, or, in the neglect of such admonition, to +national and personal punishment, showing us that God's government is now +the government which it was in the ancient days, and that though we see +no miracles in our day God is as much in the midst of unthinking +multitudes as when men were startled by the visible interposition of his +Almighty power. + +Let us look, then, at the state of things about us now. Is there not +sufficient cause in this land to lead us to humble ourselves, to improve +the admonition of our God; that we should prepare to meet Him, in the +only way in which we can meet Him to our profit, by our personal +submission to a greater extent; and if we love our country, that we +should put ourselves into a position to bring the nation out of any state +of rebellion against God, to lead it back to a more perfect +reconciliation with Him? What evils have we now to deplore? Why, a +great number. It is a blessed land after all; and there is more of +Christianity found in it than in any other in the world. There is +doubtless more of the direct influence of Christianity in our population +than you will find elsewhere, and certainly more of the indirect +influence upon the constitution of the nation, upon our legislation, upon +our national--aye, and upon our domestic habits. There is a large amount +of the indirect influence of Christianity in our midst, for which we have +cause to be thankful. But then, on the other hand, how much is there of +evil? There is great evil in our midst. There is first, what really our +fathers had not so much to do with--there is the presence and power of a +subtle, of a most ably-wrought and powerfully-patronised Popery, about +which we have been asleep for too long a time, Popery, which is inimical +to the welfare of any nation, and inconsistent with the political +happiness, prosperity and security of any people. You have not far to go +for the proof of this. You have only to go to the present miserable +condition of Ireland to prove it. It is all very well for disclaimers to +arise from the men who created the disloyal element of this mischief, but +they must esteem the Protestants of this country more credulous than I +hope they will prove if they expect them to believe their present +protestations. What else have you? You have the presence of this Popery +also where Protestantism alone ought to be known. You have it +dishonestly intruded into the temples of Christian truth; and you have +the pernicious nonsense of miserable and disgraceful antics obtruded into +what men call divine worship, utterly beneath the dignity of sensible +men. You have another thing. You have infidelity, and in the pulpit +too--the pulpit in high places--infidelity in its worst form. You have +all this, and no power, and very little inclination exists to correct it. +You have all this, and multitudes love to have it so. That is one form +of evil, leading to many other forms, and causing all thoughtful men to +deplore the condition of churches cursed with a schism like this, with a +false doctrine and heresy so utterly opposed to the truth and to the +salvation of men. Well, then, look, at the profanity of the people +around us. Look at the ungodliness of decent people. I am not here +to-day to call your attention simply, as people sometimes do, to the +lowest classes of society. They are bad enough. They are a festering +mass at the foundation of all the greatness of the nation; they are a +mass which, if not corrected in their tendencies, may at any time be +quickened into an activity that will utterly wreck the entire +superstructure of all that as Christians and as Englishmen we hold dear. +But higher up, where there is no profaneness or criminality, or gross and +disgusting visible intemperance, what other evils are there? There is +decency, but there is an absence of the recognition of God. God is not +in men's thoughts. And there is a fearful and fatal indifference as to +the claims of religion that has come over the nations. Multitudes +neglect public worship. I apprehend the least evidence that anybody can +give of religious impression, or of recognition of the claims of +religion, is that they should attend the public worship of Almighty God. +You find, however, hundreds of thousands in this nation who never attend +divine service. If our churches and chapels in London were to be +attended next Sunday by the usual number of persons, and those besides +who ought to attend were disposed to try to gain admission at any one +time during the day, we have not half churches and chapels enough to hold +them; whilst, as it is, the room provided is not occupied. This +indifference is a fearful thing. Paul yearned over his countrymen, but +in some respects our countrymen are worse than Paul's. "I could wish," +said that glorious, patriotic man--that grand old man, that most blessed +and chief of all the Apostles, with heaven in his view, his career +well-nigh ended, his work done, and Churches rising up around him of +which he was the father--not churches built upon other men's +foundations--"I could wish myself accursed from Christ for my brethren, +my kinsmen according to the flesh." Yet "I bear them record, that they +have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge." In England, at this +day, there are multitudes of whom it may be said, "God is not in all +their thoughts." And the heathenism spread about us is as bad in its +developments as in any other part of the world, and more aggravated in +its character because of its immediate proximity with the light and truth +of our blessed Christianity. There is in this land, too, an absorbing of +men in worldliness: this, perhaps, comes nearer to us. In my time I have +seen worldliness not only enthralling obviously and professedly worldly +men. I have seen worldliness come into the Church--aye, among +Methodists. How many young men have I seen, earnest, zealous, devoted, +doing just that work for God which must be done by young men if the +population of this land is to be won to Christ--they enter into +business-life, by-and-bye God prospers their industry, and they begin to +thrive in the world; and what then? Oh, then this fervour abates--they +get immersed in earthly things. We lose their activities in the Church; +the ungodly part of the world lose the influence of a blessed example and +of their Christian teaching. They are too busy to attend to the service +of God at all on the week days, they say to their ministers: "We will +find the money if you will send men to do the work among these poor +people." Find money to do it! So they ought: but do they think they +place the Church under obligation by doing that? Not a whit. They ought +to be thankful to the Church, and to the God of the Church, that He will +have their money, that God permits them gratefully to recognise in this +way their stewardship; but I say to every such person, if you think you +can purchase exemption from personal devotion to God, and from such +devotion as shall lead you to spread the truth by your personal labour, +to the utmost extent of your ability, you are greatly mistaken. We can +have no such compositions of God's claim; you must not dream of them. +There is a feebleness, therefore, of the Church; oft-times arising from +this cause, a feebleness we must seek to cure, as it only can be cured, +by an increase of our own personal godliness. + +But how do we stand just now? God has sometimes admonished this nation +for its ungodliness. I do not speak of the nation now as profane or +criminal. Take the best view of it. And I remember that a great +theologian has said, the true view of man's depravity is not that every +man is profane or intemperate or mischievous--the great proof of the +universal depravity of man is found in man's ungodliness--in his not +recognising the claims of God, and not bowing to his love. We have had +admonition after admonition, within our own lives, most of us. Not long +since God sent a pestilence into our midst--on two remarkable occasions. +Well do I remember the state of the people where I was labouring in one +of the large towns of this country, with between three and four hundred +deaths, from cholera, occurring every week. The people were alarmed. +There was a national day of humiliation and prayer; our places of worship +were crowded. The people were alarmed, but they were not permanently +impressed. God heard prayer; yes, he delights to hear prayer. God +answered it; he delights to answer it. The evil passed away; the concern +passed with it; and I shall never forget the contrast between the +congregations on the day of humiliation, and when they were summoned to +thank God for the removal of the scourge. "Were there not ten cleansed? +but where are the nine?" + +It is only four years ago that another check came upon the nation--that +one of our great branches of national industry became suddenly paralysed; +and what mercy was there in that! There was the good hand of God in the +administration of that chastisement, in the conduct of the people under +such calamities, and in the absence of mischievous, designing men from +among them. I have known the time when that population would have been +inflamed by a calamity of far less consequence to acts of the greatest +violence. God's hand was there. He chastised the nation; but He guided +the chastisement. And now again, another evil has come upon us--a +greater evil, perhaps, than people imagined at first--this plague among +our herds. There will be great loss to individuals, and no doubt there +will be great loss to all; for it is impossible for so much wealth or +money's worth to be destroyed in any nation without all the people in the +nation feeling it more or less. I think it right, therefore, that we +have been called to recognise the hand of God therein--to look through +all external causes to his hand. It is a very dangerous thing, a thing I +have never done in my life, and never would do, to talk about the +providence of God in its punitive power, to talk about retribution in the +application of God's providence in individual cases. It is very unwise +to do that, and sometimes it may be most uncharitable. It is different, +however, in God's dealings with a nation. We are admonished, or +punished, by a great national calamity that has stirred all classes of +men each in their own way, and has raised all their activities in order +to see if evils of this kind may not be checked in their operation. This +evil is present with us. And then, as to other evils that may arise. If +you look abroad into the world, to the relations of this country to other +nations, you have peace just now; but he would be a bold man who should +predict the continuation of this peace for any length of time. No, your +statesmen cannot keep the peace of nations; and the folly of our boasting +about the peace-working power of our commercial relations has already be +seen. We cannot give peace to the world. Who can tell how soon the +calamity of war may afflict this country? Not I trust on its shores; but +what is this land that it has any right to expect a perpetual immunity +from the horrors of war in her midst? Do not say these things will pass +away. Do not say these things are remote. They may quickly overtake us, +and we should be careful that we do not provoke our God to hasten any of +his judgments or to aggravate present ones. If you are delivered from +calamity--if this great national calamity, for such it is, has not +touched you, or at least not so touched you as to inconvenience you at +all, remember to give sympathy to those that are suffering from it; and +let thankfulness for your present mercies manifest itself in that godly +amendment of life which shall prove your best contribution to the future +safety and the prosperity of the nation. If we neglect this we place +ourselves in opposition to God's government, and are in danger, by our +opposition, of being told to prepare to meet God in conflict. Individual +sinners do so who refuse repentance; nations do so that will not submit +to God. You that are living without God, pray what prospect have you, +what prospect of victory? The potsherd of the earth may strive with the +potsherd, but woe to the man that strives with his Maker. The God whom +you are called upon to meet is the "God that formeth the mountains, that +createth the wind, that declareth unto man what is his thought, that +maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the +earth, the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name." + +Let the ungodliness of this land increase--and it will increase if we +neglect the manifestation of godliness in opposition to it--and what +then? There will be the culmination of national sin, and there will be +the enactments of Parliament against the law of God, as on a former +memorable occasion in France; let it come to that, and let a crisis +arise; and though your statesmen should be the most sagacious, and have +all the ability which has ever distinguished the foremost men of the +Government of this land; let your Parliament be intelligent and +patriotic; let your sons be as brave on flood or field as their fathers; +let your commerce be ever so flourishing, your arts ever so perfect, your +literature ever so exalted--none of these things would save the +nation--none of these things would be an effectual shield against +calamity; and upon the wreck of this grand old realm--wrecked by its +ungodliness, made rotten at its base by sin--upon the wreck of this +nation which, had it been godly, would have borne the shock of all the +earth, and dashed it back like foam--on the wreck of Britain shall be +written, "The nation, the kingdom, that will not serve thee shall +perish." That inscription has been often written upon empires as +magnificent, as powerful, and as illustrious as this. + +What, then, is our duty? What have we to do with this? We who are +gathered together in this chapel may say, can we arrest the course of the +nation? Can we turn back the floods of ungodliness? Can we go out and +produce an influence that may avert these calamities? I do not say that +you alone can do this; but I do say, that you are bound to contribute +your utmost to the check of these evils, with as perfect a heart, and +with as earnest a purpose, and as free a will, as though your hand could +dash back the evil and rescue the nation from its danger. + +Our immediate duty is repentance. That is the duty of the nation. But +the word nation is a comprehensive one; we lose ourselves in it. We may +do as we are in danger of doing with the word Church, lose sight of our +own individual responsibility in confused ideas of what the Church +collectively is to do. God cannot yield in this conflict; his +righteousness forbids this. The nation must yield and become obedient, +or the result indicated must follow. If then the nation is to repent, +where is that repentance to begin? Why in this place to-day, so far as +we are concerned. In whose hearts must this repentance commence? Why in +the hearts of every one of you unconverted persons, that are rather +contributing to the ungodliness of the country than to the increase of +its spiritual power. You may not be drunkards, you may not be +profligate; but if you are living without the recognition of God's love +and the enjoyment of his favour, you are ungodly; and your first duty is +to repent. There is no salvation without this repentance, let some +modern preachers say what they will. The Master of all preachers sent +the Apostles forth, and they preached everywhere that men should repent. +There is a fashionable preaching, I am told, that has no repentance in +it. So much the worse for the people that listen to such error. There +is no merit in repentance; the only meritorious cause of your salvation +is the blood-shedding and the present and perfect atonement of Christ. +But "the law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ." The old +Puritans were right who said, that the soundest conversions were those +with which the law had most to do. Mount Sinai exhibited proofs of God's +love, and Christ, who died for us on Calvary, is the author and enforcer +of the whole law. There must be the bowing down of your souls to the +claims of the law, the struggle for amendment, the renunciation of sin, +the recognition of your own hopelessness, and the cry, "What must I do to +be saved?" "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Then +comes Christ, and peace, and joy; a participation in the divine nature; +and a power to contribute practically to the repentance of the nation. +This is your duty. + +You Christian people, too, are called upon to repent. Depend upon it as +we go through life an act of repentance, once for all, will not do: we +shall need repentance daily. When a man is admitted to the favour of God +it is that his mouth should be stopped, it is that he should entertain +penitential feeling as long as he lives--not the penitence of guilt, but +the penitence of gratitude. The recollection, I am a sinner, will +inspire and maintain such penitence; and a blessed end that man will +make, who in the full meaning of the words, pours out the prayer at the +last, "God be merciful to me a sinner." We need repentance--we all need +it. Let us turn our attention to ourselves, and ascertain how much we +have contributed to the existing evils of the nation. How much have we +contributed to the present state of things which in the judgment of sober +Christian concern may be held to have provoked the anger of God? We may +have contributed to these evils, and I dare say we have, in two ways: +first, by neglect of duty. There are sinners about you, you need not go +far to find them--perhaps there are some ungodly people in your own +houses. What have you ever done to make them godly? What effort have +you made, what kind of an example have you set them in your words, in +your tempers, in your spiritual aspirations? Now tell yourselves +honestly. You have been living with them up to this day, living with +them during this day. What have you said to them? Do your conduct and +your words condemn their sin, and invite them to reconciliation with God? +What does conscience say to this? What does the recollection of the past +few hours say to this? There are wicked people about you: some of you +have leisure; what have you done for your ungodly neighbours? What poor +man's house have you visited? What wretched sinner have you talked to? +You have passed along the streets, and have seen sin abounding; have you +ever tried to check it? Have you ever thought it worth while to follow +some half dozen people deeply immersed in sin, and by patient, earnest, +godly admonitions, counsels, and entreaties, have you sought the +salvation of their souls? Have you done this? "Oh!" you busy men say, +"we have not time." I know better; you must not tell practical men that; +they know that all of us waste a great deal more time than we want for +such a purpose. It is not a question of time at all, but a question of +inclination. Have we done so? Are evils abating by our instrumentality? +Do not say, "I could do very little." Do what you can! "If I could move +a multitude I would do it." No, that will not do. You good women, are +you doing all the good you can in your families? Do you mothers give +yourselves to the right training of your children? Fathers, are you +practically anxious for the spiritual good of your families? Do you help +your wives to bring up a godly family, which shall prove a blessing to +the nation; and not such an one as Dr. Paley says, as shall turn out wild +beasts upon society. You have little ability; well, if you have not ten +talents, do not bury the one talent. Paul did one thing, and that was +the secret of all his greatness--he did _his_ duty. Do you do _yours_? +There was a simplicity of purpose about him, an earnestness of endeavour, +a thoroughness in the doing of it that made him what he was, the greatest +of all apostles and the greatest man that the Christian Church has known. +Take that simple rule, you young people; strive to spread the influence +of a godly example among all about you: do what you can, in a way +consistent with your position in life, and in a way consistent altogether +with modesty, humility, and a deep devotion to God, and you will not +labour in vain. We are guilty of sins of omission, and we need +repentance. + +But how have we contributed to the evils of the nation by our activities? +Some of you were converted, perhaps, when you had lived to be twenty +years of age, some of you thirty or forty, some perhaps were older; what +kind of lives had you led before that time? How many of your former +companions did you injure by a godless example? perhaps by foolish words, +perhaps by ungodly actions. God has rescued you; where are they? What +has become of the seed you then planted in their minds? If God drew out +the roots of vice by his grace from your hearts, the influence of this +evil remains elsewhere. What mischief is often done by men prior to +their conversion in their families! When you see there is so much +wickedness in the land, then say, "What have I done to increase it?" And +I think we shall all find great need to repent; great need to set an +example of repentance to all about us. + +The first thing, then, is this deep humiliation of heart that shall bring +us all to bow before God, and cause us to join in the prayer, "Enter not +into judgment with thy servants, O God, for in thy sight shall no man +living be justified." But, then, you Christian professors must bestir +yourselves. This repentance must not be a passing emotion, not a +temporary influence, however powerful; but there must be a correspondent +continued effort to promote it amongst your families and neighbours, and +to the utmost extent of your power in the world; engaging meanwhile in +earnest prayer; and then consecrating yourselves more fully to this work +under the influence of two things, a deep sense of personal +responsibility and of the constraint of divine love. Submit, then, to +this will of God. Know the rod, and Him that hath appointed it. If the +multitudes about you do not know it you know it. If God be not +recognised, let it be yours to recognise Him amid the surrounding +worldliness, and depend upon it your purity of heart shall increase, and +you will see God in all things, in all calamities, and in all joys. It +is a strange thing that nations and individuals see God more readily in +trouble than they do in their joys. Amid the immunities from ill which +Christian people often enjoy how little they think of God. Trouble +comes, calamity comes, and we owe the quickening of our religious +feelings, strangely enough, more to our fears than we to our gratitude. +And it will be well if we are so quickened by present calamity. + +Thus let us prepare ourselves to promote that condition of feeling in the +nation which shall lead us to meet God not in conflict but in the way of +his judgments, to bow to his rule, to abate our ungodliness, and to +become as a nation wise and understanding. + +One remark as to the popular interpretation of the text. You will have +to meet God speedily in your death. You should prepare to meet Him, for +you cannot resist; you cannot flee from Him. Let us prepare to meet Him +by embracing the mercy which He offers, receiving the love which He +communicates to us, and devoting the rest of our lives to his service and +glory. You are called upon, then, and I think for these reasons properly +called upon, to contribute to and to promote the humiliation of the +nation. Whatever other people do, humble yourselves before God. And let +not the impression be a temporary one, but in the future seek that +practical love which constitutes the repentance necessary to the nation, +and necessary to you that you may prompt the repentance and reformation +of those about you, and which can alone save the land of our fathers from +calamity and make her more fully what she ought to be, "a praise in the +earth." Amen! + + + + +THE PROPHETIC THEME. +REV. GERVASE SMITH. + + + "Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched + diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: + Searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which + was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings + of Christ, and the glory that should follow."--1 PETER i. 10, 11. + +There is a peculiar interest attaching to the writer of this epistle. +Although it was probably in old age, when a large experience of labour +and sorrow had chastened his spirit, and in prospect of martyrdom, that +he composed these chapters, they bear unmistakable proofs of his own +vigour of thought, and suggest many reminiscences of his remarkable life. +Whether you regard him as a man, a Christian, or an apostle, he presents +an illustrious subject for the student of these modern times. His +history puts before us many and serious defects; but there is much more +to approve and admire: and while a feeling or sorrow lingers over the +one, the other is so marked and prominent that it secures your sympathy, +and you are drawn towards the man with an ineffable affection. There is +a candour, and honesty, and generosity, and heroism, which gives to his +character a most healthy tone. The qualities of his mind and heart, when +sanctified by grace, become really noble; and if it were right, you would +like to forget his failings in presence of so much that is both manly and +good. + +His two epistles are a precious legacy to the Church. The first is +addressed to the "scattered strangers:" but whether this expression refer +to Jews, or converted Gentiles, or both, or to the "dispersed" of the ten +tribes, there is no satisfactory evidence. We are in similar doubt as to +the place from which it was written. The _Church at Babylon_ is named in +the last chapter; but there was a Babylon in Egypt, and another in +Assyria, and Rome itself is thus figuratively designated. + +The style of the apostle's writing is just what you would expect from the +man himself. Vehemence, majesty, and, at the same time, ease and +freedom, are manifest in every page. + +The chief design of this epistle is to administer comfort to those +already suffering; and to prepare others for the affliction they were +about to endure. The first chapter adduces several considerations to +uphold their constancy. One is that they are _the chosen of God_; "Elect +according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification +of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus +Christ: grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied." Then, as the elect of +God, they had a _good hope of heaven_. "Blessed be the God and Father of +our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy, hath +begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ +from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that +fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of +God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time." +A third consideration is, that though in the midst of trial, their +Saviour was with them, and the end of their faith was sure. "Whom having +not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye +rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory: receiving the end of +your faith, even the salvation of your souls." And, finally, they were +to remember that this subject of their salvation had been matter of +earnest enquiry among the prophets, whose labours are now made to +contribute to their comfort. "Of which salvation the prophets have +enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should +come unto you: searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of +Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the +sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." + +I.--THE STUDENT, AND +II.--HIS THEME. + +I. "The prophets have _enquired and searched diligently_." + +The term "prophet" is most properly applied to one who is divinely +instructed as to future events, and divinely inspired to make them known. +In an accommodated sense it is given to the apostles and public teachers +of the primitive Church. And now it is conventionally used to denote a +somewhat less honourable class. "The prophets of our day" are many. +From the positive style they have adopted, you would suppose that the +gift of prescience had come upon them in a far more absolute form than +upon the prophets of old. With more dogmatism and less authority do they +pronounce upon "the times and seasons." Though failure on failure +happens, this seems rather to nerve their confidence; and every +successive mistake is followed by another guess with increased assurance. + +1. _Who are the prophets referred to in the text_? They are the men to +whom the term is strictly applicable. We do not forget such names as +Moses and Samuel, and Elijah and Elisha, and others; but their prophecies +are not given with the formality of those distinct books to which perhaps +St. Peter refers. In point of time Jonah comes just with his message of +woe to the city of Nineveh. Amos the herdman and Hosea his contemporary +follow. Then Joel with his thunder, and Isaiah with his evangelism; +Micah with his earnestness; Nahum with his sublimity; and Zephaniah with +his severity, take their place in about equal succession. Jeremiah then +appears with all his weightiness of matter and solemnity of manner. +Habakkuk in briefer form takes up the same subjects. Daniel with great +grandeur of style dwells on the topics of the text. Obadiah stands +between him and Ezekiel as though to make them both more prominent. At a +later period come Haggai and Zechariah; and then Malachi closes the +illustrious train, taking the last pen from the wing of inspiration, or +putting the signet upon the scroll of prophecy. Some of these may be +especially referred to; but we include them all: for "to Him give all the +prophets witness; that in his name whosoever believeth in Him shall have +forgiveness of sins." + +(i.) They were _men_; not angels, or belonging to some order of being +superior to ourselves; but they were members with us of the same human +family, and "subject to like passions as we are." They were _sinners_: +born with the old taint of corruption; subject to hereditary guilt, +depravity, and death, and exposed to all the evils to which flesh is +heir. They were _redeemed sinners_, included in that same covenant of +mercy of which we make our boast. They were therefore _personally +interested_ in those truths which became the subject of their search. + +The original promise belonged to them as well as to us. They claimed an +interest in the leading facts of patriarchal history, and in the gorgeous +ceremonial of the Mosaic Institute. All the events of divine providence +which were preparing the way for the Messiah's coming, and the +predictions which they themselves uttered, had some personal bearing. +They were not uninterested students of past history, of present +circumstances, or of future events. Their own destinies were involved in +the truths they taught. + +(ii.) They were _good men_. That the Divine Being has sometimes made +"false prophets" means of carrying out his purposes there can be no +doubt. But he is a daring man who would venture from this either to +justify or extenuate an impure ministry. Sanctuary services are too pure +and solemn to be performed by any but "_clean hands_." The instruments +which God ordains are holy. With a miserable exception here and there, +even the enemies of truth have not denied to the ancient prophets the +crown of a good character. Try them by any recognised standard of +virtue, and they will not be found wanting. Trace the minutest +circumstances of their private life; their self denial; their exposure to +danger; their fearlessness in denouncing sin; their being proof against +corruption; their zeal; their sympathy; their benevolence--and they +present a startling contrast with the priests of Paganism, or the false +prophets among the Jews. + +Call to mind the meekness of Moses; the heroism of Elijah; the gratitude +of David; the sweetness of Hosea; the fervour of Isaiah; the tenderness +of Jeremiah; the constancy of Daniel; the faithfulness of Ezekiel--and +you unhesitatingly endorse the inspired oracle, that they were "holy +men." And although some of the prophets are remarkable for particular +features of character, they are not wanting in all the others which are +requisite to constitute _goodness_. + +But what a magnificent portrait could you present to the mind as you +review the whole! The characteristics of these different men meet and +blend in the photograph; and you look upon a being--human it is true, but +sanctified by grace, and fitted to exercise "a more telling influence +upon the destines of the world," than the mightiest statesman, or the +profoundest philosopher, or the noblest warrior of which history can +boast. Like the hues of the rainbow, which in all their softness and +sweetness and sublimity, rejoice to span the heavens together, and make +up one token of the covenant, do the prophets stand before us as one +class of men, unfolding the covenant of mercy, and offering light and +life to a dying and dark world. + +(iii.) They were _inspired good men_. And here is suggested one of the +most formidable dangers of the present day. An attempt is being made to +dry up the most fruitful source of confidence which the Christian has in +the truth of his Bible:--viz., its plenary inspiration. We know that +this is not new; but the lover of "the Book" had charmed himself with the +hope that the controversy was over, and the truth triumphant. He is now, +however, alarmed on finding that in addition to the old adversaries--the +infidel, the sceptic, and the profane--he has to enter the lists with new +combatants altogether; and among the rest, the descendants of those +glorious Reformers, who, centuries ago, shook the papal power to its +centre; melted the Bible's chain in the martyr's flame; and liberated the +mind of a continent from the most crushing spiritual despotism the world +ever knew. It is a distressing sound to hear those academic halls, which +have been the greatness and the pride of Germany, resounding with +pernicious error, not to say, positive blasphemy. Looking at the subject +in the light of heaven we gratefully and confidently say that "the word +of the Lord endureth for ever;" but humanly speaking, the Bible is in +danger. And we must be prepared to meet it with a zeal, "such as in the +martyr's glowed, dying champions for their God." The plenary inspiration +of the Scriptures, and therefore of the prophets--is our impregnable +stronghold, and must never be abandoned. The apostle says, when +referring to the Old Testament--"All Scripture is given by inspiration of +God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for +instruction in righteousness. For the prophecy came not in old time by +the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy +Ghost." And by this inspiration we do not merely mean that some general +ideas were poured into their minds, which they clothed in their own +language, and then published them to the world as a revelation from +heaven. If the Bible be inspired _at all_, it is _fully_ inspired. +Otherwise, you cannot tell where to make the distinction between what is +divine and what is human. You must either maintain the truth of the +_whole_ book, or abandon your conviction of its supreme authority. We +adopt the statement that the prophets "composed their works under so +plenary and immediate an influence of the Holy Spirit that God may be +said to speak by them to man, and not merely that they spoke to men in +the name of God, and by his authority." Mark the wide distinction which +is here suggested. Take the case of an earnest and trustworthy minister. +He tells his congregation that he is anxious to give them the truth; and +has been to God in his closet asking for light. In answer to prayer he +believes that the Holy Spirit has given him light; and, confident that it +is the truth, he announces it to the people. But you would not say that +that man is inspired. There may be much of what is fallible and human +with what is truthful and divine. Suppose, however, that on some Sabbath +morning, he could with authority stand up and say that what is now about +to be declared is not his, but God's--that he is in ignorance of what the +utterance will really be, and that in simple fact, God is to speak +through him, using his lips only as the medium of communication; you have +here an instance of what is meant by plenary inspiration. And this we +say is the case with the prophets. These "holy men of God spake _as_ +they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Not in the _words_ which man's wisdom +teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth." + +2. _Their Conduct_. They "enquired and searched diligently." + +(i.) What is implied in the _search_ they made? It would seem as if for +the moment the thought of their inspiration was dropped; and like other +earnest students of the Bible, they now search to ascertain the meaning +of their own, and each other's prophecies. There is here, however, an +incidental, though strong proof of the justice of their claims. The +predictions they uttered were not their own conceptions; not the product +of their own reasoning; and perhaps not even engraven on their own +memory. They gave expression to statements beyond themselves, and the +meaning of which at the time, they did not understand. And when (if we +may so say) the breath of inspiration had passed from them, they sat down +to discover by diligent search the import of those utterances which they +had made. They had _written_ for _the world_: they now _enquired_ for +_themselves_. Their _predictions_ are by the grace of God, the property +of the Church: their _search_ is for their own personal benefit. The +truths they proclaim, become the power of God to their own comfort and +purity. + +The metaphor is taken from the employment of a miner who digs deeply into +the caverns of the earth that he may find its treasures; and by their +appropriation enrich himself. The prophets were not satisfied with the +mere knowledge of the fact that the mine existed, and that its contents +were more brilliant than any of Golconda, and beyond the price of rubies. +They went to dig for themselves; and seizing the precious pearls of +truth, they enriched and beautified and ennobled their own character, +until their shining became too glorious for earth: they were then +translated to heaven to sparkle amid eternal sunshine, and burn in glory +for ever. How solemnly does the Great Teacher's injunction sound in our +ears--"Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; +and they are they which testify of Me." + +(ii.) The _earnestness_ of their search. They "enquired and searched +_diligently_." This word is forceful and signifies to trace out or +explore thoroughly. The idea which the apostle intends to convey is +thought to be this: "they perceived that in their communications there +were so great and glorious truths which they did not fully comprehend, +and they diligently employed their natural faculties to understand that +which they were appointed to impart to succeeding generations." There is +much of simplicity and power in the account which Daniel gives of his own +_search_. "In the first year of" the reign "of Darius"--"I (Daniel) +_understood by books_ the number of the years, whereof the word of the +Lord came to Jeremiah, the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy +years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And I _set my face_ (marking +earnestness and diligence and resolve) unto the Lord God to seek by +prayer and supplication" the meaning of these things. You are not +surprised at the visit of the man Gabriel, who was caused to fly swiftly; +and, touching him at the time of the evening oblation, said, "O Daniel I +am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. I will show thee +that which is noted in the Scriptures of truth." + +Now, if the prophets had thus with earnest diligence to search out the +meaning of their own predictions, what but our capacity should be the +measure of our toil? Nor is this labour to be confined to the pulpit. +"The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him." If you want to know +the meaning of your Bible, you must prayerfully study it. "These in +Berea were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received +the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, +whether those things were so." + +Here then is our Student: himself a study for all who are anxious to +comprehend this book. There are only three orders of being by whom God +has spoken to the world: Christ; the angels; and _men_. And among these +men the prophets hold the first rank. At an early period--the elements +of religion being already revealed--a new method of communicating truth +was employed; and man rose from the position of an _observer_, to the +dignity and majesty of the prophet. In some instances he is removed at +once into this office without previous training. But generally God walks +among "the schools of the prophets;" and laying his hand upon the chosen +one, He bids him go forth. His very call seems to constitute him an +extraordinary man. Both his appearance and actions make him singular. +He stands alone. The mountain or the sequestered vale is his abode; and +he is only seen among men when he has some message from God. Clothed in +his sackcloth, he appears at the court, the city, and the village; and +having pronounced the coming woe, or stated the imposed duty, or offered +pardon, he mysteriously disappears; and is seen no more, till the burden +is again upon him, and forces him to come forth and speak. There is a +fire in his eye, but it is inspiration, not wildness. There is a majesty +in his gait, as though he is either great himself, or is employed by one +who is. There is a solemnity of countenance and a nobility of manner, +which say that he is not often among mortals, but dwells in a higher +sphere. In language which more fully pertains to us as Christians, his +"conversation is in heaven." Carried up by the Spirit perhaps to the +summit of the mountain which covers his retreat, views of the future +break upon his vision. His eye burns; his lips quiver; his bosom heaves. +And opening his mouth, he pours forth in more than angelic cadences, the +designs of God concerning men, and kingdoms, and the human race. It may +be that to himself all this is a mystery. He therefore gathers up every +utterance, and carries them to his mountain home. In that consecrated +cave he spreads out the panorama; and lifting up his eyes to heaven for +light, he traces the picture to see what "the Spirit of Christ which was +in" him "did signify." + + "Sweet is the harp of prophecy; too sweet + Not to be wronged by a mere mortal touch, + Nor can the wonders it records be sung + To meaner music, and not suffer loss." + +II. THE THEME.--It is here presented in a twofold aspect. First, in its +_entirety_: and secondly, in one of its _branches_. + +1. The great subject of prophetic enquiry is _salvation_. "Of which +_salvation_ the prophets have enquired and searched diligently." + +(i.) In its _nature_. Is there a word in universal language which has +as much meaning in it as this word salvation? It takes within its range +all time and all eternity. Though specially designed for man, it has its +influence upon every order of being God has made, and presents the most +glorious manifestations of God himself which the world possesses. It +glares upon sin with indignation, but throws its arms of mercy around the +sinner; offers to him a deliverance from the guilt and power and +pollution and inbeing of evil; gives him the favour and image of his +Maker; assures to him victory over his final adversary; introduces him +to, and acquits him before the great white throne; and arrays him in all +the glories of an everlasting heaven. + +To understand it fully comes not within the range of angelic intellect; +and yet it demands our highest regard, as it has had the attention of +enquiring prophets. 'Tis true they had not the light upon it that a +better dispensation has given to us. It is not to be expected that they +should be penetrated with its glory as we ought to be; but they were so +impressed by its grandeur, that their thoughts were raised above all +merely temporal deliverances, and they felt that their own interests were +wrapped up in the theme. "And thus," we are told, "did this sweet stream +of their doctrine, as the rivers, make its own banks fertile and pleasant +as it ran by, and flowed still forward to after ages; and by the +confluence of more such prophecies, grew greater as it went, till it fell +in with the main current of the gospel in the New Testament both acted +and preached by the Great Prophet himself whom they foretold as to come, +and recorded by his apostles and evangelists, and thus united into one +river clear as crystal. This doctrine of salvation in the Scriptures +hath refreshed the city of God, his Church under the gospel, and still +shall do so till it empty itself into the ocean of eternity." + +(ii.) This salvation _in its provision_, is _of grace_. "Who prophesied +_of the grace_ that should come unto you." The apostle does not mean to +say by this clause, that there is something in the theme _exclusively_ +adapted to those to whom he wrote. But we understand him to mean, in +general terms, that the ancient seers searched diligently into that +system of mercy, which should in after times, and under the Christian +dispensation, be more fully revealed. + +The word "grace" may have reference to _the manner_ in which this scheme +should be made known; intimating that it was by _divine favour_ that the +new economy supervened upon the old. But we take it rather to denote +_the gospel salvation itself_. It is altogether a system of grace. In +its projection; in its development; in its accomplishment; in its +application; in its final consummation, it is all of grace. "By grace ye +are saved." + +We are not among the number of those who doubt or deny the entire and +absolute fall of man. Whatever good there was in him was then destroyed; +whatever evil there is in him, was then induced. He is fallen in mind +and soul and body. Physically, morally, spiritually, he is a wreck. But +was no vestage left of that divine image in which he was created? Not +one. No lingering desire to regain his glory and the position he had +lost? None. Was he altogether dead to virtue and his Maker's claims? +Yes, altogether. But was his nature so far polluted as that no trace of +his original purity could be discovered? Not a trace to be seen even by +an Omniscient eye. And was there left to him _no_ inherent power to do +that which is good? None whatever. "From the sole of the foot even unto +the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and +putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither +mollified with ointment." + +Then see his position. If his fall, which is so entire, is his own act, +he is as much amenable to his Maker as he was before. The fact of his +fall will not lesson his obligations: nor will it impose upon God any +necessity to show mercy. He therefore stands before his Judge a +condemned criminal; and the course which the Judge shall take is entirely +within himself. There is nothing which can force Him to show favour. If +He say, die, He is as justly glorious as He was before. If then, there +is _no_ obligation upon God to save: and if He _does_ determine to be +gracious, the salvation _must be_ of grace. Oh, is it possible to +conceive the solemnity of that moment when the destinies of untold +millions were in the balance? Can you picture the suspense of heaven and +hell when waiting Jehovah's fiat? Surely for the moment the pulse of +nature throbbed not; heaven's music ceased to flow, and the howl of the +pit was hushed. Then God, on his azure throne, holding in one hand the +sword, and in the other the sceptre, stretched out the sceptre saying, +"Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom." + +Your salvation is of grace. You are required to _pray_; but you are +saved by grace. You are required to _believe_; but you are saved by +grace. You are required to _labour_; but you are saved by grace. You +are required to _suffer_; but you are saved by grace. You will have to +_die_; but when you stand a spirit glorified before the throne, it will +be by grace. + +(iii.) Salvation in _its object_ is the soul. "Receiving the end of +your faith even the salvation of your _souls_." By the soul we +understand the immaterial principle or spiritual part of man; which +though united with the body, is perfectly distinct from it. + +As to its _nature_, it is possessed of intelligence, volition, sensation. +It has capacities for enjoyment and suffering: for both good and evil. +Its _immortality_ is assured to us by the mouth of God. It may be lost. +With all its dignity and glory, it may be for ever crushed by the divine +hand, but never destroyed. While, however, it may be lost, it may be +saved. The grace which can calm its fears, and satisfy its hopes, and +purge its impurity, and consummate its bliss is now manifested. How +insignificant does everything appear when compared with _its_ salvation. +The blotting of the sun, the desolation of an universe is a trifle when +put in the balance with an immortal spirit. Let the sceptic doubt its +immortality, and the atheist deny, and the scoffer jest; but let us look +forward to the judgment-seat and beyond it, for "the soul, immortal as +its sire, shall never die." + +(iv.) Salvation, _in its attainment_, is _by faith_. "The end of your +faith." + +There is no article of our religion more plainly revealed than this--"By +grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the +gift of God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. +Whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but hath eternal life. He +that believeth shall be saved." Faith is the simplest operation of the +mind; and may therefore strictly be said to be incapable of definition. +Still it is easy to say what is meant by the term when applied to +personal salvation. It means the trust of the heart on the atonement of +Christ, as the condition of pardon. "With the heart man believeth unto +righteousness." It is however of the highest importance that the thought +of its _simplicity_ be made prominent. Let us not undervalue religious +knowledge; for to some extent it is absolutely necessary. But do not +mystify the plan of mercy, and perplex the anxious seeker by requirements +which the gospel has not made prominent. Many a poor sinner exercises +faith in Christ who cannot give a philosophical disquisition as to its +nature. It is not necessary to be thoroughly acquainted with the science +of optics in order to see. A man may look through a telescope before he +can define the refraction or reflection of light. Now all that is +included in the word salvation hangs on this simple condition. + +The question may be regarded perhaps more nice than wise as to _why_ such +a condition should have been appointed; and yet it will sometimes force +itself upon the thoughtful mind. The answer to it must in great measure +be conjectural, but may we not suppose that _one_ design of it was to do +away with the last vestige of self-righteousness in man? If Moses had +struck the rock with something more powerful than the little rod, the +gushing of the waters might have been attributed to his own strength. If +Jericho had been taken by a regular siege, the glory of its conquest +would have been ascribed to military science and the prowess of arms. If +some heavy conditions had been imposed upon the sinner, he would have +_claimed_ his pardon. + + "But, 'how unlike the complex works of man, + Heaven's easy, artless, unencumbered plan, + No meretricious graces to beguile, + No clustering ornaments to clay the pile. + From ostentation as from weakness free, + It stands like the cerulean arch we see, + Majestic in its own simplicity. + Inscribed above the portal from afar, + Conspicuous as the brightness of a star, + Legible only by the light they give, + Stand the soul-quickening words--Believe and Live.'" + +2. The apostle next concentrates attention upon one leading _branch_ of +this great theme. + +Having put the whole subject before us in the word salvation, he now +fixes our thought upon _the relation which Christ sustains to it_. +"Searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was +in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of +Christ, and the glory that should follow." The testimony which is here +said to be borne to Christ, is by the Spirit, and the signification of +the Spirit in the testimony is that which the prophets sought. He who in +the text is called "the Spirit of Christ," in the following verse is +designated the Holy Ghost, so that there can be no doubt as to the person +referred to. He is variously spoken of as "the Spirit of God"--"the +Spirit of the Father"--"the Spirit of the Son"--"the Holy Spirit," and He +is the third person in the Holy Trinity. "In the entire and undivided +unity of the Godhead, there is a Trinity of personal subsistences; +consubstantial, co-equal, and co-eternal." It was this "Spirit of +Christ" who inspired the prophets; for these "holy men of God spake as +they were moved by the Holy Ghost." + +(i.) They sought the signification of the Spirit as to the _Saviour's +person_. "Searching _what_." This expression is said to mean either +what _time_; or what _people_; or what _person_. But looking at the +whole passage it seems most naturally to refer to Him who is the subject +of these predictions. They therefore diligently enquired as to who He +was, of whom they, under inspiration, had been speaking. + +(ii.) They also studied the prophecies as _to the time of his coming_: +"What manner of time?" This phrase has a twofold application. It may +refer to that particular period of the world's history when the Saviour +should come to endure his sufferings and enter into his glory. So Daniel +reckoned up the number of the weeks, and sought to understand the time. + +It may also have reference to "the character and condition of the age" +when He should become incarnate. "What _manner_ of time?" + +We are now brought to the testimony itself which the Spirit beforehand +gave. + +(iii.) _The Saviour's sufferings_, in their relation to our salvation. +"The sufferings of Christ." + +We limit ourselves to two thoughts: these sufferings _were predicted_, +and those predictions _were fulfilled_. Nearly the whole of the Old +Testament has a connection with them. They are predicted by the very +page which records the fall. "And I will put enmity between thee and the +woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and +thou shalt bruise his heel." Under the patriarchal economy there was a +significant allusion to them in the offering up of Isaac. The Mosaic +types were prophecies. The paschal lamb; the smitten rock; the brazen +serpent; and the scape-goat on the day of expiation, exhibited this +feature of Messiah's character. Well nigh every page of the prophets is +marked by blood and sorrow. The Psalmist, in thrilling tone, enquires, +"My God, my God why hast thou forsaken Me?" And in the last struggles of +death Jesus quoted the passage in its application to himself. The +fifty-third chapter of Isaiah is an unapproachable description of a +suffering person. Its reference to Christ has been extorted from the +Jew, and is confidently believed by every Christian. The notion of two +Messiahs--the one suffering and the other conquering--is an unworthy +subterfuge, and stands opposed to both fact and Scripture. Daniel is +second only to Isaiah in his minute and powerful description of the +Redeemer's sufferings. Zechariah almost closes the book by the startling +cry, "Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, and against the man that is my +fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall +be scattered; and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones." + +That these Scriptures have been fulfilled who can doubt that believes the +gospels? Just before the Saviour's ascension, and while yet partaking of +the valedictory feast with his disciples, "He said unto them, these are +the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all +things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in +the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning Me. Then opened He their +understanding that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto +them, thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to +rise from the dead the third day." We pass by the pain and hunger and +thirst which are the attributes of humanity; but from his very +incarnation may it be said that his sufferings began. Mark the meanness +of his birth; the poverty of his circumstances; the persecution which +drove Him from his infant-home, and think of his manner of life prior to +the public announcement of his character, and you say with the +prophet--"A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." + +Now look into Gethsemane's innermost recess and you see an amount of +suffering unendurable except under heavenly strengthening; "And, being in +an agony, He prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great +drops of blood falling down to the ground. And there appeared an angel +unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him." Betrayed by a disciple, He is +apprehended by the "multitude with swords and staves:" then arraigned +before the high priest; then before Pilate: then taken before Herod and +clothed in the purple; then bound and dragged again before Pilate: then +smitten by the ruffianly attendants, and forsaken by his followers He is +condemned to die. After the Roman fashion He is led away bearing his own +cross to the fated hill. Here is the consummation of their cruelty, of +his suffering, and of heaven's suspense. The leader of an army to the +battle-field looks with anxiety to that moment of the day which decides +the conflict; and either covers him with a nation's glory, or overwhelms +him in a nation's disgrace. The fate of empires has hung on the actions +of an hour; and the liberties of a continent have trembled for an instant +in the balance. But the salvation of a world was hanging on Calvary till +the Sufferer exclaimed: "It is finished." + +You will not suppose that we have exhibited all, or even a principal part +of "the sufferings of Christ." We do not wish to underrate this bodily +distress; but oh, compare it not with the depth of the soul's agony. The +hand of man which smote Him was malignant and painful too; but the hand +of God with the sword of justice in it, fell in dreadful weight and +pierced his spirit. His being betrayed and forsaken by the disciples was +a source of pain; but it was when the Father hid his face that his +sufferings were complete. "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken Me?" + +In addition to the general scope of prophecy, there are many minute and +particular predictions of suffering which were fulfilled. The Psalmist +says--"Yea mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted, which did eat of +my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." And you call to mind the +betrayal of our Saviour. David says again, "They pierced my hands and my +feet." And when He was crucified the nails were driven through these +parts of the body. Isaiah says, "He was numbered with the +transgressors;" and we know that He was crucified between two thieves. +Prophecy says, "They part my garments among them, and casts lots upon my +vesture." History says, "And they crucified Him, and parted his garments +casting lots." Prophecy says, "A bone of Him shall not be broken." +History says that when the soldiers "came to Jesus and saw that He was +dead already, they brake not his legs." Prophecy says, "They gave me +also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." +History says, "They gave Him vinegar to drink mingled with gall," when He +said "I thirst." You are not surprised then, that after the fulfilment +of so many and varied predictions, Jesus should have spoken to the two +doubting disciples with a somewhat sterner voice than was his wont: "O +fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken, +ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his +glory." + +(iv.) See the connection between this salvation and the Saviour, with +regard to _the glory_ resulting from his passion and death. "And the +glory," or glories, "that should follow." We distract not your mind with +the many meanings of the word "_glory_." In the text it signifies the +honour accruing to the Redeemer himself, and the benefit resulting to the +world from his sufferings. It will apply to _his resurrection_; for even +of this the prophets had some knowledge. "Thou wilt not leave my soul in +hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." It has +also reference to the Saviour's _exaltation to_ and _session at the right +hand of the Father_: for this is the result of his humiliation. "We see +Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of +death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should +taste death for every man." But it has another meaning. The glory +resulting from "the sufferings of Christ," is to be seen in _the carrying +out of his own scheme of mercy_, and _the universal happiness of man_. +Nothing short of this can satisfy the scope of the text; the expectation +and claims of the Messiah; or the call of the Church. It was no less an +object than this--the saving of a whole world--that brought Christ from +heaven and raised up the Church on earth. If you look or labour for +anything short of this, you degrade your Master and dishonour yourselves. +You have got too large a machinery at work for anything less than this. +You will cripple the energies and damp the ardour of our Captain's +embattled hosts, if you are satisfied with anything short of the conquest +of a world. The question therefore is, have we any fair prospect of, and +guarantee for, universal glory? + +The text itself affords ground of hope that in the Scriptures we shall +find all we desire. An intimation is given that the prophets themselves +not only predicted it, but by their diligent search, apprehended and +believed it. And let us not suppose that our faith in a happy world +rests on a few dark or obscure expressions thinly scattered over the +Bible, and requiring more than ordinary penetration to find them at all. +Science by gigantic strides seems almost to have reached its perfection. +We are told that by its light the philosopher can, from a single bone put +into his hands, discover the existence of a "great wingless bird" of +another hemisphere, and can construct "its skeleton so exactly, that when +all the bones" arrive in this country "the correspondence between them +and their conjectural portraits" is complete; that the astronomer is able +by his calculations to tell the existence of a planet, which observation +proves to be strictly true. But wonderful as is all this, we are not +reduced to any such necessity with regard to the future of the gospel. +We have not to take a few dark sayings, or enigmatical expressions, or +hieroglyphic inscriptions, and as we best may spell out the universal +spread of truth. As with the light of a sunbeam, or with "the point of a +diamond," is it revealed. He that runs may read. Abraham saw it: "And +in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Jacob saw +it: "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between +his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the gathering of the +people be." David saw it: "Ask of Me, and I will give thee the heathen +for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy +possession." Isaiah saw it: "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, +and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young +lion, and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them." Oh +what a state of security and peace! + +"Lift up thine eyes round about, and see; all they gather themselves +together, they come to thee; thy sons shall come from far, and thy +daughters shall be nursed at thy side." Let the Church no more hang down +her head with grief. Look up, and see what is approaching. "All they +gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from +far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side." A general +confluence of the nations is at hand, and all will flow into the church. +"Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and +be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto +thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee." The +vast-swelling multitude with their wealth shall come and beg admission. +"We have now to beg people to come into the church: the day is coming +when they shall ask permission. "Who are these that fly as a cloud, and +as the doves to their windows?" Who _are_ these myriads making their way +to Christ? "And as the doves to their windows?" There is a storm at +hand: the people foresee it, and run for refuge. "Thy gates shall be +open continually; they shall not be shut day or night; that men may bring +unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be +brought." So constant is the pouring in that the doors must be kept +open. It is now a rare thing to see a convert approaching; but then the +stream will be continuous, and the houses of prayer open night and day. + +"Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast +of kings: and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy +Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob." The very wealth which is now in +heathen hands shall be consecrated to the further spread of the gospel. +"And thou shalt suck the breast of kings:" for they shall become "nursing +fathers and queens nursing mothers;" and the reign of the Messiah shall +be one of peace. "Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting +nor destruction within thy borders: but thou shalt call thy walls +Salvation, and thy gates Praise. The sun shall be no more thy light by +day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the +Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy +sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for +the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning +shall be ended. Thy people also shall be all righteous; they shall +inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my +hands, that I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, +and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time." +Do not say that this glorious chapter is exceptional. It is only a +sample, and the bulk is equal in beauty. If the Bible, then, be true, a +redeemed universe is hastening upon us. Paradise created even cannot put +before us the glory of paradise restored. All the events which are +passing over us--even those which appear the most alarming--are under an +influence which will make them tributary to the final issue. "Blessed be +the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things, and +blessed be his glorious name for ever; and let the whole earth be filled +with his glory. Amen and Amen." + +1. Let us learn a lesson of _veneration for the Scriptures_. Unless it +be the great doctrine of atonement, there is no truth to which the +Christian clings, assailed with greater bitterness in our days than the +plenary authority of the Bible. Moreover the low views on this question +which many professing Christians hold and teach, are most deplorable and +damaging. We expect opposition from the avowed adversaries of the Book; +but, the source of truth is now imperilled by indifference and treachery. +The whole volume has a divine origin. "God who at sundry times and in +divers manners spake in times past by the prophets hath in these last +days spoken to us by his Son." + +2. A lesson of _love to the Saviour_. "He hath died" for us, "the just +for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." Do not forget your +personal interest in those sufferings to which the text refers. They are +in the strictest sense _vicarious_. He suffered not for his own sins, +but for yours. You may realise their saving efficacy, and be "made meet +for the inheritance of the saints in light." How great are his claims +upon our affection and service! + +3. A lesson of _duty to the world_. The salvation of the whole race is +provided by "the sufferings;" and is included in "the glory." A +sanctified universe is to be the result of the Saviour's cross: and to a +large extent He has made the Churches responsible for the conversion of +the world. A weight of obligation rests upon each member which cannot be +put into language. The wailings of a dying race call loudly for our +zeal. The groans of the lost gather strength as they ascend the pit. +The voice of heaven, from angels, saints, and God, urge us onward in the +discharge of duty. Oh, the wreck is on the billow; hasten with the means +of safety. The plague-spot is in the camp; offer the incense of +atonement. And let all your efforts be put forth in faith, and under a +deep impression of the truth of Cecil's memorable words: "Faith is the +master-spring of a Minister," as well as of every Christian. "Hell is +before me, and thousands of lost souls are shut up there in everlasting +agony. Jesus Christ stands forth to save men from rushing into this +bottomless abyss. He sends me to proclaim His ability and love. I want +no fourth idea." + + + + +THE MIND WHICH WAS IN CHRIST JESUS. +REV. GEORGE WOOD. + + + "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." + PHILIPPIANS ii. 5. + +The Saviour left His followers an example that they should tread in His +steps; and His example in everything that appertains to His human nature, +is not only practicable but essential. We cannot imitate His power, or +His wisdom, or His miracles, or His sufferings, or anything in which His +Divine nature was manifested or employed; but we can imitate His +meekness, His patience, His zeal, His self-denial, His superiority to +temptation, His abandonment of the world, His devotion to His Father's +will, in short, all those habits of mind and life which distinguished His +earthly career. And with this perfect example before us, we need never +be in doubt or perplexity as to what is our duty; we may test our motives +and our conduct by the teaching and example of Christ, and if we possess +His mind we shall endeavour to copy His life--to "walk as Christ also +walked"--to be in this world as Christ also was. + +This Epistle was addressed by the Apostle Paul to a Church which he +tenderly loved, and for whose prosperity he constantly prayed. He had +suffered much in the establishment of Christianity at Philippi, and the +Philippians had suffered much in the maintenance of their profession of +faith, chiefly from their fellow-citizens who continued heathen. The +Apostle was a prisoner at Rome, with the prospect of martyrdom as the +termination of his glorious career. Undaunted by the prospect, he +declares his readiness--nay, more--his "desire to depart and be with +Christ." He exhorts the Philippians to steadfastness, fidelity, and +patience amid the sufferings to which they were exposed from without; and +to simplicity and "lowliness of mind" amongst themselves. He sets before +them the conduct of Christ in His condescension, and the glory of Christ +in His exaltation; and exhorts them to imitate the Saviour's humility, +that they might share His triumph. "Let this mind be in you, which was +also in Christ Jesus." + +This text is of universal application. It applies to us. The highest +dignity attainable in this world is conformity to Jesus Christ. In what +then does conformity to Jesus Christ consist? In other words, what are +those elements of character and conduct which distinguished Him, and +which are to be copied by us in our daily life? + +I. The first which we mention, and which is prominent throughout the +whole of His history is _meekness_ or _humility_. Dignified as was His +character, high as were His claims, glorious as was His mission, He was +never arrogant or boastful, proud or ostentatious. He neither sought the +homage of the multitude, nor the society of the rich and the great. He +accepted these if offered, but He never sought them. It is a fact that +Christ never demanded, yet never declined the worship of men during His +earthly sojourn. The Apostles shrunk from it, Angels rebuked it when +offered to them, Christ never did. It was sometimes given, it was never +declined. He did not obtrude Himself upon the attention of the multitude +as the Saviour of the world; but ate, and drank, and slept, and walked, +and lived amongst them, and was in every respect a man with men. He +sometimes escaped from the society of the rich, that He might mitigate +the sorrows, and promote the interests of the poor. He never sought +human applause, and frequently retired from the scene of the most +astounding miracle, charging the subject of His healing and His blessing +to "tell no man" of Him. He might have taken the throne, and reigned +"King of the Jews," in a political and worldly sense, had He been +covetous of regal honours, or ambitious for worldly power. But He had a +higher mission. His kingdom was "not of this world," and He came "not to +be ministered unto, but to minister." + +It cannot, however, be asserted that Jesus was insensible, or altogether +indifferent, to the temptations to popularity and power to which He was +exposed; if so, His example is of no practical utility to us. He did not +feel as we feel, and we can gather no instruction, and no motives from +His history or experience. But we believe that He "was in all points +tempted _like_ as we are;" that as a man He was the subject of all the +emotions, affections, and impulses which we feel. He could weep, and +love, and hate, and fear, and pure as His nature was, He had to battle +with the various temptations of the world and the wicked one, all the +more perhaps because of the sinlessness of His holy humanity. + +Great and frequent were the provocations of His enemies, but He never +lost His temper--He never forfeited the claim to be called "the meek and +lowly Jesus." If you follow Him to the house of Caiaphas the high +priest, to the judgment hall of Herod or of Pilate, or to the Cross +itself--though He was buffetted, accused falsely, condemned, spit upon, +crucified--He passed through all the same calm, humble, holy Being. +There was no retaliation, no resentment. There was majesty in His very +meekness. And this is an important element in the Saviour's character +and conduct, which as Christians we must acquire and exhibit. + +Undue elevation in circumstances of prosperity and fame, is as injurious +to our spiritual progress, as irritation and depression are in +circumstances of adversity and trial; and both are to be avoided. The +Saviour left us an example--a bright and a beautiful example--O how few +of us copy it in this respect. When the voice of flattery and praise is +heard--when we are raised to posts of influence and honour--when the sun +shines brightly upon our daily pathway--how few of us keep our meekness +and humility; how few of us carry all our honours back to Him who gave +them; how few of us so improve and sanctify our talents as that He shall +have the glory. And on the other hand when fortune frowns upon us--when +the world despises us--when our "own familiar friend, in whom we trusted, +lifteth up his heel against us," alas! how few of us "calmly sit on +tumult's wheel," and leave events to God. It is easier to sing and +preach about such a disposition than it is to acquire and exhibit it; but +it is attainable and it is essential--"Let this mind be in you which was +also in Christ Jesus." + +II. _Simplicity_ and _unity_ distinguish the character and conduct of +Christ. In all His intercourse with friends and foes, His adherence to +truth and righteousness is marked and constant. He was criticised and +catechised and calumniated, but His transparency of character was never +destroyed. His enemies opposed and threatened, but He never hesitated in +the path of duty, or in His devotion to His Father's will. However +captious their questions, and whether they related to political or +spiritual matters, He invariably turned them against His opponents, and +made them minister to the cause of truth and righteousness. Sometimes He +stood single-handed against a multitude of foes, they were often +vacillating, cowardly, and inconsistent with themselves; but not so the +Saviour. With what authority did He rebuke their selfishness, their +duplicity, their sin; and yet how confidently could He appeal to His +bitterest opponents as to the simplicity and purity of His own character +and life--"Which of you convinceth _Me_ of sin?" The proud and +supercilious Pharisees sought "to entangle Him in His talk;" they charged +Him with blasphemy, with disregard for the Sabbath, with breaking the +law, and they disputed His authority to act as He did; but their cunning +could not ensnare, their threatening could not intimidate. Satan sought +by a threefold temptation to turn Him aside; he desired Him to question, +in the first place, the providence of God, then to tempt an interposition +of Providence by exposing Himself to unnecessary danger, and finally to +fall down and worship him; but our Lord indignantly repelled the tempter, +and maintained His purity; and "angels came and ministered unto Him." "I +must work the works of Him that sent me," was the motto of His life--the +simple purpose of His mind; nor did He shrink from any portion of that +work however hazardous and difficult. "My meat," said He, "is to do the +will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work." + +In this simple purpose of the Saviour's mind and conduct we have a +beautiful example. Nothing is so difficult, in days like these, as the +maintenance of a pure and simple mind. Duplicity, deception, and +selfishness pervade all ranks and conditions of men. You find them in +the shop, in the market-place, in the family, and alas! in the church +itself; and nothing but a resolute resistance, directed and sustained by +the grace of God, can make the Christian proof against these evils. O +imitate the Saviour. Mark out for yourselves a definite line of conduct, +consistent with your Christian profession, and adhere to it firmly, in +spite of custom or contempt, and in the prospect of death itself. + +Simplicity produces unity. There is nothing complex in the character and +life of Christ. Every part is in perfect keeping with the whole. His +teaching, His miracles, His conduct, illustrate each other, and combine +to prove His true Messiahship, and exhibit the perfection of His life. +If there were glaring inconsistencies in the history of Jesus--if the +four Evangelists had written documents which could not be harmonized--if +the moral teaching, and the moral conduct of Christ were at variance--if +His pretensions were not justified by His works--then we might deny His +Messiahship, and disregard Him as our Great Example. But it is not so. +What He taught He practised; what He promised he performed; the work He +came from heaven to accomplish He actually "finished," even to the +shedding of His blood. "The cup which my Father hath given me to drink," +said He, "shall I not drink it?" Thus the example of Christ forbids all +fickleness and falsehood. It condemns all false appearances; and says to +all His followers, with an authority and force which even the words +themselves do not contain, "Let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, +nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." What a wonderful +and glorious change would the observance of such a rule effect in the +church, and in the world! "Let this mind be in you which was also in +Christ Jesus." + +III. The mind of Christ is distinguished by its _sympathy_ and +_ceaseless activity_. He could _weep_ at the grave of Lazarus, before +calling back His friend to life. He could _stop_ at the gate of Nain, to +cheer the heart of a bereaved widow, by restoring to life her only son. +He could condescend to _touch_ the loathsome leper, and thus make him +clean. He could _stoop to hold a conversation_ with a penitent +adulteress. He could _work a miracle_ to feed a hungry multitude. He +could _look_ conviction into Peter's heart, and thus send the faithless +Apostle out of His presence weeping bitterly. O there was nothing cold, +ungenerous, or selfish in the nature of Christ. He was never too much +occupied to listen to the tale of sorrow, nor too dignified to afford +relief. He was never unapproachable. The finest sensibilities, the +purest affections, the deepest sympathies were exhibited in actions, +which, had there been no ultimate purpose in His mission, would have +marked Him as a benefactor of our race, and carried down His name and His +fame to the latest posterity. And this, in a humbler degree, we are +called upon to imitate. How little like the Saviour is the man whose +heart is hard, whose temper is irritable, and who has no bowels of +compassion for the destitute and afflicted. How little like the Saviour +is the man who prides himself upon superior extraction or superior +position, and looks down with contempt upon the poor and the penniless. +The Son of Man came to seek, and to save the lost: and when John's +disciples asked Him for evidence that He was Christ, His reply was simply +this: Go tell your master the things which ye have seen and heard; "the +blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, +and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel +preached unto them." What an outline is this of the Redeemer's daily +toil! How He "went about doing good!" How He wandered among the cities +and villages of Judaea and Samaria; sharing the rough hospitality of +fishermen--the barley-bread of the poorest peasant; working miracles of +healing; teaching doctrines of profoundest import; contending with His +enemies, the Pharisees and Scribes; and conducting the minds and the +hearts of His disciples and the multitudes away from their superstitions +and their prejudices, to the heart of His Father's love, and the results +of His own suffering and sacrifice in their behalf: nor did this sublime +and ceaseless activity terminate until He hung upon the cross--and then +only to be renewed in ceaseless intercession at His Father's throne. And +again He left us an example. This active sympathy is the very genius of +our holy religion--the spirit which it breathes--the life which it +lives--the pure and blessed element in which it grows and becomes +perfect. Happy is the man who thus imitates the Saviour--whose +"weariness of life is gone," by the employment of his talents and his +time in "doing and receiving good." + +IV. All these elements of character in Christ were directed and +sustained by the _holiness of His nature_. This is undeniable His +enemies being judges. Even devils testified to this--"We know Thee, who +Thou art, the holy one of God;" they could not resist His Divine +authority; they could not impeach His human purity; and in order to +secure His condemnation at the last, the chief-priests were compelled to +resort to bribery and falsehood. And ever since the bitterest opponents +of His religion have been constrained to reiterate Pilate's verdict with +regard to Himself--"We find no fault in this man." + +It is difficult to estimate aright the holiness of Christ as an example +to us. It is difficult to discover how far, or whether at all, the +Divinity of Christ acted on the humanity in relation to His holiness. We +believe, however, that the holiness of His humanity was altogether +distinct from His Godhead; and though He "did no sin; neither was guile +found in His mouth," He was none the less exposed to temptation; but amid +the vanity and vice which everywhere abounded and surrounded Him, He +walked, and worked, and lived in the maintenance of that holiness which +we may imitate; not a holiness resulting from the union of the Divine +with the human, but a holiness belonging only to the latter. Had He +yielded to temptation, the whole of His mission would have failed, His +teaching would have had no force, His example would have perished with +His fame, and His death would have had no saving merit whatsoever. But +His holiness remained inviolate; and now it is the ground and the pattern +of ours. It is not enough that you be meek and lowly; it is not enough +that you be simple and ingenuous; it is not enough that you be +sympathetic and affectionate; you must be _holy_. "Jesu's is a +_spotless_ mind." + +Brethren, suffer me to urge the exhortation of the text. O the dignity, +the blessedness of this conformity to Christ! Will you seek it for +yourselves. You and I are only Christians so far as we resemble Christ, +not a bit farther. Jesus is Himself the perfect embodiment of His own +teaching, the living, acting example of all those elements of character +and conduct which fit intelligent and immortal spirits for the Paradise +of God. Therefore, "let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ +Jesus." 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