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A Cornell University 
 9 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029328865 
 
Cornell University Library 
 BS2430.A21 C5 1864 
 
 Christ a trend: ttiirteen discourses, by 
 
 oiin 
 
 3 1924 029 328 865 
 
CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 NEHEMIAH ADAMS, D. D., 
 
 PASTOR OF THE ESSEX STREET CHURCH, BOSTON. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 TICKNOR AND FIELDS. 
 
 1864. 
 
( ) 
 
 
 /V?/6 3g I 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by 
 
 N. Adams, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Masaachusetta. 
 
 KIVEESLDE, CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY H. O. HOUGHTON. 
 
NOTE. 
 
 These Discourses are intended by the author as a coun- 
 terpart to his volume, " The Friends of Christ in the New 
 Testament." There, the Saviour was seen befriended ; here, 
 we see him as a Friend. 
 
 (8) 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 rAOB 
 
 I. BEHOLD HOW HE LOYED HIM, 7 
 
 U. THE CALL OF MATTHEW, 35 
 
 m. THE WIDOW OF NAIN AND HER SON, .... 64 
 
 IV. CONVERSION OF ZACCHEUS, 74 
 
 T. WHO TOUCHED ME ? 96 
 
 VI. THOMAS 116 
 
 Vn. PETER ON THE WAVES 143 
 
 Vin. NATHANAEL 165 
 
 IX. THE FRIEND OF SEAMEN, 183 
 
 X. JOHN 206 
 
 XI. THOU SHALT NEVER WASH MY FEET 227 
 
 Xn. PAUL 245 
 
 Xin. STEPHEN, 262 
 
 (5) 
 
CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 I. 
 
 BEHOLD HOW HE LOVED HIM. 
 
 THEK SALD THE JEWS, BEHOLD HOW HE LOTED HIM. 
 
 We cannot draw the line between those parts of 
 our Saviour's conduct nor among those feelings which 
 proceeded, respectively, from his divine and human 
 natures. It is not intended that we should do so. 
 The Saviour's own manner of speaking concerning 
 himself is a safe and sufficient guide in speaking of 
 him. Without explanation or hesitation he says 
 things of himself which can be true of only one of 
 his natures. " What and if ye shall see the Son of 
 man ascend up where he was before ■? " " No man 
 hath ascended into heaven but he which came down 
 from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heav- 
 en." "Before Abraham was, I am." "And now, 
 Father, glorify thou me with the glory which I had 
 with thee before the world was." The Bible leads us 
 to think and speak of him at the same moment as 
 
 (7) 
 
CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 creating the world, laid in a manger ; upholding all 
 things" by the word of his power, and a man of sor- 
 rows ; every where present and searching the heart, 
 disappointed under a barren fig tree, ignorant of cer- 
 tain times ; tempted of the devil, yet terrifying a le- 
 gion of devils by his approach ; on a cross and on a 
 great white throne, the Resurrection and the Life, yet 
 dying between two thieves ; sent a prisoner from Pi- 
 late to Herod and from Herod to Pilate, then sitting 
 with the whole human race at his tribunal. We no 
 more feel that there is inconsistency in these several 
 representations than in singing at the same hour of 
 public worship a psalm respecting the vanity of man 
 as mortal, and dying Galileo's exulting apostrophe 
 and farewell to the "golden lamps of heaven." 
 
 It is the perfectness of just conceptions and feelings 
 respecting Christ to think and speak of him thus pro- 
 miscuously as God and man, without misgiving ; to 
 address him in a way which is really inconsistent with 
 one of his natures ; at Bethlehem to join with angels 
 adoring him in his slumber, and then, with saints and 
 angels in heaven proceeding to his feet with their 
 crowns, to say, " Thou art worthy, for thou wast 
 slain." 
 
 If we do not <ihus regard Christ, we shall be tried 
 with cold, speculative efforts to fix the right proportion 
 between the divine and human in his feelings and ac- 
 tions ; and thus he will be to us a difficult and repul- 
 
BEHOLD HOW HE LOVED HIM. 9 
 
 sive formula, a problem never solved, rather than an 
 object of love. As well might we try to discriminate 
 between the feelings which have their origin in our 
 mortal and immortal natures. It is interesting to 
 know, that of the great numbers who have been per- 
 plexed with regard to the union of two natures in 
 Christ, and have at last become the worshipers of 
 Immanuel, God with us, no one ever solved the mys- 
 tery in the divine nature to his own satisfaction, but 
 simply received Christ as he is represented in the 
 Bible, at once God and man ; and as there is no con- 
 fusion in the scriptural representations of Christ by 
 reason of his two natures, so there proves to be none 
 in the feelings of those who believe in him, not spec- 
 ulatively, but with the heart, and " to the saving of 
 the soul," 
 
 Instead of its being an objection to these views 
 respecting Christ that we attribute some things to his 
 human nature and other things to his divine nature, 
 — an objection which lies equally against the way in 
 which we speak of ourselves, — we say that a Saviour 
 in whom such things coexist, combining our nature 
 with deity, in his person, is so perfectly adapted to 
 our wants, it is so much to be desired, that should the 
 theory of such a combination have been presented to 
 us beforehand, we should all have said. Were this 
 possible, what a provision it would be for the highest 
 interests and happiness of man ! We find such a 
 
10 CHRIST A FBIEND. 
 
 Saviour in Christ. He comes to the relief of our 
 weak nature, which, in every age of the world, has 
 sought for incarnations of the Supreme Being. Christ 
 fulfills all those desires, as he also does the types of 
 the Old Testament. Among the unsearchable riches 
 which are said to be in him, not the least are his hu- 
 man qualities ; for without them it is obvious that 
 the practical value of his incarnation would cease. 
 We love to think of him as a dependent man, a pray- 
 ing man, a tempted man, a man of sorrows ; and to 
 know that deity within him does not absorb his hu- 
 man nature into itself, but leaves it original and entire. 
 The laws of the double consciousness which there must 
 be in him we may with due humility abstain from ex- 
 ploring, at least till we have understood the mystery of 
 the union in ourselves of mind with matter. " With- 
 out controversy, great is the mystery of godliness, 
 God manifest in the flesh." 
 
 It is a beautiful feature in his character as Redeem- 
 er that Christ presents himself to us in ways which 
 interest all our feelings ; not standing before us as a 
 mere representation of the divine government with 
 the articles of agreement and the price of our ransom 
 in his hands, but commending himself to our inmost 
 souls as one whom we can greatly love because we 
 perceive in him every emotion, pure and exalted, that 
 pertaius to our nature. We are permitted to love him 
 even in the cradle. We follow him through every 
 
BEHOLD HOW HE LOVED HIM. 11 
 
 stage of human life to manliood, and think that he 
 was once just as old, to a day, as each chUd of the 
 family and congregation, and that he knows every 
 thing peculiar to that age and state. Though God 
 and Lord of angels, who received command, at his en- 
 trance into the world, to worship him, yet the sisters 
 of a deceased and buried friend were not so impas- 
 sioned in their sorrow on approaching the grave as 
 he ; for the depth and sincerity of his grief so plainly 
 marked him as chief mourner, and produced the im- 
 pression that he was more than a common friend, that 
 the spectators jat the grave, who thought of him only 
 as a man, and as one of the mourners, said, " Behold 
 how he loved him ! " 
 
 He is not only our Eedeemer from the curse of the 
 law, our Lord and Master, our final Judge ; he is our 
 personal Friend. These discourses wiU present him 
 to us as a Friend to various individuals whose circum- 
 stances, it will be found, comprise the large compass 
 of human wants and woes. 
 
 We will now consider his character as a Friend in 
 one full view, and in the discourses following, dwell 
 upon the particular illustrations of it in his life. 
 
 Christ knows all our circumstances and feelings. 
 When we spread before him the circumstances in 
 which we are placed, he sees relations of things .which 
 
12 CHEIST A FBIEND. 
 
 we can not perceive. Want of knowledge is a great 
 impediment with our friends. They can only confess 
 their ignorance, and their consequent inability to help 
 us ; the expression of sympathy is then the only com- 
 fort which they can afford. We go to our heavenly 
 Friend, and find one who compasses our path and our 
 lying down, and is acquainted with all our ways. 
 When we begin to speak to him, we can say, Lord, 
 thou knowest all things, past, present, and to come. 
 We are not troubled to obtain information to lay be- 
 fore him, as before other friends, nor, having obtained 
 it, to make an exact representation of it to guard 
 against misconception ; but omitting all this, we can 
 say, O thou omniscient Saviour and Friend, all these 
 things are naked and open to thine eye. What wilt 
 thou have me to dol 
 
 And still at other times we find ourselves making 
 statements and explanations, reasoning and remon- 
 strating, complaining and urging, confessing that we 
 had kept a secret from him, bringing new arguments, 
 and new thoughts and feelings, as David says, "I 
 poured out my complaint ; I showed before him my 
 trouble." 
 
 But Christ has knowledge which extends beyond 
 a mere acquaintance with circumstances. He knows 
 our most secret thoughts and wishes ; the rising de- 
 sire, the unformed thought, the secret fear, the del- 
 icacies and difficulties of our situations; these hf 
 
BEHOIiD HOW HE LOVED HIM. 13 
 
 thoroughly knows and appreciates. We can express 
 feelings and wishes to him which we would not dare 
 utter in the ear of a fellow-creature, nor by any means 
 be willing that he should suspect. Moreover, we fre- 
 quently fail to find words with which to convey cer- 
 tain feelings ; then we are misunderstood, and are 
 pained to see that our meaning is not received ; or 
 we are in doubt whether we have given a just im- 
 pression. How is it in our intercourse with Christ ■? 
 No labored utterance is necessary to make him un- 
 derstand things which friends can not comprehend. 
 A very few words, confused, it may be, with sighs 
 and groans, are employed to express ourselves, be- 
 cause we are as much impressed with his perfect 
 knowledge as with our trouble. 
 
 It is an illustration of the human method in which 
 we are encouraged to speak of Christ, and a further 
 qualification in him to be a friend, that — 
 
 The Saviour has manifested the most affectionate 
 feelings. 
 
 There never was such a heart as we find in Jesus 
 Christ. No father, mother, husband, wife, sister, 
 child, or lover can compare with hira in his dispo- 
 sition and power to love. It was the great love. 
 wherewith he loved us that made him a Saviour ; so 
 that the Apostle speaks of it as a " breadth, anc 
 length, and depth, and height," adding, "and to 
 
14 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 know the love of Christ, which passeth knowl- 
 edge." 
 
 This love is not a passionate, impulsive feeling ; 
 nor is it, like human love, influenced by fancy ; nor 
 is it variable. It is not selfish. There are no private 
 ends to be gained by it. He loves because it is his na- 
 ture to love. Nor is it fastidious. Infirmities and 
 disagreeable peculiarities, which repel others, no more 
 alienate the Saviour from us, if we are sincerely pious, 
 than the wounds or deformities, the sightless eyes, or 
 wasted face of her child alienate a mother's feelings. 
 It is impossible for us to suit the taste or fancy of 
 many ; nor does any one enjoy peculiar intimacy with 
 a large number. Our Saviour sees in every one of us 
 that which inspires him with afifection. If our heart 
 condemn us, he is greater than our heart, and know- 
 eth all things, and among them not only sins which 
 we forget, but sincerity, and true desires, and godly 
 sorrows which we have overlooked or underrated. If 
 God is love, — God, the holy, just, sin-hating God, the 
 Avenger, the Judge, — if all those attributes in him 
 which strike terror into the wicked heart do not 
 ovei-power this prevailing element of the divine nature, 
 — what must Christ be, who is the exponent of the 
 love of God ! He has, indeed, the other attributes of 
 Godhead, " for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the 
 Godhead bodily ; " but he is intended to be the ex- 
 pression of divine love to man. In accordance with 
 
BEHOLD HOW HE LOVEB HIM. 15 
 
 this he says, " I came not to judge the world, but to 
 save the world." " Love divine, all love excelling," is 
 his chief characteristic. 
 
 Christ has had great experience as a Friend. 
 
 It is proper to speak of experience on the part of 
 Christ ; and here is another illustration of the human 
 ways in which we may think of him. He " grew in 
 wisdom " when he was young. As man, he had never 
 been in heaven, though he spake of himself as the 
 Son of man, " which came down from heaven, and is 
 in heaven." This illustrates his capacity as man for 
 progressive experience. • 
 
 As he is said to be the Lamb slain from the foun- 
 dation of the world, his atonement being anticipated, 
 and the government of the world proceeding with this 
 in view, so we may say thatdhrist has always been 
 in our world, making friends and loving them. Abra- 
 ham saw his day and was glad, which implies that he 
 loved Christ. Though born in Bethlehem Ephratah, 
 his goings forth had been of old, from everlasting. 
 When it is said the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of 
 prophecy, the meaning is, the very spirit of the in- 
 spired prophetic writings is testimony concerning Je- 
 sus. He was Jacob's friend. Micah says that it was 
 the angel of the covenant, or Messiah, whom Jacob 
 " found in Bethel." We believe that Joshua saw him 
 at the opening conquest of Canaan, with a drawn 
 
16 CHBIST A FKIEND. 
 
 sword in his hand, saying, for the encouragement of 
 Israel and her leader, " As captain of the host of the 
 Lord am I now come," and then directing Joshua, as 
 none but God ever did, to loose his shoes from off his 
 feet. But we shall quote too largely from the Old 
 Testament history if we dwell on this theme. 
 
 Christ will continue to have new friends and new 
 friendships while the world stands ; and as heretofore, 
 so hereafter, he will always have affections varying 
 with the particular objects of his love. Suppose that 
 you should to-day enter into friendship ]yith Christ. 
 He would perceive in you a new object of love, and 
 would have feelings tdward you which have never 
 been excited toward any one else. We see this illus- 
 trated in parents of large families, each child ex- 
 citing a love peculiar to itself. As your face appear- 
 ing for the first time at the Lord's table differs from 
 every other, as your signature appended to the articles 
 and covenant of the church is unlike the hundreds 
 of handwritings on that most interesting record, so 
 the Saviour's love to you will have in it something per- 
 sonal and special. "What experience, then, Christ has 
 had, and will have, as a friend ! Besides, Christ loves 
 every Christian friend of yours, as really as he loves 
 you; he is therefore interested in your friendships 
 and attachments, and from his large experience as a 
 friend he knows the things which will make you 
 perfectly happy. 
 
BEHOLD HOW HE LOVED HIM. 17 
 
 Christ has passed through great afflictions. 
 
 In such a world as this, au angel would be an un- 
 suitable companion and intimate friend. His face 
 would be too bright at times when we needed him to 
 pity us ; there would be no minor key in his feelings, 
 for what has he ever known of sorrow "? He would 
 tell us how well he supposes he could bear pain if he 
 were in our place ; he would rejoice when it was a 
 time to weep, for he would look too exclusively on 
 the bright side of events, and that would not cor- 
 respond with our disciplinary state. But after all, he 
 who has had experience of great and sore trials, and 
 has borne them well, is by far the most cheerful com- 
 panion to a sorrowing heart. Having sounded the 
 depths of affliction, he can best guide his friend in 
 them. Desponding Christian in the River of Death 
 said to Hopeful, " I sink in deep waters, the billows 
 go over my head, all his waves go over me." Hope- 
 ful said, " Be of good cheer, my brother ; I feel the 
 bottom, and it is good." Having been partaker of the 
 affliction and of the consolation, such a one can bring 
 a smile of peace, and even of joy, upon a care-worn face, 
 when prosperous friends only deepen the gloom and 
 the sighs by theii; inexperienced songs to heavy hearts. 
 Let the angel of the Lord encamp around me to de- 
 liver me, but give me the man of sorrows for my 
 friend. I want a friend who has been stricken, 
 smitten of God, and afflicted. Then I can tell him 
 
18 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 each rising grief, knowing that he has felt it. A dying 
 man looks upon kind friends about his bed, and thinks. 
 How little do you know by experience about this ! 
 But his heavenly Friend " became obedient unto death, 
 even the death of the cross." We watch the faces of 
 our children, and dear companions, and friends, as 
 death approaches, and in their agony of death we feel 
 helpless as they ; but Jesus died, and needs no help ' 
 from us in his perfect sympathy with the departing 
 spirit. Dear, dying Friend ! what would certain death- 
 beds have been to us, and to the dying, without thee ! 
 In all points tempted like as we are, and as captain 
 of our salvation made perfect through sufferings, he 
 has been wherever it must be our lot to go. What- 
 ever new and strange emotions of sorrow swell within 
 us like the great deep, Christ has felt all this, and 
 knows how to help us. Even if you go down out of 
 th'e ship to walk on the waves, Jesus is walking there, 
 even to the fourth watch of the night. 
 
 In our temptations, how poorly qualified an angel 
 would be to sympathize with us ! The fiery darts of 
 the devil do not fly at him. Those evil passions, that 
 forgetfulness and contempt of God, those dreadful 
 thoughts which make you shudder, as they are thrust 
 into your heart, he, with his unsullied virtue and its 
 impregnable defences, never knew. Christ was led up 
 of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of 
 the devil. We find only a brief narrative of those 
 
BEHOLD HOW HE LOVED HIM. 19 
 
 days and nights ; but we can somewhat imagine the 
 anguish of soul occasioned by the solicitations of hell, 
 what distress the thought of wickedness awakened in 
 that Lamb of God, what intolerable disgust and pain 
 in hearing and seeing the prince of darkness, as he 
 plied his diabolical arts to impugn the divine charac- 
 ter, and with hypocrisy, cunning craftiness, and lies, 
 aided by the counsels of the pit, wrought desperately 
 to effect his purpose. If the arch enemy seeks with 
 such skill and perseverance to ruin us, he must have 
 exhausted the ingenuity of his counselors and his 
 own experience to ruin Christ by temptation. Blessed 
 Redeemer! what had become of us if thou hadst fal- 
 tered 1 Seeing us struggling with a great temptation, 
 what memories and what sympathies stir within thee ! 
 
 Christ, as a Friend, is constant. 
 
 We might expect that eternal love will be everlast- 
 ing. It is said, " Having loved his own which were 
 in the world, he loved them unto the end." One 
 thing can be said of this friend. He never gave up 
 one friend for another ; there is nothing fickle, incon- 
 stant, in his feelings. If he loves you once, he will 
 love you forever, with increasing affection ; but this 
 will be equally true, that you will continue to love 
 him, and that increasingly. 
 
 Amid the changes of life, and when you cease to 
 move the affections or excite the interest which were 
 
20 CHRIST A FRIEND 
 
 once felt toward you ; when your outward and inward 
 attractions, your senses, your power to help others, 
 are greatly impaired ; when you are old and decrepit, 
 and are only tolerated, and are a burden to your- 
 self, — the Saviour will love you as he did when you 
 were young. " And even to your old age I am he, 
 and even to hoar hairs will I carry you." We see 
 this confirmed in the experience of many an aged 
 saint, loving Christ, and evidently loved by him far 
 more than in youth, showing the pure disinterested- 
 ness as well as the constancy of the Saviour's love; 
 and in these respects how unlike many, very many 
 instances of human attachment and affection ! 
 
 Christ, as a Friend, is kind. 
 
 We read of " the kindness and love of God our 
 Saviour." There is an obvious and beautiful distinc- 
 tion between love and kindness. The kindness of 
 Christ is illustrated, among other things, in this, that 
 he does not indulge in upbraiding and reproach. 
 There is a gentleness of wisdom in his way of cor- 
 recting us, adapting his reproofs with wonderful skill, 
 touching certain feelings, and exciting thoughts, which 
 enter into our souls more than a hundred stripes. 
 Who has not been subdued by the delicate and kind 
 methods by which he has been brought to see hia 
 error, opportunity being afforded to retract without 
 loss of reputation, or severe wounds to his sensibilities, 
 
BEHOLD HOW HE LOVED HIM. 21 
 
 and by means of just so mucfc. of a suggestion as im- 
 plies confidence in him, instead of being beaten as the 
 horse and the mule. David seems to have felt this 
 when he said, " Thy gentleness hath made me great." 
 We feel thankful to a friend, who, when he sees we 
 are m the wrong, merely drops a general remark, or 
 simply raises a question, not as a hint, but intended 
 to be fully understood, yet with the feeliag that a word 
 to the wise is suificient. As we come to ourselves, 
 and see our mistake, the friend who forbore to deal 
 harshly with^us when he saw our folly, appears to us 
 prudent and kind ; we love him and trust in him, and 
 wish that we could be as forbeariag and wise. He 
 who spoke from heaven so gently and kindly to the 
 persecuting Saul, and turned and looked on Peter, 
 and treated the unbelieving Thomas vdth such af- 
 fecting skill, is the same yesterday, to-day, and for- 
 ever. " Lord, to whom shall we go " but unto 
 thee? 
 
 Christ is long suffering in his kindness. 
 
 We should have broken the heart of every friend 
 on earth, had we treated him as we have treated 
 Christ. When at his table we remember our sins 
 against him, and he cheers us with his forgiving love, 
 he makes us feel how patient and forgiving he is, and 
 that, were it not for this, he would many a time have de- 
 clared his covenant with us dissolved by our unfaith- 
 
22 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 fulness to that covenant When we have done wick- 
 edly, and are afraid to pray, and therefore, as David did, 
 keep silence, some great mercy, some favorable turn in 
 our affairs, some touching event which interests our 
 feelings as a special act of kindness, some meltings of 
 heart, will move us to confess and repent ; and thus he 
 draws us with the cords of love and the bands of a 
 man. He punished Moses, the meekest of men, severe- 
 ly, for his want of forbearance toward Israel in their 
 provocations. Christ has great occasion still for long 
 suffering and forbearance with each of us, and with 
 his churches. When a controversy and quarrel arises 
 in a church, and you are called to hear their accusa- 
 tions and recriminations, and perceive that one act of 
 forbearance, or confession and Christian love, at the 
 right time, would have prevented the whole, (yet they 
 could not watch with Christ one hour,) you see his 
 forbearance illustrated, and perceive that his sufferings 
 for his church are followed by sufferings from his 
 church, and that there is something yet to be filled 
 up of the afflictions of Christ for his body's sake, 
 which is the church. Of every church, perhaps, in 
 some part of its history, and of each of us, it wUl be 
 said with truth hereafter concerning the treatment 
 which we have received from Christ, " In his love 
 and in his pity he redeemed them, and he bare them 
 and carried them all the days of old." 
 
BEHOLD HOW HE LOVED HIM. 23 
 
 He is always with us. 
 
 Some of our greatest trials are by separations from 
 those whom we need to counsel and help us. Christ 
 says, "Lo^ I am with you alyyay, even unto the end of 
 the world." We lie down in the narrow berth in the 
 sides of the ship, and Jesus is with us as though we 
 were in our own beds at home. We land among 
 strangers, every face unknown to us, but the Saviour 
 is at our side. He needs no help of friends in pro- 
 tecting us. Parents, husbands, and wives think of 
 their absent children or companions, who, they hear, 
 are sick or in perU, and they wish that they could fly 
 to them. But they can procure for them the presence 
 and help of Christ, without whom even their presence 
 would be of no use. As afflicted relatives said, Lord, 
 I beseech thee, come, so we may say. Lord, I beseech 
 thee, go and heal my chUd. Far off" to the Pacific 
 shores, or in the sultry tropics, behold him languish- 
 ing. That wandering child, that "younger son," 
 Shepherd and Bishop of souls, keep thine eye upon 
 him. The foreign missionary places his two younf 
 children under the care of his friend, a captain of a 
 vessel, and sends them across the sea to the parents' 
 native land. What a treasure does that vessel bear ! 
 Who can describe the feelings of the parents on the 
 headland as the white sails become gray and dim in 
 the departing daylight,, and suddenly disappear be- 
 hind a billow'? What sustains the parents then? 
 
24 CHRIST A FKIEND. 
 
 This is to " forsake children " for Christ's sake and 
 the gospel's ; and where is the hundred fold in this 
 life ? Christ has not only gone in the ship, but he 
 imparts a hundred fold in this life to the parents, in 
 the vivid faith and the exceeding love which they feel 
 toward him, which they tell us is worth all that it cost 
 in the sacrifice of .natural affection. " Thou art with 
 me," is the all-sufficient reason why we should " fear 
 no evil " even though we walk through the valley of 
 the shadow of death. 
 
 Christ can do for us things which no other friend 
 can do. 
 
 When the wisdom of friends fails, there is one 
 who is called "Wonderful, Counselor. When their 
 means of helping us are deficient, we *' are blessed of 
 the Lord which made heaven and earth," and there- 
 fore has heaven and earth from w^hich to draw in pro- 
 viding for us. 
 
 Christ is our Friend when all our friends are dead. 
 Some of you are very desolate, and the world is en- 
 tirely changed to you since that dear companion, or 
 child, or relative, was taken from you. But Christ 
 was your Friend before they were, and he gave them 
 to you ; he lays his right hand upon you, and says, 
 " Fear not ; I am the first and the last ; I am he that 
 liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive forever- 
 more ! " 
 
BEHOLD HO"W HE LOVED HIM. 25 
 
 Christ will be our Friend when we come to die. 
 Our great concern, if we have our senses, then will 
 be, Is Christ my Friend"? What though the house 
 were full of friends and physicians 1 " Christ in you 
 the hope of glory," would be more than all. Should 
 the crowns of earth be laid on your bed, you would 
 say, A steadfast hope that Christ is my Friend is worth 
 infinitely more than these. What did the souls that 
 wore them do without Christ when they came to die"? 
 
 Christ will be our Friend at the bar.. of God. Friends 
 can not help us, plead for us, and shield us. But if 
 Christ is my Friend I am as safe at the bar of God as 
 though Christ stood there for me. How safe the man 
 Christ Jesus would be on trial at the bar of God ! — 
 yet no more safe than you if " found in him, not hav- 
 ing " your " own righteousness, but the righteousness 
 which is of God by faith." It shall be said for you, 
 " Who is he that condemneth 1 It is Christ that died." 
 
 We shall have the Saviour's friendship at the 
 resurrection of the dead. All things will be dissolved, 
 the earth and the heavens will flee away, and there 
 shall be found no place for them ; every eye will be 
 directed toward the Saviour in robes of judgment. 
 A look of recognition from him in that hour, an assur- 
 ance of safety, will be worth a life spent in extreme 
 self-denial and sacrifice for Christ's sake, even if it 
 were not its own reward. As though Christ knew 
 what our feelings are in anticipation of that great day 
 
26 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 when the dead shall awake, three times in one dis- 
 course he utters these words : " And I will raise him 
 up at the last day." But do not forget that you will 
 have come with Christ to judgment ; that your tri- 
 umphant spirit, like Christ, will " descend from heaven 
 with a shout," and receive your glorified body at your 
 grave. " Them that sleep in Jesus will God bring 
 with him." 
 
 We shall have Christ for our Friend in heaven. He 
 is your personal Friend here ; he manifests himself to 
 your faith, and makes you feel that he is with you ; 
 wUl he be less your Friend, or less able to bless you, 
 when you see him face to face 1 He will sit with you 
 in your mansion, as at Bethany ; you will have private, 
 personal intercourse with him who loved you and gave 
 himself for you. " Since thou hast been precious in 
 my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved 
 thee." If you may sit with him on his throne, he 
 wUl not refuse to sit with you in that place which he 
 has gone to " prepare for you." 
 
 One thing more which makes the value of the Sa- 
 viour as a Friend exceeding great, and for its practical 
 value perhaps nothing which has been said exceeds it, 
 is this : — 
 
 We can have resort to this Friend as often as we 
 please. 
 
 If we called the attention of our best earthly friend 
 
BEHOLD HOW HE LOVED HIM. 27 
 
 to US as often as we call on Christ in our private mo- 
 ments — if any friend, however near and dear to us, 
 heard us using his name as much as we appeal to the 
 Saviour, — he could not endure it ; he would be weary 
 of us. But you may lie all night upon a bed of pain 
 and call on Christ, and he will hear and pity you. 
 "When you have presented a particular case to bim 
 which interests you greatly, you need not, you do not, 
 hesitate to ask him, again and again, to remember your 
 prayer. The unjust judge said, "lest by her con- 
 tinual coming she weary me." So would any earthly 
 friend say, just or unjust. We state our case to a 
 friend, and feel that it is respectful to leave it. We 
 can not rehearse it to him many times, and dwell upon 
 the circumstances, which he appreciates as well as we. 
 It is not suitable to appear at his door every hour. 
 But you can knock at Christ's door every hour, and 
 say, "How long, O Lord]" "Hast thou forgotten 
 to be gracious 1 " " Hast thou in anger shut up thy 
 tender mercies 1 " "I watch for thee more than they 
 that watch for the morning ; I say, more than they 
 that watch for the morning." We can talk more fre- 
 quently with Christ than with the dearest earthly 
 friend ; and even, when enjoying the sweetest inter- 
 course with that companion, find our thoughts drawn 
 away to a heaven of heavens in a sweeter and more 
 intimate communion with our infinite and heavenly 
 Friend. 
 
28 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 There is one thing more in Christ as a Friend which, 
 though of a different nature from all that has been 
 said, does not yield in interest to it : — 
 
 TVe may do more for this Friend than for any 
 other. 
 
 In your friendship and love, oftentimes your great- 
 est trial is, you can not do for those whom you love 
 all that you desire. Sometimes your relation to them 
 is such that you can not do any thing for them — it is 
 not suitable to offer your aid. How often do we hear 
 of those whom we greatly respect and love as being 
 in trouble, but we are not at liberty to tell them how 
 much we feel,~and how much we would rejoice to do, 
 in their behalf. Now, there is not a friend, nor one 
 whom you would feel honored to call your friend, 
 who would esteem your greatest favors and kindness 
 so much as Christ would to receive from you a cup 
 of cold water. While there are bedsides and cham- 
 bers where we would rejoice to linger, but can not 
 come, we can nevertheless visit Christ ru his sickness; 
 we can go to him without waiting to be sent for ; in 
 prison we can befriend him ; naked, hungry, a stran- 
 ger, we can minister unto him. We can live for 
 Christ ; we can deny ourselves for Christ ; we can 
 "bring presents to him" at any time, large or small, 
 or in the form of any thing valuable to us, and it will 
 not fail to be acceptable and valuable to him ; we can 
 
BEHOLD HOW HE LOVED HIM. 29 
 
 leave all our friends for him, our home, our coimtry ; 
 we can suffer persecution for him, we can die for him. 
 
 Therefore, reminding him of his own words, how 
 he said, " It is more blessed to give than to receive," 
 we may contend with him in love, and say that 
 of his infinite love to us, — of which, indeed, we 
 desire always to hear, rather than of our love to 
 him, — it is a crowning joy that he permits us to do 
 for him all that we desire, that he accepts that desire 
 when the ability is inconsiderable, and that he is gra- 
 ciously pleased to give, as the reason for his accept- 
 ance of us at the great day, our poor but affectionate 
 testimonies of love to him. 
 
 But leaving many things to be said in connection 
 with particular illustrations of his friendship, as they 
 will be presented in the following discourses, let us 
 turn our thoughts, in conclusion, to the following 
 truths. 
 
 1 . Whoever may lave us, we can not be truly happy 
 without the friendship of Christ. 
 
 It is strange that we can contract earthly, short- 
 lived friendships with man, which is a worm, and 
 neglect and forget our infinite Friend. How eager 
 we are in watching for the slightest encouragement 
 to our advances of friendship and love from one whom 
 the grave must shortly consume ! We read a letter 
 again and again, to be sure that we are warranted in 
 
30 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 our hopes ; the issue of our suit we feel will make 
 us perfectly happy, or miserable. But have we ever 
 sought friendship with Jesus Christ, sued for his love, 
 waited and watched for tokens that we are " accepted 
 in the beloved'"? There will be an hour when, if 
 every friend and every object of love were gathered 
 together, you would forsake them all, press by them 
 all, to reach Christ, and be assured from his lips that 
 he loves you. O that men understood what is in- 
 volved in having him for a Friend ! 
 
 " His wortli if all tlie nations knew, 
 Sure the whole world would love him too." 
 
 He makes a claim so great, so bold, that to every 
 one who believes in him, it proves, of itself, his in- 
 finite excellence. " He that loveth father or mother 
 more than me is not worthy of me ; and he that 
 loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy 
 of me." 
 
 2. We should be such friends to others as Christ is 
 to us. 
 
 If we made him our pattern in friendships, and 
 felt toward others and treated them accordingly, the 
 effect would be, that we should certainly put on chari- 
 ty, which is the bond of perfectness. We may suit- 
 ably inquire, for the regulation of our feelings and 
 conduct toward others, How does the Saviour deal 
 
BEHOLD HOW HE LOVED HIM. 31 
 
 with me when I am at fault 1 Would Christ speak 
 to me with the tone and manner with which I 
 speak to others ? Would Christ do things for me 
 with the air or look with which I help others 1 If 
 husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, if partners 
 in business, if apprentices, if neighbors, if companions 
 generally, if men and nations were such friends as 
 Christ is to us, the Prince of Peace would reign every- 
 where. It will be so ; it must be so ; we who pro- 
 fess to be his followers must make it thus with our- 
 selves, in all our private and public relations. 
 
 3. The greatest sin which is not unpardonable is. 
 Ingratitude to Christ. 
 
 If we seriously consider what Christ has done for 
 us, what he has suffered for us, what he has thought 
 about us, what he is doing for us in heaven, how he 
 has interceded for us when justice would have cut us 
 down, with what consideration he treats us, how he 
 bears and forbears with us, and that notwithstanding 
 all that is past he is still wooing our affections by his 
 mercies, his word, and his Spirit, and that he still de- 
 sires to save us and have us for his friends, and then 
 reflect how we have treated him, it would seem as 
 though we could not keep back our tears. 
 
 The thought of coldness or ingratitude to a de- 
 ceased friend who loved you in life and in death, is 
 sometimes extremely afflicting. Christ is, in some 
 
32 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 respect, like a deceased friend, whose death was caused 
 by his love to you ; and yet, perhaps, you have never 
 requited his love with gratitude, never have gone with 
 faith and love to his tomb, never have uttered a strong, 
 impassioned protestation of your feelings toward 
 him, as you so often do with regard to a deceased 
 friend. 
 
 It is not uncommon to hear the name of the Sa- 
 viour used profanely ; indeed it is probably connected 
 with oaths and cursing more frequently than any other 
 sacred name, this being, as many feel, but erroneous- 
 ly, a step this side of taking the name of God in vain. 
 What mournful evidence have we here of the base- 
 ness and depravity of man, that the name of his Ee- 
 deemer is joined with ribaldry and angry passions! 
 Still, they who do this, oftentimes are not the greatest 
 sinners. Probably there is no such object of aston- 
 ishment and sorrow to angels as a human being who, 
 with a full belief in Christ as his incarnate God and 
 Saviour, treats him with indifference and neglect. 
 Paul, closing one of his Epistles, was seized with a 
 sudden and overwhelming conviction of this dreadful 
 wickedness, and abruptly exclaimed, " If any man 
 love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema 
 maranatha." That a man like Paul should thus ex- 
 press himself, that such an imprecation should be 
 pronounced in connection with a dying Saviour's 
 name, shows that indifference to Christ — merely not 
 
BEHOLD HOW HE LOVED HIM. 3S 
 
 to love Christ — is cause for the deepest shame and 
 sorrow. We can not admit all that is declared in the 
 Bible respecting Christ and his relation to us, and not 
 see that ingratitude to Christ is surpassed by no other 
 sin which comes within the reach of mercy. 
 
 Ambassadors are sometimes sent to contract mar- 
 riages for royal persons with those whom they would 
 affiance. We are ambassadors for Christ; and the 
 great object of Christian ministers should be to join 
 their hearers to him. In seeking to do this, a preach- 
 er once used these words for his text : " Hearken, O 
 daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear ; forget 
 also thy people and thy father's house. So shall the 
 king greatly desire thy beauty ; for he is thy lord, and 
 worship thou him." This invitation to receive the 
 Saviour's love was accepted by one of the congrega- 
 tion, and, so far as the preacher has ever learned, by 
 only one of them at that time. There was one whom 
 the Saviour did then espouse, as though he did great- 
 ly desire her beauty. That individual was the only 
 colored person in the congregation — a half-breed In- 
 dian. When she was examined for admission to the 
 church, the pastor said, " What is your greatest de- 
 sire ? " She thought a moment, turned her eyes, suf- 
 fused with tears, upon him, and said, in broken speech, 
 " O, sir, to be joined to Christ ! " That a sermon from 
 that text should be employed as the means of joining 
 her to Christ, that it should have had this effect with 
 
34 CHEJST A FRIEND. 
 
 her, and perhaps with no other in the assembly, illus- 
 trates what has ah-eady been said of the Saviour's 
 disinterested love. "Wherefore he is able also to 
 save them to the uttermost that come unto God by 
 him, seeing that he ever liveth to make intercession 
 for them." As you love to have your own intimations 
 of regard and friendship promptly met and responded 
 to with confiding affection, so treat Christ in the offer 
 which he now makes to you of his love. Enter into au 
 engagement, make a covenant with him, and an event 
 will thus take place whose blissful history no pen, no 
 tongues of angels, can describe. His offers may soon 
 be withdrawn ; he may turn from you and go away ; 
 death will come ; others will take the happiness which 
 might have been yours. 
 
 As you read in these discourses what a Friend 
 Christ has been to some of every class and condition, 
 to sinners of every name and degree, may your con- 
 fidence, your love, your joy, in him increase, his name 
 be to you as ointment poured forth, and the language 
 of the redeemed church, the Lamb's wife, be yours: 
 This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend 
 
II. 
 
 THE CALL OF MATTHEW. 
 
 iUD AS JESUS PASSEB PORTH FROM THENCE, HE SAW A" MAN, NAMED MAT- 
 THEW, SITTING AT THE RECEIPT OF CUSTOM, AND HE SAITH UNTO HIM, 
 " FOLLOW ME." AND HE AROSE AND FOLLOWED HIM. 
 
 We have before us a man of business at his ac- 
 customed place, and the Saviour of the world appear- 
 ing to him there. He who bought us with a price 
 uses his right to stand before us at the busiest hour, 
 to come between us and the dearest earthly friend ; 
 nor, in the midst of the most important and profitable 
 transaction does he hesitate to absorb our whole at- 
 tention and thoughts ; so that, whether he comes to 
 make us his friends, or to hold communion with us, 
 or to call us away from the world, he claims and takes 
 precedence, in his right as Eedeemer and Lord. While 
 the appearance of Christ at places of business would 
 to many be exceedingly unwelcome and embarrassing, 
 to some of you at such places he is no stranger. In 
 your busiest hours, and sometimes while conversing 
 
 (35) 
 
36 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 with others, he is in your heart ; moments of peace 
 and joy at the thought of him, sudden impulses of 
 gratitude and love, generous deeds done in his name 
 to his friends, letters written breathing his spirit, do- 
 ing justly and loving mercy prompted by him, are 
 proofs that you can reciprocate his gracious words, 
 and say, " Where I am, there may also my " Saviour 
 " be." May he be with you always, that you be not 
 overcharged with the cares of this life ; to sustain you 
 in trial, defend you in prosperity, keep you from the 
 evil, make you bear his image, and amidst covetous- 
 ness, injustice, and deceit make you to shine as lights 
 in the world. 
 
 A man of business penned the words of the text. 
 When you consider the honor bestowed on Matthew 
 in being called by the Saviour to be his disciple, and 
 think of the privilege given to him of writing the 
 Saviour's life, and then read this unpretending ac- 
 count by himself of his call and appointment as a 
 disciple, you may search long before you find a better 
 instance of conciseness and simplicity. He does not 
 say. As Jesus passed forth from thence he saw Mat- 
 thew, — as though every one must needs know who 
 Matthew was, — but " a man named Matthew." He 
 tells us nothing of himself that would seem to make 
 his call deserved, or that would take any thing from 
 the free grace of Christ, for he tells us that he was 
 found in his ordinary occupation as a publican. We 
 
THE CALL OF MATTHEW. 37 
 
 ha'^e no inflated description of the scene between 
 Christ and himself, nor of his own feelings. He says, 
 "As Jesus passed forth from thence," — as though he 
 did not come on purpose to find him, which he surely 
 did. This instance of modesty and simplicity is one 
 of the incidental beauties of sacred history ; a pleas- 
 ant example of the true influence of religion in teach- 
 ing us to be simple and unpretending in all things, 
 and especially in speaking of ourselves ; and, above 
 all, to give God the praise of all that we have and are. 
 
 One of the most interesting paintings in the Mu- 
 seum at Antwerp is a representation of this passage. 
 You see a man sitting at a desk, whose small apart- 
 ments are filled with files of papers. Several men 
 are doing business with him, and Matthew has in his 
 hand a file of papers, searching for one of them, when 
 Christ suddenly stands at his side, and says to him, 
 "Follow me." Matthew, with his papers in one 
 hand, and the other hand on the upper end, turning 
 down the tops, looks round with surprise at the ab- 
 rupt summons. The men who are doing business 
 with him express in their faces a mingled surprise at 
 the call, and a feeling of interruption in their inter- 
 view with Matthew, and the spectator is left to im- 
 agine the feelings awakened in Matthew's mind by 
 the omnipotent word of Christ. 
 
 The Saviour knew that Matthew's affairs were not 
 of such importance, or in such a state, as to injure 
 
38 CHRIST A FKIEND. 
 
 himself or others should he that moment leave tl^m, 
 as the history informs us that he did. Luke tells us, 
 speaking of him under the name of Levi, that " he 
 left all, rose up, and followed him." He adds that 
 he made for Christ " a great feast in his own house, 
 and there was a great company of publicans and of 
 others that sat down with them." So that his leav- 
 ing all did not involve the unjust abandonment of 
 his affairs, for it seems he returned to his house, and 
 no doubt to his place of business, to do all that was 
 proper ; but forsaking his occupation as a publican, 
 he left his property in other hands, or gave it away, 
 and ever after followed Christ. "We will consider, — 
 
 I. The sovereignty of Christ in selecting and call- 
 ing Matthew. 
 
 Though this man had done nothing to merit our 
 Saviour's selection of him rather than another, he no 
 doubt had traits of character which qualified him for 
 future usefulness as a disciple, but especially as a his- 
 torian of the gospel ; and these, we may suppose, were 
 considered in his call. Sovereignty is not regardless 
 of such things. True, it was sovereignty which origi- 
 nally created them ; for what have we which we did 
 not receive ? But it is interesting to see, that as God 
 regards his own established laws of nature in his prov- 
 idence, so there is nothing arbitrary or capricious in 
 the bestowment of spiritual favors. Were it other 
 
THE CALL OF MATTHEW. 89 
 
 wise, effort would be discouraged, the present wise and 
 wonderful adjustment of human agency and divine 
 influences would be destroyed, and intelligent beings 
 would be as irresponsible as the tides and winds. 
 Enough is done to make us feel that God is supreme ; 
 that circumstances in no wise abridge his authority, 
 and his grace sometimes triumphs over difficulties and 
 rejoices against judgment where man would have pro- 
 nounced it impossible or unsuitable. Still, the Bible 
 and experience constantly show that order and law 
 rule in spiritual affairs, that the government of God 
 over us is one of motives, that effects follow causes as 
 regularly, and indeed with more certainty, in spiritual 
 things as in husbandry or handicraft; so that the 
 highest motives to effort, and to the cultivation of good 
 habits and the use of means, are constantly held forth. 
 Though we can not look into the personal history of' 
 Matthew previous to his call by Christ, the Gospel, 
 as recorded by his pen, shows that some natural or 
 acquired fitness for usefulness was unquestionably 
 among the reasons in view of which Christ called him 
 from his occupation as a publican to be a disciple. 
 Let us, for example, look at that wonderful system 
 of ethics in the sermon on the mount, and think that 
 it passed through his mind, was wrought into shape 
 by the use of his faculties in the hands of the Spirit, 
 was expressed according to his natural way of ex- 
 pressing himself, not in the cumulative style of Simon 
 
40 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 Peter, nor in the meditative and pathetic tone of John, 
 but in the clear, concise, didactic style precisely suited 
 to moral precepts. He was qualified by nature and 
 practice, by experience and habits, so to think and 
 express himself that infinite wisdom found in him a 
 fit instrument for this exceedingly important work of 
 laying a foundation of moral sentiments for the whole 
 superstructure of truth. We love and adore that 
 divine wisdom which performs no needless miracle, 
 which follows laws, which loves congruity, which finds 
 rather than creates the instruments for its purposes. 
 
 But at the same time, if we could listen to Mat- 
 thew's own account of his experience and feelings in 
 this transaction, he would humbly tell us that he had 
 done nothing to merit the Saviour's selection of him- 
 self rather than another ; that he had no natural 
 qualifications for usefulness as a disciple or writer of 
 history above many others ; the writing of the New 
 Testament, as he would remind us, being directed by 
 the Holy Spirit, bringing all things to the remem- 
 brance of the writer, superintending and guiding him, 
 so that the book, with the evident impress of human 
 qualities in the manner of its composition, should 
 nevertheless be the authentic word of God. Others, 
 as competent as Matthew, it is true, might have been 
 found and used by the Holy Spirit for this purpose ; 
 so that the sovereign grace of Christ was put forth in 
 calling Matthew, rather than any one of the thou 
 
THE CALL OP MATTHEW. 41 
 
 sands who heard the Saviour preach and followed 
 him. To turn from them and go to Matthew's place 
 of business, and give him this special favor, illustrates 
 a prophecy respecting Christ : " I am sought of them 
 that asked not for me ; I am found of them that 
 sought me not." A certain lawyer came to Christ, 
 and said, " Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal 
 life I " The Saviour gave him directions, but he went 
 away sorrowfuL It was in the Saviour's power to put 
 forth the same almighty influence in converting him 
 which he exerted in prevailing on Matthew to follow 
 him. He saw fit, however, to set the truth before the 
 ruler, and let him alone, to choose this world for his 
 chief good, to live wholly for himself, and then for- 
 ever to mourn over a useless, wasted life. When a 
 certain man inquires what he must do to be saved, 
 and Christ informs him, and exhorts him to do it, and 
 he goes away sorrowful, and another man, sitting in 
 his counting room, at the first call of Christ leaves 
 his papers and customers and follows him, no one can 
 say that the difference in the two cases was purely 
 accidental. 
 
 We see the same thing in our religious assemblies. 
 One hearer becomes concerned for his soul ; the 
 way of salvation is plain to his mind; but for some 
 reason he is unwilling to do that which God requires 
 in order to be saved. "He is for some time in much 
 uneasiness, anxious about the future, convinced that 
 
42 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 he must be a Christian, unwilling to lose his interest 
 in the subject of religion, and at the same time not 
 willing to yield himself to God. His face is cov- 
 ered with sadness, sometimes his brow is knit with 
 distress, and under solemn appeals his mind is like 
 the troubled sea. Another hearer is impressed, goes 
 home to his secret places, pours out his soul to God, 
 immediately accepts Jesus Christ as his Saviour, has 
 peace with God, and finds himself in a new world, 
 while the same appeal has served only to make the 
 other hearer irritated and unhappy. In each of these 
 cases, the individual acts under no consciousness of 
 compulsion on one hand, nor of hinderance on the 
 other. What makes them to differ 1 The same grace 
 which made Matthew differ from the very rich man, and 
 Zaccheus from the man who wished to bid them fare- 
 well which were at home at his house. Some may 
 say, this is owing to the difference in the dispositions 
 of men ; some are quick and resolute, others sluggish 
 or timid. It is beyond dispute that these dispositions 
 do always seem in some measure to modify the oper- 
 ation of divine influence, which falls in with established 
 habits, good and bad, showing the vast importance 
 of habits, and of a good natural character ; but blessed 
 be God, his mercy which is above the heavens is also 
 above all dictation and control from our wayward or 
 impotent dispositions. What hope would there be 
 for ourselves and others without this truth? 
 
THE CALL OF MATTHEW. 43 
 
 • 
 
 II. Cheerful obedience to the call of Christ is com- 
 mended to us in the conduct of Matthew. 
 
 Men frequently have a call from Christ as distinct 
 and forcible as that which he gave Matthew. Few, 
 if any, hear these words to whom Christ has not ex- 
 pressly and personally said, "Follow me." By a re- 
 mark in a sermon, a line of a hymn, a thought oi 
 expression in a prayer, by a letter, the conversion 
 of a friend, by affliction, he makes us feel deeply the 
 importance and necessity of repentance and faith. 
 Some yield to his call without delay. Some repel 
 their serious thoughts. Others are made melancholy 
 by their religious impressions. They will weep long 
 and bitterly because they can not prevail on them- 
 selves to do their duty without delay. Too much 
 seems to them to be required in the way of sacrifice in 
 order to he a Christian; they would keep certain 
 things which are felt to be inconsistent with spiritual 
 religion; they shrink from certain duties which it 
 will suggest and require ; and still they remember the 
 Saviour's direction, " If any man will come after me, 
 let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and 
 follow me." Their mental struggle is sometimes 
 protracted through a long period, and then most fre- 
 quently ends in unconcern. In contrast with this, 
 it is refreshing to notice the conduct of Matthew. 
 Though Christ sent his almighty power with his 
 word to incline his heart, still Matthew was not con- 
 
44 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 • 
 
 scious of it ; for divine influence never interrupts our 
 consciousness of perfect freedom in our choice. As 
 soon as the Saviour presented himself at his door and 
 called him, Matthew, who, of course, had had some 
 previous acquaintance with him, arose, left all, and 
 followed him. On that countenance at his door there 
 was such an expression as Matthew never saw on any 
 human face ; there were blended majesty and love, au- 
 thority and kindness in it ; the voice, too, was earnest 
 and inviting, the whole manner of the divine speaker 
 was irresistible. What were the interesting and all- 
 absorbing scenes of business compared with the desire 
 to have that man for his Friend 1 When he had gone 
 with Christ a little way, and the first excitement of 
 the scene was over, no doubt his mind went back to 
 his place of business, his afi"airs presented themselves 
 before him, he thought of the sudden and great 
 change which had happened to him. There he stood 
 with Christ on one side of a stream, divided from 
 many things which before had constituted his happi- 
 ness. Probably he was never supremely happy till 
 that moment. The promise had begun to be fulfilled 
 to him — "He shall receive a hundred fold in this 
 life." By the side of Christ, with the consciousness 
 of his favor, no king on his throne, nor lover of pleas- 
 ure in his most delicious dreams, could be compared 
 with Matthew at that moment as a happy man, Sup- 
 pose that when Christ called him, Matthew had begun 
 
THE CALL OF MATTHEW. 45 
 
 to make excuses, or had said, " Go thy way for this 
 time ; " suppose that, upon the continued urgency of 
 Christ, Matthew had begun to weep, and say, How 
 little do I feel the importance of this call ! I need 
 first to have a new heart ; I have never sufiiciently 
 repented of my sins to be a follower of Christ. Alas ! 
 I have no faith. I am too much engrossed in busi- 
 ness ; the world has possession of my heart — I will 
 release myself soon from these cares. Suppose then 
 that Christ had gone from him, leaving him to his 
 business and gain. Sick at heart, every witnessing 
 angel would have turned away, saying, " Thou fool." 
 Should we not have felt compelled to say the same'? 
 And is there not within us something like Nathan the 
 seer, saying, " Thou art tke man " 1 
 
 III. We will consider the rewards of prompt sub- 
 mission and obedience to Christ. 
 
 God loveth a cheerful giver. When we give him 
 any thing, he loves to have us do it with the heart. 
 When we give him our hearts, he loves to have us do 
 it with all the soul, and mind, and strength. To 
 share our affections with him ; to yield ourselves to 
 him hesitatingly, distrustful either of his willingness 
 to accept us, or of his ability to make us happy, is 
 not well pleasing to God. He would have us give 
 'urselves to him with the same spirit of generous love 
 with which he gave his Son to be the propitiation for 
 
46 CHRIST A FEIEND. 
 
 our sins. When one loves God in this way, prompt- 
 ly and cheerfully obeying his call and command, God 
 bestows peculiar blessings upon him; for it is a gen- 
 eral truth, applying as well to our intercourse with 
 God as with men, " With what measure ye mete, it 
 shall be measured to you again." If we intend to 
 be Christians, it will be a great thing for us to act 
 promptly, with decision, unreservedly, and with ear- 
 nest minds. Matthew was an instance of this. See 
 the rewards that followed. 
 
 He was a companion of the Saviour during all his 
 public ministry ; he saw his wonderful works ; he 
 heard his gracious words ; he joined in prayer with 
 him ; he walked and talked with Christ. Scenes of 
 indescribable interest passed under his eye ; and in 
 the little family of Christ, going like strangers and 
 pilgrims from place to place, he had enjoyment which 
 the world could not give nor take away. However 
 much he may have enjoyed these privileges at the 
 time, we may suppose that when he was able fully to 
 understand all that had taken place in the history df 
 Christ, and as the work of human redemption unfold- 
 ed itself to his view, his personal intercourse with 
 Christ must have seemed to him like a trance, in which 
 the unutterable things of heaven are crowded upon 
 the mind, and afterward swell to such dimensions that 
 it is not possible to express them. So it will be with 
 him forever ; the privilege of having been a personal 
 
THE CALL OF MATTHEW. 47 
 
 attendant of Christ during the Saviour's earthly- 
 life, will, through eternity, present itself to him 
 increasingly with wonder and joy. But the time 
 came when it was necessary that the history of Christ 
 should be written. The Holy Spirit selected Mat- 
 thew to be one of his penmen, enlightened his mem- 
 ory, brought back to his mind not only the acts but 
 the most important words of the Saviour, and super- 
 intended, conti'oUed, guided him in the plan and 
 method of his history, in admitting and rejecting 
 things, in correcting and finally completing the event- 
 ful and all-important record. It is pleasant to think 
 what Matthew's feelings and enjoyment must have 
 been, when, with a memory assisted by the divine 
 Spirit, and with clear visions of all that passed under 
 his eye, he wrote the account of the Saviour's deeds 
 and words, hallowed by the endearing influence of 
 separation from his adorable Master. Happy man ! 
 You might have spent your life counting money, and 
 giving receipts, and laying up property to be the fuel 
 for the last fires; but you gave yourself to Christ 
 with all your heart, and became the historian of the 
 world's redemption. 
 
 We have usually thought but little of this man. 
 He is modest and unobtrusive in his record in speak- 
 ing of himself, and the world has never thought or 
 said much respecting him, though his name has been 
 so often used, nor have we commonly preached about 
 
48 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 him, because he hides himself behind his Lord and 
 Master. But look at his claims to our reverence. 
 
 Is there any other such composition in human lan- 
 guage as the Sermon on the Mount, from his inspired 
 penl 
 
 What passage stands equal in the Bible with any 
 other for its interest and grandeur"? Is it not the 
 twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew 1 " When the Son 
 of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy an- 
 gels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his 
 glory. And before him shall be gathered all nations, 
 and he shall separate them one from another as a 
 shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." Miltons 
 and Shakspeares have never reached the awful gran- 
 deur nor yet the beautiful simplicity of the man who 
 left his writing desk and the receipt of custom, with 
 his soul filled with love to Christ. Wherever on the 
 earth the gospel rises like the sun in heaven upon 
 the nations, Matthew is the herald of his Lord. 
 While meditating this sermon,- 1 passed through the 
 entry of the Missionary House in this city, and saw 
 a pile of books which had just come from the press. 
 Opening a volume, I read, " The Gospel according to 
 Matthew," in the Choctaw language. The coinci- 
 dence of the discovery with the preparation of this 
 sermon on Matthew deeply aifected me ; I said, ' Here 
 he is, on his way to the Indians of the new world.' 
 When he left his receipt of custom so promptly to 
 
THE CALL OF MATTHEW. 49 
 
 follow Lis Redeemer, he little knew what glory and 
 honor in being useful were involved in that one act. 
 On his throne in heaven, he thinks of the influence 
 which he has left behind him, and which is following 
 him in tide upon tide of glory to the day of judgment 
 and forever. Many a time he has thought of that 
 moment when the countenance of Christ appeared at 
 his place of business, and of the change which took 
 place in his experience and history, when at the 
 first call of Christ he gave up every thing to follow 
 him. Let the amiable rich man whom Jesus loved 
 turn sorrowful away, and another put his hand to 
 the plow and look, back, and another think supreme- 
 ly of them who are at home at his house ; we praise 
 and love, and may we imitate, him who instantly 
 arose, left all, and followed Christ. " Them that 
 honor me I will honor." " There is no man that 
 hath left" all "for my sake and the gospel's, but he 
 shall receive a hundred fold now in this time, with 
 persecutions, and in the world to come eternal life." 
 If you will give yourself, with all your heart, and 
 soul, and strength, to God, no tongue can tell how 
 useful he may make you in this world, and what a 
 happy eternity will be in reserve fop you, and through 
 you for many others. Perhaps in some humble con- 
 dition, or it may be merely in teaching a child, at home 
 or at school, you may set influences at work which 
 will swell to widening circles through time. When 
 
50 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 we think of the usefulness and happiness here and 
 forever of being supremely consecrated to God, it 
 seems strange to see people hesitating and afraid to 
 commit themselves in this thing. Many under re- 
 ligious impressions are bitterly afflicted at the thought 
 of being Christians. Instead of being about to find 
 themselves heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, 
 one would think that some great affliction was about 
 to befall them. 
 
 The proposal is now made, that you, from this time, 
 obey the voice of God by his Spirit and your con- 
 science, and consecrate yourself to him, through re 
 pentance of all sin, and faith in the Saviour of the 
 world. Never did any one become a Christian who 
 did not concentrate all his thoughts and efforts upon 
 the time then present. You are far more acquainted 
 with Christ than Matthew was when the Saviour 
 appeared at his door ; you have been from a child 
 familiar with his whole life, and with his sufferings 
 and death. As you now sit and hear these words, 
 there stands one whom you do not see, looking upon 
 you with benign face, making offers of eternal im- 
 portance to you. Strange, indeed, that he should 
 think of you, that he should fix his desire on you ; 
 but this is like him, — he is seeking even you. Will 
 you be a Christian ? Perhaps you are inclined to say, 
 ' I must first repent and believe; and how can I do this 
 at once, and without more premeditation 1 ' Eepent- 
 
THE CALL OF MATTHEW. 51 
 
 ance is the sorrow of love ; you do not repent till you 
 begin to love, neither will you trust in Christ till you 
 begin to feel affection toward him. Therefore, if you 
 will from this moment fix your thoughts on Christ, 
 and give yourself to him, you will do that which in- 
 volves all your duty ; — and what will Christ do for 
 you 1 — " exceeding abundantly above all you ask or 
 think ; " but especially he will at once give you a new 
 heart, which will have all right feelings in it, feelings 
 which you have tried in vain to exercise, feelings 
 which you never have had and never can have until 
 you thus unconditionally, as poor, and miserable, and 
 blind, and naked, surrender yourself to Christ, and 
 accept him as he is offered to you in his gospel. 
 
 Finally. The history of Matthew teaches us that 
 we make our own, choice to follow or to refuse Christ. 
 
 It has always been so ; it will be so with you. 
 Sincerely and affectionately Christ said, " Follow me," 
 to many who made excuses as freely as others ac- 
 cepted his call. Solemn truth, that whatever our 
 destiny for eternity shall prove to be, each of us will 
 have decided it for himself. Whatever else may be 
 true, this is true, and nothing is true which is incon- 
 sistent with it. 
 
 It is affecting, also, to think that Christ does not 
 urge us to choose him because he is in any way de- 
 pendent upon our love and service. He will have no 
 
52 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 lack of friends and followers, though we decline. 
 The history of redemption will be perfect, even if it 
 does not include the history of our salvation. It 
 makes one feel insignificant to think that the happi- 
 ness of heaven will be complete without him ; that 
 regrets at his absence, the mention of his name, and 
 at last the memory of him will be wholly absorbed 
 in the blissful experience of the redeemed. A thou- 
 sand years hence, a mother, a wife, a sister, a child, 
 will still remember us if we perish ; but the myriads 
 of myriads in heaven will be perfectly happy without 
 us. Might there be but a harp hung up with the 
 drapery of mourning upon it, a kind though sad me- 
 morial of me, it would be a continual drop of water 
 in my future pain ; but there will not be a harp to 
 spare for such a purpose ; there will be some re- 
 deemed sinner who will rehearse, upon those very 
 strings to which my voice might have sung, the his- 
 tory of his gracious call by Christ, his happy choice 
 at that call, its consequences in a useful life, escape 
 from the company and torments of devils and damned 
 men, and an eternity in heaven. 
 
 This being so, I would not pass the door of the 
 place where you sit, I would not lose a moment, while 
 Christ stands and waits for your answer, without 
 yielding myself to his call. You may never have 
 another. Will you be a Christian ? It will cost the 
 surrender to Christ of all that you have and are ; it 
 
THE CALL OF MATTHEW. 63 
 
 ■will be a mighty change indeed that will make you 
 willing to be a humble, affectionate, childlike be- 
 liever in Jesus, and bring you, as the same change 
 brought Saul of Tarsus, into the company and com- 
 munion of praying people. Christ can make that 
 change for you in a moment. Unless it is made, you 
 can not be saved. Important moment ! a soul is now 
 to decide whether to follow Christ or to refuse him. 
 Future ages in heaven or hell ! your history with some 
 soul will be but the continued history of this hour ! 
 Saviour, hast thou no word to turn the scale 1 — "All 
 
 THAT THE FaTHER HATH GIVEN ME SHALL COME TO 
 
 ME, AND HIM THAT COMETH UNTO ME I WILL IN NO 
 
 WISE CAST OUT." 
 
 5 
 
ni. 
 
 THE WIDOW OF NATN AND HER SON. 
 
 AND HE SAID, YOUNS MAN, 1 SAT TJNTO THEE, ARISE. AND HE THAT yfAS 
 DEAD SAT UP, AND BEGAN TO SPEAK.- AND HE DELITEKED HIM TO HIS 
 MOTHER. 
 
 If there is one on earth who more than another 
 is an object of sympathy blending with respect and 
 almost reverence, it is such a one as the inspired 
 penman calls a widow indeed. The death of her com- 
 panion is not only the bitterest grief, but an abiding 
 calamity, her sorrow inconsolable, her loss irreparable, 
 and her journey to the tomb a pathway on which the 
 cypress and yew tree suffer none but chance wild 
 flowers to appear. God only knows the depths of 
 thought and feeling which bereavement opens in the 
 soul of such a mourner ; and God himself has shown 
 at once his sense of her unparalleled sorrow and 
 his own condescension in giving himself the name 
 of "Judge of the widow." 
 
 The woman mentioned in the text was probably 
 
THE WIDOW OP NAIN AND HER SON. 55 
 
 known in the city where she lived as a widow indeed, 
 but whose bitter grief at the loss of her companion 
 had been somewhat assuaged, because God had left 
 her a son to be her stay and staff. On him that 
 mother had bestowed the mingled affections of a 
 parent and a bereaved wife ; he was the prop of her 
 house, her defender and provider ; if not the image 
 of his father, the memorial to her of him who in her 
 youth was her joy and crown. It would seem that 
 he had not yet found a home away from her ; dutiful 
 and affectionate, he still devoted himself to her com- 
 fort ; she felt that the grave had not robbed her of 
 every thing. But death is now in her house again, 
 not to release her from a world of suffering, but to 
 quench her last coal, to crush her heart with a more 
 aggravated grief. She must follow her son to the 
 place where the father sleeps, and henceforth divide, 
 yet multiply, her grief between two graves. Her son, 
 though young, was not a child. " There was a dead 
 man carried out." He was known in the city. He 
 was like one of the familiar shade trees of the place, 
 which could not be struck with lightning without 
 exciting the popular sorrow. All loved him as a 
 widow's good son ; and when he died, much people 
 of the city was with her. With the instinctive kind- 
 ness of the human heart toward helpless and peculiar 
 grief, they went with her to see him buried, but not 
 one of them could say a word that could reach her 
 
56 CHRIST A FllIEND. 
 
 wound, not one of them could "by any means de- 
 liver his soul from death, or give to God a ransom for 
 him that he should not see death, and that his eyes 
 should be enlightened with the light of the living." 
 They reached the gate of the city ; it was opened for 
 one whose feet, they thought, would never tread its 
 threshold any more. The opening prospect without 
 the gate revealing to the mother the wide world in 
 which she was now, as it were, a second time a widow, 
 was the occasion of a new burst of grief Remorse- 
 less death and the yawning grave heeded not her 
 tears. On they went to bury the widow's son, and 
 with him his mother's hopes and peace. 
 
 A little group followed by a crowd drew near, and 
 together they met the funeral train. The funeral, in- 
 deed, was no uncommon sight, but there was some- 
 thing in the chief mourner's weeping, and in the 
 whole procession, which moved even a common spec- 
 tator. There was one in that group who had ordered 
 the time and circumstances of his arrival at the gate 
 of the city with a view to meet that funeral train. 
 Undistinguished by any form or comeliness, yet to one 
 who knew him his approach to that pageantry of 
 death was fearfully sublime. He is death's great foe ; 
 he is the Resurrection and the Life ; all that are in 
 their graves are to hear his voice and obey his sum- 
 mons. Drawing near to the afflicted woman aban- 
 doned to her grief, he spoke calm words as only he 
 
THE WIDOW OF NAIN AND HER SON. 57 
 
 can speak, whether to the boisterous waves or the 
 surges of the mind. The mourner felt that the stran- 
 ger had power to comfort her like no one else, for 
 with authority he laid a simple touch upon the bier, 
 and they that bare it stood still. What a moment ! 
 what silence ! what expectation ! With the same calm 
 voice which soothed the -mother, he spoke again. 
 Who could tell what he intended to do, or why he 
 should stop a funeral procession to which every 
 passer, and vehicle, and military band of music, and 
 shouting children involuntarily give respectful dis- 
 tance, and pass and suffer to pass in silence 'i This 
 humble stranger, — what will he presume to do? 
 He speaks : " Young man, I say unto thee, Arise." 
 No sooner were these words uttered than he that was 
 dead sat up, and straightway began to speak. Inco- 
 herent, perhaps, were those words, like the last words 
 of a dream with which a man awakes ; but they were 
 words, and they made known that the dead was alive. 
 But this was not enough. "And he delivered him to 
 his mother." More 'is conveyed by those words than 
 may at first appear. Christ did not retire, leaving the 
 mother to awake as she might from the delirium of 
 mingled astonishment and fear ; his work was not 
 done ; he could not be satisfied till he had assured that 
 mourner that her son was alive ; he stood by, without 
 doubt, controlling the emotions of those hearts in 
 which the sudden flood of joy might have destroyed 
 
58 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 reason. "He delivered him to his mother,'' — and 
 thus he loved them unto the end. 
 
 There can be no question that Death had done his 
 work upon the youth who lay on that bier. The in- 
 spired writer says, "There was a dead man carried 
 out ; " and again he says, " He that was dead sat up." 
 When Christ raised the ruler's daughter, he told them 
 she was not dead, but sleeping. He never assumed to 
 do that which he did not in reality do. The narrative 
 before us makes it certain that the dead was raised. 
 The departed spirit heard the Saviour's voice; from 
 its separate abode it came forth, reentered its deserted 
 tabernacle, and lived on earth again. No human fancy 
 can tell what its experience had been within the vail ; 
 but from the scenes which no man can see and live, 
 it came back at the voice of Him who has the keys of 
 death. No wonder that, as the historian adds, " great 
 fear came upon all." There was a man, with every 
 outward resemblance to any other man, extending his 
 authority into the world of spirits, and calling back 
 a departed soul from the state where death had left it 
 and judgment was to find it. 
 
 We have no record of the ensuing life of this young 
 man. While the Bible tells us of several cases in 
 which the dead were raised, it says not one Word of 
 that which they saw within the vail. Curiosity was, 
 no doubt, busy in the circle of their friends and fel- 
 low-citizens to learn something of their experience 
 
THE WIDOW OF NAIN AND HER SON. 59 
 
 No writer without the restraint and guidance of the 
 Holy Ghost would have failed to gratify human curi- 
 osity on such a subject ; it would have been prom- 
 inent in his thoughts ; he would have known that it 
 was prominent in the thoughts of all above every 
 thing else, and the history of this young man's resur- 
 rection would have been followed by a narrative of 
 things which he saw and heard after death. The only 
 impression which^ the narrative was intended to con- 
 vey, besides its illustration of the Saviour's power, was 
 the friendliness of Christ in his compassion to a 
 widowed mother, which led him even to call back 
 a departed sou^ and thus restore to a widow her 
 only son. 
 
 But in more ways than one is this instance of the 
 Saviour's kindness and power capable of application 
 to the condition of a widow, and to the son of a 
 widow. Of all the sights that meet the eye, nothing 
 goes to the heart of one who loves his fellow-men, 
 with a stronger appeal, than the young men who are 
 coming to the city from other places, leaving their 
 parents' roof, the restraints of home, and subjecting 
 themselves to the influences of a great place. When 
 Paul enumerates his perils in the wilderness, in the 
 sea, among robbers and false brethren, he speaks also 
 of " perils in the city." If parents, ignorant of city 
 life, knew one half of the meaning of that expression, 
 they would have far less peace, their sleep would be 
 
60 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 ft 
 
 more frequently disturbed in thinking of these sons, 
 and for a refuge they would be more instant in prayer. 
 Yet shall it be forgotten that young men are convert- 
 ed and become eminently useful members of churches, 
 in cities ; that some who had continued impenitent 
 under the most favorable and hopeful circumstances 
 of a quiet, virtuous home in the country, find salva- 
 tion amidst the snares and hinderances of city life 1 
 The almighty Spirit is not confined to places nor to 
 circumstances. 
 
 If Jesus Christ should pass along our streets he 
 would see in the warerooms, and counting houses, and 
 in the great throng, many and many a youth who 
 would excite his interest as much as did the youth on 
 his bier, and for somewhat the same reason. Many 
 of the young men among us are sons of widows, and 
 who, in consequence of the death of their fathers, 
 have come to this place to engage in business. The 
 Saviour looks on these young men with a different 
 eye from that with which many regard them ; and to 
 illustrate this we will now attend to some things which 
 the narrative before us brings to mind. Consider, — 
 
 I. The thoughts and feelings with which Christ 
 entered the city of Nain. 
 
 When people go to a city, their thoughts are full 
 of the exciting objects which they see there. The 
 contrast between the stillness of their own place of 
 
THE WIDOW OF NAIN AND HER SON. 61 
 
 residence, and the busy multitudes, and the noise of 
 the place as they first set foot in it, absorbs their 
 minds. Soon the glare of the place is all around 
 them ; display meets them at every turn ; the streets 
 are filled with living exhibitions of fashion and taste, 
 the shops flash upon the senses their rich and showy 
 ofierings to the pride of -life. Many, as they enter 
 such a place, meeting a funeral, would feel a moment- 
 ary sadness at the contrast of the sight with their own 
 eager thoughts, now pressing on to mingle in the whirl 
 of the city ; and some would wonder who it is that 
 now no more can enjoy the pleasures of such a place. 
 The noise of the slow hearse is not sooner passed 
 away from their ears than the thought of death from 
 their hearts; and then the living tide and gulf of 
 business and fashion receives them, like drops of rain, 
 to mingle and be lost in it. 
 
 The Saviour entered the city of Nain with difierent 
 feelings and thoughts, and was affected, and deeply so, 
 by a sight which men generally avoid. The sight of 
 a funeral in a city is impressive to a serious mind. 
 The excitements of business and pleasure can not 
 evade the arrest of Death ; beauty can not tempt him ; 
 riches can not bribe him ; his throne is in the city ; 
 his throne is in every village : on his realms the sun 
 never sets. As the mourners carry the deceased from 
 the noise and tumult of the city to the silent grave, 
 one who has learned to conquer death by faith in 
 
62- CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 Christ can not fail to look upoij the sight with deep 
 interest. To the eye of Christ it was an aflfecting 
 spectacle, and he drew near to behold it. His pur- 
 pose in visiting the city was not to indulge in its op- 
 portunities of gain or pleasure, but to do the work of 
 God ; and when he saw the funeral his heart was 
 moved with compassion. Another soul, for whom he 
 was " slain from the foundation of the world," had 
 gone to its last account. Death, his enemy and ours, 
 had gained another victim in the city, and had 
 plunged another house into mourning, and Christ 
 could not see such a sight and not be more interested 
 in it than by all which the world could offer to his 
 senses. Do we not need the spirit of the Saviour in 
 living in a city"? What are the things that chiefly 
 engage our thoughts here 1 If it be literature ; if it 
 be to buy and sell; if it be to admire or be admired, 
 to imitate the fashions, to enjoy the concerts, and lec- 
 tures, and shows ; if it be to gratify the tastes, or to 
 give children the accomplishments of elegant life, — 
 we have abundant opportunities for all this here ; but 
 these are not most worthy of a Christian, nor are they 
 the things for which we ought to live, nor with which 
 our hearts will be chiefly filled if we have the spirit 
 of the Saviour. The death and funeral of a widow's 
 son here is a more interesting, important, and instruc- 
 tive event than any thing that charms the heart of the 
 sons and daughters of a gay world. We must not 
 
THE WIDOW OF NAIN AND HEK SON. 63 
 
 suffer ourselves to be lost in the whirl which every 
 thing partakes of in the rush of business and popula- 
 tion to the city. Here we are to serve God. Here 
 is the vineyard which we are to cultivate. "We must 
 fix our thoughts on individuals, and not be overcome 
 by the thought of multitudes, and so feel weak and 
 inefficient. We may well say, as Jehoshaphat did at 
 the sight of the legions of Ammon, Moab, and Mount 
 Seir, "We have no might against this great company, 
 neither know we what to do." Our business is not 
 to make the place at once what it should be, but to 
 labor in individual cases to do the good which lies 
 ready at our hands, while we cooperate gladly with 
 every good effort to reach and affect classes. In order 
 to do this, we must endeavor to feel and act like Christ 
 as he went from place to place, and as he entered into 
 cities. "With our hearts fixed on heaven we must pass 
 along, remembering that here we have no continuing 
 city. With our minds filled with the importance of 
 the soul and of eternity, we must have chief regard to 
 the spiritual interests of men. 
 
 Before we reach the more specific object which the 
 discourse contemplates, let us consider 
 
 II. The discriminating compassion and tenderness 
 of Christ. 
 
 He saw this widowed mother as she bent in sorrow 
 r.t the bier which carried her son. She could not 
 
64 CHBIST A FRIEND. 
 
 restrain her grief; it showed itself in all her motions, 
 her bowed form, her unequal step, her involuntary- 
 pause, her disregard of every thing about her, and her 
 whole abandonment to woe. He knew who she was, 
 and whom she had lost, for he knew all things ; and 
 he directed his way to that city just at that time, to 
 meet this funeral. " And he said unto her, Weep 
 not." He noticed her weeping ; he wiped away her 
 tears. 
 
 There are few things in Christ more interesting than 
 that appreciation of our condition and feelings which 
 he showed when on earth. No friend is to you like 
 one who, when you are in difficulty and trouble, per- 
 fectly understands your case. It aggravates an afllic- 
 tion to deal with those who can not enter into your 
 feelings; who treat them with an inappropriate re- 
 mark, or a smile, or with silence, it may be with cold- 
 ness, or even with something bordering upon an un- 
 kind insinuation, or upbraiding ; or who, if their 
 intentions are good, are totally unqualified to under- 
 stand you ; or who inconsiderately rehearse long and 
 circumstantial narratives of their own experience, or 
 of things in which you can not feel the slightest in- 
 terest. There are many who will sympathize with 
 you; but it is rare to meet with one who is wholly 
 congenial to your heart, who does not need to have 
 you translate every thing, nor even to say all you 
 think, but who will anticipate it by his actions, o) 
 
THE WIDOW OF NAIN AND HER SON. 65 
 
 looks, or words, and make you feel that he knows you 
 almost better than you know yourself. Such a friend 
 is the Saviour. He is as near to us now as he was 
 to any object of his compassion when he was on earth; 
 and while men change, Jesus Christ is the same yes- 
 terday, to-day, and forever. There is not a circum- 
 stance in your condition, however delicate and private, 
 but the Saviour knows it, and can appreciate it. There 
 is no peculiar poignancy in your sufferings but he un- 
 derstands it, and pities you. There is no trial which 
 you are unable and unwilling to explain to any earth- 
 ly friend, which you may not lay before him, and he 
 will treat you with a tenderness which none but God 
 can feel By the side of every sick and dying bed, in 
 the chamber of protracted and exhausting illness, in 
 every house of mourning, Christ is present ; and the 
 strangest thing in our estrangement from God is that 
 we think so little of what we chiefly need — the sym- 
 pathy and readiness to help us which there is in Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 "We have all received from Christ certain kind 
 acts which made us very happy at the time, a certain 
 gratification of our feelings, pleasing coincidences be- 
 tween our wishes and the events of life, and all of them 
 from those hands which were nailed to the cross for 
 us, and have ever since been raised to intercede for us. 
 What effect have these things had upon our feelings 
 and conduct 'i Have they ever awakened in us strong. 
 
66 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 impulsive love and gratitude, like great kindnesses 
 from our friends 1 Have we ever felt as that grateful, 
 happy disciple did vehen the large draught of fishes 
 made his company say, " It is the Lord ! " Beautiful 
 instance of grateful joy and ardent love, — "he girt 
 his fisher's coat unto him, and did cast himself into the 
 sea." Christ has done enough for each of us in our 
 temporal afiairs to make us throw ourselves, with the 
 same impulsive feelings, before him, heedless of men's 
 opinions or of what it might cost. If we knew what 
 kind things Christ has done for us in that same spirit 
 of compassion and tenderness with which he met this 
 widow and made that bier stand still, we should think 
 that we had very hard and wicked hearts to have neg- 
 lected and rejected him. May our eyes no longer be 
 holden that we should not see him. We shall need 
 to know him in coming scenes of our lives. We shall 
 meet with trials which no love but his can help us en- 
 dure. We may follow a bier which, if Christ does not 
 meet the funeral, will carry our hearts and hopes to 
 the grave, and it will be the survivor that dies. Had 
 we the universe to draw from to make you happy, we 
 would do nothing but this, make you " to comprehend 
 with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and 
 depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ 
 which passeth knowledge." 
 We are to consider, — 
 
THE WIDOW OF NAIN AND HER SON. 67 
 
 III. The feelings and conduct of Christ toward a 
 widow's son. 
 
 Had he not been a widow's son, it is probable that 
 Ohrist would not have raised him from the dead. Had 
 Christ seen that mother sustained and comforted by 
 her husband, he might have pitied them both, but he 
 would not have felt as he did when he knew that this 
 dead youth was the only son of his mother, and she a 
 widow. 
 
 They who stand in the relation of widows' sons are 
 objects of involuntary affection and interest to all who 
 know them. Let men see a youth acting his part well 
 in this relation, virtuous, frugal, circumspect, not 
 ashamed of his amiable regard for his mother, but 
 touched with a sense of her loneliness and sorrow, 
 and doing all in his power to comfort and help her, 
 and that youth has access at once to the confidence 
 and love of men. It is not an unmeaning declaration, 
 that "Honor thy father and thy mother" "is the first 
 commandment with promise," and when God enjoins 
 obedience to that commandment by saying, " that it 
 may be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long 
 on the earth," he makes a promise, to fulfill which, 
 in one instance, he raised a widow's son from the dead. 
 For, if that young man had been a trial to his mother, 
 would Christ have raised him to life \ Rather would 
 he not have suffered the funeral to pass on] It was 
 the relation which the good son bore to his parent that 
 
68 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 was recognized by Christ in this transaction ; and 
 when a youth sustains this relation as he ought, he 
 may be sure that he will have his Saviour's blessing 
 in this world, and, if he also loves and serves the best 
 of friends, in the world which is to come. 
 
 "We know that young men naturally shrink from 
 manifesting tenderness of feeling ; they feel that filial 
 love or fraternal affection will give the impression of 
 softness of character, and the want of a certain man- 
 liness to which the young aspire. None whose es- 
 teem is desirable think less of a youth who is suscep- 
 tible to the influences of domestic ties. Others may 
 think it strange that he runs not with them to the 
 same excess of riot ; for many deem it manly to curse 
 and swear, indulge expensive habits, and to be inde- 
 pendent of all restraints ; and therefore the appren- 
 tice who will best ridicule his master, and invent the 
 most expressive nickname for him, and show least of 
 those compunctions of feeling which a virtuous youth 
 feels from a regard to parents and sisters, to God and 
 virtue, generally gets the' most of their vulgar ap- 
 plause. That youth has most of true courage who 
 will fear God rather than man. It is cowardice, and 
 not courage, which leads the young to talk profanely 
 and recklessly before others, to join in a laugh at the 
 expense of men or things which he secretly respects, 
 or to indulge in expenses or vices for fear of being 
 called mean. He who fears God and seeks his appro- 
 
THE WIDOW OF NAIN AND HER SON. 69 
 
 bation, and therefore disregards the opinions and slurs 
 of the wicked, is a good soldier of Jesus Christ ; and 
 that youth who is touched by a mother's love, and 
 who remembers that absent parent amidst the perils 
 of the city, not only has one of the greatest safeguards 
 against evil, but shows himself susceptible of feelings 
 which will make him beloved and honored among 
 men. If you are a widow's son, you have not only 
 the- strongest inducements to be good, but the best 
 of opportunities to cultivate feelings and sentiments 
 which will form your character to much that is beau- 
 tiful and praiseworthy, and to secure the notice and 
 love of God your Saviour. That Saviour knows you, 
 beloved young friend, and your widowed parent. 
 Prayers unheard by you, tears which give place to 
 smiles at your approach, are heard and seen by her 
 Saviour, your Friend ; and now, for her sake, he com- 
 passes your path and your lying down, and is ac- 
 quainted with all your ways. 
 
 That widowed mother, we venture to say, is a 
 Christian. Perhaps you are all to her that she can 
 ask, except in one thing ; and that one thing is of 
 such a nature that every thing else avails her nothing 
 till this is fulfilled. There is many a widowed moth- 
 er who sees her beloved son advancing in life without 
 God for his portion, and with no hope of heaven. 
 He may be a most excellent son, but that can not save 
 nis soul. Christ says, "He that loveth father or 
 
70 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 mother more than me is not worthy of me." The 
 anxiety of that mother in her daily and nightly prayers 
 for her son, as she thinks of his exposure to death and 
 the loss of his soul, none but Christ knows or can 
 fully understand. Many a time she has that son in 
 her thoughts upon his bier, and is following him in 
 imagination to his hopeless grave ; and did not Christ 
 draw near to her and support her in her fears, she 
 could not endure her sorrow. If the son of a wid- 
 owed mother wishes to give the greatest joy which 
 earth ever knows, let him tell that mother that he has 
 chosen God for his portion. A letter which should 
 communicate such intelligence would be a greater 
 treasure to her than the title deed to great possessions. 
 Among her earnest thoughts and feelings she would 
 say, ' Does his father know that he has become a Chris- 
 tian 1 What must his joy, even in heaven, be to hear 
 that his son is now an heir of heaven with us ! ' We 
 envy that young man who has it in his power to com- 
 municate such bliss on earth ; to make a widowed 
 mother feel that now she is the happiest creature out 
 of heaven ; to make a glorified father cast his crown 
 at his Saviour's feet with a new tide of joy and grat- 
 itude which no experience in heaven has given him. 
 
 I hear a youth as he sighs and says, ' My mother 
 is dead.' O, is she dead? Is your mother deadi 
 Then you can not lighten her earthly sorrow by your 
 conversion. But take courage ; she is not out of the 
 
THE WIDOW OF NAIN AND HEE SON. 71 
 
 reach of your power to make her happy. We fancy 
 we see that mother in heaven, whose face, radiant with 
 happiness, still seems to wear an expression as though 
 she were expecting something more. They tell her, 
 ' Your son has a happy home.' She is unmoved while 
 she hears this. They tell her, ' Your son is rich ; ' 
 she hears it with an appearance of sadness. They say 
 to her, ' Your son is eminent for his talents and ac- 
 quirements ; his praise is on the lips of all.' How is 
 this 1 Can nothing move that parent which relates 
 to your prosperity] A ministering angel reaches 
 heaven, drops his swift pinions at the door of her 
 mansion, or finds her out in some celestial circle, and 
 cries, ' Woman, behold, he prayeth ! ' Heaven for 
 a moment now seems a heaven of heavens to her. 
 Enviable privilege of a child who can send such bliss 
 into a parent's heart in heaven ! Happier he who by 
 his timely conversion can keep a widowed mother's 
 gray hairs from going down with sorrow to the grave, 
 and smooth the dying pillow of her who smoothed 
 his infant pillow and watched over his childhood, by 
 giving her the assurance, as she enters heaven, l^at 
 he loves and serves her Eedeemer, that he will be 
 useful here, and meet her before the throne. 
 
 Saviour, hear the weeping and supplication of 
 her whose son may at this moment be hearing these 
 words. Behold him dead in trespasses and sins, for- 
 saking the guide of his youth, his own friend, and 
 
72 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 his father's friend, and the covenant of his God. 
 Take him by the hand, and say, " Young man, I say 
 unto thee. Arise." Come, touch this bier, which carries 
 a widow's son to the second death. It is enough to 
 be a lone, desolate widow. Give her this son, the joy 
 and pride of him who was her husband and his father, 
 but who has left her on this thorny pathway to the 
 grave. Give her this son, that she may give him to 
 thy service, and herself be comforted under thy stroke. 
 Let not this funeral pass on in thy sight, and thou dis- 
 regard our prayer. 
 
 Why do we say this ? The Saviour has spoken ; 
 he has had compassion ; he speaks at this moment to 
 him who is dead in sin : " Young man, I say unto 
 thee. Arise." The dead in sin hear his voice, indeed, 
 but they can resist it, which the dead body and the 
 departed soul can not do. Having compassion on 
 that loving, weeping parent, the Saviour's hand is 
 stretched out toward you. Avail yourself of a 
 mother's prayers, and say, ' O Lord, truly I am thy 
 servant ; I am thy servant and the son of thine hand- 
 maid ; thou hast loosed my bonds.' He will raise you 
 now from death in trespasses and sins, which is infinite- 
 ly more important than the return of this youth in 
 the text to finish the remnant of his years. Whether 
 you now hear or disregard that word, you will one 
 day hear it at your grave : " Young man, I say un- 
 to thee, Arise." What scenes, joyful or sad, and 
 
THE WIDOW OF NAIN AND HER SON. 73 
 
 whether* greetings with no partings, shall take place 
 
 at your family tomb, may depend upon your present 
 
 treatment of the Saviour's call. "Awake, thotj 
 
 that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and 
 
 Christ shall gite thee life." 
 r c 
 
IV. 
 
 CONVERSION OF ZACCHEUS. 
 
 AND WHEN raSUS OiME TO THE PLACE, HE LOOKED TIP, AND SAW HIM, AHD 
 SAID UNTO HIM, ZACCHEUS, MAKE HASTE, AND COME DOWN ; FOB TO-DAT 
 I MUST ABIDE AT THY HOUSE. 
 
 AND HE MADE HASTE, AND CAME DOWN, AND KECEIYED HIM JOYFULLY. 
 
 The conversion of Zaccheus affords a striking il- 
 lustration of the kindness of Christ as a Friend of 
 sinners. 
 
 The man before us was the, chief among the pub- 
 licans. Of these there were two classes; one, an 
 order of knights, respectable, and generally mentioned 
 with honor. The other class were deputy assessors 
 and collectors. They gave their bonds for a certain 
 sum, and then, in many cases, enriched themselves by 
 unjust exactions. A publican of this class was there- 
 fore odious, and the name was a proverb. Christ 
 himself used the name in that manner : " Let him be 
 unto thee as a heathen man and a publican." Theoc- 
 ritus, a poet, being asked which was the most cruel 
 
 (74) 
 
CONVEESION OF ZACCHBUS. 75 
 
 of beasts, said, " Of the beasts of the wilderness, the 
 bear and the lion, and of the beasts of the city, the 
 publican and the parasite," or the designing flatterer. 
 These publicans were for the most part foreigners. 
 When a Jew became a publican, he was, of course, 
 looked upon as a vile traitor, and was so abhorred 
 that he was not permitted to enter the temple or 
 engage in public prayers, and his testimony was not 
 admitted in courts of justice. 
 
 Now, the man mentioned in the text, as we learn 
 from the feelings of the people when they saw Christ 
 enter his house, was one of these publicans, the prin- 
 cipal of the extortioners ; men knew him, perhaps, as 
 the Shylock of Jericho ; " and he was rich." In his 
 personal appearance, it seems, he was below the com- 
 mon stature. Great talents at financiering have not 
 unfrequently been associated with smallness of size, so 
 that painters and poets have connected the two things 
 together. If he were mean and wicked, his inferior 
 personal appearance must have made him an object 
 of contempt. But besides this, he was a Jew ; not a 
 foreigner plundering strangers, but one of their own 
 countrymen hiring himself to their Roman masters, 
 and making use of his office to oppress the Jews, his 
 countrymen, and enrich himself. So that, all things 
 considered, we shall not err if we suppose him to have 
 been an odious character ; a little, brisk, shrewd, cruel 
 Jew, rich in ill-gotten treasures, and small as he was, 
 
76 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 bearing sway among the herd of publicans through 
 his intriguing manners, or the influence of his su- 
 perior wealth. 
 
 This man had a desire to see Christ. " He sought 
 to see Jesus, who he was." As Christ entered and 
 passed through Jericho with a crowd of people around 
 him, the excitement in the street caught the attention 
 of this publican ; but not being able " for the press," 
 " because he was little of stature," to obtain a sight of 
 Christ, he ran before the crowd, and climbed into a 
 sycamore tree, and waited for his coming. He does 
 not seem to have had any religious impressions, or 
 any thing but a desire to see a celebrated stranger. 
 The crowd soon came by the tree, and Jesus looked 
 up, and saw him, and said unto him, " Zaccheus, 
 make haste and come down ; for to-day I must abide 
 at thy house." 
 
 This is not the only instance in which Christ 
 showed his knowledge of one who supposed himself 
 to be a stranger to him. " Nathanael said unto him, 
 Whence knowest thou me 1 " There can be no rea- 
 son to doubt that Christ knew who Zaccheus was 
 without being informed, and the sequel of the story 
 leads us to believe that the whole transaction was ar- 
 ranged by the omniscient Saviour for the purposes 
 which will presently appear. 
 
 As Christ came to the tree, and looked up, and said, 
 " Zaccheus ! " we may easily conceive the surprise of 
 
CONVERSION OF ZACCHEUS. 77 
 
 the man at the salutation. He little dreamed of being 
 noticed, especially of being addressed by name, on the 
 part of him whom all Jericho followed. As the Sa- 
 viour paused and the crowd halted, there was one 
 moment for the arch publican to think of his situa- 
 tion. It is not impossible that, with the inconceivable 
 rapidity with which thoughts pass through the mind 
 under sudden excitement, some disagreeable appre- 
 hensions seized him; and it may be his conscience 
 awoke. Perhaps he thought that Christ had come 
 to arraign him, and expose him to the populace. He 
 was like one caught and bound fast ; the tree was a 
 pillory if Christ saw fit to use it for that purpose, and 
 turn the indignation of the people against the sinner. 
 At the moment when the eye of Christ was directed 
 towards him in the tree, it were not surprising if his 
 past life and forebodings of shame filled the mind of 
 this transgressor. 
 
 The call of Christ was more surprising to Zaccheus 
 than his discovery of him. We can hardly imagine 
 the efiect which the Saviour's words must have had 
 upon him after his first painful alarm : " Zaccheus, 
 make haste and come down ; for to-day I must abide 
 at thy house." Never could there be a more sudden 
 and afiecting change in the feelings of a man. A 
 moment before he was like an arrested culprit, liable, 
 at a word from Christ, to meet the scorn and indigna- 
 tion of the populace; now the Saviour's words of 
 
78 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 kindness and confidence in him melted his heart. 
 " Zaccheus, make haste and come down." But for 
 what purpose 1 To meet the insults or reproaches of 
 the people 1 "I must abide at thy house." ' With 
 me ! ' he might have said ; ' thou with me ! ' With 
 what emotions must he have descended. " He made 
 haste, and came down, and received him joyfully." 
 
 Then, indeed, a strange sight appeared. There 
 walked together the Son of God and the chief of the 
 publicans ; he " who did no sin, neither was guile 
 found in his mouth," and the wicked Zaccheus, side 
 by side. In silent doubt for a season, it would seem, 
 this new object of the Saviour's mercy must have 
 passed along, wondering whether it were a dream, and 
 experiencing a conflict of feelings as he met the eyes 
 of the people in his new and strange position. What 
 joy there must have been in the presence of the angels 
 of God at such a sight ! What bitter feelings in the 
 great enemy of Christ and man at the loss of such 
 prey! 
 
 Christ went into the house of this sinner, and, with 
 his disciples, became his guest. The crowd, as we 
 infer from the narrative, followed him to the door ; 
 and we are prepared to feel the truth and force of the 
 remark made by the evangelist with regard to them ; 
 "And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, 
 That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a 
 sinner." Was there no virtuous. UDrie-ht man in 
 
CONVEKSION OF ZACCHEUS. 79 
 
 Jericho, that Christ should have chosen such a sinner 
 for his hostl Does he mean to set at nought public 
 opinion by honoring a pest of society with his pres- 
 ence ? Perhaps his friends, some of them, expressed 
 their surprise and fears that he should be willing to 
 associate with such a man, that he would so far risk 
 his reputation with the people as to pay such needless 
 attention to this publican and sinner. Many, no 
 doubt, went back, and walked no more with him ; and 
 here and there a great moralist disdained ever after 
 to follow a man who would seek the company of such 
 a character. Zaccheus, no doubt, knew or could im- 
 agine what they thought and said; and, altogether, 
 his feelings must have been a singular combination 
 of opposite emotions which it would be hard to 
 describe. 
 
 But it seems that the immediate effect upon Zac- 
 cheus of the Saviour's conduct toward him was, con- 
 viction of sin, unfeigned repentance, confession, and 
 restitution. 
 
 "And Zaccheus stood and said, Behold, Lord, the 
 half of my goods I give to the poor ; and if I have 
 taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I 
 restore him fourfold." 
 
 It was as though he said, ' Thy kindness to me, a 
 sinner, has broken and subdued my heart. I adore 
 and love that goodness which treated me so infinitely 
 above my deserts. I expected, for a moment in the 
 
80 
 
 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 tree, to be exposed before the people, to have my sins 
 set in order before my eyes. It would have been just 
 and right. But, instead of this, I am selected from 
 all the people in Jericho, and thou hast come into my 
 house" to be my guest. I can" not withstand thy won- 
 drous mercy. Truly thou art the Christ, the Son of 
 the living God. Is this the manner of man, O Lord "i 
 Thy mercy is above the heavens, and behold, I am 
 vile! Here I repent of my past wickedness, and 
 shall make restitution. One half of all my property 
 I now divide among the poor. I shall make it known 
 that to every one whose property I have rated un- 
 justly, and so have extorted money from him by wrong- 
 ful assessment, I will pay back not only his proper 
 demand, but fourfold.' 
 
 " And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation 
 come to this house, for that he also is a son of Abra- 
 ham. For the Son of man is come to seek and save 
 that which is lost." 
 
 These words, no doubt, were intended to comfort 
 Zaccheus, and assure him of pardon and restoration 
 to the favor of God and to the confidence of the good. 
 Though Zaccheus was a lineal descendant of Abra- 
 ham, yet he was not, in the popular acceptation of the 
 term, a son of Abraham, by reason of his former life 
 and conduct, but, on the contrary, " a heathen man 
 and a publican." But by his repentance, through the 
 mercy of Christ, he was restored to the condition and 
 
CONVERSION OF ZACCHEUS. 81 
 
 privileges of those who vrere called after the father 
 of the faithful. Christ then added the explanation 
 of his conduct in his treatment of Zaccheus, as though 
 he said, The multitude wonder at me for my treatment 
 of this sinner ; they little understand the purpose for 
 which I came on earth. " For the Son of man is 
 come to seek and save that which is lost." 
 
 There is great instruction to be derived from this 
 narrative. 
 
 I. Divine wisdom was displayed in the conversion 
 of Zaccheus. 
 
 " He that winneth souls is wise." When Jesus en- 
 tered and passed through Jericho, on purpose, as there 
 is reason to believe, to convert this sinner, there were 
 many ways in which he could have done it ; but the 
 way which he took to accomplish his object was sin- 
 gularly beautiful for its adaptedness to the end in 
 view. The Spirit of God moved Zaccheus to ascend 
 that tree, and so prepared the way for the call which 
 was to be made to him. 
 
 Approaching the tree, Christ did not first of all 
 turn the attention of the people toward him in a way 
 to cause embarrassment ; nor did he for one moment 
 mortify him ; nor did he make the most distant allu- 
 sion to his past life ; and, indeed, it does not appear 
 that in all his conversation with him, in the tree, by 
 the way, or in the house, he said one word to him in 
 
82 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 the form of reproach, or even reproof, but made his 
 kindness and love the almighty instrument of break- 
 ing his heart. It is the highest wisdom in governing 
 men and children, to make them govern themselves. 
 We can imagine that kind, gracious voice, as the Sa- 
 viour paused and looked up into the tree : ' Come, 
 Zaccheus, I will go home with you as your guest.' 
 Exquisitely beautiful was this stroke of divine skill ; 
 — not adroitness, for this savors too much of human 
 artifice ; — not tact, for this is too common and low a 
 term by which to designate it ; rather it was an in- 
 stance of heavenly wisdom inspired by heavenly love. 
 It began by the gratifying act on the part of a stran- 
 ger of speaking the name of one who, though per- 
 sonally a stranger, was made to feel that he had some 
 distinction or importance which made his name fa- 
 miliar, even to this distinguished visitor. But look 
 at some of the words in the call. To effect the de- 
 sign it was necessary that there should not be much 
 formality in the invitation. For if Christ had stood 
 and said to Zaccheus, ' If you are willing to receive 
 me as your guest I will go to your house,' it would 
 have embarrassed him ; many difficulties would have 
 started in his mind ; and at last, like a reptile or slave, 
 he would have crept down from the tree. To save 
 this embarrassment, and to put the man wholly at 
 ease, observe that Christ throws in the words, make 
 haste, as though it were already a settled thing that 
 
CONVERSION OF ZACCHEXJS. 83 
 
 he would go with him, and he need not embarrass 
 himself even by accepting the proposal. The wise 
 and gracious art had its effect upon the sinner : " He 
 made haste, and came down, and received him joy- 
 fully." 
 
 Christ could have rebuked Zaccheus, and so have 
 brought him to repentance, as Peter properly rebuked 
 Simon Magus : " O, full of all subtlety, thou chUd of 
 the devil," and as Christ himself rebuked certain 
 Pharisees ; but he spared his feelings, and took him to 
 his house ; and one of the mightiest of the Saviour's 
 triumphs on earth then and there took place — a tri- 
 umph over one who, besides being a practised extor- 
 tioner, was one of those of whom Christ himself said, 
 " How hardly shall " they " enter into the kingdom 
 of God ! " Zaccheus will never, never forget, that in- 
 stead of paining him by exposure, Christ took him 
 into his company, under his protection, went into his 
 guilty dwelling, and there, rather than in the street, 
 and rather than by shame, there, in the retirement of 
 his home, gently turned the thoughts of the sinner to 
 himself, and led him rather than drove him to repent- 
 ance. It would have been interesting to hear him 
 afterward, as, for the first time in his life, perhaps, he 
 called his family, if he had one, together for spiritual 
 worship, and related all which that day had happened; 
 how he went out in the morning a wicked man and an 
 enemy to God, and how, accidentally, he climbed that 
 
84 CHKIST A FRIEND. 
 
 tree, and how he felt when Christ paused, and looked 
 up, and began to speak to him, and when he found 
 himself a moment after walking side by side with him, 
 and how he condescended to come into his house to 
 save the chief of sinners, one to whom he was under 
 no obligation even by the slightest courtesy or by 
 praying him that he would eat with him, but from 
 all the people of the place, chose him, and that too 
 when, by his prominence before the multitude, there 
 was such an opportunity to treat him with marked 
 displeasure. What a prayer that man must have 
 uttered that night in the presence of his family ! 
 Ministering angels might have paused over that dwell- 
 ing to say, " Behold, he prayeth ; " and, if he sung 
 a hymn, to learn that penitential song and rehearse it 
 on their harps in heaven. There is a hymn whose 
 sentiments and language would well have expressed 
 the feelings of that new convert : — 
 
 " Lord, thou hast won — at length I yield ; 
 My heart, by mighty grace compelled, 
 
 Surrenders all to thee : 
 Against thy terrors long I strove ; 
 But who can stand against thy love ? 
 
 Love conquers even me. 
 
 " If thou hadst bid thy thunders roll, 
 Or lightnings flash to blast my soul, 
 
 I still had stubborn been ; 
 But mercy has my heart subdued, 
 A bleeding Saviour I have viewed, 
 
 And now I hate my sin." 
 
CONVERSION OF ZACCHEUS. 8o 
 
 II. It is useful to put ourselves with any innocent 
 motive in the way of Christ. 
 
 It is well to bring others with us to public worship, 
 and to the places where prayer is wont to be made, 
 even when they have no interest in the subject of re- 
 ligion ; for such persons are sometimes most likely to 
 be awakened. If any have a desire to know what 
 spiritual religion is, while they are conscious of no 
 special re^Ugious impressions or proper feelings, let 
 them, nevertheless, be encouraged to visit the house 
 of God and the places where Christians meet to pray. 
 Zaccheus had no other feeling in climbing the tree to 
 see Christ than bare curiosity ; but every ordinary 
 thought or feeling with regard to Christ which will 
 prompt us to put ourselves in his way is to be cher- 
 ished, nor must we suspect or despise it though it be 
 not all that it should be. If we would obtain religion, 
 there are appropriate means to be used, as in every 
 other pursuit. Riding, or sailing, or sleeping on the 
 Sabbath, or strolling with idle company, has no ten- 
 dency to make us acquainted with Christ. Put your- 
 self under religious influences, be in earnest to gain 
 heavenly wisdom ; wait at her gates, show zeal in 
 seeking Christian knowledge, run before the multi- 
 tude, climb the tree, obtain direction in your doubts 
 and difficulties ; for if Zaccheus, from a mere motive 
 of curiosity to see Christ, found eternal life, and if 
 men who had confidence in him to venture and ask 
 
86 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 for cures received forgiveness of sins, let us be per- 
 suaded that he will notice and cherish every desire, 
 however poor and feeble, which is directed toward 
 him. Zaccheus could not even plead the promise, 
 " A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax 
 shall he not quench." His heart bore no sign of con- 
 trition ; no spark of right desire had fallen into it. 
 And yet his merely placing himself in the Saviour's 
 path was followed by happy consequences which are 
 never to end. 
 
 III. The case of Zaccheus is an instance of sudden 
 conversion. 
 
 There is something highly encouraging in the truth 
 of instantaneous conversion. Many are looking and 
 waiting for the comfort and joy of an established hope 
 in Christ through some process of awakening, con- 
 viction, anxiety, and final discovery of the way to be 
 saved, such as they have known to be the experience 
 of others. But, happily, neither this nor any other 
 process is the essential way of becoming a Christian. 
 Zaccheus went through no extended process of awak- 
 ening and distress, which, in his case, would have 
 been, as it usually is, struggles against convictions 
 of duty, unwillingness to comply at once with the 
 requirements of God. He went home with Christ ; 
 the thought of Christ's goodness to him touched his 
 heart ; such great confidence and love showed him his 
 
CONVERSION OF ZACCHEUS. 87 
 
 owu guilt in contrast, and inspired him with hope 
 that there was mercy even for him. 
 
 You will be permitted to repent and believe on 
 Christ in the same summary manner, if you choose. 
 Nothing but unbelief, unwillingness to make that full 
 surrender to God which Zaccheus made, has kept you, 
 or keeps you this hour, from an experience similar to 
 his. It is a great mistake to suppose that protracted 
 anxiety is required of us, or that Gtd needs to be in- 
 fluenced by many prayers and tears to bestow mercy 
 upon us ; for he is waiting to be gracious, and the 
 more promptly and heartily we yield ourselves to him, 
 the more acceptable is it in his sight. While we sup- 
 pose that we must prevail on him, he, by his Spirit, is 
 striving to prevail on us without delay to comply with 
 his oiFers and promises. We say, then, that the truth 
 of instantaneous conversion is highly encouraging, 
 relieving you from the necessity of waiting for a fu- 
 ture and more favorable opportunity; because "the 
 word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy 
 heart ; that is, the word of faith, which we preach." 
 Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you 
 that God the Spirit can, at this hour, apply to you 
 the benefits of that great sacrifice which God the 
 Son has offered for your sins 1 Are you, alone, be- 
 yond the reach of his skill and power 1 or, must you 
 labor with your wretched heart a few weeks or months 
 longer to make it easier for the almighty Spirit to 
 
88 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 change it 1 What if some sudden accident or sharp 
 sickness should bring you in a few hours to the bor- 
 der of the grave"? You would believe in instanta- 
 neous conversion then. It would be essential to your 
 salvation that all which is done for you should be 
 done quickly. Take courage, then, for you may at 
 this moment turn to God ; and, as you can not doubt 
 the reality of a sudden and radical change in Zacche- 
 us between the moment when he climbed the tree and 
 the moment when he stood in his house and confessed 
 and repented of his sins, so let the goodness of God 
 lead you to repentance without delay, and of you it 
 shall be said, "This day is salvation come to this 
 house," and you shall be numbered forthwith among 
 the subjects of the Saviour's power and grace. 
 
 But some say, ' Eeligion is the work of a life ; it 
 can not be acquired in a moment.' Eeligion was the 
 work of a life with Zaccheus after his heart was 
 changed ; but it^was not the work of a life to obtain 
 that change of heart. A single tide occupies six hours ; 
 but there is a moment when that tide ceases to ebb, 
 and begins to flow. In all great experiences and events 
 there is one decisive moment ; in retracing the steps 
 over a very long, mistaken road, there is a first step 
 backward, the result of a conviction and a resolution. 
 If instantaneous conversion by the almighty grace of 
 the Spirit be impossible, what melancholy and despair 
 would attend our approacn to many a dying bed' 
 
CONVERSION OF ZACCHEUS. 89 
 
 ./ 
 
 But now we can say, " Be of good cheer ; " had you 
 lived a religious life, you would need at this moment 
 to come, as you must come now, to the feet of sov- 
 ereign mercy, and be saved without money and with- 
 out price. There is hope; God is not willing that 
 you should perish ; only believe ; remember the pen- 
 itent thief; lay hold on Christ; "he that believeth 
 shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from 
 death unto life." 
 
 IV. The history of Zaccheus shows how lost reputa- 
 tion, in certain cases, rmy he perfectly retrieved. 
 
 Leaving out of view those cases in which public 
 offences have been followed by punishment at the 
 hands of the law, in which it is necessarily far more 
 difficult to satisfy the community that repentance and 
 reformation are not merely a natural effect of the pun- 
 ishment, or assumed as the only chance of removing 
 outlawry, we will confine ourselves to cases in which 
 men have fallen from virtue in some notorious and 
 shameful transgression, have been exposed, have used 
 falsehood to screen themselves, have been detected in 
 their lies, and are left defenceless with a blasted char- 
 acter, the objects of mingled scorn and pity. In such 
 cases men are generally regarded as wholly lost. They 
 are, indeed, desperate cases ; but must . these men 
 despair % 
 
 If they it-ek to associate with respectable men, they 
 
 8* 
 
90 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 are shunned ; if they crave employment, they are de- 
 nied ; if they purpose to outlive their shame, and 
 struggle out of their degradation, the laws of human 
 society and the laws of their own nature baffle them ; 
 the conviction is forced upon them that for this world 
 they are ruined. The philanthropist, the moralist, 
 the man of wealth and commanding influence, should 
 they try their skill to raise and restore such men, 
 would be compelled to despair. 
 
 There is a door of hope even for these men, ruined, 
 cast out, and trodden under foot of men. One Friend 
 remains to them ; they have a Friend, and he is the 
 best of friends ; a Friend who not only can give them 
 right feelings, but can turn the hearts of all men to- 
 ward them, not merely with, relenting, but even with 
 confidence and love. 
 
 The method by which this Friend will restore and 
 save them, if he undertakes to do it, will be by lead- 
 iilg them to feel in such a manner toward him as their 
 God and Friend as will make them happy to confess 
 in the fullest manner ; to humble themselves before 
 every foe, to make restitution and reparation at any 
 cost, and to feel that the world knows all of which 
 they have ever been accused or suspected. Their 
 sense of acceptance and peace with God will make 
 every 'thing easy, and even pleasant, which before 
 would have been beyond endurance, or impossible. 
 
 In this manner, the kind and merciful Savioui 
 
CONVERSION OF ZACCHEUS. 91 
 
 dealt with Zaccheus. He first gained his confidence 
 by publicly owning him as a companion ; nay, as a 
 host, receiving kindness from him. Let any man, in 
 his own apprehension and that of others, ruined and 
 friendless, be assured of this, that his sins, his mean- 
 ness, his lying, his fraud, have not alienated from him 
 that one Friend, who, 'when we were yet without 
 strength, died for the ungodly,' who penetrates the 
 deepest and darkest wilderness into which remorse 
 may have driven a guilty man, and rejoices more to 
 save him than over the whole company of the right- 
 eous. Let him read in the New Testament how this 
 Friend selected extreme cases of guilt and shame, to 
 illustrate the depth of his compassion. " This is a 
 faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that 
 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners ; of 
 whom I am chief" If God the Saviour does not cast 
 him off, why should he fear'? "Him that cometh 
 unto me I will in no wise cast out." " Wherefore he 
 is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto 
 God by him, seeing that he ever liveth to make inter- 
 cession for them." 
 
 Probably there was not a happier man in Jericho, 
 or Judea, than Zaccheus at the moment when he stood 
 before Christ and made confession. Doubtless he said 
 within himself, ' Men have known me as avaricious and 
 an extortioner. They shall know me henceforth in a 
 different character. I crucify my avarice, and share 
 
92 CHRIST A FEIEND. 
 
 my all with the poor. When men hear that Christ 
 has been in my house and I have become his disciple, 
 a thousand taunts and insults will descend upon me. 
 I will meet those whom I have injured, and those who 
 may have hated and abused me. I shall demand the 
 privilege of making confession and restitution and of 
 humbling myself before those who have justly charged 
 me with crime, even though they have unnecessarily 
 or wantonly abused me. I will acknowledge all, for- 
 give, and seek forgiveness.' 
 
 He parted at once with half of all that he had, to ' 
 " give to the poor." Out of the other half he prom- 
 ised to pay each one whom he had injured, fourfold. 
 We see him passing along the street. What confi- 
 dence, what love, what kindness mark the varying 
 expression of his face. He has a different air and 
 manner ; it almost seems that he has added to his 
 stature since yesterday. Instead of skulking about, 
 afraid or ashamed to meet men, he goes to some who 
 he knows fear or hate him, and bids them behold in 
 him a new man. What scenes of confession on his 
 part, of weeping on the part of those whom he grasps 
 by the hand. The joy of heaven over him is not so 
 rich as his. Not waiting to be called upon, he goes 
 to one and another, — the widow, the orphan, to all 
 whom he has wronged, — receives forgiveness, has 
 peace with his own conscience and with God. 
 
 Let some one who has fallen into the deepest disgrace 
 
CONVERSION OP ZACCHEUS. 93 
 
 with his fellow-men simply accept Jesus the Saviour 
 as his Friend, and he can not refrain from repent- 
 ance and confession. Instead of its seeming to him 
 like a scaflPbld, it wUl excite the deepest and richest 
 emotions to confess and make reparation. He wUl 
 have a proper conscious superiority to those who have 
 accused, or convicted, or abused him ; being able then 
 to meet them with a spirit which will not only satisfy 
 them, but will disarm and subdue every feeling of 
 hostility. " When a man's ways please the Lord, he 
 maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." 
 
 There are cases in which it would not only be need- 
 less, it would be wrong, for a man to disclose his sins. 
 Let him make all possible reparation as privately as 
 the nature of the case wUl admit ; but if he is not 
 known to others as having injured them, he might 
 injuriously throw away the reputation which God has 
 kindly preserved for him. Justice may not require 
 that he should make confession to a fellow-man, un- 
 less an innocent person should be suffering punish- 
 ment, or be under unjust suspicion on his account. 
 Even here, it may be, the innocent may be delivered, 
 and the penitent transgressor retain his reputation 
 with men ; at least, let him by no means needlessly 
 expose his sin, if he can satisfy all the demands of 
 justice. Yet if the burden be too great to bear alone, 
 if it would be a relief to make the disclosure, if a 
 family and friends would not have pain and shame 
 
94 CHEIST A FRIEND. 
 
 inflicted on them, some way will offer itself in which 
 all the demands of conscience, as well as justice, may 
 be answered without further injury to the trans- 
 gressor. 
 
 Finally. There was one moment in the life of Zac- 
 cheus when his history for eternity was decided. 
 
 The day when he met Christ was an accepted time, 
 a day of salvation. He might have hardened his heart 
 against Christ, as the Pharisee did when Jesus ate with 
 him, and that Pharisee spoke harshly of Christ and 
 of the penitent woman who brought her box of oint- 
 ment to anoint him. Zaccheus might have said, ' How 
 much I must confess, how much I must expose myself, 
 how much I must lose, if I become a Christian ! ' It 
 was a solemn and important moment ; Christ would 
 probably never come so near to him again, never 
 again tell him that he must abide at his house. The 
 balances for eternity were hung up, and the sinner, by 
 the grace of God, weighed his eternal salvation against 
 his shame and his gold. Happy decision ! This day, 
 among the blissful scenes of heaven, he feels the con- 
 sequences of that choice. 
 
 If you are at this moment interested in the subject 
 of religion, it may be as important to you as eternity 
 can make it, that you come speedily to a right conclu- 
 sion. Suppose that Christ should suddenly appear in 
 this house, and passing near the place where you sit. 
 
CONVEKSION OF ZACCHBUS. 95 
 
 should cast his eye upon you, saying, " To-day I must 
 abide at thy house." Are you willing to have Christ 
 come into your house 'i You know what it cost Zac- 
 cheus. When Christ comes into a man's house by 
 his love, the barred and bolted heart opens its doors, 
 the treasures fly abroad, the secret sin, the long-stand- 
 ing quarrel, the iniquity of the man's calling are con- 
 fessed and forsaken. All this is done under the in- 
 fluence of feelings which make the man supremely 
 happy. Are you willing that Christ should come into 
 your house 1 When you open your door on your re- 
 turn home, think, ' The Saviour has come here before 
 me, and is waiting for me to welcome him.' When 
 you shut your door to-night, and think, as you do it, 
 whether all the family are within, ask yourself, ' Is the 
 Saviour within 1 Or am I shutting the door upon him, 
 and locking it against him, as I have done every night 
 before]' There he stands, there he has stood, till 
 " his head is filled with dew, and his locks with the 
 drops of the night." While you sleep, he will not 
 depart. He longs to abide with you and bless you ; 
 and while dwelling with you he will be preparing a 
 mansion for you in heaven, where he will dwell with 
 you forever. Make haste, then, and receive him joy- 
 fully. 
 
V. 
 
 WHO TOUCHED ME? 
 
 AND JE8C8 SAID, WHO lOITOHED ME ? 'WHEN ALL DENIED, PETEB, AND THET 
 THAT "WERE "WITH HIM, SAID, MASTER, THE MTJLTITTTDE TKRONO THEB 
 AND FBESS THEE, AND SATEST THOU, WHO TOUCHED MB ? 
 
 AND JESUS SAID, SOMEBODY HATH TOUCHED ME ; FOR I PERCEIVE THAT TIE- 
 TUB IS GONE OUT OP MB. 
 
 As Christ was on his way to the house of Jairus, 
 whose " one only daughter lay a dying," the people, 
 knowing what his object was, and curious to see the 
 miracle, thronged him. Among them was one who 
 had been sick twelve years. Medical skill was baffled 
 with regard to her. All her property -had been spent 
 in paying for fruitless aid. Unseen, disclosing her in- 
 tention to no one, she came behind Christ, and touched 
 the border of his garment, for she said, " If I may 
 but touch his garment, I shall be whole." Quick as 
 thought, her sickness fled. No medical opinion was 
 necessary to assure her that she was well. She felt 
 that she was healed of her plague. 
 
 " And Jesus said, Who touched me ■? " With an 
 
 (96) 
 
■WHO TOUCHED ME? 97 
 
 iiK^uiring look he seems to have put the question to 
 alf who were nearest to him, and to have received a 
 denial from one and another. "When all denied," 
 he appeared still unsatisfied; so that Peter, always 
 ready to speak, gently remonstrated at his asking such 
 a question in a crowd ; " Master, the multitude throng 
 thee and press thee, and sayest thou. Who touched 
 me ? " ' It would rather be strange that some should 
 not touch thee ; and what importance can there be in 
 the circumstance that some one of us has accidentally 
 and unavoidably touched thee 1 ' 
 
 With a tone of determinateness, and as though 
 there were some great importance in the thing, the 
 Saviour replied, " Somebody hath touched me ; for I 
 perceive that virtue is gone out of me." 
 
 Of course, the Saviour knew all that had happened, 
 not from any force in the touch, for it was only the bor- 
 der of the garment which had felt that pressure. He 
 knew the secret thoughts, the faith, the cure of the 
 woman, and raised the question, " Who touched me'? " 
 and pursued the inquiry for the purpose of drawing 
 attention to the act of faith in that humble person. 
 Matthew says, " And he looked round about to see 
 her that had done this thing." All this was one of 
 those innocent stratagems which we all use at times 
 to arrest attention and heighten the effect of a dis- 
 closure. " He saith unto Philip, Whence shall we 
 buy bread that these may eat ^ And this he said to 
 
98 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 prove him, for he knew in himself what he would 
 do." In each case, this had the desired effect. BUt 
 the woman, fearing and tremhling, and knowing what 
 was done in her, came and fell down before him, and 
 told him all the truth. And he said unto her, 
 " Daughter, be of good comfort ; thy faith hath made 
 thee whole : go in peace." 
 
 The instruction which we may draw from this is, -^ 
 
 I. There is great difference between thronging and 
 pressing Christ, and touching him, with faith. 
 
 There were, perhaps, fifty or a hundred who, in the 
 press that day, were in close contact with Christ, and 
 it may be hundreds more thronged him and would 
 come near to him to gratify curiosity ; and there were 
 many times when eager hands were stretched forth or 
 lifted up toward Jesus ; and yet there was among them 
 all but one touch, and that the most gentle and of 
 imperceptible force, which drew the attention of 
 Christ, or obtained any thing from him. There were 
 loud, open professions of respect, protestations of con- 
 fidence, earnest desires that he should do some great 
 work, that the people might see and marvel ; from the 
 eagerness of many, one would have thought that Christ 
 was their best, their only Friend, that they were ready 
 to be his disciples and follow him ; and there were, 
 perhaps, some of great note, for whom the crowd 
 opened and let them pass in, and who saluted Christ 
 
WHO TOrCHED ME? 99 
 
 with respect, and ostentatiously showed their patron- 
 izing disposition toward him, and exhorted others to 
 approach him to be healed ; and some there were, per- 
 haps, who publicly defended him, and resented the 
 calumnies which were heaped upon him ; and no doubt 
 many cried after him to come and heal them. While 
 all these things were passing on, one obscure woman 
 comes near, and merely lays her finger on one of the 
 four fringes which, as you will see in the fifteenth of 
 Numbers, the Jews were required to wear on the four 
 corners of the outside garment, which was one whole 
 piece of cloth. No breath of the wind, no insect 
 lighting on it, could have given a more imperceptible 
 touch to that garment ; but that touch was more than 
 all the noise and shouts, the outward respect and wor- 
 ship, of the crowd. Christ did not say, ' Who is he 
 so eager to obtain a sight of me ; who is that distin- 
 guished personage, who that devotee, so demonstrative 
 in his prayers;' no, — but, "Who touched me?" 
 " Somebody touched me ; for I perceive that virtue is 
 gone out of me." 
 
 Many, very many, are ready to throng and press 
 Christ, who never have rightly touched him. All out 
 respect for his name, our belief in his Godhead and 
 atonement, our love for public worship, our interest 
 in the music of the sanctuary, or in building the 
 sanctuary itself, our enjoyment of social meetings, our 
 outward attachment to the cause of Christ and to his 
 
100 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 friends, our eulogies of the Christian religion and its 
 institutions, — all this is well ; but all this may be, 
 and yet we may never have touched Christ with so 
 much as the finger of our faith. 
 
 Many will say unto him, " Lord, Lord, have we not 
 prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out 
 devils, and done many wonderful works 1 " and others, 
 " We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou 
 hast taught in our streets." And Christ will say to 
 them, " I never knew you." But a poor, humble 
 sufferer, unknown in the crowd, not even informing 
 Christ what she was doing, approaching from behind, 
 and not from before, may, with her finger, touch the 
 border of his garment ; and wherever the gospel is 
 preached throughout the whole world, that which this 
 woman hath done shall be told for a memorial of her 
 What does this mean ] We hear some say, ' I have 
 been suing at the mercy seat for months or years, 
 waiting and hoping to be heard, employing all my 
 ineans of obtaining salvation, and am never the bet- 
 ter, but rather grow worse ; and yet here is one, who, 
 in the most gentle, simple manner, obtains Christ's 
 love in a moment ; and not only so, but straightway 
 takes her place in the Holy Bible as an example to 
 the whole world how to believe. Lord, help me to 
 believe ! Lord, increase my faith as one grain of 
 mustard seed ; for surely it removes mountains ; it 
 brings the soul to Christ ; it brings Christ and heaven 
 
"WHO TOUCHED ME? 101 
 
 into the soul.' — We may derive further instruction 
 from this passage. 
 
 II. Simple faith in Christ is all which is necessary 
 to salvation. 
 
 There is nothing more remarkable, and, to human 
 reason, more incredible, in this woman's cure by touch- 
 ing the hem of a garment, than there is in the true 
 and only way to be saved, and in the eternal conse- 
 quences to every soul of simply believing in Christ as 
 she did. 
 
 Had one asked the whole council of doctors who 
 had prescribed for the woman, and to whom she had 
 paid all her property, whether touching the border of 
 a garment would cure her, they would have thought 
 that insanity or idiocy had come upon her. What 
 connection is there between being healed of a malady 
 which the medical skill of Jerusalem can not remove, 
 and touching the threads of a fringe I 
 
 Now, the act of faith which saves the soul is no less 
 wonderful, and to the eye of reason no less incredible. 
 We are told that one simple, heartfelt^ feeling of trust 
 and confidence in Jesus Christ as an atoning Saviour, 
 delivers the soul from all spiritual ignorance, makes 
 one know more of God and spiritual things in one 
 day than the study of a lifetime without it could ac- 
 quire. And that is the least of its efiects. That one 
 act of believing is in the stead of angelic, spotless 
 
 9* 
 
102 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 righteousness, which the law of God requires of every 
 subject of God's government, or denounces endless 
 ruin in case of failure. Yes, the law of God demands 
 perfection, — never to have failed in one point, — an- 
 gelic purity, angelic obedience, angelic love, in short 
 angelic holiness, — and the law has no provision in 
 case of failure, but the soul that sinneth it shall die. 
 Just as our law. He that commits murder shall die, 
 has no remedy for the murderer, so the law of God 
 has no remedy for one who is not as perfect as an 
 angel. Now, instead of a life without sin, instead of 
 angelic perfection, there is a justification provided : and 
 what is it ? Simply this ; If a sinner will feel toward 
 Christ, with regard to his soul, as that sick woman 
 felt toward him with regard to her sickness, he shall 
 be saved. This is the gospel, and the whole of the 
 gospel, " Believe and thou shalt be saved ; " " He that 
 believeth is not condemned ; " " Being justified by 
 faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." Nor is that faith, to human apprehension, 
 some great thing ; something which the soul itself, or 
 any spectator, would regard as at all adequate to the 
 object sought. With a proper sense of our helpless 
 need, it is all contained, or may be all contained, in 
 one exclamation, " God be merciful to me, a sinner," 
 or in a single sigh, "Lord, save me," or a simple act 
 of love and trust, such as this woman performed 
 This can save the soul. 
 
WHO TOUCHED ME? 103 
 
 We often hear the question asked by intelligent, 
 thoughtful persons, people well educated, accustomed 
 to reason, highly accomplished, ' What is religion 1 
 How am I to know, among so many sects, what I 
 am to believe 1 ' 
 
 We wiU suppose that such a person means, by re- 
 ligion, the Christian religion. And we will suppose 
 further, that he means the religion of Protestants. 
 The religion of Protestants, — what is the thing, un- 
 derneath all their forms and the various peculiarities 
 in which they differ, in which they all agree 1 There 
 is one thing ; and having found this, a man may suit 
 his taste and belong to any communion, and if he but 
 have this one thing, he will be saved ; this one thing 
 is religion ; without it, nothing else is religion ; every 
 thing else is the covers of a book, and this is the read- 
 ing ; the shell, and this is the kernel ; the lamp, and this 
 is the flame. And what is it 1 Simply this ; A guilty, 
 perishing soul committing itself to Christ as an 
 atoning Saviour. That is religion, the religion of the 
 whole Protestant world who accept Christ as a divine 
 Redeemer. It is a great mistake that there are essen- 
 tial differences among Christians who receive the 
 Bible as wholly inspired. They all differ in things 
 which do not affect the question of salvation ; and 
 they all agree in this, that the essence of religion is to 
 accept Christ with a sense of our need, as sinners. A 
 man may study and labor to make something more of 
 
104 CHEIST A FRIEND. 
 
 religion in its commencement than this, but if he does 
 he will not succeed. A miner does not care for the 
 quartz stone which holds the little piece of gold ; that 
 small, yellow particle in the stone is the object of his 
 search. And so it is with the pearl of great price ; it 
 is independent of all human additions and notions in 
 which time has embedded it ; and religion is simply 
 this, for a sinner to commit his soul to Christ, as this 
 woman committed her cure to him in her simple act 
 of touching him ; " for she said, If I may touch but 
 his clothes I shall be whole." 
 
 But we are taught further by this narrative, — 
 
 III. There are preparatives for faith. 
 
 It may be said, ' If believing in Christ be such a 
 simple and easy thing, why can I not believe at once, 
 and be saved % I have tried to believe in Christ, but 
 hitherto without success.' 
 
 There are preparatives for faith. Yes, as there are 
 preparatives for cure, and healing, and rescue, so there 
 are preparatives for faith. Preparatives for cure and 
 healing are being sick, or wounded, and feeling the 
 need of remedies. You may recommend the best 
 medicines in vain to one who has no sickness ; the 
 physician is not sent for till the patient feels that, 
 he needs him. 
 
 When the jailer at Philippi was putting Paul and 
 Silas in prison, suppose that Paul had said to him, 
 
"WHO TOUCHED ME? 105 
 
 " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be 
 saved." This would have been wholly without mean- 
 ing to him; or, had he perceived any meaning, he 
 would have treated it with contempt and rudeness. 
 But the earthquake shook the prison house, opened 
 every door, loosened every man's bands. The jaUer 
 awoke, and seeing every door open, and the prisoners 
 at liberty, drew his sword to take his own life, sup- 
 posing that the prisoners had effected an escape, and 
 knowing that the prison keeper's life was required if 
 his prisoners fled. It was not the earthquake alone 
 that convinced the jailer of sin; this aroused and 
 alarmed him ; but Paul's kind words, " Do thyself no 
 harm, for we are all here," were an equally powerful 
 means of grace. ' Is that the man whose feet I placed 
 last night fast in the stocks ? Does he refuse to escape 
 when God has given him leave ] ' As the innocence 
 of Jesus was the means of converting the penitent 
 thief, so, in part, the honorable conduct and forgiving 
 spirit of Paul, no doubt, awakened the jailer to a sense 
 of his guilt ; and now he is ready to hear about 
 Christ. Now he calls for a light, and springs in, and 
 comes trembling, and falls down before Paul and Silas, 
 and brings them out, and says, " Sirs, what must I do 
 to be saved ■? " He had had preparatives for conversion ; 
 and these were, a sense of his lost and ruined con- 
 dition and despair of help. Then he was prepared to 
 receive Christ. 
 
106 UHKIST A I'KlJiJND. 
 
 So the woman in the text had preparatives for faith 
 in Christ by twelve years' experience of fruitless help 
 from physicians. Hope deferred had made her heart 
 sick ; she saw her property melt away ; one new phy- 
 sician had encouraged her to expect from him a cure ; 
 and she was sinking into the grave. These were the 
 preparatives with her for saving faith. So that we 
 may say, in general, that the preparatives for faith 
 are, a deep conviction that Christ alone can help us, 
 and a persuasion that he must save us or we perish. 
 These preparatives every sinner has before he believes. 
 "We may not be twelve years in getting them, and we 
 may be twenty, or fifty. We all employ useless means 
 of salvation, some for a longer and others for a shorter 
 time ; we get convinced that Christ alone can help us 
 by first proving the emptiness of every thing else. 
 WheU the prodigal son " had spent all," he said, with 
 penitence, " I will arise and go to my father." When 
 the woman in the text " had spent all," she arose and 
 came to Christ. How strange this is ! Men never 
 come to Christ but in the last resort. He whom they 
 should seek first, and love most, is always the last 
 whom they think of; and yet he is never ofiended, 
 but his love is just as full and just as free as though 
 he were our first choice. The reason why any of us 
 have never come to Christ is, we have not yet spent 
 our all of self-righteousness, and self-sufficiency, and 
 worldly ease, and our " Soul, thou hast much goods 
 
WHO TOUCHED MB? 107 
 
 laid up for many years," yet sings us to sleep ; and 
 we have not been near enough to hell's brink by some 
 sickness or accident, or by the flash of light disclosing 
 it in the death of some impenitent relative or friend, 
 or the restless, dissatisfied mind which has no peace 
 but like the troubled sea casts up mire and dirt, has 
 not yet brought us to despair of ever growing better ; 
 yet we may be sure of this, that when we find our- 
 selves sinking in the billows of death, then, if not 
 before, then, but perhaps too late, we shall see the 
 utter tneflS.cacy of every other help, and call on 
 Christ. O that we may all do it while it is an ac- 
 cepted time. So soon as we go to Christ, like this 
 woman, persuaded that he alone, by his righteousness 
 and strength, can save such sinners as we are, then we 
 have the preparatives for faith. Preparatives for faith 
 are just the preparatives for efiectual begging at your 
 door : ' I am poor, I am wretched, I have been direct- 
 ed to you ; help me, or I shall have nothing to eat, 
 and no place for my head.' Such begging never 
 failed with you ; and such begging by you at Christ's 
 door wUl never fail. 
 
 Here let us notice a difiiculty and an objection. 
 Some, who are all ready to come to Christ, say, ' I have 
 never repented of my sins. The awakenings, convic- 
 tions, and remorse which others speak of, I never 
 have felt, but I must feel them before I come to 
 Christ.' 
 
108 CHEIST A FRIEND. 
 
 Now, it is an interesting truth, that coming to Christ 
 in the way described implies repentance, conviction, 
 remorse, and godly sorrow. You may not know one 
 of these by those names ; but when a poor, despairing, 
 and loving soul casts itself on the Redeemer's mercy 
 and help, what better sorrow for sin and repent- 
 ance can there be 1 This is the very best of convic- 
 tion and remorse, and we desire no other for you. 
 Only come to Christ as a perishing sinner, and give 
 your soul to him, and that involves every thing else. 
 So that you need wait for nothing ere you come to 
 Christ. But your coming wUl be repentance and faith 
 together ; your coming will be conviction of sin and 
 godly sorrow. The experience that has prepared you 
 to come to Christ in this way has done the work of 
 conviction and repentance in bringing you to him. 
 Hence Paul's direction to the awakened jailer was at 
 once this: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 thou shalt be saved." 
 
 IV. This woman affords us a striking illustration 
 of our duty to come to Christ, without waiting for him 
 to come to us. 
 
 Are there not some of my hearers who have been 
 waiting long to receive grace from Christ, professing 
 that they are ready, and wondering at his delay's 
 They are as this woman would have been, had she 
 said in her impoverished home and on her bed of Ian- 
 
WHO TOUCHED ME? 109 
 
 guishing, ' Christ has been to other houses ; he knows 
 that I am sick ; I have sent messages to him, and told 
 him where I live, and have asked my friends to remem- 
 ber me in their prayers to him. I wonder that he has 
 never been here. I shall die, if he does not come. 
 Others have been healed. I suspect I am not or- 
 dained to be cured. If I am to be healed, I shall 
 be,' — and such like common and well-known com- 
 plaints. 
 
 See her, on the contrary, never having received one 
 special word of encouragement from Christ, so far as we 
 know, but persuaded from what she has heard others 
 say of his almighty love and power, see her humbly, 
 and yet earnestly, pressing her way through that great 
 crowd to get to Christ. ' I pray you, let me pass,' she 
 says ; and they wonder at her, and, perhaps, are rude 
 to her ; or one and another, struck with her sick look 
 and her eager eiforts, make way to let her in ; ' O, if 
 I may get near enough to reach him, it is all I ask ; 
 I do not seek to speak to him ; ' and so she stretches 
 out her emaciated finger, which for twelve years had 
 counted out gold and silver to the physicians, all for 
 nothing, and she bends or reaches forward and touches 
 the Saviour's garment. She had no questionings about 
 decrees, and the secret purposes of Christ, and being 
 elected to be cured ; nor would she wait for Christ to 
 see her and call her ; and herein consisted, in part, 
 the greatness of her faith, and herein she is unlike 
 
110 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 very many who are waiting God's time. This was 
 coming to Christ ; and it speaks with a most affecting 
 voice to those who feel and even say, as some do, ' If 
 Christ will give me any pre-assurance that he will save 
 me, I will come to him.' This keeps many from heing 
 saved ; they insist on feeling sure that they are saved 
 before they come to Christ ; they wait for him to do 
 all the work before they move, and such persons will 
 wait in vain. We are free agents ; there are some 
 things which God can not do for us ; he can not be- 
 lieve for us. Believing does not consist in seeing a 
 thing with the eyes ; hope that is seen is not hope ; 
 for what a man seeth why doth, he yet hope for'? 
 But believing is what many would call venturing, or 
 presuming, or taking for granted, risking, trusting, 
 taking the first step. So we perceive Christ's di- 
 rections are, "Come;" "Come unto me, all ye that 
 labor ; " " All that the Father giveth me shall come 
 to me." 
 
 If we are ever to be saved we must come to Christ. 
 There must be an act of trust and confidence, as if it 
 were self-moved; and yet there can be no question 
 that the Spirit of God drew that woman to Christ, 
 and Christ himself had arranged the whole plan of 
 that mercy, while she seemed to do all herself. So we 
 work out our salvation, while it is God that worketh 
 in us. 
 
 There is further instruction in this case : — 
 
WHO TOUCHED ME f 111 
 
 V. Salvation follows instantaneously upon believing 
 in Christ. 
 
 This truth, about which there can be no question, 
 is of great interest and importance. No sinner ever 
 believes and then, a few.hours after, or in weeks or 
 years following, obtains pardon. No ; the moment a 
 sinner believes, the work of justification is done ; as 
 quick as thought, "He that believeth is passed from 
 death unto life." By the very act of your trusting in 
 Christ, God can be just, and justify youj all your 
 legal disabilities are removed, and there is no condem- 
 nation for you. All your sins are blotted out at once, 
 like a thick cloud ; at once you are an adopted child, 
 and so an heir of God and joint heir with Christ. 
 Should you truly believe in Christ at the midnight 
 hour, and die whUe the clock is striking that hour, 
 you would go where the penitent thief went ; and why 
 not 1 Should you live fifty years after that, and be 
 the best Christian in the church, would your good life 
 help Christ in saving you % make up a deficiency in 
 his merits % " Justification is an act of God's free 
 grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins and accepteth 
 us as, righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness 
 of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone." 
 Sanctification is progressive ; justification is instanta- 
 neous. What a gospel this, and what a Saviour ! 
 Being persuaded of your need of Christ as the Lamb 
 of God, and relying only and wholly on him, you 
 
112 GHEIST A FRIEND. 
 
 trust in him ; and so doing you are saved. " He that 
 believeth shall not come into condemnation, but is 
 passed from death unto life." Not only shall we be 
 saved from wrath through him, but we are made holy, 
 created in Christ Jesus unto good works ; we are at 
 that moment, born ; born into a spiritual world, with 
 all that belongs to the nature of a child of God. 
 
 So this woman, whose example illustrates faith, did 
 not return to her house and wait for her cure, but 
 with the touch sensations of unwonted health took 
 possession of her ; she perceived that she was healed. 
 As a simple touch, with true faith, saved her wholly, 
 and saved her at once, and as one look at the brazen 
 serpent healed the bitten Israelite in the wilderness, 
 so the least act toward Christ which implies faith is 
 followed instantly with his great salvation. 
 
 We often hear it asked by an inquirer, ' How shall 
 I know when I am accepted of God 1 ' If you come 
 to Christ with such renunciation of every other de- 
 pendence, and with such confidence that he is able and 
 willing to save, and with such an entire surrender of 
 your soul to him, as this woman felt, you, too, will 
 feel as she did, that you are healed, straightway. If 
 one believes and does not know it, as some do, it is 
 because they continue to expect answers and wait for 
 Christ to reward their faith. This is not the strongest 
 kind of faith. It is not unconditional. It is more 
 like partial payments than a transfer of every thing 
 
WHO TOUCHED ME? 113 
 
 at once, with a feeling of utter bankruptcy. What 
 right has a sinner to require that God should return 
 him something for his faith 1 He must do his duty, 
 and leave himself, to be saved or lost, in the hands of 
 God. His only concern should be, 'How shall I 
 make recompense for my sins ■? How shall I get into 
 my proper place before God as a sinner ] How shall 
 I comply with his requirements ■? ' With this feeling 
 of self-renunciation, which exalts God and makes our 
 happiness comparatively of no account, we begin to 
 see that God, for his name's sake, can pardon and 
 save us ; that help has been laid on one who is mighty ; 
 and his merits then taking the place of our poor faith 
 as the procuring cause of pardon, we feel that our 
 " sins are forgiven for his name's sake." Hope springs 
 up in the soul ; that " peace with God " which comes 
 from- "being justified by faith" ensues, without an 
 intervening moment ; for if hope does not come im- 
 mediately upon believing in Christ, it is because we 
 have not sufficiently despaired of any other help, or 
 we are selfish, and think more of our happiness than 
 of God, and of our ill desert, and wish to make a 
 compromise with him, instead of doing like the men of 
 Calais, who, in token of submission to the king, put 
 ropes about their necks, and went forth barefoot to 
 his camp. Let us feel that endless banishment from 
 God is our just desert ; let us take the punishment 
 due to our sins; at the same time let us plead the 
 
114 
 
 CHRIST A FRIEND 
 
 sacrifice made for us by God in Christ, and leave our- 
 selves in those wounded hands which have never suf- 
 fered one despairing soul to perish. 
 
 The last thing to which I would call attention, 
 briefly, is this : — 
 
 VI. There is nothing which Christ seems to love so 
 much as faith in him. 
 
 Once he was so much affected by it that he seemed 
 to forget the patient for a moment, and, turning, said 
 to those around him, " Verily, I have not found so 
 great faith, no, not in Israel ; " and then he proceeded 
 to say that many should come from the east and west, 
 and sit down in the kingdom of God, while they of 
 whom faith was, chiefly to be expected would be cast 
 out. He loves to say, " Thy faith hath saved thee." 
 "According to thy faith be it unto thee." To this 
 humble suppliant in the text he said, " O woman, 
 great is thy faith." Christ went through all this 
 scene of inquiry as to who touched him, in order 
 to bring to notice that poor woman, as an illustration 
 of faith. How natural this is ! When we have made 
 great efforts and ventured every thing for an object, 
 and men come and repose confidence in us, nothing is 
 more gratifying. Think of the infinite interest which 
 Christ must have felt in doing and suffering all which 
 he did ; and now, when one and another comes and 
 lays his soul, for eternity, in his hands, and before 
 
WHO TOUCHED ME? 115 
 
 heaven, earth, and hell, acknowledges him in his 
 office as Redeemer and Saviour, there is joy in that 
 Redeemer's breast. Have great faith in Christ if you 
 would awaken his deep interest in you ; especially do 
 it in the act of intrusting your soul to him — in the 
 first effiart of faith. If some of us could have the 
 opportunity which you now have of believing on 
 Christ for the first time, of coming in darkness and 
 with trembling, and saying, ' I am thine ; save me ; ' 
 if we could do this now, with all which we know of 
 Christ, it appears to us we would do it as we desire 
 to behold it done by you, with unconditional, unfal- 
 tering trust, and without a moment's delay. Do not 
 wait for him, but go cast yourself, just as you are, at 
 his feet. He will know it ; if your faith in him be 
 confident and you are abased in your own eyes, he 
 wiU know it instantly among the multitude of wor- 
 shipers in heaven and on earth. "Who touched 
 me 1 " he will say, bending his look toward you ; 
 " somebody touched me, for I perceive that virtue is 
 gone out of me." You will perceive that you are not 
 hid ; you will fall down before him with a penitent, 
 believing heart, and he will say, " Son, daughter, be 
 of good comfort ; thy faith hath made thee whole ; go 
 in peace." 
 
VI. 
 
 THOMAS. 
 
 THEN SAITH HE TO THOMAS, EEAOH HITHER THT FINGER, AND BEHOLD MT 
 HANDS, AND REACH HITHER THY HAND, AND THRUST IT INTO MT SIDE; 
 AND BE NOT FAITHLESS, BUT BELIEVINO. 
 
 Thomas, probably, has had as many imitators since 
 his day as either of " the twelve." The imitators of 
 the impulsive Peter, only, might equal them. For 
 the human heart is naturally inclined to one of two 
 extremes — presumption or despair; and it is only 
 the grace of God, in connection with a well-balanced 
 mind, which keeps us from them. 
 
 In company with his fellow-disciples, Thomas had 
 had complete proof that Christ was crucified ; that 
 nails were driven through his hands and feet, and a 
 spear forced into his side ; that he had been taken 
 from the cross, laid in the tomb, and a great stone 
 rolled before the door. That Christ was dead and 
 buried was to him as certain as that he had ever seen 
 him alive. 
 
 (116) 
 
THOMAS. 117 
 
 Within tliTee days from the crucifixion, the disciples 
 were assembled in secret, and the doors were shut for 
 fear of the Jews. Judas had gone to his own place, 
 and Thomas, for some reason, was absent. Jesus ap- 
 peared and stood in the midst of them. Needing no 
 opened door, he might have been supposed to be a 
 spirit or apparition ; to convince them that it was he 
 himself, he showed them the prints of the nails and 
 the spear, and while they believed not for joy, and 
 wondered, he ate before them, to place it beyond all 
 possible doubt that he was not a spirit, but was still 
 in the flesh. 
 
 When Thomas came to the next meeting of the 
 Apostles, and was told by them that they " had seen 
 the Lord," he may at first have supposed that they 
 had been to the tomb, and had seen him as when he 
 was first laid there ; but he was assured that Christ 
 had personally appeared to them ; whereupon he may 
 have entertained the supposition which they themselves 
 made, that his spirit had appeared ; but they testified 
 to his eating before them, to their handling him, and 
 to the prints of the nails and the spear. In the first 
 place, no impostor could have assumed such wounds ; 
 and in the second place, Christ would not have la- 
 bored as he did to make demonstration of his bodily 
 presence, had he been only a spirit. All this, how- 
 ever, was lost upon this disciple. " Except I shall 
 see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my 
 
118 
 
 CHRIST A FKIEND. 
 
 finger in the print of the nails, and thrust my hand 
 into his side, I will not believe." 
 
 We can not hesitate to pronounce this unbelief, 
 under these circumstances, unreasonable. Ten men, 
 whom he knew, declared with unvarying testimony 
 that they had seen Christ alive, in his original form 
 and person. His acquaintance with them must have 
 convinced him that they had no wrong motive in their 
 assertion ; and he could assign no reason for not be- 
 lieving them, but the seeming impossibility of the 
 thing. But that impossibility appeared as great to 
 them as to him ; they could judge as well as he of 
 the evidence, which, in their view, outweighed the 
 improbabilities. It seems, however, that their asser- 
 tion was without eifect. Thomas refused to believe 
 except upon actual sight and touch. We can not 
 commend him in this thing. Caution, and freedom 
 from credulity, are commendable ; but a state of mind 
 which can not appreciate clear proof, is not good. 
 We are not informed of any particular cause of this 
 state of mind in Thomas ; whether he belonged to that 
 sluggish class of minds which do not feel the power 
 of evidence so early as those around them ; or whether 
 he was extremely averse to every thing out of the 
 ordinary track, especially to the supernatural ; or 
 whether he was obstinate, and would not believe be- 
 cause his brethren were earnest to convince him, or 
 because they touched his pride by their wonder or pity 
 
THOMAS. 119 
 
 at his hesitancy. If the latter were the case, his words 
 were a retort upon them, intimating that when he too 
 had enjoyed the palpable proofs which had been af- 
 forded them, it would be time to upbraid him if he 
 should not believe. But perhaps the crucifixion had 
 destroyed his hope and confidence in his Master, and 
 he therefore may have absented himself from the com- 
 pany of the disciples, unwilling to be connected fur- 
 ther with that which had raised, only to destroy, such 
 hopes. 
 
 But all these things together formed no good excuse 
 for not receiving the testimony of ten men to an al- 
 leged occurrence, in which they had had the evidence 
 of eyes, and ears, and touch. 
 
 There was something extremely interesting, how- 
 ever, in the character of Thomas, notwithstanding 
 this unbelief When the disciples sought to dissuade 
 Christ from going into Judea to see Lazarus, who was 
 sick, by saying to him, " The Jews lately sought to 
 stone thee, and goest thou thither again ] " and when 
 Christ persisted in his intention, Thomas said to his 
 feUow-disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die 
 with him." This was not said of Lazarus, for Christ 
 had just declared that Lazarus was dead ; it was a 
 beautiful and afiecting instance of devoted attachment 
 to Christ. His language, when Christ had appeared 
 to him, and had satisfied him, shows a heart capable of 
 strong emotions ; so that we probably err if we place 
 
120 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 this disciple among the cold-hearted, the sceptical, or 
 even the timid. A man who was the most forward 
 among the twelve to suffer martyrdom with his Lord, 
 and that, too, not hy a general profession, but in one 
 particular scene of peril, and who emboldened the rest 
 by his courage, surely vindicates himself from any 
 charge of timidity. Still we can not praise him for 
 "not believing them which had seen" the Saviour 
 " after he had risen." He should have been slow to 
 admit uncertain evidence on so vital a subject ; ready 
 as he was to die with Christ, and, no doubt, for him, 
 he can not be blamed for requiring sufficient grounds 
 for venturing into that martyrdom which, neverthe- 
 less, he would not shun ; but still it is injurious — 
 indeed, destructive to the cause of truth, human and 
 divine — not to believe in view of suitable evidence ; 
 it is ruinous to personal comfort and improvement, 
 and may be fatal to the soul. 
 
 Few things in the conduct of Christ, as a Friend, 
 are marked with greater kindness than his treatment 
 of Thoma^. At his next interview with his disciples, 
 when they were assembled " and Thomas with them," 
 after the salutation, "Peace be with you," it seems 
 as though the eye of Christ rested upon Thomas. It 
 was not for reproach, nor for reproof, nor was it a 
 cold, retributive look ; nor did the Saviour then pass 
 him by to speak to the rest, leaving the incredulous 
 disciple to amend his error. He knew what Thomas 
 
THOMAS. " 121 
 
 had said ; and then, instead of rebuke, he condescends 
 to give him the required proof: "Reach hither thy 
 finger, and behold my hands ; and reach hither thy 
 hand, and thrust it into my side ; and be not faithless, 
 but believing." We may venture to say that it was 
 not merely the satisfying proof which Thomas then 
 received, but the affecting kindness with which it was 
 afforded, that made him exclaim, with a degree of 
 faith which seems to transcend all the previous attain- 
 ments of the disciples as to their knowledge of the 
 Saviour's deity, "My Lord and my God!" If aU the 
 traditions of this man's intrepidity and usefulness in 
 Parthia, Persia, and India were true, they, neverthe- 
 less, could not surpass that one act of faith in these 
 words which, under the circumstances, was truly sub- 
 lime. "My Lord and my God!" No reproof, no 
 check is given to this divine worship, but, " Thomas, 
 because thou hast seen me thou hast believed ; blessed 
 are they which have not seen and yet have believed." 
 Perhaps there are few things in which so many will 
 appreciate kindness in Christ, or feel that he is more 
 truly a Friend to them, as with regard to difficulties in 
 believing. It will accord with the spirit and inten- 
 tion of this instructive act of kindness on the part of 
 Christ, and with his accompanying words, if we con- 
 sider some of the various forms of unbelief on the 
 subject of religion, the difficulties which hinder faith, 
 and endeavor to see if, after all, Christ has not in each 
 
122 CHRIST A FKIEND. 
 
 case done as much to help our faith, and with equal 
 forbearance and kindness, as in the case of Thomas. 
 
 I. Some are not satisfied with the evidence for the 
 truth of the Bible. 
 
 They have been exposed to the cavils of unbe- 
 lievers, in books, or from pulpits, or from lectures, or 
 in their early education, or from bad company. But 
 what should constitute satisfactory evidence that the 
 Bible is, as it professes to be, from God % The answer 
 is. The same that would satisfy us in any other case. 
 The testimony of a sufficient number of witnesses, 
 competent as to understanding, and with opportu- 
 nities for knowing that which they assert, and of un- 
 impeachable honesty, should be received in relation to 
 things which address themselves to the senses. The 
 witnesses to the truth of the Bible are the Apostles, 
 some of whom wrote a history of events, things which 
 they saw and heard, which the others never contra- 
 dicted. They had no worldly motive in making these 
 assertions. They lost earthly favor, were persecuted, 
 imprisoned, beaten, stoned, and crucified, and yet per- 
 sisted in their testimony as to the things which they 
 said they had seen or heard. Several of them have 
 given us histories of Christ ; in these there are cer- 
 tain discrepancies which do not affect the history, 
 while they show that the writers did not combine to 
 make a story and palm it upon the world. , Had they 
 
THOMAS. 123 
 
 designed to do so, one of them would not have said 
 that "the thieves" who were crucified with Christ 
 railed on him, while another, with that record before 
 him, made mention of only one that reviled. They 
 would have been careful, had they been writing and 
 publishing a fiction, to make it correspond in every 
 statement of facts ; but the few unessential discrep- 
 ancies in their several histories show that there was 
 no craft nor dishonesty. Besides, had they asserted 
 things which they had merely thought or felt, im- 
 prisonment and torture would have corrected their 
 mistake in some instances ; all would not have been 
 fanatics in sight of crucifixion ; but the things to 
 which they testified were things to which they pro- 
 fessed to have the witness of their own eyes and ears, 
 and it is incredible that they should have been tor- 
 mented to death, and not have confessed imposture if 
 they had not seen and heard those things which they 
 related. From some of them, in moments of weakness 
 and fear, the truth would have been extorted ; but 
 they sealed their testimony with their blood. We do 
 not see how a fair mind can resist such evidence. 
 
 But admitting it, what follows I That Christ was 
 the Son of God, and that he commissioned them to 
 publish his gospel. If so, the New Testament must 
 be the word of God ; and since these inspired men de- 
 clare that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, 
 and that holy men of old in writing the Old Testa- 
 
124 CHRIST A FKIEND. 
 
 ment spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, it 
 follows that the Old Testament is the word of God. 
 So that if we believe these Apostles to be honest men, 
 the Bible is the word of God ; if we do not believe 
 the Bible to be the word of God, we must reject the 
 evidence of the Apostles' honesty; and if so, to be 
 consistent, we must reject every thing which rests 
 on human testimony. 
 
 Christ might appropriately address every one who 
 hesitates to receive the Bible as the word of God on 
 such testimony, for substance as he did Thomas. He 
 might bid him reach his finger and behold the hands of 
 one and another Apostle who suffered crucifixion in full 
 knowledge of the awful nature of that torment, rather 
 than admit that the things which he had seen, and 
 heard, and preached were not true. Let the histories 
 of those times be examined, and it will be found that 
 the New Testament was written by men whose hon- 
 esty is proved by their voluntary sufferings and death. 
 But how can one who rejects the New Testament read 
 other histories with any confidence in their truth 1 
 How can he know, upon his principles, that any book 
 is authentic, genuine, or credible 1 
 
 II. Some are not satisfied with the evidence for the 
 doctrines of the Bible, as commonly received. 
 
 We should determine what the Bible teaches, as we 
 judge with respect to any other book. 
 
THOMAS. 125 
 
 Was the Bible written by those who profess to have 
 written iti If we believe this, we are to ascertain 
 what it teaches by finding what is its general tenor. 
 This, however, is to be added : the Bible professes to 
 be a revelation — not a history of things previously 
 known, but a revelation from God. All that we 
 are to seek for is, ' What does the Bible teach "i ' 
 Here is the important office of reason. Its general 
 tenor, as in all other books, must decide this ques- 
 tion. Have you examined the book for yourself? 
 Do you or do you not find certain truths there 1 No 
 matter whether our teachers assert or deny these 
 things, or whether they are above reason, or, as we 
 may erroneously think, contrary to reason. Do we or 
 do we not find them asserted in the Bible, judging of its 
 language on the same principles upon which we judge 
 of the meaning of a common book, or of human Ian 
 guage in any form ■? If you do not find them there, 
 no man has dominion over your conscience ; to God 
 you must stand or fall. For, if by the ordinary rules 
 of interpretation, such as we use in reading any book, 
 the language of the Bible does not convey to your 
 mind these truths, you are responsible only to God for 
 your conclusion. If we find these doctrines there, 
 unbelief of them, on any ground, is unreasonable 
 You would receive the witness of men in any matter 
 however incomprehensible and contrary to experience, 
 
 affecting your life, if it were much less clearly estab- 
 11* 
 
126 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 lished. The doctrines of Scripture have one great 
 truth for their centre, viz., that Christ died for us. 
 Belief in them, therefore, is not a mere speculation. 
 With regard to any one of these truths, Christ might 
 appeal to you, by the evidences that he was wounded 
 for your transgressions, not to reject it as you value 
 your soul. 
 
 III. Some do not receive the promises and threat- 
 enings of God, as contained in the Bible. 
 
 If you believe that the Bible is the word of God, 
 there is no reason that will abide the scrutiny of truth, 
 nor of the last judgment, for not receiving the prom- 
 ises of God, and believing and fearing his threat- 
 enings. If God, therefore, promises pardon upon 
 repentance and faith in Christ, and we do not believe 
 him, we have no excuse. If he declares his willing- 
 ness to forgive all our sins, and we can not trust him ; 
 if Christ declares himself able and willing to save unto 
 the uttermost all who come unto God by him, and we 
 withhold confidence in these words, we are unbelievers. 
 If he declares that the wages of sin is death, and that 
 the wicked shall finally perish, and we are not prac- 
 tically affected by these things so as to forsake sin 
 and turn to God, we are guilty of unbelief What 
 testimony would we have X We should not be per- 
 suaded though one rose from the dead. What clearer, 
 stronger language could even he employ 1 
 
THOMAS. 127 
 
 IV. Some are not satisfied with the evidences of 
 their acceptance with God, and on this ground neglect 
 certain Christian privileges and duties. 
 
 Satisfactory evidence of acceptance with God should 
 be the correspondence of our feelings, in view of re- 
 ligious subjects and objects, with those of good men 
 in the Bible. Take the history and writings of those 
 men, notice their feelings in view of their sins, in view 
 of God, and with regard to the Saviour of the world. 
 Do we find that we have now, or that we have ever 
 had, such feelings'? Consider the conversation and 
 the prayers of those who give evidence of being 
 Christians. Do our feelings upon religious subjects 
 agree, in the main, with theirs ? Again, — 
 
 Are you conscious of a sincere endeavor to do the 
 will of God ? Are you influenced to duty because God 
 requires it 1 Do you endeavor to abstain from evU 
 because God forbids it ] In a word, does the will of 
 God, so far as it is made known to you by your con- 
 science and his word, constitute the chosen rule of 
 your conduct's If an affirmative answer to these 
 questions is forced upon you by your conscience, and 
 you still neglect to act as though you were a Chris- 
 tian, you may be guilty of sin, unless you are so in- 
 competent to act in view of evidence, that you are not 
 responsible for what you do. There are some that are 
 compelled to admit these things ; they disrelish things 
 which interfere with religion, yet they have never 
 
128 CHRIST A FKIEND. 
 
 done their duty as Christians, because they are able 
 to doubt ; and because they can doubt, they think they 
 are excused. Some appear to feel that it is modest to 
 be distrustful and diffident ; some, that it is humility 
 to deny the evidences of their Christian faith, and 
 of what God has done for them. It is extremely 
 dangerous to trifle with our Christian hope. "We 
 are saved by hope ; " when we lose it, the anchor is 
 lost. Some who, if they would be decided, and act in 
 view of the evidence which they already have, would 
 be rooted and built up in Christ, may, in consequence 
 of timidity or irresolution, and neglecting known duty, 
 suffer much from despondence, and lose great oppor- 
 tunities of being useful. Besides, we can not tell 
 when and where doubts and fears, which result from 
 humility, cease, and criminal unbelief begins. 
 
 In all the cases which we have considered, there is 
 a want of reasonable faith. The evidence is such as 
 should satisfy the mind ; but for various reasons some 
 remain sceptical and careless respecting the word of 
 God ; some have strong prejudices against the doctrines 
 of the Bible ; some refuse to admit the promises and 
 threatenings of the word of God ; and some refijse to 
 acknowledge the evidence of God's grace in their souls. 
 It was no word of commendation when Christ said, 
 " Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe." 
 
 To all these the following truths will be appro- 
 priate : — 
 
THOMAS. 129 
 
 1. Faith is peculiarly acceptable to God. 
 
 The man who is called, by way of eminence, " the 
 friend of God," and on whom, more than upon all 
 who ever lived, God bestowed commendation and 
 blessings, was one who was preeminent for his faith. 
 Every consideration was opposed to faith and obe- 
 dience, with the exception of this — God has command- 
 ed. On the strength of this command, he obeyed in 
 a transaction which cost him the sacrifice of his pa- 
 rental love, for he received Isaac from the dead ; he 
 had gone through with all the sufferings which be- 
 longed to the separation up to the moment when God 
 stayed his hand. It was he who, at the word of God, 
 left his father's house, and went out, not knowing 
 whither he went. The deeds of those great and good 
 men and women enumerated in the eleventh of He- 
 brews, were acts of faith. The reason why God 
 places such value and honor upon faith is evidently 
 this : Faith is the only means by which God can se- 
 cure our obedience and love. We can not see him ; 
 if we could, there would be little room for faith. 
 Placed as we are in a world where we must act with 
 reference to unseen objects, faith is as necessary to 
 their influence over us as the atmosphere is essential 
 to the influence of the sun upon the eye. Without 
 faith, God has no way of influencing a responsible 
 creature except by force, which he will not employ 
 with our minds, even to secure or prevent any thing 
 
130 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 wHch would be for our greatest good or injury. His 
 authority over us, therefore, is annihilated where there 
 is no faith, or, it is reduced to the authority which 
 he exercises over inanimate things. Even when his 
 Spirit changes our hearts, the object, the effect, is to 
 " work in us the work of faith, with power." Hence 
 every thing in his intercourse with us has for its great 
 design to promote faith, and the more this prevails in 
 us the greater is the connection and intercourse be- 
 tween us and him. That there is nothing arbitrary 
 in this great stress which is laid on faith is evident 
 from this, that we are well pleased with it in those 
 over whom we have authority. In no way do chil- 
 dren, and pupils, and servants show their confidence 
 in us, and attachment to us, more than in things which 
 prove the strength of their faith. So when the cen- 
 turion illustrated his faith in Christ by speaking of 
 the soldiers under him, and of their faithful obedience, 
 and made use of them in humbly arguing against the 
 necessity that Christ should come under his roof, the 
 Saviour, deeply affected by what the man had said, 
 turned from him to those who stood near, and com- 
 mended his faith, warning the Jews, by this Gentile, 
 that they who had the strongest reasons for faith 
 would be surpassed in it by many of the heathen, and 
 fail to be saved. Other cases in which Christ com- 
 mended faith, readily occur to the mind. We are told 
 by an Apostle that if severely tried, and proved sincere, 
 
TH0M4S. 131 
 
 it will " be found to praise, and honor, and glory at 
 the appearing of Jesus Christ." 
 
 Picture to your mind Thomas bidden to examine 
 the hands and side of Christ, and, in contrast, the 
 woman who came behind him and touched him. Most 
 unlike were these two cases, and the feelings which 
 governed them ; one was the approach of unbelief, the 
 other, of faith ; and far diflFerent were the feelings and 
 words of Christ to these two persons. We sympa- 
 thize with Thomas in being treated, perhaps, as an 
 unreasonable child by a judicious and kind parent 
 who makes indulgence sometimes a powerful rebuke. 
 We covet the joy and the reward of the humble 
 woman whose faith was such as the Saviour blessed. 
 
 We are prepared to see, therefore, that — 
 
 2. Want of faith is peculiarly displeasing to God. 
 
 The leading sin of which Christ said the Holy 
 Spirit would reprove the world was, " because they 
 believe not on me." It is moreover said, in answer 
 to a very important question, " This is the will of 
 God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." And 
 again : " He that believeth not God, hath made him a 
 liar." The threatenings of the gospel are chiefly di- 
 rected against unbelief If we refuse the evidence of 
 God's being, of his word, of his truths, when we haiie 
 received the knowledge of them, we disown the au- 
 thority of God, and we see the consequences in the 
 
132 CHRIST. A FRIEND. 
 
 fate of multitudes in that generation who came up out 
 of Egypt with Moses. In vain do we plead diffidence, 
 *or humility, or fear of presumption. There are some 
 things which we must believe, or we must perish. 
 
 3. The consequences of unbelief upon the character 
 and happiness are melancholy. 
 
 When we do not act in view of evidence, but allow 
 ourselves to doubt and speculate, we resort to a great 
 variety of books and teachers in hope of relief; but, 
 like cross lights, they confuse the subject ; we get into 
 deeper perplexity, with no foundation, no boundaries, 
 nothing settled with regard to truth and error. If 
 there is an intelligent being in a more deplorable state 
 than another, it is one who seems to understand every 
 thing, but believes nothing ; who can furnish an objec- 
 tion against every truth; make his ability to doubt, or 
 the doubt expressed by some one else, a reason for not 
 believing, and whose mind is loose and chaotic on the 
 subject of religion. There are those among them 
 who are preeminently to be pitied — thorse who are 
 sceptical about their own characters as Christians, 
 who steadfastly deny that they have experienced any 
 religious exercises of mind, and, with awakened con- 
 sciences and keen sensibilities, persist in shutting the 
 door of hope against themselves because they demand 
 more vivid evidences of those things which they think 
 they are required to experience. 
 
THOMAS. 133 
 
 But how are we to distinguish between presumption 
 and faith, between credulity and belief upon good evi- 
 dence 1 Suppose that Thomas had put such a ques- 
 tion to his brethren. His fear of being credulous, his 
 preconceived conviction that the resurrection of Christ 
 was impossible, his depression and even despair at the 
 Saviour's apparent defeat, and the ruin of his cause, 
 were mental operations of whose justice and propri- 
 ety he could not be so assured as ten men were of 
 having heard Christ speak, seen him eat, and of having 
 seen prints of nails in his hands and feet. Why 
 should the impressions of such things on his own 
 mind be more correct than on theirs 1 Why should 
 they be duped, and he prove to be the only reasonable 
 man of the eleven 1 For every reason, it would have 
 been right and good that he should have yielded to 
 such testimony as they furnished. 
 
 It will assist faith to consider that, — 
 
 4. A good conscience is essential to faith. 
 
 " Holding faith and a good conscience, which," viz., 
 a good conscience, " some having put away, concern- 
 ing faith have made shipwreck." Perhaps we never 
 knew a case of apostasy from the truth which did not 
 begin in the heart and practice, in the commission or 
 the purposing of a secret or open sin. The conscience 
 being violated, the truths of God's word must be de- 
 nied ; for a guilty conscience and the truth together. 
 
134 CHKIST A FRIEND. 
 
 make hell. If we find one denying any essential 
 truth which he once believed, we may be sure that he 
 never practically believed it ; or that he has grown 
 cold in his religious affections, and fallen into some 
 snare ; that he has committed, or is wishing to com- 
 mit, some transgression, to enter into some unsuitable 
 relation, or in general to rid himself of religious re- 
 straints. That which is the cause of apostasy is also . 
 a preventive of faith. If we do wrong, we can not 
 expect to have faith. " If any man will do his will, 
 he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God." 
 Hence repentance is required in connection with faith. 
 If we live in sin, if we willfully neglect duty, we can 
 not receive the truth ; it would torment us. Very 
 many doubts and difficulties with regard to matters 
 of faith proceed from an evil heart. " With the heart 
 man believeth unto righteousness." 
 
 5. It may help us to believe, if we begin with de- 
 fining and settling one truth after another. 
 
 When a place for building is loose and unfit for a 
 foundation, piles are driven ; the ground is strength- 
 ened ; the beams may then be laid. The deliberate 
 settlement of one truth after another, is like this fixing 
 of a foundation ; we should begin with things which 
 are plain, hold fast to them, and add to them by de- 
 grees, seeking competent instruction, and, being con- 
 vinced, act upon those convictions if agreeable to the 
 
THOMAS. 135 
 
 word of God. We should undertake this as an indo- 
 lent, neglectful man, whose business is in confusion, 
 would, upon reformation, begin to bring his affairs 
 into order. If we leave our personal hopes and pros- 
 pects in an uncertain state, and sickness and death 
 surprise us, we are indeed a melancholy spectacle, 
 drawing near to eternity, in darkness which is re- 
 lieved only by glimmers making it still more fearful, 
 and still perplexed as to the way of salvation. " Give 
 glory to the Lord your God before he cause darkness, 
 and before your feet stumble upon the dark moun- 
 tains, and while ye look for light he turn it into the 
 shadow of death, and make it gross darkness." If the 
 Bible is the word of God, the only written revelation 
 which we are to receive, the authentic message of God 
 to man, it is a truth of infinite importance, and we 
 should know it ; if its doctrines are true, they relate 
 to our future, eternal interests ; if we are Christians, 
 what else is comparatively of any importance, and if 
 we are not, would we gain the whole world to lose our 
 souls ? The obedient, faithful followers of Christ 
 will receive ' light which shineth more and more unto 
 the perfect day.' " For whosoever hath, to him shall 
 be given, and he shall have more abundantly ; but who- 
 soever hath not, from him shall be taken away even 
 that which he hath." Bunyan, in his ' Holy War,' 
 represents Diabolus assailing Mansoul with an army 
 of forty thousand ' Doubters.' There are no more 
 
136 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 formidable enemies than those which are represented 
 under this figure ; there seems to be no end of them 
 when they once get possession of us ; they confuse 
 every thing, they take from us even those things which 
 we had supposed were immovably fixed. 
 
 But if, notwithstanding a clear persuasion of our 
 duty, we find ourselves embarrassed, with no real in- 
 terest in religion, seemingly incapable of feeling or 
 acting correctly, and yet persuaded that we are in the 
 wrong, there is one thing which we can do with cer- 
 tain success. The Saviour of the world is a Friend 
 to the unbelieving; for he is the Friend of sinners, 
 and unbelief creates peculiar necessity for his power 
 and grace. Only let us be willing to be taught by 
 him, and to "receive with meekness the ingrafted 
 word," as a tree receives any graft which the hus- 
 bandman sees fit to insert, however foreign to the 
 nature of the tree. As we sometimes wish to disclose 
 our mental troubles to an experienced, skillful man, 
 who will disentangle our thoughts, and show us how 
 to take the first step in thinking and feeling correctly, 
 we may go to the Saviour of men with our difiiculties 
 and perplexities, to him who, in the wilderness, was 
 tempted with the casuistry of Satan, and knows how 
 to succor them that are tempted, who is the light of 
 the world, and whose readiness to help us is illustrat- 
 ed in his kind treatment of Thomas. See how the 
 faith of that disciple rose in a few moments from be- 
 
THOMAS. 137 
 
 low tlie common level to the very height of confidence 
 and love. ' So would mine,' you say, ' if Christ should 
 do some special act of kindness to me, as he did to 
 him. Blessed indeed was he,' you think, ' to have 
 had his doubts thus wholly removed.' But Christ did 
 not consider him so ' blessed ' as you esteem him. 
 "Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast 
 seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that 
 have not seen, and yet have believed." Here is a 
 gentle reproof, an intimation that he did wrong in not 
 receiving competent testimony, a disparaging of the 
 virtue in believing that which is forced upon us by 
 demonstration, and a commendation of those who 
 exercise the' reason which God has given us to assist 
 our faith, and who, without requiring palpable evi- 
 dence, believe. 
 
 While this is our duty, it is also true* that in pro- 
 portion as we are thus inclined to feel and act, God 
 reveals to us views and imparts feelings which are his 
 special gifts. For there is nothing which is more pe- 
 culiarly the gift of God than faith, so contrary is it 
 to our natural disposition, which is against God and 
 spiritual things; and its effects upon the mind and 
 heart are so beyond the ordinary operations of the 
 understanding. So, if one is wholly set against a cer- 
 tain temptation to which he feels himself peculiarly 
 liable, he finds an unaccountable deadening of his 
 sensibilities or a strong repugnance to the sin in a 
 
138 CHRIST A FKIEND. 
 
 moment of surprising assault by it, making him feel 
 that it is not merely the force of habit which saves 
 him, but that God has made a way for his escape. 
 So that here, as every where in the dealings of God 
 with us, we see illustrated the necessity and use of 
 means, and also the coinciding power of God work- 
 ing in us " both to will and to do of his good pleasure." 
 ' Both to will and to do.' It is one of the deep things 
 of God, and ought to be a source of satisfaction and 
 gratitude with us, that God can ' work in us to will,' 
 and leave us accountable and free. Instead of cavil- 
 ing at it, and being jealous, we should love to say, 
 " We are the clay, and thou our potter." The more 
 that God does for us, the more conscious are we of 
 voluntary effort ; as Paul says, " striving according to 
 his working, which worketh in me mightily." The 
 father of the«child which was possessed with a devil 
 understood this doctrine without the aid of meta- 
 physics. " Jesus said unto him. If thou canst believe, 
 all things are possible to him that believeth. And 
 straightway the father of the child cried out, and 
 said, with tears. Lord, I believe ; help thou mine un- 
 belief" Perhaps he mistook his desire to believe, for 
 faith ; it was an innocent mistake. A heart strongly 
 moved with desire to know the truth shall never be 
 disappointed ; but its desires will be accepted, its hun- 
 ger and thirst after righteousness is a beatitude, and 
 that heart " shall be filled." 
 
THOMAS. 139 
 
 There is one form of unbelief to which the young 
 are liable, growing out of jealousy lest it be said that 
 they are not independent in their opinions, but be- 
 lieve because they were so taught. Sometimes they 
 are carried, by this desire to be independent, to foolish 
 extremes, and make themselves absurd by refusing to 
 believe any thing, or by a strained attempt to express 
 their faith in an original manner. Now, it is too late 
 for any of us to think of making any improvement 
 upon the great truths of redemption, or of getting 
 credit for originality with regard to them. Minds 
 greater and far more competent than ours to weigh 
 evidence, to detect sophistry and imposture, have rest- 
 ed every hope for eternity upon the truth of the Bible, 
 while many have sealed that faith in the flames and 
 on the rack of martyrdom. Nor can we invent any 
 objection against the Bible which has not been in- 
 vented and refuted long before we were born. It is 
 commendable to know the grounds of our faith ; we 
 should inquire- as to the reasonableness of the evidence 
 for every thing which we believe ; this the Bible it- 
 self exhorts us to do, charging us to give a reason to 
 every man for the hope which is in us with meekness 
 and fear, and commending certain Christians as being 
 more noble than those of Thessalonica, because they 
 searched the Scriptures daily, whether these things 
 were so. There could hardly be a stronger approba- 
 tion of intelligent faith than is found in this passage, 
 
140 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 in which it is not so much the faith which is com- 
 mended, as the searching of the Scriptures to test it. 
 So that no one should fear that religion has any wrong 
 design upon his independence, for it will • make him 
 more intelligent and free from bigotry the more that 
 he examines the Bible to know the grounds of his 
 faith. Moreover, instead of being jealous with regard 
 to the opinions of others in their influence over us, 
 we should consider what a powerful defence we have 
 against the suggestions of unbelief and the attacks 
 of infidels, in the established convictions of that 
 goodly fellowship of believers whose lives have been 
 the best witness of the truth. We should love and 
 seek "the footsteps of the flock," and be afraid 
 to separate ourselves from the prints of those feet 
 which followed the good Shepherd. 
 
 Now, whatever may be the subject with regard to 
 which we labor, the surest source of relief is to come 
 directly to Christ, and have our opinions settled with 
 regard to him. The mind which is troubled by unbe- 
 lief will find the best deliverance by first accepting 
 the teachings of the Bible with respect to Christ ; or if 
 Christ himself be the object of doubt and difiiculty, he 
 has taught us, in one of his conversations with this same 
 Thomas, that direct application to him is the only 
 method of obtaining any object of faith. Christ had 
 told his disciples that he was going to prepare a place 
 for them. " And whither I go ye know, and the way 
 
THOMAS. 141 
 
 ye know." They thought only of some earthly coun- 
 try or metropolis. " Thomas saith unto him, Lord, 
 we know not whither thou goest, and how can we 
 know the way 1 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, 
 and the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the 
 Father but by me." Would we come to God 'i Do 
 we seek eternal life, and to this end wish to know 
 the truth, and would we find that truth 1 Christ says, 
 " I am the way." We must believe in him, and ap- 
 ply to him in his true character and offices, and first 
 of all come as sinners to this Friend of sinners. " He 
 that hath the Son hath life." It is a mistake to per- 
 plex our minds with any thing, or to seek relief from 
 any thing before we come to Christ. Our first duty 
 is to be reconciled to God as sinners to their Sov- 
 ereign — not to understand mysteries nor resolve the 
 difficulties of religion ; but repentance toward God and 
 faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ first of all are re- 
 quired of us, and when we have complied with these 
 requisitions, every thing will be plain ; no longer shall 
 we see men as trees walking ; " he that is spiritual 
 judgeth aU things ; " with a mind renewed by the Holy 
 Spirit, we shall be led into all truth. Then let it be 
 your chief desire to know Christ ; conclude what to be- 
 lieve with regard to him ; cease to speculate ; approach 
 him in prayer ; be persuaded that the Saviour's per- 
 sonal interest in you at this moment in your trying 
 state of mind is expressed in his words to Thomas : 
 
142 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 " Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hand, and 
 reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side ; and 
 be not faithless, but believing." The day will dawn 
 and the daystar will arise in your heart the moment 
 that you can respond with Thomas, " My Lord and 
 my God." 
 
YIL 
 
 PETER ON THE WAVES. 
 
 AND PETEK ANSWERED HIM, AND 8AID, LORD, IF IT BE THOU, BID ME COME UNTO 
 THEE ON THE "WATEB. AND HE SAID, COME. AND 'WHEN PETER WAS COME 
 DOWN OUT OP THE SHIP, HE WALKED ON THE WATER, TO GO TO JESUS. BUT 
 WHEN HE SAW THE WIND BOISTEEOUS HE WAS AFRAID ; AND, BEGINNINO 
 TO SINK, HE CRIED, SATINa, LORD, SATE ME. AND IMMEDIATELY JESUS 
 STRETCHED FORTH HIS HAND, AND CAUGHT HIM, AND SAID UNTO HIM, O 
 THOU OP LITTLE FAITH, WHEREFORE DIDST THOU DOUBT ? 
 
 Christ had gone up into a mountain to spend the 
 night in prayer. The disciples whom he had sent 
 before him to the other side of the lake were yet in 
 the ship, and in the midst of a storm. Had he been 
 there, they would have relied upon him to rebuke 
 the winds and the sea ; but their faith in him was 
 not yet such that they could avail themselves of the 
 power of his name to cast out a devil nor to stUl a 
 tempest. These disciples had just witnessed the mir- 
 acle of feeding five thousand with five loaves and two 
 fishes. Jesus had remained behind to send the mul- 
 titude away. They knew it ; and the remembrance 
 
 , (143) 
 
144 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 of that day's miracle, if mixed with faith in the power 
 of Christ, would have made them feel safe in the perils 
 of the sea. They had not yet learned the omnipres- 
 ence of Christ as they afterward felt and preached it. 
 But perhaps it was the case with them as it is with 
 us — that the appearance of danger overcame the 
 recollection of past deliverances ; and it is with us 
 frequently as it was with them, that our great Inter- 
 cessor is praying for us at times when we think that 
 all is lost, as his midnight prayers in that mountain 
 were obtaining safety for his disciples in the storm. 
 
 In the fourth watch of the night, or between the 
 hours of three and six, Jesus came to them walking on 
 the sea. The vision was indeed terrific. A human form 
 standing erect upon the sea, and approaching a ship, 
 is enough to make those in it suppose, as the disciples 
 did, that it is a spirit, and to cry out for fear. Mercy 
 and deliverance often come to us in ways which excite 
 our fears ; we do not see that God is approaching us 
 for any purpose but that of wrath in his dark dispen- 
 sations. But in mercy as often as in wrath, "his 
 way is in the sea, his path is in the great waters, and 
 his footsteps are not known." 
 
 "While the hearts of these men were yet agitated by 
 the vision, the voice of Christ not having fully calmed 
 their fear, and before time enough had elapsed to 
 receive him into the ship, one of their number 
 appealed to him for encouragement to meet him on 
 
PETER ON THE WAVES. 145 
 
 the water. The ardent and frequently inconsiderate, 
 but most affectionate and zealous, Peter, bending over 
 the vessel, strained his sight to penetrate the yet re- 
 maining darkness, and in the intervals of the dashing 
 spray and waves to get further proof that it was Je- 
 sus ; but the storm and the darkness prevented him 
 from having the evidence of sight. 
 
 " Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the 
 water." What could his motives and feelings be in 
 this proposal 1 It is not likely that there was much, 
 if any, deliberation preceding the request ; but from 
 a sudden, ardent impulse, reckless of danger, and full 
 of love to Christ, with a seaman's hardihood, he 
 wished to stand at his Master's side. He was will- 
 ing to risk his life, and to make the unnatural exper- 
 iment of walking on the water. He alone which 
 spreadeth out the heavens, and maketh Arcturus, 
 Orion, and the chambers of the south, treadeth on 
 the waves of the sea. But perhaps he did not act 
 presumptuously ; for he first sought permission to 
 come to Christ upon the water. The act of the Sa- 
 viour in walking upon the waves struck that passion 
 in Peter's mind for daring deeds which was ever show- 
 ing itself in his life* It was he who would make 
 tabernacles, and dwell gn the mount of transfigura- 
 tion ; it was he who would follow Christ, though all 
 should forsake him ; who drew his sword in a crowd 
 to cut off the ear of the high priest's servant ; and 
 
146 
 
 CHRIST A FKIEND. 
 
 who, though outrun on his way to the sepulchre by 
 another disciple, alone had courage to go in. Christ 
 seems always to have thought much respecting Peter. 
 Though John leaned on his bosom as the beloved dis- 
 ciple^ Peter occupied a large place in his thoughts. 
 He prayed for him in particular, knowing his consti- 
 tutional tendency and the temptations which would 
 assail him ; he reproved him faithfully with the wounds 
 of a friend ; he took him to see his transfiguration, 
 and to watch with him in Gethsemane ; he looked at 
 him when the cock crew^ and brought him, with a 
 look, to contrition ; he challenged his love to him 
 after he had risen, and bade him feed his lambs and his 
 sheep ; he foretold by what manner of death he should 
 glorify God ; he made him the chief apostle to Israel, 
 to preach repentance to them and the remission of 
 sins. Christ knew and loved his bold, affectionate 
 heart ; and, indeed, who can fail to love him in the 
 exhibition which we have before us of his ready and 
 loving spirit 1 
 
 We may easily enter into the feelings of the disciples 
 as they heard their brother calling to Christ with such a 
 request. Why risk his life among the waves ? Christ 
 will come into the ship. Why in such needless, reck- 
 less haste to reach him ? These cautious and proper 
 feelings had no effect on Peter. Enterprise and dan- 
 ger were his element ; but chiefly his feelings toward 
 Christ excited a desire to be with him before he 
 
PETER ON THE WAVES. 147 
 
 reached the ship. The spirit of the man in thus 
 flinging himself into perils which appall most men 
 can not but strike us with admiration, considering the 
 feelings which prompted them. 
 
 Take this act of Peter as an act of faith. Viewed 
 in this light, the feeling of its being rash and pre- 
 sumptuous is not reasonable. Why is it any more 
 presumptuous to walk on the water at Christ's bidding 
 than for one who had been a cripple from his birth to 
 rise and walk at a word from Christ 1 If we have a 
 clear warrant for any thing, it is hot presumption nor 
 rashness to undertake it. Peter said. Lord, bid me 
 come to thee on the water. And he said, Come. 
 That word warranted any risk ; it was a ground of 
 support in any exposure. Faith always seems pre- 
 sumption to an unbeliever. It seems to a worldling 
 absurd when we tell him that religion can make him 
 happier than his pleasures ; to the avaricious man it 
 is fanaticism when we say, " Cast thy bread upon the 
 waters, for thou shalt find it after many days." But 
 faith never seems more like presumption than to an 
 anxious sinner. We tell him that he is to be par- 
 doned and saved without any righteousness of his 
 own — that he must give himself into the hands of 
 God, to be accepted and justified, without any effort to 
 make himself acceptable with God, pleading Christ as 
 his only hope. It is impossible, by argument, to make 
 the human mind feel that such faith is any thing but 
 
148 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 presumption. It is not until the soul is forced to ex- 
 ercise it by such a sense of its lost and perishing state 
 as makes every other refuge hopeless that the sinner 
 casts himself, in a state of despair, upon God's mercy, 
 and of necessity does that which, in a calm, deliberate 
 state of mind, seemed unwarrantable presumption. 
 If Peter had said, ' Lord, bid me that I command this 
 whole lake to become dry land,' and Christ had said, 
 ' Speak the word,' would it have been presumption to 
 utter the command] Faith must have a warrant; 
 but that warrant is not necessarily an express com- 
 mand or promise. The known character of Christ 
 would have warranted Peter, if his need had been suf- 
 ficient, to descend upon the waves and go to Christ 
 without an express invitation. With a firm confi- 
 dence in Christ, it would have been as impossible for 
 him to sink as for the cripple at the Beautiful Gate of 
 the temple to sink when Peter, by faith in Christ, 
 lifted him up. It was the power of faith which finally 
 made Peter go down out of the ship, for he waited for 
 the command of Christ ; and when the command was 
 given, it was enough ; he threw himself into the sea 
 to meet Christ. 
 
 " And when Peter was come down out of the ship, 
 he walked on the water to come to Jesus." There 
 he found himself in a situation in which he never 
 dreamed that he could be, and no doubt was unable 
 to believe his own senses. The rest of the disciples 
 
PETER ON THE WAVES. 149 
 
 looked on, no doubt, with a mixture of astonishment 
 and disapprobation, with cries of expostulation and 
 entreaty, and perhaps meditating some means to res- 
 cue their suicidal brother. But onward he went to 
 Christ. O, had he persevered, and by the power of 
 faith had stood upon the waves at his Saviour's side, 
 and calmly and triumphantly had returned with victo- 
 rious faith to the ship, that act of faith would have 
 been worthy of a place by the side of any thing 
 recorded by the Apostle in the eleventh of He- 
 brews. What an opportunity Peter had to show the 
 power of faith, walking steadfastly over billows, press- 
 ing his way successfully against a wind that heaved 
 the sea from its foundations ! With what pleasure 
 should we have dwelt upon that incident in his life ! 
 What an example would he have left on record to 
 stimulate faith under difficulties — to excite a bold re- 
 liance, in danger, upon the word of God ! In a . few 
 moments of time, by once yielding to fear, Peter lost an 
 opportunity of doing good to the whole world by his 
 example, and of adding lustre to his Christian name. 
 " But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was 
 afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, 
 save me." But the wind was his Saviour's servant, 
 and subject to faith. What though it raged against 
 him ; did it not also at that moment rage against 
 Christ] If Christ could save him from sinking, 
 could he not as well save him while sinking 1 — as 
 
 13* 
 
150 
 
 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 he undoubtedly would have done if Peter's faith had 
 not failed. Perhaps the waves and billows went up 
 over his head ; they were higher when he stood 
 among them than when he stood on his vessel and 
 looked down upon them. Perhaps he lost sight of 
 Christ, and felt, as he sunk on the receding wave, 
 that he should never rise. But even if he had sunk 
 beneath the waves, and had found himself at the 
 bottom of the deep, faith, had it not failed him, would 
 have made him confident that he should triumph; 
 and then what power would he have had in his 
 preaching and in illustrating the meaning and the 
 efficacy of faith ! This event, no doubt, had an im- 
 portant connection with his future conduct. It is 
 doubtful whether he would have denied his Master 
 if, from love to his name and confidence in his power, 
 he had suffered himself to sink, trusting still to the 
 power of Christ to raise him from the abyss. Could 
 he have looked upon those mountain waves with an 
 undaunted heart, he would perhaps, in some of the 
 last terrible scenes of Christ's life, have been undis- 
 mayed at the tumult of the people. Had he been 
 able to breast that boisterous wind, standing still if 
 he could not advance, or suffering it to blow him 
 down or backward if he could not stand, still be- 
 lieving and holding on to that word of Christ, Come, 
 he might have been willing to face the enemies of 
 Christ, and to have been dragged to Pilate's bar with 
 
PETER ON THE WAVES. 151 
 
 his Saviour ; nor would that little maid have pro- 
 voked him to curse and swear, denying that he knew 
 Christ. Our Christian principles are strengthened 
 only by being exercised ; and if the boisterous wind 
 and the swelling billows had brought Peter's faith 
 into full exercise, no one can tell what influence it 
 might have had upon his character and conduct, and 
 upon the world by his example and through its private 
 effect on his character. 
 
 We are not to suppose that this scene was purely 
 accidental — that it had no design. It is full of in- 
 struction ; it presents to our view Christ as a Friend 
 in danger and tribulation, yet not for the mere purpose 
 of support and comfort in tribulation. A far better 
 object than support and consolation the Saviour seeks 
 to effect by bidding us come to him in darkness and 
 in great trials. He can do us no greater benefit than 
 to increase our faith. If he will place us in the most 
 trying scenes, under the most bitter afflictions, and 
 carry us through them with no murmur upon our lips, 
 no repining in our hearts, — if, while a starless night 
 is around us, a heaving sea beneath our feet, and we 
 are ready to sink under the weight of his waterspouts, 
 he will fill us with greater love to him, unfailing con- 
 fidence in him, and make us say that there is none 
 upon earth that we desire beside him, — he will do us 
 the greatest favor ; he will bestow the greatest en- 
 dowment of spiritual strength upon us ; he will lay 
 
152 
 
 CHBIST A FRIEND. 
 
 the foundation of the greatest happiness here, and of 
 praise, and honor, and glory at his appearing. One 
 great end of all the dealings of God with us is to pro- 
 mote faith. Nothing honors God, nothing promotes 
 true religion in us, like faith. Hence the dark and 
 trying dispensations of Providence are, no doubt, in- 
 tended for this purpose, and the darkness in them is 
 the chosen means of producing the faith ; for, could 
 we see the reasons and the object, there would be 
 small room for faith in our trials. Perhaps Christ 
 never had a greater design of love and friendship with 
 regard to Peter than when he gave him that wonder- 
 ful opportunity to show his faith. Therefore, in con- 
 templating Christ as a Friend, let us not think of him 
 merely as wiping our tears ; let us believe that when 
 he comes in clouds, and places us among billows, and 
 rolls the very seas over our heads, he is seeking to do 
 for us the greatest and best thing; and that is, to 
 increase our faith. He destroys our hopes, he covers 
 our faces with sackcloth, he ploughs upon our backs 
 and makes long his furrows, he builds against us, and 
 encloses our way with hewn stone, till human strength 
 seems ready to sink. If at such times we stay our- 
 selves upon his promise, love him still, justify him, 
 make him our all in all, the result will prove that 
 never, except as a sacrifice for our sins, did he have 
 greater love to us, nor was he ever more our Friend. 
 Perhaps we are disposed to say, ' Had I been Peter, 
 
PETER ON THE WAVES. 153 
 
 I would have endured that trial of faith better than 
 he. Christ bidding me come, the wind and the waves 
 should have forced me down to the very bars of death ; 
 nor would I have lost that opportunity to gain a 
 triumph of faith.' 
 
 And what has been your conduct, courageous soul, 
 under circumstances sent upon you for the very same 
 purpose with that for which Christ came to that ves- 
 sel in which he had " constrained his disciples " to 
 embark, and in trials of faith ordered for the same 
 wise purpose for which Christ bade Peter to come to 
 him on the sea 1 You have been sick, it may be, at 
 a time most inconvenient and trying, and subjected 
 thereby to great disadvantage ; death may have spoiled 
 you of precious treasures ; a reverse of fortune may 
 have befallen you ; great injustice, provocations, vio- 
 lent appetites or passions may have assailed you ; dark 
 hours of depression and melancholy, disappointments 
 that imbittered life, may have been your portion. 
 A.mid these clouds and storms, these winds and waves, 
 the voice of Christ has nevertheless spoken to your 
 heart by his Word and Spirit, saying. Come. How 
 have you trod the unquiet sea ? Out of the depths 
 how have you cried unto God 1 As wave after wave 
 has threatened to destroy you, have you been able to 
 say, with David, " Deep calleth unto deep at the noise 
 of thy waterspouts ; aU thy waves and thy billows 
 have gone over me ; yet the Lord will command his 
 
154 
 
 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night his 
 song shall be with me " 1 One of the greatest achieve- 
 ments in the world is, to behave well in trouble. 
 Nothing honors God more than firm confidence in 
 him in times of adversity. This is that trial of faith 
 much more precious than of gold that perisheth, which 
 will be found unto praise, and honor, and glory at the 
 appearing of Jesus Christ. We seldom know when 
 we are going into circumstances which will call for a 
 peculiar exercise of faith. Peter began to sink before 
 he expected it. Temptations spring upon us out of 
 ambush; hidden occurrences find us off our guard; 
 or the circumstances of our trials are so directly from 
 the agency of others that we frequently do not think 
 of God in them. Yfet Christ is using them for our 
 spiritual benefit, and we should think of him, more 
 than of them. Peter had his eye on the billows, and 
 not on Christ ; he could not believe that his Saviour 
 rolled those billows against him — the Saviour who 
 had said to him, ' Come.' He felt that Christ could 
 not have known what mighty billows they were, or he 
 never would have encouraged him to walk amongst 
 them. So with us in heavy trials. It seems to us 
 that God has forgotten to be gracious — that in anger 
 he has shut up his tender mercies. We can point to 
 certain aggravations in our trials which are uncom- 
 mon and peculiar, as though God had not ordained 
 every one of them, and had not a special design in 
 
PETER ON THE WAVES. 155 
 
 each feature of our trouble, and in mixing each and 
 every ingredient in our cup. "When the trouble has 
 passed by, we can see how we should have felt and 
 acted while it continued ; but, like Peter, we have 
 lost an opportunity of strengthening many a Chris- 
 tian principle. It is wise to look upon every thing 
 which happens to us here as a part of God's . plan 
 with us, having a design. Instead of this, we are 
 prone to live as though this were a world of chance 
 and accidents, afflictions springing out of the dust, 
 and God without any plan or purpose in the daily 
 events of our life. But consider that this short life 
 is with each of us a probationary state with reference 
 to endless existence. Every event, then, must be of 
 importance, and therefore is a part of God's purposes 
 concerning us ; for these events are forming our char- 
 acters for eternity ; and can it be of slight importance, 
 then, what happens to us day by day "i When a great 
 sculptor is making a face which is to go down to pos- 
 terity, every stroke has a meaning ; nothing is acci- 
 dental ; all tends to one great end. So God is form- 
 ing you for immortality. Every event of every day is 
 intended for some effect upon your immortal character 
 and condition. If we could only keep this in view, 
 and remember that discipline is the great end and 
 object of this life, our trials and troubles would be en- 
 dured with more patience ; we should be still " educing 
 good " out of every " seeming evil ; " we should glory 
 
156 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 in tribulations. The disciples, safe in their ship, as 
 they looked on Peter, perhaps thought that, had they 
 begun like him to walk on the water to Christ, they 
 would have been consistent, and would have carried 
 out their purpose. So we think, when we look upon 
 the troubles of others ; we know liow to advise them ; 
 we know how they ought to feel ; we repeat the prom- 
 ises to them ; we see what opportunities they have to 
 glorify God in the day of their visitation and make 
 valuable improvement of their afflictions; and if we 
 would be as skillful in our trials as we are in directing 
 them, we should all of us profit more under the rod 
 of the Almighty. The example of Peter illustrates 
 the opportunity which troubles afibrd us of receiving 
 and doing great good. The hand of a friend is in 
 them. Christ is among the billows, thinking more 
 of us and of our conduct than we do of those winds 
 which we forget are held in his fist, and of those 
 waters which are in the hollow of his hand. By 
 them he is afibrding us occasions for great spiritual 
 heroism, and of usefulness and divine approbation. 
 
 Christ, in saving Peter, added a gentle rebuke — 
 " O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt ■? " 
 He seems to say to him, ' Had you but persevered a 
 little, you would have triumphed.' Christ did not 
 sympathize with him at the violence of the wind, nor 
 excuse him on account of the swelling waves. He 
 tells him that he was of little faith, implying that a 
 
PBTEK ON THE WAVES. 157 
 
 greater degree of faith would have been a .match for 
 all the perils of the sea. 
 
 What would Peter now give, had he known, the 
 night when he was going down out of that boat to 
 walk on the water, that the history of that act was to 
 be written in God's book, to be translated into every 
 tongue, and to make a distinct and forcible impression 
 upon every soul of Adam's race who should read it ] 
 How would he have acted had he known that his de- 
 nial of Christ was to be written with the point of a 
 diamond in the hearts of men, and graven in their 
 memories for eternity 1 What would he not give if 
 he could now pass through those several scenes again ■? 
 We may ask the same question respecting Adam, and 
 Moses, and David, and Solomon. As a contrast to 
 these, what must be the feelings of Abraham as he 
 thinks of his faith in offering Isaac, and of the in- 
 fluence of his example upon the world! Who can 
 express the gladness of the virtuous Joseph, of the 
 patient, suffering Jeremiah, of the widow that cast 
 her two mites into the treasury of God, of the woman 
 that was a sinner making bold to anoint her Saviour's 
 feet, and of the Constancy and love of that beloved 
 disciple, John 'i Can you express, can all heaven tell, 
 can eternity measure the joy of their hearts that they 
 had temptations and tribulations ; that God counted 
 them worthy to be thus tried ; and that they were en- 
 abled here on earth to do as they did, and lay up 
 
158 
 
 CHRIST A FKIEND. 
 
 such themes for everlasting joy as their conduct here 
 supplies "? ^ 
 
 And do you know, immortal man, that you are now 
 occupying the place in this world in which those men 
 once stood ; that you are doing things which are 
 going upon a record perhaps to be concealed from the 
 world for the present, but, however that may be, to 
 be disclosed hereafter ; to be known by countless 
 spirits, and more than all this, to be perpetually sub- 
 jects of your meditation 1 You are glad that you are 
 not Peter to remember that you denied Christ, or that 
 you failed of an act of faith which would have made 
 you eminently useful and happy forever. But you 
 may be a Peter in the weakness of your faith, if in no 
 other respect. You are surrounded, perhaps, to-day 
 with opportunities whose result may be, in like man- 
 ner, important to you as those instances of trial were 
 to him. You would be glad to have Abraham's con- 
 sciousness, and Stephen's joy, and Paul's crown. 
 Who knows but you may ? Who can tell that you 
 are not now situated so that, by faith proportioned to 
 your circumstances, you may please God like them'? 
 Are you in trouble 1 The prophets, apostles, and 
 martyrs did not know in their troubles what the in- 
 fluence of them would be, and, at the time, they saw 
 as little of God's design in their sufferings as you do 
 in your present trials ; but they endured, and now in- 
 herit the promises. 
 
PETER ON THE WAVES. 159 
 
 To look at the subject in another view : Perhaps 
 you are now under special religious impressions. 
 God may have come very near to you by his Spirit ; 
 and you may now have special opportunities of ex- 
 ercising faith — opportunities which may have as last- 
 ing an influence on your character and happiness as 
 that which you read of in the Bible had upon ancient 
 saints. For example : It may be that the question is 
 now distinctly set before your mind, whether you will 
 begin to live for God ; you have an opportunity at the 
 present time to take a decided step in favor of religion ; 
 the world and the flesh dissuade you ; conscience, your 
 hopes, your fears, and the Spirit of God constrain 
 you ; it may be that you will see through eternity that 
 tkis present time had as great an influence upon your 
 character and history, and upon your feelings, and 
 upon your influence forever, as critical seasons in the 
 lives of men recorded in the Bible now appear to have 
 had on them. The command may now be laid before 
 you to make a sacrifice of your feelings or of your, 
 sins, which sacrifice will cost you as much as it did 
 Abraham to offer up Isaac. Perhaps you are in some 
 such circumstances as Lot was when God called him 
 and his family to flee from Sodom ; and your history 
 may correspond with that of Lot, or of her who looked 
 back and became a pillar of salt. How little she 
 thought that her look backward would be mentioned 
 here to-day, and be known throughout the wide world ! 
 
160 
 
 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 But in the histories of eternity we may read your name 
 associated with precisely such conduct. Perhaps you 
 are now like Zaccheus, when he climbed the tree to 
 see Christ ; like him who, for the pieces of silver, 
 betrayed his Lord. You can not tell of what infinite 
 irnportance your present circumstances may prove to 
 have been. So common a thing as listening to a ser- 
 mon, and the feelings and conduct which ensue from 
 it, may, in connection with previous probation, be the 
 appointed event of trial in which you may give char- 
 acter to your whole being, and that hour be the time 
 which will always be prominent in your thoughts. 
 Suppose, for example, that some young man here to- 
 day should be prevailed upon to be a Christian, and 
 should, in consequence, be a herald of the cross, aiid 
 turn many to righteousness ; would not the history 
 of this hour ever be to him and to others as interest- 
 ing as the history of the jailer's conversion, or even 
 as that of Saul of Tarsus, was to him ■? Events like 
 that supposed have frequently occurred, and you may 
 now be under influences which will become to you 
 the sources of endless thoughtfulness, of joy or pain. 
 Perhaps some of you, who have passed the season 
 of youth, may at the present time be in that period 
 of your spiritual history on which your memories will 
 be fixed millions of ages from this day, as the all-im- 
 portant season of your being. When a man reduces 
 a large map to a miniature map of a few inches, every 
 
PETER ON THE WAVES. 161 
 
 line, every word, every dot which he makes in that 
 small engraving is the subject of great deliberation. 
 When God makes a few inches of time a probation 
 for eternity, every call of conscience and of the Spirit, 
 every Sabbath, every appeal from the pulpit, every 
 opportunity to repent and believe the gospel, — must 
 it not be of vast importance 1 I am preaching to you 
 from a text and upon a subject which comport well 
 with this very dark day.* The sun is far above the 
 horizon, but these lights by the pulpit alone disclose 
 your faces to me. It may be that one of you was sent 
 here that in this storm and darkness which are adding 
 force to the text and subject, you might hear the voice 
 of Christ addressed to your faith, saying, "Come." 
 This Sabbath may be of more consequence to you, 
 the feelings and the decisions of to-day may be more 
 important, than the ages of eternity will fully 
 unfold. 
 
 When we are specially interested about our souls, 
 and the duty which lies plainly before us is to go to 
 Christ, and we know that we can not save ourselves ; 
 that our righteousness is only our condemnation, that 
 Christ died in our stead, that faith in him will be 
 imputed to us for righteousness, and that we have 
 nothing to do, and can do nothing but go to the Sa- 
 viour and give our perishing souls into his hands; we 
 may well consider that Peteris trial is repeated in us. 
 
 * November 13, 1853. 
 
162 
 
 CHRIST A FEIEND. 
 
 And in what respects ? Because we are full of doubts 
 and fears ; we feel guilty .; we are afraid of such a 
 risk as renouncing our present hold on our own ef- 
 forts, and venturing on Christ. We crave some as 
 surance beforehand that Christ has accepted us before 
 we go to him ; we shrink from casting ourselves at 
 his feet, lest the despairing state of mind in which we 
 do it will not be followed by peace and hope. In a 
 word, we seek to have hope before we exercise faith. 
 We see that we must believe, trust, venture, despair, 
 before we can truly submit ourselves to Christ, and so, 
 like Peter in the ship, we strain our sight in the dark- 
 ness and storm which is about us, and say, " Lord, if 
 it be thou, bid me come to thee on the water." The 
 Saviour says, " Come." What will you do ] Your 
 conduct now, more than that of Peter, involves the 
 salvation of the soul. Yet his situation is a light to 
 guide you. Will you go down upon the waves and 
 go to Jesus, throw yourself in faith, — which you may 
 call presumption, for it will seem to you presumption, 
 — throw yourself in faith upon this dark and stormy 
 water, and say, " If I perish, I perish " 1 The very 
 thing which Peter failed to do, you may perform. Say, 
 ' Lord, I will come. All thy waves and thy billows go 
 over me. But to whom shall I go 1 Perish I must, 
 without Christ ; and if I perish, I will perish going 
 to Christ.' Thus you will trust in his sufferings and 
 death, pleading his blood for your pardon, and renoun- 
 
PETER ON THE WAVES. 163 
 
 cing all dependence and hopes, but that Christ died 
 for you. Go, then, trembling soul ; the Saviour stands 
 upon the dark biUows and bids you come. He says 
 to you beforehand, "O thou of little faith, wherefore 
 dost thou doubt 1 " We the disciples are looking 
 upon you from the ship ; witnesses from heaven may 
 be watching the result ; the tempter will frustrate 
 your rising purpose if he can ; but now is your time ; 
 you may not have another. "Believe, and thou shalt 
 be saved." 
 
 Happily, these Scripture characters impress different minds in dif- 
 ferent ways, and suggest varied instruction. I take pleasure in giving 
 the following truthful, as well as beautiful, piece from " Songs of 
 Christian Chivalry. London, 1848." 
 
 Fear to ask, " If it be thou, 
 
 Bid me come to thee," 
 Though thou think'st at Jesus' word 
 
 Thou could'st walk the sea. 
 Haste is mingling with such faith, 
 
 And betrays it weak. 
 Rather be it thine to wait 
 • Till thy Lord shall speak. 
 
 He, or e'er thy thought be said. 
 
 Well thy glowing heart hath read. 
 If he bid thee walk the wave, 
 
 Be thou sure that he will save. 
 But, thy frailty all forgot, 
 
 Such commandment tempt thou not, 
 Lest thou learn in shame, at length, 
 
 Conscious weakness is our strength. 
 
164 CHRIST A PRIBND. 
 
 Hast thou faith and could'st thou joy 
 
 Perils to abide ? 
 Yet bethink thee how a saint 
 
 His dear Lord denied ! 
 " Yea, though all offended be, 
 
 I -vrill not," he said ; 
 But for those presumptuous words 
 
 Bitter tears were shed ! 
 
 Taught from thence with lowly mind 
 
 Keep the place his love assigned ; 
 Answering but, " Thy will be done," 
 
 At his bidding thou shalt run, 
 Gathering strength in self-control, 
 
 Patiently possess thy soul. 
 Storing up each earnest thought 
 
 For a time with trial fraught. 
 
vm. 
 
 NATHAJ^AEL. 
 
 JESTTS SA-W NATHANAEL COMING TO HIM, AND 8AITH OV HIM, BEHOLD AW 
 ISEAELITE INDEED, IN WHOM IS NO GUILE. 
 
 Our Saviour and Friend can appreciate something 
 besides our guilt and misery ; he rejoices in the moral 
 and Christian excellence of his followers. The re- 
 proachful name of publicans and sinners did not 
 attach to all whom he loved ; though all who truly- 
 loved him loved him the more for seeking and saving 
 that which was lost. Doubtless there were more than 
 aire recorded who excited pleasure in him through ap- 
 probation of their characters. John the Baptist, Na- 
 thanael, and the beloved disciple, Martha, and her 
 sister, and Lazarus, show that he was not merely a 
 philanthropist, nor an official Redeemer ; that he 
 appreciated goodness, and loved it in those who, 
 while they needed as much as others to be justified 
 by his grace, commended themselves to his affections 
 
 (165) 
 
166 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 by their excellent qualities, and by that means made 
 him their personal friend. 
 
 What could remain to be desired by one of whom 
 Jesus Christ should say, " Behold an Israelite indeed, 
 in whom is no guile " ^. 
 
 We may suppose that Christ in these words ex- 
 pressed the idea of great moral excellence. .Though 
 completeness of character would require other things 
 besides that which is here ascribed to Nathanael, and 
 which he may have possessed, yet the characteristic 
 here mentioned is, perhaps more than any thing else, 
 the basis of moral character, and is essential to the 
 approbation and love of Christ. 
 
 Truth may be said to be the foundation of the 
 moral universe ; for without it there can be no correct 
 knowledge of God, no just conceptions of our duty 
 and of right and wrong, no confidence between man 
 and his Maker, nor among men. As regularity is 
 essential in the movements of those heavenly bodies 
 whose orbits intersect, so truth is indispensable in the 
 relations of moral beings. God must insist on truth 
 as of the first importance ; all his communications to 
 us will enforce it ; all that we know of his character 
 and acts will show his love of it, and his abhorrence 
 of falsehood and deceit. If among men falsehood, so 
 far as it prevails, makes intercourse impossible by 
 deranging afiairs, — if to forge a name, to transmit 
 
NATHANABL. 167 
 
 false information, to deceive in soiling, are crimes 
 which, excite feelings like the instinctive impulses of 
 self-defence against personal violence, — much more 
 disastrous must falsehood be in things affecting our 
 moral and spiritual concerns. 
 
 Guile is the great characteristic of the evil which is 
 in us. This is impressively taught in that passage 
 where the inspired writer characterizes the human 
 heart by saying, " The heart is deceitful above all 
 things." David teaches this when he tells us that the 
 man " to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity," is 
 the same as he "in whose spirit there is no guile." In 
 that psalm of penitence wrung from David by his 
 disastrous fall and his recovery by God's free Spirit, 
 written at a time when his experience led him to 
 appreciate fully the nature of goodness, he says, 
 " Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts." 
 These few words, uttered at such a moment from the 
 inmost depths of a soul where God had made his own 
 character and will to be felt in no ordinary degree, 
 show us the infinite value which the heart-searching 
 God places upon truth. David, the king, proposed to 
 teach the young, whom he loved greatly, (and Solo- 
 mon, also, in this way showed true wisdom,) one 
 great secret of piety and happiness : " Come, ye chil- 
 dren, hearken unto me. I will teach you the fear 
 of the Lord. What man is he that desireth life, and 
 loveth many days, that he may see good 1 Keep thy 
 
168 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile " 
 Peter repeats the same thing in almost the same 
 words : " For he that will love life and see good days, 
 let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that 
 they speak no guile." John mentions this as a char- 
 acteristic of the " hundred and forty and four thou- 
 sand : " " And in their mouth was found no guile ; for 
 they are without fault before the throne of God." A 
 name given by the Saviour to the Holy Spirit is, " the 
 Spirit of Truth." It completes all which we need to 
 say on this point when we remember that the charac- 
 ter of the spotless Lamb of God is thus expressed : 
 " who did no sin, neither was guile found in his 
 mouth." 
 
 There are no limits to the pervading nature of 
 guile in human character where it has power ; it goes 
 into all our feelings ; it destroys that self-respect which 
 makes us free and happy with others ; we are embar- 
 rassed by it in our intercourse with God. Sincerity 
 makes us ti'ansparent in our feelings. Truthfulness, 
 like vitalizing blood, affects the unconscious com- 
 plexion of a man's acts, his unstudied, spontaneous 
 feelings, his impulses, as well as his principles. A 
 man in whom is no guile is not necessarily so plain as 
 to be discourteous, nor need he be blunt, nor abrupt, 
 nor reserved ; he will be honest, he will be faithful, 
 he will naturally be free from jealousy and suspicion, 
 charitable in his feelings and judgment, simple in his 
 
NATHANABL. 169 
 
 manners ; and no man will be more likely than lie to 
 be pure in heart. 
 
 Truthfulness in a young child — of which we not 
 unfrequently have beautiful examples — illustrates its 
 nature and influence in a happy manner. In a num- 
 ber of children, if there be one from whom you are 
 sure of receiving a true statement, even when it in- 
 volves himself, he lays for himself in your mind a 
 lasting foundation for respect and confidence. His 
 simple, ingenuous narrative moves you to tears by its 
 mere artless truthfulness ; you remember it as often 
 as you think of him all your life long, and nothing is 
 a 'surer passport to esteem and trust. However far a 
 child may, through thoughtlessness or the strength of 
 passion, go astray, if he is truthful, there is hope of 
 him ; if he is deceitful and slippery, there is no foun- 
 dation on which to build a good character. By judi- 
 cious, never-ceasing efforts, deceitfalness may be cured ; 
 and it must be cured, or the result will be at least a 
 worthless character, and not only injury to the indi- 
 vidual, but no one can tell how extensively to the 
 world. 
 
 Our general approbation and love of truthfulness 
 is seen in this — that when our wishes do not make 
 us willing to be deceived, we respect and love one 
 whose mind takes and transmits just and true impres- 
 sions ; who does not color, nor exaggerate, nor con- 
 ceal, nor embellish the truth. There is a feeling of 
 
170 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 protection and safety when we repose upon the state- 
 ments of such persons, who, amidst temptations to 
 please, or flatter, or soothe, or blind us, from motives 
 deemed justifiable, impress us with their truthfulness, 
 foregoing the momentary pleasure of exciting wonder 
 or gratifying the known wishes of the listener, and 
 seeming to love truth for its own sake. It is a good 
 sign if the heartless forms of mere ceremonious inter- 
 course in society, its apologies, its expressions of glad- 
 ness or sorrow, the numerous things which are said as 
 matters of course, are distasteful to us. It also shows 
 a deep feeling of truthfulness to withhold expressions 
 of wonder and surprise when nothing of the kind Is 
 felt ; for these are a form of deceit in which it is true 
 no harm is intended, but, on the contrary, they have 
 the appearance of being benevolent; yet, proceeding 
 really from a want of moral courage, they hurt the 
 moral sense, and secretly prevent others from respect- 
 ing and confiding in us as truthful. 
 
 It is well said that " there are intellectual requisites 
 for truth which are as much caused by truth as causing 
 it. Much of exaggeration is owing to an impatient 
 and easUy moved temperament, which longs to convey 
 its own vivid impressions to other minds, and seeks 
 by amplifying, to gain the full measure of their sym- 
 pathy. But a true man does not think what his 
 hearers are feeling, but what he is saying." 
 
 Guile is seen in " making speech vary according to 
 
NATHANAEL. 171 
 
 the person spoken to ; " in " pretending to agree with 
 the world when we do not ; " in " not acting agreea- 
 bly to our deliberate and well-advised opinion, because 
 some mischief may be made of it by those whose 
 judgment in the case we do not respect ; " in " main- 
 taining a wrong course for the sake of consistency ; " 
 in " encouraging the show of intimacy with those 
 with whom we never can be intimate. These prac- 
 tices have elements of charity and prudence, as well 
 as fear and meanness, in them. Let those parts which 
 correspond to fear and meanness be put aside. Herein 
 lies one of the great trials of a man — that his sin- 
 cerity should have kindness in it, and his kindness 
 truth." One who has an exaggerated manner of 
 speaking in common things can not be without guile 
 in things of more importance. One who is not strict- 
 ly observant with regard to promises, and to all the 
 lesser engagements which he makes in ordinary affairs, 
 will not be free from this deadly evil. We must watch 
 ourselves in these and such like things if we would 
 be Israelites indeed. 
 
 Nathanael, in being without guile, was not for that 
 reason a soft, effeminate character ; for the first thing 
 which is said of him shows that he was not a credu- 
 lous man. His ready answer to the surprising and 
 awakening information that the Messiah had come 
 was, " Can any good thing come out of Nazareth 1 " 
 Neither had he any obstinate prejudice, for the simple 
 
172 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 good sense of Philip satisfied him. Christ knew what 
 Nathanael had said, for he knew all things ; yet he 
 did not upbraid him with it, but met him with an un- 
 quai^lified commendation. 
 
 He must have been a man whom no party nor love 
 of party could seduce from the strictest fairness and 
 truthfulness. He could not be used, he was one of 
 the last men to be thought of, to plan and carry out 
 certain stratagems. He would have marred the plots 
 in the councils of unfair men. Yet he could by no 
 means have been weak ; for then there would have 
 been no virtue in his guileless character to have 
 excited commendation. There is a simplicity which 
 is mere simpleness ; and this is far from being the 
 object of commendation in the text. Good sense 
 must judge how far truth and honesty require us to 
 proceed in giving information to those with whom we 
 deal. There is a justice due to ourselves, according 
 to the laws of society, which we can not properly 
 disregard, and the man is weak who does not consider 
 it. A sound mercantile conscience is an honorable 
 and enviable thing — a conscience which on the one 
 hand is not morbid, knows where justice requires us 
 to stop, is able to resist the strongest feelings of com- 
 miseration at proper times, and will not suffer unjusti- 
 fiable loss in going beyond the requirements of fair 
 and honorable trade — a conscience which is not 
 ready to surrender every thing on demand, but. 
 
NATHANAEL. 173 
 
 taught byknowledge and experience, feels impelled 
 to ask, " Can any good thing come out of Nazareth ] " 
 yet, on the other hand, a conscience which shrinks 
 from duplicity, and in a word remonstrates, unless it is 
 clear that in the transaction there is no guile. Trade 
 is eminently fitted to make such a conscience, afford- 
 ing, as it does every hour, opportunity for practice. 
 No rules were ever given to meet even a small part of 
 the cases which may arise. The Saviour's commenda- 
 tion of Nathanael, remembered and earnestly coveted, 
 will be suificient to make us upright and fair, while 
 selfishness will generally remain in a sufficient degree 
 to keep us from being righteous overmuch. 
 
 It may be said with truth that there is hardly one 
 thing in which religion suffers more at the hands of 
 those who are members of churches than when they 
 are known to be deceitful in business. If they are 
 detected in fraudulent transactions, the cause of truth 
 suffers beyond measure, the hands of the good are 
 weakened, and bad men are encouraged in their sneers. 
 There are those of whom the Bible says, " Their 
 throat is an open sepulchre ; " for on coming near them 
 you are sure to be reminded of the decayed reputation 
 of professed Christians. Those receptacles of the dead 
 yawn greedily to receive each new defaulter from the 
 church. All this is good testimony that there is such 
 a thing as true religion, and that it is chiefly looked 
 for in certain directions ; but yet we can dispense with 
 
174 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 counterfeit money, notwithstanding it is a true index 
 of a sound currency. A greater cause for sorrow, 
 perhaps, to the friends of truth, is when a Christian 
 church fails to vindicate itself before the community 
 by a pronounced abhorrence of deceit or fraud in 
 those who are known to be deserving of church dis- 
 cipline. 
 
 We are furnished by this subject with instruction 
 as to some of the ways in which our influence as 
 Christians may be greatly useful. One who is known 
 to have resisted a temptation to overreach or defraud, 
 and has acted uprightly from force of principle, is 
 taken by many as an exponent of religion. The 
 thought of him comes to their minds when listening 
 to appeals addressed to their consciences and hearts ; 
 whereas the knowledge of one who makes professions 
 of piety, or is simply known as a church member, 
 and is unfair, will weaken the sense of religious ob- 
 ligations in those who say that they' prefer morality 
 without religion to religion without morality — a 
 kind of religion, indeed, which has no existence 
 except in name. 
 
 A low, unworthy state of feeling and conduct in a 
 Christian is owing as often as to any other cause to 
 this — that he practices guile in his relations to God. 
 The world, hard and unjust, oftentimes, in its judg- 
 ment of Christians, is frequently right when it asks 
 concerning some who profess to be Christians, " What 
 
NATHANAEL. 1 15 
 
 do ye more than otliers 1 " There is nothing in the 
 principles which seem to rule their feelings and con- 
 duct, nothing in the spirit which they breathe, dif- 
 ferent from the world around them. We can not 
 sincerely believe that jwhich we profess respecting 
 redemption and retributions, we can not believe in 
 such a Saviour as we profess to follow, nor love him 
 as such a Saviour is loved by all who are faithful to 
 him, and not be different from those who have no such 
 faith. Where is the Christian sobriety, the cheerful 
 trust, the ardent love, the ready zeal, which are the 
 natural effect of believing in and loving such a Sa- 
 viour? There is reason to fear that we sometimes 
 practice guile in our very intercourse with Christ. 
 What must he think of us, if, while acknowledging 
 the debt of love and gratitude arising from his death, 
 we are mere formalists ? No one ever deceived him ; 
 he reads our hearts ; he has a perfect judgment, a 
 fixed opinion, of every one of us. Professions of love, 
 zealous attachments to the forms of religion, to the doc- 
 trines of the gospel, are of themselves useless to him. 
 WhUe I was standing at the dying bed of one whom 
 many of you so highly respected and revered among 
 other things for his consistent Christian character and 
 his great sincerity,* he sent messages in his delirium to 
 
 some of his friends, and this was one of them : " Tell 
 
 that there is no bartering with God." He had for- 
 
 * Rev. B. B. Wisner, D. D. 
 
176 CHRIST A FKIEND. 
 
 merly had reason to be dissatisfied with the individual 
 whom he here named, as wanting in that transparency 
 of motives in his Christian policy which marked his 
 own character, though his friend was eminently a use- 
 ful man. The message was never delivered, but it 
 sunk deep into the hearts of those that heard it. 
 " There is no bartering with God." We can each in- 
 terpret for himself this imperfect utterance from a 
 dying bed. 
 
 Perhaps it was because the kind and forbearing 
 nature of the new dispensation would afford great 
 room for deceit in very many cases, that early in that 
 dispensation, one of the most terrible judgments of 
 God fell on two professors of religion, Ananias and 
 Sapphira. It is not presuming to suppose that God, 
 who, while he is the God of salvation, is a jealous God, 
 and will not be mocked, saw fit by this judgment to 
 warn men that the soothing and conciliating spirit of 
 the gospel would make no compromise with insincer- 
 ity ; that God sets no value on gifts nor professions 
 of obedience, nor does he seek our names or influence 
 as though he needed any thing, and that if we deal 
 with him, we must remember that God is not mocked, 
 " neither is there any creature that is not manifest in 
 his sight ; but all things are naked and opened unto 
 the eyes of him with whom we have to do." This, no 
 doubt, was the lesson taught the early church by the 
 
NATHANAEL. 177 
 
 death of Ananias and Sapphira, for we are told that 
 " great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many 
 as heard these things." We must not secretly feel that 
 the gospel has I'emoved the law as our rule of duty, 
 nor lowered its standard ; nor that holiness and sin are 
 in any wise changed since that law was promulgated 
 with lightnings and thunders, and enforced in the times 
 of God's immediate presence with men as their King 
 by such fearful judgments. But on the contrary, we 
 ought to feel that as the spirituality of the law is 
 greatly illustrated by Christ, and as mercy has become 
 the prominent feature of the divine administration 
 under the gospel, a higher degree of conformity to 
 God, a more scrupulous regard for inward truth and 
 purity, is, if possible, expected of those who live under 
 such a dispensation. This argument is pressed in a 
 forcible manner in the Epistle to the Hebrews. More 
 than once we are admonished in the New Testament 
 that more will be required of us, and less excuse will 
 be made for us, than if we lived before the coming of 
 Christ. There was " a sort of untruthful policy cur- 
 rent in the early times even among those who are re- 
 corded as the righteous and the believing, and which 
 seems to have been not only tolerated among men, 
 but in those days of the world's yet rudimental mo- 
 rality to have been permitted by God — the days of 
 ignorance which God winked at, and when conces- 
 sions were made of a less strict and elevated morality. 
 
178 CHEIST A FRIEND. 
 
 even to his own people, because of the hardness of 
 their hearts." * — But now the darkness is past, and 
 the true light shines. While the Old Testament fur- 
 nishes us with examples of the highest spirituality, 
 and our language in confessions of sin and desires 
 after holiness is chiefly drawn from the Psalms of 
 David, it is also true that it is the nature of the gos- 
 pel to furnish stUl higher motives to the strictest 
 conformity to God, whUe by its redeeming blood and 
 witnessing spirit, and the light which is poured upon 
 truth and duty through the accumulated experience 
 and examples of believers, we are made inexcusable if 
 we fail to serve God with reverence and godly fear, or 
 if we do not live and act feeling that " our God is a 
 consuming fire," and that sin is fuel wherever found. 
 Truth among men, illustrated and enforced by the 
 example of those who, as Christians, should be pat- 
 terns of it in business, in politics, in writing and 
 speaking, in fashionable life, in the management of 
 children, in their intercourse with God, is at present 
 our great need. Its prevalence would prevent wide- 
 spread disasters in our mercantile affairs ; it would be 
 a leaven in Christian character which would affect 
 society in every part ; many a controversy would 
 be prevented, many an excitement which sweeps 
 through the land would be arrested, many a project 
 which embroils individuals and sections of the coun 
 
 * Dr. Chalmers. 
 
NATHANABL. 179 
 
 try against each other would never see the light. 
 As the number of those Israelites increase in whom is 
 no guile, we shall see pure religion prosper, and 
 there will be " peace upon Israel." 
 
 It is interesting to see, as we do, from this inter- 
 view between Christ and Nathanael, that no one can 
 be secretly good and not be seen and approved by 
 Christ. Nathanael had not come to the knowledge of 
 the Messiah when Christ first loved him. " Before 
 that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig 
 tree, I saw thee." We should all be willing to know 
 what he was doing under that fig tree. It is hardly 
 to be supposed that it was some common act of prayer. 
 Some secret deed of piety, of which Christ would not 
 inform Philip, the Saviour had witnessed there — some 
 special sorrow and repentance, some covenanting with 
 God, some- forgiving interview with an enemy, or se- 
 cret protestation before God of forgiveness, some sea- 
 son of devotion in the midst of an overwhelming 
 trial, some special thanksgiving ; at all events, a spir- 
 itual experience with which the fig tree that served 
 him in his retirement was always remembered by 
 him, as a stone or pillar in his history. 
 
 Christ seemed to take pleasure in the thought of all 
 which Nathanael was to enjoy in knowing him as the 
 Mediator. We notice his kindness in responding as 
 he did to the faith of Nathanael, who exclaimed at the 
 proof which he had received of Christ's omniscience, 
 
180 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 " Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King 
 of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, Be- 
 cause I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou ? 
 Thou shalt see greater things than these. And he saith 
 unto him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye 
 shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending 
 and descending upon the Son of man." Christ here 
 connects Jacob and Jacob's experience with Nathanael, 
 in the mind of Nathanael. Jacob's pile of stones 
 proved to be the foot of a ladder which maintained 
 communication between heaven and earth. Nathan- 
 ael's fig tree would prove to be like the foot of a 
 ladder, or the beginning of events, by which as great 
 things as Jacob saw should be revealed to him. For 
 Christ was to bring heaven and earth into nearer 
 fellowship and communion ; Nathanael was to know 
 and love Christ, by whom he would come to the 
 Father, and the Father would draw nearer to him. 
 Could we know the history of Nathanael as a Christian 
 disciple, we should, no doubt, see a man whom Christ 
 greatly loved, and who loved Christ; an Enoch, who 
 walked with God. He disappears, however, among 
 those who are hereafter to shine forth as the sun in 
 the kingdom of their Father. 
 
 If we will put away from us all guile in our inter- 
 course with Christ, if we will be strictly observant of 
 our word which we have given him, and be in secret 
 that which we profess at the table of Christ to be, 
 
NATHANABL. 181 
 
 then he to whom one said, " Thou knowest all things, 
 thou knowest that I love thee," whose favor is life, 
 whose loving kindness is better than life, will be our 
 Friend. The beloved disciple tells us how we are to 
 secure and maintain true friendship with God : " If 
 we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fel- 
 lowship one with another ; " that is, God and we ; then, 
 and not unless we are thus sincere, then, " the blood 
 of Jesus Christ his Son, cleanseth us from all sin." 
 Of all the instances of simplicity in the communica- 
 tion of truth, a simplicity which the Holy Ghost alone 
 teaches, perhaps we rarely find an instance which sur- 
 passes one which occurs in this same beloved disci- 
 ple : " This then is the message which we have heard 
 from him," — at which words we expect some great 
 disclosure, — " that God is light, and in him is no 
 darkness at all." So simple, so obvious, do these 
 words seem, we are tempted to pass them by. Apply 
 them, however, to the exercises of your deceitful heart 
 for one day, examine your Christian consistency by 
 them, your fairness, your truthfulness, and you will 
 see the practical value of the words, as well as the 
 admonitory, and to the doubting and desponding, and 
 to the perplexed and despairing soul, the cheering and 
 consoling nature of that " message." In proportion as 
 we walk in the light, we are sincere, and so have fel- 
 lowship with God and with Christ, and we are taught 
 by the Saviour's words to Nathanael that we shall then 
 
182 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 see continually greater tilings in the disclosures of di- 
 vine wisdom and goodness to our experience. May the 
 Spirit help our infirmity. " Lord, who shall abide in 
 thy tabernacle, who shall dwell in thy holy hill ] 
 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteous- 
 ness, and speaketh the truth in his heart." What- 
 ever qualities in some whom Christ loved are un- 
 attainable by us, or whatever circumstances favored 
 them in obtaining blessings from him which we can 
 not enjoy, there is one commendation from which we 
 surely may not feel necessarily debarred, one which 
 if we possess, we shall " never fall, but so an entrance 
 will be ministered to us abundantly into the everlast- 
 ing kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 
 That commendation, bestowed upon Nathanael, is a 
 surer passport to general respect and influence than 
 any thing else, because it is something which all can 
 appreciate, and to which every man is willing to do 
 homage. Its chief value is in this — that it prepares 
 us for fellowship with God on earth, for great advances 
 in every form of moral excellence, for peace and comfort 
 in life and death, and through grace for acceptance with 
 Him who is to judge the secrets of men's hearts for 
 their last rewards. Amongst the many occasions which 
 others have had for love and praise from Christ, we 
 would desire not the least, but rather first of all, that 
 Christ might say of each of us, — " in whom is no 
 guile." 
 
IX. 
 
 THE FRIEND OF SEAMEM. 
 
 iJO) JESTJS, ■WALKINQ BY THE SEA OP GALILEE, BA.'W TWO BBEIHBEN, BIMOS', 
 CALLED PETEB, AND ANDBEW, HIS BBOTHEB, CASIING A NET INTO TBS 
 SEA ; FOB THEY WEBB FISHEES. 
 
 AND HE BAITH UNTO THEM, FOLLOW ME ; AND THEY STEAIGHTWAY LEFT IHEIB 
 NETS AND FOLLOWED HIM. 
 
 AND GOING ON PBOM THENCE, HE SAW OTHEB TWO BBETHBEN, JAMES, THE 
 SON OF ZEBEDEE, AND JOHN, HIS BBOTHEB, IN A SHIP WITH ZEBEDEE, 
 THEIB FATHER, MENDING THEIB NETS J AND HE CALLED THEM. 
 
 AND THEY IMMEDIATELY LEFT THE SHIP AND THEIB FATHEE, AND FOLLOWED 
 HIM. 
 
 There is reason to think, as many do, that the Saviour 
 of the world is in a special manner the Friend of sea- 
 men. He showed an interest when on earth in classes ; 
 for example, in the afflicted, in great sinners, and in 
 children. Among the reasons which lead us to think 
 that he may be called the Friend of seamen is, Their 
 opportunities and qualifications for promoting religion 
 in the earth are great, and, Christ chose four out of 
 twelve of his first Apostles from the sea. His selec- 
 tion of a third part of his twelve disciples from one 
 
 a83) 
 
184 
 
 CHRIST A FKIEND. 
 
 class suggests the belief that he was interested in 
 men of that calling ; and if so, the probable reasons 
 for that interest apply as well to seamen at the pres- 
 ent day as to the fishermen of Galilee. We wiU not 
 press this point tUl we consider if there be good 
 reasons to sustain it. 
 
 Suppose that Christ had selected four of his twelve 
 Disciples and Apostles from the medical profession, or 
 that four of them had been Jewish priests, or that 
 four had been lawyers ; could we have resisted the 
 impression that there were reasons which led him to 
 look with peculiar interest on those classes as afford- 
 ing special qualifications for usefulness in the early 
 service of his religion'? 
 
 We can not, therefore, believe that the noticeable 
 proportion of his first twelve Apostles, who were 
 taken from among the fishermen of Galilee, was ac- 
 cidental. It seems to show a special interest in that 
 class of men ; it may be from the circumstance that 
 in belonging to that class they had special qualifica- 
 tions for usefulness as his first disciples. 
 
 When we look at the influences which affect the 
 progress of the Christian religion in the earth, and 
 see what a distinguished part the seafaring class have 
 borne, and still bear, in spreading or hindering the 
 truth, — when we consider how interesting in them- 
 selves as a class seamen always have been, and always 
 will be, to those who appreciate their character and 
 
THE FRIEND OF SEAMEN. 185 
 
 the influences which surround them, — we hazard 
 little in saying that the interest manifested by the 
 Saviour in the fishermen of Galilee affords ground 
 to think that the mariner, in all subsequent time, is, 
 for the same obvious reasons, a special object of his 
 regard. 
 
 Had Christ laid the scene of his earthly labors 
 along the shores of the Mediterranean, it is not im- 
 possible that the motives which led him to select 
 those four inland seamen as Apostles would have led 
 nim to seek and find an Andrew and Peter, a James 
 and John, among the sea-going class in the ports of 
 foreign commerce. But the kingdom of heaven, 
 which is like a grain of mustard seed, and like 
 leaven which is hid, began in a more humble and 
 private manner, in accordance with its nature as con- 
 trasted with the pride and pomp of men. Bethlehem 
 Ephratah, so little among the thousands of Judah, 
 Nazareth, its name contemptuously proverbial, Gali- 
 lee, with its large infusion of Gentiles, and its broad, 
 corrupted dialect, were the first witnesses of that stone 
 which was cut out of the mountains without hands, 
 and is to fill the earth. Accordingly He who was to 
 have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to 
 the ends of the earth, seems to have made an inland 
 water the emblem of his triumph and dominion over 
 the undiscovered oceans ; his native lake was the Beth- 
 lehem of the seas, and the fishermen of Galilee the 
 
186 CHRIST AFKIEND. 
 
 first fruits of a most interesting and useful class of 
 men, to whom he purposed to show great love and 
 kindness by employing them in the ages to come as 
 fishers of men. If in the following discourse too 
 much is taken for granted, or asserted, with regard to 
 the interest which Christ feels in seamen, — if a strong 
 love for them, and a deep interest in their calling, in 
 their exposures, in their Christian character and use- 
 fulness, seem to exaggerate the feelings of Christ 
 toward them, — let it be considered, if the love and 
 interest of Christians with regard to them for the rea- 
 sons assigned be so great, whether it be not probable 
 that he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing 
 is God ; and if we, being evil, feel thus, how much 
 more does He who can perfectly appreciate the reasons 
 for these feelings. 
 
 The Sea or Lake of Galilee has two other names in 
 Scripture ; viz., the Sea of Tiberias, and the Lake of 
 Gennesareth, because Tiberias and Gennesareth were 
 important towns on its south-western and western 
 borders, while it lay in that part of Palestine called 
 Galilee. It is about thirteen miles in length, and 
 five or six wide. Secluded in its situation, and sur- 
 rounded by elevated and once fruitful slopes, it affords 
 one of the most striking prospects in the Holy Land. 
 The mountains on the east come close to its shore : 
 and these, with the western hills, of which Tabor is 
 a summit, defend it from long-continued storms, while. 
 
THE FRIEND OF SEAMEN. 187 
 
 like all inland waters, it is subject to sudden and 
 violent winds. The Jordan flows through, it from 
 north to south ; and when the south-east wind swept 
 up the lake and met the current of the river, we can 
 easily conceive of what the sacred historian tells us 
 respecting its boisterous condition when it wrought 
 and was tempestuous. This was the sea which the 
 Saviour crossed repeatedly in the labors of his minis- 
 try. On these stormy billows he walked in the fourth 
 watch of a tempestuous night. Here he slept in the 
 hinder part of a ship while the disciples were in jeop- 
 ardy, till he arose and calmed the tempest with a 
 word. Here he permitted Peter to descend from the 
 vessel and come to him on the waves ; and over its 
 bosom he retreated from the multitudes, that in the 
 solitude of its adjacent wilds he might enjoy seasons 
 of solitary prayer. It served him once as a place 
 from which he preached salvation to the thronging 
 multitudes on shore, and then rewarded those who 
 had lent him their boat for a pulpit by giving them a 
 miraculous draught of fishes. 
 
 The history of one of these four men who were 
 chosen from that lake side by Christ is a prominent 
 part of the history of the Christian religion. He 
 who was casting his net in his humble occupation of 
 a fisherman little thought that he was to be called by 
 idolatrous millions Saint Peter ; that the most mag- 
 nificent temple in the world was to be Saint Peter's 
 
188 CHIUST A rfelEND. 
 
 Church ; that he was to be set up in it in the shape 
 of a bronze image of the heathen Jupiter, and that 
 kings and nobles, rich and poor, would make pil- 
 grimages from distant parts of Europe and from Asia 
 to kiss his foot. Though Christ foreknew all this, 
 still he called him to be an Apostle ; for by him in 
 many ways the plan of salvation, as the power and 
 wisdom of God, was strikingly illustrated. We also 
 see in his history the kindness of Christ in calling a 
 man to be an Apostle who, he foresaw, would deny him. 
 If the goodness of God should be stayed in its begin- 
 nings toward us by the foresight of our unworthiness, 
 who could be saved 1 But the love of God is as rich 
 and free toward them that are called according to his 
 purpose as though they were to be perfect men. This 
 gives us an affecting view of divine goodness, which 
 overflows toward us in some parts of our lives, not- 
 withstanding it is then foreseen how unworthy of 
 such goodness our future conduct will show us to be. 
 This should encourage us to repent and hope in the 
 mercy of God ; for if the foresight of our sins has not 
 prevented him from doing us good, the remembrance 
 of our sins, if we repent, will not turn away his mercy 
 from us. 
 
 When John the Baptist looked on Jesus as he 
 walked, and said, " Behold the Lamb of God," one of 
 the two which heard John speak was Andrew, Simon 
 Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brothel 
 
THE FRIEND OF SEAMEN. 189 
 
 Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Mes- 
 sias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. And he 
 " brought him to Jesus." We do not read much of 
 Andrew in the New Testament ; but who ever did 
 more for the world in an incidental way than he in 
 bringing his brother to Christ 'i In heaven, he does 
 not think that he lived in vain when he sees the fruit 
 of Peter's ministry, and remembers that he first 
 brought him to Jesus. When we bring a soul to 
 Christ, we know not, we can not measure, its future 
 influence. Among the crew with whom you sail, in 
 your class in the Sabbath school, in your district as a 
 tract distributor, in your visits among the shipping 
 and to the Sailors' Home, God may employ you as 
 the means of turning many to righteousness by bring- 
 ing some soul to Christ. As fishers of men, we need 
 to be contented with using the rod and line, if we may 
 not employ the net ; for one soul brought to Christ 
 is worth a whole life of patient toil. 
 
 When Christ looked on Peter, he said, " Thou art 
 Simon, the son of Jona ; thou shalt be called Ce- 
 phas ; " the historian adds, " which is, by interpretation, 
 a stone." The words of Christ were few and full of 
 meaning, as are generally those of men who have 
 great concerns at heart. With a foresight of Peter's 
 relation to the church as one of the foundation stones 
 among Apostles and Prophets, Christ gave him this 
 
190 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 new and significant name, which the history of the 
 church has verified. 
 
 After his first interview with him, having given him 
 time to think upon his call, Christ went to Peter as 
 he was employed in his daily labor, and called him, 
 with Andrew, to be his follower. They arose and 
 followed him. Before, they had merely been his dis- 
 ciples. Some time after, Peter said to Christ, " Lo, 
 we have left all, and have followed thee." It seems 
 that these two men forsook their employment at 
 the time of their second call ; but we read afterwards 
 of Christ using Peter's vessel, and of the disciples as 
 being engaged in fishing ; so that they still, in some 
 measure, followed their business, though they became 
 disciples and followers of Christ. But their business 
 was thenceforth, as ours should be, secondary to dis- 
 cipleship. But we are too apt to esteem our profes- 
 sion, our business, as our first concern, and disciple- 
 ship to Christ as second in importance. Not so will 
 it appear to us in death and in eternity. 
 
 Christ finds and leaves us free agents. He said to 
 one man, " Follow me," who said, " Lord, suifer me first 
 to go and bury my father." Another said, " Lord, I 
 will follow thee, but let me first go and bid them fare- 
 well which are at home at my house." If Peter had 
 treated the call of Christ as some now treat it, and 
 had delayed like them, it would have been the most 
 
THE FRIEND OF SEAMEN. 191 
 
 disastrous day of his life. He might have been a 
 successful fisherman to the end of his days, and that 
 would have been all. But now, at the great day when 
 they draw the net ashore and gather the good into 
 vessels and cast the bad away, this Apostle Peter will 
 remember that day when Christ called him from the 
 lake and made him fish in the great sea for us and 
 millions more, who, by his instrumentality in part, 
 will have been enclosed in that net. It is deeply 
 affecting to see how every man has his special time 
 of mercy, and improves it or neglects it. When 
 Christ says to some of us, " Follow me," we may not 
 know the time of our visitation. 
 
 Christianity began on the sea shore and with sea- 
 men. The employment of these men on their lake, 
 no doubt, had a powerful effect in forming their char- 
 acters, and developing their innate and widely differ- 
 ing dispositions. There is a great contrast between 
 two of these men. Peter's bold, intrepid spirit, 
 mingled with a little superstition, was nurtured by 
 the hurricane and the dark, perilous nights. John's 
 contemplative mind and his deeper feeling were culti- 
 vated by the sweet influences of the lake — its quiet 
 bosom, the shadows of mountains and sky in it, the 
 current of the river gliding through, and by the softer 
 vdnds. What hours of thought must such a man as 
 he have enjoyed upon that lake, receiving there, in 
 
192 
 
 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 part, his education to write his> meditative Gospel. 
 Some of the greatest scholars who write upon the 
 New Testament seem to think it greater praise to 
 understand and explain the Gospel of John than any 
 other part of the Bible. His Gospel has occasioned 
 more learned disquisitions than any other ; but many 
 have marred his beautiful simplicity by their tran- 
 scendental philosophy and sentimental conceits. He 
 selects incidents, he dwells on passages, of the Sa- 
 viour's life which the other evangelists either do not 
 mention, or pass with barely alluding to them. The 
 farewell discourse of Christ to his disciples, and his 
 last prayer with them, took the deepest hold upon the 
 memory and the thoughts of John. Let us notice 
 here, as we proceed, the wisdom and beauty in the 
 manner in which the Bible is composed ; for while 
 each writer is superintended by the Holy Spirit, so 
 that every word is, in the sense of superintendence at 
 least, inspired, and while the whole book has as really 
 the authority of God as though it had been written 
 on the throne of heaven, and had been sent to us 
 visibly from the skies, the different temperaments, tal- 
 ents, tastes, genius, memories, education, style of the 
 writers, are obvious in their several compositions. A 
 figure of the Psalmist will furnish us with an illustra- 
 tion of what has now been said. He tells us that 
 God's word is " sweeter also than honey and the 
 honeycomb." We never taste two different portions 
 
THE FEIBND OF SEAMEN. 193 
 
 of honey which have exactly the same flavor. That 
 flavor depends upon the fields from which the bees 
 distil it. Difierent gardens have different proportions 
 of flowers and sweet herbs, and the same fields have 
 different flavors from year to year, varying with the 
 proportions of sunshine and rain. God gives the bee 
 his instinct, and his providence guides him ; but the 
 varying landscapes infuse their secret, indefinable 
 virtues into the products of his labor. Thus, while 
 the word of God is all the richest honey, it partakes 
 of the varieties of the objects to which its authors 
 had been accustomed. Moses and Isaiah pierced the 
 vigorous plants, and extracted powerful odors and 
 juices from them ; David, the shepherd, loved the 
 herbs and flowers which fed his lambs ; Habakkuk 
 went up to the verdant crevices of rugged rocks ; 
 John delighted in the branches and flowers that over- 
 hung the lake. How apt men are to forget that the 
 God whom they do not love, but prefer created beauty 
 and goodness to him, is himself the source of all 
 beauty and taste, and not only creates every thing on 
 the principle of true beauty, but, in composing a 
 Bible for the human race, regards those principles in 
 the style and manner of the book. He loves variety 
 of genius and talent, and has established it among 
 thrones and powers, and ordered it in those whom he 
 selected to pen his word. Loving God supremely, let 
 us like him rejoice in his works, and let us see that 
 
194 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 religion in perfection is true beauty and true taste. 
 Our employment in heaven, wliere we shall have no 
 toils and cares to consume the most of our time as 
 here, will, no doubt, be to contemplate God in his 
 works and ways, to know and love the natures he has 
 made, to study the depths of his wisdom and the riches 
 of his beauty in creation, but especially in redemption. 
 Some seem to think that creation is to be burned up 
 at the last day ; that we are to see nothing forever 
 but an airy space, and be ourselves unsubstantial and 
 ghostly ; and therefore they think of death and a fu- 
 ture state, without knowing the cause, with reluctance 
 and terror. He who chose Peter and John from the 
 same lake, and impressed their different characters 
 upon the Bible, and thus upon the characters and 
 thoughts of our race, is the same yesterday, to-day, 
 and forever, and wiU never cease to discriminate and 
 to manifest the riches of his wisdom and beauty in his 
 endless works and ways. 
 
 The impression is irresistible in many minds, that, 
 as Christ made his first selection of disciples and 
 apostles from the lake, as Christianity thus began at 
 the sea side, we are to see wonders of mercy and grace 
 accomplished by those whose home is on the deep. 
 There are many ways in which they are peculiarly 
 qualified for great usefulness, and enjoy peculiar op- 
 portunities to do good. They are qualified for pe- 
 culiar usefulness by the habit of thought and turn of 
 
THE FRIEND OF SEAMEN. 195 
 
 mind which they acquire by their calling. There is 
 no class of men who, in general, are more eloquent 
 than seamen. The nature of their illustrations, drawn 
 from the most bold and striking objects and scenes in 
 nature ; their direct, forcible way of speaking, learned 
 in shouting from the tops, in calling and answering 
 in the blasts ; their habit' of promptness and energy 
 ' in all they do ; their observation of men and things 
 in every degree of latitude ; their proverbial benevo- 
 lence of heart, taught them by their experience of 
 privation and the necessity of kindness and humanity, 
 and by the uticertain hold they have on life and 
 property, — all make them masters of native eloquence 
 when they stand up before their fellow-men, or when 
 they speak in private. They will tell you a tale as 
 no other class of men can do it ; and what does their 
 proverbial disposition to spin their stories indicate 
 but a peculiar talent at observation, great reflection, 
 and a knowledge of the things which touch the im- 
 agination and heart ■? In their social influence, then, 
 in public and private, we see the eminent qualifica- 
 tions of a converted seaman to be a useful Christian. 
 In thinking of the usefulness of seamen when con- 
 verted, we err if we confine our thoughts to the more 
 uninstructed among them, and forget how largely the 
 sea has drawn its sons from other classes of society. 
 Not unfrequently a child, surrounded with every thing 
 to make him happy and useful at home, brought up. 
 
196 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 also, in wealth and refinement, has an incontroUable 
 desire to follow the sea, and, in many cases, to the 
 disappointment and grief of parents and friends. On 
 being resisted, sometimes the youth flees ; he is then 
 looked upon by some as a fugitive and vagabond, and 
 is given up as lost. 
 
 Now, we would say nothing, of course, to encour- 
 age young men to run away from their parents and 
 go to sea without leave, nor would we make it appear 
 that God sets a bounty on filial disobedience and un- 
 kindness. The way of transgressors is hard, and the 
 way of the young rover is eminently hsft-d. But think 
 of the style and stamp of character which necessarily 
 abounds among seamen, in consequence of the power 
 of the sea to attract the bold, refractory, daring spirits 
 who spurn authority and rule at home, and can not 
 bear the restraints of trade and mechanic arts, nor the 
 prisons and prison implements, as they deem them, 
 of shops and handicraft. They fly to the sea; the 
 sea alone is wide enough for them to breathe in ; the 
 sea has no doors ; the deck seems broader to their 
 feet than a whole village or city; they would "see 
 many men and know their minds." From this class 
 of daring, reckless, spirits it is true that pirates and 
 marauders rise ; but it is also true that from this class 
 proceed many who are qualified by their native and 
 hitherto untamed genius to do great good. John 
 Newton, by his voyages and his dreadful experience 
 
THE FBIEND OF SEAMEN. 197 
 
 in Africa, was qualified for eminent usefulness to the 
 church. Names familiar to every one illustrate the 
 qualifications of converted seamen to do great good. 
 If God should pour out his Spirit universally upon 
 seamen, he would bring into his service as much native 
 talent as by the conversion of any other class of men. 
 If all the medical profession should be converted, if 
 all at the bar should this day be brought into the 
 church, they would not furnish more native talent, or 
 effective qualifications to influence mankind, than the 
 seamen of our navies and the mercantile marine. 
 
 Will you say, ' Where is their education I ' Their 
 education 1 They have taken every degree in the 
 knowledge of the human heart. ' But many of them 
 are rash, indiscreet, impulsive, and inconstant' By 
 these epithets you describe Simon Peter. If any of us 
 had been counselors in setting up Christianity, and 
 Simon Peter had been brought before us as a candidate 
 for the apostleship, an apostle to the Jews, the learned, 
 subtle, prejudiced Jew, and as a foundation stone, 
 among apostles and prophets, for the Christian church, 
 we should have dismissed him without a hearing. 
 Perhaps you have been tempted to wonder that Christ 
 did not lose patience with him. He was sometimes 
 bold enough to walk on the very waves, and the next 
 moment cried like a child for help. Who could de- 
 pend on such a man 1 He was going to prison and 
 to death for Christ, and though all men should forsake 
 
198 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 Christ, not he. A little maid, by her casual question, 
 turned his constancy into treachery with oaths and 
 cursing. He draws his sword in a crowd, and cuts 
 off a man's ear, and then follows his Master afar off. 
 He was a strange mixture of hardihood and tender- 
 ness. The men around the fire looked upon one 
 another and whispered, and then accused him of be- 
 ing a disciple. He braved their proof, and said, " Man, 
 I am not." The cock crows, the eye of Christ turns 
 upon him, he goes out and weeps bitterly. But Christ 
 loved him, knowing that grace would make him a 
 most desirable instrument for the work of an apostle. 
 So has it been, so will it be, with many a fugitive from 
 parental love, upon the deep. We have known some 
 of the best of men, whose sons, after every advantage 
 of education, and every faithful Christian effort, and in 
 spite of prayers and tears without number on their be- 
 half, have indicated a restless and roving spirit, and have 
 gone into the forecastle, when we expected to see them 
 in places of usefulness and honor upon the land. We 
 would say to sxich parents. There may be a school for 
 the child and a part of his education for the service of 
 Christ such as you would not have chosen. God is 
 dealing with you and yours in a way you can not 
 understand. His way with you is in the sea, his path 
 is in the great waters, and his footsteps are not known. 
 Perhaps an untimely end awaits these children. But 
 even then wait for the disclosures of eternity before 
 
THE FRIEND OF SEAMEN. 199 
 
 you judge with respect to the dealings of your cov- 
 enant-keeping God with them and with you. 
 
 In this connection, let the appeal draw near to your 
 understanding and heart to contribute for the spread of 
 religion among seamen, to establish chapels for them 
 and provide religious books. The accumulated reli- 
 gious publications which you can well spare will find 
 a welcome and profitable use at the reading rooms of 
 the Sailor's Homes, where they will be distributed 
 among the chests which are bound to sea. Care 
 should be taken lest inadvertently you send an hereti- 
 cal tract or injudicious book, or a foolish, hurtful ro- 
 mance, to prevent or destroy all the good which the 
 Bible and the best books might otherwise do. The for- 
 getfulness of a captain to provide playing cards for 
 a voyage left a young mariner nothing to do for 
 amusement but to turn the pages of some religious 
 books, which were blest to his conversion. Let affec- 
 tionate, faithful Christians watch the arrival of crews, 
 point them to suitable boarding houses, encourage 
 their attendance on public worship, and thus a 
 mother's prayers and a dying father's blessing may 
 have their fulfillment in the conversion of many an 
 erring chUd. If you had a sailor boy, would it not 
 give you a deep interest in seamen'? Would you 
 not bless those who should be kind to him, and weep 
 much if Christians should neglect opportunities to do 
 him good 1 There are parental hearts which can bleed 
 
200 CHKIST A FRIEND. 
 
 besides yours, there are hearts which may be healed 
 by your ministrations to the seamen's cause. Let us 
 not think, however, that all seamen are like Simon 
 Peter, before he was converted, or that the influence 
 of seamen is all of a bold and striking character. 
 There is many a noiseless, affectionate, faithful An- 
 drew upon the deep ; many a James ready to be 
 the first martyr among the apostles ; many a John, 
 with the soul of a poet, and a largeness of heart "like 
 the sand which is on the sea shore." The prophet 
 says, " The abundance of the sea shall be converted 
 unto thee." In the characters of seamen there is as 
 great abundance as in the commerce that floats upon 
 the deep, or the precious things that are buried in its 
 sepulchres. 
 
 Much is said of their opportunities to do good. 
 They have been, and, to some extent, are now, among 
 the greatest hinderances to the propagation of the 
 gospel. Officers and crews of vessels have been 
 scourges to the islands and the continental shores in 
 many seas, and when sailors are generally moral and 
 religious men, " the multitude of the isles will be glad 
 thereof." A missionary tells us that he knows of 
 whole districts of country washed by the north Pacific 
 which have been depopulated by vices introduced by 
 seamen. New England, that happy name, has given 
 that name around the globe to an article of her own 
 manufacture and export which has been the besom 
 
THE FRIEND OF SEAMEN 201 
 
 of destruction. The time will come when it will be 
 as difficult to ship a crew to carry that article to a 
 barbarous or semi-barbarous people, knowing that the 
 principal use to be made of it will be to intoxicate, as 
 to ship those men for piracy. Great progress has been 
 made in raising the condition and character of seamen. 
 There were formerly but few boarding houses appro- 
 priated to them to which the friends of seamen felt 
 that they could safely direct them. There are now in 
 all our ports many places where they are protected 
 from injustice and furnished with means of moral 
 improvement. Such influence has no limits but those 
 of the earth. It is like disinfecting a pestilential 
 wind, and making it like the sweet south, breathing 
 health and joy wherever it comes. The Spirit of God 
 is moving on the face of the great deep. A letter 
 from a missionary at Lahaina, Sandwich Islands, 
 some time siiice, stated that three ships were then riding 
 at anchor there, whose crews had been the subjects of 
 divine grace in their respective voyages to those islands. 
 The blessed Spirit visits these floating habitations on 
 their solitary way along the deep, recalling other days 
 and scenes in the house of God, and making thoughts 
 of home and parents, or the Bible and tracts which 
 your kindness has placed on board, the means of turn- 
 ing the heart of the sailor to his God. Not long 
 since the Lord's supper was administered on board a 
 United States ship of war at sea to more than twenty 
 communicants. 
 
202 
 
 CHRIST A FKIBND. 
 
 Jesus, walking on the Sea of Galilee, thereby sig- 
 nified to all the world that the sea is his, and that 
 he will have dominion from the river to the ends of 
 the earth. That little sea was no smaller in pro- 
 portion to the globe than all the scenes and labors 
 of his earthly life were to his universal triumph. 
 We will aid him to bring all the sons of the deep to 
 obey him. Missionaries can not do their work eifect- 
 ually without them. Pray for the sailors. Let every 
 blast which presses against your window be as though 
 you heard a bell calling you to prayer for them. They 
 die and perish by hundreds in their full strength; 
 they go not from sick beds, but in all the vigor of 
 health, into eternity. In 1853, four hundred and 
 eighty vessels were reported as lost, and two thousand 
 lives with them. The average life of sailors is now 
 about eleven years and a half There are supposed to 
 be three millions of seamen, of whom three hundred 
 thousand are British, and two hundred thousand 
 American, in all five hundred thousand speaking 
 the English tongue. 
 
 The county of Barnstable in Massachusetts num- 
 bers over a thousand widows of mariners, and more 
 than five thousand of their fatherless children. In a 
 storm several years since, twenty-three husbands and 
 fathers belonging to the single town of Truro perished. 
 Whg,t we do for seamen we should emphatically do 
 with Qur might. 
 
THE FRIEND OF SEAMEN. 203 
 
 A collection of facts in the conversion and religious 
 experience of seamen would excite great interest and 
 make a powerful impression. All our seamen's chap- 
 lains are in possession of numerous materials for such 
 a collection. One tells us of a sailor boy, who, on 
 being converted at sea, finding no place where he 
 could pray aloud, went up the mast to the cross-trees, 
 day and night, and poured out his prayer. Another 
 tells us of a Christian sailor in a religious meeting 
 speaking to this eifect : ' Sometimes when upon deck in 
 my watch I employ myself in counting the stars. I 
 mark off a small place in the heavens, and begin to 
 count ; but the more I count, the thicker do the stars 
 come out. So, when I am thinking and speaking of 
 Jesus, it seems as though I could never stop. Brethren, 
 there are unsearchable riches in Jesus.' Another tells 
 us of a seaman on his dying bed, who, being asked 
 by a fellow-sailor. What cheer 1 said, " Heaven heaves 
 in sight; I see the headland." The next day the 
 question was repeated. What cheer 1 The reply was, 
 " Rounding the cape ; almost in." The third day, 
 the question was repeated. What cheer ? " In port," 
 his quivering lips replied, and the next moment, 
 "Let^o the anchor." 
 
 The simple-hearted, generous love of a converted 
 sailor for his Eedeemer and Friend excites — it can not 
 be otherwise — peculiar love on the part of Christ. 
 The Saviour loves just such attachment, such impulses 
 
204 
 
 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 of affection as those of a truly converted sailor, and 
 all the more for the genuine nature which there is 
 in them. We need not hesitate, perhaps, to repeat 
 the anecdote of a rough son of the ocean, who, being 
 wrought upon by preaching, stood up, and in the first 
 impulse of true submission to his Maker, his face 
 flooded with tears, waved his hat, and gave a cheer, 
 using the name of God. That was his way of saying, 
 " The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice, let the multi- 
 tude of the isles be glad thereof; " nor did Gabriel, per- 
 haps, ever say, ' Hosanna,' more sincerely or acceptably 
 to God. The interest and love which such a man 
 awakens in you is deeper far in the heart of Christ. 
 Judging from the interest which certain individuals 
 awakened in him when on earth, we are constrained 
 to feel that there are none whom he loves more than 
 the sons of the ocean, when, amidst temptations, oppo- 
 sition, bad influences of every kind, in perils of 
 waters, in perils in the city, in deaths oft, they love 
 and serve him with all their hearts. We will think 
 of Christ as the seamen's Friend, pledging his friend- 
 ship for them by one of the first acts of his life. Let 
 all who preach to seamen, let all who are specially 
 devoted in any way to efforts for their godft, be 
 encouraged in thinking of Christ as the seamen's 
 Friend. In grateful recollection of the fishermen of 
 Galilee, let us help the Seamen's Friend Societies, and 
 when their cause is presented to us, let us seem to 
 
THE FEIEND OF SEAMEN. 205 
 
 hear Andrew and Peter, James and John, pleading 
 with us for their brethren. To whom would they 
 be drawn with stronger interest, should they revisit 
 earth, than to their brethren on our lakes and seas 1 
 Look into that narrow place in the ship, see that dim 
 lamp, watch that storm-beaten, weather-stained face 
 of the seaman, as he reads in a Bible which you have 
 procured for him, that He who made " Arcturus, Orion, 
 Pleiades, and the chambers of the south," and who 
 " alone treadeth on the waves of the sea," loves him, 
 and gave himself for him, and says to him, even to 
 him, Follow me. Let no sister of such as he, through 
 our neglect, mourn over his hopeless death, and have 
 occasion to say, " Lord, if thou hadst been there, my 
 brother had not died." The surface of the deep will 
 one day be alive with the hundreds of thousands who 
 sleep in it. May we have reason to think that some 
 of them by our means had made Christ, who was 
 their Friend, the Saviour of their souls. 
 
X. 
 
 JOHN. 
 
 THEN PETEa, TUBNINO ABOUT, BEETH THE DISCIPLE WHOM JESUS LOVED POt 
 LOWINO, -WHICH ALSO LEANED ON HIS BREAST AT SUPPEK, AND SAID, LOSD, 
 WHICH IS HE THAT BETBATETH THEE ? 
 
 John alone tells us that he is that disciple whom 
 Jesus loved, and in five instances he uses that desig- 
 nation of himself which no other evangelist has 
 applied to him. He tells us that at the last supper 
 " there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his dis- 
 ciples whom Jesus loved ; " that Jesus from the cross 
 saw " his mother and the disciple standing by whom 
 he loved ; " that Mary Magdalene ran with the news 
 of the resurrection to Simon Peter, " and to the other 
 disciple whom Jesus loved ; " that when Jesus ap- 
 peared to the disciples at Tiberias after his resurrec- 
 tion, " that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, 
 It is the Lord ; " and that Peter, having had his 
 own violent death disclosed to him by Christ, " turn- 
 ing about, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved foUow- 
 
 (206) 
 
JOHN. 201 
 
 ing, which also leaned upon his breast at supper, and 
 said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee 1 " 
 
 It is unnecessary to say that this disciple was grat- 
 ified with this name — a new name, which the love 
 of his adorable Master had written upon him ; but 
 while a friend and favorite of a royal person might 
 be expected to place great value upon a name or title 
 conferred by his king, to be used by others in address- 
 ing him, it is unusual to designate one's self as having 
 been specially beloved ; and it is the more unusual 
 when others do not thus refer to him. Some would 
 be liable to the imputation of vanity under these cir- 
 cumstances ; but a man whom Christ loved may be 
 trusted to speak of himself. Selfishness in him will 
 be controlled by humility — ambition and vanity be 
 displaced by simplicity and godly sincerity. His 
 being beloved by Christ presents itself to the mind 
 of John as a truth rather than a cause for vain glory. 
 Unconscious of wrong motives in speaking of it, he is 
 not jealous that others will envy him ; and at the 
 same time, only one who was conscious that his con- 
 duct would bear criticism would be willing to use a 
 designation of himself which would be sure to invite 
 the strictest scrutiny of his words and actions. Praise 
 has the efiect upon a good man to make him humble ; 
 it makes him think how many things there are in 
 him not discerned by others, which, if known, he 
 supposes would lessen their approbation, and that at 
 
208 
 
 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 least God knows them, and it therefore seems a light 
 thing to be judged of man's judgment. If love and 
 approbation from a good man greatly esteemed thus 
 discloses our unworthiness, and acts as an incentive 
 to goodness, the love of Christ to John must have had 
 a subduing and purifying effect upon his character. 
 While it left him still a frail mortal, it gave him con- 
 fidence in his motives, and made him transparent in 
 his feelings and conduct; so that, vi'ith the strength 
 and dignity of a man, he nevertheless had the artless 
 simplicity of a child who speaks of loving and being 
 loved with no imputation or suspicion from us of 
 being vain. 
 
 There is an incident in the history of John which 
 is a striking illustration of this simplicity of character 
 proceeding from a conscience void of offence, and at 
 the same time it presents us with the strongest form 
 of testimony from others to the purity of his character, 
 and shows us the relation between him and Christ. 
 
 At the last supper " Jesus was troubled in spirit, 
 and testified, and said. Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
 that one of you shall betray me. Then the disciples 
 looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake." 
 Matthew says, " And they were exceeding sorrowful, 
 and began every one to say unto him. Lord, is it I ■? " 
 Christ gave an answer, but Matthew does not tell us 
 particularly how that answer was obtained. John 
 completes the narration. He says, " Now, there was 
 
JOHN. 209 
 
 leaning upon Jesus' bosom one of his disciples whom 
 Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, 
 that he should ask who it should be of whom he 
 spake." Why did not Simon, with his usual confi- 
 dence, himself put that question 1 No place at that 
 table was too remote for the question to be heard, or 
 for any particular significance in it to be perceived. 
 It was not, therefore, because of John's being next to 
 Christ that he was thus employed by Simon to get 
 that answer. While it is unquestionably true that 
 the Saviour's known affection for John may have been 
 supposed to give him a peculiar privilege in putting 
 such a question, it can hardly be doubted that there 
 was another reason which influenced Simon to employ 
 John to reiterate that solemn question for the twelve 
 — to address it to the Saviour with the more deliber- 
 ate and noticeable appeal of one pathetic voice and 
 one bursting heart interceding for the rest. But why, 
 we repeat, did not Simon's heart and Simon's voice act 
 on this occasion, as they had been so ready to do at 
 other times'? The answer is probably to be found 
 in the nature of the question. It were easy to join 
 with eleven fellow-disciples, and say, " Lord, is it I ? " 
 for we read that " Judas also, which betrayed him, 
 answered, and said. Master, is it I ? " But for one 
 voice to break the silence after all had spoken, and, 
 prominently assuming the appearance of conscious in- 
 nocence and strength in virtue, to seem bent on ob- 
 
210 
 
 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 taining the answer, required a confidence in one's own 
 character which even beloved Peter did not seem to 
 possess. There was one present, however, who Peter 
 knew was preeminently qualified to put that question 
 
 — one who he knew could afford to ask it, could be 
 safe in asking it ; while one of those singular presenti- 
 ments which we can not explain may at that moment 
 have been casting its shadow upon the spirit of Peter, 
 to chill and to damp that zeal which wholly failed 
 soon after in the hour of trial. O, there was but one 
 
 — the solitude of Herod's judgment seat, the loneli- 
 ness of the crucifixion, proved that there was but one 
 
 — at that table who was qualified to put that question 
 for the rest while the rest were silent — to put it, not 
 in a formal manner, but expecting a reply which 
 might not only make a guUty conscience quail, but 
 would also terrify a heart which was not more than 
 usually filled with the perfect love which casteth out 
 fear. One such heart was beating so near the heart 
 of Jesus at that moment that the two might have felt 
 each the other's pulsation — the heart of one who 
 never for a moment forsook his Friend in trouble and 
 sorrow, but when a cloud had covered him like the 
 sun at his going down, and vailed the stars, stood vis- 
 ible through the mist, an evening star, the Iqne wit- 
 ness of his Lord. To him one beckons that he should 
 demand, with the strength of suspected, injured, yet 
 conscious love, which of them should do this thing. 
 
JOHN. 211 
 
 Who of us would be willing to stand forth in the 
 name of the company of disciples to which he be- 
 longs, and say, " Lord, which is he that betrayeth 
 theel " Each of us can join his voice with the rest, 
 and say, " Lord, is it 1 1 " But where is the disciple 
 to whom the rest of us may beckon that he should 
 ask for us, ' Lord, who is it "i ' 
 
 John never forgot that he was the disciple selected 
 by Peter to put that question ; for, with the same 
 simplicity which the consciousness of love and faith- 
 fulness inspires, he tells us in the text not only that 
 he is that disciple whom Jesus loved, but " which also 
 leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which 
 is he that betrayeth thee ? " As the effectual prayer 
 of a righteous man availeth much, John's question 
 obtained an answer ; but, on close examination of 
 the narrative, we shall find that the answer was whis- 
 pered to him, and that the rest of the company did 
 not hear it. True, Matthew gives the answer, but he 
 does not say in what manner it was obtained. It 
 was enough for the purposes of the narrative to sav 
 what the answer proved to be ; but that the disciples 
 did not learn it before Judas put the question for 
 himself, is, in the opinion of the best commentators, 
 made certain by the account which is given by John. 
 Preeminent goodness, and great proficiency in wick- 
 edness, John and Judas, each can boldly say, " Lord, 
 which is he that betrayeth thee 1 " 
 
212 
 
 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 This secret communication of Christ to John is an 
 illustration of their intimate relations, and of the con- 
 fidence which Christ felt in the character of the be- 
 loved disciple. " The secret of the Lord is with them 
 that fear him, and he will show them his covenant." 
 Beautiful instances do we find in the Bible of this con- 
 fiding of secrets in the intercourse of God with man. 
 " And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that 
 thing which I do ? For I know him, that he will 
 command his children and his household after him, 
 and they shall keep the way of the Lord." Perhaps 
 the most affecting instance of this is the disclosure to 
 the child Samuel of the divine purposes, it being fore- 
 seen that Samuel would be a man in whom the Most 
 High could trust. Though God now makes no dis- 
 closures to good men respecting things to come, the 
 Bible teaches us that " the pure in heart shall see 
 God ; " that " he that dwelleth in the secret place of 
 the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the 
 Almighty." The willingness of John to relate, as we 
 may say, his religious experience, to speak of intimate 
 love and special favors from Christ, is one of the best 
 evidences of the purity of his feelings, the absence 
 from his heart and life of all those inconsistencies of 
 allowed sin which, through the power of conscience, 
 would have prevented these disclosures to the world 
 of special intimacy with Christ. 
 
 Let us not think of John as a soft character, win- 
 
JOHN. 213 
 
 ning the love of Christ for inoffensive, amiable, gentle 
 qualities. Such was not the disciple whom Jesus loved. 
 If he inherited any thing of his mother's disposition, 
 he was far from being such a man. That mother must 
 have been a remarkable woman ; for none but a woman 
 of high spirit, supreme ambition, good address, intense 
 love for her children bearing her onward to strange 
 adventure in their behalf, would have led her to do 
 the thing which chiefly marks her character. 
 
 She supposed that Christ was to be an earthly po- 
 tentate ; she would bespeak the two highest offices in 
 his kingdom for her two sons. Her request is not 
 the spiritual, humble prayer of another, on a different 
 occagion : " Lord, remember me when thou comest into 
 thy kingdom." Irrespective of qualifications and 
 claims on the part of others, with a high opinion, no 
 doubt, of her children's talents, she, though the wife 
 of a fisherman of Galilee, made bold to present her 
 sons as candidates for the highest places under the 
 reign of Messiah. It is true, she was Salome, the sis- 
 ter, or cousin, as many suppose, of Mary, the mother 
 of Christ, and perhaps she presumed on 4his relation. 
 She was at the cross and at the tomb of Christ. To 
 be the mother of two such sons — James, the first 
 martyr among the apostles, and John, his brother — 
 gave her the honorable designation by which she is 
 known. She was, indeed, " a joyful mother of chil- 
 dren." If the saying be true, that " mind is from the 
 
214 
 
 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 mother," the mother of John is for more than one 
 reason blessed among women. She felt, with more 
 reason than most parents have, that her children were 
 deserving of honor and confidence. But her sons in- 
 stigated her. Ambitious sons are more sure of disin- 
 terested service from their mothers than from any other 
 relative or friend. Mark gives the narrative with one 
 of those discrepancies without which there would have 
 been less use in employing four men to write the his- 
 tory of Christ. Matthew, being one of the twelve, 
 forbears to blame his brethren, though " the ten began 
 to be much displeased with James and John." But 
 Mark, not being of the number, lays the blame where 
 it was chiefly deserved. The Saviour also, in his reply, 
 addressed himself to the two brethren, and not to their 
 mother. It required no little nerve to rise up among 
 their equals in the family of Christ, and make such a 
 request in their hearing. This uninstructed, unsanc- 
 tified ambition, when brought under control, entered 
 largely into the Christian characters of these two men, 
 and with other bold traits, no doubt, interested their 
 Master in them in no ordinary degree. A similar dis- 
 position in another disciple, Simon Peter, made him 
 also an object of special love with Christ. It was 
 James and John that proposed to bring fire from 
 heaven upon the Samaritans. That they were far from 
 being men of naturally soft and gentle dispositions 
 appears furthermore from this, that " James, the son 
 
JOHN. 215 
 
 of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James, he sur- 
 named Boanerges, which is, The Sons of Thunder." 
 These men, with Peter, were the Saviour's most inti- 
 mate companions ; they went with him to his trans- 
 figuration, and to the Garden of Gethsemane. We 
 therefore see that the disciple whom Jesus loved had 
 all the attributes of a man. Softness in a man may 
 create a certain degree of love for him in others ; but 
 the highest love is awakened only by forcible, manly 
 qualities, subdued by goodness. It is not sweetness 
 of disposition which makes a man greatly and exten- 
 sively beloved ; it maybe so with a child, but force of 
 character is essential in a man, and though occa- 
 sionally excessive, it does not diminish, but rather in- 
 creases love. Instead of sweetness, a man, in, order to 
 be greatly loved, must have something in his character 
 corresponding to a subacid, or to what we call, in cer- 
 tain fruits, a pleasant sour ; we must see that it is in 
 him ; he must have grit as well as grace ; be capable 
 of something besides pathos, melting moods, repose. 
 And in this disciple we have already seen, and on 
 further examination may be still more convinced, 
 that all the elements of a manly character were found 
 in him in right proportions. 
 
 There is no sacred writer, not even Paul, who is 
 more bold and strong in his denunciations of false 
 teachers than the apostle John in his Epistles. With 
 the gentleness of a child, he also has stern authority. 
 
216 
 
 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 profound contempt, intense hatred, on proper occa- 
 sions. His organ, indeed, breathes the air and the 
 treble of delicious music ; but there is a bass there, 
 and a swell. They who supposed that leaning on Je- 
 sus' bosom made him effeminate, found to their cost 
 that his anger at their wickedness was more like the 
 wrath of the Lamb than that of any other apostle, by 
 reason of those deepened feelings with regard to truth 
 and error, and that intense love for the souls of men 
 which communion with the Saviour had created. 
 
 One thing in John strikes us with great force, not 
 only as illustrating his character, but that of his 
 adored Eedeemer. Here is a man admitted to the 
 most familiar love of Christ, made the partner of his 
 more private experiences, his bosom friend ; and yet 
 no one of all the sacred writers has so much as he to 
 say of the Godhead of Christ. This is powerful testi- 
 mony to the divine nature of Him in whom dwelleth 
 all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. To know 
 more of him, is to worship him with the more rever- 
 ence and godly fear ; familiar intimacy and love with 
 regard to him do not beget lightness, nor tempt to 
 unsuitable freedom in thought or speech. "When he 
 who leaned on Jesus' bosom first opens his lips to 
 speak of Christ, instead of telling us what favors he 
 had enjoyed, what bliss he had experienced in his in- 
 timacy with him, it seems as though he could not re- 
 press his adoring thoughts, but strikes at once a chord 
 
JOHN. 217 
 
 worthy of Gabriel : " In the beginning was the Word, 
 and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 
 The same was in the beginning with God. All things 
 were made by him, and without him was not any 
 thing made that was made." ' There must have been 
 in John qualities of mind and heart which laid the 
 foundation for the deepest aifection on the part of 
 Christ. 
 
 Himself the only perfect man, his judgment of char- 
 acter, his testimony to the excellence of this disciple 
 will assist us to see in what ways and on what grounds 
 his approbation and love are to be sought and expect- 
 ed. Let us therefore consider a few things suggested 
 by this subject. 
 
 1. Faults of character, which are the result of strong 
 passions, should not discourage us. For these passions 
 are the motive power or the driving wheels in charac- 
 ter ; under control and well directed, they are indis- 
 pensable to the highest forms of excellence. James 
 and John and Simon Peter are illustrations and 
 proofs of this. But where the faults of character are 
 of a different kind, where they are defects, or deficien- 
 cies, there is far more room for apprehension. Want 
 of truthfulness, meanness, intense selfishness, are 
 alarming indications that there is as yet no solid basis 
 for a good character. These must be exchanged for 
 their opposites before we can begin to possess a 
 character which even men, and, which is of infi- 
 
218 
 
 CHRIST A FEIEND. 
 
 nitely more importance, the Searcher of hearts, can 
 approve. 
 
 Another thing which is taught us here is, — 
 2. Christ loves character as well as piety. Emo- 
 tions without good character and its fruits ; to say, 
 ' Lord, Lord,' and not to do the things which he says; 
 to call him ' Saviour,' and to dwell upon the pathetic 
 parts of his character and life, and not to keep his 
 commandments, must be revolting to him. It is so to 
 us. We have no respect for the feelings which people 
 cherish or express any further than they are the fruits 
 of goodness, or are confirmed and sustained by a good 
 character. We serve a Master who is to be the final 
 Judge of every human being, and will render to every 
 man according to his works. " All the churches shall 
 know that I am he which searcheth the reins and 
 hearts." He looks beneath our words and forms. We 
 must not obtrude upon him any sickly, hollow expres- 
 sions of love ; but let us endeavor each to be, as well 
 as to do, that which will lay the foundation for his 
 approval and friendship. Character, not piety alone, 
 character made by religion, is demanded of us. Hear 
 the beloved disciple on this point : " Hereby do we 
 know that we know him, if we keep his commandments, 
 and his commandments are not grievous." 
 
 But there is this further instruction in the love 
 of Christ for John. His preference of John, with 
 his contemplative mind, to Peter, teaches that 
 
JOHN. 219 
 
 3. Deep reflection and feeling are greatly appreciated 
 hy Christ. John was sufficiently a practical man ; he 
 was not sluggish, nor tame ; he labored for his gener- 
 ation, he rebuked the sins and errors of his day, and 
 suffered banishment for his zeal. But withal he was 
 of a contemplative, thoughtful turn ; things in the 
 Saviour's life struck him deeply which are either not 
 mentioned by the other evangelists, or are passed by 
 with a brief allusion. That last conversation and 
 prayer of Christ with his disciples are perfectly con- 
 genial with his habits of thought and feeling ; we see 
 the heart and mind of Christ more in John than in 
 the other evangelists ; their writings, as one expresses 
 it, are history, but his are mystery. The thoughts, the 
 conversation of such a friend must have been grateful 
 to Christ ; and above all, to such a listening pupil the 
 Saviour must have found it very pleasant to speak, for 
 he was sure to have in John one into whose deep heart 
 his thoughts descended, to be most fully appreciated 
 and reproduced. Nor was he disappointed. John's 
 Gospel was the last of the four narratives of the life 
 of Christ ; and without disparaging the rest, (for they 
 have their indispensable use as well as peculiar excel- 
 lence,) in certain frames of mind we are almost tempted 
 to say that " the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim 
 is better than the vintage of Abiezer." We are like 
 the ruler of the feast at Cana when he said, " Thou hast 
 kept the good wine until now." 
 
220 
 
 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 We must not take John, however, as a model man, 
 after whose pattern every character is to be wrought. 
 There is only one instance of perfect human character. 
 But, moreover, there are men of different and almost 
 opposite good qualities, who are indispensably useful. 
 For example, John, though beloved of Christ as a 
 companion and friend, might not have been so good an 
 apostle to the Gentiles as Paul ; yet Paul, whose Epis- 
 tle to the Eomans John could hardly have written, 
 could not have written parts of John's Gospel and his 
 Epistles so well as he. Paul himself found it neces- 
 sary to reprove the favoritism of the early Christians, 
 who insisted, some that one character and teacher were 
 preferable, while others were equally attached to dif- 
 ferent instructors and a different tone of doctrine. 
 Paul, in his parable of the members and senses of the 
 human body, teaches them and us that one apostle 
 can not be exalted as a model above another. 
 
 4. Christ can have peculiar affection for a particular 
 disciple. We are not in his view like the long and 
 uniformed ranks of soldiers to the eye of a military 
 commander. " He calleth his own sheep by name, and 
 leadeth them out ; " he knows the history, temptations, 
 trials, secret thoughts, character, and conduct of every 
 one of his friends. We can not be nor do any thing 
 which is right but he appreciates it fully, rejoices in 
 it, and will encourage and reward it. True, we can 
 not write a Gospel, but we can be the Gospel personi- 
 
JOHN. 221 
 
 fied by its inflilence on our hearts and lives. No other 
 disciple has just the opportunity to be and to do that 
 which belongs to each of us ; if faithful in our few 
 things, we shall gain the approbation of Christ ; if we 
 follow him, we shall be with him where he is ; if we 
 overcome, we shall sit with him on his throne. 
 
 We have in John an illustration of the Saviour's 
 power to honor and bless those on whom he sets his 
 love. Before he makes them honored and blessed, he 
 will show them how great things they must suffer 
 for his sake. John must go an exile to that bleak, 
 inhospitable Patmos, a picture of desolation and lone- 
 liness, as travelers have described it ; but there what 
 honors and joys await him ! There the Son of man 
 appears to him, who, when parted from him in Galilee, 
 left on his mind the impressions of the cross and the 
 tomb. But now he comes with insupportable glory 
 and majesty. He who once leaned on his bosom falls 
 at his feet as 'dead. " And he laid his right hand upon 
 me, saying unto me. Fear not ; I am the first and the 
 last ; I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I 
 am alive for evermore, Amen ; and have the keys of hell 
 and of death." Then he made disclosures to this be- 
 loved disciple of scenes and things, the like of which 
 had never been revealed before — the whole future 
 history of time, the heavenly world, the deeps of hell, 
 the final day, the judgment throne, the gathered race, 
 the end of the world. All these he was inspired to 
 
222 
 
 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 describe in language which furnishes the church of 
 God on earth with its conceptions of the things 
 unseen and eternal. He closes up the Bible with a 
 book which is the western sky of revelation, at once 
 gorgeous and beautiful, sublime and pathetic, a close 
 and a foretoken, a seal of one day, but full of signs 
 for the next. O greatly beloved ! what a life, what a 
 heaven, what an eternity are thine ! We go back and 
 read the beginning of all this glory and joy in these 
 simple words : " And Jesus, going on from thence, 
 saw other two brethren, James, the son of Zebedee, and 
 John, his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, 
 mending their nets ; and he called them. And they im- 
 mediately left the ship and their father, and followed 
 him." This leaving aU for Christ, of which the Sa- 
 viour so frequently speaks, this prompt, entire sur- 
 render of ourselves to him, brings enduring riches 
 and honor. Some who hear these words have a call 
 from Christ like that of John. If you should make 
 Christ your Friend, as he did, see in his history what 
 things Christ has prepared for them that love him. 
 
 The religious views of such a man as John, pre- 
 sented in a condensed form, must be of great value. 
 Such a presentation he has given us in three Epistles. 
 As we read them, we see what things, in the opinion 
 of such a man, are of chief interest and importance. 
 "We remember what were his opportunities to gain 
 instruction from the fountain head of truth. As we 
 
JOHN. 223 
 
 consider those writings, one thing which is interesting 
 and instructive is, that this disciple whom Jesus loved, 
 this ' perfect man,' as we must regard him, in the scrip- 
 tural sense of that expression, tells us in these Epis- 
 tles, " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive our- 
 selves, and the truth is not in us." " If we say that 
 we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word 
 is not in us." Every Christian may feel stronger 
 and take encouragement, as he hears one who leaned 
 on Jesus' bosom protest that he himself is a man of 
 like passions with us. 
 
 We discover in John's Epistles, that, in his view, 
 love is the sum and substance of all Christian duty. 
 His own heart is filled with it, and even to old age it 
 overflows toward his adorable Master, and to his fellow- 
 men. This he learned in the school of Christ This 
 was the effect of the Saviour's love to him. 
 
 "A scholar apt thou oam'st to be, 
 And loved'st mankind as Christ loved thee." 
 
 But while the burden of his Epistles is, " God is 
 love ; " " Behold what manner of love the Father hath 
 bestowed upon us ; " " Beloved, let us love one anoth- 
 er ; " no Apostle is more exclusive in his feelings and 
 words with regard to false teachers. It might be said 
 to him as Christ said through him to the church at 
 Ephesus, " I know thy works and thy patience, and 
 how thou canst not bear them which are evil." " But 
 
224 
 
 CHRIST A FHIEND. 
 
 this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the 
 Nicolaitans, which I also hate." The tradition that 
 John fled from a puhlic bath when he heard that 
 Cerinthus, a noted heretic, had been in it just before 
 him, is not in itself improbable, in view of all which 
 he says respecting 'antichrists,' 'deceivers,' 'them 
 that seduce you,' and in view of this passage in 
 his Second Epistle : " If there come any unto you, 
 and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your 
 house, neither bid him God speed." The effect of 
 clear and strong religious views in this Apostle was 
 to make him abhor false teachers. False liberality is 
 not only cruel in its effects — it is a bad sign in us ; no 
 man can have true apostolic views in religion and not 
 feel strongly against error. 
 
 What is love to God, love to Christ 1 How may I 
 know that I possess it 1 Were John upon the earth, 
 we would all go far to hear him answer these ques- 
 tions ; for who more than he is qualified to tell us 
 what is love 1 But we have in his Epistles a definition 
 of love, clear and concise. It is in his Second Epistle : 
 " And this is love, that we walk after his command- 
 ments." 
 
 No letter ever began more happily than his Third 
 Epistle, in these words : " The elder unto the well- 
 beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Beloved, I 
 wish above all things, that thou mayest prosper and 
 be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." ' I wish 
 
JOHN. 225 
 
 that you may be as happy as you are good.' Few of 
 us would be willing to be only as happy as we are 
 good. These words are full of meaning as you look 
 on the sick, leaning upon the Saviour's breast and 
 sweetly regarding his word, " tarry till I come : " — 
 " Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest 
 prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth." 
 Could these dear friends recover and dwell among us 
 with their present views and feelings, what hallowed 
 places would our families, our churches, our Christian 
 circles be ! Why shall we who survive fail to live as 
 we suppose they would ■? 
 
 " For us they languish, and for us they die ; 
 Ancf shall they languish, shall they die, in vain ? " 
 
 There are yet those who lean on Jesus' bosom ; it is a 
 place to which every soul may have access. One in a 
 neighboring town,* whom some of you followed to the 
 tomb yesterday, ' leaned her head, and breathed her life 
 out sweetly, there.' Her last articulate words were, 
 " Thy kingdom come." Sublime triumph of supreme 
 love to God, taking the place of the selfishness which 
 suffering frequently brings with it, and rising superior 
 even to natural affection, though stronger in death than 
 ever. We must take the religion of dying beds, the 
 elevation of faith, the purity of love, the uniformity 
 of peace, which we there witness, and make them the 
 
 * Marblehead : Oct. 28, 1854. 
 
226 
 
 CHRIST A FKIEND. 
 
 rule and manner of our life. We must, with John, 
 and with those from among us who inherit the prom- 
 ises, live near to Christ every day, by walking after 
 his commandments, " till we all come in the unity of 
 the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God 
 unto a perfect man, unto the measure df the stature 
 of the fullness of Christ," " and grow up into him in 
 all things, which is the head, even Christ." 
 
XI. 
 
 THOU SHALT NEVER WASH MY FEET. 
 
 FETEB 8AITH TJHTO HIM, THOTJ SHALT NBVEIl WASH MY PEET. JESUS AH- 
 SWEBED HIM, IP I WASH THEE NOT, THOTJ HAST NO PABT WITH ME. 
 
 -These words relate to one of the most surprising 
 acts of the Saviour's life. So incredible did it seem 
 that it excited in Peter, who seems to have spoken for 
 the rest, a feeling of opposition. It is supposed by 
 some that in washing the disciples' feet Christ began 
 with Peter. In his ardent and ready way he resisted 
 the approach of Christ as he came to kneel before 
 him and perform the act which none but menial ser- 
 vants ever did. Seeing the Saviour proceeding to 
 perform this act, it was the natural outbreak of his- 
 feelings of propriety, "Thou shalt never wash my 
 feet." Lesser acts of condescension and kindness 
 from our friends sometimes have a similar effect on 
 us ; our sense of fitness is violated when some who 
 are above us, or for whom we cherish great regard, in 
 the fullness of their love perform, or offer to perform, 
 
 (227) 
 
228 
 
 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 services which belong to other hands and to a different 
 station. Here was that Lord and Master whose di- 
 vine power and majesty the disciples had seen when he 
 opened blind eyes, healed lepers, cured the paralytics, 
 raised the dead, and curbed the rage of devils — the 
 great Messiah, the Son of the living God, the Teacher 
 to whom the multitudes had listened as they had 
 never listened to human lips, approaching with the 
 necessary preparations to wash the feet of Peter and 
 Iscariot, and the other disciples. " Then cometh he 
 to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto him. Lord, dost 
 thou wash my feet 1 Jesus answered, and said unto 
 him, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou 
 shalt know hereafter." This was not enough to over- 
 come the instinctive repugnance of the disciple ; that 
 repugnance had in a moment grown to resolute re- 
 sistance. " Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never 
 wash my feet." 
 
 Are we not sometimes conscious of feelings, and do 
 we not sometimes notice feelings in others, not unlike 
 those of Peter when he used these words 1 
 
 We have perhaps felt, and have heard others say, 
 that God can not be supposed to regard our little 
 affairs. An infinite Being, reigning over a universe, 
 a great God and a great King, it is not to be supposed, 
 some say or think, that he can hear our prayers, or 
 that he will concern himself about the circumstances 
 of poor, insignificant creatures like us. If we were 
 
THOU SHALT NEVER WASH MY FEET. 229 
 
 angels of his presence, we might expect some particu- 
 lar regard; but how can we suppose that he will 
 stoop to man, ' that is a worm, and to the son of man, 
 which is a worm 1 ' 
 
 But when we come to the work of redemption and 
 salvation, the hearts of men are prone to suggest fur- 
 ther difficulties. They sometimes object that the 
 plan of salvation is incredible, considering the dis- 
 tance between God and man. That the Word, who 
 was God, should be made flesh, that He who made all 
 things, being made flesh, should give himself up as a 
 sacrifice, that human guilt should be atoned for by 
 the offering up of his body once for all, is, with some, 
 too much even for faith ; and to some who admit all' 
 this without much reflection, the gospel which con- 
 tains these mysteries of condescension is like magnifi- 
 cent fables which they have never investigated, having 
 the feeling still that it must be something exaggerated. 
 It is the language of embellishment — of a glowing 
 zeal — of rhetorical preaching ; it never can be true 
 in a literal sense. There seems to be an impossibility 
 in the nature of things that God should show such 
 love and condescension to men ; and, having come to 
 this conclusion, many do not receive the gospel, and 
 for that reason. We have met with some who ex- 
 pressed the wish that the idea of the gospel could be 
 stated to them in a more simple manner as to its 
 facts ; for the representations of the love of Christ to 
 
;230 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 men which they hear from the pulpit they can not but 
 regard as far beyond the truth. We should all prob- 
 ably be surprised to know to what extent and in what 
 great variety this feeling exists in the minds of many 
 estimable hearers of the gospel. The preaching of 
 Christ and him crucified, with its representations of 
 love and compassion, has no effect upon them, for this 
 reason — that, while they do not accuse us of misrep- 
 resentation, they have no ideas respecting the conde- 
 scension and love of God to which these representa- 
 tions can make an effectual appeal. There is yet no 
 staple in the mind to which this link can attach itself, 
 and therefore it is that the preaching of Christ and 
 him crucified, has so little effect on many serious 
 hearers. They do not feel their guilt and condemna- 
 tion to be such as to require and warrant all which 
 has been done to save them. When they awake to a 
 proper knowledge of sin, its intrinsic guilt, its conse- 
 quences, and the natural difficulty in the way of par- 
 don, all the condescension and love of Christ, all his 
 sufferings and his death, seem justified by the worth 
 of the soul and its redemption. It has never become, 
 as yet, a part of their knowledge that there is really 
 any such feeling on the part of God and Christ 
 toward sinners as the gospel represents. This knowl- 
 edge, or the entrance of this idea, is like the opening 
 of the eyes of one who had been born blind. In no 
 other way than this can you account for the total 
 
THOU SHALT NEVEfi WASH MY FEET. 231 
 
 insensibility with which many well-disposed hearers 
 listen for years to the preaching of the gospel. They 
 wish to be instructed, they wish to believe, they wish 
 to be save8. You wonder why they are not at once 
 melted by the story of a Saviour's love, why they 
 need to hear it the second time before they are in- 
 fluenced by it, and how they can hear it for years and 
 not be moved. The reason, let it be repeated, is in 
 many cases this — with a ready consent to the general 
 trulftis of religion, some have no idea of the condescen- 
 sion and love of Christ, chiefly because they do not feel 
 their need of such compassion as the gospel describes, 
 and also because it seems impossible for the great 
 God and Saviour to have such feelings toward them. 
 Therefore, all that is said of the love of Christ, and 
 of his sacrifice for them, is hardly regarded by them 
 with more emotion than if you should tell a young 
 child, for example, that an emperor had expressed a 
 strong desire for the child's happiness, or any other 
 representation which the child can not appreciate, 
 partly because it feels no need of such regard, and 
 partly because it could not conceive or believe that a 
 distant and great personage should feel any concern 
 about a child in a foreign land. Thus, with many, 
 the infinite compassion and love of God and Christ 
 toward them is something of which they have never 
 yet felt their need, and th^efore concerning which 
 they have no faith. 
 
232 
 
 CHRIST A FRIEND 
 
 This appears in a still more striking manner in the 
 feelings and conduct of such persons when they are 
 at last awakened to a proper knowledge of their 
 sinfulness, and their need of something tt? reconcile 
 them to God. It is known to every one who has ever 
 seen or heard of such cases, how long we seek in vain 
 for something to satisfy an awakened and guilty con- 
 science — how we try repentance, and reformation, 
 and prayer, and various methods, to find favor with 
 God, but in vain. The complaint is, that we have 
 not felt enough, have not made up the required sum 
 of acceptable feelings, or the feelings are not suflfi-. 
 ciently pure and good ; and this, too, in those who 
 have always listened to the preaching of the gospel. 
 We may well ask why they do not recur instantly to 
 the free pardon procured by atoning blood. When 
 we are sick, and know what will cure, we think at 
 once of the remedy, and resort to it. " Is there no 
 balm in Gilead ] is there no physician there 1 " Yes ; 
 and the sinner has heard of them his life long. The 
 way of salvation has been explained, illustrated, en- 
 forced ; but he tries every other means of relief before 
 he comes to Christ. Still he does not understand, it 
 has never been revealed to his mind, how Christ feels 
 toward him. He feels guilty and unworthy, and he 
 supposes, naturally enough, that God has the same 
 aversion to him which he feels to himself; and the 
 idea that the Saviour loved him and gave himself foi 
 
THOU SHALT NEVER WASH MY FEET. 233 
 
 him, is yet beyond his apprehension ; and, generally, 
 the only way in which it is at last received is, the 
 sinner submits to God without knowing how God can 
 forgive sin. We do not understand the way of justi- 
 fication by grace through faith alone till, in the act 
 of complying with it, it is disclosed to us ; " for flesh 
 and blood hath not revealed it." The Holy Ghost 
 takes the things which are Christ's and shows them 
 unto us. Cowper, in his experience, expressed this 
 sinful ignorance of the haman mind with regard to 
 the plan of justification by grace up to the moment 
 of unconditional submission: — 
 
 " Thus, afraid to trust his grace, 
 
 Long time did I rebel, 
 Till, despairing of my case, 
 
 Down at his feet I fell ; 
 Then my stubborn heart he broke. 
 
 And subdued me to his sway ; 
 With a single word he spoke, — 
 
 ' Thy sins are done" away.' " 
 
 Thus the sinner is forced to believe that God loves 
 him, and that the Saviour has had compassion on him, 
 and died for him in particular, as well as for the whole 
 world. " Who loved me, and gave himself for me." 
 
 If all who hear the gospel with a serious mind 
 really believed and felt all which they hear of the 
 infinite love and condescension of Christ to them, the 
 gospel would have more eflFect than we now witness. 
 
236 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 abased very low before we can understand the char- 
 acter of Christ. He that rode into Jerusalenj, sitting 
 upon an ass's colt, meek, and bringing salvation ; he that 
 received sinners, and ate with them ; he that called a 
 wicked publican and extortioner from a tree, and before 
 the people said, " I must abide at thy house," — acts on 
 principles with which our poor notions of propriety can 
 not square ; and we, like many in his day, are tempted 
 to go away and walk no more with him. We need, 
 as they did, to hear him say, " And blessed is he who- 
 soever shall not be offended in me." We need to 
 accept this gracious invitation, " Take my yoke upon 
 you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, 
 and ye shall find rest unto your souls." It may be 
 said with truth to many, You are not willing to admit 
 that Christ feels towards you as he does ; you do not 
 in your thoughts permit him to suffer and die for you, 
 as he came from heaven to do. 
 
 Come, then, let us go together, and look into that 
 manger at Bethlehem, and see the mystery of the 
 incarnation — God manifested in the flesh. Feel not 
 that you condescend in doing so. The multitude of 
 the heavenly hosts have been there before you ; their 
 song lingers in the air, " Glory to God in the highest, 
 and on earth peace, good will towards men." Say 
 now, as you look at God manifest in the flesh, lying 
 in that humble state. Was it for you that this is 
 done ? No, you are tempted to say, it was for the 
 
THOU SHALT NEVER WASH MY FEET. 237 
 
 world. Here is your mistake. That life was mani- 
 fested, that babe was born, that God manifest in the 
 fleish lies there, for you, and for no other more than for 
 you. The feeling is, perhaps, I can not permit this ; 
 I am willing that this should take place for the world. 
 You must be willing that it should all be done for 
 you. You must do in faith to that infant, that which 
 an aged saint did eight days after in the temple, — 
 in the exercise of faith, you must, as it were, take 
 up that child Jesus into your arms, and say with 
 Simeon, " Mine eyes have seen thy salvation." 
 
 Go with me again, and what do we behold ] Three 
 men asleep, and at a distance from them, beneath those 
 aged olive trees, from a prostrate form, we hear this cry : 
 " O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me 
 except I drink it, thy will be done." An angel comes 
 to him amid the daikaess^of the night, to cheer th.e'fyurtrhj 
 intenser darkness of his soul. Angel, tell us why it is ^%ijl 
 necessary that he should drink that cup ; he can not 
 bear it ; the thought of it convulses his frame ; there 
 at rest, there on the ground, there in the cold night air, 
 the thought of it makes him sweat, as it were, great 
 drops of blood falling from him. Why must he drink 
 that cup \ The answer, as true as any which could 
 be given, is this : He must drink it, O man, for you. 
 This is the burden of your guilt; these woes are part 
 of the ransom for your soul. Are you willing ] Shall 
 he drink it for you \ 
 
236 CHRIST A FKIEND. 
 
 abased very low before we can understand the char- 
 acter of Christ. He that rode into Jerusalem, sitting 
 upon an ass's colt, meek, and bringing salvation ; he that 
 received sinners, and ate with them ; he that called a 
 wicked publican and extortioner from a tree, and before 
 the people said, " I must abide at thy house," — acts on 
 principles with which our poor notions of propriety can 
 not square ; and we, like many in his day, are tempted 
 to go away and walk no more with him. "We need, 
 as they did, to hear him say, " And blessed is he who- 
 soever sh-all not be offended in me." We need to 
 accept this gracious invitation, " Take my yoke upon 
 you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, 
 and ye shall find rest unto your souls." It may be 
 said with truth to many, You are not willing to admit 
 that Christ feels towards you as he does ; you do not 
 in your thoughts permit him to suffer and die for you, 
 as he came from heaven to do. 
 
 Come, then, let us go together, and look into that 
 manger at Bethlehem, and see the mystery of the 
 incarnation — God manifested in the flesh. Feel not 
 that you condescend in doing so. The multitude of 
 the heavenly hosts have been there before you ; their 
 song lingers in the air, " Glory to God in the highest, 
 and on earth peace, good will towards men." Say 
 now, as you look at God manifest in the flesh, lying 
 in that humble state. Was it for you that this is 
 done? No, you are tempted to say, it was for the 
 
THOU SHALT NEVER WASH MY FEET. 237 
 
 world. Here is your mistake. That life was mani- 
 fested, that babe was born, that God manifest in the 
 flqsh lies there, for you, and for no other more than for 
 you. The feeling is, perhaps, I can not permit this ; 
 I am willing that this should take place for the world. 
 You must be willing that it should all be done for 
 you. You must do in faith to that infant, that which 
 an aged saint did eight days after in the temple, — 
 in the exercise of faith, you must, as it were, take 
 up that child Jesus into your arms, and say with 
 Simeon, " Mine eyes have seen thy salvation." 
 
 Go with me again, and what do we behold ■? Three 
 men asleep, and at a distance from them, beneath those 
 aged olive trees, from a prostrate form, we hear this cry : 
 " O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me 
 except I drink it, thy will be done." An angel comes 
 to him amid the dadSBeas^of the night, to cheev the 'lyutrh j 
 intenser darkness of his soul. Angel, tell us why it is '-' 'rl/f 
 necessary that he should drink that cup; he can not 
 bear it ; the thought of it convulses his frame ; there 
 at rest, there on the ground, there in the cold night air, 
 the thought of it makes him sweat, as it were, great 
 drops of blood falling from him. Why must he drink 
 that cup ] The answer, as true as any which could 
 be given, is this : He must drink it, O man, for you. 
 This isthe burden of your guilt ; these woes are part 
 of the ransom for your soul. Are you willing 1 Shall 
 he drink it for you ] 
 
238 
 
 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 Stand yet nearer to a more affecting scene. That 
 cup is at his lips. They have scourged him, crowned 
 him with thorns, blindfolded him, buffeted him, led 
 him to Calvary, nailed him to the tree ; he is dying. 
 For whom is he dying] For that centurion? that 
 scribe, that Mary Magdalene, that man with the 
 sponge raising it to his dying lips'? No, not for 
 them any more than for one who was to live eighteen 
 hundred years after, and who at this moment hears 
 me put this question to him. Are you willing to be- 
 lieve that that death was all for you 1 Do you grate- 
 fully acknowledge this 1 Say not, It is for the world, 
 and not for me. Where do you expect to be when the 
 world is at his bar ? You will not be there, perhaps ? 
 Surely you will be there ; and who will need more than 
 you to hear the Judge answer, " Come, ye blessed ; " 
 whose soul is more precious than yours; to whom will 
 Heaven be more than to you, or who can dwell with 
 the devouring fire, who can dwell with everlasting 
 burnings, with less of woe than you ; and, therefore, 
 whom of all our sinful race should God love rather 
 than you'? 
 
 If by the grace of God we could awaken in the 
 mind of any one the feeling, " He loved me, and gave 
 himself for me," if you would sincerely and fully 
 admit to yourself, ' All this is for me, as much as for 
 the world ; I will recognize Christ as mine ; I wiU 
 appropriate his coming from heaven, his agony, his 
 
THOU SHALT NEVER WASH MY FEET. 239 
 
 death ; no one shall lessen my part in Christ ; he is 
 all mine^aiid I will feel toward him and act accord- 
 ingly,' — we should hope that the Son of God had won 
 a triumph that would be told in heaven, and repeated 
 in your songs of praise forever. It must be so, it 
 must come to this ; as you will feel and admit, when 
 you consider the reply which Christ made to Peter's 
 unwillingness to receive his act of grace. 
 
 For we may consider Christ as addressing to you 
 substantially the reply which he made to Peter, " If I 
 wash thee not, thou hast no part with me." But ob- 
 serve here, it was not the mere washing of the feet, 
 of course, that Christ meant, or that would benefit 
 Peter. It was receiving Christ as a condescending 
 Saviour, signified by letting Christ wash his feet, 
 which was to save Peter's soul. He seems to say to 
 him, 'I know it appears to you great condescension, 
 that I should wash your feet, but this is a small part 
 of the lesson which you are to learn with regard to my 
 condescension. I shall stoop to the lowest hell to 
 raise. you up ; no tongue can tell what I am to do and 
 endure for you, what sacrifice, what sufferings, I must 
 bear for you. Do not stumble nor be offended at this 
 washing of your feet ; this is nothing to that which 
 you will hereafter see and feel that I have done for 
 you ; " for what I do thou knowest not now, but thou 
 shalt know hereafter." You must submit to me, and to 
 my love for you ; you are to be saved through infinite 
 
240 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 condescension ; and now, if you begin to resist my 
 love and my condescension, when I coma with this 
 first aflfecting instance of it, you can not be saved; 
 " If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me." ' 
 
 It is interesting to read some of Peter's words in 
 his Epistles, when he had experienced the truth of the 
 Saviour's promise, " What I do thou knowest not 
 now, but thou shalt know hereafter." In his recov- 
 ery from a grievous fall, in the kindness and love of 
 Christ toward him after his resurrection, and on the 
 sea shore " when they had dined," in the fulfillment 
 of his Master's assurance to him of eminent usefulness 
 as a foundation stone of the Christian church, and 
 in the wonderful gift to him of the Holy Ghost in the 
 Saviour's name, Peter had found that the washing of 
 the disciples' feet by their Lord and Master was no 
 longer to be regarded with incredulous wonder, nor to 
 be resisted as transcending their ideas of what was 
 proper and right. Subdued by the gentleness and 
 consideration in the Saviour's treatment of him, discov- 
 ering, in a very short space of time after the ascension, 
 the great plan of forgiveness through a sufiering. Re- 
 deemer, and inspired to preach Jesus and the remis- 
 sion of sins, he saw that the Saviour kneeling and 
 washing his sinful feet had been so far surpassed in 
 his experience of the Saviour's kindness to him, that 
 the promise, " What I do, thou shalt know hereafter," 
 was most abundantly fulfilled. So that in his Epistles 
 
THOU SHALT NEVER WASH MY FEET. 241 
 
 his soul glows like the sky into which the sun throws 
 back all his radiance. " Whom, having not seen, ye 
 love ; " " the precious blood of Christ ; " "a living 
 stone ; " " chosen of God ; " " he is precious ; " " bare 
 our sins in his own body on the tree ; " " Shepherd and 
 Bishop of your souls ; " " the just for the unjust ; " 
 "gone into heaven, angels, authorities, and powers 
 being made subject unto him ; " " to him be glory 
 and dominion forever and ever." 
 
 We are to spend eternity, if saved, under a dispen- 
 sation of infinite love. The mind is lost in thinking 
 what manifestations of kindness and love are to be 
 made to us in heaven, judging from our experience as 
 Christians in this world. " Beloved, now are we the 
 sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we 
 shall be." This act of Christ — his washing the dis- 
 ciples' feet — seems to have been the opening scene in 
 that mystery of love which was leading him to the 
 cross. One object and one effect of it was, indeed, to 
 give the disciples a lesson of brotherly love. This 
 was a subordinate object. The narrative is introduced 
 with these words : " Having loved his own which 
 were in the world, he loved them unto the end." 
 We were niade and redeemed to be loved, " that in 
 the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches 
 of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ 
 Jesus." To be in heaven forever, — to be loved as the 
 Father, and" the Son, and the Holy Ghost alone can 
 
 31 C 
 
'2i2 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 love, — to experience the full and yet growing tide of 
 that which we have experienced in our awakening, our 
 conversion, our progress in sanctification, in being 
 kept from falling, and in communion with God here, 
 will be an eternal weight of glory. Will the love of 
 Christ end with our salvation from hell 1 ' Having 
 loved his own which were in the world, he will 
 
 love them unto ' O, what shall we say 1 There 
 
 wall be no end. " O, give thanks unto the Lord of 
 lords ; for his mercy endureth forever ; " " who re- 
 membered us in our low estate ; for his mercy en- 
 dureth forever." He who began his peculiar mani- 
 festations of love by washing his disciples' feet, and 
 finished by dying for us on the cross, will know you 
 personally, speak to you, love you, admit you to 
 greater intimacy with him than you enjoy here, and 
 do things for you which will express a love and kind- 
 ness equal to that which was expressed in washing 
 the disciples' feet. Well said the beloved John, " It 
 doth not yet appear what we shall be." As a man 
 of immense wealth, about to be married, pours upon 
 his bride a profusion of gifts, searches the treasures 
 of France and Italy for something worthy of his love 
 for her, spares no expense in fitting up his mansion 
 and its environs to please her, so the Lamb's wife will 
 receive from her Lord expressions of affection, the 
 sight of which, now, would make us feel like the 
 Queen of Sheba, when, at the overpowering splendor 
 
THOU SHALT NEVER WASH MY FEET. 243 
 
 of Solomon, " there was no more spirit in her." You 
 are going to be a king and priest unto God. All 
 that Christ did for you by dying will be exceeded by 
 what he will do for you by his life. Eecall that four- 
 fold use of the term, " much more," in the fifth of 
 Romans, where Paul teaches us what the past history 
 of redemption may lead us to expect. The love of 
 Christ did not reach the last climax of its manifesta- 
 tion when he died ; there is more to come, of which 
 his death was only the beginning. We are " begotten 
 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." These are the words of the man 
 who once said to his Saviour, " Thou shalt never wash 
 my feet." 
 
 The word of Christ is true concerning each of us : 
 " If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me." 
 We must have feelings toward Christ responding to 
 his feelings toward us, receive him as a Redeemer, 
 being willing to confess our infinite need of him, and 
 apply to him even for those feelings toward himself 
 which we ought spontaneously to cherish, but which 
 it is our deepest shame and the most affecting proof 
 of our ruin that we do not possess. Pride alone will 
 keep us from thus applying to him. But what a con- 
 trast have we here — a proud sinner, and a Saviour 
 willing to wash his feet ! 
 
244 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 I have before me a message to one of you from a 
 dying friend. It seems to me the most affecting mes- 
 sage I ever heard from dying lips. I shall violate no 
 secrecy if I deliver it in public, though I need not 
 mention the name of the friend. The message is in 
 these words : " Do this in remembrance of me." * 
 
 Is this all 1 I hear you say. Yes, it is all which 
 will be of any lasting interest or importance. When 
 you see that dying Friend upon the great white 
 throne, and the earth and the heavens flee away, 
 " Do this in remembrance of me " will involve all 
 that will be of any consequence to you. And can 
 you slight him'? Shall he be born, live, die, rise 
 again, for you, and must he plead with you, or need to 
 ask you more than once, " Remember me " 1 You 
 will hereafter and forever remember him. In heaven 
 he will be to you "the light thereof;" in hell your 
 sorest pain will be that you remember him. Consider 
 what you have heard ; accept him as he stoops to 
 love and save you. Soon he will stoop thus no 
 longer, but must lay aside those signs of condescen- 
 sion wherewith he has girded himself, and put on 
 robes of judgment. Remember his word — "If I 
 wash thee not, thou hast no part with me." 
 
 * Communion Sabbath, November 6, 1853. 
 
xn. 
 
 PAUL. 
 
 'WHO LOTEU ME, AND aATE HIM8ELP fOS Jf E. 
 
 The friendship of Christ would seem to have reached 
 the highest possible summit in this world in the case 
 of the Apostle Paul. This, however, was not owing 
 to any difference in the natural endowments of the 
 Apostle from those of other men. When natural gifts 
 are joined with great moral qualities, and both are un- 
 der the influence of religion, it is true there is, in one 
 sense,, more to love than in one of inferior capacity 
 and acquirements. But sincere piety, in connection 
 with humble talents and attainments, secures for its 
 possessor the love of Christ in a proportion beyond 
 the mere ratio of comparative greatness, as men would 
 reckon it ; for He who, looking at the heart, regards 
 the intention, the motive, the desire, loves a humble 
 woman casting all her living, in the form of a farthing, 
 into his treasury, with an affection as strong of its 
 kind as that excited by the love and service of the 
 
 21* f245^ 
 
246 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 angel. If any are disposed to question this, we may 
 ask if they have ever loved a little child ; and if they 
 have, vi^hether that love was at all in proportion to intel- 
 lect or attainments. It is an interesting and encoura- 
 ging feature in the grace of God, that the degree of love 
 which we excite in him is not dependent upon natural 
 gifts, nor upon attainments differing with circumstances 
 over which we have no control. So far as natural gifts 
 and acquirements enable a man to love and serve God, 
 so far, and no farther, do they make a difference in his 
 love to us. Nothing is meritorious unless it be volun- 
 tary. The natural gifts which God bestows, and every 
 thing which is merely the result of accidental advan- 
 tages, confer no merit ; but the voluntary choice, the 
 heartfelt consecration, the all-absorbing love excite a 
 corresponding regard and love in him, to whom the 
 difference in understanding or learning among men is 
 of small importance, but who looks at the heart. It 
 was because the Apostle had a heart which swayed his 
 mighty intellect, and brought his great soul into full 
 subjection to his God and Saviour, that he was a pe- 
 culiar object of love with Christ. As a Friend, Christ 
 appears in his preeminent excellence in connection 
 with him whom we join with Peter and claim as " our 
 beloved brother Paul ; " for if we but love and serve 
 his Redeemer, there is no one of us whom this great 
 servant of Christ would not be happy to own as a 
 brother and friend, and without condescension ; for 
 
PAUL. 247 
 
 these are the words of his adorable Master and ours : 
 "He that doeth the will df my Father which is in 
 heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and 
 mother." 
 
 There are three things which set forth Christ as a 
 Friend to the great Apostle to the GentUes. One is, 
 The forbearance and long suffering of Christ toward 
 Paul previous to his conversion. 
 
 The Good Shepherd saw that wolf in his fold, with 
 no earthly hinderance between him and the entire de- 
 struction of the flock. It was a little flock — a flock 
 just gathered from a waste, howling wilderness ; and 
 for their inexperience, well might we call them a flock 
 of lambs. Every thing in their circumstances was 
 suited to awaken the tender compassion of Christ, 
 many of them having forsaken all things to follow 
 him, in the face of contempt and persecution. Shall 
 the church, purchased with his own blood, perish iu 
 its infancy 1 " Where is thy zeal, and thy strength, 
 and the sounding of thy bowels, and of thy mercies 
 toward her 1 Are they restrained V It is not an 
 injured emperor, his throne in peril, who seeks to sup- 
 press a powerful faction ; it is a private man, arming 
 himself with the civil and spiritual authority which was 
 indeed glad to find such an instrument ; and gratifying 
 his vindictive rage, he went perhaps as far as any in- 
 quisitor even of the Romish church has evej been 
 borne by his passion against heretics. " He made 
 
248 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 havoc of the church ; " a doom was on every head, 
 panic in every heart. " Hfe entered into every house." 
 The sanctuary of home afforded no protection ; the 
 family circle at morning and evening prayer was 
 broken up by his ruthless presence ; the father was 
 dragged from his knees, the mother from the side of 
 the child kneeling with her, to prison. He " perse- 
 cuted them even to strange cities ; " groups were seen 
 consulting in haste, at the places where several roads 
 met, which way to flee most surely from this besom 
 of destruction. " He was exceedingly mad against 
 them" — transported with rage, furious, heeding no 
 prayer or tears, while he punished them in all the sjti- 
 agogues with all the variety of torture peculiar to 
 every city ; and when they were put to death he " gave 
 his voice against them ; " and more than this, — for it 
 must have been their sorest affliction, — he " compelled 
 them to blaspheme." On the rack and in the flames," 
 some of them abjured that sacred name wherewith 
 they were called, their forced renunciation of their 
 faith in many cases, no doubt, whetting his zeal and 
 confirming his persuasion that he was doing God ser- 
 vice. The witnesses who proceeded against Stephen, 
 when they put aside their upper, loose garments to 
 throw the stones, laid those garments for safe keeping 
 at the feet of some responsible, prominent individual, 
 who, i\). this case, was not a high priest, nor the ruler 
 of a synagogue, but a young student of the law, whose 
 
PAUL. 249 
 
 character and talents, and withal whose proficiency in 
 the Jews' religion above those who were his equals, 
 made him a centre of attraction and object of public 
 confidence^ so that in the whole excited city he was 
 marked out as the chief accessory in that martyrdom, 
 by the confidential act, on the part of the witnesses, of 
 laying their raiment at his feet. Making good the 
 promise of his early zeal, he was fast hastening to root 
 out the religion of Christ from the earth ; for with the 
 disposition which he every where found to help him, 
 and the unbounded terms of his commission from the 
 high priest, and considering how he afterward labored 
 in a good cause, there seems to have been nothing but 
 the direct interposition of God to save the infant church 
 from utter destruction. All this time He who loved 
 the church, and gave himself for it, needed only to 
 speak the word, and summon the blasphemer and per- 
 secutor to his bar, and give his people rest. However 
 some may extenuate his guilt, he himself is the most 
 credible witness as to its enormity. 
 
 He calls himself the " chief of sinners ; " he as- 
 cribes his salvation to mere " mercy," and regards 
 himself as " a pattern of all long suflfering" on the 
 part of Christ. Notwithstanding the history of his 
 people abounded with instances of fearful judgments 
 upon bold transgressors, and notwithstanding his sin 
 was aimed directly at Christ, and he was doing " many 
 things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth," 
 
250 CHRIST A FKIEND. 
 
 and while there never could have been a more press- 
 ing necessity for arresting the arm of a persecutor, 
 and the faith and patience of the saints could never 
 have been put to a greater trial, yet that injured Sa- 
 viour, whose love for his friends is such that whoso 
 shall give a cup of cold water only, even to the least 
 of them, in his name, shall not lose his reward, spared 
 this offender, interceded for him, and came to him 
 at length over the mountains of his transgression, 
 to make him his friend. 
 
 Nothing seems to have affected Paul more than the 
 Saviour's long suffering toward him. He could not 
 account for it when he thought merely of himself, and 
 therefore he says, " Howbeit for this cause I obtained 
 mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth 
 a pattern of all long suffering to them who should 
 hereafter believe on him to life everlasting." But if 
 this relieves the difiiculty in the mind of Paul, it 
 only enlarges our view of the long suffering of God, 
 seeing that his purpose in this instance was to teach 
 men every where, and in all times, how he suffers long 
 with great sinners, and is not willing that any should 
 perish, but that all should come to repentance. Well 
 may the prophet exclaim, " Who is a God like unto 
 .thee, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and 
 passing by the offences of his heritage." 
 
 In Christ as a Friend to Paul, we notice further, 
 The method by which he was arrested and brought 
 to repentance. 
 
PAUL. 251 
 
 There are three things in it, each of which is re- 
 markable. In the first place, Christ arrested the 
 attention of Paul by putting a question to him. 
 This implies a treaty ; it says, " Come now and let us 
 reason together ; " it gives the ofiender liberty to 
 answer in his own behalf; " declare thou, that thou 
 mayest be justified." Was this done in the case of 
 Belshazzar 1 The hand- writing on the wall contained 
 no question, waited for no answer ; that was the lan- 
 guage of doom ; it was the finger of despair. To 
 endure the impious rage of this blasphemer so long 
 in silence, and, when that silence was at last broken, 
 to break it with a question addressed to him, is mercy 
 which is above the heavens. But, 
 
 In the second place, the Saviour wrought a miracle 
 for Paul's conviction. The light at midday, above the 
 brightness of the sun, left no room for doubt or un- 
 belief; no long probation, no contest in his mind, 
 ensued; no parable was uttered, to be received or 
 rejected; no prophet met him with a threatening 
 which he might believe or spurn ; a light above the 
 brightness of the sun brought instant conviction to 
 his mind. This was loving kindness and tender mercy. 
 Yet both these manifestations of goodness in the 
 Saviour's method of procedure with him were sur- 
 passed by this : — 
 
 Thirdly, Christ used the language of remonstrance 
 with his persecutor. B«monstrance among men im- 
 
'252 CHRIST A FKIEND. 
 
 plies power in the party addressed. We do not 
 remonstrate with one whose will is in our control, one 
 who is subject to our command. It also implies a sense 
 of injury on our part, and a desire to be redressed ; 
 reason, instead of force, is employed to obtain it. The 
 language that came from heaven to Paul on the way 
 to Damascus would have come well from a victim in 
 the flames to his tormentor ; from an injured wife to 
 a cruel husband ; from a pious slave to a brutal mas- 
 ter. David, fleeing from Saul, uses the same tone of 
 address which the Son of David uses in speaking to 
 this second Saul. " And David said to Saul, I have 
 not sinned against thee ; yet thou huntest my soul 
 to take it." So spake the Lord of life and glory from 
 his throne to his pursuer : " Saul, Saul, why perse- 
 cutest thou me 'i " He pleads with him ; he appeals 
 to him ; he leaves it with him, as it were, to say if 
 this is right : Have I done you any injury 1 Will you 
 continue to be my enemy 1 There is that in God 
 which corresponds to humility in man. We fear to 
 use that word to express it, yet there is no other. To 
 read the prophets and hear God expostulating with 
 wicked men, justifying himself, asking them to do 
 him justice, is enough to break a heart of stone. No 
 better illustration than this is to be found of that 
 great truth which is the glory of the divine adminis- 
 tration, the perfect free agency of intelligent beings. 
 God does not govern us by force, as he governs the 
 
PAUL. 253 
 
 seas and winds ; he treats us as intelligent and free, 
 and therefore appeals to us, and seeks to influence us 
 as upright men do their fellow-creatures. We have 
 this principle of the divine government illustrated in 
 its full power in the treatment of Saul of Tarsus. 
 " Why per^ecutest thou me 1 " 
 
 In a single word of warning which Christ at last 
 addressed to him, we see a spirit of forbearance and 
 kindness mingling with the appeal to his reason. 
 Jesus does not threaten him, but suggests trouble and 
 failure as the result of his conduct, bringing to his 
 thoughts that instrument used for fortification, the 
 piece of timber traversed by sharp iron points, which 
 stops a breach in the wall, the cheval-de-frise, and he 
 lets Saul see himself as one who vents his rage with 
 his foot against those spikes. Thus, to the end, mercy 
 rejoices against judgment ; the sun makes the traveler 
 to Damascus throw away the garments which the 
 wind and storm would have made him keep. 
 
 It is a consideration of great importance that the first 
 impressions of the Saviour on the mind of the great 
 Apostle were those of kindness and love. If an ene- 
 my is to be subdued, and more especially if you expect 
 to he on terms of great intimacy with him afterward, 
 it is all-important that the way in which he is subdued 
 should leave nothing to rankle in his memory. Paul, 
 therefore, could not think of himself as frowned upon 
 or spoken to with severity ; but his regenerated soul 
 
254: CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 waked into the light of life in some sense like Adam 
 in Paradise, whose first moments of consciousness 
 were associated always in his mind with nature bend- 
 ing around him with interest and love. There is 
 infinite wisdom in this method of securing the future 
 ardent love of this Apostle. Who, with a heart even 
 of common mould, could have failed ever after to say, 
 " I count all things but loss for the excellency of 
 the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I 
 have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them 
 but dung that I may win Christ." " I am ready not to 
 be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the 
 name of the Lord Jesus." Once more : — 
 
 Christ appears a Friend to Paul, In making him pre- 
 eminently useful. 
 
 He employed him as the first herald of salvation to 
 the Gentile world. He counted him worthy to suffer 
 for his sake ; and it is not every one who can be trusted 
 to suffer. But Christ was such a Friend to Paul that 
 in the very first lines of his commission we read, " I 
 will show him how great things he must suffer for 
 my sake." The description of his sufferings several 
 years afterward, including the number of times that 
 he was beaten with rods, stoned, shipwrecked, his life 
 in peril by sea, and in fording streams, and from rob- 
 bers, and in the wilderness, and in the city, and from 
 false brethren, his weariness and painfulness, his 
 
PAUL. 
 
 255 
 
 hunger and thirst, his watchings often, his cold and 
 nakedness, enough to appall every heart where love to 
 Christ, which is the strongest of all passions, does not 
 reign, is followed by saying, " I take pleasure in in- 
 firmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions 
 and distresses, for Christ's sake ; for when I am weak, 
 then am I strong." Eternal sources of joy in heaven 
 are opened to him in his. consciousness of supreme 
 love to his Redeemer ; nor would he, for all the honors 
 of earth, part with the recollection of one of his great 
 sufferings in the missionary cause. He tells us of his 
 crown. " Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown 
 of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, 
 shall give me at that day." Paul's crown must be an 
 object of great interest. Some of you have seen the 
 crown of the British monarch with the royal jewels. 
 How many of them would make one crown of equal 
 value with his 1 How many British realms, how 
 many worlds, would buy that crown'? Yet see the 
 beautiful humility of this man. He seems unwilling 
 to think of himself as a crowned head, and deprecat- 
 ing that distinction, he says, "And not to me only, but 
 unto all them also that love his appearing." There 
 is truth as well as humility in this ; for the crowns 
 of all who love and serve Christ in such a way that 
 they " love his appearing," will leave their possessors 
 nothing to desire except that they had begun earlier 
 in life to love and serve Christ, and with more faith 
 
256 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 and zeal had been able more constantly to say, " The 
 life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith 
 of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself 
 for me." 
 
 We have entered upon a theme to which there 
 seems to be no end — the friendship of Christ for his 
 servant Paul. He appeared to him so many times 
 that the Apostle speaks of the abundance of the 
 revelations, standing by him and bidding him, " Be of 
 good cheer ; I have much people in this city ; " 
 relating to him his institution of the sacrament of 
 the supper ; inspiring him with matchless power of 
 reasoning and eloquence; employing him to write a 
 large portion of the Bible, containing the most im- 
 portant exposition of the doctrines of the gospel ; 
 making him the founder of churches ; taking him up 
 for a season into the third heavens, as though he 
 could not wait for the time of his decease, but must 
 show him beforehand his own glory and his servant's 
 future joy ; and giving him in the Christian church, 
 throughout all ages, the name most honored of all the 
 followers of the Lamb. "When Christ sets his love 
 upon a man, what a Friend is he ! " His favor is life ; 
 his loving kindness is better than life." 
 
 Now that we have considered the mighty tide of 
 honor and joy which constitutes the history, past, 
 present, and future, of Paul, let us for a moment 
 stand together, or rather, like the men who discovered 
 
PAUL. 257 
 
 the sources of the Missouri, let us kneel and worship 
 at the simple headspring of all this greatness. What 
 is it but this 1 " He loved me, and gave himself for 
 me." It was this conviction, and this alone, " Christ 
 died for us," which made his soul one whole burnt 
 offering of love and service to his Redeemer. 
 
 Our talents, our situations, our opportunities differ ; 
 but in one thing we are all alike, and in this we differ 
 nothing from Paul — that each of us can say of Christ, 
 " He loved me, and gave himself for me ; " nor was 
 there any reason why Paul should love Christ as he 
 did, nor any obligation that made it proper for him to 
 be such a Christian, which does not apply to every 
 one of us. No wonder that he felt, and spoke, and 
 acted as he did. There is nothing strange, nothing 
 preternatural, in the piety of Paul ; for if we only be- 
 lieved in Christ as he did, — nay, if we only felt what 
 we really believe concerning Christ, — we should all be 
 such Christians as Paul. There have been, there are 
 such Christians ; it is a reflection on the grace of Christ 
 to deny it ; the martyrs loved him so ; the Roman am- 
 phitheatre, the stake, the dens and caves of the earth 
 have witnessed it ; the history of foreign missions, the 
 private experience of many and many a Christian, fol- 
 lowed by the consecration of his whole being to 
 Christ and his cause, have proved that there is in 
 Christian hearts a love to Christ which is stronger 
 than human love, and stronger than death — a love 
 
258 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 which many waters can not quench, nor floods 
 drown. 
 
 It is interesting for each of us to look at the man- 
 ner in which the Saviour effected our conversion, and 
 see it marked by precisely the same quality of mercy, 
 the long forbearance, the suggestion of inquiring 
 thoughts and relentings, the strong conviction of 
 truth and duty, the appeal to our reasonable fears. 
 Thus we, as well as Paul, were " apprehended of 
 Christ Jesus." Would that this love of Christ con- 
 strained us more. We must not, we can not, wonder 
 that Paul loved his Saviour as he did. We only won- 
 der at ourselves, that toward this same Saviour, who 
 has treated us with the same forbearance and kindness 
 with which he treated Paul, and to whom we owe 
 Paul's whole debt of gratitude and love, we should be 
 so cold, and in our service so unprofitable. 
 
 Of those who have heard Christ preached so long 
 as many have enjoyed that privilege, and seen his table 
 spread, witnessed conversions, and known the whole 
 accumulated evidence for the truth of the gospel, 
 there is no one who is not at this moment a greater 
 sinner than Saul of Tarsus when he was converted. 
 " Ignorantly in unbelief," was the palliation of his sin ; 
 but who of us can plead ignorance in rejecting 
 Christ 1 He verily thought that he " ought to do 
 many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Naza 
 
PAUL. 259 
 
 reth." Do you consider this your duty 1 He truly be- 
 lieved Christ to be an impostor. Do you 1 Light 
 from heaven above the brightness of the sun hag 
 shone around you ; a voice of expostulation has often 
 stopped you on your suicidal way; but offers and 
 promises of usefulness on earth, of having Christ for 
 your Friend here and in gloiy everlasting, have never 
 forced from you that submissive, self-consecrating 
 word, " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do 1 " Paul 
 has joined with his Saviour to make you a Christian ; 
 there are in your possession fourteen Epistles from him, 
 and the substance of them is this : " We are ambassa- 
 dors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us : 
 we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." 
 There are few things in this world to awaken aston- 
 ishment compared with this, that any can hear their 
 Saviour preached, and not have such feelings toward 
 him as will bring them to his table, and send them 
 from it to live only for Christ. But instead of this, 
 some say, ' When members of the church are such as 
 they should be, I will be a Christian;' or, 'I shall 
 fare as well as many who profess to be better ; ' or, ' I 
 never like to speak of my feelings ; ' or, ' Would you 
 have me profess that which I do not feel ] ' or, ' I dis- 
 like excitement ; ' or, ' Go thy way for this time.' How 
 much like Paul is all this ! So long as we feel thus, 
 his heaven and ours can not be the same. 
 
 Nothing but the power which conquered Saul cau 
 
260 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 save the unconverted of a Christian congregation. 
 GuUt surpassing his, cries for vengeance against them ; 
 but one word from an injured God and Saviour, and 
 their trembling spirits will pass the gates of death. As 
 Damascus, with its premeditated scenes of guilt, was 
 before Saul, so guilt and ruin only are in the path of 
 every one who goes on still in his trespasses, and de- 
 liberately puts off the claims of Christ. But he was 
 ignorant ; and as you are not, this subtracts greatly 
 from the probability of your being saved. There is 
 but one solitary hope that some of you will be saved, 
 and that is, the sovereign compassion of an injured 
 Saviour. Left to yourself, you will never repent. He 
 does not leave you to yourself; for even now, perhaps, 
 you are moved to think seriously of being a Christian. 
 Is not Christ virtually speaking to you from heaven 1 
 What a career of glory and honor, what a life, what 
 an eternity yours may be if you become a Christian ! 
 It was because Paul became a Christian that he can 
 now say, " I am what I am." Had he not become a 
 Christian, he would have failed to be the Apostle 
 Paul ; he would still have been Saul of Tarsus. For 
 eighteen hundred years he has had Christ for a Friend. 
 Eighteen hundred years are before you ; will you have 
 Christ for your Friend ? Eternity in heaven or hell 
 awaits you ; will you make Christ your Friend 1 Your 
 final Judge, shall he be your Friend 1 The Man of Cal- 
 vary, the Saviour of the redeemed, shall he be your 
 
PAUL. 
 
 261 
 
 Friend ? Or will you be his enemy ? as by his interpre- 
 tation you are now, since " he that is not with me is 
 against me " ; or will you be his friend 1 
 
 If you ask, ' What must I do ■? ' say not, when you 
 hear the answer, as Agrippa did when he heard the 
 same words — say not, " Almost thou persuadest me to 
 be a Christian." Do you ask, ' What must I do ■? ' Let 
 ms ask, ' What did Paul do 1 ' Here is the reply : 
 " Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient 
 unto the heavenly vision, but showed first unto them of 
 Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the 
 coasts of Judea, that they should repent and turn to 
 God, and do works meet for repentance." 
 
xni. 
 
 STEPHEN. 
 
 LOUD JBSUS, RECEIVE MT SPIBIT. 
 
 When it was said, last Sabbath, that this series of 
 discourses on Christ a Friend would be closed this 
 morning by the contemplation of the dying Stephen, 
 the text being then selected, and much of the sermon 
 'written, little did we think that the text and sermon 
 would receive appropriateness and illustration from 
 the death of my child. On each of the four Sabbaths 
 preceding the last, two of these discourses had been 
 preached ; and, but for the accidental presence of a 
 friend who preached for me, this discourse would 
 have been delivered last Sabbath afternoon. Thus 
 this sermon was reserved for to-day.* Were it not for 
 the effect upon me of this undesigned coincidence, 
 I should have kept silence this morning ; but the 
 Saviour and Friend of my little child, perhaps, has so 
 ordered, that these efforts to honor him and commend 
 
 * November 26, 1853. 
 
 (262) 
 
STEPHEN. 263 
 
 him to your love should have a seal of his approba- 
 tion in this providential conjuijpture of circumstances, 
 which enables me, — alas ! at v^hat bitter cost, — from 
 an experience which they only know who have felt it, 
 more effectually to prevail on you to make him your 
 Friend; and thus that sweet prophecy and promise 
 respecting the times of Christ may be fulfilled in you 
 — "And a little child shall lead them." May we 
 but persuade you to love the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 thus may we save the souls of our people, let us suf- 
 fer in any way which a merciful God may choose. It 
 is a trial to speak in public with excruciated feelings 
 of that which has made us suffer. " Though I speak, 
 my grief is not assuaged, and though I forbear, yet 
 what am I eased 1 " The appropriateness of the text 
 to these circumstances constrains me to make this ser- 
 mon, which was mostly prepared a week ago, enforce 
 its doctrine by preaching it to-day. 
 
 Now that I have brought myself to speak of this 
 affliction, hear me a moment with regard to things 
 suggested by it. That family burying-place now con- 
 tains an infant's grave, by the side of another grave 
 where the mother of seven of my children sleeps. 
 That burying-place, with its one mound, has been a 
 solitary spot till now ; but now, " two or three are 
 gathered together " there in Christ's name ; for a little 
 child seems to count for more than one in the family 
 and in the grave. Solitary as the place has been, who 
 
264 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 of you that has such a spot has not found it a place 
 for prayer 1 By that k>ne grave, what may you sup- 
 pose has been the burde;n of my soul 1 If I meet cer- 
 tain members of this congregation in heaven, I will 
 tell them for whom I specially prayed ; but let me say 
 that, kneeling on that spot where I expect to be buried, 
 I have found my thoughts powerfully drawn from 
 every thing else to this, — I have found myself pray- 
 ing for nothing so earnestly as for this, — that all this 
 flock, calling some of them by name, might be saved 
 in the day of the Lord Jesus. If our afflictions do 
 not make us selfish and contracted, they greatly en- 
 large our affections ; we love those who have suffered 
 or are liable to suffer ; and if God has sustained us, 
 we wish " to comfort others with the comfort where- 
 with we ourselves are comforted of God." 
 
 Mental sufferings, moreover, have given me new im- 
 pressions of the holiness of God ; his power to inflict 
 pain; his ability to look on and see us suffer, to ac- 
 complish his purpose of mercy or judgment ; the infi- 
 nite blessedness of a state of reconciliation and love 
 between him and us through his dear Son ; the an- 
 guish which there must be in sufferings which are 
 punishment, and not discipline ; eternal bereavements 
 of kindred, especially of parents and children ; the 
 happiness of that state where all the joys of which 
 our hearts are capable here, meet, to be purified and 
 to be increased ; and the terrible meaning of those 
 
STEPHEN. 265 
 
 words of Christ, " lose himself or be cast away." If 
 in yonder burial-place your pastor witnesses the 
 scenes of that day, — 
 
 " When, at the world's last session, 
 The dreadful Judge in middle air shall spread his throne " — 
 
 he will remember how he prayed for you there, and 
 preached to you here ; how, at a place which he would 
 have supposed should have absorbed all his thoughts, 
 he strangely forgot his grief, and besought the Lord 
 that he would give each of you repentance for your sins 
 against God, and faith in the Redeemer. Those pray- 
 ers are not fully answered ; and now he comes from that 
 spot, where he has so unexpectedly stood this week 
 with his household, and laid the youngest of that flock 
 to rest ; and while every private feeling would con- 
 strain him to spend this day in silence, he feels impelled 
 to speak, by the hope that the providence and grace of 
 God may have designed this closing sermon on Christ 
 a Friend for some good to your souls. The pastor 
 who officiated at the funeral, in praying for my people, 
 was pleased to speak of me as your " best earthly 
 friend." I never felt at liberty to say so much of 
 myself; but my heart responded to this appellation. 
 What is there in the religion of any pagan nation, 
 or in the ;01d Testament, like the relation between a 
 Christian church and pastor 1 For twenty years this 
 relation has subsisted between us, and on my part 
 
266 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 nothing is left to desire but that each of you may have 
 " Christ in you the hope of glory," and prove it by 
 holy living and good vs^orks. Our relation must come 
 to an end ; but these Discourses are a testimony that 
 the best service which I have thought it possible to 
 render you is, to promote a friendship between you 
 and the Lord Jesus. 
 
 By various methods of illustration the Saviour has 
 appeared before you in these Discourses as a Friend. 
 We saw him at first in a group of mourners at a 
 grave, and so afflicted with grief that the spectators 
 said of him concerning the departed friend, " Behold 
 how he loved him." A man of business was sitting 
 at his accustomed place. Jesus entered, — strange, too 
 strange a visitor at a place of business, but the most 
 profitable of all whose feet ever trod the worn floors 
 of such places, — and made Matthew, as he has made 
 some of you, and seeks to make all, follow him. The 
 young men of the congregation have beheld him stop- 
 ping a funeral train to raise a young man to life ; and 
 the widow has seen, in his pity for a widowed mother, 
 a sign and pledge of his love for her and for her im- 
 penitent child. We have seen him treating a noto- 
 rious publican and sinner with such skillful love that, 
 though one of whom it is said, " How hardly shall 
 
STEPHEN. 267 
 
 they enter into the kingdom of God," yet when Christ 
 had taken possession of his heart and his house by 
 his love, he stood and said, ' Lord, the half of my 
 goods I give to the poor, and for every act of injus- 
 tice fourfold.' A weak, helpless woman, in the great- 
 ness of her faith, obtained a miraculous cure and a 
 place in the sacred Scriptures, with a testimony of her 
 Saviour's commendation and love, by privately touch- 
 ing the hem of his garment, and putting to shame 
 those of us who have never believed. They of little 
 faith have looked on as by wise indulgence the Sa- 
 viour persuaded and saved Thomas, and then pro- 
 nounced a blessing, not on him, but on those who 
 believe before they have seen. The afternoon of a 
 November Sabbath was seldom more dark than that 
 in which a goodly number of you who were able to 
 face the storm saw a vessel in the fourth watch of a 
 tempe&Duous night, and Jesus coming to it walking on 
 the sea, while Peter, impelled by love to go to his 
 Saviour amid the billows, taught us, in the failure of 
 his faith, that darkness and the floods of great waters 
 afford the best of all opportunities for the triumph of 
 faith. Not as a mere philanthropist, who could ap- 
 preciate nothing but suffering, but as a lover of truth 
 and good men, we have heard him say, at the approach 
 of Nathanael, " Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom 
 is no guile." Choosing one third of his first Apostles 
 from the sea, we have ventured to speak of him, we 
 
268 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 trust without presumption, as the Friend of that most 
 interesting class of men who for their capabilities of 
 usefulness, we believe, were included by the prophet in 
 " the abundance of the sea." His disposition in- 
 clining him to special friendship we have seen illus- 
 trated in the beloved disciple, from whose character 
 we have learned what are the conditions and what the 
 influence of the Saviour's peculiar love. As the sac- 
 ramental table was spread before us, we saw the 
 Redeemer washing the disciples' feet, and heard him 
 say to our poor, sinful, proud hearts, which are nat- 
 urally offended at his condescension, " If I wash thee 
 not, thou hast no part with me." The great Apostle 
 to the Gentiles has appealed to us for his Saviour as 
 his Friend, in his long suffering, his kindness in the 
 manner of his conversion, in making him useful, and 
 thus preparing for him a crown which will never fade. 
 In all our possiBle need thus far we have seen what a 
 Friend Christ is ; and yet it may be that to many, very 
 many, it has appeared that nothing has been said 
 coinciding with their conscious experience or wants. 
 This discourse will supply the deficiency. We are to 
 contemplate Christ as the Friend of the dying. I say. 
 supply the deficiency ; for whatever else we may not 
 be, we shall each of us one day be a passing spirit ; "for 
 we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." 
 
 " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." These will prob 
 
STEPHEN. 269 
 
 ably be among the last words of many, if not of all, 
 in this assembly. They have been the last words of a 
 vast number since the death of that Christian martyr 
 by whom they were originally uttered, and we have 
 all either heard them from the lips of the dying or 
 have read them among the last utterances of many 
 whose death-bed experiences have been recorded. 
 Whether these words will be our very last words or 
 not, one thing is certain. Every one of us will now 
 confess that when he comes to die, his desire is, that 
 the Lord Jesus will receive his spirit. Is there one 
 of us who dissents from this 1 Is there one that is 
 indifferent to it 'i Is there one who says, ' I will 
 never think of dying ; let it come suddenly ; let me 
 not know when it is coming ' 1 Were there no here- 
 after, we might thus die like the hunted ostrich, with 
 its head alone concealed. But let it not be true of 
 any of us that " there "are no bands in their death." 
 
 In seeking to illustrate the character and offices of 
 the Saviour as a Friend to the dying, several things 
 deserve to be stated with special distinctness. 
 
 I. It is common for people in danger and in death 
 to call upon Christ. 
 
 While it is true that if Christ be a Friend to the 
 living in every possible variety of joy and sorrow, in 
 all the peculiarities of their character and conditions, 
 he is, he must be, the Friend of the dying, there is 
 
270 CHKIST A FRIEND. 
 
 this difference in a vast proportion of cases — and O, 
 what a difference ! how the scene changes, how ;the 
 precedence in the relation is altered, in this respect, — 
 that, whereas all our life long Christ called, it may 
 be said of multitudes, when they come to die, " Then 
 began men to call upon the name of the Lord." 
 
 An intelligent sea captain, when the subject of 
 religion had been mentioned in his hearing, asked a 
 friend if he had noticed that men in danger of their 
 lives frequently call on Christ. The friend replied 
 that, except in the case of dying Christians, he had 
 not been aware that this was so ; but the captain, who 
 did not profess to be a Christian, replied that he 
 had often noticed that sailors in their extremity, and 
 when prayer was forced from them, used the name of 
 Christ, calling upon him for mercy and help. 
 
 A man of great wealth, who was far from being of 
 a religious disposition, brought up under influences 
 which led him to think but little of Christ, was draw- 
 ing nigh to death. He requested his attendant to 
 leave him alone for a little while. She left the room, 
 but stood near and within hearing, afraid to leave 
 him for many moments, and as she waited, with the 
 door partly open, she heard the sick man break forth 
 in a most affecting prayer, addressed wholly to Christ, 
 calling himself a poor, dying sinner, and imploring 
 mercy and help from the Lord Jesus as the Savioui 
 of sinners. 
 
STEPHEN. 27 1 
 
 It is well authenticated that the infidel Voltaire 
 in his death struggle called on the name of Christ. 
 David Hume played cards a very short time before he 
 died, being raised at his request from his sick bed for 
 the purpose, as he said, of cheering his spirits with 
 that amusement. But shortly after, the cold damps 
 of death came upon him; and as the shadows of 
 departing life were gathering over him, and he drew 
 near to the invisible world, he cried out, " Lord Jesus, 
 help me ; Jesus Christ, save me." We are all, perhaps, 
 familiar with the narrative, so well confirmed, respect- 
 ing Thomas Paine, who addressed his last prayer to 
 the Saviour of men, crying out, " God, have mercy 
 upon me ; " " Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me." 
 
 As we read the memoirs of Christians, we find that 
 the words of the Christian martyr in the text have 
 been, to say the least, as frequently as any other words, 
 the last prayer of their departing spirits. The dec- 
 laration is weU established, that men in danger and in 
 their last hours very frequently commend themselves 
 to Chiist, and appeal to him for help. It is not uni- 
 versally so ; we make no unlimited statement ; but it 
 is a common thing for men in need of almighty aid to 
 call upon the name of Christ, and upon him alone. 
 
 ]I. The twofold nature of the Saviour, as God and 
 man, was designed and is suited to encourage our resort 
 to him in trouble. 
 
272 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 This seems to furnish, the explanation of what has 
 now been said, that men so frequently call on Christ 
 when they need almighty help. We see in Christ, as 
 it were, an almighty human being. In order to be 
 so, he must have two natures ; for a mere creature 
 can not be endued with almighty power; a mere 
 human person can not be in all places at one and the 
 same time. The prominent impression which Christ 
 makes upon us is that of a man ; his human nature 
 strikes us at first rather than his deity. This is pur- 
 posely so ; this is the object in the incarnation. If it 
 were otherwise, the incarnation would lose its eifect. 
 Suppose that the deity were visibly manifested to us 
 by an effulgent light, and beyond it, far in the dis- 
 tance, the eye could just discern the person of the 
 man Christ Jesus connected with this effulgence. 
 Such an arrangement would not be suited to our 
 minds ; we need that something comprehensible should 
 make the prominent impression upon us, sustained, 
 however, by apparent, obvious proofs of deity. 
 
 God gave the church in the wilderness a visible 
 sign of his presence ; it was a sign which they could 
 bear to look upon, and at the same time one in which 
 they knew that deity was enshrined. It was a cloud 
 by day, which turned into a pillar of fire by night, 
 the inherent brightness in it being eclipsed by the 
 sun, and becoming in the daytime a beautiful cloud, 
 but giving out its light as darkness drew on. This 
 
STEPHEN. 273 
 
 was the visible place of Jehovah's presence, the place 
 of that Angel of the Lord vrho is called by Malachi 
 " the messenger of the covenant," " the Lord whom 
 ye seek," or the Messiah. Now, this cloud was, in 
 some sense, in those days, to the Word, who was in the 
 beginning with God, and was God — this cloud was to 
 Jesus Christ in that age what the human body was to 
 him in a subsequent age ; the cloud was one of the 
 embodyings of Christ ; (He was " that rock which fol- 
 lowed them, and that rock was Christ ; ") and thus the 
 divine presence was adapted to the senses and com- 
 prehension, and to the feelings, of men. It afforded 
 every pious mind aid in prayer. As the worshipper 
 stood at his tent door, and saw the cloud lying along 
 the sky over the encampment, or when, in the march 
 through the desert, it sailed along before the host, 
 turning hither and thither to mark the path, and as 
 the sun went down, this beautiful object, with its 
 columnar shape to distinguish it all day long from 
 the clouds, changed into a pillar of fire, shedding 
 light on the tents, or, if necessary, lightening the way 
 through the darkness of the night, every one can see 
 that prayer and praise were made easier ; that however 
 much of filial confidence and love a good man may 
 have felt toward his heavenly Father, this sign of his 
 presence increased it, and his appropriate feelings 
 toward that dread Being, who, while he is a parent, 
 is a jealous God, and terrible in his doings toward 
 
274 CHRIST A riUEND. 
 
 the children of men, were soothed by it, and that in 
 trouble men were more ready to call on their ever- 
 present God ; in moments of fear and trembling on 
 account of sin, they were reassured by it of his con- 
 descending love ; and when they prayed, they must 
 naturally have looked up at the cloud, instead of at- 
 tempting to conceive of an infinite Spirit. This visi- 
 ble sign of God's presence was, no doubt, intended in 
 part as a defence against idolatrous worship. Men 
 have always been prone, since the fall, to make objects 
 of religious worship. This shows that the human 
 mind craves some embodying of the Deity ; the com- 
 prehension of infinitude is impossible, all attempts at 
 it are painful, and therefore men resort to graven or 
 molten images which they fancy to be inhabited by 
 deities, or else they worship the orbs of heaven. But 
 the constant presence of that cloud by day and pillar 
 of fire by night was intended to meet that feeling in 
 the human mind ; and it certainly took away all ex- 
 cuse for idolatry on the part of those who knew that 
 God dwelt in that cloud. There was no shape in it 
 to give them an idea of God ; they " saw no simili- 
 tude," but still they knew that he was there. 
 
 In the fullness of time, " The Word was made flesh, 
 and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the 
 glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of 
 grace and truth." Now, for what purpose was the 
 Word made flesh ? 
 
STEPHEN. 275 
 
 The great object of the incarnation was the suffer- 
 ing of death, ^he Bible asserts this in expresa terms. 
 " We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the 
 angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory 
 and honor." The expression, " a little lower than the 
 angels," is a scriptural term for human nature. Why- 
 was Christ made a little lower than the angels for the 
 suffering of death 1 The answer is, " that he by the 
 grace of God should taste death for every man." " For 
 this purpose was the Son of God manifested, — that, 
 through death, he might destroy him that had the 
 power of death, even the devU." We hear the pre- 
 existent Word say, in communion with the Godhead, 
 " Sacrifices, and offerings, and burnt offerings for sin 
 thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared 
 me." " By the which will we are sanctified by the 
 offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." 
 The body of Christ, then, was for a sin offering. He 
 was made flesh in order that he might die for sinners. 
 This is the plain instruction of the word of God on 
 this subject, and he who denies it, or breaks the force 
 of it, takes away the hope of the world ; there re- 
 maineth no more sacrifice for sin. 
 
 But while the object of Christ's incarnation wa,s the 
 " suffering of death," there was a parallel, an auxiliar 
 purpose in the incarnation ; and that purpose is ex- 
 pressed, not to multiply quotations, in these passages 
 of Scripture : " Forasmuch, then, as the children are 
 
276 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise 
 took part of the same ; " " It behoved him to be made 
 like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and 
 faithful high priest in things pertaining to God." 
 
 Here we see brought to view the adaptedness of 
 Christ's human nature to the necessities of men. The 
 cloud and pillar of fire, the " glory of the Lord," as 
 the symbol of God's presence with the prophets and 
 in the temple was called, no longer conceal the 
 Deity ; but Deity descends in the person of the man 
 Christ Jesus ; " The Word is made flesh, and dwells 
 among us." 
 
 When a running vine appears above the ground, 
 the watchful hand of its owner supplies it with a 
 small trellis, a lower rail, to aid its infantile efforts 
 in ascending. However vigorous that vine may after- 
 wards become, it can not stand alone ; it needs, and 
 always will need, something on which to cling, and as 
 it shoots forth you must supply it with helps accom- 
 modated to its wants. 
 
 The human nature of Christ is like the support and 
 helper of the feeble vine. We are naturally troubled 
 at the thought of an infinite God, unless we have 
 blotted out from his character every thing but fond- 
 ness and made him nothing but a doting father, who 
 must by all means clear the guilty. Especially when 
 we are sick, and are drawing near to the presence of 
 Him whom no man can see and live, if we feel any 
 
STEPHEN. 277 
 
 thing, we feel our need of some special assurance from 
 God, some encouragement to faith. Then we seem to 
 hear Christ speaking to us : " Let not your heart be 
 troubled ; ye believe in God, believe also in me." He 
 does not place God at a distance from us, nor come 
 between us and him, as a defence against him : on 
 the contrary, he enables us to think of God and of him- 
 self identically, fulfilling his words to Philip, " He that 
 hath seen me hath seen the Father." " God, who caused 
 the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined into 
 our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of 
 the glory of God as it is in the face of Jesus Christ." 
 Here we have the idea of a disk, which, while it is 
 small, and the incomprehensible orb is hid behind 
 it, yet is the only means by which that orb can be 
 usefully seen by us. ' Such is " the face of Jesus 
 Christ." Does he come between us and God so as to 
 interfere with your relation and feelings to your 
 heavenly Father 1 No ; God by him ' shines into our 
 hearts.' Christ is one whom we can understand, and 
 who, we feel, can understand us. Besides, we remem- 
 ber that he has given us the highest proofs of love, 
 because he has died for us ; and he is represented 
 every where in the Bible as a condescending, com- 
 passionate Friend. He makes the prevailing impi-es- 
 sion on our mind, notwithstanding his almighty na- 
 ture, that he is a man of sorrows and acquainted with 
 grief There is nothing of state, or pomp, or wealth. 
 
278 CHllIST A FKIEND. 
 
 or learning about him, to make lis feel our inferiority ; 
 he makes himself appear superior to us only in his 
 goodness and in his power and willingness to help 
 and save us. Could we, could the wisdom of angels, 
 be employed to devise some expedient by which poor 
 human nature, conscious of guilt and weakness, should 
 be helped to conceive of God, and to obtain confidence 
 in his feelings toward us, we could not have devised such 
 a plan as that the Word should be made flesh and 
 dwell among us, that he should be born, suffer, weep, 
 die, and then, ascending to heaven, say, " Atid lo, I 
 am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." 
 
 III. The appeal wMch men make to Christ, when they 
 are in need of almighty help, is a proof of his supreme 
 deity. 
 
 No one will pretend that appeals to the Virgin 
 Mary by the superstitious are parallel to the prayer 
 of the dying Stephen ; for if we insist that they are 
 alike, we make Stephen an idolater, or else we must 
 deny that the worship of the Virgin is idolatry. Dy- 
 ing men, moreover, pray to Christ, not to enlist his 
 influence with God, but as the source of supreme 
 power. This is one of those indirect, yet conclusive 
 proofs respecting the character of Christ which se- 
 cretly confirm the minds of men in their investiga- 
 tions. How do men feel toward Christ when there 
 is no previous bias of the mind in favor of any par- 
 
STEPHEN. 279 
 
 ticular religious opinions, or when that hour draws 
 nigh, that honest hour, when the soul is approaching 
 into the presence of its Maker 'i Do men ever appeal 
 to Christ at such a timel Yes. Do they pray to 
 him as a mere teacher and example ? No. How do 
 they speak to him 1 They pray to him as they pray 
 to God. There is no act of a human being so solemn 
 and important to him as the act of commending his 
 soul to an unseen hand. But a most frequent expres- 
 sion of dying Christians is, " Lord Jesus, receive my 
 spirit." The same prayer which the man Christ Jesus 
 uttered on the cross, " Father, into thy hands I com- 
 mend my spirit," is used substantially by dying saints 
 — " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 
 
 You can not account for this on any other supposi- 
 tion than that there is something in Christ which war- 
 rants and encourages the confidence of men in such 
 an hour, an hour when all which is precious to them 
 is at stake, and when, if ever, the God who made 
 them is needed to save them. We should suppose be- 
 forehand, in view of the plain representations of the 
 Bible respecting Christ, that it would be so. But the 
 supposition is confirmed by actual events. This shows 
 that men who do this secretly feel that Christ is al- 
 mighty. Some of them have no theory on the sub- 
 ject, no religious notions to support by doing so ; they 
 may even theoretically deny that which their hearts 
 profess ; for spontaneously, when flesh and heart art 
 
280 CHRIST A iKliilNU. 
 
 failing, instead of calling upon the Deity, upon God 
 as such, the language of thousands and thousands has 
 been and will be, " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." I 
 am willing to buUd my hope on one who has the tes- 
 timony of dying men to his almighty power ; not schol- 
 ars, nor wise men, nor mighty men, but dying men. 
 These worship Christ. These commend their spirits to 
 him. Christ is God to me. " For I know whom I have 
 believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep 
 that which I have committed unto him against that 
 day." 
 
 This is not speculation. It is something in which 
 we are more deeply interested than in any thing else. 
 Your dying moment — what importance and interest 
 gather about it. That moment is on the wing. Your 
 spirit must ascend to God who gave it. Thousands 
 and tens of thousands, without previous concert, but 
 as the spontaneous expression of their feelings in that 
 honest hour, have used this as their last prayer, as the 
 world receded and eternity broke in upon them : " Lord 
 Jesus, receive my spirit." Into whose hands should 
 we commend our souls, but those which were nailed 
 to the bitter tree for our advantage? In whom are 
 we warranted to confide, but in him who, because we 
 are flesh and blood, " himself likewise took part of the 
 same, that through death he might destroy him that 
 had the power of death — that is, the devil " 1 This is 
 no disparagement to the Father ; the Father, Son, and 
 
Sn T7PXJT77^T 
 
 S'lEPHEN. 281 
 
 Holy Ghost have so arranged the system of redemp- 
 tion that Christ is the way of access to God. This 
 is the object of the incarnation. So he stands and re- 
 ceives the departing spirits of all believers. Christ 
 says, " I am the door of the sheep." He was the 
 door to Stephen into heaven. He has been the door 
 of heaven to tens of thousands since his day ; and 
 when you seek admission there, among your last 
 words, if it be not the very last, will be this prayer: 
 " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 
 
 We speak to the believer, and not as arguing with 
 an unbeliever. We speak to all " who have obtained 
 like precious faith with us," and with them we see, in 
 a passage of Stephen's dying scene, one of the inci- 
 dental, and therefore deeply impressive presentations 
 of the Sacred Three in the Godhead. " But he, being 
 full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into 
 heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing 
 on the right hand of God." The Father, Son, and Holy 
 Ghost, in whom we believe, were here concerned in 
 an act of condescending love to a faithful servant and 
 dear child. The history of redemption in the apos- 
 tolic times more fully revealed them, and their names 
 more frequently and more familiarly occur together. 
 Instances come to mind within our Christian circles 
 in which the deeply afflicted and the dying have had 
 intelligent impressions of communion and fellowship 
 with the Three together, in whose name they were 
 
282 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 baptized, in whose name, at the close of Sabbath wor- 
 ship, they are blessed. Deem it no impossible act of 
 condescension. The manger, the cross, the tomb show 
 that nothing is impossible in the way of condescen- 
 sion on the part of God to one whom he loves. 
 Christ says, " My Father will love him, and we will 
 come unto him, and make our abode with him ; " and 
 if with this we believe in the personality of the Holy 
 Ghost, we can not doubt that, as those three mysteri- 
 ous men came to Abraham's tent, so, in some special 
 seasons of his Christian life, one who is in extremity, 
 or deeply humbled, and full of faith and love, or near 
 to heaven, may have thoughts and feelings, with regard 
 to the Sacred Three together, which will surprise and 
 delight his soul. We should more commonly seek to 
 think of them, and pray to them, unitedly ; it strength- 
 ens our faith and love toward them ; we worship them 
 connectedly ; we do this in words, in our doxologies, 
 baptisms, and benedictions ; we should oftener reduce 
 these to practical experience. 
 
 The imputation of worshiping three Gods we can 
 not answer to the full satisfaction of an objector, as 
 many know who once were objectors, and to whom 
 flesh and blood did not reveal the peace of mind 
 which they now have in connection with their belief 
 in this truth. We respect, we love many who remon- 
 strate with us against tritheism, as they view it ; but 
 we can not take their want of experience as the meas- 
 
STEPHEN. 283 
 
 ure or guide of our Christian knowledge. Evangel- 
 ical believers, of all sects, fellovi^ vi^orshipers of the 
 Sacred Three in One, can not explain this mystery; 
 they once may have rejected it ; but having first, as 
 sinners, "fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope 
 set before them," they have come to receive the Three 
 in One as they present themselves in the Bible, and 
 to, our Christian experience, with their divine names, 
 offices, attributes, worship, and works ; and they 
 leave it to be explained, or not, in heaven, how God 
 is One and Three. If there has been a time in 
 their experience when they have had peculiar nearness 
 to God, some of them will say, perhaps, that it was 
 in the consciousness that the Father, Son, and Spirit 
 were making impressions upon them of their presence. 
 The work of redemption alone has brought to view 
 the mystery of the divine nature, so that nothing is 
 more identified with our spiritual interests, and 
 therefore with our private experience as Christians, 
 than the existence and agency of the Father, Son, and 
 Spirit. 
 
 But it was Jesus, " God manifest in the flesh," who 
 caught the eye of the dying saint ; and therein Christ 
 fulfilled one great purpose of his coming, which was, 
 as we have seen, to give to the eye of our faith and 
 the hand of our hope something objective, compre- 
 hensible, in connection with Deity. This teaches us 
 that to simplify our views of God, to make them 
 
284 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 more and more human, to conceive of him more as 
 we do of a great and good man, is most in accordance 
 with the way in which, by his own phraseology in the 
 Bible, and by being manifest in the flesh, God teaches 
 us to conceive of him. 
 
 If every thing else becomes simple the more we 
 know ii, and that, too, notwithstanding it expands 
 and grows more wonderful the longer we study it, 
 strange indeed would it be if the greatest and best 
 thing, and that which it is " life eternal to know," 
 should overwhelm and confuse us. To prevent this 
 effect, which the knowledge of God might have upon 
 our perverted minds, God was manifest in the flesh. 
 Philip expressed our natural feelings when he said, 
 " Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." 
 That seemed to be the summit of religious attainment, 
 to have a deflnite comprehension of God. Christ said 
 that to see him was to see God — that all in God 
 which our limited faculties could comprehend, or our 
 hearts feel, we have in him. " He that hath seen me 
 hath seen the Father, and how sayest thou then. Show 
 us the Father 1 " What trifling, this, with a disciple 
 and"^ inquirer, if he who said it were not qualified by 
 identity of nature to be a substitute in the mind of 
 the disciple for that idea of God which his soul was 
 feeling after. We can not imagine a creature, how- 
 ever exalted, venturing to use such words. It is safe, 
 therefore, to bestow on Christ all the feelings which the 
 
STEPHEN. 285 
 
 soul ever has toward its God. It is God who weeps, 
 and pities, and makes propitiation. It is the same as 
 though the Father were in human flesh. Let him 
 become flesh, he would feel and speak, he would act, 
 as Christ did. The Father does not stand aloof for 
 Christ to persuade him. On the contrary, Christ 
 says, " The Son can do nothing of himself," nothing 
 alone ; " the Father, that dwelleth in me, he doeth 
 the works ; " so that all those works of compassion 
 and love which we have been considering in these 
 Discourses are the works of the Father. 
 
 But flesh and blood, clothing the divine nature, en- 
 courages our approach, helps our faith. It was the 
 sudden presentation to Stephen of the human form 
 of Christ amidst the radiance of heavenly glory which 
 filled him with such sudden rapture that he forgot 
 the presence of the council, and cried out, " Behold, 
 I see heaven opened, and the Son of man standing on 
 the right hand of God." Great faith angers wicked 
 ^men. " They cried out with a loud voice, and stopped 
 their earSj and ran upon him with one accord, and 
 cast him out of the city, and stoned him." And 
 while the stones were felling him to the earth, he 
 said, " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." He thought 
 aloud A man dying by stoning would hardly have 
 said any thing by way of argument, or merely for 
 impression upon others. It was worship. No pri- 
 vate place of prayer ever witnessed, nor did the be- 
 
286 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 loved disciple leaning on Jesus' bosom ever experi- 
 ence, greater fellov?ship and communion with Christ 
 than Stephen may have had under that shower of 
 stones. But what is it which constrains or permits a 
 soul passing into the presence of its God thus to ad- 
 dress its prayer to Christ 1 Is it wrong 1 If he he 
 not divine, it is wrong, and then these dying Chris- 
 tians are idolaters ; or if the worship paid to one 
 creature at such a time be right, how can we ob- 
 ject to the idolatries of the Romish church 'i If 
 we may worship a mere human son, there may be 
 reason in appealing to his mother to intercede with 
 him. 
 
 No interpretation of Scripture respecting Christ 
 explains this spontaneous enthronement and worship 
 of him by human hearts in the hour of death but 
 that which gives a literal meaning to such words as 
 these : "In the beginning was the Word, and the 
 Word was with God, and the Word was God ; and 
 the Word was made flesh." 
 
 Though we claim that reason can find no valid ob- 
 jection against this essential truth, and though reason 
 must judge of the evidence which sustains it, still a 
 higher power than reason is necessary to make it 
 congenial to the heart. " Blessed art thou, Simon 
 Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto 
 thee, but my Father, which is in heaven." Far be it 
 from us, in saying this, to represent this knowledge 
 
STEPHEN. 287 
 
 as unattainable except by members of certain sects or 
 the defenders of a creed. It is the free gift of God 
 to every one who feels his need of other righteous- 
 ness than his own, and submits to the righteousness 
 of God. 
 
 We are each drawing toward the solemn hour 
 when the test of our faith and confidence in Christ 
 will be applied, and we shall see, and others will see, 
 with what feelings we habitually regard him, and what 
 our relations to him have been. The very last words 
 of Stephen were not words of rapture nor of triumph. 
 This is encouraging. No difficult attainment is held 
 forth, no mysterious experience. Stephen's dying act 
 was a prayer — a prayer to Christ. It was indeed 
 a prayer of faith, of confidence, yet >still a prayer ; 
 but to ofifer such a prayer, at such a time, implied 
 a committal of the soul to him with all its in- 
 terests, which Stephen must have learned to make 
 before. 
 
 When dear friends, when children, are dying, the 
 everlasting arms are under us if we have faith to 
 think of the Saviour of the world as receiving the 
 departing spirit. At such a moment we feel a strange 
 disconnection between a child, for example, and our- 
 selves, as though some one had come in and supplanted 
 us. It makes us feel weak, helpless, sinful ; impresses 
 
288 CHRIST A FRIEND. 
 
 US with the individual accountability of souls ; shows 
 us that parent, and child, and friends can not save 
 each the other ; and then the thought of One who is 
 able to receive each redeemed soul with a personal 
 love and care, and is therefore every where present, 
 gives us adoring thoughts of our Immanuel, God 
 with us. Shall we faU to love and serve Him who 
 saves our children, our dying friends ] 
 
 There are other separations awaiting many, far 
 more intensely painful than at the dying bed. When 
 they see a child, a companion, with Christ, but must 
 themselves go away from Christ, how will they bear 
 to think that many, very many, exhortations were ad- 
 dressed to them for the express purpose to make them 
 receive Christ as a Friend ? 
 
 There is an hour which is more important even 
 than that hour. That hour is now. In the hour of 
 judgment, every thing will have been fixed ; all which 
 we can do for the soul will have been done or left 
 undone forever. The present hour, therefore, is the 
 most important. 
 
 You may have occasion for Stephen's prayer too 
 soon to admit of any delay in coming to Christ. How 
 long would you be willing that Christ should post- 
 pone an answer to your prayer when dying 1 Let that 
 be the measure of your delay in doing your duty. Ee- 
 ceive and obey the call of Christ with the readiness 
 
STEPHEN. 289 
 
 and earnestness with which you would have him 
 answer when you cry, "Lord Jesus, receive my 
 spirit." 
 
 Let us, then, in conclusion, " confess with the 
 mouth the Lord Jesus," and say, " Worthy is the 
 Lamb that was slain to keceive power, and riches, 
 and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, 
 
 AND BLESSING." " YeA, THOUGH I WALK THROUGH 
 THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH, I WILL FEAR 
 NO EVIL, FOR THOU ART WITH ME ; THY ROD AND THY 
 STAFF THEY COMFORT ME." " UnTO HIM THAT LOVED 
 US, AND WASHED US FROM OUR SINS IN HIS OWN BLOOD, 
 AND HATH MADE US KINGS AND PRIESTS UNTO GoD AND 
 
 HIS Father, to him be glory and dominion forever 
 AND EVER. Amen." 
 
 " Head of the church triumphant, 
 
 We cheerfully adore thee ; 
 Till thou appear, thy members here 
 
 Will sing like those in glory. 
 We lift our hearts and voices 
 
 In blest anticipation, 
 And cry aloud, and give to God 
 
 The praise of our salvation. 
 
 While in affliction's furnace. 
 
 And passing through the fire, 
 Thy love we'll praise, that knows our days, 
 And ever brings us nigher; 
 
 as o 
 
290 CHRIST A FBIEND. 
 
 We lift OUT hands, exulting 
 In thine almighty favor; 
 
 The love divine that made us thine 
 Shall keep us thine forever. 
 
 Faith now beholds the glory 
 
 To which thou wilt restore us, 
 And earth despise for that high prize 
 
 Which thou hast set before us ; 
 And if thou count us worthy, 
 
 We each, as dying Stephen, 
 Shall see thee stand at God's right hand, 
 
 To take us up to heaven." 
 
 THE END. 
 
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