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THE PASSOVER, 
 
 AND 
 
 OTHER SERMO 
 
 PEEACHED IN CHRIST CHUECH, SALFOED. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. HUGH STOWELL, M.A., 
 
 RECTOB, HONORAKY CANON OF CHESTER, RURAL DEAN, AND CHAPLAIN TO 
 THE RIGHT REV. THE LORD BISHOP OF MANCHESTER. 
 
 WITH A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR 
 
 BY THE 
 
 EEV. CHAELES BULLOCK, 
 
 RECTOR OF ST. NICHOLAS, WORCESTER, EDITOR OF " OCR OWN FIRESIDE. 
 
 LONDON: WILLIAM TEGG. 
 
 1869. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 .Sermon 
 
 LIFE OP THE AUTnOR, BY REV. C. BULLOCK, M.A 
 
 I. GODLY REPENTANCE 
 
 II. THE PASSOYEE ; ITS OCCASION AND IMPORT . 
 III. „ THE YICTIM 
 
 IY. „ THE SHEDDING OF THE BLOOD 
 
 Y. „ THE APPLICATION OF THE BLOOD 
 
 YI. „ THE EFFICACY OF THE SACRIFICE 
 
 VII. GOD INCARNATE 
 
 YIII. THE PROMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 
 IX. THE MARYELLOUS GRACE OF CHRIST 
 X. CHRIST OUR PRECIOUS EXAMPLE . 
 XI. STUMBLING AT CHRIST 
 ;' XII. CHRIST SERYING HIS PEOPLE . 
 
 XIII. PARTAEING OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST 
 XIY. THE SUPREME AFFECTION 
 
 XY. SEEKING THE LORD THE GRAND DUTY OF MAN 
 XYI. DIYINE TOKENS FOR GOOD 
 XYII. ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD 
 -XVIII. THE NOTES AND MARKS OF TRUE REGENERATION 
 
 Page 
 V 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 14 
 
 22 
 
 30 
 
 38 
 
 46 
 
 53 
 
 62 
 
 73 
 
 82 
 
 95 
 
 105 
 
 116 
 
 125 
 
 137 
 
 149 
 
 15U 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 Sermon 1 Page 
 
 XIX. THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE ..... 167 
 
 XX. VAIN SPECULATION . 178 
 
 XXI. THE VISIBLE CHURCH 189 
 
 XXII. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SPIRITUAL WORSHIP . . 197 
 
 XXIII. GOD'S BLESSING WITH EICHE3 207' 
 
 XXIV. GOD'S BLESSING WITH POVERTY .... 218 
 XXV. THE EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG .... 229 
 
 XXVI. THE WISDOM OF WINNING SOULS .... 237 
 
 XXVII. TREES OF EIGHTEOUSNESS 246 
 
 XXVIII. READY AND WAITING 256 
 
 XXIX. THE JUDGE AT THE DOOR . . . . . . 266 
 
 XXX. THE SOLEMN MESSAGE ...... 27G 
 
SKETCH 
 
 LIFE OF THE REV. HUGH STWELL, M.A. 
 
 I.— EARLY TEARS. 
 
 Hugh Stowell was born on the 3rd of December, 1799, at 
 Douglas, in the Isle of Man. 
 
 His father, styled "the Apostle of the Church of Sodor and 
 Man," the writer of the life of Bishop Wilson, was eminent for 
 his fervent piety and simple eloquence ; nor less distinguished for 
 the primitive simplicity of his life, the sweetness of his disposi- 
 tion, and the refinement and courtesy of his manners. 
 
 Soon after the birth of Hugh, Mr. Stowell was presented to the 
 vicarage of Kirk Lonan, situated in one of the most picturesque 
 localities in the island. We are indebted to Mr. Howard, who 
 succeeded him in the vicarage, for a very interesting account of 
 the Stowell family during the period when Hugh was a child, and 
 until the time when his education for college began. 
 
 "I remember," says this gentleman, writing to the sons of 
 Hugh Stowell, "your dear father from the time he was between 
 five and six years old. He was a sweet little boy, very social and 
 friendly, and quite at home with everybody. . . . One day, when 
 he was about six years old, I had lifted hini on my pony for a 
 short ride ; and the animal coming to a piece of water by the 
 roadside, stooped down to drink, and pulled the little fellow over 
 his head into the water." 
 
 However, no harm followed, and his father seems to have been 
 rather amused at the' adventure of his hopeful son. He writes 
 thus : "I was extremely sorry that you had so much trouble with 
 
VI SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 the young horseman. He was not in the least hurt, but seems 
 ashamed of his awkwardness. I feel much obliged to you for 
 your tender attention to him on the occasion." 
 
 When Hugh was about twelve years of age he had outgrown 
 his strength, and looked so delicate that consumption was feared. 
 Change of air being thought desirable, he spent some weeks at 
 the vicarage of Kirk Braddon, with his father's friend. They 
 took long rides together in the parish, and, says Mr. Howard, 
 "Very pleasant rides they were. His natural, friendly manner 
 made him a great favourite amongst the people, and after he left 
 us there were many kind inquiries concerning him." 
 
 This short visit was of great benefit to his health ; his cough 
 left him, and he returned home almost quite well. 
 
 It must have been to this period of his life that the following 
 anecdote, frequently told by himself, refers : " When I was 
 a boy, I was fond of the simple Manx eloquence, and some- 
 times strayed, something I fear to my dear father's displea- 
 sure, into the Manx chapels, to listen to their own preachers in the 
 native language. Once I remember the preacher, inviting the 
 flock to the Gospel feast, exclaimed, ' Come, for all things are now 
 ready; there you will find mountains of porridge and rivers of 
 new milk !* " 
 
 Amidst these tranquil scenes, young Stowell was being pre- 
 pared for loftier service and for his Master's work. When he was 
 about thirteen years old there was a young cottager residing in 
 his father's parish who was suffering from a tedious illness, which 
 ended in his death. Hugh took a great interest in this young 
 man, and lent to him religious books, and taught him to read ; 
 and great was the joy of the poor sufferer when he could 'read a 
 little in his Bible ; and his eyes used to brighten, it is said, when 
 from the little window of his bedroom he saw his youthful in- 
 structor coming to the house. In his last interview with him, the 
 dying youth, feeling that he was drawing near to his end, ex- 
 claimed to him in Manx, with looks of joy, " Glory and praise to 
 God ; I am going home, I am going home." 
 
 "Never," says Mr. Howard, "have I beheld a more beautiful 
 picture of domestic happiness than the little Vicarage of Lonan 
 presented. It was indeed the abode of harmony, peace, and love. 
 Mr. and Mrs, Stowell were of one heart and mind, and what was 
 known to be the wish of one became immediately the will of the 
 
THE REV. HUGH STOWELL. vii 
 
 other. Their religion was brought into every part of their daily- 
 conduct. Mrs. Stowell was a very superior person, and had re- 
 membered her Creator from the days of her youth. She was a 
 lovely looking woman. There was a striking feminine delicacy in 
 her appearance, and her manner was gentle, cheerful, and kind. 
 But along with this there was great firmness and decision in her 
 character, in doing what she believed to be the will of God. She 
 was one of the tenderest and best of mothers, but at the same 
 time required from her children strict obedience to the commands 
 of their parents. It was the great desire of both her and her dear 
 husband to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition 
 of the Lord, and to train them up for heaven." 
 
 Young Stowell was only about fourteen years of age when the 
 first and heaviest affliction of his life fell upon him ; he lost his 
 mother. Never afterwards* did he know a sorrow greater than 
 this ; indeed, he seemed to be a stranger to those afflictions which 
 in general fall heavily upon those who are called to eminent ser- 
 vice in the Church of Christ. There was something that almost 
 smote upon the heart of many of his dearest friends, when they 
 saw playing upon his features the smile of constant happiness, 
 such as an infant has while it lies basking in the full sunshine of 
 a mother's love ; and yet, if any grief were unburthened to him, 
 none sympathised more deeply than he. He seemed without diffi- 
 culty to make the sorrows of the sick and dying all his own. He 
 could not only " rejoice with them that do rejoice," he could 
 " weep with them that weep ;" and his power of throwing himself 
 as it were into another's mind, and especially into their sorrows, 
 was something which must have been seen in order to be appre- 
 ciated. 
 
 Long instructed at home by his father, he was thence sent, for 
 a short time, to the late Rev. John Cawood, the excellent incum- 
 bent of Bewdley, an able preacher, as his published sermons 
 testify, and' a good scholar. 
 
 From Bewdley Mr. Stowell proceeded to St. Edmund Hall, Ox- 
 ford. His earliest and warmest friend, the Rev. Thomas Watson, 
 now the Vicar of East Farleigh, speaking of his college life, 
 says : — 
 
 "His course was characterized with a beautiful uniformity 
 throughout; and yet it was anything but monotonous. Naturally 
 he was blessed with great buoyancy of spirits, and no one enjoyed 
 
V1U SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 more than himself sallies of wit and humour on occasions which 
 gave rise to innocent mirth. He had not a particle of asceticism 
 in his composition. All approaches to that kind of levity which 
 the Scriptures condemn he seemed always to have an instinctive 
 dread of. Judging by what I observed in him, I should say that 
 1 he feared God from his youth.' I cannot recollect a single in- 
 stance, in our long intercourse, when he appeared to cast aside a 
 filial, reverential, wholesome fear of God. The words of the 
 Psalmist, in his case, were, if I may so express myself, stereo- 
 typed ; they were engraven on his heart : ' Blessed is the man 
 that feareth always.' And this salutary fear was accompanied 
 with no morbid sensibility, slavish dread, or any depression what- 
 ever ; on the contrary, it was a well-spring of joy which day by 
 day overflowed his cheerful, happy soul. 
 
 " In Christian fellowship and love, it may be truly said of him, 
 1 Once a friend, a friend for ever.' The sun of prosperity might 
 set over you, and the cold winds of adversity beat on you bitterly 
 and keenly in the lapse of time, yet you might always rely upon 
 his fidelity and on his faithfulness, — unlike those men whose 
 feelings, once ardently expressed, are only like the summer's 
 brook, fed by no perpetual spring : so that their friendship and 
 their feelings are soon dried up. He was ever ready to stretch out 
 the warm hand of friendship ; and the grasp of his hand was the 
 interpreter of his heart." 
 
 II.— HIS MINISTRY. 
 
 "When at College, Mr. Stowell assiduously cultivated those powers 
 of imagination and of eloquence which were afterwards so admir- 
 ably employed in his Master's service. Mr. Watson gives this 
 College reminiscence : — 
 
 " As at present, so in our day, there was in the University a 
 debating society. It consisted of but few members, from different 
 colleges. I well remember one of his first efforts at ' speechifica- 
 tion.' The subject, I think, was the place the Bible ought to 
 occupy among all classes of Christians, and in every relation of 
 life. After some rather abortive attempts by others, he stood up, 
 and with a commanding air, and a figure as erect as a dart, with- 
 out other preface or introduction, he exclaimed in his deep-toned 
 
THE REV. HUGH STOWELL. IX 
 
 voice, • What, I would ask, would be this our world without a 
 sun f You can. imagine the rest. He rushed onward like an im- 
 petuous torrent, in a full flow of eloquence ; and the outburst of 
 feeling, when he threw the reins on the neck of his inward emo- 
 tions, I can only compare to a burning volcano struggling with 
 its hidden fires. At such times it was hardly possible to gaze on 
 his finely-chiselled Saxon countenance— his noble features, his 
 lustrous eye, his lofty brow, his well-formed, massive frame, and 
 not admire the man. This debut on the platform was a presage of 
 his future almost unrivalled powers as a public speaker." 
 
 Mr. Stowell took his B.A. degree in 1822, and was ordained in 
 1823 to the curacy of Shepscombe, amid the beautiful scenery of 
 the Cotswold Hills. 
 
 A friend gives an interesting record of a conversation with Mr. 
 Stowell many years after, in which he described the first Sunday 
 after his ordination, and the circumstances which led him to adopt 
 an extempore style of preaching : — 
 
 "Ina conversation with Mr. Stowell, I was once led to re- 
 mark," says this friend, " that the power of extempore preaching 
 greatly extended the usefulness of a clergyman, and relieved him 
 from much severe toil, and to ordinary congregations gave more 
 effect to the sermon." Mr. Stowell replied that he always felt 
 thankful for being able so to preach ; adding that he had never 
 preached but one written sermon, and that was the first. 
 
 "I was," he said, "ordained by Bishop Ryder sooner than I 
 expected, in order to take charge of the curacy of Shepscombe, 
 having to go there the following day. I arrived late on the Satur- 
 day evening, tired and wearied, with one sermon written, and 
 part of another ; and found that I was to take the whole duty the 
 next day — Sunday. I felt the solemnity of my position, and had 
 made it a matter of much prayer. The Sunday morning came ; I 
 went to Church, read the prayers, and felt them too. I then 
 ascended the pulpit to preach my written sermon. The congrega- 
 tion was a rural one ; and as I glanced over it whilst preaching, 
 my heart sank within me ; and I thought I read their expression 
 to be, — ' "What sort of a stripling have we got' (for I was then 
 very youthful in my appearance) ; ' this may be all very good, but 
 it is above our comprehension.' I retired to my lodgings, but had 
 no appetite for my dinner. I offered up a heartfelt prayer, and 
 on rising from my knees proceeded to finish my sermon for the 
 
X SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 afternoon. As I did so, my eye rested on a text which I thought 
 very applicable to my then state of feelings and circumstances, 
 and which I should like to preach upon. So after meditating upon 
 it, and turning to parallel passages, I concluded to preach an ex- 
 tempore sermon on that subject. Much relieved, I went to 
 Church, read the pra} r ers, and then preached to the people in the 
 fulness of my heart. I had not been long preaching before I 
 observed tears trickling down an aged face. I felt that I was un- 
 derstood. From that time to this (about 1840), I have never 
 preached a written sermon." 
 
 " He looked back," he added, " with interest and pleasure to 
 his first rural flock, and even up to that time occasionally received 
 from some of these simple people affectionate letters, which he 
 prized much." 
 
 Shepscombe was an interesting field of labour, but it soon proved 
 too narrow for his ardent spirit ; and great as was the mutual re- 
 gard and esteem subsisting between his incumbent and himself, 
 he relinquished his curacy the following year, to undertake that 
 of Trinity Church, Huddersfield. 
 
 Soon after he accepted an invitation to take the sole charge of 
 the Church of St. Stephen, Salford. At that time Evangelical 
 principles were held by a very small minority of the clergy in 
 the vast parish of Manchester, of which Salford was but a 
 chapelry ; and it is a curious and painful illustration of the state 
 of feeling which then prevailed, that the late Dr. Blomfield, then 
 Bishop of Chester, hesitated at first about licensing one who had 
 been represented to him as " an extemporaneous fire-brand." In 
 a personal interview with the good Bishop, who always had the 
 manliness to think and act for himself, this preliminary difficulty 
 was readily overcome ; and so acceptable did his ministrations 
 prove, that his hearers, knowing how uncertain a curate's position 
 is, and fearing lest he might be induced to accept an incumbency 
 elsewhere, soon after determined to build a church, by subscrip- 
 tion, for him, a little farther out from the heart of Manchester, 
 but still within the bounds of his overgrown parish. 
 
 Before this church was yet consecrated, Mr. Stowell's father paid 
 him what proved to be a farewell visit. The venerable old man 
 delighted all who were invited to meet him. He was quite aware 
 of the dangers to which, young men in general are exposed from 
 early popularity, and did not live to see how thoroughly proof 
 
THE REV. HUGH STOWELL. XI 
 
 against them was, in this respect, his highly favoured son. "When 
 congratulated on the estimation in which he was held, "Ah," said 
 he, "they are administering poison to my son out of a golden 
 dish!" 
 
 Established in his new position, Mr. Stowell commenced a 
 routine of labour which, with singular devotedness and perseve- 
 rance, he continued with little alteration to the end of his life. 
 His peculiar gifts necessarily opened many doors of usefulness 
 abroad ; but whilst ready to seize upon these opportunities to the 
 extent of his powers (and possessing an iron frame which scarcely 
 knew what illness was, those powers seemed as if they could 
 scarcely be overtaxed), it may be truly said he excelled most in 
 the usefulness which has its sphere at home. During his length- 
 ened ministry in Salford, he was seldom absent for a single Sunday 
 in the year, except when he took his autumnal holiday; and 
 wherever he was, his heart seemed to yearn over his flock. 
 Schools thoroughly well worked and sustained, district visiting, 
 adult classes, libraries, mutual improvement society, clothing 
 clubs, and other parochial institutions, indicated his anxiety to 
 promote the welfare, temporal and spiritual, of his people. 
 
 In the pulpit, and on the platform, he' was an Apollos in elo- 
 quence, and a John in love. In the pulpit his eloquence was 
 especially adapted to move the hearts of his hearers, evincing a 
 quick insight into the feelings and tendencies of human nature. 
 His remarks were always perspicuous and pointed, his illustrations 
 true to the subject in hand, but there was not any striking amount 
 of deep thought. He made the pulpit as it should be, not the 
 philosopher's desk, or the professor's chair, but the source of well- 
 directed appeals to the conscience, and the deepest emotions of the 
 heart. He studied simplicity as a matter of principle, making it 
 his aim to reach the understanding of the poorest hearer. " I fix 
 my eye," he said, "upon some poor man in the middle aisle, and 
 when I perceive, from his attitude and the attention he pays, that 
 I have interested him, then I proceed with comfort." Hence,, 
 while some leading men thought for the people, Canon Stowell 
 thought with them ; and the thoughts that passed through the 
 minds of his hearers, and the feelings that surged through their 
 hearts, were what he gave utterance to. 
 
 The style thus formed by a preacher who was a scholar and a 
 gentleman, was pure and simple eloquence, such as fell from the lips 
 
Xll SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 of Latimer when lie preached at Paul's Cross before King Edward, 
 and king and "common people" equally " heard him gladly." 
 Canon Stowell might have said with Baxter, "I never was 
 ashamed to call a spade a spade ; and yet, on the other hand, I 
 never forebore a criticism in Greek or Latin, although I knew it 
 would be above the range of some of my hearers." 
 
 On the platform he possessed remarkable power. His words 
 came fresh from the anvil of the heart, and quickly kindled the 
 enthusiasm of the audience. His mode of delivery was highly 
 impressive, always in happy unison with the point he was arguing, 
 or the appeal he was urging. He managed the tones of his voice 
 with as much ease and propriety as the most consummate adept 
 in elocution, never shouting or straining himself to an unnatural 
 pitch. On one occasion, in a conversation on this point with the 
 writer, Mr. Stowell gave the following laconic but useful counsel : 
 " Never try to make yourself heard." It is very certain that the 
 voice is best heard in its natural key, and the strained effort is 
 not only ineffective, but painful alike to the speaker and the 
 audience. 
 
 He was especially successful in gaining an influence over the 
 working classes. He never seemed to condescend to them : never 
 affected to patronize them. At a crowded public meeting he once 
 spoke with the utmost contempt of the proud parson ' ' who could 
 not cordially shake the horny list of the labouring man with his 
 hand, and give it a hearty shake." At the same time, there was 
 a becoming dignity about him, so that he could do this, and yet 
 none would for an instant take unfitting advantage of the kindly 
 familiarity encouraged. 
 
 Emphatically a man of action, he found but little time for 
 literary compositions ; but he nevertheless published two volumes 
 on " Tractarianism," and another on "Nehemiah : a Model for 
 Men of Business." Amongst numerous smaller pamphlets and 
 tracts, one entitled, " I am a Churchman," has been exceedingly 
 popular. As a hymnist, also, he deserves to be remembered, if 
 only as the author of the exquisite hymn, " From every Stormy 
 Wind that blows." 
 
 What he was as the Pastor of the flock may be gathered from 
 the following testimony of one of his parishioners : — 
 
 " The absence from church of any member of his congregation, 
 whose scat was not likely to be unoccupied, except from sickness, 
 
THE REV. HUGH STOWELL. Xlli 
 
 would be noticed, and affectionate inquiry made. The first person 
 across our threshold under such circumstances was our Pastor. 
 How loving, how affectionate, how full of sympathy and comfort 
 were those visits, I can speak from my own experience. No fear 
 of infection ever weighed with him, however contagious the dis- 
 order." 
 
 But perhaps the result of his labours in his own parish will 
 best be estimated by the fact, that, during the first twenty-one 
 years of his ministry, the communicants increased from one hun- 
 dred and eighty to between five and six hundred. 
 
 III.— HIS PROTESTANTISM. 
 
 In any sketch of Mr. Stowell's life, however brief, marked 
 prominence must be given to his unflinching adherence to Protes- 
 tant principles. 
 
 " A commanding sense of duty to my country, my faith, and my 
 God, constrained me to make Protestant truth the polestar of my 
 public conduct." 
 
 " The struggle with Rome has only begun. It waxes, and will 
 wax, closer and closer. Spiritually, ecclesiastically, politically, 
 she must be withstood. Meekly, but manfully, with all charity, 
 yet with all determination, let us gird ourselves for the battle. 
 The battle of the Reformation has to be fought again." 
 
 " Emphatically, let all your doings be done in a right spirit — 
 in a spirit of prayer. Let there be no resentment, no retaliation, 
 no asperity. Leave personalities and slanders to those whose cause 
 they befit. ' Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with 
 good.' " 
 
 So spake and so acted Mr. Stowell, the faithful and devoted 
 champion of our national Protestantism. 
 
 His was no spirit of intolerance or bigotry. On the contrary, 
 it was because he regarded Romanism as the very essence of in- 
 tolerance, that he avowed himself a Protestant — truly tolerant, 
 truly Catholic, truly Christian. 
 
 " We are simply intolerant of intolerance, jealous of the most 
 insatiable spiritual despotism. "We protest against caressing our 
 
XIV SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 most implacable adversary ; against furnishing her with weapons 
 to destroy us. It is not religion we are resisting, but a system 
 which, under the name and guise of religion, masks a huge sacer- 
 dotal conspiracy against the liberties of mankind — a system whose 
 essence is exclusiveness, whose duty is persecution, whose passion 
 is universal domination — a system, one of the greatest advocates 
 and expositors of which, Cardinal Bellarmine, says, ' when here- 
 tics are strong, we commit them to God ; when weak, to the exe- 
 cutioner,' — a system which converts the cross into a scaffolding for 
 the erection of an illimitable pyramid of priestly power, and 
 transforms Christianity itself into a stupendous stalking-horse for 
 hierarchical ambition to bestride, that it may ride rough-shod 
 over the consciences, the liberties, and the lives of the whole 
 human race." 
 
 Such an unfaltering and uncompromising testimony against in- 
 tolerance, in all its shades of development, could not fail to make 
 the witness himself obnoxious. On the one hand he was opposed 
 and vilified by those who were identified with the Romish system, 
 and on the other hand he was regarded as a disturber and an en- 
 thusiast by those who, as nominal Protestants only, were suffi- 
 ciently indifferent to Revealed Truth to be disposed to " tolerate 
 any error," however dishonouring to God, and however dangerous 
 to civil and religious liberty, so long at least as it did not imme- 
 diately threaten to interfere with their own personal rights. 
 Genuine Romanists and indifferent Protestants were thus united 
 in one rank against the faithful champion of God's "Word, as the 
 Charter of the Church of the Reformation. 
 
 It may be regarded as an axiom, none are so intolerant of in- 
 dividuals as those who are in error themselves, or tolerant of error 
 in others. The Romish and medieval spirit of persecution is in 
 close alliance with the equally persecuting spirit of worldly in- 
 difference. Religious earnestness and faithful adherence to the 
 Divine "Word, which tolerates no error in doctrine or life, but de- 
 mands the implicit recognition and acceptance of absolute truth 
 as the alone standard of faith and practice, without any reference 
 to human opinions — whether those of the sceptical disciples of 
 science falsely so-called, or the devotees of superstition giving 
 heed to the voice of a fallible Church as if it were the voice of 
 the infallible God, or the worldly-minded who can only endure a 
 religion that brings with it no cross of spiritual discipline and 
 
THE REV. HUGH STOWELL. XV 
 
 -conflict— will always subject men to the penalties which the tole- 
 ration of error in a sinful world necessarily involves, (St. John, 
 xvi. 33.) 
 
 Mr. Stowell's experience formed no exception to this rule. 
 Genial and loving, zealous and self-denying, buoyant in spirit and 
 winning in manner, he might have been expected to disarm even 
 intolerance of her weapons. But it was far otherwise. He had 
 to count and pay the cost of faithfulness. He was branded as 
 "a dictating priest." Misrepresentation did its worst. More 
 than once his personal safety was endangered; but he never 
 shrank. " It was not in his nature to be timid, and over his 
 grave might have been pronounced the eulogy once pronounced 
 over the grave of Knox — ' Here lies he' who was never afraid of 
 the face of man.' " 
 
 He received many anonymous and threatening letters. These 
 he invariably burnt without reading them. His rule was neither 
 to read anonymous letters, nor to notice them when they appeared 
 in the newspapers. A friend once remarking to him that he never 
 replied to the letters in the newspapers, especially to one writer 
 who attacked him violently, he replied, smiling, "No, I treat him 
 as I would a chimney-sweeper whom I might meet in the street 
 with a sack of soot on his back : I give him as wide a berth as 
 possible." All those who have felt it their duty to stand in the 
 fore-front of the battle learn, after a while, how cheap is their 
 remedy against the threats and taunts of anonymous adversaries 
 — secret stabbers ashamed of their names — namely, by committing 
 such things, unread, to the waste-paper basket. 
 
 At the time when the arrogant attempt was made by Cardinal 
 "Wiseman to place England under the Canon Law of Home, and 
 to establish a Roman Catholic hierarchy, Mr. Stowell was one of 
 the first to protest against the insult, and his efforts contributed 
 in no mean degree to bring about the passing of the Ecclesiastical 
 Titles Bill. On that occasion he addressed a meeting of nearly 
 seven thousand persons in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, for 
 nearly three hours, the vast assembly listening with unflagging 
 interest. His concluding words may well be pondered by every 
 Protestant elector in the anticipation of the new Reform Parlia- 
 ment of 1869 :— 
 
 " In all probability the time is not distant when we shall have 
 a dissolution of Parliament. I never asked any man to give a 
 
XVI SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 vote, and I never influenced a man in giving a vote ; I never took 
 the remotest part in party politics ; I have been placed as a poli- . 
 tician when I have been merely a simple Protestant man. I have 
 loved Protestantism from my* mother's lap ; I was trained in 
 loyalty to it, and I should have been unfaithful to a mother's 
 prayer and to a father's teaching had I not been a true-hearted 
 Protestant. But a political partisan I have never been, and, God 
 helping me, I never will ; but for once in my life I think I may 
 deviate, and at the next election I will ask every man in my con- 
 gregation to vote for no man that will not resist Popish aggression, 
 and uphold our common Protestantism. My friends, enter into 
 an agreement among yourselves, and if Manchester will show a 
 list on the Exchange of some four thousand voters pledged to the 
 point, our representatives will become mightily Protestant ; we 
 shall have a great change in the tone of debates when Parliament 
 meets ; do it — it can be done. * Is there a Protestant here not wil- 
 ling to enter into such an agreement ? Every man of God will 
 agree to this ; it is no political thing. I don't care whether we 
 have a Whig, Tory, or Radical representative, so that we have a 
 sound-hearted Protestant man. I can say little more. Don't lose 
 your temper ; don't lose your spirit. Love the Romanists ; pray 
 for them, feel for them, show them kindness. Show them that 
 you love them, though you hate Popery. Resist Popery — oppose 
 it to the death ; you are warranted in doing so — Scripture up- 
 holds you in doing it. Your glorious Protestant rights and privi- 
 leges bind you to do good — defend the right, and we have no fear 
 of the consequences." 
 
 In another speech at this same period, Mr. Stowell thus met the 
 charge that he was ■• dragging politics into religion :" — 
 
 *• "We are not dragging politics into religion, but wc are bringing 
 religion into politics. To do the one is to profane, to do the other 
 is to honour our faith. We are not politically religious — that 
 were hypocrisy ; we are religiously political, that is fidelity." 
 
 This discriminating and admirable definition bespeaks the 
 watchfulness over his own spirit, the constant exercise of which 
 preserved him from the perilous deadening influence which in- 
 variably creeps over the mere controversialist. Mr. Stowell was 
 not a political churchman, and, however his conduct and princi- 
 ples were at times maligned and misrepresented, the abuse which 
 fell to his share mado no lasting impression on the public mind, 
 
THE REV. HUGH STOWELL. xvii 
 
 and did his character no harm. His opponents styled him "the 
 Pope of Salford," hut he lacked not vindicators of the noble and 
 manly course he pursued. 
 
 " Is there anything in such conduct," asks one of the leading 
 Manchester newspapers, dealing with these assailants, "unworthy 
 of Mr. Stowell as an Englishman or a Christian minister ? They 
 know very well that there is not, and therefore they represent 
 him as aiming at personal aggrandisement, in the teeth of noto- 
 rious facts, and the evidence to the contrary furnished by the acts 
 of nearly a life-time. These perpetual assaults upon Canon 
 Stowell are the most striking tributes to his merits and services. 
 Great influence he undoubtedly possesses, and he has exercised it 
 most beneficially in a thousand ways, and in none more conspi- 
 cuously than in keeping up the tone of Protestant feeling." 
 
 The accusation of seeking "personal aggrandisement" advanced 
 against Mr. Stowell, was indeed made " in the teeth of notorious 
 facts." His income arose from pew-rents only, and never ex- 
 ceeded that of a professional man in ordinary practice. The 
 Church of England, as a Church, contributed nothing to her dis- 
 tinguished son. ' ' He was a lion in her defence, but she was 
 always a heartless foster-mother — l leonum arida nutrix? " 
 
 The generosity of his congregation on two occasions nobly sup- 
 plemented the amount received from seat-rentals. In 1846 he 
 received a present of £1,500 ; and in 1860 he was presented with a 
 silver salver and the sum of £5,000, " in testimony of the eminent 
 services rendered by him during a ministry of thirty-five years, 
 and of the able and uncompromising manner in which he has on 
 all occasions advocated the maintenance of the Protestant Institu- 
 tions of this country." 
 
 This latter subscription originated with two friends, one of them 
 a Churchman and the other a Wesleyan, and was raised without 
 the slightest canvass, " the only condition being that it should be 
 applied for the benefit of Mr. Stowell and his family as he 
 might think fit." This condition was not unnecessary, for Mr. 
 Stowell " demurred to accept the sum of money for personal pur- 
 poses" and only yielded when he was assured that "the majority 
 of his friends had contributed on the express understanding that 
 it should be so applied," and that he " would occasion them much 
 pain and disappointment were he to defeat their design." But in 
 complying with their wishes, ha added, " At the same time I hope 
 
 b 
 
XV111 SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 that the augmentation of my income will not only add to the com- 
 fort of my family and myself, but also to my resources for bene- 
 volent and charitable purposes." 
 
 That the pastor was truly worthy of these acts of generous con- 
 sideration on the part of his flock, can need no additional proof, 
 but an extract from a friend's letter may serve to set the disinte- 
 restedness of Mr. Stowell in a still stronger light. 
 
 "Although he had various offers of preferment with greater 
 emolument elsewhere, nothing could induce him to leave his be- 
 loved parishioners. I recollect on one occasion, when taking tea 
 at my house, he wrote a note, and took out of his pocket a letter 
 to get the address. Just as he was putting the note in an enve- 
 lope, he said, handing the letter and note to me over the table, ' I 
 need not withhold this from an old friend.' On reading them, I 
 found the letter conveyed the offer of a living worth almost three 
 times the amount of his own ; his reply was, as nearly as I can 
 recollect, simply thanking the gentlemen for their kind offer, but 
 adding that if they knew how happy he was in his present posi- 
 tion, and, he trusted, useful likewise, they would not be surprised 
 that he should decline accepting it. I have reason to believe, too, 
 that he refused a canonry because it would have involved non- 
 residence, which he did not think consistent." 
 
 Such was the man against whom a censorious world, or rather 
 an intolerant section of the professedly Christian Church, could 
 urge the accusation of " aiming at personal aggrandisement." 
 
 But he lived long enough to silence even his detractors : 
 
 " Assailed by scandal and tbe tongue of strife, 
 He gave the answer of a blameless life ; 
 And be tbat forged, and be tbat tbrew tbe dart, 
 Had eacb a brotber's interest in bis beart." 
 
 Never was there a controversialist who more thoroughly com- 
 bined the faithfulness of the ambassador with the love of the 
 brother. He loved peace and union, but he loved purity and truth 
 more dearly still; and this was the secret of his zeal against 
 Popery, and of his faith and fervour in denouncing Tractarianism. 
 
 " He was a genuine successor of our best Reformers, His soul 
 beat in true harmony with Hooper and Latimer, and Craruner and 
 Bradford. Against the fashion of the times — against the tide 
 which was manifestly a rising tide of secular advantage and ad- 
 
THE EEV. HUGH STOWELL. XIX 
 
 vancement — lie maintained in simple dignity the integrity of his 
 testimony for the Protestantism of the Church of England. "While 
 many were forsaking the standard — while many were lowering 
 the standard — while many were mingling its noble inscriptions 
 with mongrel mottoes, to make it pleasing to all sorts of people, 
 Hugh Stowell, grasping the banner and holding it aloft— that 
 banner of the Protestant Reformers and the liberties of the Church 
 of England, — refused to lower his tone or to dilute his testimony ; 
 and peacefully, prayerfully, conscientiously, with his eyes open, 
 he preferred honourable neglect — ay, and contempt and scorn — to 
 any crooked management or disingenuousness, or even conceal- 
 ment of his convictions, in order to conciliate compromisers in 
 high places."* 
 
 IV. -THE CLOSE OF LIFE. 
 
 In 1862, while visiting Bishopwearmouth, to deliver a lecture, 
 Canon Stowell met with a painful accident, seriously injuring his 
 knee-cap. He was very much shaken, and some who loved him 
 well could perceive a decline in his vigorous powers from that 
 time. He rallied, however, and still adhering to his oft-expressed 
 opinion, that it was " better to wear out than to rust out," he was 
 soon in full work again. We find him at one time lecturing in 
 the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, on the Moderation of the Church 
 of England ; then preaching the Assize Sermon in Chester Cathe- 
 dral ; and in 1864 he again visited London, and addressed a vast 
 congregation in the nave of "Westminster Abbey. In one of his 
 letters referring to this sermon, he speaks of ' ' two hours' highly 
 interesting but not quite satisfactory discussion with Dean Stan- 
 ley." The Dean " yielded one or two important points." 
 
 But the wearied soldier of the cross was obliged at length to 
 confess his almost exhausted powers. There is something very 
 affecting in the following letter. Many a believer sinking into the 
 grave, who finds, like Job, that sleepless nights and wearisome 
 days are appointed unto him, will read it, and be comforted. No 
 " strange temptation" befalls the most active and devoted servants 
 of God when such an experience of the plague of their own hearts, 
 
 * Funeral Sermon by Dr. M'Neilc. 
 
 b 2 
 
XX SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 even at the end of their labours, opens out more clearly the "com- 
 fort" that is to be found in Jesus : — 
 
 " Llandudno, July 4th. 
 
 " Dearest Sister, — You will like to hear from my own 
 pen how I progress. Yery slowly ; but I hope, please God, surely. 
 The hot weather sadly prostrates me, and my heart continues very 
 languid. Pray for me, that I may be refined in the furnace, and 
 lie as clay in the hands of the potter. Oh, how deeply do sleep- 
 less nights and wearisome days open up to us the plague and vile- 
 ness of our whole lives. Were it not for Jesus, and for what Jesus 
 is, what could we do ? 
 
 " We remain here (all well) another week, and then I hope 1 
 may be moving about for some months. All are well, and send 
 love to all. All grace be with you, prays 
 
 " Your affectionate brother, 
 
 "Hugh Stowell." 
 
 After reading this! etter we are almost surprised to hear of his 
 rallying once more, but he appears to have done so ; for we find 
 him writing on April 8th — 
 
 " We are all in fair health, and compassed with mercies. I had 
 the largest communion last Sunday I ever had during forty years' 
 ministry; within 13 of 600 communicants. Oh, the goodness of 
 Jesus !" 
 
 This, however, was only the flickering of the light of life. His 
 strength was manifestly and rapidly failing, and the crisis was 
 hastened by another fall at Matlock. A few months later his 
 medical attendants advised him to desist for a time from preach- 
 ing, and he proceeded to Grrasmere for rest. While there he had 
 a severe attack of diphtheria, and was obliged to return home. In 
 a few days the disease seemed to abate, but the symptoms presently 
 became unfavourable. Added to this, about a week before he 
 died, congestion of the lungs set in, followed by a slight attack of 
 paralysis. From that time he gradually sank, gently falling 
 asleep, about noon on Sunday, October 8th, 1865. 
 
 The following record of his closing hours is from the pen of his 
 son, the Rev. Thomas Alfred Stowell. Seldom have we read a 
 more touching tribute of filial affection to departed worth. 
 
 " During my father's last illness — borne with exemplary pa- 
 
THE REV. HUGH STOWELL. Xxi 
 
 tience and unmurmuring submission, it pleased God that the 
 powers of his naturally clear and vigorous mind should be much 
 impaired by the nature of his disease. For the greater part of 
 his last week on earth he was suffering from oppression on the 
 brain, which manifested itself either in semi-unconsciousness or 
 mental wandering. Yet whenever he was able to speak, and so 
 to indicate to those around what was passing within, his words 
 most clearly gave evidence, even when that evidence was involun- 
 tary, that his mind was entirely filled with holy and heavenly 
 things, nor even in delirium distracted by thoughts of earth. 
 
 " These utterances abundantly testify to his love of and delight 
 in prayer. Almost every word was prayer, couched for the most 
 part in the language of Holy Scripture or the Book of Common 
 Prayer; and these prayers were characterised by the deepest 
 humility and most entire self- distrust. It was indeed an 
 affecting and, at the same time, solemn and instructive lesson, to 
 hear one, of whom we might think that, like the great apostle, if 
 any one had whereof he might trust in the flesh — he more, like 
 him, confessing himself the chief of sinners. One of the passages 
 he most frequently repeated, perhaps the most frequently, was, 
 * If Thou, Lord, shouldest be severe to mark what is done amiss, 
 
 Lord, who may abide it ? But there is forgiveness with Thee 
 that Thou mayest be feared' (Psalm cxxx., 3, 4); to which he 
 invariably added, ' Let that forgiveness be extended unto me, for 
 Jesus Christ's sake, Amen.' Short petitions, such as the following, 
 were continually on his lips : ' Lord, have mercy upon me.' 
 ' Christ, have mercy upon me.' ' Lord, have mercy upon me.' 
 ' Lord, save, or I perish.' 1 Lord, I am like a little child, very 
 meek and lowly ; have mercy upon me, and help me, for Jesus 
 Christ's sake, Amen.' Several times he repeated the well-known 
 verse — 
 
 " ' Just as I am, without one plea, 
 But that Thy blood was shed for me, 
 Aud that Thou bidd'st me come to Thee ; 
 O Lamb of God, I come.' 
 
 And also that beginning 
 
 " ' Poor, weak, and worthless though I am.' 
 
 1 may here mention that he appeared to listen with great delight 
 
XX11 SiLETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 to the following hymns, which had been great favourites in his 
 life when read or sung to him : — 
 
 " ' Rock of Ages, cleft for me;' 
 " ' Come, let us join our cheerful songs ;' 
 "' Through all the changing scenes of lifej' 
 " ' Nearer, mj God, to Thee ;' 
 
 And 
 
 My God, my Father, while I stray. 
 
 " Equally apparent was his simple and Jinn trust in his Sa- 
 viour. The last night but one before his death, about half-past 
 one, he awoke perfectly conscious, calm, and quiet, though much 
 exhausted. I was sitting by his bedside, and asked him if he 
 was happy. « Yes,' he replied, ' and quite resigned to God's will.' 
 To the question, ' Is Jesus with you and precious to you ?' ' Yes, 
 so that He is all in all to me,' was his answer. During his waking 
 moments after this he frequently exclaimed, ' Very much peace,' 
 and several times, ' No fear :' ' Abundance of joy.' More fre- 
 quently still, sometimes in scarce audible tones, he breathed those 
 words which told of his blessed experience, ' A very present help 
 in time of trouble.' Another and remarkable expression was, 
 1 Oh, the comfort and the support of the society of Jesus !' 
 
 "On the day before his death, he uttered the prayer, 'Come, 
 Lord Jesus, and take me home ;' and when his eldest son said, 
 1 Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly !' (Rev. xxii. 20), he rejoined, 
 ' But when ?' ' In His own good time ; and is not that the best 
 time, dear father ?' ' Oh, yes, Amen.' When disturbed a little 
 by an attempt to change his position, he said, ' Wait, wait a 
 little.' When asked what for, * Death,' was his reply. He had 
 before prayed for help ' in this my last illness,' thus indicating his 
 consciousness that he was standing on the confines of eternity. 
 
 " The morning of his death, the only articulate words that we 
 could catch, uttered two or three hours before his decease, were 
 1 Amen ! Amen !' 
 
 " ' His watchword at the gates of death. 
 He enters heaven by prayer.' 
 
 " At one o'clock in the afternoon, on God's blessed Day of Rest, 
 jle and without the shadow of pain crossing his 
 
THE REV. HUGH STOWELL. xxiii 
 
 peaceful countenance, he entered into rest — the ' Sabbath-keeping 
 that remaineth for the people of God' (Heb. iv. 9)." 
 
 The day of Mr. Stowell's funeral presented a sight such as sel- 
 dom, perhaps never, occurred at the obsequies of any private 
 clergyman. The whole of the borough of Salford was in mourn- 
 ing, and the city of Manchester seemed to " sit solitary." The 
 funeral procession was a mile in length. The Bishop of the dio- 
 cese and more than two hundred of the clergy, with the repre- 
 sentatives of leading dissenting communities, followed him to his 
 grave. The whole road to the church was thronged with the 
 multitude of people, and the indications of sorrow were deep and 
 fervent. This, too, was not the result of pre-arrangement, but 
 the spontaneous expression of public feeling. The Bishop read 
 the service. At some parts of the solemn ritual his utterance. was 
 choked, and " few indeed were they who refused the tribute of a 
 tear." 
 
 It was felt to be no mere private loss, but the removal of a 
 pastor who had not only endeared himself to his own flock, but 
 had left his mark upon his age — had stamped his sovereignty more 
 widely and deeply upon the popular mind of the Church of Eng- 
 land, than perhaps any other man living. 
 
 " And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, "Write, 
 Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth : Yea, 
 saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours ; and their 
 works do follow them " (Rev. xiv* 13). 
 
GODLY REPENTANCE. 
 
 " And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants 
 of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication ; and they 
 shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn 
 for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitter- 
 ness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born." — 
 Zechakiah xii. 10. 
 
 Chrtst crucified is the centre point of eternity, Christ cruci- 
 fied is the centre object of the universe, Christ crucified is the 
 soul of His Church, Christ crucified it is that bruiseth the 
 hard heart, and Christ crucified it is that binds up the broken 
 heart. Christ crucified is the spring of all godly sorrow, and 
 Christ crucified is the source of all godly joy. If Christ be 
 not fundamental to our faith, we may be Christians in name 
 and form, but we are not Christians in deed and in truth. 
 " What think ye of Christ T may test our character. We 
 cannot be right in the rest if we are in error here. Our 
 Church has beautifully and scripturally, in the order of our 
 Christian year, given to Christ crucified, the great, the grand, 
 and the prominent place. The season of Lent ; the week 
 called Passion week, the week of Christ's agony, Good Friday, 
 Easter Sunday, the Sundays following Easter, are all full of 
 Christ crucified and of Christ glorified. It were well if those 
 who call themselves members of our Church entered more 
 into the spirit of the Church and her services. In entering 
 
 1 
 
2 GODLY REPENTANCE. 
 
 therefore upon this week,* desiring to draw your hearts and 
 affections towards the centre object of our common faith, how 
 beautifully and how expressively is the subject brought before 
 us in that grand piece of ancient religion, the Passover. In 
 casting about for a subject that would fitly drawyour thoughts 
 and affections, — and it may be your sorrows and your deep 
 sympathy, — on this Palm Sunday, the Sunday on which we 
 commemorate the entry of Christ into Jerusalem to commence 
 His awful anguish, and to accomplish His glorious triumph, 
 the words I have read commended themselves to me as very 
 appropriate. They describe, primarily, the deliverance of 
 Israel, " I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the 
 inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication : 
 and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced." Yet, 
 though the description is primarily of Israel, it is a descrip- 
 tion of all genuine repentance. It is a description of what it 
 is that causes, and is the great object of true repentance, and 
 it will lead us very briefly to touch upon these three points : — 
 
 The spring of true repentance: — the object that occasions 
 true repentance : — and the depth and intenseness of godly re- 
 pentance. May the Spirit of God accompany His word, that 
 we may profit by it. 
 
 We have then, in these words, the spring of true repentance. 
 " I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the in- 
 habitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication. 
 There is the author of true repentance, the Spirit of God, the 
 author and giver of all good, one of the first fruits of the 
 Saviour's preparation. AVhen He, the Spirit, " is come. He 
 will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of 
 judgment ; Of sin, because they believe not on me ; Of right- 
 eousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more ; 
 Of judgment, because the Prince of this world is judged." 
 He taketh of the things of Jesus, and showeth them unto us. 
 * Passion week, 1862. 
 
GODLY REPENTANCE. 3 
 
 He is called " the spirit of grace and of supplication." The 
 spirit of grace, because it is the gift of sovereign mercy ; He 
 works graciously, freely, and sovereignly. If, penitent sinner, 
 thy repentance be genuine, it is the act of the Spirit of God, 
 and of God's grace. " By grace are ye saved." " By the 
 grace of God I am what I am ;" and grace only makes me to 
 differ from the vilest of the human race j therefore " God be 
 merciful to me a sinner," is my prayer. There is no true re- 
 pentance but what is breathed by the Spirit in the heart of 
 man, and no man pours out his heart in the spirit of truth, 
 who does not do it in the help and power of the Holy Ghost. 
 "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we 
 know not what we should pray for as we ought ; but the 
 Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which 
 cannot be uttered. And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth 
 what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh inter- 
 cession for the saints according to the will of God." " God 
 is a spirit," and must be worshipped " in spirit and in truth." 
 You may take it as a certain sign that a man has received the 
 spirit of grace if it produce in him the spirit of supplication, 
 for " He that searcheth the hearts," has marked it as genuine 
 repentance. "Behold, he prayeth." 
 
 " Prayer is the contrite sinner's voice 
 He turning from his ways ; 
 While angels in their songs rejoice 
 And say, ' Behold, he prays !' " 
 
 The spirit of supplication : — Blessed thing, one to suppli- 
 cate in heaven as our Intercessor there, and one to supplicate 
 in our hearts as Supplicator here. The Son knoweth " the 
 mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for us 
 according to the will of God," and the Spirit knoweth the 
 mind of the Son. And they that have the Spirit are in Him, 
 and are one with Him and with the Father. Who can fail 
 
 1—2 
 
4 GODLY REPENTANCE. 
 
 to succeed in prayer with such an Intercessor to help him, 
 and to present his prayers to the throne of grace ? 
 
 "A spirit of grace and supplication" I will pour out upon 
 them. What a rich abundance ! What an ample provision i 
 e< I will pour floods upon the dry ground," — such is the beau- 
 tiful expression of the richness of Christ Jesus. As He said 
 Himself on the great day of the feast — " If any man thirst, 
 let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, 
 as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers 
 of living waters." 
 
 Turn we to the great object that produces repentance of heart 
 — that is, godly repentance. "They shall look upon Me 
 whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as 
 one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for 
 Him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born." Here is 
 another touchstone of genuine repentance. If a man's re- 
 pentance does not lead him to the cross, and if the cross does 
 not underlay his repentance ; if the great source of his deep 
 abasement be not the crucified Saviour, it is transitory. It 
 may be worldly sorrow, "the sorrow of the world" that 
 " worketh death j" it may be a superstitious sorrow, or it 
 may be a natural sorrow, which is right as far as it goes ; but 
 it is not the "repentance to salvation not to be repented of." 
 That always arises from grace, the spring of repentance, and 
 the spring of godly sorrow ; for, after all, what is sorrow if 
 in it is not seen the exceeding sinfulness of sin in the sight 
 of God, if it does not bring the sinner to arise and go to his 
 Father, and say to Him — " Father, I have sinned against 
 heaven, and before Thee V Godly sorrow leads a man to 
 take a view of the cross of Jesus, of the Saviour crucified for 
 him, bearing his iniquity, and " travelling in the greatness of 
 His strength" to make satisfaction for him. What can break 
 the hard heart, if this cannot 1 ? The law may appal, but it 
 oftentimes also hardens, and drives to despair ; but it is the 
 
GODLY REPENTANCE. 5 
 
 cross of Christ, and the sufferings of the Saviour, that load 
 the poor penitent to cast himself solely and simply on the 
 mercy of God, through the merits of the Saviour. 
 
 " They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced." See 
 the tenderness of that description. It is not a merely casual 
 glance, it is not a mere admission of the crucifixion of Christ, 
 but it is to look intensely, earnestly, and with a riveted 
 attention on that dread sight which made the earth shake 
 and tremble to the centre. Dear brethren, as the sinner 
 goes up to that dread sight, he begins to say, /pierced Him, 
 my sins wounded Him, they brought Him to the cross, the 
 scourge, and the spear. I look to Him and say, I have gone 
 astray like a sheep which is lost ; the Lord hath laid on Him 
 my iniquity, and the iniquity of us all. " Behold the Lamb 
 of God," who taketh away my sins as He does the sins of 
 the world. Look fixedly and abstractedly on Christ cruci- 
 fied, and you will be led to say, " Father, I have sinned 
 against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to 
 be called thy son." 
 
 Look at the depth and intensity of the repentance : — 
 " mourneth for Him as one that mourneth for his only son, 
 and in bitterness for Him as one that is in bitterness for his 
 first-born." I know that the sorrows and sufferings of Jesus 
 are passed for ever. The " travail of His soul " is finished, 
 for He said with His dying breath, " It is finished ;" and 
 now He lives, and " death hath no more dominion over Him." 
 Where is the mother or the father who does not remember the 
 deep suffering and anguish occasioned by the loss of a loved 
 child, the first-born ; who does not remember the intensity of 
 the suffering? And do they not, when they think of it, feel 
 the anguish again, though they know the child is beyond the 
 reach of pain ? There is still some recollection of the child, 
 accompanied with deep sorrow, and it is natural and right 
 that it should be so. It is meet and right, too, that we 
 
6 GODLY REPJiNTAIsUK 
 
 should never look at the crucified Saviour but with feelings 
 of abasement, of self-humiliation, and agony, with the feel- 
 ings of one who has lost an only son. This we should do in 
 the privacy of the closet, in the presence of God, and at His 
 holy table. There we should show contrition and humilia- 
 tion, for we know that " they that sow in tears shall reap in 
 joy;" and more, we "know the fellowship of His sufferings;" 
 " if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him; if we deny Him, 
 He also will deny us ;" if we pledge Him in the bitter cup, 
 He will pledge us in the cup of everlasting consolation and 
 joy ; and we shall at last live with Him, and the cross will 
 be only the prelude to endless glory and ecstasy. 
 
 If you will have that godly sorrow, you must have the 
 author and giver of it ; you must seek from God "the spirit 
 of grace and supplication." You must pray that the Holy 
 Spirit will keep you, that you may no more forsake and de- 
 part from the great centre-point of your hope. Therefore, do 
 not let this week pass away absorbed in the things of this 
 life, but give attention to the great things of eternity. Re- 
 deem the time ! regard the concerns of your immortal souls 
 as your chief concerns, and not business, and pleasure, and 
 fashion, and the follies of the world. Oh, they are nothing 
 in comparison with a crucified Saviour. None can serve you 
 as He can, none can do for you as He can do, none have your 
 eternal interests at heart as He has; for if you have Christ, 
 then "whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or 
 life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are 
 yours; and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's;" but Christ 
 lost, Christ neglected, Christ slighted, and your great salva- 
 tion is shipwrecked. God grant that we may be so looking 
 upon Him, that when He tomes in glory we may not be 
 amongst those who quake for fear, but may we lift up our 
 eyes with joy when we behold our salvation coming. 
 

 II. 
 
 THE PASSOVER : ITS OCCASION AND IMPORT. 
 
 u What mean ye by this service ?" — Exodus xii. part of 26. 
 
 It is truly interesting, and it is at the same time truly instruc- 
 tive, to examine the etching as well as the finished picture, 
 to examine the architect's outline as well as the completed 
 structure, to examine the mould as well as the perfect casting. 
 Comparing one with the other, we discern more fully the 
 wisdom, the skill, and the beauty of the work. And so it is in 
 the things of the Spirit of God. We are not to suppose that 
 the etchings, and the moulds, and the architectural plans of 
 the Old Testament are of no utility now ; so far from it, we 
 shall never have so clear and full an impression of the great 
 work of redemption as when we study them, and by not do- 
 ing so, we shall not only rob our own souls of much benefit 
 and blessing, but we shall rob God of much glory and praise 
 for His manifold wisdom. In this very solemn and, to the 
 devout soul, very interesting week of Christ's passion, I have 
 made choice of what we may not unfitly style the most beauti- 
 ful etching of all in the Old Testament, the most beautiful 
 architectural outline of the great temple of redemption, 
 the most beautiful mould of the glorious casting cf salva- 
 tion, the tracing out in the shadow of the substance of that 
 shadow. May the Spirit of God accompany us, that we may 
 learn somewhat more of the length, and breadth, and height 
 
8 THE PASSOVER: 
 
 of the love, and the wisdom, and the greatness of the salva- 
 tion that is in Christ Jesus, which He accomplished as at this 
 time in " His agony," in " His bloody sweat," in " His cross 
 and passion," in " His precious death and burial," and in 
 "His glorious resurrection and ascension." 
 
 The passover is pre-eminently the prince of types. Tt is 
 the one that is fullest of Christ, the fullest of the fulness of 
 Christ. It is the one that gives us, as in a beautiful parable, 
 the whole work of the redemption of the sinner through the 
 sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Therefore we shall take it in 
 detail, and we shall seek to lead you into all its admirable ex- 
 pressiveness, ordained to be a perpetual memorial till the 
 passover should be accomplished in " Christ our Passover." 
 "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do 
 show the Lord's death till He come." " Christ our Passover 
 is sacrificed for us." 
 
 God ordained that when the children of Israel should ask 
 " What mean ye by this service?" the explanation should be 
 given — This keep as a perpetual memorial of the great 
 redemption wrought for Israel. We ask the same question 
 this evening with regard to the passover, " What mean ye 
 by this service f And Ave shall first of all bring out the occa- 
 sion of the institute, and then, as briefly as we may, we shall 
 refer to the import of the institute in its relation to Israel, 
 and in its prefiguration of Christ. May the Spirit of God 
 attend the word of God, and bring it home to our minds 
 and hearts in love and power. 
 
 The occasion of the paschal feast. The occasion we are 
 familiar with, and we shall do well to recall the circum- 
 stances, that we may be more impressed with the beauty of 
 the type. All Israel, as you know, had been in bondage for 
 centuries in Egypt. They groaned under the bitter yoke, 
 and their cry went up to heaven, to God, who said, " I know 
 their sorrows," and compassionate them; and the time came 
 
ITS OCCASION AND IMPORT. 9 
 
 for their deliverance, and by signs and wonders vengeance 
 was poured forth upon Pharaoh and upon the Egyptians. At 
 the same time Pharaoh was infatuated, and God " hardened 
 his heart," that He might show forth His great power and 
 signal judgments, and he refused to let the people go. At 
 last, the crisis came, and God declared that He would destroy 
 the first-born of all the Egyptians \ and the angel with his 
 destroying hand went forth with the dread message of death 
 to every family, " from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on 
 his throne, unto the first-born of the captive that was in the 
 dungeon, and all the first-born of cattle." But this great 
 destruction was not to come nigh to the house of Israel. 
 They had been exempt from the former plagues, which were 
 of a lighter character and dealt rather with externals, than 
 with families themselves ; but now that life, human life, was 
 to be subject to judgment, now that men themselves were to 
 be the victims, it pleased God by the ordinance of the pass- 
 over to make it abundantly evident that it was not for their 
 righteousness, not for their being by nature or practice unde- 
 serving of His righteous wrath that He spared them, but 
 that it was all His grace and love that made the difference 
 between them, and that they had merited the punishment of 
 death, even as the Egyptians, should be clear and distinct 
 and manifest to them. 
 
 The occasion then of this institution of the passover was to 
 rescue Israel out of the bondage of the Egyptians by a last 
 fearful visitation of Divine vengeance, and the import of it 
 was to signify to Israel and to all men in every period, where- 
 ever the word of God's truth comes, that there is no differ- 
 ence, that Israel of themselves and in themselves merited the 
 punishment of death even as the Egyptians did, that by their 
 own deservings shall no flesh be ever saved, and there must 
 be a method by which God can declare his righteousness by 
 exercising His mercy, by which He shall punish sin and give 
 
10 TIIE PASSOVER: 
 
 it its deserts, whilst He passes over the sinner, and screens 
 him from destruction. All this we shall see clearly brought 
 out and made most emphatic by the blessed ordinance of 
 the paschal lamb. 
 
 But our concern at present is with the correspondence between 
 the antitype and the type in the occasion and in the import. The 
 correspondence-is very accurate and clear. The whole of the 
 sinful race of man are by nature in Egyptian bondage ; they 
 are under corruption ; they are under the power of Satan; 
 they are " dead in trespasses and sins ;" they are all under 
 the thraldom and curse of God's broken law. The sentence 
 is suspended, but it is recorded, and there is but the breath 
 of their nostrils between them and death — the death that 
 never dies. Such is the condition of man by nature. There 
 is no difference between Jew and Gentile, between " Barba- 
 rian and Scythian," between " bond and free ;" and from 
 this fearful bondage and condition " no man may deliver his 
 brother, nor make agreement unto God for him." But God, 
 in His infinite grace and love, has devised means by which 
 the exiled may return to Him, by which the enslaved may 
 become emancipated, by which the perishing ones may be 
 brought out from amongst the lost family. He has provided 
 rescue for the captive, He has opened the prison door, and 
 He proclaims liberty to the prisoner. He would put a 
 difference, deep as between heaven and hell, and broad as 
 eternity, between His people and His enemies ; but He would 
 do this in such wise — and now comes the import — as that 
 He should make it clear to the universe that it was all of His 
 own sovereign grace and mercy. But that it was so He did 
 not set aside justice, He did not violate His own law, He did 
 not connive at sin, He did not make light of transgression 
 and iniquity, He did not expect anything perfect, or anything 
 lower than the fulness that His law required ; and in order 
 to this, " Christ our Passover " has been " sacrificed for us." 
 
ITS OCCASION AND IMPORT. 11 
 
 and the design and the import — the glorious redemption that 
 is by Jesus corresponds with the design and the import of the 
 paschal ordinance. That was a kind of material represen- 
 tation and prophecy in things and in acts of the great method 
 of human redemption and reconciliation, and the paschal 
 feast was instituted that the Israelites might behold, as in a 
 mirror, the grace that was magnified towards them in their 
 desert of punishment, and in their salvation by substitution 
 and intervention, the just suffering for the unjust, the sinless 
 for the sinful, the guiltless for the guilty, the infinitely per- 
 fect for the utterly imperfect ; that they might see in that 
 ordinance as in a glass, foretold, anticipated, and proclaimed 
 the great purpose of the passover. It was intended to be a 
 perpetual memorial to recall their bondage and rescue, and 
 above all, their exemption from the desolation that visited 
 their enemies ; and to recall it in such wise as that they 
 should be perpetually affected with the deepest sense of their 
 own unworthiness, and learn to give up themselves to Him 
 who had so wrought mightily for them. No doubt this was 
 one design of the passover, but so to speak, the lower design; 
 for more momentous far than this inferior bearing was its 
 bearing upon the mighty deliverance that was hereafter to 
 come ; for while it took back their thoughts to Egypt, it 
 took forward their hopes, their faith, and their expectations 
 to the infinitely mightier deliverance of which that was the 
 mere shadow and type, the wondrous deliverance to be 
 wrought at Gethsemane and on Calvary. And so it served 
 this two-fold purpose. How beautiful, how eloquent, and 
 how expressive a type, leading them back to that wondrous 
 night when God brought them out with such " a mighty 
 hand," and taking them forward with hope and joy to Geth- 
 semane and Calvary ! To Him they shall yet as a people look, 
 even Him " whom they have pierced," when " the spirit of 
 grace and of supplication is poured out upon them." 
 
12 THE PASSOVER: 
 
 Yon see then, beloved, the answer to the question "What 
 mean ye by this service f You see the occasion of it, and 
 you see the immediate import and design of it ; what it was 
 to express and convey, and what it was to represent, and you 
 see how closely in all this it corresponds with the infinitely 
 mightier deliverance of God's chosen people from the thral- 
 dom of sin, from the curse of the law, from the bondage of 
 Satan, from the vestibule of hell. You see how in all this, 
 as in a parable, we have Christ and His salvation set forth 
 in the most beautiful and impressive manner. 
 
 We shall next have the victim of the sacrifice and of the 
 ordinance to bring before you, and we shall in each step see 
 the glorious correspondence opening up to us more and more 
 fully and expressively. 
 
 Let us not forget that we should " look unto the rock 
 whence we are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence we 
 are digged." Never let us forget what we were, and what we 
 must have been for ever but for Jesus, had not God found 
 "a Lamb for a burnt-offering," had not God in his own 
 wisdom provided a stupendous method of reconciliation, which 
 brings "glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 
 good will toward men." We must ever have remained in the 
 thraldom of Satan, and under the chains of our iniquity 
 through time and through eternity, had it not been for this 
 "great deliverance." Oh, what infinite grace it was that 
 rescued us, and saved us when we were ready to perish ! 
 
 But, at the same time, let us bear in mind that if such 
 were our state, and if from such degradation we were rescued, 
 it becomes us to " walk humbly with our God." May we 
 keep before our hearts by His spirit that we owe all to His 
 sovereign grace. " God forbid that we should glory, save 
 in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 And oh, how sad for those who love their chains, and will 
 not leave their house of bondage even when the door is open ! 
 
ITS OCCASION AND IMPORT. 13 
 
 The chains are ready to drop from them, the prison doors 
 are open, and the Saviour cries to every one, come to me, 
 " Look unto me, and be ye saved." Alas ! that we love 
 " darkness rather than light," that we love bondage rather 
 than freedom, that we prefer Egypt to heaven — I had almost 
 said Satan rather than Christ. Brethren, let us not neglect 
 this our one and great salvation, but let it fill our hearts with 
 the deepest love and gratitude ; for if the love of the Father 
 was infinite, was not the love of the Son infinite, to leave the 
 throne of the universe to take upon Himself our human 
 nature, and to bear the burden of our guilt, " travelling in 
 the greatness of His strength," to make our peace with God. 
 Dear brethren, let the language of our hearts then be — 
 
 " When I survey the wondrous cross 
 On which the Prince of Glory died, 
 My richest gain I count but loss, 
 And pour contempt on all my pride. 
 
 " Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, 
 Save in the death of Christ, my God j 
 I know no other hope or trust, 
 Than the atonement of His blood." 
 
m. 
 
 THE PASSOVER : THE VICTIM. 
 
 "And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb 
 of God!"— St John i. 36. 
 
 One of the simplest, one of the most touching, and one of 
 the most comprehensive descriptions of the Christian passover, 
 the holy Supper of our Lord, is that given by St. Paul, " As 
 often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the 
 Lord's death till he come." How expressive is that descrip- 
 tion, how it makes the blessed Supper stand out amid the 
 ordinances of Christ's Church paramount and pre-eminent, 
 representing and keeping not only in constant memory, but 
 as it were steadily before our very eyes, Christ crucified. We 
 are to do this until His second coming in glorious majesty, 
 thus taking our faith from Christ, and leading us to associate 
 as we ever ought His infinite humiliation with His exaltation, 
 and to connect Christ crucified with Christ glorified. 
 
 The paschal feast, the type of our spiritual passover, was 
 similarly fitted at once to recall the past and to be prophetic 
 of the future. It led the devout Israelite to behold through 
 the form and shadow the reality and the substance ; to not 
 only commemorate with a grateful heart and mind the deliver- 
 ance of his forefathers from the bondage of Egypt, but to 
 forecast the infinitely more transcendent deliverance to be 
 wrought in due time on the cross. We are, therefore, fully 
 
THE PASSOVER : THE VICTIM. 15 
 
 warranted in taking up this blessed type on this solemn 
 week and in tracing step by step the beautiful correspon- 
 dence between the paschal feast and the glorious Christian 
 feast of Christ crucified. 
 
 We have showed you how the occasion of the institution 
 of the passover most impressively represented the occasion 
 of the ordinance of Christ's sacrifice — the Israelites' escape 
 from the bondage of the Egyptians representing the rescue 
 of Christ's people from under the bondage of hell; and how 
 the import of the ordinance showed the Israelites that they 
 were not less guilty than the Egyptians, but that grace 
 alone distinguished between them and those that perished 
 by the destroying angel. We have showed you that it was 
 to represent by the offerings up of the paschal lamb, and 
 the sprinkling of the blood upon the doors, that we are to 
 be saved and passed over by the destroyer, thus signifying 
 to us that " all have sinned and come short of the glory of 
 God," that by reason of the law and by personal merit 
 shall no sinner be ever saved, that all who are saved must 
 be so through sacrifice and through the shedding of blood, 
 and that those who have merited eternal death have re- 
 demption by blood. 
 
 We come now to that most important point in the great 
 paschal type, the victim to be provided, and we at once fas- 
 ten our attention upon that victim as setting before us " in 
 the fulness of time" Jesus, and pointing out and preparing 
 the way for Him who " was in the world," u and the world 
 knew Him not," who " came unto His own, and His own 
 received Him not." St. John exclaims as he looks upon 
 Him, " Behold the Lamb of God !" May the Spirit of God 
 be with us while we seek to behold that blessed and glorious 
 Lamb that bore our iniquities and made our peace. 
 
 The Israelites were directed on this wise with regard to 
 the victim that was to be sacrificed on the paschal occasion : 
 
16 THE PASSOVER: THE VICTIM. 
 
 — " Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In 
 the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every 
 man a lamb according to the house of their fathers, a lamb 
 
 for a house Your lamb shall be without blemish, a 
 
 male of the first year Ye shall keep it until the 
 
 fourteenth day of the same month : and the whole assembly 
 of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening." 
 Thus we have a description of the lamb for the burnt-offer- 
 ing. We may just remark what special and what precise 
 instructions the Lord God gave. There is an exactitude 
 about this type, and a precision and particularity which are 
 most significant, and the.se are intended to be a kind of 
 parable of the cross of Christ, a kind of picture of our 
 glorious atonement. It was to be "a lamb of a year old," 
 it was to be " without blemish" and without spot. Jewish 
 writers tell us that the utmost care was exercised by the 
 priest lest a flaw or a blemish should be found, so that it 
 might be abundantly evident that it was spotless ; and if 
 the smallest imperfection was discovered it vitiated the vic- 
 tim. Then it is interesting to see how it was to be set apart 
 four days beforehand— kept in reserve. It was to be brought 
 by the whole congregation, they were to be assembled at 
 the slaying of the paschal lamb, and they were to behold 
 the lamb. We need not dwell at large upon the more ob- 
 vious and plain points of resemblance. The lamb is always 
 considered the emblem of meekness, of simplicity, of purity, 
 of patience, of submission. Hence we read, " He was 
 brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before 
 her shearers is dumb." It is deeply touching and interest- 
 ing to see the meekness of the lamb. I have more than 
 once watched the lamb led to the slaughter, and I have seen 
 the little guileless animal lick the hand about to be imbrued 
 in its blood, patient, meek, and free from all that looks like 
 resentment ; and in all this it is appropriate as shadowing 
 
THE PASSOVER: THE VICTIM. 17 
 
 forth that blessed " Man of sorrows" who came amongst us 
 with the majesty of omnipotence and the meekness and 
 gentleness of a lamb. He was never provoked to resent- 
 ment, or to cavil, or to retaliation. How meekly He stood 
 amidst His persecutors, as a lamb amongst ravening wolves ! 
 how He returned love for hatred, blessing for cursing, ten- 
 derness and kindness for mockery and hatred ! What words 
 of gentleness He answered when He was cruelly smitten 
 by those who mocked His woe ! " If I have spoken evil, 
 bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?" 
 Oh ! what meekness was there ! how He who could have 
 spoken, and the earth would have swallowed them up as it 
 did Koran, Dathan, and Abiram, displayed His meekness 
 and patience in language that might have broken the hardest 
 heart ! Why smitest thou me?" And so, throughout 
 the whole scene of His suffering. There could not there- 
 fore be a more fitting emblem and type of Jesus than the 
 meek and gentle lamb. And how beautiful His patience 
 and long-suffering. He never was provoked to unkindness. 
 All that He ever said, though often tempted, was — " faith- 
 less and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you ? 
 how long shall I suffer you ¥' Even when He rebuked for 
 hardness of heart those that would not be saved by Him it 
 grieved Him, and it was the language of sorrow, still beau- 
 tifully tender and touching. And it was striking testimony 
 to His holiness that when He was accused, it was not merely 
 the law of God that pronounced Him spotless, but the 
 princes of this world could find nothing against Him, for when 
 the high priest, acting under the law, tried to entangle Him 
 and overpower Him, and Pilate and Herod did all they 
 could to bring Him in guilty, they could find in Him " no 
 fault at all," and the blessed Lamb was pronounced spotless 
 in the face of heaven and hell. No one could bring against 
 Him one speck or flaw, He was made a sacrifice for us, and 
 
 2 
 
18 THE TASSOVER: THE VICTIM. 
 
 we were redeemed with " the precious Wood of Christ,- as 
 of a lamb without blemish and without spot." 
 
 The glorious antitype is here fitted into the type ; and how 
 complete the harmony ! It was mainly in its sacrificial char- 
 acter that the lamb was typical of the Lamb of God. The 
 lamb was the special choice of God, and how worthy of Him- 
 self was the choice. He did not choose the lion, but the 
 meek lamb, to be the great centre-point of the whole ordin- 
 ance, as the representation of how the guiltless should be sub- 
 stituted for the guilty, to bear the transgression of the guilty, 
 and to make expiation, so that the guilty should be taken as 
 guiltless through the innocent bearing his guilt ; the sin of 
 the guilty imputed to the guiltless, the merit of the guiltless 
 imputed to the guilty. The blessed doctrine of substitution 
 is at the core of the whole gospel. It is the only foundation 
 of hope to the sinner, and so it was beautifully represented in 
 that type antecedent to the passover, when Abraham offered 
 up his son Isaac, and the son is described as bearing the 
 wood, in prefiguration of the only-begotten Son of God bear- 
 ing His cross to Calvary. Isaac said, " My father f and 
 Abraham said, " Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold 
 the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt- 
 offering \ And Abraham said, My son, God will provide him- 
 self a lamb for a burnt-offering And Abraham lifted 
 
 up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, behind him a ram 
 caught in a thicket by his horns : and Abraham went and 
 took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the 
 stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that 
 place Jehovah-jireh : as it is said to this day, In the mount of 
 the Lord it shall be seen." And so in the fulness of time 
 God provided a Lamb, and now we can say to the whole 
 universe, — " Behold the Lamb," M Behold the Lamb of God," 
 that God hath chosen, that God hath accepted, that God 
 hath magnified, that God hath exalted, and is now in the 
 
THE PASSOVER : THE VICTIM. 19 
 
 midst of the throne, and there the song of the Lamb wakes 
 the raptures of those in heaven who sing : — " Salvation 
 to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the 
 Lamb.". 
 
 This lamb was to be sot apart four days before the slaying 
 of the lamb in the presence of the congregation of Israelites, 
 beautifully indicating how Clod is the God of order, and 
 would have all things prepared, and nothing in His worship 
 and service done hurriedly, but all according to His purpose. 
 We find throughout the whole of the gospel the glorious line 
 of time and order, " When the fulness of the time was come, 
 God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the 
 law." We continually find such beautiful arrangements as 
 this in the exact correspondence between the type and the 
 antitype. The blessed Eedeemer entered Jerusalem, in order 
 to become Christ our Passover, four days before he was sus- 
 pended from the cross ; and during that time He was ex- 
 amined, and they could " find no fault in Him." God per- 
 mitted that He should be crucified, the just for the unjust, 
 and it was so ordained that He was crucified between the 
 two evenings, at three o'clock in the afternoon. Now the 
 ending of one day was held to be the beginning of another ; 
 and the ninth hour was three o'clock, so that God in the 
 wondrous working of His providence ordered that that which 
 was done by the passions and caprice of wicked men urged 
 on by darkness, exactly fulfilled his purpose, and corres- 
 ponded to the smallest jot and tittle with His own blessed 
 design. Thus His providence is made to harmonise with His 
 promises, and though foolish men think they are discordant 
 and come into collision, it will be seen in the end that not 
 one jot or tittle of all the good things He has promised shall 
 be withheld from those that love Him, and not one of the 
 evil things uttered against His enemies shall fail, but all shall 
 be accomplished, and the whole universe shall be forced to 
 
 2—2 
 
20 THE PASSOVER : THE VICTIM. 
 
 confess that He hath done all things according to His 
 purpose. Glorious is God in His ways and in His truth, 
 and all things shall bear witness to His truth in the end. 
 
 Then, brethren, further, it was to be " a lamb of the first 
 year," in all the vigour of youth, in all its fulness and maturity. 
 And so the blessed Redeemer at His crucifixion was about 
 thirty-four years of age — some think thirty-three. He was 
 then in the fulness of His perfection as a man, indicating to 
 all that while He was meek and gentle as a lamb, He was 
 " the Lion of the tribe of Judah," " mighty to save," while 
 meek, omnipotent. How beautiful to reflect upon a corre- 
 spondence of this kind, and to " behold the Lamb of God y 
 which taketh away the sin of the world." 
 
 Then we would say to every poor sinner, " Behold the 
 Lamb of God !" look for Him, have an interest in Him. 
 Thou hast wept for thy sorrows ; thou hast wept for thy dis- 
 appointments ; thou hast wept for thy vexations ; hast thou 
 never wept for thy sins 1 Go then, poor sinner, into thy closet, 
 and look at that great sight until thy heart melts, and tears of 
 sorrow gush from thine eyes, and thou art ready to cast thy- 
 self at the foot of the cross, and feel that thou art not worthy 
 to look up at that blessed sacrifice ; and yet because He says 
 " Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth : 
 for I am God, and there is none else," the Saviour, and none 
 other, — thou canst say, I will venture to look with trembling. 
 
 We would say to those who are broken in heart and know 
 not where to find refuge, " Behold the Lamb of God !" look 
 upon Him until hope springs up in thy heart and thou canst 
 say, " Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief." And then 
 you shall sing the blessed song, " Lord, I will praise thee : 
 though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, 
 and thou comfortedst me. Jtehold, God is my salvation ; I 
 will trust, and not be afraid : for the Lord Jehovah is my 
 strength and my song ; He also is become my salvation." 
 
THE PASSOVER : THE VICTIM. 21 
 
 And we would say to the believer, " Behold the Lamb of 
 God !" Let thy light be kindled afresh, and say, " I am 
 crucified with Christ." Behold, I live because He lives. 
 " God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 And may we not say even of the angels and archangels, 
 and the whole ransomed Church of God, — behold the Lamk 
 of God ! for even in heaven it is " the Lamb that was slain" 
 that is the most magnified, and is the theme of the blessed 
 song : " 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 
 for ever and ever. Amen." 
 
^timm 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE PASSOVER : THE SHEDDING OF THE 
 BLOOD. 
 
 " And the whole assembly shall eat the flesh in that night 
 
 roast with fire, and unleavened bread ; and with bitter herbs they 
 shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but 
 roast witli fire." — Exodus xii. parts of 6, 8, and 9. 
 
 Till'] epistle for the evening begins with the memorable and 
 solemn declaration : — " Where a testament is, there must also 
 of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is 
 of force after men are dead : otherwise it is of no strength at 
 all while the testator liveth. Whereupon neither the first 
 testament was dedicated without blood." It was of necessity, 
 therefore, that " Christ our Passover " should be sacrificed for 
 us. If He had not laid down His life, if He had not sealed 
 the covenant of reconciliation with His blood, salvation could 
 not have been ours ; for as a testament is of no force while 
 the testator liveth, the death of the testator is necessary in 
 order that the will may come in force, and in order that those 
 to whom the property is bequeathed may come into posses- 
 sion. And so, to speak aftera figure, our Great Head, who 
 came not only to give us an inheritance, but to give us that 
 inheritance through His death, must Himself die ere His 
 testament could have its full power and efficacy. It may be 
 said, indeed, how many were saved who beforethne believed 
 
THE PASSOVER, ETC. 28 
 
 in Him as the Saviour? And the answer is that to the in- 
 finite and eternal God who inhabits eternity the future is as 
 the present, the present is as the past, and the past is as the 
 present and the future. He had respect to "the blood of the 
 everlasting covenant," and as after and on the day of His 
 crucifixion, so before, even from the beginning, Jesus is 
 designated as " the Lamb slain from the foundation of the 
 world," because the certainty of His sacrifice in due time was 
 such that it was not more certain when it did take place, than, 
 it was certain that it should take place ere it came to pass. 
 Hence the efficacy of the atonement stretched back to the 
 first primitive period, and still the efficacy reaches downwards 
 to the present moment, and it reaches onward and onward 
 until time shall be no longer. 
 
 " O holy Lamb, Thy precious blood 
 Shall never lose its power, 
 Till all the ransorn'cl Church of God 
 Be sav'd to sin no more." 
 
 Thus, then, it was the certainty of Christ's death that made 
 the covenant of effect before He died, and it is the fact of 
 Christ's death that makes it effectual now, and will make it 
 effectual until all His chosen ones are received into glory. 
 " It became Him" — it was in conformity and consistent with 
 His own perfections, it was in harmony with His own moral 
 government — "in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the 
 Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings," in order 
 to rescue them and lead them to victory ; perfect as our 
 Prophet, perfect as our Mediator, perfect as our Captain, 
 perfect as our High Priest, and "perfect through suffering." 
 We are brought, then, to that beautiful stage in the great 
 typical ordinance of the passover where this point is brought 
 out in fulness and in force — the shedding of the blood of the 
 lamb, pointing to the blood-shedding of the Lamb of God, 
 and the mode of its suffering and sacrifice as designed to be 
 
24 THE PASSOVER: 
 
 typical of the glorious and most solemn and affecting agony 
 and death of " Immanuel, God with us." May the Spirit of 
 God calm and solemnise, and subdue and soften our spirits 
 whilst we dwell upon this affecting and sanctifying theme. 
 We have touched upon the fact that the slaying of the 
 lamb was to be by the whole congregation of Israel ; not 
 that the lamb was to be slain by the hands of all, but by 
 the concurrence and in the presence of all. The priests and 
 the Levites were employed in the slaying, but the whole con- 
 gregation were consentient to the sacrifice. We have already 
 touched upon this, and it is worthy of being dealt upon for 
 a few moments again. It typifies that all believers alike are 
 to be consentient, as it were, to the death of Christ, them- 
 selves being accessory to it. Many poor blind people think 
 they do right in indulging in a kind of resentment against 
 Judas, and against the high priest, and against the cruel Jews, 
 because they crucified the Lord of glory, but that is blind 
 unbelieving; for the believer, when he reflects upon the death 
 of Christ, is led to say: — I was one who crucified Him, I look 
 upon Him whom I have pierced and mourn for Him in bitter- 
 ness. The high priest, Pontius Pilate, the Jews, could have 
 had no power if it were not given from above — given from 
 above for my sake and on my account. The Lord laid on 
 Him the iniquity of all my sins. Where there is the deepest 
 load there is the fullest pardon; myself I feel to be the chief 
 of sinners, and my guilt were not pardoned if the crucified 
 lledeemer in the garden of Gethsemane had not " sweat, as 
 it were, great drops of blood," and agonised on the cross till 
 He cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" 
 It is this I conceive that is most touchingly expressed in the 
 whole of the congregation participating in the slaughter of 
 the lamb. He was offered as a sacrifice by us all. "All we, like 
 sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own 
 way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." 
 
THE SHEDDING OF THE BLOOD. 25 
 
 This individual sense of our own participation in the death 
 of Christ brings home the personal conviction, and we can 
 indulge the blessed thought that He died for all, and that 
 even those who never take the blood by faith sprinkling it on 
 their souls, even those who never spiritually eat His flesh and 
 drink His blood might have done so, for the sacrifice was for 
 all the guilty of the world ; and if He suffered for all, why 
 should any perish with the blood shed that "cleanseth from 
 all sin," with the bread which is the bread of immortality 1 
 All might be, but still will not be, cleansed and saved. Here 
 is infinitely more than would furnish spiritual food and suste- 
 nance for all the beings in the world and all worlds. Who can 
 limit that which is limitless? Jesus was an infinite Saviour, 
 infinite while finite, God while man. The Lamb was to be 
 slain, and the blood was to be shed. Alas, that it should be 
 so ! Some people speak as though they revolt at this mystery 
 of our redemption ; they say it is to them a source of distrust 
 and distaste. God forgive them ! for surely there is in this 
 glorious provision of infinite wisdom something unspeakably 
 solemn as well as mysterious. As by sin came death, by 
 death came salvation. " For this purpose the Son of God 
 was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the 
 devil," "and deliver them who through fear of death were 
 all their lifetime subject to bondage." What a glorious depth 
 of wisdom, and triumph of power over weakness, that by 
 dying death is overcome, that by stepping down to the grave 
 He "led captivity captive," "subdued principalities and 
 powers," and conquered death and the devil in their own 
 region and dominion, and by His glorious resurrection re- 
 stored to all His people everlasting life ! Yes, the very core 
 and kernel of the gospel of salvation is the shedding of the 
 precious blood of Christ, the death of Him instead of our 
 death. The death of God and our life is the blessed doctrine 
 that all the countless sacrifices of the patriarchal times in the 
 
26 THE PASSOVER : 
 
 whole extent of the Levitical dispensation pointed to, all 
 speaking one language, the language of the epistle of this 
 evening — " without shedding of blood there is no remission." 
 There must be expiation, there must be satisfaction, there 
 must be representation to the whole universe of the justice of 
 God, and that only the death of the Son of God can reverse 
 the sentence, or blot out one stain or set any sinner free ; 
 therefore there is no other hope of any guilt being expiated 
 except through the precious blood of Jesus " that cleanseth 
 iiom all sin," and therefore the death of Christ stands as the 
 great centre point of all salvation. The cross rivets the eye, 
 and sustains the hope of all those who are saved. 
 
 The Saviour's death is typified in this most expressive ordi- 
 nance by the lamb being " roast with fire." Much emphasis 
 is laid upon this point again and again. They were not to eat 
 of the flesh "sodden or boiled, but roast with fire," and the en- 
 tire body. Now we cannot be at any loss for a key to this 
 feature. We know that there is no agony greater than burn- 
 ing with fire, and no doubt this was designed to represent the 
 death $f the blessed Kedeemer, — not simply His dying, and 
 not simply the death of the cross — though that is the most 
 agonising of all deaths, but that His soul should be scorched, 
 as it were, with fire. I know the wondrous efficacy of Christ's 
 atonement did not lie in the extent of His sufferings, though 
 He suffered in a few hours of His agony more than the 
 torments of eternity ; but I do not conceive the Scripture 
 bears out that this intensity of suffering gave any efficacy to 
 the sacrifice, but it manifested that Jesus magnified His holi- 
 ness and truth. He was infinite as well as finite, and there- 
 fore in His sacrifice there was a grandeur, a majesty, and a 
 glory more than the human race could conceive. Therefore I 
 do not think the efficacy of the sacrifice is owing to the inten- 
 sity of the sufferings of the .sufferer ; but, at the same time, 
 in order that the heinousness of sin might be made more 
 
THE SHEDDING OF THE BLOOD. 27 
 
 fearful, in order that the justice of God might have its full 
 display, we doubt not the sufferings of the Redeemer were 
 such as none but Himself could have sustained. He would 
 sustain the crushing load of guilt imputed to Him, He would 
 endure the sense of Divine displeasure for all sin, and the 
 fearful consequences of that sin such as only Himself could 
 comprehend and sustain. We are not to explain away such 
 expressions as — " The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of 
 us all f " He was made sin for us •" " Awake, sword, 
 against My Shepherd, and against the Man that is My fel- 
 low, saith the Lord of hosts : smite the Shepherd, and the 
 sheep shall be scattered ;" * it pleased the Lord to bruise 
 Him, He hath put Him to grief." Nor are we to explain 
 away, by any idea of the fear of death, that most awful and 
 mysterious, and unfathomable mystery of Jesus in the 
 garden, sweating as it were great drops of blood, and falling 
 on the ground in the agony of His blessed spirit, when He 
 prayed : — "0 my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass 
 from me ;" nor such expressions as — " My soul is exceeding 
 sorrowful even unto death ;" and " He began to be sore 
 amazed ;" or that awful and mysterious cry, " My God, my 
 God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" Doubtless His soul was 
 consumed as it were, by a sense of sin and the wrath of His 
 Father against sin ; and though to us this is inconceivable, it 
 is at the same time most manifest and impressive. Oh what 
 it cost Him to make our peace, and to manifest God's justice 
 in giving us peace, and to magnify God's law in setting us 
 free from the curse ; so that, in the beautiful language of the 
 psalm in this evening's service, "Mercy and truth are met 
 together ; righteousness and peace have kissed each other I" 
 Dear brethren, " is it nothing to you," says the Saviour, " all 
 ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like 
 unto my sorrow !" " Is it nothing to you'?" 
 
 There is one feature more that we must not omit in the 
 
28 THE PASSOVER: 
 
 sufferings of the Eedeemer. " Ye shall not break a bone 
 thereof." Who can doubt for a moment that we are not in- 
 dulging in a mere fancy in tracing here a beautiful analogy 
 between the passover of the Jews and Christ our Passover." 
 When we remember these minute circumstances, and the 
 minute fulfilment, we see how the Scriptures were fulfilled. 
 When the soldiers came to break the legs of those that were 
 crucified, in order that "their bodies should not remain on 
 the cross on the Sabbath-day (for that Sabbath-day was a 
 high day)," they found that Jesus was dead already, and 
 they brake the legs of the two malefactors who were crucified 
 with Him, that the Scripture should be fulfilled, " a bone of 
 Him shall not be broken." Can any one doubt that the 
 passover was in this respect a kind of material prophecy of 
 Jesus, though none of the prophets foretold in so many 
 words that Jesus should not have a bone broken ? Nor was 
 this without its mystic meaning. It signified that though 
 the Lord Jesus might be crushed in the dust by the weight 
 of our guilt, yet He triumphed in suffering, and that in 
 vanquishing death, and gaining for us a victory, He bruised 
 and crushed the serpent's head, and so the blessed Re- 
 deemer was "more than conqueror" over all His foes, even 
 death and hell. Not a bone of Him was broken. May not 
 this teach us that we are not to divide what God has united ? 
 We must receive the whole of Christ as our salvation and 
 our desire, we must not dissever Christ as our Prophet, 
 Priest, and King, but Christ must be all and in all." 
 
 The time allows us but just to glance at one feature more. 
 AVhat was to be done with the blood that was to be shed ? 
 It was not to be sprinkled upon the ground or to be trampled 
 upon as a common thing, but it was to be received into a 
 vessel. Is it too much to say that His precious blood is, so 
 to speak, the consecrated vessel, for it is " the blood of the 
 everlasting covenant," it is the blood of reconciliation, and 
 
THE SHEDDING OF THE BLOOD. 29 
 
 beautifully is it signified in the cup of salvation, for Jesus 
 when He instituted our Christian passover of the Lord's 
 Supper said, as we have it in the gospel to-night : " This 
 cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for 
 you :" " the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the 
 communion of the blood of Christ 1 The bread which we 
 break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" 
 And so the precious blood of "the Lamb of God, which 
 taketh away the sin of the world," is received as it were in 
 the cup of the covenant that He still offers to all who come 
 to Him in faith, and that draw near by the blood of Christ, 
 that Great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the 
 everlasting covenant." 
 
 And now, dear brethren, let us in our closets to-night, and 
 on our pillows, meditate upon these things. Let us not ac- 
 count this as a season that we should pass by unheeded and 
 neglected, let us not neglect such opportunities and oc- 
 casions, but let us seek that God may arouse and stir up 
 our minds, leading us afresh to Gethsemane and to Calvary. 
 Dear brethren, "is it nothing to you," who live in neglect 
 of the Bible and the Saviour, that such sacrifice has been 
 offered, and that the Lamb of God has died for our peace 1 
 " Is it nothing to you ?" It must be something to you, 
 either unspeakable loss or unspeakable gain, either con- 
 demnation or salvation, either deeper hell or glorious 
 heaven; and "how shall we escape, if we neglect so great 
 salvation 1" 
 
V. 
 
 THE PASSOVER : THE APPLICATION OF 
 THE BLOOD. 
 
 " And they shall take of the blood, arid shall strike it on the two side 
 
 posts, and on the upper posts of the houses, wherein they shall 
 
 eat it." — Exodus xii. 7. 
 " Through faith Moses kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood 
 
 lest lie that destroyed the first-born should touch them." — 
 
 Hebrews xi. 28. 
 
 The Spirit of God tells us that it was through faith that 
 Moses kept the passover, as ordained by God, and the 
 sprinkling of blood, lest he that had destroyed the first-born of 
 all the land of Egypt should come nigh the dwellings of the 
 Israelites ; and if it was through faith, then it had respect 
 to that which was to come. "Faith is the substance of 
 things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," that 
 which substantiates thern with force and reality while yet 
 unperformed. It is clear, then, that the believing worshipper 
 in the feast of the passover had the eye of his soul directed 
 forward to that which this most impressive and emphatic 
 parable in words pictured, the shadow of good things to 
 come ; and therefore it was an exercise of faith, not only as 
 regarded the past, but as regarded the future. 
 
 We come this evening to the most important and moment- 
 ous point in the parable, one that concerns us individually 
 
THE PASSOVER: ETC. 31 
 
 more than all that has gone before, because it brings home to 
 every sinner that great truth, without which he had better 
 never have been born, and with which all things are his. 
 May the Spirit of God accompany His word, that, at this 
 solemn and affecting season, it may be brought home to our 
 consciences and our hearts in all its touching power and 
 efficacy. 
 
 We have seen that when the blood of the paschal lamb was 
 to be shed, it was not to be shed on the ground or cast away. 
 It was precious, and so typical, and therefore it was to be 
 received into a ve,v el. Then the application of the blood was 
 to be by dipping a bunch of hyssop in it, and then, with the 
 bunch of hyssop, striking the two side posts and the lintel 
 of the doors of the houses of the Israelites. Here we have 
 that which is individually and personally made of interest 
 to us, the atoning blood of the Lamb, that blood which was 
 shed to make cur peace and to declare God propitious and 
 just in forgiving, exercising a righteous display of His justice, 
 whilst exercising a righteous display of His grace and mercy 
 to mankind. What profits it that the victim is slain, and 
 that the blood is shed % What advantages it that " God was 
 in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing 
 their trespasses unto them : and hath committed unto us the 
 word of reconciliation V Of what profit, I say, would it be, 
 if the individual sinner does not avail himself of the blessed 
 propitiation, if he does not " fly for refuge to lay hold of 
 the hope set before him," if he does not through faith in 
 Jesus become sprinkled with "the blood that cleanseth from 
 all sin " and death, if he is not " one with Christ and Christ 
 with him," if he does not seek that Christ as a sure " hiding- 
 place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest ; as 
 rivers of water in a dry place, and the shadow of a great 
 rock in a weary land ?" And therefore, brethren, the hinge 
 and turning-point of the sinner's salvation is his being one 
 
32 THE PASSOVER : 
 
 with Jesus, and being made partaker of the cleansing efficacy 
 of the blood of Jesus. 
 
 The blood was to be sprinkled upon the side posts and 
 upon the lintels of the door. It was to be manifest ; it was 
 not to be behind the door, as if men were ashamed of the 
 cross of Christ and of His reconciliation. " Whosoever shall 
 be ashamed of me and of my words," " of him also shall the 
 Son of man be ashamed," but " whosoever shall confess me 
 before men, him will I confess also before my Father which 
 is in heaven." Therefore, there must be the application as 
 well as the reception of Jesus, by whom we receive the atone- 
 ment ; and there must also be a blessed avowal of it, " for 
 with the heart man believeth unto righteousness ; and with 
 the mouth confession is made unto salvation." As an old 
 divine said : — " The mark of the beast may be either on the 
 forehead or on the right hand, but the mark of the lamb is 
 always on the forehead." A man must therefore openly pro- 
 fess the faith of Christ crucified. The language of the believ- 
 ing spirit must be, " God forbid that I should glory, save in 
 the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is 
 crucified unto me, and I unto the world." 
 
 Then, special care was to be taken that the blood was not 
 to be upon the threshold, and it was not to be dropped upon 
 the ground. It was never to be trodden under foot, and " of 
 how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought 
 worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God V How 
 shall we escape, if we make light of that great atonement 
 and slight that precious blood, that only cleansing blood in 
 the universe that can wash us clean 1 Therefore, " take heed, 
 brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of un- 
 belief," in counting tho blood of Jesus a light thing and of 
 no efficacy. 
 
 The blood of the lamb, when sprinkled, was to be the 
 stronghold, the castle of the believing captives ; and if they 
 
THE APPLICATION OF THE BLOOD. 33 
 
 went out at all on that eventful and fatal night, their protec- 
 tion was left behind, and the destroying angel had no warrant 
 to pass over them, and God only knows what would have 
 been the consequence. Even so we must abide in Christ, 
 and Christ in us. We are not simply to receive Christ for a 
 time, but we must cling to Christ. " If any man draw back," 
 says God, " my soul shall have no pleasure in him." " We 
 are not of them who draw back unto perdition ; but of them 
 that believe to the saving of the soul." And so we see the 
 apostle's appreciation of the importance of being found in 
 Christ, for he says, " I count all things but dung, that I may 
 win Christ, and be found in him." Yes, in the great day 
 when "the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and 
 the elements shall melt with fervent heat," and " we shall 
 all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ," the question 
 will be, Are we found in Christ ? are we placed where judg- 
 ment cannot reach us 1 for judgment is satisfied by that most 
 glorious satisfaction, the atonement of Christ, and "there is 
 therefore now no condemnation for them which are in Christ 
 Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit." " It 
 is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth ? It is 
 Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even 
 at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession 
 for us." 
 
 How beautiful, beloved, is the completeness of the picture. 
 We are not only to have the blood of sprinkling, but we 
 must abide in the blood of sprinkling, the temple and habi- 
 tation of the Lord Jesus, the rock of our salvation. 
 
 Then the sprinkling of the blood was to be by a bunch of 
 hyssop. That corresponds to faith, it is that which, so to 
 speak, dips into the precious blood, and applies it to the con- 
 science of the sinner, "having our hearts sprinkled from an 
 evil conscience," so that He that taketh away the feeling of 
 condemnation removes the sense of God's wrath, and it is 
 
 3 
 
34 THE PASSOVER: 
 
 changed into the apprehension of His favour and love. This 
 is indeed having the blood by faith, through the Spirit, so 
 sprinkled upon our hearts that the guilt is removed, and the 
 soul rejoices in pardon and peace. " Lord, I will praise 
 thee : though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is 
 turned away, and thou comfortedst me." He giveth us 
 " beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment 
 of praise for the spirit of heaviness." 
 
 But then, brethren, this picture is not yet complete as to 
 its application. There was a twofold application ; first, the 
 blood was to purify, to justify, to atone and to give peace to 
 those that thus had the blood applied in order for their 
 deliverance from the peril of death ; and they were also them- 
 selves to have and to appreciate a direct spiritual life, and it 
 was to come from the same source from which their rescue 
 from eternal death came — Jesus, at once the author of our 
 eternal life and rescuing us from the wrath to come, our 
 aliment and our spiritual life, bringing immortality to the 
 soul ; so that, after the sprinkling of the blood, they were to 
 partake of the flesh of the lamb, roast as it had been with 
 fire, and it became their food and sustenance. Is not this a 
 lovely type of how the Lord Jesus was willing to bring the 
 souls of his people home ? He himself said, " I am the bread 
 of life j if any man eat of me, he shall never hunger." "Except 
 ye eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, ye have no life in 
 you." " He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood 
 hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." 
 And again, " for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is 
 drink indeed." What the Israelites, therefore, carnally did, 
 all true believers spiritually do. As they fed bodily upon 
 the lamb, we feed spiritually upon the Lamb of God in our 
 inner life, and the flesh is alimented, strengthened, and in- 
 creased by believing participation in the Son of God, so that 
 faith, hope, love, joy, patience, meekness, temperance, long- 
 
THE APPLICATION OF THE BLOOD. 35 
 
 suffering, and charity are all foreshadowed by the crucified 
 Saviour, and the beautiful figure pictured in the passover of 
 the Jews is still more beautifully pictured in the Christian 
 passover, for " as often " (as we have it in the lesson for the 
 day) " as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show 
 the Lord's death till He come f and in the beautiful language 
 of our own scriptural communion service, " the body of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy 
 body and soul unto everlasting life. Take and eat this in 
 remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on Him in 
 thy heart by faith with thanksgiving." Thus we have still 
 our blessed passover. 
 
 Then never let us forget that it was not the eating of the 
 lamb that saved the Israelites, it was the faith in the Lamb 
 of God that was represented. It is neither the carnal eating 
 of the bread, nor the drinking of the wine, in the paschal 
 feast of the Christian Church, that saves, but the feeding 
 on Christ in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving, and to 
 have the blessed Lamb of God that taketh away our sins 
 dwelling in us and we in Him, Him one with us and we 
 with Him. This blessed and beautiful picture carries us 
 from the letter to the spirit, from the shadow to the sub- 
 stance, from " the letter that killeth" to " the spirit that 
 giveth life ;" and we, in the Supper of the Lamb, have the 
 beautiful figure carried out in the glorious efficacy of the 
 blood applied, " When I see the blood I will pass over you," 
 and in the manner in which the whole feast is to be par- 
 taken of, " not with the old leaven" of hypocrisy and malice 
 "but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth," 
 with our " loins girt," with our staffs in our hands, as pil- 
 grims and strangers partaking of this spiritual and heavenly 
 food, till we reach the land where we " hunger and thirst 
 no more." 
 
 Now, dear brethren, pausing here, let each one of us ask 
 
 3—2 
 
36 THE PASSOVER: 
 
 himself, Has the blood of Jesus ever been effectually applied 
 to my conscience 1 has it given peace to my heart ? has it 
 washed away my guilt 1 have I indeed "the witness" with- 
 in myself? and do I believe in the Son of God to the saving 
 of my soul ? Can I indeed look upon the Holy Lord God 
 Almighty through the propitiation made for me, and look 
 to Him as my Father, my reconciled Father, whom I trust, 
 whom I love, and whom I serve ? Oh, rest not till you have 
 this blessed assurance, and rest not but in " Christ and Him 
 crucified." Brethren, if we are not Christ's, we are not 
 abiding in Christ — and we should not need to be told this 
 so often — if we are not abiding in Christ, we are alienated 
 from Him. Let us seek to be blessed in Him, and being in 
 Him and with Him, we have nothing to fear, for " neither 
 death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, 
 nor things present, nor things to come, shall be able to sepa- 
 rate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our 
 Lord." What can harm us if we are found in Him, the 
 only place of safety in the universe for poor sinners % 
 
 And then, dear brethren, surely we ought to love the 
 opportunity whenever it arises of partaking of the Christian 
 passover. You had in the lesson to-night very beautifully 
 the revelation given to St. Paul, the confirmation of the 
 divinity of the gospel, of the unity of the gospel, and of the 
 exactitude of its unity ; for when it was given it was not 
 through man, but by direct revelation to St. Paul, and it 
 corresponds in every point to the gospel of the evangelists, 
 witnessing, as it were, to a fresh publication of the gospel 
 by direct communication from heaven. He received on that 
 occasion this revelation : — " In the same night that He was 
 betrayed He took bread : and when He had given thanks, 
 He brake it, and said, Take, eat : this is my body, which is 
 broken for you : this do in remembrance of me. After the 
 same manner He took the cup, when he had supped, 
 
THE APPLICATION OF THE BLOOD. 37 
 
 saying, Tins cup is the new testament in my blood : this do 
 ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as 
 often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show 
 the Lord's death till He come." Let not those who are 
 tempted fear and stumble at the expression eating and 
 drinking unworthily, for if they come to the heavenly feast 
 with the deepest sense of their unworthiness, and with a 
 penitent and humble spirit, hating sin and loving Jesus, 
 yielding themselves to Him at their Saviour's invitation, and 
 taking the robe of righteousness, even His most precious 
 blood, they may be most unworthy, but the more fitting 
 their state of mind if they come with a good conscience 
 and a firm trust in God's mercy. 
 
 Once more, surely the whole of the blessed ordinance 
 teaches us to yield ourselves to Him who redeemed us, and 
 we may say in the beautiful language you have been sing- 
 ing to-night — 
 
 " Were the whole realm of nature mine, 
 That -were an off'ring far too small j 
 Love so amazing, so divine, 
 
 Demands my soul, my life, my all." 
 
VI. 
 
 THE PASSOVER : THE EFFICACY OF THE 
 SACRIFICE. 
 
 11 And -when I see the blood, I will pass over you." — Exodus xii. part 
 of 13. 
 
 The event which we commemorate this day,* is the most 
 stupendous the universe ever beheld, the most vital that 
 the archives of eternity record. It is at once an event that 
 brings most glory to God, and the most glory to the uni- 
 verse. It is the song of the angels, it is the theme of the 
 rapture of the archangels, and it ought to engage the hearts 
 and the thoughts of the whole Church militant, as it will 
 engage the songs and the adoration of the Church trium- 
 phant. " Thou art the King of glory, Christ," ought to 
 be the theme of the Church here, and " the Lamb that was 
 slain," and " hast redeemed us to God by his blood," and 
 made them " kings and priests for ever," will assuredly be 
 the everlasting subject of the songs that will never cease to 
 surround the throne of glory. We do well to assemble 
 ourselves together within the walls of the sanctuary, that 
 we may look upon Him whom we have pierced, that whilst 
 we mourn we may rejoice, sowing in tears and reaping in 
 joy. For that great sight, though it be one of the saddest 
 upon which we can look, yet at the same time it is one of 
 
 * Good Friday, 1862. 
 
THE PASSOVER, ETC. 39 
 
 the most joyful we can behold, for where would be our hope, 
 where would be our peace, where would be our refuge from 
 " the wrath to come," were it not for the stupendous event 
 we this day commemorate 1 for now He " liveth for ever," 
 and having conquered through the blood of Jesus, we may 
 draw near and " obtain mercy and find grace to help in 
 time of need." 
 
 We wind up this morning a course of sermons on the most 
 impressive and the most beautiful of types, and we come to 
 dwell upon the mode in which the holy feast was to be kept, 
 and upon the blessed efficacy of the sacrifice, expressed as it 
 is in these beautiful and expressive words, " when I see the 
 blood, I will pass over you." May the spirit of Jesus be 
 amongst His professing people, that His blood may be upon 
 us, and that we may be passed over in the day of God's just 
 judgment, " being found in Him, not having our own right- 
 eousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the 
 faith of Christ," 
 
 The mode in which the feast is to be kept. We have seen 
 that the turning point for each individual sinner is his own 
 personal and individual acceptance of the sacrifice of the 
 Lamb of God, who became his substitute, and shed His 
 precious blood, thus sealing the everlasting covenant of pro- 
 tection, and becoming our salvation; thus showing the 
 necessity of the sinner receiving the atonement, in order to 
 become a partaker of the heavenly kingdom. Now we see 
 that the participation of the blessed offering was twofold ; 
 first, the application of the blood to be sprinkled by the 
 bunch of hyssop — a beautiful emblem of faith ; and next, a 
 participation of the flesh of the victim which had been slain 
 —the feast upon the sacrifice ; the former, — the sprinkling 
 of blood — a symbol of our pardon and forgiveness ; the 
 latter, — the eating of the flesh — a beautiful and impressive 
 sign of being made partakers of Christ, eating His flesh and 
 
40 THE PASSOVER: 
 
 drinking His blood in a spiritual sort, and so having life in 
 Him and through Him, and having life alimented and per- 
 fected by participation in " Jesus Christ, and Him crucified f 
 the whole beautifully reflecting the Christian passover of 
 the holy supper of Jesus, which took the place of the Jewish 
 passover, as a perpetual memorial amongst us of the body 
 broken and of the blood shed to make our reconciliation to 
 God, so that " as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this 
 cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come." 
 
 Now this feast of the passover was to be kept in a peculiar 
 manner. Time permits us but to glance at the leading 
 points only. It was to be eaten with unleavened bread. A 
 most scrupulous exactness was to be exercised in purging 
 the dwelling of the individual who partook of the feast, and 
 we are told by Jewish writers that their exactness was so 
 great, that they used a lighted candle to explore every corner 
 in their dwellings, lest any leaven should remain. In like 
 manner, as " Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us," must 
 we keep the feast, " not with the old leaven, or with the 
 leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened 
 bread of sincerity and truth." No man who is not sincere can 
 be a partaker of Christ, but he incurs the guilt of drinking 
 to himself damnation. If we call, "Lord, Lord," with our 
 lips, and take the symbols of the sacrifice, and yet our hearts 
 are far from Him, we do not take Jesus in honesty and 
 sincerity, we do not take up His cross and follow Him. 
 Therefore, beloved brethren, as often as ye eat of that bread, 
 and drink of that cup of the Lord, examine yourselves, and 
 "judge yourselves, that ye be not judged of the Lord." 
 
 Then in the next place, it was to be eaten with bitter 
 herbs. This, I conceive, to be beautifully descriptive of that 
 penitential and contrite disposition that should accompany 
 the Christian, as through the whole of his pilgrimage so 
 especially in coming to the Saviour's table. We are to feel 
 
THE EFFICACY OF THE SACRIFICE. 41 
 
 " the remembrance of our sins " to be " grievous unto us," 
 and what would be " intolerable " were they not sustained 
 by our Substitute and Shield the " very Paschal Lamb," 
 " who by His death hath destroyed death." Bitter herbs, 
 — that which was bitter to the taste imparted a sweetness 
 to the lamb ; and so, " Blessed are they that mourn, for 
 they shall be comforted." Those who come most humbly to 
 Christ will find Christ most precious, while the proud, and 
 the self-satisfied, have no interest in Christ. They call Him 
 " Lord, Lord," but have no yearning towards Him, they do 
 not grasp Him with trembling, they do not cling to Him 
 with a great desire. " We are not worthy so much as to 
 gather up the crumbs under thy table," is the breathing of 
 those who eat the passover as it ought to be eaten, with 
 bitter herbs ; sin the more bitter, Christ the more sweet ; 
 and so sadness and gladness are beautifully mingled in those 
 who meekly partake of these holy mysteries. 
 
 Then the attitude in which the holy feast was to be en- 
 joyed is a beautiful description, — " having their loins girt, 
 and their staffs in their hands ;" and so. brethren, " To-day 
 harden not your hearts." "Behold, now is the accepted 
 time ; behold now is the day of salvation." " Whatsoever 
 thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." " The night 
 is far spent, the day is at hand." " The night cometh when 
 no man can work." Noiu therefore, brethren, to-day — not 
 to-morrow, not at a future time but now 1 
 
 Further, we must confess ourselves " strangers and pil- 
 grims," having our " conversation as in heaven," citizens of 
 the New Jerusalem. "If ye then be risen with Christ, 
 seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on 
 the right hand of God." " Mortify, therefore, your members 
 which are upon the earth." We are " strangers and so- 
 journers " here, and this is not our resting-place. Blessed 
 thing therefore, to be weaned from the world, and to 
 
42 THE PASSOVER: 
 
 have our affections and our desires upon a future and 
 a better state, and not upon the things we may have to 
 leave to-morrow, or to-night, or even at the next hour. Oh 
 let us take the pilgrim's guise, let us lean on the pilgrim's 
 staff, and " forgetting those things which are behind, and 
 reaching forth unto those things which are before," let us 
 " press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of 
 God in Christ Jesus." If we are Christ's, we have " crucified 
 the flesh with the affections and lusts." " If any man will 
 come after me," says Christ, " let him take up Ins cross and 
 follow me," and " where I am, there shall also my servants 
 be." Beloved, may you thus approach the holy table on 
 Sunday in a mourning, a quickening, and an animated spirit ; 
 more weaned from earth, and with a more earnest desire 
 for heaven. 
 
 Then the glorious and blessed efficacy of the ordinance 
 comes before us. We can find no expression more emphatic, 
 or more eloquent of its fulness and blessedness than the one 
 before us : — " When I see the blood," says the mighty God, 
 " I will pass over." The inmates of the houses that were 
 not so marked with the sign of mercy fell victims to the 
 destroying angel, and the shaft of death pierced to " the first- 
 born in every house, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat 
 on his throne unto the first-born of the captive that was in 
 the dungeon." What a night it must have been to the Egyp- 
 tians ! In the thousands of dwellings that had not the saving 
 mark there was a corpse, and that the first-born. What a 
 cry must have broken the silence of midnight ! what con- 
 fusion ! what terror ! what lamentation must have prevailed 
 throughout the whole land on that fatal night ! And yet 
 there was a privileged portion where no voice of mourning 
 was heard, but only the voice of joy, and of gladness, and of 
 perparation for liberty. The destroying angel looked at each 
 dwelling, and there was the expressive sign of reconciliation 
 
THE EFFICACY OF THE SACRIFICE. 43 
 
 and propitiation, eloquent of the blood of the Lamb, and 
 as he glanced he refrained. The destroying angel, mind- 
 ful of his errand, looked, and seeing a certain sign passed by 
 the dwellings, and withheld the shaft of death. How beau- 
 tiful a picture of how God separates the pardoned from the 
 unpardoned, the just from the guilty, His people from His 
 foes ! He sees the blood still sprinkled by faith through the 
 Spirit on the contrite heart, and the believing and awakened 
 conscience, and the sense of guilt is removed, and the favour 
 of God secured. " There is therefore now no condemnation 
 to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the 
 flesh, but after the Spirit." " Whoso eateth my flesh and 
 drinketh my blood hath eternal life ; and I will raise him 
 up at the last day." 
 
 And, dear brethren, what is there in that precious blood 
 that marks the believer's conscience and soul and makes it 
 not only the symbol of victory, but the means of grace 1 It 
 is because that precious blood was the blood of Christ, who is 
 God as well as man, for He Himself was infinite while finite, 
 He was God while He was man, He was divine while He was 
 human, dying while living. "Wondrous mystery ! Oh, who 
 can conceive the preciousness of that " blood that cleanseth 
 from all sin ?" No stain so dark it cannot expiate, no sin so 
 great it cannot put away. " Come now, and let us reason 
 together, saith the Lord : though your sins be as scarlet, 
 they shall be as white as snow ; though they be red like 
 crimson, they shall be as wool." 
 
 And, brethren, judgment has begun. The Lord, the judge, 
 is now looking upon you, and upon me, and upon every one 
 to whom the word of salvation has come ; and if the blood 
 by effectual faith and true repentance is applied to our con- 
 sciences and hearts, it purges us from guilt, and purifies us 
 from corruption. If we are feeding on Christ, if we are 
 " crucified with Christ," "the life which we now live in the 
 
44 THE PASSOVER: 
 
 flesh we live by the faith of the Son of God f sin hath no 
 power to destroy us; the angel of judgment cannot come nigh 
 us • there is no condemnation for us. What a glorious re- 
 flection ! No condemnation for you when you appear before 
 the judgment-seat of Christ ; when heaven and earth pass 
 away you will stand accepted ; the mark is upon your soul, 
 the mark of reconciliation is clear upon your forehead ; the 
 Lord sees it and passes you over, and you go to His right 
 hand, and the language you will hear is, " Come, ye blessed 
 children of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you 
 from the foundation of the world." Blessed truth, "when 
 I see the blood, I will pass over you." 
 
 Dear brethren, I beseech you do not look upon this season 
 and upon this solemn day as just a mere matter of form. It 
 is intended to stir up our hearts and minds by way of remem- 
 brance. We are apt to get cold and indifferent, and there 
 are many to whom these things do not occur but just for a 
 day like this, and when they see the table spread they turn 
 their backs upon it. But, beloved, regard the day. I do 
 not say we ought to judge those who do not regard it ; but 
 let us judge ourselves who do regard it, so that it may leave 
 in our hearts a deeper love for Jesus, a deeper hatred for sin, 
 and a more earnest desire to " glorify God in our bodies and 
 in our spirits, which are God's." 
 
 And remember that the Israelites were to remain in their 
 dwellings, that if any went abroad the guarantee of safety 
 was gone ; and Christ says, " if ye abide in me," "there is no 
 condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." St. Paul 
 counted all things but dung, that he might win Christ and 
 be found in Him. Remember you must cleave close to Jesus. 
 To you that believe He is precious, He must be precious to you. 
 How precious is He 1 What would you give up for Him 1 
 What are you doing for Him 1 What sacrifice are you making 
 for Him ? Would you go to the dungeon for Him % Would 
 
THE EFFICACY OF THE SACRIFICE. 45 
 
 you go to the stake, and the rack, and the block for His sake? 
 Have you the spirit of the martyr in you ? If you have none 
 of that spirit you are none of His. Christ must be " all, and 
 in all." If you eat that blessed feast with bitter herbs you 
 will come to the communion on Sunday with a holy joy and 
 gladness, and lift up your heads, for your salvation is come. 
 So let us commemorate the Saviour's death, who "was dead," 
 and is "alive for evermore," remembering that if we suffer 
 with Him in His humiliation, we shall be exalted with Him 
 in His glorification. Let us, then, lie low at the foot of the 
 cross, and we shall lift up our heads when we behold Him ; 
 and lifting them up, we shall be " more than conquerors " 
 through Him that loved us and died for us. 
 
VII. 
 GOD INCARNATE. 
 
 " The Word was made flesh."— St. John i. part of 14 
 
 There are three books in the Holy Scriptures that begin 
 somewhat alike, and with a kindred grandeur and majesty. 
 In the first book we have the key-note of the harp of revela- 
 tion : — " In the beginning God created the heaven and the 
 earth. And the earth was without form, and void j and dark- 
 ness was upon the face of the deep : and the Spirit of God 
 moved upon the face of the waters." Then in this, which 
 may be styled the deepest and most mysterious portion of the 
 evangelical narrative, we have the same remarkable key-note : 
 " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 
 and the Word was God." And again when the same apostle 
 writes his high and mysterious epistle, he begins : — " That 
 which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which 
 we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, 
 and our hands have handled, of the Word of life (for the 
 life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness 
 and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the 
 Father, and was manifested unto us) ; that which we have 
 seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have 
 fellowship with us : and truly our fellowship is with the 
 Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." Is not this that 
 which the Church and the world, or rather, its ears and eyes, 
 
GOD INCARNATE. 47 
 
 are open to behold, and to wait, and desire for, the coming 
 of Him that was at last to be " the desire of all nations." 
 It was as on this day,* that these words were fulfilled, and 
 before their eyes, " the "Word was made flesh." 
 
 The expression is very brief, but it is very full ; and, as 
 briefly as may be, we shall first endeavour to call your at- 
 tention to the Being that is thus designated, and then to the 
 Incarnation of that Being. "The Word was made flesh." 
 May we treat with all reverence, and not with prying cu- 
 riosity, this high subject and fathomless mystery. 
 
 " The Word." We can be at no loss to know who is so 
 designated. The whole context shows that it was that 
 which was in the fulness of time to come into the world, 
 sent by the Father, " made of a woman, made under the 
 law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we 
 might receive the adoption of sons." The apostle St. John 
 especially designates the everlasting Son as "the Word," 
 and yet some sceptical men hold that " the Word" means 
 the wisdom of God, the Divine prescience and omniscience ; 
 but this scarcely requires refutation, for how could the wis- 
 dom of God or His divine agent be at once God and yet 
 with God, showing a dissociation in substance whilst a unity 
 in essence? 
 
 We shall not, however, dwell upon this, but the word it- 
 self is worthy of our dwelling upon for a little time. We 
 make too little of words. They are the medium of com- 
 munication between men for the manifestation of our 
 thoughts, and minds, and spirits. "What man knoweth 
 the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in 
 him ?" When a man has to communicate his thoughts, how 
 can he do so effectually but by words ? Signs, and symbols, 
 and pictures, and emblems would be but a poor and imper- 
 fect method of communication ; but words have something 
 # Christmas-day, 1864. 
 
48 GOD INCARNATE. 
 
 in them almost spiritual and ethereal ; they approach nearer 
 to the invisible and the impalpable than anything the out- 
 ward man can imagine. Perhaps the power of intelligent 
 speech is one of the most distinguishing and palpable cha- 
 racteristics of man. So far as we know, we do not find that 
 any other animal whatever has anything like rational 
 speech, or can communicate its thoughts, its feelings, and 
 ideas by means of articulate language. If we realize this 
 we shall perceive a peculiar beauty and force in the em- 
 ployment of this designation of the eternal Son of God, 
 who from the beginning was God's medium of manifestation 
 to His intelligent creatures. It appears to be so in heaven, 
 we know it is so on earth, we know that He " brought life 
 and immortality to light through the gospel." He made 
 God known, so that as He says, " no man knoweth the Son, 
 but the Father ; neither knoweth any man the Father save 
 the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. 
 He that hath seen me hath seen the Father ; and how sayest 
 thou then, Show us the Father 1 Believest thou not that I 
 am in the Father, and the Father in me 1 the words that I 
 speak unto you I speak not of myself : but the Father that 
 dwelleth in me, He doeth the works. Believe me that I am 
 in the Father, and the Father in me : or else believe me for 
 the very works' sake." In this view, then, we take up the 
 very beautiful language in the appropriate epistle of the 
 morning, " Who being the brightness of His glory, and the 
 express image of His person," a transcript of the invisible, 
 the utterance and manifestation of Him " that dwelleth in 
 the light that no man can approach to, and who is sublimely 
 designated " the Word of God." All knowledge of God in 
 truth and efficacy is through Christ Jesus. " This is life 
 eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and 
 Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." Now mark it, brethren, 
 for it cannot be more clear than it is in the words before us. 
 
GOD INCARNATE. 49 
 
 If Jesus, the Son of God, was in existence before He became 
 the Son of man, and came into the world, and the Word was 
 made flesh, and therefore existed before, it is clear that He 
 was antecedent, before all things. And in the next place, 
 what is more clear than that He was not only pre-exisfcent, 
 but also divine ? " In the beginning was the Word, and 
 the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Could 
 language be more explicit ? And if creation is the inaliena- 
 ble prerogative and attribute of the Infinite, then "all 
 things were made by Him \ and without Him was not any- 
 thing made that was made." As we had it in the epistle 
 this morning, " Unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, 
 is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the 
 sceptre of thy kingdom." His name even when He came 
 amongst us was called " Immanuel," God with us. 
 
 But we hasten to that which more immediately calls for 
 our earnest and deep attention. On this happy day " the 
 Word was made flesh." Now, it is very clear that He took 
 something into His Deity which was not before united with 
 Him. He did not become another Word, but He became 
 " the Word" in another form ; and, if I may venture so to 
 speak, He combined a compound nature. He who was the 
 same Word that was " in the beginning," and " was God," 
 and "made all things," and "upholds all things by His 
 power," He was " made flesh." And by flesh we are dis- 
 tinctly taught He was made man, He took upon Him hu- 
 man nature in all its feelings, body, soul, and spirit ; and 
 these co-existed and associated with the Everlasting Word, 
 that He ceased not to be just as much the word as He was 
 before He became engrafted ; and He was not less the Al- 
 mighty Son of God when He stooped to the Virgin's womb, 
 and received humanity in Deity. This, indeed, is a great 
 mystery ! Could it be otherwise 1 Could little mysteries 
 save us? Could little mysteries be worthy of all the 
 
 4 
 
50 GOD INCAHNATE. 
 
 counsel of heaven, and all the preparation of earth? Could 
 a little mystery reconcile the attributes of Deity in the 
 salvation of the sinner ? Could a little mystery, as you 
 are reminded in the language of one of the Psalms of 
 the day, make "mercy and truth" to "meet together," 
 "righteousness and peace" to "kiss each other," in wel- 
 coming and receiving every penitent transgressor who 
 should believe on Jesus hack to the favour and family of 
 God, without tarnishing His glory, or compromising His 
 attributes, or enfeebling His government? Could it be a 
 little mystery ? Instead of desiring to abate it, or to ex- 
 tenuate it, as some would have us do, or to explain it by 
 our poor little minds, we should rather, with the apostle, 
 exclaim : " Without controversy great is the mystery of 
 godliness : God was manifest in the flesh." Yes, brethren, 
 it is the greatness of the mystery that commands our 
 deepest reverence, and challenges our fullest faith. It is 
 all sufficient to know that it is all that the sinner needs, 
 and all that a holy God demands. It encircles His throne 
 with a rainbow of perfect beauty, and illumines the dark lot 
 of man with the blessed " Sun of righteousness," that arises 
 upon every one who fears God with " healing in His wings." 
 " The Word was made flesh." " In all things 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, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." 
 Had He not been the Eternal Word " that was God," what 
 would have availed the interposition for us ? If he had not 
 become " the Word" " made flesh," how could he have been 
 our Mediator and the Daysman between us and God? Had 
 He not been God, what would His sacrifice and obedience 
 have been more than that of the loftiest creature ? And the 
 law of the creature to the Creator is, when he has done all, 
 he is "an unprofitable servant." Had He not therefore, 
 
GOD INCARNATE. 51 
 
 been God as well as man, how could He, by His obedience 
 and blood-shedding, have expiated the guilt of the world, 
 and secured our return to reconciliation'? Not, therefore, 
 more essential was His Deity than His humanity, or His 
 humanity than His Deity. " Perfect God and perfect man," 
 as our creed declares, "of a reasonable soul and human 
 flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father, as touching His 
 Godhead ; and inferior to the Father, as touching His man- 
 hood." As God, He could not suffer ; but as man, He suf- 
 fered unspeakable agony. As God, He could not obey; 
 but as man He obeyed, and His obedience was the obedi- 
 ence of Him that redeemed us, the Son of God. Though 
 He obeyed as man, His righteousness was "Jehovah our 
 Righteousness." Had He been only God, how could He 
 have" been an "ensample?" How could He have been 
 " touched with the feelings of our infirmities I" How could 
 He have come down to our capacities, and made common 
 cause with us in our troubles and necessities, in our sorrows 
 and difficulties, in all the temptations and trials of our 
 earthly pilgrimage ? He became as truly man as He was 
 God ; and He took upon Him, not the nature of angels, but 
 the seed of Abraham ; not the flesh of the man He made 
 in Paradise, when man was first placed there, when all was 
 beauty and blessedness, when there was no thorn, no poi- 
 soned arrow, no sorrow, and no sickness ; but He was made 
 in "the likeness of sinful flesh," yet "without sin." In 
 that likeness He appeared, He was tempted, He suffered, 
 and He died. He was made " in the likeness of sinful 
 flesh," a " Lamb without spot or blemish." " The Word 
 was made flesh." 
 
 Dwell upon it. What a blessed thought ! If He is God 
 incarnate, where is He not sufficient? If He was made 
 flesh, is He not patient 1 is He not pitiful 1 is He not merci- 
 ful ? Will He not feel for you % will He not hear you cry ? 
 
 4—2 
 
52 GOD INCARNATE. 
 
 Will He shut the bowels of His compassion 1 will He not be 
 with you on the bed of sickness 1 will He not be with you in 
 your death 1 And in the day of judgment will He not stand 
 beside you, when "heart and flesh fail" you? And when 
 you stand over the grave of the flesh that was dearest to 
 you, yet you will still look up from the dark grave in the 
 full assurance that He who passed through the gate of the 
 grave and of death, and rose again for our resurrection, will 
 bring with Him also those that sleep, and not one shall be 
 wanting of the seed that His Father has given Him. What 
 a beautiful subject for the holy communion, which seems 
 most seasonable and precious on two days ; on the day when 
 Jesus rose — for that feast is connected essentially with His 
 resurrection — and on this, His natal day, when " the Word 
 was made flesh." And surely, to those who come in faith 
 and truth, " His flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink 
 indeed." 
 
 Then, brethren, keep holy this season j be joyful in keep- 
 ing it, but let your joy be a holy joy. " Is any merry among 
 you, let him sing psalms." Eemember that " the Son of man 
 was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil." 
 Let not the works of the devil abound, when He came to 
 destroy them. Keep away from the tavern and the theatre, 
 and the scenes of giddy, thoughtless, and impure mirth and 
 enjoyment, as people call it. Keep the season holy, and keep 
 it happy. " Eat the fat and drink the sweet, and send por- 
 tions unto them for whom nothing is prepared ;" remem- 
 bering that " the joy of the Lord is your strength," and the 
 announcement of this morning to us : " Behold, I bring you 
 good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." 
 
YIII. 
 THE PEOMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 " For the promise is unto you, and to your children." — 
 Acts ii. part of 39. 
 
 The article, when thus prefixed to an expression, is designed 
 to indicate the individuality and force of that expression. 
 It is not here said a promise is unto you, and to your 
 children ; but it is said emphatically, " The promise is unto 
 you, and to your children." The context shows us at once 
 what that special promise was, the promise of the Holy 
 Ghost, the Comforter, to be poured down from the throne 
 and majesty on high by Him who, from the grave, had 
 ascended to the throne to receive " gifts for men, yea, for 
 the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell amongst 
 them." It was of the fulfilment of this most precious promise, 
 in a palpable and visible manner, that the people assembled 
 together were reminded by the apostle Peter, and they were 
 encouraged to repent and return to God, and seek for fruits 
 meet for repentance on this ground — " For the promise is 
 unto you, and to your children." Each dispensation has had 
 its promise — that has been as the sun standing out from all 
 around for its glory. In the first dispensation it was the 
 seed of the woman that should bruise the serpent's head, 
 " the desire of all nations," " the Lord " that should " come 
 to His temple ;" and the great promise, the sun of the Chris- 
 
54 TIIE PROMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 tian dispensation, is the promise of the Holy Ghost, asso- 
 ciated as it is with the second coming of the Lord ; not in 
 deep humility and in lowly guise, but in glorious majesty, 
 to reign. We are on the verge of that solemn season when 
 we keep in remembrance the glorious fulfilment of the pro- 
 mise ; * we are on the eve of an occasion when the offspring 
 of very many of us will be brought together to receive the 
 invocation of the gift of the Spirit, that they may be estab- 
 lished and confirmed in their Christian covenant. Could I, 
 then, select a brief promise more seasonable and suitable in 
 every way than the words before me 1 " The promise is unto 
 you, and to your children." 
 
 The promise, : — the grandeur and greatness of the promise — 
 "unto you, and to your children :" — the grace and extent of 
 the promise, not only to us, but to our seed ; for the Lord 
 our God is a faithful God, " keeping the covenant, and mercy 
 to them that love Him and keep His commandments." May 
 that Spirit of whom we are to discourse open our hearts to 
 receive the truth, and enable us to bring it home to you, for 
 Christ's sake. 
 
 The promise. If the promise of a Saviour was a glorious 
 promise under the old dispensation, to which the faithful 
 from the beginning looked forward with expectant and eager 
 eyes, the promise of the Spirit under the gospel economy is 
 not a whit behind the former promise, and is not in the least 
 degree to be less looked for, longed for, sought for, and en- 
 joyed by all those that would attain eternal life. We can 
 touch upon but a few of the points fitted to advance our 
 estimation of that greatest of Christ's gifts — the gift of the 
 Holy Ghost, the Comforter. Very few points may suffice 
 to raise somewhat our narrow conceptions and enkindle our 
 drooping desires ; for the more we thirst for the Spirit, the 
 more we shall receive the Spirit ; and when we thirst not 
 
 * Sunday, May 28, 1SG5. 
 
THE rilOMLSE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 55 
 
 as we ought, it is because we are not alive as we should be 
 to the intense importance and inconceivable preciousness of 
 that gift of all gifts. 
 
 Could anything tend more to enchance our estimation of 
 the gift than that it is not less than the gift of one of the 
 persons of the glorious Godhead % Not more truly is the 
 Son that was " the desire of all nations," " the mighty 
 God," "the Everlasting Father," " Immanuel, God with us," 
 inhabiting eternity, whilst coming down to sojourn with us, 
 than is the coequal Spirit God with Christ, " very God of 
 very God," "with the Father and the Son," "very and 
 eternal God." We are not to conceive of the gift of Christ 
 as if it were a mere influence shed upon us from afar, like 
 the rays of the sun that bathe us with light, while the sun 
 itself is far away in the heavens ; but we are to conceive of 
 the blessed Spirit of God as personally present ; that where 
 He dwells, there God dwells ; where He works, there God 
 works ; where He manifests Himself there God manifests 
 Himself. Could anything be more explicit than the lan- 
 guage of the apostle Peter, when he said to Ananias — 
 " Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God V therefore, 
 he lied to God when he lied to the Holy Ghost. " What? 
 know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy 
 Ghost, which is in you V for, as it is written — " I will dwell 
 in them and walk in them," saith the Lord God. Could 
 the eternal Father bestow, could the eternal Son, through 
 the mediation, intercession, and atonement, obtain for us 
 any gift like this, sealed with His precious blood, any pro- 
 mise compared with this promise — " I will give you another 
 Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever, even the 
 Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it 
 seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him : but ye know Him, 
 for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you 1 
 
 But to enhance our estimation of this promise, and of all 
 
56 THE PROMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 promises, let us remember, in the next place, that it is only 
 by having the Spirit that we can have the Son. " If any 
 man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His," and 
 he that is none of Christ's has no salvation ; he is dead 
 •while he lives; he is in the flesh, and they that are in the 
 flesh shall die. " We know that we have passed from death 
 unto life," " by the Spirit which He hath given us ;" and 
 Jesus himself told us that the Spirit should come to us, as 
 it were, in His place, His representative, His spiritual and 
 divine witness and testifier. The Spirit, He says, " shall 
 glorify Me," " He shall take of mine, and shall shew it un- 
 to you," and "no man can say" in truth, in experimental 
 faith that alone saves, " that Jesus is the Lord, but by the 
 Holy Ghost," by the witness, the evidence, the demonstra- 
 tion of the Spirit of God. If, therefore, the gospel come 
 with power and efficacy to any one of us, to our salvation, 
 it comes not " in word only, but also in power, and in the 
 Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." Surely, then, if we 
 prize salvation, we must prize the promise of the Spirit. 
 
 But let us not forget that Jesus himself regarded this 
 gift as more than a substitute for His bodily presence, and 
 that we have more reason to bless God that Jesus was ele- 
 vated from the world than if He had continued bodily in 
 the world ; because if He had continued in the world, we 
 should have lacked that which far more than condensates 
 for His absence from the flesh. His own words on this 
 point are explicit — " It is expedient for you" — it is better 
 for you — more advantageous for you — " that I go away ; for 
 if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you," 
 in the fulness of His personal manifestation; "but if I 
 depart, I will send Him unto you." 
 
 Let us think again of the worth of that gift of all gifts. 
 We must remember that it is the Spirit of life that produces 
 in the soul of man " a new birth unto righteousness." "Sane- 
 
THE PROMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 57 
 
 tify them by Thy truth : Thy Word is truth." The Word 
 itself does not sanctify, but through the power of the Spirit, 
 whose word it is. He it is that polished and pointed that 
 two-edged sword. He alone can wield it effectually. He 
 it is that descends, silently and secretly indeed, as dew in 
 the hush of the night, fertilising, refreshing, and beautify- 
 ing all it falls upon. " I will be as the dew unto Israel." 
 And that heavenly dew is pre-eminently the Spirit of God, 
 that descends upon any sinner, and softens his hard heart ; 
 convinces him of sin, brings him to humiliation and repent- 
 ance ; convinces him of righteousness, and brings him to 
 justifying faith in Jesus \ convinces him of judgment, and 
 leads him to prepare to meet his Judge upon the throne. 
 
 What shall we say more % Are not the fruits of the Spirit 
 " love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 
 meekness, temperance V Whence do all these come ? Not 
 from the soil of our corrupt nature, but from the quickening 
 power of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Once more, in all our duties and trials, in all we have to 
 hope for, the Spirit is essential. We pray not unless we 
 pray in the Spirit, we rejoice not unless we rejoice in the 
 Spirit. " The kingdom of God is not meat and drink," not 
 in outward observances and forms and ceremonies, "but 
 righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost," and 
 that blessed Spirit in the soul thus working in it a heavenly 
 light is a pledge and proof that life everlasting is ours. 
 " Now He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is 
 God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit." 
 The Spirit is " the earnest of our inheritance until the re- 
 demption of the purchased possession." He " beareth witness 
 with our spirit, that we are the children of God," and He it 
 is that " helpeth our infirmities ; for we know not what we 
 should pray for as we ought j" but He that worketh in His 
 people " knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because 
 
58 THE PROMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will 
 of God." 
 
 We can but very briefly dwell upon the grace and fulness 
 of the promise. " The promise is unto you, and to your 
 children." We are far too apt to stagger at the promises ; 
 and our unbelief probably arises more from our want of 
 giving God credit for the greatness of His grace, than from 
 our dislike for the holiness that grace will always enforce and 
 require. People who know not the struggle of the Christian 
 life are ready to think it is easy and natural to stagger at the 
 precepts, but the child of God knows how hard it is not to 
 stagger at the promises. Certainly there is no promise so 
 grand as this, and therefore none so likely to stagger a man 
 if he has no faith. A man will not avow himself an infidel 
 and say, " I do not believe it," but does he believe in its 
 power 1 Does he embrace it, and hold it fast in all times of 
 tribulation, and temptation, and trial 1 The promise, dear 
 brethren, is to yourselves, even to every sinner that will 
 repent and turn to God. A man must not say, "It is 
 for me only." There are many who think so, though they 
 may not say it. There may be some reason for thinking it, 
 even from the Word of God. A man may think, " Oh, but 
 that promise is only for the faithful and true, those that have 
 faith j it is only for the called and chosen, and how do I 
 know that I am one of them." It does appear to me that 
 Jesus foresaw — as He must foresee everything — and fore- 
 stalled this ground of doubt, and took it away in the most 
 effectual manner, in the passage in the 7th of St. Matthew, 
 in the sermon on the Mount, and again, in the 11th of St. 
 Luke, where we have a reiteration of much that was delivered 
 on the Mount, and where we have a more explicit and direct 
 reference to this great gift, the promise* of the Holy Ghost; 
 for, while in Matthew, it is " give good things," in Luke, it 
 is " give the Holy Spirit to them that ask." We have in each 
 
THE PROMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 50 
 
 passage the same reiteration, as if to shut up a man from 
 any excuse, as if to rescue from despair and the suggestions 
 of the devil the man that would from any idea of God's 
 greatness, or His purposes, or counsels, excuse himself from 
 asking and seeking the Spirit. Christ not only puts the 
 promise positively, " Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, 
 and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto you f 
 but He gives us the promise in an individual, and special, 
 and universal application. He does not say He will give it 
 to the chosen alone, or to the man who knows the secret 
 purposes of God ; but He says every man, for mark the mode 
 of expression : " I say unto you," " everyone that asketh re- 
 ceiveth." If, then, a man ask in the sense in which it is here 
 meant, if he seek in the way here intended, if he knock in 
 the way in which it is here designed, as the Lord God liveth 
 and is true, the promise shall not fail. You may be assured 
 of it, no man ever proved God false, and no man will dare 
 to say so when he comes to the bar of judgment and looks 
 his God in the face. 
 
 But I must touch for a moment upon the extent of the 'pro- 
 mise. It goes beyond the parents to the children. The 
 promise is " unto you, and to your children," and this does 
 appear to be more especially to the children of believers, of 
 professed believers at least. It is in the spirit that the 
 Church requires that those brought to be baptized shall be 
 brought by those who profess to be believers, and who under- 
 take that the child shall be taught and reminded that it is 
 under a promise and pledge to repent, and believe, and obey, 
 keeping in its sight the covenant made. Now, then, the 
 promise is "unto you, and to your children." We will only 
 mention one form of promise made in Isaiah, where it is 
 said, " I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing 
 upon thine offspring. And they shall spring up as among 
 the grass, as willows by the watercourses. One shall say, I 
 
60 THE PROMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 am the Lord's ; and another shall call himself by the name 
 of Jacob ; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto 
 the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel." So 
 that you see here is the effusion of the Spirit upon the young, 
 here is the blessed springing forth of the grace of faith, here 
 is the open profession that they are the Lord's, as it is beau- 
 tifully expressed in that remarkable passage, " with the heart 
 man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth con- 
 fession is made unto salvation." Both are to be regarded ; 
 and so these young people who are coming together on Satur- 
 day next will be asked, Do they, in the presence of God and 
 the congregation, renew and ratify the promise and engage- 
 ment made by them 1 and each one will answer — I trust, 
 with faith in their heart, and therefore, properly, with the 
 confession of the mouth — " I do." That is, therefore, the 
 faith founded upon this promise, " the promise is unto you, 
 and to your children," and we ought not to doubt, but ear- 
 nestly to believe, and the Lord will give His Spirit to them 
 that ask, seek, and knock. AVe are not to limit God by our 
 little, narrow, petty, halting, wavering faith, but we are to 
 have strong faith in His promises. I would especially exhort 
 you, my young friends — whom I should have rejoiced to see 
 more of had my strength allowed me — I exhort you with all 
 affection and earnestness to seek those promises. Be assured, 
 Christ has not forgotten His promises, He has not failed, and 
 well will it be for you if you have faith in those promises, 
 and claim them as your own prerogative. " The promise is 
 unto you," and it is also " to your children. Ask, seek, 
 knock, and do not, I beseech you, be discouraged and dis- 
 heartened ; do not look at what you have to give up, but 
 look at your own gain, strength, help, hope, joy, peace, 
 happiness and safety. 
 
 And, dear brethren, pray for the young. " My little 
 children," said St. Paul, " with whom I travail in birth again 
 
THE PROMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 61 
 
 until Christ be formed in you," so ought Christian people to 
 "travail," as it were, in holy fervency of faith and prayer, 
 that God would graciously fulfil His promise. " Put me in 
 mind," saith the Lord, " put me in remembrance." Should 
 we not put Him in remembrance of that His gracious pro- 
 mise? 
 
 And let no man live without praying earnestly for the 
 Spirit of God. What does a man expect % Let his breath 
 stop, and where is he? If he does not breathe, as it were, 
 the spiritual life, even the inspiration of God, he is dead 
 while he lives, and what is to become of him, therefore, when 
 he dies ? Make it then your daily prayer, " my God, for 
 Christ's sake, give Thy Holy Spirit to me, fulfil Thy promise 
 in my immortal history." And let those who have some- 
 what of the Spirit desire more, and remember that the first 
 fruits are only to incite us to seek for the fulness of the har- 
 vest, and you are to seek it, according to the beautiful prayer 
 that will be invoked upon your children, and desire to have 
 the daily fulfilment in yourselves, that you may " daily in- 
 crease in His Holy Spirit more and more, until you come 
 unto His everlasting kingdom." 
 
IX. 
 THE MARVELLOUS GRACE OF CHRIST. 
 
 " Behold, I stand at the door and knock : if any man hear my voice, 
 and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, 
 and he with me." — Rev. iii. 20. 
 
 It is impossible to conceive anything that could enhance and 
 emphasise the force of this most impressive announcement 
 that does not pertain to it. It comes direct from the Lord 
 of the universe ; it comes from Him who made us, who re- 
 deemed us, and who will judge us ; it comes from Him, not 
 as " a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," walking 
 on this earth despised and derided, who " came to His own, 
 and His own received Him not;" who was "in the world, 
 and the world knew Him not ;" but it comes from the glorious 
 majesty of the throne of God ; it comes from him who is 
 seated at the right hand of the Creator of all things, who 
 reign eth, and " must reign till He hath put all enemies under 
 His feet." It is from Him, sent by His Spirit, through His 
 inspired messenger, that this marvellous message comes. It 
 comes not to those who love Him, but to those who live in 
 neglect of Him \ not to those who have been pardoned in 
 Him, but to those who have backslidden from Him j not to 
 those who rejoice in Him, but to those who turn a deaf ear 
 to His expostulations. To them, in His long-suffering, and 
 tender and pathetic persuasion, He addressed these words. I 
 
THE MARVELLOUS GRACE OF CHRIST. 63 
 
 know not in the whole compass of God's Word an address 
 more fitting to reach the ear, if not altogether sealed ; to 
 touch the heart, if not altogether petrified j to awaken the 
 sinner, if not altogether obdurate, than this wonderful 
 passage. " Behold," says the Lord of glory, " I stand at 
 the door and knock : if any man hear my voice, and open 
 the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and 
 he with me." 
 
 The marvellous grace of the Lord Jesus Christ: the conse- 
 quent duty of every sinner : — and the unspeakable promise and 
 privilege held out to such : — they believe and live. May the 
 Spirit of Christ accompany the Word of Christ, so that it 
 may reach, not the door only, but the inmost recess of every 
 one that " hath an ear to hear." 
 
 The marvellous grace of Christ. " Behold, I stand at the 
 door and knock." The door is clear — the door of the heart 
 of man. Jesus knocks at that door — does He not 1 — again 
 and again, with His tender finger, sometimes gently, and 
 sometimes loudly and importunately, and sometimes unseen 
 — unseen comparatively. Sometimes it is by His Word 
 that the finger is knocked at the door of each one of us. 
 How long He has knocked with some of us ! " Behold, I 
 stand and knock," with the finger of Providence, on the 
 bed of sickness, in sorrow, in loss, in disappointment, in 
 distress, in bereavement, in open graves, in the tolling bells, 
 in the "mourners" going "about the streets." Has He 
 not knocked thus, and does He not knock secretly with the 
 hand of His Spirit ? What stirrings we sometimes have ! 
 what misgivings ! what resolutions ! what earnest purposes ! 
 what good intentions, and prayers, and thoughts, that pass 
 away " as a morning cloud, and as the early dew !" " Were 
 not these the knockings of the Saviour's finger? " Behold, 
 I stand at the door and knock." We do not keep a friend 
 we love waiting long at the door. We can distinguish his 
 
64 THE MARVELLOUS GRACE OF CHRIST. 
 
 ring or knock from the house, and it awakens immediately 
 an echo in our breast, as servants that wait for their master 
 with loving hearts, and spring forward to the door, and 
 through it, and wait to welcome him home ; or as the father 
 in the parable looked out and saw his poor vagabond son 
 from afar off returning, and he ran, and fell on his neck, 
 and kissed him. One would imagine it would be thus with 
 every sinner when he hears the knock of the Saviour. 
 "What ! does He come as a thief in the night, to rob us and 
 alarm us ? Does He come to drag us to judgment, and to 
 condemn us? Does He come into the world to condemn? 
 Does He not come to save the world 1 Should we then cry 
 out with fear as the apostles did, when they saw Him walk- 
 ing on the waters, and thought they saw a spirit? No, 
 verily, for He comes to us as He came to them on tho 
 stormy deep. " It is I, be not afraid." We only need to 
 fear that we may not have cause to fear, and to be aroused 
 that we may not have cause to be overwhelmed with shame. 
 If He does disturb us, He disturbs what is false in our peace 
 to give us what is true, to convince us of our peril, to res- 
 cue us from ruin, to disclose to us our disease, because He 
 is the " Physician" " in Gilead," and His " balm" can heal 
 every disease. " Behold, I stand at the door, and knock f 
 and we keep Him standing ! Yes, how many keep Him 
 standing from infancy to youth, from youth to manhood, 
 from manhood to hoary hairs, and still the Saviour waits. 
 One would have imagined God would long since have cut 
 these down as " cumberers of the ground ;" that He would 
 have broken in the door end dragged the culprit to a 
 righteous judgment, but still " mercy rejoiceth against judg- 
 ment." He still waits and says, " How shall I give thee 
 up f He still says to the fruitless tree, " Spare it another 
 year." " Oh the depths of the riches both of the wisdom 
 and knowledge of God; how unsearchable are His judg- 
 
THE MARVELLOUS GRACE OF CHRIST. 65 
 
 merits !" It is we that ought to plead with Him, and He 
 pleads with us ; it is we that should wait on Him and He 
 waits on us. He still strives with us, He still warns us. 
 " Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, 
 and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would 
 I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen 
 gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not !" 
 " Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." " Be- 
 hold, I stand at the door and knock." Ah brethren, are you 
 not conscious of this % " Awake thou that sleepest, and 
 arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." 
 
 And surely the immediate, the urgent, and the vital duty 
 of every man is to open the door immediately he hears the 
 voice. Peter, when he came to know the voice, and dis- 
 tinguish it, said immediately, " It is the Lord." He knew 
 the voice. The Magdalene, out of whom Christ cast seven 
 devils, knew the voice, and when He turned she said 
 " Kabboni ; which is to say, Master." She knew the Mas- 
 ter's voice, and a man must be alive to the voice of the Sa- 
 viour or he will never come to his senses. The voice of the 
 minister cannot do it, the voice of the parent cannot do it, 
 the voice of a friend expostulating cannot do it, the voice of 
 conscience within itself cannot do it, — it must be the voice 
 that speaks and it is done, it must be the voice of Him that 
 said to the wind and storm, " Peace, be still j and the wind 
 ceased, and there was a great calm," that said to the legion 
 of devils, " Come out," and they obeyed. There is no other 
 voice that can speak peace to the soul of the sinner. The 
 Lord God speaks by His Son, and the Son speaks by His 
 Spirit through His Word, and therefore you must not sim- 
 ply hear the voice of the preacher, you must not simply 
 hear and read God's word ; that is simply the instrument ; 
 but you must seek Jesus personally, and He must effectually 
 call you as He did His apostles, and they immediately " for- 
 
 5 
 
G6 THE MARVELLOUS GRACE OF CHRIST. 
 
 sook all and followed Him" when they heard His voice. 
 So man must hear the voice of Jesus. brethren, how 
 few comparatively hear it. Many come and hear and listen 
 to the message ; they receive the letter, but they never 
 hearken to the Spirit ; it never comes to them in the depths 
 of their inmost heart to awaken them from their false and 
 fatal stupor, but it leaves them like those of whom Jesus 
 says, "Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, 
 and have need of nothing ; and knowest not that thou art 
 wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. 
 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou 
 mayest be rich ; and white raiment, that thou mayest be 
 clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not ap- 
 pear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou 
 mayest see." Oh ! let Jesus put His finger into the ear of 
 our hearts as He did into the ear of the deaf man of whom 
 we heard this morning, and say, " Ephphatha," and it shall 
 be opened. Yes, He opens the blind eyes, He unstops the 
 deaf ears, and He works moral miracles still higher than 
 those that made the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak, 
 and the lame to walk. If He did these things in the body, 
 mightier works are still done by Him in the souls of men ; 
 and if He bless, then it may be said, "Blessed are your 
 eyes, for they see : and your ears, for they hear." " If any 
 man hear my voice." It must be with the ear of faith. 
 Many hear, but they mix no faith with that hearing, and it 
 is but sound to them, or something that interests their in- 
 tellects, or moves their fancy, or stirs their natural emo- 
 tions. To hear with faith is to hear with "power," and 
 " with much assurance." 
 
 And then, brethren, the effect of hearing, the proof of 
 hearing, the result of hearing — of effectual hearing — is this, 
 we open the door. Christ does not deal with man as a 
 mere passive subject, as a carpenter does with a plank, or n 
 
THE MARVELLOUS GRACE OF CHRIST. 67 
 
 statuary does with a block of marble hewing it into shape. 
 He works in us, " both to will and to do of His good plea- 
 sure," but as we can do nothing but as He moves us, so He 
 will do nothing but as we are moved. He does not force 
 men to be saved, He does not save them against their will, 
 He does not force the door, He does not burst in the door 
 — He must have the door opened. Ah, He is ready to put 
 in His hand to help us unbar the bolts and hindrances that 
 stop up the way. The very heart of man is naturally shut 
 against the Creator and Redeemer ; and that a man does 
 not know who never had it opened, who comes at once, as 
 he thinks, into the fellowship and faith and love of Christ, 
 with no effort, no trouble, no labour, and no travail in birth. 
 Save in some few instances that have been sanctified from 
 their mother's womb, and never fallen from the covenant of 
 grace, — and even that they are thus nigh is not of their 
 own doing and striving, but it is all of grace that they are 
 what they are — I say, with few exceptions there must be 
 and will be a sense that the door was bolted, a deep hu- 
 miliation and shame that Christ's desires to have the heart 
 have been disregarded so often and rejected so often, that 
 they have turned a deaf ear to Him, and have listened to 
 the syren song of " the world, the flesh, and the devil," and 
 have been charmed by fashion and folly and sin, when their 
 Redeemer went to them with pardon, and peace, and right- 
 eousness. Ah, brethren, look back upon your own history 
 and lives, and mark the heart ; go back to the sick-bed, go 
 back to the death-bed, go back to the grave, go back to the 
 sermon, go back to the secret reading of God's Word and 
 the weeping over it in your closets ; — were not these begin- 
 nings to listen to the voice? And were you not then 
 thinking of opening the door? But lo ! when you found 
 that the world remonstrated with you, and the devil tried 
 to lure you back into sleep, and the flesh whispered diffi- 
 
 5—2 
 
68 THE MARVELLOUS GRACE OF CHRIST. 
 
 culties and struggle and self-denial, and loss of friendship 
 and renown, then you left the door barred. The knock 
 was still there, but you ceased to hear it, you drowned it 
 in clamour and din and turmoil, and left the Saviour to 
 serve the devil. Ah, brethren, cannot many of you look 
 back and say, "I would not open the door?" But it must 
 be opened, and in order to it you must take away every 
 bolt, you must undo every lock, you must deny yourselves 
 and take up your cross and follow the Redeemer ; you must 
 turn out His enemies, and make room for himself; you 
 must dethrone the usurper, and then enthrone the rightful 
 king. " Brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live 
 after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die : 
 but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the 
 body, ye shall live." You are traitors, you are disloyal, if 
 you reject and shut out your Saviour for the sake of any of 
 these His enemies, that like a serpent have wound their 
 way into the heart and coiled themselves there, and are lul- 
 ling you with their poison, which is eternal death. Then, 
 brethren, the door must be opened. 
 
 And oh ! how great and glorious is the promise and privi- 
 lege if you will thus open and thus welcome. " I will come 
 in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." A 
 Saviourless heart, how desolate and dreary a heart ! No 
 matter what it has, wealth, ambition, power, the enjoy- 
 ment of all that is vain and earthly, has it Christ 1 The 
 bark may sail a long way on a waveless sea in calmness and 
 be undisturbed, but a time will come when the winds and 
 the waves will beat into that little ship, and it will be ready 
 to sink. Oh ! if there is no Saviour in the hinder part of 
 the vessel to arise and say, "Peace, be still," what a 
 wretched wreck will that vessel be after all ! It may cast 
 all its wares and merchandise into the deep, and it may be 
 too late, and the deep will swallow it up. Oh ! to have 
 
THE MARVELLOUS GRACE OF CHRIST. 69 
 
 Christ in the heart is \o have heaven in the heart, is to have 
 happiness in the heart, is to have safety in the heart, is to 
 have God in the heart. " I will enter in." What a beauti- 
 ful and simple act of condescension ! Christ does not sim- 
 ply say, as He says elsewhere, " I will abide with him," 
 but " I will enter in." I will make his heart my palace, 
 my throne on earth. " Thus saith the high and lofty One 
 that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy : I dwell in 
 the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite 
 and humble spirit." Oh ! the condescension ; from the 
 throne of glory down to the poor sinful contrite, heart that 
 was so unclean, and yet that He should enter in and cleanse 
 it, and ennoble it, and exalt it, and purify it with holiness, 
 and inhabit it to all eternity ! "I will sup with him, and 
 he with me." Do not let us stagger at the greatness of the 
 promise. We judge after the flesh, and are creatures of 
 sense and sight. Oh ! there is reality here in comparison 
 with which all that agitates us is as shining dust, or a light 
 that comes and goes through darkness, and leaves it darker 
 than before. Be assured of it, there is nothing so real as 
 this : — " Christ in you, the hope of glory." Who shall se- 
 parate us then from the love of Christ ? 
 
 " I will come in and sup with him, and he with me." 
 The supper in oriental countries is mainly the meal of the 
 day, it is the evening meal, and they love it for its great 
 social spirit and character ; and there, as they partake of it, 
 resting on couches, one leans on the breast of a friend, and 
 they seem, as it were, conjoined in special fellowship and 
 brotherhood. The Redeemer condescends to use this figure : 
 " I will sup with him." The poor pardoned penitent, who 
 has opened the door, He shall sup with him. What a beau- 
 tiful idea of intimate and entire intercourse. " There is a 
 friend that sticketh closer than a brother," and such a friend 
 is Jesus. " I will sup with him, and he with me." That we 
 
70 THE MARVELLOUS GRACE OF CHRIST. 
 
 should sup with Him is indeed, as it would seem, no great 
 thing ; that He should spread the board with the consola- 
 tions of His Spirit, the promises of His Word, the heavenly- 
 hopes of His glory, the assurances of His tender regard and 
 the blessed consolations of His Spirit ; these, indeed, may- 
 well furnish such a spread as angels themselves can scarcely 
 have, for they do not know the fulness that is in Christ as 
 a Saviour, they have not need of His salvation as we' have. 
 These things, I say, are natural, and we should expect them 
 from such a guest ; but that He should sup with us is mar- 
 vellous beyond conception ! Yet He does, for He condes- 
 cends to love the little things with which His friends can 
 furnish the table ; He takes delight in their expressions of 
 faith and love, in their penitential humiliations and confes- 
 sions, in their expressions of gratitude and thankfulness, in 
 their alms-giving, in the cup of cold water, if only that cup 
 of cold water be given for His sake. Whatever present, 
 out of love, one condescends to accept for love, makes a 
 little thing sweet. If your child presents you with a gift, 
 however small, of affection, though a fragrant flower, and 
 very small, it is sweet, and the parent, because it is a present 
 from a young child, can find pleasure and delight in it. Such 
 is the condescension and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. He 
 accepts the joys and praises and expressions of love and acts 
 of kindness and services done for Him by His people, He 
 accepts them with delight, and rejoices over them ; and even 
 rejoices over them " with singing," as it is marvellously ex- 
 pressed in the prophet. 
 
 Then, brethren, what a picture ! Surely none will turn a 
 blind eye or an indifferent and cold heart to His message : — 
 " Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear 
 my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will 
 sup with him, and he with me." Dear brethren, it is not 
 much longer that He will stand and knock ; the time will 
 
THE MARVELLOUS GRACE OF CHRIST. 71 
 
 come when He will arise, and depart, and say to the un- 
 grateful, unbelieving sinner, " Let him alone, let him alone." 
 " Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart 
 of unbelief" in refusing to hear the Saviour's voice, or, after 
 you. have heard, turning your back upon Him. "Beturn, ye 
 backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings." 
 " Eeturn unto me, for I have redeemed thee." No man can 
 stand before his Judge on the great day, and say, " Thou 
 never didst knock at the door of my heart, I never heard, I 
 never had the overture of mercy, I never had a single awak- 
 ening of conscience." I believe none shall be able to plead 
 it wherever the Word of God is proclaimed and circulated ; 
 none will be able to say, " Thou never gavest warning." No, 
 brethren ; does He not say in a thousand ways, " Turn ye, 
 turn ye from your evil ways ; for why will ye die V " I have 
 no pleasure in the death of him that dieth." And, brethren, 
 oh ! do not be satisfied with simply listening to the voice. 
 That seems to be almost worse than if you turned a deaf ear 
 and listened not. What ! are you to presume on His patience? 
 Are you to harden yourselves because He is so long-suffer- 
 ing ? Are you to turn His patience into occasion for greater 
 rebellion 1 Are you to " treasure up unto thyself wrath against 
 the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment 
 of God," because He awaits so long to see if haply you will 
 open, that He may enter in 1 If you do, will He not justly 
 say, " Depart from mel" Will He not justly say, " I know 
 ye not ?" You come and knock at the door of Him who has 
 knocked so long in vain at yours ; and He will say " Depart 
 from me, into outer darkness." Though you may go to the 
 door, it may be shut, it may be then too late, the lamp may 
 be gone out for ever. Dear brethren, oh ! seek to have en- 
 during, intimate — I might say, friendship, for the original 
 sense of the word familiar bears that construction — inter- 
 course with Jesus, so that you may rejoice in hope, rejoice 
 
72 THR MARVELLOUS GRACE OF CHRIST. 
 
 in all that He has done, in all that He does, in all that He 
 will do. He will give clusters which He brings from the 
 heavenly land of promise ; and if sweet here, how sweet and 
 rich they will be in the glorious Eden itself ; what will be 
 " the land flowing with milk and honey," where we shall 
 have " fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore," at His 
 "right hand." Therefore, brethren, we ought not to be 
 straitened in ourselves, we are not straitened in Him. " Open 
 thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." Seek for fulness and 
 enjoyment in Christ ; then, indeed, the world will have little 
 charm for you, and its fancies you will comparatively dis- 
 relish and distaste, but you shall be filled with such peace 
 and joy in believing that its sorrows will sit lightly upon 
 you, and its pleasures and fascinations will have no charm. 
 Then, brethren, look forward for the blessed period of which 
 the sweet singer in Israel said : " When I awake up after 
 Thy likeness, I shall be satisfied with it." 
 
CHRIST OUR PRECIOUS EXAMPLE. 
 
 " Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should 
 follow his steps." — 1 Petee ii. 21. 
 
 We are perpetually prone to run into extremes. This is 
 particularly manifest in our views of divine truth. Most of 
 our errors arise rather from a distortion of than rejection of 
 the truth. We exaggerate on the one hand, and we extenuate 
 on the other hand, and thus we dislocate the beautiful body 
 of divine truth, and we represent it to ourselves as distorted 
 and incoherent. However this may be the case in our views 
 of God's truth, it is not so in the blessed original • there we 
 have all in glorious symmetry and harmony. In the present 
 day, when people are indulging largely in extreme views, on 
 the one hand manifested in setting aside to a great extent, 
 and in distorting and overlooking the atonement made by 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, the key-stone of the arch of our sal- 
 vation — for the great gulf were fixed for ever but for that 
 blessed arch over which we may return to God through 
 Christ — if, on the one hand, there are some who would deny 
 this, or at least deny its relationship to God, and so deny 
 its excellency, and its efficacy, and its glory ; there are, on 
 the other hand, those who magnify the atonement of Christ, 
 so as to overlook or disparage the example of Christ, as 
 though an extreme view on the one side led them to an 
 extreme view on the other side. In the beautiful Collect 
 
74 CHRIST OUR PRECIOUS EXxVMPLE. 
 
 we have just heard, we have the scriptural balance, that, as- 
 God has given, by His atoning blood, Christ, to make our 
 reconciliation, He has also given Him as an ensample of a 
 holy and godly life. On the one hand, we must " most thank- 
 fully receive His inestimable benefit," and on the other hand, 
 we ought to " daily endeavour ourselves to follow the blessed 
 steps of His most holy life." To do the latter is the best 
 evidence that we have done the former j and except we do 
 the former, we shall never effectually do the latter. So far 
 from their being in contrast they are in beautiful combination, 
 and the reception of Christ's sacrifice for our salvation is 
 connected with our following His will, and becoming like 
 the perfect model. 
 
 I bring before you, this morning, the precious example of 
 Christ. The apostle brings it before the suffering saints in 
 the general Church in his day, and unfolds it to them in a 
 special and in a general manner ; special, in that Christ 
 suffered for us ; and general, in that He has left us an ex- 
 ample that we should follow in His steps. 
 
 We shall then limit ourselves — for it is impossible to em- 
 brace both — to the general view, Christ as our example. May 
 His Spirit rest upon us while we contemplate His own 
 glorious image. 
 
 Christ as our example. He became man, and He was so 
 truly man that He did as man what He would not and could 
 not have done simply as God. Simply as God, He could not 
 have been our example, for the finite can have no resemblance 
 to the Infinite. He dwelleth " in the light which no man 
 can approach unto : which no man hath seen nor can see." 
 It was only, therefore, when the " perfect God " became "per- 
 fect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting," 
 that He became a pattern for man. As a heathen once said, 
 " the essence of worship is to resemble the object that we 
 worship," so it is essential for the Christian to resemble the 
 
CHRIST OUR PRECIOUS EXAMPLE. 75 
 
 Christ we worship. That is the essence of sincere worship, 
 " Ye shall be holy : for I the Lord your God am holy." 
 
 Let us enter somewhat into the distinctive and general 
 features of Christ our precious example. 
 
 The fundamental ground of all the rest is Christ's advance- 
 ment of His Fathers glory. As the needle cannot guide the 
 vessel except it point truly to the pole, even so " if thine 
 eye be single," thy aim will be single, but " if thine eye be 
 evil" thy aim will be evil. The want of a single aim is the 
 fatal blot in many characters who call themselves Christians. 
 Not that they have no fear of God, not that they have no 
 desire to please Him, but they are continually swallowed up 
 in fears and desires about earthly things, instead of keeping 
 them subordinate to the one supreme thing. The object 
 and aim the blessed Eedeemer has set before us as our per- 
 fect pattern is God's glory. He says Himself — and he 
 proved it by His whole course — " I seek not mine own will, 
 but the will of the Father which hath sent me," and so 
 constantly was this His aim, that even when He faltered in 
 His humanity at the approach of the dread hour of dark- 
 ness, when His human nature trembled, when He held the 
 cup of bitterness, and in the dread and deep perturbation of 
 His spirit He uttered such language as this, " Now is my 
 soul troubled ; and what shall I say ? Father, save me from 
 this hour ■" yet He added, " but for this cause came I unto 
 this hour ; Father, glorify thy name." There is the whole 
 desire merged in the one desire that God might be glorified, 
 and then He was satisfied. Whatever He had to endure 
 was nothing to Him if His Father was magnified and ex- 
 alted, and He could say, when He came to the end of His 
 course, and the bitter cup was half drunk : " I have glori- 
 fied Thee on the earth : I have finished the work which 
 Thou gavest me to do." And so, when He taught His dis- 
 ciples to pray, He did not teach them first to begin with 
 
76 CIIRIST OUR PRECIOUS EXAMPLE. 
 
 their own poor wants, and sins, and sorrows ; but He taught 
 them to begin — as His faithful people are ever to do — with 
 the beginning : " Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom 
 come." If God be glorified, His people are satisfied, they 
 know that their salvation is bound up with His glory. The 
 whole of our conduct must be, " whether therefore we eat 
 or drink, or whatsoever we do," we must do it "to the 
 glory of God," then will our religion become the trichord 
 of holy obedience, and the minutest service, the most ordi- 
 nary engagements, all our relative ties and our various 
 occupations are elevated, into the religion that is the 
 creation of God. 
 
 But next to this blessed feature which crowns the char- 
 acter of Jesus, and renders Him so utterly unlike most of 
 us, is what follows as a necessary consequence : His conformity 
 to His Father's will. If God is to be glorified, God must be 
 obeyed ; and he that obeys Him honours Him best, there- 
 fore it follows in immediate connexion, " Thy will be done 
 in earth, as it is in heaven." Oh what a wondrous thing is 
 the will of God, His moral will; how it pervades the universe. 
 As the atmosphere is interfused everywhere on every side of 
 us, even so the will of God touches everything within and 
 without man. The moral empire of God is surrounded by 
 His will, and if all men were magnetised by it and in harmony 
 with it, and all went into the universal mould, oh, what a 
 universe it would be ! And it is as far as that will is real- 
 ised in this world. Look at the Redeemer's whole life ; was 
 it not a texture woven in the loom of the divine will ? He 
 comes into the world with this upon His infant lips, if we may 
 so speak : " Lo, I come to do Thy will, God;" and He could 
 testify, " My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me." 
 When His disciples thought He was starving Himself through 
 rejecting meat, they said unto Him, "Master, eat." But He 
 said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. 
 
CHRIST OUR PRECIOUS EXAMPLE. 77 
 
 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any one 
 brought Him ought to eat 1 Jesus saith unto them, My meat 
 is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work." 
 What beautiful consistency, what inimitable truth of char- 
 acter thus was stamped upon the Kedeemer ! And when it 
 was put to the test in the extremest hour of agony and an- 
 guish, and despondency ; when He was so crushed in His 
 inmost spirit that He could not but pray, " my Father, if 
 it be possible, let this cup pass from me ;" still He added, 
 " nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." There was 
 complete submission in everything, and He could testify, " I 
 have kept Thy commandments ;" and when His last breath 
 was yielded up it was in saying, " It is finished ;" His Father's 
 will was accomplished. And how did He teach us to know 
 that will ? By the Scriptures ; that it might be accomplished 
 which was spoken by the prophets, It is written that the 
 Scriptures might be fulfiled. We have that very rule illus- 
 trated in His whole course and conversation till crowned in 
 His death, and we have that rule in our hands. It is writ- 
 ten, " I will be their God : and I will give them one heart, 
 and one way, that they may fear me for ever." 
 
 Look at the next feature in beautiful harmony. " Thou 
 shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart," and " thou 
 shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Active delight in doing 
 good. By night and by day His heart was set upon doing 
 good to the sinful and rebellious children of men. Though 
 He " came to His own," " His own received Him not ;" 
 though He " was in the world," " the world knew Him 
 not," but treated Him with scorn, and misconstruction, and 
 contumely, and " contradiction of sinners ;" still His love 
 many waters could not quench, many unkindnesses could 
 not mar, but He toiled on ; and when John sent to Him 
 two of his disciples to inquire of Him, He said, " Go and 
 show John again those things which ye do hear and see. 
 
78 CHRIST OUR PRECIOUS EXAMPLE. 
 
 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers 
 are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and 
 the poor have the gospel preached to them." An epitome 
 and compendium of His whole life is given by him who had 
 been His most intimate attendant, and is contained in one 
 short sentence : " He went about doing good." Doing good ! 
 Oh, how beautiful His unweariness in doing good. Again 
 and again He proved Himself. He took our sicknesses, and 
 carried our sorrows. What a pattern for us, and how we 
 should love to follow His example, so that " whether we 
 live or die," we may be the Lord's. What is the Lord's 
 will concerning our life ? It is that we should " look not 
 every one on his own things, but every man also on the 
 things of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in 
 Christ Jesus," who left the throne of glory for the manger, 
 the cross, and the sepulchre, " for us men, and for our salva- 
 tion ;" who gave Himself for us, " the just for the unjust," 
 the good for the bad, " that He might bring us to God." 
 
 Then, brethren, mark the next feature — the tenderness, the 
 sympathy, and the long-suffering of Jesus. He did not tem- 
 porise or compromise, as some will do, merely to get rid of 
 trouble, but " the Son of man" came " to seek and to save 
 that which was lost." With what patience, with what gentle- 
 ness, and with what tenderness He did it ! The " bruised 
 reed" He did " not break," and " the smoking flax" He did 
 " not quench." His voice was not heard in the streets. He 
 never cried aloud, nor sought for human applause, but He 
 always, secretly as well as openly, endeavoured to scatter the 
 manifold gifts of His bounty to every recipient wherever 
 opportunity offered. How beautiful the tenderness of 
 Christ! How He showed it to the multitude when they 
 were hungry. He did not cease to make provision for the 
 wants of the body while administering to the wants of the 
 mind, and therefore He multiplied the bread for the hungry 
 
CHRIST OUR PRECIOUS EXAMPLE. 79 
 
 multitude. In all the afflictions of His people "He was 
 afflicted." 
 
 Look at another feature in this beautiful portrait — tlie 
 patience of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, how wondrous was 
 His patience ! No provocation ever aroused Him to anger, 
 for if He was angry, it was anger for the sin, and not for 
 the sinner ; and His anger was tempered with grief, and 
 had more of love in it than it had of resentment. What 
 patience He displayed when He was buffeted and spit upon, 
 and mocked, and scourged ! I know no instance in the 
 ■earthly life of Jesus that had more of patience in it than 
 that when one of the ruffian servants of the high priest 
 smote Him with the palm of his hand, and said, " Answerest 
 thou the high priest so 1 Jesus answered him, If I have 
 spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why 
 smitest thou me?" Oh, what tenderness, when He could, 
 with a glance of the lightning of His eye, or by a thunder- 
 bolt snatched from heaven, have stricken the miscreant, in 
 a moment, to hell ! Yet He says, " If I speak well, why 
 smitest thou me V And so " He was led as a lamb to the 
 slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers was He dumb." 
 Surely, if to that little band, in the midst of their suffering 
 and disappointment, and distress, one glance of the Lamb 
 of God before His shearers led to the slaughter, one glance 
 of Him in His agony in Gethsemane, and on the cross, suf- 
 ficed, it should silence us, and we should say, " I became 
 dumb, and opened not my mouth." 
 
 One of the last features to be noticed is that which gives 
 transcendency to the whole. It is the perfect harmony that 
 belongs to the character of Jesus, and places it alone in its per- 
 fection. In all human character there are sometimes 
 shadows, disappointments, and incongruities; the human 
 instrument is out of harmony, it is not in tune, it is not in 
 the key-note, there are jarring chords, there is something 
 
80 CHRIST OUR PRECIOUS EXAMPLE. 
 
 unloose in the instrument ; but not so in the divine harp of 
 heaven, when heard amongst us. There all is exquisite, all 
 is melody, all is symphony, there is not one note out of 
 tune. How beautiful it is to see this in effect amongst 
 Christ's people. We hear of men being distinguished for 
 such and such virtues, which must mean that they have 
 more of some and less of others in comparison ; but what is 
 spoken in praise of others in human affairs, to Jesus would 
 be a disparagement, for Jesus has no prominency of virtue, 
 but all His divine character is in admirable proportion and 
 harmony; one feature never entrenches upon another. He 
 was not more tender and humble than He was zealous and 
 bold ; He was not more full of divine love than He was full 
 also of holy and just resentment against sin. We cannot 
 say that He was in anything the more of the one than of 
 the other, but each virtue was exquisitely balanced, and 
 each one had its proper place and symmetry. Like the 
 rainbow that encircles His throne in heaven, with all the 
 colours in such exact proportion that we cannot say that 
 the red is more distinct than the blue, or that the yellow is 
 more distinct than the green, but each one is in exact pro- 
 portion, forming one lovely and entire circle ; so it is with 
 the character of Jesus ; no man can find any defect, no man 
 can find one redundancy, and there is no one grace that 
 takes the place of another. How beautiful the character of 
 Jesus ! He left us an example, that we should follow His 
 steps. 
 
 But, brethren, remember, if you follow His steps, you 
 must first receive His inestimable atonement. Until you 
 are at peace with God, you will never have strength to 
 hope and grace to follow the footsteps of the Saviour. This 
 is the work of God. " He that belie veth on the Son of 
 God hath the witness in himself." "Believe on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Thou shalt follow 
 
CHRIST OUR PRECIOUS EXAMPLE. 81 
 
 thy Saviour, and love Him, and why? "Because He first 
 loved us." " We have known and believed the love that 
 God hath for us." If so, then herein is the ground of all : 
 — "The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus 
 judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead. And 
 that he died for all, that they which live should not hence- 
 forth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for 
 them, and rose again." Well, then, it follows, if we are 
 thus constrained by His love, we shall invariably walk in 
 His steps. "Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in 
 heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." " I know 
 my sheep, and am known of mine." 
 
 Then, brethren, do not rest in a hope in the atonement 
 that is not authenticated by a gradual transformation to the 
 likeness of Him, for if you have the atonement, hereby we, 
 indeed, shall perceive and know that we are in Him if we 
 become gradually like Him. 
 
 And, brethren, do not despond. Remember, Christ was 
 human, though divine. Follow Him as human, not as 
 divine, because many things Christ did and said as God, 
 therefore they are not " ensamples" for us ; but what He 
 did in the ordinary course of His human life He did for our 
 pattern, and you must set them before you as your pattern. 
 " Wherefore ... let us lay aside every weight, and 
 the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with 
 patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, 
 the author and finisher of our faith." Then, brethren, if 
 we are thus faithful, we shall at last realise that blessed as- 
 surance of David, " I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with 
 Thy likeness." 
 
BB^BEi 
 
 
 XL 
 STUMBLING AT CHRIST. 
 
 "And blessed is lie, -whosoever shall not be offended in me." 
 
 St. Matt. xi. 6. 
 
 These words of Christ give us tlie key to the state of mind 
 which prompted the Baptist to send two of his disciples to 
 his Master. Many have supposed that John sent them in 
 order that their faith might be confirmed, but the words of 
 Christ in His reply to the Baptist seem to me to decide the 
 question, and to show that they were intended to meet the 
 particular temptation and trial in the mind of Christ's har- 
 binger. And if we realise his circumstances we can hardly 
 marvel that such a state of mind should have befallen him. 
 He had gone before the Lord, turning " the hearts of the 
 fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom 
 of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the 
 Lord f he had accomplished his work with zeal and dili- 
 gence, and Christ Himself bore him witness that He was 
 " a burning and a shining light." Not only had the Baptist 
 done this, but he had shown a beautiful humility, and a 
 lovely complacency in the lower office that he held of 
 morning star to usher in and be lost in the effulgence of 
 the rising sun. And now, for the testimony of the truth, 
 lie had long been a prisoner, it may have been in a damp 
 and dismal dungeon, there he was deserted and uncared for, 
 
STUMBLING AT CHRIST. 83 
 
 his friends had no access to him, and it was scarcely possi- 
 ble but that the circumstances that surrounded him would 
 depress his spirits and act upon his mind. 
 
 When a man becomes a saint, he does not become a stone • 
 because he has his heart submissive to the will of God, he 
 does not, therefore, prove insensible to the struggles and the 
 sufferings of his body. A Christian, while in the body, is 
 more or less oppressed by the body. And then it must have 
 seemed very strange and mysterious that the Lord whom he 
 had heralded, and of whom he himself bore testimony, that 
 he was " not worthy to stoop down to unloose His shoes," 
 that He who " spake and it was done," who could have 
 opened the prison doors had He wished, that He should seem 
 to forget His poor messenger, and leave him unpitied, and 
 without so much as a message of sympathy and kindness, 
 without any interposition on his behalf, that He should leave 
 him oppressed and loaded with chains, and should seem as 
 if He had forgotten him altogether. It was scarcely to be 
 marvelled at, though it may be mourned, that the messenger 
 began to feel his spirit faint, and there arose in Iris mind 
 doubts whether this was the very Messiah, whether the 
 Messiah had come after all, whether he did not lack more 
 evidence to satisfy him that he had not placed his confidence 
 and exercised his faith in vain ; therefore he sent two of his 
 disciples to say, " Art thou He that should come, or do we 
 look for another V Jesus dealt with him tenderly, as He 
 always did with His followers, when sincere though weak ; 
 He did not send him a sharp reproof or rebuke, but a gracious 
 cordial and succour for his faith, to enable him more to vin- 
 dicate and more to prove by comparison and prophecy, that 
 He was " the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince 
 of Peace," who was foretold by the prophets and harbingered 
 by John. At the time the disciples were sent to Him He 
 was surrounded with resplendent monuments of His mighty 
 
 6—2 
 
84 STUMBLING AT CHRIST. 
 
 power. Though He stood there as " a man of sorrows and 
 acquainted with grief," and was " without form or comeli- 
 ness," yet, all around Him, there were beautiful and loving 
 tokens of His majesty and love. He said to the disciples, 
 " Go and show John again these things which ye do hear 
 and see : the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, 
 the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised 
 up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." Then 
 He adds the gentle reproof, which evidently was intended 
 to come home to the Baptist to rebuke him for his wavering 
 faith, and the doubts that distressed his mind. " Blessed is 
 he, whosoever shall not be offended in me." The word 
 " offended " we do not understand aright in its original mean- 
 ing. As we use the word now, we say a man is offended 
 when something has provoked his wrath or excited his in- 
 dignation and resentment, but the original meaning of the 
 word was " stumbling " — falling over a thing, and hence the 
 word " stumbling-block," over which a man trips and falls, 
 and therefore it became used in this sense — that which leads 
 a man to draw back or turn aside when he wishes to become 
 a Christian or follow Christ. Such is the meaning of 
 the word, and such is the meaning of the passage. It is a 
 passage that has its application and reference not the less 
 to us whether we are wishing to become Christians or 
 not, whether we are weak or strong Christians — for strong 
 Christians meet with their hours of difficulty and doubt, and 
 have their stumbling-blocks as well as wavering and weak 
 ones. 
 
 The words set before us these two points : — Many are very 
 apt to stumble at Christ, and there is much in Christ to stumble 
 them : he, therefore, is especially blessed who does not take offence 
 at Christ. May He send His Spirit to teach us to be willing 
 •to take up His cross, and deny ourselves and follow Him, 
 for His own name's sake. 
 
. STUMBLING AT CHRIST. 85 
 
 There is much in Christ to offend and stumble. There is 
 much in Him — very much — to stumble the careless, and 
 worldly, and unbelieving ; and there is much to stumble — 
 though not so much — the faithful, and believing, and obe- 
 dient. There must be a great deal in Christ to stumble and 
 stagger a man who is in his sins and in his natural condition 
 and state of unbelief, and that for the very obvious reason 
 that a man is so unlike Christ, and Christ is so unlike him. 
 Christ is a pure, perfect and spotless model, and man is just 
 the reverse ; and so if you bring two things together which 
 lire antagonistic there is a natural repulsion. In this case, 
 there is a repulsion indeed on one side ; Jesus is not repulsed 
 even by our sins, He feels still and yearns over us, and He 
 longs to save us. The repulsion is in the sinful heart 
 of man, that shrinks from Christ, and dislikes and doubts 
 Christ. 
 
 There is much in Christ to lead to this, much in His person 
 though we do not see him bodily now, yet if we saw Him 
 what was there in Him, as far as the outward appearance 
 went % Doubtful, sceptical men, judging according to their 
 reason and sense, and comparing spiritual things with secu- 
 lar, looking at the outside and not taught of the Spirit, 
 would see hi Christ very much to stumble them. " He grew 
 up as a root out of a dry ground, He had no form nor come- 
 liness about Him " that the carnal eye should desire ; " His 
 visage was marred more than that of any of the sons of 
 men ;" He came in deep poverty, and " had not where to 
 lay his head ;" " He was a man of sorrows and acquainted 
 with grief f He " came to His own, and His own received 
 Him not f " He was in the world," and, though " the world 
 was made by Him," " the world knew Him not," men " hid 
 as it were their faces from Him •" " He was despised and 
 rejected of men." What was there in all this to commend 
 to reverence or to challenge to faith? Nothing; but, on 
 
86 STUMBLING AT CHRIST. 
 
 the contrary, there was everything to repel. He was, there- 
 fore, " to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks 
 foolishness, and they said of Him, " is not this the carpen- 
 ter's son — are not His sisters with us, and His brothers, are 
 they not known to us ?" How are we to believe in Him, to 
 trust in Him, to adore Him as the incarnate God, and to 
 commit our souls to Him for everlasting life ? There is still 
 the same feeling ; and you have only to read — though you 
 had better not if you have no occasion — the writings of 
 scoffers, and scorners, and unbelievers, and those who deny 
 the Deity of Christ, to see that they are offended at Him. 
 They stumble at the idea of the Infinite being contained in 
 the finite, they stagger at "the fulness of the Godhead 
 bodily," they despise the great mystery of " God with us," 
 they are offended at it. 
 
 And there is very much in Christ's holy person and life to 
 stumble and stagger the ungodly ; for Christ, in His life, 
 shows them that they must be above the world, and they are 
 after the world ; He shows them that they must mortify the 
 deeds of the flesh, and they indulge and follow the flesh ; 
 He tells them that they must take up the cross, and they 
 want to take up the crown ; He tells them to come after 
 Him and follow Him, and they wish to follow the world, 
 and to walk " according to the prince of the power of the 
 air ;" hence, the Eedeemer's example repels them, and they 
 do not relish it. They love pride, He would have humility ; 
 they love indulgence, He requires self-denial ; they are for 
 extolling themselves, He comes humbling Himself ; they are 
 for gratifying the lusts of the flesh with its affections, He 
 teaches us that " if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him," 
 that " if we deny Him, He also will deny us," and that if 
 we acknowledge Him, He will acknowledge us ; but this is 
 not to the taste of the world, a man's heart is just the re- 
 verse of this, and therefore he is ready to say, " ' I pray 
 
STUMBLING AT CHRIST. 87 
 
 thee have me excused,' I cannot take such a master, I cannot 
 follow such a leader." 
 
 Then, again, there is very much in Christ's doctrine to 
 stumble a man. Men naturally rely on themselves, and ex- 
 pect to make their own peace with God ; they set about 
 weaving out a patchwork garment of their own righteous- 
 ness in which to appear at the judgment-day, they do not 
 like to be mendicants, they would like to be merchants, they 
 would rather buy than beg for salvation, they would rather 
 do something to make themselves, as they think, worthy of 
 God, and fit for God. In their heart of hearts they fancy 
 oftentimes that they are good enough, that they are so much 
 better than others, and, therefore, that they must stand well 
 before God ; and so they delude themselves, and go with a 
 lie in their right hand to the bar of judgment, and they 
 find out their mistake when it is too late. But the Eedeemer 
 strips a man of all his righteousness, and brings it as filthy 
 rags to the foot of the cross, He leads him to put off him- 
 self that he may put Christ in the place, he is brought low 
 as the publican when he smote upon his breast and said, 
 " God be merciful to me a sinner." Men do not like to be 
 thus dependent entirely on grace, they do not like to admit 
 that they can do no good thing without it is wrought in 
 them and implanted in them, and so, like the proud Pharisee, 
 they would rather thank God that they are not as other men, 
 than thank Christ that He has made them to differ and give 
 Him all the praise ; hence, they are offended at this doctrine 
 of free salvation and sovereign grace and righteousness by 
 another, and dependence for all help and holiness upon 
 divine succour. 
 
 Then, again, men are often stumbled at Christ's purposes. 
 They receive the record of which we hoard to-night, " that 
 God hath given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son ; 
 he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the 
 
88 STUMBLING AT CHRIST. 
 
 Son of God hath not life •" they have received this, they 
 have received Christ Jesus the Lord, they profess to yield 
 themselves fully to Him, but still " the flesh lusteth against 
 the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh," and they often- 
 times are sore straitened and staggered, God's ways are not 
 as their ways, nor are His thoughts as their thoughts, no 
 marvel then that our thoughts should misjudge His very 
 often, and we should be ready to say, How can these things 
 be 1 what does He mean % how does He deal with man 1 
 People get into difficulties and distresses, and they fancy 
 themselves better judges than God, and they rise in rebellion 
 against His appointments, and are ready to arraign His ways, 
 forgetting that " clouds and darkness are round about Him," 
 and that they cannot penetrate the thick pavilion that en- 
 compasses Him. And hence it follows, that often very 
 Christian and good people are stumbled, and offended, and 
 distressed, more especially in their early walk as Christians, 
 when they are disposed to judge the Lord by " feeble sense," 
 instead of trusting Him for His grace, and because they do 
 not get the assurance, and joy, and comfort that they ex- 
 pected, and are left alone, as they think, to grope in dark- 
 ness, — because God seems to make things turn out different 
 from what He had promised, because His providence often 
 seems to contradict His promises, therefore, because they 
 cannot fathom and comprehend Him they are offended, and 
 many draw back and cease to follow Him. Christ led us to 
 expect this in that picture He gives us of the visible Church 
 in the parable of the sower, a prophetic parable for all time. 
 He teaches us there that there are those who listen and hear 
 the word, and " receive it with gladness," but when afflic- 
 tion or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, and through 
 obeying Christ, " immediately they are offended," and fall 
 away. There are many such. The sea of the Christian 
 Church is scattered with the wrecks of many who have 
 
STUMBLING AT CHRIST. 89 
 
 dashed upon the rock of offence and have gone down, strew- 
 ing the waves with the wreck. Alas ! how many a man 
 puts " his hand to the plough " and draws back. " Were 
 there not ten cleansed, but where are the nine V 
 
 We might enlarge, and show you that Christ is apt to 
 give offence in other ways because His course of dealing 
 with men is altogether above our comprehension. What 
 then are we to do 1 Instead of meddling in matters too 
 high for us and daring to arraign the Infinite, we should put 
 one hand upon our mouths, and our mouths in the dust, and 
 say, " 'My soul is even as a weaned child.' 'Not as I will, 
 but as Thou wilt ;' it is right because Thou doest it. Who 
 am I, and what am I, a poor worm of threescore years and 
 ten at most, that I should dare to judge the Eternal 1 Thou 
 seest not things as I see them, and Thou judgest not as I 
 judge ; it will be far better for me for my little child to call 
 in question my doings than for me to dare to presume to 
 say to the Infinite, "What doest Thou ? It is mine to ' be 
 still, and know that Thou art God,' to become dumb and 
 not open my mouth because Thou doest it." 
 
 Blessed, then, is he that is not offended. And why is he 
 blessed 1 Because, if he has come to wisdom he has come 
 to his senses. While the foolish prodigal vainly thought 
 he could make himself happier than his father could, better 
 than in his own country, better when revelling in licentious- 
 ness, he proved himself to be a fool, he was beside himself, 
 he was out of his mind ; but when he came to himself, and 
 saw his father's house and his father, and was brought again 
 to the door of the house, he said, " I will arise, and go to 
 my father," I will stumble no more at the gentle restraint 
 of a father's house. Then he sighed no more for the liberty 
 that turns to licentiousness, and despair, and misery, and 
 so he arose, and went to his father. A man is nothing 
 better than a fool, though he have all the wisdom of the 
 
90 STUMBLING AT CHRTST. 
 
 philosophers, and all the learning of the scholars, if he have 
 not learned this — how blind, and short-sighted, and depen- 
 dent he is in the presence of the Infinite, before whom the 
 heavens are not clean, who charges His angels with folly, 
 before whom the angels veil their faces. When a man 
 comes to wisdom, — to the beginning of wisdom, — when he 
 comes to be no longer offended at the ways of God or the 
 works of Christ, then he is blessed, because flesh and blood 
 would not have taught him it, because he is taught by the 
 Spirit of God the Father in heaven. ■ When a man comes 
 to believe in Jesus in truth and simplicity, it is not by his 
 own intelligence, or wit, or wisdom, or resolution, and there- 
 fore it is written, " No man can say that Jesus is the Lord 
 but by the Holy Ghost." " Whosoever believeth that Jesus 
 is the Christ, is born of God." That is the evidence, the 
 invariable evidence, that a man has turned to God. When 
 Jesus was confessed by Peter to be the Son of God and the 
 Saviour of the world, Jesus said unto him, " Blessed art 
 thou, Simon Barjona ; for flesh and blood hath not revealed 
 it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." That 
 man is blessed who is so taught of God that he receives 
 Christ Jesus the Lord, the truth as it is in Jesus, without 
 staggering and without finding fault, but in simple faith. 
 When he receives it as a little child, and so enters into the 
 kingdom of heaven, he is blessed. 
 
 He is not offended at Christ, because Christ will not be 
 offended at him. What does Christ require of a man but 
 just to take Him at His word, and receive Him as he is ? 
 There is nothing whatever in Christ to contradict or outrage 
 a man's reason. It is pride, prejudice, passion, worldliness, 
 and " the evil heart of unbelief," that stumbles at Christ ; 
 it is not sound reason — for that is the echo of the voice of 
 God. And yet some men foolishly talk of the self-verify- 
 ing faculty, and say they will accept only what they can 
 
STUMBLING AT CHRIST. 91 
 
 prove by their own reason. That is just to make God " such 
 a one as themselves." If a man will not bow himself 
 to the authority of God, he should own himself at once as 
 an infidel or atheist ; for he has no faith if he will not bow 
 himself in submission to the unfathomable and illimitable 
 God. Blessed is he that is brought low, and can say, with 
 David, "Lord, I am not high-minded, I have no proud 
 looks ; I do not exercise myself in great matters, which are 
 too high for me. But I refrain my soul, and keep it low, 
 like as a child that is weaned from his mother : yea, my 
 soul is even as a weaned child." Blessed is the man that 
 is brought to that. 
 
 Then, again, he is blessed that does not take offence at 
 Christ, because nothing shall offend him. The psalmist 
 sweetly says : " Great is the peace that they have who 
 love Thy law, and they are not offended at it." Not to be 
 offended at the law, is not to be offended at the Lawgiver ; 
 not to be offended at Christ's word, is not to be offended at 
 Christ Himself. When a man sees everything to be right 
 that God does, the mind chimes in with it, the soul is in 
 sympathy, so to speak, with the Infinite, and is, as it were, 
 in beautiful response to the Saviour's voice. " Great praise 
 have they that love Thy law f then nothing disturbs them, 
 come sorrow, come poverty, come bereavement, come sick- 
 ness, come difficulties, come trials, come losses, come crosses, 
 come shipwrecks, come bankruptcy, come persecution, come 
 prison, come scourge, come the faggot, come the sword, come 
 the block, come death, a man still says : My God allows it, 
 He permits it, He overrules it for me. " The cup that my 
 Father gives me, shall I not drink it f "If it be possible, 
 let it pass from me ; nevertheless, not my will but Thine be 
 done." Do you not see that, even in this world, men must 
 have great peace that thus submit themselves, and do not 
 contend and struggle against God's providence or dealings 
 
92 STUMBLING AT CHRIST. 
 
 with them 1 It is not men's trials that make them miserable ; 
 it is their wrestling with them, and struggling and fighting 
 •with them. Man himself is tormented by his own suscep- 
 tibilities and staggerings against God, and many a man is 
 like a wild bull entangled in a net — the more he struggles 
 the more he entangles himself, and the greater his difficulties 
 become ; whereas, if he lay calm, as clay in the hands of 
 the potter, all struggle would cease. 
 
 Once more, blessed are they that are not offended, because 
 Christ will own them in the great day. If we confess Him, 
 He will confess us ; but if we deny Him, He will deny us ; 
 and He Himself says, if we are ashamed of Him and of 
 His words, He will be ashamed of us when He cometh in 
 the glory of the Father with the holy angels. A man best 
 confesses Christ by having no will but Christ's, and a man 
 must stumble at Christ who sets up his own petty wisdom 
 and will against the Lord's, that made him and will judge 
 him ; and therefore, at the last day, it will be the hinge on 
 which a man's condemnation or acceptance will turn whether 
 he believed in Christ and submitted to Him, or whether he 
 rejected Him and would not have Him to reign over him. 
 " These mine enemies, that would not have me to reign over 
 them, bring them hither and slay them;" but the meek, 
 and the lowly, and the humble, that own Him, and confess 
 Him, and love Him, He will love them, and will say to 
 them, " Come, ye blessed children of my Father, inherit 
 the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the 
 world." 
 
 Now, dear brethren, are not many of you offended at 
 Christ ? The offence of the cross has not yet ceased ; but 
 though it is true you cannot reject Him in His bodily appear- 
 ance, you may reject Him, and do, if you do not put your 
 trust in Him, and yield yourselves to Him, and follow Him; 
 you reject Him as much as if He walked into this church, 
 
STUMBLING AT CHRIST. 03 
 
 and said to each one of you, " Wilt thou have me to reign 
 over you; wilt thou yield thyself to me; wilt thou be 
 renewed, and sanctified, and saved ?" How many would say, 
 if they dare — and many do dare to say it, just as much as 
 if He walked in the midst of us — " We will not have this 
 man to reign over us?" Take your choice. Who must 
 reign, Christ or Satan ? Which shall be your inheritance, 
 heaven or hell 1 ? Whether will be your eternal dwelling 
 "in blackness of darkness for ever," or "where there is 
 fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore 1" Make your 
 election. " No man can serve two masters." " Ye call me 
 Lord, Lord, and ye do not the things that I say unto you." 
 Do remember, what a folly, what an infatuation it is to be 
 offended at Christ. Was there ever any being so beautiful, 
 so benign, so kind, so generous, so loving, so just, so almighty, 
 so spotless in holiness ? Why, then, be offended 1 why let 
 your poor, blind, wretched lusts and passions, your pride and 
 worldliness, your doubts and murmurings, lead you to be 
 offended at Him ? Does He wish to make you miserable, 
 or happy ? Is it any advantage to Him 1 Does He require 
 you to give up anything but sin, and what leads to sin; and 
 is not that misery ? Does He command anything but what 
 is for your real interest for time and eternity 1 If He com- 
 mands you to give up sin, is it not a viper that stings, and 
 torments, and degrades you? If He commands you to 
 cherish love, and obedience, and moderation, and honesty, 
 and uprightness, and truth, are not these the very elements 
 of happiness, and beauty, and morality, and the excellence 
 of your nature ? It was well said, in the lesson of this 
 evening, " His commandments are not grievous ;" — not in 
 themselves, when a man is in his right mind ; but when a 
 man has no faith, when he does not have the Spirit of 
 God, he grieves Him, he dislikes Him, he dislikes His 
 words, He quarrels with His requirements. brethren, 
 

 94 STUMBLING AT CHRIST. 
 
 you will never find happiness in rebellion against your God 
 and Saviour. 
 
 And, then, brethren, once more : Let those who are try- 
 ing to serve God not forget that they are very apt to be 
 offended at Him, that they are ever ready to think, " Why 
 is this % why am I thus tempted 1 why does God deal thus 
 with me 1 He lets me pine away in distress, and does not 
 seem to think of me." Thus the Baptist must have thought 
 of the Saviour j but oh ! we should not thus think ; for, 
 " look how high the heaven is above the earth, so high are 
 God's ways above our ways." We should remember that it 
 is the perfection of our nature to have our wills so absorbed 
 in His, that we have no will besides ; then all is right, be- 
 cause all is according to His will. Oh, let us pray and seek 
 for that divine key-note, that our affections, our desires, our 
 thoughts, our conduct, our words, our ways, may be attuned 
 to that key-note — may be in harmony with His will ; then 
 shall we be strung and attuned for the concert of perfect 
 harmony of the will of God throughout everlasting ages ! 
 
XII. 
 
 CHRIST SERVING HIS PEOPLE. 
 
 I am among you as lie that servetk you. 
 27th verse. 
 
 -St. Luke xxii. part of 
 
 Perhaps the darkest evidences of the plague of our fallen 
 nature are not to be found in the distorted scenes of profli- 
 gacy and debauchery and cruelty that deface and defile this 
 ruined world, but they are to be found rather in holy 
 scenes, in holy circumstances, when the deep evil of the 
 human heart comes forth, on occasions and amid surround- 
 ing solemnities from which you would imagine it must be 
 wholly driven away. In the sick-room, at the death-bed 
 side, in the house of prayer, at the table of communion, 
 evil tempers will stir, and bad thoughts will intrude ; and 
 what does tins all prove but that even in the regenerate 
 there is still a taint of their nature, and that they need 
 each to pray not only in the midst of what they deem to be 
 sin and temptation, but on the most sacred and on the 
 most solemn occasions. The words you have heard were 
 spoken in connexion with such a sad manifestation of such 
 evil amid even the servants of God. It was at the last 
 supper, at a season the commemoration of which we are 
 now approaching, that Jesus, in the upper chamber, sur- 
 rounded by His chosen band of followers, kept the last 
 passover on earth, and superseded, or rather substituted for 
 
OG CHRIST SERVING HIS PEOPLE. 
 
 it, that Christian paschal feast to which you are now in- 
 vited to draw near. He had warned His apostles that one 
 of the twelve that dipped his hand in the dish with him 
 should betray Him. He had told them that He was about 
 to leave them ; and leaving them a holy memorial of His 
 departure, He bid them keep the holy feast in memory of 
 it. It was at such a season, on such an occasion, amid 
 solemnities the most impressive, and in circumstances that 
 you would have supposed would have banished every 
 thought from their minds but the thought of their own 
 sinfulness, their Saviour's loye, and His approaching suffer- 
 ing for them — and yet it was not strange, but natural ; it 
 was true, alas ! to the evil heart of unbelief, that begins 
 even in the children of God — it was then, under such cir- 
 cumstances, and at such a juncture, that we read, " there 
 was a strife amongst them who should be the greatest." 
 Such was their intense love of position and authority, such 
 the desire for what men vainly call advancement — if it were 
 as it ought to be, advancement in holiness, that were right 
 and well — but it was intense desire for advancement 
 amongst poor worms of the dust, whose praise is but the 
 breath in their nostrils, and whose honour will soon be 
 withering in the grave. It was said that there should be 
 such a strife. How it must have pained the blessed Mas- 
 ter, and how He must have felt wounded in His lowly spirit 
 as He traced their strife. How foolish they were, antici- 
 pating the worldly kingdom, that they vainly looked for- 
 ward to, striving who should stand highest in that king- 
 dom, when He was undergoing already the anguish of the 
 travail of His soul, stooping down to the dust, that He 
 might elevate them for ever. It was under these circum- 
 stances that He thus touchingly, and by an appeal to His 
 own example — and there is no eloquence like that of ex- 
 ample — said, " The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship 
 
CHRIST SERVING HIS PEOPLE. 97 
 
 over them ; and they that exercise authority upon them are 
 called benefactors. But ye shall not be so : but he that is 
 greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he 
 that is chief, as he that doth serve." And then He says, 
 in contrast with the mere worldly, who have their portion 
 in this world, who seek for no higher wealth and honour 
 than this perishing scene can afford, "lam among you as 
 one that serveth." What a remarkable force and pathetic 
 power there is in such a statement from the lips of Jesus ! 
 How His whole life was beautifully exemplified in this 
 divine statement ! Just at this crisis, when we are enter- 
 ing upon the period in which we commemorate " His agony 
 and bloody sweat," "His cross and passion," "His death 
 and burial," "His glorious resurrection and ascension;" for 
 us how beautifully seasonable and suitable is this portion of 
 divine doctrine; how it seems to condense into one sen- 
 tence all that He was doing for us : "I am among you as 
 he that serveth." Let us, then, brethren, illustrate the ex- 
 pression, and show how Christ serves ; and let us then show 
 the efficacy and blessedness of His service ; and seek to be won 
 by His example to tread in His steps, to " put on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ," and to " learn of Him to be meek and lowly 
 of heart." 
 
 We would illustrate the service of Christ. The word 
 " service" is, in the original, the same as the word " minis- 
 ter." To serve is to help another, to aid another, to do a 
 kindness, to do what is needful and advantageous to 
 another ; and he that ministers is much the same in its im- 
 port. It is to supply something that is desirable and good 
 for another, and to be as under service, under authority, 
 under obedience to another for his good. "The Son of 
 Man," Christ said, " came not into the world to be minis- 
 tered unto, but to minister." He did not come to receive 
 homage, or to receive aught that we could give Him ; for, 
 
 7 
 
98 CHRIST SERVING HIS PEOPLE. 
 
 alas ! we have nothing that is worthy of His reception, but 
 it is all of His free grace and mercy. He expects nothing 
 of us, He came to supply us and to bless us, and to benefit 
 us by serving us. If we look into the history of Jesus 
 from the beginning, as far as we have it revealed to us in 
 His Word, what does it show? under what aspect does it 
 reveal Him? Under the aspect or attitude of one that 
 ministers, who is therefore made known to us because He 
 has ministered to us. 
 
 In the first place, we see that, " Lo, I come to do Thy 
 will," was His motto and His watchword. He came to do 
 that will. Though He was Son of the everlasting Father, 
 and of coequal dignity, yet He learned obedience by the 
 things which he suffered, and became the servant of the 
 Father, though the Son of the Father ; coequal, yet under 
 the yoke, for man's sake. And from the beginning we are 
 told that His delights were with the children of men ; and 
 in Paradise, when the first promise broke upon the ears of 
 the trembling, guilty pair, He ministered hope to the hope- 
 less, life amidst the darkness. He ministered the prospect 
 of victory under the darkest discomfiture and defeat, and 
 ever afterwards, wherever the angel of the Lord, emphati- 
 cally the Messenger of Peace, is brought into view, He is 
 brought into view ministering. He ministered to the pa- 
 triarchs and prophets, He ministered to Abraham, Isaac, 
 and Jacob ; and the promises of all revelation, the merciful 
 interpositions and the wondrous deliverances that He has 
 vouchsafed to His faithful, what were they but the minis- 
 trations of His grace, the manifestations of His love and 
 power 1 And then, brethren, when He came into the world, 
 what did He come to do ? To minister. " Who, being in 
 the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with 
 God ; but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon 
 Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness 
 
CHRIST SERVING HIS PEOPLE. 90 
 
 of men." His whole sojourn here below was one of lowli- 
 ness and submission and meekness ; He showed no pride, 
 no ambition, no lust of power, no desire of homage ; and 
 those who would have Him to be their servant and had God 
 to minister to them for their salvation, these were they that 
 He deemed to honour Him. His yearning desire was to 
 help the helpless, to cleanse the impure, to give sight to the 
 spiritually blind, to give ears to the spiritually deaf, to 
 cleanse the spiritual leper, to give life to the spiritually dead ; 
 and when this was accomplished, then the heart's desire and 
 purpose of the blessed Lord of all was accomplished. He 
 was most in His element, if we might so speak, when He 
 was most ministering. " I am among you as he that serveth." 
 How beautiful, above all, was this display, as He ap- 
 proached the depth of His humiliation for us ; for when 
 they sat around the last Supper, Jesus knowing all things, 
 and that He came from God, and would return to God in 
 all the fulness and consciousness of His Godhead, arose 
 from the table, laid aside his upper garments, and took a 
 towel and girded Himself, and poured water into a basin 
 and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with 
 the towel wherewith He was girded ; and then, when He 
 sat down and resumed His garments, he said, " Know ye 
 what I have done to you 1 Ye call me Master and Lord : 
 and ye say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and 
 Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one 
 another's feet ;" so ought ye to minister to the humblest and 
 lowliest of my followers, out of love to me. " For I have 
 given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to 
 you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not 
 greater than his lord ; neither is he that is sent greater than 
 he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye 
 if ye do them." What a wondrous sight ! What must 
 angels and archangels have thought, what the powers and 
 
 7—2 
 
100 CHRIST SERVING HIS PEOPLE. 
 
 principalities of the unseen world, looking down and seeing 
 Him who had made them all, and whom they had adored 
 and worshipped since they were in being, — what must they 
 have thought as they looked down at this wondrous sight I 
 They would contemplate it, and would behold no vain 
 ambition or strife or envy or vain pride of perishing mor- 
 tals. What grandeur and simplicity ! what inaccessible and 
 incomprehensible majesty was there ! And then, brethren, 
 in His betrayal, in His mockery, in the derision that He 
 underwent, in the contradiction of sinners against Himself 
 that He endured, in His agony, when His sweat was as great 
 drops of blood, in His nailing on the cross, and in His lan- 
 guishing there — 
 
 " Lingering, bleeding, fainting, dying ;" 
 
 in His stooping down to the sepulchre, in His rising triumph- 
 ant from the grave, in His afterwards appearing to His be- 
 loved and chosen ones, and giving them such evidences that 
 it was He that had died for them and that was raised again 
 as He gave the unbelieving Thomas, till he was constrained 
 to exclaim, " My Lord and my God ;" in all this, what was 
 He doing but ministering to us, the servant of all, the 
 servant of sinners ? " Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He 
 became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich." 
 Then, brethren, how in His ascension into glory, and His 
 entrance into heaven itself, He still entreats for us and min- 
 isters to us. For what is He doing now at the right hand 
 of God the Father? There He stands daily before the 
 throne and pleads for those that come to God by Him, and 
 He still is our propitiation and mediator. What, therefore, 
 is He doing but ministering to those for whom He lived, 
 and for whom He died, carrying out His glorious work till 
 He consummates it in bringing in many sons and daughters 
 
CHRIST SERVING HIS PEOPLE. 101 
 
 to glory. And even then, the Scriptures teach us His min- 
 istry shall not be done ; He shall still appear when the 
 Judge of the universe in the attitude of him that serveth, 
 for He says, if a man do His will He will make him to sit 
 down with Him, and He will come forth to minister to him, 
 He will come forth to serve him, subservient to the blessed- 
 ness of His faithful people. It will be His delight to minister 
 to them where there is fulness of joy, and pleasures for ever- 
 more at the right hand of God. He contributes to their 
 good on earth ; and to contribute to their ecstacy, and trans- 
 port, and blessedness in heaven, will be the delight of that 
 heart of which we read, that He sees of the travail of His 
 soul in the salvation of sinners and is satisfied, — satisfied in 
 serving, satisfied in the restoration, and exaltation, and per- 
 fection, and bliss of His reconciled and chosen people. " I 
 am among you as he that serveth." 
 
 Brethren, oh, how glorious the result of that service ! 
 We can but glance at it. How He has served his people in 
 order that they might be a forgiven people, restored to the 
 favour and peace of God. His service has been effectual, 
 for He has served them so that He has saved them ; as the 
 Substitute for them, He has accomplished what was needful, 
 in order that they might be accepted .of God in harmony 
 with and in glorification of all His perfections, His moral 
 government, His immutable law. What a marvellous ser- 
 vice ! " In burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast 
 had no pleasure." How could they make a sinner's peace 
 with God 1 Wherefore, when He cometh into the world, 
 He saith, Sacrifice and offerings thou wouldst not, but a body 
 hast Thou prepared me to be the true, the one, the infinite 
 sacrifice. Then He saith, Lo, I come to do Thy will, God. 
 He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second; 
 He taketh away the shadow, that He may supply the sub- 
 stance ; He taketh away the poor, earthly ritual, that could 
 
102 CHRIST SERVING HIS PEOPLE. 
 
 not avail, and gives the sinner peace. He is a just God in 
 the vindication and manifestation of His holiness, that He 
 may bring in the glorious economy of the gospel in which 
 God is just in justifying, and man is saved, and sees sin to 
 be most hateful. God to be most glorious, and Christ to be 
 most precious. Then, again, He serves His people, and min- 
 isters to them in renewing them after His own image, He 
 brings the same mind that was in Himself into them, He 
 ministers in spirit to them, He ministers the beauty and 
 glory of His own precious example to them, and teaches them, 
 whilst they most thankfully receive that, His inestimable 
 gift, they should daily endeavour that they may be changed 
 into the same image, from glory unto glory, as by the Spirit 
 of the Lord ; He ministers to them effectually in keeping 
 them through this evil world, comforting them in their 
 sorrows, coming to them in the chamber of affliction, stand- 
 ing by them when they are sore beset with temptation and 
 trouble, upholding them when they are ready to fall, rescuing 
 them when they are almost overcome, teaching their hands 
 to war, and their fingers to fight, their present help in time 
 of trouble ; He ministers to them on the bed of sickness, 
 and when every earthly consolation fails them He draws near 
 and says, " It is I, be not afraid ;" He ministers to them in 
 the dark valley, when human help is vain, and the dearest, 
 friends cannot help us any longer ; when all must stay be- 
 hind, and leave the pilgrim to go alone through the darkest 
 stage of his existence, — even then Jesus is the friend, the 
 servant, and the companion of His people, His rod and His 
 staff they comfort them, and they are enabled to say, 
 " Thanks be to God, that giveth us the victory, through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ." Could there be a more touching, 
 humbling picture of Jesus than He himself thus sketches for 
 us? In one simple stroke it stands out in full and glorious 
 manifestation : " I am among you as he that serveth." What 
 
CHRIST SERVING HIS PEOPLE. 103 
 
 a marvellous thought it is ! We are ready to stumble and 
 stagger at it, it ■ seems incredible to us, but what was His 
 whole life, His whole work, as developed in His Word, but 
 a fulfilment, and illustration, and exemplification of this 
 simple picture, " I am among you as he that serveth !" How 
 it ought to humble us to think that we, amongst others, are 
 rebelling against the yoke, kicking against the pricks. A 
 man wants to grasp after some vain object that he thinks 
 will give him more power, and position, and honour. What 
 a mistake it is ! That is never the way to be happy. We 
 must submit, sooner or later. Can a worm of the dust re- 
 fuse at last to submit to his omnipotent Creator ? By our 
 yielding we gain, by submitting we are elevated. " He that 
 humbleth himself shall be exalted." " Be clothed with 
 humility, for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to 
 the humble." We should seek to follow the beautiful pattern 
 of Jesus, and minister in our day and generation to others. 
 " It is more blessed to give than to receive •" it is more 
 blessed to help than to be helped ; it is more blessed to 
 wipe the tear of sorrow away, than to have it wiped away 
 from our eyes ; and if it is our privilege and advantage 
 that we can minister, how we should enjoy it and delight in 
 it. We shall never be happy while grasping and winning 
 all for ourselves, but we shall be happy in making others 
 happy, in diffusing happiness, and in abating misery, in being 
 fellow-labourers with God, sympathising with His dear Son. 
 Be assured of it, if you have no happiness and peace, it is 
 because you do not love Jesus. The man who is continually 
 serving, who feels " the yoke is easy and the burden is 
 light," the man who has conquered himself, who has broken 
 down his own proud spirit and serves Jesus, who is " meek 
 and lowly of heart," to him the promise is fulfilled, and he 
 finds rest to his soul, the only abiding, perpetual rest that 
 cannot be taken from him. 
 
104 CHRIST SERVING HIS PEOPLE. 
 
 Dear brethren, let us in drawing near the table of Christ 
 seek to learn that lesson at this season, to have the mind in 
 us that was in Christ Jesus, and learn to be willing to serve 
 Him, to serve God, and serve our generation according to 
 the will of God, serve any poor being to whom we can do 
 good, for Christ's sake. Above all, let us see that Christ 
 serves us. We can only serve Him as He serves us in for- 
 giving us, in renewing us, in making all things work together 
 for our good, leading them that would suffer in patience and 
 peace in this afflicted world, to commit their souls to Jesus 
 in well-doim* as unto a faithful Creator and most merciful 
 
 CD/ 
 
 Saviour, assured that He will be found a faithful servant as 
 well as a faithful master to His people. This is alike the 
 secret of their joy, the secret of their victory, the secret of 
 their exaltation, that they can say with the great apostle, 
 whose I am, and whom I serve." 
 
XIII. 
 
 PARTAKING OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 
 
 " Eejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings." — 
 1 Peter ir. jmrt of 13. 
 
 There is nothing that brings persons more intimately 
 together than suffering together. To meet in the house of 
 feasting may produce a superficial companionship • but to 
 meet and mingle sorrows in the house of mourning tends to 
 weld and knit together the affections of those who are 
 brought into intimate sympathy, in a way that the mere sun- 
 shine of prosperous times never accomplishes. How often 
 we find it in the family that, when the household is clothed 
 in mourning, when they meet solemnly and silently around 
 the sick-bed and the bed of death, when they have been 
 brought to feel the depth of their common ties and common 
 affections, they are wondrously strengthened in their mutual 
 regard, or at least that regard is called into an activity and 
 energy that it did not exhibit before. How common it is 
 to find persons, who have been placed in circumstances of 
 trouble and peril together, retain their intimacy through 
 after life. Thus, I remember one saying to me that the men 
 who suffered together in the siege of Lucknow, where they 
 were in great peril of their lives, and were reduced to 
 circumstances of the greatest extremity and want and dis- 
 tress, became almost as one family, and they were woven 
 
10G PARTAKING OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 
 
 together in mutual affection and sympathy in a way that 
 would have appeared inconceivable had they not passed 
 through that bitter experience. And you find where a 
 wrecked vessel has had its little crew embarked in the perils 
 of a voyage on the deep, where they have been tossed upon 
 the waves, and have gone through sore troubles together, 
 they have ever afterwards had that passage of trouble and 
 difficulty stereotyped upon their memories, and they have 
 felt for each other as they never could have felt in any other 
 way. It would seem that this principle is recognised in the 
 higher and holier communion and fellowship that God's 
 children are brought into, in that intimate endearment with 
 their Saviour from partaking of His tribulations ; it would 
 seem that the way to appreciate Christ's sufferings and realise 
 His intense love for us, and to have brought home to us His 
 " bowels of compassion " and His yearning tenderness, is in 
 the house of mourning, and that it is done there in a way 
 that we have nowhere besides, — so much so, that I have 
 known persons wake up to a sense of Christ's long-suffering 
 on their own bed of anguish, and to feel it as they have 
 never felt it before. This furnishes us with a key to what 
 the apostle seems to have had in his mind when, having 
 warned his suffering fellow-saints not to count it " a strange 
 thing," as if something not to be looked for had happened, 
 if they had trial, and persecution, and distress, and perplexity, 
 but it would be strange rather if the Master drank the bitter 
 cup and they drank the sweet one ; it would be strange if 
 they only passed along the smooth and easy path, when His 
 path was marked with His footsteps of blood. They were 
 not to count it "strange," therefore, but rather "rejoice" 
 that they were " partakers of Christ's sufferings." 
 
 At this season of the Christian year,* on the verge of the 
 season of Christ's special sufferings, the time we commemorate 
 * Lent, 18G5. 
 
PARTAKING OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 107 
 
 and call them to mind is peculiarly appropriate to the passage 
 before us, as it contains very much that is deep in experience, 
 and much that is somewhat difficult and delicate in compre- 
 hension. We call your attention to it as alike seasonable to 
 very many, and suitable for the few of God's children who 
 are partakers in Christ's cup of suffering. May God bless 
 the contemplation of the subject to our guidance and conso- 
 lation. 
 
 The sufferings of Christ : — that ive should rejoice if ive are 
 partakers of these sufferings : — these are the two great thoughts 
 that present themselves on the very face of the passage. 
 
 The sufferings of Christ. We must take care that we do 
 not take to ourselves a share in those sufferings, unless our 
 sufferings are indeed akin to His own. It is not the mere 
 suffering that is the ground of rejoicing, but it is the suffer- 
 ing the sufferings of Christ. The sufferings of Christ are 
 very different from the sufferings of the great mass of man- 
 kind. It is true the Saviour suffered for sin, and St. Peter 
 says so in the chapter before us, but then to suffer for sin 
 and to suffer from sin are two very different things indeed. 
 He did not suffer from sin, for he knew no sin, but was 
 " holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners f but He 
 suffered for sin, on account of sin, sin imputed, sin assumed 
 for us by Him as our substitute. It is most important, then, 
 that we should distinguish between the sufferings of Christ 
 for the sin and the sufferings of Christ from the sin. He did 
 not suffer from sin, for He had no consciousness or sense of 
 sin ; personal sin He could not have. It is true that our sins 
 were so imputed to Him, that He underwent their penalty 
 as though they had been His own ; but in His own divine 
 mind there could have been no sense of personal guilt, and 
 it is a sense of personal guilt that sinks deepest into the 
 heart of most who suffer, of most who sorrow. They sorrow 
 most because they are overwhelmed with the presence of 
 
10S PARTAKING OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 
 
 their own folly, and baseness, and rebellion against God, and 
 the madness of their career. Were there no intermixture 
 of personal remorse, the sorrow would lose half of its in- 
 tensity. It derives its intensity largely from a sense of 
 personal guilt. If we would suffer the sufferings of Christ 
 we must beware we do not occasion our sufferings by our 
 own wickedness, or backsliding, or rebellion ; if we do, we 
 largely shut ourselves out from all sympathy with our blessed 
 Eedeemer. It never must be forgotten that the blessed 
 Eedeemer had no sense immediately in His mind of the 
 divine displeasure. If He had a sense of what was the debt 
 of sin, and a mysterious concealment of the Father's face 
 from Him in a way we cannot comprehend, no doubt He 
 never lost the sweet sense of a Father's love. However, the 
 Father might say, " Awake, sword, against my shepherd," 
 still in the deepest hour of Christ's darkness He clung to 
 His Father, and His prayer was, " Father, into Thy hands I 
 commend my spirit." When in the garden His soul was so 
 overwhelmed, still He prayed, "0 my Father, if it be possible, 
 let this cup pass from me : nevertheless, not as I will, but 
 as Thou wilt ;" and when in His last hour, in the fearful 
 struggle of His death, He cried, " My God, my God, why 
 hast Thou forsaken me f still it is " My God, my God." He 
 never, therefore, felt that despair and sense of divine dis- 
 pleasure that drives to utter desperation j there was nothing 
 of despair in His sorrow, and if we are to suffer as Christ 
 did, we must seek to so love and serve God, that we may 
 not have that fearful dark despair in our souls, in our sorrows, 
 and in our struggles, which Christ cannot sympathise in, 
 because He never had. 
 
 Then there is another distinction. The Eedeemer did 
 not look forward to any terror or fear beyond the grave ; 
 death to Him, though an hour of fearful conflict and struggle, 
 was yet the passage to His Father's presence, and therefore 
 
PARTAKING OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 109 
 
 He said, " If ye loved me ye would rejoice, because I said, 
 I go unto the Father." He was going to " His Father and 
 our Father, to His God and our God," and therefore there 
 was not that terror that is beyond the grave, which fills 
 many often with apprehension on the bed of sickness and 
 in the hour of death. There is nothing in death itself to 
 make it so terrible. What is there in the mere pang of 
 dying 1 There is often more pain in living than in dying, 
 than in the disentanglement from the tenement of clay of 
 the immortal inhabitant. That which constitutes the pain 
 is the dark shadow that comes from beyond. The blessed 
 Redeemer could not know this. Death to Him was the 
 gate of life ; He knew that He was passing from the cross 
 to the crown. 
 
 Let us just look into the sufferings that were specially 
 Christ's, and of which, when we suffer on His account, we 
 may be said to know the fellowship of His sufferings and 
 to be in communion with Him. And, first of all, the Re- 
 deemer's sufferings were largely from breathing a tainted 
 atmosphere, and from walking amidst a corrupt world. The 
 more pure a man's mind, the more he is distressed at the 
 wickedness around him, distressed in heart to think how 
 God is dishonoured and iniquity abounds, how God's good 
 gifts and endowments are turned into instruments of misery 
 and sin. He cannot help feeling this, and the more pure 
 a man's mind is, the more is he full of tenderness and com- 
 passion to men, and ready to say with David, " Rivers of 
 water run down mine eyes, because they keep not Thy law;" 
 or as Jeremiah said, " Oh that my head were waters, and 
 mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and 
 night for the daughter of my people !" " I am horribly 
 afraid," says David, " because of the ungodly that keep not 
 Thy laws." Wicked and foolish people laugh at sin, and 
 make light at the dark crimes that abound around them, 
 
 • 
 
110 PARTAKING OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 
 
 but a man with anything of the mind of Christ will feel 
 sad, and be ready to mourn over the things others make 
 light of. 
 
 Then we must recollect what was the intensity of the 
 purity of the mind of Jesus, how He not merely saw the 
 wickedness around Him, and heard the sounds of words of 
 blasphemy, but He could see into the heart, and hear the 
 unuttered thought within. Oh ! to His pure mind what a 
 constant source of distress and anguish to come in contact 
 with such a world as this, and to have intercourse with 
 those who were dishonouring his Father, who can tell? We 
 know that sometimes He could not help uttering His feel- 
 ings, as when He looked around upon the thoughtless and 
 wicked men who surrounded Him ; and when some who 
 were His own disciples showed their want of faith, He said, 
 " faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be 
 with you ? — how long shall I suffer you f And when He 
 came near and beheld the city, the inhabitants of which 
 were about to bathe their hands in His blood, He wept over 
 it and said, " If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in 
 this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace ! but now 
 they are hid from thine eyes." And again, when He beheld 
 and bemoaned their obstinacy and dark doom, " Jeru- 
 salem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest 
 them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have 
 gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her 
 chickens under her wings, and ye would not ! Behold, j T our 
 house is left unto you desolate." We must not forget if 
 evil, and sin, and misery, and folly, distress a man in the 
 world at large ; they distress him still more the nearer they 
 come home. If they enter his own household, if they 
 wound him through the side of those he most loves, and if 
 he finds those he cherished and fondly set his heart upon 
 have plunged into evil, and folly, and ruin, how it comes 
 
PARTAKING OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. Ill 
 
 home to him and agonises his heart, and he feels as though 
 the evil had come upon himself, he feels grieved to think 
 how God is offended, and how those he himself has 
 cherished have been accessory to it. And was it not so 
 with the blessed Eedeemer 1 He consented to become our 
 brother, " bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh," and 
 He was " not ashamed to call us brethren." Marvellous that 
 it should be so ! Yet so it was. And when He " came to 
 His own, His own received Him not;" "He was in the 
 world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew 
 Him not ;" and instead of meeting with a tender reception, 
 He met with scorn and almost universal rejection, and in- 
 sult, and mockery, and contumely. Oh ! how great was 
 His distress, that one that dipped his hand with Him in the 
 dish lifted up his heel against Him, that another denied 
 Him with oaths and curses, that another — though He fore- 
 saw His perfidy — should betray Him with a kiss. All tins 
 wounded the Eedeemer ; and when we, brethren, feel some- 
 what the same resentment for sin, somewhat of the same 
 grief when God is grieved, somewhat of the same righteous 
 indignation when God is dishonoured, we know something 
 of the sufferings of Christ. Then how much of sorrow and 
 suffering the blessed Eedeemer knew, because of that won- 
 drous way in which the world around Him was suffering for 
 its own sin and its own guilt ! What misery He saw and 
 redressed ! what deaf ears He unstopped ! what lame feet- 
 He made to leap ! what wondrous sorrow He saw as He 
 went about in the streets working signs and miracles ! how 
 He sorrowed that they " would not come to Him that they 
 might have life !" He came to bless them, and they treated 
 Him as though He came to curse them ; they met Him with 
 presumption, and rejection, and reproach, and injury ; His 
 very sorrows were made subjects of congratulation, and 
 His agonies were matters for insult and outrage ! 
 
112 PARTAKING OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 
 
 Oh ! if we suffer for His name's sake, we partake of His 
 sufferings. It is not for our own misconduct, but because 
 we are Christ's. The world hates us because it hates Him. 
 Ought we not to drink of His bitter cup ? Ought we not 
 to share His cross 1 and then shall we not have cause to re- 
 joice because we share it 1 It ought not to be a matter of 
 shame and sorrow, but of humble thankfulness that we are 
 counted worthy to share in any measure the cross He bore, 
 to pledge Him in the cup He drained for us. We ought to 
 rejoice that we partake of the sufferings of Christ. This 
 seems a hard saying, and yet if God gives us grace to do it, 
 we shall rejoice ; and therefore St. Paul says, " and not 
 only so, but we glory in our tribulation also ; knowing that 
 tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and 
 experience hope ; and hope maketh not ashamed." And so 
 you " rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's suf- 
 ferings ;" you rejoice that you have the honour put upon 
 you of being considered the companion of your Master, as 
 having fellowship with Him in His humiliation. Surely it 
 is a matter of greater honour for a man to be suffering with 
 an eminent and righteous man, than to rejoice and exult 
 with a wicked and depraved man. Are there not circum- 
 stances in which friendship and love tell so powerfully that 
 they will lead a man to be happy in suffering with those he 
 loves and reveres, leading him to feel that he would rather 
 go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting ? 
 He finds that honour dwells with humility, and is often- 
 times draped in sorrow, and, therefore, he can be reconciled 
 to a state of suffering because it is suffering with those he 
 loves. And so if we suffer with Christ, ought it not to be 
 counted by us a privilege ? 
 
 Let us not forget that " if we suffer with Christ, we shall 
 rejoice with Him." No cross, no crown ; no share in the 
 mortification and crucifixion of the flesh, no share in the 
 
PARTAKING OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 113 
 
 glorification of the body. The path of sorrow alone leads 
 to the world where there is no sorrow. You find it even 
 in things natural, a man must have the qualifications for 
 the enjoyment of that which is to give him happiness. 
 The musical ear that keenly feels the dissonance that dis- 
 turbs it is more capable of appreciating the melody that 
 ravishes it ; and the eye most alive to what causes a feeling 
 of repulsion has the steadiest appreciation of that which is 
 refining and exquisite in taste. It is so in spiritual things ; 
 the man who has the keenest sense of sin has the greatest 
 enjoyment in being freed from it for ever. And then, too, 
 the Saviour has told us in His "Word again and again, " If 
 we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him." " If so 
 be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified 
 together." 
 
 Who would not, therefore, count it a matter of rejoicing 
 to suffer for Christ's sake % Thus it is said of the servants 
 of God in heaven : — " These are they which came out of 
 great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made 
 them white in the blood of the Lamb ;" and, therefore, they 
 are before the throne, nearest to Him to whom they were 
 nearest on earth ; nearest to Him in the hour of glory, as 
 they were nearest to Him in His hour of sorrow. 
 . Then have we not reason to rejoice, because that blessed 
 Kedeemer in making us partakers of His sufferings, is 
 making us partakers of His holiness. Affliction oftentimes 
 makes a man worse. The house of trouble is not always 
 the house of repentance and humiliation ; it is sometimes 
 the house of repining, and fears, and wrath, and sad rebel- 
 lion ; but where it is sanctified affliction — and participation 
 in Christ's affliction will always be sanctified — then, indeed, 
 He brings us through His own sufferings, that He may con- 
 form us to His own image, and stamp His coin with the 
 image and superscription of the King, whose it is. There- 
 
 8 
 
114 PARTAKING OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 
 
 fore, may we not rejoice in tears, and weep in joy, knowing 
 that if we bear a part in Christ's kingdom here, we shall at 
 last be made to enter that blessed kingdom, where the Re- 
 deemer, who has suffered with us and for us, tells us He 
 will come forth and wait upon His people, and they shall 
 sup with Him, and He with them 1 
 
 You see, therefore, what is the character of the suffering 
 we may rejoice in ; and you see that we have abundant 
 reason to rejoice in that suffering, if it be ours, because it is 
 the suffering of Christ, who has called His people to share 
 His sufferings. He tells them at the very vestibule, that 
 they must deny themselves, and take up their cross, and 
 follow Him. If there is no willingness to bear the cross 
 and follow Christ, we have yet to learn the first lessons in 
 the school of Christ — the hatefulness of sin, the preciousness 
 of Christ, and the joy of sanctified sorrow. How sad a 
 thing it is, then, to have sorrow and to have no sympathy 
 with Christ, to have no share in the hope that our sorrows 
 shall end in everlasting joy; how sad to go mourning 
 through the world, and to go down in despair to the world 
 to come, because we do not look up to Christ, and follow 
 Him, and because we have nothing in common with Him I 
 Do not pray so much that you may not suffer, as that you 
 may suffer in fellowship with Christ, that you may bear His • 
 cross clearly stamped upon your breast, that you may be 
 willing to take the cup the Father gives you, and to drink 
 it without repining, and without murmuring. If you do 
 not reap comfort and consolation from your trials, it is be- 
 cause you have not Christ in your trials. He must sanctify 
 and alleviate them, and turn them into occasions of thanks- 
 giving and gladness. 
 
 Let me remind you of one important point. If you suffer 
 with Christ, you may well anticipate how soon your suffer- 
 ings will be over. What are threescore years and ten of 
 
PARTAKING OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 115 
 
 suffering I Oh, what a folly it is to make so much of this 
 poor passing hour, and so little of that illimitable immor- 
 tality to which we are going ! Let us remember that " our 
 light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us" 
 — for those who suffer with Christ—" a far more exceed- 
 ing and eternal weight of glory." Let us remember, if it is 
 indeed distressing and troublous to us to bear the bondage 
 of corruption, what will be our joy when we emerge from it 
 into the glorious liberty of the sons of God ! Whit will 
 heaven be when there will be nothing to distress or disturb 
 us, when our joy will be the joy of the Saviour ! as our 
 sorrows were the sorrows of the Saviour ; for He Himself 
 has prayed for it, and it cannot but be fulfilled : " Father, 
 I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me 
 where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou 
 bast given me." 
 
 8—2 
 
XIV. 
 THE SUPEEME AFFECTION". 
 
 " Set your affection on things above, not on tilings on the earth." — 
 Col. iii. 2. 
 
 What the anchor is to the bark, that the affection is to the 
 soul. Where the affection is set, there the soul tends ; or, as 
 Christ himself expresses it, " Where y our treasure is, there 
 will your heart be also." The affection signifies the bias of 
 the soul in the pursuit of certain objects. The soul is set — 
 a strong word — either on things on earth or on things in 
 heaven. "No man can serve two masters;" and in like 
 manner, no man can have two supreme affections. The very 
 expression implies the necessity that there should be no rival 
 to that affection which is enthroned in the heart. It is very 
 difficult sometimes to ascertain where the supreme affection is 
 fixed. There can be no doubt that it is fixed above when the 
 heart is renewed by the Spirit of God ; yet that heart may 
 itself be unable to ascertain and determine at the time what 
 is the ascendant sentiment of the soul, more especially when 
 objects of deep interest and attraction in the present world 
 surround us. Affection for these things need not be wrong, 
 but it becomes wrong when it occupies an undue proportion 
 of our interest and attention. It is peculiarly profitable, 
 therefore, for the minister of Christ ; indeed, it becomes in- 
 cumbent upon him to direct attention to the transcendency 
 of the things of God over the little, petty, passing, shadowy 
 
THE SUPREME AFFECTION. H7 
 
 things of this sinful world, as showing to us that we may 
 "rejoice as though we rejoiced not," that we may love as 
 though we loved not, and that we may sorrow as though we 
 sorrowed not. The meditation of such a subject becomes a 
 servant of God, under all circumstances, and it is peculiarly 
 seasonable at the present very interesting period in the his- 
 tory of our own vicinity,* following the very affecting and 
 impressive scene many of us witnessed so recently — the dis- 
 play of human skill— showing what human ingenuity can 
 accomplish, and the accompanying circumstances of show and 
 display of ostentation and grandeur which inevitably attend 
 such a scene. I need not suggest to you that it is too often 
 the case that such scenes absorb the mind and affections 
 beyond a due proportion, and lead away from the great 
 thing, always pre-eminently great, important and interesting. 
 Therefore, in beautiful harmony with the Collect of this 
 morning, teaching us that it is God alone who can order our 
 " unruly wills " and " affections," and can surely fix our hearts 
 " where true joys are to be found," I take up the words of 
 the apostle, " Set your affection on things above, not on 
 things on the earth," and make them the subject for our in- 
 struction and meditation. 
 
 We shall endeavour to illustrate to you the necessity of the 
 admonition, and the nature of the admonition. May God, who 
 alone can quicken our souls, accompany His word with His 
 own power, that we may be so aroused as to seek to have 
 our treasure where our heart is — in heaven. 
 
 The nature and state of man in this present world is very 
 peculiar. In order that we may form a just conception of it, 
 we must recollect that, as man is of a twofold nature, physical 
 and spiritual, so man has relation to a twofold economy — 
 earthly and heavenly, present and future, temporal and 
 eternal ; that he has to do with certain passing scenes and 
 : * The closing of the Art Treasures Exhibition. 1S57. 
 
118 THE SUPREME AFFECTION. 
 
 things. He has to serve his generation according to the will of 
 God ; he has to give an account of his stewardship; and at the 
 same time he has to do with the great realities which revela- 
 tion unfold. He has to do with his Creator ; he has to do with 
 his Preserver ; he has to do with his Judge ; he has to do witli 
 his Euler and Lawgiver ; he has to do with his Eedeemer ; he 
 has to do with that unseen world where to the wicked it is 
 everlasting woe, and to the righteous it is everlasting blessed- 
 ness ; he has to do with angels, and with "the spirits of the 
 just made perfect •" he has to do with the things of the 
 present scene, where all is sublunary ; and he has to do with 
 the things of another world, where all is real, where all is 
 final, where all is unmixed, and where all is eternal. Man 
 has to do with the things of eternity, and he has to do also 
 with the things of time ; he has to do with the relationships 
 of life — social, civil, and religious ; and he has to do with the 
 pursuits of life. Each man must do his duty in the state of 
 life to which it has pleased God to call him. ft cannot be 
 otherwise ; and God never intended that it should be other- 
 wise. These things give a man pain or pleasure ; they minis- 
 ter to his wishes or to his disquietude ; and he is not insen- 
 sible to all this. He is not to become a stoic, and crucify 
 his natural feelings ; nor is he to become a recluse, and with- 
 draw from the world. He is not to abandon his duties ; that 
 is not the will of God, and that is not the duty of man. It 
 is clear that God has made us susceptible of pain from certain 
 things, and of pleasure from certain things ; and he does not 
 require us to undergo that pain, or to forego that pleasure, 
 except as it is necessary for our duty to Him, and our prepa- 
 ration for our everlasting and distant home. Man is allowed 
 to shun what is baneful, and to enjoy what is pleasing. Only 
 let it be done in subordination and subservience to the will 
 of God, and to his own all-important interests, then man is 
 allowed to rejoice, and to weep, and to indulge his taste, and 
 
THE SUPREME AFFECTION. 119 
 
 his imagination, and his affections. It is not annihilation of 
 these, but it is subordination of these that duty requires. I 
 need scarcely remind you that our danger lies not in the 
 direction of giving an exaggerated importance to the things 
 unseen, but in giving an exaggerated importance to things 
 visible. Every man's consciousness and reflection will assent 
 to the proposition that man is more in danger of setting too 
 much value on things that surround him, than of setting too 
 much value upon things that are above him. No ; it may be 
 doubtful whether man can duly estimate the things that are 
 to come, and it is clear that nothing is more easy than to 
 estimate the things that are perishable. 
 
 Let me show you by one or two considerations how im- 
 minent is our danger of setting our affections on things 
 below. 
 
 It arises, first and chiefly, from this cause : that the tilings 
 on earth are ever in contact with us. They are things that 
 appeal to our natural senses, they force themselves on us, 
 and require no effort on our part, for what is beautiful at 
 once reflects itself on the mind, and we quickly take up with 
 what is easy, and indulgent, and pleasing to the taste and 
 touch. All that man has to do is to come in contact with 
 these things ; yea, he can hardly avoid them ; the forms 
 picture themselves on his eye, and force themselves on his 
 ear, and enter into his soul almost whether he will or not. 
 But it is not so with the things above, and with the objects 
 of eternity. Hell must be realised and looked upon in order 
 that we may be afraid of its terrors j heaven must be marked 
 on the soul by faith, and must be grasped by that faith which 
 is "the substance of things hoped for," in order to produce 
 any impression upon the soul. So that you see things seen 
 and temporal urge themselves upon us, and force themselves 
 upon the affections, while things unseen and eternal must be 
 solicited, must be sought, must be run after, must be seen in 
 
120 THE SUPREME AFFECTION. 
 
 the mirror of faith, in order that they may reflect themselves 
 upon the soul. 
 
 Nothing, then, is more clear than that things unseen and 
 eternal stand at great disadvantage when compared with 
 things seen and temporal, and unless man maintains a mighty 
 struggle with a power and a strength more than his own, he 
 cannot but be carried away by the things that " perish in the 
 using ;" and it is no marvel that he is carried along as by a 
 whirlpool, without reflecting whither he is going or what is 
 his destiny, until he plunges into a dread eternity, and wakes 
 up with a knowledge of its true nature. It is not to be 
 wondered at when we consider what man is, and what earth 
 is, that nothing but the mighty power of God can bring the 
 soul from under the dominion of things temporal, to realise 
 the power of things eternal. 
 
 There is another fear, brethren, that still strengthens this 
 view of the case, and it is this, that man in his constitution 
 and in his moral state is not what he was when God made 
 man ; and therefore he labours under a fearful disadvantage in 
 setting his affections on things above. No doubt, when man 
 was in Paradise in purity and peace, when the image of God 
 was implanted in his soul, the two relationships of man's 
 nature — his relation to heaven and his relation to earth — were 
 in beautiful harmony ; then he gave to things present their 
 proper affection, and to things eternal their transcendent affec- 
 tion, and all was harmony because all was holiness. But it is 
 not so now. Man has come under the dark dominion of the 
 world, has allowed the flesh to usurp the place in the soul, 
 and has been led into temptation by " the lust of the flesh, 
 the lust of the eye, and the pride of life," so that man is 
 keenly alive to everything which appeals to his senses. He 
 is spiritually dead, and, instead of being an unbiassed judge, 
 he is warped by fearful idolatry, and he is fearfully unbeliev- 
 ing and indifferent to the future condition of man ; therefore, 
 
THE SUPREME AFFECTION. 121 
 
 the tilings of the present press upon him in such a way that 
 he is prepared to receive every impression, and to yield him- 
 self up to the fascination of every hour, and he lets them 
 lead him captive at their pleasure. Man, for the most part, 
 walks " according to the course of this world, according to 
 the prince of the power of the air f he goes down the stream 
 unresisting, and though conscience makes a temporary 
 struggle to resist the downward flood it still rushes on, and 
 at last he is utterly involved in it, and, in hopeless despair, 
 he gives himself up to its power. 
 
 I think you will at once perceive, then, that there is need 
 to exert ourselves, to set our affections on things above, and 
 not on things on the earth. You will see that we gravitate 
 earthward. When the king of Israel prayed, "My soul 
 cleaveth unto the dust :" " quicken Thou me according as 
 Thou art wont," he uttered the consciousness of trying to 
 rise to heaven, and finding that he gravitated downwards, he 
 exclaimed, " My soul cleaveth unto the dust." We doubt 
 not that harm has been done, and many good men and 
 ministers have done disservice to the cause of God's truth, 
 by enforcing the entire renunciation of all earthly enjoyment 
 and all earthly pursuits, which God does not require from 
 us, and which would be contrary to our state and to His 
 purpose. I am far from thinking it is wrong that we should 
 exercise the faculties and cultivate the capacities God has 
 endowed us with ; I am far from thinking that it is wrong 
 for the painter to use his pencil on canvas, and the statuary 
 to make use of marble ; I am far from thinking a man is not 
 to cultivate his own self in all his parts and properties of 
 body and soul, for God. The man who would not delight 
 in what is ornamental and beautiful, who would not exert 
 himself in endeavouring to maintain the life and vigour of 
 his body, does not study to keep himself and make himself 
 what God had made him, and intended him to become. The 
 
122 THE SUPREME AFFECTION. 
 
 law of man is to advance, and it is sin that has hindered man 
 from progressing. But then, whilst we doubt not this, we 
 still less doubt that all this must be done to the glory of 
 God, that we must act as feeling our responsibility as im- 
 mortal beings in contact with the unseen world, and in our 
 relationship with Him " in whom we live, and move, and have 
 our being," ever seeking to please Him as the Lord of the 
 creation, and to escape displeasing him as the one only evil 
 in the universe. Man is not to set no affection upon his 
 health, upon his family, upon its comfort, upon its greatness 
 and its glory ; he is not required to yield no impulse in the 
 performances of art, and the achievements of human skill, and 
 the discoveries of science*; he is not to hold himself aloof from 
 the commonwealth and family of which he is a member ; he is 
 to have his affections more or less engaged in these things, 
 but then he is to keep the supreme supreme, the great point 
 is to keep the ascendant ascendant ; to see that the affection 
 for the things below is as nothing to the affection for the 
 things above. "VVe must " count all things but dung," in 
 comparison, that we may " win Christ." "We are not to re- 
 gard all things in the present world as if they were sinful in 
 themselves ; they are not so, but it is our corrupt heart that 
 perverts them. In themselves, all things that God has 
 made are " very good" and beautiful. Music is good and 
 sweet ; lights and shades, everything is good ; therefore it 
 is not in the thing itself that there is evil, but it is the 
 abuse of the thing that renders it sinful. "We may use 
 God's good things in moderation and sobriety if the affec- 
 tion is centred upon heaven, in our occupations, in our pur- 
 suits, in our pleasures, in our enjoyments. If we live the 
 life of faith, we walk with God whilst we mix with man- 
 kind; and whilst we pursue our ordinary calling, we con- 
 vert it into a life of faith and obedience to God. 
 
 " Set your affections on things above, not on things on the 
 
THE SUPREME AFFECTION. 12£ 
 
 earth." Oh ! this, beloved, is the great point ; set it, do not 
 let it be an occasional yearning after a better state of mind ; 
 do not let your good purposes and desires be as " a morning 
 cloud, and as the early dew," but let your anchor be " sure 
 and steadfast ;" let it be fast within, let it keep your little 
 bark in dangerous currents and cross winds, until you steer 
 true towards the haven where is your everlasting home. 
 " Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness," and 
 all other things shall be added thereto, and will follow in 
 their proper order. " One thing is needful," that one thing 
 therefore do. It would not be difficult, by arguments which 
 none of you would be able to answer, to show you that this 
 is man's true dignity and his true happiness, that this is his 
 true interest and his true glory. 
 
 I pray you, therefore, beloved, bear with the word of ex- 
 hortation. You have had, many of you, much to excite, 
 much to please, much to gratify you ; I beseech you, do not 
 let these things usurp in your souls an undue place ; do not 
 let the spell of these enjoyments incapacitate you for com- 
 munion with God, for spiritual work, for the day of holy 
 rest, for the higher and better things that will be the things 
 you will care for when you come to a death-bed, and the 
 day of judgment. Do not be led away by the fascinations 
 of the present hour, for, after all, what are they ? In the 
 late scene many of you witnessed there was much that was 
 beautiful, much that was attractive, much that was pleasing, 
 but what is it now ? So it will be with everything you set 
 your affections on, fleeing away, passing like a shadow. The 
 fashion of this world is passing away. What does the sight 
 you have lately seen signify now % All that is left of it is 
 but the moral trace on you for evil or good ; this alone will 
 survive, all the rest will pass away, and be lost and forgot- 
 ten. I beseech you seek to study, to know, and ascertain 
 that your affection is supremely set " on things above."" 
 
124 THE SUPREME AFFECTION. 
 
 You love your parents, if you have them still spared to you ; 
 you will love them in another world ; you love your relatives 
 and friends, and what is sweet to the taste, and pleasant to 
 the ear, and beautiful to the eye ; you naturally love these 
 things, and I do not say you are wrong, but take care that 
 all your love is not centred here. Is not your heavenly 
 Father more to be loved, is not your Eedeemer more to be 
 loved, is not heaven more to be loved, is not the inheritance 
 prepared for the saints in the life everlasting more to be 
 loved than friends, family, fortune, rank, distinction, riches, 
 position, and place? What are they all? and what will 
 they be ? Things are now what they will be then. Measure 
 them aright, put them in the balance, and let eternity weigh 
 as it ought to do, and the things of this life as they ought 
 to do. " Set your affections on things above." 
 
 How is this to be done % Not by voluntary lacerations, 
 not by fastings or by retiring to the cloister • it is to be done 
 by the mighty magnet of the Saviour's love, by the mighty 
 power of His Holy Spirit. We admit these eternal things ; 
 why do they not produce their effect upon us 1 It is through 
 a want of faith ! Oh for the strength of faith to come up to 
 the power of God's word, then we should love the " things 
 unseen and eternal," as we now do the " things seen and 
 temporal." Let us pray God that He will realise to us this 
 blessed faith ; let us keep before the thoughts of our hearts 
 the grand and beautiful rule of the apostle ; knowing that 
 " the time is short," let us " weep as though we wept not," 
 and let us "rejoice as though we rejoiced not," and let us 
 " use this world as not abusing it ; for the fashion of this 
 world passeth away." 
 
XV. 
 SEEKING THE LORD THE GEAKD DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 " And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord." 
 — 2 Cnuox. xii. 14. 
 
 There are few points on which men are more apt to run into 
 extremes than that of where Infinite aid touches upon and 
 intervenes with the responsibility of finite man. You find, 
 on the one hand, some attaching so much importance to 
 human effort, that they seem to overlook the necessity of 
 divine succour, without which there is no effectual effort what- 
 ever ; yet, on the other hand, there are those who, dreading 
 this .extreme, and perceiving its evil, rush into the opposite 
 extreme, and make the grace of God a pillar of presumption 
 instead of a starting-point of strength and vigour, and energy, 
 and diligence. It is difficult to say which extreme is the 
 worst. The one turns the grace of God into lasciviousness, 
 the other turns the effort of man into self-salvation and self- 
 righteousness. The truth is that they are both in beautiful 
 harmony, if we did not make them discordant; that they are 
 both combined, if we did not separate what God has joined 
 together. It is not necessary to be able to trace the boundary 
 line, we may be assured there is such a line, and that that line 
 demands as much human effort as it requires divine grace. 
 There is no true effort without divine grace, and there is no 
 true divine grace without human effort as a consequence and 
 
126 SEEKING THE LORD THE GRAND DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 result. The passage before us is very apt to this point. It 
 brings before us very plainly, on the one hand, how God may 
 be sought ; and yet, on the other hand, why is it that men 
 seek Him not, or if they do seek Him at all, they do not seek 
 Him aright, and therefore they never find Him. It is of 
 Eehoboam, the godless son of the godly Solomon, the foolish 
 son of the wisest of men ; — but grace is not hereditary ; it 
 is " not of the blood, nor of the will of man, but of God ;" 
 — it is of him, it is said thus briefly, but still giving us the 
 key to his sad life, his idolatrous presumption, which led to 
 the rending of the twelve tribes, leaving to the house of 
 David only two tribes ; it is said of him as the key to his 
 whole character and conduct ; — and mark it well, for you 
 have here the ground and secret of the whole : — " He did 
 evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord." 
 A brief and sad picture of his course : " Because he pre- 
 pared not his heart." That was the elucidation of the 
 whole mystery and maze of his life. 
 
 The words, then, place before us three points very plainly : 
 The grand duty of man, to " seek the Lord :" — The way in 
 which the Lord is to be sought; we must " prepare our hearts" 
 to seek Him : — The fatal consequence of neglecting so to seek 
 the Lord, and to find Him ; " He did that which was evil in 
 the sight of the Lord." God grant that His Spirit may 
 accompany His word, that we may be led, each one that has 
 neglected to prepare his heart to seek the Lord, and that 
 those who have sought Him may still persevere in seeking 
 Him ; for we must never cease to seek till we find Him in 
 the fulness and light of His presence. 
 
 The grand ivork of man is to seek the Lord. All our facul- 
 ties of mind, all our moral qualities, all our opportunities 
 of life, all the discipline we pass through, all the chequered 
 scenes through which we are led — the joys, the sorrows, the 
 griefs, the pains, the sicknesses, the bereavements, the losses, 
 
SEEKING THE LOUD THE GRAND DUTY OE MAN. 127 
 
 the crosses we have to pass through, why are they sent but 
 for this one end, to bring man to seek his God % We 
 should not have had to seek Him if we had been born in a 
 sense of His presence and the enjoyment of His favour ; and 
 so we should have been born if man had retained the image 
 of God, if he had continued in His likeness. Then all our 
 thoughts would have been truth \ then all our emotions would 
 have been holiness j then all our course would have been 
 righteousness ; then all our tendencies and all our desires 
 would have been heavenward and God ward ; we should have 
 walked in the light of His countenance, we should have 
 borne His perfect image, we should have done that which is 
 right as instinctively as we now do that which is wrong, and . 
 we should have known that which is true and right as much 
 as we are now in perplexity and darkness. Alas ! for it ; how 
 fearful the fall, and how fatal, were it irreparable, and were 
 there no return to God ! But the glorious truth revealed to 
 us in the gospel of Christ is, that God may be sought again. 
 In one sense we cannot seek Him, and in another sense we 
 need not seek Him. It may seem strange, but both are true, 
 though it seem a paradox. We cannot seek in one sense : 
 " Canst thou by searching find out God ?" Alas ! alas ! what 
 groping in darkness has been all moral philosophy, all the 
 vain mythology of poor fallen man, the wisest we have ever 
 had ! You have only to read the works of Aristotle, and 
 Plato, and Cicero, and Seneca, in order to find out that, 
 after all, their best emotions, their loftiest thoughts, were 
 but uncertain knowledge ; and the greatest knowledge that 
 has ever been found by human intellect unaided, by human 
 science and philosophy uninspired, was never better* than 
 mere conjecture and uncertainty, mere day-dreams — often the 
 most debased, and always the most uncertain. In the other 
 sense, though it is useless to seek God by our own knowledge 
 in the pages of science, as one said when he had read them 
 
128 SEEKING! THE LORD THE GRAND DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 all, " I have searched them all, and am more astray and more 
 at sea now than I was when I began j" so the man seeking 
 to know God by himself, by human wisdom alone, sets out 
 on a bootless task, and bootless and fruitless will be his 
 search. In another sense it is needless to seek to know Him 
 by human wisdom alone. And it is not only needless, but it 
 is presumptuous, it is blind infatuation. It is as if a man with 
 the bright light of the sun were to kindle a candle at noon 
 day, and turn his eyes down to the little flickering lamp he 
 had formed instead of upward ; it would be wiser in a man 
 to do so than to reject the simplicity of the gospel, and to 
 turn to the paltry glow-worms of human philosophy and 
 science, and to pretend that he is seeking God, when, as the 
 apostle says, He is not far off from any one of us. He that 
 was beyond the reach and range of our loftiest conceptions, 
 lias come down to us in the person of His Son ; so that, as 
 Jesus says, "No man knoweth the Father but the Son." 
 And again He says, " Believest thou not that I am in the 
 Father, and the Father in me 1 He that hath seen me hath 
 seen my Father." Yes, brethren, God in Christ is God 
 nigh to us, God brought level to our capacities, God brought 
 home to our hearts. A little child may know more of the 
 true God by means of the gospel of Christ and the teaching 
 of the Spirit, than Socrates, or Cicero, or Plato ever ima- 
 gined or conceived. The noblest conceptions of earthly 
 and uninspired men are nothing to the conceptions of the 
 simplest peasant, of a poor widow woman, or of a little 
 child, when taught of God. We may well exclaim, with 
 the Saviour, " I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and 
 earth,*because thou hast hid these things from the wise and 
 prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." 
 
 But now, brethren, though it is impossible and useless to 
 seek a knowledge of God independently of God's teaching ; 
 though it is needless and useless for a man to seek it because 
 
SEEKING THE LORD THE GRAND DUTY OF MAN. 129 
 
 he has got it in his heart, so that it may be beautifully said, 
 as the apostle Paul says, " Say not in thine heart, Who shall 
 ascend into heaven 1 (that is, to bring Christ down from 
 above) ; or, Who shall descend into the deep 1 (that is, to bring 
 up Christ again from the dead). But what saith it 1 The 
 word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart : that 
 is, the word of faith which we preach ; that if thou shalt con- 
 fess with thy mouth' the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in 
 thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou 
 shalt be saved." So that a man needs not, as it were, to go 
 to seek by human wisdom or wit ; and, on the other hand, 
 if he sought thus, the search would only lead to confusion and 
 disappointment. All he has to do is to come as a little 
 child, and receive the revelation of God in Christ, and then 
 He " who commanded the light to shine out of darkness" 
 will shine gradually into his mind, and " give the light of the 
 knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 
 " This is life eternal," to know " the only true God, and Jesus 
 Christ, whom He hath sent." Nevertheless, brethren, a man 
 will not find except he seeks the Lord, and the Lord will 
 seek him first. He seeks him, to teach him to seek ; He as it 
 were turns him round, that he may find his way. The first 
 impulse is divine, but it is our effort that follows. It is not 
 less of man than it is of God. God works " in man to will 
 and to do." He does not work on him, but in him ; and so 
 there is a beautiful harmony between the inworking of God 
 and the outworking or onworking of man. It is not the mere 
 intelligent conception of divine truth, it is not a mere spe- 
 culation about Christ, or of what Christianity is, that is true 
 Christianity : it is a personal, practical, experimental know- 
 ledge of Christ in a man's heart and spirit and whole course 
 of life ; it is becoming personally acquainted with Christ ; it 
 is the difference between merely reading about a man and 
 coming into intimate contact and communion with him, inter- 
 
 9 
 
130 SEEKING THE LORD THE GRAND DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 changing soul with soul. There must be a " fellowship with 
 the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ f and all short 
 of this is but a mere creed — a mere theory. It is important 
 in its place, but only as it leads to experimental religion. 
 When it is experimental, then a man knows God and is 
 known of Him ; and if a man has not learned to love God 
 in Christ, he has learned nothing yet as he ought to learn, 
 he has not sought and found God. 
 
 This leads us to the next point, a man must seek God as tlie 
 grand end of his life. He is here for the purpose, and if he 
 accomplishes it he answers life's end ; if he fails in it he fails 
 in life's end. If a man is shipwrecked in this all is wrecked ; 
 but if he gains this all is gained. " What shall it profit a 
 man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own 
 soul f ' Far off from God, he perishes ; near to God, and in 
 communion with Him, he is saved for ever. Without that, 
 life is a wretched bankruptcy, a miserable abortion; but 
 when a man gains a true knowledge that Christ loved him, 
 that he is accepted in Him, that he shall stand before Him 
 in the great day as one that is uncondemned, as one to be 
 welcomed into his Father's house, he has gained the grand 
 purpose of life ; and this is the grand purpose of life, 
 whether we make it so or not. 
 
 Then we are led to think, how is this to be set about ? how 
 is it to be attained 1 Rehoboam found it not, because " he 
 prepared not his heart to seek the Lord." Here, again, we 
 are driven back upon human responsibility very distinctly. 
 We have nothing to do with the secret purposes of God, but 
 with our own duty and the responsibilities that rest upon us. 
 It is not said he did that which is evil because God rejected 
 him, or he was reprobate and outcast because God did not 
 give him grace, or show him His favour \ nor is it said that 
 he did evil because Solomon showed him a bad example, and 
 though he repented afterwards, yet left a sad blot upon his 
 
SEEKING THE LORD THE GRAND DUTY OF MAN. 131 
 
 name ; but it is said, " He did evil, because lie prepared not 
 his heart to seek the Lord." Had he sought the Lord and 
 found Him, he never would have done the evil, he would 
 never have had that fearful wail that accompanies his name 
 continually, that he had rent Israel asunder, that he had 
 broken up, as it were, God's commonwealth through his own 
 wanton wickedness and folly. This we have brought home 
 most clearly and distinctly to every man that is living without 
 the love and obedience of God. And why is it ? Is the door of 
 mercy shut against a man 1 has there some sad calamity or 
 fatality happened 1 has he not the same opportunities that 
 others have 1 has God told him he is not to be saved 1 has he 
 made trial of Him in honest truth and sincerity, with all his 
 heart, perseveringly and determinedly, fully resolved not to 
 turn back, not to draw back, not to be disappointed 1 has he 
 felt that he dare not and could not come short of salvation % 
 has a man been thus roused to exert himself to work, " to 
 take," as it were, " the kingdom of heaven by violence," 
 agonising to enter in at the strait gate, and to lay hold of 
 eternal life ? If he has done so, he has prepared his heart, 
 he has made up his mind, his heart has been united to fear 
 God's name. AVhen a man is brought to that determination, 
 he will be ready to cut off the right hand, or to pluck out 
 the right eye, rather than to fail of finding God. He has 
 turned his back upon Sodom's pleasures and indulgences, and 
 turned his face towards Zoar, the city of safety ; he has felt 
 that it is not in the plain that there is safety, but on the moun- 
 tain-side ; and though he may have to encounter rocks, and 
 precipices, and difficulties, and trials, and dangers, he presses 
 onward, if only he may reach the city of refuge ; he flees for 
 refuge, " to lay hold of the hope set before him." All ! it is 
 the great thing to " prepare the heart to seek the Lord." 
 Some never make the effort. The great object of life is to 
 seek; it is our great work; we are to go about seeking until we 
 
 9—2 
 
132 SEEKING THE LORD THE GRAND DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 find the pearl of great price. Yet, alas ! there are many who 
 say they cannot be saved, that they cannot find God, that all 
 is difficulty, that all is doubt, that all is darkness. No ; you 
 have not " prepared your heart," you have not set about it in 
 good earnest, you have not been led to leave all, to part with 
 everything to find God. God has not been first, and you know 
 He must be and ought to be. This is the first commandment 
 with promise : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
 thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength." 
 If God is not first, He is nowhere; He will not be subordinate, 
 He will not be second, His place is supreme, He must be 
 enthroned over all, and you must be willing and should be 
 ready to welcome Him and subordinate all your interests in 
 life to that one great object, to please, to love, to serve, to 
 glorify, and to enjoy your God. Oh, how few there are that 
 thus prepare their hearts to seek the Lord ! Ah ! a divided 
 heart has turned many aside. They were half-hearted, they 
 halted between two opinions, they were like Agrippa, "almost 
 persuaded." This is not to "prepare" a man's heart "to 
 seek the Lord." A man must have his heart made up, he 
 must have counted the cost, he must have been willing to 
 part with everything that comes in his way, willing to set 
 about whatever God requires. Eehoboam did not do this, 
 though the son of a godly father. Doubtless he often had 
 good convictions and good desires, but they passed away like 
 " a morning cloud " and " the early dew." He never felt to 
 want to know the Lord, and therefore he never knew Him in 
 full assurance and enjoyment. His goodness had been like the 
 morning cloud ; though the Lord was prepared to meet him, 
 he was not prepared to meet the Lord ; though grace and 
 salvation were within his view and his reach, yet he had not 
 prepared his heart to receive them. Many a man who prays 
 to be saved does not wish to be ; many a man wishes to be 
 saved, if he may retain some idol, if he may keep back some 
 
SEEKING THE LORD THE GRAND DUTY OF MAN. 133 
 
 part of the price ; but there must be no reserve, God will 
 never accept a divided heart. The Israelites were forbidden 
 to intermingle the linen and the woollen, there was to be no 
 linsey-woolsey worn by them. Many say, Was not this a 
 mere capricious, unmeaning institute 1 No \ it taught them 
 the great lesson that there must be but one warp in the gar- 
 ment of salvation, that a man must put on the tvhole armour 
 of God, that he must be dressed in all the raiment of heaven, 
 that he must not think to choose parts or portions, that he 
 must not expect to wear this, and reject that. No, Jesus 
 says, " If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, 
 and take up his cross, and follow me." If any man come not 
 to hate, in comparison with Me, even father and mother, he 
 cannot be My disciple. We are to prepare ourselves, and 
 whatever may be the conditions, or the requirements, or the 
 struggles, or the difficulties to overcome, we must overcome 
 them all in the strength of the Lord. " The kingdom of 
 heaven," I again repeat, as Jesus says, " suffereth violence, 
 and the violent take it by force." 
 
 Then, brethren, how sad and fatal the consequences of neglect- 
 ing thus to prepare oar hearts to seek the Lord. Rehoboam "did 
 evil, because he prepared not his heart." There is a weight 
 and a force sometimes in a simple expression of Scripture, 
 which no exaggerated language or accumulated hyperbole 
 can reach. How much there is in that one simple expres- 
 sion, " He did that which was evil !" His whole life was one 
 course of rebellion and idolatry and obstinacy ; such was his 
 life, and such, Ave have reason to think, was his death ; he 
 lived in evil, and he died in madness. What a sad picture as 
 we trace it up to its starting-point, " He prepared not his 
 heart to seek the Lord !" How many young persons, well 
 taught in Christian truth, well disposed and earnest at times, 
 never come in after life to salvation. They live all their lives 
 in evil, because they have never fully realised the necessity for 
 
134 SEEKING THE LORD THE GRAND DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 decision ; they have never felt the wish of the prodigal for his 
 Father's house, or, if they have fult a wish, there has been 
 no rising up and going home j whatever the shame and the 
 sorrow for their past conduct might be, they have not gone 
 towards home, never stopping till they reached their Father's 
 table, and nestled on a Father's heart. Nothing short of 
 coming home will do; but a man never will come home unless 
 he has made up his mind to do so, unless he prepares his heart 
 to come back. Do not let it be supposed that there is a kind 
 of negative or neuter character. I have heard people say, I am 
 not good enough to go to heaven, but I am not bad enough 
 to go to hell ; for if I look back on the course of my life, I have 
 not been a thief, neither have I been an idolater, nor a mur- 
 derer, nor a blasphemer, nor an infidel ; surely I am not so far 
 wrong. Ah ! but God looks at the heart. The outward appear- 
 ance may be very fair, but what is the inward appearance 
 before the heart-searching God ? Does He not ask for the 
 heart, and will He be satisfied with anything short of it ? Has 
 He not promised to give you a heart of flesh instead of a 
 heart of stone? Has he not promised to put His laws in your 
 minds, and write them upon your hearts ? Has that been 
 done ? Have you prepared your hearts for the divine en- 
 graving ? Have you in your inward parts the laws of God 
 drawn out in living characters? None but Christ, and nothing 
 but Christ, can satisfy the soul, can give peace to the con- 
 science, can enable you to bear the burden and the battle of 
 life, and to face without dread the last enemy and the dark 
 dread valley, can usher you into the awful realities of the 
 unseen world, and enable you to stand undismayed before the 
 judgment-seat of Christ. Have you felt this? have you realised 
 this ? have you made up your minds 1 You say you intend 
 to do it hereafter, by and by, on the sick-bed, in old age, 
 when you are weary of life, when you have done with present 
 pleasures and pursuits ; you are not yet prepared, you have 
 
SEEKING THE LORD THE GRAND DUTY OF MAN. 135 
 
 some secret idol, you have some stumbling-block in the way. 
 Ah ! but you must make up your minds, you must not de- 
 lay, for " the night cometh when no man can work f and if 
 you delay, the night may come upon yon, and the man who 
 has been purposing and resolving all his life dies, and the 
 work is not done. And what a wreck and ruin it is ! 
 What an awful thing to awaken in the last hour, and find 
 you are too late ! 
 
 May you, who are invited to renew your covenant and to 
 decide your choice, and whom I hope soon to meet again, 
 and to urge and induce you to choose the Lord for your 
 God, Jesus for your guard and guide — may you lay this 
 passage to heart ! It is a very weighty and a very prac- 
 tical one. Do you prepare your hearts to seek the Lord, 
 and do it not in your own efforts, yet make your efforts in 
 dependence on that grace that alone can make the effort 
 effectual. Ask, that you may receive; receive, that you 
 may use ; and use, that you may receive more of the inter- 
 change between the spirit and the Father of spirits ; then 
 you may say, in the language of the psalmist, " My soul 
 followeth hard after Thee ; Thy right hand upholdeth me." 
 And do not forget that if you have never prepared your 
 hearts, you have reason to fear that you are doing evil, 
 though man's eyes may not see it. Eecollect that while 
 man looketh at the outward appearance, God looketh at the 
 heart. He wants to know whether the heart that was afar 
 off has been brought nigh to Him, where there is safety ; 
 whether the dark mind has been illumined and renewed, the 
 estranged mind brought into reconciliation and friendship. 
 If it be so, if ye that were sometime afar off are now brought 
 near, then to serve God is no longer a task, and a trouble, 
 and a weariness, but joy, and delight, and perfect freedom. 
 Lay this to heart, and consider it. A man must sooner or 
 later prepare his heart to seek the Lord. He does not 
 
136 SEEKING THE LORD THE GRAND DUTY OF MAN. 
 
 surely intend never to seek Him ; surely he does not desire 
 to be cast out from His presence for ever and ever ! Distance 
 from God is hell, nearness to God is heaven. Surely no 
 man would choose to be far off; he must desire to be near. 
 But he must not desire only, he must prepare his heart 
 to follow his desire, he must give all diligence in the great 
 work. 
 
 And, finally, my dear brethren, oh that those who have 
 sought and found Him may not be content simply with 
 having found Him, but may abide in nearness to Him. "He 
 that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall 
 abide under the shadow of the Almighty." " He shall not 
 be afraid for the terror by night ; nor for the arrow that 
 flieth by day ; nor for the pestilence that walketh in dark- 
 ness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday." 
 He shall feel calmness, and assurance, and security, what- 
 ever betide, because the great point is settled, the grand 
 secret is found, the abiding and everlasting dwelling-place of 
 immortality is secured ; therefore he abides in God, and he 
 rests in peace, come what may, and befall him what may. 
 

 ^ Wv * 
 
 XVL 
 DIVINE TOKENS FOR GOOD. 
 
 ° Show me a token for good." — Psalm lisxvi. part of 17. 
 
 "We are told again and again in God's Word that we are not 
 to walk by sight, but by faith. To walk by sight is a com- 
 prehensive term, and includes walking by feeling rather than 
 by faith. We are very strongly disposed to do so. We want 
 something tangible and palpable, something sensible to our 
 nature. The Jews required a sign, and professing Christians 
 often want a sign ; but the more simple our faith, reposing 
 on the unchanging Word of God, the more pure and spiritual 
 and elevated is that faith. Nevertheless, there is a desire 
 for God's immediate and direct communication with the soul, 
 there is a desire to feel the drawings of godly emotion, there 
 is a desire to be assured that we are in the right way, and 
 that our faith is of a genuine and divine kind, and that Ave 
 are not deceiving ourselves, or are under any uncertainty 
 with regard to our immortal state. It is allowable and right 
 that this should be, because a man cannot be in earnest unless 
 he wishes to be assured that he is right, and he is not on 
 the wrong tack in his voyage heavenward. In seasons of 
 doubt and darkness, and of depression, when our spiritual 
 foes seem triumphing over us, and treating us as if we were 
 at their mercy, as Satan sometimes will \ in seasons when 
 
138 DIVINE TOKENS FOR GOOD. 
 
 our minds are darkened, when we are thrown into timidity, 
 and seem to be able to realise nothing of the Lord, when we 
 seem to have loosed our moorings and to be tossing up and 
 down upon the waves of the sea, there is at such seasons, 
 especially, and naturally, such a desire as prompted the 
 psalmist to pray the brief but beautiful prayer you have lis- 
 tened to. In a time of distress, when he was insulted by 
 his enemies, and was getting but little strength to resist 
 them, at such a time he prayed — and who is there that is 
 earnestly anxious to feel accepted and safe in Christ, but 
 will feel the same desire cross his mind ? — " Shew me a token 
 for good," give me some sign to assure me, and gladden me, 
 and sustain me, and animate me in my struggle and conflict. 
 This brief prayer, as many of you will feel, awakens an echo 
 in our hearts, and if we proceed to dwell upon it for a little 
 time, it will, if God bless it, be for our profit. 
 
 What prompted this prayer from the heart of the psalmist, 
 " Shew me a token for good V It is very clear that such a 
 prayer will not be prompted from the heart when there is 
 no desire after God, when there is no earnestness in seeking 
 salvation, when there is no wish to be right. In such a man 
 the prayer, if it go forth at all, will be in the direction of 
 life, of prosperity, of deliverance from danger, of restoration 
 from sickness, of escape from worldly calamity or disappoint- 
 ment. The natural mind, if it pray at all, will take no 
 higher flight than the narrow horizon of the present state 
 of things. To ask of God spiritual good, spiritual tokens 
 of fatherly regard, implies that a man has been at least 
 awake to a sense of knowing God and loving God, of being 
 blessed of God, of having security and support in the law 
 of his Creator and Preserver. A man must be in earnest 
 who desires God to assure him and to establish his faith, 
 and therefore the prayer was prompted, no doubt, in the 
 psalmist by earnestness to know the Lord, to seek peace 
 
DIVINE TOKENS FOIl GOOD. 139 
 
 with God, to sustain his Christian conflict, to overcome 
 " the world, the flesh, and the devil " in earnest, to obtain 
 his full stature and measure. If he had been presumptuous 
 and self-righteous ; if he had believed in mere voice and 
 vision, in vain impressions and vague imaginations, to give 
 him assurance again, he would not have thus earnestly cried, 
 " Shew me a token for good." 
 
 We conceive the prayer was prompted by another feeling 
 — a feeling of earnest hope that his labour should not be in 
 vain in the Lord, that He would not fail or flee him, that 
 He would not leave him without succour in the hour of 
 need, without strength in the hour of weakness, without 
 light in the hour of darkness. Where there is no hope, 
 there is no true prayer. When a man purposes and does 
 not hope, he will not be encouraged to act upon his faith. 
 If there be a trembling and following up, it must attract a 
 man's heart to the place from which his hope comes, to 
 the quarter from which he draws his hope ; therefore I 
 cannot conceive that, though the psalmist was in darkness 
 and distress, he was not without hope. He believed that 
 if he waited upon God, God would not ultimately deny a 
 faithful soul; he hoped in his heart, therefore, and he 
 prayed, " Shew me a token for good." And we need it, 
 because I have no doubt the prayer was prompted by the 
 psalmist feeling his hope deferred, and " hope deferred," 
 we know, " maketh the heart sick." It does make a man's 
 knees more feeble if he waits and sees no light, if he draws 
 and finds no strength. If he endeavours and trusts, and 
 his faith seems not to be regarded by his God, then a man 
 is apt to think, Surely I am wrong, or God would not thus 
 keep me waiting, and let " the clouds return after the rain •" 
 surely He would not thus let the day seem to go backward, 
 and the morning thicken with clouds again, and darken my 
 horizon; surely there must be something wrong. Hope 
 
140 DIVINE TOKENS FOR GOOD. 
 
 deferred, therefore, leads the soul to pray, "Shew me a 
 token for good," let me have some evidence and assurance 
 that I am right, though Thou regard me not ; give me some 
 assurance that though I walk in darkness it is not because 
 Thou hast deserted me ; let me feel that thou art shining 
 though still behind a cloud, and that at last Thou wilt 
 assuredly come, and wilt not tarry. " Shew me a token for 
 good." 
 
 Then we may just consider what the prayer implies, what 
 the psalmist meant. I do not conceive he meant, as some 
 men mean, Give me some visible sign, some tangible, 
 sensible token, a whisper even from Thee, to tell me I am 
 accepted. These impulses of enthusiasm have been common 
 in all ages. There seldom has been a time but the super- 
 stitious have been wanting some tangible sign of this kind ; 
 but I do not think anything in the Word of God warrants 
 this, for the evidence is complete : " If they hear not Moses 
 and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one 
 rose from the dead." You generally find the man who is 
 wanting some visible and sensible sign is wanting not to 
 believe at all, but rather to have his unbelief confirmed 
 than his belief strengthened. His " heart is not right with 
 God," he will not believe, and he wants to justify his un- 
 belief by challenging God, and tempting the Most High in 
 asking of Him a sign, when He has given him abundant 
 promises that cannot fail. I do not conceive that the 
 psalmist desired any miraculous interposition, that his 
 enemies should be destroyed suddenly, or that the lightning, 
 or thunder, or a messenger from above should tell him that 
 his name was written in the Lamb's book of life. Assur- 
 ances of this kind are not vouchsafed to us, and it would 
 not be well for us if they were ; therefore the psalmist did 
 not desire such a token as this. The token he desired was that 
 sweet sense of God's favour and love towards him which 
 
DIVINE TOKENS FOR GOOD. 141 
 
 he longed for, and for which he prayed so earnestly in the 
 51st Psalm, "Kestore to me the joy of Thy salvation," 
 where he pleads, " Uphold me with Thy free Spirit f give 
 me a blessed perception of Thy favour towards me \ apply 
 Thy promises to me in such power and conviction, that I 
 shall doubt Thee no more ; give me that inward power and 
 strength, that I may be rooted and grounded in Thy truth, 
 for which I so much long and desire. Therefore our desire 
 should be that God would indeed give us, I will not say a 
 sensible and perceptible token of His favour, but so put 
 forth joy in the soul that we should feel glad; so put forth His 
 power that we should feel enriched in running the way of 
 His commandments, and no longer halt in the way, " faint, 
 yet pursuing;" not cast down and disheartened, but be 
 enabled to rise above the waves and winds, pursuing one 
 pathway, and never swerving to the right or to the left. 
 " Shew me a token for good " in my secret soul, in my 
 emotions with the Holy Spirit, give me much assurance, and 
 holy confidence, and heavenly calmness, and peaceful serenity, 
 that I may " run the way of Thy commandments," that my 
 spiritual and temporal foes may be put to shame, because 
 they see the Lord is on my side, and may know that if they 
 fight against me they will fight against God, and I shall be 
 " more than conqueror," as is beautifully said. " Shew me 
 some token for good ; that they which hate me may see it, 
 and be ashamed : because thou, Lord, hast holpen me, and 
 comforted me." Give to me " beauty for ashes, the oil of 
 joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of 
 heaviness ;" then my spiritual foes, my enemies, will say, 
 This is the Lord's finger, this is His mighty deliverance : 
 He has bound up the broken-hearted, and has set him free to 
 run the way of God's commandments. " Shew me some 
 token for good ; that they winch hate me may see it, and 
 be ashamed." 
 
142 DIVINE TOKENS FOR GOOD. 
 
 Now let us just notice how an answer is very often vouch- 
 safed to such a prayer, how God can give us most easily and 
 evidently such a token for good. He does it in His own 
 time and in his own way. We must not be impatient if 
 God seems to make as if He heard us not. We know that 
 Jesus made as though He heard not the poor suppliant who 
 said, " Lord, help me ;" for He turned aside, and seemed to 
 turn a deaf ear ; and when He did answer, it seemed rather 
 in the way of injury than of blessing ; for he said, "It is 
 not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to 
 dogs;" but the poor woman would take no denial, and 
 borrowed a fresh plea from the very denial of Jesus, and 
 turned it into a prayer, " Truth, Lord : yet the dogs eat of 
 the crumbs which fall from their master's table." She could 
 not and would not be denied, therefore He gave her the 
 token she desired, " woman, great is thy faith : be it unto 
 thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole 
 from that very hour." So we must not be impatient. We 
 know how David himself, though he said, " Shew me some 
 token for good," had to wait for that token. He said, 
 " My soul waiteth for the Lord, more than they that watch 
 for the morning." His soul, therefore, had to wait, and 
 still he says, " In thy word do I hope ;" I am sure the Lord 
 will, must, and does answer, and though I cannot perceive 
 it yet, I shall by and by, when the night will become 
 clearer: then I shall know it is day, when the clouds will 
 break, and the sun shall shine upon me again. 
 
 Yes, God can and does give tokens for good. Let us look 
 at what may be. Suppose a man gets into perplexity and 
 distress of mind, — it may be about his family, or in whatever 
 way it pleases God, — he learns to see his way through these 
 difficulties, he learns to see a blessing, and to make his path 
 plain, he no longer allows it to be hedged about with diffi- 
 culties. Cannot God immediately give him a token for 
 
DIVINE TOKENS FOR GOOD. 143 
 
 good, by shedding such light in his pathway that all is clear ? 
 And even if he has to go in the dark, and feel his way step 
 by step, he is willing to be led on the way without being 
 able to see the end, or even a step before him. And how 
 God can give him a token for good by giving him perfect 
 acquiescence in the state he is placed in, and enabling him 
 to feel that he can walk in the dark as well as in the light ! 
 How easily God can make a difficult way plain ! How easily 
 He can say, " This is the way, walk thou in it," and when 
 His troubled servant would turn to the right hand or to the 
 left, He will keep him straight on in the right path ; he grasps 
 the hope set before him, and knows it is the Saviour who 
 has said, " Thy sins be forgiven thee." He wants at the 
 same time the joy that flows from such assurance. If the 
 voice of Jesus said, " Thy sins be forgiven thee," what 
 liberty would flow ! Could I have that assurance, I would 
 gladly bear all the world, the flesh, and the devil can heap 
 upon me ; let me get a smile from God, and I care not who 
 frowns. Surely God is able by His power to give some 
 such divine demonstration as shall completely take away all 
 doubt and despair and distress ; so that the soul shall spring, 
 as it were, from the dust, and rise with triumph to the 
 skies. " They that wait for the Lord shall mount as do the 
 eagles ; they shall run, and shall not be weary ; they shall 
 walk, and shall not be faint." Therefore God can most 
 easily fulfil the prayer, by giving at once light instead of 
 darkness, by giving joy instead of heaviness. How re- 
 markably it is illustrated and represented in that lovely 
 picture of Bunyan's, where we are shown Christian on his 
 way to the Interpreter's house. When the burden that he 
 has long borne, and of which he is weary, causes him to 
 walk with tottering footsteps, at once, when he comes in 
 sight of the cross, and sees the open sepulchre at the foot 
 of the cross, — to indicate how Christ was raised for our 
 
144 DIVINE TOKENS TOR GOOD. 
 
 justification, having died to pardon our guilt, which no 
 longer rests upon us, — immediately, as we are told in that 
 wonderful parable, the burden, that had so long been 
 clinging to him with a deathly embrace, was loosed from 
 his shoulders, and, falling to the ground, rolled and rolled, 
 and never stopped till it was plunged into the open sepul- 
 chre, and so he felt it no more. What a striking picture of 
 how God can by a single glance at once change a burden 
 into liberty, and give a man holy emotions and delight in 
 God's service he never enjoyed before. " The joy of the 
 Lord is your strength." "When we joy in Him, all nature 
 seems glad ; everything is illuminated in a moment by the 
 light of His face. 
 
 Again, you can conceive the Christian man long strug- 
 gling hard to get rid of bad thoughts, and evil desires, and 
 sinful tempers, and the sudden assaults of the wicked one, 
 and the fiery darts that so much trouble him. He some- 
 times seems so entangled and embarrassed that he sees no 
 way of escape. But how easily God can put the enemy to 
 flight. He can speak the word, and he must depart to his 
 own place. It is not without God that Satan is permitted 
 to tempt us. It is perhaps to lead us to a more earnest 
 desire for the light of God's countenance that Satan is al- 
 lowed to assault us, and in order that his defeat may be the 
 more signal, that the enemy may " be ashamed." We often 
 find that long doubt and difficulty will flee away immedi- 
 ately, and there is a remarkable departure of the enemy 
 from the tempted person through the simple application of 
 a single passage of the Word of God, as when in the case 
 of a tempted and tried servant of God, who had almost 
 given up in despair, at last there came home to him with 
 irresistible force the beautiful language of the prophet, 
 " Eejoice not against me, mine enemy : when I fall, I 
 shall arise ; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a 
 
DIVINE TOKENS FOR GOOD. 145 
 
 light unto me." And so it was; the enemy did depart 
 from him, the light of God shone upon him, all his outward 
 troubles and trials seemed as nothing to him ; even " when 
 I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me." And 
 so we might pursue the various phases and vicissitudes of 
 Christian feeling, we might show you the soldier of the 
 cross in adversity and dismay and difficulty, we might show 
 you how immediately the Lord has power to give him de- 
 liverance. He speaks the word, and he is made whole; 
 He brings him to His truth, and it at once sets him free ; 
 for one touch of divine truth can at once allay the tempta- 
 tion. We know how sometimes God gives it in a different 
 way to what we expect. We want deliverance, and he 
 gives support ; we want light, and He continues darkness, 
 as with the apostle Paul, who was buffeted and tried, who 
 prayed thrice to the Lord that He would deliver him ; but 
 the answer was not deliverance, but more than deliverance, 
 it was a sustaining power : " My strength is made perfect 
 in weakness ;" and therefore he says, " I would glory in my 
 infirmities." Thus can God give an answer — not a sensible, 
 tangible one, by removing the difficulty — but by making it 
 light to bear, and enabling a man to go on his way, as one 
 that is " sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." 
 
 You see, therefore, that this short prayer is a very full 
 one, and a very beautiful one, and we have oftentimes oc- 
 casion to offer it up to God, though we must not go on 
 walking by sensible feelings, and if we have no joy and as- 
 surance, therefore draw back, having "put our hands to 
 the plough." We must not think that it is in vain to wait 
 upon God. To do so is a sad mistake, and would be re- 
 quiring a sign when we ought to be satisfied with the pro- 
 mises and assurances of God. It is allowable, and natural, 
 and right that a man should desire much of holy comfort, 
 and joy, and liberty, and peace; not simply for his own 
 
 10 
 
146 DIVINE TOKENS FOR GOOD. 
 
 comfort — that might be selfish — but for God's glory; not 
 simply to be happy in religion, but more successful in his 
 conflict against the world, the flesh, and the devil, for 
 "the joy of the Lord is your strength," when a man is 
 strong to overcome temptation and sin ; therefore, I do not 
 think the prayer is wrong, or that it is anything but a most 
 natural one, and we cannot help but oftentimes find occasion 
 for it. 
 
 If then you have never desired any token for good, you 
 are not in earnest, because, though we are not to walk by 
 sense, but by faith, at the same time, what is true religion 
 but experimental religion, the religion of the heart ? It is 
 not a mere thing of notions and theories and creeds. A 
 man may have his intellect enlightened, and not have his 
 heart influenced and impressed ; he may have no desire for 
 God, no sorrow for sin, no joy in Christ, no comfort and 
 hope, no fellowship and love, no " bowels of mercy," because 
 his heart is not right with God, because there is no dedica- 
 tion of his heart to the Lord. God says, "My Son, give 
 me thine heart." Light is necessary, but it is not enough. 
 To have the intellect illumined is necessary, but it is not 
 enough, unless it leads to moral feelings and impressions, 
 unless there is a fellowship with the Father and with the 
 Son and with the Spirit. Where there is the inward trial, 
 the inward sorrow, the inward conflict ; there is the inward 
 joy, the inward emancipation, the inward going continually 
 and running in the way of God's commandments; and 
 hence the joy and love and liberty to enrich a man's soul. 
 Therefore do not make light of experimental godliness — 
 sigh after it, pray for it, seek it, and though you may be 
 long before you enjoy it, still hold on and hold out. 
 Though it tarry, wait for it, and at last " it shall come, it 
 shall not tarry." " Now the just shall live by faith ; but 
 if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him/ 
 
DIVINE TOKENS FOR GOOD. 147 
 
 Then I would say to those who are in perplexity and 
 darkness, Do not be impatient, " wait upon the Lord — 
 wait, I say, upon the Lord." Again and again the Psalmist 
 says, " Wait upon the Lord, wait all your appointed time." 
 Perhaps it seems to you that it is put off when you are in a 
 troubled and disturbed state, and that it would be far bet- 
 ter if you had a smooth and steady light; but "judge not 
 the Lord by feeble sense." 
 
 You know not what is best for you. You have under- 
 taken to be in God's hands as a little child in the hands of 
 its father ; and if you have given your hand to God, you 
 must not begin all at once to think, my God and my Lord 
 has forgotten me. You know the people of God murmured 
 of old, as is expressed in Isaiah, and what does God say in 
 reply to them? " What sayest thou, Jacob, and speakest, 
 Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment 
 is passed over from my God ? Hast thou not known ? hast 
 thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the 
 Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is 
 weary?" How beautifully that comes in. Is the mighty 
 God then unable to help thee 1 What is Satan's enmity to 
 thee if God can hold thee up in a moment, and make thee 
 conqueror over all that opposeth thee ? Though the waves 
 pass over you, He can at once say, " Peace, be still." Can 
 He not do it ? Then why does He not do it 1 why does He 
 act mysteriously 1 why are clouds and darkness round about 
 Him 1 Can we search His understanding ? Who art thou, 
 O man, that thou shouldest reply against God 1 As the 
 heavens are higher than the earth, so are God's ways higher 
 than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our 
 thoughts. Then, if it be so, He is not more omnipotent in 
 power than He is omnipotent in wisdom. "Tarry thou 
 the Lord's leisure f this is the way to come off more than 
 conqueror, and "in due time we shall reap if we faint not;" 
 
 10—2 
 
148 DIVINE TOKENS FOR GOOD. 
 
 joy shall arise in darkness; and though we see it not 
 amidst the tares, joy is already in the furrow ; it is there 
 bursting and fructifying, and is only waiting the time of 
 God to break forth in a harvest of gladness and victory. 
 Plead the prayer, and leave the result to God, leave it en- 
 tirely in His own discretion, and remember that there is no 
 searching of His understanding ; then, at last, when joy and 
 peace come, how they will be sweetened by the bitterness 
 through which you have passed, how they will be increased 
 by the very fasting you have undergone ! 
 
 Finally, remember that these tokens for good are only to 
 cheer us through the cloud and conflict till we enter the 
 blessed world where we shall need no more medium of com- 
 munication, no tangible or visible representation of joy, be- 
 cause all will be light, all will be joy, and all will be praise. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 XVII. 
 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 
 
 " Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace : thereby good shall 
 come unto thee." — Job xxii. 21. 
 
 " Some," says St. Paul, in the 15th chapter of the 1st Cor- 
 inthians, " have not the knowledge of God : I speak this 
 to your shame." And what can be more shameful than for 
 the creature not to know his Creator, for a man who lives 
 and moves, and thus has being in that Creator, not to be 
 acquainted with Him to whom he owes everything, who 
 can curse him for ever, or bless him for ever, whose smile is 
 the light of heaven, and whose frown is the darkness of 
 hell 1 Yet how very sad it is to find that there are multi- 
 tudes, even of those called by the Christian name, who have 
 no right knowledge whatever of the God with whom they 
 have to do. They have certain notions of His name, but 
 they have no acquaintance with Him. The solemn advice 
 given to Job by one of his friends may well be given to 
 every one of us, — " Acquaint now thyself with Him," — 
 that is, with God, — " and be at peace : thereby good shall 
 come unto thee." 
 
 You see that we are to become acquainted with God : and 
 you see what was the unspeakable blessing that floived from 
 that source. May His Spirit teach us in His Word, " that 
 we may know Him the true God, and Jesus Christ whom 
 He hath sent," and " whom to know is life eternal." 
 
150 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 
 
 If it were merely " know God," it would not carry with 
 it the intimacy of connexion which the expression employed 
 does carry. Many men do form a certain knowledge of God 
 as far as nature can teach them, and reason can guide them. 
 " The heavens declare the glory of God ; and the firmament 
 showeth His handiwork f they have a voiceless music that 
 tells of the hand that made them. And no doubt there are 
 many who form somewhat of a grand and general concep- 
 tion of God in nature ; they hear His voice in the thunder, 
 they hear His whisper in the breeze, they see His beauty in 
 the blue sky, and His magnificence in the ocean and the 
 landscape. There are men who can think and write some 
 grand things about God and nature, about His attributes, 
 about His omniscience, about eternity, about immutability, 
 and the other conceptions and attributes of God, such as 
 truth, justice, faithfulness, and equity ; but then they are 
 not " acquainted" with God. If you want to think and 
 know about a man, and be acquainted with him, that im- 
 plies personal communion and intercourse, personal know- 
 ledge. It is a far more expressive term than merely to say 
 you know a man, or know about him. To be " acquainted" 
 is to know as a friend one whose communion you have cul- 
 tivated, one with whom you have formed a more intimate 
 personal conception than can be formed by any hearsay or 
 general representation. The " acquaintance" a man wants 
 with God is the acquaintance a child has with its father, as 
 one in whom all hopes rest, in whom all happiness centres, 
 and which is no mere distant, vague, general, undefined, 
 uninfluential speculation or theory, but is a realizing, per- 
 sonal, practical, living, loving union and intercourse. To be 
 " acquainted" thus with God is beyond the power of nature 
 to inform us, it is beyond the page of Providence to disclose 
 to us. All that these tell us of God might do if man was 
 unfallen and innocent, might do for man in Paradise, with 
 
ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 151 
 
 " the candle of the Lord" undimmed within him, and the 
 image of God unblotted in his soul. In that happy state it 
 might suffice, if we were with God, and walking with God, 
 having entrance amidst the fair things that surround Him, 
 partaking of the sweet scenes around, hearkening to the 
 music within and the music without, and having purity 
 abroad and purity at home. But it is not so j and man 
 naturally and instinctively dreads God, and shrinks from 
 Him ; he likes not the thought of the Almighty, and if he 
 dares to speak out from his ungodly heart, he is disposed to 
 adopt the language of the psalmist : " no God for me," — 
 for that is the Hebrew of " the fool hath said in his heart 
 there is no God," — no God for me, let me not be disturbed. 
 Is not that " the carnal mind" that " is enmity against 
 God ?" Is not that " the natural man" that " receiveth 
 not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness 
 unto him, neither can he know them, because they are 
 spiritually discerned T' " Depart from us," they say to the 
 Almighty, " we desire not the knowledge of Thee." There 
 cannot ever be " acquaintance," there cannot ever be com- 
 munion, there cannot ever be anything like intimate inter- 
 course between a being thus debased and depraved, and the 
 holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who is "of purer 
 eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity," 
 who charges His angels with foolishness. How can man be 
 clean or accepted of God 1 It is very clear, then, brethren, 
 if there were no other manifestation than such as nature, 
 and providence, and philosophy can disclose, and define, 
 and elicit, and ascertain, there is naturally no real " ac- 
 quaintance" with the great God. 
 
 But He condescended to come nigh to us, that we might 
 draw nigh to Him; — He condescended to approach us 
 through and by that wondrous plan of intercession and 
 propitiation by His beloved Son, and He hath brought 
 
152 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 
 
 those nigh who were afar off, He hath " broken down the 
 middle wall of partition." He hath made peace by the 
 blood of the cross, bridging over the pass by His own pre- 
 cious blood. It is, therefore, only in Jesus that God can 
 become our Father, that we can become " acquainted" with 
 Him, that we can confide in Him, that we can have com- 
 munion with Him ; it is in Jesus only that God is known 
 and seen in His moral perfections and in His new aspect. 
 As John the Baptist said, "No man hath seen God at any 
 time ; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the 
 Father, He hath declared Him;" and Jesus himself says, 
 
 " No man knoweth the Father, save the Son, and 
 
 he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him f and when He 
 was speaking to His disciples, and they could not fully un- 
 derstand Him, He said, " No man cometh unto the Father, 
 but by me." " Philip saith unto Him, Lord, show us the 
 Father, and it sufhceth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I 
 been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known 
 me, Philip % he that hath seen me hath seen the Father ; 
 and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father ? Believest 
 thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me V 
 " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with 
 God, and the Word was God." " The Word was made 
 flesh, and dwelt amongst us (and we beheld His glory, the 
 glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace 
 and truth." He is "the brightness of His Father's glory, 
 and the express image of His person." A little child that 
 has faith, and is taught by the Spirit of God to know God 
 in Christ, in His word and gospel, knows more of what is 
 beautiful, and grand, and true, and lovely, and great, and 
 good, than Cicero with all his learning, or Socrates with all 
 his philosophy. Men that prate about gods many, and 
 boast and write upon their altars as they of Athens did — 
 "To the unknown God," — they know not God; but you 
 
ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 153 
 
 know Him if yon believe in Him. Where the Spirit is, 
 there is God. ' What ! know ye not that your body is the 
 temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have 
 of God, and ye are not your own ?" Therefore it is only 
 through Christ, by studying His Word, by knowing God as 
 revealed in the economy, and work, and mediation of His 
 dear Son, that any Christian becomes "acquainted" with 
 God. Oh, then it is entire submission and intimate "ac- 
 quaintance" with Him as He is ; not as man is with man, 
 but with one most " just and true," with one who is "of 
 purer eyes than to behold evil," who "will by no means 
 clear the guilty," and will assuredly punish the sinner ; for, 
 " heaven and earth shall pass away, but not one jot or tittle 
 of His law shall pass till all be fulfilled." But, at the same 
 time, He is a Saviour ; while He is just, He is infinite in 
 grace; while fathomless in truth and justice, mercy and 
 truth are combined, peace and righteousness embrace in the 
 work of Jesus; so we know that "through Him we both 
 have access by one Spirit unto the Father," we have en- 
 trance and access to the holiest of all, and now, in Christ 
 Jesus, God is known, He is with them as a Father and 
 Friend, and they can look up to Him and say, "Whom 
 have I in heaven but Thee, and there is none upon earth 
 that I desire beside Thee;" they can say, "Thou, God, 
 art the thing that I long for ;" " My soul, wait thou only 
 upon God ; for my expectation is from Him." Blessed ac- 
 quaintance with God ! And as it is through the Word that 
 the Father is revealed, so it is by the Spirit that He is re- 
 vealed to the heart and soul. " God, who commanded the 
 light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to 
 give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the 
 face of Jesus Christ." He shines into the hearts of those 
 who come to Him by Christ, and they all " with open face 
 beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed 
 
154 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 
 
 into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the 
 Spirit of the Lord." " For no man can say that Jesus is the 
 Lord but by the Holy Ghost." It is the Spirit, therefore, 
 that brings the soul into acquaintance with the Father, 
 through the Son. His beloved disciple says — " That which 
 we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also 
 may have fellowship with us : and truly our fellowship is 
 with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ ;" and Je- 
 sus Himself says, — "This is life eternal, that they might 
 know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom 
 Thou hast sent." 
 
 Then, brethren, how unspeakable are the blessings which 
 flow from this high and holy " acquaintance" with God. 
 Thus, it is said, " Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at 
 peace: thereby good shall come unto thee." These are 
 two short expressions, and no man can comprehend them 
 fully, or exhaust them. First, to be at peace does not mean 
 what so many are chasing and following ; it does not mean 
 the shadow, but the substance; it means abiding peace. 
 " The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, 
 whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, 
 saith my God, to the wicked." There may be insensibility, 
 but callousness is not peace; there may be delusion and 
 self-ignorance, but that is not solid serenity — it is not 
 abiding safety. A man might as well deem his house safe 
 if built on a quagmire, as to build his peace on ignorance. 
 A man may have a kind of peace in forgetfulness ; he may 
 forget what he is, he may forget why he is, he may forget 
 death, he may forget judgment, he may forget hell, he may 
 forget God, he may forget eternity ; he may cast all these 
 out of his mind, as multitudes do. Men often succeed in 
 brutalizing themselves, in sensualizing themselves, in car- 
 nalizing themselves. Alas ! that men should reduce them- 
 selves to brutes, and then call it peace. Peace ! alas, what 
 
ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 155 
 
 peace ! while you are at war with Omnipotence ? what 
 peace ! with guilt behind you and hell before you ? what 
 peace ! when a man has no certainty for an hour, nor for a 
 moment, for the breath that is in him ? what peace ! when 
 he has no certainty where he is to spend his eternity? 
 Can a man be at peace in spite of God I Can a man defy 
 the Almighty and come off conqueror? Therefore, there 
 can be no peace worthy of the name until a man is at peace 
 with God. " Being justified by faith, we have peace with 
 God through our Lord Jesus Christ. " There is therefore 
 now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, 
 who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." And 
 Jesus himself hath said, " Peace I leave with you, My peace 
 I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you." 
 brethren, what a blessing is this — what a seal of pardon 
 is this, " That they might have peace !" Where is there 
 one who does not wish to be at peace ? where is there a 
 man who has not a secret lurking desire for it ? Men will 
 not go the right way to obtain it. They will have peace 
 with the world and the devil, and expect peace with God 
 as well. That will never do. A man must cast down his 
 arms, and capitulate unconditionally with God, and have 
 his heart bound with cords; he must have his iniquity 
 blotted out as a cloud, and then may he look up with full 
 and solemn peace and say, " It is God that justifieth, who 
 is he that condemn eth 1 It is Christ that died, j*ea, rather, 
 that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, 
 who also maketh intercession for us." "I am persuaded, 
 that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, 
 nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor 
 height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to 
 separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus 
 our Lord." Is not this peace? "Acquaint now thyself 
 
156 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 
 
 with Him, and be at peace?" You will never get peace 
 until you thus seek it, and thus find it. 
 
 Then, brethren, it follows — can it be otherwise? — 
 "Thereby good shall come unto thee." It does not say 
 what particular good, but it leaves it open and wide ; just 
 like that glorious promise, " We know that all things work 
 together for good to them that love God ;" and that beau- 
 tiful passage in Isaiah, " How beautiful upon the mountains 
 are the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings, that pub- 
 lishes peace ; that bringeth good tidings of good, that pub- 
 lishes salvation." All in one, for when we have that good, 
 we have all in that good. " He that spared not His own 
 Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not 
 with Him also freely give us all things V If you have that 
 one great pearl, the peace of God, then "all things are 
 yours ; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, 
 or life, or death, or things present, or things to come ; all 
 are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." Oh, 
 brethren, the portion of him who is "acquainted" with 
 God ! He can indeed say, Depart what may, befall what 
 may, strip me as you will, bring me ever so low, make me 
 ever so poor, " Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose 
 mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee. 
 Trust in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is ever- 
 lasting strength." Then, brethren, good must come to him 
 who has God on his side. Acquaintance with God is ac- 
 quaintance with pardon, acquaintance with purity, ac- 
 quaintance with strength, acquaintance with consolation in 
 every trial, acquaintance with light in every darkness, ac- 
 quaintance with hope in every disappointment, acquaintance 
 with riches in poverty, acquaintance with health in sick- 
 ness, acquaintance with life in death, acquaintance with 
 glory in eternity, where there is " fulness of joy," and 
 where there are " pleasures for evermore." " Eye hath not 
 
ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 157 
 
 seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of 
 man, the things which God hath prepared for them that 
 love Him." brethren, is not this good past all concep- 
 tion? is not this good such as becomes an infinite God to 
 give to poor, needy, ruined creatures ? and is He not able 
 to "supply. all your need according to His riches in glory 
 by Christ Jesus?" What is there that God will withhold 
 from you, when He did not withhold His own Son ? 
 
 How beautiful the exhortation then, and how large the 
 promise: "Acquaint now thyself with God, and be at 
 peace : thereby good shall come unto thee." Are there not 
 many who are sensible in their inward minds that they are 
 not "acquainted" with God? Is God supreme in your 
 hearts ? is He indeed enshrined over all in your souls ? is 
 everything subordinated to Him ? do you count all things 
 but dung in comparison with His favour and life-giving- 
 ness ? " Prove yourselves," " examine yourselves." " Know 
 ye not your own selves ?" And, brethren, are there any 
 that do wish to be acquainted with God? Do not seek 
 Him mainly or merely in the pages of philosophy, or in the 
 book of natural religion, in natural philosophy, or in the 
 natural evidences. They are all very well in their places, 
 but a man does not want tapers when the Sun is abroad. 
 Let him go out, and let " the Sun of Eighteousness arise" 
 upon him " with healing in His wings ;" then, indeed, and 
 not until then, will the shadows be chased away, and the 
 light shall shine into his soul. 
 
 Brethren, see to it that you may look in the light of 
 God's countenance as far as you may. Beautiful are the 
 words of the psalmist in the evening service, Blessed is the 
 people, Lord, — the Bible translation is : " Blessed is the 
 people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O 
 Lord, in the light of thy countenance : in thy name shall 
 they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall 
 
158 ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. 
 
 they be exalted." Seek so to rejoice, so to walk, so to be 
 happy. In all tilings that disquiet you, and distract you, 
 and try you, and distress you, look up to Him with simple 
 childlike love, through the light above to the light beyond. 
 The want of this makes so many go mourning all their 
 days. True, God does at times hide the full enjoyment of 
 His favour from His people, and they are led to say as Job 
 did, " Oh that I knew where I might find Him ! that I 
 might come even to His seat !" But still remember He 
 knows our wants, and when He has tried us, we shall come 
 forth as gold purified. Remember that beautiful assurance 
 and promise if you still cling to Him, and turn not back 
 from Him ; if you count nothing to be satisfying to you till 
 He satisfies you — "Who is among you that feareth the 
 Lord, that obeyeth the voice of His servant, that walketh 
 in darkness, and hath no light ? let him trust in the name 
 of the Lord, and stay upon his God." 
 
XVIII. 
 
 THE NOTES AND MAEKS OF TRUE 
 REGENERATION. 
 
 "Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He 
 hath given us of His Spirit." — -1 John iv. 13. 
 
 It was a noble definition of true friendship, which is said to 
 have been given by a classical writer of distinction. He says, 
 " Friendship is one soul in two bodies" — natural inhabitation, 
 as it were ; so that though the persons are twain, the senti- 
 ments, the spirit, the affections, the general tone of thought 
 are one. This is the truest unity. Mere carnal union is a 
 shadow, but spiritual union is the essence. In the Word of 
 God it is revealed to us that there is a union infinitely more 
 grand, and unspeakably more full, than aught that earth 
 alone can furnish. The whole body of Christ's faithful 
 people are again and again represented as manifold in mem- 
 bers, but one in person. This union arises out of their 
 having one spirit actuating and animating them. The union 
 of the many faculties and members in the natural body does 
 not lie so much in the mere fact that they are cemented and 
 banded together by joints and muscles, as that they are 
 pervaded by one actuating spirit : if it leaves the body, the 
 body ceases to live ; but whilst it is in the body, it controls 
 and animates it, and the body lives in virtue of that soul 
 that is in it. What the soul is to the body, that the Holy 
 Ghost is to the soul. A man dies when the spirit leaves the 
 body, and he begins to live when the spirit enters into it 
 
160 THE NOTES AND MARKS OF TRUE REGENERATION. 
 
 anew. All life of a holy kind that the people of God enjoy, 
 whether inhabitant on earth or triumphant in heaven, is 
 due to the blessed Third Person in the Divine nature, which, 
 as on this day,* in the fulness of His revelation and the 
 plenitude of His gifts was poured out and descended upon 
 the waiting Church. It is meet and right that we should 
 seek to keep in special memory that most excellent gift, the 
 best of gifts that the Son hath bestowed, the promise on 
 which He fastened the hopes and hearts of His people, the 
 promise of the presence that was not like His own bodily 
 presence, to be soon withdrawn, but a presence of which 
 He said, " He shall abide with you for ever." The world, 
 indeed, cannot receive Him, because it seeth Him not, neither 
 knoweth Him, for it lacks the spiritual sense by which it 
 can discern and know Him ; but we know that if we dwell 
 in Him, He dwelleth in us. He dwelleth with the Church 
 from the beginning; and now, in a spiritual sort he dwelleth 
 in the Church, or rather in every individual living member 
 of the Church ; He is in the soul, He is the soul of the soul, 
 and from Him " all holy desires, all good counsels, and all 
 just works do proceed." Those young persons who yester- 
 day came up so solemnly and so simply to vouch and set to 
 their seal to stand to their Christian covenant, had this 
 prayer and blessing offered for them, that they might 
 " daily increase in God's Holy Spirit more and more." It 
 is this prayer, beloved, that we would indeed echo for them, 
 for ourselves, for you all. If you have not the Spirit, you 
 are none of Christ's ; but if you have the Spirit, you know 
 with humble confidence that He is in you. It is the special 
 gift of God; and after God's people trust in Jesus, they 
 are sealed with " that Holy Spirit of promise, which is 
 the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the 
 purchased possession." 
 
 * Whitsunday morning, 1SG5. 
 
THE NOTES AND MARKS OF TRUE REGENERATION. 161 
 
 It is, indeed, a question of thrilling interest to every one 
 of us, Are we received into union with God 1 They that are 
 far off from Him shall perish, for distance from Him is hell ; 
 and they shall find it so, sooner or later, if they are not 
 brought nigh through the blood of Christ ; and nearness to 
 Him is thorough union with Him in Christ Jesus. " Our 
 fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ." 
 
 The apostle whom Jesus loved, in his beautiful epistle, most 
 clearly and remarkably sets forth the notes and marks of true 
 regeneration, of a person who is indeed born of God, and 
 adopted into His family, and brought into communion with 
 Him. Amongst these marks, none are more prominent or 
 unequivocal than the one in the passage you have heard : 
 11 Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, 
 because He hath given us of His Spirit." 
 
 We shall dwell very briefly on the glorious fact : He dwells 
 in His people, and His people dwell in Him. Then we shall 
 dwell on the satisfying evidence of the glorious fact : " Hereby 
 know we," " because He hath given us of His Spirit." May 
 that Spirit be given to us in the ministry of His Word, that 
 so we may have it proved that He dwells in us, that it may 
 not be to us " the savour of death unto death," but "the 
 savour of life unto life." 
 
 This beautiful and blessed expression is by many toned 
 down into something very tame and inanimate ; but we have 
 no right to take the Word of God at a lower standard than 
 the Word of God itself interprets it. " Hereby know we that 
 we dwell in Him, and He in us." As I have said, mutual 
 inhabitation and fellowship does not lie so much in mere 
 visible and tangible contact as in community of mind, spirit, 
 and affection. Man, when God made him, was the very image 
 of God, and God was in man. We read that " God breathed 
 into his nostrils the breath of life." What was that life and 
 soul but the inspiration of God ? and, as a consequence, what 
 
 11 
 
162 THE NOTES AND MAKES OF TRUE REGENERATION. 
 
 was the condition of that soul? Man was made "in the 
 image of God, after His likeness ;" and while he retained that 
 image, he remained in that likeness ; there was an immediate 
 connexion and union and communion between him and God, 
 he having God dwelling in him, and having his dwelling with 
 God. Was there not a blessed compact between his little 
 finite spirit and the Infinite Spirit that had called him into 
 being, and stamped him with His own glorious image 1 And 
 how was it that that blessed union ceased ? Our iniquities 
 separated us from God. This is the vital nerve; the union was 
 separated by the transgression of the first Adam, and can only 
 berenewed through "the second Adam, the Lord from heaven." 
 As it is beautifully said, " The first man was made a living 
 soul" — could die ; " the second Adam was made a quicken- 
 ing spirit '" that Jesus gives us. Then we come again to live 
 in God, and God in us ; then we come again to be united to 
 Him, as He himself represents it, as the branch is united to the 
 vine; or, as it is elsewhere represented, as the stone is cemented 
 and tied into the building; or, as is again so beautifully said, 
 as a member that is one in the body. And this is the point 
 in the similitude that is more especially to be noticed, for in 
 vain the body without the life-giving principle that supplies 
 life to the whole. In the body every member, from the least 
 finger to the eye, the ear, and the most important member, is 
 actuated, and kept in life, and controlled, and influenced by 
 the same living principle inhabiting the whole body, knitting 
 it into one. This represents the union of Christ's genuine 
 living people. They abide in Him by a trusting faith, while 
 He abides in them by supplying them with the Spirit of life, 
 and enabling them to live in Him, and walk in Him ; and 
 they have their spiritual being with Him. And this is nothing 
 strange or mysterious ; it is what God led us to expect. His 
 promise is to tins effect : " I will dwell in them, and walk in 
 them." How beautifully full ! how gloriously exalted 1 To 
 
THE NOTES AND MARKS OF TRUE REGENERATION. 1G3 
 
 think of poor worms of the dust, that had made themselves 
 lower than the beasts that perish, being elevated into intimate, 
 indissoluble, everlasting union with the great God ! 
 
 But how shall we know this 1 what evidence of it shall we 
 have 1 Shall we seek for it in dreams, or notions, or impres- 
 sions, as some would have, of presumptuous assurance ; or, 
 as others would have, of confidence in our election and pre- 
 destination 1 Far from it. The evidence is present, personal, 
 clear, and conclusive. We may, indeed, for a time doubt, but 
 we have nob to say, " Who shall ascend into heaven 1 (that 
 is, to bring down Christ from above ;) or, Who shall descend 
 into the deep 1" who shall develop the dark secrets from the 
 depths below % but, as it is said, " The word is nigh thee, 
 even in thy mouth, and in thy heart." The evidence of our 
 regeneration, and adoption, and acceptance, and communion 
 with God, is in our own hearts, the evidence is in our own 
 lives. " Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in 
 us, because He hath given us of His Spirit." The glorious 
 persons of the Godhead in the work of our salvation each dis- 
 charge a separate function, though all are alike combined, 
 and all alike co-operate ; for, as we had it in that scriptural 
 creed, the Athanasian, " there is one person of the Father, 
 and another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost ;" and 
 though these three Persons are so one that we are never to 
 presume to speak of three Gods or three Lords, yet they are 
 so distinct in their special functions in man's salvation, that 
 whilst we regard the Father in the gift of the Son in the 
 glorious scheme of redemption, and ascribe to the Son the 
 glorious fulfilment of the propitiation and atonement in virtue 
 of which we have access to God, and re-admission into fellow- 
 ship with Him, we are to ascribe to the Holy Ghost, the 
 heavenly Teacher and divine Sanctifier, the bringing of us 
 into that blessed life divine which springs from and flows 
 from union with Him ; so that, as the sap is to the tree, as 
 
 11—2 
 
1G4 THE NOTES AND MARKS OF TRUE REGENERATION. 
 
 the living soul is to the body, so is the Sj)irit of God, the gift 
 of the Father, through the mediation, satisfaction, and atone- 
 ment of the Son. He comes to God's people, and abides with 
 them. Where the Spirit is, there the Father is, there the Son 
 is, and there is life. And that life is self-evidencing. Does 
 not a man know that he lives ? has he not the functions of 
 life 1 Can a man's soul truly live, and he have no conscious- 
 ness or sense of it 1 Life, it is true, may be alternating, as a 
 man may be weak or strong. He may sometimes feel faint 
 and prostrate, but still there is evidence of life, and there is 
 always an illimitable distance between a living and a dead 
 man. There is that distance between a dead and a living 
 soul. Are we then to look for that blessed evidence of the 
 Spirit in us by raptures and impressions, as some would do ? 
 or are we to look for it from confidence and assurance, as 
 some boast, while they live in wilful and willing sin 1 God 
 forbid. After all, the evidences of the Spirit's indwelling are 
 to be sought for in the effects of the Spirit on the mind and 
 temper, and life, and conversation. " Whereas I was blind," 
 said the man who had been restored to sight, " now I see." 
 And so may he that has the Spirit say, " I was blind to the 
 things that belong to my peace, I was blind to my own moral 
 state of mind and heart before God, I thought myself good, 
 and safe, and relied upon myself ; but now I have seen things 
 in a different light, my God sought me by His Spirit, He has 
 convinced me and reproved me, and I have seen my guilt as I 
 never saw it before. When the Spirit taught me, then indeed 
 I saw how the candle of the Lord searcheth the deep things 
 of the heart ; then I discovered the depth of my corruptions 
 and imperfections in all I did and ever have done, and it has 
 humbled me in the dust ; and then the blessed Spirit lifted 
 me out of my despair, discovered my sin, and led me to see my 
 Saviour; then it enabled me to rejoice, and I find a joy I never 
 had before, a peace to which I was hitherto a stranger, I feel 
 
THE NOTES AND MARKS OF TRUE REGENERATION. 165 
 
 strengthened also with might in the inner man, I have sub- 
 mitted in all things to the will of God, I have loved Him 
 because He first loved me, and I have walked with Him in 
 holy communion and fellowship. Could I be deceived in 
 that? Far from it. The reality of the change I have humble 
 consciousness of ; I find now that I can restrain my restless 
 tempers, subdue my selfishness, learn to love as I was beloved, 
 I can crucify the world, with the affections and lusts, old 
 things have passed away, and all things have become new, 
 and though I still find the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and 
 the Spirit against the flesh, and that I cannot do the things 
 that I would, still I am not what I was, I am certainly 
 changed, and it is not a mere matter of notion, influence, or 
 sentiment, but it is a spiritual change." " He that believeth 
 in the Son of God hath the witness in himself," and " His 
 Spirit witnesseth with our spirit that we are the sons of 
 God," " and if sons, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs 
 with Christ." 
 
 You see, beloved, it is not a far-fetched, uncertain, unreal 
 presumption or emotion ; or a fantastical enthusiasm, when 
 the humble Christian tries to do the will of God, and to be 
 taught of His Spirit, and to enjoy it in His heart. " Here- 
 by know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because 
 He hath given us of His Spirit." 
 
 How much more might be added. You yourselves, breth- 
 ren, may follow it out in your own secret reflections, and 
 you will find all that is in you that is indeed divine and 
 fit for you, bringing you into sweet communion and recon- 
 ciliation with God in Christ, is evidence of the Spirit dwell- 
 ing in you, and that Spirit dwelling in you is evidence that 
 you dwell in God, and that God dwells in you. That blessed 
 communion to which you are invited does most beautifully 
 express the same sentiment ; it tells you that if ycu receive 
 it with a trusting, obedient heart, then you spiritually eat 
 
16G THE NOTES AND MARKS OF TRUE REGENERATION. 
 
 the flesh and drink the blood of Christ, " we dwell in Him, 
 and He in us." Many of my younger hearers have this 
 morning enjoyed, for the first time, the precious privilege, 
 and many more, I trust, anticipate it in a little while. May 
 you come in this blessed simplicity and in faith that He 
 who has promised His Spirit will fulfill His promise to you. 
 May you come to that holy communion because you are led 
 by the Spirit, and in a deep sense of your own un worthi- 
 ness, but in confidence in Him who has invited you to come 
 and feed upon His own atoning sacrifice. May you be stab- 
 lished, strengthened, settled in the good part ; and may you 
 indeed look continually to the Holy Spirit of God to guide 
 you in every perplexity, to guard you in every danger, to 
 cheer you in every distress, to solace you in every sorrow, 
 to direct you in every step of life, to sanctify and bless all 
 you do and enjoy, and finally, to receive you into the 
 heavenly kingdom. 
 
 Finally, my brethren, may you, all of you, more and more 
 remember it is " the spirit that giveth life," and " the letter 
 that killeth." Mere form, and ceremony, and external out- 
 side godliness profiteth not, it is the spirit alone that 
 profiteth. Let us then look to that spirit in everything — 
 in our services, in our enjoyments, in our duties, and let us 
 be guided by that spirit. " They that are after the Spirit 
 do mind the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally 
 minded is death ; but to be spiritually minded is life and 
 peace." If ye walk after the flesh ye shall die : but if ye 
 through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye 
 shall live," true, imperishable, eternal life. 
 
XIX. 
 THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our 
 learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures 
 might have hope." — Bom. xv. 4. 
 
 The whole Word of God is so woven together, that you must 
 ravel the whole texture if you attempt to draw out any of the 
 golden wefts. You must take it altogether, or reject it al- 
 together. Its fundamental truths are so beautifully inter- 
 woven and inter-dependent, that if you reject one, you will 
 impair — nay, to a certain extent, you will destroy — the whole 
 structure. One of the subtlest tendencies of the present 
 sceptical, while on the other hand superstitious, age is the 
 tendency to disparage, not to say to set aside, the Old Testa- 
 ment Scriptures, as though they belonged to a former age, 
 and had no immediate concern with the present • as though 
 the New Testament were sufficient, and therefore they would 
 supersede it ; as though, because we have the top-stone of 
 revelation, therefore they would set aside the foundation- 
 stone ; as though, because the temple is completed, we needed 
 not the basis on which it stands. It is obvious, therefore, 
 that those who would be found faithful will give special 
 attention to the Old Testament Scriptures, and more espe- 
 cially as the things in the New are reflected clearly in the Old, 
 and are calculated to stablish, strengthen, and settle our faith 
 
168 THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 in the entire structure. The epistle of this morning'" brings 
 before us the testimony of the Old Testament Scriptures in a 
 most striking manner. I therefore gladly avail myself of the 
 text the epistle suggests, to call your attention to the great 
 truth it sets before us. The apostle had been emoting from 
 the Old Testament, — as the Spirit of God often led His 
 witnesses in the New to quote from the Old, Jesus himself 
 setting a clear and full example of thus honouring the whole 
 revelation of God ; — the apostle had been thus quoting from 
 the Old Testament Scriptures, in order to enforce unity, show- 
 ing that, in order to unity, they must practise self-denial, that 
 they must sacrifice their own inclinations and prejudices, in 
 order to gain " unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." 
 The words which he had quoted were in the first instance 
 spoken by David of himself, and secondly — as is frequently 
 the case in the Old Testament — he seems to pass from him- 
 self to his Son and Lord ; so that it is especially of Christ he 
 said, " The reproaches of them that reproached Thee fell on 
 me." The apostle applies the words exclusively to Christ as 
 the star fades when the sun shines ; and he at once follows 
 up this quotation by reminding his hearers that he was not 
 quoting from David and applying it to Christ, but that he 
 was quoting from Christ himself, for the " testimony of Jesus 
 is the spirit of prophecy f and therefore he lays down this 
 fundamental axiom : — " Whatsoever things were written 
 aforetime were written for our learning, that we through 
 patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." 
 
 The words clearly set before us : — The Old Testament Scrip- 
 tures and their general purpose : the special efficacy of the Old 
 Testament Scriptures : and the blessed effects of the Old Testa- 
 ment Scriptures when rightly received and applied. May God, 
 who gave us His Word, give us His Spirit, that we may un- 
 derstand and believe, and follow His Word, for Christ's sake. 
 
 * Second Sunday in Advent, 1S64. 
 
THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 1G9 
 
 The Old Testament Scriptures and their general purpose: 
 " "Whatsoever things were written aforetime." Aforetime is 
 before the writer's time, before Christ came. He did not 
 come till the fulness of time predicted, though not always 
 understood • then " God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, 
 made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, 
 that we might receive the adoption of sons." After that 
 period, all that was predicted was future. God was pleased 
 that the light of life should arise upon this dark world as the 
 light of day : first the faint streak of dawn, then the gradual 
 flush of dawn, then the brightening of dawn, till at last the 
 sun appears and the day has come. It was even thus in the 
 progress of " the day-spring from on high" visiting us, and 
 all hope of Christ's coming was in what was " written afore- 
 time." But as the first flash is as essential to the sun as its 
 full blaze, so the whole of revelation was from Jesus, till He 
 himself became manifest in the flesh. All that was written, 
 then, " aforetime," was written with a view to Christ, and 
 from the Spirit of Christ. How much reason have we to 
 bless God for the written "Word ! If it had been — as some 
 would have had it, and as some still wish to have it — a mere 
 tradition from man, handed down from generation to genera- 
 tion — if God had committed His glorious truth to the mere 
 fragments, the mere planks, of a floating tradition — how it 
 would have been shipwrecked, how it would have been mis- 
 represented and distorted, and handed down with everything 
 of uncertainty and imperfection ! We know that such is the , 
 case in human traditions, and that there is nothing more un- 
 certain and unsafe. Tradition is proverbially a mere floating 
 wreck. But it pleased God, from an early period, to commit 
 His will and wisdom and truth to the ark of a written record. 
 What was spoken He afterwards caused to be written, and it 
 was written according to His own plan and purpose. Not 
 such things, then, as were spoken, but whatsoever things were 
 
170 THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 written. Mark the width and fulness of that. It does not 
 say certain things, such as the commandments, winch were 
 traced with the finger of Deity on the tables on Mount Sinai ; 
 nor does it say such things as were spoken by God, or by the 
 mouths of His prophets ; but God sets upon the entire old 
 Testament Scriptures His endorsement ; and what God has 
 stamped with His mark, let not man despise and disparage. 
 Is not God the best judge of His own mind and will 1 and 
 He says " ichatsoever" — whether of precepts or of prophecies, 
 whether of statements or of ordinances, whether addressed to 
 saints or to sinners, whether for warning or for threatening, 
 whether of hope or exhortation, whether for admonition or 
 for instruction in righteousness — "whatsoever things were 
 written." I pray you, brethren, do not narrow what God has 
 made so wide ; do not select where God has endorsed ; do not 
 separate, as if there were dross with the gold, where God has 
 declared all to be gold. "Wait to see before you dare to judge 
 anything superfluous or unnecessary. There are, no doubt, 
 degrees of importance in the Word of God, as in everything 
 else : but while there are degrees, all is important ; and we 
 have no right to say of the least, any more than we have of the 
 greatest, this is unimportant. And yet men dare to say so ! 
 Whatsoever was written was endorsed by God ; the whole of 
 the Scriptures are the oracles of God, and are binding upon 
 men. "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were 
 written for our learning." Here is the purpose, the drift, the 
 design of the whole. We need to learn, for we know nothing 
 as we ought to know of the things of God, and about our- 
 selves — our destiny, our immortality, our ruin, our redemp- 
 tion, our hope, our life. Oh, what a miserable chaos ! oh, 
 what dark conjectures ! oh, what wretched day-dreams ! oh, 
 what empty notions ! are those of mere human writers, even 
 the wisest and most learned and intelligent of them — Cicero, 
 Socrates, Plato, and Seneca. Read their writings, and you 
 
.THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 171 
 
 will come to the conclusion that "the world by wisdom 
 knew not God," knew not itself, knew not its salvation, knew 
 not its hope, knew not its destiny. Where are they now 1 
 Therefore, brethren, let it not be forgotten that we need to be 
 taught and instructed ; and if God had not condescended to 
 instruct us, the thick darkness neverwould have been broken. 
 There might have been little rays of light, there might have 
 been glow-worms in the night, meteors glancing through the 
 air, but fixed light and certainty none. 
 
 " Written for our learning." It is ours as little children to 
 learn from God ; it ought to be ours to receive his instruc- 
 tion with meekness and pure affection, and to submit our 
 understandings and hearts to the divine teaching. We may 
 learn, and what learning is like it % What are all the teach- 
 ings of philosophy and science, what are all the discoveries, 
 the vain knowledge, and the boasted intellect of men, in com- 
 parison to the wisdom that is vouchsafed to a little child, 
 a little humble Sunday scholar, an aged man, a simple 
 peasant, when taught by the Word of God to know himself, 
 his Maker, his ruin, his salvation, his hope of immortality, 
 how to live, how to die, and how to attain life everlasting ] 
 " The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from 
 evil is understanding." " Where is the wise % Where is the 
 scribe 1 Where is the disputer of this world ^ Hath not 
 God made foolish the wisdom of this world T Hath he not 
 " chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise ; 
 and " the weak things of the world to confound the things 
 which are mighty]" "I thank thee, Father, Lord of 
 heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from 
 the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." 
 " For our learning." We might dwell upon this beautiful 
 point, but our time forbids. Think upon it, and remember, 
 when you take up your Bibles, that you are going to learn. 
 Do not come to judge or to teach, but make up your minds 
 
172 THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 that it is the Word of God ; and having made up your minds, 
 do not come to tread the holy enclosure with a careless, or a 
 cynical, or a critical, or a frivolous step, lest you be struck 
 blind for your presumption ; but " take off your shoes from 
 your feet," and listen to God in the Bible, and hearken to 
 Him as to one who will judge you. 
 
 " Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written 
 for our learning." I must dwell for a moment upon that 
 expression. Not for the learned simply, not for the Jews 
 only, or for Moses, or for the prophets. If so, we might re- 
 gard the Scriptures, as some presumptuously do, as past, and 
 as having done their work. Such objectors say, " Oh, we 
 live in modern, and advanced, and intellectual times ; we live 
 in the meridian of the world ; we do not want to go back to 
 the dim shades, to the alphabet and spelling-book of revela- 
 tion. But it was not simply for their learning in days past, 
 it is for our learning ; and if God has given His word not 
 merely for those to whom it was first addressed, but for all in 
 every age ; then let us not dare to set aside what God has 
 thus endorsed. " Whatsoever things were written aforetime 
 were written for our learning." Here then, brethren, is the 
 general purpose of the Old Testament Scriptures. 
 
 Now we have the special efficacy of the entire Scriptures: 
 " That we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures." 
 Here is their efficacy. They are fitted to supply us, and 
 strengthen us, and cherish us, and nourish us in patience, and 
 in patience by comfort, and thus by patience and comfort 
 they bring us to a high and holy state. We need patience in 
 this dreary world j and if we have not patience, we never 
 shall learn wisdom, for " tribulation worketh patience, and 
 patience experience, and experience hope, that maketh not 
 ashamed." If there be no patience there will be no experi- 
 ence. If a man is ever restless, and continually rising against 
 the hand of God, if he is peevish, and self-willed, and presump- 
 
THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 173 
 
 tuous, he will never learn. You cannot teach a child that is 
 impatient ; and if patient application is essential to human 
 learning, much more essential is it to divine learning. We 
 need this. The apostle says, " We have need of patience ;" 
 and, again, Christ himself said, " In your patience possess 
 ye your souls f and a man cannot he learning experience 
 unless he possess his soul, and he cannot unless he possess 
 it in patience. Patience is the crowning grace j it finishes 
 a man's course when he is patient to the end; therefore we 
 have need of patience, and the Scriptures — the Old as well 
 as the New — are fitted to nourish and cherish patience. Is 
 it not so ? Just read through the Old Testament, and see 
 what beautiful language there is in the Psalms of David, see 
 what precious language there is in the Book of Job. " Ye 
 have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of 
 the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy." 
 And what beautiful representations there are of the blessed 
 Kedeemer as the Lamb of God in the Old Testament, teaching 
 us that if He was so patient, shame upon us if we cannot bear 
 a little ! What beautiful patterns of patience we have in 
 Daniel, in Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, and in the 
 prophets. Ye have heard, brethren, of these examples, which 
 were left for our learning. And then the punishments and 
 judgments, as well as the blessings and promises, of God 
 teach us patience. " These things happened unto them for 
 ensamples : and they are written for our admonition, upon 
 whom the ends of the world are come." Therefore the Old 
 Testament Scriptures, as well as the New, are fitted to cherish 
 patience. I can appeal to many of you if, when you have 
 been cast down and racked with pain, or bereaved of those 
 whom you have beloved, if, when you have been tempted to 
 repine, you have not found the best resource to be in opening 
 the Word of God. Hear what the Lord says :— " Be still, 
 and know that I am God." Here is divine teaching, here is 
 
174 THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 heavenly unction, to calm the troubled waters of your souls, 
 and to refresh them, as with the dews of heaven. God comes 
 down upon us as we read His Word and wait upon Him, and 
 He is according to His promise : "I will be as the dew unto 
 Israel : he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as 
 Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return : 
 they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine ; the scent 
 thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon." 
 
 Then these blessed Scriptures are not only fitted to enlarge 
 our patience, but they do so by increasing our comfort. What 
 words of consolation there are in God's blessed Word ! Take 
 a few. " When thou passest through the waters, I will be 
 with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow 
 thee : when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be 
 burned ; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am 
 the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour." 
 " Fear thou not ; for I am with thee : Be not dismayed; for I 
 am thy God : I will strengthen thee ; yea, I will help thee ; 
 yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteous- 
 ness." " Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should 
 not have compassion on the son of her womb ? Yea, they may 
 forget, yet will I not forget thee." And again, " For the 
 mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed ; but my 
 kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant 
 of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on 
 thee." I well remember hearing these words from the lips of 
 my dear father, in a night of deep agony, and sleeplessness, 
 and anguish, when the whole heart was torn with the deepest 
 sorrow ; and I recollect the comfort they ministered to him 
 when the earth had, as he said, not one ray of light. Dear 
 brethren, you may depend, we only need to cherish these 
 precious grapes to find that they will yield wine that maketh 
 glad the heart of man, making us " as sorrowful, yet always 
 rejoicing." This is the efficacy of God's blessed Word, when 
 
THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 175 
 
 it is applied effectually by His Spirit to the heart in its deep- 
 est conflicts, in its sorest anguish, in its darkest desolation. 
 
 Then we have the blessed result of this divine efficacy : 
 " That we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures 
 might have hope." What a dark world this would be if 
 there were no hope ! How the tides of the ocean would 
 stagnate, and all the lights that glimmer over the wilderness 
 would be quenched ! But hope still remains with many, as 
 our poet says : — 
 
 " Hope the charmer lingers still behind." 
 
 Yes, but earthly hope often lingers to deceive. It is a lie, 
 it passes away, it goes like meteor after meteor, and then is 
 lost ; and if there is no firmer light left, darkness comes upon 
 a man in his old age ; or, if not in lifetime, he discovers it in 
 eternity. What a comfort and joy it is to have the hope of 
 heaven ! not the meteors of the marsh, which expire at the 
 coming of the sun, but the hope that is " the anchor of the 
 soul, sure and steadfast." We cannot have too much hope, if 
 it is a right hope, authenticated by a " love of God shed 
 abroad in our hearts," evidenced by what God says is the 
 evidence of that love. " He that believeth on the Son of 
 God hath the witness in himself." Oh, how a vessel clings 
 to the sheet anchor when all the auxiliary anchors are driven ! 
 and so, when all earthly anchors are driven, and the poor 
 little bark of immortality is trembling beneath the blast and 
 billows of a stormy sea, what a mercy it is to have a sure 
 anchor by which to hold, and to feel this cannot be driven — 
 this can never fail ! Ah, we need, in order to this precious 
 comfort, the whole of the Scriptures of God, to inspire, and 
 sustain, and strengthen our hope. What examples we have 
 of it. Listen to the aged psalmist himself, when his family 
 was not as he could wish it to be ; when he was wrung with 
 domestic affliction, and he wept Math the deepest sorrow, and 
 his heart and flesh failed him ; when all his earthly anchors 
 
17G THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 had drifted : " Although my house be not so with God ; yet 
 he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in 
 all things, and sure : for this is all my salvation, and all my 
 desire, although he make it not to grow." Is not there a 
 blessed confirmation of faith and hope ? Do you not see that 
 there is for the righteous a sure rock in the covenant of 
 grace, through the righteousness of Christ, that never can 
 be broken down, and therefore the anchor that is riveted on 
 it can never give way 1 How much there is in the old Testa- 
 ment Scriptures to assure us that God will not fail His 
 people, showing us that all those who walked by faith, and 
 were taught in faith, though they "received not the pro- 
 mise," they " all died in faith ;" they did not deplore their 
 disappointed hope, their hope did not make them ashamed ; 
 even as Jacob said, " I have waited for thy salvation, O 
 Lord," and so departed in peace. 
 
 I pray you, ponder on this passage in its bearing on the Old 
 Testament in your own experience. "Whatsoever things were 
 writt en aforetime were written for our learning, that we through 
 patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." 
 
 Surely we are taught the lesson, that we ought to prize 
 more and more the revelation of God. If all this is true of 
 the Old Testament Scriptures, it is still more so of the New. 
 We are not to disparage the one ; God forbid : and we are 
 not to neglect the other. What were the Old Testament to 
 us, if the New did not follow ? What were the day-dawn, 
 if the noon did not crown it % What were the promise of 
 day, if the sun did not follow the promise % There is no 
 disparagement of the sun, therefore, in magnifying the 
 morning ; but we magnify it only in order to the noon-day. 
 
 And surely we should learn further, as our collect for the 
 day so beautifully says — and I think it is one of the loveliest 
 of our collects ; and that the collects, epistles, and gospels for 
 Advent, are surpassingly beautiful for the bearing and con- 
 
THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 177 
 
 nexion they have with each other, — to read, mark, learn, and 
 inwardly digest" the Holy Scriptures, " that by patience and 
 comfort of Thy Holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold 
 fast the blessed hope of everlasting life ;" without which man's 
 being is all misery, and chaos, and darkness \ without which it 
 had been better for us if we had never been born, or that we 
 had been born insects to flutter with the breeze, or cattle to 
 graze upon the mountain-side ; rather than rational, intelligent, 
 immortal beings, without hope here or hereafter. Brethren, 
 "read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" God's Holy Scrip- 
 tures. You know there must be digestion in order to 
 nutrition. In vain the appetite if there is no digestion. It 
 is often a sign of disease, and not of health ; for if food is 
 taken, and it is not changed by the process of digestion into 
 aliment, all the functions of life will fail. It will be just 
 so in spiritual life in the new man, the Word must not only be 
 read, but it must be pondered over, and meditated upon, and 
 digested, and this will turn it into food and sustenance for the 
 inner man ; just as it is beautifully said in that holy sacra- 
 ment of which you are about to partake, " Feed upon Him 
 with your hearts, by faith with thanksgiving." There must 
 be the inward feeling in the heart — the digestion, and it is 
 by this digestion only that you can grasp and grapple 
 the heavenly anchor and hold it fast, and so become 
 strengthened day by day. It is by the Spirit of God alone a 
 man is able thus to digest. Yet it is through and by the 
 AVord that God nourishes and cherishes, for in vain the food 
 without the chyle that enables the digestion to take place. 
 A man must take the food into the body if he would digest 
 it, but he must have the soul as well ; he must look for the 
 Spirit, and in seeking for the Spirit he will honour the Bible. 
 We should look therefore for " comfort and patience," not 
 simply by looking to the Spirit of God, but by looking to 
 Him through and by His blessed Word. 
 
 12 
 
XX. 
 VAIN SPECULATION. 
 
 " What is that to thee ? Follow thou me."— St, John xxi. part of 22. 
 
 The scenes and sayings of our beloved Master during the in- 
 terval that elapsed between His resurrection from the sepul- 
 chre and His ascension to glory challenge and reward the 
 minutest attention. They present a new phase of the blessed 
 history of our Lord, a phase which represents Him to us not 
 as altogether yet ascended and glorified, though He said, 
 " Touch me not ; for I am not yet ascended to my Father : 
 but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my 
 Father, and your Father ; and to my God, and your God ;" 
 but yet a phase in which He appeared not so much as " a 
 Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," " enduring the 
 cross and despising the shame," but as a triumphant victor, 
 who had " led captivity captive," and who was at the very 
 vestibule — or, rather, on the first step of the throne on 
 which He now sits as the ruler of the universe. There is, 
 therefore, a certain reserve in His intercourse with His dis- 
 ciples, — not that there was less of tenderness and sympathy, 
 but there was less of humanity, and more of the shrouding 
 of solemn dignity, thus weaning them from walking by 
 sense and sight, and accustoming them to walk by faith in 
 an unseen Saviour, rather than by visible perception of His 
 
VAIN SPECULATION. 179 
 
 bodily presence amongst them ; and leading us too to see 
 that we are not to know Christ "after the flesh," in a 
 carnal and sensible manner, but " after the Spirit," in a 
 vital and believing perception of the Saviour. The lesson 
 this morning brought before us a beautiful picture of 
 Christ's latter intercourse with His followers, and His ten- 
 der sympathy, for He still provided for their bodily wants, 
 and taught them that those wants were not yet beneath 
 His notice, though He was Lord of all. His first miracle 
 at Cana of Galilee, and His last miracle, proclaimed Him to 
 be truly the Son of man, whilst at the same time the Son* 
 of God. His reproof to Peter too, full of tenderness and 
 faithfulness, must have aroused their attention, and it is 
 beautiful to see the modest humility and obedient spirit of 
 the apostle. He had just been restored by His Lord, 
 having showed a prying self-sufficient spirit, but almost im- 
 mediately afterwards he received the reproof, and had the 
 commission renewed to him. He had turned, and seeing 
 John, who was the beloved disciple, he said, " Lord, and 
 what shall this man do f when Jesus had warned him of 
 His own approaching sufferings. To this prying inquiry 
 the Eedeemer gave a gentle and yet seasonable reproof 
 and showed the true way to avoid such temptation. "If I 
 will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee f Is it 
 thy concern or mine % Does it pertain to thee or to me 1 
 "Follow thou me," that is thy business, and that is thy 
 grand duty. I conceive the passage is appropriate to any 
 time, and especially appropriate to a day when so much of 
 vain speculation and presumptuous inquiry is abroad in the 
 professing Church, when men are daring to ask of God 
 what He has not revealed, and when many of them, as we 
 have seen, are smitten with blindness and leprosy. 
 
 The subject then presents these three points : — The spirit 
 checked : — the check to the spirit : — and the antidote prescribed 
 
 12—2 
 
180 VAIN SPECULATION. 
 
 to that spirit. May God, by His Spirit, be amongst us, that 
 we may receive His Word, and that we may lean on it in 
 such wise that we may be " as a child that is weaned from 
 his mother." 
 
 The spirit checked is evidently a spirit of meddling with 
 what does not immediately concern us, or rather, with 
 what we have no right because we have no duty requiring 
 us to meddle, turning our attention to thoughts that do 
 not profit, and exist from idle curiosity and the desire to 
 shelter ourselves from something that we do not quite like. 
 On that account we allow our minds to be diverted from 
 our own proper duty, from our own clear and plain path of 
 obedience, to vain speculations on matters with which we 
 have no immediate concern, and into which, because our 
 Lord has thrown a shield around them, we have no right 
 to pry. Perhaps there is no spirit to which man is more 
 prone than this. One of the main incentives to the original 
 transgression was this spirit of curiosity. What was in 
 the original type, man is still prone to, and there is the 
 same inclination to transgress. It is clear that one main 
 motive on the part of our first mother in violating a plain 
 and solemn command, was presumption. She saw the tree, 
 and fancied that it was good, and she was informed by the 
 tempter, "Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." 
 Now what right had she to wish to know evil 1 She knew 
 good, was not that enough ? Was not ignorance of evil her 
 happiness and her perfection ? Why then should she desire 
 to perceive and know this 1 You will find, if you read the 
 history of the world with care and keep this point before 
 you, that in very many instances we have that spirit and 
 inclination cropping out continually from the corrupt heart 
 of man. Man does not compare spiritual things with spi- 
 ritual, but with carnal ; and by doing so carnalizes them, 
 robs them of their grandeur, and strips them of their dig- 
 
VAIN SPECULATION. 181 
 
 nity. This is the case with the rationalizing philosophers 
 and professors of Christianity, and is the result of pride of 
 understanding, of self-confidence, and of self-sufficiency. 
 The idea of a man being able to master everything within 
 the Almighty range ! After all, man's highest attainment 
 is to know well how narrow is his own range, and to bring 
 his mind down to submission to the oracles of God. If a 
 man does not learn this, with all his learning he has but 
 little hope in the things of God, for he fails to learn the 
 first lesson in the divine school, which is that if he thinks 
 he knows the things of God, he himself knows nothing. 
 The first grand elementary lesson in the school of Christ is, 
 " If any man amongst you seemeth to be wise in this world, 
 let him become a fool, that he may be wise ; for the wis- 
 dom of this world is foolishness with God." "I thank 
 thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou 
 hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast 
 revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it 
 seemed good in thy sight." 
 
 This disposition to pry into what does not belong to us, 
 not only arises from a presumptuous spirit but from a dis- 
 inclination to be taught and to attend to what does belong to 
 us. " They, measuring themselves by themselves, and com- 
 paring themselves among themselves, are not wise." This 
 want of wisdom we find continually in people. Instead of 
 seeking to come up to the right standard themselves they 
 are finding fault with others ; they are perpetually trying 
 to alleviate their own consciences by inquiring about others. 
 For instance, to take one example, many men, 'instead of 
 asking what is the duty of a Christian, and what is his 
 measure of responsibility, and how he will answer at the 
 bar above, begin to ask, " What is to become of the heathen? 
 what is to happen to them 1 what shall they do V " What 
 is that to thee ]" The care of a man, and the attention of 
 
182 VAIN SPECULATION. 
 
 a man, should be concentrated on his own eternal destiny, 
 and he should say, " I must be lost or saved not as a heathen 
 but as a Christian. Each man will be judged according to 
 what he has, and not according to what he has not ; there- 
 fore let me take heed to myself." Besides, we must re- 
 vere the silence not less than the voice of the lively oracles 
 of God ; and that man is flying in the face of the Bible 
 who wants to know what the Bible does not tell him. He 
 should respect the line of demarcation, he should accept 
 what God has given him, and receive it with profound and 
 humble submission. He is not to wish, Oh, if God had 
 given more light, if He had told us this secret and ex- 
 plained that difficulty, if He had removed the darkness and 
 made it light, if He would satisfy us and give us more 
 assurance, then we should believe. "If they hear not 
 Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, 
 though one rose from the dead." A voice heard from the 
 glory above would not bring a man to repentance and sal- 
 vation, who is not brought by the simple testimony and 
 teaching of God's Word. Be assured of it, the fault is not 
 in having too little of the Word, but in not making a right 
 use of the great amount we have. Never let it be forgotten 
 that the horizon must be placed somewhere. Suppose these 
 vain inquirers and presumptuous speculators were to have 
 to arrange where it should be, where would they put it ? 
 Place it farther off, and you have more difficulty, as you 
 have more extent ; just as a man climbing, as I have seen, 
 up the Alps; when he has ascended a little distance he 
 thinks, " what a wide and vast prospect I have, but there 
 are bounds within which the horizon confines the view, I 
 wish it were wider." He still ascends, and the horizon 
 widens ; but he docs not see more plainly, but less plainly. 
 So it is in the horizon of God's heavenly Word ; place it 
 where you will, it is still limited, and I believe that the 
 
VAIN SPECULATION. 183 
 
 revelation of God is limited in heaven. The loftiest arch- 
 angel cannot by searching find out God ; and so reason must 
 "be mixed with faith, and what we see, and seeing cannot 
 believe, here, we should not believe in heaven amidst the 
 blaze and light of the eternal throne. 
 
 And, brethren, the inclination to speculation arises from 
 another point. It is not from presumption only, but from 
 a want of earnestness. If a man is in good earnest, difficult 
 things become plain ; but if a man wants just to get rid of 
 conviction, and to silence his conscience, he cannot do 
 better than inquire how it is such a thing is not made 
 clearer. Until a man is in earnest about his own salva- 
 tion, he will never make progress, he will never be able to 
 get on. 
 
 We have seen the spirit checked, and now we see the 
 check : " What is that to thee ?" Life is far too short, man's 
 power of judging and reflection is far too precious, the des- 
 tinies at stake are far too stupendous, and the interests 
 trembling in the balance of man's life are far too momen- 
 tous, for man to be wasting his time in idle speculation and 
 vain curiosity. " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it 
 with thy might ; for there is no work, nor device, nor know- 
 ledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest." Yet 
 a little while and it will be impossible to speculate, for it 
 will be all real. It will no more be, " What is he to do %" 
 Man will know what has passed that it is gone for ever, and 
 eternity^ that knows no change, will be stretched before 
 him. This thought ought to enforce upon man the solemn 
 admonition, " Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the 
 dead, and Christ shall give thee light." There is, perhaps, 
 no cure that is more effectual to man's vain speculation and 
 imagination than the check, " What is that to thee ¥' If 
 thou didst know it, would it further thy salvation 1 would 
 it help thee in the path of happiness ? would it give thee 
 
184 VAIN SPECULATION. 
 
 more of the peace of God 1 ? A man must bring his desires 
 and inclinations down to the footstool of Jesus, and receive 
 the voice that says, " Be still, and know that I am God." 
 " What I do thou knowest not now ; but thou shalt know 
 hereafter." A man may go on knowing more and more, and 
 not know all ; and it will be so in the ages of eternity. 
 " Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find 
 out the Almighty unto perfection ? It is as high as heaven; 
 what canst thou do ? deeper than hell ; what canst thou 
 know f " What is that to thee V " Secret things belong 
 unto the Lord our God." Beloved, mark the question. 
 What right have we with the property of the Most High ? 
 What right have we to meddle with what He has chosen to 
 keep to Himself? Even the earthly monarch can hardly 
 be insulted more, than by having a subject coming to pry 
 into his secret purposes ; and if a certain shroud curtains 
 the earthly monarch, how much more is it idle and pre- 
 sumptuous of man to rush into the thick darkness that pa- 
 vilions the throne of the Almighty ! " Clouds and dark- 
 ness are round about Him ; righteousness and judgment are 
 the habitation of His throne." "The things which are re- 
 vealed belong unto us and to our children." God has lifted 
 the curtain up in a certain measure, so far as to meet our 
 necessities, not to meet our inclinations ; so far as to satisfy 
 our faith, but not our curiosity. That is a most important 
 line of demarcation. All that a man needs to know for his 
 life's health is contained in God's Word ; and " whatsoever 
 is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby," is of no 
 force for man's condemnation or for his salvation. When 
 you have got all that is in God's Word, you have got all 
 that is good and necessary for you. Here God stops, and 
 here you must stop. You have no right to see even if the 
 curtain were lifted, and much less right to put forth your 
 hand to try to lift the curtain. Is there no need of the 
 
VAIN SPECULATION. 185 
 
 check ? As far as I have had any room for observation and 
 experience in the universities, in our halls of learning and 
 of science, I have found this, that the men who are always 
 starting novelties and running about with strange notions, 
 seeking to originate novel views in the things of God and 
 in theology, are for the most part men of an irregular turn 
 of mind — men who look upon religion more as a science, 
 and as a part of their round of education, than as the 
 awful throne on which is placed their eternal destiny in 
 hell or in heaven. 
 
 The grand antidote for this spirit is supplied by Christ him- 
 self : — " What is that to thee? follow thou me." I remem- 
 ber, when at Oxford, seeing a poor foolish sheep ; the 
 shepherd was in sight with his flock following him at a 
 short distance, and he was leading them in the pathway of 
 safety ; but this one foolish sheep scampered up the sides of 
 the road to graze, and would not follow the shepherd, but 
 would run up and down and crop the grass. By-and-bye, 
 the shepherd got a great distance off, and the rest of the 
 sheep followed him with diligence and with delight; but 
 soon this poor foolish sheep got worried by a dog that took 
 advantage of its defenceless state. This is no inapt figure 
 of us, who are as a fold of sheep that are lost. Christ says, 
 " My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me, and I give 
 them eternal life ;" but the foolish sheep will turn aside out 
 of the right and safe path. Instead of looking at the shep- 
 herd's footsteps honestly and diligently, marking them, and 
 going after them, the stray sheep says, I will graze where I 
 please, I will be no slave, and the consequence will be the 
 same as it was with that poor foolish sheep ; and that case 
 was but a picture and emblem of what such stray Christians 
 will be. I have seen it often with men, and young men 
 especially ; seeking to be wise above what is written, they 
 have sunk into the grossest errors and fallacies. Therefore, 
 
186 VAIN SPECULATION. 
 
 brethren, the great check to man's rambling in his mind, 
 and wanting something strange and novel, and asking 
 about others, and what is to become of them, and how are 
 they to be saved — for, say they, " surely so many can never 
 be lost" — is tins, " What is that to thee 1 follow thou me." 
 This is the voice of Christ to those who are indulging in 
 vain speculations, and wasting their precious time and im- 
 perilling their souls, until they get into an ocean of doubt 
 and difficulty, who, if they had listened to Christ's voice, 
 "Follow me," would have been at the haven of quiet and 
 peace, where they would hear His voice as the dark clouds 
 are driven away, and where we ■ shall see Him, and there 
 will be no more room for doubt. Ah ! brethren, how much 
 there is in a quiet subdued mind ! Christ himself tells us, 
 " Except ye become as little children, ye cannot enter the 
 kingdom of heaven." And the psalmist David takes up 
 this very point so beautifully in that short psalm : " Lord, 
 I am not high-minded : I have no proud looks. I do not 
 exercise myself in great matters : which are too high for 
 me. But I refrain my soul, and keep it low, like as a child 
 that is weaned from his mother. Yea, my soul is even as a 
 weaned child." Ah ! that is true wisdom, that is the height 
 of philosophy and science, for a man to know what he can 
 know, and not what he cannot know, and does not know,, 
 and ought not to know, and what does not concern him. 
 There is no one point on which man needs more to be 
 cautioned than this at the present day, when man wants 
 something novel and strange, and is not content with the 
 old simple faith, scaled with the blood of ten thousand 
 martyrs. If he does not simply follow Christ, he will get 
 more and more perplexed and bewildered. And yet, on 
 the other hand, how clear and how plain it is- if we follow 
 Him ! " Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the 
 Lord." " If any man will do the will of my Father, he 
 
VAIN SPECULATION. 187 
 
 shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God." " I am 
 the light of the world : he that followeth me shall not walk 
 in darkness, but shall have the light of life." If you ear- 
 nestly follow Him, you will have little time and less incli- 
 nation to meddle in matters that do not concern you. Do 
 your duty earnestly ; and the more earnestly you do it, the 
 more will the rough places become plain, the more will the 
 darkness become light, the more will the crooked ways 
 become straight; not by your comprehending them, but 
 by your submitting to the mind and to the teaching of 
 God. 
 
 The whole passage is peculiarly appropriate at this junc- 
 ture. If you want to trifle, and speculate, and waste your 
 time with religion, as if it were a mere thing of this life, 
 you have no hope ; but if you are in good earnest, and feel, 
 " What shall it profit me if I gain the whole world and lose 
 my own soul f How can I meet death and God 1 then 
 there is good hope if you are setting about it in the right 
 way. You are not to ask, " What shall this man do ?" but, 
 " What must / do to be saved ?" 
 
 If you are thus in earnest, you must, as far as you know, 
 do God's will, and He will give you more light. " If ye 
 continue in my Word, then are ye my disciples indeed ; and 
 ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." 
 I have known many who have seemed to be in earnest for 
 a little while. They have set about it to try to seek God ; 
 the young after their confirmation have done so, but by- 
 and-bye they have become faint, and have stumbled over 
 difficulties and darknesses. They have not set to work 
 earnestly and honestly, and did not come with a fixed and 
 a blessed hope. Be assured of it, no Bible, no minister, no 
 man can make all clear and plain ; but the Spirit of God 
 can make all so assured and so satisfying to your minds 
 that you can go on your way without looking to the right 
 
183 VAIN SPECULATION. 
 
 hand or to the left, assured that you shall know all when 
 you reach God in that sky that hath no cloud. 
 
 Then, brethren, one thought more, which surely is a 
 delightful one, and it is this : " Whatever conies to or 
 befalls others, we should do our duty, warning them and 
 teaching them, knowing that " each man shall bear his own 
 burden," and that every one of us shall give an account of 
 himself to God. Therefore, " what is that to thee 1 follow 
 thou me." Seek first thine own salvation, be useful as thou 
 canst, and do not vex thyself or trouble thyself with many 
 things you never can control or comprehend. 
 
XXL 
 THE VISIBLE CHURCH. 
 
 " And, being let go, they went to their own company." — Acts iv. 
 part of 23. 
 
 I HAVE more than once watched with lively interest the 
 bearing and conduct of a flock of sheep. I have seen some 
 of the flock chased by a furious dog, and running far away 
 to escape attack, and separate altogether from the fellowship 
 of their fellows ; and I have marked how, no sooner had they 
 escaped from their foes than with marvellous and prompt in- 
 stinct they were back again and sought the company to which 
 they belonged. There was in the instinct in the animal 
 that which beautifully told them that they were designed 
 by the Creator to be what we style gregarious — that is, 
 they love to be in a flock, and delight in the companionship 
 and unity of those to whom they are allied. Such was the 
 Creator's design in the family that interesting animal, the 
 sheep, is so often employed in the Holy Scriptures to repre- 
 sent to us. How we should be united if we are one in Christ. 
 People give many fine, grand, and imposing descriptions of 
 the visible Church, but, after all, the true secret of the Church 
 of Christ is its fellowship and union that is unseen, and is 
 spiritual, imperishable, and eternal. All else in comparison 
 with this is as the scaffold to the building, as the shell to 
 the kernel, as the body to the soul. When Christ himself 
 
190 THE VISIBLE CHURCH. 
 
 addressed His little Church while He was yet bodily amongst 
 them, what could be more beautiful and simple than the 
 language He used 1 Looking upon them as a little flock in 
 the midst of wolves, as a lily amongst thorns, as a garden in 
 the midst of a wilderness, He said, " Fear not, little flock, for 
 it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." 
 And in the words before us what a beautiful and artless, yet 
 grand and expressive, description we have of the little early 
 persecuted Church of the Eedeemer ! Peter and John had 
 wrought great miracles, and they had been persecuted and 
 had been brought, as their Master had told them to expect, 
 before kings and rulers for His name's sake ; but their time 
 was not yet come, and their adversaries let them go. Then, 
 like part of a flock, when no longer chased by their perse- 
 cutors, they went to their own company ; and that was their 
 Church, that was the little body of the faithful. We have 
 been dwelling upon our mutual relationship and union as a 
 flock, because, remember though there is one great fold, 
 there are many small and separate flocks ; yet all who are 
 truly called to the one flock, God makes them households, 
 like a flock of sheep. Therefore, we must not go on in a kind 
 of vague generality, or like individuals in a special compart- 
 ment in the mansion ; we must not forget that those who 
 are brought together, more especially in the worship of God, 
 should have a special faith, and fellowship, and regard, and 
 care for each other's present and eternal well-being. The 
 passage, therefore, seems specially suitable to us, and I shall 
 detain your meditations on it a little while, looking to the 
 Great Shepherd and bishop of souls to pour out upon us as 
 a flock much of His Holy Spirit, much of His divine and 
 heavenly grace, that we may abide together in holy unity 
 and fellowship, till we are transplanted to the blessed fold 
 above, where there will be union and fellowship that can 
 never be interrupted. 
 
THE VISIBLE CHURCH. 191 
 
 Let us, for a short time, fix your thoughts on this beauti- 
 ful and simple portrait of the Church of Christ — a company of 
 believers — " they went to their own company :" and then 
 let us lead your thoughts to the natural and necessary ten- 
 dency of the hearts of members of a flock to mutual fellowship, 
 and love, and union. 
 
 "Being let go, they went to their company." It is "a 
 company," not a set of detached and separate individuals, 
 having no connexion, no union, no regard for each other. 
 You perceive the difference between a company and a mere 
 scattered crowd. A company means a number of persons, 
 joined together and keeping companionship with one another, 
 having bonds of mutual attraction, and centres of union, and 
 bands of fellowship and regard. Less than this can hardly 
 come up to the spirit and meaning of a company. And how 
 does this company come to be a company % Just as we saw it 
 was the case when Jesus was on earth. Two or three listened 
 to His voice when He called then to follow Him, as He went 
 up and down and called one and another, and those He called 
 obeyed the heavenly calling. They attached themselves to 
 Him as if attracted bya magnet from heaven, they were drawn 
 by His own grace and love. It was so in the case of Matthew 
 the publican, who, when he heard the voice, left all and fol- 
 lowed Him j and by so following Christ as his main object, 
 he joined himself to that little flock that was following Christ, 
 and became united to it, forming one of the company. And ' 
 this company is thus formed because it is separated from the 
 world,not called out of the duties or relationships ornecessary 
 pursuits of the world, for religion was never designed to in- 
 terrupt the ordinary progress of social life, but separated — if 
 separated in Him — in hope and in affection. They that are 
 after the world follow the world and the things of the world, 
 and this world is their lord and their leader : but not so those 
 who have been called out of the world and called into the flock 
 
192 THE VISIBLE CHURCH. 
 
 of Christ j they confess themselves strangers and pilgrims 
 on earth, and look for a city and kingdom to come ; they 
 have therefore before them an object unspeakably higher 
 and holier than any the world can ever give ; and therefore 
 they are a separated people, and, in a certain sense, while 
 in the world, they are not of the world. " Know that the 
 Lord hath set apart him that is godly for Himself." The 
 word sanctified means in the Greek set apart, separated out 
 of the fallen family of man, and brought into the ransomed 
 family of Christ. There was a separation in the profession 
 of the name of Christ in baptism ; those there dedicated 
 have the mark of the flock set upon them ; but they only who 
 are effectually living up to that mark, who are in their hearts 
 and affections and conversation separated from the world as 
 their portion and joy, they only are this little company that 
 has a common centre, and that centre Jesus ; the branches 
 meet in the stem, the flock knows the voice and follows the 
 steps of the same blessed Shepherd that laid down His life 
 for them, and has purchased them to be His chosen flock for 
 ever. All therefore of the company have their eye steadily 
 and habitually turned to the Great Head and Leader, their 
 ears are open to hearken to His voice. My sheep, says He, 
 know my voice, and follow me. As we have seen a flock of 
 sheep in the broad pasture in a setting sun follow the shep- 
 herd, in a long single line indeed, but not to be driven from 
 the well-known familiar sound of the shepherd's voice, they 
 follow after him whithersover he will lead them, and he 
 brings them to the still waters and green pastures, even so 
 all Christ's faithful people have a perception of His voice ; 
 they can tell His " gentlest whisper," whether in providence 
 or grace, whether in chastening or solace, whether in rebuke 
 or in cheering ; and they love the voice, because it is the 
 voice of Him their souls love — love because He has first 
 loved them, and therefore they cannot but love Him. 
 
THE VISIBLE CHURCH. 193 
 
 Then, brethren, this blessed company have all supreme in 
 Him. They have many little companies here below, they 
 go into different pastures and different scenes, but they all 
 form, as He says, " one fold, under one Shepherd." They 
 shall come from the east and from the west, from the north 
 and from the south, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, 
 and Jacob, where the pasturage never fails, and the water 
 never ceases, in the kingdom of their Father. And so, 
 brethren, it is a company, because, however discouraged 
 they may be, they are true to their companionships ; they 
 have common sympathies, common hopes, common joys, 
 common fears, a common Lord and a common fold ; and 
 therefore it is no mere dream of enthusiasm, it is no vague 
 impression, that there is a company of the faithful. There 
 has never been a period in this lost world, but there has 
 been some little flock at least of those that Christ has ran- 
 somed for Himself, and called effectually by His truth and 
 grace, that He is leading to His own prepared place above. 
 
 I can but rest for a few moments upon the nature and 
 tendency of this little flock. "Being let go, they went to 
 their own company." It is not an exclusive or selfish or sordid 
 feeling ; they did not follow their own aim, but they went to 
 their brothers and sisters. This does not narrow a man's 
 heart. Men can love their own families, they have friends 
 and chosen companions of their own, but they have a special 
 love for those of the household of faith, and they ought to 
 have many ties to bind and knit them together. " By this 
 shall all men know," said the Good Shepherd, " that ye are 
 my disciples, if ye have love one to another." And again He 
 says, by the disciple whom He loved specially, " We know 
 that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the 
 brethren." A special endearment and attraction which exists 
 between them when in Christ, is indeed one of the most ap- 
 parent and palpable evidences that they belong to the flock. 
 
 13 
 
194 THE VISIBLE CHURCH. 
 
 We oftentimes find this to be the case in times of darkness 
 and doubt and dread, as an aged Christian who worshipped 
 with us, and long knelt at that holy table, said to me once, 
 when he was in much doubt and dread — " Well, there is one 
 thing at least that I am conscious of, that if I am not all I 
 ought to be to go to heaven, I could not endure the society 
 of hell, of the profane, of the scoffer, of the covetous, of the 
 impure, of the blasphemer, of the proud, of the rebellious 
 against God; how could I bear it? That would be hell 
 enough to me, without any torment besides, for God knows 
 that I wish to be with the purest and the holiest and the 
 best, and therefore I cannot think that He has left me alto- 
 gether without a token that I belong to His little flock." 
 " We know that we have passed from death unto life, because 
 we love the brethren." How natural it is, if a man has been 
 abroad — as we saw it in the son of our beloved queen the 
 other day, when he returned from a distant journey, to whom 
 did he first go 1 whither did he first repair 1 To the mother 
 that gave him birth, to the home that cherished him, to the 
 endearments that surrounded the fireside of that home. It 
 must be so, if a man has any natural feeling. If he has been 
 afar off, or detained from home, the first place he naturally 
 hastens to is his home. " And, being let go, they went to 
 their own company." Ought it not to be so ? And was it 
 not so in this case 1 And when they came together to their 
 own company, what was the result ? They broke out at once 
 with blessing and praising God, who had allowed them to 
 suffer for His sake ; and they were brought to cling closer to- 
 gether, and to feel protection and encouragement in the trial 
 of their faith. They lifted up their voices to God, and they 
 were filled with the Holy Ghost. There was an immediate 
 answer vouchsafed, and they continued together, blessing and 
 praising God ; and so they " went to their own company." 
 If they had gone to the world, if they had fled for safety, they 
 
THE VISIBLE CHURCH. 195 
 
 would have disgraced themselves and dishonoured their 
 Lord ; but they did the right thing, they did not fly to the 
 wilderness, they did not go to the world, they did not seek 
 the arm of the civil power to defend them, but they went " to 
 their own company," and they found sympathy and tender- 
 ness. It ought to be so in our sorrows, our difficulties, and 
 our distresses. We should not go to seek comfort where it 
 cannot be found ; we should seek it first through the Lord, 
 and next through the channels of His ordinances and in the 
 fellowship of His flock, and they will not disappoint our hope. 
 
 What a beautiful simplicity in this description of the 
 Church of Christ ! People talk about going to the middle 
 and dark ages to learn what ought to be the character and 
 the ornaments and the accompaniments of the Church of 
 Christ ; but certainly the best way is to go at once to the 
 fountain-head, where the water gushes forth from a fresh 
 spring. As it passes along the channel, it must mix with the 
 soil in some measure ; but go to the fountain, and you will 
 find what it was in the beginning ; and here you have the 
 simple account, " Being let go, they went to their own com- 
 pany." I do not mean to say that times may not alter and 
 circumstances change \ there may be many changes in the 
 forms and ceremonies of the Church, but, after all, the 
 more she observes the simplicity of the early Church, the 
 more she is constituted in the bonds of the love of Christ. 
 
 Then, in the next place, " follow after things whereby you 
 may edify one another." " Look not every man on his own 
 things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this 
 mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus," the great 
 Shepherd, who left the throne of glory for the manger, the 
 cross, and the sepulchre, to take upon Himself the sins of 
 others. 
 
 Surely there is another thought. If a man is never 
 brought into this company, he cannot belong to it. Christ 
 
 13—2 
 
196 THE VISIBLE CHURCH. 
 
 gave Himself for us. He redeemed us from all iniquity, and 
 purified us even as He is pure. Then tliey that are His 
 people must be purified and separated, and brought into this 
 fellowship. "There are diversities of operations, but the 
 same Spirit f and so some are called in early life, some are 
 called, I believe, from the cradle, some at the font of re- 
 generation in baptism, for we are told, " The promise is to 
 you and to your children," and we there, in baptism, be- 
 hold the outward sign of an inward grace — others are called 
 in after life, some at one time and some at another ; but, 
 sooner or later, every man must be effectually called that 
 shall attain to eternal life. Therefore remember how it is 
 said, "As many as were ordained to eternal life believed;" 
 and again it is said, "There were added to the church daily 
 such as were saved" — the original Greek is " the saved ones." 
 not as many as should be saved, as we translate it, but " the 
 saved ones." Now, brethren, you must be "the saved 
 ones," in order that you may be members of that body. 
 You have all the mark of the Shepherd, and " the founda- 
 tion of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord 
 knoweth them that are His. And, Let every one that nameth 
 the name of Christ depart from iniquity." He that hath 
 both these seals must be a member of this chosen company. 
 Brethren, how ought we to pray more and more to God 
 to increase the number of that holy company, to beautify 
 that company with the beauty of holiness, to increase the 
 work of grace, that so, in the grand and beautiful language 
 of the Book of Solomon, our branch of the Church may be 
 " fair as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners," 
 to the glory of the Great Head, the Shepherd and Bishop 
 of the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
XXII. 
 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SPIRITUAL WORSHIP. 
 
 " For we are the circumcision, which worship Grod in the spirit, and 
 rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." — 
 Phil. iii. 3. 
 
 Man looketh at the outward appearance, but God looketh at 
 the heart. Yet if man could look at the heart, he would 
 judge by the heart, for the outward appearance is but the 
 shadow. It is true, where there is the reality there will be 
 the shadow ; but if there be the shadow and there be not 
 the substance, it is a mockery and a lie. It is, however, 
 because man doth not discern the spirit that man doth not 
 judge according to the spirit. If we had a friend that 
 showed us affection, and could we read his heart and dis- 
 cover there was no truth in the appearance of love, that 
 there was no regard* for us, but rather apathy or evil anti- 
 pathy towards us, should we value the semblance of his 
 friendship, should we regard the outward expression of 
 affection 1 I trow not ! The father wants the inward love 
 of his child, and without that, external regard would be 
 rather an insult, when he sees that the affections of the 
 heart are wanting. The God with whom we have to do in 
 our religion, and in our worship, and in whatever constitutes 
 worship and religion, knows us, He searches us, He tries the 
 reins, and requires truth in the inward parts. How strange 
 that in all ages — strange, were it not for the alienation of 
 
198 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SPIRITUAL WORSHIP. 
 
 the heart from God and its spiritual death — strange it yet 
 must seem that men should continually forget this great 
 principle, and be so prone to substitute the shadow for the 
 substance, the outward observance for the inward spiritual 
 disposition, the attitude, the form, the language, the sem- 
 blance of devotion for the worship of Him who " is a Spirit, 
 and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth." Yet we 
 have only to read the history of the visible Church, we have 
 only to look around at the present day, as men might have 
 done every day since the visible Church had an existence, 
 to see how intense and strong is the tendency in man's 
 nature to keep back from God, and to mock Him with out- 
 ward observances, at what cost will men incur sacrifices and 
 make efforts, and what self-denial will they not practise, if 
 only they may satisfy God by these things external ; but 
 God still reiterates His inalienable right : "My son, give me 
 thine heart." It must require but little reflection for a man 
 to perceive that nothing is more unwise, nothing is more 
 unphilosophical, nothing is more irrational, than to think 
 to substitute the mere external, outward homage for the 
 homage of the heart. He who is a Spirit, who is omniscient, 
 omnipresent, and omnipotent, knows every desire, every 
 thought, every motion, every spring of the complicated 
 mechanism He himself has constructed for His own service. 
 It is no marvel, then, that the great apostle with such 
 earnestness exhorted his children at Philippi against the 
 danger of falling into the snare of those Judaising teachers, 
 who make so much of outward forms and sacrifices that 
 they would supersede the inner and corresponding spirit of 
 the mind. Supposing God were such a one as themselves, 
 He might be imposed upon and contented with this mere 
 bodily and fleshly exercise, but the apostle speaks thus with 
 a holy zeal: "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To 
 write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous." 
 
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SPIRITUAL WORSHIP. 199 
 
 He had to reiterate the same truths — first to speak them, 
 then to write them, and then to preach them, line upon 
 line, and precept upon precept. This was not irksome to 
 him, because it was his duty — " to me indeed is not grievous, 
 but for you it is safe" — to guard them against the various 
 temptations that were around them. " Beware of dogs." 
 These proud Judaising teachers branded the Gentiles as 
 dogs, and Jesus used the current expression when He ad- 
 dressed the woman whose daughter was vexed with a devil: 
 " It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it 
 to dogs;" and she answered with the pathetic plea, "Truth, 
 Lord : yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their 
 master's table." The outside of the cup and platter may be 
 clean and polished, and yet the inward part be full of un- 
 cleanness; therefore "beware of dogs, beware of evil workers," 
 whatever their semblance to outward devotion and confor- 
 mity to ceremony and form, " beware of evil workers, beware 
 of the concision." These men exulted in their circumcision 
 as possessing a claim and privilege beyond the poor Gentiles, 
 who were called uncircumcised dogs, and they were rather 
 like that Pharisee who looked askance upon the poor pub- 
 lican ; and therefore the apostle said, with a severity and 
 irony not common in the New Testament, " Beware of the 
 concision," forming a word just the reverse of circumcision, 
 or cutting off, cutting out ; so that he says with regard to 
 similar false teachers, " They would exclude you, that ye 
 might affect them f beware, then, of the concision, of those 
 that would cut you off from your faith in Christ ; and then 
 come in the words before us, in beautiful connexion. What- 
 ever they pretend to, whether Jew or Gentile, it matters 
 not, " for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any- 
 thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as 
 many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and 
 mercy, and upon the Israel of God ;" " For we are the 
 
200 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SPIRITUAL WORSHIP. 
 
 circumcision" — the true circumcision ; for that is not cir- 
 cumcision which is outward in the flesh, but true circumcision 
 is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter ; and 
 he is not a true Israelite who is merely one in name and 
 inheritance, but he who is one in deed and in truth ; 
 therefore " we are the circumcision, which worship God in the 
 spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the 
 
 These, then, are the three distinguishing characteristics of 
 acceptable and spiritual worship. It cannot but be profitable 
 to dwell upon these characteristics, and ascertain how far 
 through grace they are ours ; and that we should see how 
 important it is that we should possess them, especially when 
 we are about to partake — as many of you have already 
 done — of the holy supper of Christ, which is the most 
 palpable, as well as the most spiritual, of all the ordinances 
 of the Christian Church, for it behoves us to see that our 
 hearts be right with God when we are about to receive the 
 bread and wine which represent " the body and blood of 
 Christ, which are verily and indeed taken and received by 
 the faithful in the Lord's supper." May God by His Spirit 
 teach us, and give us a spiritual appreciation and enjoyment 
 of His truth. 
 
 The first distinctive feature of spiritual and acceptable 
 worship is, that we worship God in the spirit. Man, we at 
 once perceive, is made up of two parts, the body, which is 
 the dwelling-place or tabernacle of the man, and man him- 
 self, the soul — for man is the soul, and the soul is man. 
 What can be clearer to the rational man than that the 
 soul is the thing that constitutes the man? What he thinks 
 and feels, that is the man ; it is not what he does with his 
 body. The act is the outward and visible sign, but it ought 
 to be the outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual 
 feeling, disposition, and state of mind. As far as it is so, it is 
 
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SPIRITUAL WORSHIP. 201 
 
 true and natural; and so far as it is not so, it is untrue and 
 unnatural. Can it be otherwise than that the great God, 
 when we are engaged in prayer and praise, has his attention 
 directed to our hearts, to what is passing within us, and not 
 merely to what is the appearance outwardly? The words of 
 prayer may be, and often are repeated, and the heart be all 
 the while away, the thoughts fixed upon the things of the 
 world, sometimes on wicked things, while the lips are uttering 
 solemn language, or sending up songs with sweet melody. 
 The voice unites in true concord, as far as the noise goes, as 
 it would in a concert-room or at an oratorio, but the mind is 
 engaged on other things. You may go through the whole of 
 our admirable liturgy, which expresses such contrition, such 
 humiliation, such faith, such devotion, such wonderful and 
 beautiful praise ; but is there a correspondence between the 
 outward and the inward praise, or is it merely a using of the 
 language, without the inward humiliation, and deep self- 
 abasement, and fervent intercession, and earnest desire, and 
 deep longing after God, and to see His power and glory ? 
 After all, there may be no thirsting after Him, " as the hart 
 panteth after the water-brooks," yet the language may be 
 all sound and true. But is that spiritual worship ? And as 
 in the sanctuary, so in the closet and in family prayer. Does 
 a man, when he bows the knee in prayer, seek to draw near 
 to God ? Does he try to draw near in spirit and in truth ? 
 Does he stir himself up to lay hold upon the Lord? Is there 
 indeed an exercise of the inner man? " We are the circum- 
 cision, which worship God in the spirit," and that is spiritual 
 for a man to have intercourse with God, to have communion 
 with God, to draw near to God. In order to do this, a man 
 must worship God by the spirit if he worship Him in the 
 spirit. But such is the carnality of our natural mind, so does 
 our heart and soul cling to the dust, so indisposed are we to 
 spiritual exercise, so dead are our spirits within us, even in 
 
202 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SPIRITUAL WORSHIP. 
 
 the best, that it is not earthly fire that can kindle the 
 sacrifice, and make it ascend to heaven ; there must 
 be the heavenly fire provided, and we must look for it 
 coming down from heaven, as the prophet did. It is of no 
 use having the beautiful arrangements of the altar, and the 
 wood, and the victim on the wood, if there be no fire to 
 kindle the sacrifice, if there be no internal spirit, no living 
 fire. "What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I 
 will pray with the understanding also." Eemember, you 
 must look to the Spirit that you may have the spirit. It is 
 only as the Spirit enables you that your praise will be grate- 
 ful, your confession contrite, your adoration elevated, and 
 your intercession fervent. "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth 
 our infirmities : for we know not what we should pray for 
 as we ought ; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us 
 with groanings which cannot be uttered." "We never know 
 what to ask or how to pray until the Spirit teaches us. Come 
 then to the house of God, go into your closets, kneel down 
 there, lift up your ejaculations to God as you are on your 
 way to business; do this in the help of the Spirit of God, 
 and He that heareth prayer will give you the mind and the 
 Spirit. This, then, brethren, is the first primary distinctive 
 feature of spiritual worship : " We worship God in the 
 spirit." 
 
 And the next is like unto it, we rejoice in Christ Jesus. 
 And this, in some sense, must be said to be more discrimi- 
 nating still, because we can conceive a certain earnestness 
 and attentiveness on the part of the heathen in their wor- 
 ship, where they have got a little light, so that sometimes 
 unconsciously the spirit may give the fire, and kindle a very 
 imperfect sacrifice. I have asked the question of many 
 missionaries, if they have ever met with anything of the 
 kind, and in one or two cases they have. It is clear that 
 in those cases a clearer light has been afterwards given, and 
 
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SPIRITUAL WORSHIP. 203 
 
 we are told that the prayers and alms of Cornelius, who was 
 but a proselyte at the gate, went up for a memorial before 
 God. But, however a man may, to a certain extent, wor- 
 ship God in spirit without any clear or distinct knowledge 
 of the way in which the Spirit is to be approached, no man 
 can " rejoice in Christ Jesus" to whom Christ is not revealed ; 
 for " no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the 
 Holy Ghost." Therefore the distinguishing feature of a 
 true Christian is that he calls on the name of the Lord 
 Jesus. " Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord 
 shall be saved." To call upon Jesus is to invoke Him as 
 the incarnate God, to worship Him as our Saviour and 
 Deliverer, who is " exalted to God's right hand to be a 
 Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and 
 forgiveness of sins." To " rejoice in Jesus Christ" is distinct 
 from the false carnal joy of the bigoted Judaising formalist, 
 of the Pharisee, who rejoiced in his own works ; for forms 
 and ceremonies are of no avail, because of the imperfection 
 with which we do them, and are not to be a ground of trust 
 and confidence. If any man had a right to think he had 
 much to trust in, surely it was St. Paul. He was " circum- 
 cised the eighth day," and was brought up a strict and rigid 
 Jew ; but what things were gain to him he counted loss 
 when he saw Christ his righteousness, and found that all 
 must be built on Him, and cill built to Him — not that we 
 may merit Christ, but we come to Him through His merit. 
 Then, indeed, he said, " God forbid that I should glory"— 
 rejoice, boast myself, be exalted — " save in the cross of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, 
 and I unto the world." " What things were gain to me, 
 those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count 
 all tilings 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 
 
204: THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SPIRITUAL WORSHIP. 
 
 Christ, and be found in him." This, therefore, is to " rejoice 
 in Christ Jesus," when He is a man's hope and comfort and 
 joy for time and for eternity — in all his services, in all his 
 various trials, in all his joys, in all his sorrows, in sickness, 
 and in death. All his joy comes from that fathomless 
 fountain of God's grace, through Christ's atonement, and it 
 is the one source of all his consolation, all his hope, and all 
 his thankfulness. And Christian men ought to rejoice, 
 they ought always to rejoice, but always in the Lord. 
 " Rejoice in the Lord always : and again I say, Eejoice." 
 Yea, though I should be left desolate, " yet I will rejoice in 
 the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." One who, 
 if any, should have been expected to have confidence in the 
 flesh, said, " My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit 
 hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." Therefore, brethren, 
 whatever the outward signs of devotion, whatever the out- 
 ward character and conduct, still the name of the Lord 
 Jesus is the one ground of our glory and our joy. " We 
 rejoice in Christ Jesus our Lord." 
 
 Then the crowning characteristic of all. All before has 
 been a negative, as it were, a shadow, but this is the sub- 
 stance : — " We worship God in the spirit, and have no confi- 
 dence in the flesh." If a man worship God in the spirit, he 
 -will have no confidence in the flesh. The word " flesh," in 
 the ordinary sense, admits of a natural and carnal significa- 
 tion ; but the word flesh is used in the "Word of God, and 
 St. Paul uses it here, in contradistinction to the spirit. It 
 means, therefore, outward bodily exercises — things that are 
 merely secondary, and may be subservient means of grace, 
 such as churches, ministers, services, all ornamentations, the 
 various ceremonies of any one church ; all these things may 
 be good servants of the spirit, but they are not to be sub- 
 stituted for the spirit, they are not to be regarded as part 
 of the spirit ; they are of the flesh, the body without the 
 
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SPIRITUAL WORSHIP. 205 
 
 soul, the altar without the fire, the shadow without the 
 substance, and, therefore, he says, " have no confidence in 
 the flesh." Therefore our hope towards God is not built on 
 anything we have done or can do ; it is not built upon any- 
 thing, however fitting and proper, and even ordained of 
 God, as far as outward good goes; neither fasting, nor 
 prayer, nor hearing the Word, nor alms-giving, nor even 
 obedience itself, is confidence to us. We thank God for 
 them, and we know these things follow in their place ; but 
 we do not substitute any of them, or all of them, for Christ, 
 or unite them with Him, as being our ground of confidence 
 towards God ; " we rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no 
 confidence in the flesh." We have no hope because of our 
 good doings, because of our devotions, or because of any- 
 thing else merely external ; our hope hangs on Christ alone, 
 we glory in Him, and in Him only. " Other foundation 
 can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 
 
 Now, beloved brethren, what can be more clear or plain 
 than this 1 One marvels that men, who make much of forms 
 and ceremonies, and external observances, and pride them- 
 selves upon them — one marvels that their reason and com- 
 mon sense does not assent to all this. It is truth manifest, 
 it is truth obvious, it is truth no man can calmly and coolly 
 deny, because it is to deny his own sense and reason. Ah ! 
 men will and may deny it in their conduct. What a man 
 wants, unrenewed, is a religion that will satisfy the con- 
 science and the soul, and take away the fear and dread of 
 death and eternity ; and yet, at the same time, not demand 
 of him that spiritual heart, that sacrifice, that spiritual sub- 
 mission to God, that life in the soul which man shrinks 
 from and dislikes. You may be assured of it, therefore, 
 that all men who have any sense of religion, and yet do not 
 give the heart to God, will verge into one of these two 
 extremes — latitudinarianism, on the one hand, so as to 
 
20G THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SPIRITUAL WORSHIP. 
 
 explain and rationalise away all that is distinctive and vital 
 in godliness, or, on the other hand, content themselves with 
 doing certain things, with performing certain services, and 
 then think to make their peace with God, or, at all events, 
 to make up what Christ has left for them to do. Therefore 
 beware of the snare on the right hand and on the left hand. 
 On the one hand, do not explain away vital truth, nor, on 
 the other hand, make up for the want of it with hay, stubble, 
 and outward observances. Be in earnest in all the duties 
 of religion, as if you had to save yourselves, just because 
 you are saved in order to these things — not on account of 
 them, but in order to them. Everything in its proper place, 
 the root downward, and the fruit upward, the foundation 
 under the building, and not upon the building. Build in 
 order to perfection, and be trees of righteousness, in accord- 
 ance with the Lord's planting, and ye shall never be rooted 
 up. Then, however sometimes it may be objected to you 
 that you make so much of the spirit, you may answer with- 
 out pride or presumption, " We are the circumcision, which 
 worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and 
 have no confidence in the flesh." 
 
xxur. 
 
 GOD'S BLESSING WITH EICHES. 
 
 * : The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and lie addeth no sorrow 
 with it."— Peov. x. 22. 
 
 Few things on the face of society are more fitting to strike a 
 man than the mighty power which that thing we style money 
 exercises on the human mind. In civilised society, it may 
 be said to be the mainspring of universal activity, effort and 
 desire. The mass of mankind, and especially in this com- 
 mercial and manufacturing land, and not less in this day of 
 high-pressure in competition and trade, seem to live for this 
 one object. There are many other things by the way that 
 they may regard, but the supreme thing is the attainment of 
 wealth, or the increase of it, if they have already attained it 
 in large proportion. The appetite grows on that which it feeds 
 upon ; like a man with the dropsy, the more he drinks, the 
 more it deepens his thirst. Yet men, if they reflect a little, 
 must come to the conclusion that as a supreme object it is a 
 very poor one. No doubt it can procure comforts and con- 
 veniencies, it can procure many things that naturally we 
 desire, it can gratify and pamper " the lust of the flesh, the 
 lust of the eye, and the pride of life;" but, after all, when all 
 is gained, what is gained 1 Man goes to his grave, he has a 
 
208 god's blessing with riches. 
 
 more pompous funeral perhaps, he has perhaps the richer 
 trumpery of woe; but it is mockery, the man has gone, naked 
 as he came from his mother's womb, into the presence of his 
 Maker and his judge. There it will not be asked what a man 
 died worth, in the popular sense in which the miserable lan- 
 guage is used by mankind ; but what will he be worth when 
 weighed in the balances of eternal deserts? what will he 
 answer when summoned before the bar of eternal justice ? 
 what will he have for his fortune for eternity ? what is his 
 wealth to last for ever? There is, nevertheless, a use of 
 wealth as well as an abuse of it ; there is a legitimate desire 
 to attain it, but a very subordinate one it should be. The 
 words before us seem to present us with both these views, at 
 all times appropriate, and especially so at the present day, 
 when trade seems to be almost running loose from the bounds 
 of restraint. The wise man, speaking as directed by the 
 Spirit of God, uttered this memorable aphorism ; and it has 
 often struck my mind, though I have not taken it for our 
 subject of discourse before : " the blessing of the Lord, it 
 maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it." 
 
 A man rich without riches : and A man having riches, and 
 not having sorrow and remorse and grief with them. These are 
 the two points presented by the words, and though at first 
 sight it looks as if it had but one point, we shall find that, 
 like the double cord, you can easily untwist it, and it pre- 
 sents these two subjects : — The blessing of the Lord, that, 
 if man has nothing more, makes him rich ; and, in the next 
 place, the blessing of the Lord sometimes makes His children 
 rich, and then adds no sorrow with those riches. May His 
 Spirit direct us and lead us to view these things in the light 
 of eternity, and with the eye of faith, and not in the mist 
 of the false atmosphere the world throws around us, and 
 which often suffuses even the servants of God. 
 
 The blessing of the Lord maketh a man rich, though he may 
 
god's blessing with riches. 209 
 
 "be externally, and as it regards this present life, a very poor 
 man. That is the first point, and it is one of very deep im- 
 portance and interest. The mass of mankind will be poor 
 for ever. Ever since mankind have been upon this earth a 
 fallen race, the wealthy have been the exception and the poor 
 the rule, and we are told " the poor shall never cease out of 
 the land •" still, I think the word poor is often misapplied. 
 No man is poor that gets the honest bread of industry, suf- 
 ficient, wholesome, and good. If a man has sufficient food 
 and raiment for himself and his family, it is wrong to style 
 him a poor man. In the true sense of the word, he is not 
 poor, he has enough, and having enough he may be said to 
 have so far sufficient. If he has contentment with it, it will 
 suffice, and nothing will be sufficient for a discontented man. 
 Very little will content a meek, humble-minded man, and the 
 blessing of the Lord maketh that man rich, though he has not 
 what the world would call riches. After all, what is the 
 purpose of wealth ? What will it do for a man at the best, 
 but give him enjoyment, and position, and quietness, and 
 rest, and add to his comfort and happiness ; but it can do 
 no more. It cannot bribe pain, it cannot stop sickness, it 
 cannot stay death for one moment. In men's agony and 
 distress it is very little it can often do f in cases of remorse, 
 distress, despair, and disquiet of the mind, it is as a breath 
 upon the troubled ocean to make it calm. There is no power 
 in a man's wealth to keep his mind in quietness and peace, 
 but there is that which can do it without wealth, and that is 
 true riches. "Godliness with contentment is great gain. 
 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we 
 can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment, let us 
 be therewith content." Let a man have godliness, and the 
 blessing, and presence, and peace of God, and it is great gain. 
 God never says that of wealth, but, on the contrary, He calls 
 it filthy lucre, and He calls the love of it idolatry, He brands 
 
 14 
 
210 god's blessing with riches. 
 
 the man who sets it before him as his main object as an 
 idolater, and few things are more detestable, few things are 
 more degrading, few things are more contemptible than 
 idolatry. He does not say so with regard to those who have 
 the blessing of G od, but, on the contrary, He says, " All things 
 are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, 
 or life, or death, .... all are yours, and ye are Christ's ;" 
 and the reconciled believer can say of His Father in heaven 
 through his Eedeemer, " The Lord is my portion," choose ye 
 what you will ; boast as you will' of what you have made, of 
 your riches, of your attainments, of fame, of renown, of dis- 
 tinction, " the Lord is my portion, therefore will I trust in 
 Him." " One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I 
 seek after." " Seek first the kingdom of God and His right- 
 eousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Now 
 if a man has the blessing of God, then in his cottage, though 
 it be not a mansion, or his hard bed, though it be not a downy 
 one, in his daily toil, though he has no equipage to convey 
 him to and fro, if a man has the blessing of God, he is not a 
 poor man. He may have the simplest fare, and yet not be 
 poor ; as a poor woman said to one who visited her, and 
 marvelled at the thankfulness and joy with which she blessed 
 God for her scanty 'meal — she showed the remnants of a 
 barley loaf and said, " This is my fare." " Coarse hard fare," 
 said he. Said she, "I have enjoyed my crust with my 
 Saviour, and my Saviour with my crust ; is not that rich 
 living ?" And was it not so 1 Do you not think that such 
 a soul was happier ten thousand times than many who are 
 " clothed in purple and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every 
 day V So that even apart from eternity, the blessing of the 
 Lord maketh rich, for He gives a man what riches cannot 
 give, He gives him more than riches can give, a peaceable, 
 quiet, contented, submissive, patient mind. Then how sweet 
 to feel, too, that that portion, which is the portion of the 
 
god's blessing with riches. 211 
 
 Lord, is not at the mercy of fires, or storms, or bankruptcy, 
 or bad debts, or cheating, or roguery, or change of circum- 
 stances, or revolutions of nations, or wars, or peace, or 
 national engagements of any kind, but that it stands inde- 
 pendent ; it is above, and therefore cannot be reached, or 
 overtaken, or moved. Therefore, my dear brethren, as there 
 are many of you who never will be rich, do not hanker 
 after it, do not long for it, do not be restless about it, do not 
 torment yourselves, for you will never reach it, and if you 
 did, you would not be one whit better than you are. Be as- 
 sured of this, though people won't believe it until they have 
 tried it, you may go on and go on as the drunken man does, 
 reeling to the brink of the precipice, and never believing 
 that he is in danger till he falls down and is crushed. 
 "The blessing of the Lord maketh rich." Give me thy 
 peace, and then though I have but little I have much, and 
 I am satisfied. Thy will be done. 
 
 And, brethren, the more we meditate on the proverb, the 
 more we see that it has, to a certain extent, the converse 
 bearing upon which we intend the more largely to dwell. 
 The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and then when it 
 is so, He addeth no sorrow. 
 
 Here are riches obtained with the blessinsr of the Lord : — 
 
 o 
 
 here are riches got, and He does not add sorrow with them. 
 There are very many men who seem to leave God alto- 
 gether out of business. They think that to be reminded of 
 Him, and to look to Him in their business, is enthusiasm 
 and fanaticism, if not weakness. They think the man never 
 succeeds who is so weak as to look to God in the temples of 
 trade, upon the exchange, and in the counting-house. That 
 noble man, the late Prince Consort, — whom we trust and be- 
 lieve feared God, — selected for the motto for the great Lon- 
 don Exchange, "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness 
 thereof." All it contains, all its good gifts ; and, therefore, 
 
 U— 2 
 
212 GODS BLESSING WITH RICHES. 
 
 if all, then God is over all and in all. There are, however, 
 many instances in which men cannot but see that the Lord 
 has to do with the things of this world : famine, pestilence, 
 inaction, loss of trade, war ; these things do not come with- 
 out God ; and it is seen more perhaps in a commercial land, 
 in the dislocation of commerce, than in an agricultural land, 
 where it does not seem as if God were so much to be looked 
 to. Yet the clouds and the sunshine are His. " He maketh 
 His sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and sendeth 
 rain on the just and on the unjust." We have instances of 
 agricultural countries where great distress has prevailed, and 
 the labours and efforts of men have proved abortive. And 
 why ? They did not look higher than the earth, they did not 
 look to Him who sitteth above the heavens, who says, " Ye 
 looked for much, and, lo, it came to little ; and when ye 
 brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why 1 saith the Lord 
 of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run 
 every man into his own house. Therefore the heaven over 
 you is stayed from dew, and the eartli is stayed from her fruit. 
 And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the moun- 
 tains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon 
 the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and 
 upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the 
 hands." " Prove me now herewith," saith the Lord afterwards, 
 " if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you 
 out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive 
 it." There is the curse of the Lord, making poor in the face 
 of all the efforts of industry and diligence ; and there is the 
 blessing of the Lord, making rich as soon as God is sought 
 first in His kingdom and righteousness. Then, all things are 
 added. The blessing of the Lord, that maketh rich, if a man 
 seeks it humbly, and does as God would have him, and as God 
 intends him. That is God making rich. I have seen families 
 that did not fear God, and had no regard for Him, all confu- 
 
god's blessing with riches. 213 
 
 sion and disorder ; the father a drunkard, the mother slat- 
 ternly and unthrifty, the children all rebellious and turning 
 out against their parents ; I have seen grace enter the family, 
 and the father has become sober and diligent, the wife thrifty 
 and faithful, the children obedient and orderly, for theblessing 
 of God has been there. I have seen it produce temporal pros- 
 perity, and the man has become rich in the truest sense of the 
 word ; comfort has taken the place of disorder and trouble ; 
 kindness, affection, and mutual co-operation have taken the 
 place of chaos and dislocation, and the man has become com- 
 paratively prosperous and rich. When we see such a man 
 fearing God, prosperous, and becoming one of the princes of 
 society, not merely in wealth but in other things ; when he is 
 faithful in small things as in large, making a liberal use of 
 his wealth, we see that to be rich in heart is better than to be 
 rich in pocket, and poor and miserable in spirit ; so that you 
 see the blessing of the Lord often manifestly conduces to a 
 man's own faith in God, though, as we have heard this morn- 
 ing, " if riches increase, set not your heart upon them." He 
 that knows the heart gives us that caution. When riches 
 increase tliey are more apt to become a snare than when a 
 man is poor, for when a man is comparatively poor, he says, 
 " I have very little to care much about." Increase of wealth 
 is unlike other habits, such as indulgence at the table and in 
 wine ; they leave a man as he gets old, but covetousness 
 grows upon a man ; as Christ in the parable tells us when 
 He says, the lust of riches cropping up, " chokes the word, 
 and he becometh unfruitful." So that you see the possession 
 of the blessing of the Lord puts man into temptation to a 
 certain extent, and thus God will try him as He did Job. 
 
 But, brethren, the great thing is this — the grand result of 
 it. The blessing of the Lord maketh men rich, and adds no 
 sorrow. That is saying a great deal. I have known many 
 men in my time comparatively happy when in possession of a 
 
214 god's blessing with riches. 
 
 small competency, what the world would not call wealth; and 
 when they have become rich, I have known them to become 
 unhappy, just in proportion as they have become rich. I 
 have known a man's mind so set on the world, that instead of 
 feeling more content and satisfied, he has craved, and craved, 
 and craved for more, and feared losing what he had got ; he 
 has felt uncertainty hovering over him, and the man was 
 literally a richer man when poor than when rich. "Why was 
 that ? Because riches were sought as an end, and not as a 
 means; because the man had determined to become rich come 
 what would. " Kich I must be, come what will," was what he 
 said, when he should have said, " Saved I must be, come 
 what will." If a man does so become rich he has his portion, 
 " he has his reward ;" he turns his back on God, and will not 
 God be just and turn His back on him ? Be assured of this, a 
 man has only the blessing of God in getting riches, when 
 God is above the riches in his mind. "They that will be 
 rich" — the Greek is, that set their hearts upon it, " fall into 
 temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful 
 lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." As a 
 heathen poet, writing of the Eomans, said, " Money, money, 
 honestly if you can ; but at any rate, money." Is it not so ? 
 Look about you, money at any rate. Then, when it is so, is 
 not money -making supreme ? That which a man loves most, 
 that which he fears most, that which he thinks most of in his 
 heart at night, in the morning, in the counting-house, at the 
 church, or the Exchange, is not that his god 1 Then is it not 
 clear that such a man cannot get rich with God's blessing ? 
 And it is " the recompense of their reward." Christ says, let 
 them have it, "they have their reward." And then, brethren, 
 alas ! how often is God left out altogether in partnerships, in 
 schemes of business, in purposes for which men enter into 
 certain schemes ! Should not men pray for God's guidance 
 and blessing, and look for it in such things % In his con- 
 
GOD'S blessing with riches. 215 
 
 science a man knows that it should be so, and then it is only 
 that he has a right to expect the blessing of God upon what 
 he does. You see continually men conducting certain business 
 as a company, — the names are not mentioned, — and the com- 
 pany is, after all, but a shelter for what is done. Men allow 
 to be done in a company what they would never permit in 
 their individual capacity, as if they could be like a man lost 
 in a crowd. Ah ! dear brethren, it is the grand thing to 
 acknowledge the Lord in business, whatever it be, in com- 
 panies, or in partnership undertakings. If you cannot ask the 
 blessing of God honestly and conscientiously in any step in 
 business, give it up altogether. Only let the helm be set 
 aright to the needle, guided by the compass and the chart of 
 inspiration, and a man won't be far wrong; even his mistakes 
 will be forgiven, because they are done from error of judgment. 
 Thus the blessing of God will be in his prosperity, for he 
 giveth wealth and no sorrow with it. Oh, what sorrows are 
 often added with wealth ; how some who are revelling in 
 wealth have remorse and disquietude of mind ! What a 
 different thing to have wealth and no sorrow with it ; what a 
 different thing for a man to be able to look back and say, " I 
 have served God honestly, and I look for the mercy of His 
 dear Son, who knows that herein I have exercised myself to 
 have always a conscience void of offence toward God and 
 toward men; therefore, this is my rejoicing and the testimony 
 of my conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not 
 with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, I have had my 
 conversation in the world ; and if I have got riches, it has not 
 been by cheating others, it has not been by taking advantage 
 of others, it has not been by making articles look shining that 
 would not bear inspection, and that I should be afraid and 
 ashamed to tell men all about." In the present day, men in 
 the pressure of trade think it fair to take advantage of dis- 
 honest manoeuvres, as if anything would justify them in doing 
 
216 god's blessing with riches. 
 
 wrong ! The blessing of the Lord, that maketh rich — and 
 other riches a man should never desire or wish to have — 
 and He addeth no sorrow with it. Remember the sorrow 
 that will at last befall the man that hath not the blessing of 
 God upon him j remember the poor wretched man who lifted 
 up his eyes in hell, being in torment ; he was reminded, 
 "Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime received thy good 
 things, and likewise Lazarus evil things ;" thou madest 
 choice of thy portion, and thou hadst it, and " now he is 
 comforted, and thou are tormented." 
 
 Ah ! dear brethren, the subject you see is one of a very 
 practical and a very searching nature. The man who wishes 
 to be honest to himself and to his God should search himself, 
 and examine himself; for certainly in a mercantile com- 
 munity like this the snares of wealth are the snares that 
 most beset us, and therefore the snares of all others that 
 men should be guarded against, that men should watch 
 against. And therefore, with all affection and faithfulness, 
 I speak plainly to you, as I would desire to be spoken to 
 myself if I were in the midst of prosperous trade. 
 
 Do not let the poor man say, this is a sermon for the rich ; 
 do not let them say, " Oh, that is true of many men who 
 oppress the poor hireling in his wages." You will never get 
 any good by speaking thus of others, you must think of your- 
 selves. There are men as much bent on getting rich who 
 have not £5 beforehand, as men who have £5,000 or 
 £50,000. It is the state of the heart, and not the state of 
 the fortune, that must be right with God. I have known a 
 man getting in business for himself think things were not 
 going right, and desert God. The poverty that leads to true 
 riches is better than the wealth that leads to eternal bank- 
 ruptcy. I believe it is not wrong if a man gets on, if it is with 
 the blessing of the Lord, with a right mind and with con- 
 sistency, if he does not " gain the world and lose his own 
 
god's blessing with riches. 217 
 
 soul," for what profit is it then? If he gets rich, let it be so, 
 if God blesses him in his wealth. But what will make 
 amends for the absence of God's blessing? It may be said of 
 many of you that are in comparative poverty, as it was said 
 of the Church of old, " I know thy poverty, but thou art 
 rich;" and again, as St. Paul beautifully said, "As poor, yet 
 making many rich ; as having nothing, and yet possessing 
 all things." Blessed paradox ! That is to have true riches. 
 Then, brethren, " seek first," whether you are rich or poor, 
 " the kingdom of God and His righteousness." That is, do 
 not merely seek first at the beginning, as I wish all young men 
 would do, but set out with this principle, " I am not going 
 to lose my soul, and incur the curse of God to get wealth; at 
 any rate, I want it honestly, fairly, and righteously, if I have 
 it; seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, not 
 only first in the order of time, but in the order of degree; let 
 the first be first, let the highest be highest, let the supreme be 
 supreme, and the rest all subordinate. Oh ! seek first, in busi- 
 ness and out of business, seek everywhere the kingdom of 
 God as the glorious goal, and His righteousness as the divine 
 highway to that goal; and then, all things — whatever is best 
 and good — will be added. If the blessing of the Lord make 
 you rich, be it so, He will add no sorrow; if the blessing of 
 the Lord suffice, and if, instead of riches, He give you poverty, 
 what matters what you are here? When you reach heaven 
 you will forget all, in the presence of eternal thankfulness. 
 
hm 
 
 
 
 XXIV. 
 GOD'S BLESSING WITH POVEETY. 
 
 " Ye shall serve the Lord your God, and He shall bless thy bread, and 
 thy water." — Exodus xxiii. part of 25. 
 
 It is possible for a man to serve only earthly objects while he 
 professes to be serving God. That man is a hypocrite ; he 
 deceives himself, and would deceive others. But it is possible 
 to seek eternal life regardless of man, even in this world; and 
 though "the recompense of the reward" is reserved to eter- 
 nity, there are the firstfruits of that reward vouchsafed to 
 men in this pilgrimage, amidst our sorrows,. our strifes, and 
 our trials. It is not that God takes away trials and sorrows 
 from His people, but that he intermingles with the cup of 
 sorrow such heavenly consolations, that it is even sweet to 
 drink it. "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having 
 promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." 
 If we " seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness," 
 we have the assurance that all other things that are needful 
 and good "shall be added thereto." What God said to Israel 
 of old' He says to us ; what He said to His believing people 
 then, He says to His believing people now ; and He calls 
 upon those who have ears to listen to it. Beautifully in ac- 
 cordance with the remarks I have been making is that simple 
 and impressive passage before us. God was telling His people 
 what they were to do when they were established in the land 
 sworn to their forefathers, and He tells them what He will 
 
god's blessing with poverty. 219 
 
 do to them if they are faithful to Him. " Ye shall serve 
 the Lord your God, and He shall bless thy bread, and thy 
 water." It is a passage particularly appropriate for those 
 whose bread and water are scanty, and who have but little 
 prospect of gaining influence, or perhaps even competency; 
 who pray literally, "Give us day by day our daily bread," who 
 know not what shall be on the morrow, — to them especially 
 this promise comes with heavenly consolation to their hearts. 
 
 The text presents to us what our duty is in this life : and 
 what is our privilege in the discharge of that duty. Our duty 
 is to serve the Lord our God. Our privilege is, " He will 
 bless our bread and our water." Let us look to His Spirit, 
 that His words may be effectual for our profit. 
 
 Very simple, very short, and very plain is the description 
 here of what is man's whole interest. It is summed up in 
 one short portion of a sentence : — "Thou shalt serve the Lord 
 thy God." Man was made to serve, and he cannot help but 
 serve. His pride and his vain notions of independency lead 
 him sometimes to boast like the fool, "How sayest thou, Ye 
 shall be made free?" that "were never in bondage to any man." 
 What resentment they feel against any attempts to enslave 
 them by their fellow-men, but how utterly regardless they are 
 of the wretched thraldom in which their own souls are held 
 by their vile lusts and passions ! Every man serves something ; 
 many serve wealth, or lust, or pride; and that which they so 
 serve is the devil, for the devil is lord and god of those who 
 serve sin. They that keep his commandments are his subjects. 
 His commandments are, love of the flesh, love of the world, 
 love of mischief ; this is Satan's law, and every man who keeps 
 it is Satan's slave. The chain that is bound round the spirit 
 of man has its last link in the hand of the great enemy of 
 souls, the god of this world that worketh with the children of 
 disobedience, and urges them on to their everlasting ruin. 
 Every man is a servant. Those who boast of their liberality 
 
220 god's blessing with poverty. 
 
 while they promise liberty to their dupes, they are slaves to 
 their own corruption ; and to whom a man is brought into 
 subjection, to the same is he enslaved. The apostle Paul 
 says — " Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves ser- 
 vants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether 
 of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness f Either 
 we sin unto wickedness, or are holy unto God. Every being 
 is a servant; from Gabriel down to the lowest existing being, 
 all obey. Our great Creator did not make us to be slaves to 
 mean debased things, He did not put us in a dependent posi- 
 tion that we should become subject to vile things, that we 
 should become subject to a lying world, to a deceitful tem- 
 per, to a corrupt and fallen nature. No. He made us to 
 serve Himself, to serve Him as the perfection of our nature. 
 Look at all things that have not fallen from God; — angel and 
 archangel, cherubim and seraphim, do His commandmeuts, 
 and hearken to the voice of His word. Gabriel stands before 
 Him with outstretched wings and upturned eye, catching His 
 every word and His every look ; the stars in their courses, 
 the sun and the moon, all obey their Creator's laws, and own 
 their dependence on Him. The beasts of the field, the birds 
 of the air, the fishes in the sea, the clouds, the storms, the 
 seasons, all obey the great God; and yet there is order, there 
 is harmony, there is beauty. But God found that man, as 
 amongst His dependent subjects, soon fell from Him, and 
 served Him no longer. The heart was betrayed, the mind 
 was beclouded; and sorrow, and sin, and shame followed, and 
 death came as a consequence, and all our woe. But the 
 blessed gospel of Jesus Christ comes to us, and offers again to 
 us admission into His blessed service. Christ came to call us 
 back to God, to win us from the masters who have no right 
 to us to our rightful Lord. He came to break the chains 
 that bind in bondage, and to bring us into the glorious liberty 
 of the sons of God. Beautiful is the description given by the 
 
god's blessing with poverty. 221 
 
 apostle of this wondrous change. We have it in the 6th of 
 Romans, and it is so full and to the point that we pray you, 
 beloved, hearken unto it with all earnest attention : — 
 " Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but 
 alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin, 
 therefore, reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it 
 in the lusts thereof." " Awake thou that sleepest, arise from 
 the dead, and Christ shall give you light." Do not go back 
 to your old drudgery. " Neither yield ye your members as 
 instruments of unrighteousness unto sin : but yield yourselves 
 unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your 
 members as instruments of righteousness unto God." You 
 have received the blessed doctrine of Christ, and Him cruci- 
 fied, you have seen its effect and its power, you have been re- 
 newed in the spirit of your mind. " For sin shall not have 
 dominion over you : for ye are not under the law, but under 
 grace. What then ? shall we sin because we are not under 
 the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that 
 to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye 
 are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obe- 
 dience unto righteousness 1 But God be thanked, that ye 
 were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart 
 that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then 
 made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 
 I speak after the manner of men, because of the infirmity of 
 your flesh," — to make it plain and clear to you. "For as ye 
 have yielded your members servants to uncleanness, and to 
 iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members ser- 
 vants to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the 
 servants of sin," — when ye were not the servants of God but 
 the servants of sin, what a wretched master that is ! what a 
 debased despot ! — " ye were free from righteousness." You 
 might have some convictions, you might have some good de- 
 sires, but sin was master, and you served your master. 
 
222 god's blessing with poverty. 
 
 "What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now 
 ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now be- 
 ing made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have 
 your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." Thus 
 it is that a man becomes Christ's as he becomes the servant 
 of God, the old yoke is sundered, the old master is dethroned, 
 the old law binds him no more, he is strong and mighty to 
 do the will of God, and he becomes the servant of God. 
 Such was the beautiful language of St. Paul. 
 
 It is the glory of a being like man to be able to say, I 
 serve my God. " Choose you this day whom ye will serve." 
 11 As for me and my house," — if I can have them with me, — 
 " we will serve the Lord our God." Oh ! the dignity and 
 self-exaltation of a man who is thus free to serve God. He 
 is a man that can do as he likes, for he likes to do as God 
 likes, his will is in harmony with the omnipotent will, all is 
 harmony, all things work for his good, he is a fellow-worker 
 with his God, God " worketh in him both to will and to do of 
 His good pleasure." beloved, try what a thing it is to serve 
 God. What a satisfaction, and freedom, and tranquillity, 
 and sense of conscious dignity, accompanied with the deepest 
 humility, it brings, what a blessed confidence for time and 
 eternity, when we can look up to our blessed Master and say, 
 " Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do I" This is indeed 
 " perfect freedom ;" this is the secret and sum of that " peace 
 of God which passeth all understanding." No man should 
 despair of breaking the laws of the usurper. I heard lately 
 of a young man, who had many good convictions and desires, 
 falling under the wretched drudgery of drunkenness. Though 
 he prayed to be kept from his besetting sin, his companion- 
 ships came on and he forgot his prayers, and fell again. At 
 last he was led to abandon himself in hopelessness. A holy 
 man told him to try this one prayer, and to use it as often as 
 his tempter came upon him with his seductions : — " God, 
 
god's blessing with poverty. 223 
 
 fill me with thy Holy Spirit." In beautiful fulfilment of that 
 admonition we heard in the lesson this morning, " And be 
 not drunken with wine, wherein is excess, but be ye filled 
 with the Holy Spirit." He had grace given him to offer that 
 prayer till a strong temptation came upon him, and he con- 
 tinued praying, the fiend lost his power over him, the thral- 
 dom that had ground him to the dust left him, and he 
 became not only a sober man, but a holy man, and a ser- 
 vant of Jesus Christ. Oh then, beloved, ask God for His 
 Spirit to make you free in dependence upon the strength 
 of Omnipotence. There is your hope. If you have never 
 yet tried it, break the fetters, do not be held in bitter 
 bondage, but serve the living God who made you, who re- 
 deemed you, who called you, and who will accept you. 
 Oh then, join yourselves fully to the Lord, come to His 
 table, own Him your master, feed upon His heavenly food, 
 bind your hearts " with cords, even to the horns of the al- 
 tar " and be not ashamed of it ; then it shall be said, as 
 Joshua said of Israel of old, "Ye are witnesses against 
 yourselves that we have chosen you the Lord, to serve 
 Him." Yes. He chose me, and I have chosen Him ; He 
 apprehended me, and I have apprehended Him ; He said to 
 me when following the world, "Follow me," and now I 
 find His service the joy of my heart and the strength of my 
 life. A new privilege will your blessed Master give you, 
 even in this poor, sinful world, you shall have your wages 
 out of the grave, for " the wages of sin is death ; but the 
 gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 "What hath the man who knows the service of Christ? 
 What satisfaction, what comfort did he have in the Bac- 
 chanalian hour? what in the dark scene of criminal in- 
 dulgence? what in the indulgence of corrupt pleasure? 
 Did he find satisfaction, or rest, or pleasure, or peace 
 within him ? I trow not ! And what says his Master 
 
'22 [ QOD'S BLESSING WITH POVERTY. 
 
 now .' M I will bless thy bread, and thy water.* 1 Bere is 
 the promise for all God's servants every one oi' them. 
 No one is bo poor but he will have some bread and water, 
 and Jesus says if you serve Him, Be will bless your bread 
 
 and your water. You may Bay, M Will Be not give us 
 
 wealth 1 will Be not give as the good things o( this life) 
 will Be not gratify our passions and our desires 1 No, W- 
 loved brethren. The people of this world Be may make 
 rich, and they may have 00 sorrow with it; but it is not 
 often that it is bo. The just man, the honest man, the 
 Sober man will be a prudent man, a wise man, and an eco- 
 nomical man, and he will be more likely to succeed in this 
 lite; yet this is not the promise, lie docs not promise 
 wealth, but lie rather says, "Seekest thou great things for 
 thyself' seek them not." If wealth comes, take heed, for 
 it is more perilous than poverty. Do not covet it. They 
 that get rich heap to themselves many sorrows. Be assured 
 that a man has more reason to pray in prosperity and 
 wealth, "Good Lord, deliver me,'' than he has in times of 
 adversity, for " where your treasure is, there will your heart 
 bo also." A man has more reason to tremble when wealth 
 is pouring in upon him, than when he is approaching to 
 poverty. Ay, it is not abundance that lie promises, but 
 He promises to give bread and water, and to bless it. "I 
 WOt that he whom Thou blessest is blessed, and he whom 
 Thou eursest is cursed." Splendour, grandeur, wealth, will 
 not make a man happy if Cod's curse is upon him. No, he 
 must have the blessing o^ Cod. Cod can make the smallest 
 meal one of feasting, and joy, and gladness, and He can 
 sow grief and mourning at the table of luxury. Oh, how 
 ot'ten have we seen how little will suffice with Cod's bless- 
 ing. ''Having food and raiment, let us therewith be eon- 
 tent," It' more comes, well ; if it does not, we have food 
 and raiment, and let us be content. Cannot Cod make a 
 
thai 
 
 A bidiilgi 
 
 it under water; and what i 
 
 and r 
 
 •:d: but be Meai i 
 
 1, and t: 
 
 round wi m, and a 
 
 * 
 
 As a poor man on lay, 
 
 and 1 
 
 thankful for what I L, 
 WOl] . any 
 
 B 
 
 31 bless ft] will 
 
 mak and full.. '.Tea, 
 
 ■ wiO Go 
 neas of mind and a small 
 
 scanty lot tifully it ia .said, ' ; His bread shall 
 
 be gh 
 
 it. Ai M - enee 
 
 15 
 
226 god's blessing with poverty. 
 
 between a rich man and a poor man who serves God is 
 this : the rich man is his own banker, and God is the poor 
 man's banker; and that is a bank that never dishonours 
 the cheques that are drawn upon it in prayer." They are 
 always honoured, therefore His people eat their meals with 
 confidence, because they know their store will not fail 
 them : they know that He feeds the raven ; and shall He 
 forget them? He cares for the sparrow; He clothes the 
 lily with a beauty that casts the splendour of Solomon in 
 all his glory in the shade ; and if the Father cares for them, 
 will He not provide for the morrow? "The morrow shall 
 take thought for the things of itself." What a sweet sea- 
 soning it is when we receive what we have with thanks- 
 giving ! How it satisfies ! then, indeed, an ordinary meal 
 becomes a sacrament, a living sacrifice of praise and thanks- 
 giving. God says, " I will bless thy bread and thy water f 
 and if He bless it, then it becomes a feast. Men of this 
 world are far too apt to look at outward appearances; 
 they see a man living in a splendid dwelling, driving in Ins 
 chariot, provided with everything to administer to his com- 
 forts, and people think he must be happy. Perhaps, if you 
 could look into his heart, if you could look into the interior 
 of his family solitude, there would not be the best prospect 
 before you. And why ? Because he has not the blessing of 
 God ? and instead of desiring his lot, and envying him, you 
 would perhaps thank God that He has made you to differ. 
 It is your own fault if you are not led indeed to say, as St. 
 Paul said of himself, " As poor, yet making many rich ; as 
 having nothing, and yet possessing all things" in Christ, if 
 blessed of God, for that alone is satisfaction to an immortal 
 soul. One smile from His face can make the poorest fare 
 to be a luxury, and the lowliest dwelling to be the gate of 
 heaven. "Why should we suppose we must have splendour 
 and grandeur to make us happy? The poorest man on 
 
god's blessing with poverty. 227 
 
 earth may be envied by those possessing riches and 
 grandeur ; for if, by the blessing of God, he has opened up 
 to him the bright prospect of that kingdom where they 
 shall hunger and thirst no more ; angels shall attend him, 
 and wait to waft his spirit to his Father's mansions. Yes, 
 if God bless a lowly dwelling with humble fare, it will not 
 be desolate. God can give satisfaction and peace when all 
 is desolate around. Would to God that every man, rich or 
 poor, whatever be his lot, would lay to heart that this is 
 the "one thing needful," to serve God, no matter in what 
 condition, no matter with what measure of talents and ad- 
 vantage, whether little or much. We must serve Him who 
 hath bought us with His blood, who hath redeemed us 
 from sin and Satan, whom we are pledged in our baptism 
 to serve; that is "the one thing needful." Secure that, 
 leave the rest, and it will follow. As the substance follows 
 the seed, so will prosperity and peace accompany the 
 honest service of God. 
 
 And if you are to serve God, you must break loose from 
 the service of other masters. " We are debtors, not to the 
 flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, 
 ye shall die : but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the 
 deeds of the body, ye shall live." Therefore, take up arms 
 against the tyrants that would usurp dominion over you, 
 resist your angry tempers, your envious and hateful passions, 
 your tendencies to indulge the flesh, resist impurity, resist 
 drunkenness, resist uncleanness, and every other evil spirit, 
 take up arms against them, be free, maintain your freedom, 
 struggle earnestly for it, it is a glorious conflict — and glory, 
 honour, and immortality are your reward. Do not be dragged 
 back to serve the devil, and the world, and the flesh ; but 
 be true to your God and serve Him, and you will find His 
 service "perfect freedom," and perfect happiness. And, 
 dear brethren, I would entreat the poor in this world to 
 
 15—2 
 
228 god's blessing with poverty. 
 
 pray to God to give them this spirit. It may be they can- 
 not get rich, it may be they must be servants all their lives ; 
 but men, if they serve the Lord, are free in His service ; 
 and though they are poor, they are no more than their Master 
 was when on earth. It is not what it is for a few fleeting 
 years, but what it will be for everlasting ages. Let them 
 realise that "a man's life consisteth not in the abundance 
 of the things which he possesseth ;" a man's true dignity, 
 and happiness, and greatness, is to enjoy the favour of God, 
 that is the " peace which passeth all understanding." If calm 
 contentment pervade the soul, it will make the cottage 
 bright ; and without it the palace will be desolate. This 
 will satisfy with the meanest fare, and without it the stalled 
 ox has no flavour. " Better is a dinner of herbs where love 
 is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith." Therefore I 
 entreat you, my friends in the lower ranks of life, do not 
 give way to that wretched delusion, that a man is to be 
 measured by what he has, or that his happiness is graduated 
 by his possessions. A man's soul in peace with God, and 
 having His blessing, that alone makes a man blessed, and 
 that alone can make a man happy. That made Paul and 
 Silas happy in the dungeon ; it gave peace to Daniel in the 
 dismal lions' den ; and it made Shadrach, Meshach, and 
 Abednego undismayed in the burning, fiery furnace. 
 
XXV. 
 THE EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG. 
 
 "Suffer the little children to come unto me." — St. Maek x. part of 14. 
 
 Not to help in the work of the Lord is, in some sort, to 
 hinder it. It is to be feared that very many who fear God 
 rather hinder than help to bring the little ones to the good 
 Shepherd of Israel. They do so through their unbelief. 
 They are apt to think, as the apostles probably thought, that 
 to bring very young children to the Saviour was rather to in- 
 trude upon and interrupt His holy work, than to do that which 
 is pleasing in His sight. There exists very extensively an 
 impression in the minds of many, that a child at an early age 
 is inaccessible to the work of grace and the service of God ; 
 and the consequence is that very many look upon such a 
 scene as that before and around us with comparatively little 
 interest. If they take any interest, it is in the effect produced 
 for this world, and not in the effect produced for the next 
 world ; it is in these young folks being prepared for the 
 ordinary occupations of life, and not in the preparation for 
 the life everlasting. And there are very many who in their 
 own families, alas ! bring up their children with very little 
 interest or attention to their everlasting interest, because 
 they deem it too soon to interfere with their thoughts of 
 God ; they do not believe that the work should be begun 
 so soon, therefore, they put it off and delay it, and alas ! it 
 is sometimes never begun. When the Redeemer, who pil- 
 
230 THE EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG. 
 
 lars the universe with His everlasting arms, was on earth, 
 He showed us an example that rebukes all such unbelief and 
 want of faith in the power of His grace and extent of His 
 love, for He not only forbade those who would have forbid- 
 den the little ones, but, " by His outward gesture and deed 
 He declared His goodwill toward them, for He embraced 
 them in His arms, He laid His hands upon them, and blessed 
 them." And our Church, very scripturally, and, as we con- 
 ceive, echoing the spirit and sentiment of our Lord, says, 
 " Doubt ye not, therefore, but earnestly believe, that He will 
 likewise favourably receive these infants " — that are pre- 
 sented to Him — " that He will embrace them with the arms 
 of His mercy, that He will give unto them the blessing of 
 eternal life, and make them partakers of His everlasting 
 kingdom." Surely, if we will not believe, we shall not be 
 established ; but if we believe His promises, we shall have 
 good hope in following His steps. 
 
 I have taken these beautiful and simple words of Jesus, as 
 specially appropriate to this occasion.* "Suffer the little 
 children " — not merely those that are getting into mature 
 age, whose intellects are unfolding, who are capable of 
 reasoning upon the truths revealed to us in God's Word, 
 but even the very young ones, into whose hearts we can 
 only drop little grains of instruction and heavenly wisdom — 
 " Suffer the little children to come unto me." 
 
 My simple endeavour will be to prove this point, that little 
 children should be converted to Christ, and brought to Him for 
 salvation in their early days. May the Spirit attend His 
 Word, that we may ourselves receive that Word as little 
 children, and so enter into the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 One argument that has always appeared to me to be of 
 much weight in this discussion is, that children are, at a very 
 early age, capable of doing wrong ; and, if they are, they must, 
 * School anniversary, Sunday morning, May 14, 18G5. 
 
THE EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG. 231 
 
 "by a parity of reasoning, be capable of doing right — for they 
 would not be capable of doing wrong if they were not capable 
 of doing right — the one implies, necessarily, the other. Where 
 is the individual that has watched children, even from their 
 mother's womb, who can deny that children are capable of 
 doing wrong, and that, at a very early age indeed, they dis- 
 cover the taint and tendency of their evil minds and hearts ? 
 At a very early age indeed, they have a consciousness of when 
 they are doing wrong, and surely they have also a conscious- 
 ness of when they are doing wrong in God's sight. There are 
 early indications of moral responsibility in the child, in the 
 actings and strivings of conscience ; and, the more they are 
 watched, the more surely and certainly we are convinced that 
 they exist — though it is as the twilight, when things are in- 
 distinctly seen in the shade — but still there is sufficient of 
 the dawn of light to make the child partly responsible. Then, 
 if the child has a conscience that tells him he is doing wrong, 
 he should have that conscience cultivated to tell him that he 
 has a moral responsibility in him. There would be some 
 excuse for neglecting and slighting this if our offspring were 
 mere irrational animals ; but when we know that the child 
 has a soul, is a rational being, and that rational being is dis- 
 covered in the first germ and bud of its moral nature, we 
 ought not to doubt that such little ones should be suffered to 
 come to Christ, and we should attempt from the very begin- 
 ning to train the young tendrils of their convictions and affec- 
 tions to the root of the tree of life, and not leave them to run 
 riot, and to waste amid the thorns and briars around them. 
 Another argument, still more powerful, is, that the diseased 
 and disordered state of the child shoivs itself at a very early 
 period indeed. Before, probably, reason dawns, or conscience 
 is called out, the child indicates that all is not right with it ; 
 there is a restlessness, a peevishness, a perverseness, a con- 
 tumacy, there are little passions and indications of pride and 
 
232 THE EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG. 
 
 self-indulgence. How very early these young weeds begin to 
 sprout up in the soil of the unrenewed and evil heart ! I 
 remember well on one occasion visiting a gentleman, who had 
 been brought up in the heresy that denies the corruption of 
 our nature, but who happily was led to God, and his family 
 with him, though still there mingled with him some of the 
 early prejudices of his unhappy education. I remember well, 
 that on one occasion he repelled with distaste, and almost 
 disgust, the idea of corruption being in the young heart, even 
 from the mother's womb, and, pointing to his own infant, 
 sleeping in the room, he said, " If you could make me think 
 that lovely babe of mine, with its cherubic and innocent looks, 
 had the little seeds of evil implanted in it, I should almost 
 shrink from it." I said, " Whatever may prove to be the 
 effect, I am certain the cause is there ;" and I added, " we will 
 leave it to one who has far more opportunity of judging than 
 you have, she who has nursed the child in her lap and 
 cherished it at her breast;" and she replied earnestly, "If you 
 saw it as I do, you would see that underneath all, and through 
 all, the lovely innocence, as we esteem it and regard it, there 
 are the little germs and indications of pride, passion, self-will, 
 rebellion, and restlessness." Oh yes, we must come to the 
 truth after all, the child is born with a heart naturally deceitful 
 and desperately wicked, prone to evil, seeking what is wrong, 
 having a distaste for what is right and good. It needs, there- 
 fore, diseased as it is from its mother's womb, a remedy; and 
 it needs that remedy as soon as it indicates the disease. If 
 your child is poorly, you do not say it is too young to have 
 recourse to a doctor, but you send the more anxiously and 
 earnestly for the doctor because the child is too young to seek 
 for medical advice itself. And if you seek for medical advice 
 for the mortal bod}', should you not seek for the heavenly 
 medicine that alone is fitting for the immortal 1 Should you 
 not, as you see that the child is disordered from the cradle, 
 
THE EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG. 233 
 
 seek that it may from the cradle be led to Him who came 
 to heal all our diseases and to make us whole ? 
 
 Then, further, I would argue that we should suffer and 
 encourage the little ones to come, because grace, the work of 
 God, is not so much a thing of the head as of the heart, not so 
 much in what we learn as in what we love, not so much in 
 clearness of our creed as in our moral disposition. He that 
 loves much serves much. He that simply knows much does 
 not love. Of what avail is his knowledge ? It is but the 
 cold moonshine that will never cause anything to grow. 
 There must be warmth as well as light, there must be the 
 sun if there is to be life. And so with regard to a child. 
 He cannot perhaps learn much, he cannot perhaps compre- 
 hend the mystery of the Trinity in Unity, or conceive of the 
 wondrous mystery of the Incarnation; he cannot comprehend 
 in the fulness and grandeur of its adaptation the atonement ; 
 — this is not needed, it is not natural, it is not possible that 
 he could j — but a child may love and trust, and what he trusts 
 he loves and obeys. Perhaps there is no love more natural 
 and tender and true than that of an affectionate child for 
 its parent ; there is no service more spontaneous and sweet 
 than the service that springs from the loving trust a child 
 has for its parent ; and if a child can trust an earthly father, 
 cannot a child trust a heavenly Father 1 You say, " Yes, 
 but a child sees the earthly parent, and it cannot see the 
 heavenly Parent." Are we such creatures of sense and sight, 
 even as children, that we cannot have some apprehension of 
 the Great Father and loving Saviour that loved us even as 
 a mother loveth her children, and did for us even what a 
 parent cannot do ? Cannot a child, therefore, have a sense 
 of gratitude to God, of trust in God, of desire to please 
 God, of fear to offend Him 1 cannot he have a sense of His 
 surrounding presence, and feel that He encompasses us, and 
 His eye is over us by night and by day. 
 
234 THE EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG. 
 
 And further, and more especially, it appears to me children 
 may be brought to Jesus in confidence, they may become the 
 lambs of His flock, and the children of His grace, because the 
 work is not the work of man, but the work of God the Holy 
 Ghost. If it were alone man that were to turn and influence 
 them, we might indeed abandon the task in despair, and say 
 there is no hope ; but when the Saviour of sinners bids us 
 suffer them to come to Him, when it is the Spirit of God 
 that we know can fill the smallest heart as well as the 
 largest, and that, like the waters of the deep, that deluge 
 and engulf the earth, and fill with limpid water the little 
 shell, can descend to the least and lowliest, as well as over- 
 master and control the mightiest and most exalted, surely 
 it ought not to seem a thing incredible that God who made 
 the child should remake it. "VVe know that the God that 
 moved on and fashioned chaos moves also upon the little 
 chaos of the infant heart, and cleanses it ; so that, the foun- 
 tain being purified, the stream shall be pure, and the child 
 shall be born again. Why bring we our children to bap- 
 tism even to receive the seal and sign of Christ, expecting 
 that God will receive them, if we think it in vain to seek a 
 child's salvation, if we think the Spirit of God cannot turn 
 the heart of a little child into a temple of the mighty God, 
 in which he deigns and delights to dwell 1 
 
 Let us add one argument more. The result of Christian 
 experience has ever been, as it cannot but be, in favour of our 
 bringing the little ones to Christ. Do we not read of Samuel, 
 who, from his infant days, was taught to hear the voice of 
 God, to know it, and to say, " Speak, Lord, for thy servant 
 heareth V And what do we read of him ? That " the child 
 Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the Lord and 
 also with men." Then, again, was not Timothy taught from 
 his mother's knee the Scriptures, that were able to and did 
 make him wise unto salvation 1 And do we not find, that 
 
THE EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG. 235 
 
 most blessed exemplar of all, Jesus, who condescended to 
 become as a little child, and "increased in wisdom and 
 stature I" Did He intend this as an example for His young 
 disciples, as lambs of the flock ? Assuredly he did. Then, 
 is not " the promise unto you and to your children V and 
 does not God say, " I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, 
 and my blessing upon thine offspring ?" and did not Jesus, 
 when He would teach us to be humble and meek, set a little 
 child in the midst and say, " Except ye be converted, and 
 become as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of 
 heaven V Did He do this, and is it impossible that the 
 little child should become a recipient of His grace, and a 
 follower in His footsteps? Was He not foretold as the 
 good Shepherd gathering the lambs in His arms, and gently 
 leading them 1 Did He not, as the first test of His almighty 
 love, say to Peter, " Feed my lambs," and then add, " Feed 
 my sheep T Did He not intend that we should begin with 
 the lambs, and feed them ere we feed the sheep ? 
 
 The subject is so deeply interesting, and one so little 
 thought of, that we would gladly enlarge upon it if time and 
 strength permitted. Sufficient has been said to teach us to 
 believe that a child may be made a child of God from its 
 early age. Do we believe this ? Many of us act as though 
 we did not, we have so little faith. Surely there is enough 
 to encourage us to believe that a child may be saved. What 
 a beautiful thing to have a child saved, holy, happy, and 
 blessed. We may have — as some of us have had — dear chil- 
 dren taken away in early life, going away in the sweet and 
 calm apprehension of a child's faith to rest in Jesus, going 
 home without terror or fear ; and if we are to believe, so 
 should we have hope for our children, and seek to train them 
 up for God. Sunday-school teachers, remember that it is not 
 on account of goodness in the past that you take pains with 
 your little ones, and seek to win them to the Lord. Who 
 
23G THE EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG. 
 
 shall say what efforts may fail 1 You are not to look to 
 results, but leave them to God, doing your duty faithfully, 
 and trusting Him earnestly ; and then you shall find that 
 " your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord." 
 
 Then, again, surely it teaches us that we ought to pray for 
 these little ones. Here is the great instrument of grace in- 
 deed, for it is the work of God pre-eminently ; and it is by 
 drawing down, as it were, through the golden pipes of devo- 
 tion the heavenly dews and the divine rays upon the tender 
 plants that we may hope to see them spring up " as willows 
 by the watercourses./' and then " our sons may grow up as 
 young plants, and our daughters may be as the polished 
 corners of the temple ;" and beautiful will it be if it leads 
 them to seek, " not that outward adorning of plaiting the 
 hair," but the adornment of "a meek and quiet spirit," 
 which is the jewel that will sparkle in heaven. 
 
 Let us then cherish our Sunday-schools and our day- 
 schools, and pray for them ; and not merely once a year 
 give, as you have been accustomed to do largely, but foster 
 and cherish them by sympathy, by influence, and by prayer ; 
 and doubt not that there will be many plants from these 
 nurseries of the Lord that, after flourishing in the garden of 
 the Lord on earth, at last shall garnish the garden of the 
 Lord above. If we present no other motive to you than 
 that of love to Him and gratitude to Him in the encourage- 
 ment you have for your own dear children, that should con- 
 strain you, as it is a most grateful and graceful motive, to 
 give what you do in the spirit of love and liberality, " not 
 grudgingly, or of necessity," for " God loveth a cheerful 
 giver." 
 
XXVI. 
 THE WISDOM OF WINNING SOULS. 
 
 " He that winneth souls is -wise." — Peov. xi. part of 30th verse. 
 
 So far as is revealed to us, there is no world in the infinitude 
 of worlds that the great God hath called into existence to 
 which there attaches so profound an interest as there attaches 
 to this little speck of ours. The reason is, that it is, if we 
 may so speak, the battle-field of the moral universe. It is 
 here the mighty conflict is waged between thepowersof dark- 
 ness on the one hand, and the powers of light on the other. 
 Heaven is moved from above, hell is moved from beneath, the 
 scene of the mighty struggle is this little ball of clay, the 
 prizes at stake are the deathless souls of men ; and each 
 weighed in the balance of immortality and priced by the 
 blood of God Incarnate, may well awake the most thrilling 
 and intense interest above, beneath, and it ought to be here 
 amongst ourselves. But, alas ! whilst heaven is so earnest to 
 save, and hell so bent to destroy, how often do we see souls 
 steeping themselves in stupor and death, and but little alive 
 to these illimitable interests which arouse such awful and 
 deep and profound sensations in the world of truth and in the 
 light of eternity. It pleases God that in this mighty battle 
 there should be used not only omnipotent powers unseen 
 and often unrecognised, but human powers; that men them- 
 selves should be commissioned for the strife. It is to this 
 
238 THE WISDOM OF WINNING SOULS. 
 
 the wise man seems to refer, when he says in these few and 
 most striking words, " He that wimfeth souls is wise." It 
 has pleased God to commission His unworthy servant now 
 addressing you to be one of the messengers of His truth, to 
 give him a commission in the army of His grace, and for 
 thirty-nine years (with how much weakness, and sinfulness, 
 and unfaithfulness !) it has pleased God to allow him to testify 
 to His truth in this town ; and for thirty-three years within 
 these walls, with scarcely an interruption of any kind. It 
 seems, therefore, peculiarly appropriate that I should not 
 omit our wonted appeal to you on this anniversary,* but 
 choose a subject that will appeal to the hearts of each one 
 of you j reminding me, on the one hand, of the solemn 
 charge committed to me, and you, on the other hand, of 
 how profound is your interest in the work which has assem- 
 bled us together within the courts of the Lord. 
 
 The glorious enterprise — to win souls : — The ivisdom of him 
 who achieves it — "He that winneth souls is wise." May 
 God the Holy Ghost be amongst us, enabling me to speak, 
 perfecting strength in weakness ; and enabling you to hear as 
 you will wish you had heard when we meet before the judg- 
 ment-seat of our common Lord. 
 
 The glorious enterprise is to win souls. They need to be 
 won. If they were not lost, they would not require to be 
 won. If they had not been " led captive," they would not 
 have required to be rescued. We are led, therefore, to the 
 great fundamental point to which we are continually drawn. 
 
 What has the soul to be won from ? From Satan, the 
 "god of this world," " the prince of the power of the air, the 
 spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience," that 
 leads fallen man captive at his will. While man abides 
 under his dark despotism — the despotism described as the 
 kingdom of darkness ; because, full of ignorance, and blind- 
 * Sunday, November 6, 1SG1. 
 
THE WISDOM OF WINNING SOULS. 239 
 
 ness, and confusion, and disappointment, and death, we 
 come under his power. Under the wondrous mystery and 
 awful economy that placed the father of all mankind in the 
 foils of Satan, all our race fell through the solicitation of 
 Satan, and, having fallen through his solicitation, we be- 
 came so far under his power ; and hence it comes to pass 
 that, " born in sin and shapen in iniquity," we are under 
 the control, and instigation, and embrace of him that 
 walketh about, " as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may 
 devour." His mighty arm is bent for our destruction. He 
 influences and tempts the whole human family, so that 
 there is not a man that liveth that is not tempted from 
 Satan. 
 
 One of the old fathers fancifully, but fearfully, supposes 
 that as every man rescued by Christ has his guardian angel 
 to watch over him, so has every man not delivered by Christ 
 his accusing and tempting angel to betray him, and, if pos- 
 sible, secure his destruction. Under the power of Satan 
 what can man have of hope, or happiness, or peace % From 
 Satan he must be delivered, or he never can be delivered 
 from his ruin. But Christ Jesus was revealed " to destroy 
 the works of the devil." He hath " led captivity captive," 
 " despoiled principalities and powers," and opened the king- 
 dom of light in antagonism to the kingdom of darkness, and 
 every one that is translated from that kingdom of darkness 
 into that kingdom of light is won from Satan's grasp, and 
 the stronger than the strong man armed has come upon him 
 and rescued the victim from his grasp ; then a man is free 
 when the Son makes him free, then a man is at liberty when 
 the truth hath set him at liberty. 
 
 And man has to be won, not ouly from the power of Satan, 
 but from that which gives Satan his power — sin. Satan 
 could have no power against us if it were not allowed by 
 God as a righteous retribution for man's sad defection from 
 
240 THE WISDOM OF WINNING SOULS. 
 
 his Creator, Preserver, and Benefactor, in whom lie lives 
 and moves and hath his being, to that " father of lies," that 
 murderer from the beginning." While sin is upon man un- 
 forgiven, he is in the grasp of the prince of darkness ; it is 
 by sin he leads him captive, and leads him into his sad 
 snares • but Christ came that sin might be forgiven — that 
 man might be renewed. To win a man's soul, therefore, is 
 to win it from the love, and service, and bondage of sin, to 
 win it out of the dread guilt that rests upon it, to deliver it 
 out of that control of corruption which keeps a man under 
 guilt and keeps him a slave. 
 
 But it is not only from sin that a soul is to be won, it is 
 to be won also from corruption and death — eternal death. 
 The consequence of man's subjection to Satan, of his lying 
 under the guilt of his habitual transgression, is that he 
 abides under the sentence, " The soul that sinneth, it shall 
 die," " The wages of sin is death," and abiding in that con- 
 dition a man abides under the frown of God and in the 
 vestibule of hell, with only the breath of his nostrils between 
 him and the death that never dieth. Never dieth ! Who 
 can tell what that is ? Such as the soul is — such is the man, 
 it is himself ; and the soul lost — the man is lost. And, 
 brethren, who can tell what that is — a lost soul ! He who 
 knew it best gives us an awful glimpse of it when He says, 
 " What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, 
 and lose his own soul 1 Or what shall a man give in ex- 
 change for his soul 1" The poorest, the meanest, then, has 
 something compared with which everything besides is dust 
 and ashes. 
 
 And now, brethren, what has a soul thus won from Satan, 
 and sin, and corruption, and death, to be won to ? It has 
 to be won to Christ, won to reconciliation, won to holiness, 
 won to happiness, won to heaven. What a glorious triumph ! 
 What a splendid victory ! 
 
THE WISDOM OF WINNING SOULS. 241 
 
 Won to Christ. The seed of the woman destroyed and 
 crushed the serpent's head ; He came into a guilty world 
 and bore our guilt ; He has borne the burden of our iniquity; 
 He is the mighty preserver of our race ; He went down to 
 the battle-field of death, and proved triumphant over him, 
 openly making an end of him in " His agony and bloody 
 sweat," in " His cross and passion," and in " His glorious 
 resurrection." The reconciliation is complete on His part, 
 and all that is wanted is reconciliation on our part. It is a 
 hard thing to win the soul to Jesus ; for it has to be won 
 irom blindness, self-infatuation, perverseness, self-delusion, 
 self-deceit, and the thousand stratagems of Satan, and the 
 snares of the world. Ah, brethren, it is not an easy thing 
 to win the soul. Jesus can do it with His own omnipotent 
 grace ; but without that the whole universe is powerless to 
 do it. 
 
 The soul has to be won to reconciliation and acceptance* 
 All that come to God by Christ are " freely justified from all 
 things," and being accepted in His righteousness, stand 
 amongst the children of light, the saints of God, the chosen 
 of His own love that He sets apart for Himself. What a 
 glorious transformation ! From enmity to friendship, from 
 rebellion to adoption, from being far off from God to being 
 brought nigh to Him through the blood of Christ. 
 
 And then, the soul thus won from condemnation and cor- 
 ruption is won to holiness. Sin shall not have the dominion 
 over him ; his mind is ever led by the Spirit of God, and 
 that wicked one shall not have power over him. " Whoso- 
 ever is born of God sinneth not." There may be, and will 
 be, still the corrupt inclination in the heart, but we shall be 
 more than conquerors through him whose precious blood 
 gives us the victory. A man, when he is won from corrup- 
 tion, from wretchedness, and from misery, is free to serve 
 God ; he finds liberty of the soul, a peace and a joy the 
 
 1G 
 
212 THE WISDOM OF WINNING SOULS. 
 
 universe cannot give or take away ; he finds that in Christ 
 all things are his, for he is God's. His sorrows, his trials, 
 his disappointments — what we call accidents — are all in the 
 hands of unerring wisdom and infinite love, and that which 
 seems against us we may be sure is for us ; for " if God be 
 for us, who can be against us V 
 
 Then, he is won to heaven, the ground and triumph of all. 
 If rescued here by Christ, he is rescued for glory hereafter. 
 Nor will the soul that is thus won ever fall or come short of 
 eternal life, for in the hands of Jesus he is safe against all 
 trials, and Christ will at the last crown his work, " when 
 this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mor- 
 tal shall have put on immortality," when " death is swallowed 
 up in victory," when man, consecrated in body, soul, and 
 spirit, shall awake up in the presence and after the image of 
 the God that made him, the Saviour that redeemed him ; 
 when " fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore " shall com- 
 plete the wondrous triumph ; and " thanks be to God which 
 giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ," shall 
 a multitude of won souls sing as their everlasting anthem of 
 praise for ever and ever. Beautiful fulness of the glorious 
 enterprise ! 
 
 And as a consequence of it, is the wisdom of him that 
 achieves it. He is a fellow- worker with God, a fellow-soldier. 
 Jesus said, " As my Father sent me, even so send I you." 
 Why was Jesus sent ? " The Son of man is come to seek 
 raid to save that which was lost." " I am not sent but unto 
 the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Then, brethren, the 
 humble, faithful minister who desires nothing in comparison 
 with winning souls may feel that he has Christ with His 
 banner waving over him, the sword of Christ — " which is 
 the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God " — in his 
 hand, and tjie armoury Christ has armed him with — faith, 
 truth, wisdom, courage — around him. There is his confi- 
 
THE WISDOM OF WINNING SOULS. 243 
 
 dence and strength. He cannot be too profoundly doubtful 
 of his own strength, or too confident in the Lord. He might 
 as well try to create a world as to win a soul without Christ, 
 but through Christ's strength with him, the words from his 
 lips shall not " return void," but God will glorify himself in 
 many souls saved. 
 
 Brethren, is not this heavenly wisdom? It requires a 
 wisdom that we have not ourselves to speak the truth in 
 simplicity, and plainness, and faithfulness. We must " know 
 nothing but Christ and Him crucified f we must apply the 
 sword of the Spirit with such skill that it may reach every 
 heart, so that " in manifestation of the truth we may com- 
 mend ourselves to every man's conscience," and so be able to 
 plead with Paul, " I am pure from the blood of all men, for 
 I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of 
 God." It requires wisdom, as it requires faith, to do this. 
 How then should you pray for your ministers, that God may 
 give them wisdom in rich abundance, that they may " preach 
 Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto 
 the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, 
 Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." 
 
 Then, brethren, oh, what wisdom there is in so high a 
 name ! I sometimes think, Oh, if I were merely a man of 
 merchandise or literature ! Still every other pursuit seems 
 dull and insipid in comparison to this. Men seek to win 
 fortunes, they have ambitions and schemes, they seek to win 
 a good name and renown ; but what are all these when a man 
 looks upon them from a sick-bed, and much more from a 
 death-bed ? Then all his fond affections depart, and how 
 little remains ! What has he but a costlier coffin or more 
 gorgeous monument, or what is perhaps a lying pageant that 
 attends him to the grave. And what then 1 Passed, passed as 
 a dream ! But the architecture with which the builder 
 together with God has to do, is immortal and unchangeable ; 
 
 16—2 
 
244 THE WISDOM OF WINNING SOULS. 
 
 the enterprise with which he has to take up is not here, of 
 the earth, earthly, but of the heaven, heavenly ; and the 
 souls that are won are won to Christ, and they will be His 
 best trophies and dearest joys in the great day. May we 
 not say of many of you, " What is our hope, or joy, or crown 
 of rejoicing 1 are not even ye in the presence of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ at His coming 1 For ye are our glory and joy." 
 For what can be such an unspeakable source of deepest 
 thanksgiving to a minister of God as to win souls to Him 
 who loves souls, to travail till Christ be formed in them, 
 that there may be many sons and daughters, many whom he 
 knows not in this world, but whom he shall meet in the 
 great day, in the world of life and light, as won through 
 his testimonjr, won to salvation, won to heaven ! What an 
 unspeakable privilege and honour to be engaged in the very 
 work that awakens all the interests of the unseen world, 
 that brought the Eternal Word from the bosom of the 
 Father to the manger, the cross, and the sepulchre ! Oh, 
 the privilege of being a fellow-worker with God in such a 
 work as that ! Where is there any work in comparison that 
 is not foolishness, mere dust and ashes, shadow and unreality, 
 when brought into contrast with that higher work ? Men 
 and brethren, I thank God that I am permitted to stand 
 before you once more at the close of another year of my 
 ministry, to appeal to you earnestly that, as my work is to 
 win your souls, so you yourselves may waken, every one of 
 you to the great work. brethren, " examine yourselves," 
 " prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, 
 how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates V 
 Can we commemorate the glorious deliverance that Christ 
 has wrought for us more touchingly, or affectionately, or in- 
 telligently, than in partaking of those blessed memorials of 
 His blood-shedding, of the agony and struggle it cost "the 
 Captain of our salvation " to win our souls ? Why do so 
 
THE WISDOM OF WINNING SOULS. 245 
 
 many neglect to come ? Let your own consciences answer. 
 Soon you will have to answer on the bed of death. 
 
 Dear brethren, I beseech you, seek to know the worth of 
 your soul, not by its eternal loss, but by its eternal gain. Be 
 assured of it, the rest you pursue is but as dust and ashes 
 in comparison with this great object. First seek for your- 
 selves, and then seek for others, the salvation of the soul. 
 And for the ministers of Christ, may it be our prayer — as it 
 was beautifully given in counsel by St. Paul to his son 
 Timothy — " Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine ; 
 continue in them : for in doing this thou shalt save both 
 thyself, and them that hear thee." 
 

 XXVII. 
 TEEES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.* 
 
 " Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the 
 courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age ; 
 they shall be fat and flourishing ; to show that the Lord is up- 
 right : he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him." — 
 Ps. xcii. 13-15. 
 
 There is a peculiar beauty and gracefulness in the spreading 
 and shadowing trees of the East, more particularly the green- 
 tree. When these trees are planted in some moist soil near 
 to water, they attain a height, a strength, and an altitude 
 very imposing. The green and bright tree is often employed 
 in the inspired page as an illustration. From the beginning 
 of the creation, the almighty God himself seems to have re- 
 garded trees, for when He made all things, and pronounced 
 them very good, every tree was pleasant to the sight and ex- 
 ceedingly graceful ; and we read of the heavenly Husband- 
 man himself planting in His chosen garden " the tree of life," 
 to be to man the representation of those who are from nature's 
 wilderness translated into the garden of grace, where they are 
 endowed with heavenly fruitfulness. Among the representa- 
 tions of this kind there are none more affecting than that 
 which the psalmist uses, when he says that the blessed shall 
 be " like a tree planted by the rivers of water." The same 
 figure is frequently and beautifully used in the book, bringing 
 
 * Portions of this sermon, having special reference to a deceased 
 member of Mr. StowelFs congregation, are omitted. 
 
TREES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 247 
 
 them up higher and higher, until at last they are called 
 " trees of righteousness " of the Lord's planting. The sweet 
 singer of Israel, in describing God's seed and God's servants, 
 takes up the same figure in the psalm before us. " The 
 righteous," he says, " shall flourish like a palm-tree, he shall 
 grow like a cedar in Lebanon ;" and then it follows — " Those 
 that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in 
 the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in 
 old age ; they shall be fat and flourishing ; to show that 
 the Lord is upright : he is my rock, and there is no un- 
 righteousness in him." 
 
 Trees of Eighteousness, then; these are our subject: — 
 Their planting and their flourishing : their fruitfulness and 
 their freshness even to the end : the ground and the purpose of 
 the ivhole. 
 
 First, we shall consider their planting and their flourishing : 
 "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish 
 in the courts of our God." Secondly, their freshness and 
 fruitfulness even to the end: "They shall even bring forth 
 fruit in old age, they shall be fat and flourishing;" and thirdly, 
 the ground and purpose of the ivhole: " to show that the Lord 
 is upright." 
 
 May the Spirit of God accompany His word, that we may 
 be trees of His planting, bear much fruit, and afterwards be 
 glorified with Him. 
 
 The planting of the trees of righteousness. They are "planted 
 in the house of the Lord, and flourish in the courts of our 
 God." The temple had around it an outer court exposed 
 to the sky, and it is recorded that in that outer court there 
 were planted beautiful evergreens, and palm-trees, and cedar- 
 trees, spreading their green branches around. These trees are 
 strikingly emblematical, and therefore had their proper place 
 in the courts of the house of our God. It is a delightful 
 
218 TREES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 
 
 picture. It is in the nature of man to flourish and to fade ; 
 and yet it is not his nature, it arises from his fallen condition. 
 Men talk about the " debt of nature" as if men were made 
 to die. They were not made to die. They were made to live ; 
 but death came as a curse and a calamity, and they brought 
 it upon them by their disobedience. " The wages of sin is 
 death ;" no sin, no death — and therefore I correct myself: it 
 is not man's nature to die, but it is the lot and fallen condition 
 of every man born into the world. He has the seeds of decay, 
 and withering, and death within him, and it is every man's 
 doom to decay, and waste, and dissolve. The strongest man, 
 the most intellectual man, the most prosperous, the mightiest 
 conqueror — all are conquered at the last by the king of terrors. 
 Decrepitude and decay seize upon the mightiest prince as 
 upon the lowliest peasant. It is the law of our fallen state, 
 and it has become so through sin, and, therefore, the trees of 
 nature, flourish as they may, and bear fruit as they will, shall 
 soon fade away. There must be transplantation, there must 
 be grafting again, to use a kindred figure, used by Christ 
 himself, and beautifully foretold by the prophet — " Instead 
 of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the 
 brier shall come up the myrtle-tree : and it shall be to the 
 Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut 
 off." There is, therefore, the transplanting out of nature's arid 
 and barren soil into the heavenly soil of grace in Christ Jesus 
 ere there can be vigour conveyed. Our blessed Lord him- 
 self tells us, except the branch take root in the vine it cannot 
 bear fruit. And so we must be grafted into the true Vine; and 
 if we are not so grafted we wither and die ; but if we are 
 grafted in and united to the true Vine we bear fruit. It is in 
 this wise only that any of nature's trees can be made fruitful 
 and flourishing. And this is done ordinarily by the operation 
 of the Word of God, by His ordinances, and by His Church. 
 When, therefore, it is said, " They that are planted in the 
 
TREES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 249 
 
 house of the Lord," it is intended they that are transplanted 
 out of the soil of nature by the ordinances of Christ's own 
 appointment, who by the power of the Spirit are transplanted 
 into a new life, and have given to them a new sap, so to speak, 
 and these shall flourish in the courts of the Lord. The 
 baptism of a child is a sign or mark of its being transplanted 
 into the garden of the Lord, and we are to endeavour to bring 
 up children to their calling, and to plant them in the courts 
 of the Lord God, where they shall grow " as willows by the 
 watercourses" of God's teaching, of God's influence, of God's 
 ordinances, and of the various channels of His grace ; and 
 they that are so planted shall spring up as willows. I have 
 never known a faithful and devoted servant of God that did 
 not love God's house, I have never known one that did not 
 take pleasure in communion with Him, I have never known 
 one that did not love His Word, for there, in His Word, is 
 He made known to His people, and there only can He be 
 known as the God of grace; therefore there is no infidel, there 
 is no contemner of God's Word that can be said truly to be 
 transplanted into the courts of grace, that can be said to have 
 the Spirit of God through Christ Jesus, and that is made a 
 new creature. We find that holy men of old, who flourished 
 in the courts of the Lord, did not neglect the duties of life; 
 we find that they did not live the life of the hermit, they 
 did not live the life of the recluse, they did not hide their 
 light under a bushel, but they placed their light in a candle- 
 stick. " Let your light so shine before men, that they may 
 see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in 
 heaven." " Herein," said Christ, " is my Father glorified, 
 that ye bear much fruit ; so shall ye be my disciples." 
 Planted in the house of the Lord, they are planted there by 
 the heavenly Father. Many may seem to be planted and be 
 like a graft of the gardener, attached to the tree with all care, 
 not knowing whether it will come to anything, and after all 
 
250 TREES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 
 
 bear no fruit. The graft must take effect if it is to bear fruit 
 and live. And so when the plant is not planted by the 
 heavenly Husbandman, it withers and fades, and must 
 be rooted up, because " every plant which my heavenly 
 Father hath not planted shall be rooted up." But they 
 that are planted by the heavenly Husbandman in the house 
 of our God shall flourish and give forth fruitfulness in works 
 and labours of love, and have their leaves still spreading 
 forth, as the prophet Jeremiah describes, leaves spreading by 
 the river, deriving from it heavenly fruitfulness and fitness 
 to go forth in the courts of our God, living in union and in 
 connexion with Him, and bearing fruit abundantly. Beautiful 
 expression ! And, brethren, this is no inapt picture of a 
 holy life, united to Him, growing up in Him, deriving all 
 their beautiful blossom and fruitage from their union with 
 Him. And just " as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, 
 except it abide in the vine ; no more can ye, except ye abide 
 in Christ." All is from Christ. It is most important that we 
 should bear this in mind, for when we come to our last hours 
 we shall see that it is the only ground of all fruitfulness and 
 righteousness. 
 
 In the next place, we have their freshness and fruitfulness 
 to the end. " They shall still bring forth fruit in old age ; 
 they shall be fat and flourishing." There shall be no draw- 
 back, but they shall grow and flourish. The grace of God in 
 the child of man is a very beautiful thing. " We have this 
 treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power 
 may be of God, and not of us;" and every believer in Christ 
 says, " By the grace of God I am what I am; all that is good 
 in me is of grace, all that is in me is of heavenly sending." 
 I have often thought, whether is the work of God more 
 beautiful in the old and tried pilgrim or loving and attractive 
 in the young and tender child just beginning to lisp the 
 name of Jesus, and deriving the answer of the blessed 
 
TREES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 251 
 
 Spirit, as he calls to Him, " Speak, Lord, for Thy servant 
 heareth f ' 
 
 It is beautiful to see the young retaining the early lessons 
 of simplicity, and receiving the kingdom of God as a little 
 child ; beautiful it is to see the youth kept unspotted from 
 the world, to see the bud unfold in the gardens of grace, and 
 to exhibit the beauty that never comes from the soil of earth ; 
 it is beautiful to see the young man and the young woman 
 adorning the doctrine of God their Saviour — lovely and 
 beautiful it is to see it : " Remember thy Creator in the 
 days of thy youth ;" thou mayest never have a youth again. 
 But beautiful as this is, there is something more lovely in the 
 sight of " the hoary head," when it is found in the ways of 
 righteousness ; then indeed it is a " crown of glory." Beau- 
 tiful things are written and said of the young, but nothing 
 so exalted as this is said : "A hoary head is a crown of 
 glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness." How 
 lovely when you see the hoary head, as it is here described, 
 bearing more fruit and flourishing. It is natural in youth 
 to be fair and to bear fruit ; and the natural trees are more 
 fruitful when they are young, and their first fruits are the 
 sweetest and the best: and here is nature reversed, and 
 when all in nature would be decay, " the trees of the Lord 
 are full of sap." When all in nature is aridness around, 
 when the trees are aged, and the boughs are broken, and 
 moss is covering them, and they are budding forth but a few 
 trembling leaves and scattered blossoms, when there is no 
 fatness or sap in them : so oftentimes it is in old age, when 
 after a long life the energy has departed, the mind and the 
 spirit are trembling, there are complainings and murmur- 
 ings and repinings, and the poor wretched tree, when about 
 to be torn from the roots, cleaves closer and closer to the 
 soil, and grasps at health, and the paltry and pitiful wealth 
 to the last. Therefore the more marvellous and signally 
 
252 TREES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 
 
 beautiful is it when we see the order of nature reversed, 
 when we see the tree of righteousness unlike the tree of 
 nature, when we see not the withering leaf and the scattered 
 blossom and the shattered bough, but all fresh, and fat, and 
 fruitful. Often do we see the aged Christian realizing this 
 picture, and when about to flee away, kept by the Spirit of 
 God from becoming sour and unprofitable. God does some- 
 times so manifestly give to his children, as they are depart- 
 ing unto his presence, the spirit of gladness and the spirit of 
 praise ; and I have known aged Christians hardly cease from 
 praising God when about to depart. They have felt so 
 deep a love to God, and joy in His people's interest, and in 
 His work, and in anticipation of a happy home, and a bright 
 and glorious communion with Him in another and better 
 world, that when the seeds of decay have come upon them, 
 they have longed to depart and be set free, and they have 
 looked forward to the unseen future with cheerfulness and 
 patience, and contentment, and hope, longing to be with 
 God. to be praising Him for His mercies, to be in fellowship 
 with His dear Son Jesus Christ, and in the full and perfect 
 enjoyment of His Holy Spirit. How beautiful it is to see the 
 order of nature thus reversed, to see while the old trees of 
 this world are fading and perishing, the aged trees of right- 
 eousness are fat and flourishing, and bearing more fruit ! 
 How beautiful to see the aged, as the venerable Simeon and 
 Zacharias, praising God and flourishing in the courts of the 
 house of our God, their work accomplished, and nothing left 
 to do but to depart in peace, for their eyes had seen the ful- 
 ness of the salvation of God ! You may perhaps think they 
 are to be admired and to be envied, and to say, Would that 
 we were like them ! They are not to be envied, for what 
 had they that we have not received ? 
 
 Now we come, brethren, to the blessed ground and purpose 
 of the whole, " to show that the Lord is upright : he is my 
 
TREES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 253 
 
 rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him." There is the 
 sum of the whole. God has made a covenant with His 
 people, and never fails. The psalmist's house was not with 
 God, as he would have it ; his children were to him a bitter 
 and a sore trial, piercing his soul with many sorrows, but he 
 could say, " although my house be not so with God, yet He 
 hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all 
 things, and sure ; for this is all my salvation." There was 
 the rock on which he was planted, there was the secret of his 
 dependence. And as he foretold it, so was it in himself, he 
 brought forth more fruit, and was fat and nourishing. Yes, 
 brethren, never to man should be any praise, all the praise 
 should be to God. When we think of the infirmities that 
 beset and wait for men, and what men would have been if 
 left to themselves, we see that it is owing to the sovereign 
 mercy of God's goodness in Christ that we have pardon and 
 salvation ; and it is to Him alone that the praise must be, 
 I have never known an aged Christian, faithful to God, that 
 would not say with the aged Paul, that all he ever was was 
 through the grace of God. " By the grace of God I am what 
 I am : and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not 
 in vain ; but I laboured more abundantly than they all : yet 
 not I, but the grace of God which was with me." You see 
 he takes the ground and purpose of all, and, casting himself 
 before the cross, says, " Thou art worthy." Be assured of 
 it, God visits His poor creatures that He may manifest in 
 them the mightiness of His power, and the riches of His 
 grace ; and the world itself, when it sees this in the fresh- 
 ness of bright youth, or in the fulness of hoary age, must 
 say, " This is the finger of God." " Let me die the death 
 of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." Oh that 
 the sacred fruitfulness that does not fade may be mine ! 
 Oh that I may have that abiding life, that glory and that 
 honour that cometh not from above, that lasts for ever, and 
 
254 TREES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 
 
 never dies ! The Christian never dies ; it is not death when 
 he departs, it is life. He does not cease to bear fruit ; he 
 bears it often with his last breath, and it appears in the world 
 everlasting and without end. 
 
 What a consolation to Christian mourners when they can 
 have the blessed assurance that can only be enjoyed fully 
 when the tree has been long planted in the courts of the 
 Lord. " Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will 
 show thee my faith by my works." 
 
 The great lesson taught us is that we should strive to be 
 planted in the house of the Lord, and bearing fruit in the 
 house of God. What have you that you cannot leave behind 
 you ? There are two things that are never taken from man 
 when he dies, — his sins and his righteousness — his sins will 
 never leave him if he dies in them ; and his righteousness — 
 yet not his, but Christ's in him — will never be taken from 
 him. It is but a little time, and we shall have nothing but 
 sin or salvation. Which is ours ? If we were called away 
 this night, which should we take with us 1 Let this be put 
 by every man to his own conscience, let him not put it away, 
 for " the night cometh when no man can work." Let us 
 glorify the faithfulness and the grace of God in Christ. " I 
 will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." " The Lord is my 
 light, and my salvation ; whom then shall I fear ? the Lord 
 is the strength of my life ; of whom then shall I be afraid V 
 Heart and flesh may fail, friends may forsake us, but the 
 light of His countenance never fails, for " all the promises 
 of God in Him are yea, and in Him amen, unto the glory of 
 God." Heaven and earth shall pass away, but not one jot 
 or tittle of His precious promises shall pass away till all be 
 fulfilled. 
 
 My young friends, would you wish for a bright and happy 
 
TREES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 255 
 
 old age 1 set about it now. Be assured of it, you will find 
 it is for the most part those that were planted early that 
 flourish in the courts of the house of God ; it is they for the 
 most part that bring forth most fruit in old age. God may 
 convert the aged sinner ; but that is not the order of God, it 
 is not the order of grace, it is not the order of nature. Plant 
 the young tree now. Oh, then, " remember now thy Creator 
 in the days of thy youth." Cry now, " My Father, Thou 
 art the guide of my youth." And let us pray that in the 
 end, when we are transplanted from below, it may be to the 
 courts above, where we may be like those of whom it may 
 may be written, " The memory of the just is blessed." 
 
XXVIII. 
 BEADY AND WAITING. 
 
 " Be ye therefore ready also : for the Son of man cometh at an hour 
 
 when ye think not." — St. Luke xii. 40. 
 " Therefore be ye also ready : for in such an hour as ye think not the 
 
 Son of man cometh." — St. Matt. xxiv. 44. 
 
 The opening of the following chapter in St. Luke is this : 
 " There were present at that season some that told Him of 
 the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their 
 sacrifices. And Jesus, answering, said unto them, Suppose 
 ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Gali- 
 leans, because they suffered such things ? I tell you, Nay : 
 but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or 
 those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and 
 slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men 
 that dwelt in Jerusalem 1 I tell you, Nay : but, except ye 
 repent, ye shall all likewise perish." When God then 
 speaks in His providence, His people ought to speak by 
 His Word, and the echo of His voice in providence should 
 be found in His own divine oracles. As I have heard in 
 the grandeur of the Alps, when the thunder has been 
 raging, there have been echoes awakened all around from 
 every dell and every hill, repeating back the grand sound j 
 and when some sudden explosion took place, there were 
 
READY AND WAITING. 257 
 
 reverberations on the other side. It ought to be thus when 
 God visits any neighbourhood or any nation with some 
 very solemn, fearful, and startling visitation. It is not a 
 vain curiosity, it is not even provocative judgment, as 
 though those that suffer were worse than those that are 
 saved from sudden death, or, as some would argue, that 
 some more guilty than others are suffered to escape ; it is 
 not even sympathy for the sufferers and succour as far as 
 human aid can avail — though that ought to be the result ; 
 but there should be a solemn awakening of every individual 
 to prepare to meet his God, and to be pardoned and found 
 in Him in peace, so that whether He cometh " at even, or 
 at midnight, or at the cock crowing, or in the morning," 
 they may watch, that come when He may it may be well 
 with them, that His footsteps may not alarm them though 
 they be heard from afar off, that they may not shake and 
 quake at His approach, and that when He comes He may 
 not be a terror, because He comes not as an enemy but as a 
 friend, He comes not to destroy but to save. 
 
 May it be so, beloved brethren, with us in relation to 
 that awful catastrophe with which it has pleased God to 
 visit a neighbouring city and its environs,* than which, 
 within our recollection, none has been so sudden, none so 
 tremendous, none so desolating, none so deadly. It would 
 be unaccountable if we stretched not forth our hands in 
 kindness to succour so far as we can, and, above all, if we 
 did not lay it to heart, that it js not at all improbable that 
 some such sudden visitation may befall ourselves. Each 
 individual man is liable , at any moment " the silver cord" 
 may be " broken," and he be before his Maker. The voice 
 of Jesus, then, comes home with peculiar and touching 
 solemnity, "Be ye therefore ready also • for the Son of 
 man cometh at an hour when ye think not." 
 
 * The Inundation at Bradfield, near Sheffield. 
 
 17 
 
258 READY AND WAITING. 
 
 The solemn admonition ; " Be ye also ready :" and, the most 
 impressive argument to enforce that admonition: " The Son of 
 man cometh at an hour when ye think not." 
 
 Let us look to His Spirit to open our hearts to receive 
 His word with solemnity and with submission, that we may 
 hear His voice, and so may attend to that " peace which 
 passeth all understanding," which " neither death, nor life, 
 nor things present, nor things to come," can take away from 
 those who enjoy it. 
 
 "Be ye also therefore ready" for the great end of life. 
 Ready to stand before your Maker ; ready to be accepted 
 of Him, and admitted by Him into His holy and happy 
 family. What is life save that 1 What is life for but that ? 
 What is all that we are pursuing and thinking about in 
 comparison with that end and purpose ? "Oh that they 
 were wise," says God himself, " that they understood this, 
 that they would consider their latter end" — to be ready to 
 meet God. You are familiar, brethren, with the theory ; 
 would that each would experimentally set it with his seal, 
 and so wait as to be ready ! If we are to meet God in 
 peace, we must be at peace with God. No man is ready to 
 meet God who is not at peace with Him ; peace made with 
 Him, peace made also by Him — for it never would have 
 been made had not the Lord, the blessed " daysman," the 
 Prince of Peace, made peace by the cross. God was in 
 Him "reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing 
 their trespasses unto them,", so that now we, His ambassa- 
 dors, " beseech men in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to 
 God." It is the atonement that makes the sinner and the 
 Judge to be at one, the blessing is completed, the meeting- 
 place is ready, the covenant is sealed, the everlasting right- 
 eousness is finished, and we are invited to " come, for all 
 things are ready." But man is not ready. The peace does 
 not profit unless it is entered into ; the covenant does not 
 
READY AND WAITING. 259 
 
 avail unless a man is engaged in it ; the lamp is of no use 
 unless we receive light out of it j the ark will not avail in 
 the flood unless man has entered into it and God has shut 
 the door ; the meeting-place is in vain prepared unless man 
 goes to it ; the fountain rises in vain in all its covenant 
 efficacy if man is not washed there. If a man does not 
 avail himself of Christ, whatever he may know, however he 
 may have "been baptised, if he has not entered into personal 
 reconciliation, if he has not " fled for refuge to lay hold on 
 the hope set before him," if he has not been — as the word 
 is in the Greek — turned round, if he has not been brought 
 back from sin and Satan, and from nature's fallen state, 
 into acceptance with God in the Beloved, if he has not, by 
 " repentance towards God and faith towards Jesus Christ," 
 become another man and entered into new relationship 
 with God, not merely of the creature to the Creator, of the 
 subject to the sovereign, of the culprit to the judge ; but 
 the relationship of the sinner to the Saviour, of the rebel in 
 reconciliation with his sovereign ; if he is not in Christ, 
 having cast down the arms of rebellion, and laid hold, as it 
 is beautifully said, of His " strength," " how shall we escape, 
 if we neglect so great salvation ?" how shall we meet Him 
 on the judgment throne, if we are forced then to acknow- 
 ledge, I rejected my Saviour, I preferred sin, I preferred to 
 serve the world, the flesh, and the devil, and when peace 
 was pressed upon me without money and without price, I 
 would not accept it, I did not embrace it 1 " He that be- 
 lieveth not shall be damned." If a man dies unbelieving, 
 he dies at variance with God, and the peace that was pur- 
 chased by the blood of Christ will be but an aggravation of 
 his guilt and of his sin. 
 
 To be ready to meet God we must be at peace with God, 
 and be made meet for Him, and fit to be in His presence. 
 J2very man of thought, of sense, of conscience, must know 
 
 17—2 
 
2 GO READY AND WAITING. 
 
 that it would be impossible for an impure being, such as man 
 is by nature, ever to come into the blazing light and over- 
 whelming presence of the Lord God Almighty. How would 
 he find himself, what concord would there be, what kindred 
 feeling between Him and those holy, holy, holy saints around 
 the throne ? Would not man feel that he had got into the 
 wrong place ! Put the question to your own hearts. " Ho- 
 liness, without which no man can see the Lord." " What 
 fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and 
 what communion hath light with darkness 1 and what con- 
 cord hath Christ with Belial V Must not purity here be 
 man's preparation for perfect purity 1 Must not delight in 
 the things of God be man's preparation for the things of 
 God 1 Must not willingness to do His will here be meetness 
 to do His will hereafter 1 As are the first-fruits, so is the 
 harvest ; as is the grace, so is the glory ; as man lives, so he 
 dies ; as he dies, so he stands before God ; and as he stands 
 before God, so will he be judged in the last day, and either 
 take his place on the right hand and go into life everlasting, 
 or on the left hand, and go into everlasting fire ; and " who 
 amongst us can dwell with everlasting burnings T There- 
 fore, brethren, no man can be meet for the presence of God 
 that is not in Christ, that is not a new creature, old things 
 having passed away. His affections must be drawn heaven- 
 ward by the magnet of a Saviour's love, his heart must be 
 where his treasure is. If heaven is to be his portion, heaven 
 must be his choice. 
 
 Then, brethren, to be ready to meet God, we must also be 
 willing to meet him. Ah ! when the summons suddenly 
 comes upon a man, it will test him, and search him to his 
 heart's core. He will not then be able to throw it aside 
 and get rid of it ; he will not be able to drown the thought 
 in drunkenness. If he does, what a fearful summons it will 
 be ! When the summons comes, a man must attend to it 
 
READY AND WAITING. 261 
 
 whether he will or not. Who shall be able to live one hour, 
 who shall be able to breathe one breath beyond the moment 
 fixed by God 1 Then, brethren, that which a man has to 
 do, that which he has to pass through, surely he should be 
 familiar with, and count upon. Surely such a journey ought 
 to be packed up for, and provided for ; for if a man lays up 
 so much for his old age, how much more ought he*to lay up 
 for eternity 1 That is the one thing : no matter how else it 
 is, if it is peace at the last, for his soul goes to glory, and he 
 may look down upon the kings and princes of the earth, and 
 the rich man clothed in purple and fine linen, when he is in 
 torment, will see the poor man in Abraham's bosom, and he 
 will ask in vain for a drop of water to cool his tongue. " Be 
 ye also ready." 
 
 What an awful and solemn consideration it is, that " the 
 Son of man cometh at an hour we know not of !" No man 
 can deny it, for he sees it continually, that the " wise men 
 also die and perish together, .... and leave their goods 
 for others." There is no exception. No man is mighty 
 enough to withstand the last enemy ; all must bow before 
 the king of terrors. This it is that makes death so dreadful 
 to the sinner, and so calm though solemn to the saint. It 
 is beautifully said, " The Son of man cometh at a day and 
 an hour that no man knoweth." The Son of man. If it 
 were said, the Son of God, there would be something more 
 awful in the sound ; but it is the Son of man ; one that 
 shared our sorrows, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, 
 He has travelled through that dark valley before us, He has 
 crossed that rapid flood, and He it is that comes to us. 
 " This is our God ; we have waited for Him, .... this is 
 the Lord, — we have waited for Him — we will be glad and 
 rejoice in His salvation f for He hath overcome the power 
 of death, and hath made us more than conquerors. " The 
 Son of man cometh at an hour we know not of." Death is 
 
262 READY AND WAITING. 
 
 not the mere debt of nature, as some vaguely say ; it is not 
 a mere necessity of our constitution j it could not have been 
 but for sin. It is the Judge of all the earth coming to acquit, 
 or to condemn ; to receive to everlasting blessedness, or to 
 sentence to righteous punishment ; it is God's officer sent to 
 drive the culprit away from God's anger, or to convey His 
 dear children to His everlasting bosom. Look upon it 
 steadily, as you all must ere long ; bring it before you, take 
 it by the hand, ask it what it is, whether it is to come to us 
 as Satan to bind us, or as Christ to save us ; whether as an 
 angel of mercy, or as the angel of destruction. God grant 
 that we may ever bear it in mind that " the Son of man 
 cometh at an hour we know not of," that "the Judge standeth 
 at the door." 
 
 We know that the hour of our death is fixed ; there is no 
 uncertainty with God. Those two hundred and forty-eight 
 fellow immortals that were submerged into eternity, most of 
 them in the twinkling of an eye ; it was all arranged — it 
 was fixed. Not fatalism, not destiny, but purpose. Does 
 nothing happen without God ? are " the hairs of our head 
 all numbered ?" cannot " even a sparrow fall without God's 
 permission 1" and can this be accident merely, as some pro- 
 fanely say 1 "What we know not now we shall know here- 
 after ; but remember, I pray you, that there is no uncer- 
 tainty, there is no chance, there is no accident with God. 
 And it is a comfort to a Christian man to feel that there is 
 no uncertainty, and that he need not take anxious thought. 
 He should only seek to be ready to die, and when the mes- 
 senger shall come to him God must decide. How much 
 anxiety and vain fear and bitter sorrow would it save us if 
 we walked by faith and not by sight, if we could realize that 
 God's coming to us is fixed and certain, and if we could wait 
 for our appointed time as the tried patriarch of old did. 
 But thousrh these things are fixed and certain to God, there 
 
READY AND WAITING. 2G3 
 
 is no certainty to us. Do you think that those two hundred 
 and forty-eight persons, when about in the midnight hour 
 to close their eyes in sleep, did they, at that dread and 
 solemn hour of their visitation, think that they should never 
 see the sun again ? Did they think that they would never 
 have one opportunity of falling down again and asking God 
 to be merciful to them % Did they think that they would 
 not be able to breathe out perhaps even a dying cry for 
 mercy ? Did they think when they last closed their eyes in 
 time, that when they awoke up it would be never to sleep 
 again, in that place where there is no more night ? Alas ! 
 do you suppose they imagined it was their last night upon 
 earth any more than we do now 1 And yet they were called 
 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Who amongst us 
 shall say that even this night they shall not be summoned 
 by some sudden stroke, or by disease % These may seem 
 simple and familiar truths, but they are most solemn and 
 most important. Let us then take them to heart as we 
 ought, let us realize them as we ought, for " we know not 
 the day nor the hour when the Son of man cometh." "What 
 may happen at any time should be prepared for at every 
 time ; we should be ready always for what We always know 
 may be, and for what we cannot too much keep ourselves 
 looking for, "the glorious appearing of the great God and 
 our Saviour Jesus Christ." "We cannot be too much in the 
 beautiful attitude described by Himself, so that when the 
 bridegroom cometh to the bridal chamber our loins may be 
 " girded about, and our lights burning, and we ourselves 
 like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return 
 from the wedding ; that when He cometh and knocketh, we 
 may open unto Him immediately. "We should be thus 
 ready ; and the poor man, when aroused from his sleep, to 
 find himself submerged in an overwhelming deluge ; if that 
 was his happy state of preparation he would open imme- 
 
264 READY AND WAITING. 
 
 diately and welcome the bridegroom with the cry, " Come, 
 Lord Jesus, come quickly." 
 
 It is not my intention to enter into particulars of the 
 tremendous and desolating scenes of that destructive flood. 
 What I am anxious to press upon you is the deep and 
 solemn lesson it teaches us. I need not remind you how 
 unexpected and how overwhelming it was. That beautiful 
 and populous valley, which consisted of scores of houses 
 and miles of gardens, of fair trees and lovely streams, is 
 now a wide-spread desert, full of desolation and wrecks of 
 houses, and furniture, and gardens, and trees, and flowers, 
 and the wrecks too, alas ! of those that once dwelt in those 
 houses. I need not remind you how many have been ex- 
 tricated dead cold corpses from the mass of ruin and des- 
 truction ; how many aching hearts, and weeping eyes, and 
 breaking spirits there must be surviving ; how God, in His 
 providence, snatched one of a family from the ruins, and 
 left others to perish : " one shall be taken and the other 
 left." That providence, without which one sparrow dieth 
 not, ruled over the raging waters, and singled out whom 
 He would. And I need not, but in one short sentence, re- 
 mind you that the voice of the Almighty has been heard in 
 the waters. "It is the glorious God that maketh the 
 thunder." He hath spoken to that neighbourhood, and the 
 echo of His voice should reach us, and we should take our 
 Master's message to heart, "Be ye also readj^, for in such 
 an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." 
 
 I need not, brethren, impress it further upon you. My 
 whole sermon has been a personal application. Now, I 
 simply say, if you have never begun the mighty work of 
 life, let not to-morrow's sun arise without a diligent atten- 
 tion to it. Seek earnestly to be ready to die. Go to the 
 Saviour for peace, for pardon, and for grace, without which 
 you can never be ready to die ; for none can be ready with- 
 
READY AND WAITING. 265 
 
 out Jesus, none can be ready but through the atonement of 
 His blood, none can be ready but through the work of His 
 Spirit renewing the soul after His image. If this be the 
 case with you, then, indeed, this solemn season of Easter, 
 when we trace the Saviour in the garden of Gethsemane, 
 to the hall of judgment, on the cross, down to the sepulchre, 
 and up to the throne of glory, shall be to us a bright and a 
 blessed season. This will be so if we are able to date from 
 this Easter our beginning to be found in Him who by His 
 death hath destroyed death, and by rising to life again hath 
 restored His believing people everlastingly. 
 
XXIX. 
 THE JUDGE AT THE DOOR. 
 
 " Behold, the Judge standeth before the door." — James v. part of 9. 
 
 The Church of Christ has had from the beginning to look 
 forward. It is of the very nature of faith that it looks to 
 the future ; not exclusively, for it looks to the past ; but 
 as our grand hope is ever before us, we are ever to be turn- 
 ing to what has to come, rather than exclusively to what 
 has gone by. To the coming of Christ as at this time,* in 
 great humility the eyes of all the faithful were directed; 
 and for that event, the coming in lowliness and love, seek- 
 ing to save the lost, the faithful waited. He was "the 
 messenger of the covenant that they had waited for, hoped 
 for, prayed for, and looked for. Now the eye of faith looks 
 backward on the agonies of the cross, and sees that He has 
 made a full, perfect, and sufficient oblation, satisfaction, and 
 atonement for the sins of the whole world. There it is 
 that all. His true followers are to plant their feet, and upon 
 that rock they are to stand. They are to bring there all 
 their dangers and sorrows in their journey through the 
 wilderness, watching and praying and feeling that they are 
 under the shelter of His mighty protection, under the shield 
 and banner of His cross. Thence, therefore, they are to 
 t * Advent Sunday evening, 1864. 
 
THE JUDGE AT THE DOOR. 2G7 
 
 turn their eyes forward ; their great prospect is before them, 
 and therefore their attitude is to be " looking for and hast- 
 ing to the glorious appearing of the great God, even our 
 Saviour Jesus Christ." 
 
 This morning we endeavoured to show you the practical 
 influence of that great truth upon the spirit, and temper, 
 and words, and inward thoughts of every one who realizes 
 and anticipates it as he ought. This evening surely there 
 is peculiar force and emphasis in the words we have selected 
 for our attention. It is a solemn truth : " Behold, the judge 
 standeth before the door." And then there are the solemn 
 lessons that flow from that solemn truth: Prepare each soul to 
 meet Him. 
 
 I say there is peculiar emphasis in the words, for I have 
 often observed that as one year is coming to a close, and 
 we are called to remember that He who came to save us is 
 coming to judge us, God seems to send home the solemn 
 admonition by special providences. It is a solemn thought 
 that that fellow worshipper we prayed for this morning was 
 just entering into the presence of the Judge as we prayed 
 for him; probably within a minute of the very time we 
 prayed he was gone whither prayer cannot avail us, and is 
 now safe in God's keeping. It is also a solemn thought 
 that another worshipper was called away from this place to 
 witness probably the last breathing of an eldest son. 
 These things are going on up and down, and they are in- 
 tended to echo the important warning, " Behold, the Judge 
 standeth before the door." May God solemnize our minds 
 and impress our hearts whilst we seek to realize this great 
 truth, which can only be realized in efficacy as the Holy 
 Spirit gives His testimony. May He do so now, for 
 Christ's sake. 
 
 The simplest truths are oftentimes the most vital and 
 the most sublime. What can be more simple, and yet sub- 
 
26S THE JUDGE AT THE DOOR. 
 
 lime and intensely interesting, than this brief declaration — • 
 "Behold, the Judge standeth before the door?" We be- 
 hold many things. The world says, "Behold this won- 
 der;" the thoughtless and vain say, "Behold this pro- 
 digy;" the covetous and the grasping say, "Behold this 
 plan, this fine scheme or speculation by which a fortune 
 may be realized." But all these things are vanity. 
 " Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." We invest things with 
 a grandeur and an importance which do not belong to 
 them. " Man walketh in a vain shadow, and disquiet eth 
 himself in vain : he heapeth up riches, and cannot tell who 
 shall gather them." When God says, " Behold," there must 
 be something indeed to behold. There is nothing that ex- 
 cites wonder or astonishment in heaven but what is invisi- 
 ble, and spiritual, and eternal; and, therefore, when the 
 Spirit of God says by His servants, " Behold," ought not 
 every eye to be turned in deepest anticipation and earnest- 
 ness, every ear to be opened in solemn patience, every 
 heart to be awed and sifbdued before what God must 
 disclose 1 
 
 " Behold, He cometh, and every eye shall see Him." Be- 
 hold who is it that stands before the door. He stands 
 there in a twofold aspect — as a Bedeemer and as a Judge. 
 Throughout life we may see Him as a Bedeemer — at all 
 events, throughout the day of grace ; and it is not for us to 
 limit it, though God knows its limitation. " Seek ye the 
 Lord while he may be found, call ye upon Him while He is 
 near." "The night cometh when no man can work," and 
 therefore it is our joy and confidence to proclaim it. " Be- 
 hold, I stand at the door and knock ; if any man hear my 
 voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will 
 sup with him, and he with me." How beautiful the two 
 "beholds!" They may be placed side by side. Behold a 
 Saviour waiting, behold a Judge impending. Oh, blessed 
 
THE JUDGE AT THE DOOR. 2G9 
 
 are they that receive the former " behold" in anticipation 
 of the latter, and look on Him whom they have pierced by 
 their sins; and mourn, and have their hearts bound up 
 with the balm of His precious blood, and are renewed and 
 made whole by the power of His Holy Spirit, before they 
 have to appear before Him as ' the Judge of the quick and 
 the dead. 
 
 It is not to the former of these " beholds" that the words 
 of the text direct your attention, but rather to the latter. 
 Behold, the Judge. We have seen, brethren, in our own 
 city of late, a judge amongst mankind coming amongst us, 
 and ushered in with solemnity. There is something ma- 
 jestic and solemn in the tribunal of human judgment. 
 With what varied feelings and intense solicitude must the 
 coming of the earthly judge be regarded by many with 
 whom he will have to do ! Many doubtless regard it with 
 carelessness, and make it a mere spectacle, a mere scene, a 
 matter of curiosity and excitement ; yet it is not the less 
 important, though they disregard it and make light of it. 
 To the man who has to stand at the bar, especially the 
 man who has to stand with his life at stake, to him it must . 
 be a most thrilling event ; and when, he hears the trumpet 
 sound that ushers in the judge, what deep thoughts are at 
 work in his heart as to how he shall face the judge, and 
 what is before him ! His thoughts are concentrated upon 
 that one point. The one critical thought is, what will be 
 the issue to him ? Now it is indeed meet and fit that v:e 
 should thus realize the Judge before the door. Let us not 
 think of others, and how they are to fare. Let us not say, 
 "Lord, what shall this man do? how shall this man stand? 
 what account shall this man give?" Eather let it be, 
 " There is my Judge ; I am one that is to be judged and 
 tried ; I am to stand for life or death, heaven or hell ; I 
 must be lost or saved for ever — must meet the sound, 
 
270 THE JUDGE AT THE DOOR. 
 
 ' Come, ye blessed of my Father/ or, ' Depart, ye cursed.' 
 'We must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ.' 
 ' I beheld the dead, small and great,' gathered before the 
 judgment-seat of God. There was not one exempted, not 
 one could hide himself, not one could escape that Judge." 
 The Judge standeth before the door, and is not far distant, 
 even from any one of us. People think, when they are 
 children, how long the time will be before they are men or 
 women; then, when they have come to their youth and 
 manhood, they still think there is a long life before them ; 
 but when they begin to go down into the valley, and the 
 shadows of life are casting behind them, and the twilight 
 is gathering around them, what a dream life seems. It 
 seems like looking back from a lofty hill when a journey 
 has been taken. The traveller sees but a few of the promi- 
 nent points here and there, as if the valleys — and largely 
 the plains too — had disappeared, they are in obscurity. 
 And so it is with life. What is your life ? — behold, what 
 is it ? It is even as a vapour, that we behold for a little 
 while, and it vanishes away. And therefore, brethren, it 
 may well be said, " The Judge standeth before the door." 
 Just as if you were without the door. We cannot tell the 
 moment the door opens, and death ushers a man before the 
 tribunal ; for a thousand years are but as yesterday, and 
 yesterday as a thousand years, in that world where, if I. 
 may so speak, the hands of the clock know no turning and 
 no change. 
 
 Is not the Judge before the door, because of the cer- 
 tainty that He is there ? Men say, " Where is the promise 
 of His coming?" Men say, "Tush, He delay eth His 
 coming." In the days of our Lord's first coming did not 
 men despair of His coming, as at this time, in great hu- 
 mility 1 Did not men doubt and deny His coming ? But 
 did He therefore fail? Did not God "in the fulness of 
 
THE JUDGE AT THE DOOR. 271 
 
 time" send forth His Son, " made of a woman, made under 
 the law, to redeem them that were under the law?" "In 
 the fulness of time." Is there not as clear an intimation 
 that the date is as fixed for His second coming as it was for 
 His first coming'? God "hath appointed a day, in the 
 which He will iudge the world in righteousness, by that 
 man whom He hath ordained ; whereof He hath given as- 
 surance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the 
 dead." "Behold, He cometh." How beautiful the ex- 
 pression ! It is not, Behold, He shall come, but, " Behold, 
 He cometh," He is on the way. And is He not nearer and 
 nearer in point of time every sand-grain that drops? 
 Surely, then, brethren, what is so certain should be* ever 
 regarded as near. It is not simply the proximity of the 
 Judge, it is the certitude that makes the thing present. 
 Then, ought there to be any doubt, when God has said it, 
 to whom every knee shall bow 1 
 
 And if the certitude of the event should make us realize 
 it before the time, not less should the hidden certitude make 
 us, while certain, all uncertain. Where are the men who 
 relied upon years to come, and said, "To-day, or to-morrow, 
 we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and 
 buy, and sell, and get gain : whereas ye know not what 
 shall be on the morrow. For what is your life ?" What a 
 vapour ! What is it at the best ? A mere brittle thread, 
 trembling every moment for its very brittleness. We know 
 not the instant when it may be snapped for ever ; and as 
 we die we shall remain, and appear before the tribunal of 
 God. In this sense, then, is not the Judge before the 
 door 1 Is not the breath in our nostrils the one step to the 
 opening of that door, and lo ! we are in the presence of the 
 Omniscient and Omnipotent, we stand before God ! Surely 
 every man, woman, and child should say, "Prepare, my 
 soul, to meet Him." 
 
272 THE JUDGE AT THE DOOR. 
 
 The Judge standeth before the door, because He is there 
 to receive His own, and to deliver over His enemies that 
 they may be justly consigned to darkness and despair. The 
 first martyr prayed, " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." That 
 was a prayer to his Judge as well as to his Eedeemer. 
 How beautiful to the godly man, to think tjiat he is before 
 the bar of God, that he has passed through the dark passage 
 into the bright abode ! " 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." 
 And how awful a thought to the ungodly, and the un- 
 believing, and the scoffer, and the mocker, to come to stand 
 before the bar, that He may deliver over the ungodly and 
 profane to a "fearful looking for and waiting" for the 
 coming of judgment ! What despair to the wicked ! what 
 joy and hope to the good ! " Behold, the Judge standeth 
 before the door." 
 
 Then, brethren, if such be the solemn proclamation, how 
 solemn the lessons that it enforces ! 
 
 Now primarily and pre-eminently, because it stands first, 
 is the individual and personal lesson. There is but a step 
 between me and my Judge ; how then should I seek to be 
 found in Him in peace when He comes ; how should I seek 
 and study to conform my thoughts, and tempers, and 
 words, and ways, and works to Him, and realize His holy 
 law, that I may give an account with joy ; how I should 
 study day by day, in my business dealings, in my course of 
 life, in my intercourse with the world, so to form my plans, 
 so to cherish my hopes, and so to shape my purposes ; how 
 should I venture into no scene, be found in no pursuit, in 
 no pleasure where I would not wish to meet my Judge 
 standing before the door. He stands before the door, in 
 the ale-house and in the dram-shop, in the theatre, and in 
 the haunts of wantonness and abomination. Why do not 
 
THE JUDC4E AT THE DOOR. 273 
 
 men remember this? If they were to realize it, would they 
 go to scenes and places where they would not wish the 
 Judge to come in and find them? Yet come He does, 
 where men brutalize and imbrute and madden themselves, 
 and make themselves insensible. What an awakening ! 
 Yet, brethren, it will be so, it is so, often • and no man has 
 a right to say it will not be so with him. We should study 
 to be where we should not be startled if the Judge ap- 
 peared ; we should study to regulate our temper, and 
 thoughts, and conduct, so as to be found in a right spirit, 
 and temper, and mind when he comes. Oh, what a life we 
 should lead when we are habitually thus under the Judge's 
 eyes ! Men say, " Why frighten us out of our enjoyment, 
 why seek to make us live continually in terror, and torment, 
 and bondage, and fear ?" Suppose it were so for threescore 
 years and ten, what is that to eternity ? Anything to be 
 found ready to meet the Judge. But it is a sad mistake to 
 suppose that it is so. It is not a spirit of bondage, it is a 
 spirit of liberty ; for it sets a man above the world, above 
 the dread of earthly loss, above being crushed down by 
 sorrows and trials, and makes him full of hope, and liberty, 
 and love, and peace. 
 
 Then, brethren, is there not another thought ? Should 
 we not urge those who are not doing so, to seek to meet 
 their Judge? Oh, what an awakening and startling thought 
 to those who are living as if there were no Judge, and no 
 soul to be judged ; " the Judge standeth before the door !" 
 Alas ! the fact comes, whether they remember it or forget 
 it. "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, 
 and Christ shall give thee light." Now is the time. " Now 
 is it high time to awake out of sleep ; for now is our sal- 
 vation nearer than when we believed," or when we believed 
 not. " The night is far spent, the day is at hand ;" the 
 night is far spent, and the day is nigh at hand to the 
 
 18 
 
274 THE JUDGE AT THE DOOE. 
 
 righteous ; the day is far spent, and the night is nigh at 
 hand to the wicked. There is the awful converse ! It is 
 night to the righteous in comparison with the glorious day ; 
 it is day to the wicked in comparison with the blackness 
 and darkness for ever that awaits those who do not prepare 
 to meet their Judge. Surely this should be as a trumpet- 
 blast in the ears of the careless and the thoughtless ! Is it 
 not high time to awake out of sleep 1 
 
 Then, brethren, if the Judge stands before the door, 
 what a lesson it is, following the lesson of the morning : 
 " Judge nothing before the time ;" " Judge not, that ye be 
 not judged." It is remarkable, that when my eye fixed 
 upon the passage, I felt it was as it were an enforcement of 
 the words of the morning. It comes in this connexion : — 
 " Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be 
 condemned : behold, the Judge standeth before the door." 
 Do not be anxious to take yourselves to the judgment-seat ; 
 wait till the Judge comes, who will right all, and do justice 
 to the oppressed, and none will have to complain, for God 
 will vindicate eternal providence, and justify His ways to 
 man. Every tongue shall be silent, and every mouth dumb 
 before the Judge when He arises to adjust for ever, fully 
 and completely, all the infinitude of the various wrongs, 
 and crimes, and outrages that have marred this poor fallen 
 world, " in the times of the restitution of all things spoken 
 of by the holy prophets since the world began." 
 
 And surely this solemn truth should teach us patience 
 and submission — " Wherefore doth a man complain, a living 
 man, for the punishment of his sins'?" And yet how many 
 there are complaining and mourning like wild bulls wrestling 
 against the net in which they are entangled ! The Judge 
 before the door should silence their murmurings and still 
 their tumult, and they should still wait. Wait a little, 
 " wait, I say, upon the Lord." And surely that little psalm 
 
THE JUDGE AT THE DOOR. 275 
 
 we took part in this evening may well come before us. 
 " Lord, I am not high-minded : I have no proud looks, I do 
 not exercise myself in great matters : which are too high for 
 me. But I refrain my soul, and keep it low, like as a child 
 that is weaned from its mother : yea, my soul is even as a 
 weaned child." For truly does Jesus say to us in our 
 difficulties, and doubts, and trials, "What I do thou 
 knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter;" there- 
 fore, in all your trials and difficulties refer to His judgment- 
 seat. 
 
 Brethren, I need not apply the subject ; the whole of the 
 latter part of my sermon has been an application; only, 
 may God grant that it may be so applied to us, that we 
 may learn to live each day as if it were our last, with the 
 recollection ever to our mind, there is the Judge before the 
 door. Oh, young men and young women, you preparing 
 for confirmation especially, remember this. David said, — 
 11 I have set the Lord always before me ; He is on my right 
 hand, therefore I shall not fall." Set Him before you, not 
 only as a Saviour, but as your strength, and trust, and 
 hope, and joy, and resurrection, and life, and Judge, at 
 whose judgment-seat you must shortly give an account; 
 and may He at the last give you life everlasting. 
 
XXX. 
 THE SOLEMN" MESSAGE. 
 
 " Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning ; And ye 
 yourselves like unto men that Avait for their lord, when he will 
 return from the wedding ; that when he cometh and knoeketh, 
 they may open unto him immediately." — St. Lttke xii. 35, 36. 
 
 There are some events so uncertain and so unlikely, that 
 our wisdom is not to disquiet ourselves. There are some 
 events inevitable, and over which we have no control ; our 
 wisdom here again is to let them alone. How much of our 
 sorrow, anxiety, and inquietude arises from intermeddling 
 with things that do not belong to us ! We had it from our 
 Master's lips this morning, " Sufficient unto the day is the 
 evil thereof." " Take [no thought for the morrow." But 
 there are some few events of such magnitude that they 
 absorb all others in their shadows, things of such certainty 
 that to doubt their coming proves a man to be insane, and 
 of which the Author of all and Euler of all has placed it so 
 far in our power to forecast and provide for them, to take 
 pleasure with a view of them, that we may give to their 
 character when they come either unspeakable blessedness or 
 unspeakable terror. We may invest them with the smile of 
 an angel or the power of a fiend, we may either have them 
 changed into blessing inconceivable or a curse that we can- 
 not measure. Such an event, beyond all others, is a man's 
 
THE SOLEMN MESSAGE. 277 
 
 death, his interview with his Creator, his Preserver, his 
 Redeemer, and his Judge. That event is of such surpassing 
 awfulness and grandeur, that nothing else is to be mentioned 
 in comparison with it. It is an event so certain, that how- 
 ever men may wish to forget it, however they would wish 
 to deny it, they cannot. They might as soon deny their 
 very existence. Need I say that it is an event which it is 
 not in man to forecast, but which we may so anticipate as 
 to provide for and prepare against, that it may come to us 
 awfully welcome and solemnly serene, a stern, but a tender 
 friend. I say, that not to provide for it and not to prepare 
 for it, argues that a man is not a prudent man — he hardly 
 deserves to be allowed to be a rational man. Why were 
 reason and understanding given us % why was the Church 
 of God appointed for us % why did the Lord Jesus Christ 
 take our nature and die and suffer in our stead ? why is the 
 Spirit of God poured out from on high 1 why are all these 
 things, but that man may prepare to meet his God 1 Surely, 
 then, not to prepare is for a man to judge himself unworthy 
 of eternal life, to fling away his birthright and to make ship- 
 wreck of his immortality. 
 
 I take the words before us as offering a most solemn mes- 
 sage : " Let ^lour loins be girded about, and your lights 
 burning ; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for 
 their lord, when he will return from the wedding ; that 
 when he cometh and knocketh they may open unto him 
 immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord 
 when he cometh shall find watching." 
 
 The words present our Master's coming: our attitude of 
 preparation for His coming : and the reception we should give 
 Him when He comes. May the Spirit of God be with us, 
 that we may profit by the message. 
 
 We talk of death, we talk of judgment, we talk of the 
 decisions of the great day, but, after all, they are summed 
 
 18—3 
 
278 THE SOLEMN MESSAGE. 
 
 up in one idea — the Lord returning to judge His people, 
 and to receive His ransomed Church and His bride. The 
 advent of Christ, as it has been styled — Christ's second 
 coming in glorious majesty — this is the great hope of the 
 Church, this is the grand point of expectation, this is the 
 goal of faith, this the pinnacle of hope. Before Christ came 
 into the world, His advent in the flesh was the great hope ; 
 but since Christ's first coming and His return to prepare a 
 kingdom for His people, the eye of holy expectation is 
 to be directed steadily and unceasingly to the second coming 
 of the Bridegroom to take to Himself His own blessed ones 
 to sit down with Him for ever in the kingdom of His glory. 
 This is the " consummation and bliss both in body and soul," 
 of the whole Church of God unceasingly serving God day 
 and night till He shall come again in the brightness of His 
 glory. Scepticism assumes this to be an improbability, but 
 the Book of God says, " He cometh, He cometh to judge 
 the world." At the same time, to every individual man 
 his death is to him the coming of his Lord, for then he 
 enters into the immutable moral condition that shall never, 
 never undergo a change, and he abides so until judgment. 
 The moral condition of a man at his death makes his misery 
 or his blessedness; but still, beloved, I love myself to 
 swallow up, as it were, all thoughts and ideas even of the 
 intermediate state, the state of the spirits of the just made 
 perfect — though we know that they are absent from the 
 body and present with the Lord — and to look forward to 
 the final coming of Christ, to the restitution of all things 
 spoken of by the prophets since the world began, when the 
 whole creation that travaileth in pain shall be delivered from 
 the bondage of corruption, when a new heaven and a new 
 earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, shall appear for ever, 
 and shall cast into the shade the former heavens and 
 earth. This, beloved, is the culminating point to the ran- 
 
THE SOLEMN MESSAGE. 279 
 
 somed Church of Christ. And, brethren, what is it, after 
 all, that gives to that last great; crowd its crowning glory? 
 It is that the Master shall appear, that the Lord whom we 
 love, who has given us life through His death, and hope 
 through His atonement, shall then appear, and His saints 
 shall appear in Him with glory. 
 
 The Master, the Bridegroom cometh. The Jewish mar- 
 riage solemnity, from which this idea is taken, is a most 
 expressive one. The bridegroom comes in the evening to 
 the house of his betrothed, and then the final solemnity of 
 the union is completed, and he brings back his bride to his 
 own home and her future home, and the maidens, her 
 fellows, and " the virgins, her companions that follow her," 
 shall be brought, and "they shall enter into the king's 
 palace." Oh, what glory, what liberty, what greatness, 
 what grandeur ! Where else is a master so tender, so sym- 
 pathising, so kind as that ! Has there ever been one that 
 has shown such infinite love towards his poor followers as 
 to purchase them with his own heart's blood, who has 
 wrought out their righteousness, and has delivered them 
 from the bondage of criminals to make them — not his ser- 
 vants only, but his friends and brothers, fellow-heirs and 
 partakers of his kingdom ? Beloved, what a Master it is 
 that we serve ! "Would that we felt his service to be " per- 
 fect freedom !" would that we longed for His coming ! and 
 that we could, in answer to His solemn announcement, " I 
 come quickly," say, " Even so, come, Lord Jesus !" 
 
 It is marvellous that the servants of Christ so little long 
 for the glorious day when each will sit on His right hand, 
 and God will vindicate His eternal providence, when, from 
 the ruins of this wretched system, shall emerge a glorious 
 economy such as shall fill eternity with wonder and heaven 
 with praise ; it is marvellous that His servants are not 
 more in the attitude of ezypectation for that time. It would 
 
280 THE SOLEMN MESSAGE. 
 
 be so if we valued our privileges aright ; but, alas, how many 
 are only thinking of how to avoid death, of how to forget 
 death, and are calculating upon remaining far from God ! 
 and how few are calculating the time that they shall hear 
 the blessed knock at the door, and are familiarising their 
 minds with heaven, so that when it comes it may not be as 
 a terror, but as a smile from an angel's face ! Alas ! no 
 wonder it comes upon men as a sudden and awful thunder- 
 bolt ! no wonder that so many are driven and dragged 
 away, not going forth in holy ecstasy ! It is because men 
 are not living, and preparing, and making ready for it. 
 
 And how are God's children to be ready 1 " Let your 
 loins be girded about, and your lights burning." There is 
 the figure carried out still. You are all familiar with the 
 fact that in Eastern countries they are not clothed like us. 
 That which with us is close and compact, is with them 
 loose and graceful, and their garments are flowing in folds 
 around them. It may give dignity, but it presents impedi- 
 ments, and in consequence they are accustomed to have* 
 leathern girdles, or bands of costlier materials, to brace up 
 their flowing robes, and to press them around them. They 
 are then girded for speed, and the figure is beautifully 
 appropriate, as is also .the reference to the lamps to light at 
 the midnight hour. These references are as impressive as 
 they are appropriate, and they convey to our minds the 
 state of preparation we must be in if we would welcome our 
 Master's coming. The affections, and hopes, and desires, 
 and happiness of this present world, what are they but the 
 flowing garments that encumber and endanger a man, and 
 impede his readiness for Christ's coming, and make the 
 thought of it distasteful to him t Take care, young man 
 and young woman, that you do not get your affections so 
 occupied with earthly hopes, and prospects, and affections, 
 that you are not ready to meet your Lord ! Take care 
 
THE SOLEMN MESSAGE. 281 
 
 that you are not so absorbed in secular things, and carried 
 away by affection for earthly objects, and intoxicated by 
 vain pursuits, and hopes, and fears, that death would come 
 upon you as a terrible surprise and find you altogether in 
 disorder and confusion ; and instead of the Master's knock- 
 ing being music in your ear, it would be as a terrible thun- 
 derbolt crushing your dwelling and yourself ! Pray, then, 
 that you may be living in expectation of Christ's coming. 
 We should never let our loins get loose and flowing, we 
 should never become entangled with the briers and thorns 
 of the wilderness, we should never let the tendrils of our 
 heart's affections wind round even legitimate objects, if 
 those objects draw us away from Christ. 
 
 Then the lights must be burning. Our hopes are our 
 lights, they give us joy, and assurance, and confidence, and 
 reliance on Jesus. Do not forget what you were, and that 
 you have been purged from your former sins. Do not let 
 the telescope become dim and dark, but keep the lens 
 bright and clear, and be familiar with the objects. What a 
 blessed thing it is when summoned to be able to say, " 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." If that be our feeling, the Lord, our Eedeemer, 
 will banish all the shadows of the valley of death, and will 
 irradiate with His promises our passage to the house of the 
 Beloved. Let our loins then be girded about, and let us be 
 in the attitude of readiness on the watch-tower, waiting and 
 expecting daily our Master's coming. 
 
 And then, brethren, the reception we should give that 
 blessed Master when He cometh. When He knocketh, we 
 should " open to him immediately." He cometh and 
 knocketh. We all become familiar some time or other with 
 the knock of one we much love ; and we do not even need 
 to see the person approaching the door, for there is some- 
 
282 THE SOLEMN MESSAGE. 
 
 thing in the footfall and in the knock that tells us at once 
 who it is. If it is the knock of one we love it is indeed as 
 music to us, and what feelings of emotion and delight it 
 awakens in us ! Jesus knocks sometimes very suddenly, 
 and sometimes amid much physical agony and much mental 
 weakness and trepidation. I have seen death-beds that for 
 physical agony have been very solemn ; but still, when the 
 knock comes, as that of a friend who is loved and is known, 
 it should be welcome. If, after you have retired to rest on 
 a cold stormy night, a friend knocks at the door, you do 
 not therefore deny his knock, and refuse to open to him. 
 So, let your Master come when He will, " at even, or at 
 midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning ;" in 
 the swift inflammation, in the stroke of paralysis or apo- 
 plexy, or in slow and lingering consumption, it should never 
 be out of place — it should never be unwelcome. Oh no, for 
 it is the knock of Him whom our soul loves, it is the knock 
 of Him who says, " I go to prepare a place for you, and if 
 
 I go I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; 
 
 that where I am, there ye may be also." Ought such a 
 visitor to terrify or be unwelcome to us ? Ought we not to 
 open immediately 1 There should be no flowing garments 
 to hinder us, no dim lamps to be trimmed ; all ought to be 
 ready, — the lamp clear, steady, and bright, the loins girded, 
 and man waiting for the Lord's appearing. Oh for such an 
 attitude in the midst of our mercantile pursuits, in the 
 midst of our business speculations, in the midst of domestic 
 cares and endearments ! It is our plain interest in the 
 midst of friendships, and allurements, and enjoyments to be 
 still in that waiting attitude. It is wisdom, it is safety, it 
 is consistency, it is peace, it is happiness. You all feel it — 
 you all know it. Would that it were practically so, that 
 each one of us was prepared to open immediately ! It is 
 surely an immediate welcome and a ready expectation that 
 
THE SOLEMN MESSAGE. 283 
 
 such a Master should receive when He comes as the Blessed 
 Eedeemer, to welcome us to the mansions that He has pre- 
 pared for us and purchased with His own blood. " Blessed 
 is that servant, whom the Lord when He cometh shall find 
 watching," waiting and ready to welcome Him, having " his 
 loins girded" and " his lights burning. " 
 
 THE END. 
 
 BILLING, rr.INTF.lt, GUILDFORD. 
 

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