Srom f 0e &t6rarg of 
 
 (professor TEiffiam JEjenr^ (green 
 
 Q5equeaf0eo flp 0tm to 
 f0e fetBrarg of 
 
 (prtncefon £0eo%teaf ^etntnarg 
 
 12 
 .M: 
 
/fZtiz*^ 2 * &* 
 
 
 '^&*k><-0*-- 
 
 
 PUEITAN THEOLOGY. 
 
 VOL. II 
 
 PASTOKAL AND PBACTTCAL. 
 
PURITAN THEOLOGY; 
 
 OR, 
 
 LAW, GEACE, AND TEUTH : 
 
 BEING DISCOURSES 
 
 POLEMICAL, PRACTICAL, AND HISTORICAL. 
 
 WITH A PREFATORY LETTER TO 
 
 THE KEY. EOBEET ELDEE, D.D., 
 
 ROTHESAY, MODERATOR OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE FREE 
 CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 By GEORGE MACAULAY, 
 
 MINISTER OF THE FREE CHURCH, OLD KILPATRICK, AUTHOR OF THE 
 "LORD'S LAW AND DAY," ETC. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 GLASGOW: FRANCIS OUR & SONS. 
 
 EDINBUEGH: JOHN MACLAEEN. 
 
 LONDON: JAMES NISBET & CO. 
 
 1872. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. — The Spiritual Life, 1 
 
 II. — The Law and the Prophets, 35 
 
 III. — The Law of Christian Discipleship, .... 64 
 
 IV. — Martha and Mary — A Meditation, 109 
 
 V. — Causes of Spiritual Declension, 117 
 
 VI. — The Transforming Efficacy of Faith, . . . .141 
 
 VII. — The Beauty, Shadow, and Fruit of Christ, . . .176 
 
 VIII. — The Untrodden and Unknown Way, . . . .196 
 
 IX. — Strong Rods Broken and Withered, .... 221 
 
 (Sermon on the Death of His Koyal Highness Prince Albert, 
 the beloved Consort of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria.) 
 
 X. — The City of God: Jehovah Shammah, .... 237 
 
 XL— The Rival City: Ichabod, 261 
 
 XII.— The Present Duty of the Church, 305 
 
 XIII —Yet There is Room, 334 
 
PREFACE TO THE SECOND VOLUME. 
 
 The only remark of a prefatory kind that I have to make respect- 
 ing the contents of this second volume is, that they were not 
 designed to form a separate volume. But the first volume grew so 
 much in my hands while the printers were at work, that it became 
 necessary to divide the work, not only into two parts, hut into two 
 volumes. 
 
 The Sermons and Discourses in this volume, although taken 
 very much at random from the manuscripts in my desk, arrange 
 themselves in a not unnatural series. 
 
 The first is designed to indicate a threefold aspect of the Chris- 
 tian or Spiritual life in knowledge, love, and practical duty. The 
 second indicates the relation of Christ and his people to the Law 
 and the Prophets. And the third treats of the law of Christian 
 Discipleship or Self-denial, the daily Cross, arid the following of 
 Christ. In the fourth sermon several causes of spiritual declension 
 are enumerated, and the sixth exhibits the efficacy of faith in the 
 transforming of the soul into the image or likeness of Christ. The 
 fifth is a fragment inserted to suit the printer's arrangements. 
 
 The sermon on "The Beauty, Shadow, and Fruit of Christ," is 
 designed to present Christ in certain aspects of his manifold glory, 
 so that looking to Him we may rest in Him and in His love. The 
 text is from the Beulah-land of Holy Scripture — the Song of 
 Songs. 
 
 "The Untrodden and Unknown Way" is a sermon for the New 
 Year; but it is equally fitted for each new day. 
 
 The discourse entitled " Strong Bods, Broken and Withered," 
 contains a reference to the late Principal Cunningham, of Edin- 
 burgh New College, but it was expressly prepared and delivered in 
 connection with the much and justly lamented death of his Boyal 
 Highness the Prince Albert, the beloved consort of Her Majesty 
 Queen Victoria. It is printed as it was originally written. 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 The sermon entitled " The City of God," or " Jehovah- Sham - 
 mah," is an exposition of the last ten chapters of the Book of 
 Ezekiel. This book has had a peculiar charm for me ; and while I 
 was assistant to the late Eev. Dr. Henry Grey of Edinburgh, I 
 lectured through a considerable portion of it, — my object being as 
 much to keep my own mind in direct contact with the sublime 
 mysteries of this book as to guide the people to right views respect- 
 ing the contents of Prophetic Scripture. 
 
 The discourse, " The Rival City," or " Ichabod," is a rapid 
 delineation of the Eoman apostacy, as it is pourtrayed in the 
 writings of the Old and New Testaments. " The mystery of 
 iniquity" is set over against " the great mystery of godliness." 
 
 The sermon on "The Duty of the Church" in relation to the 
 present state of the world, was delivered some years ago in connec- 
 tion with a course of lectures in the City of Glasgow. 
 
 As for the last sermon in this volume, entitled "Yet there is 
 Room," my thoughts concerning it may be learned from the brief 
 Prefatory Note inserted at the commencement of the sermon. 
 May it prove as profitable to the reader as it has proved to the 
 preacher and writer ! And may the Holy and Eternal Spirit of God 
 render the truths in this sermon, and in all the others, efficacious 
 to the conversion of many sinners, and to the edification of many 
 of the saints, — the called and faithful in Christ Jesus. 
 
 Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity 
 and truth. 
 
 GEORGE MACAULAY. 
 
 Dunglass Castle, Old Kilpatrick, 
 27th January, 1872. 
 
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE, 
 
 IN KNOWLEDGE, LOVE, AND PRACTICE. 
 
 " This is life eternal that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus 
 Christ whom thou hast sent." — John xvii. 3. 
 
 " He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." — 1 John iv. 16. 
 
 "Pure religion and uudefiled before God and the Father, is this, — To visit the 
 fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the 
 world." — James i. 27. 
 
 These texts exhibit a threefold aspect of evangelical religion. 
 In the words taken from the prayer of the Lord Jesus, we are 
 taught that spiritual religion consists in the knowledge of God 
 and of Jesus Christ. In the words of the apostle John, we are 
 taught that spiritual religion consists in love. And in the 
 words of the apostle James, we are taught that the same pure 
 religion, pure and spiritual, is this, — "To visit the fatherless and 
 widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from 
 the world." 
 
 Partiality in Judgment. 
 
 One of the infirmities of the human mind shows itself in a 
 tendency to confine its attention and almost exclusive regard to 
 one aspect of a great subject, and by meditating on the subject 
 under that one aspect, it is apt to form and to entertain very 
 imperfect and partial views of the subject in those aspects of it 
 which have not been minutely surveyed. And not only so. 
 
 A* 
 
2 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 
 
 This exclusive contemplation of one side of an object results 
 frequently in so magnifying and exaggerating the importance of 
 what is seen and thought upon, that the man becomes blind to 
 the, it may be, equal or greater importance of that aspect of a 
 subject which has not attracted his attention and has not 
 enlisted his sympathies or regard. The human mind can 
 give only a limited attention to any object, and it is apt to 
 restrict that same limited regard to one side or aspect of an 
 object which ought to be contemplated from a great variety of 
 points of observation. Hence, in all departments of science, we 
 find exaggerations and caricatures. Hence the rareness of any- 
 thing like a fair and full statement of the bearings and relations 
 of any great and far-reaching truth or principle. Hence, also, the 
 artificial and unnatural antagonism [into which truths and facts, 
 in themselves homogeneous and concordant, are dragged by 
 those who, instead of directing their attention to their points of 
 relatedness and contiguity, restrict their observation to those 
 points in which they exhibit a seeming if not real difference. 
 In this way, truth has often suffered at the hands of ardent, 
 well-meaning, but injudicious friends; and on the other hand, 
 truth has been wounded by those who, limiting their observation 
 and regard to points of similarity and resemblance between 
 different objects, without respect to points of real difference, 
 have represented objects essentially unlike and discordant as if 
 they were one and homogeneous. These statements might be 
 illustrated by instances gathered from all branches of human 
 learning, observation, and research. But as related to the sub- 
 jects before us, a very impressive illustration might be taken 
 from the antagonism, on the one hand, attempted to be proved 
 between the findings of physical science and the cosmology of 
 Scripture ; and on the other hand, from the reconciliations 
 attempted between certain interpretations of the hieroglyphics 
 of nature and interpretations of the statements of inspired 
 Scripture. Sometimes we observe a forced antagonism, some- 
 times a forced harmony, between science and revelation. In 
 both cases we observe illustrations of the infirmity of the human 
 mind : and by the efforts of both the enemies and the well- 
 meaning friends of revelation, the interests of truth — of truth 
 
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 3 
 
 in nature and of truth in inspired Scripture — have suffered 
 injury and damage. Truth, like its Master, has often been 
 wounded, not only by avowed enemies, but by professed friends. 
 Hasty antagonisms and hasty reconciliations are equally to be 
 shunned by those who love the truth. Hasty antagonisms may 
 do little injury and may be changed into lasting friendships ; 
 but hasty reconciliations can do little good, may do much harm, 
 and may be changed into permanent hostilities. The interests 
 of truth demand of us that in cases of the kind referred to, as 
 indeed hi all cases, we "do nothing rashly." 
 
 The Gospel and False Religions. 
 
 There is a necessary, an eternal antagonism, between Chris- 
 tianity, or the Gospel of the grace of God, and all false religions 
 — between the scheme of salvation through the crucified 
 Redeemer, the device and contrivance of the infinite wisdom 
 and unsearchable grace of God, and every scheme of man's 
 invention, device, and prescription. For here, and here alone, 
 is the wisdom of God in a mystery : there is no other name 
 given under heaven among men save the name of Jesus by 
 which we must be saved ; this is the wisdom and the power of 
 God unto salvation to every one that believeth. This is the one 
 and exclusive religion : there are not two, much less many 
 methods and ways of restoring sinners unto God. The idea of 
 God here presented is antagonistic to the ideas of the same 
 Divine Being presented by all other religions or superstitions. 
 The idea of Man — of his primitive character and state of his 
 present and fallen condition and nature — of the provision by 
 atonement, by the obedience unto death of the Son of God in the 
 room of sinners, and by the grace of the Holy Spirit bestowed 
 upon Man — the idea of regeneration, of justification, of sanctifi- 
 cation, of resurrection, of eternal glory — this idea — all these 
 ideas — are antagonistic to the ideas promulgated respecting 
 Man in every false religion. These things entered not into the 
 heart of man ; they proceed forth from God, who is wonderful 
 in counsel and excellent in working. Yet, at the basis of the 
 false, as well as of the true, there is this common belief, — that 
 
4 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 
 
 God is, and that, being God, he is to be worshipped. This is 
 the fundamental truth of all religions. But, on this foundation, 
 what diverse and antagonistic systems have been reared ! Man 
 must worship : but it is Christianity alone that reveals the true 
 nature of God, and that teaches how, through the Mediator, 
 Christ Jesus, by the grace of the Holy Ghost, God may be 
 worshipped in a manner and way becoming his glorious and 
 spiritual nature, and befitting the relations of Man to his 
 Creator, Redeemer, and Judge. In those respects, the Gospel 
 is in direct antagonism to all forms of will-worship and super- 
 stition — to all the religions of the heathen, and to that magnifi- 
 cent imposture and caricature of the Christian religion which 
 is exhibited in the so-called Church of Rome. Christ is opposed 
 to Antichrist ; the Roman apostacy is the historical Antichrist : 
 the Gospel must then be at war with Rome, the mystic Babylon, 
 while it heralds the call, — " Come out of her my people." 
 
 The Gospel and Natural Religion. 
 
 But we must beware of setting the Gospel in antagonism to 
 what is truth, or fact, in what is called natural religion and 
 theology. The revelation of the will of :God given in Holy 
 Scripture never contradicts the truths discoverable by the light 
 of reason or of nature. On the contrary, it assumes these, and 
 it has engrossed them within itself. In so far as the primary 
 truths concerning the being of God and concerning invariable 
 and universal morality, are discoverable by the light of nature, 
 the word of inspiration confirms the findings of reason, and the 
 argument of the Gospel grounded on these universal truths is 
 that they render Man's sin in not worshipping and serving God 
 inexcusable, while they serve, also, according to the evangelical 
 argument, to show Man his need of some such interposition for 
 his salvation as that revealed in the glorious Gospel of the 
 Blessed God. The ultimate findings of natural science will not 
 be at variance with the right and true interpretation of Holy 
 Scripture, and the truths concerning God and humanity dis- 
 coverable by natural reason — that is, the natural theology is 
 not at variance with that which is supernatural and given by 
 
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 5 
 
 inspiration of God. And yet how often have professed sons of 
 science and the votaries of natural religion combined themselves 
 against the truth as given in the Holy Scriptures. And on the 
 other hand, it must be acknowledged that the professed friends 
 and defenders of revelation have sometimes erred in so defining 
 the boundaries and outgoings of inspired truth as to form a 
 chasm between the natural and the revealed, forgetting that all 
 truth, no matter how communicated, is from the same source, 
 and comes from the One Father of lights. There is no chasm 
 between the truths of the natural religion and the truths of the 
 supernatural revelation. They are, as Dr. Chalmers was wont 
 to say, conterminous — not contradictory, or merely contiguous. 
 They coalesce and intermingle. As we say of the one testament 
 that is complementary of the other, so we may say that the 
 inspired revelation is complementary of the natural. For 
 although reason could not discover and find out for itself the 
 truths divinely revealed and inspired, yet these, instead of being 
 contradictory to the truths already discovered by reason, inter- 
 mingle with, coalesce with, and give to them their appropriate 
 place, function, and authority in that body of truth which man 
 is to believe, and according to the requirements of which he is 
 to frame and order his life — his walk and conversation. 
 
 Analogies and Illustrations. 
 
 As illustrative of the intimate relation and concord between 
 the natural and the inspired in religion, I have sometimes 
 thought of the relation between the workings of the natural 
 conscience in man and the gracious workings of the Holy 
 Spirit within the same conscience and heart of man. We 
 know that natural conscience works in men : we know that 
 the Holy Spirit works in regeneration and in progressive 
 sanctification. But we cannot sharply define how far the 
 natural extends and where the Spirit's gracious agency beo-ins. 
 Only, we know that the natural conscience cannot convert the 
 soul, cannot renew and savingly enlighten itself. We know 
 this. And we know that apart from the almighty operation 
 of the Spirit of grace on and in the conscience and soul, on 
 
6 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 
 
 man is or can be regenerated or sanctified. There is, however, 
 no antagonism between the agencies and operations. Even so 
 as it has appeared to us, we cannot sharply define the limits of 
 human reason in the discovery of religious truth. But we 
 know that the scheme of grace, with all its great facts and 
 provisions, with all its blessed truths, never was and never 
 could be invented or elaborated by human ingenuity and 
 wisdom. Yet there is nothing in the wondrous scheme of 
 grace that contradicts the findings of universal reason. True, 
 indeed, there are facts and tiuths revealed to faith, in the light 
 of revelation, that reason cannot comprehend and cannot ex- 
 plain ; but there is no fact, there is no truth within the whole 
 compass and boundaries of revelation in inspired Scripture, 
 which reason can prove to be contradictory to its own findings 
 within its own sphere. The Socinians have often attempted 
 to show that the glorious fact of the Blessed Trinity — that is, 
 of three persons in the one undivided Godhead — is contradic- 
 tory to reason ; but their most elaborate reasonings have failed, 
 and must ever fail to prove that there is any contradiction in 
 this revealed fact to the fundamental and unalterable laws of 
 right reason. This sublimest of all facts reason can apprehend 
 when it is stated and revealed ; but it belongs not, it may be, 
 to human or to created faculties and intelligence to comprehend 
 and to explain this fact. For, who by searching can find out 
 God, who can find out the Almighty unto perfection ? Many 
 others, verging on Socinianism, and having strong affinities 
 towards it, assert that the doctrine of the Absolute Sovereignty 
 of God, as taught in Holy Scripture, is contradictory to the 
 fact of human responsibility — a fact attested by every man's 
 conscience, and assumed and confirmed by Holy Scripture. 
 Here, again, it is not the province or office of reason to explain 
 and comprehend; but as the truth and the fact are nowise 
 contradictory, reason's attitude should be that of patient wait- 
 ing for the revelations of eternity, with this modest and becom- 
 ing consideration, that possibly it does not belong to human or 
 finite intelligence to explain this [mystery, any more than the 
 profound mystery of the Trinity. Having certified itself that 
 the Scriptures contain the revelation inspired of the will of 
 
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 7 
 
 God, the office of reason, in dependence on the grace of the 
 Holy Spirit, is by humble, patient, prayerful study and medi- 
 tation, to learn what is the mind and will of God — the mind of 
 the Spirit as revealed in the Scriptures of truth. But how 
 differently have men studied the Holy Word of God ! How 
 many have approached it with irreverence, and thus inquiring 
 at the lively oracles of God they have failed to learn the truth 
 — they have been learning, but have never come to the know- 
 ledge of the truth ! How many having come to Scripture with 
 their preconceived opinions and prejudices have bent and 
 twisted Scripture to fit their models and moulds instead of 
 seeking to be moulded into and after the truth. These and 
 such as these have no promise that the Spirit will guide them 
 into the truth : and they, substituting their own coloured and 
 distorted apprehensions of the truth for the very truth of God, 
 have alleged and daily allege that the doctrines of revelation 
 are not only contrary to reason, but that also the parts and 
 statements of inspired Scripture are contradictory in many 
 instances of each other. Hence, in these days (to take an illus- 
 tration from what is exciting no little attention, inquiry, and 
 wonderment among the people) a fragmentary and partial view 
 of the law of God, grounded on a false theory of the ends, 
 nature, and uses of the law is set over against an equally 
 partial and fragmentary view of the grounds, nature, and 
 glorious ends of the Gospel. And the law and Gospel instead 
 of being, as in the scheme of grace, two grand factors working 
 out the same end and design, are declared to be contradictory 
 and subversive of each other. But that they were not so in the 
 judgment of Paul is evident, in that he says that "The law is 
 not against the promises of God," that the law is " our guide 
 to lead us to the school of Christ," and that we are " not 
 without the law, but under the law to Christ." This instance 
 strikingly and forcibly illustrates all that has yet been 
 said, and is very different indeed from that large and 
 true and comprehensive estimate of the several parts, and 
 various functions, of revelation expressed in the simple words 
 that " The Old Testament is the New with a veil upon it, and 
 that the New Testament is the Old unveiled," in which we all 
 
8 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 
 
 behold with open face the glory of the Lord, and, beholding, 
 are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by 
 the Spirit of the Lord. The case referred to not only sets law 
 and Gospel in direct antagonism to each other, but it breaks, 
 severs, and destroys the golden chain that links the first revela- 
 tion of the grace of God to the last and completed revelation of 
 that adorable grace. It renders the Old and the New Testa- 
 ments not only not conterminous and harmonious, but antagon- 
 istic and contradictory. Far otherwise was it in the preaching 
 of that illustrious, and faithful, and martyred man who was 
 ordained and divinely constituted the intermediate link and 
 prophet to connect the olden dispensation with the new. John 
 the Baptist was no royal chaplain, was no favourite at court — 
 the court of Herod. He thundered the law of God even in the 
 ears of royalty, and he preached at the same time the Gospel, 
 saying, " Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of 
 the world." He preached law and Gospel, and the " Greater than 
 he" took up the same subjects, and said, " Think not that I am 
 come to destroy the law or the prophets ; I am not come to 
 destroy but to fulfill." 
 
 But I must pass from these aspects of the subject to others 
 perhaps even more important and more related to ourselves 
 and to those who with us assert and maintain the harmony be- 
 tween the old and the new dispensations, the harmony even of 
 the law and the Gospel in the wondrous scheme of grace — who 
 believe that while the law was given by Moses, grace and truth 
 have come by Jesus Christ — who believe that there was in the 
 law of Moses everlasting truth and but a faint and feeble dis- 
 play of grace, but that in the Gospel there is the fulness of 
 truth and the exceeding abundance of grace. This is all the 
 more necessary because as one alike distinguished by his pro- 
 foundness of thought and by his almost unrivalled eloquence 
 in expressing and enforcing his thought, has well said — " In 
 the shadow of Christianity, and in the very bosom of the 
 Church itself, there flourish certain religions, without a history, 
 without form and name, which to many persons take the place 
 of Christianity," 
 
the spiritual life. <) 
 
 The Spiritual Life. 
 
 According to texts before us the spiritual life consists in 
 knowledge, in love, and in practical duty. Now, there is 
 nothing more common than the disjunction of these three 
 elements — nothing more common than to set these three aspects 
 of the same life of God in the soul of man in antagonism and 
 opposition, as if they were not three aspects and manifestations 
 of the one great reality. And my desire is through the 
 promised grace of the Spirit, to show that these three agree in 
 one ; that the knowledge here spoken of promotes love, and 
 that the love here spoken of promotes practical and pure 
 religion, as described by James the apostle, and that they act 
 and react on each other, and that these three aspects of the 
 Christian religion are but proofs and manifestations of the 
 reality of the life of God in the soul. For to know God in 
 Jesus Christ is to have life in the Spirit — even eternal life ; 
 to love God, to dwell in love, and to have God dwelling in us, 
 is evidence of our being begotten of God unto eternal life ; and 
 to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to 
 keep one's self unspotted from the world, is index and proof of 
 our being in Christ and of our being heirs of the eternal life. 
 The three aspects of the spiritual life or religion agree there- 
 fore in one. They are not contrary to each other, but they 
 each contribute to give evidence in support of that given by 
 the others. 
 
 Life and Knowledge. 
 
 According to the statements in the texts before us, the life 
 of God in the soul, the spiritual life shows itself by the 
 knowledge of the true God and Jesus Christ. Knowledge 
 therefore is essential to the Christian life. Ignorance — the 
 ignorance of God and Jesus Christ is an index of spiritual 
 death. " They that know Thy name will put their trust in 
 Thee." Those who know not God and obey not the Gospel 
 must perish, for " what shall be the end of them who know 
 not God and obey not the Gospel ?" It concerns us, therefore, 
 first of all, as rational and responsible creatures, to see to it, 
 
10 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 
 
 that we attain to the true and saving knowledge of God. But 
 this true and saving knowledge implies that we know Jesus 
 Christ whom He hath sent. For no man knoweth the Son 
 but the Father, and no man knoweth the Father but by the 
 Son. " He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father also. No man 
 cometh unto the Father but by Me. And no man cometh unto 
 Me except the Father who hath sent Me draw Him. And him 
 that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out." The spiritual 
 life therefore begins with spiritual knowledge : and it is an in- 
 junction that believers " grow in grace and in the knowledge 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ." It is, therefore, of infinite impor- 
 tance that the true doctrine concerning God in Christ be known 
 by us; for on our knowledge of this depends our life — our eternal 
 life. Superstition may build itself on ignorance, and call that 
 ignorance the mother of devotion. But the Christian religion 
 builds itself on knowledge. For it is written, " No man hath 
 seen God at any time, the only begotten of the Father He hath 
 declared Him ; " and, again, " All thy children shall be taught 
 of God." Jesus hath said of Himself, " I am the way, the truth, 
 and the life." In order that we may attain to this knowledge, 
 God has been graciously pleased to make known His will to us 
 in the Scriptures of truth, and to constitute His Son Christ 
 Jesus the prophet to His Church. For when we had sinned 
 against God an immediate consequence of this, our sin, was the 
 loss of the true knowledge of God. We then died spiritually, 
 and when we died all right knowledge of God perished with 
 us. Who then is blind as we are ? We need light and life, 
 for darkness was among the first calamities entailed upon us 
 by the fall. Hence, in accomodation to our blindness, weak- 
 ness, and ignorance, the Lord has been graciously pleased to 
 make known to us in the Holy Scriptures the truth which we 
 are to believe — which we are to know and obey. A great part 
 of Holy Scripture consists of doctrines, which we must learn 
 and know, in order to our salvation, and that we may glorify 
 God, who hath called us from the kingdom of darkness into 
 the kingdom of His Son Jesus Christ. 
 
 Our first great business, therefore, in life is to attain to the 
 saving knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. This knowledge 
 
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 11 
 
 includes among other things the truths and doctrines concern- 
 ing the being, character, perfections, and will of God ; the 
 truths concerning our guilty and helpless state as sinners ; the 
 truths concerning the grace of God through the mediation, in- 
 carnation, obedience, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory 
 of Jesus Christ, and concerning His intercession for His people 
 at the right-hand of God; the truths concerning the person, 
 grace, and operations of the Holy Spirit ; the truths concerning 
 the law under which all men are by nature, and according to 
 the requirements of which all are bound to regulate their life 
 and conversation ; the truths concerning the sovereignty of 
 God and the responsibility of man; concerning death, judgment, 
 and eternity. These and such as these are among the first and 
 necessary principles of the doctrine of Christ. And to attain 
 to the spiritual and saving knowledge of them must necessarily 
 be the first concern of every man who thoughtfully reflects on 
 his condition as a sinner, liable as a sinner to fall at any 
 moment under the load of wrath, spoken of in Scripture as 
 " the wrath to come." 
 
 But next to this, a man's duty is to make this precious truth 
 known. It has been said of ordinary knowledge that it is not 
 knowledge unless it be published, i.e., it does not serve the ends 
 which knowledge is designed to serve. But if this is true res- 
 pecting the sciences of this world, much more is it true respect- 
 ing the knowledge and wisdom that come from above. And it 
 is a duty laid upon every one who has come to the knowledge 
 of God in Christ, that he spread the glad tidings in order that 
 others may be enlightened, sanctified, and saved. Alas ! for the 
 selfishness that is so prevalent amongst us. We profess to have 
 found the heavenly treasure, and we think we do well to 
 appropriate it to ourselves. But in this we act unkindly, uncha- 
 ritably towards our brethren. We should, instead of actino- in 
 this manner, imitate those of old who, having found much spoil, 
 said, " We do not well ; this day is a day of good tidino-s, and 
 we hold our peace ; if we tarry till the morning light, some 
 mischief will come upon us ; now, therefore, come, that we may 
 go and tell the king's household." If indeed we have found the 
 great treasures of heavenly knowledge and grace, we must 
 
12 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 
 
 publish to others in our several places and stations the glad 
 tidings. We must make known the truth as it is in Jesus. 
 
 Necessity and Use of Creeds. 
 
 But not only so. The truth in this world meets with 
 opposition from gainsaying enemies. The friends of truth 
 must therefore defend it. They are set for the defence of the 
 Gospel, and must, by manifestation of the truth, by solid argu- 
 ment and convincing proof, put to silence the loquacious 
 ignorance of foolish men. To know the truth, to publish the 
 truth, to defend the truth, are duties of infinite importance, and of 
 the weightiest obligation. In order to the discharge of these 
 duties, it is of the utmost value that there be brief and summary 
 compends of the truth, such as are contained in some of the 
 creeds and confessions of faith. These arise necessarily out of 
 the circumstances and necessities of men and of the Church. 
 The world asks from the Church a manifesto of its creed — of 
 the credenda or things to be believed. The Church exhibits 
 these in a summarised form in a Confession of Faith. Those 
 seeking admission into the Church, and fellowship with it, ask 
 what the grounds and terms of Church fellowship are, and what 
 are the bonds of truth that unite the members of the Christian 
 society in their fellowship as distinct from the fellowship of 
 citizens, and the fellowship of men in ordinary worldly societies. 
 The Church, because of its own organization and constitution, 
 constructs a creed or summarised expression of its grand credita 
 and credenda. Such a summary of doctrine is of great utility, 
 not only as a bond of ecclesiastical communion, but also as a help 
 in the instructing of the young and others in the knowledge of 
 the great truths of Christianity. And, again, the progress of 
 error or of unscriptural teaching renders it necessary that the 
 Church should from time to time embody the main heads of 
 Scripture doctrine in a confession, as a testimony and protest 
 ao-ainst error and heresy. Thus we see that a creed or confession 
 is necessary as a manifesto to the world, as a bond of union 
 among those in the fellowship of the Church, as a help for the 
 instruction of the young, and as a testimony against erroneous 
 
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE, 13 
 
 and heretical opinions. Such a manifesto or creed does not 
 supersede the Scriptures, and does not take a place of authority 
 beside the Word of God. For that Word is the one, the supreme, 
 the ultimate standard in all matters and questions of faith and 
 duty towards God. But a confession of faith is a declaration, 
 whether by an individual or by a Church, of the sense in which 
 the individual or Church understands and believes the state- 
 ments of Scripture, respecting the heads of doctrine embodied 
 and expressed in the creed or confession emitted. And every 
 such creed proceeds, or ought to proceed on the infallible 
 authority of God speaking to us in the inspired Scriptures. 
 For what my creed expresses is my interpretation of the state- 
 ments of the Word of God. It is a declaration to the Church 
 and to the world, to friends and foes, of my faith, of what I am 
 persuaded to believe to be the mind of God concerning the 
 doctrines or duties that make up the several heads and articles 
 of my creed or confession. "With the heart man believeth unto 
 righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto 
 salvation." If there ever was a period in the history of the 
 Church and of human opinion, when a Scriptural creed was 
 needed, or was of utility for the purposes and ends already 
 specified, it cannot be denied that in the present age such a creed 
 is indispensable, if we would not be drifted into the great 
 whirlpool of heretical and antiscriptural opinion. Into that 
 vortex many of great fame in the Churches have already drifted, 
 and fragments of their shipwrecked creeds are seen floating 
 about like the spars and beams of stranded and shipwrecked 
 vessels. If then we would abide faithful to the truth of God, 
 and to the charge committed to us, we must hold fast the form 
 of sound words delivered unto us. And as we believe that the 
 creed or confession of this Church, the Westminster Confession 
 of Faith, is a fair and true interpretation of the Scripture con- 
 cerning the heads of doctrine contained in that Confession, we 
 must, in faithfulness to the truth, beware of the attempts made 
 to disparage that Confession. " Whereto we have already 
 attained, let us walk by the same rule." 
 
14 the spiritual life. 
 
 The Bible. 
 
 But on the other hand, we must, while highly valuing the 
 Confession of Faith and similar summaries of Christian doctrine, 
 beware of confounding an exact knowledge of these with the 
 spiritual and saving knowledge of the doctrines which they 
 enunciate in regular order and system. We must not substitute 
 even a clear and comprehensive knowledge of the Holy 
 Scriptures themselves for the spiritual apprehension of them by 
 living faith. It is a common thing for those who make free 
 with the words and statements of Scripture, and pervert them 
 from their original and manifest ends, to accuse us, and those 
 who with us believe in the plenary inspiration of Holy Scripture, 
 of being guilty of a sort of Bibliolatry, or worship of a book. 
 But so far is there from being any ground for this railing accusa- 
 ation, that we assert and teach that no mere knowledge of the 
 letter, even of Scripture itself, can renew, sanctify, and save 
 men. But because we believe that the inspired Word is the 
 great instrument of the Spirit in the regeneration and sanctify- 
 ing of men, according to the prayer of the Lord Jesus — 
 " Sanctify them through thy truth — thy word is truth ; " and the 
 words of Peter concerning believers, — that they "are born again, 
 not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God 
 which liveth and abideth for ever ; " and the words of Paul, 
 that " the Holy Scriptures are able to make us wise unto salva- 
 tion, through the faith which is in Christ Jesus" — we must 
 preserve and jealously watch over the purity and integrity of 
 inspired Scripture. In order that we may have eternal life, we 
 must have the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus. But how can 
 we attain to that knowledge without having the word of life, 
 the word of truth given unto us, that we may "believe that Jesus 
 is the Son of God, and that, believing, we may have life through 
 his name ? " 
 
 Necessity of the Spirit's Teaching. 
 
 A confession containing the main heads of Christian doctrine 
 may be valuable and useful. The Bible is of infinite value, 
 revealing to us the whole will of God for our salvation, but it is 
 
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 15 
 
 a doctrine of the Bible ; and a fact witnessed to by all experience, 
 that in order to the spiritual and saving apprehension and 
 knowledge of the contents of Scripture — the things of the Spirit 
 — we need the vivifying and enlightening grace of the Spirit, — 
 " For the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit, 
 neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 
 Systematic knowledge of the truth is in itself good and to be 
 desired, but if the truth be known merely as a system or as a 
 science, there is the utmost danger of such knowledge being 
 spiritually unproductive; and the tendency of it will be towards 
 what is called rationalism. For although "to analyse the Divine 
 attributes and to harmonise them, to explain the connection of 
 the Creator with the creation, and to form, with reference to God 
 and Divine things, a body of systematic doctrines, may be as it 
 certainly is, a noble exercise of thought, yet it is less a religion 
 than a study. . . . Additional ideas may be acquired by the 
 student, but they produce in him neither emotion nor change. 
 But the field of religious ideas, when it is trodden by the foot of 
 natural reason, is only a field of problems and contradictions 
 . . Thus the religion of the student neither enlightens, con- 
 verts, nor consoles him, and he finds himself as far removed from 
 his aim as before his laborious investigations." (Vinet.) While, 
 therefore, we are to bend the whole force of our intellect towards 
 the investigation of scriptural truth, ever depending on the 
 grace and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, we must beware of 
 the tendency, so natural to us, to regard the truths of revelation 
 as mere matters of speculation. We must never forget that we 
 ourselves are most deeply interested in the truths which are 
 before us in the page of revelation, and that " all Scripture is 
 given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for 
 reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that 
 the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all 
 good works." 
 
 Highly, therefore, though we value and esteem the systematic 
 knowledge of scriptural truth, and earnestly though we would 
 contend for maintaining the Confession of this Church, as exhib- 
 ited in the Westminster Confession and Catechisms, yet we 
 must go continually to the Scriptures; for they are the fountains 
 
1 6 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 
 
 of the water of life. Confessions and systems are as cisterns into 
 which this water is collected or forced, and from which, as Lord 
 Bacon says, it is fetched and derived for use. But we must not 
 substitute these cisterns for the fountain, but rather repair to it, 
 each man with his pitcher to draw the fresh water for himself, 
 remembering that in the clauses and words of Scripture there 
 are infinite springs and streams of doctrine to water the Chnrch 
 in every part. And as we repair to these fountains and springs, 
 let us not forget the words of the Lord Jesus, — " If any man 
 shall do the will of my Father, he shall know of the doctrine 
 whether it be of God." 
 
 This then is the first aspect of the Christian life presented to 
 us by the words before us. This life consists in knowledge, the 
 knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. This life begins with 
 knowledge, is sustained, nourished, and invigorated by know- 
 ledge, even by the wholesome, sound, and health-bringing words 
 of the Scriptures of truth. It is, therefore, the duty of the 
 individual and of the Church to know, publish, and defend the 
 truth as it is in Jesus, in the sure and certain hope that at 
 length notwithstanding the rage and fury and power of all 
 adversaries, "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the 
 Lord as the waters cover the sea." 
 
 II. Life and Love. 
 
 A second aspect of the spiritual life is presented by the 
 words of John — " He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, 
 and God in him." This is grounded on the sublime statement 
 — " God is love." And beneath these words there is this truth, 
 that the spiritual life in man consists in conformity to God. 
 That life is perfect in so far as the Christian according to his 
 capacity reflects the image of God. Thus with respect to the 
 view already taken of the Christian life as consisting in know- 
 ledge, it may be said that this aspect of the spiritual life is 
 grounded on the truth that " God is Light." In so far, there- 
 fore, as the Christian makes progress in spiritual knowledge 
 he grows up into nearer and nearer conformity to " God " who 
 
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 17 
 
 " is light and in whom is no darkness at all." But " God is 
 love ; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God 
 in him." The Christian, or spiritual life, being the life of God 
 in the soul, is a life in love. The Christian dwells, lives, or 
 abides in love, and God dwells or abides in him. And as in 
 knowledge there is a progressiveness, so also is there a growth 
 unto perfection in love, this love of God — till the soul be filled 
 with all the fulness of God. 
 
 The intimate connection between the spiritual knowledge of 
 God and the life in the love of God is very impressively indi- 
 cated in the concluding words of the prayer of the Lord, from 
 which the first of our texts is taken — " O righteous Father, the 
 world hath not known Thee ; but I have known Thee, and 
 these have known that Thou hast sent me. And I have de- 
 clared unto them Thy name, and will declare it, that the love 
 wherewith Thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in 
 them." Christ Jesus is the express image of the Father : He 
 knows the Father even as the Father knows Him. And com- 
 mensurate with this infinite and mutual knowledge is the in- 
 effable love of the Father to the Son, and of the Son to the 
 Father. And what the Lord prays for is, that as believers 
 know the name of the Father, and know Christ as sent by Him, 
 they may be sharers in that love wherewith the Father loves 
 the Son, " that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be 
 in them, and I in them." It is in and through Christ that the 
 love of God reaches the guilty children of men. But those 
 who are in Christ participate in the love wherewith the Father 
 loves the Son. And in proportion as believers grow up towards 
 the perfection that is in Christ, in the same proportion they 
 reflect the love of Christ to the Father. No wonder, therefore, 
 that the Apostle should pray " that the Father of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth 
 is named, would grant us according to the riches of his glory 
 to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man, 
 that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith ; that we being 
 rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with 
 all saints, what is the breadth and length and depth and height, 
 
 B* 
 
18 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 
 
 and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that 
 we might be filled with all the fulness of God." 
 
 The Gospel a Revelation of Love. 
 
 Christianity is a revelation of the love of God. and it is the 
 product or effect of that great love — " For God so loved the 
 world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever 
 believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." And 
 it is designed to beget love in the hearts of men towards God, 
 so that we may be able to say, " We love Him, because He 
 first loved us." Thus we see that as a system of knowledge or 
 truth, Christianity presents itself to our understandings, but as 
 a revelation of love it presents itself to our hearts. The truth 
 and the love are combined in the revelation, and the under- 
 standing and the affections must be united in receiving the 
 word of truth, and the word of love. There is the receiving of 
 " the truth in the love of it ;" there is the love of the truth that 
 we may be saved. But while highly valuing the truth or the 
 knowledge communicated by revelation, we set a yet higher 
 value on the object itself that is revealed, viz., the character 
 and love of God. And while highly valuing faith as an instru- 
 ment apprehending and embracing the truth, giving within the 
 mind the substance of the things hoped for and the evidence of 
 the things not seen. We set a yet higher value on love, that 
 love which cleaves to and delights in the great and glorious 
 objects revealed in the truth, and apprehended by faith. " Now 
 abideth faith, hope, charity : these three; but the greatest of 
 these is charity." 
 
 As in the natural light, there are both light and heat, so in 
 the beams, the healing beams that radiate from the Sun of 
 Righteousness there is truth and there is love — the truth to 
 illuminate the understanding and the love to quicken and 
 give warmth to the heart. So that it has been justly remarked 
 by President Edwards, that " True religion consists much in 
 the state of the heart or affections." Indeed, the knowledge 
 that is not operative within the heart, purifying and trans- 
 forming it, and stimulating and enlarging it in love, is not 
 
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 19 
 
 knowledge that will save the soul. And those who are con- 
 tented with such dry speculation and barren knowledge cannot 
 be classed with the heirs of salvation, for of them the Apostle 
 Peter says, that they " have purified their souls in obeying the 
 truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren." 
 
 The Nature and History of this Love. 
 
 This love, without which there is no life unto God, like 
 the spiritual knowledge that distinguishes the true Christian, 
 is not natural to the heart of man ; and like this knowledge it 
 is the result or product of the effectual grace and operation of 
 the Holy Spirit within the heart and soul of man. According 
 to the economy of grace, it is one of the offices of the Holy 
 Spirit to take of the things of Christ and to show them unto 
 men, and at the same time to enlighten the eyes of the under- 
 standing and to renovate and purify the heart, so that the 
 enmity of the carnal mind may be taken away, and that the 
 gracious principle of a holy love to God may be implanted in 
 the heart. In begetting this love in the heart, the Holy Spirit 
 reveals to man the trust-worthiness and love-worthiness of 
 God in Christ. He unveils the beauty of the Lord, and by 
 the sight of this the heart is affected. Faith is called into 
 being and exercise, and love is the invariable handmaid and 
 companion of faith. This spiritual love, by which the heart 
 goes out from itself towards God, is at once a love of com- 
 placency in God as the only Holy and Good One, and also a 
 love of gratitude towards God, for that great love wherewith 
 he loved us even when we were dead in trespasses and sins. 
 This, again, is never separate from a love of goodwill to all the 
 creatures of God as his creatures ; and a love of delight and 
 complacency towards brethren in Christ — the family of God — 
 the household of faith. Thus, the believer dwelling in love 
 dwells in God, and God dwelleth in him. Union and fellow- 
 ship are thus the immediate and blessed fruits of this love — 
 " Our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son, Jesus 
 Christ." A divine union and a divine fellowship is that 
 secured by this love, is that to which a pcor guilty sinner, 
 
20 THE SPIRITUAL LIFF. 
 
 once an heir of wrath, is exalted by this love. " God is love " 
 — and " who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on 
 high, who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in 
 heaven, and in the earth ! He raiseth up the poor out of the 
 dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill, that he may set 
 him with princes, even the princes of His people." This love 
 unites the believer in fellowship with all who love the same 
 Father and the same Lord Jesus Christ. It binds earth to 
 heaven, and it gathers into one the scattered and divided family 
 of God. It is, indeed, the bond of perfectness.. Very different 
 is this heaven-begotten love — this love which is the fruit of 
 the Spirit, from that sickly and sentimental thing that is often 
 substituted for it or confounded with it. Men who disparage 
 the great and cardinal doctrines of the grace and word of God 
 think they do well when they extol the importance and ex- 
 cellence of what they call love, the religion of the heart. But 
 he of all the Apostles who treated most largely of doctrine, and 
 contended most earnestly for the faith, is that Apostle who has 
 pronounced the loftiest eulogy on love. But in his case, know- 
 ledge and love were not antagonistic. Knowledge was, indeed, 
 ministerial to love, but love was begotten of knowledge. And 
 that he might the more love God, he sought the more to know 
 God. Love, like the flower and fruit of a tree, supported by 
 the stem and roots of the tree, is the efflorescence and fruit of 
 the tree of living spiritual knowledge. Take away the tree 
 and where shall be the beauteous flower ? where the pleasant 
 fruit ? Take away the doctrine concerning God and his Son 
 Jesus Christ, and where shall we find love ? Where shall we 
 find that fruit and flower of paradise ? If, therefore, we would 
 have the abundant fruits of heavenly love, let us watch over 
 that blessed tree of life — the truth — the knowledge of God and 
 of His Son, Jesus Christ. 
 
 True Love distinguished from False. 
 
 Very different, as I have already said, is this love from that 
 
 thing of mere sentiment which men call by its name — or call 
 
 . the religion of the heart. In these days there is a pantheistic 
 
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 21 
 
 spirit abroad among men, and among multitudes who profess 
 to be the disciples, followers, and even ministers of Christ. 
 This spirit is doing incalculable damage to the truth as it is in 
 Jesus, to the love of God as shed abroad in the heart by the 
 Holy Ghost, and to the interests of godliness and immortal 
 souls. We hear much of the excellence of charity, and but 
 little, comparatively, of the dignity and worth of truth. Now, 
 charity divorced from truth is not love, is not love in the Spirit. 
 For the Spirit of love is the Spirit of truth. We hear much of 
 " that immense paternity of God which embraces all animated 
 beings from the seraph to the worm." Much of the fatherhood 
 of God apart from the moral government of God — apart from 
 the obedience and vicarious death of the Son of God — much of 
 the love and pity of God apart from His justice and severity; 
 and all this is fitted and designed to beget in men fits of " fugi- 
 tive emotions," fits of " involuntary tenderness," depending on 
 the degree of sensibility with which men are endowed. But 
 do these emotions, do these fits of tenderness change, subdue, 
 renovate, or sanctify the heart? " If anything is evident, it is, 
 that the sensibility which frequently overflows in tears, often 
 leaves in the heart a large place for selfishness; just as our 
 fellow-men do not always derive any advantage from the ten- 
 derness we have felt at a distance from them. Love, true love 
 to God, is a love of His truth, of His holiness, of His entire will; 
 true love is that which is reflected in obedience; that which 
 renews and purifies the conscience." 
 
 Nothing is more common than a kind of religious sentimen- 
 talism, professedly grounded on love — love to God; and yet 
 nothing is rarer than a religion in which the love of God is the 
 ruling and governing principle. Hence the fitfulness and the 
 capriciousness that give mark and character to the religion of 
 so many in the present day. At one time men seem all in 
 earnest for holiness and heaven. They seem to run well. But 
 by and bye they are offended. At one time men are generous 
 and liberal. They seem to deny themselves that they may lay 
 their gifts on the altar of the Lord. But at other times they 
 are churlish and niggardly. They seem to themselves to do 
 well in being angry because Christ claims their service and 
 
22 THE SPIEITUAL LIFE. 
 
 their substance. At one time men seem tender-hearted, meek, 
 gentle, and ready to forgive and forget injuries and offences — 
 ready also to throw the mantle of charity over the faults, fail- 
 ings, and sins of their brethren. But at other times they seem 
 proud and puffed up in their vain minds — sensitively alive to 
 offences — quick and earnest to return evil for evil, and ready 
 to backbite and "devour their neighbour. At one time as it on 
 the wings of sentiment they seem borne aloft to the very gates 
 of heaven, where, with entranced eye, they behold as they 
 imagine the unveiled glory of the Lord. But, again, from these 
 sublime and airy heights they fall back into themselves and 
 find not God — they sink into despondency or melancholy — or 
 they even fall into the depths of sin and infidelity, saying, 
 " What profit is there that we have served the Lord and walked 
 in his ordinances, or that we have kept ourselves from our 
 iniquity ?" At one time men profess love the most ardent and 
 earnest for the truth as preached by apostles and prophets, and 
 as lifted up out of the Holy Scriptures, and published by the 
 godly reformers and as now preached and made known by the 
 faithful ministers of Christ. But at another time these very 
 men may be feasting their imaginations and nourishing their 
 religious sentiment by taking part in the sensuous, gorgeous, 
 and idolatrous worship of the apostate Church of Rome. Now, 
 it becomes those whose religion is of this fitful and capricious 
 character to examine themselves whether the words of Christ 
 may not be true concerning them : " I know you, that the love 
 of God is not in you." How dreadful must their state be if, 
 indeed, notwithstanding all their religious feelings and senti- 
 ments, they are yet without the love of God, without that which 
 is the heart and essence — the sum and substance of all true 
 religion. How dreadful is the case of such : " For, if any man 
 love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, mar- 
 anatha." 
 
 True Christian love, as distinguished from fitful and evan- 
 escent sentiment, resembles the perennial stream as distin- 
 o-uished from the torrent caused by a summer shower. That 
 torrent may make greater noise, may rush onwards with greater 
 fury and impetuosity, and on its angry surface there may be 
 
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE, 23 
 
 more foam and froth. But it passes soon away, and its only- 
 trace and mark is the empty channel which it had made for 
 itself on its wild and shortlived career. Far otherwise is it 
 with true Christian love. Flowing from an everlasting fountain, 
 it continues to flow in summer and in winter. The colds of 
 adversity do not congeal its living waters, and the heat and 
 warmth of prosperity do not dry up its currents so as to leave 
 its channel empty. It may and does exhibit variations in 
 volume and in momentum. Now it moves with rapidity and 
 force, bearing down before it all opposition; and now it glides 
 softly in the midst of green and blessed pastures where the 
 flock of God delights to be. As distinguished from the boister- 
 ousness of the other stream, this river of the water of life may 
 be said to be waters of gentleness. How blessed are they in 
 whose hearts the Spirit of the Lord has opened the fountain of 
 this love! for it shall well up unto eternal life. Happy those 
 who can, with an approving conscience, say in answer to the 
 question of the Lord — "Lovest thou me?" "Lord, thou knowest 
 all things; thou knowest that I love Thee." For "he that 
 dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." Love, 
 then, is an essential part of the life of God in the soul. It is 
 an essential part of that image of God into which believers are 
 being progressively transformed. 
 
 III. Life and Action. 
 
 A third aspect of the Christian life is presented by the words 
 of the Apostle James: " Pure religion and undefiled before God 
 and the Father is this — To visit the fatherless and widows in 
 their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." 
 These words, like the other two texts, proceed on the principle 
 that the spiritual life in man consists in conformity to God. 
 " God is light." " God is love;" and " There is none good but 
 one, that is God." Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father 
 which is in heaven is perfect." " He maketh His sun to rise 
 on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and 
 on the unjust." The believer is called and preordained that he 
 may be like God, that he may reflect the image or likeness of 
 
24 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 
 
 the Father in heaven. But Christ Jesus said, " My Father 
 worketk hitherto, and I work." Even so the believer is to 
 imitate God in working. For according to the words of Paul, 
 " We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good 
 works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk 
 in them." " Let your light," said the Lord Jesus, " so shine 
 before men that they seeing your good works may glorify your 
 Father who is in heaven." And to quote yet one other passage 
 bearing on this part of our subject — " Hereby perceive we the 
 love of God, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought 
 to lay down our lives for the brethren." " But whoso hath 
 this world's good and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth 
 up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love 
 of God in him?" " My little children, let us not love in word 
 neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth." 
 
 Thus it is evident that godly practice is, by all these testi- 
 monies and statements, required as the index of godly principles; 
 and where knowledge and a professed love are disjoined from 
 practice — where a godly life is not the commentary on the 
 principles of knowledge and love, the reality and worth of the 
 knowledge and love may be questioned. " For an evil tree 
 cannot bring forth good fruit, nor can a good tree bring forth 
 evil fruit. Wherefore by their fruits men are known." And 
 yet what is more common than for men to profess the know- 
 ledge and love of God, and to remain far away from the practice 
 of Christian and godly deeds? Both what we may call theolo- 
 gical Christians delighting in doctrines exhibited in system and 
 scientific method, and sentimental Christians rejoicing in the 
 delineation of the various phases of experience and feeling — 
 both can fold their hands in indolent repose as if they were not 
 the keepers of their perishing brother — both can enjoy their 
 luxurious feast of doctrine or of emotion, while their brother is 
 left to perish in the pit in which there is no water, without the 
 knowledge [and without the love of God. But as it was not 
 lawful to divide and to tear into pieces the robe of Christ, so 
 it is not permitted us to divide between knowledge, love, and 
 practice. For " He that saith he abideth in Christ ought him- 
 self also so to walk even as He walked," and of His walk it is 
 
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 25 
 
 said that " He went about continually doing good." Let " the 
 disciple ; then, be as His master and the servant as His lord." 
 
 Godly Activity, what ? 
 
 There is, however, another and a more subtile form in which 
 this disjoining of godly practice from godly knowledge and 
 principle is observable. As some make all religion to consist 
 in knowledge, as some make it all to consist in love, so others 
 represent it as consisting almost exclusively in the performance 
 of acts of kindness, humanity, and benevolence. Doctrine and 
 sentiment are of little or rather of no account with a certain 
 class of men. " God," say they, " will not surely condemn us 
 for an error of intellect or even an error of sentiment. Religion 
 does not consist in propositions or in emotions. No. It is a 
 thing of the life. Let us do our duty, and God is just and will 
 not doom us to perdition." Now there is at once some truth 
 and at the same time much error in this view of religion. A 
 life regulated by duty or a sense of duty is, perhaps, the noblest 
 life that can be lived by man. And beautiful was the epitaph 
 which the late godly and heroic Henry Lawrence, of India, 
 wished to be inscribed on his tombstone — " Here lies Henry 
 Lawrence, who tried to do his duty." Noble sentiment — noble 
 epitaph of a noble and heroic man ! But in the case of Henry 
 Lawrence, duty was grounded on the knowledge of God, and 
 the doing of it proceeded from love to God. How very different 
 is it in many cases — the cases of those who disparage the worth 
 of spiritual knowledge, and have never felt the constraining 
 power of the love of Christ. True religion is no doubt a life — 
 a life in the Spirit — a life unto God. But this life proceeds 
 from the knowledge and love of God. Take these away and 
 you destroy the spiritual life. No word is more abused than 
 that noble word " duty." If, indeed, men will do their duty, 
 they must know their duty; and the mere performance of cer- 
 tain acts, apart from the motives prompting to it, cannot be 
 duty in the sight of Him who looketh on the heart. Duty is 
 a word of high sacredness and of great compass. It is our duty 
 to study, learn, and know the will of God ; it is our duty to 
 
26 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 
 
 love the Lord supremely, and our neighbour as ourselves: it is 
 our duty to show and vindicate the sincerity of our professed 
 faith and love by a life of obedience to the law of the Lord : 
 and it is our duty, after having ministered to the poor, the sick, 
 the needy, and the perishing — to say that we are unprofitable 
 servants : we have but done what it was our duty to do. 
 
 If, therefore, it is our duty to learn the will of God, and to 
 love the Lord, let us not be guilty of the profanity of those 
 who say that God will not surely condemn them for errors of 
 intellect, and for cherishing certain emotions and sentiments. 
 For, apart altogether from what the Spirit in Holy Scripture 
 teaches concerning these things, reason and universal experience 
 teach, that the life and conduct of mankind are determined by 
 their principles and by their sentiments. We cannot, without 
 destroying man's responsibility, disjoin man's actions from his 
 belief and feelings. Knowledge, love, obedience, principle, 
 sentiment, practice — all are combined in the spiritual life. Let 
 us not, then, untwist this threefold cord : what God hath joined 
 let not man put asunder. Light — as we are told by men of 
 science — consists of luminous rays, of colouring rays, and of 
 chemical rays. All these enter into what we may call the 
 composition of light. And it would cease to be what it is, and 
 to produce the effects which it produces if any of the three 
 ingredients or qualities were abstracted from it. Even so, the 
 spiritual life consists of knowledge, love, and obedience, and if 
 any of these three elements or constituent parts or principles 
 of it be taken away, it ceases to be the spiritual life described 
 in Holy Scripture, and it must cease to yield or bring forth the 
 fruits of that life. The intellect, heart, will — all the parts of 
 man's nature and constitution must be met and provided for, 
 must be acted upon by the religion of the Gospel. And it is 
 the distinctive glory of the Gospel, that it exhibits at once the 
 most complete revelation of the character and will of God, and 
 at the sametime presents this revelation in most perfect adap- 
 tation to the capacities, faculties, and susceptibilities of the 
 soul of man. 
 
 Every false religion, that is, every religion except that of the 
 Gospel of Jesus Christ, exhibits on the one hand a partial and 
 
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 27 
 
 defective view of the character and will of God, and on the 
 other hand because of this, a partial view of the nature and 
 relationships of man. But the Gospel carries with it a double 
 class of witnesses. For it makes known the name, character, 
 and will of God in such a manner that the sublimest objects of 
 knowledge — the supreme object of love and sovereign authority 
 — are all presented to man. And corresponding with this, and 
 because of this, the Gospel alone satisfies the soul of man. For 
 there is the truth concerning God for man's understanding ; 
 there is the goodness of God for man's heart ; and there is the 
 law of God for man's conscience and will. 
 
 Harmonies and Diversities. 
 
 But not only so. The Gospel exhibits all this in adaptation 
 to man as ignorant, guilty, disobedient, dead in trespasses and 
 sins. For Christ Jesus is made unto us of God wisdom, ricrh- 
 teousness, sanctification, and redemption. It becomes us, there- 
 fore, to aim at, and strive after, a complete and full realization 
 in our own souls — in knowledge, love, and obedience of what 
 is presented to us, and enjoined upon us in the Scriptures of 
 truth — that we may stand complete in all the will of God. 
 Instead of attempting to separate knowledge from love, or love 
 or knowledge from practical obedience let us rather strive to 
 increase in the knowledge of God, to grow in grace and love, 
 and to be followers of God m all holy obedience, as clear chil- 
 dren — counting it our meat and drink to do the will of our 
 Father in heaven. This is all the more necessary — first, 
 because from constitutional tendencies and sympathies even 
 godly men are prone to exaggerate the importance of one or 
 other of the three great elements of spiritual religion to the 
 injury or detriment of the others. Great allowance must be 
 made for this tendency, and in our judgments of others, more 
 especially so long as men do not practically disparage the in- 
 trinsic value, say of doctrine, we must not condemn them if 
 they seem to as to magnify almost to excess the worth of love 
 and of obedience. On the other hand it becomes not those who 
 profess to serve the same Lord and Master to bring railing 
 
28 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 
 
 accusations against brethren who may appear to them to attach 
 what they think to be undue importance to the knowledge of 
 the truth — to soundness in the faith. Let eacli man strive 
 after the symmetrical development of the Christian character 
 in knowledge, love, and obedience. '" Be perfect," says the 
 Apostle — perfect in knowledge, perfect in love, perfect in obe- 
 dience. Towards this mark of perfection let each man press, 
 striving after it — reaching forth towards it while forgetting the 
 things that are behind. 
 
 Constitutional tendencies and sympathies shew themselves 
 in regenerated and holy men — nay more even in men inspired 
 of God — apostles and piophets. The most cursory perusal of 
 the writings of Paul must convince us that the doctrinal ten- 
 dency was dominant in him : a similar perusal of the writings 
 of John must convince us that love was dominant in him : and 
 we cannot read the Epistle of James without being satisfied 
 that the practical tendency was strongest in him. But Paul 
 did not depreciate love and obedience : he exhibited the doc- 
 trines of grace to beget love and to promote holy obedience. 
 John did not disparage doctrine ; on the contrary he magnified 
 it ; and as he did so he rejoiced all the more and lived all the 
 more in love ; and love with him was regarded as the mighty 
 motive to all holy practice. Nor did James under- value doctrine 
 or love. For he would have men receive in the meekness of 
 wisdom the ingrafted Word which is able to save their souls. 
 But he cautioned and warned men against putting knowledge 
 or a professed faith instead of obedience and a working faith. 
 " Be ye," he says, " doers of the Word, and not hearers only, 
 deceiving your own selves." " Doers, not hearers only ; " there 
 is much in these words. Doing must be added to hearing, and 
 the doing must be regulated by the hearing. Not doers only, 
 not hearers only. But both hearers and doers of the Word. 
 For " the wisdom that cometh from above is first pure, then 
 peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and 
 good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy." 
 
the spiritual life. 29 
 
 Summary and Conclusion. 
 
 It has been well said, that the great desiderata of the Church 
 of Christ — comprehending under that august and holy desig- 
 nation all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and 
 truth — are, unity, activity, spirituality. But how these may be 
 attained unto is the question earnestly put by brethren to each 
 other, and it is the burden of the prayer of many of the Lord's 
 remembrancers in every land. These three most desirable 
 things can ultimately be obtained only through the supply and 
 communication of the Spirit of Christ. For he is the author of 
 concord and order, not of discord and confusion ; and he will 
 yet cause the watchmen on Zion's walls to see eye to eye, and 
 He will gather into one the dispersed of Israel, giving unto 
 them one heart and one way. For as Robert Hall has said, — 
 " That union among Christians which it is so desirable to recover 
 must, we are persuaded, will be the result of something more 
 heavenly and divine, than legal restraints or angry controversies. 
 Unless an angel were to descend for that purpose, the spirit of 
 division is a disease which will never be healed by troubling 
 the waters. We must expect the cure from the increasing 
 prevalence of religion, and from a copious communication of 
 the Spirit to produceihat event. A more extensive diffusion 
 of piety among all sects and parties will be the best and only 
 preparation for a cordial union. Christians will then be dis- 
 posed to appreciate their differences more equitably ; to turn 
 their attention to points on which they agree ; and the conse- 
 quence of loving each other more, to make every concession 
 consistent with a good conscience. Instead of wishing to van- 
 quish others, every one will be desirous of being vanquished by 
 the truth. An awful fear of God, and r an exclusive desire of 
 discovering His mind, will hold a torch before them in their 
 inquiries, which will strangely illuminate the path in which 
 they are to tread. In the room of being repelled by mutual 
 antipathy, they will be insensibly drawn nearer to each other 
 by the ties of mutual attachment. A larger measure of the 
 Spirit of Christ would prevent them from converting every 
 incidental variation into an impassible boundary ; or from con- 
 
SO THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 
 
 demning the most innocent and laudable usages for fear of 
 symbolizing with another class of Christians — an odious spirit 
 with which some writers are strongly impregnated. The 
 general prevalence of piety in different communities would 
 inspire that mutual respect, that heartfelt homage for the 
 virtues conspicuous in the character of their respective mem- 
 bers which would urge us to ask with astonishment and regret 
 — Why cannot we be one ? What is it that obstructs our 
 union ? Instead of maintaining the barrier which separates us 
 from each other, and employing ourselves in fortifying the 
 frontiers of hostile communities, we should be anxiously devis- 
 ing the means of narrowing the grounds of dispute by drawing 
 the attention of all parties to those fundamental and catholic 
 principles in which all concur." In order to real union among 
 Christian men, there is needed the baptism of light, of love, of 
 life, and power. More knowledge — more, not less of the truth 
 received and held in the love of it — and spoken in love and 
 acted out, carried into practical effect in love — is needed to the 
 healing of the divisions of the Church of Christ. A more 
 spiritual, symmetrical, and adequate apprehension of the truth 
 of God, revealed in Holy Scripture, would go far to silence 
 and remove many of the divisive controversies that prevail 
 and fiercely rage between brethren in the Lord. This would 
 lead all Christian men to a more thorough and practical recog- 
 nition of the supreme authority of the Head of the Church, 
 and it would teach them that as His revealed will given in 
 Holy Scripture is the supreme and only rule of faith and practice 
 to Christian men, they ought not to invent, much less to dictate 
 terms of communion in His Church, as if they were lords and not 
 mere servants in the house of God. It would teach that to 
 the inspired Word all professing faith in Christ are astricted 
 and bound. A single eye and an honest heart, with a com- 
 petent knowledge of the Scriptures would, under the grace of 
 the Spirit, lead men insensibly into similar trains of thought 
 and meditation, and being more and more under the guidance 
 of the Holy Ghost as their infallible teacher, according to the 
 rule of His inspired Word, "they would gradually tend towards 
 the same point, and settle in the same conclusion." Let us 
 
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 31 
 
 then, aiming at that unity or union, which is strength — that 
 unity of the Church which shall so surprise and impress the 
 world that they shall see in it demonstration of the truth that 
 Jesus is indeed the Christ the Son of the living God, — pray 
 and labour for increase of spiritual light and life in the 
 knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. Let us pray for the 
 spirit of wisdom and grace. For " upon the land of My people 
 shall come up thorns and briers .... until the Spirit be 
 poured upon as from on high." (Is. xxxii.) 
 
 If we would have more wise, sustained, and effective Chris- 
 tian work and activity — for this is earnestly required at our 
 hands — we must not only have more light, increase of know- 
 ledge, but more love. It was love to Christ and love to 
 perishing men that enabled Paul to interpret so readily and 
 easily the vision which he beheld by night at Troas; " when 
 there stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him, saying Come 
 over into Macedonia, and help us." It was love, Divine love, 
 that gave him the key to the revelation made to him, and so 
 it is added, " After he had seen the vision immediately we en- 
 deavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the 
 Lord had called us to preach the Gospel unto them." Faith in 
 Paul worked by love; and in him with progressive knowledge 
 there was increase of love. Alas ! that in the case of some, it 
 should hold true that as knowledge is increased their love 
 waxes cold. This ought not so to be. For surely the more 
 we know of Christ and of our obligation to Him, the' more 
 should "the love of Christ constrain us, urge and press us for- 
 ward, to live not unto ourselves but unto Him who died for 
 us and rose again." The prevalence of this love would heal 
 many of our divisions, and would prompt to nobler and more 
 heroic enterprises and achievements than have been for many 
 centuries undertaken or accomplished. This dovelike and 
 
 chaste and modest spirit of love would remove and drive out 
 
 would exorcise the demons of worldliness, indolence, ambition, 
 self-seeking — the attachments of men to secular interests, their 
 love of a little brief authority and power, and their irreverence, 
 cunning, craftiness, and dishonesty in handling the Word of 
 God, and in treating of the ordinances, laws, and affairs of the 
 
32 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 
 
 house of God. '• For the true schismatic" it has been well said, 
 " is not so properly the person who declines a compliance with 
 what he judges to be wrong, though he may be mistaken in 
 that judgment, as the man who sedulously employs every artifice 
 to alienate the affections of good men from each other." 
 
 We need more knowledge, but we also need more love. For 
 knowledge may puff us up, but love will build us up. If we 
 had more truth and love, we should be heard more frequently 
 saying with Carey before he set out to India, " Let us attempt 
 great things for God: let us expect great things from God. 
 The attempt is required by the word of precept : the expecta- 
 tion is warranted by the word of promise." And we should 
 like him, when writing from the far distant shores of Bengal, 
 be found saying, " What is there in all the earth worth the 
 living for but the glory of God and the salvation of the souls 
 of men!" More light, more love, more work! With more 
 work, more godly activity, the waste places of the world would 
 be brought under Christian tillage and husbandry; and some 
 at least of the very much land yet remaining to be possessed 
 would be annexed to actual dominions and territories of the 
 Messiah. With more love there would be more disposition for 
 work. Christian men would have a mind to Christian work, and 
 they would have little time and less inclination for controversy 
 and war among themselves. The shepherds would cease from 
 unseemly strife, remembering that the Cannanite, their common 
 enemy, is yet in the land. And more light, sweetened and chas- 
 tened by love, would at once stimulate, regulate, and direct unto 
 wise ends the out-going of ardent zeal. The question of Paul and 
 the answer of Isaiah would be an echo of the spirit and mind, 
 a reflex of the very heart of the Christian — " Lord, what wilt 
 Thou have me to do ? " — " Here am I, send me." Knowledge 
 merely for the sake of knowledge, a knowledge like the fire in 
 Ezekiel's vision infolding itself, knowledge pure and speculative, 
 knowledge feeding on itself, gratified by its own processes and 
 discoveries, regaling itself by its exercise of " scanning with 
 self-fixed thought profoundest things," is not the knowledge for 
 man in this scene of sin, confusion, war, and death. Man is more 
 than a spectator, more than a mere philosopher here. " If ye 
 
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 3 3 
 
 know these things," said the Lord Jesus, " happy are ye, if ye 
 do them." 
 
 Love, merely for the sake of loving, whether it be a love in- 
 folding itself or a love clasping in its embrace even the Saviour 
 Himself, much less a love " nursing hi some delicious shade its 
 dainty sympathies," is not the truly Christian love. To Mary 
 Magdalene, as she would have clung to the risen Jesus, holding 
 Him by the feet, the Lord 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." The Christian's love is not a thing 
 of sentiment merely. It is a powerful, practical, and most 
 energetic principle. It suffers long and is kind. It rejoiceth 
 in the truth. It seeketh not its own, but it seeketh its neigh- 
 bour's good. It seeketh not its own things, but the things that 
 are Jesus Christ's. It denies self, takes up the daily cross and 
 follows Christ, saying — " Entreat me not to leave thee nor re- 
 turn from following after thee. For where thou goest, I will 
 go : thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." 
 
 And so, also, with respect to Christian activity, work, or 
 practice. It is not work for the sake of work ; not activity 
 for the sake of activity, not practice for the sake of practice. 
 The Roman army took its name exercitus, from the constant 
 exercise or drill to which its legions of soldiers were subjected. 
 But this was not an exercise in mere gymnastics. It was ex- 
 ercise with a view to serious work, conflict, and battle. Even 
 so Christian work is not mere exercise for its own sake. It is 
 work in the service of the Lord, done for his name's sake and 
 the Gospel's, from love to him and a desire that God may be 
 glorified. It is, therefore, a faithful saying, to be constantly 
 affirmed, that those who believe in Jesus and profess to love 
 his blessed name should be careful to maintain arood works. 
 In this way there will be infallible evidence of the reality of 
 the Christian and spiritual life, the health and vigour of per- 
 sonal Christianity will be greatly promoted, love will grow by 
 indulging it, the prosperity and union of the Churches will be 
 furthered, souls will be saved, and the Saviour's valedictory 
 command will be obeyed — " Go ye and preach the Gospel to 
 
 C* 
 
•94 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 
 
 every creature." Then, too, shall be answered the prayer of 
 the Old Testament Church, and the hope and expectation of 
 the Church of the New Testament shall be proved to be no 
 visionary prospect — " God be merciful unto us and bless us ; 
 and cause His face to shine upon us, that Thy way may be 
 known upon earth, Thy saving health among all nations. . . 
 God shall bless us ; and all the ends of the earth shall fear 
 him." Amen. 
 
THE LAW AND THE PEOPHETS 
 
 FULFILLED BY CHRIST. 
 
 PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 The following discourse was delivered in December, 18G5, 
 and bears upon views of the law of God which at the time 
 attracted much attention, Truth never suffers by being sifted : 
 whatever may befall those who put it to crucial experiment. 
 The law of the Lord is perfect,, and abideth for ever. Law, 
 grace, and truth, make up the completed revelation of the will 
 of God. 
 
 G. M. 
 
 Old Kilpatrick, December, 1871. 
 
 " Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets ; I am not come 
 to destroy but to fulfil."— Matth. t. 17. 
 
 Anions the hearers of the Lord when He uttered the words 
 of the text, we may, without any undue or excessive exercise 
 of conjecture suppose that there were at least three classes of 
 people. We may suppose that there were among the multi- 
 tudes some truly devout and godly persons zealous for the law 
 and the prophets — walking in the commandments and ordi- 
 nances of the Lord, and waiting for the promised consolation of 
 Israel — the Messiah. We may, also, suppose that there were 
 
36 THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS 
 
 those who, while professing obedience to the law and faith in 
 the predictions of the prophets, nevertheless by their regard to 
 the traditions of the elders and the glosses of the rabbis, made 
 the law and the prophets of none effect. And we may suppose 
 that among the multitudes there were those who hated the law, 
 did not believe the words of the prophets, and at the sametime 
 despised the traditions of the Pharisees. These several classes 
 would all have their peculiar and distintive apprehensions and 
 thoughts respecting the tendency, scope, and design of the 
 ministry and teaching of Christ Jesus. The godly and devout 
 among the audience hearing, and rejoicing to hear, the gracious 
 words of blessing spoken by the Lord, would doubtless be 
 reasoning with themselves as to the relation in which Jesus in 
 His ministry stood, or professed to stand, to the law and to 
 the prophets. Their hearts, like that of old Eli, trembling for 
 the Ark of God — trembling for the honour and sacredness of 
 the law and the prophets might fear lest this new teacher 
 should derogate from the honour of that law which had been 
 divinely-given to them, or should in any way invalidate the 
 teachings of the holy prophets. The words of the Lord — 
 " Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets ; 
 I am not come to destroy but to fulfil ;" were fitted to remove 
 all misapprehensions of the kind referred to from the minds of 
 those who worshipped God according to the law, and who 
 looked for the fulfilment of the promises made by the prophets 
 to the fathers. Those zealous for the traditions of the elders, 
 while listening to the words of Jesus, words so different in 
 manner and matter from the words of the Pharisees and Scribes, 
 — would be eager to find ground on which to accuse the Lord, 
 as setting himself against the law and the prophets. The 
 words of the Lord were fitted to correct the misapprehensions 
 of this class in the auditory. Whatever they might think of 
 this new teacher in Israel, and whatever might be his attitude 
 in relation to their traditions superinduced on the Scriptures of 
 truth, they cannot after this, with any show of truth, assert 
 that he took up a position of antagonism to the law or the 
 prophets. For, said he, " I am come not to destroy but to 
 fulfil." The apprehensions of the libertines who, hating the 
 
FULFILLED BY CHRIST. 37 
 
 restrictions of the law, and cherishing the most carnal expecta- 
 tions and hopes concerning the Messiah, as if he were to absolve 
 them from obedience to law, and at the sametime to confer 
 upon them the blessings promised by the prophets — must have 
 been grievously disappointed when they heard the words of 
 Jesus. The Gospel economy, according to these words (which 
 may be regarded as the manifesto of the Saviour regarding the 
 matters referred to) is not inaugurated or set up on the ruins 
 of the law — it is not a dispensation grounded upon the abroga- 
 tion of the law or the prophets ; but it proceeds upon the 
 establishment of the law and the fulfilment of the words and 
 promises of prophetic Scripture. Let not libertines in thought, 
 let not libertines in practice, let not theoretical, let not practi- 
 cal antinomians plead that the Gospel is on their side. The 
 law is not against the promises of God. The promises are not 
 against the law. The same Lord by whom grace and truth 
 have come has for ever shattered the arguments of all libertines 
 by the words, " Think not that I am come to destroy the law 
 and the prophets ; I am not come to destroy but to fulfil." To 
 speak, after these weighty and express words, of an abrogated 
 law — of an abrogated decalogue — of the abrogation of what 
 Lightfoot calls, " The very words of the words of God ;" or what 
 we may call, " The very law of the laws of God," is not only to 
 utter a statement subversive of the foundation of the economy 
 of grace and the Gospel, — for that economy is erected on the 
 foundation of the law not abrogated, but magnified and made 
 honourable ; — but it is, in so many words, to contradict the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. It was a daring and presumptuous act of 
 the heretic Marcion, in the early age of the Church, to pervert 
 the words of Jesus as if they should be read — " Think not that 
 I am come to fulfil the law or the prophets ; I am not come to 
 fulfil but to destroy." But although the presumptuous daring 
 of that heretic shocks every feeling of reverence entertained by 
 Christian men towards the gracious and authoritative words of 
 the Lord Jesus, his conduct was not more at variance with the 
 truth and scope, and design and nature of the Gospel than is 
 that of those who, in our own day and in this city, represent 
 Christ as having abrogated the decalogue, as if He had come 
 
38 THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS 
 
 not to fulfil the law or the prophets but to destroy. This will 
 appear more evidently after we shall have considered the im- 
 port of the statements here made by the Lord. 
 
 But while libertines in thought or practice are rebuked by 
 the words before us, they also are reproved who confound the 
 the law and the prophets — the sacred sayings and writings of 
 God with the inventions, traditions, and glosses of men. Christ 
 came not to fulfil any such commandments of men, but to ex- 
 pose their unholy and ungodly character, and to destroy them, 
 that His people, emancipated from the tyranny of an ungodly 
 traditionalism, might be not without law, but might be under 
 the law, the perfect law of liberty, under law to Him who is 
 the only Lord of the conscience, our only Saviour, Lawgiver, 
 and Judge. A marked distinction must be made between the 
 law and the prophets, which Christ came not to destroy, but to 
 fulfil, and all laws or ordinances imposed by human authority. 
 It belongs not to man, be he prince or priest, bishop, or presbyter, 
 to impose laws of his own, or of his own devising, upon the 
 Church and people of Christ. Yet, by a strange inconsistency, 
 those very men who cry out for a liberty of belief and action 
 beyond that sanctioned or permitted by the Lord, are the men 
 who, in the wantonness of their falsely named liberty, would 
 bring the Church into the bondage of ceremonies, customs, 
 traditions, and observances, from which Christ has for ever 
 emancipated His Church. But let not these men, be they 
 papists, puseyites, prelates, or presbyters, think that the Lord 
 will confirm or ratify their impositions. In keeping with His 
 words, " Think not," &c, He says of all such unwarranted 
 observances and ceremonies — " In vain do they worship me 
 teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." For, by ful- 
 filling the law and the prophets, Christ has abrogated and for 
 ever taken away all these ordinances, and has rendered it an 
 offence against Himself, and a crime against His people for any 
 to attempt to abridge the liberties of His Church, as under law 
 to Him and to Him alone. 
 
 As for the faithful servants of God, who know that His law 
 is exceeding broad — that it is perfect, converting the soul; that 
 His testimony is sure, making wise the simple; that His statutes 
 
FULFILLED BY CHRIST. 39 
 
 are right, rejoicing the heart; that the commandment of the 
 Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; that the fear of the Lord 
 is clean, enduring for ever; that the judgments of the Lord are 
 true and righteous altogether; that by them His servants are 
 warned; and that in keeping of them there is great reward ; 
 (Ps. xix.), let them rejoice when they hear the words — " Think 
 not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am 
 not come to destroy but to fulfil." For in the fulfilment of the 
 law and the prophets by Christ Jesus, the foundation is laid 
 for faith, hope, and peace towards God: and He at the same 
 time is seen and manifested to be the Just God and yet the 
 Saviour. 
 
 In the words of the text, as has been already indicated, the 
 Lord Jesus declares to us the relation in which He stood to the 
 law and to the prophets ; and inferentially, the relation in 
 which His people, represented by Him, stand in the dispensa- 
 tion of the Gospel to the law and to the prophets. 
 
 What Denoted by Law or Prophets. 
 
 In treating of this most important matter, our first inquiry 
 must be what is to be understood by the terms here used, viz., 
 the law and the prophets ? Now, it may be answered that 
 these terms taken together denote the whole of the dispensa- 
 tions by which God had revealed His will before the incarnation 
 and advent of the Messiah. These all, while serving great 
 ends for the Church in the ancient times, were so planned, 
 adjusted, and ordained, that they had reference to the grand 
 and stupendous event of the appearance in the flesh of Jesus 
 the Son of God. They were all parts of that grand train and 
 succession of revelations, ordinances, and laws, by which pre- 
 paration was made for the bringing in of the only begotten into 
 this world. More particularly the term " law," as used in the 
 New Testament and by the Lord himself, signified the revel- 
 ations of the will and purpose of God as made to Moses, and 
 recorded in his writings, which are collectively " The Book 
 of the Law." The law in this sense is comprehensive not only 
 of the decalogue — of the law of ceremonies — and of the national 
 
40 THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS 
 
 or judicial law given to Israel, but also of the discoveries of the 
 will of God, of the promises and precepts given to the patriarchs, 
 including the Eclenic institutions, precepts, and promises, as 
 well as all those given till Moses the servant of God died and 
 entered into his rest. "The prophets" comprehensively included 
 all the writings of the Old Testament except those of Moses. 
 All those writings were penned by inspired men — prophets — 
 who were by the Holy Ghost moved to record what it seemed 
 good to the Lord to cause to be preserved in writing for the 
 instruction of His people in all ages. In these writings we 
 find laws as well as promises. But as distinguished from the 
 books of Moses, these others are called the prophets. 
 
 The law and the prophets taken together make up one grand 
 whole. And yet they have such differences and peculiarities 
 that they are justly distinguished by their names respectively. 
 The law and the prophets are together subservient to the great 
 and gracious purpose manifested in the Gospel. But while 
 thus completely subservient to the evolution of the purpose of 
 the grace of God, they reveal that purpose in their own dis- 
 tinctive lights, aspects, and forms. The law, as law, exhibits 
 the will of God in the form of injunctions, precepts, command- 
 ments, and prohibitions. These all, more or less directly, have 
 relation and respect to the incarnation, obedience, and sufferings 
 unto death of the Son of God. And the law by its nature, re- 
 quirements, extent, and sanctions, is designed to cut men off 
 from trust in their own works and righteousness, to cast them 
 at the footstool of the mercy of God, and to induce them to 
 look to the blood of atonement, even the blood of God's dear 
 Son — to look to the righteousness of God in the Mediator, even 
 in the Man Christ Jesus. The grand centre and ground, as I may 
 say, of all the laws of Moses, was the law of the two tables — 
 the decalogue. This was the rule of the covenant with Israel, 
 and as such, written by God's own finger on tables of stone, 
 it was deposited in the ark over which the mercy-seat was 
 erected. God communed with Israel from a mercy-seat of 
 which, sprinkled with blood, the decalogue was the foundation. 
 But that law was not only the rule of that covenant, it was 
 in substance the rule of the covenant with Adam, and is, in 
 
FULFILLED BY CHRIST. 41 
 
 fact, the rule of the covenant with the people of God in the 
 Gospel age. For when Christ comes to do his Father's will 
 and to be the true propitiatory or mercy-seat from which God 
 shall commune with sinful men, he comes with the law en- 
 shrined within the ark of his heart — " Thy law, O God, is 
 within my heart." It is a mistake, and a very grievous mis- 
 take, to represent the law — the decalogue — as in itself the 
 covenant with Israel. It is the rule of the covenant. The 
 tables are the tables of the covenant and of the testimony. 
 The covenant proceeding on the rule of the decalogue, on the 
 ground and condition that these laws shall be inviolable, was a 
 form or manifestation of the covenant of grace. Had the 
 decalogue been the covenant, it must have been a covenant of 
 law or works. But while the law is at the basis of the cove- 
 nant transaction of Sinai, the covenant itself proceeds on the 
 provision made in the laws of sacrifices and ceremonies, accord- 
 ing to which the mercy-seat should be sprinkled with blood, 
 while the people acknowledging the sanctity and obligations of 
 the decalogue were bound to observe the laws of command- 
 ments contained in ordinances. In the decalogue, God takes 
 the people into covenant with himself, and requires them to 
 take Him to be their God ; but- apart from the provisions and 
 laws of the Levitical service, there was not, and there could not 
 be what was at Sinai constituted a covenant foreshadowing the 
 covenant in the Gospel. The covenant with Israel is, therefore, 
 to be distinguished from the tables that were the rule of the 
 covenant, and that were witnesses to it on the part of God. If 
 any people are to be taken into covenant with God, the fun- 
 damental ground and rule of such covenant must be the in- 
 violability of the moral law, or decalogue. Justice must be at 
 the root and foundation of all transactions between God and 
 man. But if justice alone regulate the covenant, then there 
 can be no covenant between God and fallen man. Mercy with 
 its provision of a mediator must have part in any covenant 
 with man, since the Fall. The law broken cannot be at the 
 basis of the mercy-seat, but the law there in its integrity 
 sprinkled with the blood of atonement can exhibit both the 
 justice and the grace of God — his severity and his goodness. 
 
42 THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS 
 
 Israel, as all men, were bound to observe the moral law — to 
 yield to it an exact, uniform, and perfect obedience. But, for 
 fallen Israel, as for fallen man, this obedience being impossible 
 by reason of sin, a covenant according to the tenor and require- 
 ments of this law, could not be a covenant through which any 
 good could be enjoyed. The curse, and the curse only, could 
 come upon those under such a covenant. But we know that 
 good — temporal and spiritual — was enjoyed by Israel, and that 
 in connection with the covenant made with them. We must, 
 therefore, in treating of the covenant with them, have respect 
 to those provisions and institutes that were made and appointed 
 by the Lord, when at Sinai He entered into covenant with 
 Israel. These all were added to the decalogue; they were 
 subservient to the decalogue : they were designed to prefigure 
 and foreshadow Christ Jesus through whom the covenant of 
 grace is made with all who believe in His name. Thus we 
 see the place of the ten words as the centre ground and rule of 
 the covenant with Israel, and we see also the place and func- 
 tions of all the Levitical ordinances, provisions, or command- 
 ments. It was not by obedience to the law of the ten words 
 that the Israelites were distinguished from other nations, tribes, 
 or people ; but it was by their iiaving in addition to that law, 
 the provisions according to which they were taught to look 
 forward to Him who is the end of the law for righteousness. 
 It was by their spiritual observance of the ordinances given 
 them — by using these as helps to faith — that the Israelites 
 were, indeed, a people diverse from all other people — a holy 
 nation, a peculiar people — a kingdom of priests. A devout 
 Israelite could distinguish, and the devout Israelites did dis- 
 tinguish between the requirements of the ten words and the 
 commandments of the ceremonial law. But, knowing that the 
 commandments contained in ordinances, were ordained of God, 
 and were designed to prepare the way for the advent of the 
 Messiah, devout Israelites offered to the Lord a spiritual wor- 
 ship through the medium of these carnal ordinances. On the 
 other hand, many while using these ordinances saw not the 
 end designed by them, and their service was at best an elabo- 
 rate formalism. They adhered to the letter of the law, but 
 
FULFILLED BY CHRIST. 43 
 
 they entered not into the spiritual significance of the Mosaic 
 ceremonies. In the case of such, even to this day, " When 
 Moses is read, the veil is upon their hearts." 
 
 The law included not only " the ten words " and the cere- 
 monial laws, but also judicial or national laws — laws specially 
 adapted to the state and condition and circumstances of the 
 Israelites, considered as a political community or nation. These 
 laws, enjoined by the Lord, were designed to be, as all laws, 
 guardians of morality, order, and religion in the body politic, 
 and they were also designed to bind the people into a distinct 
 nationality, and to preserve them separate from the other 
 nations and kingdoms of the world. Even these laws, like the 
 others, were adapted and framed with a view to the great 
 objects for which the Israelitish people were taken into the 
 covenant of God, viz., to keep alive among men the true know- 
 ledge of the living God, and to prepare the way for the advent 
 of the Messiah. We misapprehend the grand aim and design 
 of the law when we do not regard the law in relation to Christ. 
 And we can never perceive much of the glory of the Gospel 
 till we understand, in some measure, the import of the words — 
 " Think not that I am come to destroy the law — I am not come 
 to destroy but to fulfil." But in the words of the Lord the 
 prophets are associated with the law. And it is obvious from 
 the association here and in other statements of the Lord, that 
 the connection between the law and the prophets involves 
 much more than that the law is the first part or division of the 
 Old Testament, while the prophets make up the second division 
 or part of the same. The connection is not that of mere ante- 
 cedence and succession. And the diversity between them is 
 not merely that the law consists of injunctions or precepts, and 
 that the prophets utter predictions or promises. We may find 
 the principles of the relationship between the law and the 
 prophets in the books of Moses. For in them, although they 
 are summarily called the law, yet we find promises and pro- 
 phecies intermixed with precepts and threatenings. All the 
 laws of Moses have reference and respect to the first promise 
 given concerning the Seed of the woman who should bruise the 
 head of the serpent, as well as to the promises concerning the 
 
44 THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS 
 
 same Saviour made to Abraham and others of the patriarchs. 
 Nay, more, not only were many if not all of the Mosaic insti- 
 tutes designed to be typical and so far prophetic of the advent, 
 person, offices, and work of Chsist; but Moses, as a prophet, 
 foretold expressly the coming of the Lord. It is in the light of 
 the promises contained in the books of Moses that we interpret 
 the meaning and see the end of the institutes of the law. And 
 when we come to study the writings of the prophets, we find 
 that the connection between law and promise underlies the 
 whole prophetic teachings. The prophets may be regarded, 1st, 
 as exponents of the spiritual meaning of the law. They unfold 
 what is hidden or involved in that law; and invariably they 
 assert the superiority of what is moral over what is merely 
 ceremonial. Their teaching is in this way most intimately 
 connected with the law. Because they expound and enforce 
 the law, bringing into prominence the spiritual requirements 
 and nature of the law. 2nd. They may be regarded also as 
 indicating the limits of the law; for the prophets, as with one 
 voice, teach that the economy by Moses was not to be a per- 
 petual or abiding dispensation, but was to give place to another 
 and more glorious economy. This is the unanimous consent 
 and voice of the prophets. 3rd. But the prophets must also 
 be regarded as giving, in the name of the Lord, exceeding great 
 and precious promises concerning the advent, person, offices, 
 and work of Christ; and concerning the blessedness to be en- 
 joyed, not by Jews alone, but also by Gentiles, under the reign 
 and government of the Messiah. Pharisaism would contract 
 the Church of God into a mere Jewish sect : it would bind and 
 for ever encage it within the Mosaic institutes, or rather, within 
 the bandages and bonds of traditionalism. Instead of inviting 
 the other nations to come to the Mount Zion, it would stand 
 apart, saying, Come not near, for this is holy ground. The 
 prophets, on the other hand, while honouring the laws of 
 Moses, brought into conspicuous view the promise that in 
 Abraham and his seed all the nations of the earth should be 
 blessed. They foretold, and rejoiced to foretell, that in the 
 latter days — the age of the Messiah — all nations should go up 
 to Mount Zion to worship the Lord. They foretold, and re- 
 
FULFILLED BY CHRIST. 45 
 
 joiced to foretell, that in the latter days the Lord should make 
 a new covenant with His peope, and that His people should 
 consist of men saved from among all nations, for the Lord would 
 pour His Spirit upon all flesh. 
 
 Thus we see that the law and the prophets constitute one 
 grand whole, all the parts of which have reference to the medi- 
 ation and work of Christ. And with reference to them — to 
 the law and the prophets — Christ says in the words of the 
 text, " Think not that I am come to destioy the law or the 
 prophets : I am not come to destroy but to fulfil." 
 
 What denoted by Destroy and Fulfil. 
 
 Onr second inquiry must be into the import of the expres- 
 sions " destroy " and " fulfil," when these are used as here with 
 respect to the law and the prophets. A law may be said to 
 be destroyed when its injunctions are not obeyed, and when 
 its requirements are not complied with. And a prophecy or 
 promise may be said to be destroyed when the event foretold 
 does not take place, or when the good promised is not bestowed 
 and enjoyed. On the other hand, the law may be said to be 
 fulfilled when its commands and requirements are practically 
 acknowledged and submitted to, and prophecies or promises 
 may be said to be fulfilled when the events predicted take 
 place, or when the blessings promised are conferred and enjoyed. 
 Now, Christ Jesus was made under the law, and in Him the 
 promises made to the prophets are fulfilled. He came not to 
 destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfil. He is law per- 
 sonified — He is prophecy accomplished. 
 
 But this part of the subject must be more minutely handled. 
 Keeping in view what has now been stated, let it be remarked 
 — 1st. That the law may be destroyed when erroneous and per- 
 verse interpretations of the law are promulgated. These being 
 contrary to the real and just requirements of the law, set aside, 
 subvert, or practically abrogate the law. 2nd. The law may 
 be destroyed when human and unsanctioned traditions or com- 
 mandments are substitued for the lav/, or placed on a level of 
 equal obligation with the law. " Full well ye reject the law 
 
46 THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS 
 
 that ye may keep your own traditions." 3rd. The law is de- 
 stroyed when men in thought, word, or deed contemn the 
 author of the law, and venture to set the law aside in so far as 
 it abridges, restricts, or curbs what men call their liberty in 
 thought, speech, or behaviour. Disobedience is practically the 
 abrogation or destruction of the law. Now, speaking of His 
 relation to the law, Christ says, I came not to destroy it. I 
 came not to pervert its meaning, or to evade its requirements. 
 I came not to relax its binding authority, by substituting for 
 the law any ordinances of man's invention or appointment. I 
 came not to annul, abrogate, or subvert the law, by questioning 
 the authority of the Lawgiver, or the righteousness of the com- 
 mandment. I came not to destroy but to fulfil the law. The 
 fulfilment of the law is obviously opposed here to the destroy- 
 ing of it. Accordingly, Christ here declares that He came to 
 be under the law, and to be the end or fulfilment of the law : 
 He came to meet and satisfy all the claims and demands of the 
 law. 
 
 The fulfilment of the law here spoken of, when regarded in 
 opposition to the destroying of the laws, implies — 1st. That 
 Christ came to expound the true nature and to exhibit the far 
 reaching and spiritual requirements of the law. This is evident 
 from the exposition which, immediately after uttering the 
 words of the text, He proceeded to give of the law of God. 
 From that exposition we learn that the law is indeed exceeding 
 broad. And, after reading that wonderful exposition, who can 
 fail to exclaim, " Who can understand his errors ?" and to pray, 
 " Cleanse Thou me from secret faults, keep back Thy servant 
 from presumptuous sin — let no iniquity have dominion over 
 me." It is in the school of Christ that we learn the true nature 
 and extent of the law. It is when the Lawgiver becomes the 
 interpreter and commentator that we learn to behold the 
 wonders of the law. 2nd. It is implied in the words of Christ 
 that He came to raise up and assert the authority of the law 
 against the commandments and ordinances of men. He came 
 to fulfil the law of God, but He came to set aside the traditions 
 of men. This is also evident from His exposition of the law, 
 and from the whole tenor of His teaching and life. In His teach- 
 
FULFILLED BY CHRIST. 4<7 
 
 ing He denounced the formalists and Pharisees, who imposed 
 other laws than those of God on the consciences of the people ; 
 and, in His acts, He vindicated the liberty of His people 
 against the attempts of the Pharisees to reduce them into 
 bondage. 3rd. It is implied in the words of the text that 
 Christ placed himself under the law, that He submitted 
 voluntarily to it in order that He might fulfil it. This sub- 
 mission of Christ to the law is the mystery of the Gospel, it is 
 the wonder of the universe. This part of our subject therefore 
 demands very special treatment, and calls for special care with 
 respect to what we say regarding the obedience of Christ to 
 the law. Here, if anywhere, our words should be well chosen, 
 lest we should be guilty of darkening counsel by words with- 
 out knowledge. 
 
 As already explained, the law is here to be taken in a very 
 extensive sense. But we must carefully distinguish the several 
 parts or parcels of the law when we speak of the fulfilment of 
 the law by Christ. In general, Christ obeyed and fulfilled the 
 whole law of God. He fulfilled that law as it was a law for 
 the Jews and as it was a law for the Gentiles. For in His 
 obedience Be represents not the Jew only, but also the Gentile. 
 He submitted to the law of ceremonies imposed upon the 
 Jewish Church, and by submission He fulfilled that law, and 
 so fulfilled it that in Him and in His obedience unto death that 
 law has received its end. That for which it was instituted is 
 attained. He therefore by fulfilling it took it out of the way, 
 so that no longer can it claim to be law to those who believe 
 in Him for righteousness. In Him, the types of that law find 
 their antitype, and in Him the shadows of that age find their 
 substance. He is thus at once the end and fulfilment of that 
 law. But He placed himself under the moral law and sub- 
 mitted to the rule of the covenant, made not only with Israel, 
 but with Adam. He obeyed that law. He fulfilled it. But 
 not so as that it should cease to be a law and rule to all men. 
 That law is summarily comprehended in the Ten Command- 
 ments. And the sum again of that summary is contained in the 
 words, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, 
 strength, and mind, and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 
 
48 THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS 
 
 That law was broken by Adam when he rebelled against God. 
 That law broken demanded satisfaction if any of the lost 
 children of men were to be saved. Christ Jesus took that law, 
 and not only obeyed its requirements, but underwent and 
 suffered the penalty and maledictions attached to the violation 
 of the law. He was made sin for us. He bore our sins in His 
 own body on the tree. He " hath redeemed us from the curse 
 of the law, being made a curse for us." He suffered, the just 
 for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God. The obedience 
 unto death of the Son of God fulfils the ceremonial law and 
 abrogates it : the same obedience unto death of the Son of God 
 fulfils the moral law and abrogates the curse ; that is, he has so 
 satisfied the claims of the law that no longer can it pronounce 
 accursed any sinner who believes in Christ Jesus for righteous- 
 ness unto eternal life. Thus we see that Christ Jesus fulfilled 
 both the moral and the ceremonial law. The ceremonial law, 
 consisting of commandments contained in ordinances, being thus 
 fulfilled, vanished away" The moral law, honoured and magni- 
 fied by His obedience, and in its penalty fulfilled and satisfied 
 by His obedience unto death, has not passed away, but it has 
 been deprived of all power to condemn those who are in Christ. 
 " There is, therefore, no condemnation to them who are in Christ 
 Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For 
 what the law could not do in that it was weak through the 
 flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, 
 and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness 
 of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh 
 but after the Spirit." All this is in accordance with the pre- 
 dictions and promises of the prophets. For the testimony of 
 Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Therefore, in the advent, life, 
 work, and sufferings of Christ, the prophecies receive their ful- 
 filment. 
 
 But when we have regard to the words of Christ respecting 
 himself, as come to fulfil the law and the prophets, we must 
 direct our thoughts, not only to His own personal obedience 
 and sufferings, but also to what is accomplished in His people 
 by Him. It is implied, 4th, in the words of Christ, that the 
 law and prophets are fulfilled by Him, inasmuch as He invests 
 
FULFILLED BY CHRIST. 4 C J 
 
 his believing people with the righteousness required by law, 
 and confers upon them the blessings, graces, and privileges 
 promised by the prophets. It was not foretold that the 
 Messiah should abrogate the moral law or the rule of the cove- 
 nant considered as a rule of life, a perfect law of righteousness. 
 But it was foretold that they should call Him, " The Lord our 
 Righteousness," and that he would write his law in their hearts 
 and put his Spirit within them. The law of the Lord is still 
 to them a rule of life. It convinces them of sin : it reminds 
 them perpetually of their need of Christ and of His blood : it 
 reminds them of their obligations to the mercy and grace of 
 God by Jesus Christ : it sounds in their ears continually the 
 words — " Be ye perfect." And they, assenting to the law, 
 acknowledging its inexorable claims and authority, betake 
 themselves to Christ for the righteousness witnessed to by the 
 law and the prophets. 
 
 Perpetual Uses of the Law and Prophets. 
 
 This brings us to the second part of this great subject, viz., 
 to the relation of the believing people of God now in the Gos- 
 pel age to the law and to the prophets. This aspect of the 
 subject is suggested by the thought, that Christ spoke the 
 words before us, not only to indicate his personal attitude 
 towards the law and prophets, but also to indicate his relation 
 to the law and prophets as representing all his faithful fol- 
 lowers. There is no doubt a singular and pre-eminent sense 
 in which Christ himself fulfils the law and the prophets. But 
 this is not inconsistent with the fulfilment of the law and 
 prophets on the part of his people, in so far as they are one 
 with him. For them he obeyed and suffered, and died and 
 rose again according to the Scriptures ; but while He has per- 
 sonally, and also as the forerunner of His people entered into 
 the holy place above, He now by His Spirit lives and works in 
 the hearts of His p jople on earth. Now, if we consider on the 
 one hand the work of the Spirit of Christ in the hearts of men 
 before their conversion, and on the other hand the work of the 
 same Spirit in their hearts after their conversion, it will appear 
 
 D* 
 
50 THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS 
 
 that Christ in them, as well as for them, came not to destroy 
 the law or the prophets, but to fulfil. 
 
 The work of the Spirit of Christ in the hearts of His people 
 before their conversion is commonly said to consist in convinc- 
 ing them of sin and misery. This, at least, is part of the 
 Spirit's work in the hearts of men before they are converted 
 unto God. I do not, by any means, assert that this is all, 
 But this at least is part, and an important part of that inward 
 work of the Spirit of Christ. Now, to look at the first part of 
 this work, viz., the conviction of sin. How is this conviction 
 lodged in the conscience. Is it not by the ministry of the law? 
 Does not the Apostle in writing to the Romans, when he brings 
 in the whole world guilty before God, ground his verdict on 
 the fact that Jew and Gentile have broken God's law ? It 
 matters not for our present argument what the law is, or in 
 what form it was delivered. It is enough that the ground on 
 which he proceeds is, that all men have broken the moral law 
 — whether written on tables of stone or engraven on the tablets 
 of the natural heart. By the law is the knowledge of sin. 
 Without regard to this law, no man could see the sin and guilt 
 of unbelief in the rejecting of Christ. For, while sin is brought 
 home to the conscience at Sinai — or is witnessed to by the law 
 written in the heart, the heinousness of the sin of unbelief is 
 indicated at Calvary. But why at Calvary ? Is Calvary, — 
 is the Cross separated and disjoined from the law ? By no 
 means. The law is there seen in its inexorable authority, as it 
 is seen in no other place. The law, then, is still of use. The 
 Spirit of Christ employs it to convince the transgressor of his 
 sin. 
 
 If we consider the second part of the Spirit's work in this 
 preparatory process — viz., his work in convincing men of their 
 misery as transgressors or sinners reference must be made to 
 the law. Where no law is, there is no transgression. But the 
 very idea of sin, or of transgression, implies that there is law. 
 But what law ? Not the law of ceremonies, but the law moral 
 and universal — the law requiring us to love the Lord supremely, 
 and to love our neighbour as ourselves. But this law having: 
 sanctions and penalties annexed to it demands that the sinner 
 
FULFILLED BY CHRIST. 51 
 
 be accursed. And now the sinner, convinced of sin, feels that 
 he is under the curse of that broken law. Sin, by the com- 
 mandment, becomes exceeding sinful, and the sinner dies — he 
 is dead, being condemned by the law. Having regard now to 
 the equity, holiness, spirituality, and goodness of the law, the 
 sinner says of himself — " I am carnal, sold under sin." He now 
 feels that he is miserable, and that he deserves to be miserable. 
 And by what is all this sense of sin and misery wrought in 
 him, but by the law ? And yet we are told by professed 
 masters and doctors in the Church, that we have no need of 
 the law of the decalogue to convince of sin and misery. Paul, 
 with all his teaching and with all his experience — all the saints 
 of God, with all their experience — nay more, the Lord himself 
 must be taken out of the way, and be silent, before we can 
 believe that the ministry and functions of the decalogue have 
 ceased, before we can believe that the words of God have been 
 abrogated. 
 
 There follows upon this conviction of sin and misery, a deep 
 sense of need of a Deliverer. There rises the cry — wretched 
 man that I am, who shall deliver me from my guilt and from 
 my misery ? What is it that begets that sense of want — what 
 is it that extorts that cry for help, if help can be found ? Is 
 it not the law ? Is it not the law in the hand of the Spirit ? 
 Is not the law, then, still a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ ? 
 Manifestly, the office and functions of the law have not passed 
 away. So far is the convinced sinner from feeling or believing 
 that the law has been abrogated or buried, that on the contrary 
 he knows it to be a living reality, wielding giant-like power 
 over him in his sins. No sinner, under conviction of sin, will 
 believe that the decalogue is either buried or abrogated — 
 especially after hearing the words, — " Verily, I say unto you, 
 Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise 
 pass from the law till all be fulfilled." Whatever the fancies 
 or the sophistries of men may suggest and teach, the convinced 
 sinner has a witness to the power and authority of the law 
 within his own breast. His conscience bears witness that the 
 law is still in force. And woe to all those who would by their 
 sophistry attempt to stifle and to silence the awakened con- 
 
52 THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS 
 
 science of the sinner — a conscience awakened by the law in the 
 hand of the Spirit. There was a time, indeed, when he might 
 have been disposed to catch eagerly at such views of the law — 
 a time when he thought sin a little thing, but it is not now. 
 For sin is seen by the law to be exceeding sinful. There was 
 a time when he might have welcomed the statement that the 
 law was abrogated, dead, and buried ; but it is not now. For 
 now he feels the power of the law, and — like Moses — he ex- 
 ceedingly fears and quakes. There was a time when he might 
 be glad to hear the law disparaged, and to say to himself — Eat, 
 drink, and be merry, for the law is buried ; but it is not now. 
 On the deathbed of all his hopes he now feels that they are 
 miserable comforters who teach that there is salvation by the 
 abrogated law. Little matters it now to him whether you say 
 that the moral law is abrogated, or whether you allege that 
 the decalogue qua decalogue is abrogated. He now feels and 
 knows that the ten words have an unabrogated power, that 
 they demand his life, because he has sinned against the Lord, 
 because he has not loved and served the Lord, and has not 
 loved his neighbour as himself. Nor will the impious remark, 
 that the Lord did not bring him up out of the land of Egypt 
 and out of the house of bondage remove his scruples and con- 
 victions about the obligation under which he is to keep the 
 law of the Lord. For he feels the iron enter his soul ; and with 
 him the great question is- — How can man be just with God ? 
 Miserable comforters must all be who can say to such a man — 
 the law is dead. And we have something far better, infinitely 
 grander and better now in the Gospel age. 
 
 But there is another aspect of the work of the Spirit in the 
 hearts of men before what is properly termed conversion. The 
 law in the hand of the Spirit convinces men of sin and of 
 misery — of sin inasmuch as it brings home to them their guilt 
 in Adam — their want of that righteousness in which he, as their 
 covenant, representative, and head, was created — and, inasmuch 
 as it reveals to them the corruption of their whole nature, by 
 reason of which they are utterly indisposed, disabled, and 
 opposed unto all that is spiritually good and wholly inclined 
 to all evil, and that continually. Beside s this, the law brings 
 
FULFILLED BY CHRIST. 53 
 
 home to the consciences of men the sin and guilt, the accumu- 
 lated sin and guilt of their actual transgressions, and the 
 same law convinces them of their misery, inasmuch as it 
 makes manifest to them that as sinners they are excluded from 
 communion with God, are under His curse, and liable to all 
 punishments or penal sufferings under the displeasure and wrath 
 of God, not only in this life, but in that also which is to come. 
 In keeping with these functions and offices of the law are the 
 feelings of the convinced sinner. He despairs of righteousness 
 by the law, and in his wretchedness he cries out, if so be there 
 may be any hope. His sin appears to him and is felt by him 
 to be exceeding sinful, and his misery is felt by Ll.m to be 
 deserved and to be inevitable. How shall man be just with 
 God ? This is now the grand question — the great inquiry of 
 the sinner. And with it in his heart the Spirit lays him at the 
 foot of the cross. 
 
 At this stage of a sinner's experience, when that experience 
 is to issue in conversion, the sinner is brought into relation to 
 the prophets or the promises. The law teaches him his need 
 of Christ, and the prophets or promises reveal to him the 
 Saviour that he needs. He now is enlightened to perceive that 
 by the grace of God there is a Saviour, Christ Jesus, who came 
 into the world to save simiers. This keeps him from absolute 
 despair. There is a Saviour — to Him give all the prophets 
 witness : precious truth. He is taught that Christ is the only 
 Saviour : for there is no other name given under heaven among 
 men whereby we must be saved. To Him, as the only Saviour, 
 give all the prophets witness — "Besides Me, there is no 
 Saviour." A Saviour — one only Saviour — encouragement to 
 hope — antidote to despair, yet a check upon presumption — a 
 stimulus to earnest seeking after God the Saviour. " Seek ye 
 the Lord while He is to be found, call upon while He is near," 
 — this is the voice of the prophets. The convinced sinner 
 where conviction issues in conversion is also taught, and his 
 mind is enlightened by the Spirit to perceive that Christ is the 
 all-sufficient and almighty Saviour — able to save unto the 
 uttermost all those that come unto God by Him. Thou hast 
 destroyed thyself, but in Me is thine help found. In Christ, 
 
54 THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS 
 
 prophecy receives accomplishment, and in Him, according to 
 the promises, the grace of God appears bringing salvation unto 
 all men : " For it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call 
 on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Thus the law and 
 the prophets have functions to perform in the experience of 
 every sinner guided by the Spirit to Christ. By the law the 
 sinner's vain hopes are cut off; by the grace revealed by the 
 prophets in the exceeding great and precious promises, the 
 sinner is introduced to the new and better hope — even the hope 
 of salvation by Jesus Christ. The grace revealed by the 
 prophets and that hath been manifested and confirmed by Jesus 
 Christ, assumes in words the forms of invitations and promises. 
 Of these the Holy Spirit makes use in drawing men to Christ; 
 and, using the-'e as gracious instruments in His hand, the Spirit 
 renews their wills, and persuades and enables them to embrace 
 Jesus Christ, as He is freely offered to them in the Gospel. 
 This embracing of Christ is nothing else than faith in Him as 
 the Son of God and Saviour of men. But this faith proceeds 
 upon an acknowledgment of the holiness and justice of God re- 
 vealed in the law, and of the truth and grace exhibited by the 
 prophets. It is an acceptance of Christ as the fulfilment of law 
 and prophecy. Thus the faith of God's elect establishes the 
 law and confirms the testimonies of the prophets. The believer 
 sets to his seal that God is true and that God is gracious. And 
 thus, at the very entrance of a man into the spiritual and 
 Christian life, God is honoured in His law ; and His promises in 
 Christ Jesus are believed to be gracious and true. For Christ 
 Jesus is received and confided in as the end of the law for 
 righteousness — as the righteousness of God unto the justifica- 
 tion of the sinner — the righteousness witnessed to by the law 
 and the prophets. The sinner now in Christ is above the con- 
 demning power of the law ; while he confesses that the law is 
 holy and the commandment holy, just, and good; and in Christ 
 Jesus he is entitled to the blessings and privileges promised by 
 the prophets. Thus far it appears that according to the teach- 
 ins: of the Word of God, as brought to bear on the heart and 
 experience of a sinner drawn to Christ, the law is not regarded 
 as abrogated, nor the prophets as obsolete. The sinner has to 
 
FULFILLED BY CHRIST. 55 
 
 do, as a sinner, with both law and prophets; and as a believer 
 he has also to do with both. So that every Christian man is 
 represented in the words of Christ — " Think not that I am 
 come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to 
 destroy but to fulfil." 
 
 We shall arrive at the same conclusion if we have respect to 
 the life of the believer, or the life of a man after he has been 
 regenerated and converted unto God. A believer in Christ is 
 a renewed man: he is a pardoned man: he is accepted into the 
 favour and family of God: he is a partaker of the Spirit of 
 Christ: he is entitled to eternal life, being an heir of God — a 
 joint-heir with Christ Jesus, the only-begotten and well-beloved 
 Son. Let this description serve for the present occasion. Our 
 inquiry now is concerning such a man — " In what relation does 
 he stand to the law and the prophets?" That he is not bound 
 by the judicial or civil laws of the Jews, except in so far as 
 " the general equity thereof" may require, will, I suppose, be 
 readily admitted. That he is not bound by the ceremonial 
 laws of the Jews will also be admitted by all who believe that 
 these were temporary and prefigurative observances, designed to 
 be of force only till Christ should come. But to assert that he 
 is released from the duty of obedience to the moral law, as 
 expressed and summarized in the precepts of the decalogue, is 
 to allege what is contrary to the whole doctrine of the Gospel 
 and of the prophets concerning the duty and responsibilities of 
 man. In every dispensation anterior to the Gospel, there were 
 rites and observances considered in themselves of a transient 
 and temporary nature. These were either displaced by suc- 
 ceeding dispensations, or were absorbed and incorporated into 
 them. Now all these have been taken away in the Gospel, 
 while only two rites have been ordained in their stead, viz., 
 Baptism in the room of circumcision, and the Lord's Supper in 
 the room of the Passover. But in every dispensation prior to 
 that of the Gospel there were laws or principles that were in 
 their own nature permanent and immutable. These entered 
 more or less, either implicitly or expressly, into the first and 
 earliest of all dispensations, and they were interwoven into 
 the structure of every dispensation that followed. And we 
 
56 THE LAW AND THE PHOPHETS 
 
 cannot conceive of any economy or dispensation, regulative of 
 man's duty towards God, in which these permanent principles 
 or laws do not find a place. It matters not whether in any 
 dispensation they were only implied, or whether, on the other 
 hand, they were formally expressed and committed to writing, 
 except, indeed, that if the Lord should at any time have given 
 them his direct sanction, by committing them to writing, as 
 expressive of His will ; in that case and from that time forth 
 they bind men not merely because of their own moral character 
 — a character attaching to them antecedently to their being 
 given as express statutes — but also and in addition to this, 
 because of the authority of God who prescribed them as His 
 law. Now, it cannot be denied that the law of the Ten Com- 
 mandments formed part of the original law or covenant under 
 which man was made. By man's sin that law was broken. 
 But instead of being abrogated, it claimed, and rightfully 
 claimed obedience, and demanded satisfaction from man. The 
 precept and the penalty remained unabrogated. Through the 
 intervention of grace, the penalty was not exacted from those 
 who of old believed God making promise of the Saviour. 
 But though they were delivered by grace from the condemning 
 power of the law, they were bound, before the giving of the 
 law at Sinai, to obey the law. Grace having respect to the 
 atonement to be made in the fulness of time by the Man Christ 
 Jesus, delivered them from the curse of the law, but not from 
 obligation to frame their lives according to the law. The curse 
 of the law was abrogated as to believers under the Old Testa- 
 ment. But the rule of the law was not taken out of the way. 
 For at Sinai it pleased the Lord to insert the law in a summar- 
 ized form in " ten words" in the covenant with Israel. Con- 
 trasted with former times, there was then given a more complete 
 and full and express revelation of the law. But although the 
 law was then embodied in the covenant with Israel, yet being 
 in its nature, precepts, and requirements moral, and therefore 
 permanent, it did not and could not vanish away with the 
 statutes, ceremonies, and institutes, which were in their nature 
 and design temporary and transient. The moral law — the law 
 in the decalogue — abides in the Christian age. And as we 
 
FULFILLED BY CHRIST. 57 
 
 have seen together with the prophets, it serves great ends in 
 the process of the conversion of a sinner. Tut the function of 
 the law does not cease when a sinner is brought to Christ. It 
 continues and is exercised towards the saints — towards the 
 "believers in Christ. It is said, indeed, "by some that the Chris- 
 tian man does not now need the law — that the law is no longer 
 a rule to him, seeing that he is a partaker of the spiritual life. 
 The life has become the rule, and love has taken the place of 
 law. This, however, is merely to talk so as to darken counsel 
 by words without knowledge. For all the saints of God, since 
 time began, possessed the spiritual life, and they all served God 
 in love. Yet their life and their love were regulated by the 
 law. It was only in so far as they were spiritual and lived in 
 love that they kept the law of the Lord. And so now. It is 
 only in so far as men walk and live in the Spirit and in love 
 that they keep the law which is holy and just and good. Be- 
 lievers now have great advantages over the saints of former 
 times ; but among these we must not assert that this is one, 
 viz., that now the law of the Lord is abrogated — for how can 
 the law be abrogated — the first and great commandment of 
 which is, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy soul, 
 strength, and mind;" and the second commandment of which 
 is, " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself?" Christ has not 
 released His followers from that law, but has left them an ex- 
 ample that they should walk in His steps. He has, indeed, 
 abrogated and taken away the curse; but so far from having 
 relaxed the obligation to obey the moral law — the ten words — 
 He has, by reference to His own example in obeying the law, 
 and suffering the penalty of it in the room of His people, ex- 
 alted and carried to the loftiest pitch the requirement of the 
 law, saying, " A new commandment give I unto you that ye 
 love one another as I have loved you." Love such as this is 
 now what is required to the fulfilling of the law. The love of 
 Christ to His people we confess to be grander and sublimer 
 than the law. It accomplishes objects and ends which the law 
 could not accomplish ; but it achieves these ends, not by abro- 
 gating but by fulfilling the law. It is in the light of the law 
 that we see the glory of the love of Christ, and it is by that 
 
58 THE LAW A} D THE PROPHETS 
 
 love manifested in His obedience unto death that we see the 
 majesty, authority, and immutability of the law. The believer 
 is not then redeemed from obedience to the law, but he is re- 
 deemed from the curse of the law unto obedience to the law, 
 that the law may be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh 
 — that is, who seek not to fulfil it by the observance of carnal 
 ordinances after the manner of the self-righteous hi Israel, but 
 after the spirit, i.e., as depending on Christ's obedience and 
 satisfaction to the law, and as quickened, enlightened, and 
 enabled by His Spirit to follow after holiness. 
 
 The law is taken into the Gospel — it is incorporated with it. 
 But it is not abolished. The obedience of Christ — the sufferings 
 and death of Christ — the teachings of Christ — are all, so to 
 speak, commentaries on the law, and they all furnish arguments 
 and motives to the Christian for obedience to the holy law of 
 God. The ancient Israelites were not without law ; they were 
 baptized into Moses unto obedience to the ceremonial institutes 
 added to the decalogue. Believers now are not without law — 
 they are baptized unto Christ Jesus — a baptism emancipating 
 them from the Mosaic ceremonies, but bringing them under law 
 to Christ, through whom the law has been magnified and made 
 honourable. 
 
 Whereunto, then, serves the law in relation to the believer ? 
 The answer has been given generally in what has been already 
 stated. But a few details may, perhaps, better impress this 
 matter on our consciences, and lodge it in our understandings 
 and hearts. 
 
 1st. The law is used by the Spirit in. dealing with believers, 
 to present to them continually the holiness and authority of 
 God. The law serves as a glass through which we may behold 
 the glorious holiness of the Lawgiver. It serves also to be a 
 perpetual witness to the authority of God. He alone has right 
 and authority to declare His will contained in the law as rule 
 to all men, in all places, in all times. 
 
 2nd. The law is used by the Spirit to remind believers of 
 the severity or eternal justice of God. For, according to the 
 law, satisfaction as well as obedience must be rendered to the 
 law. The believer, looking to the Lamb of God, whose blood 
 
FULFILLED BY CHRIST. 59 
 
 cleanseth from all sin, beholds the justice of God in the require- 
 ment of that s acrifice, in order that sinners might be saved, and 
 that the majesty of the law might be vindicated and main- 
 tained. 
 
 3d. Accordingly, the law reminds the believer of his indebt- 
 edness to the unsearchable riches of the grace of God by Christ 
 Jesus. For what the law could not, and what could not be 
 done by abrogating the law, for that were imposible, Christ has 
 done by submitting to the precept and penalty of the law. 
 Thus is kept alive within the believer a sense of gratitude, and 
 a sense of deep unworthiness and humility. The believer sees 
 the love and law of God in the very sentence of his pardon and 
 acceptance ; and his daily prayer, forgive our debts, is a testi- 
 mony to the majesty of law, and to the exceeding abundance 
 of grace. 
 
 4th. The law is not only a mirror in which they see the 
 holiness of God, but it is also light — the candle of the Lord by 
 which they discover the sinful pollution of their native hearts 
 and lives. The Antinomian may prate about perfection here. 
 But the child of God is ever reminded by the law that he is far 
 indeed from being perfect. He knows and confesses that the 
 law is holy, but that he is carnal sold under sin. Thus is he 
 stirred up continually to aim at the perfection to which he is 
 called ; and to pursue it looking unto Jesus. 
 
 5th. The law, in a word, is of perpetual use to the believer 
 as a rule or directory of life, in his walk before God and before 
 his fellow-men. It is to his practical life or journey what way 
 marks are to the traveller. Because it indicates the straight 
 line and royal way, as distinguished from all bye-paths. Alono- 
 this, the king's highway, Jesus walked ; and, along this same 
 pathway, quickened by His spirit, constrained by His love, and 
 animated by His example, He invites His people to follow Him. 
 " For he that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself also so to 
 walk even so as He walked." 
 
 To these uses of the law in the Christian life and walk, 
 others might be added. But for the present let these suffice 
 for your instruction, and for showing the unwarrantable and 
 unscriptural teachings of those who treat of the decalogue as 
 
60 THE LAW ANE THE PROPHETS 
 
 an abrogated law, and who a k whether they must go to the 
 deculoguo for a rule of life. If our doctrine is according to 
 Scripture, there is no rule of life in the Bible, if the decalogue 
 be abrogated. For the whole Bible, old and new, proceeds on 
 the eternal obligation resting on men to obey the holy and 
 righteous law of God. We do not send men from Christ to 
 Moses, but when men really and by faith look to the law apart 
 from Christ, they do not lawfully use it. Till the words of the 
 text be revoked, we must deny and brand as unscriptural, all 
 doctrines, opinions, or statements that proceed on the idea of 
 the decalogue abolished. 
 
 The method of the discourse would require that I should in- 
 dicate at this stage the relation in which the believer stands to 
 the prophets. After what has been already said, I think I need 
 say little more. It is enough to state, without laboured proof, 
 that the believer enjoys either actually, or in prospect, the 
 blessings and privileges promised to the people of God by the 
 prophets. For in Christ all the promises are sure to all the 
 seed — to all who are in Him. Thus in the experience of the 
 Church, or faithful followers of the Lord Jesus, the law is not 
 destroyed, but fulfilled, and the prophets are not destroyed, but 
 fulfilled. Believers now have the promise regarding a new 
 heart fulfilled. They have the promise in course of fulfilment 
 that the Lord should write His law in their hearts, and that 
 they should walk in His statutes. They have the promise ful- 
 filled that He should put His spirit within them. And the 
 grace, according to the promises now enjoyed, is foretaste, seal, 
 and earnest of the complete fulfilment in glory of all the 
 promises made to the people of God. Not one jot or tittle of 
 law or promise shall fail. All shall be fulfilled. Faithful is 
 He who hath said it, who also will do it. Take as illustrative 
 of the relation of the believers to the prophets and promises the 
 words of Paul (2 Cor. vi. 16-18; vii. 1), "What agreement hath 
 the temple of God with idols ? For ye are the temple of the 
 living God ; as God hath said I will dwell among them and 
 walk in them ; and I will be their God and they shall be My 
 people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye 
 separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing ; and 
 
FULFILLED F.Y CHRIST. 61 
 
 I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye si all 
 be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having 
 therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves 
 from all filthness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in 
 the fear of God." On these words I shall make no comment. 
 They bring out most vividly the force of all that has been 
 stated respecting the relation of the Christian to the promises 
 and teachings of prophetic Scripture. And I pray that you and 
 I, in our own experience by the grace of the Holy Spirit, 
 may know what it is to perfect holiness in the fear of God, 
 admonished and directed by the holy law, and encouraged by 
 the exceeding great and precious promises which are given us 
 in Christ Jesus the Lord, while remembering the words, " Think 
 not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets : I am 
 not come to destroy, but to fulfil." 
 
 I conclude by quoting the notes or statements of that remark- 
 able commentator, Matthew Henry, on the words of verse 19 — 
 words closely connected with those of the text: "Whosoever, 
 therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and 
 shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of 
 heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall 
 be called great in the kingdom of heaven." " It is a dangerous 
 thing," says Henry, " in doctrine or practice, to disannul the 
 least of God's commands ; to break them, that is, to go about 
 either to contract the extent, or to weaken the obligation of them; 
 whosoever does so will find it at his peril. Thus, to vacate 
 any of the Ten Commandments, is too bold a stroke for the 
 jealous God to pass by. It is something more than transgress- 
 ing the law: it is making void the law (Ps. cxix. 126). The 
 further such corruptions as these spread, the worse they are. 
 It is impudence enough to break the command, but it is a 
 greater degree of it to teach men so. This plainly refers to 
 those who, at this time, sat in Moses' seat, and by their com- 
 ments corrupted and perverted the text. Opinions that lead 
 to the destruction of serious godliness and the vitals of religion, 
 by corrupt glosses on the Scriptures, are bad when they are 
 held, but worse when they are propagated and taught as the 
 word of God. He that does so shall be called least in the king- 
 
G2 THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS FULFILLED BY CHRIST. 
 
 dora of heaven, in the kingdom of glory : he shall never come 
 thither, but be eternally excluded; or rather in the kingdom of 
 the Gospel Church, he is so far from deserving the dignity of 
 a teacher in it, that he shall not so much as be accounted a 
 member of it. The prophet that teacheth lies shall be the tail 
 in that kingdom (Is. ix. 15); when truth shall appear in its own 
 evidence, such corrupt teachers, though cried up as the Pharisees, 
 shall be of no account with the wise and good. Nothing makes 
 ministers more contemptible and base than corrupting the law 
 (Mai. ii. 8-11). Those who extenuate and encourage sin and 
 discountenance, and put contempt upon strictness of religion 
 and serious devotion, are the dregs of the Church." Such are 
 the expressive terms in which the godly Matthew Henry com- 
 ments upon the words of Christ. May it be ours to lay these 
 things to heart, that Ave may not be guilty of the heinous sin of 
 breaking the law of the Lord, and teaching others so to do; but 
 that looking unto Jesus, and running in the way of His precepts, 
 we may come to enjoy the felicity spoken of in the words, 
 " Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may 
 have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the 
 gates into the city " (Rev. xxii. 14). Amen. 
 
THE LAW OF 
 CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP ; 
 
 OR, 
 
 SELF-DENIAL, THE DAILY CROSS, AND THE 
 FOLLOWING OF CHRIST. 
 
 " And when He had called the people unto Him, with his disciples also, He said 
 unto thein, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his 
 cross, and follow me. 
 
 " For whosoever will save his life shall lose it ; but whosoever shall lose his life 
 for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. 
 
 " For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his 
 own soul ? 
 
 " Or what shall a man give in exchange for hi3 soul ? 
 
 " Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words, in this adulterous 
 and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he Com- 
 eth in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels." — Mark viii. 34-38. 
 
 The Lord, after having predicted in explicit terms, that he 
 must suffer at Jerusalem, be killed, and rise again, and after 
 having rebuked Peter, who had said — " Be it far from thee, 
 Lord; this shall not be unto thee," — called the people unto 
 Him, with His disciples, also, and said unto them — " Whoso- 
 ever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his 
 cross and follow me." These words may be regarded as express- 
 ing or declaring the terms, conditions, or law of discipleship : 
 and they are followed by words designed to give them weight, 
 solemnity, and force. " For whosoever shall save his life shall 
 lose it ; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the 
 
64 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 Gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a 
 man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ? 
 or, what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ? Whoso- 
 ever, therefore, shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, in 
 this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son 
 of Man be ashamed when He cometh in the glory of His Father 
 with the holy angels." 
 
 In treating of the matters here brought before us, in the few 
 but weighty words of the Lord, I shall, in dependence on the 
 grace of God, direct attention — 
 
 I. To the view here presented of Christian discipleship : 
 
 II. To the law or rule of that discipleship : 
 
 III. To the reward promised to the faithful disciple ; and to 
 the penalty or consequences of unbelief, or of non-compliance 
 with the Gospel terms and way of salvation here pro- 
 pounded and made known. 
 
 I. Christian Discipleship. 
 
 In answer to the question — " Who is a Christian ?" many 
 have been the replies given. A Christian, according to one 
 large and numerous section of mankind, is a man baptized into 
 the communion of the Papal Church, and living in fellowship 
 with that Church : all others are excommunicate — are accursed 
 — have neither part nor lot in Christ. According to others a 
 Christian is a man who not only renounces the fellowship of 
 that apostate Church, but who lives in communion with some 
 particular sect or coterie called brethren agreeing together, it 
 may be holding and teaching for doctrines the commandments 
 of men. The shibboleth of the coterie is the test of Christian 
 discipleship. All who do not speak that word, or adhere to 
 their party are excommunicate — are separate from Christ. 
 According to others, " He whose religious life is grounded upon 
 (what is called) the consciousness of the redemption of the 
 world, and consequently of himself through Jesus Christ, and 
 who exhibits the reality of this life by resignation to the will 
 
THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHlP. 65 
 
 of God, joyous freedom in serving Him, and the expansive 
 spirit of love — this man, be his minor peculiarities what they 
 may, we venture," says one speaking for a large multitude, 
 " to denominate — a Christian." All who are comprehended 
 within the wide range here described are Christians according 
 to what is regarded as modern philosophical Christianity. But 
 in a matter of this kind we must give heed rather to the voice 
 of Christ himself than to the voices either of Churchmen so 
 called, or of philosophers. 
 
 It is obvious that there are two extremes, towards one or 
 other of which the tendencies of men lean, in giving answer to 
 the question — " Who is a Christian ?" The one extreme is that 
 of narrowing and limiting the description, so that it can apply 
 only to those of a particular sect. This is the exclusiveness of 
 bigotry — it is thorough sectarianism. The other extreme is 
 that of so enlarging and widening the range of description as 
 to include almost all who make any profession of belief in the 
 Word of God. This is the comprehensiveness of rationalistic 
 latitudinariuiism. Our speculative reasonings and our feelings 
 may take the one direction, or may take the other. But in 
 this matter we are not to follow the guidance of our own 
 reasonings, nor to be moved by the promptings of our own 
 feelings. The Word of the Lord must direct our judgment and 
 regulate our feelings. The Christian man, according to the 
 Word Christ, is the man that goes after Christ — " Whosoever 
 will come after me." This is the first and general description 
 of a Christian, or of Christian discipleship, given by the Lord 
 himself. A Christian is a follower of Christ. Of what is more 
 particularly involved in this description, I shall treat under 
 my second head of discourse — " The law or terms of disciple- 
 ship ;" but here the following things may be noted. First, a 
 Christian is not to be distinguished as such merely because of 
 his connection with any ecclesiastical communion, or organiza- 
 tion. That 1 follow with the purest and most devoted disciples, 
 that I am in fellowship with the purest of Churches, is no suf- 
 ficient evidence that I am a Christian. The Christian takes his 
 distinctive character and designation from Christ. Judas was 
 
 among the apostles — yet, he was no Christian. He was that "son 
 
 E* 
 
66 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 of perdition." Secondly, and as flowmg from this, a Christian is 
 one who makes personal and deliberate choice of Christ. The 
 words of the Lord single out and individualize men — "Whosoever 
 will come after me " — " Whosoever shall lose his life " — " Whoso- 
 ever shall save his life " — " Whosoever shall be ashamed of me." 
 In Matthew the words are — " If any man will come after me 
 let him," &c. Each man for himself must take the Lord to be 
 his God, and Jesus to be his Saviour. This choice must be by 
 each individual. No other can choose here for a man, as no 
 other can follow after Christ for a man. A Christian in this 
 aspect is, then, a follower of Christ — a willing follower of 
 Christ. 
 
 Before passing to the next head of discourse there is yet 
 another view in which we may contemplate and consider the 
 words here before us. They may be regarded as expressive or 
 indicative of a certain state of mind — a state in which a man is 
 thinking about and inclining as it were towards Christ — wishing 
 and willing to be a Christian — a follower of Christ. This is a 
 peculiarly interesting state of mind. The understanding is 
 exercised about the truth, the affections and the wishes are 
 stirred and in motion. It is an interesting state of mind. But 
 it is a state most critical. Yet in some of its aspects it is far 
 from being uncommon. Among those who frequented the 
 ministry of the Lord there were many who seemed inclined to 
 follow Him, and there were many who did follow for a time — 
 some for a longer and some for a shorter period — but who at 
 length grew weary of His service, and drew back to follow Him 
 no more. I believe that many in all our congregations are in 
 this state of mind. They think more or less about Christianity, 
 about Christ, about becoming Christians. They even wish, as 
 they say, that they were Christians : but with all their thoughts, 
 wishes and intentions, they never come to a fixed decision and 
 choice. They live wishing, and they die wishing, and in that 
 day then thoughts and wishes perish with them. Distinct, 
 however, from this common and abortive wishing is the state 
 of mind to which more especially the words of the Lord are 
 applicable. There were among His hearers those who after 
 hearing Him seemed persuaded and appeared willing and pre- 
 
T IE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 67 
 
 pared to follow Him, to join themselves to Him, like the young 
 man that said, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou 
 goest. This state of mind and feeling is indeed interesting and 
 critical. How shall we deal with a man in this state of mind ? 
 Alas ! this question reminds us that because of the manner in 
 which too many treat persons who have attained to this state 
 of feeling, many have been drawn back, while many have been 
 encouraged to conclude too rashly that all is well, and to remain 
 dead in sins. By all means we are to encourage men in this 
 state of mind and feeling. But as we would have them follow 
 Christ unto the end, we must instruct them and admonish 
 them saying, in the words of the Lord, " Whosoever will come 
 after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow 
 me." For Christ will have His disciples to be those who with 
 intelligence and deliberation choose Him to be their Lord, 
 leader, commander, and Saviour. 
 
 II. The Law of Discipleship. 
 
 Following up the thoughts already expressed, it is evident 
 that when here the Lord prescribes the "terms, conditions, or 
 law of discipleship, more is implied in being a Christian indeed, 
 than wishes, or a general willingness, as I may call it, to side 
 with Christ, or submit to Him. If wishes of this kind were 
 sufficient to constitute men Christians, the number of the dis- 
 ciples of the Lord would be great indeed. But wishes, protesta- 
 tions, resolutions, vows, are not enough. Not by wishes, not 
 by vows even, is a Christian distinguished from the world. No 
 library could contain the volumes of Christian names if all who 
 wish or even all who make solemn vows respecting this matter 
 were to be registered among the true and faithful disciples of 
 Christ. The vanity of human wishes is proverbial. But sad 
 indeed must be the heart of him v, ho thinks on the vanity of 
 the wishes and the vows of multitudes who at one time or 
 another in their lives wished to be or vowed to be Christians — 
 vowed that they should follow the Lord. 
 
 Compliance with the terms of salvation, as these are proposed 
 in the Gospel — this and this only entitles a man to be called a 
 
68 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 Christian. It is, therefore, a question of the greatest moment — 
 one in which every man ought to feel the deepest and liveliest 
 interest, and about which his most anxious solicitude should 
 be stirred, " what is the law — what are the terms of Christian 
 discipleship ? " The answer to this question is given in the 
 simple, few, but weighty, words of the Lord — " Let him deny 
 himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." The word "Let 
 him follow Me," includes the two other terms respecting self- 
 denial and taking up the cross. " Follow Me " is the grand 
 brief imperative law universal binding on every man who would 
 be a Christian, who would be saved with an everlasting salva- 
 tion. But here the Lord in mercy to our dulness and slowness 
 of apprehension gives the law in three parcels, parts, or clauses, 
 and we must not divide what He has joined. Self-denial must 
 not be separated from following Christ, following Christ must 
 not be without self-denial, taking up the cross cannot be 
 without self-denial, and must not be without following Christ, 
 and following Christ must not, cannot be without taking up 
 the cross. Let this thought regulate all the statements which 
 we make respecting the several parts of the law of Christian 
 discipleship, and through the grace of the Lord, let it regulate 
 our life. 
 
 The prominency here given to self-denial and to the taking 
 up of the cross is surely significant. Does it not teach the two 
 following lessons ? first, that self and the cross are two of the 
 main hindrances and difficulties in the way of the followers 
 of Christ, — and secondly, that without denying self and without 
 taking up the cross we cannot be reckoned among those who 
 follow Christ. Self and suffering, self and cross-bearing are 
 two of the grand obstacles in the way of personal, practical, and 
 real Christianity. By the cross only men are saved, and by the 
 cross men are hindered and deterred from salvation. " To the 
 Jews, a stumbling block, to the Greeks, foolishness, but," &c. 
 Let us consider the law of discipleship as here declared in its 
 several terms or clauses as well as in their mutual and insepar- 
 able relations to each other. 
 
the law of christian discipleship. 69 
 
 Self-Denial. 
 
 Let a man deny himself. This word cuts deep, piercing to 
 the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. It is a hard saying 
 who can bear it ? some one may exclaim. Yet hard though it is, 
 or seems to be, without complying with this first term or condi- 
 tion of the Gospel law of life, we cannot be Christians indeed. 
 It is evident that it includes, first of all, the denial of all ungodli- 
 ness and worldly lusts. If we would go after Christ, we must 
 come out from our former lusts and deny ourselves — our former 
 life — "that we may no longer live the rest of our time in the 
 flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God ; for the time 
 past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the 
 Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of 
 wine, revellings,banquetings,and abominable idolatries." (1 Pet. 
 iv. 2, 3.) The word here spoken by Christ the Lord teaches us 
 that we cannot have Him and enjoy the gratification of our 
 sinful lusts. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation teaches 
 us that denying ourselves all ungodliness and worldly lusts, we 
 should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. 
 Christ Jesus is a Saviour from sin, therefore, He says, Let a 
 man deny himself. 
 
 This Gospel command requires not only that we should abstain 
 from gross lusts and things in themselves manifestly sinful; but 
 also that we should deny ourselves in things lawful, dear, and 
 profitable, that may tend to hinder us from following Christ 
 in all the duties of Gospel obedience. " If thy right eye offend 
 thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee." " If thy right hand 
 offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee." " Let a man deny 
 himself." You remember that the refusal of those invited to 
 the feast, or their ground of excuse, was not taken from things 
 in themselves unlawful or forbidden. The first had bought a 
 piece of ground, and must needs go and see it. The second had 
 bought five yoke of oxen, and must go to prove them ; and the 
 third had married a wife, he could not come. Property, busi- 
 ness, home pleasures or duties, were the excuses which they 
 offered. There are those who seem to have clean escaped the 
 corruptions that are in the world through lusts ; who live tern- 
 
70 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 perately, soberly, and honestly, and who think themselves 
 Christians because they are not as some others, or as they 
 themselves once were. They are reformed in many things, 
 exemplary in many things. Yet they may be so engrossed in 
 the affairs of business, in merchandise, trade, or in providing 
 for their house, wife, and children, as to neglect compliance 
 with the Gospel call and terms of salvation. When closely 
 pressed, urged, and dealt with, they begin to make excuse. 
 Let us not be deceived, brethren; the Lord says, If any man 
 will come after Me, " Let him deny himself." Whosoever he 
 be of you, therefore, that forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot 
 be the disciple of Christ. Men here are in great danger of 
 deceiving themselves, and of being deceived. They renounce 
 their manifestly sinful courses; they deny themselves those 
 vices which were really hurtful to their health, to their repu- 
 tation, as well as destructive of their souls, and then they 
 conclude that they are in the way with Christ. But the Gospel 
 requires not only that we renounce things hurtful and vicious, 
 but that we part also with things dear, precious, and profitable, 
 when the pursuit, use, or enjoyment of them conflicts with our 
 course of obedience to Christ. " What things were gain to me, 
 said Paul, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and 
 I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge 
 of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of 
 all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ 
 and be found in Him." " He that loveth father or mother more 
 than me is not worthy of me, and he that loveth son or daughter 
 more than me is not worthy of me." Matt. x. 37. And again, 
 " If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, 
 and wife, and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his 
 own life also, he cannot be My disciple." Luke xiv. 26. The 
 call to follow Christ resembles, according to the words here 
 quoted, the call of Moses when standing in the gate of the 
 camp he said, " Who is on the Lord's side ? Let him come 
 unto me." In answer to that call we are told that all the sons 
 of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. It was a hard 
 duty to which they were called, for Moses said unto them, 
 " Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword 
 
THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 71 
 
 by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout 
 the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his 
 companion, and every man his neighbour." Severe though the 
 command was, the obedience was prompt. " The children of 
 Levi did according to the word of Moses." (Ex. xxxii. 26-29.) 
 And for this, in the valedictory blessing of Moses, of Levi it is 
 said, " Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, 
 whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst 
 strive at the waters of Meribah ; who said unto his father, and 
 to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge 
 his brethren, nor knew his own children : for they have ob- 
 served thy word, and kept thy covenant." (Deut. xxxiii. 8, 9.) 
 If any man would be on the Lord's side, let him^come to Jesus 
 — let him deny himself. 
 
 This command is a call not only to renounce things sin- 
 ful — things also dear and precious; but it is also a call to 
 deny our own life. Self-denial strikes at the root of self — at 
 the life of self. "When the question comes to be death for Christ 
 or life denying Christ, then life must be denied and Christ 
 confessed. Self must be disowned and Christ acknowledged. 
 To this, reference is made in the word, he that saveth his life 
 shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for My sake and the 
 Gospel's, the same shall save it. When we are threatened with 
 the loss not only of goods, of kindred, of all that we hold dear, 
 with loss of life itself for Christ's sake, the law of self-denial 
 here enjoined requires that we part with life, keeping firm hold 
 of Christ. The martyr spirit must be in every Christian man 
 who is a Christian according to the judgment of the Lord. 
 
 From all this it is obvious that the self-denial here required 
 of every man who would go after Christ involves the denial of 
 self as the aim of life; the denial of self as the rule of life: the 
 denial of self as the motive of life. Self must not be the aim of 
 the Christian's life; self must not be the law of the Christian's 
 life; self must not be the motive of the Christian's life. In all 
 these things self must be denied. In all these things, the end, 
 law, motive of life, Christ must be all and self must be denied. 
 And tried by this three-fold criterion, the true follower of Christ 
 is distinguished from all others. For however varied seem the 
 
72 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 ends and aims of men, they may be reduced to one of these two 
 — either for Christ or for themselves. Self advancement or 
 self gratification is in some form or other the end of the life of 
 all worldly men. They live for themselves — not for God. Many 
 indeed within the Church endeavour to make a compromise in 
 this matter, and attempt to serve God and themselves. But in 
 these cases the bye-ends are served and the great end is neglected. 
 Self is advanced, not denied. God is not glorified. Ye cannot 
 serve two masters — Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Let a 
 man therefore deny himself. According to the ends of men, so 
 is the law by which they walk. Those who walk and live to 
 themselves are a law unto themselves, but to the Christian 
 Christ is law. Self will is the law of those who live not unto 
 God, but the Christian has learned to deny his own will, saying 
 with his Lord and Master, " Not as I will, but as thou wilt ; 
 Father, thy will be done." And as the Christian has denied his 
 own will as law, so he denies self-love as his motive in obeying 
 the law of his Lord. A higher and holier motive has become 
 in the Christian the impelling power. For the love of Christ 
 constraineth us so that we live not to ourselves but unto God. 
 In all this we see not only what distinguishes the Christian 
 from the world, but we see the grand secret of the true Christian's 
 dignity of character, the secret of his fortitude under suffering, 
 of his steadfastness in the face of oppositions, of his courage in 
 the presence of enemies, and the secret of his life as a life of 
 goodwill, charity, and beneficence. From the time that he 
 entered on the service of his Lord he learned to say of self as 
 his law and motive, " Get thee behind me Satan, thou art an 
 offence unto me, for thou savourest not the things that be of 
 God, but those that be of men." Wherefore let a man deny 
 himself. 
 
 Thus have we seen that the denial of self here enjoined in- 
 cludes the denial of things sinful and injurious ; of things dear 
 and profitable; of life itself; of self as our aim; of self as our 
 law, of self as our motive. But as this first precept of the law 
 of love is of transcendent importance, and as multitudes, in 
 judging of themselves, commit most fatal mistakes about this 
 matter, it may be right, as it seems also necessary, that I should 
 
THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 73 
 
 dwell a little longer on this part of the subject, and present it 
 in another and somewhat different aspect, if by any means men 
 may be led to the exercise of this indispensable grace and duty 
 of self-denial. Let me, therefore, state that Christian self-denial 
 is opposed to self-dependence and to self-pleasing. Meditate 
 on self-denial, 
 
 First, As opposed to self-dependence. Self-trust or self-de- 
 pendence shows itself in countless and most diversified forms 
 in the commerce of daily life. But it is in matters relating to 
 God that we here more particularly have respect to self-denial 
 as opposed to self-dependence. Man fell, at first, from his desire 
 to be as God — independent, absolute; and man, in his fallen 
 condition, shows how strongly this desire took hold of his soul. 
 For his recovery from his guilt and misery he would be indebted 
 to none, not even to the gracious and ever blessed God. Hence 
 the confidence placed in remedial schemes of man's own device, 
 of man's own inventive brain and wisdom; and the distrust, 
 unbelief, or rejection of the scheme provided by the grace and 
 wisdom of God for delivering man, and for raising him from 
 his guilt and his misery. To the wisdom of this world that 
 wisdom of God seems foolishness. But if any man would be 
 saved let him renounce dependence on his own wisdom, and on 
 the wisdom of this world, confessing that the foolishness of God 
 is wiser than man. Let a man confess that he is a fool for 
 Christ's sake, that Christ may of God be made to him wisdom. 
 
 Again, man's spirit of self-dependence shows itself in the 
 tenacity with which he cleaves and clings to the notion that 
 he can, some how or other, deserve well — merit favour before 
 the Lord. Ignorant of himself, not knowing his thoroughly 
 fallen and lost condition ; ignorant of the law and character of 
 God, ignorant of the righteousness of God, and refusing to be 
 indebted absolutely to the righteousness of God for his accept- 
 ance with God and entire salvation, man depending on self goes 
 about to establish and build up for himself a righteousness 
 in which he may stand and demand that he be acquitted and 
 justified. Hence the opposition with which in every age the 
 doctrine of justification by faith alone, without works of law, 
 has met in this world. But if we would be disciples of Christ, 
 
74 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISC: PLESHIP. 
 
 let us deny our own righteousness, and confess that it is filthy- 
 rags, that it deserves only that we should perish for ever. Let 
 us deny ourselves, renouncing self-dependence, that Christ may 
 be made unto us of God righteousness. 
 
 This confidence shows itself in our unwillingness to admit 
 that we are without strength. We would, in our walk 
 with God, be indebted for something, not to Him, but to 
 ourselves. We would act on the principle of " Self-Help." 
 If we cannot do all, yet we would do something. If we 
 cannot justify ourselves, yet we would sanctify ourselves. 
 Now, the self-denial here enjoined extends to all the steps of 
 the Christian's walk after Christ. The dependence must, in 
 everything and for everything be on Christ. Self must be 
 denied. ■ For thus it is written — Thus saith the Lord, " Cursed 
 be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, 
 and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be 
 like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good 
 cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, 
 in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that 
 trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is : for he shall 
 be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her 
 roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her 
 leaf shall be green ; and shall not be careful in the year of 
 drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." (Jer. xvii. 
 5—8.) 
 
 Meditate, Secondly, on self-denial as opposed to self-seeking, 
 or self-pleasing. And here let us confine our observations 
 almost entirely within the sphere of our human relationships — 
 the relations of man to man. How insensibly, yet how deter- 
 minedly does self obtrude itself here in the various forms of 
 self-preference, self-aggrandizement, self-display, to the neglect 
 of considering, and esteeming, and preferring our brethren, to the 
 neglect of the demands of human charity, sympathy, and bene- 
 volence — nay, even to the detriment, defamation, and dishonour 
 of brethren in the Lord. Are there not many ready to say, 
 with Peter, "Though all should deny thee, yet will not I?" 
 Many who, with Peter's confidence, never felt Peter's real love 
 — many who boast with Peter, sin with Peter, fall with Peter, 
 
THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 75 
 
 but never weep bitterly with him, never repent and are re- 
 stored with him to live with him humbler and holier lives, in 
 honour preferring one another. How has it almost become a 
 proverb — " See these Christians how they hate one another !" 
 Surely it ought not so to be. Let each, therefore, deny himself, 
 remembering the word — " Seekest thou great things for thyself 
 seek them not ;" and that other word — " He that is least among 
 you the same is the greatest." For, " We that are strong ought 
 to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 
 Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edifica- 
 tion. For even Christ pleased not himself, as it is written, 
 The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me." Let 
 self-seeking and self-pleasing, therefore, be denied and put away 
 — let all selfishness be expelled by love — the love of Christ — 
 the love of the brethren. 
 
 Before proceeding to the second requirement of the law of 
 Christian discipleship, two remarks must be made in addition 
 to all that has hitherto been said respecting self-denial. First, 
 this denial of self must proceed from an evangelical motive. 
 Let a man deny himself "for my sake" — "for the Gospel." 
 Other motives may produce much apparent self-denial, but the 
 motive which will move a man really to deny himself is this 
 only — for Christ's sake. The love of Christ will produce Chris- 
 tian self-denial, and nothing else will or can. Secondly, 
 although we have spoken of this denial of self as required at 
 the first entrance on a course of Christian obedience, yet it is 
 and must be a daily and habitual exercise of the Christian life. 
 It is one of the badges of the Christian profession first put on, 
 and it is one which must ever appear when a Christian man is 
 living unto God. Let a man, therefore, deny himself. A 
 Christian man is one who willingly denies himself for Christ's 
 sake. But it is added — " And take up his cross." 
 
 The Daily Cross. 
 
 Let a man " take up his cross." The taking up of the cross 
 cannot be separated from self-denial, nor from following Christ. 
 
76 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCI^LESHIP. 
 
 Self-denial is in order to the taking up of the cross, and the 
 cross is in order to following Christ. The expression here is 
 familiar to us from early childhood. May it not be that through 
 our familiarity with the sounds of the words we neglect inquiry 
 into the meaning of the very significant expression, let a man 
 " take up his cross ?" Through our famil'arity with the words 
 we may be ignorant of the meaning intended by them; and it 
 is highly probable that the novelty of the expression when used 
 by the Lord speaking to His disciples and the people, and 
 describing His own followers, may have startled and surprised 
 the hearers, and if at that time they understood what the Lord 
 said and signified by taking up the cross, the effect must have 
 been to lay many of their hopes and cherished expectations 
 low in the dust. Had not the disciples dreamed of a kingdom 
 to be set up in Israel — the kingdom of Messiah — the head and 
 top of earthly princedoms, though diverse from all other king- 
 doms? Had not the disciples coveted and expected high place 
 advancement and honour in that kingdom beside the King ? 
 Were they not like judges and princes to sit on thrones ? If 
 these were their expectations, how strangely must the words, 
 " If any man will come after me, let him take up his cross," 
 have sounded on their ears ! They expected promotion to a 
 throne, but lo, He speaks of each and every man taking up his 
 cross ! " I thought," said Naaman the Syrian, when he heard the 
 words of the messenger of Elisha the prophet saying, " Go and 
 wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to 
 thee, and thou shalt be clean" — "Behold I thought he will 
 surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the 
 Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place and recover 
 the leper." Naaman was wroth at the word of the prophet — 
 his expectations were disappointed, his pride was hurt. Must 
 he be made a fool of to go in his simplicity and wash seven 
 times in Jordan. Might he not wash in Abana and Pharpar 
 rivers of Damascus — better rivers than all the waters of Israel. 
 Might he not wash in them and be clean ? He was offended, 
 and would have returned to his own country a leper as he had 
 left it, had he not been persuaded to try the experiment, " Go 
 wash and be clean." When the Lord spoke of His own suffer- 
 
THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 77 
 
 ings and death, saying He must suffer, Peter was offended ; 
 Peter would put his must not be before the Lord's must be. But 
 for this, the Lord not only rebuked the too forward disciple, 
 but in the words before us, he tells Peter himself and every 
 other who would follow Him as Lord and Saviour, that every 
 such man must take up his cross. As He had said of Himself, 
 that He must be rejected of the elders, scribes, and chief priests, 
 must suffer many things, must be killed, and rise again the 
 third day, as it was necessary that He should bear His cross, so 
 He intimates here that it is necessary that every disciple bear 
 also his cross. The disciple must in this be like his master, he 
 must take up his cross. 
 
 The cross was the symbol of disgrace, of suffering intense 
 and protracted, of cursing, of death. Thus regarded the taking 
 up of the cross as necessary on the part of every one that would 
 follow Christ, could not to the carnal apprehensions and to the 
 natural feelings of men, be other than a scandal, an offence, a 
 stumbling block. Yet here the Lord lays it down as indis- 
 pensable to discipleship that every man take up his cross; 
 evidently signifying that a course of obedience to Him for His 
 sake and the Gospel's would expose men to shame, to suffering, 
 to cursing, and to death itself. 
 
 Let us first and for a little consider Christ Himself taking up 
 His cross, and then we shall be the better prepared to under- 
 stand the import and significancy of the word, let a man take 
 up his cross. 
 
 First : With respect to Christ bearing His cross we are to 
 remember that the cross was laid upon Him, and that He 
 took it up. It behoved Him to suffer, and yet He suffered 
 willingly. 
 
 Secondly : We are to remember that the taking up and bear- 
 ing of the cross by Christ must not be restricted to the things 
 which He suffered when He went to Golgotha bearing His 
 cross : but must be considered as including all that He suffered 
 — all the shame, sorrow, and obloquy suffered during His earthly 
 ministry, as well as what on the cross itself He endured as 
 the substitute for sinners and propitiation for sins, is signified 
 by His cross. 
 
78 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 Thirdly : It must be remembered that there is a high and 
 singular sense in which Christ took up, bore, and endured the 
 cross. He took our sins upon Him : He bore the penalty due 
 to our transgressions. He was made sin for us : He was made 
 a curse for us: He died for us that we might be made righteous 
 and blessed, and that believing in Him, we might never see 
 death. " For the joy set before Him, he endured the cross, de- 
 spising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the 
 Majesty on high." 
 
 For our sakes, and that His Father might be glorified in the 
 salvation of sinners, He took up the cross and bore it, suffered 
 all the shame, cursing, pains, of which the cross was the symbol. 
 For our sakes He was obedient unto death, even the death of 
 the cross. Bearing all this in mind, let us consider what He 
 teaches when He says, " If any man will come after Me, let him 
 take up his cross." It is obvious that He here teaches that 
 every man following Him shall have a cross laid upon ; and 
 that instead of refusing the cross the Christian must take it up, 
 take it willingly, consenting to it, and this for Christ's sake, as 
 He took up His cross for our sake. 
 
 It is then after Christ, in His service, for His sake, that the 
 Christian is to take up his cross. And it is also to be remarked 
 that as self-denial is binding on every man who would follow 
 Christ, so the bearing of the cross after Christ for His sake is a 
 law universal. To be without this is to be separate from Christ. 
 The cross borne for Christ is a badge of the Christian. 
 
 Here it may be asked, " Has not the offence of the cross 
 ceased ? " The profession of Christianity no longer, especially 
 in this Christian land, exposes men to shame, to cursing, to 
 persecution, to death. So far this is true, and thanks be unto 
 God that we enjoy liberty of conscience and protection by law 
 from outrage and wrong in our profession of Christ and in the 
 worship of God. It is true that the leaven of the Gospel has so 
 leavened society in this land that a Christian man is not treated 
 as the off-scouring of all things, but is generally held in esteem 
 by the community in the midst of which he lives. It is true 
 that the cross so far from being the symbol of shame and curs- 
 ing has become the symbol of honour and blessing, the symbol 
 
THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHI 5 . 79 
 
 of civilisation, truth, progress, liberty. It has b( en and is used 
 as the ornament and decoration of churches and palaces. The 
 artist's skill and labour have been exhausted to depict it on the 
 wide-spread canvas. Female hands have wrought it into the 
 most delicate and ornate embroideries. It is assumed and worn 
 by ignorant myriads as a charm and mystic spell, and by gay 
 women, women of fashion, as an ornament of beauty. In ivory, 
 in gold, in precious stones, it is set. Soldiers have put it on 
 their arms ; statesmen and diplomatists have used it on their 
 seals. Columbus set it up on the newly discovered world. 
 Armies have gone to battle with the cross on their banners and 
 the inscription under it, " By this sign I will conquer." Has not 
 the offence of the cross ceased ? Has not this requirement, this 
 clause of the law of discipleship, become antiquated — has it not 
 been superseded, rendered unnecessary, by the advancement 
 made by modern civilisation and Christianity ? There is no 
 cross now for the Christian to bear distinct from the general 
 burden of suffering or calamity failing to the lot of all men. Is 
 it so ? I trow not. The offence of the cross yet remains, and 
 the word is as imperative now as when first spoken by the 
 Lord, " If any man will come after Me, let him take up his 
 cross." For the cross to be taken up involves more than the 
 assumption of the name of Christ, more than the wearing on 
 our persons, or in our reputation, a symbol or outward badge 
 and appearance of Christianity. 
 
 The cross is to be taken up by submitting to the crucifixion 
 and daily mortification of all corruption, all worldliness, all 
 carnality of feeling. We must lay the cross on all our unre- 
 newed man. The old man must be so nailed to the cross that 
 we shall be able to say, " I am crucified with Christ, and I no 
 longer live but Christ liveth in me." Let a man take up the 
 cross in that way and make it his cross ; for those that are 
 Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 
 Daily self-denial will find work for the daily bearing, and taking 
 up of the cross. 
 
 The bearing in a Christian spirit of chastisements and afflic- 
 tions sent upon us by the Lord will give scope and occasion for 
 taking up the cross. There are two ways of bearing affliction, 
 
80 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 the worldly way, and the Christian way. The world bears the 
 cross as the impenitent thief suffered on the cross beside Jesus. 
 He reviled Christ. So the worldly suffer under the stern 
 " must be," without the sweet feeling — " It is well." The 
 Christian suffers confessing, " We indeed justly," — nay, with 
 prayer and calm, gracious resignation. He takes up the cross 
 and sees upon it, " For My sake." He sees love inscribed on it, 
 and therefore he can say and sing — 
 
 " ' Tis my happiness below 
 
 Not to live without the cross, 
 But the Saviour's power to know, 
 
 Sanctifying every loss. 
 Trials must and will befall, 
 
 But with humble faith to see 
 Love inscribed upon them all, 
 
 This is happiness to me." 
 
 The cross is yet to be borne and taken up in the daily course 
 of a godly life — of a life taking its model and rule not from the 
 fashion and course of this world, but from the example of Christ 
 Jesus, from the pattern and law shown to us in the Word of 
 God. Let us not be mistaken : the lively Christian is not a 
 favourite of the world ; he is not a favourite of Christians less 
 lively — Laodicean Christians, neither cold nor hot. There is 
 room yet in the daily course of a lively and practical Christian- 
 ity for taking up the cross. The shame of the cross has yet to 
 be encountered, and must yet be despised by every man who 
 would faithfully confess Christ. But many never have so much 
 of real Christianity as to expose them to shame. And many 
 are tempted to remain in dubious neutrality, or to conform to 
 dubious and worldly courses, that they may avoid the stigma of 
 being counted over-strict, over-righteous, over-zealous — lest 
 they should, even by the so-called liberal Christians of this age, 
 be denounced or nick-named hypocrites, fanatics, Pharisees, or 
 Puritans. Because of this shame, it is to be feared that many 
 do not follow Christ — or do not follow him fully. 
 
 Let a man even now set himself in right earnest to 
 elevate the standard of holiness among professed Christians: 
 let him set himself to bring Gospel principles to bear on 
 
THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 81 
 
 the citizenship of men — on their whole conversation : let him 
 expose sin, treachery, dishonesty, double-dealing, covetous- 
 ness, sensuality, worldly gaiety, and any of the ten thousand 
 practical and palpable evils and vices which, with false 
 names and glosses, prevail in the Churches, or in society, 
 and he will find that direct and indirect opposition will be 
 encountered by him. Yet is he therefore to cease from his work 
 if it be according to the will of Christ, for His sake and in His 
 name ? Is he in weariness to give up well doing because it 
 exposes him to the attacks, or the malignant activity of evil 
 doers ? Nay, he must not, he must take up his cross, and fol- 
 lowing Christ say with Paul, " None of these things move me, 
 neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish 
 my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of 
 the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God." (Acts 
 xx. 24.) If, therefore, you have any work in hand for Christ's 
 sake and the Gospel's — be strong in the Lord, be undaunted, 
 take up your cross and count it a blessed thing if it is given you 
 to suffer for His name — " Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, 
 striving against sin." Taking up the cross you will be more 
 than a conqueror. 
 
 But in treating of a law such as this we should consider 
 others in other lands and in other circumstances. The con- 
 vert in a pagan land knows the force of the law of self- 
 denial, and hard is the struggle to hate and tear himself away 
 from father, mother, wife, sister, children, that he may win 
 Christ and obey His will. He knows what is signified by the 
 daily taking up of the cross for Christ's sake, he knows that it 
 means to be loaded with disgrace, obloquy, ignominy, cursing, 
 and if possible, to be persecuted unto death. So also does the 
 convert from Judaism know the significancy of taking up the 
 cross for Jesus' sake. It is to be excommunicated, to be cursed 
 with terrible imprecations, to be treated as one not worthy to 
 live, in the spirit of those who cried " Away with such a fellow 
 from the earth." Yet the law unbending is here, " Let a man 
 deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." Those fined, 
 imprisoned, and tortured for no other crime than for reading 
 the Word of God in countries such as Spain and in the Papal 
 
82 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 States,* know what is signified by self-denial and by taking up 
 the cross. Let us remember them — but let us not forget that 
 the word is true in every case where there is a real and 
 living disciple of Christ — self is to be denied, the cross is to be 
 taken up. 
 
 Before passing to the next part of the law of discipleship, let 
 the three following remarks be duly considered. The cross here 
 to be taken up is not one of our making, although we willingly 
 take it up. Let us beware of making crosses for ourselves. 
 For among the many and subtle devices of Satan this is one, 
 that he tempts men to make and impose crosses for themselves. 
 We make crosses for ourselves when we let self-will and un- 
 modified affections prevail in our walk. And we are in these 
 circumstances very prone to imagine and conclude that the 
 cross thus made by ourselves is the cross which, in a holy pro- 
 fession of Christ, is laid upon us. O, let us not add to the 
 offence of the cross by our own offensiveness. Let us strive to 
 give none offence in any thing, lest the ministry, service, and 
 cause of Christ — yea, lest Christ himself should be blamed and 
 reproached, be evil spoken of through our foolishness. We 
 make crosses for ourselves when we impose rites, ceremonies, 
 and observances of a religious kind which are not sanctioned, 
 warranted, or required by the will of God. Of this nature are 
 all the penances and bodily services which superstition im- 
 poses on its votaries. These are self-made crosses. Against 
 them let us assert the liberty that is in Christ, for He hath 
 made us free from that grievous bondage, having taken all the 
 ceremonies of that kind and nailed them to His cross. 
 
 Let us never forget that where there is "no cross there is no 
 crown." If we would reign with Christ we must serve and 
 suffer with Christ. If we refuse the cross which He has laid 
 upon us, or would lay upon us, then He will refuse to give us 
 the crown. To the crown of glory there is no way but by taking 
 up the cross. " It is a faithful saying : for if we be dead with 
 
 * This was writteu, of course, before the recent revolutions and grand events in 
 Spain and in Rome. 
 
THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 83 
 
 Him, we shall also live with Him : if we suffer, we shall also 
 reign : if we deny Him, he also will deny us : if we believe not, 
 yet He abideth faithful ; He cannot deny Himself." (2 Tim. ii. 
 11-13.) So wrote Paul, who had daily experience of taking up 
 and bearing his cross, suffering as an evil doer unto bonds. But 
 for Christ's sake, and the elects' sake, he endured a'll things. 
 Hear him as he exults under the cross — " We are troubled," says 
 he, " on every side, yet not distressed ; perplexed, but not in 
 despair ; persecuted, but not forsaken ; cast down, but not 
 destroyed ; always bearing about in the body the dying of the 
 Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest 
 in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto 
 death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made 
 manifest in our mortal flesh. . . . For which cause we faint 
 not ; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man 
 is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but 
 for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding, even an 
 eternal weight of glory ; while we look not at the things which 
 are seen, but at the things which are not seen : for the things 
 which are seen are temporal ; but the things which are not 
 seen are eternal." (2 Cor. iv.) The cross is for time ; the suffer- 
 ing for a little season ; but after ye have suffered a while there 
 is rest; there is the incorruptible crown, the crown of righteous- 
 ness, the crown of glory, for ever. Grudge not, therefore, to 
 take up the cross, it will soon be exchanged for the palm of 
 victory, for the harp of gold, for the amaranthine unfading 
 crown. 
 
 Let it be ever remembered that the cross laid upon the 
 Christian, and to be taken up daily by him, is the cross laid on 
 him and taken up by him after Christ in following the Lord. 
 The heavy cross was laid upon Christ, or we may say with 
 many of the older writers, the heavy end of the cross was borne 
 by Christ, and He gives us the light end to bear after Him. 
 He bore the curse, the wrath, He took on Him the sin ; He 
 merited righteousness, and purchased everlasting redemption 
 for His followers. In our cross bearing there is not the load of 
 wrath, there is not the weight of the curse. All that has been 
 taken away, carried and endured by Christ. In our cross. 
 
84 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 bearing there is no merit. The merit is all in His. But yet 
 He gives to His people to take up the cross after Him. Let us 
 then he sure that it is in serving and following Him that we 
 take up the cross. And let His example in bearing His cross 
 be followed by us in bearing our cross for His sake. Let the 
 mind which was in Him be also in us. " Forasmuch then as 
 Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise 
 with the same mind." (1 Pet. iv. 1.) Let the mind which was 
 in Christ be also in us while we go out after Him, taking up 
 the cross and bearing His reproach. The Christian is one who 
 denies himself and takes up his cross for Christ's sake. 
 
 Following Christ. 
 
 The third requirement or clause in the law of discipleship 
 must now receive attention and be deeply, prayerfully considered. 
 If any man will come after Me, " Let him follow Me." Here 
 again as in respect to the former clause it occurs to us that so 
 familiar are we with the formula " Follow Me," that we fail to 
 apprehend the meaning and significancy of the expression. But 
 brief and familiar though this formula be it includes or involves 
 and requires all that is implied in self-denial and in taking up 
 the cross, while it exhibits another aspect of the Christian life 
 and character. Self-denial and taking up the cross must not 
 be apart from obedience to the word " Follow Me." In illustra- 
 tion and proof of this remark we may refer to the words of the 
 Lord spoken to the young man who came to Jesus and kneeling 
 asked Him saying, " Good Master, what shall I do that I may 
 inherit eternal life?" When in answer to the words of the 
 Lord respecting the commandments He had said, " All these 
 have I observed from my youth;" we are told that Jesus, 
 beholding him, loved him, and said unto him : "One thing thou 
 lackest, go thy way and sell whatsoever thou hast and give to 
 the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven : and come 
 take up the cross and follow Me." The same law of disciple- 
 ship as that before us was that which the Lord prescribed to 
 the young man. There was self-denial included in going selling 
 all and distributing it to the poor : but not there did the law 
 
THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 85 
 
 end; the cross must be taken up — come take up the cross; but 
 more is added, " take up the cross and follow Me." The self- 
 denial and taking up the cross must be joined with, must be 
 attested by following Christ. Men may forsake all, give all 
 their goods to feed the poor, and give their bodies to be burned, 
 and yet not be followers of Christ. But if men follow Him, 
 continue following Him, they give proof the most satisfactory 
 and infallible that they have forsaken all, that they have 
 taken up the cross. 
 
 Before evolving in some heads or particulars what is signified 
 by the formula " Follow Me," it may be noted here that two 
 correlate acts are implied in the call to follow Christ : first, an 
 act of renunciation, involving the entire and absolute committal 
 of our souls and persons unto Christ ; and secondly, an act of 
 choice and submission by which we take Christ in His entire- 
 ness, that is in His person, offices, work, to be our Saviour, Lord, 
 and Redeemer. These two acts are really one, for they are the 
 act of faith embracing Christ and submitting to Him. But in 
 that very act our connection with all that is over against Christ 
 and His cause and glory is broken. The new union is destruc- 
 tive of the old. From the time that Saul of Tarsus on the way 
 to Damascus and prostrate on the ground said, " Lord, what 
 wilt Thou have me to do ?" he renounced confidence in other 
 saviours, he abandoned the service of other lords, he conferred 
 not with flesh and blood, but became a follower and servant of 
 Jesus Christ. So from the time that any man acting faith in 
 Christ casts from him his weapons of rebellion, agrees to the 
 terms of salvation proposed and offered by Christ, saying, " I am 
 for thee, not for another," he becomes a follower of Christ. For 
 by that act he submits himself entirely to Christ, and takes 
 Christ as He is to be his Saviour and Lord. 
 
 " If any man will come after me, Let him follow Me." The 
 call to follow Christ is a call first to receive Him as our teacher, 
 and to place ourselves under His instruction and guidance. 
 Those who followed Christ when He went in and out among 
 men were called His disciples or scholars. They attended on 
 His ministry to be taught by Him their master. This continued 
 to be the distinctive designation of believers in Jesus for some 
 
86 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 time after the Lord was received up into heaven. And we are 
 told that "the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch." 
 (Acts xi. 26.) As those who attended at the school of Socrates 
 were the disciples of Socrates ; those at the school of Plato, 
 disciples of Plato, taking their distinctive appellation from the 
 master on whose instruction they waited, and whose doctrines 
 they embraced and professed, so believers in Jesus, those who 
 followed Him, were called His disciples. Although the name 
 is now merged in that of Christians, and although Jesus is no 
 longer visible among men, yet those who believe in Him and 
 profess to submit to His authority as the Messiah are His 
 disciples, and follow Him to be taught the way of God by Him. 
 And as among the disciples of Christ, there were some who 
 followed Him only for a time, and afterwards went back and 
 walked no more with Him, being offended at His teaching, 
 finding His sayings too hard for them to bear ; so from among 
 the multitudes who profess to be believers in the present day, 
 there are those who draw back from Christ when self-denial 
 and the cross are practically inculcated and necessarily required. 
 
 In following Christ as our teacher, we confess that we are 
 ignorant and foolish, that apart from Him we know nothing : 
 we renounce our confidence in our wisdom, and in the wisdom 
 of men, and acknowledge that the light of nature is unsufficient 
 to direct us to God as the God of our salvation. Further, we 
 profess our desire and willingness to receive and learn the will 
 of God by the teaching of Christ Jesus, whom we confess to be 
 the Son of God, the Messiah, and light of the world. 
 
 The history of Justin Martyr furnishes an interesting illustra- 
 tion of the wanderings and experience of a man, till brought to 
 sit at the feet of Christ. Born at Neapolis, and brought up in 
 Gentile learning, he visited almost all the distinguished schools 
 of the wise men of that age, earnestly desiring to be taught con- 
 cerning the nature, being, and perfections of God. Having re- 
 ceived no satisfaction from the representatives of the several 
 schools of philosophy, for the world by wisdom knew not God, 
 he betook himself to meditation in retirement. At this period 
 of his life, he tells us, that when walking near the sea he was 
 met by an aged man of venerable appearance, who directed him 
 
THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 87 
 
 to the Hebrew prophets, and gave him some view of the nature 
 and evidence of Christianity, and added, " Above all things pray- 
 that the gates of light may be opened to you ; for they are 
 not discernable, nor to be understood by any one, except God 
 and His Christ enable a man to understand." Justin never saw 
 his aged counsellor again. But immediately, he tells us, "a fire 
 was kindled in my soul, and I had a strong affection for the 
 prophets and for those men who are the friends of Christ : I 
 weighed within me the arguments of the aged stranger ; and, in 
 the end, I found the Divine Scriptures to be the only sure philoso- 
 phy." This event, so important in his life, took place about his 
 23rd year, A.D. 137. Thenceforth he became a disciple and follower 
 of Christ, and, at length, about thirty years after this event, he 
 suffered martyrdom on the mere accusation of his being a 
 Christian. 
 
 In following Christ as our teacher we should cherish a deep 
 and growing sense of our ignorance ; we should cultivate close 
 fellowship with Him, that we may grow in grace and in the 
 knowledge of the Lord. In following Him we should cherish a 
 docile or teachable spirit, ready and willing to catch the slightest 
 intimations of His will, while we sit like Mary at His feet. In 
 following Him we should be diligent and prayerful in the use 
 and improvement of the means which He has appointed and 
 promised to bless, that the steps of His people may be guided 
 into the way of peace. In following Him we must be willing 
 to receive not only parts of His teaching, but to receive all His 
 words, knowing that they are spirit and life, and that what we 
 do not now understand, we shall, by waiting on Him, know here- 
 after. By His word He enlightens men: by His spirit He makes 
 the word in the soul quick and powerful. Let us, waiting on 
 Him, pray that the gates of light may be opened to us — that 
 He, by his gracious spirit, may open our eyes that we may be- 
 hold the wonders of His law, and open our understandings that 
 we may understand the Scriptures, which, through faith, are 
 able to make us wise unto salvation. When the first converts 
 in Otaheite separated themselves from the gross idolatries in 
 which they had lived, when they joined themselves to the 
 Lord, they were spoken of by their neighbours as the praying 
 
88 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 people and the reading people. So should all the followers of 
 Christ be known among men as those who give themselves to 
 prayer, and as those who search the Scriptures, that the word 
 of Christ may dwell in them, richly in all wisdom and spiritual 
 understanding, and that they also may shine as lights in the 
 world, holding forth the Word of Life. Nor should we omit 
 here to say that the teachable and willing scholar should also 
 remember the word of Mary, the mother of Jesus, spoken to 
 the servants at the marriage feast, in Cana of Galilee — " What- 
 soever He saith unto you, do." 
 
 The call to follow Christ is a call to trust in Him as the 
 propitiation for our sins, and as our advocate with the Father. 
 We are not only blind and ignorant, we are guilty and con- 
 demned because of our sin. We need not only a teacher and a 
 guide to direct us in the way to God, but we need a priest, a 
 sacrifice, atonement, reconciliation, a righteousness, an advocate, 
 and intercessor. Accordingly, Christ the prophet reveals him- 
 self as the Priest, the propitiation for sin. Among the doctrines 
 which he teaches as a prophet these are of infinite importance 
 — that we are lost, depraved, guilty, and in ourselves without 
 righteousness or hope before God : " Israel, thou hast 
 destroyed thyself:" that He, the Son of Man, came to give His 
 life a ransom for many, to seek and to save the lost, and that 
 His blood secures the remission of sin to all those who believe 
 in Him for righteousness, and confessing and forsaking their 
 sins, commit to Him the keeping of their souls. Christ came 
 not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance, to follow 
 .Him. In following Him, therefore, we renounce our self- 
 righteousness, and depend upon Him for righteousness and life. 
 It is through the shedding of His blood that the way is opened 
 into the holiest of all, and by His sacrifice that sin is taken 
 away. Therefore, all who would go after Him, must look to 
 Him, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. 
 As God is pacified through that blood, so when it is sprinkled 
 on the guilty conscience it purifies the heart from an evil con- 
 science, and diffuses peace through the soul. He is no disciple 
 of Christ who is not convinced of sin, grieved and vexed be- 
 cause of sin, and who does not betake himself for relief, for 
 
THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 89 
 
 pardon and acceptance, to the propitiation that has been made 
 by Christ. " When I speak of a Christian," says one, " as a 
 believer in Christ, I mean that he is one who has been deeply 
 convinced of his guilt as a sinner ; of the righteousness of the 
 sentence of condemnation that has been pronounced against 
 him ; of the truth of the Scripture testimony concerning Jesus 
 Christ as the Divine and all-sufficient Saviour, who hath put 
 away sin by the sacrifice of Himself; and of the entire suit- 
 ableness of the free salvation revealed through His atonement 
 to his own state as a guilty and justly condemned creature; — 
 and who, under an impressive consciousness that he has in him- 
 self nothing worthy to form any part of the ground of his 
 acceptance, humbly relies on the mercy of God, through the 
 work and merits of the Saviour alone." 
 
 There are those who would have salvation without the cross, 
 without the sacrifice and atonement of Christ ; but we know 
 of no deliverance from sin except through the shedding and 
 sprinkling of the blood of Christ. The followers of Christ are 
 distinguished by this that their entire trust for acceptance with 
 God rests on the righteousness of God in Christ. For they 
 believe, according to the testimony of Scripture, that Christ 
 Jesus suffered as the surety and substitute of sinners, that 
 the sins of His people were imputed to Him, and that He bore 
 the curse in His own body on the tree, being made sin for us 
 that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. This 
 perfect and all-sufficient righteousness is the ground of our 
 justification, and because we are justified on that ground the 
 justification is perfect. There is now no condemnation to those 
 who are in Christ Jesus. 
 
 Following Christ, let us ever look to Him as the crucified 
 Saviour. Without this view of Christ we do not follow Him. 
 But if we behold Him as our crucified Lord Jesus, then we 
 know that His blood cleanseth us from all sin. Let the eye be 
 ever directed to the cross, for it was that it might be fixed on 
 that object that he intimated the necessity of His own suffer- 
 ings and death, and that he rebuked Peter before He said to 
 the disciples and to the people — " Let a man follow me." 
 
 In following Him we must look to Him, and depend on Him 
 
90 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 as the advocate, as well as the propitiation. We follow Him 
 for the remission of daily sins — sins after conversion as well as 
 sins before we were regenerated. " If we say that we have no 
 sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ; we make 
 God a liar. If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to 
 forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 
 If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus 
 Christ the righteous. And he is the propitiation for our sins, 
 and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world." 
 Christ the priest, Christ the forerunner, who has for us entered 
 into the holiest of all, appears there the priest upon His 
 throne, our advocate with the Father, able to save to the utter- 
 most all that come unto God by Him, seeing he ever liveth to 
 make intercession for them. 
 
 In following Christ, depending on Him, the propitiation for 
 sins, and committing our case into His hands, as the advocate 
 within the vail, it becomes us to cherish and cultivate a deep 
 and growing sense of the evil and guilt and demerit of sin. 
 Many seem to forget altogether that they are by nature corrupt 
 and utterly ruined. They have no adequate sense of their 
 guilty condition, so faithfully described and set forth in the 
 words, " The sinfulness of that estate into which man fell con- 
 sists in the guilt of Adam's first sin, the want of original 
 righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, commonly 
 called original sin, together with all actual transgressions that 
 proceed from it." And, as they have no adequate sense of their 
 sinfulness, so they feel not the misery of their condition, as 
 having " lost communion with God, being under His wrath and 
 curse, and so liable to the miseries of this life, to death itself, 
 and to the pains of hell for ever." Very different from the ex- 
 perience of such persons is that of the pilgrim going out to 
 follow the Lord — " I saw a man," says John Bunyan, " clothed 
 with rags, standing in a certain place, with a book in his hand 
 and a great burden upon his back. I looked and saw him open 
 the book and read therein; and, as he read, he wept and 
 trembled, and not being able longer to continue, he broke out 
 with a lamentable cry, saying, ' What shall I do ? ' In this 
 plight was the pilgrim at the outset of his course, but when he 
 
THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 91 
 
 came up with the cross his burden loosed from off his shoulders 
 and fell from off his back and fell into the sepulchre ; then too, 
 did he hear the words, ' Thy sins be forgiven thee.' ' Peace be 
 unto thee.' Then was he stripped of his rags, and clothed with 
 a change of raiment ; then was a mark set on his forehead and 
 a roll put into his hand. Thus favoured, he went on his wav 
 joyfully, yet walking humbly." So let us follow the Lord, set- 
 ting Him continually before us for righteousness, life, and peace. 
 The call to follow Christ is a call to submit to Him and serve 
 Him as our Master and King. In another place, the call is thus 
 expressed, — " If any man serve me, let him follow me." (John 
 xii. 26.) The service and the following are joined together. 
 The follower of Christ is a servant of Christ. The followers of 
 Christ are described in another place as ministering unto Him 
 of their substance. (Luke viii. 3.) In this service, the heart 
 undivided is given to the Master. One is your Master, even 
 Christ. "We are thine" is the language of the servants of the 
 Lord;" or, "I am thy servant, the son of thine handmaid." 
 The service like the following is with a willing mind. It is 
 with a free and cheerful spirit, and the believer glories in it as 
 his high dignity that he is the servant of Jesus Christ. As in 
 this service the heart is given to the Lord, so the eye of the 
 servant is turned towards the Master, watching for the intima- 
 tions of His will — " Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto 
 the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a maiden unto the 
 hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait upon the Lord." (Psalm 
 cxxiii.) As the eye is fixed on the Lord, so the ear of the 
 servant that had been bored and nailed to his door post, in 
 token of perpetual servitude, is open to hear His commands or 
 reproof. " Thy servant heareth." His ear is opened to dis- 
 cipline — " He that is of God heareth God's words." " The sheep 
 follow Him for they know His voice." As the ear is open to 
 hear, so the hand of the follower of Christ is ready to act, and 
 the foot shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace is ready 
 to run in the service of the Lord. Whatsoever, therefore, thy 
 hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might — do it not with 
 a slack hand, but with all thy might. Wherefore, laying aside 
 every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us, let us 
 
92 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto 
 Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who, for the joy- 
 set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is 
 set down at the right hand of God. Be ye, therefore, followers 
 of God, as dear children. 
 
 The manner in which the old servant of Abraham kept the 
 charge of the dying patriarch may serve as an illustration and 
 pattern of the manner in which believers should keep and obey 
 the words of their Master who says, " Then are ye My friends, 
 if ye do whatsoever I command you." He had promised under 
 oath that he would fulfil his master's will concerning a wife for 
 Isaac. In executing his commission he showed promptitude, 
 prayerfulness, fidelity. Having gone to the city of Nahor and 
 resting outside the city by a well, he said, " O Lord God of my 
 master Abraham send me good speed this day and show kind- 
 ness unto my master Abraham." And the Lord having begun 
 to prosper his way, " the man bowed down his head and 
 worshipped the Lord." Having been received and welcomed 
 into the house of Nahor, meat was set before him ; but he said. 
 " I will not eat until I have told mine errand." His master's 
 service must have his first care. Surely the Christian should 
 count his Master's service his first care. Ought he not to be 
 mindful of his Master's honour ? As the aged servant of Abraham 
 said, "I am Abraham's servant;" so ought the Christian to 
 glory in this, that he is the servant of Christ. Ought it not to 
 be his meat and his drink to do the will of his glorious Lord 
 and Redeemer ? Let promptitude, prayerfulness, fidelity dis- 
 tinguish the servant and follower of Christ. For then shall we 
 not be ashamed when we have respect to all His commandments; 
 " If any man serve Me, him will my Father honour." Let us, 
 then, seek to be good and faithful servants of Jesus Christ, 
 walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, 
 glorifying Him in soul, body, and spirit ; for we are not our 
 own, we are bought with a price, and as we have sworn, so 
 shall we perform, we shall, through grace, keep His statutes, 
 for His commands are not grievous. His yoke is easy, His 
 burden light. 
 
 The call to follow Christ is a call to copy His example and 
 
THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. do 
 
 to walk in His footsteps in all the way of our obedience unto 
 God. Christ is not only our Prophet to instruct us in the will 
 of God, not only our Priest, Propitiation, Righteousness, and 
 Advocate, not only our Master, Lord, and King, but He is also 
 our example. " He has left us an example," says Peter, " that 
 we should follow His steps." (1 Peter ii. 21.) "I have given 
 you an example," said Jesus himself after He had washed the 
 feet of His disciples, " that you should do as I have done to 
 you." (John xiii. 15.) And we read that the people of God 
 are predestinated to be conformed to the image of the Son. 
 (Rom. viii.) He, therefore, that follows Christ is called to walk 
 as Christ also walked. The example of Christ is therefore law 
 to the follower of Christ. 
 
 Before proceeding to single out some of the features of the 
 example set before us by the life of the Lord Jesus, let me here 
 remind you of the importance and prominency given to the 
 personal elements in the words of the Lord, — " If any man will 
 come after Me," " let Jiim follow Me!' We are prone to forget 
 this — we are prone to merge our personality in the general 
 profession of Christianity, and to remove from view the person 
 of Christ behind abstract truths and doctrines concerning Him. 
 We speak of believing in Christianity rather than believing in 
 Christ. Nay, even we speak of the cross apart from Jesus 
 Christ crucified. This tendency to deal with abstractions rather 
 than with personal realities, shows itself in the universal lan- 
 guage of mankind, and reminds us of the attempt of Adam 
 after his sin to hide himself from the presence of the Lord 
 among the trees of the garden. Men speak of providence and 
 deity of religion and Christianity, and sometimes let it be 
 admitted from motives of awe and reverence — but the Scrip- 
 tures bring to view a personal and living God, a personal and 
 living Saviour. From his hiding place among the trees of the 
 garden the Lord called forth Adam with the word, " where art 
 thou ?" And from the crowd, whether of companions, or of 
 fancies, ceremonies, and abstractions, the Lord, a personal and 
 living Saviour, calls forth and singles out every man saying — 
 "What is that to thee? Follow thou Me." It is true, indeed, 
 that it is by the word of inspiration that Christ is set forth to 
 our v'ie Y , to our faith. 
 
9-1 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 It is by that word as by a reflecting glass that we be- 
 hold the glory of the Lord : but it is also true that we 
 may be much conversant with the Scriptures and yet fail 
 to behold the glory of the Lord. Let us, therefore, never 
 forget that precious though the truth be, yet its preciousness 
 consists in this, that it exhibits Christ as the object of faith. 
 " These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is 
 the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that believing ye 
 might have life through His name." Although I have little 
 sympathy with those in the present day who talk in philoso- 
 phical slang and cant of Christianity being a life, not a doctrine, 
 as I believe that it is both life and doctrine, life because it is a 
 doctrine, yet I must remind you and myself that to be Christ- 
 ians we must not only profess faith in certain truths called 
 Christianity, but we must also be in fellowship with the Saviour 
 Jesus. To be Christians we must believe in Christ, receive out 
 of His fulness, grace for grace, be partakers of His Spirit — We 
 must be followers of Christ. " Let a man follow Me." 
 
 The call to follow Christ is a call to copy His example, and 
 to walk in His footsteps. The example of Christ is law to His 
 followers. For as one has well said, "Jesus Christ, by the 
 spotless purity of His character, by His entire devotedness to 
 the Divine will, by the incomparable perfection of His obedience, 
 and the superabundant fulness of His love, is the law personified. 
 He who beholds Jesus Christ, beholds the law. He who lives 
 with Jesus Christ, lives in the law, is one with the law." When 
 at the first, man was created in the image of God, the law was 
 written on his heart. In the state of innocence and sinlessness 
 there was on the heart of man a transcript or copy of the law 
 or will of God. But when man by sinning against God fell 
 from his high estate of bliss and holiness, the writing on his 
 heart was defaced and obliterated. And although fragments, 
 traces, and remnants of that law were still observable in human 
 nature, yet it pleased the Lord having given promise of a 
 Restorer and ^Redeemer to give also a transcript of His law 
 engraven on tables of stone. But when the Redeemer Himself 
 came, the law in its totality was inscribed in His heart, so that 
 He could say, — " Thy law is within my heart." In His life He 
 
The law of christian discipleship. 1)5 
 
 obeyed the law, and in His death He endured the penalty of 
 the law due to transgressors. His life is therefore become law 
 to us, for in Him the law is magnified and made honourable. 
 And as the law of the Lord was in His heart, and expressed in 
 His life, so He calls His people to follow Him, promising to 
 write His law in their hearts, to put His Spirit in them that 
 they may walk in His statutes. As His life was law expressed, 
 embodied, personified, so the believer's life is to be an imitation 
 or copied resemblance of the life of Christ. Accordingly, the 
 call to follow Christ may be regarded as a call to dedicate 
 ourselves unreservedly and entirely to the Lord, after the 
 example of Christ Jesus. In response to the question, " Whom 
 shall I send, and who will go for us ?" Christ Jesus the Son 
 of God said, " Here am I, send Me," — " Lo, I come, I delight to 
 do Thy will." Let this mind which was in Christ be also in us. 
 As He at the call of His Father prepared Himself, dedicated Him- 
 self, sanctified Himself for His people. So when He says, " Follow 
 Me," let us respond saying, we come unto thee. The thoroughness 
 or completeness of His consecration of Himself to the Father's will 
 and service was manifest in all the actings and sufferings of Jesus. 
 " Wist ye not that I .should be about my Father's business ? " 
 were His words to Mary His mother, when He was yet but 
 about twelve years of age. " Thus it becometh us to fulfil all 
 righteousness " were the words with which he removed John's 
 objection when he hesitated to baptize the sinless and holy one. 
 '' My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish 
 his work," were His words to the disciples when at the well of 
 Samaria. Though weary, He taught the woman and revealed 
 Himself to her as the Messiah. " Father, not as I will, but as 
 Thou wilt," were His words when in agony He prayed the 
 more earnestly. All through His life, even unto the time when 
 He gave up the ghost, we find the proofs innumerable of His 
 entire and absolute devotedness to His Father's service. His 
 followers must in this respect be conformed to Him. Where- 
 fore, says Paul, I beseech you by the mercies of God that ye 
 present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to 
 God, your reasonable service. 
 
 Seeing that Christ himself hath set us an example of prompt 
 
93 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCTPLESHIP. 
 
 and entire consecration to His Father — seeing that He does not 
 say "Go," but "Come — Follow me — Come after me," we ought 
 surely to yield a prompt and thorough obedience to the call. 
 Yet many are so entangled with the cares of life, many so 
 engrossed with what they call the business of life, many so 
 immersed in sensuality, many so addicted to pleasure, that they 
 refuse to devote themselves entirely to the Lord. Many, on the 
 other hand, who seem willing to follow Christ, and who seem 
 to follow Him for a time, are a^ain entangled and ensnared. 
 When Christ says, Come, follow me, let us beware of saying, 
 Let us first go and attend to this or that business, or pleasure, 
 or care. Rather let us say, Lord, draw us, and we will run 
 after Thee. For to whom shall we go but unto Thee : Thou 
 hast the words of eternal life. 
 
 The following of Christ implies that we take His aim or end 
 to be the aim or end of our life. As He consecrated Himself to 
 the Father, so the grand aim of His life in obedience and suffer- 
 ing was to honour and glorify His Father. " I have glorified 
 Thee on the earth " said the Lord, in that prayer which He 
 offered before He went over the brook Kedron to Gethsemane. 
 That word reveals the great object of His life in relation to the 
 saving of the lost. To the attaining of that end, He became 
 incarnate, He obeyed, taught, did, and suffered the will of God. 
 To make that our object and aim He calls when He invites us 
 to follow Him. Man, in sinning, made himself his glory, himself 
 his end. He sought equality with God,and fell into abject misery. 
 The law declared that man's chief end was to glorify God and 
 to enjoy Him for ever, but it is in Christ Jesus that we behold 
 the perfect fulfilment of the law, and the perfect exemplar of a 
 life having for its aim the glory of God. The follower of Christ 
 must be conformed to Him in this respect, that he live not unto 
 himself but unto God. It is this aim or end before us that will 
 elevate and enliven our desires after progressive holiness — that 
 will give a noble dignity and, at the same time, an unfeigned 
 humility, to our bearing and to our waik among men. We are 
 not our own — we are bought with a price, therefore, let us 
 glorify God. Whatsoever therefore ye do, whether ye eat or 
 drink, do all to the glory of God. 
 
THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 97 
 
 The following of Christ signifies and requires that we walk 
 after Him according to the rule which He has left — the rule by 
 which He himself walked. That rule is none other than the 
 royal law of love. The follower of Christ is not placed under 
 the law as a covenant of life. His title to eternal life does not 
 rest on his personal obedience to that law : yet the follower of 
 Christ is not an Antinomian. We do not make void the law 
 through faith, we establish the law. For accepting of Christ as 
 our propitiation and righteousness, we acknowledge that the 
 law is holy, just, and good. But this acknowledgment is prac- 
 tically belied if we do not walk after Christ in obedience to the 
 holy, just, and good law of the Lord. The Christian is redeemed 
 from the curse of the law, not from the rule of the law. For we 
 are under law to Christ. In following the Lord, we walk in 
 the footsteps of Him who walked in all things according to the 
 requirements of the law and will of God. That law, if we may 
 so speak, now appears more venerable and more obligatory than 
 ever. For, not only is it seen to be reasonable, not only is it 
 seen to be the law of God, but it is now seen to be the law 
 which Christ fulfilled — the spirituality of which He expounded 
 and taught — the precepts of which He observed and kept con- 
 tinually, and the terrible penalty of which^ He suffered when 
 He was made sin — made a curse for us that we might be made 
 the righteousness of God in Him. 
 
 The obedience of Christ to the will and law of His Father, 
 flowed from love to the Father, and from delight in His Father's 
 will. He became a servant that He might yield obedience to 
 His Father: but when He served it was with the heart of the 
 Son, and therefore was His Father well pleased, for though He 
 was the Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He 
 suffered. So should the obedience of His followers proceed 
 from filial love. For they, though by nature slaves, are adopted 
 into sonship. Therefore, should they both from gratitude and 
 from filial love serve the Lord saying, each one, "O how I love 
 Thy law, it is my meditation all the day." How dearly should 
 that law now be loved which carries about with it the fragrancy 
 and perfume of the obedience of Christ. 
 
 The obedience of Christ was constant and universal, that is 
 
 G* 
 
98 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 to say, He obeyed all through His life, and obeyed having equal 
 respect to the whole will of God — to all the requirements of 
 that law which is exceeding broad. Even so should the follower 
 of Christ have respect unto all the will of the Lord, and be 
 faithful in all things, in all times, and in all places. " Then 
 shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all Thy com- 
 mandments." " Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I 
 command you." 
 
 The call to follow Christ is a call to live in the Spirit, to 
 walk after the Spirit, and therefore it is a call to copy and 
 cultivate those graces which were manifested in the life and 
 character of Christ Jesus. The faithful follower of Christ is a 
 partaker of the Spirit of Christ. For if a man have not the 
 Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. Being a partaker of that 
 Spirit, the graces of the Spirit must be found in Him. For the 
 Spirit is the root of all grace in the believer. In Christ the 
 Spirit dwelt without measure, and out of that measureless ful- 
 ness His people all receive. As in Christ there was the over- 
 flowing fulness of the Spirit — so every grace was in Him, and 
 every grace in full perfection. 
 
 III. The Argument. 
 
 Having treated of the law of Christian discipleship, I now 
 proceed to consider the reasons annexed to this law, and by 
 which compliance with the Gospel terms of salvation is urged 
 upon men. These are given in the words — " For whosoever will 
 save his life shall lose it ; but whosoever shall lose his life for 
 My sake and the Gospel's, the same shall save it. For what 
 shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose 
 his own soul ? Or, what shall a man give in exchange for his 
 soul ? Whosoever, therefore, shall be ashamed of Me and of 
 My words, in this adulterous and sinful»generation, of him also 
 shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory 
 of His Father, with the holy angels." In these words the Lord 
 reasons with men, as if He said, I speak as unto wise men — 
 come let us reason together. In calling men to follow Him, he 
 had laid down terms requiring self-denial and the taking up of 
 
THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 99 
 
 the cross. He who has said that He must suffer and be killed, 
 called on men to follow Him. These are hard terms, who can 
 comply with them? who can bear them? — To remove the objec- 
 tions of such persons, the Lord here shows that compliance with 
 the terms proposed is wisdom, the only wisdom. 1. For He 
 shows that if we have respect to life — if the love of life is a 
 motive to our actions, then life is saved, not lost, by taking up 
 the cross — that life is lost, not saved, by refusing to take up the 
 cross after Christ, for His sake and the Gospel's. 2. The Lord 
 here shows that if we have respect to profit, gain, or real advan- 
 tage — if the love of gain or profit is a motive to our actions 
 and course of conduct, then we are really gainers — we are really 
 enriched and profited by denying ourselves for Christ's sake ; 
 and that the way to irretrievable ruin or loss is by refusing to 
 part with all for Christ's sake. 3. And again, the Lord shows 
 that if we have respect to honour and reputation, if the love of 
 reputation is a motive fitted to influence our actions, then the 
 way to secure honour and to avoid shame and ignominy, is to 
 take up the cross and to follow Christ; and that the way to 
 dishonour and everlasting contempt is to refuse to be followers 
 of Jesus. It is by this threefold and most wonderful argument 
 that the Lord would here persuade us to be His followers. How 
 impressive, how persuasive should His words be ! that they 
 were this day brought home with Divine authority and with 
 irresistible power to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 
 Let us thoughtfully and prayerfully meditate on the words of 
 Him who spake as never man spake. 
 
 Is it not the fact that the love of life has deterred many from 
 being the followers of Christ the Crucified One ? Here the Lord 
 Himself removes that objection out of the way. 
 
 Is it not the fact that the love of worldly profit, gain, or 
 advantage, deters many from being the followers of Him who 
 had no place where to lay His head ? Here the Lord takes 
 that objection out of the way. 
 
 Is it not the fact that the love of reputation, of applause, the 
 love of the good opinion of others, deters multitudes from fol- 
 lowing that Saviour whose name is blasphemed by an adul- 
 
100 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 terous and sinful generation ? The Lord here takes that 
 objection out of the way. 
 
 Life, profit, honour, are here held out as the rewards of fol- 
 lowing Christ. Eternal wisdom, the wisdom of God incarnate 
 appears before us offering in his right hand length of days, and 
 in his left riches and honour. For riches and honour are with 
 him, yea, durable riches and righteousness. 
 
 Ignominy, loss, death, are the wages of those who refuse to 
 follow Christ. He that sinneth against the Lord wrongeth his 
 own soul. All they that hate Him love death. 
 
 Let us meditate upon and weigh the arguments here before 
 us. 
 
 The Love of Life. 
 
 The first may be regarded, as we have already said, as de- 
 signed to meet and remove the objection taken against the 
 terms of salvation grounded on the love of life, or the instinct 
 and principle of self-preservation. The law of discipleship 
 declared by the Lord, appears at first sight contradictory to 
 that law in the constitution of our being, or nature, as the 
 creatures of God, that prescribes to every one the duty of pre- 
 serving or saving his own life. The indestructible instincts of 
 our nature prompt us to disobey the requirement to take up 
 the cross, and to lay down our life for Christ's sake. Is the 
 Gospel, then, at war with the feelings and instincts which God 
 has implanted in our humanity? Must we in becoming Chris- 
 tians cease to be men ? Surely this is not the Gospel require- 
 ment. For Jesus, the Son of God became man, took on Him 
 bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, that he might be the Savi- 
 our of His people — that He might save them, not from their 
 humanity, but from their sins. The Gospel does not destroy ; 
 it does but regenerate, purify, and ennoble our humanity. 
 
 The love of life is one of the root principles, or instincts of 
 our nature, showing itself in our aversion to pain, in our desire 
 of happiness, and of the continuance of our life. In man this 
 instinct is associated with other instincts and feelings, and 
 placed under the regulation and control of reason. The instinct 
 
THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 101 
 
 itself is, in its lower forms, common to man with all sentient 
 creatures ; but it is in man grafted into, or associated with, 
 rational and moral principles. These are the distinctive prin- 
 ciples of man as man. In keeping with these, the instinct of 
 self-preservation assumes the form of a rational self-love, or 
 respect to a man's good or happiness on the whole. This 
 rational self-love is characteristic of man, and it shows itself 
 among other things in the desire to save the life — to preserve 
 from injury from pain, or from death. 
 
 Now, what the Lord here teaches is, — that so far is the call 
 to self-denial and to taking up the cross, or to laying down the 
 life for His sake, opposed to this principle in our nature, that 
 it meets this and presents the only means and way for saving, 
 that is for preserving for ever the life which is so precious. 
 " For whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel's, 
 the same shall save it." This seems paradoxical ; but it is the 
 truth. 
 
 The love of life and the instinct of self-preservation prompt 
 us to avoid at all times what may tend to injure or endanger 
 life. But reason and forethought belong to man, so that we 
 find ourselves often willingly subjected to pain and to hardship, 
 nay, we endanger our lives from a regard to what we reckon 
 our good, upon the whole our continued or permanent good. 
 Our love of life does not prevent us from undergoing severe 
 discipline for a time, that we may, as we say, afterwards live a 
 life worth the living. We bring our instincts under the regula- 
 tion of reason, and under the restraints of forethought. And 
 conduct of this kind, when the aim is good, is said to be reason- 
 able and worthy of man. Thus it is with the discipline and 
 education of our earlier years. Thus it is with the labours of 
 the husbandman, with the studies of the scholar, with the 
 training and exercises of the soldier. In all the arts of life we 
 find men looking beyond the present to the future, beyond 
 present hardship, pain, and toil to rest, pleasure, or enjoyment 
 in the future. 
 
 Now, as we look at the present, and anticipate an uncertain 
 future, a time to come in the life that now is, the Lord surveys 
 life in its full extent, in its length through an endless futurity; 
 
102 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 and he tells us the saving of the life now involves the losing of 
 it for ever, and that the losing of it now, for his sake, secures 
 it unto life eternal. 
 
 In refusing to submit to the terms of salvation, proposed by- 
 Christ, we are, therefore, blind to our own good on the whole. 
 We are guilty of extreme folly. " For the life is more than 
 meat," more than the body, and it continues beyond death, and 
 beyond the grave. For when Jesus foretold his own sufferings 
 and death, he at the sametime foretold his resurrection. He 
 must die — He must rise again. When His body lay in the 
 grave, His soul lived, and on the morning of the first day of the 
 week, it was re-united to the body in which He had suffered, 
 and which had lain in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. So 
 He tells us that although our bodies may be killed, yet our 
 real life is not extinguished. The disembodied spirit, the life, 
 is imperishable ; if, therefore, we would save that life, and have 
 part in the blessed resurrection, let us not fear them that can 
 kill the body, but after that have no power ; but let us fear 
 Him who hath power to cast soul and body into hell — let us 
 take up the cross and follow Christ. 
 
 There are among men those who are so lost in sensuality 
 that they do not look on the consequences in after years of 
 their present infatuation. They are counted among men — 
 brutish. There are those who spend their days in a round of 
 empty pleasures, not forecasting the future, even of this life, 
 but sipping each cup of pleasure : they are counted frivolous 
 and silly — men call them foolish. There are others, more 
 thoughtful, who rise up early and sit up late, and eat the bread 
 of carefulness, making provision for days to come — days that 
 to them may never come. They are counted wise — they scorn 
 delights and live laborious days. Yet, how few of them fore- 
 cast the future of eternity ! Wise they are for life, if life were 
 measured in duration by the few years spent here below ; but 
 life is interminable. And the wise man is he who anticipates 
 eternity, and lives for God. The foolish man is he who thinks 
 to save his life by avoiding the cross. And his folly shall be 
 made apparent yet to himself, and to all — when it shall be too 
 late to recover what has been lost. 
 
the law of christian disctpleship. 103 
 
 The Love of Gain. 
 
 The second argument here advanced by the Lord may be 
 regarded as doing away with an objection taken from man's 
 love of profit or property. This principle is deeply rooted in 
 human nature, and shows itself in countless varieties of form. 
 As men excuse themselves from following Christ because of 
 their inordinate self-love — the love of life ; so they excuse 
 themselves because of the loss or damage to which the profes- 
 sion of faith in Christ subjects them. So far from being willing 
 to part with life for Christ's sake, or the Gospel's, many will 
 not part with any of their goods for the sake of the Lord, or in 
 His service. They have such a love of life, that they cannot 
 die for Christ's sake. The Lord shows them that if their love 
 were more intelligent — if they really loved life, their real life, 
 they would willingly consent to lose their present life for Him. 
 They have so strong a love to profit and gain that they will 
 holdfast that which they have, and will not part with it to 
 follow Christ. Now, here again the Lord reasons with men, 
 and reasons, if we may so speak, on commercial principles, and 
 on relative worth and values. He puts the argument in the 
 form of a question of profit and loss : and he so puts it that 
 only one answer can be given. You account yourselves wise 
 and far-seeing, shrewd men. You know that pain is pain, that 
 loss is loss, that life is life, that gain is gain. You are not so 
 foolish or fanatical as these brainsick people, who take joyfully 
 the spoiling of their goods, and who submit even cheerfully to 
 torture and to death for Christ's sake. You congratulate your- 
 selves on your superior policy, discernment, and sagacity. You 
 keep and know how to keep a whole skin and a sealed purse, 
 and you smile at the weakness and folly of these others, so 
 prodigal of their goods and substance, so reckless of their pre- 
 cious lives. We believe that these are the sentiments of all 
 worldly men, if they were faithfully expressed. This their 
 wisdom is their folly. For on their own principles of profit 
 and loss they are proved to be fools — proved to be engaged in 
 a course that must end in irremediable ruin — in everlasting 
 bankruptcy. For, says the Lord, " What shall it profit a man, 
 
104 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ? Or, 
 what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?" 
 
 Consider this argument. Put the case in the most favourable 
 light — the case of a man who has gained much — who has 
 gained the whole world, and as he is about to view his prize 
 and to say — " It is mine " — falls down a dead man. What has 
 he gained ? A grave for his body. That is his gain. But 
 what has he lost ? In effort to gain the great prize he has lost 
 his life. Set the world over against the life lost, and what has 
 the gain been ? Whether is the world or the life the more 
 precious ? Is the world an equivalent for the life that has been 
 lost ? Will death accept it in exchange for that soul now in 
 eternity ? The man who, on these terms, gained the world 
 incurred an irreparable loss ; for the life is more precious than 
 the world; it consisteth not in the abundance of the things 
 which we possess, or call our property. More valuable than 
 the whole world to a man is his own life. 
 
 But put the case in another light. Life is more than the 
 animated existence which we call life. Life is the soul in its 
 imperishable | and continuous identity, capable of permanent 
 happiness or of permanent misery. The case now is, — What 
 is the profit resulting to a man from a transaction in which he 
 has gained the world, the whole world, but in exchange for 
 which he has given away his soul. Suppose him after attain- 
 ing possession of his large domains to live for many years. 
 But he lives having sold himself — his soul, his life — to Satan. 
 What has he gained when the word reaches him — This night 
 is thy soul required ? Will death, will God accept the world 
 as an equivalent for his soul, or for his life ? Will the world 
 purchase for him an eternity of bliss ? Ah ! he knows and 
 feels that he is poor indeed — that he is a lost man; for he 
 has lost his ""own soul. Life is too cheaply sold when it is 
 given in barter for the world — the soul is too cheaply sold 
 when the world is taken as a substitute for it. Yet, behold 
 the folly of man '. Forgetful of what they in words admit and 
 confess, they live as if their souls were of little or of no 
 value — as if the veriest trifles and baubles were more precious 
 than their immortal souls. For a mess of pottage one will 
 
THE LAW OF CHEISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 105 
 
 sell his birthright. For a wedge of gold, or a goodly garment, 
 another will bring everlasting trouble on himself. For thirty 
 pieces of silver Judas will sell his Lord, and bring swift per- 
 dition on himself. For the world, what crimes do men not 
 perpetrate — but what say I ? For the world ? Nay, for a 
 crumb of bread — nay for the momentary gratification of 
 appetite, pride, or passion, a man will sell away that soul 
 which the whole world cannot. repurchase, cannot redeem. 
 
 Brethren, let us be true to ourselves. Let us read the value 
 of the world in the light of the word of Him, who is the 
 creator and proprietor of heaven and earth. Let us read the 
 value of life, of the life of the soul, in the light of the words 
 of Him, who both made and redeemed the soul — made it after 
 His image, and redeemed it with his own precious blood, that 
 he might renew it after his own glorious likeness. All is lost 
 if the soul is lost. All is gain if the soul is gained — if the 
 soul is saved. The whole world is no compensation for a 
 soul lost. A soul saved is absolute gain — everlasting profit 
 even if the world be lost. 
 
 Let us take a lesson in estimating values from yonder com- 
 pany returning by ship from a foreign land. They have spent 
 life in accumulating wealth. They have realised their expec- 
 tations. Their fortunes in solid gold are carried with them in 
 the vessel. They are homeward bound. But suddenly the 
 sky is overcast. The waves begin to roll heavily. Gloom 
 gathers above and around. The wind rises, the whirlwind 
 and tempest overtake them. Deep calls to deep ; and the 
 proud vessel that had so often crossed the seas, becomes dis- 
 obedient to the rudder. The sails are riven and in shreds. 
 The beams give way. The gallant mast begins to move to and 
 fro. Spar after spar creaks. And the wild waves roll merci- 
 lessly over the devoted ship. The alarm spreads. The ship is 
 sinking. It is a cry for life. Escape who can. The gold is 
 left. It is of no account now — only let life be preserved. Let 
 us but be saved from the watery grave is the cry — let all else 
 perish. The life is more than gold — more precious than the 
 world. 
 
 Let us take a lesson from the merchants and accountants of 
 
100 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 the world. They take stock. They draw out their balance 
 sheet. They set profit and loss over against each other. Let 
 us do the same. On the one side let us put in order and in detail, 
 our items of gain, and on the other our loss. If on the one 
 side we set down gains, millions upon millions, till we read the 
 whole world, and on the other side the single item — lost our 
 own soul, — the gain is nothing, the loss is irretrievable. If on 
 the other hand we can set down gains — the soul; loss — all 
 things, even the whole world ; the loss is nothing, the gain 
 incalculable. " For he that loses his life shall save it. He that 
 saves his life shall lose it. For what is a man profited if he 
 gain the whole world, and lose his own soul. For what shall 
 a man give in exchange for his soul ?" 
 
 The Love of Approbation. 
 
 The third argument here used may be regarded as designed 
 to obviate the objection arising out of a sense of shame or love 
 of applause and commendation. The love of reputation, or the 
 desire to stand well in the good opinion of their neighbours, is 
 a very strong motive in the minds of the great mass of man- 
 kind. The Lord knew how this would hinder many from 
 taking up the cross and following after [him, and on another 
 occasion said to His hearers — " How can ye believe which 
 receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour which 
 cometh from God only ?" As this feeling of shame works within 
 us when we for the first time think of confessing and follow- 
 ing Christ, so it continues to be a powerful hindrance to the 
 faithfulness, consistency, and progressive holiness, and useful- 
 ness of many who profess to follow the Lord. The man who 
 would follow the Lord fully, must say with Faithful, in " The 
 Pilgrim's Progress," — " Shame, depart ! thou art an enemy to 
 my salvation. Shall I entertain thee against my sovereign 
 Lord ? How then shall I look him in the face at his coming ? 
 Should I now be ashamed of his ways and servants, how can I 
 expect the blessing ?" All who know what it is to profess the 
 truth in sincerity will agree with what " Faithful " and 
 " Christian " say regarding shame. " Indeed," says the former, 
 
THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 107 
 
 " this Shame was a bold villain ; I could scarce shake him out 
 of my company : yea, he would be haunting me and continu- 
 ally whispering me in the ear, with some one or other of the 
 infirmities that attend religion." " Of all," says Christian, " I 
 think he has the wrong name ; for he is so bold as to follow us 
 in the streets, and to attempt to put us to shame before all 
 men — that is, to make us ashamed of that which is good. But 
 if he was not himself audacious, he would never attempt to do 
 as he does. But let us still resist him ; for notwithstandiuo- all 
 his bravadoes, he promoteth the fool and none else." " The 
 wise shall inherit glory," said Solomon, " but shame shall be 
 the promotion of fools." As 'in the first argument, the Lord 
 set life over against life ; and in the second, profit over against 
 profit ; so in this third argument, he sets shame over against 
 shame. He puts the case of a man being ashamed of Him and 
 of His words, and because of this, refusing to confess Christ 
 and to follow Him. But why is the man ashamed ? Is it not 
 that he dreads the censure of his fellow-men ? He is ashamed 
 to confront public opinion. He is ashamed to be singular, 
 ashamed to be seen in the company of Jesus of Nazareth, with 
 the fishermen of Galilee. But what is the real value of this 
 public opinion ? What is the character of age or generation ? 
 " It is," says the Lord, " an adulterous and sinful generation." 
 And in the presence of this company of adulterers and sinners 
 it is, that a man is ashamed of Christ and his Gospel. Ashamed 
 of being known as a follower of the Holy One of God ! Here 
 behold the amazing cowardice of man — afraid, ashamed to pro- 
 fess truth and holiness, virtue, godliness, Christ, lest he should 
 be censured by a generation, adulterous and sinful. But in 
 another light we marvel, not at the cowardice, but at the 
 boldness and audacity of shame. For what is this but to 
 expose ourselves to be disowned of Christ. For the scene will 
 be changed. The Son of Man now appearing as the Man of 
 Sorrows, and now crucified between two malefactors, shall 
 appear again, the second time. He shall come in the glory of 
 his Father, attended, worshipped, and heralded by the holy 
 angels. The crucified One shall sit on the great white throne, 
 to dispense judgment unto every man. What will the judg- 
 
108 THE LAW OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 ment of man avail on that day ? " "Whosoever shall be ashamed 
 of me, and of my words in this adulterous and sinful genera- 
 tion, of him, also, shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he 
 cometh in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels." Let 
 us consider this in time and say, with Paul, " lam not ashamed 
 of the Gospel of Christ. God forbid that I should glory save 
 in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is 
 crucified unto me, and I unto the world." 
 
MARTHA AND MARY. 
 
 "And .Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and 
 troubled about many things : but one thing is needful : and Mary hath 
 chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." 
 Luke x. 41, 42. 
 
 Martha and Mary are thoroughly marked and developed 
 types of character. Philosophers or psychologists might say 
 that Martha represented the perceptive action of mind, and 
 Mary the reflective; or that Martha represented the active and 
 Mary the contemplative forms of mind and life. And in so 
 saying, they would hut express partial truth ; for these forms 
 of mental habit, although often interblended, are very distinct. 
 They have shown themselves in human life and history from 
 the time of Cain and Abel to the present day. Abel repre- 
 sented the more meditative and contemplative developments of 
 mind, and Cain the more active and energetic. Mary might be 
 also described as more taken up with principles, Martha with 
 details. Martha lived more in the outward and objective 
 world; Mary in the inward, subjective, and ideal. Martha must 
 be primarily concerned about the actual doing of anything; 
 Mary about how the thing might or ought to be best done. 
 Mary puts more questions, Martha makes more experiments. 
 Martha is practical, Mary is speculative. And, although they 
 are apt and ready to quarrel among themselves, they are both 
 necessary to the happiness and comfort of the houses of life 
 
 * Prefatory Note. — The following fragment of a meditation on the character 
 of Martha and Mary of Bethany, is inserted here at the request of the printer, 
 and to suit his arrangements. It is introductory to a course of sermons on the 
 family of Bethany. G. M. 
 
 Old Kilpatrick, 27th January, 1872. 
 
110 MARTHA AND MARY. 
 
 and of each other. Jesus loves them both ; and although he 
 will not lend himself as a partizan to either, yet he will 
 commend, in the instance referred to him, the meditative and 
 worshipping spirit and attitude of Mary rather than the 
 bustling and fretful activity of Martha. One thing duly 
 thought upon, pondered, chosen, if that be the good part, is 
 better than all the activity, energy, and exceeding carefulness 
 expended in relation about many things. Concentration of 
 mind and heart is better than dissipation and dispersement of 
 thought, affection, and energy. And yet the meditative, as 
 meditative, thoughtful, contemplative, and speculative, or 
 reflective habit of mind is not without its own peculiar 
 temptations and perils. In relation to intellect, it may 
 develop into an idealism altogether alien to living Chris- 
 tianity. It may, in fact, assume the form of ancient 
 Gnosticism, or of modern Rationalism. In relation to senti- 
 ment, it may assume the dreamy form of a mystic admira- 
 tion of beauty, and a poetic, if not pantheistic, religionism 
 —an indolent, peevish, poetic homage to airy nothings. In 
 relation to conscience, it may emerge in any form of super- 
 stition — ideal or more gross ; or it may show itself in a fever- 
 ishness and scrupulosity of conscientiousness which, while it is 
 a perpetual torment to the individual, it exerts, at the same 
 time, in proportion to its extent or power, a disqualifying, be- 
 cause a dispiriting, influence on the man and his action, when 
 the problem of practical, decisive, and arduous duty is to be 
 solved. The reflectiveness that disqualifies for practical activity 
 is not to be commended. Scrupulosity of conscience may be 
 another name for superstition : it is not to be confounded with 
 enlightened and healthy conscientiousness. Disease and ex- 
 treme nervousness in the body often show themselves together, 
 and the one serves as the index of the other. The reflective 
 meditativeness of Maiy shows itself in Mary's choice ; and, 
 because Mary has made choice of that good part which cannot 
 be taken away from her, she sits at the feet of Jesus, hearing 
 his word ; while Martha is cumbered with much serving, and 
 with excessive care about the many things. Mary has rightly 
 judged that Jesus is more pleased by the disposition to catch 
 
MARTHA AND MARY. Ill 
 
 every word of gracious exhortation or instruction given by 
 him, than by any amount of attention and care devoted and 
 expended in preparing a dinner or a supper for the Lord. And 
 yet on this very disposition there readily grows a parasite, that 
 may eat out (unless its action and growth be checked) the life 
 and heart of a faith humble and confiding — a faith in all 
 things meek, obedient, submissive. There is a refined and 
 exquisite pride which often weaves its delicate texture over a 
 mind calm, contemplative, and given to retired meditation. 
 This frequently indicates its existence and intensity by a secret, 
 half-conscious, yet disdainful contempt for those who seem to 
 be always engaged in the more practical activities of life. 
 
 Martha's much serving — the disposition that always tends to 
 value work, visible and palpable products above speculation, or 
 reasons, or theories — is not without its own very great and 
 peculiar dangers and temptations. For abstracted from reflec- 
 tiveness, this tends to reduce human action to the mechanical 
 form, and man to a sort of automaton or self-acting machine. 
 It loses itself and life in details. In religion it easily glides 
 into the form of superstition that substitutes the work from 
 the motive, and that exalts the work to a place of merit and a 
 ground of justification and righteousness before God. The 
 opus operatum is to it the grand, if not the only essential 
 thing. Hence, Pharisaism in ancient times, and Romanism in 
 the present day. These monstrous apostacies may be regarded 
 as developed and embodied expressions of the much serving, or 
 of the bodily and outward service of Martha, just as all forms 
 of mysticism expressed in deteriorated form the sedative and 
 musing forms of Mary's disposition to sit still and meditate, 
 whatever may come of work, action, and practical duty, and 
 life. In philosophy, or the doctrine of life and morals, 
 Martha's disposition may degenerate into any form of material- 
 ism or secularism. Events or phenomena are looked at, and 
 thought of apart from their hidden causes, roots, and springs ; 
 hence the varied forms of materialism in former ages ; and 
 hence, also, the materialism so prevalent under the forms of 
 humanitarianism, secularism, communism, or Comptism in the 
 present day. The depreciation of the ideal tends always to a 
 
112 MARTHA AND MARY. 
 
 misinterpretation of the invisible, the spiritual, and the actual, 
 till life be represented as another name for organization, till 
 motives be all levelled to the category of utilitarianism, till the 
 present be isolated from its roots in the past and its develop- 
 ments in the future, till Sadduceeism be set up in rivalry and 
 opposition to Pharisaism, till communism take the place of 
 rational and legitimate government, and atheism be the only 
 recoil from the irrational and ungodly and really atheistic 
 system of religion called Romanism. The disposition of 
 Martha in the perverted forms now indicated ever tends to 
 a denial of angel or spirit, to a denial of God and his 
 moral government, — a denial of efficient causes and final 
 ends. Yet, in Martha's disposition there is one ingredient 
 which is indispensably necessary to the character that would 
 leave by heroic deeds its weighty and beneficent impress 
 on the page of human life and history. The man who will 
 dare and do great and good deeds — deeds heroically great 
 and good — must have two elements or forces at work within 
 his own soul. He must be capable of mighty impulse ; and 
 he must, unencumbered by speculative doubts or reflective 
 misgivings and possibilities, act out, give form, body, and 
 practical expression in authentic deeds, to the imperious 
 impulse acting itself within his soul. The decision and energy, 
 with the impulse prompting, moving, and urging a man, as it 
 were, irresistibly to go on with the work, and to go through 
 with the work laid to his hand, while they may have their 
 hidden roots in a disposition such as that of Mary, are more 
 commonly seen to grow out of the disposition of Martha. 
 Simon Peter is a masculine Martha, as Mary is a feminine John. 
 Simon Peter is the man of heroic action among the apostles ; 
 John is the man of sublime contemplation. Expounding the 
 loftiest truths, enforcing the most urgent duties, declaring all 
 things necessary to life and godliness; exhorting men to be 
 vigilant and be sober, because their adversary the devil goeth 
 about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour ; ex- 
 horting them all the more earnestly to be steadfast in the 
 faith, because his own impulsiveness and timidity had occa- 
 sioned to him not a few grievous falls, fearlessly facing the 
 
MARTHA AND MARY. 113 
 
 many -headed multitudes, or the fewer but malignant leaders 
 of apostacy and persecution, Simon Peter is an illustration of 
 what Martha's disposition can dare and do when it has 
 received, with the assurance of Christ's love, the baptism of 
 the Holy Ghost. Life in action, life in the highest and most 
 heroic action, is that of the Martha or Peter-like disposition 
 when it has received from heaven the baptism of light and 
 of fire. 
 
 The Mary-like disposition that found its congenial sphere 
 leaning, at the last Supper, on the breast of Jesus, as Mary is 
 here seen sitting at the feet of Jesus and hearing his words, 
 shows itself in the writings of the evangelist, — writings so 
 profound, heavenly, and sublime, that they early secured for 
 John the designation, the divine. Without limiting the 
 operation and inspiring grace of the Holy Spirit of God, it may 
 be said that Simon Peter's temperament of mind was not fitted 
 for writing either the Gospel or the letters of John, and much 
 less fitted for the reception of the marvellous visions recorded 
 in the Apocalypse or book of the Revelation. But these 
 writings and visions are in exact keeping with the contempla- 
 tive, loving, and thoughtful, or Mary-like disposition of John. 
 Even the brief, curt, and antithetic statements in John's letters, 
 as well as the awful and mysterious scenery of his Patmos 
 visions, reveal the meditative love of that apostle. But the 
 practical, historical, and energetically doctrinal — rapid, fiery, 
 impulsive sermons, addresses, and letters of Peter, indicate and 
 express most faithfully the Martha-like disposition that was in 
 him. But as among the family of the apostles Peter and John 
 were necessary to each other, and clung to each other as with 
 loving and brotherly tenacity, the one feeling that the other 
 supplied what was lacking on his own part; so Martha, in 
 her own sphere, and about her own work, and with her 
 peculiar disposition, was as necessary in the house at Bethany 
 as was Mary. But Mary was as necessary to Martha. The 
 household economy would be sadly disordered were one or the 
 other awanting. Mary's thoughtfulness was needed to direct 
 and regulate Martha's impulsiveness and energy ; and Martha's 
 readiness and zest for work was needed to correct the too 
 
114 MARTHA AND MARY. 
 
 speculative contemplativeness of Mary. Luther is the more 
 heroic and active; but Melanehthon, in his study, is needed to 
 temper and qualify the outgoing action and heroism of his 
 brother, Martin Luther. And Luther's earnestness, when 
 appealing to the Lord on behalf of Philip Melanehthon, and 
 his threat to excommunicate him unless he would eat, so as 
 to render his recovery to health possible, indicate how deeply 
 Luther felt that he was not complete without Philip Melaneh- 
 thon. No less significant is Simon Peter's question, after the 
 Lord has intimated to him how he himself should die or be put 
 to death — " And what shall this man (John) do ? " The question 
 is characteristic of the man, an index of his friendship for 
 John ; but it is no less indicative of Peter's feeling that John 
 was, in a sense, a sort of necessity to him. For Simon could 
 not think of his own life or death without at the same time 
 thinking of the life and the death of his friend, brother, and 
 fellow-apostle John. 
 
 As at the supper and feast, so in the time of grief, sor- 
 row, and mourning, the dispositions and habits of these two 
 sisters revealed themselves in a characteristic way. Martha, 
 as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met 
 him. She was sorrowful and sad, not only because her 
 brother had died, but because Jesus, according to the message 
 sent him, had not come sooner,— had not come as the two 
 sisters thought he might have come, and ought to have come 
 sooner, and before Lazarus had died ; but she does not so nurse 
 her sorrow, indulge her grief, and keep up in her heart, as it 
 were, a grudge against Jesus, as to be seemingly indifferent to 
 the announcement that he had at length come, and was ap- 
 proaching near to the place of graves, where was the sepulchre, 
 the family burying-place, outside the village of Bethany. 
 As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and 
 met him. But Mary sat still in the house. John says to 
 Simon Peter, " It is the Lord ; " but while Simon plunges into 
 the sea, and swims ashore to join the Lord, John is more 
 deliberative, and rows the boat to the land. Mary would 
 nurse her sorrow and her grief in meditative solitude; Martha 
 will go in her grief to meet the Lord. Sorrowful she will go 
 
MARTHA AND MARY. 115 
 
 to work, and in her work and in her activity she shall meet 
 with Jesus, and meeting him, sorrow is turned into joy. Her 
 tears are wiped away; and, rising above her unworthy thoughts 
 of Jesus, and her too great sorrow, she will be from Jesus an 
 apostle or messenger to her sister, saying to her, " The master 
 is come, and calleth for thee." 
 
 Character reveals itself whether we be at the feast of hos- 
 pitality, or in the house of mourning. The habitual manner, 
 word, action cannot be unrevealed. 
 
 On the occasion when the Lord Jesus spoke the words of 
 the text, we are told by the evangelist that he had come to the 
 village of Bethany. I am not concerned to inquire or to 
 speculate at all as to whether this was the first visit of Jesus. 
 He entered into the village, and a certain woman, named 
 Martha, received him into her house. The form of the narra- 
 tive favours the idea that this was the first visit of Jesus, and 
 the first time that Martha felt herself honoured by being per- 
 mitted to show hospitality to the Son of Man. The Saviour, 
 with salvation, has come into the house. If there is a reward 
 to those who receive a prophet in the name of a prophet, 
 Martha, to whom the house in Bethany seems to have be- 
 longed, shall not be unrewarded when she receives Jesus into 
 her house ; for she surely is a daughter of Abraham. 
 
 Martha, as mistress of the house, and responsible for all the 
 household order, economy, and arrangements, is fluttered with 
 the thought that everything might not be as it ought to be, on 
 such an occasion. And accordingly she cannot sit still. She 
 is feverishly restless, nervous, agitated, excited ; and, though 
 very busy, yet her manner causes her to seem more busy than 
 she was. She herself is conscious of this. And her conscious- 
 ness of it is intensified every time she passes near where her 
 sister Mary has seated herself. There, thinks she, is that 
 sister of mine, quite indifferent to what may come of the 
 supper arrangements ; quite careless about the honour and 
 fame of the house among the neighbouring villagers. She 
 knows that I shall get all the blame if things are not as they 
 ought to be. And, in her dreamy indolence and listless 
 indifference, she has sat down at the feet of Jesus. There 
 
116 MARTHA AND MARY. 
 
 she sits, not caring about how things in the house may 
 20. She does not seem even to hear or to heed the noise 
 of my coming and going, or of my moving and removing every- 
 thing, so as to have everything as it ought to be. Not even a 
 look will she turn to me. She is perfectly absorbed or en- 
 tranced. A sort of fascination has acted itself on her. For 
 there she is as indifferent to me, and supper, and house, as if 
 she were already where neither supper nor house were at all 
 necessary. But we are not yet in the angelic or disembodied 
 state. So thought Martha ; but she could not think long 
 without speaking. Her thoughts soon found forms of outward- 
 ness and expression. But on this occasion the Lord seems to 
 her to encourage her sister's indolence or supineness. Martha's 
 temper is sorely tried. And at last getting the better of her 
 reverence, courtesy, and politeness, she comes to Jesus and 
 says to him, " Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left 
 me to serve alone?" And as Martha thought, or at the 
 moment felt, that no word of hers would avail to rouse her 
 sister from her dreamy, meditative, and fascinated state of 
 mind, Martha, with bluntness and no little temper, appeals to 
 the Lord, urging him to interpose a word of authority. " Bid 
 her therefore that she help me." How little did Martha under- 
 stand or sympathize with her sister's habit of mind, and with 
 her absorption of soul — her utter obliviousness of everything 
 but of one thing at this moment % How much less did she 
 know the mind of Christ ? Like Simon Peter, she must speak, 
 even when like him she really knows not what she says, — knows 
 not what spirit she is of. 
 
CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 
 
 "Ye did run well: who did hinder you that ye should not obey the 
 truth?"— Gal. v. 7. 
 
 The word " hinder," as here used, denotes the arresting or 
 retarding of progress, as by the breaking up of a road, or by 
 digging trenches and pitfalls in the way. And here it seems 
 to allude to the interruption caused to a runner in the course, 
 by any one going across the path or racing ground, so as to 
 stop or obstruct the progress of one that up to that part of the 
 course had been running well. 
 
 The words before us are partly words of commendation, and 
 partly words of reproof. " Ye did run well " is the sentence of 
 commendation : " Who did hinder you that ye should not obev 
 the truth % " is the language of reproof. The reproof is all the 
 more insinuating and effective from the manner in which it is 
 conveyed ; not only is it set over against a former and better 
 state of things, but it is expressed in the terms of wonder, and 
 as if the Apostle blamed some others rather than those ad- 
 dressed. "Ye did run well : who did hinder you that ye should 
 not obey the truth?" The idea of the Christian life, underlying 
 the words of the apostle, is that it consists in a course or 
 career of obedience to the truth as it is in Jesus. And respect- 
 ing those addressed, the apostle says, that they had entered on 
 the course, and for a time had continued in it, with manifest 
 diligence, effort, and zeal, — " Ye did run well," but that after a 
 time they stood still, drew back, or were driven back, — " Who 
 did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth ?" In this 
 
118 CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 
 
 view the text is suggestive of the causes of declension in re- 
 ligion, or the causes of spiritual declension. 
 
 There is a twofold declension, falling back, or apostacy. 
 There is a partial and temporary apostacy, and there is a total 
 and abiding apostacy from the truth and profession of the 
 Gospel. Of the latter of these, or an entire departure from the 
 truth, the Apostle to the Hebrews says, that it is a drawing 
 back unto perdition, and that it is impossible to renew such 
 persons again unto repentance, seeing they crucify the Son of 
 God afresh and put him to open shame. And of the same 
 persons the Apostle Peter says, it had been better for them 
 not to have known the way of righteousness, than after having 
 known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto 
 them. This total and final apostacy is to be distinguished 
 from that which is partial and temporary: but, in treating of 
 the causes, signs, and dangers of backsliding or declension it is 
 not necessary that we should be very minute in stating and 
 repeating this distinction, — for this reason, that the same 
 causes that produce temporary backsliding, if not checked, are 
 fitted to produce total and final apostacy. 
 
 What then are some of the causes of declension or back- 
 sliding ? On the present occasion the following may be 
 enumerated and attended to as prominent and powerful among 
 those causes that drive men back from a course of obedience 
 to the truth, viz. : — Ignorance or superficial knowledge of the 
 truth, exposing the soul to the arts and wiles of false 
 teachers ; negligence or slothfulness, showing itself in respect 
 to the neglect especially of watchfulness and prayer; the power 
 of corruption in the heart, exposing the soul to the temptations 
 of Satan and the world ; double-mindedness, in respect to the 
 truth and to other things; unexpected difficulties in the way 
 of obedience; the example and influence of professors of religion; 
 the cares of the world and anxieties about the many things; 
 and, lastly, the attending to other matters in religion, to the 
 exclusion of a due attention to the state of our own hearts and 
 to the keeping of our own vineyard. These, among others, may 
 be regarded as causes of declining from a course of obedience 
 to the truth. 
 
CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 119 
 
 Among the signs of a withdrawing from the course of 
 obedience the following may be attended to, viz. : — Meditation 
 on the things of God becomes distasteful ; the private exercises 
 and duties of religion become burdensome, are either entirely 
 omitted, or gone into without heart; the fellowship of the 
 saints is not desired, and the company of worldly Christians 
 and worldly men becomes congenial; the public duties of 
 religion are but attended to as matters of custom or routine — 
 the ways of Zion are not frequented as in other days; the 
 reputation and characters of godly men are fond subjects of 
 their raillery ; and, lastly, if mercy prevent not, they take their 
 seat in the chair and company of the scorner. On this occasion 
 attention shall be restricted to some of the causes of spiritual 
 declension. 
 
 IGNORANCE. 
 
 First among the causes of a departure from the obedience of 
 the faith, we must mention ignorance, or a superficial know- 
 ledge of the truth, exposing the soul to the arts and wiles of 
 false teachers. 
 
 " For the soul to be without knowledge," says the wise man, 
 " is not good." And among ourselves there is a proverb that 
 " a little knowledge is a dangerous thing." To be without the 
 knowledge of God in Christ is to be dead in trespasses and 
 sins ; and experience proves that a superficial knowledge, — that 
 is, a little knowledge in religion, — is often dangerous. But the 
 danger is not so much in the littleness of the amount or 
 quantity as in the badness or defectiveness of the quality of 
 the knowledge. The smallest measure of spiritual knowledge 
 will save the soul, but it is not wise or safe to rest contented 
 with this rudimentary knowledge, when the means and oppor- 
 tunities of increasing in knowledge and wisdom are enjoyed. 
 To this disposition many failures and many withdrawals from 
 obedience to the truth are to be traced. And of many in this 
 respect it may be said, " Ye did run well : who did hinder you 
 that ye should not obey the truth ?" It is of infinite importance 
 that we should have a deep, clear, and comprehensive know- 
 
120 CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 
 
 ledge of the fundamental truths of godliness. And this, so far 
 from being common, is of much greater rarity than many- 
 imagine. Many here confound the means and facilities for 
 knowing these truths with the personal and actual knowledge 
 of them. But it is one thing to know where and how a desired 
 object may be obtained, and another thing altogether to secure 
 the possession of that object. It is one thing to know the 
 names of an artist's instruments and to describe them in detail, 
 and another thing altogether to have the skill and practised 
 ability of the artist. So in religion, it is common enough to 
 speak of and about certain truths, but to know them as they 
 ought to be known is far from being a common attainment. 
 Thus, for instance, it is common to hear men speak of sin and 
 of themselves as sinners ; to hear men speak of justification by 
 faith in the righteousness of God imputed to believers ; to hear 
 men speak of the person and offices of Christ, and of the person 
 and gracious operations of the Holy Ghost ; but it is far from 
 being common to know these things as they ought to be 
 known, — to see them in the light of the Lord. Hence it is 
 that many professing a knowledge of these things, and subjec- 
 tion to them, are found after a time practically denying them. 
 Indeed, one of the most productive causes of error concerning 
 the whole scope of the revealed will of God and the way of 
 salvation by grace is to be traced to ignorance, — to ignorance 
 of the nature, evil, and desert of sin, — to ignorance of men's 
 state, character, and liabilities as sinners. Almost every heresy 
 has grown from this root of ignorance. This ignorance among 
 those that profess to be Christians exposes them to the arts of 
 erroneous and seducing teachers. There have been in every 
 age of the Church those who strive to lead away disciples after 
 them, — those professing themselves the servants, apostles, or 
 ministers of Christ, while they servegonly their own ends to 
 gain a name, to gain a living, or to make merchandize of the 
 souls of men. To the insidious arts of those men they are 
 most likely to be, as they always have been, a prey, who are 
 not settled and grounded in the knowledge of the truth which 
 is according to godliness. Had these deluded victims possessed 
 more knowledge, they should not have been ignorant of the 
 
CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 121 
 
 devices of Satan by which they were ensnared, through the 
 plausible professions and high-wrought pretensions of the men 
 who seduced them from the truth. In the Church in Galatia 
 all that is here said was illustrated. So great and so sudden 
 had been the havoc then wrought among those but partially 
 instructed and enlightened, that Paul speaks of it at one time 
 as a subject of marvel: "I marvel that ye are so soon removed 
 from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto 
 another gospel : which is not another ; but there be some that 
 trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ." (i. 6, 7.) 
 Again, he speaks of this effect as a bewitchment, and upbraids 
 the foolishness of the too easily deceived Galatians : " foolish 
 Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey 
 the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently 
 set forth, crucified among you ?" (ii. 1.) With reference to the 
 arts of the false teachers, he says : " They zealously affect you, 
 but not well." (iv. 17.) And in the text, in the language of 
 wonder as well as reproof, he asks : " Who did hinder you that 
 ye should not obey the truth ?" " This " result, this back- 
 drawing, " persuasion," he adds, " cometh not of him that 
 calleth you." It proceeded not from God, not from knowledge, 
 but from ignorance wrought upon by false teachers. Ignorance, 
 therefore, or superficial knowledge, is a cause of departure from 
 the truth. 
 
 SLOTH. 
 
 A second and very common cause of declension in religious 
 profession is to be found in a spirit of negligence or slothfulness. 
 This disposition manifests itself particularly and very specially 
 with respect to watchfulness and prayer. Among those that 
 hear the gospel of the grace of God, and who do not openly and 
 professedly despise and reject it, negligence may be said to be 
 the common and habitual sin. They are not, and would not 
 that they were, reckoned among those that despise and contemn 
 offered mercy. — -they only neglect the great salvation. In these 
 days, and in our congregations, it is neglect rather than 
 deliberate unbelief that destroys the souls of men. They hear 
 
 H * 
 
122 CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 
 
 the promises and threatenings of God; but the sound is familiar 
 to them as that of a twice told tale. They make light of it. 
 Habitual neglect, habitual sloth, is their ruin. They do not 
 perish with deliberate and determined minds, resolved against 
 Christ ; but they perish in their thoughtlessness. Death comes 
 upon them, and it finds them unprepared, because they took no 
 thought of preparing for eternity. Time after time they let 
 slip the opportunity, they neglected the calls and warnings of 
 God, and their awful sin rises up before them when it is too 
 late to retrieve the disaster and to obtain that mercy which 
 they had not so much despised as neglected. Now, this negligence 
 of spirit, which keeps so many back from entering on a course 
 of obedience to the truth, shows itself in many after they have 
 for a time made a profession of obedience to Christ. It is said 
 of the wise as of the foolish virgins in the parable, that " while 
 the bridegroom tarried they all slumbered and slept." Negli- 
 gence is a sort of sleep or sleepiness that diffuses itself as it 
 were insensibly over the faculties and energies of a man. And 
 as in sleep the activities of the body are suspended, being lock- 
 fast in an invisible state and under invisible influence, so 
 negligence, diffusing itself through the spiritual faculties, binds 
 them fast as with invisible chains. The almost imperceptible 
 manner in which this cause operates, the silence and stealthi- 
 ness of its progress as it benumbs the activities of the inner 
 man, renders this a most potent and dangerous adversary to 
 the Christian in his course of obedience to the truth. At its 
 first approaches and in its earlier influences it is not suspected, 
 and frequently it happens that ere the suspicions of the soul 
 are roused, this negligent and slothful power has, vampire-like, 
 preyed on the life-blood, while it fanned its victim with its 
 soft wings to sleep. Hence many are sickly, and many are 
 faint. They are not as in other days ; their strength is gone, 
 their vigour failed, and they yet know not the cause. Another 
 thing that tends to give power to this spirit of negligence is 
 that the man over whom it ["prevails has concluded that the 
 main work is done, and that the grand concern is settled. He 
 was awakened — he found Christ — he enjoyed peace, — and, 
 therefore, there can be no great danger in only neglecting 
 
CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION". 123 
 
 certain acts and exercises, fit it may be for babes and the in- 
 experienced, but not absolutely necessary for a man in Christ, 
 for a Christian of his stature, attainments, and experience. 
 Hence, of many who did run well, we have to say, who or what 
 did hinder you ? Hence many soul-ruining departures from 
 the ways of obedience. They left off taking heed to themselves ; 
 they left off to watch and be sober ; they left off to watch and 
 to pray. How different is this method of argument from that 
 of the apostle when addressing and exhorting believers he 
 says, " Now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our 
 salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far 
 spent, the day is at hand ; let us, therefore, cast off the works 
 of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light." (Rom. 
 xiii. 11, 12.) Nearness to heaven, according to the apostle, is 
 an argument to redouble our diligence, to excite our wakeful- 
 ness, and to have upon us and in active use the armour of light. 
 Nearness to heaven, according to others, is an excuse for 
 neglect of meetness for heaven, — an excuse for not following on 
 to know the Lord, — an excuse for ceasing to run the course of 
 obedience. Oh the deceitfulness of sin in the heart ! Oh the 
 danger arising from negligence ! " What I say unto you, I say 
 unto all, Watch." Be sober, be vigilant ; for your adversary, the 
 Devil, goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may 
 devour. Stir up the gift that is in you. Stir up yourself 
 to call upon the Lord ; for negligence is the cause of apostacy 
 from the truth. 
 
 UNMORTIFIED CORRUPTION. 
 
 A third cause of drawing back from a course of obedience 
 to the truth is to be found in the power of corruption in the 
 heart. 
 
 This inward corruption is commonly called indwelling sin, 
 from an expression used by the apostle. When describing it 
 he spoke of it as " sin that dwelleth in me." Although it is 
 true of all believers that they have crucified the flesh with the 
 affections and lusts, it is equally true that this crucifixion is a 
 gradual and progressive process. They are accordingly ex- 
 
124 CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 
 
 horted to mortify their members which are on the earth, — to die 
 unto sin and to live unto righteousness. All who profess 
 obedience to the truth in Christ profess to have entered on a 
 course of opposition to all sin, and to have devoted themselves 
 to a life in the Spirit, — a life of continual struggle against the 
 corrupt and depraved principles, desires, and works of the 
 natural man. But of many who have entered on this course 
 it may be said, "Ye did run well: who hindered you that ye 
 should not obey the truth ? " Corruption hindered them, — a 
 deceived and deceitful heart turned them aside from the way 
 of righteousness. The short career of some who made a pro- 
 fession may be traced to uncrucified, unmortified corruption. 
 For a time their corruptions were asleep, but not dead ; and, 
 recovering their power, they reduced into captivity, into the 
 bondage of corruption, those who for a time had seemed to 
 participate in spiritual life and liberty. In other cases, and 
 these even true believers, although their corruptions received 
 a deadly wound, yet, like a foeman wounded unto death, but 
 not dead, who turns on his adversary, and with a spasm strikes 
 him and wounds him, the corruption dwelling in the believer 
 recovering a measure of strength so prevails, that in bitterness 
 the man cries out, " O wretched man that I am, who shall 
 deliver me from the body of this death." 
 
 The corruption in the heart — the sin that is there is most 
 tenacious of life. Naturalists tell us that trees may be killed, 
 and their vital power destroyed by watching and cutting off 
 every bud as it shows itself. But who can in this manner 
 destroy the corruption that is in him ? It has its root deep in 
 every faculty and feeling, and its poison has spread over all the 
 soul. It works in secret ; it works in silence ; it works deeply ; 
 it works constantly ; it works with subtilty ; it works with 
 power ; it works with the guise of friendship ; it works in 
 league with the spiritual wickednesses around us. It is con- 
 federate with Satan and the world. It extracts to itself 
 nutriment from holiest services and objects. It wrests even 
 the very Scriptures to a man's destruction ; and in the very 
 garden and house of God it devises death for those that live. 
 At one time it obscures the perceptions of the soul ; at another 
 
CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 125 
 
 time it illumines the mind with a glare of false light, — a 
 dazzling blaze of artificial light that shows all things, but 
 nothing as they are. At one time it hardens, benumbs, petrifies 
 the heart and sears the conscience ; at another time it melts 
 the heart into floods of tenderness, so that the soul deceived 
 luxuriates and revels amid soft, sickly, and sentimental delights, 
 in which it may be that there is nothing more than the fantastic 
 creations of excited feeling, together with the meteor lights of 
 an uninformed conscience. To the influence of inward corrup- 
 tion acting on the thoughts, affections, dispositions, and conduct 
 of men, the backsliding, the declension of many from the good 
 ways of the Lord is to be traced. " Exhort one another daily, 
 lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." 
 Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 
 Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 
 Indwelling corruption is a powerful and prevalent cause of 
 backsliding and of apostacy. 
 
 DOUBLE-M1NDEDNESS. 
 
 A fourth cause of spiritual declension and withdrawing from 
 obedience to the truth is found in double-mindedness. 
 
 " A double-minded man," says the apostle James, " is unstable 
 in all his ways." " He is like a wave of the sea, driven with 
 the wind and tossed." And the patriarch Jacob, addressing 
 his eldest son Reuben, says, " Unstable as water, thou shalt n< »t 
 excel." To this doubleness of mind the falling away of multi- 
 tudes is to be traced. In some cases this double-mindedness is 
 observable from the outset of their religious course and profes- 
 sion; in others it is manifested when in their progress the 
 claims of God and the solicitations of corruption demand 
 that a deliberate choice be made, and that action in accordance 
 with that choice be taken. Some of God's own children have 
 been known to fall and, for a time, give back under the power, 
 subtilty, suddenness, and violence of this temptation. But in 
 multitudes who make a profession of obedience to the truth 
 there is from the first a double mind. Their primary conse- 
 cration of themselves was defective, divided, partial. They 
 
126 CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 
 
 devoted themselves to the Lord with some mental reserves and 
 unexpressed conditions; with ifs, and buts, and yets, and various 
 exceptions and stipulations of their own. It may have been 
 that they entered on the profession of obedience very much in 
 ignorance of what that profession involved. It may have been 
 that the step was taken from a temporary and transient impulse, 
 without a becoming seriousness and sedateness of spirit result- 
 ing from deep, anxious, thoughtful, and prayerful consideration. 
 They did not lay the matter to heart. It may have been that 
 they did not proceed in this weighty business with a due and 
 determinate deliberation. They were impelled by feeling, but 
 not determined by enlightened judgment. Their judgments 
 and their habitual feelings were from the first in opposition to 
 the impulses that obtained a temporary and evanescent ascend- 
 ancy over them. It may have been that they acted from the 
 first with irresolution, and not with the full bent of the heart 
 and will. If so, it need not be wondered at that, when the 
 excitement of feeling gradually subsided, they became languid, 
 and their professed ardour of love waxed cold; when the 
 impulse that had for a time prevailed gradually lost its power 
 and became weaker and weaker, they manifested a growing 
 aversion to the obedience of the faith and to the duties of 
 religion, till, like those mentioned in the sixth chapter of John, 
 " From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked 
 no more with him." (John vi. 66.) 
 
 It is to be feared that a flaw at the foundation, a rent or 
 division there, is the cause of the fall and overthrow, — of the 
 great ruin of many a seemingly stately and stable building. 
 The entire superstructure of a religious profession falls in ruins, 
 burying beneath them the foolish, the double-minded inmates. 
 It is to be feared that double-mindedness, like a worm at the 
 root, is the cause why many a tree of goodly foliage in the 
 garden of God is seen to wither and to die. Because of this 
 double-mindedness may it not i>e feared that what is said of 
 Saul is true of not a few among us — " He turned back from 
 following me, and hath not performed my commandments." 
 This was the judgment of the Lord; yet Saul professed obedience 
 to the Lord, saying, " I have performed the commandment of 
 
CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 127 
 
 the Lord." But Samuel said (for the evidence of Saul's sinful 
 and partial dealing was at hand) : " What meaneth then this 
 bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen 
 which I hear ? And Saul said, The people spared the best of 
 the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God, 
 and the rest we have utterly destroyed." But even this pre- 
 text was of no avail. The work of the journey had been done 
 with a double mind ; and the judgment of the Lord was : 
 ' : Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord 
 also hath rejected thee from being king." A kingdom was lost 
 because of a few sheep and cattle. The occasion was in itself 
 a comparatively unimportant one ; but it revealed the double- 
 minded character of Saul. He had not obeyed the word of the 
 Lord, as he himself was obliged to confess ; but had " trans- 
 gressed that commandment, because he feared the people and 
 obeyed their voice." (1 Sam. xv.) But how many disobey the 
 truth and turn from the ways of the Lord through doubleness 
 of heart for far less than a few sheep and oxen. They give 
 their souls in barter for the merest trifles ; and when it is too 
 late they discover their folly and their sin, and learn the 
 tremendous significancy of that question — "What is a man 
 profited though he gain the whole world and lose his own soul ? 
 or, What shall a man give in exchange for his own soul ?" 
 The description of those who, being delivered from Egypt, and 
 were on their journey to the land of promise, is too applicable 
 to multitudes who set out for the heavenly Canaan, but who 
 perish by the way: "A generation that set not their heart 
 aright, whose spirit was not steadfast with God." (Ps. lxxviii. 8.) 
 These are distinguished from those spoken of in another 
 psalm, where it is said that " Judgment shall return unto 
 righteousness, and all the upright in heart shall follow it." 
 (Ps. xciv. 15.) Worthy of being remembered here are the 
 words of the Lord : " The light of the body is the eye : if 
 therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of 
 light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of 
 darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, 
 how great is that darkness ? No man can serve two masters ; 
 for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he 
 
128 CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 
 
 / 
 
 will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve 
 God and mammon." (Matt. vi. 22 — 24.) How suitable, there- 
 fore, the prayer of David, to the circumstances, wants, tempta- 
 tions, and dangers of all the travellers to Zion : " Teach me thy 
 way, O Lord ; I will walk in thy truth ; unite my heart to fear 
 thy name." (Ps. lxxxvi. 11.) Let us, therefore, beware of 
 being found waverers, — men of a heart and a heart, — men of a 
 double mind ; for double-mindedness is a cause of drawing back 
 and departing from the obedience of the faith. 
 
 UNEXPECTED DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 A fifth cause of being hindered, drawn back, or driven back 
 in a course of professed obedience is that which arises out of 
 unforeseen or unexpected difficulties in the way. 
 
 Because of the supposed or real difficulties in the ways of 
 godliness, many never enter on a course of Christian pilgrimage 
 and duty. The slothful man and the timorous man say that 
 there is a lion in the way ; and among many the way of godli- 
 ness is evil spoken of, — false reports are spread among the 
 people concerning the privations and trials and conflicts which 
 are in the Christian's way, and concerning the power and 
 resources of the enemies of the godly. That difficulties and 
 dangers are in the way is not concealed from those invited to 
 betake themselves to the manner of life among the faithful fol- 
 lowers of the Lamb. They are called to a life of self-denial ; 
 to a life of daily cross-bearing ; to a life of conflict ; and, if 
 need be, they are called to resist, even unto blood, striving against 
 sin. The very echo of these things is a sound of terror to 
 many. But others, hearing of the glorious reward and the 
 everlasting rest awaiting the people of God, and foreseeing the 
 destruction awaiting the ungodly, are attracted by the love of 
 God in Christ Jesus, and, confiding in his mercy and promised 
 grace, — " as thy days thy strength," — flee for refuge to lay hold 
 on the hope set before them, and run on the way to Zion. These 
 latter persons, notwithstanding many falls and withdraw- 
 ings, yet persevere in the way, they endure unto the end, they 
 
CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 129 
 
 are faithful unto death, and are saved. But, even of them, 
 some have been known to be so far left as to say, " Our hope 
 is perished," and the enemy hath prevailed. Their hearts may 
 have fainted within them when they saw the battle ; yet not 
 one of them has ever been known to be utterly vanquished. 
 Nay, out of weakness they are made strong, and have become 
 more than conquerors. 
 
 Christ the Lord would have every man, that is about to 
 make a profession of being one of his disciples, be prepared for 
 difficulties ; and accordingly he exhorts every man to count the 
 cost, saying : " Which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth 
 not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have 
 sufficient to finish it ? Lest haply, after he hath laid the 
 foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it bemn 
 to mock him, saying, this man began to build, and was not able 
 to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another 
 king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able 
 with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with 
 twenty thousand ? Or else, while the other is yet a great way 
 off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. 
 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all 
 that he hath, cannot be my disciple." (Luke xiv. 28 — 33.) 
 Heedless of these words and warnings, multitudes build up the 
 beginnings of a profession, and go out into the warfare against 
 the world and against Satan without counting the cost, with- 
 out preparation for the difficulties before them. And their 
 history, were it recorded, would be but chapters in the annals 
 of disgrace. Persecution more open or more private drives 
 them back. The reproach of Christ cannot be borne. They 
 have not courage to be pointed at as singular, standing or acting- 
 alone as belonging to a people diverse from all other people. 
 They cannot bear the brand of being counted bigots, fanatics, 
 puritans, — men of narrow, illiberal, and unaccommodating 
 principles, that refuse conformity to the passing fashion of this 
 world. Or it may be, that, called in Providence to choose 
 between the sacrifice of their status in society, between the 
 sacrifice of worldly honour and worldly goods, and the sacrifice 
 of conscience and Scriptural principles, they find it too hard to 
 
 I* 
 
130 CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 
 
 give up what is so dear to the flesh as the favourable opinion 
 of the world, and their coveted wealth, even when Christ 
 demands this sacrifice, — and when refusing to make it, they 
 practically cast off their allegiance to him. They did not 
 count on sacrifices of this kind when they put on a profession 
 of obedience to Christ. They draw back— they forsake the 
 Lord, — "Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present 
 world." 
 
 On this whole matter, the following words of Bunyan are 
 weighty and pointed : — " Though the consciences of such men 
 are awakened, yet their minds are not changed. Therefore, 
 when the power of guilt weareth away, that which provoked 
 them to be religious ceaseth. Wherefore, they naturally turn 
 
 to their old course again So then, though they seem 
 
 to be hot for heaven so long as the flames of hell are about 
 their ears, yet, when that terror is a little over, they betake 
 themselves to second thoughts — namely, that it is good to be 
 wise, and not to run (for they know not what) the hazard of 
 losing all, or, at least, of bringing themselves into unavoidable 
 and unnecessary troubles ; and so they fall in with the world 
 again." Persons of this class are represented by him of whom 
 the Lord said, "He heareth the word, and anon with joy 
 receiveth it ; yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a 
 while ; for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of 
 the word, by and by he is offended." (Matt. xiii. 20, 21.) In 
 their case the fear of man, the fear of the world, apprehensions 
 of present pain, privation, and suffering expel the fear of Cod ; 
 and to escape the pains and sufferings which are but for a 
 moment they forfeit the crown of glory — they fly blindfold into 
 the horrors of a lost eternity. How different from the fearing 
 Christian ! " Difficulties, lions, Vanity Fair, he fears not at all ; 
 it is only sin, death, and hell that are a terror to him when he 
 has some doubts about his interest in Christ and in the 
 celestial country." (Bunyan.) 
 
 The difficulties that pilgrims meet with in the way are to 
 many causes not only of stumbling, but of apostac}'. " Put on 
 therefore the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to 
 stand in the evil day." " Let us hold fast the profession of our 
 
CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 131 
 
 faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised." None 
 can harm you if ye be followers of that which is good. "Unless 
 the Lord had been my help my soul had almost dwelt in 
 silence. When I said, My foot slippeth, thy mercy, O Lord, 
 held me up." (Ps. xciv. 17). Being forewarned, let us be 
 forearmed ; let us be prepared for the difficulties, and so 
 prepared as to overcome them. " For this is the victory even 
 your faith." For greater is he that is in you, than he that 
 is in the world. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 A sixth cause of backsliding and declension is that furnished 
 by the example of many who make a profession of obedience 
 to the truth. 
 
 In the eleventh chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews the 
 apostle gives, as it were, a muster roll of worthies who, 
 through faith, obtained righteousness, fought the good fight of 
 faith, and entered into the rest of God. These all he re- 
 presents as a cloud of witnesses compassing us round about. 
 We are exhorted to run in the same race after them, en- 
 couraged by their example and success. But we are not to 
 copy their example or to follow it implicitly. We are to run 
 as they ran, looking unto Jesus. We are to copy his example, 
 and to run in the footsteps of the author and finisher of our 
 faith ; to run as he ran, considering how he suffered, died, 
 triumphed, and was glorified. 
 
 When, turning the eye awa}^ from Christ, we look to the 
 example set us by the most eminent of his saints; there appear 
 faults, blemishes, falls, sins in their lives. Some of them cjave 
 great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to reproach and to 
 blaspheme. Their virtues, not their sins, are therefore to be 
 imitated ; nor is it safe or wise to plead their sins or infirmities 
 as an extenuation of our sins. But they obtained repentance and 
 merry; they were in the main men right-hearted. If, however, 
 we turn from them and look around us on the multitudes who 
 profess to be the followers of Christ, what a scene of confusion, 
 disorder, and inconsistency presents itself to the view. How 
 
132 CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 
 
 many have nothing more than a name among Christians. How 
 many are as clouds without water, or as wild wandering stars, 
 lost in eternal darkness. How many arc cold, languid, dead. 
 How many are active only in hindering the progress of true 
 godliness; active in ensnaring, tempting, and destroying the 
 souls of men ; corrupt and corrupters, deceived and deceivers. 
 Now, as there is in every neighbourhood a considerable pro- 
 portion of this class, they spread around them an influence 
 like a deleterious atmosphere, which men cannot breath with- 
 out inhaling the poison, the moral plague with which it is 
 infected. In one of the islands in the Indian Ocean there is a 
 valley named the valley of death ; so deadly is the air that no 
 living thing can pass through it and live. Almost as fatal to 
 spiritual life is the influence diffused around men by the 
 example of many that have assumed the Christian name. Daily 
 contact, frequent intercourse, the interchange of opinion with 
 persons of this kind, almost necessarily has the effect of check- 
 ing and hindering the growth of a vigorous and lively 
 Christianity. It is a miracle in such circumstances to find a 
 high toned and spiritually minded Christian. His aspirations 
 after holiness are checked, his enterprises of Christian be- 
 nevolence are thwarted, his purposes are frustrated, and after 
 repeated and ineffectual efforts he is ready to fold his hands 
 and to settle down into a sort of hopelessness and despair. The 
 young Christian, and indeed every one who would live unto 
 God, cannot be too much warned against this subtle and per- 
 nicious influence. For through it the lust of the flesh, the 
 lust of the eye, and the pride of life do their work of death and 
 destruction ; and do it all the more effectually, because those 
 who spread this influence are counted in the membership of 
 Christian churches, and periodically take their places at the 
 table of the Lord. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. 
 Beware of this corrupt influence, this leaven of example ; for 
 to this the apostacy of not a few is to be traced. They did 
 irun well ; who hindered them ? Cold, worldly, ungodly pro- 
 fessors around them hindered them, so that they walked no 
 y or& .after Christ and in the ways of obedience. Remember 
 's wife. She had been in Sodom, — she was delivered out of 
 
CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 133 
 
 it, — she looked back, — she was almost saved : but she was 
 turned into a pillar of salt. Beware of the plague that in- 
 visibly spreads itself in the atmosphere of example. Happy is 
 he who shall escape this evil ; of whom it may be said, "A 
 thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right 
 hand, but it shall not come nigh thee." (Ps. xci. 7.) 
 
 THE MANY THINGS. 
 
 • A seventh cause of declension from the good ways of the Lord 
 is to be found in the multitude of business. The Bible offers 
 no encouragement to indolence in our lawful worldly callings, 
 it holds out no premium to the neglect of lawful business any 
 more than to the neglect of godliness. It commands industry, 
 and threatens slothfulness. But it prescribes the ' order and 
 method to be observed in adjusting the claims of the world 
 and the claims of God. The first place in thought, desire, 
 affection, endeavour, — the place to which all other interests 
 must be subordinated, is demanded for the kingdom of God, 
 for promoting that kingdom in our hearts and in the world. 
 All diligence is demanded that we may make our calling and 
 election sure. In subordination to this — the great and truly 
 grand business of man — we are enjoined to be diligent in our 
 several callings, diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving 
 the Lord. But, reversing this order of the Lord, the mass of 
 mankind, the mass of professing Christians, give the first 
 place to providing for the wants of the present time, — to the 
 laying up of treasure on the earth, — to answering the question, 
 What shall I eat, what shall I drink, wherewithal shall I be 
 clothed ? rather than to answering the infinitely more urgent 
 and important question, What must I do to be saved ? The 
 cares of this world, the riches and pleasures of this life, and 
 the lusts of other things in many, choke the word, and it 
 becometh unfruitful. In these persons the Word brings no 
 fruit unto perfection. They have been hindered by the multi- 
 tude of business. They have been cumbered with their much 
 servino', buying, sellinu - , reading writing, contriving, speaking, 
 
134 CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 
 
 rising up early, sitting up late, running to and fro, pursuing 
 gain, pleasure, or a name. These are so occupied, so harassed, 
 so driven hither and thither, that they have no time to spare 
 for God, no thought to spare for their souls. No wonder that, 
 if at one time they did run well, they should now be of those 
 that have drawn back. And yet they practise on themselves 
 a certain species of deceit. They acknowledge the comparative 
 unimportance of all their business and pursuits, when the 
 concerns of eternity are spoken of, and when in the few 
 intervals of suspended business they devote a thought to 
 heavenly things ; and accordingly they will, in the meantime, 
 give of their substance to the cause of Christ, and by a sort of 
 proxy, a religion of contributed donations, munificent it may 
 be, they will testify that they are not altogether indifferent to 
 the progress of godliness, although they take no personal, no 
 actively personal interest or share in the work of helping 
 forward the kingdom of God by their own manifest example, 
 in seeking first that kingdom and its righteousness. This is 
 one device by which some over busy appease their con- 
 sciences, although even this is far beyond the reach of others 
 as busy as they. But this is not the only expedient of 
 deceit which they practise on themselves. The}^ make 
 promises as well as present offerings, and accordingly they 
 promise, and hope that by and by, when released from the 
 bustle and whirl of business, they will give more heed to 
 spiritual things than they now do, or as they think they can 
 do. If promises of the same kind, without a fixed date, and 
 with so many uncertainties, were endorsed by them to their 
 money-changer, he would not honour their promises nor dis- 
 count their bill, nor would they themselves count such vague 
 promises binding or of any money worth w T ere they made or 
 offered to them in the course of their commercial transactions; 
 yet, where interests of incalculable value and importance are 
 in doubt and hazard, and these their own, they practise on 
 themselves by promises which every passing year has falsified, 
 and which every day serves only to render more and more 
 likely that they shall never be observed. Hence the backslid- 
 ing, hence the continued apostacy of many who with less 
 
CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 135 
 
 business on hand were better and happier men than since, with 
 increasing care and business and wealth, they have proved 
 to be. 
 
 Let none here be deceived. It is not the extent or the 
 variety of business that constitutes the real snare, or that 
 constitutes the multitude of cares which draw away the heart. 
 He who ranks among merchant princes, whose merchant ships 
 are a fleet, scouring many seas and carrying his merchandize 
 and wares to the distant harbours and marts of the commercial 
 world, may yet find time for his soul, time for prayer, time for 
 the varied duties of practical and living godliness ; while the 
 humblest shopkeeper or artizan, or the domestic servant or 
 housewife may be so immersed in the cares of the world, and 
 so cumbered, as to neglect, omit, and forsake the duties and 
 exercises of a real and active and devoted Christian. It is not 
 to the over-busy merchant, to the ambitious lawyer, to the 
 broad-shouldered statesman, or to the throned monarch whose 
 sceptre sways over multitudes of peoples, that the warning 
 against being cumbered with many cares is exclusively given ; 
 it is equally addressed to persons in every position, for who or 
 where is he who is not in danger of being deceived and hindered 
 in his way heavenward by the cares, riches, or pleasures of this 
 world. Let us, therefore, lay aside every weight, and the sin 
 that doth easily beset us, and run with patience the race set 
 before us, remembering that many have been grievously 
 hindered b}^ the multitude of business bringing with it a 
 multitude of cares. He that would run so as to obtain the 
 prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus must endeavour 
 to obey that word, " Be careful for nothing, but in every thing 
 by prayer and supplication, with thankfulness, let }'Our requests 
 be made known unto God." I would have ye be without 
 •carefulness. " Read," says the godly and martj^rcd Hooper, 
 writing to some that were apprehended at a meeting for prayer 
 and cast into prison, in time of the bloody Mary, " Read the 
 second chapter of St. Luke's Gospel, and there ye shall see how 
 the shepherds that watched upon their sheep all night, as 
 soon as they heard that Christ was born at Bethlehem, by and 
 by they went to see him. They did not reason or debate with 
 
136 CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 
 
 themselves who should keep the wolf from the sheep in the 
 meantime, but did as they were commanded, and committed 
 their sheep unto him whose pleasure they obeyed. So let us 
 do now when we be called, and commit all other things unto him 
 that calleth us. He will take heed that all things shall be well. 
 He will help the husband, he Avill comfort the wife ; he will 
 guide the servants, he will keep the house ; he will preserve 
 the goods ; yea, rather than it should be undone, he will wash 
 the dishes and rock the cradle. Cast, therefore, all your care 
 upon God, for he careth for you." It was by acting out these 
 principles and views that Hooper, and others like him, kept the 
 faith and sealed their te.stim.0n3- with their blood ; and so they 
 met, as he had said, in the palace of the heavenly joys after 
 this short and transitory life was ended. Cultivate this spirit, 
 and ■watch against that carefulness which has caused many to 
 halt, many to fall, and many to draw back from following the 
 Lord. Remember what the Lord said to Martha, who was 
 cumbered about much serving : " Martha, Martha, thou art 
 careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is 
 needful ;" and beware lest your carefulness and trouble about 
 the many things do not take off your heart entirely from 
 Christ. 
 
 RELATIVE DUTIES. 
 
 An eighth cause of declension or of hindrance in the course of 
 a religious profession is found within the sphere of religion 
 itself, especially as we stand related to certain departments of 
 religious duty. Those that are not immersed in the multitude 
 of the world's business are nevertheless not out of danger. On 
 the one hand, they arc in danger of devoting an undue measure 
 of attention and activity to the outward business of the house 
 of God, or to service connected with and required by religion ; 
 on the other hand, they are in danger of being too much taken 
 up, if they retire within themselves, with watching and 
 nursing, inspecting and criticizing their own frames and 
 feelings. One of the practical difficulties in a career of obedi- 
 ence consists in giving the right place and measure of 
 
CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 137 
 
 attention to both these departments of Christian duty. And 
 in this adjustment Christian wisdom is manifested. He is 
 not a sound, healthful, or vigorous Christian who, being so 
 taken up with the outward and public duties of religion, 
 neglects the inward and private duties and exercises of godli- 
 ness. He will have occasion to say, " They made me keeper 
 of the vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not kept." 
 His error was not in taking part in doing good to others, and 
 in helping forward the business of the house of the Lord — this 
 he ought to have done; but he erred in not attending also 
 and duly to the state of his own soul — he ought not to have 
 left this undone. On the other hand, he is not a healthy and 
 thriving Christian who, involved amidst the mazes and intri- 
 cacies of his own feelings and experiences, and scrupulously 
 jealous over his own heart, refuses to take a becoming part in 
 practical usefulness, and in the outward business of the sanc- 
 tuary. No doubt he should keep his heart with all diligence, 
 and look well to the state of his own vineyard, keeping it and 
 dressing it ; but he should also look to the things of others, he 
 should remember that while it is said, " examine your own- 
 selves whether ye be in the faith," one of the evidences of 
 his being in the faith will be, must be, awanting in him so long- 
 as he does not give himself actively to the work of the Lord. 
 He that will do the will of my Father shall know of the doctrine. 
 Then shall ye know if ye follow on to know the Lord. From 
 both of these extremes men have joined the enemy and gone 
 back into the world. And even in cases where the}^ have 
 not finally apostatized, their graces have suffered as from 
 a blight. In the one case, too much exposure to the public 
 light and gaze has proved injurious, and in the other case 
 too much retirement has been detrimental, and has induced 
 a sickliness and langour disqualifying for the life in the cold 
 and chanceful and oftentimes severe weather of this world. 
 
 Intimately connected with these dangers is that of being taken 
 up with speculative questions in religion. Many of the ques- 
 tions that give rise to protracted and angry controversies in reli- 
 gion, even if they were conclusively solved and finally settled by 
 direct appeal to revelation, would yet be found to rank among 
 
138 CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 
 
 foolish questions and endless genealogies that minister strife 
 rather than godly edifying. A specimen of them may be taken 
 from the controversy that raged with such violence in the seven- 
 teenth century respecting the mystery of the Hebrew points. 
 Scholar against scholar, and theologian against theologian, in 
 fierce and earnest debate, took part and mingled in that 
 controversy ; and time, and temper, and talents, and gifts 
 that might have been expended on all important matters were 
 wasted in settling the question respecting the origin and 
 authority, not so much of the very words of Scripture, as 
 of the vowel points attached to the letters and words of the 
 Hebrew Scriptures. It has been well said that we are to 
 distinguish between points and principles, that we are to 
 keep sacred every jot and tittle of the law — that is, every iota 
 of the principles of the oracles of God; but this is altogether a 
 different thing from disputing and contending about mere 
 points. Instead of indulging in questions of abstract specula- 
 tion, it is our wisdom to be taken up with a prayerful and 
 reverential study of the Word of God, ever bearing in view the 
 great end for which all Scripture is given : " that the man of 
 God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished to all good works." 
 
 In apostolic times there were men who lost themselves 
 among the wandering mazes of religious speculation, and who 
 made shipwreck of faith and a good conscience, and dragged 
 down others with them into ruin. And in these days we are 
 peculiarly liable to temptation of the same kind; for, through 
 this itching after novelties in religion, and this love of specula- 
 tion and dislike of practical godliness, many who seemed to run 
 well have been hindered. The antidote to all this is in keeping 
 the form of 'sound and wholesome words, in our being nourished 
 in the words of faith and sound doctrine, in refusing profane 
 and old wives' fables, in exercising ourselves unto godliness, in 
 shunning profane and vain babblings, in warring a good war- 
 fare, holding faith and a good conscience, knowing that what is 
 of the contrary sort will only increase unto more ungodliness, 
 and their word will cat as doth a canker. " These have damna- 
 tion, because they cast off their first faith ; but, as for us, let us 
 study to show ourselves approved unto God, avoiding the per- 
 
CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 139 
 
 verse disputings of men of corrupt minds, destitute of the truth, 
 — while we follow after righteousness, godliness: faith, love, 
 patience, meekness, with them that call upon the Lord out of 
 a pure heart. If ye do these things, ye shall never fail ; but 
 an abundant entrance shall be ministered unto you into the 
 kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 
 
 In drawing these remarks to a conclusion, the following 
 words of the pilgrim, Old Honest, are worthy of being remem- 
 bered : — " I am, as you see, an old man, and have been a 
 traveller on this road many a day, and I have taken notice of 
 many things. I have seen some that have set out as if they 
 would drive all the world before them, who yet have in a few 
 days died as the} r in the wilderness, and so never got sight of 
 the promised land. I have seen some that have promised nothing 
 at first setting out to be pilgrims, and that one would have 
 thought could not have lived a day, that have yet proved very 
 good pilgrims. I have seen some that have run hardly forward 
 that again have after a little time run just as fast back again. 
 I have seen some who have spoken very well of a pilgrim's life 
 at first, that after a while have spoken as much against it. I 
 have heard some, when they first set out for Paradise, say 
 positively there is such a place, who, when they have been 
 almost there, have come back again and said there is none. I 
 have heard some vaunt what they would do in case they 
 should be opposed, that have, even at a false alarm, fled faith, 
 the pilgrim's way, and all." 
 
 If these things are so, should we not lay to heart the words 
 spoken of old to the servant of the Lord — "Escape for thy 
 life ; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain, 
 lest thou be consumed ;" should we not ponder the words of 
 the Lord Jesus — " Remember Lot's wife," as well as those of 
 the apostle — "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed 
 lest he fall." Our safety, our comfort, our holiness, and our 
 practical influence for good in the Church and the world are 
 inseparable from daily progress in the heavenward way. For- 
 getting, therefore, the things that are behind, and reaching 
 forth unto those that are before, let us press towards the mark 
 
14-0 CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. 
 
 of perfection in Christ. " Seeing that we are compassed about 
 with a great cloud of witnesses, let us, laying aside every 
 weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us," — and, entangling 
 us in its coils or folds, doth so greatly hinder us, — " let us run 
 with patience the race set before us, looking unto Jesus, the 
 Author and Finisher of our Faith." If we would indeed so 
 run as at length to finish our course with joy, and with the 
 victor's crown of righteousness and unfading, unwithering gloiy, 
 to receive from the Lord, the righteous judge, the congratu- 
 latory words, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter 
 thou into the joy of thy Lord," we must not only make a good 
 and lawful commencement in our Christian course, entering 
 upon it according to the prescribed way of entrance by the 
 strait gate of regeneration through the quickening grace of the 
 Holy Ghost, evidenced in our cordial acceptance of Christ and 
 submission to him, as revealed and offered in the Holy Scrip- 
 tures ; but Ave must also run continuously along the prescribed 
 way, — not turning aside to by-paths, not falling asleep in 
 indolence or presumption, not daunted hy dangers, not 
 cumbered with cares, not dejected by sorrow, not elated 
 with joy, not tempted, seduced, allured by the pleasures of 
 the world, or by the lusts of the flesh, aiming ever at higher 
 and better and nobler attainments in holiness, and obedience, 
 and conformit}^ to Christ, till we be with him and be like him, — 
 when we shall see him as he is. For "know ye not, that they 
 which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize ? So 
 inn, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the 
 mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain 
 a corruptible crown ; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so 
 run, not as uncertainly ; so fight I, not as one that beateth the 
 air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection : 
 lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I 
 myself should be a castaway." (1 Cor. ix. 24 — 27.) One false 
 step may precipitate a man into the bottomless gulf. There is 
 a way to the depths of hell from the gates of heaven. "He 
 that endureth to the end," and he only, " shall be saved." 
 Amen. 
 
THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 
 
 " But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, 
 are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of 
 the Lord." — 2 Cor. hi. 18. 
 
 The words of the text present and afford scope for the exercise 
 of critical acumen, skill, and ingenuitA^ ; and they may be 
 rendered thus, — "But we all, with unveiled face reflecting as 
 in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same 
 image from glory to glory, as by the Lord the Spirit." This 
 rendering has been strongly contended for by able, devout, and 
 learned men. The expression "unveiled face," is a correct and 
 literal translation of the words for which we read " open face," 
 and it preserves the feature of contrast on which the apost]e 
 insists in this place. So also the " Lord the Spirit" is perhaps 
 a more faithful and literal rendering than " the Spirit of the 
 Lord." The great difficulty is how to render the original word 
 which, in the text before us, represents "beholding as in a 
 glass." The word is used in no other place in the New Testa- 
 ment. And being in the middle, or self-reflective form, scholars 
 and critics, with not a little ground, at least of a grammatical 
 kind, urge the view that those spoken of as here unveiled in ' 
 face, are themselves the glass or mirror at once receptive of the 
 glory and reflective of it. And this is a thoroughly Scriptural 
 idea; and is perhaps the idea or truth here figuratively in- 
 dicated. In this case the glory from the face of Jesus, shining 
 on the unveiled face of the believer, is reflected from the soul 
 and character of the believer as from a mirror of polished steel ; 
 
142 THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 
 
 and in proportion as the believer maintains communion with 
 Christ this process goes on, and the whole inner man is pro- 
 gressively transfigured into the likeness of the glory of the 
 Lord. I make these remarks at the commencement of this 
 discourse because I have, for practical purposes, adhered to the 
 rendering in our Authorized Version, and have throughout the 
 sermon been guided by the words in the sixth verse of the 
 fourth chapter, as furnishing the key to the full meaning of the 
 words in the text before us, — " God, who commanded the light 
 to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the 
 light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus 
 Christ." 
 
 • 
 
 Throughout this chapter the apostle had been exhibiting 
 features of contrast between the dispensation by Moses and 
 the Gospel by Christ Jesus, between the legal economy and the 
 evangelical dispensation, between .the Old Testament and the 
 New. 
 
 Among the features of contrast brought to view in this part 
 of the apostle's argument and description of the two economies 
 the following appear : — the Old Testament was a ministration 
 of death, the New is a ministration of life. The Old was a 
 ministration of condemnation, the New a ministration of 
 righteousness. The Old was a ministration engraven on stones, 
 the New is a ministration in the tables of the heart. The Old 
 was a ministration of the letter, the New is a ministration of 
 the spirit. The Old was made from, or through a veil ; the 
 New is without a veil, the veil is taken away. The Old was 
 temporary and introductory, ready to vanish away; the New 
 is abiding and permanent. These are among the contrasted 
 features of the two dispensations. The former dispensation had 
 a glory of its own: it was glorious; but, as in all the aspects 
 presented by the contrast, the New excelled the Old, so, " that 
 which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by 
 reason of the glory that excelleth." Corresponding with the 
 nature of the contrasted economies, are the position and privi- 
 leges of those under these economies respectively. Under the 
 former dispensation grace was given, faith was counted unto 
 
THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 143 
 
 men for righteousness, men were justified, sanctified, saved on 
 the same grounds, and by the same Saviour, and through the 
 same spirit of holiness as under the new dispensation. The 
 gospel does not reveal another God, another Saviour, another 
 Sanctifier, than the God and Saviour of men, since grace was 
 first offered to men. But under the old dispensation there was 
 a veil over much that is now clearly revealed. There was a 
 veil over the character of God ; over the way of approach to 
 God ; over the provision made for the taking away of sin by 
 the incarnation and obedience unto death of the Son of God ; 
 over the nature and extent of the spiritual kingdom of God, 
 and over many of the privileges and prospects of the people of 
 God. No doubt, prophets and seers, with eager and keen- 
 sighted vision, pierced through the veil, and, seeing the day of 
 Christ, rejoiced and were glad. Abraham from afar beheld 
 that day ; but even he, and all the believers under the former 
 dispensation, saw but darkly, though they trusted with a 
 fixed faith in God who had given to them exceeding great 
 and precious promises. But besides this veil that was thrown 
 over the face of Moses, and that rested on all the types, 
 ceremonies, and ritual of that former dispensation, there was 
 over the hearts of many a veil of unbelief, a thick and many 
 folded veil, covering the understanding, heart, and consciences 
 of the people. The veil of ceremonies, the veil of Moses, is 
 done away in Christ; that darkness has passed away, and 
 the true light shineth. Yet over many there still hangs the 
 thick dense veil of unbelief. " But," says the apo. c .tle, con- 
 trasting the privileges of believers under the gospel both 
 with those of believers under the law, and unbelievers, whether 
 under the law or the gospel, "we all, with open face, beholding 
 as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the 
 same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the 
 Lord." 
 
 Having adverted to the contrast here instituted by the 
 apostle between the two economies, and the privileges of the 
 Church under each respectively, we may regard the text as 
 bringing before us a view of the transforming efficac3 r of 
 Christian faith. The transformative power of faith as here 
 
144 THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 
 
 taught is the subject of this discourse. 1st. We are taught 
 wherein this transformation consists — "We are changed into 
 the same image." 2nd. We are taught that this transformation 
 is gradual and progressive — " from glory to glory." 3rd. The 
 reasons or causes of this transformation are here set before us, 
 " Ave all beholding, are changed, even as by the Spirit of the 
 Lord." 
 
 THE CHANGE OR TRANSFORMATION. 
 
 The change or transformation here spoken of consists in the 
 assimilation of the soul to the glory of the Lord, as that is seen 
 and manifested in Christ Jesus. "We are changed into the 
 same image," that is, into the likeness of the glory beheld, so 
 that it is reflected from our souls, as formerly it was reflected 
 from the face of Moses. This change is variously described in 
 Scripture. It is sometimes said to be " the renewing of the spirit 
 of our minds " (Eph. iv. 23), " the renewing of the mind " (Rom. 
 xii. 2), "the renewing of the inward man" (2 Cor. iv. 16). At 
 other times it is said to be a change as " from death to life " 
 (John v. 24; Eph. ii. 1), a "being quickened together with Christ" 
 (Eph. ii. 5), so that the life of Jesus is manifest in the believer. 
 (2 Cor. iv. 10, 11). Sometimes it is spoken of as a transition 
 from a state of "darkness unto God's marvellous light." (Eph. v. 8.) 
 At other times as a building up of the soul in love, and as a 
 growth into the stature of perfect manhood in Christ. (Eph. v.) 
 And in one instance it is described as a participating of the 
 divine nature, — " Grace and peace be multiplied unto you 
 through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, accordino- 
 as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain 
 unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that 
 hath called us to glory and virtue : whereby are given unto us 
 exceeding great and precious promises : that by these ye might 
 be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption 
 that is in the world through lust." (2 Peter i. 2 — 4.) 
 
 From all this it is evident that the following are some of the 
 elements and features of this image, and part of the transfor- 
 mation here spoken of. (1.) It is a transformation into spiritual 
 
THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 145 
 
 life ; it is life in the spirit ; it is " life because of righteous- 
 ness." We are changed into the life of God. The image or 
 likeness is not a mere dead picture ; it is not a statuesque 
 resemblance of Christ that is exhibited by the soul of the 
 believer. It is a life-like likeness of the living Saviour. As Christ 
 is the Life, and has life in himself, so he, out of his fulness, 
 bestows life on his people. He lives in them ; they live in and 
 by him. Now they live. (2.) It is a transformation into 
 spiritual light. For as Christ is light, the light of the world, so 
 are his people " light in the Lord." " For God, who commanded 
 the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to 
 give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face 
 of Jesus Christ." (2 Cor. iv. 6.) Believers are accordingly 
 exhorted to " shine as lights in the world ; holding forth the 
 word of life." (Phil. ii. 15, 16.) They, as renewed after him in 
 knowledge, are to spread abroad everywhere the knowledge of 
 God, for the enlightenment of the darkened understandings 
 of men; and by example, walking themselves in the light of the 
 Lord, they are to attract the eyes of men towards him who is 
 at once the life and light of the world, who is the way, the 
 truth, the life. (3.) This transformation is into love ; it is a 
 change of enmity for love, even for the love of God in Christ. 
 God is love ; and that love is manifested in Christ. But 
 believers dwell in love, for they abide in Christ. Born of the 
 Spirit, they love their Father and their Father's house and 
 family. They reflect the likeness or image of his love. The 
 spirit that is given them is the spirit of life, of knowledge, of 
 love ; " the fruit of the Spirit is love." (4.) There is in this 
 image into which thejr are changed true and spiritual freedom. 
 " Where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty." Believers 
 are no more slaves, but sons adopted into the family of God, 
 introduced into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. They 
 are no longer the slaves of the law ; the}^ are under grace, and 
 freed from condemnation : no longer the slaves of corruption ; 
 they are under grace, and freed from the bondage of corruption : 
 no longer the slaves of fear ; they are under grace, and have 
 received the spirit of adoption by which they cry "Abba, 
 Father." (5.) There is power in this change into which 
 
14(5 THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 
 
 believers are transformed. From being without strength, they 
 are changed, so that, in the Lord, they have righteousness and 
 strength. For as Christ liveth by the power of God, so they 
 live by him. The spirit given them is a spirit of power, and of 
 love, and of a sound mind in the fear of the Lord. They are 
 strengthened with all might by his Spirit. (6.) In one word, — 
 for that word includes all the other elements, ingredients, 
 features, and lineaments of this change, — believers are made 
 partakers of the holiness of God. They are holy, and hence 
 the exhortation — " Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness 
 of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." 
 (2 Cor. vii. 1.) When the image of the Lord's holiness shall be 
 perfect in the believer, then the blessedness of the believer 
 shall also be perfect, for he shall be satisfied with the likeness 
 of the Lord ; and although in the present life the holiness of 
 believers is not perfect, and it doth not yet appear what they 
 shall be, yet they know that when Christ their life shall 
 appear they shall be like him, and shall appear with him in 
 glory, for they are predestinated to be conformed to the image 
 of Christ, — to a conformity in heart and life, in soul and body, 
 in obedience and sufferings, in reproach and glory, to the image 
 of the Son of God, that he may be the first-born among many 
 brethren. " We are changed into the same image from glory to 
 glory." 
 
 PROGRESSI V ENESS. 
 
 The language here employed indicates to us the progressive- 
 ness of this transformation. It is a being changed from glory 
 to glory. There is a glory in the first beginnings and least 
 measures of this transformation; but as the change is being- 
 perfected, as the lineaments of holiness are more and more 
 vividly manifested by the new creature, there is an increased 
 manifestation of glory. It is seen to be a change, a progress 
 from glory to glory. As in nature, the successive changes 
 in the seasons have a succession of glory ; so is it in grace. As 
 in nature there is first the blade, then the ear, and then the full 
 corn in the ear ; so is it in the spiritual growth and advance- 
 
THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 147 
 
 merit of the soul. And as in the natural day the first 
 dawnings of light in the grey morning have a glory of their 
 own, and are the signs of approaching day ; so " the path of the 
 just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto 
 the perfect day." This progressive and progressively glorious 
 character of the spiritual transformation of the soul into the 
 image of Christ is taught, not only by figures taken from 
 natural and organic changes, but by almost every reference 
 made to the character and manifestations of the work of grace 
 in the soul. The inward man is renewed day by day. Those 
 that wait upon the Lord renew their strength, they grow in 
 grace, and increase in wisdom and knowledge, they go from 
 strength to strength. He that hath begun in them the good 
 work will perfect it. Every one shall be perfected as his 
 master. And if there is pleasure enjoyed while we observe in 
 nature the earth, — which had been black, bleak, and desolate 
 through the dreary winter, — begin to be covered with the green 
 blades and to assume the gay and flowery aspect of summer, — 
 if it is pleasant to watch the green crops as they put on the 
 mellow aspect of autumnal fruitfulness, while waving in the 
 wind thev bend their graceful heads with the weight of rich 
 and ripe ears, ready for the hand of the mower, and realizing 
 the hopes of the joyful husbandman, who had waited for the 
 precious fruit of the earth, and had long patience for it, — much 
 more pleasant and delightful is it to observe the progressive 
 changes and transformations of a soul as it is growing up into 
 conformity in all things to Christ Jesus. If it is interesting 
 to watch the development and growth, the successive changes 
 in the life from infancy to manhood, and the successive changes 
 in the mind, as it expands and puts forth it hidden powers 
 through the successive stages of life,— much more interesting 
 is it to mark the transitions and changes in the life of a soul that, 
 under the operation of the Spirit, is being trained for immor- 
 tality and for eternal glory. If the artist rejoices as he sees 
 the progress of his work, — as the bust before him seems to take 
 on the lineaments of life, or as the figures stand out and seem 
 to act, live, and move on his canvas, or as in poetic numbers 
 and measures thoughts of beauty group themselves, take shape 
 
148 THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 
 
 and place, and name and action, — surely much more should it 
 be our joy to know and feel that in our souls the likeness of 
 the light, life, love, liberty, holiness, and power — the likeness- 
 of the glory of Christ, is being produced, so that we are changed 
 from glory to glory. 
 
 THE REASONS OR CAUSES OF THE CHANGE. 
 
 Having thus briefly stated in what this transformation 
 consists, and having adverted to the progressive character of 
 the change, it is necessary that we should now consider the 
 reason or cause of this transformation. This progressive 
 change, consisting in the assimilating of the soul to the glory of 
 God, is here and in many other places ascribed to faith, — 
 " Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed 
 into the same image from gloiy to glory, even as by the Spirit 
 of the Lord." A subject of great interest is here before us, 
 and our treatment of it will take the form of an inquiry into 
 the reasons of the transformative efficacy here ascribed to 
 faith. These reasons are all taken from the words of the text, 
 and they range themselves naturally under the following 
 heads, viz. : — 
 
 (1.) The nature of the object beheld — "the glory of the 
 Lord." (2.) The medium through which that object is seen— 
 " As in a glass." (3.) The nature of the action respecting the 
 glory — " Beholding, we are changed." And, (4.) The efficient 
 operation of the Spirit — " even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 
 
 The efficacy of faith in transforming the soul, or in assimilat- 
 ing it to the glory of the Lord, results from the object beheld, — 
 from the medium through which the object is seen, — from the 
 nature of faith's acting, — and from the effectual operation of 
 the Spirit. 
 
 the Object. 
 
 The glory of the Lord is a brief expression to signify the 
 sum and radiance of his attributes and perfections. As by his 
 infinite being the Lord infinitely transcends and is removed 
 
THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 149 
 
 from ail creatures ; so by tlie glory of that being, and of all his 
 attributes, he infinitely excels and surpasses all creatures in 
 his glory. The glory of the Lord is the effulgence or out- 
 shining, the lustre and splendour of his perfections. He is 
 called the Father of Glory to indicate that all glory beheld in 
 his creatures and in his works is derived from him, and is in 
 some degree a resemblance of him, a reflection of his gloiy. 
 He is the Father of lights and perfections, from whom cometh 
 down every good and perfect gift. He only dwells in the 
 light inaccessible and full of glory. A glorious and high 
 throne is the place of his sanctuary, and he maketh the place 
 <>f his feet glorious. The being and presence of God give glory 
 to the universe, and the great end of all creatures is to make 
 manifest his glory. 
 
 There are two aspects in which Scripture presents for our 
 contemplation the glory of the Lord. It is described as in- 
 herent in God, and as exhibited or manifested. The glory of 
 the Lord under the former of these aspects denotes the 
 uncreated, underived, and infinite excellence, dignity, pre- 
 eminence, and perfections necessarily inherent in the divine 
 being and nature. This glory is incommunicable. No creature 
 ■can share in it. "I am the Lord, that is my name; and my 
 glory will I not give to another." This is the excellent glory 
 of the Lord; it is inherent essentially in God, because he is God. 
 Of this glory, as of the greatness of the Lord, it may be said 
 that it is unsearchable. It is infinite and incomprehensible. 
 It must ever, amidst the blaze of its own light, remain at a 
 distance that may not be passed from the gaze and appre- 
 hension of loftiest angels, even of those who stand, as it is said, 
 '•' before the face of God." This is the light inaccessible and 
 full of glory in the midst of which he, the King Eternal, 
 immortal, and invisible dwells, whom "no eye hath seen, or 
 can see." But there is a manifested glory of the Lord which 
 may be seen. There is the appearance — not only unto ser- 
 aphim around the throne, but unto men on earth — of the 
 likeness of the glory of the Lord. The Lord hath made him- 
 self known and manifested his glory. " The earth hath shined 
 with his glory." "The earth is full of his glory." "Arise, shine 
 
150 THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 
 
 forth, thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon 
 thee." "For behold the darkness shall cover the earth, and 
 gross darkness the people ; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, 
 and his glory shall be seen upon thee." This effulgency of the 
 divine perfections is that which is said in our text to be 
 beheld by believers, and into this they are changed. The 
 object beheld has a transforming efficacy on the beholder; for 
 just as the face of Moses was resplendent with glory when he 
 came down from the mount, where he had been permitted to 
 behold the glory of the Lord, and as that glory impressed its 
 image on his countenance, so that the children of Israel " could 
 not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his 
 countenance ;" so the glory of the Lord, beheld by believers, 
 impresses upon their souls the image of itself ; they "are changed 
 into the same image from glory to glory." The outshining of 
 the glory of the Lord has one of two effects; it either assimi- 
 lates and transforms to its own likeness that on which it 
 shines, or it burns up and consumes it. Believers, by the 
 light of the Lord's glory, become light in the Lord, and are 
 clothed with the beauties of holiness ; they are changed into 
 the same image from glory to glory. Unbelievers, or the 
 impenitent, are consumed by this glorious light. " As wax 
 melteth before the fire, so the wicked perish at the presence 
 of the Lord." (Ps. lxviii. 2.) " For, behold, the Lord cometh 
 forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon 
 the high places of the earth. And the mountains shall be 
 molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax 
 before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a 
 steep place. For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and 
 for the sins of the house of Israel." (Micah i. 3 — 5.) Of this 
 twofold effect of the outshining of the glory of the Lord we 
 have a type or emblem in the twofold effect produced by the 
 light of the sun. For that light, diffused over the world, 
 enlightens the face of all things, producing its own image 
 and reflection in the bosom of the clear and deep water, — 
 giving all its colour to the bow that is in the cloud in the 
 day of rain, and painting the flowers of the earth with all 
 their variegated, rich, or delicate beauties, — entering into, and 
 
THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 151 
 
 penetrating all living things, that light transmutes them 
 into its own likeness, and clothes them with some of its 
 own loveliness and beauty. Yet the same light, shining in 
 direct or convergent rays, kindles a fire more powerful and 
 devouring than that of a furnace heated seven times, before 
 which the elements melt, as in fervent heat, and are consumed. 
 This twofold effect of light is an emblem of that glory which, 
 shining on Christ, transfigured his countenance when he was 
 on the mount, — which, shining into the hearts of his people, 
 renews them after his image ; but which, shining on the 
 ungodly and impenitent, consumes them. For " God is light," 
 " God is love ; " yet, " our God is a consuming fire." Who, 
 then, can stand before this holy Lord God \ " Who may 
 abide the day of his coming ? Who shall stand when he 
 appeareth ? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' 
 soap. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and 
 he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and 
 silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in 
 righteousness." 
 
 The observed tendency of the object of thought and 
 contemplation, and especially of the object of religious 
 worship and adoration, to stamp somewhat of its own 
 likeness or image on the beholder and worshipper, may be 
 stated in the proposition, that the worshipper will become 
 conformed or assimilated to the character of the object wor- 
 shipped. That character stands out continually before him, 
 and presents itself as the measure and standard of excellence 
 and perfection ; and the sincere worshipper measures and 
 estimates his own character by reference, comparison, or con- 
 trast with the character of his God. Accordingly, we find 
 two facts in all idolatrous and superstitious worship. There 
 is a profaning or lowering of the divine glory ; and there is 
 ever connected with this a progressive deterioration in the 
 character of the worshippers. Idols and their worshippers are 
 like each other. The worshipper's idea of excellence is that 
 which he conceives to be in his idol, and he is perfect as he 
 resembles his idol — his god. ' So in the deterioration of senti- 
 ment that prepared and paved the way for the Roman 
 
152 THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 
 
 apostacy from the true knowledge and worship of God, we 
 observe first a perverting and obscuring of the knowledge of 
 the glory of God in Christ, and consequent on this, a progres- ' 
 sive deterioration or lowering of the character of professed 
 Christians. When the glory of the Lord was no longer beheld, 
 men were no more changed into the image of that glory. 
 " Sad it is to think," says John Milton, " how that doctrine of 
 the gospel, planted by teachers divinely inspired, and by 
 them winnowed and sifted from the chaff of over-dated 
 ceremonies, and refined to such a spiritual height and 
 temper and purity and knowledge of the Creator, that the 
 body, with all the circumstances of time and place, were 
 purified by the affections of the regenerate soul, and 
 nothing left impure but sin ; faith needing not the weak 
 and fallible office of the senses to be either the ushers 
 or the interpreters of heavenly mysteries, save where our 
 Lord himself in his sacraments ordained; — that such a 
 doctrine should, through the grossness and blindness of 
 her professors, and the fraud of deceivable traditions, drag so 
 downwards, as to backslide one way into the Jewish beggary 
 of old cast rudiments, and stumble forward another way into 
 the new vomited paganism of sensual idolatry, attributing 
 purity or impurity to things indifferent, that they might bring 
 the inward acts, of the spirit to the outward and customary 
 eye service of the body, — as if they could make God earthly and 
 fleshly, because they could not make themselves heavenly and 
 spiritual: they began to draw down all the divine intercourse 
 betwixt God and the soul, yea, the very shape of God himself 
 into an exterior and bodily form, urgently pretending a 
 necessity and obligement of joining the body in a formal 
 reverence and worship circumscribed; they hallowed it, they 
 fumed it, they sprinkled it, they bedecked it, not in robes of 
 pure innocency, but of pure linen, with other deformed and 
 fantastic dresses, in palls and mitres, gold and gew-gaws 
 fetched from Aaron's old wardrobe or the Flamin's vestry. 
 Then was the priest set to con his motions and his postures, 
 his liturgies and his lurries, till the soul, by this means of over- 
 bodying herself, given up justly to fleshly delights, bated her 
 
THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 153 
 
 wing apace downward ; and finding the ease she had from her 
 visible and sensuous colleague the body in performance of 
 religious duties, her pinions now broken and flagging, shifted 
 off from herself the labour of high soaring any more, forgot 
 her heavenly flight, and left the dull and droyling carcase to 
 plod on in the old road and drudging trade of outward con- 
 formity." In contrast with all this, and as illustrative of the 
 principle being considered, we find that, as at the first pro- 
 mulgation of the gospel, so at the time of the Reformation, 
 when the true doctrine concerning God was restored and 
 proclaimed, when the light of the knowledge of this glory of 
 God shined through the earth, men were transformed into the 
 image of this glory. Spiritual life, light, liberty, love, power, 
 holiness, all sprang up and flourished in the train of this glory, 
 as it filled the temple and overspread the world. What then 
 was conspicuous to a large degree, in contrast with what 
 prevailed through the black and long night of antichristian 
 ignorance and tyranny, is but a type and anticipation of what 
 will yet become general and universal, when, according to the 
 oath of the Lord, " The whole earth shall be filled with his 
 glory, when the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the 
 Lord, as the waters cover the sea." 
 
 This transformation into the likeness of God is the effect 
 •then of the object of faith or of glory of the Lord as beheld by 
 the believer. 
 
 THE MEDIUM. 
 
 We proceed now to consider the reason of this transforma- 
 tion obtained from the medium through which faith beholds 
 this glory. " We all beholding as in a glass the glory of the 
 Lord are changed." It is not an immediate and direct view 
 that is here obtained of the glory of the Lord, but a vision of 
 it indirect and through a medium. It is not by the radiance 
 of that glory shining in direct beams upon us that we either 
 behold it, or that we are changed into its likeness. In our 
 present state we are incapable of the direct and immediate 
 vision of the glory of God. And it may be questioned whether 
 
154 THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 
 
 the creature state, in its highest exaltation and purity, is 
 capable of sustaining or receiving, without being consumed, 
 the direct radiance of the divine glory. We know that when 
 Isaiah in the Spirit beheld the glory of the Lord, he tells us, 
 that in the presence of that glory, the seraphim, — those bright 
 and burning and pure spirits round about the throne, — covered 
 their faces with two of their wings, while Isaiah himself, over- 
 powered with the weight and brightness of the glory, cried 
 out, " Woe is me ! for I am undone ; because I am a man of 
 unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean 
 lips : for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." 
 (Isaiah vi. 5.) And further, we know that in answer to the 
 prayer of Moses, when he said unto the Lord, " I beseech thee, 
 show me thy glory," the Lord said unto him, " I will make 
 all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the 
 name of the Lord before thee; and I will be gracious to 
 whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom 
 I will show mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see 
 my face, for there shall no man see me and live. Behold, 
 there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock : 
 and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that 
 I will put thee into a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee 
 with my hand while I pass by : and I will take away mine 
 hand, and thou shalt see my back parts ; but mj^ face shall not 
 be seen." It is then glory not direct, but reflected ; not the 
 glory itself absolutely considered, but the image of that glory 
 that is beheld by believers ; it is glory reflected, and seen as 
 reflected, from a polished mirror : for as looking directly up to 
 the sun itself our eyes are soon darkened and blinded through 
 the directness and excess of light so that we cannot see the 
 sun, yet, when the image of the sun is reflected from a pure, 
 smooth, and untroubled lake, we can look upon it and see it 
 clearly, — the rays that are reflected being tempered to our 
 vision, so that, without injury — yea, even with pleasure and 
 delight, we can look upon the object through this medium, 
 and see the sun more clearly than by attempting, as with eagle's 
 piercing eye, to peer directly into the face of the glorious orb 
 of light. True, the image is on earth and near, while the sun is 
 
THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 155 
 
 high in the heavens ; but it is because of this that we, standing 
 on this earth and near the lake on whose bosom the image is 
 reflected, can see the sun, can bear the brightness and clearness, 
 the radiance of his beams, as they are thrown upon us from 
 the gentle, still, and unruffled lake on whose shores we stand. 
 Keflected from the glassy lake, the light is at once clear, mellow, 
 and mild, so that " truly the light is sweet, and it is a pleasant 
 thing for the eyes to behold the sun." All this may be taken as 
 an emblem of what is in the text spoken of as the medium 
 through which the glory of the Lord is beheld. It is not the 
 direct radiance of that glory which reaches us and transforms 
 us into its own likeness, but it is the reflection of that glory 
 as from a glass. And this reflection is both clear and mild, 
 while at the same time, shining upon us and beheld by us, it 
 impresses its own image on our souls. For a creature, and 
 more especially for a sinful creature, to come within the reach 
 of the blaze of the direct glory of God, would be to perish and 
 be consumed ; but that glory shining upon us as from a glass, 
 with beam not direct but reflexive, instead of consuming us,, 
 serves only to give us life, beauty, and immortal strength ; it 
 clothes us with the beauties of holiness, and transforms us into 
 the image of the glory of the Lord. 
 
 What then, it may be asked, is this medium which reflects 
 upon us the glory of the Lord with such a wondrous combin- 
 ation of light, warmth, power, and mellowness ? Is it that 
 reflection of the divine glory which is thrown off from the 
 works of God in creation and in providence, in the framework 
 and movements of the world ? There is no doubt a glory, a 
 manifestation of the glory of God, made by the works and 
 creatures of God. "The heavens declare his glory, and the 
 firmament showeth his handywork." The prints and impress, 
 the footmarks of wisdom, goodness, power are observable all 
 over the works of God, so that the invisible things of God from 
 the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by 
 the things that are made, even his eternal power and godhead. 
 But who, by merely looking at this glass, has ever been trans- 
 formed into the image and likeness of the Lord's glory ? This 
 vision is sufficient to render man inexcusable, because that 
 
156 THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 
 
 knowing God he does not glorify God, and give him thanks for 
 that affluence of goodness with which he has filled the world; 
 but this vision fails to gain the heart for God. The eye looking 
 on this glass does not affect the heart, does not renew the 
 .spirit, does not transform"* the soul into the likeness of God. 
 Man is guilty, lost, sinful, wretched, and depraved; and through- 
 out all the provinces and realms of nature no sight is seen, no 
 voice is heard, no power discoverable fitted to give purity, pardon, 
 peace, salvation to man. Terrible majesty, unsearchable wisdom, 
 illimitable power, reflect their image from the works of God : 
 but conscience attests that God is just, and man would fain 
 hide himself from the view and presence of this Holy God ; for 
 everywhere "a fire goeth before him, and burnetii around 
 about him." The way to God is seen guarded by the seraphim 
 with flaming sword. It is not by the revelation made in the 
 works of creation and providence that the glory of the Lord 
 can be seen so as that the sight shall at once attract and 
 transform the beholder. Grace and mercy do not there blend 
 their sweet and mild and transforming rays with the beams 
 of wisdom, goodness, and power. Nor is it within man himself 
 that this glass is found. No doubt man is a little world, a 
 sort of image of the great world ; and once he bore within him 
 and upon him the image of God. But the glass once so 
 polished lias been tarnished .and sadly dimmed. It has been 
 discoloured, disfigured, broken, so that no longer does it reflect 
 the fair and beautiful image of God, although yet it bears 
 traces of its former glory, and is yet capable, under the hand 
 of the divine artificer, of being restored, and of being made 
 to reflect with more than former brightness and perfection 
 the image of the glory of God. The transforming medium is 
 not in nature, it is not in man. Looking only around through 
 nature, or within upon himself, man remains unchanged, or 
 the view darkens his mind and hardens his heart. The veil 
 hung over the face of creation, and the veil over the unbeliev- 
 ing heart because of sin, hides from view the glory that can 
 alone captivate, delight, and renovate the soul. 
 
 The glass which is found neither in nature nor in man, is 
 found in the God-man, Immanuel, Christ Jesus. The light of 
 
THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 157 
 
 the knowledge of the glory of God is beheld in the face of 
 Jesus Christ. He is the image of the invisible God, the bright- 
 ness of his Father's glory, the express image of his person; so 
 that he said, " He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." 
 And his disciples, testifying, said, " The Word was God ; and 
 the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld 
 his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full 
 of grace and truth. And of his fulness have all we received, 
 and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses : grace 
 and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at 
 any time : the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the 
 Father, he hath declared him." (John i.) The glory of God is 
 in him, and shines through him. For it pleased the Father 
 that in him all fulness should dwell. And in him dwelleth all 
 the fulness of the Godhead bodily. For while no eye hath 
 seen or can see God, the invisible One, it hath pleased God that 
 we should be permitted and be invited to behold his glory in 
 Immanuel. This is the perfect glass, the glorious medium 
 through which the perfections of the great I AM are made 
 visible to'the eye of faith. The glory here is not directly but 
 mediately beheld. It is the image of the glory reflected from 
 the face of Christ that we see. And it is because he is at once 
 God and man that we can see his face, behold his glory, live, 
 and have increase of life through beholding it. Had he been 
 God only, had he remained in the form of God, without throw- 
 ing around his glory the veil of humanity, without becoming 
 flesh, we could not have seen the glory of the Lord and lived. 
 We could not look up with our blinded and weak eyes into the 
 face of God. But having taken on him our nature, without 
 taint of defilement or pollution in it, through it the glory of the 
 Lord shines, so that by the light of it men arc saved and 
 sanctified — renewed, transformed, glorified. It is when stand- 
 ing near him, when standing or kneeling by his cross, or when 
 sitting with devoutness and docility at his feet, and hearing his 
 words or meditating on his person, character, offices, works, on 
 all that he is and has done and has promised to do, it is then 
 that we behold in him the glory of the Lord as in a glass, and 
 beholdino- it are changed into the same image. It is in the 
 
158 THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 
 
 placid, tran qui], and pure lake itself, reposing on the bosom of 
 its mother earth, that we see the mild and bright, yet perfect 
 image of the sun, so that we can gaze steadfastly upon it; and 
 it is through the incarnate Jesus, through him who. with more 
 than a brother's tenderness, interest, and love, comes near to do 
 more than a brother's part ; — through him who himself is 
 God over all, and who is yet our brother, who, while wielding 
 almighty power, yet stretches out to us a brother's hand ; — it is 
 through him who cannot look upon sin, and yet who was made 
 sin for us, who suffered for our offences, and was raised again 
 for our justification ; — it is through him who one moment weeps 
 beside sorrowful and bereaved sisters, and the next moment 
 says to the brother four days dead, " Lazarus, Come forth ;" — it 
 is through him before whose glory John falls at his feet as 
 dead, and yet on whose, bosom he was permitted to lean, and 
 who laid his right hand on John, saying, " Fear not ; I am the 
 first and the last : He that liveth and was dead ; and, behold, 
 I am alive for evermore, Amen ; and have the keys of hell and 
 of death ;"• — it is through him that is at once the Son of God, 
 co-equal with the Father in essence, in glory, and in honour, 
 and at the same time that loving brother who can be touched 
 with a feeling of our infirmities, having been tempted in all 
 things as we are tempted, that the glory of the Lord shines 
 upon us, so that instead of death we find life and healing 
 under his beams. For in him is fulfilled the word of the 
 prophet, "Behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven ; 
 and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble : 
 and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of 
 hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But 
 unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness 
 arise with healing in his wings." (Mai. iv. 1, 2.) 
 
 PERFECTION ok THE MEDIUM. 
 
 The glory of the Lord reflected from Christ Jesus, or the 
 image of that glory beheld in him, possessed a threefold perfec- 
 tion : for it is a reflection of the fulness of that glory; it is 
 
THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 150 
 
 a perfect reflection of that fulness ; and it is perfectly adapted 
 to the transforming of believers into its image or likeness. 
 
 The fulness of this glory is beheld ; for in Christ dwells all 
 the fulness of the Godhead. Here the glory of the being of 
 God is declared and the folly of atheism is exposed. No 
 evidence, — although the universe from every province and 
 department of its boundless extent is exuberant of evidence to 
 this the grand and primal fact that God is, — no evidence was 
 ever given to creature intelligences of the being of God at all 
 to be compared with that afforded by the fact of the incarna- 
 tion of the Son of God ; no evidence comparable to this was 
 ever given to man, although every grain of sand, every drop of 
 water, every breath of air, every pencil of light, every blade 
 and flower of earth, all creeping things, and all that lives or 
 moves in water, earth, or air, although every planet, star, and 
 system through immensity proclaimed the fact. From the 
 manger of Bethlehem, from the workshop in Nazareth, from the 
 marriage feast at Cana, from the bier on which was carried the 
 widow's son of Nain, from the waters of the sea of Galilee, from 
 the chamber in the house of Jairus, from the mountain side 
 where Jesus taught and fed the multitudes, from the mountain 
 top where Jesus was transfigured, as from the banks of the 
 Jordan where he was baptized, from the wilderness, the 
 mountain, and the temple, where he drove back the tempter, 
 and where angels ministered to him, from the tomb near 
 Bethany where Lazarus had lain dead for four days, from the 
 multitudes healed of all manner of sickness and disease, from 
 the slopes of Olivet and the gloomy shades of Gethsemane. 
 from the hall of the high priest, from the cross on Calvary, 
 from the tomb in the garden, empty on the morning of the first 
 day of the week, from the throne of glory in the midst of 
 which there is seen the Lamb as it had been slain, — there is a 
 testimony to the reality that God is, such as attracts the eyes 
 of angels, fills heaven with new radiance and joy, and hell with 
 added horrors ; while man, beholding the sight, confesses that 
 God is in Christ the Saviour of the world. 
 
 Here the character of God is fully manifested. For all the 
 perfections and attributes of God are in Christ. Here 
 
160 THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 
 
 all these are seen in sweetest harmony, all interblended and 
 shining with united splendour. The goodness of God appears 
 here as it is nowhere else visible. For if bountiful benevolence 
 be the index of goodness, what bounty, even from God, — what 
 good and perfect gift, even from the Father of Lights, is com- 
 parable to this unspeakable gift of the only begotten Son of 
 God to be the redeemer of guilty men, — taking a servant's 
 place, and dying reckoned among the transgressors, — made sin 
 and a curse for us, that we might be made the righteousness 
 of God in him ? Who had known that God is love, if we could 
 not say, " Herein is love : not that we loved God ; but that he 
 loved us, and gave his Son to die for us"? Behold and see if 
 there be love like this — "Behold what manner of love the 
 Father hath bestowed upon us." Who could have known the 
 boundlessness of the mercy of God had we not seen the un- 
 searchable riches of that mercy in Christ Jesus ? and who 
 could have known the grace of God had it not been seen in 
 exceeding abundance in Christ, — grace reigning through 
 righteousness unto eternal life, so that, where sin abounded, 
 even there grace hath much more abounded, — even his glorious 
 grace, — the grace coming by Christ, and by him bringing salva- 
 tion ? The goodness of God in love, mercy, grace, is beheld in 
 Christ. 
 
 Here, too, the manifold wisdom of God appears. He 
 appears here, indeed, as God only wise. If wisdom appears in 
 choosing the best ends, and in the selection and use of the best 
 means for the attainment of those ends, then behold here the 
 highest and most glorious and benevolent ends and means 
 adapted with infinite wisdom for accomplishing the work 
 necessary to the ends in view. The glory of God and the sal- 
 vation of man — these .are the ends. The mediation, surety- 
 ship, incarnation, death, resurrection, and reign of Christ at the 
 right hand of God, with all the preparatory institutions, with 
 all the concomitant and attendant or subordinate instrumen- 
 talities, agencies, gifts, ministrations, — these are the means ; 
 and all these meet in the constitution of the person of the 
 Mediator, and are seen in his cross. So that we behold here 
 the wisdom of God unto the salvation of all that believe. 
 
THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 161 
 
 " the depths of the riches and knowledge and wisdom 
 of God!" 
 
 Here the holiness of God is exhibited to view as it is nowhere 
 else displayed. If holiness consists in the abhorrence of sin, 
 in the love of justice, truth, and all that is morally excellent 
 and pure, then the holiness of God is nowhere exhibited in 
 such characters, or with such glory, as in the person, character, 
 teaching, obedience, works, life, and death of Christ Jesus. He 
 is himself the Holy One and the Just : holy, harmless, unde- 
 fined, separate from sinners. His life was an exhibition of 
 spotless holiness. All his words and works were holy; and in 
 his cross the fire of the divine holiness, the severity of the 
 divine justice, the terribleness of the divine wrath against sin 
 appear as they were not manifested from amidst the thunders 
 of Sinai, and as they are not manifested in the horrors of hell. 
 The Lord's infinite abhorrence of sin, and the infinite demerit of 
 sin, are exhibited in Christ crucified as they are nowhere 
 else exhibited. For what must be that love of holiness, that 
 regard to justice, that required in order to the taking away 
 of sin, and to the saving of the sinner, that the sacrifice of 
 atonement and propitiation should be no other than the Incar- 
 nate Son of God 1 " If these things were done in the green tree, 
 what shall be done in the dry ?" Behold here the holiness of God. 
 
 As the holiness of the Lord is reflected from the person and 
 work of Christ, so b}^ him is revealed the sovereignty and 
 power of God. The glory of the Lord's sovereignty over all 
 persons and creatures in the disposal of all events, in doing 
 what he wills, in the bestowment of his mercies, or in the 
 withholding of them, shines out from the person, words, and 
 works of Christ; and he, in conjunction with that sovereignty, 
 displays and wields the almighty power of God. He was 
 crucified, and suffered through weakness ; but in death lie 
 broke all the power of the enemy, destroyed him that hath 
 the power of death, that is, the devil ; so that the cross, the 
 symbol of Aveakness, is become the power of God. He rose, 
 and he liveth and reigneth by almighty power. " All power 
 in heaven and earth is in his hands, that he may give eternal 
 life to as many as the Father hath given him." 
 
 L* 
 
162 THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 
 
 Again, all these attributes and perfections are through this 
 medium perfectly exhibited. The glass is large enough to 
 reflect an entire image of the divine perfections; and it is so 
 polished and perfect that there is no flaw in the image 
 reflected : for Christ Jesus is the brightness, the effulgence of 
 the Father's glory, and the express image, or diameter, of his 
 person. The representation of the glory made in him and by 
 him is perfect. And, further, it is perfectly adapted to the ends 
 for which it is designed, and specially to the transforming of 
 those who behold it, so that they are changed into the same 
 image. " I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." " By 
 his knowledge," or by the knowledge of himself, " shall my 
 righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their ini- 
 quities." 
 
 Let us meditate for a little on the marvellous adaptation of 
 this display of the character and perfections of God to ac- 
 complish the end in view — the transformation of those who 
 behold it. It is fitted, as one says, to stir and to transform the 
 whole being and nature of man. For the glory of the Lord is 
 brought near to the view of men. When the angel of the 
 Lord appeared to the shepherds of Bethlehem, we are told that 
 "the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they 
 were sore afraid." That glory round about them was not that 
 by which they were to be saved. The transforming glory was 
 that announced b}r the angel when he said, " Unto you is born 
 this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the 
 Lord." And when they, obedient to the heavenly message, 
 went to Bethlehem, and there found the babe, wrapped in 
 swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, they beheld the glory of 
 which the bright cloud was but the symbol. There, in that 
 manger, there on that cross, and there on the right hand of the 
 Majesty in the heavens the glory of the Lord is seen, and it is 
 there near to us. For even on the glorious and high throne 
 he is wrapped in the swaddling clothes of our humanity ; he 
 appears in our nature. Say not then, Who shall ascend into 
 heaven, or who shall descend into the deep to reveal to us the 
 glory of the Lord ? for that glory is nigh, it is beheld in the 
 face of Christ. The nearness of this reflection, and the mild 
 
THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 163 
 
 yet mighty effulgence of the glory adapts it to the transform- 
 ing of the beholder into its own likeness. Just as in the image 
 of the sun reflected from the lake near to you, you behold the 
 sun, although he is in his tabernacle in the heavens, with his 
 curtains and robes of light ; so, although the Lord, by reason of 
 his being and boundless perfections, is at infinite distance from 
 all creatures, and dwells in the pavilion of unapproachable 
 glory, yet in the man Christ Jesus, who tabernacled and dwelt 
 among us, Immanuel, the glory of the Lord is brought near, so 
 that we may look upon it, live, and be changed into the same 
 likeness. " The idea of God," says one, " has been humanized, 
 as it were, by the Christian religion, and has been brought 
 near to us." "The word is nigh thee," says Paul, "even in thy 
 mouth, and in thy heart." 
 
 This glory is fitted to transform the beholder, because of the 
 clearness and vividness of the light which shines from it upon 
 the beholder. No doubt there intervenes the veil of the 
 human nature of Christ. It is only through that veil, as it 
 were hung over the glory, that Ave can at all behold it. But 
 that veil, while it tempers the rays that shine out to us and 
 brings near the glory, does not obscure and darken that glory. 
 The light of the knowledge of the glory of God is clearly and 
 vividly seen in the face of Jesus Christ. And as it is of the 
 nature of light to impart its own likeness to the objects on 
 which it shines ; so is it the property of this light of glory to 
 assimilate to itself those who behold it. For once they were 
 darkness ; but now, since the true light hath shined into their 
 hearts, they are light in the Lord. A light which nature 
 could not reflect, which the law with all its fiery brightness 
 could not emit, — a light, clear and pure and vivifying, shines 
 from him who is the light of the world, and who hath brought 
 life and immortality to light by the gospel. By its clearness 
 and brightness this glory is fitted to change the beholder into 
 its own likeness. 
 
 This manifestation of the glory of the Lord is adapted 
 to the end in view by the harmonies and unions which it 
 reveals. For hei*e the divine perfections are seen inter- 
 blended in ineffable harmony. Justice, severe and inex- 
 
164 THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 
 
 orable, is here seen rejoicing with mercy compassionate and 
 infinite. Truth, that cannot fail, with grace that pardons the 
 guilty. Holiness, that cannot look on sin, with love bringing 
 home the sinner to the bosom of God. Glory dwells in our 
 land. For "mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and 
 peace have kissed each other." There is glory in the highest, 
 while there is peace on earth and good-will to men. Truth 
 springs out of the earth, and righteousness looks down from 
 heaven. And like the bow that is in the cloud in the day of 
 rain, which, with graceful and benignant span, girdles the earth 
 with beauty, and binds it, as it were, to heaven, — while it seals 
 the covenant of peace, this light of glory, with its many colours 
 and harmonies, reveals the secured harmony of things in heaven 
 and things on earth ; for it reveals God in Christ reconciling 
 the guilty unto himself, not imputing unto men their trespasses. 
 My covenant is with him of life and peace, and he shall turn 
 many to righteousness. " Behold, therefore, and see the glory 
 that is here." It is the light as of heaven's Sabbath shining- 
 through the darkness and labours of time, so shining that 
 multitudes find, even amidst the sins and cares and weari- 
 ness of time, the pledge and the foretaste of that eternal 
 Sabbath-keeping which remains for the people of God when 
 they shall see the face of their Lord, and be like him, for they 
 shall see him as he is. 
 
 Thus far respecting the transforming efficacy of faith, by 
 reason of the glory beheld and the medium through which it 
 is beheld. 
 
 ACTINGS OF FAITH. 
 
 Attention must now be turned to the reason of this trans- 
 formation, taken from the nature and actings of faith, with 
 respect to this glorious object.' Here we must be guided by 
 the words of the text, in which two things are observable as 
 stated : We all beholding the glory ; and, we all with open face 
 beholding the glory of the Lord, are changed. As the object 
 beheld is unveiled, and the glory reflected as from a polished 
 mirror in contrast with the veil spread over the face of Moses, 
 
THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 165 
 
 i.e., over the glory of the Lord, as manifested under the legal 
 dispensation ; so we are here also taught that, in contrast with 
 the unbelievers, over whose hearts there is the veil of unbelief, 
 believers are permitted, and it is their privilege, to behold with 
 unveiled face the unveiled glory. A double privilege is theirs: 
 first; as contrasted with all unbelievers ; and secondly, as con- 
 trasted even with the privileges of believers under the former 
 dispensation. And corresponding with their greater light and 
 liberty in beholding the glory of the Lord should be the trans- 
 forming effect of that glory on their souls. Let us then observe 
 how it is that the view of this glory, as beheld by believers, 
 transforms them into its own image or likeness. This will 
 appear, if we consider faith, or the beholding here spoken of, as 
 expressive of a threefold exercise of the soul in relation to this 
 object ; as an exercise of contemplation ; as an exercise of 
 recipiency; and as an exercise of the various principles or 
 graces of the renewed nature. • Faith, as contemplative, as 
 recipient, as active, transforms the soul into the likeness of the 
 glory of the Lord. 
 
 1. The assimilation of the soul to the image of the glory of 
 the Lord is effected by faith beholding or contemplating that 
 glory. The tendency of thought to impress upon the mind the 
 likeness or resemblance of the object thought upon is attested 
 by universal experience ; and this tendency, observable in the 
 natural workings of the mind, is equally observable in the- 
 exercise of faith on its proper objects. " I consider," says 
 Boyle, " that the devout contemplation of God, besides other 
 great advantages that it brings the mind, in so much that the 
 human understanding, like Moses in the mount, does by an 
 assiduous converse with God acquire a lasting luminousness; 
 besides this, I say, and the improving influence that this happy 
 conversation may have upon the graces and virtues of the mind, 
 I take it to be one of the most delightful exercises that the soul 
 is capable of on this side heaven." " Mine eye," says the bride 
 in the song, " affecteth nry heart." The contemplation of great 
 objects imparts a greatness to the mind ; and habitual converse 
 with trivial objects degrades and weakens the mind. The con- 
 templation of infinite purity and excellence at once exalts and 
 
166 THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 
 
 purifies the soul, while at the same time it never fails to beget 
 a habit of genuine humility and lowliness of mind. We 
 accordingly find that those who are most distinguished for 
 holiness and for conformity in all things to the image of God, 
 are those who have most habitually and devoutly contemplated 
 the glory of the Lord. " Show me thy glory," was the prayer 
 of Moses, that meekest of men, who turned aside to see the 
 great sight on the Mount Horeb, when the bush burned and 
 was not consumed. " One thing have I desired of the Lord, that 
 will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord 
 all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and 
 to inquire in his temple," were the words of David, that man 
 after God's own heart. " I have heard of thee by the hearing 
 of the ear ; but now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor 
 nryself and repent in dust and ashes," exclaimed Job, when 
 he beheld the glory of the Lord. With all this agree such 
 statements as those in which it is said, " They looked unto 
 him and were lightened." " As for me I will behold thy face in 
 righteousness, I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy 
 likeness." 
 
 The contemplation of the infinite majesty of the Lord begets 
 in the soul a sense of its own littleness in his presence ; the 
 contemplation of his infinite authority and independence begets 
 in the soul a sense of its own emptiness, dependence, and 
 subjection, and, so to speak, puts the soul into a posture and 
 frame for taking on the likeness of his glory. For, till the 
 soul is laid low before the Lord, it is not in a posture to receive 
 benefit from the manifested glory of the Lord. But humbled 
 by the view of the divine glory, the soul, contemplating that 
 glory, is changed into its likeness. Looking unto the Lord, 
 we are quickened, healed, sanctified, saved; so that the whole 
 process of salvation, as realized by the soul as actual in experi- 
 ence, is traced to a look — to looking — to beholding as in a 
 glass the glory of the Lord. For in this looking the soul is 
 turned away from sin, and steadfastly fixes its attention and 
 thought on the glory of the Lord. This becomes the object of 
 devout and continued meditation ; and while we meditate and 
 muse, communing with the glory, the light not only spreads 
 
THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 167 
 
 itself over our souls, but the fire of love is kindled, and our 
 hearts burn within us. The light infuses itself into the recesses 
 of our hearts, so that the darkness is changed, and we become 
 light in the Lord. 
 
 2. This will appear still more clearly if we consider that 
 faith, exercised on beholding the glory of the Lord, is 
 by its very nature recipient of that glory as manifested and 
 communicated. Just as in natural vision the eye receives the 
 light, and forms on the retina, or expansion of the optic nerve, an 
 exact image of every object to which the eye is turned in the light, 
 so that the likeness of all that we behold is photographed on 
 the little canvas of the retina ; so, in spiritual vision, while 
 beholding the glory of the Lord, faith receives the light, and 
 with that light there is formed on the tablet of the heart the 
 image of the glory. With the open eye there is the opened 
 heart; so that the light admitted by the eye of the under- 
 standing is received into the heart, and there working effectu- 
 ally, changes the whole inner man into its own likeness. Thus 
 by faith is received into the heart the good-will of God, revealed 
 in Christ ; and the enmit} r of the carnal mind is displaced, 
 removed, purged out by the light of the Lord. The love of 
 God in Christ is received, and takes possession of the soul, so 
 that " we love him because he first loved us." And with that 
 the heart takes on the impression of the holiness of the Lord ; 
 and, as that holiness is diffused through the soul, its vileness 
 and corruption are purged out as by fire, and this process of 
 receiving progresses more and more ; the soul thus receiving is 
 not only enlarged in capacity and rendered capable of receiving- 
 more and more, but with this progressive enlargement there 
 is always a progressive puritjr, a progressive congeniality, 
 between the recipient and the object, so that the believers 
 hold on their way, and, like him that hath clean hands, wax 
 stronger and stronger, and can say, " Out of his fulness 
 have all we received, and grace for grace." This recipiency of 
 grace for grace answers to the fact stated in our text respecting 
 the change or transformation of the soul as from glory to glory. 
 
 3. But this further implies that faith is here not only 
 passively recipient of this glory, but that it is spiritually 
 
168 THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 
 
 active in this transforming process. For, as this change is 
 wrought in all the faculties, feelings, and dispositions of the 
 soul, and as the whole of this transformation proceeds on the 
 beholding of the glory, it must be that the beholding has reflex 
 influence on all the powers and affections of the soul. And 
 it is so : for looking excites admiration, desire, love, delight, 
 hope ; and these all operate, under the guidance and leading of 
 faith, in effecting this change. Every new discovery of the 
 glory excites new admiration in the soul. The soul is trans- 
 ported with the vision of the glory, and wonders and adores, 
 while often exclaiming, " This is too wonderful for me ! Lord, 
 what is man !" With this admiration there is joined strong 
 ;xnd active desire, — desire of being nearer and nearer to the 
 Lord, — desire of being in all things conformed to the image of 
 his glory in Christ. " With desire have I desired thee." " Our 
 desires are towards thee." And in proportion as this positive 
 desire after conformity to the Lord is exercised, in. the same 
 proportion is aversion to all sin felt ; so that the soul, moving 
 heavenwards in the ships of desire, recedes farther and farther 
 from " the lust of the liesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of 
 life." This desire is but the outgoing of the love that now 
 reigns in the heart. The look of the soul to Christ, meeting 
 with his look of love, brought into the heart the new and 
 heavenly love that now can find no rest except in the enjoy- 
 ment of Christ; and as he is seen by faith, he is more and 
 more loved. Here the looking feeds love, and as that love is 
 strengthened and deepened by continued looking, it grieves 
 when Jesus is not seen ; it mourns over the sins that obstruct 
 perfect intercourse with him. It is steadfastly minded to be 
 like Christ, and to be with Christ. His presence fills the soul 
 with delight, and at times with joy unspeakable and full of 
 glory. Faith works by love ; and where this love is, hope is. 
 The soul has good hope through grace; and although now the 
 resemblance to Christ is not perfect and complete, yet the 
 graces and the activities of the soul are invigorated by the 
 hope that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we 
 shall see him as he is. Then shall the soul not only bear his 
 likeness perfectly, but then even our vile bodies shall be 
 
THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 169 
 
 changed into the likeness of his glorious or glorified body. 
 Meanwhile, " Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth 
 himself, even as he is pure." 
 
 OPERATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 Having treated of the transforming efficacy of faith because 
 of the object beheld — "the glory of the Lord;" because of the 
 medium through which that object is seen — "as in a glass;" 
 and because of the nature and exercise of faith in relation to 
 the glory — " we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the 
 glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory 
 to glory," — we must now proceed to treat of the efficacy of faith 
 in assimilating the soul to the glory of the Lord, because of the 
 efficient operation of the Spirit, — ■" even as by the Spirit of the 
 Lord." 
 
 Hitherto, in all that has been said, we have assumed, when 
 we have not expressly stated, this cause ; for without it there is 
 and there can be no transformation of the soul into the like- 
 ness or image of the glory of the Lord. For without the grace 
 of the Spirit, there is no transforming manifestation of the 
 glory, — there is no eye to see it, and no heart to desire or love 
 it. " For the natural man reeeiveth not the things of the Spirit 
 of God, neither can he know them, for they are spiritually dis- 
 cerned. But God hath revealed them unto us, and hath given 
 to us (believers) the unction of the Holy One, by which we 
 know the things that are freely given to us of God. For the 
 Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." 
 
 Without the gracious operation of the Spirit, there may be 
 much knowledge of and about things spiritual and divine, 
 about the glory of the Lord. Unsanctified men, like Balaam, 
 may attain to high degrees and large measures of knowledge 
 about the glory of the Lord ; but without the gracious illumina- 
 tion of the Spirit, the knowledge is a dry light, and does not 
 produce, or is not attended by, renovation of heart and life. 
 
 Without the gracious operation of the Spirit, there may be a 
 professed subjection to the truth, there may be assent of the 
 mind to the truth revealed, there maj^ be a natural faith 
 
170 THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 
 
 or a natural belief of spiritual truths; but experience and Scrip- 
 ture bear witness that this natural belief, faith, or assent, may 
 co-exist in the mind with a heart estranged from the love 
 of God, and with a life according to the sinful course of this 
 world. 
 
 Without the gracious operation of the Spirit of the Lord there 
 ma}^ be vivid impressions produced on the mind, and in con- 
 nection with these there may be felt and experienced even deep 
 emotion. Who has not at some time or other been impressed 
 and moved by the story of man's original bliss, and of his fall : 
 by the announcement of the grace of God, and by the record of 
 the life, character, sufferings, and death of Jesus of Nazareth ? 
 Yet, natural emotion, be it ever so deep, does not produce 
 spiritual transformation. Without the gracious operation of 
 the Spirit men may do many things, may engage in a course of 
 amendment and reformation, and may even think themselves 
 and seem to others to be changed and renewed men. They 
 may, indeed, be in many things, in many habits and practices, 
 different from what they once were. But there is no instance 
 on record of any man having been changed into the likeness of 
 the glory of the Lord, without being the subject of the gracious 
 operation of the Spirit of the Lord. All Scripture and all 
 experience are against the possibility of such a transformation 
 apart from the grace of the Holy Spirit. For " if any man 
 have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his." 
 
 If believers are partakers of a new life, a life after the image 
 of God, they have by the Spirit been quickened to newness of 
 life. It is the Spirit that quickeneth. To the spirit of life in 
 Christ Jesus, and bestowed by him, the spiritual life of the 
 believer is to be traced. The new creature, the birth into new 
 and spiritual life, is not of the flesh, nor of blood, nor of the 
 will of man, but of God. 
 
 If believers are light in the Lord, having been changed from 
 darkness to light, and if they now see the glory of the Lord, 
 and are luminous with that glory, it is because God by his 
 Spirit hath shined in their hearts, giving them the light of the 
 knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ. It is the 
 Spirit that enlighteneth the eyes of the blind, as it is the same 
 
THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 171 
 
 Spirit, taking of the things that are Christ's, that showeth them 
 unto those whose understandings he has opened to see these things 
 in the light of the Lord. If believers, from being enemies to 
 God in their hearts, now feel and exercise love towards God, 
 if they are changed into the likeness of glorious love, it is 
 because the Spirit has shed abroad in their hearts the love of 
 God, and has, in response to that love, begotten love in them. 
 The Spirit, as the Spirit of love, has been given to them. 
 
 If believers, from being slaves, are the Lord's freemen, and 
 enjoy the glorious liberty of the sons of God, it is because God 
 hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts. There- 
 fore they are no more bondmen, but children crying, Abba, 
 Father. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. If 
 believers are endued with power to overcome the world and the 
 wicked one, it is because they have received the Spirit of 
 power ; and he being in them, is greater than all that is in 
 the world. They are strengthened with all might by the 
 Spirit of the Lord. 
 
 If believers are enabled to perfect holiness in the fear of God. 
 it is because the Holy Spirit — the Spirit of holiness — has been 
 given to them and abideth in them. If they are enabled to go 
 from strength to strength, ever pressing towards the mark for 
 the prize of their high calling in Christ Jesus, forgetting always 
 the things that are behind, and reaching forth unto those that 
 are before ; going on unto that perfection with a view to which 
 Christ Jesus the Lord apprehended them and called them unto 
 the fellowship of the gospel ; if they renew their strength, and 
 mount up with wings like eagles, run and are not weary, walk 
 and are not faint, it is — and they are ever forward devoutly 
 and thankfully to acknowledge it — because the Lord hath 
 bestowed upon them and put within them his own Spirit of 
 life, power, love, and holiness. The secret of their life, and of 
 their progressive conformity to the image of the Son of God, is 
 to be found in this, that according to the intercessory prayer of 
 Christ, the Father is sanctifying them through his Word of 
 truth, by the supply of the grace, and by the effectual operation 
 of the Spirit of Christ. The world knows not, receives not, and 
 docs not even confess its need of this Spirit of God. But 
 
172 THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 
 
 believers know him. He is in them, and shall abide for ever 
 with them. For he that hath begun in them the good work 
 will carry it on and complete it. He will fulfil all the good 
 pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power. 
 For he will not fail, nor be discouraged, till he set forth judg- 
 ment unto victory, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ be 
 glorified. 
 
 In the economy of grace the efficient, or practical and 
 effectual administration of the kingdom of God is in the hand 
 of the Holy Spirit, through the mediatorial intervention, 
 sacrifice, and intercession of Christ Jesus. It belongs to the 
 office of the Holy Spirit to take of the things that are Christ's, 
 and show them unto men. He is accordingly a convincing or 
 convicting Spirit to the world, — convincing of sin, of righteous- 
 ness, and of judgment. And in the believer he is the Spirit of 
 truth, grace, and consolation. He opens the understanding 
 that we may understand the Scriptures, the heart that we ma}^ 
 receive the truth in the love of it, and he renews and bends 
 the will, so that we become obedient to the truth and to the 
 faith. It is his, as he formed and prepared the natural body of 
 Jesus, so to work within the believers that Christ be formed in 
 them the hope of glory. The regenerating act is his; for believers 
 are born of the Spirit. The enlightening, purifying, consoling, 
 establishing acts are all his ; for he seals and sanctifies the 
 souls of the children of God. 
 
 If faith exercises itself in contemplating the glory of the 
 Lord, it is the Spirit that quickens faith and illumines the object 
 beheld. "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of 
 darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the 
 knowledge of the glory of God in the face of- Jesus Christ." If 
 faith is a recipient act, taking in and appropriating to the soul 
 the things revealed in Christ Jesus and in the Word of his truth, 
 then it is the Spirit that hath revealed, or unveiled, and made 
 known, and presented these things to the mind — " For God hath 
 revealed them unto us by his Spirit," and " the deep things of 
 God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God ;" and not only so, 
 but it is by the grace and indwelling and working of the 
 Spirit of God in the mind and heart, that faith is capable of 
 
THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 173 
 
 receiving the spiritual things revealed. "Now we have 
 received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which 
 is of God, that we might know the things which are freely 
 given to us of God ; for the natural man receiveth not the 
 things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, because 
 they are spiritually discerned." Spiritual recipiency and af- 
 finity between the mind and the object, between the heart and 
 the glory of the Lord, result from the grace and efficacious 
 operation of the Holy Spirit. Yet once more, if faith exercises 
 itself on its object by evoking all the activities and graces of 
 the soul, so that the Word of God is, as it were, chemically 
 mixed with the inner being, faculties, feelings, and affections of 
 the hidden man of the heart, and the very likeness of the 
 glory of the Lord is not merely photographed on the sur- 
 face of the mind, but actually wrought into the very texture 
 and moral tissues of our nature, so as to become an ineradicable 
 and indestructible part of our inner life ; then this operation 
 of faith, by which the heart is progressively purified, sin 
 purged out, and the soul inwardly transfigured into the like- 
 ness of Christ, is of the Spirit of God. " For the letter killeth, 
 but the Spirit giveth life." And " the fruit of the Spirit is love, 
 joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, 
 temperance;" and in these graces, and such as these, consists 
 the image of the glory of the Lord. Have ye then, brethren, 
 yet received the Hoby Ghost ? or are ye yet sensual, or carnal, 
 or natural ? I ask not, Are ye living in known sin, more secret 
 and hidden, or more manifest and public 'I I ask not if you 
 wear before men a character of acknowledged probity, integrity, 
 and honour, as distinguished from a reputation fur double 
 dealing, unreliableness, profaneness, or sensuality ? I ask not 
 whether your name is on the communion roll of the church of 
 Christ ? or whether you are regular in discharging the outward 
 duties of piety ? But this I ask, Do you know aught of godli- 
 ness beyond the mere form of it ? Do you know the practical 
 and transforming power of the truth as it is in Jesus ? Have 
 you or have you not the mind and Spirit of Christ 1 If not, no 
 matter what you have, or what reputation among men and in 
 the visible church you enjoy, in the sight of God you are yet in 
 
♦ 
 174 THE TRANSFORMING EFFICACY OF FAITH. 
 
 your sins, — a stranger and an alien from the commonwealth of 
 his true Israel "and the household of God. For he is not a 
 Christian who is one outwardly, neither is that Christian 
 baptism which is outward in the putting away of bodily 
 pollution ; but he is a Christian who is one inwardly, and that 
 is Christian baptism which is the washing away of sin, by the 
 grace and blood of Christ in the heart and in the spirit, with 
 the answer of a good conscience toward God, through the 
 sprinkling of the blood of Christ, effectually dispensed and 
 administered by the Holy Ghost. Whatever be our condition, 
 experience, character, or prospects, let us unite in the prayer of 
 the apostle, when he prays " That the God of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit 
 of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; the eyes of 
 your understanding (in the original, " the eyes of your heart ") 
 being enlightened ; that ye may know what is the hope of his 
 calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in 
 the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to 
 usward who believe, according to the working of his might} 7 
 power which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from 
 the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly 
 places, far above all principality and power, and might, and 
 dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this 
 world, but in that which is to come ; and hath put all things 
 under his feet, and gave him, the head over all things, to the 
 church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in 
 all." Amen. 
 
THE BEAUTY, SHADOW, AND FRUIT OF CHRIST: 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE ROSE OF SHARON; THE LILY OF THE VALLEYS; THE 
 APPLE TREE AMONG THE TREES OF THE WOOD. 
 
 4i I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among 
 thorns, so is my love among the daughters. As the apple tree among the trees 
 of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow 
 with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste." — Uantls. ii. 1 — 3. 
 
 WRITINGS AND CHARACTER OF SOLOMON. 
 
 S( iLOMON wrote three books of Scripture, — the book of Proverbs, 
 the book of Ecclesiastes, and the book of the Song of Songs. 
 These thi'ee are so diverse from each other that many a battle 
 has been fought over their authenticity. But they are not 
 more diverse from each other than were the phases and aspects 
 of Solomon's own life and character. To him might the word 
 be applied that he was " the wisest and yet the weakest of men." 
 He surpassed his fellow-men in wisdom, and he fell beneath 
 multitudes in weakness and in sin. Yet through his whole life 
 there ran a thread, a vein of real godliness. At times that was 
 conspicuous and visible to the eyes of all men, — as when he 
 presided and prayed at the opening and consecration of the 
 temple. At other times, such were his infirmities and sins, so 
 far and so grievously did he depart from the good ways of the 
 Lord, that his character was not only liable to suspicion, but 
 his conduct, like that of David, his father, on one occasion, gave 
 great cause to the enemy to reproach and blaspheme the name 
 
176 THE BEAUTY, SHADOW, AND FRUIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 of the Lord, and to the friends of godliness to mourn sore and 
 weep. His sins are not to be palliated; yet is he not to be 
 sweepingly condemned, as if there was not the root of wisdom 
 in him. His splendid endowments and splendid graces were 
 set over against most flagrant sins. Yet grace ultimately 
 prevailed. The flesh lusted against the Spirit, but the Spirit 
 triumphed over the opposition of the flesh. 
 
 His character verged to opposite extremes. In one direction 
 it reached to the confines of angelic sanctity, rapture, and 
 elevation ; in another, it touched almost the borders of all evil. 
 Hence the apparently contradictory style and character of the 
 books which Solomon wrote. The book of the Song of Songs 
 is of so sublimely spiritual an order that, misinterpreting its 
 mystic contents, not a few have rejected its title to a place in 
 the canon of inspired Scripture. The book of Ecclesiastes, on 
 the other hand, wears an aspect so secular, and speaks so much 
 according to the wisdom of this world, that many interpreters, 
 taking particular statements in it apart from the grand scope 
 of the whole book, the grand conclusion of the whole matter, 
 have displaced it from the canon of Scripture, and have even 
 affirmed that it was written by a free thinker or sceptic. 
 Intermediate between these is the book of Proverbs, — a book 
 which may be regarded as a treasure store of wisdom — of 
 wisdom from above, pure, peaceable, gentle, and easy to be 
 entreated, full of mercy and good fruits. That book may be 
 taken as by the Spirit giving expression to what may be said 
 to have been the normal state' and character of Solomon. It 
 does not descend to the low level indicated by some parts of 
 Ecclesiastes, nor does it throughout — and only occasionally — 
 rise to the heights of spiritual contemplation and converse that 
 mark the Song of Songs. 
 
 These observations having been made respecting Solomon 
 and his three books, it may here, as our text occiu-s in the book 
 of the Songs, be added that three orders of mind are in peculiar 
 danger of erring in the study of this book : the merely ration- 
 alistic mind, the sensual mind, and the merely poetic and 
 sentimental mind are each and all peculiarly liable to miscon- 
 strue and misinterpret the statements and contents of this 
 
THE BEAUTY, SHADOW, AND FRUIT OF CHRIST. 177 
 
 book of sacred mysteries. That we may understand this 
 Scripture, as indeed all other Scripture, we need the unction of 
 the Holy One. " For the natural man receiveth not the things 
 of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, for they are 
 spiritually discerned." 
 
 The book consists of a collection of songs, — songs of love, 
 expressive of the love of Christ to the church, and of the love 
 of the church to Christ. It is throughout the utterance of 
 mutual and reciprocal admiration, desire, delight, and love. 
 
 In the passage before us Christ compares himself to the rose 
 of Sharon and the lily of the valleys. And compares his bride, 
 the church, to the lily among thorns. Then the church says of 
 Christ the Lord, "As the apple tree among the trees of the 
 woods, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under 
 his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my 
 taste." 
 
 THE BEAUTY OF CHRIST JESUS. 
 
 1. We have here an assertion or declaration of the beauty of 
 Christ. He is the Rose of Sharon. He is the Lily of the 
 valleys. Corresponding with this, there is on the part of the 
 church, his bride, the exercise towards him of admiration and 
 love. 
 
 Such is the manifold excellency of Christ that it is set forth 
 in Scripture by similitudes taken from natural objects of the 
 most varied and diversified kind. Heaven and earth are laid 
 under contribution to declare the glory of Immanuel. If we 
 look upward at the dawning of day, — he is the bright and 
 morning star ; if we look again when the orb of light has risen, 
 — he is the Sun of righteousness risen upon us with healing 
 in his wings. If we welcome the light after the darkness, — he 
 is the light of the world. If a cloud covers us from the direct 
 beams of the burning sun, — he is as the shadow of a cloud ; 
 and if, in the day of rain, we rejoice when we see the bow of 
 many colours with graceful span athwart the sky, — he is tin- 
 bow set in the cloud, or, there is a rainbow round about his 
 throne. If we admire the stable and majestic mountains and 
 
 M 
 
 * 
 
178 THE BEAUTY, SHADOW, AND FRUIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 castellated rocks, — he is the rock — the everlasting rock. If 
 we delight to trace the mighty river as it makes glad the 
 regions through which it flows, pouring floods of blessing along 
 its course and pathway, — he is the river of the water of life. If 
 we stand still to gaze on the goodly trees that grow beside the 
 waters, or that wave their mighty boughs on the mountain 
 side, — he is the tree of life — the plant of renown — the apple 
 tree anions^ the trees of the wood. If we walk alon^ the 
 prepared highway, — he is the way — the way of life. If we go 
 aside into garden, valley, or field, to see and cull flowers, and 
 inhale their sweet, their delicious fragrance, — he is the rose 
 of Sharon, the lily of the valleys. Beauty is his, and from him 
 a sweet perfume spreads itself around, so that all who see him 
 are regaled as with the smell of aloes, myrrh, and cassia. The 
 beauty of the rose, and the gracefulness in which the lily is 
 arrayed, are emblems of the exquisite beauty and gracefulness 
 of Christ. His name is as ointment poured forth ; therefore the 
 virgins love him. The rose and the lily have in every age and 
 country been admired and praised. They have been the 
 emblems of beauty, love, modesty, and gracefulness. Among 
 the roses of Palestine it would seem that the rose of Sharon was 
 noted for its beauty — " the excellency of Sharon ;" and among 
 lilies the lily of the valleys seems also to have had a glory all 
 its own. One has said of the rose, " If a king were set over 
 flowers, it would be the rose that should reign over them, being 
 the ornament of the earth, the splendour of plants, the eye of 
 flowers, the beauty of the field." And of the lilies Jesus 
 himself has said that " even Solomon in all his glory was not 
 arrayed like one of these." 
 
 The Arabians say of one of their most beautiful flowers, that 
 when Adam was sent out from the garden of Eden to till the 
 ground from whence he was taken, he took with him that 
 flower and planted it. It is, according to them, the only flower 
 of paradise that blooms in this sin-blighted world. The idea 
 itself is beautiful ; Adam did carry out of Eden a flower of 
 most excpiisite loveliness, — a rosebud given from above to be 
 planted in this world, so that it might blossom, and shed forth a 
 fragrance unknown in the earthly paradise. Yes, when Adam 
 
THE BEAUTY, SHADOW, AND FRUIT OF CHRIST. 179 
 
 went out from Eden, with downcast eye, and sad at heart 
 with bitter recollection of sin, and with trembling hesitating 
 step, he carried in his hand the flower of promise, and as his 
 weeping eye looked to that little flower even he might be 
 made glad. If, as we are told, a traveller in the pathless desert 
 was taught to remember God, and strengthened to go forward 
 in his lonely, dreary journey, by observing in one place the 
 merest rudiments of vegetation — sign to him of the presence 
 and power of ' God, — surely the sight of that precious rosebud 
 was fitted to beget faith and hope even in our fallen first 
 parents. That rosebud has been transplanted into many lands, 
 and the sight of it has cheered and gladdened the hearts of 
 many, to whom without that little flower the world were indeed 
 a waste howling wilderness. Jesus in the promise was that 
 rosebud. Jesus known in Judah's land was the Rose of 
 Sharon, the Lily of the valleys. Jesus now in glory is known 
 and seen and loved here on earth as " the Rose and the Lily." 
 " My beloved is white and ruddy. He is altogether lovely." 
 
 These emblems present before us the beauty of Christ Jesus, 
 more particularly in his lowliness, in his purity, and in his 
 accessibleness. Both the rose and the lily are what we may 
 call meek, lowly flowers, fit emblems of him who is meek and 
 lowly in heart. Meekness and gentleness find their home in 
 the heart of Jesus, and in his life find perfect expression. More 
 beauteous than the children of men, he excels them all in 
 meekness, gentleness, and lowliness of heart. Let pride and 
 frowardness be for ever humbled and restrained in the presence 
 and view of this Rose and this Lily, in the presence of the infinite 
 worth and infinite modesty of Jesus, the Son of God. His 
 voice is not heard on the street amidst the clamourino- voices of 
 men. It is the still small voice speaking to the heart, the 
 voice of the beloved. He is gentle towards his people. His 
 gentleness makes them great. " The bruised reed he will not 
 break, the smoking flax he will not quench." Oh, that gentle 
 look of his. What power is there in it to attract and win the 
 heart, and even to awe, subdue, and break it ? Ask those who 
 have known and felt that look. Ask Simon Peter, when Jesus 
 looked on him, when he went out to weep bitterly. Ask the 
 
180 THE BEAUTY, SHADOW, AND FRUIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 trembling sinner what is in the gentle look of Jesus, and he 
 will tell you that pity and love and beauty, grace and mercy, 
 are in that infinitely benignant look. In disposition, in words, 
 in acts, in sufferings, Jesus is the meek and lowly one. He 
 bore patiently the contradiction of sinners against himself. 
 "' The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me." He 
 rendered not evil for evil, railing for railing, but, contrariwise, 
 blessing. He did no sin, nor was guile found in his mouth. 
 When he was reviled, he reviled not again. When lie suffered 
 he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth 
 righteously. " He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he 
 opened not his mouth : he is brought as a lamb to the 
 slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he 
 openeth not his mouth." Behold this lovely Eose, this lowly 
 beauteous Lily. 
 
 The purity of Christ is here represented to us. Not more 
 lowly than pure, not more meek than spotless and holy is this 
 Saviour of men, this Bridegroom and Husband of the Church. 
 Of all natural things flowers — roses and lilies — appear the purest. 
 As they spread out their leaves and petals in the bright light 
 of day they are pure and bathed in purity. Whatever dust 
 may settle upon them enters not into them. Light and purity 
 are their elements; and beauty is their dress, their glory. This 
 Rose of Sharon, this Lily of the valleys is pure within, and is 
 robed in purity and beauty. Jesus is the Holy One of God. 
 We see sometimes flowers, as in our great smoking city, strug- 
 gling, as it were, to preserve their bea,uty, their purity. Their 
 beauty seems to languish, and they droop and pine away. 
 They have neither congenial soil nor congenial air. How 
 different is it with the flowers in free and open fields, or in 
 the delightful gardens far away from the dust and smoke of 
 the city. At other times, as in yonder Botanic garden, we find 
 exotics carefully covered in from the cold wintry air and 
 variable weather of this climate. In their proper home they 
 need no such culture, no such care. Behold now this Rose, 
 this Lily! Its proper home, its native place is in the light and 
 ineffable purity of heaven. Yet planted here under the care of 
 the Father, here in a world accursed, in the midst of sin and 
 
THE BEAUTY, SHADOW, AND FRUIT OF CHRIST. LSI 
 
 pollution, where the air is charged with impurity and poison, 
 in scorching; drought, in frost and rain, in light and dark- 
 ness, this Rose, this Lily retains all its purity, sweetness, 
 beauty. Among sinners, not of them, yea, rather separate from 
 sinners was Jesus, the Son of God. True, his visage was more 
 marred than any man, his form more than the sons of men; 
 true, to the eye of unbelief he is without comeliness, without 
 beauty, a root out of a dry ground ; but beneath that marred 
 visage and form, beneath that exterior of homely plainness, 
 beneath the dust wherewith he was covered, beneath all this, 
 and visible to the eye of faith, there is the pure and beautiful 
 Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the valleys, the undefiled Son of 
 God, in whom the Father taketh constant and ineffable 
 delight. 
 
 Again, the accessibleness of Christ is here represented to us. 
 Some flowers grow on boughs so lofty that they cannot be 
 reached by the hand ; high in air they bloom, untouched 
 by human hands, and shed their perfume far on the fields 
 of space. But the rose and the lily spread their beauties 
 and their fragrance beside us. They are near to eye and hand 
 and smell. They spring up at our feet. He that wishes may 
 crop them, and wear them. So is it with Christ Jesus the 
 Lord. He is the Son of God ; but as the Son of Man he has 
 taken bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. He has come 
 near to us. He is approachable. In some cases we find a 
 purity and holiness so severe and stern that we are awed and 
 frowned away from it. The sternly just man seems to walk 
 along a pathwa}" far removed, having, or supposed to have, in 
 his severe isolation, little, if any, sympathy with the infirmities 
 and sins of other men. Such a man commands respect, but he 
 does not beget love in his fellows. For love is attracted, rather 
 than forced or compelled. But Jesus is accessible ; he draws 
 men to him with the cords of love, with the bands of a man. 
 "Christ," says Matthew Henry, "is the Rose of Sharon, denoting 
 that the gospel salvation lies open to all. Whoever will may 
 come and gather the rosebuds of privileges and comforts that 
 grow in the covenant of grace. He is not a rose locked up in 
 a garden ; but all may come and receive benefit by him and 
 
182 THE BEAUTY, SHADOW, AND FRUIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 comfort in him." His majesty, as the Son of God, commands 
 the adoration and homage of angels before the throne ; but his 
 lowliness and gentleness attract to him the weary, trembling, 
 and guilty children of men. He receives sinners, welcomes 
 them, loves them, and invites them to lean upon his breast. 
 To old and young, rich and poor, Jew and Greek, Barbarian, 
 Scythian, bond and free, Jesus is accessible as the rose or lily 
 that blossoms beside us. Nay, he calls with entreating voice, 
 saying, "Look unto me, all ye ends of the earth, and be ye 
 saved." "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy 
 laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and 
 learn of me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall 
 find rest unto your souls." 
 
 But why does Christ say of himself, "I am the Bose of Sharon, 
 I am the Lily of the valleys?" Why, but to attract towards 
 himself the admiration and love of his church. The rose, and 
 the lily beautify the earth, and are designed to illustrate the 
 beauties of the Lord, while they give pleasure to the sense of the 
 beautiful in the mind of man. Man, intelligent and self-con- 
 scious, man only among dwellers on earth is capable of admir- 
 ing these and all other flowers. And what sight on earth more 
 lovely than the sight of fields, meadows, gardens, and hill-slopes, 
 plains and valleys, when in opening summer they throw out 
 the many and varied forms of beauty that had been veiled 
 through the night of winter. The sight tends to becalm the 
 troubled heart, to sweeten the embittered heart, and to shed a 
 delicious fragrance round the soul of the spectator. Yet fairer 
 than all this fair expanse of beauty is the beauty of Christ. 
 And he commends himself to our admiration and love. Let 
 the eye, then, be turned to him, the Bose of Sharon ; let us 
 delight in him, the lily of the valleys. Let us pray that his 
 Spirit may unveil and open his glories to our view, and may 
 open our eyes to • behold him in his beauty, that we may, 
 ravished with the sight, delight for ever in his love. Let us take 
 this Bose and this Lily, and wear it near our hearts, the token 
 that we belong to Christ, and that he is ours. " Put ye on the 
 Lord Christ." " For," as Matthew Henry says, " he calls him- 
 self the ' Bose of Sharon and the Lily of the valleys,' to teach 
 
THE BEAUTY, SHADOW, AND FRUIT OF CHRIST. 183 
 
 his people to adorn themselves with him, as shepherds and 
 shepherdesses, when they appeared gay, were decked with roses 
 and lilies, garlands, and chaplets of flowers." In vain does the 
 rose blossom, in vain does the lily put on its modest beauty, if 
 men admire not and delight not. In vain does Christ commend 
 himself, in vain do we strive to commend him, if you do not 
 look to him, love him, and appropriate him, delighting, rejoic- 
 ing in him with a joy unspeakable and full of glory. " Hearken, 
 therefore, daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; 
 forget also thine own people, and thy father's house ; so shall 
 the king greatly desire thy beauty : for he is thy Lord ; and 
 worship thou him." (Psalm xlv.) This must always be the 
 exhortation after setting forth any of the beauty of Christ. 
 Come then and say, " One thing have I desired, that I may 
 behold the beauty of the Lord." This will produce conformity, 
 likeness to his image, to his beauty; so that he will say of you, 
 as he says of his church, "As the lily among thorns, so is my 
 love among the daughters." This will be to your advantage ; 
 for then shall the word be fulfilled,—" The Lord thy God will 
 save thee; he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in 
 his love. He will joy over thee with singing." (Zeph. iii. 17.) 
 
 THE SHADOW OF CHRIST. 
 
 2. We have here the excellence of Christ set forth by a 
 similitude taken from the shadow of the apple tree ; and 
 corresponding with this there is the feeling of delightful 
 repose enjoyed by the believer, by the church under his 
 shadow. 
 
 Hitherto through the emblems of the rose and lily we have 
 been contemplating somewhat of the manifold beauty of Christ. 
 But now from another emblem we are led to meditate on other 
 aspects of the Lord in his relations to his people. The church, 
 his bride, says of him, " As the apple tree among the trees of 
 the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under 
 his shadow with great delight." Here, as in the former case, 
 some distinguishing excellence of Christ is exhibited to us. In 
 
184 THE BEAUTY, SHADOW, AND FRUIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 the former case it was his beauty; here and now it is the 
 shadow thrown from him, the protection, rest, and comfort, the 
 sense of safety which he imparts to his people. The rose and 
 lily serve to declare and manifest some aspects and features of 
 his glory. The apple tree also serves as a symbol of his 
 excellence. 
 
 A singular and marked place belongs to the apple tree 
 among the trees of the wood. A place altogether singular 
 belongs to Christ. Distinguished from the rose and lily by its 
 stateliness, the apple tree is distinguished from the trees of the 
 wood by its shadow and by its fruit. The apple tree here 
 described by its shadow and by its fruit, and used as an emblem 
 of Christ, is not the common apple tree of this country, but the 
 citron apple tree. This citron tree is remarkable for its 
 handsome appearance, for its ample shadow, for its beautiful 
 foliage, for its rich colour, for the fragrance diffused by it, and 
 for its delicious fruit. It is thus described by one writer : " It 
 bears fruit at all times ; some of the apples are falling, some are 
 forming in the fruit bud, and some are advancing to maturity 
 or ripeness." 
 
 THE MAJESTY OF JESUS. 
 
 The stateliness, as well as symmetrical appearance of the 
 citron or apple tree, is suggestive of the majesty of Jesus the 
 Son of God. His lofty majesty is blended with meekness, 
 gentleness, and every lovely and lowly grace. In his graceful- 
 ness the rose and lily are his emblems and letters of commenda- 
 tion, strewn thick, and scattered far and wide, around the 
 habitations and hamlets of men, if by any means Christ's beauty 
 may attract the eye and affect the heart. In his majesty, the 
 stateliness of the apple tree as here, or the loftiness of the 
 cedar, and the strength of the oak, are his emblems. For in 
 him beauty is not dissociated or separated from strength and 
 glory. And if we would receive right and spiritual impressions 
 of his wonderful character, and of his singular personality as 
 the Incarnate and Divine Saviour, as we must be filled with 
 admiration, love, and delight as we contemplate his lowliness, 
 
THE BEAUTY, SHADOW, AND FRUIT OF CHRIST. 185 
 
 purity, and accessibleness, so must we be rilled with holy awe 
 and reverence as we behold the glory of his majesty and power. 
 His beauty reposes on his everlasting strength, as the rose and 
 the lily, and the snowdrops and daisies spring out of, and 
 repose on, the earth that abideth ever. Beauty and comely 
 grace, disjoined from stateliness and strength, may be lovely to 
 the eye, but if they are beautiful they are weak, and their 
 weakness indicates imperfection. But Christ Jesus is alto- 
 gether lovely. And his grace and beauty are all the more 
 graceful and fair, because seen in contrast with his strength, 
 power, and greatness. This interblending and commingling 
 of seemingly opposite qualities and perfections is that which 
 renders Christ Jesus singular and alone among the historic 
 millions of mankind. It is this that gives emphasis to the 
 question, " To whom will ye liken me, and shall I be equal ? " 
 There are none among the mightiest or the fairest that can rival 
 him, or be likened to him. " Such an high priest became us," 
 said the apostle to the Hebrews, " who is holy, harmless, 
 undefiled, and separate from sinners, made higher than the 
 heavens." " Jesus wept," and onlookers wondered at his love 
 and tenderness and sympathy. Jesus said, " Lazarus, come 
 forth ;" and "he that was dead came forth " from the sepulchre 
 and state of death ; and "many of the Jews that had seen the 
 things Jesus did, believed on him." He that sat weaiy by the 
 well of Jacob, and asked for water to drink, said unto her of 
 whom he asked this favour, " If thou knewest the gift of God, 
 and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou 
 wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee 
 living water." He that agonized in Gethsemane, that suffered 
 himself to be bound and led into the judgment hall, and meekly 
 bore all indignity, being spat upon, maliciously ridiculed, 
 invested with the insignia of mock royalty, crowned with 
 thorns, scourged, and that died in weakness on the cross, 
 carried with him from that cross a trophy of his victorious 
 grace and power; and entering into the grave and death, 
 destroyed him that had the power of death, destroyed the 
 dominion of both death and the grave; rose again, and in 
 triumph leading captivity captive, ascended to the throne of 
 
186 THE BEAUTY, SHADOW, AND FRUIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 God, entering as the forerunner of his people into the holiest 
 of all, there to appear in the presence of God, the priest upon 
 his throne, our intercessor and advocate with the Father, able 
 to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. It 
 is because in him are united two distinct natures, — the human 
 and the divine, — in his one personality that he can be com- 
 pared with the lily and rose in gracefulness and beauty, and 
 that the apple tree, with its stateliness of form and its ample- 
 ness of shade and its abundance of fruit, is a fit emblem of his 
 grace, majesty, and glory. It is because he is divine that his 
 shadow, projected through time and eternity, is as a covering 
 of glory and protection and refreshment, beneath which all who 
 lie down find a sure and safe resting-place for their souls. It 
 is because he is both God and man, that he could say, " My flesh 
 is meat indeed, my blood is drink indeed. Verily, verily, I say 
 unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink 
 his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and 
 drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at 
 the last day. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, 
 dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent 
 me, and I live by the Father : so he that eateth me, even he 
 shall live by me. The bread that I will give is my flesh, 
 which I will give for the life of the world. If any man eat of 
 this bread, he shall live for ever." (John vi.) 
 
 Beneath the shadow of this tree, that is, beneath the shadow 
 of Christ the Bridegroom, the Bride here says, "I sat down 
 under his shadow with great delight." 
 
 This emblem is significant of the protection, shelter, or 
 covering which Christ offers to all who will betake themselves 
 to him ; and the language of the Bride is expressive of her 
 actual enjoyment of that protecting and covering shade — " I 
 delighted and sat down under his shadow." 
 
 THE PROTECTING AND COMFORTING GRACE OF CHRIST. 
 
 Christ is a protecting shadow against the heat and storm of 
 the wrath of God. Against sinners there is wrath. God is 
 
THE BEAUTY, SHADOW, AND FRUIT OF CHRIST. 187 
 
 angry with the wicked every day, and his wrath against the 
 impenitent is the wrath to come. Now there is anger, now 
 there is the holy displeasure of God against trangressors. But 
 he has provided and he now offers in Christ a shadow from his 
 hot displeasure, — from present wrath and wrath to come. For 
 on this apple tree, on Christ, came down the lightning of his 
 anger ; the storm of his wrath arose and beat violently against 
 him. These things were done in the green tree, done in Christ. 
 Let us therefore flee to Christ, and knowing that there is 
 wrath, let us hide ourselves beneath his shadow. " I trembled 
 in myself that I might be hid in the day of trouble." (See Job 
 xxx vi. 18.) Flee to this covert till the indignation be past, 
 then you shall be able to say, I will praise thee, O Lord, for 
 though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, 
 and thou comfortedst me. Christ throws out his shadow over 
 those who are labouring as in the fires, — labouring and heavy 
 laden with a sense of guilt and sin. To such there is no 
 tree amonp- all the trees of earth that can afford shelter and 
 repose but this apple tree, this plant of renown. Is there then 
 a single soul here oppressed, borne down, and Aveary with the 
 labour and burden of his sin ? Is there one who feels as if the 
 burning rays of justice were scorching his parched soul, — 
 consuming his very heart ? Do you feel as the psalmist when 
 he said, " My bones waxed old through my roaring all the day 
 long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me : my 
 moisture is turned into the drought of summer" (Psalm xxxii.) ; 
 or as when again he said, " I am in trouble, mine eye is con- 
 sumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly. For my life is 
 spent with grief, and my years with sighing : my strength 
 faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed. 
 . I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind : I am like a 
 broken vessel." (Psalm xxxi. 9, 12.) If this be your state or 
 your feeling, look, I beseech }^ou, to this goodly tree ; come 
 and sit down under its shadow, and you will find rest to your 
 weary soul. For the shade of this apple tree covers the sins of 
 those that come to lodge and abide under it, so that they 
 cannot be found. For he, Christ Jesus, is " a tabernacle for a 
 shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of 
 
188 THE BEAUTY, SHADOW, AND FRUIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain." (Isaiah 
 iv. 6.) 
 
 Christ throws out his shadow for the protection and comfort 
 of his people when they are pursued by their enemies. The 
 shadow which is safety to them, to his own people, is death to 
 their foes. Where this shadow falls there is a consecrated and 
 enclosed spot. Within that boundary no real evil can befall the 
 children of God. Satan there cannot vanquish them or wound 
 them unto death. The rage of persecutors there is stayed. 
 This shadow falling on a believer enables him to say, " Though 
 an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. 
 The Lord is on my side, I shall not be moved." Reposing there, 
 and abiding under the shadow of the Almighty, as in the 
 pavilion of the Lord, the believer finds a refuge, a shadow, 
 " when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the 
 wall." (Isaiah xxv. 4.) " Surely ho shall deliver thee from the 
 snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. He shall 
 cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou 
 trust : his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt 
 not be afraid for the terror by night ; nor for the arrow that 
 flieth by day. ... A thousand shall fall at thy side, and 
 ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh 
 thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the 
 reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord, 
 which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation ; there 
 shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy 
 dwelling. . . . Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder : 
 the young lion and dragon shalt thou trample under feet." 
 (Psalm xci.) 
 
 Christ throws his shadow over his people in their afflictions. 
 Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. Under the 
 strokes that fall upon him he is ready to faint. Even the 
 child of God is heard to say, " My soul is weary of my life : I 
 will leave my complaint upon myself: I will speak in the 
 bitterness of my soul." (Job x. i.) "All these things are 
 against me." (Gen. xlii.) Varied and unexpected are the 
 forms in which our afflicting trials come upon us. Sometimes 
 they proceed from the weakening of our strength in the midst 
 
THE BEAUTY, SHADOW, AND FRUIT OF CHRIST. 18!) 
 
 of our years ; sometimes from disappointed worldly prospects — 
 failure in business ; sometimes from the infirmities, sicknesses, 
 and distress of those dear to us as our own souls ; sometimes 
 from the burying of our early dead ; sometimes from the 
 perversity and ungodliness of those that live ; and sometimes 
 all these meet together, and with them is joined the heaviest 
 and sorest trial of being obliged to walk under the hidings of 
 the countenance of the Lord. In these and similar trials, 
 whither shall we betake ourselves for refuge, rest, and consola- 
 tion \ Whither shall we flee, as with the wings of a dove, but 
 to this plant of renown, this apple tree, there to lodge under its 
 benignant and blissful shade. " I looked on my right hand and 
 beheld, but there was no man that would know me : refuge 
 failed me : no man cared for my soul. I cried unto thee, 
 God : I said thou art my refuge, my portion in the land of the 
 living." In Christ the afflicted and tossed with tempest find 
 shelter, quietness, and peace. His shadow tempers the heat, so^ 
 that it does not smite them with a deadly wound : his shadow 
 sheds tranquillity over their otherwise tumultuous thoughts :. 
 his shadow changes the bitterness of their hearts — Marah — into 
 sweetness and pleasantness. Beneath that shadow they hear 
 the voice of his lovingkindness ; they are still, knowing that 
 he is the Lord, and that all things work together for good to 
 them that love God, and are the called according to his purpose,, 
 so that they can say, " Though my house be not so with God,, 
 yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in 
 all things and sure ; this is all my salvation and all my desire." 
 Christ throws his shadow of protection and comfort over his 
 people at the time of their death. Through fear of death many 
 are all their lifetime subject to bondage. They dread to walk 
 down that path to the grave. They dread to meet the king of 
 terrors. Even when they feel and confess that they would not 
 live alway, — when they even long and desire to depart and bo 
 with Christ at home, yet they dread the way that loads to 
 their Father's house. The shadow of Christ upon the dying 
 believer enlightens his darkness, dispels his fears, — causes him 
 to say, when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death 
 T will fear no evil ; for thou art with me, thy rod, and thy staff,. 
 
190 THE BEAUTY, SHADOW, AND FRUIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 comfort me. " If this is death," said a timid one, — one long 
 afraid to die, — " If this is death, it is pleasant to die." 
 
 ' ' Jesus can make a dying bed 
 
 Feel soft as downy pillows are ; 
 While on his breast I lay my head, 
 And breathe my soul out sweetly^thcre. " 
 
 " Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor wilt thou suffer thine 
 holy one to see corruption." Thy dead shall live. Together with 
 my dead body shall they arise. The shadow of Christ thrown 
 upon the place of graves quickens the dead to life. What is 
 sown beneath that shadow in corruption, shall be raised in 
 incorruption ; what is sown in dishonour, shall be raised in glory. 
 " Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, 
 Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is thy 
 sting ? Grave, where is thy victory 1 The sting of death 
 is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to 
 God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." (1 Cor. xv.) 
 
 In the text we have the believer's actual experience of the 
 benefit and delight of abiding sitting resting- under the shadow 
 of Christ. 
 
 It is the delight of knowing that the Lord is gracious and 
 will be angry no more. It is the delight of resting from guilty 
 fear, from harassing doubt, from the accusations of conscience 
 — the delight of resting, knowing that there is no condemnation 
 to those abiding under the shadow of Christ. It is the delight- 
 ful rest after weariness, and toil, and labour, and pain. It is 
 the delightful feeling of security of having a place of defence 
 in the munitions of rocks, of having comfort and consolation in 
 all adversity, — the delight of knowing that nothing, not even 
 death itself, shall separate us from the love of God which is in 
 Christ Jesus our Lord. Surely, blessed is the man who abides 
 under the shadow of the Almighty. " He will not," said the 
 psalmist, contemplating the blessedness of this man, " He will 
 not suffer thy foot to be moved ; he that keepeth thee will not 
 slumber. Behold he that keepeth Israel shall not slumber nor 
 sleep. . The Lord is thy keeper ; the Lord is thy shade upon thy 
 
THE BEAUTY, SHADOW, AND FRUIT OF CHRIST. 191 
 
 right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon 
 by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil ; he shall 
 preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and 
 thy coming in, from this time forth, and even for ever more." 
 " Happy the people in such a case, yea, blessed the people 
 whose God is the Lord." A recompense shall be given them, 
 and a full reward of the Lord under whose wings they have 
 come to trust. " I sat down under his shadow with oreat 
 delight, and his fruit was sweet unto my taste." 
 
 THE FRUIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 We have here another aspect of the glorious excellency 
 of Christ. He is not only as the rose and lily in beauty 
 pleasant to the eye. He is not only as the citron spreading a 
 graceful broad and heavy shadow ; but as the citron, within 
 the foliage of which there grows the golden and delicious fruit, — 
 from the boughs of which the ripe fruit falls into the hands of 
 him who sits under the shadow of the goodly tree. " His fruit 
 was sweet unto my taste." Having treated of the beauty of 
 Christ, of the shadow of Christ, we now treat of the fruit of 
 Christ, and corresponding with this of the joyful refreshment, 
 vigour, and strength, received by the believer through par- 
 taking of this pleasant fruit. 
 
 The tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of 
 Eden seemed to Eve good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and 
 a tree to be desired to make one wise ; and she took of the fruit 
 thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and 
 he did eat. But the beauty became as rottenness, the wisdom 
 became folly, the food became deadly poison. The banquet 
 was like that of which it is said, " Stolen waters are sweet, 
 and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not 
 that the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depths 
 of hell." The eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of 
 good and evil " brought death into the world and all our woe." 
 By eating of the fruit of another tree, — even this apple tree, 
 this plant of renown, this tree of life, — we live and arc nourished 
 
192 THE BEAUTY, SHADOW, AND FRUIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 into immortal vigour. And as in the former case desire and 
 participation followed the looking at the tempting beauty of 
 the tree and fruit ; so now beholding the beauty, the grace, 
 meekness, mercy, and love of Christ, we desire to eat of his 
 pleasant fruits, — and eating we live, — for his flesh is meat 
 indeed, and his blood is drink indeed. He that eateth of this 
 fruit shall never hunger, but shall live for ever. 
 
 What then is this fruit ? It is, in one word, himself in all 
 his grace, and in all the benefits which he bestows upon his 
 people. Through him we get the true knowledge of the good, 
 and the true knowledge of the evil. We learn to love the good, 
 and to refuse the evil. Through him we get the wisdom which 
 enlightens the eyes, which makes us not ashamed, which makes 
 us wise unto salvation. For he gives us the true and saving 
 knowledge of God. All our delight, under the shadow of 
 Christ, proceeds from the revelation which is made to us of the 
 being, character, and perfections, purposes, and ways of God. 
 This is life eternal, to know the only true God, and Jesus 
 Christ whom he hath sent. This is the first fruit of which the 
 believer eats ; and eats, having it given to him by Christ. It 
 is only under the shadow of the Mediator, and taught by his 
 Spirit, that the knowledge of God can be pleasant to us. 
 
 Christ gives to us to partake of the grace of God. Not only 
 does he reveal that there is grace in God, but he brings that 
 grace into the very heart of the sinner. The good-will of God, 
 in its various aspects and features, as mercy, compassion, pity, 
 faithfulness, is not only preached to us — it is actually bestowed 
 upon us, so that we feast upon it, we eat of this pleasant fruit. 
 " Out of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." 
 
 " We surely shall be satisfied 
 With thy abundant grace, 
 And with the goodness of thy house, 
 Even of thy holy place." 
 
 " How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God ! Therefore the 
 children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. 
 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy 
 house ; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy 
 
THE BEAUTY, SHADOW, AND FRUIT OF CHRIST. 193 
 
 pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life, and in thy 
 light shall we see light." 
 
 The very justice of God becomes pleasant fruit to the taste of 
 the believer. Mercy is no mercy apart from justice ; and to 
 deny the justice of God, is to deny God : a God all mercy is a 
 God unjust — that is, no God. But the glory of Christ is, that 
 in him God is just, even when he justiheth the ungodly. 
 Justice, associated with wisdom and grace, is the ground of our 
 acceptance with God. The justice of God is in Christ become 
 what is termed the righteousness of God unto the salvation of 
 every one that believeth. Here, truly it may be said, " Out of 
 the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth 
 sweetness." On the Lamb of God, on the slain lion of the tribe 
 of Judah, we feast, — we feast upon the justice, the righteous- 
 ness of God. This justice has become the matter of perpetual 
 feasting, of perpetual joy to the believer, and he goes con- 
 tinually in the strength of it. 
 
 " Justice, to set us in his steps, 
 Shall go before his face." 
 
 " Blessed," therefore, " are they that hunger and thirst after 
 righteousness : for they shall be filled." 
 
 Christ, in permitting us to have fellowship most intimate 
 and endearing with himself through the Spirit, gives us most 
 pleasant fruit. All the promises are spread out on the table 
 before us, and he says, "Eat, O friends. Drink, beloved." 
 For here " the Lord hath made a feast of fat things, a feast of 
 wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the 
 lees well refined." (Isaiah xxv.) Come, therefore, is the gospel 
 invitation; come, eat of this bread, and drink of this wine; for 
 how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty ! 
 
 I shall not enter into further details. This tree bears all kinds 
 of pleasant fruit, and all the fruit is free to every one who will 
 repose, — who will sit down under the shadow of this tree. 
 •' In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," was 
 the word respecting a tree in the garden of Eden. But with 
 respect to this tree and the fruit of it, the word is, " Eat, and your 
 soul shall live." " In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt 
 
 N * 
 
19-i THE BEAUTY, SHADOW, AND FRUIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 surely live." Blessed are they that do his commandments that 
 they 1 may have a right to the tree of life. And Avhat are these 
 his commandments ? They are summed up in this word, 
 " This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he 
 hath sent." 
 
 Believers have at different periods, and in the varied circum- 
 stances of their spiritual life, varied experiences under the 
 shadow of Christ, and in beholding his beauty and partaking 
 of his fruit. Sometimes they have a feeling of bitterness in 
 tasting of his fruit ; but the bitterness is only temporary, it 
 works abiding pleasantness. When under rebukes and chas- 
 tisements the feeling often is anything but joyful and sweet, it 
 is grievous ; but afterwards there is the peaceable fruit of 
 righteousness. Medicinal and corrective fruit grows on this 
 apple tree, and this to the taste is not sweet, but it produces 
 wholesome effects. This is generally followed by the com- 
 forting apples — when we are enabled to trace in our afflictions 
 the will, the hand, the love of Jesus, who affiicteth not willingly 
 any of the children of men ; when we behold him weeping 
 with us beside the grave* where our dead lies buried out of 
 sight. " In all their afflictions he was afflicted, and the angel 
 of his presence saved them." Sometimes, as when first after a 
 long and dark and dreary night of law work, of convictions, 
 hopelessness, and despair, the soul first gets sight of Jesus and 
 is under his shadow and tastes his love, the joy is such that, 
 as John Bunyan says, a man could call on the very crows on 
 the field to rejoice with him. At other times, in waiting on 
 the Lord under the shadow of his ordinances, the soul is sur- 
 prised with joy, feels it good to be there, and can say in the 
 retrospect, " This was none other than the house of God, the 
 ffate of heaven." " I sat down under his shadow with <_>ieat 
 delight, and his fruit was sweet unto my taste." There are 
 times when this fruit is so sweet, felt, and known, that heaven 
 seems to have come down to earth, — times when we almost 
 forget that we are in the body. These are blessed seasons ; 
 they are, however, through our unbelief and waywardness, 
 through our carnality of heart, transient and rare. Neverthe- 
 less they are foretastes of that joy and delight unspeakable 
 
THE BEAUTY, SHADOW, AND FRUIT OF CHRIST. 195 
 
 which shall be theirs who, after passing through this wilder- 
 ness, shall at length sit beneath the shadow, and eat of the 
 fruit of the tree of life in the paradise of God, where the Lamb 
 shall lead them to living fountains of waters, and where God 
 shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. " When Christ and 
 ye shall meet about the utmost march and borders of time, and 
 the entry into eternity, ye shall see heaven in his face at the 
 first look, and salvation and glory sitting in his countenance 
 and betwixt his eyes. Faint not : the miles to heaven are but 
 few and short ; he is making a green bed (as the word speaketh, 
 Cant, i.) of love for himself and you. There are many heads 
 lying on Christ's bosom, but there is room for yours among the 
 rest ; and therefore go on, and let hope go before you. Sin not 
 in your trials, and the victory is yours. Pray, wrestle, and 
 believe, and ye shall overcome and prevail with God, as Jacob 
 did. No windle straws, no bits of straw, no temptations, which 
 are of no longer life than an hour, will then be able to with- 
 stand you, when once ye have prevailed with God." (Ruther- 
 ford, Let. 88.) " Your strength e,ven now is to sit still." " I sat 
 down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was 
 sweet unto my taste." Amen. 
 
THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY 
 
 OR, 
 
 .A. .S IE R jVT. O 1ST FOR THE INTIE'W YIE^R. 
 
 Preached on the First Sabbath of January, 1866* 
 
 "Ye have not passed this way heretofore." — Josh. iii. 4. 
 
 These words occur in the instructions given by the officers of 
 Israel to the people, when they had arrived at the banks of the 
 river Jordan, and before they had passed over to take posses- 
 sion of the promised land — the land of Canaan. The instruc- 
 tions given to the people were intended to prepare them for 
 the passage across the river, that they might know the way 
 by which they must go, for they had not passed this way here- 
 tofore. They were to be led in a way along which neither 
 they nor their fathers had trodden, — a new, an untrodden way, 
 which the Lord was about to open and cast up for them. 
 
 The Israelites had, at the time referred to in the context, 
 entered on a period of marked and grave transition in their 
 eventful history. For forty years they had wandered in the 
 
 * Prefatory Note. — This sermon was preached on the first Sabbath of the 
 Annus Mirabilis, 1S66. In the light of events that have since transpired, that 
 year, — as the commencement of a new development of the providence of God, 
 signalized to the world by the Seven Days' Campaign of Prussia, followed as it 
 has been by the events of 1870, and of this year, 1S71 — events unparalleled in 
 history for rapidity and grandeur of achievement, — will always mark the begin- 
 ning of a grand epoch in the history of the church of God, and of the world. 
 
 Old Kilpatrick, December, 1871. G. M. 
 
THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 197 
 
 wilderness, till all above twenty years of age who had come 
 out of Egypt had died, except Joshua and Caleb. Moses also 
 had died, after being permitted from the top of Pisgah to sur- 
 vey the good land of promise. But to him the Lord said, " I 
 have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not 
 go over thither." 
 
 Under the leadership of Joshua, the successor of Moses, the 
 people were now about to take possession of the long promised 
 and long waited-for inheritance. And that the people might 
 know that the Lord who dried up the waters of the Red Sea 
 for their fathers was still with them and among them, — that 
 they might have confidence in Joshua their leader and 
 appointed captain, — and that they might be filled with holy 
 courage to fight bravely the enemies that should come against 
 them, the Lord was about to give them a signal illustration of 
 his grace and power. " To-morrow," said Joshua, " the Lord 
 will do wonders among you." These words were designed to 
 excite the minds of the people to expect a display of the glory 
 of the Lord. And the words of the text were intended to 
 quicken them to attend to the instructions given them with 
 respect to their making due preparation for beholding the 
 wonderful works of God ; and also with respect to the manner 
 and order of their conduct when the Lord should do wonders 
 among them. " When ye see the ark of the covenant of the 
 Lord your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye 
 shall remove from your place, and go after it. Yet there shall 
 be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by 
 measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way 
 by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way hereto- 
 fore." 
 
 In addressing you on this occasion from the words before us, 
 I shall, depending on the promised grace of the Spirit, consider, 
 with special reference to our present position, as entering on 
 the days of another and new year, the statement, "Ye have 
 not passed this way heretofore." And I shall indicate what 
 are some of the duties or lessons that may be learned from this 
 statement, or that are in keeping with our circumstances, when 
 it is said of us, " Ye have not passed this way heretofore." 
 
198 THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 
 
 THE STATEMENT ITSELF. 
 
 The statement in the text admits of being applied to a great 
 variety of stages in the journey of human life. To early child- 
 hood, to youthful manhood, to the emigrant leaving his native 
 land for a foreign country, and to each one as he draws near 
 to death, — to men in thousands of steps or stages in life, the 
 words may be addressed, " Ye have not passed this way here- 
 tofore." But it is to our present circumstances, as we are 
 entering on the days of another year, that I intend to apply 
 them on this occasion. We enter on the year not knoAving 
 what the year may bring forth. The year that has passed 
 away was marked by signal events in the history of the 
 world and of the churches of Christ. And it has left its im- 
 pression on individuals and on families. Throughout the 
 year we all enjoyed many mercies ; some of us more than 
 others may have been subjected to the correcting and chasten- 
 ing hand of the Lord. Because of all these things let us 
 devoutly acknowledge the goodness and faithfulness of the 
 Lord. For surely goodness and mercy followed us in the days 
 of the past year. 
 
 The year has gone, with its record of mercies and chastise- 
 ments; it has also gone, with its record of sin, of iniquity, and 
 transgression. That record is now before the Lord : our secret 
 sin is set in the light of his countenance. Let us ponder this 
 fact, let us remember and confess our sin. For " he that cover- 
 eth his sin, shall not prosper : but he that confesseth and 
 forsaketh his sin, shall obtain mercy." For, " if we confess our 
 sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin, and to cleanse us 
 from all unrighteousness?" When we call up the days of the 
 past year, have we not great cause for acknowledging our 
 iniquity? Let us take a view of that year in relation, not to 
 our actual transgressions, — and these have been many and 
 aggravated, — but in relation to our sins of omission, in relation 
 to duties neglected or left undone, or to duties perfunctorily 
 discharged. When we reflect on the little place that was given 
 to God in our life, to his glory in our aim, and to his love in 
 
THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 199 
 
 our motives, and the extent to which we were actuated,_even 
 when engaged in directly religious exercises and duties, by 
 selfish and worldly motives, — when we think of the much 
 precious time wasted, of many golden opportunities for prayer, 
 for reading the Word, for serving the Lord, unimproved, lost, — 
 when we consider that our characters and example, instead of 
 diffusing a sweet savour of Christ, fitted to excite others to 
 seek and praise the Lord, have frequently, on the other hand, 
 given occasion of doubt to the godly, and have told, with hurt- 
 ful impression, on those with whom we have more or less 
 associated, whether in the family circle, or in the church, or 
 amidst the business and occupations of life in the world, — we 
 have cause to abase ourselves before the throne of grace, and 
 to say, " Lord, pardon our iniquity, for it is great. For there 
 is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared." 
 
 A retrospect of the former year is an exercise befitting our 
 circumstances, as entering on the clays of this new year. For 
 the suitable remembrance of mercies and sins in the clays that 
 have passed away is fitted to exercise a salutary influence on 
 our minds and hearts as we go forward to meet the duties, 
 temptations, trials, or conflicts of the future. 
 
 The statement, " Ye have not passed this way heretofore," 
 applied to the year on which we are entering, is one reminding 
 us of our ignorance. We see not and know not what is in the 
 way along which we must go. We may speculate and con- 
 jecture about what is to befall us, or to befall the church and 
 the world in the course of this year; but the sagacity of the 
 wisest statesman cannot forecast the events of the near future. 
 Neither can the knowledge of the most learned inform us what 
 shall be on the morrow. " For we know not what a day may 
 bring forth." Our power of vision is indeed limited — we know 
 but in part. This is a thought that may humble our intellec- 
 tual pride, and may prevent us from being puffed up by the 
 little knowledge to which we have attained. 
 
 But the statement is not inconsistent with the fact that we 
 are not in absolute ignorance of what will probably be the 
 nature and character of some of the events of the future. 
 
 We know that as the present leaves us, the future will find 
 
200 THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 
 
 us. We enter into this year with the character, principles, and 
 habits that marked our life in the past. No chasm divides the 
 new year from the old, the future from the past. Days and 
 years follow each other with unbroken continuity. At no part 
 of its course does- the great river of time form itself as into a 
 great inland lake. Without stagnation, pause, or cessation, 
 onward, onward flows the mighty river, bearing upon its 
 bosom vessels of all sizes and of all kinds, — empires, kingdoms, 
 nations, churches, tribes, families, individuals, bound for the 
 shores of the eternal world. 
 
 No chasm divides our past from our present, or our present 
 from our future. Life is a continuous thing. Character 
 becomes a continuous thing. The tendency of every thought, 
 word, or act, is to give the stamp of permanency, — the stamp 
 as of eternity to the character of man. Did we, without being- 
 converted unto God, leave the days of the past year ? Then 
 we have entered on the new year without faith in Christ, 
 without love to God, without the grace of the Spirit. Old 
 things have not passed away from us with the old year, and all 
 things have not, Avith the new year, become new to us. We, 
 in that case, are still in our sins, and while wishing for ourselves 
 and others a happy new year, we have brought with us from the 
 past that which embittered our happiness in the past, that 
 which must render it impossible for us to have true happiness 
 in this year. For there is no peace, no happiness, and there 
 can be none to those who love not the Lord Jesus Christ. The 
 curse that pressed upon them in the past, and the conscience 
 that stung them with remorse in the past, will not be separated 
 from them now. That curse will lay its burden on them, and 
 that evil conscience will bite them as a serpent this year as in 
 former years. This, brethren, is a solemn and an awful thought, 
 because it indicates to us, that not only do we enter on the 
 new year with the character and principles of the past year, 
 and that if we enter on the year without the love of God in our 
 hearts, we cannot be happy; but it also indicates to us that as 
 we pass from the days of time, so shall we enter on the ever 
 revolving and endless ages of eternity. And if we die without 
 God, without Christ, without hope, we cannot have happiness 
 
THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 201 
 
 in eternity; but must, under the burden of unpardoned 
 guilt, under the pressure of the curse, sink down into the 
 depths of hell, where there* is weeping and wailing and gnash- 
 ing of teeth, where their worm dieth not, and where the fire is 
 not quenched. These shall go away into everlasting punish- 
 ment. No moral chasm divides eternity from time, — divides 
 the character of the dying man from the character of the same 
 entering the portals of eternity. Death divides between the 
 soul and the body. But death introduces the soul to God, the 
 judge of all; but what soul? The soul that here had mani- 
 fested itself in hatred to God ; the soul corrupted by sin and 
 laden with guilt. Death does not destroy either personal or 
 moral identity. As the tree falls, so shall it lie. The man 
 that dies under guilt must abide for ever under the wrath of 
 God. For that which is crooked cannot then be made straight ; 
 that which is wanting cannot then be numbered. Let us give 
 due consideration to this thought, arid it may, through the 
 grace of God, by destroying a most prevalent and fatal delusion, 
 — the delusion by which multitudes deceive and ruin their 
 souls, that somehow or other to-morrow, or at least the time, 
 of death, will work a grand transformation of their state and 
 character, — awaken us now in the precious passing present to 
 give heed to the things of our peace, that they may not at 
 length be hid from our eyes. 
 
 The statement, " Ye have not passed this way heretofore," is 
 not inconsistent with our knowledge thus far of the future that 
 it will, to a great extent, take its colour, complexion, and 
 character from the present. This implies that it is extremely 
 probable that, as we have lived and acted in the past, we shall 
 live and act in the time to come. This is rendered all but 
 certain by the fact that there is no moral chasm between pic- 
 sent, past, or future. But not only so. There is implied more 
 than this ; there is implied that the future will, like the past, 
 be a development of that which went before it. The connec- 
 tion between years as measurements of men's lives is not that 
 merely of antecedence and succession. It is more. It is a con- 
 nection as between cause and consequence or effect, as between 
 seed and fruit. Time is given, not merely to be a term 
 
202 THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 
 
 of probation to men. It is a probationary period. But be- 
 cause of this, it is for the development and making manifest 
 of what is in men. Hence the proverbial saying, " Time will 
 show." Yes, the time to come will show what is in us, what 
 were the principles and motives that determined our conduct 
 and gave complexion to our characters in the past. How often 
 has time in this way disappointed the hopes and belied the 
 expectations of men ! How often has it developed a so-called 
 generosity into wastefulness and prodigality ! How often has 
 it developed a so-called prudence into that covetousness which 
 is idolatry ! How often has it developed a so-called self-respect 
 into haughtiness and pride ! How often has it developed the 
 zeal of the professed convert into hatefulness, bitterness, and 
 all uncharitableness ! How often has it torn the mask from 
 the face of the hypocrite and vindicated the real character of 
 the humble man of God ! Under the presiding and directing 
 hand of God in daily Providence over men, the thoughts of 
 many hearts are being constantly revealed. We may therefore 
 expect that in the days to come our characters shall receive 
 development. Yes, "time will show." It will show that there is 
 a difference between the man that serveth God and the man 
 that serveth him not ; and between the spiritual Christian, who 
 knows and feels the power of godliness, and the man who has 
 only the form, show, or outward appearance of godliness, while 
 he is ignorant of or denies the power of the truth. " Time 
 will show." Time, that develops the germ in the acorn into 
 the stately oak, — time, that developeth tares from their seeds, 
 will gradually evolve what are the seeds from which our words 
 and actions grow. The tree of character will be known by its 
 fruits. 
 
 But from the moral connection between past, present, and 
 future, as related to our lives and characters, not only will the 
 future be a developing time, but it will also be, because of this, 
 a time of reaping, a sort of harvest time. It is not in eternity 
 alone that men reap as they have sowed. Time is at once a 
 sowing time and a harvest time. If in the past year we have 
 been sowing to the flesh, we may most certainly in the year to 
 come expect to reap corruption. And if in the past we have 
 
THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 203 
 
 been sowing to the Spirit, we may expect to reap in this year 
 some of the fruits of the Spirit in love, joy, and peace. We are 
 all to-day sowing and reaping ; spring time, or seed time and 
 harvest time, are synchronous in our lives. And we may 
 expect that the year on which we have entered will partake in 
 this respect of the character of former times. Individuals, 
 families, churches, nations, will in the future years reap as they 
 have sowed in the past. Let none be deceived. God is not 
 mocked. What men sow they shall reap. Sterling scriptural 
 principles sown in the past will yield a harvest of peace and 
 strength and comfort in the time to come. Compromises be- 
 tween principle and carnal policy, between the spirit and the 
 flesh, in the past, will yield a harvest of discord and anarchy 
 and trouble in the future. Families that have formed their 
 order and style after the maxims and fashions of the world, 
 will in the future reap the harvest according to what they have 
 sowed. Gaiety, godlessness, worldliness, will yield their pro- 
 jDer harvest of vanity and misery. Churches, that in the past 
 have trimmed between Christ and the world, may expect in 
 the future to reap disorder, confusion^and divisions, — divisions, 
 as those of old, causing great searchings of heart. Nations 
 that have not regulated their policy, legislation, diplomacy, 
 and government by the maxims and laws of eternal righteous- 
 ness, but according to the maxims of a temporary and time- 
 serving expediency, — nations that have given their force, their 
 wealth, their laws to countenance and support that grand 
 anachronism, that grand enemy of God and man, full of all 
 subtilty and all mischief, that child of the devil and enemy of 
 all righteousness, perverting the ways of the Lord, the man of 
 sin and son of perdition, the apostate church of Rome — may 
 expect to be partakers and sharers in the plagues that must 
 come upon that guilty and doomed system, and upon those who 
 have given their strength unto it. 
 
 What in this respect may be evolved by this year on which we 
 have entered I do not presume to forecast. It has been marked 
 out by not a few, who have given serious study to the prophecies 
 in Scripture, as like to be a notable year in the annals of time. 
 It may be so ; but of the times and the seasons I cannot speak 
 
204 THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 
 
 with the certainty that marks the writings and statements 
 of some, or rather of very many, of many interpreters. That 
 we are approaching an era of grand and almost unprecedented 
 change and upheaval of all that is not founded on the Rock of 
 eternal truth and righteousness, — the time spoken of in the 
 words, "Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also the 
 heavens," signifying " the removing of those things that are 
 shaken, as of things that are made, that the things that cannot 
 be shaken may remain," — cannot, I think, be questioned or dis- 
 puted by any man who devoutly contemplates the phenomena 
 of the age, and who at the same time compares them with the 
 sure words of prophecy in inspired Scripture. But without 
 pronouncing in terms dogmatical on these things, knowing 
 that " It is not for us to know the times or the seasons which 
 the Father hath put in his own power," I may be allowed to 
 say that it cannot be well with this nation, or with any other, 
 that does not have supreme regard and respect in its legislative 
 and national action to the principles and maxims of that 
 righteousness which exalteth a nation. Nations, as well as 
 churches, families, and individuals, are bound by the law of 
 God. And nations, like individuals, must reap what they have 
 sowed. 
 
 I may remark that the words, " Ye have not passed this way 
 heretofore," are not inconsistent with our certain knowledge 
 that the days of the new year will introduce us to duties, trials, 
 temptations, and, it may be, sufferings similar to those, if indeed 
 not greater than those of the past year. 
 
 We have not gone this way before. It is to us an 
 untrodden path. But in this way we may expect to be 
 called to duties similar to those to which we were called 
 in the former stages of our pilgrimage. As in the past, 
 so in the future, we shall be called to serve and glorify the 
 Lord — to love the Lord with all our heart, strength, soul, and 
 mind, and our neighbours as ourselves. We shall be called to 
 work the work of God, to believe in Jesus, and to walk as he 
 also walked. We shall be called to be diligent in business, 
 fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Duties such as these are 
 not changed, are not affected by the changes of time, by the 
 
THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 205 
 
 revolutions of years, except, indeed, that the knowledge that 
 our relation to time is fast passing away should stimulate us 
 to "be up and doing while it is day, seeing that the night 
 cometh, in which no man can work." The voice of the word of 
 God, as well as the voice of the age in which we live, shouts 
 in our ears, " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all 
 thy might." The new year will bring duties similar to those 
 of the old. It will also bring its own proper duties. " Up, 
 therefore, and be doing," is the word for us; "Up and be 
 doing," and the Lord be with thee." Men speak of making 
 their " lives sublime ;" the poets of the world sing and tell us 
 that " we may make our lives sublime." Be it so ; but how 
 may this be ? They tell us not ; they cannot tell us. The 
 Word of God alone instructs us in this. For it teaches us 
 that true sublimity in character and life is resemblance to the 
 Son of God. But he said, " It is my meat and drink to do the 
 will of him that sent me." Conformity to this is moral sublimity. 
 Arise, therefore, brother, and be doing, for this matter belono 1 - 
 eth unto thee. Life in all its details, in all its ordinary 
 routine, — life planned and laid out with a view to the glory 
 of God, and in conformity to the example of Christ, — life 
 schemed and lived according to the sacred rule of the law of 
 the Lord, — life thus lived under a sense of duty will be sublime. 
 And the new year will bring with it manifold occasions on 
 which we may exhibit that we are governed and determined 
 in our conduct, not by regard to the opinions, favour, or censure 
 of our fellows, but by regard and respect to the will and 
 approval of God, who trieth the hearts. " Study," therefore, 
 1113^ brother, " to show thyself approved unto God, a workman 
 that needeth not to be ashamed." « 
 
 The new year will bring with it new trials, new afflictions. 
 We need no prophet's vision, and no prophet's tongue to make 
 this statement and affirmation. Although we have not passed 
 this way heretofore, yet we know this way will lead us into 
 new trials, into new afflictions. The traveller meets with new 
 and previously unknown incidents in his journey. Each suc- 
 cessive stao - e conducts him to something different, and vet in 
 some respects similar to that which he had previously seen in 
 
206 THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 
 
 the course of his journey. Even so may we, as we march along 
 the pathway of duty prescribed for us by the Lord, expect to 
 meet something new and different from those formerly ob- 
 served. And among these, a prominent and conspicuous place 
 must be given to the afflictions and trials to which the Zion- 
 ward travellers are subjected. 
 
 In what forms we may be visited with these we cannot tell ; 
 but that we shall be visited with them in form, manner, decree, 
 and time, dictated by infinite wisdom, we may feel well as- 
 sured. The past is in this respect index of the future. And 
 besides this we know the Word that says, "Whom the Lord 
 loveth he chasteneth." The past year brought with it its 
 own freight of trials and chastisements. The coming year will 
 also have its own cargo. But as in the past, so in the future, 
 the child of God may appropriate for his comfort the words, 
 "All things work tog-ether for good to them that love God, 
 
 o o o 
 
 to them that are the called, according to his purpose." Nothing 
 " shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in 
 Christ Jesus our Lord." 
 
 We know that the new year will bring with it new tempta- 
 tions. I distinguish here between temptations and afflictions 
 or trials adapted to chasten us and to bring us near to God. 
 Afflictions may no doubt be the occasion of temptations; but, as 
 proceeding from a gracious and loving Father in heaven, they 
 are not designed to be temptations to evil. They are rather 
 designed to be helps in the process of our sanctification, that 
 we may not be condemned with the world, but may be 
 made partakers of his holiness. As in the past, so in the 
 coming year, our own lusts will tempt us, Satan will tempt 
 us, the world will tempt us. The passions that Avar in our 
 members have not become extinct, have not passed away 
 with the old year. They go with us into the new year. And' 
 as in the past, so in the future, they will entice us into sin. 
 Satan has not ceased with the days of the former year. He 
 enters with us into the days of this year. And into this 
 year he carries all his subtilty, all his malice, all his guile. We 
 know, therefore, that new temptations, new seducements to sin, 
 will be laid in our path. We have not indeed passed this way 
 
THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 207 
 
 before, but our enemy knows this also, and will not fail to meet 
 us by the way. And considering the times in which we live, 
 we may expect that he will put forth more than ordinary 
 efforts, and practise more than ordinary craft, if, by any means, 
 he may deceive us and destroy us. For surely the times are 
 come when he will deceive, if it be possible, even the very 
 elect. 
 
 The world has lost none of its many powers, — none of its 
 many arts of deception. We may, therefore, expect that the 
 world will attempt to ensnare us in the future, just as it 
 attempted to allure us in the past. But we must listen to the 
 word that admonishes us, " Be not conformed to this world, 
 but be ye transformed b}^ the renewing of your minds." " For 
 the fashion of this world passeth away; and if any man love 
 the world, the love of the Father is not in him." The friend- 
 ship of the world is enmity against God. " Let him, therefore, 
 that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." "For this is 
 the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." Marvel 
 not if the world hate you, and if hating it tempt to seduce you. 
 But greater is he who is with the believers in Christ than he 
 that is in the world. 
 
 The new year may bring with it new forms of trial, unex- 
 pected sufferings and bereavements. It may bear to us the 
 summons, " The master is come, and calleth for thee." We 
 cannot tell. But this we know, that preparedness to meet that 
 summons, — preparedness to meet the Lord, is a most blessed 
 state of soul. The years that are past have left with many of 
 us sad and solemn memorials of those with whom we lived, 
 whom we loved, and whose familiar faces we must no more see 
 on earth. The coining year will, no doubt, when it has passed 
 away, leave impressions of a similar kind ; and children will be 
 asking as of old, " Our fathers, where are they ?" And con- 
 gregations will be asking concerning the prophets, " Do they 
 live for ever ?" Yes, beloved friends, the days of the new year 
 will witness changes amongst us ; they will record that some of 
 us have suffered and died ; the} 3 - will behold our funeral, and 
 look upon and read our epitaph. But be it so. All things are 
 ours — life and death ; and " blessed are the dead that die in 
 
208 THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 
 
 the Lord." The Lord will care for them, and will not forsake 
 those left in the vale of tears. For he is the God of his people, 
 and of their seed after them. " Ye are the blessed of the Lord, 
 and your offspring with you." " Abraham, my friend," — 
 Abraham, the friend of God, was remembered by the Lord ; 
 and if David showed kindness to Mephibosheth for the sake of 
 Jonathan, David's friend, the Lord will show kindness to your 
 children for Jesus' sake, — to your widows and orphans, for the 
 sake of his friend, the believer in Jesus. 
 
 But a fourth idea is involved in the words, " Ye have not 
 passed this way heretofore," it is, that we may expect to 
 witness or behold in this new way, in this untrodden path, 
 new displays of the grace and power of the Lord, the leader 
 and commander of his people. Whether we may be called to 
 new duties, new trials, new temptations, or new sufferings, we 
 may be assured that the Lord, who presides over all these, 
 will not fail to give to his own people new manifestations of his 
 grace and power. Therefore, may,, we say, "The Lord hath 
 been mindful of us : he will bless us." The Israelites were led 
 to the banks of the Jordan at a time when the Jordan over- 
 flowed its banks. But it was there and then that they were 
 to have a signal display of the grace and power of the Lord. 
 So the children of God may be led into circumstances, duties, 
 trials, temptations, sufferings, most fitted to shake their trust, 
 or prove their faith in God ; but they must not therefore 
 conclude that the Lord is not with them, or that he is 
 against them. They must not say, with Jacob, "all these 
 things are against me." Nay, rather must they hear the 
 voice of Jesus saying, "Only believe;" and, "Said I not unto 
 thee that if thou shouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory 
 of God." The way is unknown to us, but it is known to the 
 Lord. And we are sure that he " leadeth his people by the 
 right way, that they ma}^ go to the city of habitation, — to that 
 city whose founder and builder is God." " This is the way, saitli 
 the Lord, walk ye in it." And along with this word he gives 
 another, " My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is 
 made perfect in weakness." We may therefore expect that the 
 Lord will open up the way and lead us out, that he will lead 
 
THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 209 
 
 us like the blind by a way that we know not, that he will 
 make darkness light before us, and crooked places straight, and 
 that he will not forsake us. For his name is " The Leader," as 
 well as "The Commander." Having indicated some of the 
 truths and facts involved in the statement, "Ye have not 
 passed this way heretofore," I must now treat of the lessons 
 and duties that may be learned from this statement considered 
 in relation to our present circumstances. 
 
 LESSONS AND DUTIES. 
 A GUIDE NEEDED. 
 
 The first lesson taught us by the statement, "Ye have 
 not passed this way heretofore," is that we need a guide to 
 lead us in this new and untrodden way. Travellers in 
 strange countries are careful not only to furnish themselves 
 with a chart or map of the country through which they may 
 be travelling, but to employ a guide who knows the country. 
 At every station at which travellers are wont to halt in Switzer- 
 land, guides are waiting to conduct strangers along the wa}*" by 
 which they wish to go. From motives of economy or self-con- 
 fidence, some travellers have been known to dispense with the 
 help of a guide, and have lost their way, missed their step, 
 and perished. In the journey of life, and at a stage such as 
 this at which we have arrived to-day, we are reminded that we 
 need one to go before us and lead us in the way. We have in 
 the Word of the Lord, in the holy Scriptures, what may be 
 called a map or chart, exhibiting the general outlines and pro- 
 minent features of the country through which we are to pass, 
 and indicating the direction of the path and way along 
 which we are to walk. But we need more than this, we need 
 a living guide. And that living guide is not a fallible man, 
 or company of men, but is the Lord himself. From fellow- 
 travellers we may learn much; but it is true of them as of 
 ourselves, that they have not passed this way heretofore. The 
 Lord alone by his Spirit must be our guide in this new way. 
 
210 THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 
 
 And is it not to each of us a cheering thought that the Lord 
 offers himself to be our leader in the way ? His knowledge of 
 the way is perfect ; and no one that committed himself to his 
 guidance ever perished by the way. Many pilgrims have been 
 by him conducted to the heavenly Jerusalem ; and of those 
 given to him, and giving themselves to him, to be led by him, 
 not one has failed to appear before the Lord in Zion. For all 
 his resources of knowledge, wisdom, grace, righteousness, and 
 power, all are pledged to conduct in safety to the bliss of 
 heaven those who by faith follow him. 
 
 OBEDIENCE NECESSARY. 
 
 The second lesson taught us by what is involved in this 
 statement is, that we must be obedient to the instructions of 
 the Heavenly Guide. In order to this we must be distrustful 
 of our own knowledge and wisdom. Many a traveller, amidst 
 Alpine passes and heights, has fallen and perished, the victim of 
 self-confidence. And many, who for a season seemed to be 
 obedient unto Christ, have departed from him and perished, 
 because they preferred their own wisdom to his. But it is not 
 in man that walketh to direct his own steps. In order to a 
 faithful adherence to the guidance of the Lord, we must be- 
 ware of false and deceitful guides. Of these there are many 
 nowadays, as there were many in former times. They meet 
 pilgrims at every stage in the journey, and they offer their 
 services with fluent oily tongues, with the enticing words of 
 man's wisdom. They profess to conduct the traveller by a 
 shorter and easier path than that along which the Lord leads 
 his people. But let us not be deceived ; there is but one road 
 to glory, up the hill Difficulty. There are many ways and by- 
 paths that end in shame and everlasting contempt. 
 
 If we are among the obedient followers of Christ, we shall 
 watch for the intimations of his will. With what eager eyes 
 must the wise men from the east have watched the movements 
 of that singular star, till they observed it stand still over the 
 place where the child Jesus was. From a far country they 
 
THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 211 
 
 walked in a way by which they had not passed before, guided 
 by the light and movements of that wonderful star, till, with 
 hearts exceeding joyful, they came into the house and saw the 
 young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and wor- 
 shipped him, and opening their treasures, presented him gifts — 
 gold and frankincense and myrrh. 
 
 As we now journey towards the heavenly house where 
 Jesus is enthroned amidst eternal glories, it becomes us to 
 turn eager and inquiring eyes towards the sure Word of the 
 Lord. That Word shineth in this dark world that it may be 
 to us what the star was to the eastern sages, a light to guide 
 our steps to the heavenly palace, the house where Jesus now 
 reigns. Yes, if we would follow Christ in the way, his Word 
 must be " a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path." 
 
 As obedient followers of Christ we must be not only earnest 
 and humble students of his Word, but thoughtful observers of 
 his works in providence and in grace. Many who profess to be 
 the followers of the Lord seem to be culpably neglectful, not 
 only of his written and inspired Word, but also of his working 
 in daily providence. Indeed, not a few seem to disjoin or 
 separate the workings of God from the revealed words of God. 
 Hence they are frequently in doubt or in error about present 
 duty. They study not the signs of the times, and they are not 
 like the men of Issachar, wise, knowing the times, and what 
 Israel ought to do. Others, in love with a lofty or sublimated 
 and artificial spiritualism, profess to rise above the times, and 
 to be occupied with interests grander and more important by far 
 than those of the present or passing hours. These profess to 
 be so engaged in contemplating eternity that they cannot and 
 do not devote attention to the events, interests, or questions of 
 the present. I would earnestly remind such persons, if any of 
 them are here, that the due regard to eternity is not incom- 
 patible with the due observation of the works of the Lord in the 
 present time and age. Nay, more, I would remind them of 
 what the Lord, speaking by his prophet Hosea, says, " Who is 
 wise, and he shall understand these things ? prudent, and he 
 shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the 
 just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein." 
 
212 THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 
 
 And to these words may be added those of the prophet Daniel, 
 "None of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall 
 understand." God in his providence speaks to men, as well as 
 in his Word, with this qualification, that we are to bring the 
 voice in providence to the test of the Word, and not the Word 
 to the test of the sign in providence. The voice of the 
 one sign is not opposed to the voice of the other ; but 
 the voice of the providential sign must be interpreted 
 by the sure Word. Only let us ever remember that he 
 who administers the affairs of daily providence is the same 
 glorious Lord who has spoken to us by his Word. The diligent 
 and devout study of the works of God in providence is so far 
 from being incompatible with the reverential study of the Word 
 of God, that, on the contrary, it is required of all those who 
 would be approved before God ; for " the works of the Lord are 
 great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His 
 work is honourable and glorious." Let us, then, observe both 
 the doings and the words of the Lord, that we may know to 
 follow our Leader and Guide in the way to Zion. 
 
 PREPARATION CALLED FOR. 
 
 The third lesson taught us by the text, or by what is 
 involved in it, is, that we should prepare ourselves for follow- 
 ing our heavenly Guide and Leader in the way heretofore 
 untrodden by us. " Sanctify yourselves," said Joshua to the 
 people, " for to-morrow the Lord will do wonders among you." 
 This involves separation from all that is unholy, or that is 
 inconsistent with the undivided and entire consecration of our- 
 selves in heart, purpose, and life to the Lord. And it requires 
 that we dedicate ourselves, soul, body, and spirit, unto the Lord. 
 When the Lord said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel, and 
 dwell there : and make there an altar unto God, that appeared 
 unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy 
 brother " — we are told that, in obedience to that word, " Jacob 
 said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put 
 away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and 
 change your garments : and let us arise, and go up to Bethel." 
 
THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 213 
 
 Even so when we are now called to follow the Loi'd, and to 
 sanctify ourselves, we are called to " lay aside every weight, and 
 the sin that doth most easily beset us, that we may run with 
 patience the race set before us." 
 
 Extraordinary times and duties or prospects call for more 
 than ordinary preparation. We need for these preventing or 
 prevenient grace — that is, we need grace that shall enable us 
 to set the Lord before us. For then, whatever may befall, we 
 shall be able to say, " Wo shall not be moved, for the Lord is 
 with us, and is at our right hand." And when we take a re- 
 trospect, having passed through the trial, or having borne the 
 chastisement and affliction, having, in the strength of God, 
 done the work or duty laid to our hand, we shall each, with 
 the Psalmist, say, " Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might 
 fall : but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and 
 sung, and is become my salvation." But it was having strong 
 and firm faith and confidence in God, in his grace, mercy, and 
 power, in his sure word of promise, revealing that mercy and 
 grace and power, that the Psalmist went out to meet those that 
 were against him. " I called," says he, " upon the Lord in my 
 distress : the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place. 
 The Lord is on my side ; I will not fear : what can man do 
 unto me ? The Lord taketh my part with them that help me : 
 therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. . . . 
 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord." 
 (Psalm cxviii.) "At my first answer," writes Paul, in his 
 second letter to Timothy, his beloved and genuine son in the faith, 
 " no man stood by me, but all men forsook me." Nor did he 
 count this desertion a light trial or a trivial offence before God 
 on the part of these, from all of whom other and better things 
 might reasonably have been expected. For although it brought 
 him into nearer fellowship with Christ in his sufferings, remind- 
 ing him how the Master himself must have felt when his disciples 
 forsook him and fled, — although it shut him up entirely to 
 dependence on the word, "My grace is sufficient for thee, for 
 my strength is made perfect in weakness ;" and the word, " Be 
 not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace ; for I am with 
 thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee," it illustrated 
 
214 THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 
 
 the unreliableness of his friends, and the weakness of their 
 faith ; hence he says, " I pray God that it may not be laid to 
 their charge." But though thus forsaken by his friends, he 
 was not forsaken by the Lord. And the constancy of the love 
 and care of the Lord is all the more signal and conspicuous 
 when contrasted with the fickleness and inconstancy of the 
 love of his friends. " Notwithstanding the Lord stood with 
 me, and strengthened me ; that by me the preaching might be 
 fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear : and I was 
 delivered out of the mouth of the lion." And to Paul, this 
 gracious interposition of the Lord, at a critical time, was an 
 argument for the confirmation of his faith, and for the enlivening 
 and strengthening of his hope in God for the time and trials to 
 come. " And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, 
 and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom." Therefore, 
 " none of these things move me ;" and illustrating his own 
 words in another place, " In every thing give thanks : be 
 without carefulness ; casting all your care upon him, for he 
 careth for you," he gives praise unto the Lord, saying, " To 
 him be glory for ever and ever. Amen." (2 Tim. iv.) 
 
 A becoming preparation for whatever is before us in the new 
 year, or in any day of it, is the unreserved dedication of our souls 
 and life — spirit, soul, and body — -unto the Lord. Oh to feel the 
 joy and the sense of freedom so paradoxical to the world, 
 connected with the realizing in fact, and in actual experience, 
 sealed and confirmed by the Holy Spirit, " Ye are not your 
 own : ye are bought with a price, and that not silver and gold, or 
 any such corruptible thing, but with the precious blood of Christ ; 
 therefore glorify God in your bodies and in your spirits, which 
 are his." The slave of Christ is the only free man, and never 
 does he enjoy more consciously the sense of his freedom, than 
 when he most vividly realizes that he belongs to Christ, and is not 
 his own. With heart enlarged he then runs in the way of the 
 divine commandments, going from strength to strength, perfect- 
 ing holiness in the fear of God. No duty is then irksome or 
 arduous ; no trial is then too great ; no burden too heavy ; 
 no cross too bitter, for the joy of the Lord is then his strength. 
 And " our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh 
 
THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 215 
 
 for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 
 while we look not at the tilings which are seen, but at the 
 things which are not seen : for the things which are seen are 
 temporal ; but the things which are not seen are eternal." 
 (2 Cor. iv.) " Most gladly therefore will I glory in my infir- 
 mities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For when 
 I am weak, then am I strong." (2 Cor. xii.) 
 
 Where there is the unreserved consecration of the soul to 
 God in the exercise of a living and confiding faith in Christ 
 Jesus, — a faith giving all over to Christ, and receiving Christ 
 for all, and in all, and to be all, — an undivided Christ, Prophet, 
 Priest, King, for enlightenment and quickening, for righteous- 
 ness and sanctification, for strength and for consolation, for 
 wisdom and for redemption, for time and its duties, and tempta- 
 tions, and sufferings, and for eternity, with its revelation of the 
 blessedness of the righteous, its hallowed and everlasting 
 rest in the full enjoyment of God, — there will be, as the 
 index of all this, a prayerful and humble spirit, ever waiting 
 upon God, ever depending on his grace, ever solicitous above 
 all to have his presence and fellowship in the way that 
 we go, in the duties we perform, in the temptations we 
 encounter, and in the afflictions and trials we are called 
 to endure. Where there is this prayerful and dependent 
 spirit, that commits the way of a man unto the Lord, 
 and that trusts also in him, the feelings and workings of 
 the heart will find frequent expression in such words as those 
 of Moses, the man of God and servant of the Lord, "Now, there- 
 fore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me 
 now thy way that I may know thee, that I may find grace in 
 thy sight ;" and as certainly as to Moses was the word of the 
 Lord given, so certainly to every praying and trustful believer 
 in Christ will the same word of promise be sealed and made 
 sure, " My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee 
 rest." Nor will the earnest and dependent child of God be a 
 stranger to the words that were spoken by Moses in response 
 to the gracious assurance of the Lord's presence with him, 
 given in the answer to his prayer, "If thy presence go not ivith 
 us, carry us not up hence." 
 
216 THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 
 
 Light and truth, goodness and mercy, grace and salvation, 
 are prepared for those that trust in the Lord, they are laid up 
 in store for them. Let us then draw largely and abundantly 
 out of the fulness that is in Christ, for he giveth liberally and 
 upbraideth not. "I am the Lord thy God that redeemed thee. 
 Open wide thy mouth and I will fill it." Let our faith en- 
 large itself into correspondency with the promises of grace, 
 then shall doubt, darkness, fears, and misgivings vanish away. 
 
 ' ' Ye feeble saints, fresh courage take, 
 The clouds ye so much dread 
 Are big with mercies, and shall break 
 In blessings on your head." 
 
 SPECIAL PREPARATION FOR DEATH. 
 
 If at all times it is seemly and becoming, it is both our 
 interest and duty to prepare our hearts, to seek grace that we 
 may be prepared to meet what is before us in the way, it is 
 very specially our interest and duty, and exceedingly great 
 are our encouragements to do this in the prospect of death, or as 
 we enter into the valley of the shadow of death, or are about to 
 touch the brink of the waters of Jordan, and to go over to the 
 other side. At this solemn time our eye should be fixed on the 
 Ark of the covenant. We should look to the Great High 
 Priest who is the captain of our salvation. The eye looking 
 to him will affect the heart, and faith will prevail, even amidst 
 the swellings of Jordan, although our passage through the 
 river should be at the time when its waters overflow their 
 banks ; for thus saith the Lord, " Fear not, for I have redeemed 
 thee, Israel, I have called thee by thy name ; thou art mine. 
 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee ; and 
 through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee." (Is. xliii. 1, 2.) 
 Faithful is he who hath said it. He also will do it till all the 
 hosts of the Israel of God, all the faithful in Christ Jesus, shall 
 have clean passed over Jordan, including the young, tender, and 
 weak, the timid and the doubting, and those ready to halt, who 
 with the help of crutches have walked thus far, as well as the 
 young, the strong, the manly, and the bold and great of heart, 
 
THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 217 
 
 with the aged and infirm, bent down under the weight of 
 years, and, like the barley grain, fully ripe, bowing low their 
 head because of their ripeness and fruitfulness, — the infant of 
 days, and the aged pilgrim leaning on his staff, saying, with 
 Jacob, " I have waited for thy salvation, Lord ;" or with 
 Simeon, " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace 
 according to thy Word : for mine eyes have seen thy sal- 
 vation." 
 
 With the message, " Set thy house in order, for thou must 
 die;" or, "The Master is come and calleth for thee;" "Prepare to 
 meet thy God," there will be sent to the believer the grace 
 needed for walking in this way, not trodden by him heretofore. 
 The Lord will be his guide even unto death. " If this is death," 
 said one that long had been in bondage through fear of death, 
 "If this is death, it is pleasant to die." Not unlike her experience 
 was that of another gentle, meek, and loving sister, both in the 
 tiesh and in the Lord, who, for some time before the approach 
 of death, was in much darkness and fear and doubt, but unto 
 whose heart the faithful and compassionate Redeemer, the 
 Brother born for adversity, shortly before the time when, in 
 the bloom of youth, in a far distant land, she was by him 
 called to leave to his care and keeping the surviving infant 
 of twins, to which she had given birth, — drew near, and, 
 speaking to her heart, sealed to her the assurance of his love 
 and grace, and gave her such light that, instead of allowing the 
 verses sung beside her, as she lay on her death-bed, to be con- 
 cluded at the usual place, she said, in feeble but triumphant 
 accents, " Sing on, for now I can sing with you what follows." 
 And what follows? May the Lord by his grace enable you 
 and me to sing here and now these words, for this is what 
 follows : — 
 
 "And now, even at this present time, 
 
 Mine head shall lifted be 
 Above all those that are my foes, 
 
 And round encompass me. 
 
 "Therefore unto his tabernacle 
 I'll sacrifices bring 
 Of joyfulness ; I'll sing, yea, I 
 To Cod will praises sing." 
 
218 THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 
 
 It is not without reason that the Christian may invite the 
 sceptic and unbeliever to come and see how a believer in Christ 
 can die, or is enabled by grace to die. The record of Christian 
 triumphs on the death-bed, and not merely at the stake of what 
 is commonly called martyrdom, could it be written, would be 
 one of the most signal demonstrations of the truth of Chris- 
 tianity ever given to the world. In ordinary pastoral work it 
 is our privilege to witness not a few of these, while it is also 
 our sad lot to witness the collapse of worldly hope, and the 
 fearfulness and horror that' sometimes fill the minds of the 
 dying, Avho, when it is too late, discover that, as they have 
 lived without God, they must die without hope. In such cases 
 what can we do ? We can weep and pray, and whisper a word 
 about Jesus and his love, Jesus and his grace, Jesus and his 
 blood and righteousness, — about Jesus, the life and the lio-ht of 
 men. But " Give me your hand, mother ; it is getting dark, 
 very dark," have I heard the dying young man say as he was 
 leaving earth and time, mother and kindred, with life in the 
 present, for the immediate future of an eternity, from which no 
 light streamed in upon his dark and benighted soul. " There 
 
 lies another hypocrite buried in A 1 kifkyard, will be said 
 
 by them," meaning his surviving fellow-sceptics, was among 
 the words of a man of considerable intelligence, reading, and 
 thoughtfulness, who had for years been a confirmed sceptic and 
 secularist, but who in his last illness, in the midst of his days, 
 when his strength was weakened in the way, and the hand of 
 God Avas upon him, professed to me, in the presence of witnesses, 
 that he died believing that Jesus was the Christ, and hoping for 
 mercy through his blood and righteousness ; and who, by my 
 advice, left it as an injunction and charge — his last will and 
 testament — that his only little son should be " trained in the 
 nurture and admonition of the Lord;" and not bound down by 
 the peculiarities of the denomination to which his grandfather 
 belonged. " There lies another hypocrite," but " they will come 
 to the trial by and by," added the converted sceptic, on his 
 death-bed. Yes, death is fitted to test our principles. And 
 the testimony of the dying is, that to die as becomes a man — 
 and so to acquit ourselves in that last conflict and adventure as 
 
THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 219 
 
 to vindicate our sense of the grandeur of the transition from 
 evanescent time to abiding eternity — we must die as Christians. 
 But, to die as Christians we must live as Christians, who live 
 by the faith of the Son of God, who loved them, and gave 
 himself for them. It is sheerest folly, as it is most sinful and 
 hazardous, to delay preparing for death and judgment till we be 
 laid on a bed of sickness. "Always ready," should be the 
 maxim of our life, if we would die in peace, and dying, be for 
 ever with the Lord. He, and he only, who can say, " For me 
 to live is Christ," may warrantably add, " and to die is gain." 
 '•' I am keeping my eye on the ark of the covenant, and on the 
 great High Priest, as I am going down to the passage of the 
 Jordan," said a devout Christian man to me when I visited him 
 a short time before he died. " Don't hide that from me," said 
 a simple-hearted young Christian woman to the friend in whose 
 house she was a-dying, and who was carrying in her hand, and 
 endeavouring to conceal, the prepared winding sheet and grave 
 clothes ; " Don't hide that from me ; I am soon to be clothed 
 with a different and far more beautiful dress, even with the 
 fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness of the 
 saints." Is not this a hope to be envied by thousands who 
 profess themselves Christians, but to whose apprehensions 
 death is still armed with its sting, or regarded as the king of 
 terrors % It is a hope which neither the apathetic, the luke- 
 warm, the formalist, or the hypocrite can have, cherish, or 
 entertain. "I see the pearly gates opening for me, mother, and 
 Jesus waiting to welcome me home," said a little child, 
 not more than three years old, as she took farewell of her 
 mother whom she was soon to meet at home. For that 
 mother having given birth to twins, the sorrowing father 
 presented the dear little ones for baptism among us, in 
 this place of worship, with their white dresses and little caps 
 trimmed and traced with fringes and bands of black ribbons. 
 Their mother had joined her other little one, and gone in b}' 
 the " pearly gates," into the Father's house and home. 
 
 Habitual preparation for this last part of the untrodden way 
 will not be in vain. There may be no ecstac}', no transport of 
 joy, no singular elevation, as if expressing contempt of death ; 
 
220 THE UNTRODDEN AND UNKNOWN WAY. 
 
 but if, with genuine humility and holy resignation to the will 
 of God, there be unshaken and firm confidence, with good hope, 
 in Christ, the mind and heart will be kept in peace by the God 
 of peace, and calmly will the man fall asleep in Jesus. He dies, 
 a sinner saved, through grace forgiven : — 
 
 " Redeemed from earth to reign in heaven, 
 His labours of unwearied love, 
 By him forgot, are crown'd above — 
 Crown'd, through the mercy of his Lord, 
 With a free, full, immense reward." 
 
 Blessed are all those who thus die in the Lord. But the Lord 
 may be pleased to give even more grace. At the advanced age 
 of nearly eighty-eight years, fifty-two of which were spent as 
 an itinerant preacher, while sixty -five in all were spent in the 
 labours of the ministry, John Wesley, shortly before his death, 
 made an effort to speak; but finding that the friends pre- 
 sent could not understand him, he paused a little, and then 
 with all his remaining strength cried out, " The best of all is, 
 God is with us! " Lifting up his withered, worn-out, and dying 
 arm, in token of victory, and raising his now feeble and falter- 
 ing voice in a holy triumph not to be expressed, he again said, 
 " The best of all is, God is with us!" 
 
 Fear not, weak, trembling, timid, and discpiieted disciple. 
 Not only is the way marked by the footsteps of the flock of 
 Christ, but it is imprinted with his own footmarks. He walked 
 in the way unknown to you, and as yet by you untrodden. 
 He opened for you the way. He is himself to you even in the 
 Jordan the way to the Father. "Follow me" is his voice; 
 " Fear not, only believe," and, believing, sing — 
 
 " Yea, though I walk in death's dark vale 
 Yet will I fear none ill : 
 For thou art with me ; and thy rod 
 And staff me comfort still. 
 
 " Goodness and mercy all my life 
 Shall surely follow me ; 
 And in God's house for evermore 
 My dwelling-place shall be." 
 
 Amen. Be it so, Lord Jesus ! 
 
STRONG RODS BROKEN AND WITHERED 
 
 A. SERMON 
 
 THE DEATH OF HIS EOYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE 
 
 ALBERT, THE BELOVED CONSORT OF HER 
 
 MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA. 
 
 Preached on Sabbath, the 22nd of December, 1861* 
 
 "Her strong rods were broken and withered." — Ezek. xix. 12. 
 
 In the context, as in many other places in Scripture, Israel is- 
 compared to a vine. " Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, 
 
 * Prefatory Note. — This sermon, like most of the others, is given verbatim 
 as it was written at the time of the universal sorrow caused by the death 
 of His Royal Highness the Prince Albert. Loyalty becomes all those who 
 profess true godliness. " Honour to whom honour is due. Love the brother- 
 hood. Fear God. Honour the King." And in the case of all right-hearted 
 British subjects, of whatever degree they be, their loyalty is not only given 
 willingly to Her Majesty as the supreme earthly sovereign of the realm and 
 empire, but it is given as blended with a feeling of almost sacred veneration 
 and esteem for the character and virtues of the wife, the mother, the widow, 
 the woman, as well as the queen. May God from his glorious throne abun- 
 dantly bless her and all the royal house, and hear the prayers offered in behalf 
 of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, that, restored to health, he may 
 long live in the fear of God, in whose hands is the breath of princes and kings, 
 as well as of subjects and people. By righteousness and the fear of God may 
 the throne be established, and may C4od bless this people with prosperity and 
 
 peace ! 
 
 G. M. 
 
 Old Kilpatrick, December, 1871. 
 
222 STRONG RODS BROKEN AND WITHERED. 
 
 planted by the waters : she was fruitful and full of branches by 
 reason of many waters. And she had strong rods for the 
 sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted 
 among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height 
 with the multitude of her branches." This figurative language 
 gives a most graphic and vivid representation of the progres- 
 sive advancement of Israel to that prosperous and powerful 
 state which excited the admiration and the envy of surround- 
 ing nations. From small and inconsiderable beginnings, from 
 a condition feeble and helpless as that of an infant in its blood 
 cast out into the open field, Israel, under the care and blessing 
 of God, became a nation great, populous, and strong. The 
 boughs of this vine were like the goodly cedars ; the branches 
 like royal sceptres, the symbols of eminence, authority, and 
 dominion, were exalted in height and seen from afar. The 
 hills were covered with their shadow. This vine became 
 strong as the oaks of Bashan, and lofty as the cedars of 
 Lebanon ; so that it yielded strong rods for the sceptres of 
 those that bare rule. Her judges and kings, her prophets and 
 priests were renowned through all lands by reason of their 
 integrity and their power, their faithfulness and their sanctity; 
 for they were a holy nation, a peculiar people. Happy were 
 they as a people; happy, because Jehovah was their God. 
 From him all their prosperity proceeded. " From me is thy 
 fruit found." 
 
 In contrast with all this the text before us presents to our 
 view a scene of ruin and desolation. The goodly vine is 
 plucked up in fury, cast to the ground, and the east wind has 
 dried up her fruit ; her strong rods are broken and withered, 
 consumed by the fire. The vine itself is planted in the 
 wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground. Fire out of a rod of 
 her own branches hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no 
 strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. In all this we have vividly 
 described the fall and overthrow of Israel's prosperity. " This," 
 says the prophet, "is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamenta- 
 tion." Contemplating Israel's deep and protracted adversity 
 as here delineated, and as realized and actual, through a long 
 series of ages, with another prophet, we may raise the lament, 
 
STRONG RODS BROKEN AND WITHERED. 223 
 
 " Howl, fir tree ; for the cedar is fallen ; because the mighty 
 are spoiled : howl, ye oaks of Bashan ; for the forest of the 
 vintage is come down. There is a voice of the howling of 
 the shepherds ; for their glory is spoiled : a voice of the roaring 
 of young lions ; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled." (Zech. xi. 
 2, 3.) Nor will any Christian and devout man, while wailing 
 over fallen Israel, refuse to offer up the prayer, " Return, we 
 beseech thee, O God of hosts : look down from heaven, and 
 behold, and visit this vine ; and the vineyard which thy right 
 hand hath planted, and the branch thou madcst strong for 
 thyself. Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause thy face to 
 shine; and we shall be saved." (Ps. lxxx. 14, 15, 19.) 
 
 But without dwelling any longer on the direct bearing and 
 relations of the passage before us, the following remarks will 
 prepare us for applying the words of the text to the solemn 
 event in our history, which has covered this land with gloom, 
 robed the* throne in sackcloth, made our august and beloved 
 Queen a widow, left her children — princes and princesses — 
 fatherless, changed the palace into a house of mourning, and 
 filled all hearts with deepest sorrow, with profound and loyal 
 sympathy for that sovereign lad} T , Victoria, who reigns en- 
 throned in the affections of the loyal millions of her subjects. 
 
 A national and a church state is signified by the emblem 
 here used of a vine. By the growth and stature, strength 
 and fruitfulness of that vine, we are taught that prosperity in 
 civil and in religious affairs, in church and in state, is from 
 God ; and that to him must be ascribed the praise and the 
 gloiy. By the strong rods of the vine — sceptres for them 
 that rule — is signified men of wisdom, prudence, and skill, — men 
 of judgment and ability, fitted for official place and station, 
 qualified of God for his work given them to do whether in the 
 church or in the state. These are God's gifts to the nation 
 and to the church. When these strong rods, or rods of 
 strength, are, as in the text, said to be broken and withered, 
 we are to understand that the removal from among a 
 people of men wise and weighty in counsel, skilful and 
 prudent in action, virtuous in character, godly in principle, 
 and of large and wide-spreading influence, is a sign that 
 
224 STRONG RODS BROKEN AND WITHERED. 
 
 the hand of God is lifted up against that people, and is 
 cause of lamentation. " For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of 
 hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the 
 stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay 
 of water, the mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, 
 and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, the 
 captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, 
 and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator." (Isaiah 
 iii. 1—3.) 
 
 A double lamentation is this day ours; for it is ours to 
 bewail, in common with all our fellow-citizens and subjects, the 
 death of the illustrious and most beloved Consort of the Queen 
 — the Prince Albert. In his death a rod of strength — a sta}' 
 and support of the throne, a husband, and more than a hus- 
 band, of the Queen has been taken away — a rod of strength 
 has been broken and withered. At evening; time he died, on 
 Saturday, the 14th of this month. But the first hour of that 
 day witnessed the death of one of the princes of the sanctuary, 
 William Cunningham, Principal of the New College, and Pro- 
 fessor of Theology, who entered into his rest in the morning 
 hour of that eventful day. In his death and removal from us 
 we have to lament over a rod of strength broken and withered. 
 As a student of his, who sat at his feet and enjoyed the 
 inestimable privilege of his prelections in theology, as a 
 minister of this church, and of the gospel of the grace of God, I 
 mingle unfeigned sorrow with the grief of those who mourn 
 over the death of Dr. William Cunningham. The position and 
 character, as well as the services to the state and nation 
 rendered by the late illustrious Consort of Her Majesty, demand 
 from us the tribute of a profound sorrow. And the position, 
 and character, and services to the church rendered by the late 
 revered Principal entitle his memory to lasting respect. And 
 in the removal of the one from the station next to royalty, and 
 of the other from the place of influence in the visible church, 
 we see rods of strength broken and withered. When but 
 a few weeks ago I saw these two princely men, they stood 
 and walked side by side in the city of Edinburgh. They 
 had the mien and gait of princes, and with their princeliness, 
 
STRONG RODS BROKEN AND WITHERED. 225 
 
 they both were adorned and robed with the becoming 
 and most graceful vesture of unfeigned yet dignified humility. 
 The noble German and British prince, His Royal Highness the 
 Prince Consort, looked then a worthy representative of that 
 good Duke, his ancestor, renowned for his friendship to men of 
 science, and his zeal and wisdom in promoting the cause of 
 Evangelical and Protestant truth and religion in his dukedom ; 
 and the Scottish theologian, like the royal prince, concealing 
 the heart of a little child beneath the shadow of a great and 
 manly intellect, looked a not unworthy representative of the 
 princes of the sanctuary of God, whether in Germany or Great 
 Britain. Little did I forecast or foresee, that having that day 
 seen them associated as for a moment in life, I should have to- 
 day and always henceforth to think and speak of them as 
 associated in death : " they were lovely and pleasant in their 
 lives, and in their death they were not divided." 
 
 On the present occasion I shall limit the observations .about 
 to be made to the lessons which we may learn from the death 
 of the Prince Consort, and to the duties proper to us as 
 citizens and as professing Christians in connection with that 
 mournful event. 
 
 Among the many thoughts that arise in connection with this 
 solemn event, and with this mournful bereavement, these are 
 prominent — the distinguished and exalted position of him who 
 has been taken away; the suddenness of the calamity; and the 
 critical and momentous period or juncture in our affairs as a 
 nation when this stroke has fallen. These, and similar reflec- 
 tions, are fitted to remind us of what the wise man says, that 
 '•' no man hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit ; 
 neither hath he power in the day of death, and there is no 
 discharge in that war." And, again, " man knoweth not his 
 time : as the fishes are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that 
 are caught in the snare ; so are the sons of men snared in an 
 evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them." The strong 
 rod, broken and withered, is as one that grew from the topmost 
 bough of society ; it was a rod of strength for the hand of her 
 that bears rule over this great and far-spreading empire. 
 Death, it has often been said, knocks with undistinguishing 
 
226 STRONG RODS BROKEN AND WITHERED. 
 
 impartiality at the door of the cottage and at the gates of the 
 
 palace. Though we are more familiar with the ravages and 
 
 havoc of death amidst our cottage homes, yet, even there, 
 
 when death enters, there is awful and mysterious silence. 
 
 There is the grief of those who refuse to be comforted. In vain 
 
 you tell the widowed one, in vain you tell the orphan and the 
 
 fatherless, that theirs is no singular bereavement or calamity ; 
 
 that others every day suffer as they suffer, and mourn as they 
 
 mourn. Give me back my husband — give us back our father, is 
 
 the burden of their cry. Accustomed, as we are, to witness the 
 
 havoc which death makes in its visits among our households 
 
 and homes, yet when we look to the loftier places of society, 
 
 to the mansions of nobility and the palaces of royalty, associating 
 
 with elevated station, immunity from the many evils incident 
 
 to those who occupy the lower spheres of the social system, 
 
 where the multitudes toil and struggle for mere subsistence, we 
 
 are unconsciously oblivious of the evils incident to those in the 
 
 loftier ranks, and we almost forget that they too are mortal, — 
 
 that " Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble." 
 
 But when, as on this occasion, death has entered the queen's 
 
 own palace, laying his pale, cold, and ruthless hand on him who 
 
 was as a stay and support, a rod of strength, to our beloved 
 
 monarch, we are with most solemn emphasis reminded that 
 
 " death reigns," — that " it is appointed unto all once to die," — 
 
 that the grave is the lowly and lonely house prepared for all 
 
 the living. Rank, royalty itself, secures no immunity from 
 
 death. In liability to death all are on one platform, one level. 
 
 Death reigns over the crowned and sceptred monarch as over 
 
 the meanest subject. But while this is so, the death of one in 
 
 a place so conspicuous and elevated, — that place now to know 
 
 its occupant no more, — the blank beside the throne, — the blank 
 
 in the palace, — the vacant seat beside the queen, — that place 
 
 of the husband unoccupied beside his royal spouse, — that place 
 
 deserted of the father, and that father the Prince Consort, 
 
 beside and among his children, — that home in mourning, — all 
 
 reminds us that the arm of death has broken, and its touch has 
 
 withered, a rod of strength in this nation. From yonder palace, 
 
 now clothed in gloom and now so silent, or where only the voice 
 
STRONG RODS BROKEN AND WITHERED. 227 
 
 of mourners is heard, a voice comes, and a lesson is taught to 
 all the princes and to all the peoples of the world, saying, " Ye, 
 too, must die." Death, that knows no distinctions among men, 
 but that treats them all as mortal because all are sinful,— death 
 must have you. The loftiest and the meanest must bow before 
 this all-conquering yet conquered king. 
 
 Besides the thought of the rank of the illustrious deceased, 
 which, in our obliviousness of the universal empire of death, we 
 might be tempted to think might seem to forbid the approach 
 of the king of terrors, we cannot but meditate on the sudden- 
 ness of the stroke that has broken and withered one of the 
 strong rods of this nation. The stroke fell, in this case, not on 
 one who had passed the zenith of his greatness, or who had 
 been tottering to the grave under the load of years. It could 
 not be said of his strength that it was "labour and sorrow." 
 His mind was in maturity, all his intellectual faculties disciplined 
 by systematic study and strengthened by masculine exercise, 
 and, practised in weighty affairs, were never more capable of 
 arduous achievement. His body, never weakened by that 
 intemperance which in various forms imprints its stamp of 
 imbecility on its victim, was the vigorous and graceful 
 companion of a vigorous and noble mind. His eye was not 
 dim, his natural force was not abated. Undertakings for the 
 good of this nation, and for adding to the comforts, conveniences, 
 and amenities of men's estate, — undertakings illustrative of the 
 truth that " peace hath her victories no less than war," and 
 prognostics of the time most sure to come, when " the nations 
 shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into 
 pruning hooks : when nation shall not lift up sword against 
 nation, when they shall not learn war any more," — schemes 
 such as these, in harmony with the principles of Christian 
 philanthropy, were amidst his thoughts, and their progress to 
 realization was receiving his deeply interested and watchful 
 attention, when suddenly the message reached him, saying, 
 " The Master is come, and calleth for thee." But yesterday and 
 with yonder palace we associated all that was brilliant and 
 splendid, all that was joyous. For there was highest rank; there 
 was all the orandeur of the seat of the greatest monarch of the 
 
228 STRONG RODS BROKEN AND WITHERED. 
 
 world ; and better far, there was a home which could be pointed 
 to as a model for every household in the land. There were father 
 and mother with their children, like olive plants, round about 
 their table ; there were the young princes, the children of youth, 
 as arrows in the hand of a mighty man. Happy did we often 
 think that home, — happy that man having his quiver full, for 
 they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the 
 enemies in the gate. " The Lord bless thee out of Zion," was 
 our constant prayer for that house and home. But to-day, 
 and, ah, how suddenly the stay and support, the rod of 
 strength, has been broken and withered ! For " the Lord hath 
 hid his face and we are troubled." Our harp is turned to 
 mourning, and our organ to the voice of them that weep. For 
 suddenly the hand of death hath fallen upon him who was so 
 young, so accomplished, so useful, so beloved. Suddenly was 
 his countenance changed, suddenly was he taken away. " His 
 sons come to honour, — he knoweth it not;" or, which may 
 the Lord prevent in his grace, " they are brought low, but he 
 perceiveth it not of them." To princes and great ones of the 
 earth, with their schemes of policy, power, war, or philan- 
 thropy, — to parents, with their hopes building themselves on 
 their children, — to every soul, the voice from yonder palace, now 
 hung with the black insignia of mourning, is " Prepare to meet 
 thy God." '"'Boast not of to-morrow, for thou knowest not 
 what a day may bring forth." " Be ye also ready, for in such 
 an hour as as ye think not the Son of man cometh." 
 
 A strong rod has been broken and withered. And this 
 event, so sudden and appalling, has occurred at a period most 
 momentous in our history, at a most critical juncture in our 
 relations and affairs as a nation. But recently,- — and since the 
 date when, at the suggestion, and under the active superinten- 
 dence of the illustrious deceased, the world beheld that great 
 wonder of modern science, the Great Exhibition of 1851, — this 
 nation has passed through a series of events which, for their 
 grandeur, their rapidity of occurrence, their tcrribleness, and 
 their concomitant disasters, although by the good hand of God 
 followed by triumphant success, must be confessed to have 
 been without parallel within the same brief period throughout 
 
STRONG RODS BROKEN AND WITHERED. 229 
 
 our history as a people. It is now known that in all these 
 momentous matters, in decisions to be come to, in action to be 
 taken, much confidence was justly reposed by Her Majesty in 
 the judgment and advice of His late Royal Highness the Prince 
 Consort. Through the horrors of the Crimean war God brought 
 us ; through the yet greater horrors of the Indian mutiny God 
 brought us with victory, yet after much tribulation. And now 
 when an army created under God by the instinctive apprehen- 
 sions of this great people, — apprehensions of insecurity, — when 
 that army is being trained to guard ourselves against feared if not 
 threatened invasion, — when events of mightiest moment seem 
 to be near, — when fire from a rod of one of our own branches 
 threatens us, — when a fit of blind fury or madness urges on a 
 great people to insult our forbearance, and to invite us, as well 
 as their own nearer kinsmen and countrymen, to the dread 
 arbitrament of war, — when the answer to our most righteous 
 demand is already on its way to our shores — the answer that 
 must determine whether it be peace, or whether again it must 
 be war, — at a time so critical as this, when complications may 
 thicken and multiply which may endanger our prestige and 
 dominion, or threaten our existence as a nation, one of our 
 strong rods has been broken and withered. The voice surely 
 of this stroke that has fallen so heavily on the royal house 
 and on the nation is, " Cease ye from man whose breath is in 
 his nostrils, for wherein is he to be accounted of." 
 
 If, at an eventful period in Israel's history, when there fell 
 under a murderous hand a man regarded long as the main- 
 stay and support of an opposing faction — one who had recently 
 before pledged his allegiance and support to David and his 
 house — David, the king, said unto his servants, " Know ye not 
 that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel ? 
 And I am this day weak, though anointed king; and these 
 men the sons of Zeruiah be too hard for me : the Lord shall 
 reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness:" it 
 is not to be wondered at if that noblest of women, and now 
 the widowed Queen of this great realm, should feel as David 
 felt, and should say, Know ye not that a prince and a great 
 man is this day fallen ; and I am this day weak, though wear- 
 
230 STRONG RODS BROKEN AND WITHERED. 
 
 ing the crown of England. And, as it is recorded, that on that 
 occasion whatsoever the king did pleased all the people ; so 
 history will record that on this occasion whatsoever the Queen 
 did pleased all the people. For surely in all this realm, and in 
 all the dependencies of this far-reaching empire, there is not a 
 home, there is not one, amidst the many millions over whom 
 the sceptre of Victoria is wielded, who does not participate in 
 the sorrow of the most beloved of sovereigns, now bereaved of 
 the guide, companion, and husband of her youth. Yes, all feel 
 the smart, all share the grief, and all desire to remove the 
 burden of that too weighty sorrow from the heart that is, and 
 must be, by it most heavily oppressed. For if heretofore the 
 hearts of the people were knit to the throne — if heretofore our 
 Queen had a place in the hearts and affections of her subjects 
 such as no monarch on earth but herself has in the hearts and 
 and affections of subjects — that due loyalty is now more than 
 ever deepened and strengthened by the sad and sorrowful 
 bereavement sustained by the Queen. There is a majesty in 
 royalty that keeps the dutiful subject in restraint, and at a 
 distance. To this majesty is now added the majesty of a 
 sorrow with which strangers may not intermeddle ; but this 
 august spectacle of grief, instead of repelling, attracts, as it now 
 most powerfully does, the hearts, the homage, the sympathies of 
 millions. In this grief the throne, the Queen, is brought near 
 to every household, and to all the citizens of the empire; and all 
 vie with each other, not only in expressions of allegiance, but in 
 expressions and tributes of a profound and loyal sympathy. 
 To some it is permitted to tender more direct consolation, 
 to offer more immediate condolence; but all, of every grade, 
 sect, and name, willingly offer the tribute of deep and sincere 
 sympathy to the widowed Queen, and to the royal children 
 now orphans, fatherless. On all former occasions that Queen 
 acquitted herself as became her royal state; and when bereft of 
 her rod of strength, it was not the least noble and becoming- 
 action in her life, that, calling her royal orphans apart, she 
 solemnly and affectionately admonished them, and expressed 
 the hope that they would all help her in the discharge of the 
 duty she owed to this nation. We trust that this was of God, 
 
STRONG RODS BROKEN AND WITHERED. 231 
 
 and that He will acknowledge it. We trust that the magnani- 
 mity displayed by Her Majesty on this occasion is founded on 
 the grace of God, and is sustained by the promises of that grace 
 — that the Word of the Lord is for her comfort in this the hour 
 of her sore affliction. If, indeed, it be so, then may she, from 
 her royal seat, and all the people from their respective stations 
 and places, look forward with calmness to those events that 
 may be near. Seeing that the Lord has taught us that our 
 dependence must not be on the strong rod, for it is broken 
 and withered, but on his arm which is not shortened, and 
 in his unerring wisdom, — seeing that he has ranked our Queen 
 and her children among those who are the peculiar objects 
 of his guardianship and care, saying, " Leave thy fatherless 
 children ; I will preserve them alive ; and let thy widows 
 trust in me," — -we may confidently and calmly await the 
 issues of futurity, while we offer up the prayer, " The Lord 
 hear thee in the day of trouble : the name of the God of 
 Jacob defend thee, send thee help from the sanctuary, and 
 strengthen thee out of Zion ; grant thee according to thine 
 own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel. The Lord fulfil all thy 
 petitions." 
 
 But it is fitting that we should make more personal 
 and direct application home to ourselves of the thoughts 
 suggested by this event. 
 
 We learn and are reminded of the certainty of our own death. 
 Beginning to live, we begin to die; death is at work, for sin is in 
 us. We are corrupt; the body must return to the earth, the spirit 
 to God that gave it. And that certain death which, takes the 
 sceptre from the hand of ro}'alty, the crown from the head of 
 the monarch, and all the habiliments and appendages, however 
 splendid, from highest officers of state, will unrobe the soul of 
 every covering which it can put on. Unclothed — naked — must 
 the spirit appear before God to receive according to the deeds 
 done in the body. And yet we must not absolutely make this 
 statement. There is one enrobement of which death doth not 
 divest the spirit : it is the pure, the spotless, the imputed 
 righteousness of Christ Jesus. See, therefore, that ye put on 
 
232 STRONG RODS BROKEN AND WITHERED. 
 
 the Lord Christ. Behold the Lamb of God, and say, " Surely in 
 the Lord have I righteousness and strength." He that believeth 
 shall never come into condemnation, but hath everlasting life. 
 To him certain death is certain admission into the presence of 
 his Lord. " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be 
 saved." 
 
 As already indicated, we may learn from the strong rod so 
 suddenly broken and withered the necessity of immediate pre- 
 paration for the time of our change and departure, and we ought 
 to learn the danger of delay in a matter of such transcendent 
 importance as the salvation of the soul. To-day, if ye will 
 hear the voice of God, harden not your hearts, for now is the 
 accepted time, this is the day of salvation. The Spirit of the 
 Lord now waiteth to be gracious. Invite his gracious operation. 
 See that ye resist not that Spirit of grace, for he will not 
 always strive with men. The wise man is he who is always 
 prepared for death, who, having his lamp burning and his 
 loins girded, expects the coming of his Lord. And, as 
 already indicated, we may learn the folly of putting our trust 
 in man, in an arm of flesh. " Cursed is he, saith the Lord, that 
 trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart 
 departeth from the Lord." We are to regard the strong rods, 
 whether in the state or in the church, as gifts from God, not as 
 idols to be substituted for God. For these gifts we are to give 
 thanks unto Him, the Father of lights, from whom cometh 
 down every good gift. But let us beware of putting the gift 
 enjoyed in the room and place of the Gracious Giver; for his 
 glory he will not give to another. He is a jealous God. Trust 
 not in the strong rod : it may soon be broken and withered, 
 and with it broken will be your hope and withered will be 
 your joy ; but trust in the Lord, for with the Lord Jehovah is 
 everlasting strength. When the great and good President 
 Edwards, the distinguished preacher and theologian of 
 America, lay on his death-bed, "just at the close of his life, as 
 some persons who stood by expecting he would breathe his 
 last in a few minutes, were lamenting his death, not only as a 
 great blow to the college, but as having a dark aspect on the 
 interest of religion in general, to their surprise, not imagining 
 
STRONG RODS BROKEN AND WITHERED. 233 
 
 that he heard or ever would speak another word, he said, 
 'Trust in God, and ye need not fear."' So now we say to 
 you — we would say it to this nation, could the voice reach the 
 people — " Trust in God, and ye need not fear." 
 
 Yet some other lessons are taught us at this time. Of these, the 
 first is the necessity of our humbling ourselves before the Lord, 
 confessing before him our sins as individuals and our sins as 
 a people. For, whatever be the verdict of a philosophy, falsely 
 so called, the Word of God — the exponent of the will and 
 way of that God, who doeth according to his will in the armies 
 of heaven and among the inhabitants of this earth, who 
 bringeth princes to nothing, who maketh the judges of the earth 
 as vanity — assures us that there is a connection between his 
 judgments in the breaking down and withering of strong rods 
 and the sins of a people. Our iniquities testify against us, as 
 our sins keep many good things from us. Far be from us that 
 presumptuousness which, as if admitted into the councils of the 
 Most High, whose way is in the deep and whose footsteps are 
 not known, would trace that particular judgment to that par- 
 ticular sin ; but though we presume not thus to vindicate the 
 ways of God and assert his eternal providence, yet we know, 
 and by his Word are assured, that when he afflicts it is not 
 willingly — there is sin which draws down his rebuke; there 
 is sin, therefore he leaves not even his chosen and peculiar 
 people altogether unpunished. It becomes us, therefore, at 
 this solemn time to humble ourselves beneath the mighty hand 
 of God, and to confess with the Prime Minister of a great 
 king— not the less devout, not the less patriotic, though in the 
 court of that great Monarch — " O Lord, the great and dreadful 
 God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and 
 to them that keep his commandments ; we have sinned, and 
 committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, 
 even by departing from thy precepts and thy judgments : 
 therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it 
 upon us : for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works 
 which he doeth ; for we obeyed not his voice." (See the whole 
 Confession, Dan. ix.) Secondly, We are taught the necessity 
 of prayer and supplication for ourselves, for all in authority 
 over us, for the Queen and her orphan family. When we look 
 
234 STRONG RODS BROKEN AND WITHERED. 
 
 on the broken and withered rod of strength, and when our 
 anxious forebodings anticipate yet more of manifested judg- 
 ment, surely it becomes us to look up with earnest desire, and 
 to offer up earnest and persevering prayer that the Lord may 
 spare this people, .may strengthen the foundations of the 
 throne, may establish it in righteousness, and send to the 
 nation and the church of God prosperity and peace. Great is 
 onr encouragement here — "Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, 
 and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." 
 The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 
 Pray ye therefore the Lord that he may strengthen those that 
 remain, that the Queen may be long spared and much blessed; that 
 Albert, the Prince of Wales, may prove the worthy son of a noble 
 and now lamented father; and that righteousness and peace estab- 
 lished in the royal house may be established in this realm and 
 throughout all the earth. The Lord raise up and send out 
 labourers into his harvest. Thirdly, and finally, the lesson 
 taught us is that of working the work of God now while it is 
 day, for soon the shadows of evening, or the deep shade of 
 death, may be spread over us. " Up and be doing, and the Lord 
 be with- thee," is the message this day to every man . " Whatsoever 
 thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work, 
 nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither 
 thou goest." Acquaint now thyself with God, thereby shall good 
 come unto thee. Let us, therefore, lead quiet and peaceable 
 lives in all godliness and honesty ; for the grace of God that 
 bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, 
 denying ourselves all ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should 
 live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, 
 looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. With firm faith in God by 
 Jesus Christ, — with his Spirit dwelling in us, quickening us and 
 sanctifying us, — with that pledge and earnest of the promised 
 possession, with his word of precept for our rule, his promises 
 for our comfort and support, — working out our own salvation 
 with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in us to 
 will and to do of his good pleasure, watching and praying that 
 we may not enter into temptation, — looking unto Jesus the 
 Author and Finisher of our Faith, we may adopt the language 
 
STRONG RODS BROKEN AND WITHERED. 235 
 
 of the Prophet and say, "Although the fig tree shall not 
 blossom, neither shall fruit be on the vines, the labour of the 
 olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat, the flock shall 
 be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls, 
 yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my sal- 
 vation ;" with David, the sweet singer of Israel, in his last 
 words, we may say — " Although my house be not so with God, 
 yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in 
 all things and sure, for this is all my salvation and all my 
 desire ;" and with Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ — the 
 Apostle to the Gentiles — we may say, in the contemplation of 
 any trials or troubles that may come or may be near — " None 
 of these things move me." " Who shall separate us from the 
 love of Christ ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or 
 famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? . . . Nay, in all these 
 things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 
 For 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." " So when this corruptible shall have put on incorrup- 
 tion, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall 
 be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swal- 
 lowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting ? O grave, 
 where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the 
 strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which 
 giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. There- 
 fore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always 
 abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know 
 that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. Amen." The 
 Lord bless and comfort the Queen and all the royal family ! 
 The Lord bless this nation and his church with peace ! " God 
 save the Queen I" 
 
 " Rock of Ages ! cleft for me, 
 Let me hide myself in Thee ; 
 Let the water and the blood, 
 From Thy riven side which flow'd, 
 Be of sin the double cure — 
 Cleanse me from its guilt and power. 
 
2o() STRONG RODS BROKEN AND WITHERED. 
 
 ' ' Not the labour of my hand- 
 Can fulfil Thy law's demands : 
 Could my zeal no respite know. 
 Could my tears for ever flow ; 
 All for sin could not atone, 
 Thou must save, and Thou alone. 
 
 " Nothing in my hand I bring, 
 Simply to Thy Cross I cling ; 
 Naked, come to Thee for dress, 
 Helpless, look to Thee for grace, 
 Foul, I to the Fountain fly — 
 Wash me, SAVIOUR, or I die ! 
 
 " While I draw this fleeting breath, 
 When my eye-lids close in death ; 
 When I soar to worlds unknown ; 
 See Thee on Thy judgment-throne ; 
 Ptock of Ages ! cleft for me, 
 Let me hide myself in Thee. " 
 
 Amen and amen. 
 
JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH: on, THE LORD IS THERE. 
 
 THE NAME OF THE CITY OF GOD. 
 
 "The name of the city from that day shall be, THE LOUD IS THERE. 
 -Ezek. xlviii. 35. 
 
 CHARACTER, DESIGN, AND CONTENTS OF THE BOOK OF EZEKIKL. 
 
 These are the closing words of one of the most remarkable 
 books of Holy Scripture — the book of the Prophet Ezekiel. 
 In this book there are many " things hard to be understood, 
 which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do 
 also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction." It is a 
 book of the visions of God; hence the difficulties in the wa}^ of 
 a true and just interpretation of its contents. For by the 
 number of the visions, by the minuteness of the descriptions, and 
 by the sustained and continuous exhibition of details, the 
 interpreter is tempted to forget what may be termed the 
 symbolic idealism of the composition. In other words, as we 
 read the record of what the prophet beheld in the visions of 
 God, we are tempted to regard the narrative as a record of 
 actual events, — of events in historical fact either accomplished 
 at the time, or to be accomplished in the future. An historico- 
 literal interpretation of this book must necessarily be erroneous, 
 and for this reason, that the book is one in which events and 
 realities are described, not in the language of history, but in the 
 language of symbol and hieroglyph. Each vision corresponds 
 
238 JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH ; OR, THE LORD IS THERE. 
 
 with something real; but the reality is exhibited in the ideal or 
 pictorial form in the vision. This characteristic of the book 
 must never be lost sight of in any interpretation of its 
 contents. 
 
 Akin to this the ideal character of the book, is the fact 
 observable in the series of visions recorded in it, that the 
 scenery of the visions is for the most part taken from actual 
 objects and events. The history of the Jewish people, and 
 objects familiar to the eyes of the Jews, furnish, as it were, the 
 platform and machinery of the visions of this prophet. This 
 fact imparts an air and aspect of historical reality to the 
 visions themselves. But this very circumstance should tend 
 to guide us into a right interpretation of the writings of 
 this prophet. In this light, whatever interpretation be right, 
 that must be wrong which teaches on grounds given in this 
 prophecy that there is to be, in the latter days, the restoration 
 of a state of things similar to that instituted by Moses. The 
 age of shadows and figures has for ever passed away. The 
 Mosaic ritual was an acted vision of gospel realities. The 
 writings of our prophet are a descriptive and pictorial repre- 
 sentation of gospel realities. 
 
 But, besides these considerations, we find added or appended 
 to the visions of this book words so plain, unequivocal, and 
 direct, that they serve as the cypher or key by which we may, 
 when we read, know the sense of the things written, and 
 attain to a correct and just interpretation of these otherwise 
 mysterious and unintelligible visions. 
 
 The book divides itself into two parts, and answering to 
 these are the visions of the prophet. The first part of the 
 book is mainly taken up with narrating the procession of the 
 judgments of God in punishing the people because of their 
 transgressions. In the visions of God, the prophet is sent to 
 destroy the city. Corresponding with this mission of wrath 
 are the materials of the visions. The second part of the Book 
 consists of promises of mercy. The prophet is sent to restore 
 the city ; and in harmony with this mission of mercy are the 
 visions with which the prophet is favoured. In the first part 
 of the book there is mercy, but it is only to a few, to a small 
 
JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH ; OR, THE LORD IS THERE. 23{> 
 
 remnant. Judgment, or the severity of God, is grandly, awfully 
 conspicuous in this first part of the book. The visions are 
 visions of terror, even although a rainbow is seen in the 
 heavens. The voice of the thunders of the Almighty is so- 
 terrible and so loud, that although the still small voice speaks, 
 it is but faintly heard. 
 
 It is otherwise in the second division of the book. Here 
 there is judgment; but it is against the enemies of Israel. Here 
 mercy rejoices against judgment. It is, after the dark night, a 
 morning without clouds. It is the clear shining after rain. " For, 
 lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone ; . . . the time of 
 the singing of birds has come;" for the Lord hath visited and 
 redeemed his people. He shall dwell among them, " and the 
 name of the city from that day forward shall be, Jehovah- 
 Shammah — The Lord is there." 
 
 THE CITY — ITS SITUATION. 
 
 The first thing to which our attention is directed by the 
 prophet in his description of this city is the site of it. He 
 tells us that in the visions of God he was brought into the land 
 of Israel, and set upon a very high mountain, by which, or 
 upon which, was the frame of a city on the south. The high 
 mountain here mentioned is the same as that spoken of in 
 other places of this book, as " a high mountain and eminent — 
 the mountain of the height of Israel ;" "Mine holy mountain." 
 (See xvii. 22, 23 ; xx. 40.) This is none other than the Mount 
 Zion, which, in itself, was but a little hill; anything but 
 a very high mountain if compared with the great moun- 
 tains of the world. But as the little and otherwise in- 
 considerable town of Bethlehem became renowned among the 
 cities of the world, because out of it came the Lord Jesus, 
 whose goings forth were from everlasting ; so the little hill of 
 Zion towers in majestic elevation above all the mountains of 
 the earth, because there stood the temple of God — because the 
 law should go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from 
 Jerusalem. The city of God has its foundations on the holy 
 
241) JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH ; OR, THE LORD IS THERE. 
 
 and high mountain. The stability of the city is thus repre- 
 sented to us. The Highest himself shall establish it. The 
 foundation of God standeth sure. " As we have heard, so have 
 we seen in the city of the Lord of Hosts, in the city of our 
 God : God will establish it for ever." Stable and unmoved as 
 the everlasting mountains is this noble city. Unmoved and 
 immovable amidst the heaving and revolution of all things in 
 heaven and earth is the city of the Great King. The situation 
 of this city is suggestive of the conspicuous and eminent glory 
 of the city. It shall not only remain unmoved amidst all 
 change, unshaken by all the power of the enemy ; but out of 
 all change and tumult and war it will rise with a glory sur- 
 passing that of all the cities of the world. Why leap ye, ye 
 high hills ? This is the hill of God, where he dwells. This is 
 that city set on a hill which cannot be hid. This is that city, 
 the Mount Zion, beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole 
 earth. " It shall come to pass in the last days, that the moun- 
 tain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the 
 mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills ; and all nations 
 shall flow into it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, 
 and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the 
 God of Jacob ; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will 
 walk in his paths : for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and 
 the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." 
 
 THE CITY— ITS TEMPLE-LIKE ASPECT. 
 
 The second thing to which attention is turned is the temple- 
 like aspect of the city. The prophet, beholding the city-like 
 framework, sees rise before him a stately and magnificent 
 temple, — a temple which, with its adjacent and connected 
 buildings, covered an area much larger than the entire site of 
 the ancient city of Jerusalem. The vision is obviously one 
 concerning the enlargement, beauty, and glory of the church 
 of God. As David received from God the model or pattern of 
 the temple built by Solomon, so in this vision of Ezekiel there 
 is given an ideal picture or framework of the New Testament 
 
JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH ; OR, THE LORD IS THERE. 241 
 
 temple, which is built for an habitation of God through the 
 Spirit. 
 
 In the description here given, that which impresses the 
 observer or reader is that everything in or about this temple is 
 determined by divine measurement. All must be according to 
 the divine plan. Here we have, in the fortieth chapter, 
 the measurement of the outer wall, of the east gate, of the 
 north gate, of the south gate, with the chambers and other 
 things attached to the gates ; of the inner court ; of the 
 tables; of the apartments for the singers and the priests; of 
 the porch of the house. In the forty-first chapter we have a 
 description and measurement of the house, the posts, the 
 door, the wall, and the side chambers, the foundations 
 and wall of the chambers, their doors, and the house itself, 
 the most holy place ; of another building over against the 
 separate place toward the west. A description is given of the 
 manner of the building, of the ornaments of it, of the altar of 
 incense, and of the table, and of the doors between the temple 
 and the oracle, or most holy place. All this is followed, in the 
 forty-second chapter, by a description of the chambers about the 
 courts, their situation, structure, and uses; and the whole is< 
 concluded by a survey and measurement of the whole compass 
 of ground occupied by the house and the courts belonging to it. 
 What, it ma} r be asked, is the meaning of all this ? By all 
 this we are taught that a separation is made between what is 
 sacred and profane. The temple or city of God is a holy city. 
 Holiness becometh the house of God. A wall measured by the 
 divine rod bounds off this house and its courts from all that is 
 round about it. Into it there may not enter anything that 
 defileth, that worketh abomination, or that maketh a lie. 
 
 Again, we are taught by all this that everything in the house 
 of God must be ordered according to the divine will. The 
 order of the house must be according to the word and law of 
 the Lord and Proprietor. Nothing is left to the dictates of the 
 wisdom of man. Nothing to human fancy or caprice. As it is 
 a proverb that every man should bear rule in his own house, so 
 it is right and seemly that we should have respect to the will 
 of Christ in all things pertaining to his church, which is the 
 
 Q * 
 
242 JEHOYAH-SHAMMAH ; OR, THE LORD IS THERE. 
 
 house of God. Only in this way can the church attain to the 
 perfection to which it is ordained. Only in this way can the 
 church be a fit and suitable dwelling-place for the Lord. 
 
 The plan and measurement of this temple, as contrasted with 
 the temple of Solomon, indicate also that in the gospel age the 
 kingdom of God should be greatly enlarged. " This temple was 
 greatly to surpass the old in the extent of its territory, and in 
 the number of its worshippers, and in the purity of its worship. 
 And the square appearance of the entire buildings, as in John's 
 city (Rev. xxi. 17), betokened the strength and solidity of the 
 whole. A perfect cube, it was the emblem of a kingdom that 
 could not be shaken or removed. Thus every way it exhibits 
 to the eye of faith the true ideal of that pure and glorious 
 temple which, resting on the foundation of the eternal Son, and 
 girt round by all the perfections of Godhead, shall shine forth 
 the best and noblest workmanship of heaven."— (Principal 
 Fairbairn.) 
 
 THE GLORY OF THE LORD. 
 
 The third object to which attention is invited is the vision 
 of the glory of the Lord, as beheld by the prophet after the 
 temple was set up and framed according to the divinely 
 revealed model or plan. The glory of the Lord had been 
 formerly seen by the prophet departing from the house and 
 city of God. (Chap, xi.) Over the porches might then be 
 written, Ichabod ; for the glory had departed. The house was 
 then left desolate indeed. And judgment upon judgment 
 overtook the guilty people who had by their sin provoked the 
 Lord to withdraw his presence, protection, and glory from the 
 midst of them. " But now," says the prophet, " behold, the 
 glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east : and 
 his voice was like a noise of many waters : and the earth 
 shined with his glory. . . . And I fell upon my face. And 
 the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the 
 gate whose prospect is toward the east. . . . And, behold, 
 the glory of the Lord rilled the house." This vision, as 
 interpreted by the words spoken to the prophet, is designed to 
 
JEHOYAH-SHAMMAH ; OR, THE LORD IS THERE. 243 
 
 be the seal and sure pledge of the gracious promise that the 
 Lord should return to his people, and that his presence should 
 again and for ever be enjoyed by them. In a little wrath he 
 smote them, but with everlasting kindness he will have mercy 
 upon them. The prophet, standing as a priest in the inner 
 court, hears the word out of the oracle or house, saying, " Son 
 of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of 
 my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of 
 Israel for ever, and my holy name shall the house of Israel no 
 more defile." " And I will dwell in the midst of them for ever." 
 This promise of the presence of God is connected with the 
 repentance and humiliation before God of the people. And 
 this repentance is made sure by the grace promised. He 
 promises to be to them such as they would have him to be, 
 by making it sure that they shall repent and turn from all 
 their iniquities. "They shall be my people, and I will be their 
 God." 
 
 It must be very specially noted that the Lord returns to 
 dwell among his people as their only king. His must be the 
 only throne in Israel. His law must be the only law in his 
 city and kingdom. 
 
 As their king he instructs the prophet to lay down and 
 publish the law of his house. " This is the law of the house ; 
 upon the top of the mountain the whole limit (or boundary) 
 thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, (it is repeated), 
 this is the law of the house." In keeping with this law, not 
 only must the sins of former times be repented of, and the evils, 
 defilements, and abominations of former times be put far from 
 the temple, but the ordinances of divine worship must be 
 observed according to the direct appointment and institution of 
 the king in Jeshurun. The message of this prophet, in connec- 
 tion with the promised return of the Lord to his temple, 
 resembles that of the prophet Jeremiah when, instructed by 
 the Lord, he said, " Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the 
 Lord ; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you : for I 
 am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever. 
 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed 
 against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the 
 
244 JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH ; OR, THE LORD IS THERE. 
 
 strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my 
 voice, saith the Lord. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the 
 Lord ; for I am married unto you : and I will take you one of a 
 city, and two of a tribe, and I will bring you to Zion : And I 
 will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed 
 you with knowledge and understanding. And it shall come to 
 pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those 
 days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more, The ark of the 
 covenant of the Lord : neither shall it come to mind : neither 
 shall they remember it ; neither shall they visit it ; neither 
 shall that be done any more. At that time they shall call 
 Jerusalem the throne of the Lord ; and all the nations shall be 
 gathered together unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem: 
 neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their 
 evil heart." (Jer. iii. 12—17.) 
 
 THE CITY LAWS AND STATUTES. 
 
 The fourth thing to which, as connected with this house and 
 city of God, attention is called is the series of statutes enjoined 
 concerning the worship of the Lord and the honour of the 
 Great King. The altar and its ordinances are first described, 
 with the promise that the worship offered according to the law 
 of the house should be accepted — " I will accept you, saith the 
 Lord God." In the forty-fourth chapter are enjoined ordin- 
 ances concerning the prince and the priesthood. The eastern 
 gate is to be shut; no man is to enter in by it except the 
 prince who is to eat bread in it before the Lord. The prince 
 or ruler is thus reminded of the sanctity of the place, and 
 of the sanctity required of him who as God's vicegerent 
 or deputy held rule under the Great King over the people. 
 The unfaithful priests are degraded, and the priesthood is 
 restricted to the house of Zadok. This evidently points 
 forward to the times when the Lord should raise up for 
 himself a faithful priesthood who should offer unto God 
 spiritual sacrifices. The holiness required of those who 
 draw near to God is indicated by the regulations concerning 
 
JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH ; OR, THE LORD IS THERE. 2io 
 
 their dress — they were to put on linen garments in their holy 
 ministry ; their hair — they were neither to shave their heads 
 as mourners, nor to let their hair grow long; their diet — they 
 were not to drink wine in their service, nor to eat anything 
 dead of itself; their marriage — they were not permitted to 
 marry a woman divorced, nor a widow unless the widow of a 
 priest. In a word, the priests were required to be holy as 
 those set apart for God. 
 
 To the Great King it belongs to prescribe the laws regarding 
 the distribution of the land. In the forty-fifth chapter the pro- 
 portion of territory to be given to sacred purposes, to the prince, 
 and to the people is indicated ; and laws are prescribed regard- 
 ing the offerings of the prince and people, and regarding the 
 great festivals. In the forty-sixth chapter are contained a few 
 additional rules to regulate the conduct of prince, priests, and 
 people. All these regulations evidently have respect to a city, 
 and temple, and land, and priesthood, and people, different from 
 the ancient city and temple of Jerusalem, and from the land, 
 and priesthood, and people of Israel. They belong to the order 
 of things introduced in connection with the city bearing the 
 glorious name, Jehovah-Shammah. 
 
 THE CITY : THE RIVER OF GOD. 
 
 The fifth object attracting the attention of him who looks 
 towards this city of God is the vision of the waters that issued out 
 from under the threshold of the house eastward, that came down 
 from under the right side of the house at the south side of the 
 altar. At the distance of a thousand cubits from the threshold 
 the waters reached to the ankles ; at the distance of another 
 thousand cubits they reached to the knees ; at the distance of 
 another thousand cubits they reached the loins. "After- 
 ward," says the prophet, " he measured a thousand; and it was 
 a river that I could not pass over : for the waters were risen, 
 waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over. And 
 he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this ? Then he 
 brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river. 
 
246 jehovah-shammah; or, the lord is there. 
 
 Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river 
 were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then 
 said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east 
 country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea : 
 which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be 
 healed. And it shall come to pass, that every thing that 
 liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, 
 shall live : and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, 
 because these waters shall come thither : for they shall be 
 healed ; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. 
 And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from 
 En-gecli even unto En-eglaim ; they shall be a place to spread 
 forth nets ; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the 
 fish of the great sea, exceeding many. But the miry places 
 thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed ; they 
 shall be given to salt. And by the river upon the bank thereof, 
 on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, 
 whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be 
 consumed : it shall bring forth new fruit according to his 
 months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary : 
 and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for 
 medicine." 
 
 This is that fountain of which Joel writes that "it shall 
 come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley 
 of Shittim." (Joel iii. 18.) It is that river of which David 
 says, "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad 
 the city of God." (Psalm xlvi. 4.) It is that river which John 
 the beloved disciple beheld, "a pure river of water of life, 
 proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the 
 midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was 
 there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and 
 yielded her fruit every month : and the leaves of the tree were 
 for the healing of the nations." (Rev. xxii. 1, 2. See also 
 Zech. xiv. 8.) 
 
 The name of the city signifies not only that the Lord is 
 there, but that he shall be known from out of this city. In a 
 former vision his glory filled the temple ; but it so filled it that 
 the whole earth did shine with the glory of the Lord. Is he 
 
JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH ; OR, THE LORD IS THERE. 247 
 
 the God of the Jews only ? He is also the God of the Gentiles. 
 And of old he had said to Abraham, " In thee and in thy seed 
 shall all the families of the earth be blessed." That blessing 
 is now seen to flow forth with ever swelling fulness from the 
 house of God towards all the tribes and nations of mankind. 
 And in the progressive flow of the waters of this river of life, 
 we see not only the accomplishment of the promise made to 
 Abraham, but also the answer to the prayer of the Old Testa- 
 ment church. " God be merciful unto us and bless us ; cause 
 his face to shine upon us, that thy way may be known upon 
 earth, thy saving health among all nations. . . . Then shall 
 the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, 
 shall bless us." (Psalm lxvii.) 
 
 Let it then be noted here that the flowing forth of the river 
 of blessing is connected with the gracious presence of God in 
 his temple. But in Christ he hath come into his temple. The 
 throne of grace is set up. The river of blessing flows from 
 under the throne of God and of the Lamb. " Ye shall receive 
 power," said the Lord, "after that the Holy Ghost is come upon 
 you : and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and 
 in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of 
 the earth." (Acts i. 8.) 
 
 Jesus the King, having taken his place on the throne, being 
 exalted to the right hand of God in the holiest of all, shed 
 forth his Spirit upon his disciples, and they went everywhere 
 preaching the word. In the days when Jesus himself taber- 
 nacled on earth, the numbers were few of those who believed 
 in his name, and fewer still of those who preached the good 
 news of the kingdom. But after the ascension of the Lord 
 and the descent of the Spirit, the numbers rapidly increased of 
 those who believed, and of those who went everywhere pro- 
 claiming the gospel of the kingdom. " The Lord gave the word : 
 great was the company of those who published it." The waters 
 rose till they became a river that could not be forded ; and, 
 blessed be the Lord, the volume of that river is daily increas- 
 ing, and will increase till the earth shall be filled with the 
 knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. 
 
 The progressiveness of this river, or of the sanctuary waters, 
 
248 JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH ; OR, THE LORD IS THERE. 
 
 is nothing else than the extension of the kingdom of God. It 
 is grace expanding itself to bless all the nations of the world. 
 By another and different figure, in the seventeenth chapter of 
 his prophecy, Ezekiel foretells the same blessed development of 
 the gospel. " Thus saith the Lord God ; I will also take of the 
 highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it ; I will crop 
 off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant 
 it upon an high mountain and eminent : in the mountain of the 
 height of Israel will I plant it : and it shall bring forth boughs, 
 and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar : and under it shall dwell 
 all fowl of every wing ; in the shadow of the branches thereof 
 shall they dwell." This is none other than a description of 
 that kingdom of heaven of which Jesus said, "It is like to a 
 grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his 
 held : which indeed is the least of all seeds : but when it is 
 grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, 
 so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches 
 thereof." (Matt. xiii. 31, 32.) 
 
 In what has been said we must include the idea of the 
 fulness of the blessings of the gospel of peace, suggested by the 
 progressive rise, flow, and swell of the river. Instead of 
 exhausting the blessings of the gospel by spreading them 
 among all people, we only make it evident that these blessings 
 flow from an inexhaustible fountain. In Christ dwelleth all 
 the fulness of the Godhead bodily. His glory is that of the 
 only begotten Son of God. His gospel is the gospel of the un- 
 searchable riches of Christ. 
 
 The effects ascribed to these waters of the sanctuary 
 are two: they produce life, and they produce health. They 
 quicken what is dead, and they heal what is sickly or 
 diseased. " Everything shall live whither the waters come." 
 Places that before were a waste and barren wilderness, 
 become now clothed with rich vegetation, become like a 
 fruitful field, or as the garden of the Lord. The otherwise 
 bitter and noxious waters of the Dead Sea are healed. On 
 the rocks of Engedi, and on the rocks of Eglaim, the fishermen 
 spread their nets, for the waters of this river have healed the 
 waters of the salt sea. Where the gospel has free course, there 
 
JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH ; OK, THE LORD IS THERE. 249 
 
 the dead are quickened unto newness of life ; there righteous- 
 ness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost are established or 
 diffused ; light, order, life, all are found where the Word of the 
 Lord comes in the power of the Spirit. All this might be 
 illustrated at great length, by reference to the influence of the 
 Word and grace of God on individuals, on families, on com- 
 munities, nations, and empires. By the blessing of God on the 
 labours of his servants in this land, and in other regions, all this 
 is daily receiving fresh illustration. The idolater forsakes his 
 idol; the savage becomes humane and civilized; the wild 
 roving Indian warriof lays aside his tomahawk, learns the arts 
 of peace, and sings the songs of Zion ; the sensualist becomes 
 chaste ; the covetous becomes liberal ; the selfish becomes 
 benevolent ; the profane man fears God ; the proud becomes 
 humble ; the sorrowful is comforted ; and those once without 
 hope have Christ in them — the hope of glory. The jealousies, 
 rivalries, and feuds of individuals, families, kingdoms, are 
 healed. And, from what has been effected by the blessed 
 gospel, we have the promise confirmed to us, that the time is 
 approaching when they shall neither " hurt nor destroy in all 
 God's holy mountain," when the nations "shall beat their 
 swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks : 
 when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, when they 
 shall not learn war any more." Who does not pray, who 
 will not labour, for the diffusion of the blessings of the gospel ? 
 Who does not desire that purity, peace, mercy, goodness, love,, 
 and joy, may everywhere prevail? Flow on, then, thou mighty 
 river, on thy mission of life and health and prosperity ! Flow 
 on till there be no more sickness, no more death ; till there be 
 no more curse ; till that word be fulfilled, " Thine eyes shall 
 see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be 
 taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be 
 removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But 
 there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers 
 and streams ; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither 
 shall gallant ship pass thereby. For the Lord is our judge, 
 the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king ; he will save 
 us. . . . Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, 
 
250 JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH ; OR, THE LORD IS THERE. 
 
 and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the 
 lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing : 
 for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the 
 desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the 
 thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, 
 where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And an 
 highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The 
 way of holiness ; the unclean shall not pass over it ; but it 
 shall be for those : the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not 
 err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast 
 shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the 
 redeemed shall walk there : and the ransomed of the Lord 
 shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy 
 upon their heads : they shall obtain joy and gladness, and 
 sorrow and sighing shall flee away." (Isaiah xxxiii. and 
 
 XXXV.) 
 
 Signal as are the benefits produced where the waters of the 
 sanctuary flow, there is a statement in the narrative that 
 reminds us that even in places much favoured, there will be 
 those who come short of the blessings of the great salvation. 
 " The miry places thereof, and the marish.es thereof, shall not be 
 healed : they shall be given to salt." The gospel, which is to 
 some the savour of life unto life, is unto others the savour of 
 death unto death. " Where the waters of the sanctuary come," 
 says John Owen, " and the land is not healed, that land is given 
 up of the Lord to salt or to barrenness for ever ; or where the 
 gospel is, by the infinitely wise disposal of God, preached unto 
 a place or persons, and they receive it not, so as to have their 
 sinful distempers healed by it, the} 7 are usually, after a season, 
 given up by the righteous judgment of God unto barrenness 
 and everlasting ruin." These miry places and marishes present 
 a painful contrast to the other parts of the scene. The blessing 
 is on all around, but the curse is on these places. Sad, sad, 
 indeed, is the lot of those who perish in the very midst of the 
 fulness of gospel privileges. Concerning such the Lord may 
 say, as concerning his unfruitful vineyard, What could have 
 been done for you that I have not done ? And over them the 
 weeping Saviour may lament as over doomed Jerusalem. " If 
 
JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH ; OK, THE LORD IS THERE. 2ol 
 
 thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the 
 things that belong to thy peace ; but now they are hid from 
 thine eyes." " The miry places and the marishes shall not be 
 healed : they shall be given to salt." 
 
 In contrast with these miry places and marishes — these 
 unblessed places that are nigh unto cursing, the prophet 
 exhibits the blissful results of the temple waters by the 
 statement, that on the bank of the river, on this side and that, 
 grow all manner of trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade — 
 the fruit bein^ for meat, and the leaf for medicine. The 
 growth, bloom, and fruitfulness of these trees are traced to the 
 influence of the sanctuary waters. There can be no difficulty 
 in interpreting the figure here used. These trees are the 
 righteous that flourish in the clays of the Messiah — the King. 
 They are the trees of righteousness spoken of b}^ Isaiah. And in 
 harmony with this view are the words of David in the first 
 psalm, and the words of the prophet Jeremiah in the seven- 
 teenth chapter of his book. Of the righteous man David says, 
 " He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that 
 bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not 
 wither ; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Describing 
 the same man, Jeremiah says, " He shall be as a tree planted 
 by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, 
 and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be 
 green ; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither 
 shall cease from yielding fruit." In keeping with these figura- 
 tive descriptions are the words of the Lord Jesus when he 
 tells us that men are known as trees are known by their 
 fruits. To the same effect are the statements of Paul when 
 he describes the righteous as rooted in Christ, and when he 
 says that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long- 
 suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." 
 These are the fruits of righteousness to the praise of God that 
 grow upon those planted in the house of God, or beside the 
 river of the water of life. "There is," says Matthew Henry, 
 '• a great variety of these trees, through the diversity of gifts 
 with which are endued by that one Spirit who works all in all. 
 They grow on the bank of the river, for they keep close to 
 
252 JEHO VAH-SHAMMAH ; OB, THE LORD IS THERE. 
 
 holy ordinances, and through them derive from Christ sap and 
 virtue. They are fruit trees designed, as the fig tree and the 
 olive, with their fruits to honour God and man. (Judges ix. 9.) 
 The fruit thereof shall be for meat, for the lips of the righteous 
 feed many. The fruits of their righteousness are one way 
 or other beneficial. The very leaves of these trees are for 
 medicine, for bruises and sores. (Margin.) Good Christians, 
 with their good discourses, which are as their leaves, as well 
 as with their charitable actions, which are as their fruits, do 
 good to those about them; they strengthen the weak, and 
 bind up the broken-hearted. Their cheerfulness does good, 
 like a medicine, not only to themselves, but to others also. 
 They shall be enabled by the grace of God to persevere in their 
 goodness and usefulness ; their leaf shall not fade, or lose its 
 medicinal virtue, having not only life in their root, but sap in 
 all their branches. Their profession shall not wither, neither 
 shall the fruit thereof be consumed — that is, they shall not 
 lose the principle of their fruitfulness, but shall still bring 
 forth fruit in old age to show that the Lord is upright 
 (Psalm xcii. 14), or the reward of their fruitfulness shall abide 
 for ever; they bring forth fruit that shall abound to their 
 account in the great day, — fruit to life eternal, that is indeed 
 fruit that shall not be consumed." 
 
 I might continue this description of the city of God, as be- 
 held in the visions of Ezekiel, by referring more particularly to 
 the citizens, their numbers, their sacred character, and their 
 service ; for the city is served by men from all the tribes of 
 Israel, and provision is made for admitting strangers to the 
 rights and privileges of citizenship in this great city. The 
 gates, too, deserve attention, for they are, according to the 
 number of the tribes of Israel, twelve gates. The entire plan, 
 platform, constitution, order, and laws, — the walls, gates, with 
 everything connected with the city, would furnish us with 
 ample matter for thoughtful and profitable meditation. And 
 the more we should meditate, the more should we be confirmed 
 in the truth that this city was an ideal dty,—a, city typical 
 and symbolical — prophetic of the city of God in the ages of 
 the gospel. 
 
JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH ; OR, THE LOED IS.THERE. 253 
 
 THE CITY OF GOD IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 For the confirmation of this, let us turn now for a little to 
 contemplate the evangelical city or kingdom of God. This 
 city bears the same name as that seen in the visions of Ezekiel. 
 Its name is " Jehovah-Shammah," or, " The Lord is there." This 
 glory is common to the New Testament city with that revealed 
 to Ezekiel. For Jesus Christ the Lord has associated his 
 name, his presence, and his glory with his church or kingdom. 
 " Where two or three," said he, " are gathered together in my 
 name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matt, xviii. 20.) Of 
 this little company it can with reality and in truth be said, 
 " Jehovah-Shammah " — " The Lord is there." This is the glory 
 in the midst of the living church of God, and this is the Avail 
 of fire round about it. That which was only seen in vision by 
 Ezekiel is now seen in its reality by little children in the 
 gracious kingdom of God. 
 
 What a transition, what a descent, is this, it may be thought 
 or said, from the magnificence and grandeur of Ezekiel's city in 
 vision to a little gathering of two or three humble, poor, and 
 • lespised men ! But it is no such descent from what is high to 
 what is low. It is a transition rather from the ideal to the 
 actual and real. It is the evolution into fact of what was 
 given by the prophet in ideal type and form. Nor let any 
 despise the day of small things, saying, " If even a fox go up, 
 it shall break down their strong walls." Let not any, looking 
 merely on the outward appearance of the company gathered 
 together in the name of Christ, judge hastily concerning the 
 church and city of God. For although Bethlehem was little 
 among the thousands of Judah, and Nazareth despised and 
 almost contemptible among the proud cities of Israel, yet from 
 Bethlehem came forth the Ruler of the people, whose goings 
 forth were of old from everlasting ; and from the workshop of 
 Joseph the carpenter in Nazareth there emerged that Mighty 
 One, who is wonderful in council, and excellent in working — 
 even Jesus the Christ, who saves his people from their sins, and 
 reigns for ever on his glorious throne on the right hand of the 
 Heavenly Majesty. 
 
254 JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH ; OR, THE LORD IS THERE. 
 
 In the manger of Bethlehem, wrapped in swaddling bands, 
 was found the infant Redeemer; and in the workshop of 
 Nazareth the young man Jesus might be seen. His lowliness 
 was in contrast with his adorable majesty and glory ; but it 
 was, at the same time, in harmony with the ends and design of 
 his incarnation. The cross seemed out of keeping with the 
 power and glory of Immanuel ; but it was by that cross that 
 he engaged the wisdom and power and justice of God for the 
 establishing and upbuilding of the city of God, as by his blood 
 he opened a way and channel through which the unsearchable 
 and immeasurable fulness of the divine love, grace, and mercy 
 How forth to bless, sanctify, and save sinners of mankind. 
 
 God seeth not as man seeth. Man looketh on the outward 
 appearance, but the Lord looketh into and through the heart ; 
 and where his eye sees two or three right-hearted men gathered 
 together in his name, there he deigns to dwell, there he rests 
 in his love, there he records his name, and there he dwells and 
 reigns as head and king, there he guards the faithful by his 
 Almighty power, and there he gives light and health and 
 gladness and joy and honour. This is none other than the city 
 of the Lord, concerning which glorious things are spoken and 
 sung throughout the Scriptures of truth. It cometh not and 
 groweth not with observation ; nevertheless it is being built 
 and extended — is continually growing up, through the succes- 
 sive ages of time, to be that stately and glorious temple, that 
 city of the great king, which shall be to him- as a palace of 
 light, radiant and illumined with his own brightness, sanctity, 
 and splendours — an habitation of God through the Spirit. 
 
 The littleness of its beginnings, the meanness of its citizens, 
 the absence from it of everything fitted to attract or to dazzle 
 the eye of outward observation, when rightly thought of, are 
 infallible proofs that it is of God and not of man. And as the 
 tree of lofty stature and of strong and far-spreading boughs, 
 beneath which the fowls of heaven and birds of varied note and 
 hue find a lodgment, contrasts with the seedling or almost 
 invisible germ from which it sprang forth and grew to be a 
 plant of renown ; so the progressively developing and evolving 
 growth, fruitfulness, and glory of the church of Jesus Christ, 
 
JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH ; OR, THE LORD IS THERE. 255 
 
 the city of God, is now in sublime contrast with the smallness 
 of its beginnings, and the weakness of the means, agencies, and 
 instrumentalities from which, as seen or observed by men, all 
 this glory proceeded. What then shall be the glory of this 
 city, when it shall be seen in its perfection and completeness, 
 the -actual and realized reflection and embodiment of the grand 
 idea and purpose of the eternal mind, wisdom, and grace of God ? 
 
 This city is properly named after its Founder and its King. 
 It is not properly a city localized in any country or earthly 
 territory. It is the church of Christ in any given earthly king- 
 dom or country. Everything distinctive of it, and peculiar to 
 it, is derived from Christ, and is dependent on its relation to 
 him, its living Head and glorious King. We must never con- 
 found it with sect, place, or nationality. "Neither on this 
 mountain nor at Jerusalem shall men worship the Father," 
 with any special acceptance or favour, because of the place 
 from which the worship is offered. But incense and a pure 
 offering, worship in spirit and in truth, offered by whomsoever 
 and in whatsoever place, shall be, and is now, acceptable in the 
 sight and presence of God. 
 
 Here, in this evangelical city, Christ is all and in all. He is 
 the centre of union, giving true, real, and spiritual unity and 
 compactness to his one undivided and spiritual church. For in 
 living union to him, joined to the Lord in one Spirit, all the 
 scattered companies, no matter where or how dispersed, form 
 one city, church, and kingdom. 
 
 He is the fountain and source of all authority exercised 
 within the city. It is reasonable that a man should bear rule 
 in his own house ; and it is reasonable and right, — every way 
 most fit and becoming, — that the voice of law, rule, and autho- 
 rity within the church should be the voice of " Jesus only." 
 For said the voice from the excellent glory on the holy mount 
 where Jesus was transfigured, " This is my beloved Son ; hear 
 ye him." The flock of our Shepherd King hear the Good 
 Shepherd's voice, and they know not, and will not, obey the 
 voice of a stranger or of an usurper. Under law are the 
 citizens ; but as citizens of this city under law not to priest, 
 prelate, pope, or prince, but under law to Christ only. 
 
256 JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH ; OR, THE LORD IS THERE. 
 
 He is the foundation of the city. He laid its foundation in 
 his blood ; for by that blood-shedding he purchased it, that he 
 might build it, and present it to himself a glorious church and 
 city. He is the life of it. It is his creation : a new creation 
 in which righteous peace and joy in the Holy Ghost are to have 
 their sure and perpetual abode. And as its life is in him, so it 
 will reflect and share his glory. The life is hid with Christ in 
 God ; and when he shall appear, the city shall appear in his 
 glory. 
 
 All that distinguishes or differentiates the church of God 
 as the Christian church, belongs to it from its relation to 
 Christ Jesus. This it is which secures the unity of the church 
 and its immovable stability. This city of God is impregnable. 
 Its walls will never be scaled ; its towers, bulwarks, and forts 
 will never be beaten down ; its citadel will never be taken by 
 the enemy ; its provisions shall never be exhausted : for its 
 walls are salvation, and its gates are praise. Through its halls 
 and palaces, and in all its streets, will continually be heard the 
 song, " Salvation is of the Lord." " The right hand of the 
 Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly." 
 " I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously." 
 Hallelujah ! praise ye the Lord ! For " on this rock " — of 
 his own humanity, Messiahship, and divinity, said the King 
 — "will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not 
 prevail against it." And again, " Fear not, little flock ; for it 
 is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." 
 And to that Father pertains alike "the kingdom and the 
 power and the glory for ever." 
 
 The holiness as well as the unity of this city is grounded on 
 its relation to Christ. He it is that hath sanctified it unto 
 himself, that he might dwell in it. Therefore did he redeem it 
 and deliver it from under the tyranny of Satan, that he might 
 dwell in it for ever. He chose it for himself that it might 
 show forth his glory. 
 
 The catholicity of the church belongs to it because its Head 
 is in heaven, and because the Spirit that is in him is given to 
 everyone that believeth in his name. Wherever two or three 
 are gathered together in his name, there is he by his Spirit, and 
 
JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH ; OR, THE LORD IS THERE. 257 
 
 there we find a part of the one holy and catholic church. Any 
 catholicity other than this is not the catholicity of the true 
 and only church of the living God. Simplicity, truth, spiritu- 
 ality are the signs and marks of Christian catholicity. This 
 is secured by the presence of Christ ; and this presence is with 
 all, in every place, and of every name, who love the Lord Jesus 
 Christ in sincerity and truth. 
 
 True to the name of the city is the glory spiritually observ- 
 able in it. Apostles, evangelists, and prophets, pastors, and 
 teachers were the gifts of the King to his city and people. All 
 things are theirs ; for they are Christ's, and Christ is God's. 
 The true and genuine successors of the apostles are those who, 
 disclaiming and repudiating the arrogant claims and pretensions 
 of those calling themselves the successors of these extraordinary 
 ambassadors of Christ, labour in word and doctrine, and con- 
 tinually give themselves unto prayer after the manner of the 
 apostles. The apostolic men are the men who preach the 
 apostolic doctrine, do apostolic work, abide in the apostolic 
 fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayer, — the 
 men in whom is of a truth the Spirit of Christ, the men who 
 are full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. It is the maintenance 
 of the truth, the doing of the work of Christ in the Spirit of 
 Christ, that can vindicate the claim of apostolicity on the part 
 of any. But they are schismatics and sectaries, be they 
 Anglicans, or be they Greeks or Romans, who arrogate to their 
 prelates the rights and prerogatives proper only to the apostles 
 of Jesus Christ. Luther, Knox, Latimer, Calvin, Zuingle, 
 Whitfield, Wesley, Brainard, Elliot, Carey, Chalmers, Duff, 
 Macdonald of the North, Moffat of South Africa, Edwards, 
 Payson, M'Cheyne, Buchanan, and Henry Martyn, with 
 Williams of Erromanga — these and thousands more, whose 
 lives, labours, doctrines, zeal, and sacrifices have splendidly 
 illuminated the annals of modern Christianity, were apostolic 
 men. They were the successors whom the apostles would 
 hear, approve, and own as their fellow-labourers in the 
 kingdom of God. And so long as the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 not pope or prelate, dispenses the anointing oil of true conse- 
 cration, even the unction of the Holy Ghost, so long shall the 
 
 R* 
 
258 JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH ; OR, THE LORD IS THERE. 
 
 catholic church of Jesus Christ vindicate its right to be 
 counted, by all godly and Christian men, and even by the 
 world itself, the church hoi}' and apostolic. These, and such 
 as these, among the citizens of this city, bear apostolic stamp, 
 and indicate the apostolic spirit by their truly apostolic 
 character and work. They are the messengers of the churches, 
 and the glory of Christ. 
 
 From Christ is all the light, righteousness, truth, grace, and 
 power of this city. This it is that renders the church like 
 a city set on a hill that cannot be hid. Hence it is that their 
 light, from the character and doctrine and labours of the 
 citizens, shines so before men that God their Father is 
 glorified. 
 
 This is that city with its name Jehovah-Shammah. For 
 now in this gospel age and ministration of the Spirit, " Ye," 
 says the apostle to the Hebrews, " are come unto mount Zion. 
 and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, 
 and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general 
 assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in 
 heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just 
 men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new 
 covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better 
 things than that of Abel." 
 
 It is the presence of Christ, according to what is signified by 
 the name " Jehovah-Shammah," that gives to the city all its 
 glory here and now, and that makes sure to it the glory of God 
 through the ever-rolling ages of eternity. Here and now the 
 glory of this city is liable to occasional eclipse and overshadow- 
 ment, even as the glory of its King and Head was for a time 
 veiled under a marred visage, under tears and an exceeding- 
 great sorrow, under thick, dark, and heavy clouds of reproach 
 contumely, ignominy, agony, wounds, and death on the accursed 
 tree. But even as he, having died, rose again and ascended 
 to glory, attended and worshipped by the angels of God, 
 thousands of angels strong, and now reigns there in the midst 
 of the throne of royal and universal dominion, — so for the city 
 which he had founded, and in which by his Spirit he dwells 
 and reigns there in a store of glory far excelling and surpass- 
 
JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH ; OR, THE LORD IS THERE. 250 
 
 ing that of the most famous, powerful, and renowned cities, 
 kingdoms, and empires of this world. 
 
 " Come hither," said the Apocalyptic angel to John in 
 Patmos, " I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he 
 carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, 
 and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending 
 out of heaven from God, having the glory of God : and her light 
 was like unto a stone most precious, even like unto a jasper 
 stone, clear as crystal ; and had a wall great and high, and had 
 twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names 
 written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of 
 the children of Israel : on the east three gates ; on the north 
 three gates ; on the south three gates ; and on the west three 
 gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and 
 in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. . . 
 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the 
 breadth. . . . The length and the breadth and the height of 
 it are equal. . . . And I saw no temple therein : for the 
 Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And 
 the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine 
 in it : for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the 
 light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall 
 walk in the light of it : and the kings of the earth do bring 
 their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not 
 be shut at all by day : for there is no night there. And 
 they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into 
 it. And there shall in no wise enter into it anything 
 that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or 
 maketh a lie : but they which are written in the Lamb's 
 book of life. And he showed me a pure river of the water 
 of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne 
 of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, 
 and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life 
 which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit 
 every month : and the leaves of the tree were for the healing 
 of the nations. And there shall be no more curse : but the 
 throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it ; and his servants 
 shall serve him : and they shall see his face ; and his name 
 
260 JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH ; OB, THE LORD IS THERE. 
 
 shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there ; 
 and they need no candle, neither light of the sun ; for the Lord 
 God giveth them light : and they shall reign for ever and ever." 
 This is the city of God ; this the glory reserved for the church 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ ; and this glory, which the richest 
 splendour of figurative language can but inadequately express 
 and declare, is but the reality corresponding with what is 
 signified by the name of the city — Jehovah-Shammah — The 
 Lord is there. Then let us sing : — 
 
 ' ' I am the Lord, and by the name 
 Of great Jehovah known ; 
 No idol shall usurp my praise, 
 Nor mount into my throne. 
 
 " Lo ! former scenes, predicted once, 
 
 Conspicuous rise to view ; 
 And future scenes, predicted now, 
 
 Shall be accomplihs'd too. 
 Sing to the Lord in joyful strains ! 
 
 Let earth his praise resound, 
 Ye who upon the ocean dwell, 
 
 And fill the isles around ! 
 
 " city of the Lord ! begin 
 
 The universal song ; 
 And let the scatter'd villages 
 
 The cheerful notes prolong. 
 Let Kedar's wilderness afar 
 
 Lift up its lonely voice ; 
 And let the tenants of the rock 
 
 With accents rude rejoice ; 
 
 " Till 'midst the streams of distant lands 
 The islands sound his praise ; 
 And all combin'd with one accord, 
 Jehovah's glories raise. " 
 
ICHABOD; OR THE GLORY IS DEPARTED 
 
 THE RIVAL CITY TO THE CITY OF GOD. 
 
 "Ichabod, for the glory is departed.'" — 1 .Sam. iv. 21. 
 
 THE ANCIENT BABYLON. 
 
 In holy Scripture we read of another city famous and much 
 renowned, — a city set over against the city of God, — that great 
 city, Babylon. It claimed to be mistress and queen over all other 
 cities and kingdoms, — to be the " gate of God," as if by it the 
 mighty hosts of God went forth by divine commission to 
 subjugate the world; and as if within its gates only could 
 safety be found, and access be had unto the most High God. 
 It boasted a great antiquity. It covered a large area. Built 
 on the two sides of the river Euphrates, the circuit of the city 
 was, according to the testimony of Herodotus, about 480 
 stadia, or 56 English miles, enclosing a space of nearly 200 
 square miles, or ten times the size of London. Its walls 
 are said to have been in height about 357 feet, and in breadth 
 about 85 feet. The vast space of this famous city was thus 
 surrounded and enclosed by walls nearly equal in height to 
 the dome of St. Paul's in London. And on these Cyclopean 
 walls were 250 towers to protect and guard the more assailable 
 parts. It contained within it a very numerous population. 
 The riches of the world flowed into it. It had a far-reaching 
 and strong dominion ; and for a time it held Jerusalem and 
 
262 ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 
 
 Judea under its sway captive and tributary. Through it 
 there flowed the mighty river Euphrates ; its palaces and its 
 walls were the wonder of the world; its kings lived in 
 stupendous luxury and splendour; and their decrees and 
 behests were as the voice of God to many millions of mankind. 
 This was Babylon, "the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the 
 Chaldees' excellency," " the golden city." (Isaiah xiii. and xiv.) 
 This was the city that in ambition towered high and far 
 above the lofty heights, to which the original architects and 
 builders would impiously have exalted the pinnacles of its 
 proud citadel ; for it is said, " I will ascend into heaven, I will 
 exalt my throne above the stars of God : I will sit also upon 
 the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north : I will 
 ascend above the heights of the clouds ; I will be like the Most 
 High." (Isaiah xiv.) If great in its ambition, it was also great 
 in power. It made the earth to tremble and to quake beneath 
 the heavy and measured tread of its multitudinous hosts, by its 
 shouts of war, and by its voice of lion-like roaring for its prey ; 
 by the thunder of its military power it did shake the kingdoms 
 of the nations, making the world as a wilderness, destroying 
 the cities thereof, and binding their captains, rulers, and kings 
 in the bonds of a cruel, merciless, and degrading captivity; it 
 opened not the house of the prisoners. In the hand of the 
 Lord this city had been a golden cup that made all the earth 
 drunken (Jer. li.); for the nations drank of her wine and were 
 mad. This was the city that dwelt upon many waters and was 
 abundant in treasures. This was the lady of kingdoms (Isaiah 
 xlvii.) that said, " I shall be a lady for ever. ... I am, and 
 none else beside me ; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I 
 know the loss of children." To this proud city Nebuchadnezzar 
 carried the vessels of the house of the Lord, and put them in his 
 temple at Babylon. Of this city the king's greatness had 
 grown and reached unto heaven, and his dominion to the end 
 of the earth, so that, contemplating with proud complacency 
 the seat and centre of his royalty, magnificence, and power, the 
 king said, " Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the 
 house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the 
 honour of my majesty? " 
 
ichabod; or, the glory is departed. 263- 
 
 Antiquity, unity, catholicity, sanctity, and great far-spread- 
 ing and seemingly irresistible power and dominion belonged to 
 this famous and far-renowned city. It was the mother and 
 mistress of the empires of the world, and asserted for itself 
 alike the prerogatives of supreme dominion and of supreme 
 and ultimate arbitration among the princedoms and princi- 
 palities, satrapies and governments of the whole earth. As 
 if invested with almighty power and divine omniscience, 
 infallibility and wisdom, it spurned all resistance, whether 
 to its arms or to its behests and decrees. The mighty 
 king had his vicegerents in every province, and received 
 and gave information through his legates, ambassadors, and 
 messengers. Might not this city — with its foundations so 
 deeply and broadly laid ; with its walls, towers, and bulwarks 
 so strong and high ; with its resources so ample and seemingly 
 inexhaustible ; with its captains and commanders so renowned 
 by the splendours of military prowess and achievement ; with 
 its armies so multitudinous and invincible ; with its sages, 
 counsellors, and ministers of state, so wise, astute, so daring 
 and so sagacious ; and with a head and king before whose 
 very image adoring millions fell prostrate — count on in- 
 defectible and inviolable perpetuity of dominion, — a per- 
 petuity rivalling in duration the extent and widely spread 
 range of its sovereignty and dominion over the tribes, nations, 
 peoples, and potentates of the whole earth ? Would not the 
 shadow projected by it through the ages of time equal the 
 shadow thrown by it across the far-sweeping arena of space ? 
 This was the proud hope, this the expectation, this the vain vision 
 and delusive dream of its mighty monarch and of the princely 
 men of his cabinet, court, and council. But there is a higher 
 than the highest among men. There is a stronger than the 
 strong, a wiser than the wise, a more ancient than the old, and 
 one mightier far than the mightiest among men. And who 
 may stand when he appeareth, when the Ancient of Days comes, 
 when the judgment is set, and the officers and executioners of 
 his just wrath and vengeance receive their commission to do his 
 sharp and short work of judgment in the earth? The majestic 
 and enthroned iniquity of Babylon, that had so long given forth 
 
264 ichabod; or, the glory is departed. 
 
 its iniquitous and blasphemous decrees, alike with the infalli- 
 bility of divine wisdom and the irresistibility of divine 
 and omnipotent power, culminated and reached its lofty climax 
 of arrogance, daring, and blasphemy in a great convention and 
 high festival of the nobles, lords, and princes, of the far-ruling 
 kingdom. The occasion that was to illustrate and give signal 
 demonstration of the grandeur, majesty, and glory of the great 
 king of Babylon, was the divinely ordained occasion of signaliz- 
 ing the sin, the impotence, the disgrace, feebleness, and ruin 
 of all that but immediately before appeared to the eyes and in 
 the view of millions so sacred, so powerful, so august, and so 
 full of majesty. " Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a 
 thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. 
 Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the 
 golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had 
 taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem ; that the king, 
 and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink 
 therein. Then they brought the golden vessels that were 
 taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at 
 Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and 
 his concubines, drank in them. They drank wine, and 
 praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of 
 wood, and of stone. In the same hour came forth fingers 
 of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick 
 on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace : and the 
 king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king's 
 countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so 
 that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one 
 against another. The king cried aloud to bring in the astro- 
 logers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, 
 and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read 
 this writing, and show me the interpretation thereof, shall be 
 clothed with scarlet, and shall have a chain of gold about his 
 neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom." The 
 learning of the wise men could not read the writing, nor could 
 their wisdom give its mystic characters interpretation. The 
 trouble of the king increased. His countenance was changed 
 in him; and his lords were mute with astonishment. Is there 
 
ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 265 
 
 not an interpreter — one of a thousand ? Daniel is called into 
 the royal presence. Refusing offered gifts, honours, or prefer- 
 ments as if in recompense, he reads the writing, and gives the 
 interpretation. Before doing this, as the prophet and minister 
 of the living God, he refers in brief but comprehensive words 
 to the dealings of God with Nebuchadnezzar, who had learned 
 in the school of personal affliction and sore adversity that " the 
 Most High God ruled in the kingdom of men, and he ap- 
 pointeth over it whomsoever he will;" and addressing his 
 words directly to the monarch before him, he says, "And 
 thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, 
 though thou knewest all this; but hast lifted up thyself against 
 the Lord of heaven ; and they have brought the vessels of his 
 house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy 
 concubines, have drunk wine in them ; and thou hast praised 
 the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, 
 which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose 
 hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not 
 glorified : then was the part of the hand sent from him ; and 
 this writing was written. And this is the writing that was 
 written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is 
 the interpretation of the thing : MENE ; God hath numbered 
 thy kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL; thou art weighed 
 in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES ; thy king- 
 dom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. . 
 In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. 
 And Darius the Median took the kingdom." (Dan. v.) 
 
 The doom pronounced by many prophets against the 
 haughty and imperious city came suddenly and terribly 
 upon it. Her broad walls were utterly broken down (Jer. 
 li. 58), and her high gates were burnt with fire. As God 
 overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, so he overthrew Babylon. 
 It is no more the habitation of living men. (Isaiah xiii.) 
 The Arabian does not pitch his tent there : nor do the 
 shepherds make their fold there. But the wild beasts of 
 the desert lie there ; the houses are full of doleful creatures ; 
 the owls dwell there, and the satyrs dance there. Hell 
 
26Q ichabod; or, the glory is departed. 
 
 from beneath, or the realm of death, was moved for her 
 to 'meet her ; at her coming down the dead, even all the 
 chief ones of the earth, were stirred up ; and the kings of the 
 nations, raised up from their thrones, said unto fallen Babylon, 
 Art thou become weak as we ? Art thou become like unto 
 us ? How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the 
 morning ! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst 
 weaken the nations ! Babylon is fallen ! Babylon the great 
 is fallen; and the gates of Hades have for ever closed themselves 
 over all its power, pomp, wealth, grandeur, and glory. From 
 the lofty and giddy pinnacles and heights of her towering- 
 ambition, pride, and blasphemy, she fell, as from a precipice, 
 into the yawning and bottomless gulf of everlasting destruc- 
 tion, oblivion, and ruin. The festival of her splendour and 
 pride was the signal of her overthrow, and rung the knell of 
 her irretrievable destiny. For the Lord God Omnipotent 
 reign eth, and to the proud rolling waves of impiety, profanity, 
 and blaspheming power, he sa,ys, " Hitherto shall ye come, 
 and no further : here shall your proud waves be stayed." 
 Thus did he speak the word, and Babylon the great of 
 ancient time perished for ever, sinking as lead in the 
 mighty waters of overwhelming ages. Verily there is a 
 God that judgeth in the earth. 
 
 THE NEW TESTAMENT BABYLON. 
 
 But as the ancient Jerusalem, Avith the visions of its glory, 
 .seen by the prophets and men of God, was typical of the New 
 Jerusalem, and evangelical city, and kingdom of God, so the 
 ancient Babylon was a type and prefigurement, an historically 
 acted prophecy of the Babylon of modern times — the modern 
 city of idols. And, as in the New Testament, we find minutely 
 sketched and delineated the likeness and very framework, the 
 constitution and glory of the city of God, with its name, 
 " Jehovah-Shammah ; " so we find graphic and unmistakeable 
 delineations of the rival city of Antichrist. Its name, its rise 
 and growth, its character and works, its power, cruelty, and 
 
ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 267 
 
 doom, its end and ruin, are expressly given in the Scriptures of 
 truth. 
 
 If, when turning from Ezekiel's vision of the glorious city of 
 God to contemplate the actual and living reality as seen in the 
 gospel, we were tempted at first to entertain feelings of a 
 momentary painfulness excited by the contrast, we might be 
 also tempted to cherish sentiments akin to contempt when 
 reading of the beginnings of the rise of the modern Babylonian 
 city of Antichrist. Conscious of the fact that God was with 
 and among the faithful in Christ Jesus, and observing them 
 as they went forth following the Lamb, conquering and to 
 conquer, — and seeing superstition, craft, wickedness, ungodly 
 power, chased and put to flight before the soldiers and army of 
 the Prince of light, righteousness, and peace, — beholding the 
 signs, wonders, and mighty deeds by which the Holy Ghost 
 bore witness to the doctrine of Christ preached by the despised 
 Galileans and by Paul the apostle of the Gentiles, we might be 
 tempted to despise and think lightly of the workings of a 
 mysterious power referred to in the writings of the evangelists 
 and apostles. But experience ought to teach us that it is 
 foolish and perilous to despise the first workings and initia- 
 tory beginnings whether of good or evil. The day of small 
 things in either case may be followed by long years of pros- 
 perity, or dark and cloudy years of woe. Principles are never 
 to be despised by wise men. For evil or for good, they have 
 a most marvellous power of development, expansion, and 
 growth. From hidden germs of truth and grace, at first 
 unseen, and when seen despised by the world, grew that 
 kingdom of God which in its developing and more manifested 
 power has in every age awakened the hostility and encoun- 
 tered the determined and deadly opposition of the world. 
 From scarcely observable or visible, because latent and hidden, 
 workings has grown that stupendous system of baptized and 
 enthroned iniquity, which for many long and dark ages has 
 been, as it is at this hour, the most formidable adversary of the 
 city of God, diffusing, wherever its shadow spreads, a most 
 baleful and fatal influence on the minds, hearts, and morals of 
 mankind, — an influence hostile and antagonistic to that of the 
 
268 ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 
 
 truth as it is in Jesus, and most ruinous to the souls of men. 
 The modem Babylon attained its heights of power and ascen- 
 dency, its fully developed stature of gigantic iniquity and 
 blasphemy, its full revelation of itself as the Antichrist and 
 Man of Sin, only by slow and progressive steps, additions, and 
 degrees. The germ of the system was in the carnal views of 
 the people, not excluding the disciples themselves for a time, 
 who expected Christ Jesus to set up a theocracy, or kingdom 
 partly political and secular, and partly religious and spiritual 
 — a kingdom, however, in which the secular honours, dignities, 
 preferments, offices, and dominion should far surpass and 
 entirely overshadow the duties and privileges purely religious 
 and spiritual. It was this disappointed carnal expectation 
 that crucified the Lord of Glory and put him to open shame. 
 It is the same carnal and secular spirit working historically 
 that has in the Papal or Roman system betrayed and crucified 
 Christ through the long ages of that antichristian apostacy. 
 For there is not a truth, a precept, a perfection, or prerogative 
 of Christ, which it has not betrayed, crucified, or trampled in 
 the dust, treating it as an unholy thing, and spitting upon it ; 
 while it has persecuted his faithful followers, and so shed their 
 blood that it is said to be drunk with the blood of the saints 
 of the Most High. 
 
 Speaking of the incipient workings of this system, the 
 apostle Paul says, " The mystery of iniquity doth already 
 work." He contrasts it by name with " the mystery of godli- 
 ness." He ascribes its hidden but subtle working to the malice 
 and agency of Satan. It is "after the working of Satan." 
 Now, Satan works by insinuating doubts, by propagating lies r 
 and by colouring his falsehoods with an air and hue of plausi- 
 bility, so that they may entice, beguile, and destroy the simple, 
 and ensnare and seduce, if it were possible, the very elect. For 
 as Christ's kingdom is grounded on truth and righteousness,. 
 Satan's is founded on falsehood, and is propagated and main- 
 tained by the deceivableness of unrighteousness. 
 
 In the apostolic age many things tended to check and hinder 
 the too active growth and development of this system. The 
 words and example of Christ, so fresh and vivid in the minds 
 
ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 269 
 
 -of Christian men, tended to check and restrain the ambition to 
 set up a worldly kingdom in his name and as by his authority. 
 " If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants 
 fight for me, that I should not be delivered to the Jews" — 
 these words were yet remembered, and were well known. The 
 cross and the scene at the crucifixion were, if I may so speak, full 
 in the view of men ; and Christ crucified was preached and pre- 
 sented, as by Paul to the Galatians, with the vividness not so 
 much of a past fact as of a present reality. (Gal. iii. 1.) In 
 the view of that cross, and beneath its shadow, men could not 
 consciously dare to set up a secular and worldly kingdom under 
 the assumed name of the Crucified One. To these thino-s must 
 be added the direct authority of apostolic teaching. But even 
 under the shadow of the cross, and notwithstanding the autho- 
 rity of the apostles, the mystery of iniquity was secretly 
 working. It found, however, its congenial sphere and soil in 
 Rome, and there it began early to work with power — often 
 hindered, often checked, rebuked, retarded, not only by the 
 teaching and influence of godly and faithful Christian men, but 
 also by the power civil, secular, military, and political of the 
 Empire and Roman State. The fanaticism and ignorance of 
 the multitudes, fanned into fierce fury by their superstition, 
 acted on by the pagan priesthood, and in league with the 
 imperial policy and power, hindered and interrupted for a time 
 the development of this mystery of iniquity. At length, how- 
 ever, according to apostolic prophecy, the hindering causes 
 were taken out of the way ; and so dexterously cunning and 
 crafty was the policy of a progressively debased and degenerating 
 ecclesiasticism, that it contrived to gather strength to itself out 
 of the increasing weakness of the civil power, — aliment to itself 
 out of the impoverished and starved condition of the poor, 
 while it allied to itself the ignorance and superstitions of the 
 multitudes. The primitive and apostolic Roman presbyter 
 developed into the Roman prelate, the prelate into the great 
 primate, the primate into the pope, and the pope into a 
 visible and audible god on earth. The successive stages are 
 historically traceable till we come to the year 1870, when the Man 
 of Sin — that wicked One, that Son of Perdition fore-announced 
 
270 ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 
 
 by Paul (2 Thess. ii.) — was revealed, sitting as God in the temple 
 of God, declaring himself, as he had been voted by a few hun- 
 dreds of his fellow-men, to be ex officio infallible. But the 
 powers of the heavens seemed on that day to utter God's pro- 
 test against the blasphemy of the decree of papal infallibility. 
 And, in his holy providence, God, moving with steps of awful 
 majesty, has since that time, in rapid and swift measures, 
 been giving lessons of instructive judgments to emperors, kings, 
 nations, and churches. For as certainly as when in high 
 festival the king of Babylon saw the fingers of a man's hand 
 come forth and write the mysterious words on the plaster of 
 the wall over against the candlestick, Mene, Mene, Tekel, 
 Upharsin ; so certainly on the walls of St. Peter's in Borne 
 did the finger of God write the words that doom to perdition 
 the antichristian and blasphemous system of Romanism, when 
 its visible head gave himself out before the universe to be none 
 other than God on earth. "The Lord is a jealous God. His 
 glory he will not give to another, nor his praise to graven 
 images." 
 
 Next to the interest attaching itself to the study of the pro- 
 gressive evolution and history of true and spiritual Christianity, 
 is that connected with the study of the historically developed 
 Antichrist, or the mystic Babylon. The history of the former 
 proves that the true and spiritual church has in every age 
 been the pillar and ground of the truth — that is, that it has 
 sought to present to the view of man, and maintain and 
 vindicate, the truth given by the authority of God in Holy 
 Scripture, unadulterated by any human admixtures, uncorrupted 
 by the inventions and traditions of men. The history of the 
 latter proves that it has historically so overlaid the truth and 
 testimony of God by the fables and fictions, the falsehoods 
 and plausibilities of men, that the truth divinely given has 
 found its grave and sepulchre in Romanism. For it has 
 robbed and plundered both Christ and his people of what is 
 proper and peculiar to them ; and it has transmuted the most 
 spi ritual of institutions into a huge carnal organization, where 
 all is flesh and all is sensual, if not also truly devilish. 
 
 The mediatorship of Christ is made in it of no effect by the 
 
ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 271 
 
 countless number of those coadjutor mediators called saints, 
 and more especially by the place and honours given to the 
 thoughtful, unobtrusive, and devout mother of Jesus. 
 
 The prophetical office of Christ is virtually and practically 
 superseded by the place given to antichristian dogmas, dogmas 
 that contradict in express terms the authoritative teaching of 
 the words of Jesus, the Great Prophet of the church. 
 
 The priestly office of Christ is done away with by the dignity 
 and honours given to so-called priests, and especially to the 
 supreme pontiff, and by the efficacy attributed to the mere 
 words and acts of the priesthood. The sacrifice of Christ once 
 offered, and once offered for all, is impiously caricatured in the 
 sacrifice of the mass ; and a principle, at once mechanical and 
 material, displaces the spiritual agency, operation, and grace of 
 the Holy Ghost. 
 
 The kingly office of Christ is dishonoured and brought into 
 contempt by the blasphemous titles and prerogatives asserted 
 for himself by the pope of Rome, and ascribed to him by 
 millions of mankind. 
 
 The grace of God, the nature and ground of the righteousness 
 by which man is justified and accepted before God, the doctrine 
 of the regenerating and sanctifying operation of the Spirit, 
 the perfection, sufficiency, and infallible authority of the Word 
 of God in inspired Scripture, the nature of the kingdom of 
 God, its ends, means, and designs, its discipline, worship, 
 government, — all are corrupted, misrepresented, caricatured, 
 and falsified in Romanism. 
 
 The people of Christ are all constituted in and by him a 
 royal priesthood to offer spiritual service and sacrifices unto 
 God. They are privileged all to be taught directly by the 
 Word of Christ, their prophet; and they are as kings unto God, 
 even the Father — a royal company of brethren, who are not 
 permitted to call any man Master, or Rabbi, or Lord. For One 
 is their Master, even Jesus. 
 
 In the city Babylon we find not only the grave of all the 
 truth concerning God and his grace, concerning Christ and his 
 people, but that city is itself a grand caricature and falsification 
 of the kingdom and city of God. The city of God is spiritual, 
 
272 ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 
 
 and is constituted for spiritual ends. In it the temporal sword 
 must not have place or work. But this city is secular, and 
 constituted mainly for secular ends, and is maintained, defended, 
 or propagated by secular means. Nay, it claims dominion and 
 authority over all secular kingdoms. The city of God has a 
 spiritual unity in the truth, by virtue of the union to Christ 
 of all its citizens. The city Babylon has an external secular 
 union, by virtue of the subjection of all its people to the 
 authority of the pope. The city of God is holy by reason of 
 the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in every citizen. The city 
 Babylon professes to be holy, because only in it, and through 
 its officials, does the Holy Ghost work. The city of God is 
 catholic because, from its relation to Christ, it comprehends 
 within it all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and 
 truth. The Babylonian city is catholic because its head is at 
 Rome. The city of God is apostolic because founded on the 
 ministry of apostles, and because its citizens continue in the 
 apostles' doctrine, and fellowship, and practice. The city Baby- 
 lon is apostolic because it professes that its bishops have 
 followed in lineal succession from Simon Peter — a monstrous 
 historical lie, But in everything, in unity, sanctity, catholi- 
 city, and apostolicity, it is a secular and material system. It is 
 of the earth earthy; and like all earthly things, instead of 
 possessing indefectibility, it is liable to the law of corruption, 
 and must pass away. In so far as it has been set up by the 
 sword, the sword must strike it down. And in so far as it has 
 been set up, framed, and consolidated by falsehood, the truth, 
 through the power of the Eternal Spirit, must and will, as the 
 breath from the mouth of God, utterly consume it. For taken 
 away it must be, in order that the kingdom of Christ in spirit 
 and in truth may till the whole world. That system, as the 
 Man of Sin, must also be the Son of perdition, "whom the Lord 
 .shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy 
 with the brightness of his coming." Of this, its ultimate and 
 complete ruin and overthrow, recent grand events connected 
 with the (ecumenical council, and with the relative ascen- 
 dency in Europe of certain great powers, are harbingers and 
 heralds. It may, indeed, be that, before the end comes, having 
 
ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 2/3 
 
 lost its hold on rulers and governments, — entering into 
 league and alliance with the spirit of atheistic communism and 
 superstitious democracy, which so luxuriantly grew under its 
 shadow and fostering care — make one desperate effort to retrieve 
 its lost prestige and dominion, or to drag down with it in its 
 fall and engulf in its own abyss — its own prepared place — the 
 whole framework of the political and social system of the 
 world, in so far as that was shaped and modelled according 
 to the principles of concordats with Rome, and fitted to 
 sustain, buttress, and strengthen the decrepit rottenness of 
 that vile and antichristian tyranny that has so long held in 
 slavery the bodies, souls, and consciences of many nations of 
 mankind. 
 
 There can be no question that the Roman Antichrist is 
 responsible for almost all the persecution and bloodshed that 
 have marked the history of the church since the downfal of 
 the Roman Empire in the West. It is responsible too for 
 almost all the infidelity and atheism that have prevailed 
 during the same series of ages. And at this hour it is deeply 
 significant that communism, political restlessness, materialism, 
 and atheism prevail to any extent almost exclusively in those 
 countries where Romanism has had its freest and fullest 
 development, and in countries that were the grand props and 
 mainstay of the entire system, and more especially of the 
 temporal and political power, independence, and sovereignty 
 of the pope. How long will it be till rulers and subjects hear 
 the word of God saying unto them, " Be wise, ye kings : be 
 instructed, all ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with 
 fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be 
 angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled 
 but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." 
 (Ps. ii.) 
 
 TWO PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE CITY BY PAUL. 
 
 In two passages in the writings of the apostle Paul, the 
 apostle to the Gentiles, among whom the Man of Sin or the 
 Antichrist was to be, and has been, developed, we have two 
 
 s* 
 
274 ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 
 
 photographs of the antichristian apostacy. These agree in their 
 main features and more marked lineaments. To them both is 
 given the same name — apostacy from the faith or truth. And 
 they are both alike distinguished by their main principles as 
 after the working of Satan with all deceivableness of un- 
 righteousness. And in both cases they agree in opposition 
 to the truth which is according to godliness. But the one is 
 taken as it were at an earlier stage of the development of the 
 Antichrist than the other. The passage in 1 Tim. iv. 1 — 8 is a 
 photograph of the Romish church that might have been taken 
 three hundred or more years ago, during the sitting of the council 
 of Trent, or at a much earlier period in the history of the 
 apostacy. The first general mark of the system is indicated in 
 the words, " The Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter 
 times seme shall depart from the faith." Apostacy is on the 
 front and forehead of the system. The " latter times," as in the 
 NewTestament generally, signify the times of the gospel under the 
 reign of the Messiah. And when it is said " the Spirit speaketh 
 expressly " of this apostacy in the latter times, the apostle had 
 in view some explicit and definite sentence or utterance of the 
 Holy Spirit of inspiration in the Old Testament. It may be 
 that the apostle had in view some such word as that in the 
 seventh chapter of Daniel, at the twenty-fourth verse, where it 
 is foretold that a power shall arise after ten others that shall 
 be diverse from them, that the head of it shall " subdue three 
 kings (is not the triple crown photographed here ?), and he 
 shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out 
 the saints of the Most Hio-h, and think to change times and 
 laws : and they shall be given into his hand until a time and 
 times and the dividing of time." There can be no question 
 that the papal system, with its head or power, is diverse from 
 every system that existed and reigned before it in the world. 
 The manner in which Christian, Jewish, and pagan elements 
 were blended together into its composition as a religion, and 
 the manner in which this mongrel coagulation of heterogeneous 
 ingredients worked its way to political ascendency and 
 dominion, — so that to the pope was given precedency among 
 mightiest emperors and monarchs, — nark and distinguish this 
 
ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 275 
 
 system from all that went before it, was contemporary with it, 
 or that shall come after it. The conspicuous features, or the 
 marked characteristics of this system, are these three \—lst. 
 The speaking, uttering, or publishing and propagating words 
 against the Most High, or against the true God, his character, 
 nature, will, name, or the revelation which he has given of 
 himself. Blasphemy is engraved in capital, conspicuous, and 
 uncial letters on his brow or forehead. This is Romanism 
 speaking through its head. i?nd. The wearing out of the saints 
 as by gradual oppression, making their burdens grievous and 
 their lives bitter by hard bondage and service, till the saints 
 should be almost stamped out — till true piety or godliness should 
 cease to be found on earth. This undoubtedly is one of the 
 historically outstanding features of Romanism. True godliness 
 had almost been extinct when Zuinglius, Luther, Calvin, and 
 the other reformers were raised up of God. And the stupend- 
 ous efforts made at, and for a long time after, the Reformation 
 to crush the saints of God, or to wear them out — efforts of 
 craft, cunning, policy, and power — which deluged Europe with 
 the blood of its best inhabitants and sons, are historically 
 traceable to the wiles, plots, and machinations of the priests 
 and princes of Romanism. Before God and man that system 
 is answerable for the cruelties, murders, and bloodshedding that 
 marked the face of every country where papal influence was 
 predominant, and where men sought for freedom to worship 
 God according to his Word. 3rd. Another characteristic of the 
 system, as portrayed by Daniel, is that this power should 
 think, purpose, or determine to change times and laws. This 
 to a marvellous extent it succeeded in doing in almost every 
 country in the world. By its festivals and saints' days, by its 
 kalendar, and by its concordats with the governments of the 
 world, and more recently by its syllabus and decree of papal 
 infallibility, it has expressed its intention, if its power were 
 equal to its thought, wish, and will, to change times and laws, — 
 the times and laws ordained of God, and the times and laws 
 ordained by man. For it would supersede alike the authority 
 of God Most High, and of those who in the magistracy are the 
 vicegerents of God, and hold from him a rightful and inalien- 
 
276 ichabod; oh, the glory is departed. 
 
 able authority in all matters civil and political for the good, 
 order, and weal of human society. Daniel further states that 
 this abnormal and monstrous power — this compound of debased 
 religion and equally debased politics — should have dominion 
 for a time and times and the dividing of time — that is, for a 
 considerable term of centuries, at the end of which the dominion 
 should be taken by deliberate deed from the power that had 
 so misused it, and p-iven into better and worthier hands — the 
 people of the saints of the Most High. Are we not seeing these 
 things passing in successive acts before us in the grandly 
 developing drama in the theatre and outer platform of Pro- 
 vidence in these latter days ? 18GG and 1870 are black years 
 in the Roman annals, but they are bright with splendour, 
 though registered in blood, in the annals of Christianity and 
 civil freedom. 
 
 If the apostle had the passage in Daniel in his view when 
 he wrote the words concerning the apostacy, in his first letter 
 to Timothy, it is interesting and important to mark how, after 
 giving the general description of the latter-day apostacy, he 
 exhibits its more prominent features. These, we shall find, 
 agree with what Daniel had said, although they are presented 
 in minuter and more specific forms and details. 
 
 In this photograph these are the lineaments of the great 
 apostacy from the faith :- — 
 
 1. A giving heed to seducing spirits. 
 
 2. A giving heed to doctrines of devils or demons. 
 
 3. The speaking of lies in hypocrisy. 
 
 4. The debasement or cauterization of moral sentiment. 
 
 5. The prohibition of marriage. 
 
 6. And the prohibition of meats. 
 
 7. The publishing and teaching of profane and silly fables. 
 
 8. The exalting of bodily exercise to the disparagement of 
 godliness. 
 
 By these things the apostacy sketched in photographic 
 outline by Paul identifies itself with that described by Daniel; 
 for the voice of seducing spirits is raised against the words of 
 the Most High, and doctrines of demons are substituted for the 
 sure and wholesome doctrines of the Word of God. Lies, with 
 
ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 277 
 
 the intention of deceiving those to whom they are spoken, and 
 not believed by those who retail them, distinguish the system. 
 Conscience toward God or man is thus seen to be awanting, being 
 seared as with a hot iron. Laws contrary to nature, and to God's 
 revealed will, respecting marriage, meats, and, by consequence, 
 concerning times and seasons, — laws unnatural, cruel, unjust, 
 oppressive, enforced by dread anathemas, and, if possible, by 
 penal infliction, by fine, mutilation, imprisonment, and death, — 
 wear out the saints of the Most High. Fables and fictions 
 profane and silly are taught by those who claim to be as the 
 mouth of God. And bodily exercises, vigils, fasts, processions, 
 crossings, dressings, genuflexions, pilgrimages, macerations, 
 lacerations, penances are enjoined, commended, extolled to the 
 infinite damage of godliness, and to the ruin of the souls of 
 men. Fables and lies are substituted for truth ; and mere 
 mechanical and bodily works take the place of that faith, 
 from which the abettors of this system have apostatized. 
 This is the picture in Daniel as coloured to the life by Paul. 
 Is there in all history any but one face or figure that answers 
 to this likeness ? And is not that figure found in antichristian 
 Rome ? As face answers to face in water, or in a mirror, so 
 does the aspect, the moral physiognomy, and historically 
 developed character of the Roman apostacy answer to the 
 portraiture of the apostacy given both by Daniel and by 
 Paul. 
 
 But there is another photograph of the same system given in 
 Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians, in the second chapter. 
 In this prophetic picture the whole system is seen in its com- 
 pleted development — in that form and stature, proportion and 
 figure, which it should assume immediately before its downfal 
 and doom. This gigantic stature of iniquity is to be attained 
 before what is called by the apostle the day of Christ — 
 that is, before the manifestation of his glory in the world, 
 foretold by all the prophets, — the time when the kingdoms 
 •of this world shall become the kingdoms of the Lord and his 
 Anointed ; when the earth shall be filledjjwith the knowledge of 
 the Lord, as the waters cover the channels of the sea. Two 
 things shall indicate the near approach of that day — namely, 
 
278 ichabod; or, the glory is departed. 
 
 first, the full development of the great apostacy, and following 
 on that, with the suddenness and brightness of a lightning 
 flash, the destruction of the antichristian dominion of the 
 great apostacy. Here, as in the description in the letter to 
 Timothy, the general term applied to the system is an apostacy, 
 or, more definitely, as in the original, THE APOSTACY. The 
 prefixed article is emphatic and demonstrative, It is not an 
 ordinary apostacy that is indicated, but that apostacy spoken 
 of expressly by the Spirit — that signal, great, and marvellous 
 apostacy from the faith which shall precede the day of Christ. 
 To this apostacy, in its matured and fully developed character, 
 the apostle applies three epithets most suggestive and signifi- 
 cant. These are, that Max of Sin ; that Son of Perdition ; 
 that Wicked or Lawless One. By these titles Antichrist is 
 indicated in contrast with Christ, and in opposition to him. 
 Christ Jesus is that Just and Righteous One ; the Saviour 
 bringing Salvation ; the Fulfiller of the Law and the 
 Prophets ; the Prince of Peace. The Antichrist is, as the 
 Man of Sin, opposed to all righteousness ; as the Son of Perdi- 
 tion, the cause of ruin to others, and doomed to destruction 
 himself; and as that Wicked One, without or above law, 
 changing times and laws, ungoverned by any law of God or 
 just laws of man. Of these designations, the central one 
 includes or comprehends the two others. In the Son of Perdition 
 are embodied, as in unity, the sinfulness of the Man of Sin 
 and the lawlessness of that wicked one. The system is one, 
 and it shall, as one, perish or answer to its name, the Son of 
 Perdition. But this name identifies it with Judas Iscariot 
 (see John xvii.) in sin and lawlessness and in destiny. As 
 such, it is excluded and excommunicated from the true church 
 of God ; and yet, like Judas, it attains to its culmination in its 
 iniquity by its position within what professes to be the house, 
 temple, or church of God. 
 
 The sin or lawlessness of this system is seen — 
 
 1. In its opposing and exalting itself above all that is called 
 God, or that is worship. 
 
 2. In taking God's seat, place, or throne in God's house or 
 temple. 
 
ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 279 
 
 3. In giving itself out as God, or showing itself that its 
 head is God. 
 
 These are the perfected features in fully developed Antichrist 
 or the apostacy. The processes by which it at length attains 
 to this bad pre-eminence — to this unrivalled height and acme 
 of developed wickedness— is indicated, and another name or 
 designation is in this view given to it. It is called The 
 Mystery of Iniquity. It is in its nature mysterious, and 
 fitted to excite the wonder of mankind. It is especially a 
 mystery in its manner of iniquitous working, and in its power 
 and dominion over men. It is a sacrament of iniquity, wicked- 
 ness, or lawlessness. But this mystery or arcanum — this dark, 
 secret, and hidden thing — shall at length be unveiled or fully 
 revealed ; and its true though hidden character of sin, perdi- 
 tion, and wickedness shall be made manifest. 
 
 The system is marked in its working by the following 
 characteristics : — 
 
 1. By secrecy in its more recondite operations, and in the 
 processes by which it gains its ends. 
 
 2. By persistency against whatever withstands or would 
 hinder its attaining that for which it works. 
 
 3. Its progressive approaches and its general working is 
 after the manner of Satan. Subtilty, fraud, and guile mark its 
 deceptive advances, working, and progress. 
 
 4. To this it adds all power, and signs, and false and lying 
 wonders or miracles. 
 
 5. Every art of deception will be practised by it — "All 
 deceivableness of unrighteousness." 
 
 0. Its dupes and victims shall be chiefly found among those 
 that will not receive the truth in the love of it ; but, having 
 pleasure in unrighteousness, prefer the lie palmed upon them 
 by this mysterious system of iniquity. 
 
 Two things are to be noted concerning it. Its victims 
 are judicially dealt with by God. Because they receive not 
 the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness, God gives 
 them over to their own way, to strong delusion, to believe the 
 lie of the Man of Sin. This is his judgment on them in this 
 world ; and in the world to come they suffer the doom of un- 
 
280 ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 
 
 believers according to the word, " He that believeth not shall 
 be damned." The system itself in its maturity, or when the 
 measure of its iniquity 'is full, and the long-suffering of God 
 can bear no longer, is doomed to certain, swift, and irremediable 
 destruction and ruin — "Whom the Lord shall consume with 
 the Spirit of his mouth, and destroy with the brightness (or 
 epiphany and clear shining as in the day) of his appearing." 
 By terrible things in righteousness God has been, and now is, 
 answering the prayers of his saints, and fulfilling his own words 
 of faithful promise. 
 
 If with this photograph of the apostacy, sent by Paul to 
 the Thessalonians, we take what is said in the eleventh 
 chapter of Daniel's book, as well as the picture of the apostacy 
 already considered, the conviction will be irresistible that all 
 these descriptions are designed to indicate to us the one 
 great power of Antichrist which should grow to its full pro- 
 portions and measure of iniquity in the latter days. In the 
 eleventh chapter Daniel describes a power or king that " shall 
 do according to his will ; who shall exalt himself, and magnify 
 himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things 
 against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation 
 be accomplished : for that that is determined shall be done. 
 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire 
 of women, nor regard any god : for he shall magnify himself 
 above all." These are among the marked features and charac- 
 teristics of this extraordinary power. There is exhibited to 
 view a power which shall gain a far-reaching and long con- 
 tinued dominion by practising the acts of deception, supported 
 by physical or secular power. So great will be its prestige, 
 and so deceitful and mysterious its manner of working, that, 
 notwithstanding its disregard of the laws and authority of 
 God and man, and notwithstanding its public blasphemy of 
 God Most High, and its stupendous arrogance in taking to 
 itself the place of manifested divinity above all that is called 
 God — above princes and kings and emperors, and even above 
 God himself as revealed on earth — not only shall ignorant 
 multitudes bow down before it, but many of understanding 
 shall fall, being deceived and destroyed by its subtle and 
 
ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 281 
 
 Satanic working and influence. The sketch given by Paul 
 -agrees in its main features with that given by Daniel. And 
 as in the former picture, so here it must be confessed that 
 there has'" been and there is only one historic power, one actual 
 system among men which corresponds with the portraiture 
 here given. That system has its seat at Rome. There the 
 baptized and enthroned iniquity reigns in full development. 
 And " many of understanding " in this country, by falling- 
 prostrate at the feet of Rome, on whose head is a crown 
 of blasphemy, illustrate the truth of the prophetic state- 
 ments of the Old and New Testaments, of Daniel and of 
 Paul. The prophetic photograph given of old by Daniel, 
 and again taken in the spirit by the apostle Paul, gives a 
 lifelike and full-sized picture or portrait of the great anti- 
 christian and Roman apostacy, as it stands self-revealed and 
 declared by the oecumenical council that was convened in 1869 
 and in July, 1870, pronounced through its head and speaker 
 the decree of papal infallibility. The imposture, arrogance, 
 iniquity of the system, as The Man of Sin, seem to have 
 attained their full height and stature of blasphemy by that 
 crowning act of wickedness. It remains to be seen how, on the 
 theatre of his holy and avenging providence acting in human 
 history, the Most High God will deal with the stupendous 
 infamy and wickedness in demonstrating that it is " The Son 
 of Perdition," that must, like his predecessor of that name, 
 Judas Iscariot, go "to Ins own place." 
 
 PORTRAITURE or photograph BY JOHN. 
 
 But in the New Testament there is a yet more lifelike and 
 fully drawn and painted portraiture of the sublime abomina- 
 tion. The book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, given to 
 John, and by him written when, as he tells us, he " was in the 
 isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the 
 testimony of Jesus Christ," consists of a declaration of what 
 he had seen " in the Spirit," or in the " visions of God." 
 Some of these things had relation to condition of the churches 
 
282 ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 
 
 when John lived and wrote — "the things which are;" and, 
 some of them were more immediately related to the condition 
 of the church and of the world in the future, or after John 
 should retire to his rest — " the things which shall be here- 
 after." The book is at once didactic and prophetic. It is 
 throughout symbolical in the form in which its truths are 
 expressed. And this fact misapprehended has been the occa- 
 sion of interpretations of its contents, and of deductions and 
 inferences from its statements, presenting both in aspect and 
 in amount a collection or medley of such a heterogeneous 
 kind — a conglomeration of opinions not unlike to chaos on a 
 small or epitomized scale. This collected mass of opinions 
 finds no analogy whatever in any conglomerate stratum to 
 which geologists can refer or point. It is ecpialled only by the 
 altogether fanatical or imperious dogmatism of very manj^ of 
 those who have oppressed the world, not with what John 
 saw in the visions of God, but with what, according to these 
 writers, John must or ought to have seen. If history had 
 been written after the method of these interpreters, we should 
 have not a record of what has occurred, but a narrative of 
 events that must or ought to have taken place. But the 
 progress of events holds on its way after its own fashion and 
 method. And in it man is both actor and recorder. Natural 
 history presents its facts, and they remain facts apart alto- 
 gether from psychological theories and theories physiological, 
 — theories that teach how God ought to have proceeded in the 
 historic genesis of the universe, had he called Dr. Darwin and 
 others to his council, and acted according to their suggestions 
 and advice. The Bible keeps its ground and place, notwith- 
 standing the assaults of open enemies and the weaknesses and 
 follies of professed friends. The apostle Paul knew the doc- 
 trine of the atonement, and of the righteousness of faith, and 
 the true doctrine of the Christian life long before a modern 
 pedagogue took him to school and offered to teach him the 
 correct doctrine on these topics, and many others, — the doctrine 
 of which Paul, the servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, seems 
 to have been ignorant, but which he must and ought to have 
 taught had he been a disciple, not of the late Dr. Arnold, of 
 
ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 283 
 
 Rugby, but of Dr. Matthew Arnold, the professor of " Light 
 and Sweetness " as the panacea for the sins, sorrows, and 
 miseries of mankind. Each one has and vends his nostrum, 
 his meitm 'modicum, of light and sweetness, or of darkness and 
 bitterness, for the correction of the apostle's views of justifica- 
 tion by faith. But interpreters should remember that they 
 are here only interpreters, not masters in arts, or doctors either 
 in laws, philosophy, or divinity. They are poor scholars at 
 their lessons under the teaching of the apostle speaking with 
 the authority and inguided by the inspiration of Jesus Christ 
 the Son of God. And the special blessing attached to the 
 reader of John's book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ is not 
 withheld, notwithstanding the indignity and dishonour done 
 to it from earliest times down to the present age and Dr. 
 Gumming. 
 
 " The exegetical study of this book,"writes one, — speaking 
 with the authority given by ripest and sanctified learning, by 
 skilful and long practised exercise in the study and interpre- 
 tation of Scripture, blended with a modesty, reverence, and 
 spiritual sympathy for truth rarely found among scholars and 
 theologians, — " would require a peculiar preparatory provision 
 for carrying it on with success. The first thing that presents- 
 itself to view is the state of the text, which has suffered more 
 in the course of transcription than any other portion of the 
 New Testament, as is evident from the extent to which varieties 
 of reading have accumulated, according to the registration of 
 them in the critical editions in which they are collected. 
 Another consideration is the peculiarity of the style, which, 
 regarded merely in a grammatical point of view, exhibits, in 
 the frequency with which irregularities of construction occur, 
 a remarkable contrast to the style of the gospel and the other 
 writings of John. This difference Moses Stuart ascribes to the 
 deeper and more thorough infusion of the Hebrew element in 
 the book of the Revelation than in the subsequent writings of 
 the apostle, for he assigns to it an earlier date, prior at least to 
 the death of the Emperor Nero ; respecting whom he adopts 
 the theory of Benary of Berlin that he was the " beast" (6>ipiov r 
 chap. xiii. 18), whose number was CGG, or, according to another 
 
284 ICHABOD; OK, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 
 
 reading, as ancient as the time of Irenaeus, 616, presenting, 
 indeed, the very striking coincidence that the numerical value 
 of the letters of the emperor's name and title, when expressed 
 in Hebrew characters, will be either the one number or the 
 other, just as written with or without the letter n, or Hebrew 
 sign for 50, as representing either the Latin form Nero, or the 
 Greek Neron. But the above-mentioned peculiarity seems to 
 be perfectly consistent with the later date, of which the book 
 gives so marked an impression ; for, in addition to the poetical 
 spirit which breathes throughout the whole, it may have arisen 
 from the renewed study of the prophetical books of the Old 
 Testament, especially Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah, both in 
 the Hebrew original and in the Greek translation ; for between 
 the visions recorded in these three books, and some, at least, of 
 those with which the Revelation abounds, the resemblance is so 
 great as to give evident proof that it was the result of design. 
 In both cases the result is that of a series of impressions that 
 were made in vision on the minds of the respective seers ; not 
 that there were objects in rerum natura exactly corresponding 
 to the descriptions that are given. The expression, " I was in 
 Spirit," or, " in the Spirit," occurring in Rev. i. 10 ; iv. 2, denote 
 the transition through which John passed from his ordinaiy 
 state of the usual exercise of the external senses to that in 
 which his mind was prepared for receiving the impressions of 
 which he gives an account. A similar expression is employed 
 by Ezekiel when he speaks of the hand of the Lord being upon 
 him (i. 3), and falling upon him (viii. 1)." * 
 
 Were these, and a few more principles and considerations of 
 a similar kind, kept in view, men should have shown, not 
 merely the negative wisdom of John Calvin, who, although 
 having commented on almost all the other books of Scripture, 
 refrained from treating of the book of the Revelation of John, 
 but a negative wisdom of a different kind, that, namely, of 
 refraining from touching or treating the contents of this book 
 in a spirit of wild and unchastened ignorance, fancifulness, and 
 
 * Exerjetlcal Study. By Alexander Black, D.D., late Professor, New College, 
 Edinburgh, 
 
ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 285 
 
 dogmatism. For by this method a prejudice has been raised 
 and propagated against the study of a book, to meditation in 
 which a very special blessing is annexed by the Lord himself. 
 By the conduct of the sons of Eli, men were driven in abhor- 
 rence from the very altar and worship of God; and by the 
 conduct of too many expositors and would-be interpreters 
 of this book, devout men have been driven away from the 
 study of it, and from meditation in its wonderful revelations 
 and discoveries of the glory of Christ in the government of the 
 church and the world, as that is indicated in the pages of this 
 prophetic or pre-historical record of events. For the prophecies 
 here, as throughout the Scriptures, are records of events written 
 in cypher, symbol, or hieroglyphic, before the events them- 
 selves became, or shall become, actual and historical. This is 
 the character of the book of Revelation in regard to the things 
 that were, and that are, and that shall be, just as with respect 
 to the ■past, or what occurred in the pre-Adamite creation and 
 preparation of the world for man, this is the form of the 
 language in the first chapter of Genesis. It is the record of 
 what was given, not in dark speeches, but in the visions of 
 God, as seen by the inspired writers. 
 
 For our guidance here, the Lord himself has given us an 
 example and specimen of the hermeneutical principle to be 
 applied, or of the key to be used, in interpreting the symbols 
 and visions of this sublime and mysterious book. " The 
 mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right 
 hand, and the seven golden candlesticks is this : The seven 
 stars are the angels — messengers or official representatives — of 
 the seven churches : and the seven candlesticks which thou 
 sawest are the seven churches." (Rev. i. 30.) Things, persons, 
 and events are throughout the book represented by suitable 
 signs and symbols. The right reading and interpretation of 
 these will give, in competent hands, the right reading and inter- 
 pretation of the will of the Head of the church, and of that will 
 acted out, or in its relation to the events and systems as 
 revealed in this book. 
 
 In the seventeenth chapter of this book there is a very 
 remarkable vision, and accompanying, or added to it, is the 
 
286 ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 
 
 interpretation of it by the revealing angel. In the vision, the 
 fio-ure or form of a Avoman is seen, seated " on a scarlet coloured 
 beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten 
 horns." The woman is arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, 
 and gilded with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a 
 golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of 
 her fornication : and upon her forehead is " a name written, 
 MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF 
 FORNICATORS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 
 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, 
 and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus : and when I saw 
 her, I wondered with great admiration." 
 
 This is one vision. Parallel to it, take for instruction 
 the message to the church of Thyatira (ii. 18 — 29), as if 
 expressly penned and designed to meet the case which 
 should emerge in the history of the church and of the 
 world, when this woman should in a system be actually 
 manifested. 
 
 '■' To the angel (or official representative) of the church in 
 Thyatira write ; These things saith the Son of God, who 
 hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like 
 line brass ; I know thy works, and charity, and service, 
 and faith, and thy patience ; and the last to be more than the 
 first. Notwithstanding I have somewhat against thee, that 
 thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a 
 prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit 
 fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I 
 gave her space to repent of her fornication ; and she repented 
 not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that 
 commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except 
 they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children 
 with death ; and all the churches shall know that I am he 
 which searcheth the reins and hearts : and I will give unto 
 every one of you according to your works. But unto you 
 I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not 
 known the depths of Satan, as they speak ; I will put upon 
 you none other burden. But that which ye have already hold 
 fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and keepeth my 
 
ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 287 
 
 works unto tlie end, to him will I give power over the 
 nations : and he shall rule them with a rod of iron ; as the 
 vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers. And 
 I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear, 
 let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." 
 
 My reason for taking this message with the vision is simply 
 this, that as the message to each of the seven churches is 
 for the use of all the churches till the end of time represented 
 by these, and also to every man that hath ears to hear ; and 
 that the message to each church was not only suited to that 
 particular church at the time when John wrote to it, but 
 was divinely and expressly adapted to states of the church 
 that should occur in the historical evolution of events, till 
 the end and consummation of all things. In my view, the 
 word to each church is not merely a didactic, hortative, con- 
 victing, or commendatory word, but it is also as in type 
 strictly a prophetic word. Nay, I believe that the full force 
 of the message or messages is only attained when it is seen 
 applied to the historical state and actual condition of the 
 church in the ages of time. The interpretation that proceeds 
 on the idea of finding in any one of the seven churches an 
 exact counterpart or reflection of its state described in the 
 message of the Lord to that church, has always been and 
 must always be unsatisfactory; just as the interpretation of 
 the Psalms of David, proceeding on the idea that the state- 
 ments within them find full and adequate explanation when 
 regarded in relation to David in his life, spiritual state, 
 sufferings, or glory, must lie unsatisfactory. David in the 
 Spirit, or the Spirit by the mouth of David, gave expression 
 to what finds full verification and actuality only in Christ 
 and his kingdom. And John in the Spirit, or the Spirit by 
 John, has given expression, in the messages to the seven 
 churches which were in Asia, to what finds full realization 
 only in the dealings of the Lord with the churches actually 
 existing in the historical progress of his kingdom in this 
 world. As the angel of each church was the official repre- 
 sentative of the church with which his name is associated or 
 identified, so the seven churches are themselves to be regarded 
 
288 ICHABOD ; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 
 
 as officially representing the historical phases and conditions- 
 of the church of Christ in all ages and countries. And any 
 given message may be appropriate to any given church or 
 state of the church, according to the internal condition or 
 outward relations and circumstances of the church. " He that 
 hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the 
 churches." 
 
 Now, in the message to the church at Thyatira, a state of 
 things of a very marked character is supposed or indicated. 
 It is a state in the Christian church historically parallel to a 
 state in the ancient church when the influence and power, the 
 corrupting influence and murderous power of Jezebel were 
 predominant and in the ascendency in Israel. Israel had 
 before the time of Jezebel greatly and grievously departed 
 from the Lord and corrupted the doctrine and ordinances of 
 divine worship. The doctrine of the priests and the morals of 
 the people were alike vitiated and debased. Paganism, in 
 belief and practice, had been substituted for the pure doctrine 
 and spiritual worship of the living God. Idols were set up 
 and worshipped. State policy, expediency, craft, and power, 
 were all in league to set up, promote, and maintain, the idola- 
 trous system, with its calves and altars in Dan and Bethel. 
 But it was in the time of Ahab that the iniquity of Israel 
 advanced with stately strides towards its goal of wickedness. 
 By alliance with Jezebel, the daughter of the heathen king 
 Ethbaal of the Sidonians, Ahab far outwent even his apostate 
 predecessor Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, in making Israel to sin.. 
 For he, no doubt because of his unholy alliance with the 
 heathen house of Ethbaal, and acting under the soft, stealthy, 
 and devilish influence of his wife Jezebel, " went and served 
 Baal, and worshipped him. And he reared up an altar in the 
 house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And he made a 
 grove ; and he did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to 
 anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him." 
 (1 Kings xvi.) 
 
 This new corrupting power in Israel showed itself in the 
 vitiated doctrine concerning God and his worship that was 
 taught in Israel; in the general prevalence of idolatry, — an 
 
ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 281) 
 
 idolatry practised at the court ; inculcated on the people ; sup- 
 ported by state endowments ; and propagated lyy bands of hire- 
 ling priests and lying prophets ; in vitiation and depravity of 
 individual, domestic, social, and national morality — the spiritual 
 adultery being the mother of fornication; in the murderous 
 cruelty practised against the servants and worshippers of the 
 true God, in the attempt to suppress the true religion, and to 
 establish on its ruins the idolatrous system that was coun- 
 tenanced at court, and legalized and enforced by the statutes of 
 Jezebel, and the power that sprung from her alliance to the 
 Israelitish king Ahab. The arts of seduction, the influence of 
 that woman Jezebel, and the arm of the supreme civil power 
 were all put forth to suppress truth and to establish idolatry. 
 
 Even to Jezebel and to Ahab God gave warning upon warn- 
 ing and space to repent, but Jezebel repented not. God at 
 length hewed down the infamous woman, and the system of 
 which she was the head and impersonation. The just and 
 avenging sword of his' holy providence smote that system, 
 leaving of it neither root nor branch. Yet, though it thus 
 befell Israel, there was a time when the Lord could commend 
 Israel's charity and service, Israel's faith and patience. But 
 that time had long passed away. It could be spoken of only 
 as a thing of the past, in such language as, " I remember thee, 
 the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when 
 thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. 
 Israel was then holiness unto the Lord." (Jer. ii.) Israel went 
 after idols, and sinned more and more ; so that the Lord could 
 no longer bear, because of the evil of their doings, and because 
 of the abominations which they committed. (Jer. xliv. '22.) 
 Jezebel's end was as ignominious as her life had been flagitious. 
 There is a tragic and pictorial grandeur in the graphic and 
 vivid narrative of her death, as related in the simple records < >f 
 the kings of Israel and Judah. Finding that a new and fiery 
 power had risen against her, and had already entered within 
 the walls of her city Jezreel, and that the streets were resound- 
 ing beneath the solid and rapid steps of armed men, and the 
 thundering of rolling chariots driven by charioteers more fierce 
 than their high-spirited war horses, while the echoing din of 
 
 T* 
 
290 ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 
 
 the citizens shouting welcome to Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat r 
 the son of Nimshi of Ramoth-Gilead, sounded her death knell,, 
 she entered into her fortress or Vatican palace, and having tried 
 to renew her youthful appearance by calling to her aid the 
 Madame Rachel of her court and her ladies of the bedchamber 
 and wardrobe, she covered and concealed the wrinkles and 
 blotches of her face as by enamelling, and the unsightliness of 
 her eyes by painting them, and the baldness of her scalp by a 
 magnificent tiara or head-dress, she looked out at a window, and, 
 in language of haughtiness, malignity, impotence, and anger, 
 she cried, with the feebleness of a toothless imbecility, and with 
 the venom of a dying snake or fury, " Had Zimri peace, who 
 slew his master ?"— an utterance as of injured innocence, the 
 cry so often repeated by long successful villany become in its 
 turn the victim of a just and avenging retribution. Hereditary 
 right ! Prescriptive right ! The divine right of enthroned 
 and anointed iniquity ! Anathema ! anathema ! anathema ! 
 But Jehu, driving furiously through the city gate, was not 
 made of stuff to be cowed by the spiteful word of a painted hag, 
 having on her head a tiara, and her face painted as became a 
 mother of harlotry. Lifting up his face to the window, he 
 shouted, " Who is on my side ? Who ? And there looked out 
 to him two or three chamberlains. And Jehu said to them, 
 Throw her down. So they threw her down. And some of 
 the blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses : and 
 he trod her under foot. And when he had come in, he did eat 
 and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury 
 her : for she is a king's daughter. And they went to bury her : 
 but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and 
 the palms of her hands. Wherefore they came again, and 
 told him. And he said, This is the word of the Lord, which 
 he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the 
 portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel : and the 
 carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field 
 in the portion of Jezreel ; so that they shall not say that 
 this is Jezebel." (2 Kings ix.) Such was Jezebel, and such 
 was her end. 
 
 Turn now again to the scene and picture presented in the 
 
ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 291 
 
 seventeenth chapter of the book before us, in the Revelation of 
 John. A power is there portrayed that exhibits itself in the 
 figure of a woman. That woman is seated on a therion, or 
 beast of power and prey. This union is in itself suggestive 
 of a system or power in which are combined feminine 
 delicacy and intrigue, — a power of soft insinuation and blan- 
 dishment, with the opposite equalities of strength and devouring 
 ferocity, as if the dove in appearance were the vulture in 
 reality and in habit and practice. It is, as the Lord hath 
 warned us, the ravening wolf coining among the flock of God 
 in sheep's clothing, and with a soft and gentle bleating, that 
 shall give place at length to the bark and wild yell of the 
 hyena, or fierce and untameable beast of prey. 
 
 The monstrous beast, or therion, was of a scarlet colour, 
 and gilded over with gold and precious stones, and purple — 
 emblems of its riches and splendour and pomp of power. It 
 was as if written all over with names of blasphemy, and it had 
 seven heads and ten horns. These are the symbols and 
 emblems of its great dominion and power. These heads and 
 horns represent kings and governments springing out of the 
 mother power, or the beast on which the woman sits ; and they, 
 in league, or bound by concordat engagements to the central 
 power, give to it their united strength in maintaining the 
 dominion of the enthroned woman. 
 
 The woman wears the purple robe of empire or supreme 
 dominion, and the scarlet colour of grandeur, force, and blood. 
 And she is o-ikled over with gold, and decked and set out 
 with precious stones and pearls — emblems of her splendour, 
 ambition, and resources. In her hand is a cup of gold, with 
 a mixture of strange wine, filled with abominations and for- 
 nication. She is the soliciting temptress and procuress of the 
 mighty ones, governments, kings, and nations of the world. 
 She recommends herself to them by her power, by her splen- 
 dour, by her blandishment. Seated on her throne in the high 
 places of the world, she calls to passengers who go right on their 
 ways, and hearing her bland and enticing voice, the simple, 
 silly, ignorant, and foolish, as well as many of understanding, 
 many sense-loving and sensuous — charmed by music — dazzled 
 
292 ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 
 
 by the glare of gold, jewels, pearls, and precious stones — 
 and regaled, though besotted, by that whoredom and wine 
 that take away the heart — forgetting what befell, in ancient 
 poetic story, how those enchanted by the syren song drank 
 of the cup of Circe, and were changed into swine — these, as if 
 bewitched by the arts of the mighty sorceress, first dally with 
 the enchantress, play like Puseyites and Ritualists with her 
 toys, and deck themselves with bits of her drapery and attire, 
 touch, as it were, the rim of her golden cup, till at length, 
 as if intoxicated by the aroma of the mixture moving itself 
 curiously, they take large draughts of it, and fall into the 
 bosom of this mother of fornication, and to their amazement 
 and horror, when it is too late, they find themselves clasped as 
 with arms of adamant in her hateful and loathsome embrace. 
 " For her feet go down to death, and her steps take hold on hell." 
 And many mighty ones, men of renown and brave heroes, has 
 she first lured within her coils, and then hurled headlong into 
 death and perdition. I have seen the delicate gossamer fila- 
 ments of the spider's web, almost invisible to quick-sighted 
 vision, spread over the expanded beauty of the passion flower, 
 and have seen the unwary fly alight on the petal, as if to 
 examine its tints of loveliness, when, in less than a moment, 
 the spider, that lay hid within the folds of the flower con- 
 cealed by its beauty, darted on its victim, and carried it to 
 his little palace or den. And seeing this, I thought of the 
 cunning and Satanic craft that can weave a web for the 
 catching and destroying of the souls of men over the very 
 cross of Christ ; while the deceiver and destroyer, unsuspected 
 in that place, hides his deceit and his murderousness behind 
 the cross on which Jesus the Son of God was put to death, 
 and in dying prayed for his executioners, saying, "Father, 
 forgive them ; for they know not what they do." 
 
 The name of this woman, so different from the name of the 
 city of God and the immaculate spouse of Jesus Christ that we 
 shudder even in bringing the two into that proximity needed 
 in order to exhibit the contrast between them, is upon her 
 forehead. As God set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him 
 should slay him, so God has branded on the brow of this 
 
ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 293 
 
 woman, this seductive and destroying power, in characters 
 legible to the most illiterate, her name, that seeing it they may 
 flee from the voice of the enchantress, Mystery, Babylon the 
 Great, the Mother of Fornicators and Abominations 
 of the Earth. It is a vivid writing of what Paul had 
 said when he described t the apostacy as the Mystery of 
 Iniquity ; of what Daniel, and Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other 
 prophets foretold concerning the Babylon of the latter days. 
 It is as Babylon, and as the mother of abominations, the 
 realization of what is said throughout the Old Testament 
 and the New of the arts and wickedness of the world-wide 
 depravity that should mark the reign of the antichristian 
 and apostate power in the times of the gospel. But, as if 
 half had not been told, the apostle John tells us that he saw 
 this woman drunken— intoxicated. What a picture ! She 
 is unabashed, bold, and impudent. She talks deliriously. 
 She is drunken, but with what wine ? Not with that from 
 the cup in her hand. That is for others. She herself has 
 quaffed largely and drunk deeply of another cup. Her cry 
 has been for blood. Blood ! blood ! Blood till the world 
 become a solitude, and then she thinks there will be peace. 
 But while heretics — that is, those who drink not of the cup 
 that she has mixed, and eat not of her dainties — live there can 
 be no peace. Therefore she must have blood. And drunken 
 with blood, she wears among her ornaments and jewels, medals 
 commemorative of deeds of blood the most cruel and appalling 
 that have been recorded in the history of the human race. 
 
 Her power to slay, kill, and destroy has been obtained by 
 her relation to the beast, on which she is seen to sit. The 
 union in the pope of the spiritual and political or temporal 
 power gave him power to do as he pleased within his own 
 territory or patrimony. And the testimony of history is that 
 the most arbitrary, tyrannical, and oppressive government in 
 the world is that over which the self-styled vicar of Christ and 
 successor of Peter presided. When shall the full story be told? 
 and the full revelation of the horrid cruelties of that system 
 be made '. And the union, by concordat or otherwise, of 
 Romanism with the civil power in every country where it 
 
294 ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 
 
 gained ascendency, enabled it to hand over to the arm of the 
 civil power those whom it condemned as heretics. Heresy and 
 high treason were crimes of equal enormity, — the former, in- 
 deed, the more heinous of the two. As well might Pilate's act, 
 in publicly washing his hands when he delivered up Christ 
 Jesus to the Jews to be crucified, be held to relieve him of his 
 responsibility or to extenuate his crime, as the assertion of so 
 many advocates and apologists of historical Romanism, that, 
 because churchmen as churchmen did not persecute or put to 
 death those condemned or suspected of heresy, they are not 
 chargeable with the guilt and criminality of these wicked and 
 bloody deeds that have soaked and drenched the earth opening 
 to receive the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, shed by those pro- 
 fessing to act in the name of Jesus, religion, and God. A more 
 plausible defence may be given of Pilate. Nay, the Lord 
 Jesus, when standing at his tribunal, enunciated the principle 
 on which the Roman priesthood, the Roman officials, including 
 priests, prelates, cardinals, and popes, must be held more guilty, 
 before God and man, of all the blood shed in Europe for the 
 sake of religion since the papal system attained its ascendency 
 and dominion, than the civil and political governments that 
 acted merely at the instigation of the priesthood or pope. 
 For thus it is written : " The Jews said unto Pilate, We have 
 a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made him- 
 self the Son of God. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, 
 he was the more afraid ; and went again into the judgment 
 hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou ? But Jesus gave 
 him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou 
 not unto me ? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify 
 thee, and have power to release thee ? Jesus answered, Thou 
 couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given 
 thee from above : therefore he that delivered me unto 
 thee hath the greater sin." (John xix. 7 — 11.) The sin of 
 Judas and the Jews, including the chief priests, rulers, scribes 
 of the people, and lawyers, who delivered Jesus to Pilate, and 
 clamorously demanded that he should be crucified, was greater 
 even than the sin of Pilate, the representative of the political 
 and civil power of the world. And the sin of the antichristian 
 
ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 295 
 
 priesthood, prelates, cardinals, and popes, in delivering over 
 heretics to the civil power, and in demanding that they be put 
 to death, is greater even than that of the civil governments and 
 magistrates who have given effect to the bloodv wishes and 
 frantic and ungodly and inhuman demand and cry for the 
 execution and death by cruel torture on the rack, or by faggot 
 and tire, of the innocent, meek, and heroic servants of Jesus 
 < Jhrist. And as their turpitude and guilt, so shall their 
 plagues be in the day of vengeance and divine visitation, when 
 God shall arise to execute judgment for all the meek of the 
 earth. " Because they remembered not to show mercy, but 
 persecuted the poor and needy, and slew the broken in heart, 
 they shall not obtain mercy. As they loved cursing, so it shall 
 ■come unto them. As they delighted not in blessing, so it shall 
 be far from them. As they clothed themselves with cursing as 
 with their garments, so it shall come unto them, and be within 
 them like water, and like oil in their bones. It shall be unto 
 them as the garments which cover them, and for girdles with 
 which they shall be girded continually." (Psalm cix.) 
 
 As if to remove every shadow of a doubt whether this 
 mysterious, blasphemous, corrupting power, intoxicated with 
 blood, was indeed the great Roman Catholic apostacy, — at the 
 sight of which, though seen only in the visions of God, John 
 " wondered with ffreat admiration," the revealing angel gives 
 to John, and through him to the church of God, the interpre- 
 tation of the mystery of the woman and of the tlierlon, or 
 beast that carried her. Jezebel is revealed ; and by her alliance 
 to the house of Ahab, the supreme civil power, the secret of 
 her domination and of her great cruelty is declared. The 
 centre of this power of this unnatural, abnormal, and mon- 
 strous combination of seductive craft and of ferocious force, of 
 unbridled licentiousness with a professed zeal for God, is at 
 Rome, the seven-hilled city. The beast that in John's time 
 rao-ed and ruled from Rome over the whole earth, sroes down 
 to the abyss or bottomless pit of perdition. But in vision, as 
 in fact, there arises another beast, or therion, diverse from the 
 former, and on it sits the mother of prostitution. The eccle- 
 siastical head springs out of the decayed empire of Rome, and 
 
20G JCHABOT); OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 
 
 gathering to itself all the elements of power that marked the 
 fallen system of imperialism, and mixing these with all the 
 dregs of degenerate Judaism, paganism, and Christianity, and 
 by concordats and confederacies, leagues and alliances, with 
 the governments of the earth, this effeminate and mongrel 
 power, this prodigy of lewdness and religion, leaning on the 
 sword, attains to a dominion of a kind altogether different 
 from that of the fallen empire; and over a range and extent 
 far surpassing that over which the eagles of imperial Rome 
 ever flew. " The waters which thou sawest, where the whore 
 sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.'" 
 Over these the woman reigns by the influence of her so-called 
 spiritual doctrine and teaching, and by the force and power of 
 the tkerion, or beast. In every priest these two elements are 
 combined. He is a mixed person of politics and religion. He 
 carries about with him a sword on each thigh. On the right 
 the temporal sword, on the left the spiritual sword; and by 
 the use of either, or of both, as occasion may recmire, he main- 
 tains and propagates the cause of mother church, of that 
 church of Jezebel and Baal which gives itself out to be the 
 mother and mistress of all churches. The effeminacy and the 
 cruel tyranny of the whole system, — its wiles, intrigues, con- 
 spiracies, frauds, pollutions, abominations, — its falsehoods, — its 
 arrogance, — its bloody cruelty, — its transmuting of truth, even 
 the truth of God, into a lie, — its legalizingof iniquity, — its stupen- 
 dousness of imposture,— its crimes against God and against man, 
 with its name of blasphemy, reveal it in the light of God to be- 
 none other than the masterpiece of Satanic ingenuity, malignity, 
 and cruelty ; the culmination and acme of the guile, policy, and 
 power of the god of this world to dazzle and blindfold the eyes 
 of men, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is 
 the image of God, should shine into their minds, and they 
 should be saved. If the incarnation of the Son of God — that 
 by obedience unto death he might bring in everlasting righteous- 
 ness and bestow eternal life on guilty men who accept the 
 proffered gift as absolutely of grace — be the great mystery of 
 godliness, surely Romanism, as the incarnation of deceit, 
 spiritual corruption, malignity, and force, is the great mystery 
 
ICHABOD; OB, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 297 
 
 of iniquity, the grand exhibition of Satanic wisdom, guile, and 
 power, embodied in Antichrist, the Man of Sin, and set over' 
 against that which is the wisdom and the power of God unto 
 salvation to everyone that believeth in the name of Christ 
 crucified, the only begotten Son of God. 
 
 But her judgment is at hand. For as Elijah, that prophet of 
 fire, followed by Elisha taken from the peaceful plough, fore- 
 told the doom of Jezebel; so the men of the reformation time, 
 men of fire, having indeed the tongue of fire from God, followed 
 by men in more peaceful times, have for these three centuries 
 and a half been raising the cry and shouting through the 
 streets of the mystic and great city, saying, Babylon must 
 perish ; and anticipating the event, antedating or foredating it, 
 they have been crying mightily with strong voices, " Babylon 
 the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of 
 devils or demons, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage 
 of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk 
 of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of 
 the earth have committed fornication with her, and the mer- 
 chants of the earth are waxed rich through the power of her 
 delicacies/' (Rev. xviii. 2, 3.) This has been the voice of 
 reformers at and since the reformation, and their voice has 
 been heard over the world : the whole earth has been lightened 
 with the glory of the truth proclaimed, although the darkness- 
 in many countries comprehended not and received not the 
 glorious light, and many people were deaf to the voice that 
 proclaimed the message of God. 
 
 " I gave her," says the Lord Jesus, " space to repent, but she 
 repented not." Since the time of the Council of Trent, or 
 rather since the day that, in 1517, Martin Luther, in the face of 
 the world, nailed his theses on the church door of Wittemberg 
 down to the time of the oecumenical council that assembled in 
 Rome on the 8th of December, 1869, the voice of God speak- 
 ing by his servants has been heard from heaven, saying, " Come 
 out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and 
 that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached 
 unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities." Not- 
 withstanding this voice of mercy and of doom, the prosgres of 
 
208 ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 
 
 the iniquity has not been arrested. It has rather gathered 
 volume, intensity, and force. From the hour that it accepted 
 the services of Loyola, with his secret society, blasphemously 
 prostituting the name of Jesus by calling itself the " Society 
 of Jesus," although properly named a " Society of Assassins," 
 under oath to deceive, betray, intrigue, forswear, and put 
 to death, as occasion may require, it proclaimed itself Anti- 
 christ. That society, in some form or other, is now the 
 moving, ruling, and prompting principle of Roman Catholicism. 
 Ultramontarrism, now dominant in the decree of papal infalli- 
 bility and in the dogmas of the syllabus, is nothing more or 
 less than Jesuitism or diabolicism enthroned and incarnate. 
 " She repented not." And " now they sin more and more." 
 A fatal necessity of sinning, expressed in "non possumus," 
 marks the development of Romanism in these days in which 
 we live. The " non possumus " is a declaration that they 
 cannot retrace their steps to reason and to the commandments 
 of God. Retreat is barred and blocked up by infallible decrees 
 in past ages ; and the grand fortress of the tridentine council 
 frowns scowlingly and defiantly on any return towards Bible 
 doctrine and truth. To stand still is an impossibility. The 
 mind of man, — the minds of the million are moving. Mary 
 must be honoured : the immaculate conception is formally 
 pronounced. The pope gives his vote and voice ; and if Mary 
 the mother of Jesus was not born immaculate, she ought to 
 have been, and all the faithful must take the papal word for it 
 that she must have been born without taint of original cor- 
 ruption or sin. This will have as much effect on the fact in 
 question as a vote taken and given some weeks ago at a 
 meeting in a provincial town will have on the question sub- 
 mitted for consideration and voice. It was put to the meeting 
 whether there was an endless punishment, called hell, in store 
 for the wicked and the ungodly. It was voted and carried by 
 a majority, or as my memory is not very clear about it, unani- 
 mously, n&mvne contradicente, that hell is not and cannot 
 be, must not and ought not to be : we wish it not to be ; 
 we will it not to be ; we vote it not to be ; therefore 
 it must not, cannot, ought not to be ' This is as valid in argu- 
 
ichabod; or, the glory is departed. 291) 
 
 merit in Dundee as the papal decree, concerning the immaculate 
 conception, given at Rome on the 8th of December, 1854. 
 Neither the vote in the provincial town, nor the vote and 
 decree in the metropolis of Antichrist will or can effect the 
 matter voted upon or decreed. Galileo ma}', under terror of 
 the high excommunication, declare his conviction that the earth 
 is stationary ; nevertheless, apart from papal dogma, or weak 
 admission by an unconvinced astronomer, the quiet earth, alike 
 indifferent to the decrees of popes and to the vacillating- 
 weakness of astronomers, held on the even tenor of its way, 
 moving with an unerring precision and infallible certainty 
 that might be envied by the Pope, and with an unvacillating 
 steadiness to be envied by the persecuted and timid philo- 
 sopher. Nor will the vote of six hundred prelates or church 
 dignitaries, all frail and ignorant and fallible and sinful mortals, 
 avail to alter the frailty or fallibility or sinfulness of Pio 
 Nono, or any other pope, so as to transmute fallibility into 
 infallibility. Fallible units multiplied can only produce a 
 fallible sum-total. But the decree concerning Mary, and 
 the place given to her in the system, has an effect not an- 
 ticipated by the Pope. It has revealed the Popish Church 
 or system as answering in one of its main features to the 
 portraiture of it in the book of the Revelation. Its effeminacy 
 is publicly and de fide decreed by itself. As a woman, it is 
 seen seated on the thereon or beast of secular jiower. And 
 the decree of papal infallibility has brought into conspicuous 
 view the grand feature of the system, as claiming and avowing 
 for itself visible godhead and divinity, with the honours and pre- 
 rogatives inseparable from God, revealed or revealing himself 
 with infallible truth and authority. Thus the system stands 
 self-confessed and self-condemned, for it glories in its shame 
 and blasphemy, as giving itself out to be God in the temple of 
 God. In this it verifies the prophecies of the Holy Scriptures, 
 and in the latter half of the nineteenth century of the Chris- 
 tian era it repeats on a grand scale the sin of our first parents. 
 For, like them, listening to the voice of Satan, — speaking through 
 the ultramontane or Jesuit section of the huge and diabolical 
 organization, — it has aspired to be as God, knowing good and 
 
300 ICHABOD ; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 
 
 evil, an ambition to be above restraint or restriction of law, 
 even from God, ambition to ascend to the seat of the Most 
 High: the visible head of the Roman Catholic Church, believino- 
 himself, and confirmed in his belief by the suffrages of his- 
 assembled lords, deputies, councillors, princes, and prelates, that 
 his eyes should be wondrously opened to know both good and 
 evil, — if he should taste of the tree of the knowledge of srood and 
 evil, if he should be decreed and voted infallible, and if he should 
 decree and declare himself so to be, — he took of the fruit and 
 did eat, and lo ! his nakedness, shame, and ruin were revealed. 
 For the thunders and lightnings of heaven, echoed by the 
 thunders of German cannon and the blazing fires and wild 
 havoc of war, summoned the guilty system to the tribunal of 
 God ; while the same God, by his mighty hand, smote down 
 with resistless force the pride and power of that empire which 
 had been the mainstay of this visible godhead and compound 
 of blood, blasphemy, and fornication. But the end is not yet. 
 Nevertheless, it is moving like a planet approaching its peri- 
 helion, with a speed accelerated as it nears the goal. Backward 
 the " non possumus " cannot go. Stationary it cannot rest. 
 Forward, downward, headlong it must go, propelled by all its- 
 crimes and sins against God and man, and driven by the 
 just and righteous judgment of God into the vortex of that 
 abyss prepared and ordained for it, as for everything that 
 worketh abomination and that maketh a lie. And as 
 already a gallant nation and people, — and many nations and 
 people, — have been dragged into degradation and misery by 
 this system of baptized and seductive abomination, so in her 
 ultimate downfal she will involve in a common ruin, and draff 
 down into a common bottomless pit with her, dynasties, powers,, 
 princedoms, and peoples, who were partakers of her sins, 
 partners in her crimes, and the advocates and abettors of her 
 arrogant and blasphemous pretensions, decrees, and deeds. 
 Her children, even her eldest and best beloved sons, must go- 
 into captivity or perish by the sword. For this is the voice 
 and decree of the Most High, " Because her sins have reached 
 unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities, reward 
 her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double accord- 
 
ICHABOD ; OK, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 301 
 
 ing to her works: in the cup that she hath filled, fill to her double. 
 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so 
 much torment and sorrow give her : for she saith in her 
 heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. 
 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and 
 mourning, and famine : and she shall be utterly burned with 
 fire : for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her." In one 
 hour her so great riches come to nought ; in one hour is she 
 made desolate. For by her sorceries were all nations deceived. 
 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, 
 and of all that were slain upon the earth. Her merchants, 
 shipmasters, sailors, and companies in ships, and all that trade 
 by sea. Her priests, her monks, her nuns, her sisterhoods, her 
 societies, her brotherhoods in their monasteries, nunneries, 
 stalls, offices, chaplaincies, her bishops in partibus, her prelates, 
 her legates, her orders, her archbishops, cardinals, secretaries, 
 doctors, professors, and princes, shall cast dust on their heads, 
 and cry, weeping and wailing, saying, alas ! alas ! that great 
 city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea 
 by reason of her costliness ! for in one hour is she made 
 desolate. Shame and confusion of face, grief, lamentation, 
 wailing, and sorrow, shall take the place of joy, pride, revelry, 
 of the pipe, the harp, the viol, the organ, the dulcimer, sackbut, 
 psaltery, and all kinds of music. For a stone hewn without hands 
 out of the mountain, has fallen on the image, crushed it, and 
 ground to powder its head of gold, its shoulders of silver, its 
 loins of brass, and its feet and toes of iron. Rejoice over her 
 thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets ! For God hath 
 avenged you on her. " And I heard a great voice of much people 
 in heaven, saying, Alleluia; salvation and glory, and honour 
 and power, unto the Lord our God. For true and righteous 
 are his judgments ; for he hath judged the great whore which 
 did corrupt the earth with her fornication ; and hath avenged 
 the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, 
 Alleluia, and her smoke rose up for ever and ever." 
 
 That that is determined must be done. "For, saith the 
 Lord, my purpose shall stand." Great Babylon, the Antichrist, 
 must be taken out of the way. Meanwhile there is silence in 
 
302 ICHABOD; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 
 
 the political heavens of the world, but it must continue only for 
 a very short time. Let the pause or temporary cessation in the 
 process of grand and terrible events of these latter times be 
 rightly turned to account. One great nation is gathering itself 
 up again, by efforts at internal organization, by appeals to 
 patriotism, national sensitiveness, and to the records of the 
 past in its victories and defeats, by straining every sinew, 
 nerve, and muscle, to consolidate an army that may, in the 
 day of battle, stand and fall, or advance to victory and 
 conquest, and not turn back in ignominious flight, or surrender 
 at discretion; and, elastic and volatile and buoyant, the 
 national sentiment is responding to the appeals made to it. 
 Wealth is poured in floods into the national treasury and 
 exchequer; while priests fan into flame the ignorance and 
 fanaticism of a gay peasantry in the fair fields of France. 
 Hope has not yet given place to despair in the heart, either of 
 the mysterious man-God imprisoned in the Vatican, or taken 
 care of there at the cost of a liberated Italy, with his 
 maintenance, bed, board, and dignity guaranteed; or in the 
 heart of that other no less mysterious man, the exile a 
 second time, who at Chishelhurst finds an asylum in this 
 highly favoured peaceful though guilty country. Secret 
 societies are at work all over the world that have their central 
 seat of inspiring and prompting intrigue and direction within 
 the Vatican, in the Privy Chamber and Council of the Pope. 
 An invisible net-work of diabolical societies is thrown over 
 universal Christendom. The Jezebel has painted her face, and 
 put on her head dress, and looks out from her palace windows. 
 But an cminous sight is that which meets her eye in the far 
 extending horizon. And ominous sounds fall on her ear. The 
 sights are those of nations and kingdoms astir seeking freedom 
 and truth ; and the sounds are those of mighty men and multi- 
 tudes, the confused noise of warriors, horsemen, and charioteers 
 who, long ago, goaded as to madness by the fraud and violence, 
 by the wiles and wickedness of that woman Jezebel, are now 
 coursing, in full speed, the executioners of the vengeance of a 
 righteous God and of deceived humanity, to cast her from her 
 seat, to tear her in pieces, and burn her with fire — the fire 
 
ICHABOD; OR, THE GLOKY IS DEPARTED. 308 
 
 kindled by justice, freedom, and truth. Other societies,, 
 imitating the secresy and universality of the secret societies- 
 of the Roman ecclesiastics, are at work in the interests of 
 materialism, infidelity, and atheism. They are, at once, the 
 mimicry of and recoil from the secret societies of the Jesuits, 
 and other orders and brotherhoods, that have been fostered under 
 the shadow of the papacy, and have requited that power by 
 devoting themselves in soul and body to its service. And in 
 the near, or not far distant future, it would be no marvel to find 
 and see three great forces at work in a grand war and terrible 
 campaign — a war and campaign fought with havoc and disaster 
 to every system, society, institution, government, dominion, or 
 power that is not grounded on the firm and eternal rock of 
 impregnable and immovable truth. For Rome, having lost her 
 hold on the governments and monarch s, emperors, and kings 
 of the world will, in all probability, and with certainty, attempt 
 to remount her seat on the beast, by using as her stirrup the 
 ignorance, superstition, and fanaticism of the democracy. 
 This will be one of the great powers : Rome in league with 
 the democracy against constitutional and constituted civil 
 authority. The internationale, or communist army, will in 
 this war, for a time, in all probability, make common cause 
 with the democracy led by the priesthood, in the vain hope 
 of adjusting their matters of disagreement when all laAvful 
 authority has been overthrown and laid in ruins. The most 
 monstrous and anomalous flag that ever waved in battle will be 
 the flag bearing an atheistic and communist device, interwoven 
 with the colours of the mother of fornicators. And yet even 
 this is not a thing at all incredible; for atheism, as it this day 
 prevails in the world, is the monstrous progeny by recoil from 
 the atheism practised, though not professed, in every Roman 
 Catholic Chapel or Cathedral, from St. Peter's in Rome to the 
 remotest extremes of the earth. The war-cry of battle fur a 
 common liberty may rally round a common standard atheists 
 in theory and atheists in practice. Time will show. But the 
 Lord reigneth. 
 
 Another company in this war consists of those that love 
 liberty, and believe that it will follow truth, as the shadow 
 
304 ICHABOD ; OR, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED. 
 
 attends the substance. These are the men who believe in 
 God, but do not believe in the Pope. Who believe in God's 
 word, and not in the materialistic doctrines of communistic 
 Comptism. Faith in God will sustain them. They will every- 
 where appear as the friends and guardians of order and liberty. 
 They may be hard pressed, but their cause must be victorious. 
 For although numbers may be against them: though craft, 
 policy, and Satanic power and subtlety may be in league for 
 their extermination, the Lamb, their leader, shall overcome. 
 For he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and they that are with 
 Him are called, and chosen, and faithful. " Let us, therefore, 
 receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved, have grace whereby 
 Ave may serve God acceptably, with reverence, and hoi}' fear ; for 
 /.mi- God is a consuming- fire.." Amen. 
 
THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH 
 
 IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 
 A SERMON FOR THE TIMES. 
 
 Preached in Glasgow, on the 31st December, 1865. 
 
 The house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and 
 ground of the truth." — 1 Tim. iii. 16. 
 
 " These things," says the apostle in the verse preceding the text, 
 "write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: but if 
 I tarry long, that thou may est know how thou oughtest to 
 behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the 
 living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." Without taking 
 up the diverse criticisms that have been given of this passage, 
 I may state that I regard the terms "house of God," " church of 
 the living God," "pillar and ground of the truth," as all referring 
 to the one object — the company of those called into the fellow- 
 ship of Christ ; and accordingly the letter of the apostle may be 
 regarded as a manual or directory for Timothy, and, after him, 
 for all who exercise the office of the gospel ministry in the 
 church of Christ. In this letter, and in the other epistles 
 commonly called pastoral, ministers are instructed in the main 
 heads and principles of their duty as holding office under Christ 
 in his house or church. We here learn what should be the 
 right aim, spirit, and conduct of the ministers of the church of 
 
306 THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 
 
 Christ; and we must take our instructions respecting these 
 matters not from men, not from the charges of bishops, not 
 from the exhortations of presbyteries, but from the Lord him- 
 self, speaking to us by his servant and apostle. 
 
 Before entering on the subject of discourse a word or two 
 may be necessary to bring out the signification of the terms 
 here employed. 
 
 EXPOSITION OF THE TERMS OF THE TEXT. 
 
 The term "house of God" is adopted from Old Testament usage. 
 In the Old Testament it denotes, first, the temple, and, secondarily, 
 the people. Here, and in other places of the New Testament, 
 it denotes the company of those who profess faith in Christ 
 Jesus, and subjection to him as Head over all things to his 
 church. Of this house he is the builder ; in this house he has 
 deposited his oracles ; here he dwells ; of it and in it he bears 
 exclusive and supreme rule — "The Son over his own house;" and 
 this he protects by his almighty power, so that the gates of hell 
 shall not prevail against it. "Whose house are we ?" says the 
 apostle to the Hebrews, speaking in the name of all who hold 
 the beginning of their confidence in Christ steadfast unto the 
 end. The term church, or ecclesia, signifies a company called 
 together and separate from others ; and as here used it signifies 
 those who have been called and separated by the Lord as a 
 people diverse from all others — a holy people sanctified unto 
 God. This is the church of the living God as distinguished from 
 the synagogues of Satan and of idols. This is that church or 
 flock of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. 
 (Acts xx. 28.) Of it in the Scriptures of truth glorious things are 
 spoken, — spoken respecting its constitution, history, functions, 
 privileges, work, and prospects. And in the text, the terms 
 "pillar and ground of the truth" used to describe it, are among the 
 glorious things spoken of the church of the living God. These 
 terms have been the occasion of much acrimonious controversy. 
 The Roman synagogue claims these words as exclusively appro- 
 priate to it ; and no wonder, for it claims to be the one and 
 holy Catholic Church. But that church, instead of being the 
 
THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 307 
 
 pillar and ground of truth, has for many ages been the pillar 
 and ground of error, heresy, and idolatry. It has become the 
 house of idols, the abode of every unclean thing — of that 
 which defileth and worketh abomination, and frameth lies. 
 While excommunicating all others, it is itself excommunicated 
 from the godly fellowship of the apostles, martyrs, anol saints 
 of the living God. By the truth we are to understand the 
 uncorrupt doctrine of inspired Scripture — the whole revelation 
 or counsel of God. And when of this the church is said to be 
 the pillar and ground, we are taught that two great functions 
 of the church is to maintain and to publish the whole doctrine 
 which is according to godliness — the whole truth as contained 
 in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. The meta- 
 phorical or figurative language here used does not imply and 
 does not teach that the church is greater than the truth. It 
 does not teach that the church is the foundation or around of 
 the truth in the sense v that the Romanists, and all Romanizing 1, 
 interpreters would force and extort from the words — namely, 
 that the church is endowed with infallibility, and that it is the 
 church which gives to the truth its authority. The text is far 
 from giving ground for any such perverse and unscriptural 
 dogmas. A document containing statements of weightiest 
 moment may be affixed to a pillar, and that document may be* 
 said to be supported by the pillar. But it would be as reason- 
 able to say, that because the pillar supported, held up, and gave 
 publicity to the document, it was possessed of the distinguish- 
 ing excellence of the document published, as it is to say that 
 the church, because it is ordained for maintaining and publish- 
 ing the truth of God according to holy Scriptures, is possessed 
 of the infallibility and authority which belong to the truth as 
 given by inspiration of God. The church, instead of being- 
 greater than the truth, is, in so far as it is the church of the 
 living God, the creature or creation of the truth ; and instead 
 of supporting the truth in the sense of giving the truth 
 authority, — the authority because of which it is to believed, — it 
 derives its being and support from the truth, and can speak 
 with authority only when it speaks according to the truth. It 
 is not, "Thus saith the church," that binds the conscience; 
 
308 THE DUTY OF THE CHUECH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 
 
 but, " Thus saith the Lord." It is sufficient honour for the 
 church that it should be put in trust with the oracles of God; 
 that it should be ordained to preserve, defend, and propagate 
 the truth. This honour has been given it of God. But let not 
 the church of the living God aspire to sit as God in the temple 
 of God. Let it not usurp the authority over conscience, which 
 belongs to the truth and to God — to God speaking in the truth. 
 Having made these remarks, I proceed to treat of some of 
 the duties or functions of the church, more specially with rela- 
 tion to the times in which we live — the present time. Guided 
 by the text and context, I shall, in dependence on the gra- 
 cious and promised aid and enlightenment of the Spirit, endea- 
 vour to indicate, first of all, certain features or characteristics 
 of the present age, which it has in common with all former ages 
 or times ; and with respect to these I shall indicate what are 
 some of the duties' of the church. And I shall also select certain 
 features or characteristics of the present time, — characteristics 
 that are, to some extent, peculiar to it, as distinguished from 
 former ages; and with respect to these, I shall endeavour to 
 state what appears to me to be the duty of the church, — a duty 
 in keeping with its functions as " the pillar and ground of the 
 truth." 
 
 ORDINARY ASPECTS AND DUTIES. 
 
 I. Of the characteristics of this age in common with former 
 ages, and of the duty of the church. 
 
 On this part of my subject I need say but a very few words. 
 With all the spread of knowledge,— with all the advancement 
 in science, literature, art, and philosophy, that marks the age, — 
 with all the applications of mechanical science to the useful arts, 
 i — with all that telegraphs and railways and steamboats have 
 done for facilitating intercourse between man and man between 
 the remotest parts of the earth, man is still ignorant of God, — 
 man is still at a distance from God, — man is still alienated from 
 God in his heart and by wicked works. The carnal mind is 
 still enmity against God. is not subject to his law, neither 
 indeed can be. " The world still lieth," as the apostle John 
 
THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 309 
 
 expressively says, " in the wicked one." This cannot be denied 
 by any observer of the social and moral aspects of the world. 
 And, as in former ages, so in the present, men have experi- 
 mented largely with a view to remove, mitigate, or eradicate 
 the evils under which the world groans. Statesmen and poli- 
 ticians, aided by adepts in social and political economy, have 
 laboured with this view. But the selfishness, and avarice, and 
 ambition, and cruel passions of human nature assert their 
 power, and baffle the wisdom of the most sagacious, and defy 
 the power of the strong. Old Adam is too mighty for these 
 antagonists. War, immorality, sensuality, and idolatry assert 
 their unholy dominion, after the wisdom of diplomatists and 
 the experience of ripest statesmen and philosophers and 
 economists have been called to devise effective remedies and 
 counteractives. Wars still proceed from lusts in the members. 
 Within the heart the war is planned ; within it are cast the 
 mighty artillery; within it are forged the thunderbolts wielded 
 by the bloody hands of warriors. Even free trade has not 
 inaugurated the universal and abiding age of peace. Out of 
 the heart still proceed evil thoughts, — thoughts that defile and 
 destroy. The immorality of the world holds on in its foul 
 course, after all that ethical and economic science may have 
 demonstrated respecting the injurious tendency, as well as 
 moral deformity of vice. Men still love pleasure more than 
 God. Wealth, luxury, and ambition have still, as of old, their 
 myriads of devotees. The cry still is, as in former ages, Who 
 will show us any good ? The world has not yet discovered the 
 secret and true nature of its disease. It is still ignorant of the 
 true remedy. It feels its wants; but in its blindness it knows 
 not that God who can alone supply its need, and knows not 
 where to find that God. Hence men go to broken cisterns, — 
 cisterns that can hold no water. They go from mountain to 
 hill, in all the spheres and regions of pleasure, literature, art, 
 science, business, philosophy, and superstition, seeking rest, — 
 seeking what the good is for man, — but not finding it. Men 
 still worship, as of old, before the idols of the den, tribe, forum, 
 and theatre. But the worshipper fails to discover truth, — the 
 truth which his soul so urgently needs. 
 
310 THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 
 
 THE TRUTH TO BE MANIFESTED. 
 
 Now, with reference to these aspects of the age, what, let 
 me ask, is the duty of the church ? Is it not to be true to its 
 function as the pillar and ground of the truth ? Is it not to 
 uphold that truth so prominently and conspicuously that the 
 world may see it ? For " All Scripture is given by inspiration 
 of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correc- 
 tion, and for instruction in righteousness." The whole truth 
 of God must be published to the world. But while the church 
 is to testify to the truth, and to exhibit it in its totality, keep- 
 ing nothing back and adding nothing, yet that truth is to be 
 displayed from the grand centre and ground of revelation — 
 the cross of Jesus Christ. This is evidently what the apostle 
 had in view when, after the words of the text, he said, " And 
 without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness : God 
 was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, 
 preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received 
 up into glory." The grand truth, the truth of all the truths of 
 God — is the truth concerning Jesus Christ — the truth as it is 
 in Jesus. It is the cross that harmonizes and brings all the 
 parts of the truth into unity. Let us, therefore, as true church- 
 men, survey the whole compass and range of the truth from 
 this grand centre. And, standing here, let the church lift 
 aloud its voice to an ignorant, guilty, and bewildered age, and 
 say, Look unto Jesus, and be saved ; behold the Lamb of God, 
 that taketh away the sin of the world. Why will ye die ? 
 Would you be wise ? Here is the wisdom of God. Would 
 you be strong to overcome the wicked one ? Here is the 
 power of God unto salvation. Would you have peace and 
 purity ? Here is the peace of God. Here is the blood that 
 sprinkled on the heart cleanses it from all pollution. Here, 
 in a word, is wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemp- 
 tion. Great, indeed, is the mystery of godliness. It is a 
 mystery that unveils all other mysteries, — that throws light on 
 the mysteries of sin and suffering, on all the darkness in 
 which humanity is enveloped, on all the miseries to which 
 
THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 311 
 
 man, fallen man, is subjected. It is a mystery that solves all 
 problems otherwise insoluble. It answers the most anxious 
 questions of the human mind ; it meets the yearnings of 
 the human breast; it satisfies the wants, the deepest 
 wants, of the human soul. It raises man from guilt to 
 righteousness. It brings him near to God. It sanctifies, 
 saves, glorifies the humble one, who by faith looks toward it, 
 and sees in it the character, perfections, will, justice, goodness, 
 love, and grace of God, who so loved the world as to give his 
 only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should 
 not perish, but have everlasting life. The first and grand 
 function of the church is to make fully known, in season and 
 out of season, the gospel of the grace of God, — the manifold 
 wisdom of God in the mystery of the cross. For this is the 
 only antidote to the deadly disease of sin, guilt, and pollution, 
 under which the world is perishing. Let the church so exhibit 
 the cross — the whole truth as it is in Jesus — that it shall meet 
 the eye of princes and peasants, of statesmen, philosophers, 
 scholars, philanthropists, and all men, so that the words of 
 Christ may be fulfilled, " I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men 
 unto me." This is what the present age needs. This is what 
 the commission of Christ requires of his church. The gospel 
 of old, the everlasting gospel, is what the age needs, is what 
 the church is bound to give to it. Let us not then instead 
 of bread offer a stone, instead of fish a serpent, or instead of 
 an egg let us not offer a scorpion. The gospel, — the pure 
 unadulterated gospel — not harangues, or essaj^s, or orations, or 
 theories, or speculations about it and about it — the gospel itself, 
 spoken with great plainness of speech, is what the men of this 
 age need. Woe is unto us therefore — woe unto the church, if 
 we preach not the gospel. Let the church — let the ministers 
 of the church, give themselves therefore to prayer and the 
 ministiy of the word; and let our preaching be like that of 
 Paul, "Not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in 
 demonstration of the Spirit and of power," that " the faith " of 
 the hearers " may not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the 
 power of God." 
 
312 THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 
 GAINSAYERS TO BE CONVICTED. 
 
 This age, like former ages, has its own prophets who flatter 
 it and withstand the truth. In every age of the world there 
 have been false prophets — men ignorant of the truth — men 
 hostile to the truth — men who, from corrupt and base motives, 
 perverted the truth, and led away disciples after them. In 
 this respect it cannot be denied that the times in which we 
 live may bear comparison with any former age. The apostles 
 of all kinds of error and heresy are moving to and fro on the 
 face of the earth. Nor need we wonder much at this. Because 
 of this we are forewarned in the words of Paul, — words that 
 follow immediately after what he says concerning the nrystery 
 of godliness, — he thus writes, " Now the Spirit speaketh ex- 
 pressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the 
 faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils ; 
 speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared 
 with a hot iron ; forbidding to many, and commanding to 
 abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received 
 with thanksgiving to them which believe and know the truth." 
 There were apostates of the class described in these words in the 
 apostolic age. Special mention is made in the first chapter of 
 two such — namely, Hymenpeus and Alexander, who, concerning 
 the faith, had made shipwreck. Hymenreus is again men- 
 tioned in the second epistle, with Philetus, and classed among 
 those who concerning the truth had erred. Special mention 
 is also made, in the second epistle, of Alexander, the copper- 
 smith, who greatly withstood the apostle's words, and did him 
 much evil. In his letter to Titus, the apostle speaks of many 
 unruly and vain talkers whose mouths must be stopped, who 
 subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not 
 for filthy lucre's sake. But, perhaps, one of the most complete 
 and full statements concerning this matter is that contained in 
 the third chapter of the second epistle of Timothy. (See 2 
 Tim. iii. passim.) According to these statements we are in- 
 formed that even in the apostolic age the mystery of iniquity 
 began to work in opposition to the mystery of godliness. 
 Now what in that age was the function of the church in 
 
THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 313 
 
 relation to these things ? It was not only the declaring of the 
 gospel, or of the full-orbed harmonious truth. It was more than 
 this. It was the vindication and defence of that truth. It 
 was the exposure of the nature, tendencies, and results of the 
 errors and heresies that were opposed to the truth. Among 
 the qualifications for a bishop or elder in the church, Paul 
 requires this, that he be able by sound doctrine both to exhort 
 and convince the gainsayers. (Tit. i. 9.) And instead of that 
 timorousness and mealy-mouthedness that distinguish not a few 
 sincere friends of truth in the present age, Paul requires of 
 Timothy that he should most plainly remind his hearers of the 
 .express testimonies of the Spirit concerning the apostates of 
 the latter clays. This was part of Timothy's business and 
 proper work in the house of God; and in discharging it he 
 Avould approve himself to God — " If thou put the brethren in 
 remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of 
 Jesus Christ." Paul himself was " set for the defence," as well 
 as the publication " of the gospel." (Philip, i. 17.) And Jucle, 
 giving a reason for his writing his epistle, says, " It was needful 
 for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should 
 earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto 
 the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who 
 were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly 
 men, turning the grace of our God unto lasciviousness, and 
 denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." The 
 church of the apostolic age, in so far as it fulfilled its duties 
 to Christ, and met the requirements of' that time, published 
 the truth as it is in Jesus, and at the same time vindicated and 
 defended that truth against adversaries. And so in every 
 subsequent age ; and so now also. If the church of the living 
 God is to exercise its proper functions, and to discharge the 
 weighty duties devolved on it by the commission of Christ, it 
 must, to a very considerable extent, be a church militant and 
 controversial. If silken and gossamer sentiment take the place 
 of sound principle and bold vindication of the truth, — if 
 effeminacy take the place of vigorous Christian manliness, — 
 if the men building Jerusalem do not use both the trowel and 
 the sword, it will fare ill with the church and with the world. 
 
314 THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 
 
 No Christian can love controversy for its own sake. It is not 
 a wholesome or healthy state of mind that delights in contro- 
 versy, — that, salamander-like, lives in the fire. But no more is 
 it a sound, healthy, or vigorous state of mind that shrinks back 
 from battle when the walls, gates, foundations, and palaces of 
 truth are assailed or threatened by the enemy. The church in 
 this age, as in every age, should copy Christ's example and 
 obey his injunctions. But his example is that of the Meek and 
 Lowly One, gently instructing those who submitted to be 
 taught, and at the same time reasoning and disputing with the 
 gainsayers. The great preacher and great controversialist was 
 Christ. And he has enjoined that his church in all ages should 
 imitate his example. Let the church carry the spirit of her 
 Master and Head into controversy ; but let her not shrink from 
 controversy. "The fighting times" of the church are not 
 counted by any special decades of years. The church advances, 
 age after age, as an army following its leader and commander. 
 Some special period may be a fighting time, because of some 
 battle for truth ; but so long as the church is passing through a 
 land haunted by enemies, she must exhibit on her banner the 
 olive branch, and beside it the sword of the Spirit, which is the 
 Word of God. Or, to change the figures, the church is appointed 
 to labour in this world for God. The harvest is to be gathered. 
 The labourers in this harvest field are surrounded all the day 
 by hostile bands; and in order that they may defend themselves 
 when assailed, and drive back their assailants, these labourers 
 must bear arms. For the work must go on till the great 
 harvest be gathered in. It must go on. But that it may go on 
 prosperously the workmen must wear the sword while they 
 ply the sickle ; or the sickle itself must be used as a sword 
 when the enemies fall upon the peaceful labourers. Those who 
 talk or preach in these days against controversy — as if it 
 necessarily implied, on the part of the church, the indulgence 
 of a spirit of " unfairness, uncharitableness, wrath, malice, and 
 evil-speaking " — seem to me to mistake the character of the 
 times in which we live,, and to misunderstand the nature of the 
 work to which the church is called. If, at any age in the 
 history of the church, it was the duty of the friends of truth 
 
THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 315 
 
 not only to declare the whole truth, to exhibit the influence of 
 that truth on the character and life, and to call into harmonious 
 and combined operation all the gifts and powers committed to 
 the church, but also to vindicate and defend the truth against 
 adversaries, and to expose dangerous and destructive heresies, 
 — this is certainly the duty of the church in the present day. 
 " Is not my word as a lire, and as the hammer, that breaketh 
 the rock in pieces?" We do not undervalue the practical 
 methods recommended by some ; we cannot too much adopt and 
 prosecute them. But, at the same time, we must not under- 
 value the method recommended by the apostle — the doctrinal 
 method, by which, while the believers are edified, gainsayers 
 are put to silence. To preach peace, peace in these days, and 
 to pipe simple sentimental lays to thoughtful hearts is, it seems 
 to me, to stop our ears and to shut our eyes to all the signs of 
 the times; it is to suffer the foundations of the temple to be 
 undermined, and the bulwarks of Zion to be thrown down, 
 while we idly dream of charity, and sing sweetly of the plea- 
 sures of peace. But not after that method can the church be true 
 and loyal to her King and faithful to the trust committed to her. 
 Every Christian loves peace; but no Christian must let his love 
 of peace govern his love of truth. That the church and the 
 world may at length come to enjoy a lasting peace, the church 
 must now contend earnestly for the faith that was once delivered 
 unto the saints. The defence of the truth is in these days a 
 duty to which the church of Christ is imperatively called. For, 
 apart from the interests of the world in this matter, the 
 existence, the self-preservation of the church demands, and 
 that most urgently, that the sound of the trumpet be heard 
 throughout all lands, to rally the friends of truth, the faithful 
 in Christ Jesus, round the standard of the cross, and beneath 
 the banner of the Lamb. 
 
 PRAYERFUL WORK. 
 
 In keeping with what has been already said, it may be 
 added here that, as in former ages, so in the present time, the 
 
olG THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 
 
 state of the world calls for self-denying, prayerful, and vigorous 
 work on the part of the church. There can be no question 
 that much of the energy that ought to have been expended in 
 the extension and planting of the church at home and abroad, 
 among Jews and Gentiles, has been expended on small wars 
 within the church itself. A working church must fight the 
 common foe. It must fight while it works. But an idle 
 church must also fight ; only in this case every man's hand 
 must be against a brother. This is a penalty annexed to in- 
 dolence within the church. The tendency of such a church is 
 not so much to die of self-indulgence, as to die by self-exter- 
 mination. Intestine war must in an idle church take the place 
 of the aggressive war of a working church. Such intestine 
 strife is not only most unseemly, but it is most dangerous. 
 How significant is the word, " And the Canaanite and the 
 Perizzite dwelled then in the land," after the statement, 
 " There was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle 
 and the herdmen of Lot's cattle." The unseemly strife 
 weakened and endangered the common cause of both Abram 
 and Lot. So has it often been in the history of the church. And 
 if the church should within itself avoid controversy in the 
 present day, it must fill its thoughts and hands with work. 
 And if there is a mind to the work, the work is easily found ; for 
 " there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed." The field 
 is the world. Never, perhaps, in all time, was the field so open 
 as now. The marching orders given to the church are " Go 
 ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." 
 The world is crying from north, south, east, and west, " Come 
 and help us." The voice of the Lord is sounding " Go ; for lo ! 
 I am with you alway, even unto the end." Surely it is time 
 that all true friends of Christ should cease from warring 
 against each other, and should war only against the common 
 foe, and should enter a common league and confederacy to 
 subjugate the whole world to Christ. When we look to one 
 side of the subject, we magnify the office of the church as 
 designed for the publication of the truth. When we look to 
 another side of the subject, we magnify the office of the church 
 as set for the exposure of error and the defence of the truth. 
 
THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 317 
 
 And when we look again to the same subject as it is seen from 
 a different or seemingly different side, we are disposed to 
 magnify the office of the church as ordained to change the 
 moral wilderness of this world into a beauty and fertility like 
 the garden of Eden. Some may think that these aspects of 
 the functions of the church are contrary the one to the other. 
 But they are rather like the colours in light — complementary of 
 each other. The first duty of the church includes all its other 
 duties. It is to publish the truth. But truth must vindicate 
 itself against error and gainsay ers. Controversy is unavoid- 
 able. And if the truth be published, then those who believe 
 in it must go and spread and plant that truth throughout the 
 world. The Christian church is essentially and apostolically 
 a missionary church, — a grand missionary society or institute. 
 "As my Father sent me, so send I you." Some men, looking 
 to one side of the ecclesiastical prism, may be disposed to 
 magnify the exposition and faithful preaching of the word. 
 They cannot exaggerate this. Some may be disposed, looking 
 at a second side, to magnify the importance of controversy in 
 defence of truth and in the exposure of error. They can hardly 
 exaggerate the importance of this. Others, looking to the third 
 side, may be inclined to magnify the missionary functions of 
 the church. But with respect to these can there be exaggera- 
 tion ? Can myriads on myriads be seen by them to perish 
 without God, without Christ, without hope, and while they 
 hear the voice of Christ saying, " Go, preach the gospel to every 
 creature V Can thejr, seeing and hearing all this, exaggerate the 
 functions and offices or duties of the church as the missionary 
 institute of the Lord Jesus Christ ? Go, if you think so, and 
 stand by the death-bed of your fellow, and hear him say, " I 
 have been a heavy sinner ; it is getting dark, mother ; give me 
 your hand." Go, if you think so, and see the multitudes in 
 heathendom, who live and die, believing the fables and lies of 
 aged superstitions and idolatries. Go, if you think so, and take 
 your place in the most melancholy spot on earth, the Jews' 
 place of wailing, beneath the shadow of that temple where once 
 their fathers worshipped. Look upon Zion, a wilderness; 
 Jerusalem, a desolation. Look on that thick veil of unbelief 
 
318 THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 
 
 on the face of the Jew. Strive to enter into his heart, and tell 
 me if the church is not called at this day to show mercy to the 
 Jew, and to strive to bring in the fulness of the Gentiles ? 
 Let the church of God therefore be up and doing. Let the 
 church work " while it is day ; for the night cometh in which 
 no man can work." And in its working, let it learn the grand 
 lesson taught to the now venerable missionary Dr. Duff, on 
 his first and outward voyage to India, when the only thing 
 saved from the wreck, from amidst all his scientific instru- 
 ments and apparatus was the Bible, — the Bible that is the 
 grand instrument for the enlightenment, conviction, and con- 
 version of the world. 
 
 ' ' O spread it, then, and let it circulate 
 Through every vein of all the empire, 
 That where Britain's power is felt, 
 Mankind may feel God's mercy too." 
 
 SPECIAL ASPECTS AND DUTIES. 
 
 II. Of some of the special and distinguishing characteristics 
 of this age, and the duty of the church. 
 
 It is to the religious rather than the scientific and political 
 aspects and phenomena of this age that our attention must be 
 directed. But, from the intimate relation of all forms of 
 thought, life, and action to each other, and because of their 
 reciprocal influence, we must not ignore all phenomena but 
 those that can be tabulated and classed as directly religious. 
 The human constitution consists of body as well as of mind ; 
 and, because of the relation subsisting between these two 
 factors in human nature, no mental as no bodily physiology 
 can be complete or satisfactory that does not note and take into 
 consideration the influence, on the one hand, of the body on the 
 mind, and, on the other hand, the influence of the mind on the 
 body. As in the case of the individual man, so in the case of 
 the life and action of the race of mankind, evolved in the 
 phenomena of history, two agencies or factors are at work. 
 These may be called and classified as physical agencies, and as 
 moral and religious agencies. Intense action of the one class 
 
THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IX THESE LATTER DAYS. 319 
 
 will powerfully modify the condition and operations of the 
 other. And, similarly, the languor or inaction of either class 
 will tell on the condition of the other. Nothing in this world, 
 — no change or event, can be isolated from causes and conse- 
 quences. Nothing exists for itself. It is part of a grand and 
 stupendous system by which the Most High rules over his 
 creatures, and executes his will, purpose, and decrees. When 
 we survey the phenomena of the age in which we live, we 
 cannot but contrast this age, in its physical changes, with 
 former times. This is an era of grand events, and, at the same 
 time, an epoch distinguished by the rapidity with which these 
 great changes are or have been evolved. 
 
 Within the last fifty — within the last five years, there have 
 been accumulated and condensed events of a magnitude, sran- 
 deur, and importance perhaps unequalled in any period of the 
 same duration since the world began. The surprise and the 
 admiration excited by these events seem, however, lost by the 
 bewilderment occasioned by their number, variety, and rapid 
 successiveness. Inventions in art, improvements and discoveries 
 in science, and the application to the purposes of life of these 
 varied inventions and discoveries, have, within the last fifty 
 years, almost entirely changed many of the modes and usages 
 of life. The facility and rapidity of transit and of intercom- 
 munication between the most distant parts of the world may 
 be taken as a general index of the present state of the world in 
 contrast with previous states. By the steamboat the traveller 
 is rapidly transferred from America to any part of Europe, — 
 from Europe to any part of the world. The great ocean has 
 really become the highway of the nations. In the railway 
 carriage, on the iron way on land, we are carried at a speed 
 that, to the men of a past age, would have seemed miraculous 
 or incredible. No part of the civilized world can now be said 
 to be far removed from any other part. Distance has not been 
 annihilated; but it has, by rapidity of transit, been abbreviated: 
 and men are hurrying to and fro. Inhabitants of the most 
 distant parts are passing and repassing, visiting and revisiting, 
 the most remote places, without even pausing to wonder at the 
 fact. 
 
320 THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 
 
 But the wonders of the electric telegraph surpass even those 
 of the steamboat or the rail. Man converses with man at the 
 distance of many thousands of miles almost as familiarly and 
 easily as with his next neighbour. Knowledge is running to 
 and fro. The great globe is in course of being girdled with a 
 new zone — the zone of intelligence ; so that the antipodes, 
 separated by twelve thousand miles, can soon inquire, as 
 fellow-townsmen, respecting the health of their fellows at the 
 opposite extremes of the earth. Friendly salutations or hostile 
 messages may soon be transmitted at a moment's notice, and in 
 almost a momentary period, beween the citizens of Edinburgh 
 and those of Pekin, or between those of New York and the 
 men of Patagonia. This is, indeed, the age of iron, of steam, 
 and of electricity. These agencies were in existence before our 
 time, but their power was latent. The iron of our island lay 
 peacefully beside its black combustible coal neighbour. The 
 steam of the world passed off into condensed air, and the elec- 
 tricity was diffused and latent. It was reserved for this age to 
 bring all these latent powers into action, and to wield and con- 
 centrate them, so that they are made serviceable to the purposes 
 of commerce, science, and war, for the convenience of man's 
 estate. Corresponding with the agency called into operation 
 have been the effects on the social, commercial, and military 
 movements of the world. All these have received a mighty 
 impulse of acceleration. War and commerce have assumed a 
 new aspect. All things are moving fast all over the world. 
 Opinions are quickly formed, transmitted, exchanged, renounced. 
 Men take less than the wonted time to inquire, to deliberate, to 
 act. The literature most acceptable to the reader is that which 
 costs the least amount of thought, ]abour, or reflection. The 
 literature of the world seems to be fast assimilating itself to 
 the literature of the rail or the electric telegraph. Haste, haste, 
 haste, is on our means of transit, and on our opinions on litera- 
 ture and action. 
 
 High pressure is on the writer, traveller, and reader. Men 
 generally are living fast, too fast. Body and mind are alike 
 under high pressure. The fever of the brain and the sweat of 
 the brow bear witness to the pressure on body and mind. The 
 
THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 321 
 
 moral pulsations of society, seem dangerously, if not feverishly 
 rapid. And their occasional and mysterious intermissions serve 
 to increase the fears, forebodings, and alarms of those who 
 thoughtfully observe and reflect upon the moral aspect and 
 actions of mankind. For, what is the end sought after in all 
 this haste, and under all this pressure ? Is it goodness, or is 
 it not rather greatness ? Is it wisdom, or is it not rather 
 wealth ? Is it not in too many cases a haste and urgency to 
 grasp the objects of a criminal ambition ? It is surely to be 
 desired that, in times like these, men would force themselves to 
 the exercise and labour of slow and deliberate reflection. This 
 would, on the whole, expedite the moral progress of men, while, 
 at the same time, it would reinforce their wasted moral strength 
 and resources. 
 
 The impression left by the recent events through which the 
 nations of Europe have passed is remarkable, as illustrative of 
 the most significant aspect of this age. These events are 
 historical; and, like all historical events, they are the ante- 
 cedents of events to come, but the impression left by those 
 historical events is not the ordinary impression left by history. 
 We regard them not as much as they are past and accom- 
 plished, — we refuse to give them anything like historical 
 isolation, — we look upon them rather as they are precursive 
 and prospective. They seem to leave a prophetic, rather than 
 a historical impression. While they pass before us, we are 
 impatient ; while we read the narrative of them, we are dis- 
 satisfied. We ask, before they are completed, before the 
 narrative is ended, " What next ?" The events are themselves 
 incomplete, they are without their sequence, and hence the 
 question, " What next ?" The attention, accordingly, of dip- 
 lomatists, statesmen, merchants, and, in fact, of all thinking 
 men, is at this moment directed to the future, rather than to 
 the past. We have obtained what has been called an honour- 
 able peace ; but we are afraid to disband our troops and to lay 
 down our arms. We retain, as it were, by the force of an 
 indestructible instinct, the attitude of war, even after the pro- 
 clamation of peace. The future, with its omens projected from 
 the unfinished events of the past few years, commands our 
 
 \ 
 
322 THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 
 
 attention and awakens our concern. We resemble less those 
 who are advancing along an even path, or who are climbing an 
 ascent, than those who are urged down a declivity. The 
 insecurity of our position, the uncertainty respecting the imme- 
 diate future, express themselves in a wistful inquisitiveness at 
 the future, and by a tremulous and expectant attitude of 
 observation. The things coming, or about to come, on the 
 earth, are the objects that command attention, from the highest 
 and the proudest monarch and the meanest subject. 
 
 But this expectant attitude, this forward looking of men, 
 does not proceed from the insignificance of the recent past ; it is 
 rather the direct and necessary consequence, the logical sequence 
 of mind drawn from these events. There is a pause or suspen- 
 sion in the procession of the events; but the instincts of our 
 nature refuse to admit a pause in the logic of the events. The 
 mind hastens to complete by anticipation in thought what is 
 not yet completed in reality. Hence the question, What next ? 
 Our position also and relation to those events tend to beget 
 the same question. Had the same events occurred at the 
 distance of a century from our time, or at any period of less 
 activity, they would have attracted more attention, and they 
 would have left a more lasting impression; but, occurring in the 
 midst of a series remarkable for its rapid and grand evolution, — 
 occurring at a period when all the powers in society are work- 
 ing with a force and velocity unpredecentecl, we, who are carried 
 forward with the rapid movement of those events, lose sight of 
 them in the immediate past through our fearful apprehensive- 
 ness about the immediate future. 
 
 DUTY NOT A MERE NEGATION. 
 
 What, then, it may now be asked, is the duty of the church, 
 having respect to these physical characteristics of the age ? It 
 is not, certainly, to set itself in an attitude of antagonism to the 
 mind of the age, which is actively and intensely working in 
 all these rapid changes. It is not, certainly, to pronounce 
 anathema on what may at first sight appear to be inconsistent 
 
THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 323 
 
 with facts hitherto believed to be real and true. It is 
 not, certainly, the duty of the church to shut its eyes and 
 to be blind to the changes that are so rapidly transpiring. 
 These events are to be interpreted as fulfilling the counsels and 
 purposes of God. They are parts of those forces ministerial to 
 the kingdom of Messiah, by which old and inveterate supersti- 
 tions are being overthrown, and by which the way of the Lord 
 is being prepared,— the way for the universal diffusion of the 
 gospel, and for the bringing in of the glory of the latter day. 
 The church of Rome may, indeed, dread the effects to be 
 wrought by the discoveries of science in these days. For 
 it is founded upon ignorance. It may denounce anathema 
 against nations who throw off the yoke of despotism, and 
 against savans, who do not read the hieroglyphics of nature 
 through the spectacles of the priesthood. But the church of 
 Christ, founded upon knowledge, and ordained to publish and 
 defend the truth, need not look with jealous eye on the advance- 
 ment in the sciences in this age. For we are well assured that 
 the truth revealed by God in his inspired Word will never be 
 contradicted by truth fairly learned from the study of his 
 works. Let the church keep abreast of the science, literature, 
 and philosophy of the age. In this way, when the enemies of 
 revealed truth seek to turn science against godliness, the friends 
 of gospel truth can slay these enemies with their own weapons. 
 A profound knowledge of the Bible, an impartial exegesis of 
 its contents, a severe and systematic study of the doctrines 
 derived from Scripture, together with a thorough knowledge 
 of the world's own sciences, — these are required in this age of 
 the friends, ministers, and defenders of truth. Hasty inter- 
 pretations and generalizations from nature may be at variance 
 with the plain teaching of the Word of God. But the just 
 interpretation of nature will never conflict with the just 
 interpretation of inspired Scripture. The voice of the church 
 to men in these times should often be the word of Samuel to 
 Saul in the days of old — "Stand thou still awhile, that I may 
 show thee the Word of God." (1. Sam. ix. 27.) 
 
 Nor should the church sink into gloomy forebodings and 
 despondency when putting the question, What shall the end 
 
324 THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 
 
 be of these things ? There may, indeed, be changes and events 
 full of a'reat tribulation in the near future. But these all are 
 predetermined — they are all known to him and regulated by 
 him who is Head over all things to his church, and who has 
 ordained that the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of 
 his name as the waters cover the sea. Let the church then 
 publish her principles and doctrines, and let her rejoice in the 
 promises of the Lord, according to which all things are working 
 together for good to them that love God. For, whatever may 
 be the future of this or that nation or empire, the church of 
 the living God has before it a glorious futurity. 
 
 SPECIAL ASPECTS AND DUTIES. 
 
 But I must advert to other characteristics of the age than 
 those already mentioned. 
 
 In every age of time, since it pleased the Lord to grant unto 
 man the revelation of his grace in the word of inspired truth, 
 men may be said to have shown a threefold disposition or 
 attitude and habit of mind with respect to divine things and 
 to the Word of God. 
 
 There have been in every age humble believers in the divine 
 testimony ; men who bowed with reverence before the authority 
 of God speaking in his Word. These, in every age, have been 
 as pillars in the temple of the Lord. 
 
 There have been, also, in every age, those who, inclining to 
 superstition and will-worship, perverted Scripture, and added 
 to it the traditions of men. These in every age have shown a 
 disposition to drag down the spiritual mysteries, and to 
 incorporate them in forms and carnal observances of men's own 
 invention. 
 
 A third class of men have in every age refused to receive the 
 Holy Scripture on the authority of God revealing it. They 
 came to Scripture with the measure and standard of their own 
 reason, and wherever Scripture taught (not what was con- 
 tradictory to reason, for this it never teaches) what did not 
 quadrate with their preconceptions or prejudices, they ventured 
 
THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 325 
 
 to impugn and to reject. These have in every age been the 
 broad churchmen and rationalists. 
 
 In this age we observe all these three classes of men at work. 
 But their working is in keeping with all other workings of the 
 age : it is characterized by intense activity. Superstition has 
 had a wonderful revival in this age. All over Europe, and 
 over the world, the priesthood and agents of the Man of Sin 
 are at this hour working with a zeal and an energy almost 
 unprecedented in the history of the great apostacy of Rome. 
 In our own country (Great Britain) the energy of Bomanists 
 may be judged of from the following facts : — In 1851 there 
 were only 46 Romish chapels in London, now there are 117. 
 In 1851 there were 9 nunneries in London; there are now 31. 
 In 1851 there were 2 monasteries; now there are 15. "While 
 this increase has been taking place in and about London, the 
 progress of Rome has been going on apace in other parts of 
 the kingdom. The total number of convents and nunneries in 
 England is 187, in Scotland 14 — making together 201. There 
 are 10 popish colleges in England, and 2 in Scotland. The 
 popish church has already 33 Members of the House of Com- 
 mons, 32 of whom are returned by Irish constituencies, and 1 
 by the constituency of Arundel in England, with a constituency 
 so small as 184 electors, according to last Parliamentary return. 
 Besides all these agencies, banded together, and no doubt ready 
 to obey the behests of their master in Rome, as was manifested 
 at the last great party struggle in the Houses of Parliament, 
 there are also committees organized for special purposes, such 
 as the St. Peter's Pence Association — altogether illegal and dis- 
 loyal — for the purpose of levying a tax on the Roman Catholic 
 subjects of Queen Victoria for the support of an antagonistic 
 king in Rome, whose president is a Member of the House of 
 Lords, and whose secretary is an English magistrate. There is 
 also a poor-school committee, for watching over the education 
 of Roman Catholic pupils in schools receiving grants from the 
 Government. There are also committees for pressing forward 
 their demands in regard to chaplaincies in prisons and work- 
 houses. There are also 69 Roman Catholic Members of the 
 Peerage. With such a phalanx, combined together for the 
 
326 THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 
 
 destruction of the Protestant religion, and the establishment of 
 Komanism on its ruins, or, in Romish words, ' that the Roman 
 Catholic religion, with all its rights, may be exclusively dom- 
 inant in such a sort that every other religion shall be banished 
 or interdicted,' it is not surprising to find that Romanism is 
 making progress, both in adherents and in State support, in 
 the face of an indifferent people, and of two parties in the 
 State vieing with one another in granting all that she demands, 
 in order to obtain support for their own selfish and political 
 ends. Hence grants are given profusely for popish purposes in 
 Ireland ; for schools in Great Britain ; for chaplains and offi- 
 ciating clergymen in the army ; for chaplains in Government 
 prisons, and also in city and borough prisons, in addition to 
 bills or reports threatening to establish still further chaplains 
 in workhouses and other public institutions. Upwards of 
 £300,000 is annually given for popish purposes by the people 
 of this country, exclusive of many annual grants given in 
 connection with public institutions and establishments in the 
 Colonies. While all the governments of the country are 
 seeking to withdraw their support from idolatrous institutions 
 in India, and using their influence in abolishing Hindooism and 
 other systems of error in the East, they seem to vie with one 
 another in giving grants of money for maintaining and propa- 
 gating a more dangerous and unhallowed system of idolatry at 
 home. On the other hand, the Protestant churches are divided, 
 and do not aim at any combined action to resist their common 
 enemy." 
 
 Facts such as these, taken in connection with what we daily 
 see and hear of the doings of the agents of Romanism, are proof 
 of the zeal and activity of the Romish church. Their hope is 
 to conquer and subdue Great Britain, and, through that con- 
 quest, to subdue the world. This age, if marked by nothing 
 else than the revival of popery in this country, would be sig- 
 nalized as distinct from all ages since the period of the blissful 
 Reformation. We must not forget that the progress of 
 Romanism in this country has been mightily helped by the 
 movement that commenced more than thirty years ago in 
 Oxford. It was evident from the first, to all thoughtful ob- 
 
THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 327 
 
 servers, that Puseyism must inevitably develop itself into 
 Popery. The multitudes who have gone over to the Romish 
 church since the commencement of that movement make good 
 the description given long ago of Puseyism, when it was said 
 to be " An inclined plane to Popery." But, while many have 
 left the pale of the English church and joined the communion 
 of the Roman apostacy, these are not so dangerous to the 
 interests of Protestantism as are those who, being Puseyites or 
 Romanists at heart, remain within the English church. Nor is 
 Father Newman at all so efficient an agent of the papacy as 
 Dr. Pusey. That remarkable man sees nothing to prevent a 
 union between the Anglican and Roman churches, except the 
 decree concerning the Immaculate Conception. Truly we live 
 in very perilous times. When a man like Dr. Pusey should set 
 himself to attempt to demonstrate that the Protestant and 
 Reformed Church of England differed in almost no vital doc- 
 trine from the synagogue of the Man of Sin. 
 
 Puseyism is a revival of Sacramentarianism and of Ritualism ; 
 and the Church of Rome is the only church where the Pusey ite 
 notions find perfect development. Hence the crowds of per- 
 verts. But the influence of Puseyism has been felt, and is 
 felt at this hour, within Presbyterian and Congregationalist 
 churches. Hence the itch for innovations that is exhibited by 
 not a few within the Established Church. This itch proceeds 
 from the persons referred to having tasted the cup which Rome 
 sends round among all people and churches. And with all 
 these Romanizing and Roman energies in operation around us, 
 we are exhorted by some friends of the truth to avoid contro- 
 versy, and to sing a syren song of peace. If the churches of 
 Christ in this land do not arise and shake off their lethargy, 
 if they do not unite in common and vigorous action against 
 the advancing legionaries of Rome, they may be awakened 
 when it will be too late to confront the enemy with any reason- 
 able hope of success. Besides this, the example of the effects 
 of professorial teaching in Oxford, in connection with the pro- 
 gress of Puseyism and Romanism, ought to admonish the 
 churches that, if they would preserve the truth in its purity 
 and integrity, and have ministers sound in the faith, and able 
 
328 THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 
 
 to teach the form of sound words, they must watch with the 
 greatest care over the character and tendencies of the teachings 
 in their halls of theology. 
 
 The human mind has frequently recoiled from superstition 
 to infidelity, and as in former ages, so in the present, Romish 
 superstition has driven men to infidelity and to atheism. The 
 reaction against Puseyism has manifested itself, not by pro- 
 fessed infidelity, but by what is termed Broad-Churchism. The 
 party known as the Broad Church in England have for some 
 years shown great activity, and their disciples are numerous in 
 all parts of the country. Their views on many of the cardinal 
 truths and facts of revelation are vague, unfixed, and indefinite. 
 They dislike doctrines, and call them dogmas, and they abhor 
 articles and confessions of faith. As the tendency of the 
 Puseyite is to extreme superstition, so the tendency of Broad- 
 Churchism is towards extreme rationalism. The prevalence or 
 growth of this party gives mark to the religious character 
 of our times. The men of this party delight in a cant of 
 their own about culture, advancement, liberty, progress ; a 
 liberal and scientific theology ; blind traditionalism, bigotries, 
 charity ; complex philosophical and historical culture ; ripen- 
 ing culture, &c, &c They have, if not their shibbo- 
 leths, at least their sibboleths ; and these they utter far 
 and wide by means of the press and pulpit. While readily 
 admitting that some of the representatives of this class are 
 men of scholarly accomplishment and of superior talents and 
 literary acquirements, we must confess that we have not in 
 their writings found evidence that they have been trained into 
 anything like a systematic knowledge of theology. Whatever 
 may be said respecting their literary education, it is painfully 
 evident that their theological education must have been either 
 neglected or have been of the most superficial and elementary 
 kind. Their writings testify that they come to the Bible with 
 all their boasted philosophy and preconceived notions of what 
 the Bible should teach ; and not as sinners needing salvation, 
 dependent on grace, or as children willing to be taught the will 
 of the Father in heaven. Statements such as these may be 
 said to savour of arrogance, and they may expose the speaker 
 
THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 320 
 
 to the favourite argument of certain persons, which consists of 
 nothing else than the use of scurrilous epithets and personal 
 abuse, just as sticks, stones, brickbats, faggots, and fire were the 
 arguments of the enemies of truth in former times. But the 
 interests of truth and the interests of immortal souls demand of 
 us that we use great plainness of speech. For by their fruits 
 systems like trees are known. And if the fruits of Broad- 
 Churchism teaching; are such as shall nurture living godliness, 
 such as shall fortify the minds and hearts of men under severe 
 tribulation, such as shall produce instances of heroic self- 
 sacrifice in the cause of God, we have greatly misunderstood 
 the nature, character, and tendencies of this so-called Broad- 
 Churchism. The history of the church bears witness that all 
 that has given character to Christianity, as a moral and spiritual 
 power over men, has been diverse from our modern Broad- 
 Churchism. The same history testifies that the representa- 
 tives and types of our modern Broad-Churchmen were in every 
 age the trimmers, time-servers, renegades, and dregs of the 
 church. And no marvel. They have no fixed " Thus saith the 
 Lord." Reason is their oracle ; and to escape from danger, even 
 when truth is assailed, is their policy. Puseyism may last 
 while Romanism lasts ; but this Broad-Churchism is only the 
 fitful product of certain times. It is destitute of all the 
 elements of permanency — it is built, not on the everlasting and 
 immovable rock of truth, but on the shifting sands of human 
 opinion. Unless Broad-Churchism, whether on the north or 
 south of the Tweed, exhibit other characters than are seen in 
 its zeal against the Sabbatical law and its rage against the 
 Decalogue, — unless it exhibit other claims on our regard than 
 its aversion to determinate propositions and doctrines, and 
 its abhorrence of confessions of faith, together with its love 
 for liturgies, organs, and sacraments, we must refuse to admit 
 that it is other than a compromise between the grossest in- 
 fidelity and the blindest superstition. This we assert to be its 
 true and real character. But, just because it is a compromise, 
 it cannot be of long duration. It must choose either the way 
 of truth, or the way of superstition, or the way of avowed 
 infidelity. Infidelity and superstition, though not compromises, 
 
330 THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 
 
 must also be of temporary duration. The Word of God, and 
 that alone, abideth for ever. 
 
 The duty of the church of Christ, with respect to this char- 
 acteristic of the age, is written as with a sunbeam. It must, 
 whether in good report or evil report, declare, publish, and 
 defend the truth as it is in Jesus. It must vindicate and assert 
 the invariableness of truth as given and revealed by him who 
 knows the end from the beginning. It must, in faithfulness to 
 the Lord, as well as in faithfulness to the souls of men, preach 
 law and gospel, grace and truth. It must invite men to walk 
 in the old and everlasting paths that lead to Zion. It must 
 declare the whole counsel of God, whether men will hear or 
 whether the}'' will forbear. No uncertain sound must now be 
 given. For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall 
 prepare himself for the battle ? And, whatever men may say, 
 none but the deaf, none but the dead can fail to hear the sounds 
 of war — the trumpet blasts of the coming conflict. In that war 
 organs, postures, liturgies, [and beggarly elements of all kinds 
 must perish. But out of it severe simple truth will come, if 
 wounded, yet victorious and triumphant. 
 
 A sermon for the times might, in the judgment of some, be 
 expected to treat more of local and recently raised questions 
 than this sermon. But with merely local and temporary 
 questions it is not here that I shall deal. At the same time, 
 apart from questions of a merely local and temporary character, 
 I may state that there are aspects of the providence of God 
 towards us as a people that demand from the church in Britain 
 special and devout recognition, and that call for humiliation 
 and thanksgiving. 
 
 Other nations have been recently convulsed by revolutionary 
 changes ; some have been devastated by war ; and some have 
 had multitudes of their people destroyed by the plague. God 
 for many years has blessed our beloved country with peace 
 and with great prosperity, — a prosperity that has made this 
 little island the wonder and envy of the world. It becomes 
 us devoutly to acknowledge in all this the goodness and 
 lovingkindness of the Lord. But we have abundant reason 
 also for confessing our sins and the sins of our fathers. For 
 
THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 331 
 
 we have not been careful to return unto the Lord according 
 to his mercies given unto us. We have gloried rather in our 
 own wisdom and power than in the grace and goodness of the 
 Lord. For this our great national sin let us humble ourselves 
 before the Lord, being admonished by his judgments. For if 
 the pestilence is not among us as a people, the plague is among 
 our cattle. And none but the infidel and atheist, who deny- 
 both God and his providence, can fail to see in this, as in all 
 plagues, the hand and judgment of God. Spare us, Lord, 
 and turn away from us thy wrath ! 
 
 Before concluding this discourse, there is yet one subject 
 of grand importance to which I must advert. This age is in 
 many respects one of disintegration. Old institutions are 
 crumbling as if their substance had been eaten out of them by 
 the dry rot. What seemed but a few years ago to be stately 
 palaces, built on apparently strong and sure foundations, are 
 now falling into ruin. Their foundations are giving way. The 
 mighty river of truth is rubbing against and carrying away the 
 clay beds on which they were built. Even Peter's old chair 
 is crumbling into dust beneath the pope. And ecclesiastical 
 politicians are beginning to raise in England the old cry, " The 
 church is in danger." It must therefore be repaired. Props, 
 binders, buttresses must be used to prevent the walls from 
 falling to the ground. Among the expedients for strengthening 
 and preserving the Anglican Church, the most notable by far 
 is that of Dr. Pusey and his coadjutors in the Anglican and 
 Scottish Episcopal Churches. It is the grand project of union 
 between the Greek, Roman, and Anglican Churches. This 
 indicates that if the age is one of " pulling down," it is also 
 an age of building up. But in vain shall man build after this 
 fashion, with untempered mortar, with wood, hay, straw, stubble. 
 The fire will consume all such composite structures. Men may 
 thus build ; but God will cast down and destroy their unholy 
 work. Their folly and their doom will be as those of the 
 builders of Babel. "They said one to another, Go to, let 
 us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had 
 brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they 
 said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top 
 
332 THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 
 
 may reach unto heaven ; and let us make us a name lest we be 
 scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the 
 Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the chil- 
 dren of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is 
 one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: 
 and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have 
 imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound 
 their language that they may not understand one another's 
 speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon 
 the face of all the earth : and they left off to build the city. 
 Therefore is the name of it called Babel," or " Confusion." (Gen. 
 xi.) Similar to this, but more terrible, shall be the doom of the 
 modern and mystic Babylon, which Dr. Pusey and Dr. Man- 
 ning, with many builders of the same kind, are attempting 
 to set up. For this is the sure word of prophecy, " Therefore 
 shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and 
 famine ; and she shall be utterly burnt with fire : for strong 
 is the Lord God who judge th her." Rejoice " over her then, 
 ye heavens, and ye holy apostles, and prophets : for God hath 
 avenged you on her." " Alleluiah ! for the Lord God Omni- 
 potent reigneth." 
 
 But while amalgamations such as those referred to are mere 
 confederacies for evil, and in the cause of Antichrist, there is 
 surely a most imperious call to all the churches of Christ, the 
 churches of the reformation, to aim, pray, and labour that the 
 divisions of Zion may be healed, — that the breaches in the 
 temple walls may be repaired. And much do I rejoice that in 
 my loved Scotland, the Lord has put it into the hearts of so 
 many in the sections of the Nonconformist Presbyterian churches 
 to seek to unite the churches on the basis of eternal truth. 
 May God speed those builders, and may he himself build up 
 his house in our land. " Do good in thy good pleasure unto 
 Zion. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem." It is not an 
 amalgamation of incongruous materials that we desire or hope 
 to see ; it is not a conglomerate mass welded by pressure from 
 without that we desire or hope for ; it is not an aggregation of 
 dead stones that we hope to see. Komanism and Anglicanism 
 have or may have union of that kind. But our hope is to see 
 
THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 333 
 
 a blissful union of churches holding the common faith, holding 
 the One Head, and enjoying the quickening and sanctifying 
 grace of the One Holy Spirit. Yes, we believe it is the duty 
 of churches of Christ to exhibit their spiritual oneness, not 
 only by friendly co-operation in every good work, but by actual 
 incorporation, that the church in our dear native land, like a 
 building fitly framed in Christ, may grow into a holy temple 
 in the Lord. Amen. 
 
YET THEEE IS ROOM; 
 
 OR, 
 
 AN EXPOSITION AND OFFER OF THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM 
 
 OF GOD.* 
 
 "And yet there is room." — Luke xiv. 22. 
 
 When the Lord Jesus Christ spoke these words, he was, we 
 are told by the evangelist, in the house of one of the chief 
 Pharisees, eating bread on the Sabbath day. 
 
 When there, he healed a dropsical man, and vindicated his 
 
 * Prefatory Note. — This is my favourite sermon. I part with it now with 
 most mingled feelings. It goes to the press from a manuscript wet with many 
 tears ; but the tears are those of love, in wonder, adoration, and gratitude. 
 They are not the tears of one who has no hojje ; but they are the expression of 
 a heart moved, and yet at rest, rejoicing in the Lord with a joy unspeakable 
 and full of glory. May it go forth, not oidy bedewed with my tears, but be- 
 dewed with the grace^and the anointing of God the Holy Ghost, that others 
 may know the joy of love in tears, as they look unto him whom they have 
 pierced, and mourn for him, while they hear his still small voice saying^ " In 
 my Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you. And 
 I will come again, and receive you unto myself ; that where I am there ye may 
 be also." Were it my last utterance to my wife, my daughters, and my only 
 son — to all of whom I now dedicate this sermon — it would be, ' ' My beloved 
 wife, with Harriot, Mary, Thomas, and Margaret, my dear children, Yet there 
 is room, come with me, let us enter joyfully into the kingdom of our Lord and 
 Saviour Jesus Christ." 
 
 George Macaulay. 
 Dunglass Castle, 
 
 Old Kilpatrick, 16th January, 1S7S. 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 335 
 
 action, not only as in keeping with the uses, ends, and design 
 of the Sabbatical law, but also as an illustration of a principle 
 according to which the Jews themselves acted in matters in 
 which their self-interest came to the aid of their hermeneutics, 
 or method and laws of biblical interpretation. 
 
 HUMILITY. 
 
 Observing how some of the guests chose out " the chief 
 rooms," the Lord, according to his invariable manner, took 
 occasion to address to them, and through them to us, words of 
 gracious counsel and exhortation. " When thou art bidden of 
 any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest place; lest a 
 more honourable than thou be bidden ; and he that bade thee 
 come and say unto thee, Give this man place ; and thou begin 
 with shame to take the lowest room." True humility is not 
 only another name for true politeness ; it is also true policy. 
 For it leaves room for promotion, or the possibility of advance- 
 ment to honour. Therefore, " When thou art bidden, go and 
 sit down in the lowest room ; that when he that bade thee 
 cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher : then shalt 
 thou have worship (honour) in the presence of those who sit 
 at meat with thee." But not to teach the lessons of social 
 civility and politeness did Jesus become manifest in the flesh. 
 For other and higher ends was the great mystery of godliness 
 revealed. Nevertheless, civilization, with all the urbanity of 
 manners which it implies and produces, is the invariable hand- 
 maid, attendant, and shadow of Christianity. Politeness in 
 manners, as in letters, is the reflection of genuine godli- 
 ness or piety. And there can be no true godliness where 
 there is not a genuine and unfeigned humility. " For who- 
 soever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that hum- 
 bleth himself shall be exalted." This is the law in the 
 kingdom of God. It holds in the kingdom of ordinary provi- 
 dence and in the kingdom of grace. Let it go abroad that a 
 man is in haste to be " somebody," or to exalt himself, and 
 every other man will account it both his interest and duty to 
 
336 YET THERE IS EOOM. 
 
 thwart the purpose and projects of the too eager ambition. 
 Men will, in such a case, set themselves to abase or bring down 
 the aspiring, the ambitious, and the self-elating. On the other 
 hand, let the impression go forth and spread itself that a man 
 possesses real worth, that he is a man of character and of ability, 
 and at the same time a man modest, unpretentious, and hum- 
 ble, who prefers and esteems others rather than himself; the 
 crowd in this case will open of itself the way or avenue along 
 which it invites the man of modest worth to walk upwards to 
 the place of distinction, and the platform of office and of 
 honour. Self-love is gratified and flattered in bestowing 
 patronage on the deserving poor, on the humbly and modestly 
 able, worthy, and good. But whatever may occur in this 
 strangely complex and seemingly confused region of daily 
 providence, the law operates with undeviating precision and 
 with unvarying regularity in the kingdom of God's grace. 
 "He that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that 
 humble th himself shall be exalted." Humility is the sublimest 
 virtue in the kingdom of God. It is the measure and 
 index of the moral and spiritual build and stature, growth and 
 attainments of the Christian man. Mensura humilitatis est 
 mensura increment!. By the valley of humiliation we enter 
 into the kingdom ; and along that valley, with progressive 
 lowliness of spirit, we walk in holiness and usefulness, till we 
 reach the lofty heights of blessedness and glory, to which we 
 are predestinated in Christ Jesus. " He that humbleth himself 
 shall be exalted ; " so spake the Lord, who is the fountain of 
 all honour and exaltation in the kingdom of God. " For pro- 
 motion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor 
 from the south. But God is the judge : he putteth down one, 
 and setteth up another." (Psalm lxxv.) He that is in his own 
 judgment less than the least of all saints, yea, the chief of 
 sinners, is among the greatest and foremost in service, suffer- 
 ings, and honour in the kingdom of our God. For except we be 
 converted, and become as little children, we shall in nowise 
 enter into the kingdom of God. "You write to me about 
 academic honours and distinctions," said the missionary 
 Buchanan to the Rev. John Newton; "I would not give a 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 337 
 
 little brokenness of heart, contrition, and emptiness of spirit 
 before the Lord, in exchange for the highest honours and 
 offices that Cambridge can confer or bestow." As the orator, 
 or master of eloquence, when asked the secret of his art, 
 replied again, and again, and again — "Action ! " so it has been 
 well said by Calvin, cpaoting from Augustine, " if I be asked the 
 secret of the Christian life, I will answer, after the manner of 
 the orator, Humility, humility, humility ! and continue answer- 
 ing, Humility ! " For as the bird that builds in the lowest 
 place mounts on buoyant and elastic wing to loftiest heights, 
 so the humblest Christian is the most Christ-like and God-like 
 among men. And as the barley, when the grain is ripe and 
 full in the ear, bends its head in graceful modesty, so the 
 Christian, ripe in grace, and laden with the rich fruits of 
 godliness, bends his spirit in unfeigned lowliness before his 
 God. The vesture of humility, which he wears in the view of 
 men, is but the index of that graceful enrobement with which 
 his inner and hidden man of the heart is attired in the presence 
 of that Lord, who, looking into the heart, seeketh there for 
 truth in the inward parts, finding it there also in beautiful 
 league and amity with that " wisdom which, coming from 
 above, is pure, and peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, 
 full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without 
 hypocrisy." 
 
 HOSPITALITY. 
 
 Turning to the master of the feast and head of the house of 
 hospitality, the Lord directs his words to him, and through 
 him to all who would be careful to use hospitality. Among the 
 guests around the table or present at the entertainment there 
 was what nowadays would be called a conspicuous absence. 
 The poor, the perishing, the starving, and the needy were not 
 represented there, except by the man sick of the dropsy whom 
 Jesus had healed. On this Jesus remarked, and on it grounded 
 one of the most instructive and memorable lessons of his king- 
 dom. " Then said he to him that bade him, When thou 
 makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy 
 
338 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours ; lest 
 they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee." 
 " Lest they also bid thee again !" Is not the language of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ on this occasion fitted to check and 
 repress all hospitable thoughts, all the interchange of friendly 
 offices among men ? Must not the man that hath friends show 
 himself friendly ? Is not social intercourse regulated neces- 
 sarily by the law of giving and receiving, the law of friendly 
 reciprocity ? The words of Jesus are not inconsistent with the 
 action of this law ; they are not designed to check the habit 
 of giving and receiving ; they do not discourage the principle 
 that prompts to the interchange and reciprocation of friendly 
 and good offices ; and they do not repress but direct hospitable 
 impulses and thoughts. Without restraining the neighbourly 
 feelings of hospitality, they indicate a direction and use of 
 hospitality far more excellent than that which is common 
 among men. For the hospitality here encouraged is like the 
 politeness or civility of which the Lord had in speaking to 
 the guests given the directory, card, or law. It is not a 
 mere worldly hospitality, any more than a mere worldly 
 politeness and urbanity, which is here taught and incul- 
 cated by the Lord. " But when thou makest a feast, call 
 the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind : and thou shalt be 
 blessed ; for they cannot recompense thee : for thou shalt be 
 recompensed at the resurrection of the just." The truly 
 hospitable thoughts, intent on their objects, need never lack 
 opportunities of indulgence and gratification. Nor need those 
 who act according to the counsel and exhortation of the Lord 
 adopt the philosophy of those who would divest virtue and 
 godliness of their appropriate and sure reward. Do the thing 
 because it is right, kind, and good ; but in doing it cherish not 
 the cold and discouraging thought that would abstract from 
 goodness the approbation and reward of him who is the only 
 Good One. For God is not unrighteous to forget the work of 
 faith and labour of love which may have been showed toward 
 his name by those that minister to his saints. (Heb. vi.) In 
 showing hospitality to the poor, the maimed, the lame, the 
 blind, a very peculiar and altogether exquisite happiness is 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 339 
 
 ours. In the meantime is a very special blessedness, accord- 
 ing to the word, " It is more blessed to give than to receive," 
 — a blessedness in measure a reflection of the Divine felicity, 
 springing from resemblance in character and in work to our 
 Father who is heaven. For he giveth to all liberally. He 
 worketh and doeth good continually. That which he gives his 
 creatures gather. They all wait on him that he may give them 
 their meat in due season. He openeth his hand, and they are 
 filled with food. But not only so. There is in store and in 
 reserve a blessedness for those who imitate and copy the example 
 of their Father in heaven. They are blessed now, and they shall 
 be blessed hereafter. For among these poor, maimed, lame, 
 and blind, for whom few seem to care, and to whom few show 
 kindness, there are the kinsmen, the brothers and sisters of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, the Heir of all things. He is, as it were, now 
 in a far distant land, in a remote province of his kingdom. But 
 he has minute, ample, and most correct information of all that 
 befalls his poor kindred and relations here. And when he shall 
 return, having received the kingdom, he has himself taught us 
 that, from his glorious seat of universal judgment, he will re- 
 count and reward the kindnesses done in his name, and because 
 of relatedness to him, to any, even the least, of his poor brothers 
 and sisters. Like himself, the elder brother, when he sojourned 
 here, these are unknown and despised by the world. But a cup 
 of cold water given to any one of them, because of relationship 
 to him, will not be without reward in that day when he shall 
 appear in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels, to judge 
 both the quick and the dead. Nay, more, in his sight and 
 estimate that cup of cold water may be of far greater account than 
 offerings and gifts the most costly and ostentatious. For if, 
 when a peasant, seeing the grand and'royal cortege of his earthly 
 sovereign in procession through his far-reaching dominions 
 and territories approach on the highway near his lowly cot, 
 having nothing to offer, rushed to the stream that flowed near 
 by his hut, and dipping his hands into the water, filled the 
 hollow palms with the pure and limpid water, and then went 
 up to the great emperor with this as his tribute of obeisance 
 and honest loyalty of heart, the grand emperor, so far from dis- 
 
340 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 daining the gift and offering, ordered that it should be preserved 
 in a golden vase of rarest worth and workmanship; we are 
 assured by himself, that Christ Jesus, the King of kings, does 
 not disdain to acknowledge the cup of cold water given in his 
 name to one of the meanest and least of his brethren. " They 
 cannot recompense thee ; but thou shalt be recompensed at the 
 resurrection of the just." No look, or thought, or word, or deed 
 of kindness is lost. Say not, when you know that love to Christ 
 has prompted your thought or deed, and when it is misinter- 
 preted, misconstrued, and ill-requited, it is just what might have 
 been expected from a thankless world. Speak not thus unad- 
 visedly with your lips, and not for one moment indulge the 
 feeling that hides and lurks beneath this form of words ; but 
 rather go on, add kindness to kindness, in the morning do good, 
 in the evening withdraw not thine hand. For thy labour of 
 love is not in vain in the Lord. And, whatever requital our 
 actions may receive from men, let us be sustained by the sure 
 word of Christ that we shall be blessed, for we shall be recom- 
 pensed at the resurrection of the just. Our praise we seek not 
 from men; but we do most earnestly seek it from God. Study, 
 therefore, my brother, to show thyself approved unto God — a 
 workman that needeth not to be ashamed. To do good and to 
 communicate forget not. Use and show kindness and hospitality 
 to all men, even to strangers, but especially to such as are of 
 the household of faith. For with such sacrifices God is well 
 pleased. 
 
 THE RESURRECTION OF THE JUST. 
 
 The reference in the words of the Lord to the recompence 
 and blessedness of some at the resurrection of the just drew from 
 one of the guests the remark, " Blessed is he that shall eat 
 bread in the kingdom of God." The kingdom of God, eating 
 bread in that kingdom, and the resurrection of the just were 
 all associated in that man's mind as they are in the minds of 
 many who ought to know more of the nature and blessedness 
 of participating in the privileges of the kingdom of God. The 
 little child, looking peering and wistfully up into its mother's 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 341 
 
 face, and seeing that countenance furrowed deep with, care and 
 solicitude and grief, and while hearing the voice of a mother's 
 intense and earnest affection pleading for Jesus, and his love 
 hears, but heeds not, for it thinks that the happiness of religion 
 is a thing of the future, in heaven, or at the resurrection: and 
 accordingly the little child, turning to its toys and playthings, 
 leaves seriousness for those who are cumbered with care; and the 
 happiness of being religious to those who have outgrown the 
 age of smiles, gambols, glees, and toys. Dear, dear little ones, 
 dearly, dearly loved, with your little chubby fingers thrust 
 among the tissues and heart strings of my soul, often much 
 troubled, but now tranquil, listen to the words of Jesus — " I 
 love them that love me, and they who seek me early shall find 
 me ;" and again, " Suffer the little children to come unto me, for 
 of such is the kingdom of heaven." Dear little lambs, when you 
 read or hear that sweet story of old, how Jesus, when here 
 among men, called to him little children, and taking them up in 
 his arms, blessed them; believe him that happiness and joy only 
 belong to those who now take Jesus to be their Saviour and 
 their all. Believe not the lie of Satan, that smiles and to}^s are 
 inconsistent with love to Jesus. 
 
 "Grace is a plant, where'er 'tis found, 
 Of pure and heavenly root ; 
 But fairest in the youngest shows, 
 And bears the sweetest fruit." 
 
 The young man, the lad setting out from his father's house, 
 and from the sweet, sweet home of a mother's love and piety, 
 to mingle with the active jostling crowd, and to elbow his way 
 in the thoroughfares and in the market places of men, hears 
 the voice of a father's thoughtful wisdom, prudence, and god- 
 liness, as it says, " Remember now thy Creator in the days of 
 thy youth ; " " My son, if thou be wise, my heart shall rejoice, 
 even mine ; for a wise son maketh a glad father ; " and hears 
 also the voice of a mother's gentle, cautious, and timid solici- 
 tude, " What, my son ? and what, the son of my womb ? and 
 what, the son of my vows ? Depart from evil, do good, 
 refrain thy lips from guileful speech, thy ways from those 
 
342 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 of the strange woman, be not a guest at the banquet of 
 folly, avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, pass away, let 
 thine eyes look right on, seek peace and pursue it, walk 
 with God," believing in the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal 
 life. But the young man, intent on pleasure, thinks of happi- 
 ness as if it were in religion reserved for age, for the sick-bed, 
 for the infirm and the dying, for the time of the resurrection of 
 the just. The busy merchant, — the plodding husbandman, — the 
 anxious father, — the too careful mother, — and the burdened pea- 
 sant, groaning beneath his load of labour, with shoulders too 
 early bowing down towards the grave, all hear of happiness, but 
 they put it away in thought from the present, and transferring it 
 to some more near or remote futurity, they conclude that present 
 happiness is incompatible with present godliness. They, too, 
 say, " Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God 
 at the resurrection of the just." Nay, more. Even the atheist 
 or infidel, who, while enjoying the bounties of God, denies and 
 disowns the heavenly Donor and Benefactor, admits that, if 
 there is a heaven, the godly man shall be the happy man at 
 last ; and, if there is a hell, the ungodly and the vicious man 
 must at length be most miserable. In all these cases, from the 
 infant with its sparkling eyes, smiles, and flaxen locks, to the 
 hoary-headed or bald atheist and scorner, there is the admission 
 that godliness and happiness shall probably be identified at 
 some future time ; but there is the practical demonstration that, 
 for the present, godliness is not reconcileable with felicity. 
 This is one of the most common and fatal of the arts of decep- 
 tion and delusion practised upon the children of men by the 
 tempter and destroyer of souls. And men are the more easily 
 duped in this way, because, while they follow in the paths of 
 sin, they give a verbal homage to the excellence of godliness 
 and virtue. They hope, wish, intend, propose, at some time, to 
 give more earnest heed than they now do to the things that 
 they hear from the Word of God, and to the great salvation. 
 The grand fallacy is this — the forgetting that heaven and hell 
 are begun on earth. And that, if we would now be happy, Ave 
 must now, and without delay, see to it that we are justified 
 before God, through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, received 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 343 
 
 by faith alone. Heaven and hell have their shadows and pre- 
 sentiments, their earnests, pledges, and presages here. Heaven 
 and hell are developments into perfection of character and of 
 principles here imbibed, received, and in operation. They are 
 characters as certainly as they are states. And the life here is 
 but the preparation of a man for the dread and unchangeable 
 future of eternity. Why, then, should we postpone the felicity 
 of heaven ? Why should we not, by foretaste and in anticipa- 
 tion, insert the purity, peace, beauty, joys, and harmony of 
 heaven into the sphere of this transitory and troubled life ? It 
 is possible, blessed be God, to do this. It is actual, blessed be 
 the Lord, in the experience of not a few, who seem to the eyes 
 of men to be tossed, tempted, and afflicted continually. They 
 sit not in the chair of scorners ; they feast not, and riot not 
 with fools; they may not be seen where wealth, wordliness, 
 and fashion — whether political or religious — hold their much 
 frequented gatherings ; their names may be, and often are, as 
 unheard and unpronounced by the tongue of contemporary 
 fame, as was the name of Jesus, while he toiled in obscurity in 
 the workshop of Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth ; yet are 
 they admitted to the banqueting house of God, they have com- 
 munion with the church of the firstborn, and their fellowship 
 is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 
 
 PRESENT BLESSEDNESS. 
 
 In response to the remark of the guest, who said, " Blessed is 
 he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God," and to correct 
 the latent misapprehension of true blessedness, and of the 
 nature of the kingdom of God, and to instruct his church till 
 the end of time, Jesus spoke the parable in which the words of 
 the text occur — " And yet there is room." 
 
 As in many places of the Scriptures, so here, the kingdom of 
 God, or that gracious reign and administration of the divine 
 will according to which sinners are received into favour, — are 
 pardoned, regenei'ated, justified, sanctified, and made heirs and 
 partakers of eternal life, — is compared to a feast or supper, pre- 
 
344 YET THE11E IS EOOM. 
 
 pared for many, and to which many are invited. It is, in other 
 words, God's way and method of showing hospitality. "A certain 
 man made a great supper, and bade many : and he sent his 
 servants, at supper time, to say to them that were bidden, Come ; 
 for all things are now ready." 
 
 This is the provision of God's liberality, bounty, and grace. 
 It is in greatness, richness, costliness, fulness, abundance, 
 variety, suitableness worthy of the greatness, grace, resources, 
 and liberality of the Eternal God and King. Before the time 
 of supper or the feast, before the arrangements were formally 
 completed, intimation of the approaching feast and of its 
 time — a sort of prefatory invitation — was sent to certain 
 persons, "those that were bidden," — that had been bidden 
 before the hour and time of supper had arrived or fully come. 
 To them, when the time of supper had fully come, the servant 
 is sent to say, "Come; for all things are now ready." Former 
 notices, hints, or intimations were fitted to prepare them for 
 this announcement and invitation, so that they might be 
 expected to be in readiness to comply with the call now 
 given, "Come " now, "come;" for all things, as pre-announced 
 and pre-arranged, — all things which might be expected ac- 
 cording to the purpose and intention previously revealed, — 
 "All things are now ready." 
 
 This is none other than the voice of the Servant-Son of 
 God addressing the message of grace, mercy, and good-will 
 from God to the Jews, who had at various times and in 
 diverse manners received intimations of God's purpose to 
 provide largely, suitably, and spiritually for the wants of men, 
 — his purpose to bless all the families of the earth through the 
 promised seed of Abraham. It is the voice of him who is 
 called the Servant of God, his Elect, the Beloved of God, in 
 whom the Father always findeth delight. Come, says Jesus, 
 to those who were outwardly, by covenant, by promise, by 
 privilege, the children of the kingdom,— come, avail yourselves 
 of the blessedness offered unto you. Come ; for the kingdom 
 of God hath come very nigh unto you, and God is revealing 
 his righteousness, his grace, and his salvation. " Come ; for all 
 things are now ready." It is as the voice of the town-crier 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 345 
 
 in the city of God, saying, " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come 
 ye to the waters, and he that hath no money ; come ye, buy wine 
 and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye 
 spend your money for that which is not bread ? and your labour 
 for that which satisfieth not ? hearken diligently unto me, and 
 eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fat- 
 ness." "For in this mountain hath the Lord of hosts made 
 unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the 
 lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well 
 refined. And he will in this mountain destroy the face of the 
 covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over 
 all nations. He will swallow up death in victory ; and the 
 Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces ; and the 
 rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth : 
 for the Lord hath spoken it." (Is. lv. and xxv.) This is the 
 great feast and supper prepared of God at the evening time of 
 the day of Jewish privilege. It is the provision of Zion, the 
 preparation of the gospel of peace. And in its fulness, great- 
 ness, freeness, and richness of blessing it is worthy of God 
 and most adapted to the necessities of man. It is divinely 
 ample, suitable, varied, and free. It provides water, wine, 
 milk ; with food truly good ; with wines on the lees, and fat 
 things full of marrow, and wines well refined. It provides not 
 only things absolutely necessary, but with divine munificence 
 and prodigality, it provides and offers far more exceedingly 
 above all that it entered into the human heart to think of, to 
 wish, to ask, or to expect. It is the unsearchable abundance 
 and depths of the riches of the mercy, grace, righteousness, 
 wisdom, and redemption of God. It is grace out of the fulness 
 of God that we may be filled with all the fulness of God. It is 
 glory out of the fathomless depths, and inaccessible and un- 
 scalable heights, and measureless lengths and widths of the 
 love and glory of God. O my soul, think well of God ! " He 
 giveth liberally and upbraideth not." " It is a faithful saying, 
 and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the 
 world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." " Wherefore, also, 
 he is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God 
 by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." 
 
346 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 We speak of the feast of reason and the flow of soul. Here 
 we feast on life, and light, and joy. The darkness has passed 
 away. Death is swallowed up in victory. Sorrow and tears 
 are no longer our portion and our mark. The gentle hand of 
 Omnipotence, touching our faces, by Jesus Christ, has wiped 
 away all our tears. The days of our mourning are ended ; for 
 the Son of God was exceedingly sorrowful even unto death : 
 and he says unto us, as we are led by him into his banquet- 
 ing house, with his banner of love everlastingly waving over us 
 and above us, " Eat, friends ; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O 
 beloved. Eat ; for my flesh is meat indeed. Drink ; for my 
 blood is drink indeed. Eat, drink, and thou shalt never die." 
 Yea, indeed, the saying is here true. " To-morrow shall be as 
 this day, and much more abundant ;" for Jesus Christ is the 
 same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. 
 
 ' ' We surely shall be satisfied 
 With thy abundant grace, 
 And with the goodness of thy house, 
 Even of thy holy place." 
 
 Come, O sinner, Come; for all things are now ready. 
 Eternal life, all blessedness, is offered here and now ; offered 
 with the liberality of God, and with the divine sincerity ; 
 offered freely ; offered with most absolute gratuitousness ; 
 offered, sinner — offered, my sinful soul, to thee ; offered to every 
 creature under heaven. Come, then, come unto Jesus ; for all 
 things are now ready. He that believeth on the Son hath 
 everlasting life. But what is believing ? Is it not, my 
 soul, as thou hast found, confiding only, confiding all, always 
 and in everything confiding in Jesus Christ the Son of God. 
 Away, away, for ever away with the cobwebs of scholastic 
 and Satanic casuistry ! Trust to him, trust in him, trust him. 
 Thus shalt thou find that it is true that all things are now 
 ready on God's part ; thus shall thy peace and prosperity of 
 soul be as a river, and thy righteousness (because he is now 
 thine) like the waves of the sea. Why, why should the only 
 unready and unprepared thing be thy hard suspicious un- 
 believing heart? Turn, oh turn, at the reproof, call, and 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 347 
 
 entreaty of God ; for he waiteth to be gracious, saying, " Hear, 
 and your soul shall live ; and I will make with you an ever- 
 lasting covenant, even the sure mercies of David." 
 
 THE MESSAGE, AND THE RECEPTION GIVEN TO IT. 
 
 In carrying out the instructions given to him, the servant, we 
 are told, went his rounds delivering the message or invitation 
 of his master. But those to whom he first went began with one 
 consent to make excuse. This is the testimony of Jesus, the 
 Servant Son of God the Father. It is not a railing accusation, 
 but a sorrowful lament over the folly, apathy, and guilt of those 
 to whom first the offers of the righteousness and blessedness 
 of the kingdom of God was made. Of them all — that is, of the 
 great multitude of them, it is said by the faithful and true 
 witness, they all as one, or all with one consent began to make 
 excuse. They were ready and prepared only with a polite 
 apology; and they found the matter of their excuse in the 
 bounty and kindness of God. 
 
 The first is a man who has very recently become a landed 
 proprietor. He has purchased an estate in the country. He 
 is, at the moment when the servant waits on him, about 
 to go and see it. He forgot all about the supper at 
 which he was expected to be present; and had made all his 
 arrangements so as to visit the newly acquired property and 
 estate. " I have bought," said he, " a piece of ground, and I 
 must needs go and see it." It might be all very desirable that 
 he should take his place in honour of the servant's master at the 
 pre-announced supper table and in the festive hall with the 
 guests. But the invitation was unseasonable, it was extremely 
 inconvenient for him; in fact, he could not so modify and change 
 or postpone his arrangements as to be at the supper. The 
 carriage was at the door, and with all respect, and, indeed, with 
 much esteem for the master of the servant, and while duly 
 appreciating his kindness and benevolence, he must adhere to 
 his previously arranged plan, and to his intention of visiting 
 his estate; accordingly he sends away the servant with good 
 
348 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 words and fair speeches, — words and speeches urbane and polite, 
 as became a country gentleman and one of the upper ten 
 thousand — " I pray thee, have me excused ! " The aristocrat is 
 civil, fair spoken, polite ; but he bows the messenger to the door 
 with an " I pray thee, have me excused." There is a polite and 
 urbane or aristocratic avenue that conducts to hell or everlast- 
 ing punishment and separation from the presence, grace, and 
 glory of the Lord, as well as a more vulgar thoroughfare leading 
 to perdition. 
 
 The second is a man in a somewhat different rank of life. He 
 is the representative of our successful merchants, and of our 
 thriving gentlemen farmers — our men of industry and commerce 
 — our aristocracy of wealth. He too has altogether, in the 
 multitude of his business, and in the number, importance, and 
 variety of his transactions, enterprises, and speculations, forgotten 
 that the supper to which he is now invited was, as frequently 
 intimated to him, being prepared. The many matters necessarily 
 demanding his attention had expelled this thought, and he had 
 really forgotten all about the master's supper. But this was far 
 from his having or entertaining any sentiments other than those 
 of profound veneration for the kindness and benevolence of his 
 friend, the servant's master. And to assure the servant of this, 
 the farmer invites him to partake of his hospitality; for it was 
 out of anything but a feeling of disrespect for his master that 
 the farmer could not, by any possibility, comply with the 
 invitation conveyed to him by the servant. In modern phraseo- 
 logy the reply of this man would be, " Offer my compliments 
 to your master, and say to him, that really I was so engaged, as 
 you yourself can testify — so driven hither and thither in the 
 hurry scurry of business, that however much I could wish, as I 
 hope I do wish, to honour his proffered and much esteemed 
 friendship, yet, as you yourself see, I am immersed overhead and 
 ears in business, arid besides, as bearing on the question of pre- 
 sent duty, I have only returned from the market, where I bought 
 five yoke of oxen, — made an investment, — as you see, and, as is 
 so very natural in the circumstances, ' I go to prove them.' I am 
 sincerely sorry that you have come at so awkward a time, for it 
 is extremely so, but I pray thee, have me excused — make for me 
 
YET THERE IS ROO^L 340 
 
 the best excuse you can." Commerce and industry can pave 
 their pathway to perdition, if not by good intentions, at least 
 by plausible excuses. The deceitfulness of riches or of busi- 
 ness, as well as the lusts of pleasure and other things, may choke 
 the good seed, prevent its growth, and render it unfruitful. 
 And yet, " What is a man profited if he gain the whole world 
 and lose his own soul? What shall a man give in exchange 
 for his soul ?" 
 
 The third man to whom the servant delivered his master's 
 invitation, is also a representative or typical man. He does 
 not speak, in his excuse, of land, or of the farm and mer- 
 chandise. He may even despise the hauteur of the incipient 
 aristocrat, and smile at the eagerness with which his neighbour 
 the merchant, or the thriving and busy farmer, prosecutes his 
 business. As for him, he will now live, and let live. Even the 
 Levitical law, as given by Moses, will excuse him from certain 
 kinds of engagements. Besides, he has heaven and happiness 
 at his own fireside. He does not need to go out to dine. " I 
 have married a wife," he says bluntly, " and therefore I cannot 
 come." This, it has been well said, is the lamest and least 
 satisfactory of the three excuses, while it is given with more 
 abruptness than either of the other two. For the landowner 
 could not take his land with him ; the farmer could not take 
 his five yoke of oxen ; but this man might, at the least, try to 
 persuade his wife to accompany him to the feast in the house 
 of his friend the servant's master. The home may prove as 
 seductive, and as fatal to our spiritual interests, as the farm, 
 the shop, the counting-house, or the landed estate. Domestic 
 habits and cares, domestic delights, may prove as ruinous to 
 the souls of men, as delights, habits, and ways aristocratic, and 
 industrial, or commercial. 
 
 So far, the servant's work is done. He has faithfully 
 delivered his master's message, or word of invitation. He has 
 delivered his own soul — that is to say, although his service has 
 not been attended with success, yet he has not forfeited the 
 good-will and approbation of his master. And, although re- 
 turning to give in the report of his work to his master, he 
 might be heard, as if in soliloquy, uttering the words, " I have 
 
350 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 laboured in vain; I have spent my strength for nought, and in 
 vain : yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my 
 reward is with my God; for with him on high is my record 
 that I have preached righteousness in the great congregation ; 
 I have not refrained my lips, the Lord knoweth : nor have I 
 hid his righteousness within my heart ; for I have declared his 
 faithfulness and his salvation : I have not concealed his loving- 
 kindness and his truth from the Great conoreo-ation." Yet he 
 does not appear before his master with the blood of souls in 
 the skirts or folds of his official robe : he has saved his own 
 soul, being faithful to the trust committed to him. With 
 heaviness of heart, with a sad, sad grief, not with the joy of 
 success, he gives in the account of his ministry. He called, but 
 men refused ; he stretched out his hands, but no man regarded. 
 His ministry, though faithful, proved to those among whom it 
 was exercised the savour of death unto death. He hearkened 
 and heard; but they spake not aright : no man repented him of 
 his wickedness, saying, What have I done ? Every one turned 
 to his course : making light of the call of wisdom, they went 
 their ways — one to his land and farm, another to his mer- 
 chandise, his family, and his home. The servant is dispirited 
 and sad. The master is angry. But he has other work in 
 another sphere, and among a different class, for his faithful 
 servant. For not in vain has the supper table been spread, 
 and richly furnished with all manner of choice meats, and 
 fruits, and wines. The proud proprietor, the comfortable and 
 thrifty farmer, and the happy bridegroom or but recently 
 married man, may be indifferent to the love, grace, friendship, 
 and good- will expressed in the invitation ,to the supper. The 
 love proffered in that invitation may find no room or place 
 where the love of land, of business, or of the wife and family, 
 unduly prevails. And when the servant has told his lord how 
 it fared with him, and with the message of grace and love 
 which he had conveyed to those to whom he had been sent, it 
 is no surprise to find it written : " Then the master of the 
 house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into 
 the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, 
 and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind." 
 
YET THERE IS EOOM. 351 
 
 Those to whom, in the former instance, the servant was sent, 
 are, historically, socially, and morally, a representative or 
 typical class. To the Pharisees, and to the scribes, and to the 
 better (?) classes in Judea, the first invitations of the gospel of 
 the grace of God, and the first tidings of the kingdom of God 
 were addressed. But they turned a deaf and listless ear to the 
 message of grace announced to them by the incarnate Son of 
 God. They made light of it ; and rejected the counsel of God, 
 to their own everlasting and irreparable ruin. The heart of 
 the Servant-Son is sad, and its sorrow overflows in tears, as 
 beholding guilty and doomed, because apathetic, Jerusalem. 
 He weeps over it, saying, in the broken ejaculations of a sor- 
 row too great and profound to utter itself in rounded forms 
 of speech : " If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this 
 thy day, the things that belong to thy peace ! But now they 
 are hid from thine eyes !" For God the Father is angry be- 
 cause of the dishonour done to his servant the Son, and the 
 contempt with which the overtures of infinite love have been 
 treated. 
 
 These men are, socially, the representatives of a class, or of 
 classes, to whom the blessedness and grace of the gospel king- 
 dom are offered. They are in prosperous, easy, and even 
 affluent circumstances ; they have all things, and have need of 
 nothing ; they are rich, and increased in goods. They know 
 not, wretched as they are, that they are poor, and blind, and 
 naked. To them, the riches offered in the gospel — the white 
 raiment, and the eye salve, together with the hospitality of the 
 grace of God — have no attractions ; for they are at ease. They 
 eat and drink; they buy and sell; they marry and are given in 
 marriage; they go to church and market; to county meetings 
 and grand assemblies ; to concerts, balls, and theatres ; and, 
 perchance, once a year, to a prayer meeting, or to the table of 
 the Lord, to save appearances, and gild the unreal and rotten 
 life with a thin film of religion, worn like rouge on the surface 
 that meets the eye of poor, human observation : but they are not 
 rightwith God; and attimes, amidst the quaverings of mysterious 
 feelings within them, when the unwelcome handwriting on the 
 walls of their souls is seen, they confess to themselves that they 
 
352 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 are not right and justified in the sight of God. But, alas! 
 they are so much taken up and engrossed with the business, 
 cares, riches, or pleasures of this life and world, that they do 
 not consider and give heed to the messages, entreaties, invita- 
 tions, and warnings of the voice and love of God. They perish, 
 not deliberately despising, but habitually making light of, 
 neglecting the great salvation by the Son of God. And from 
 heights of social enjoyment, and the status and platform of 
 worldly ease, and comfort, and wealth, they fall — for their feet 
 must slide in due time — as by a slippery way, suddenly, into 
 everlasting woe. 
 
 I need not enlarge on the fact that these men, polite to the 
 servant, but indifferent to his message and to his master's good- 
 will and friendship, are, morally, representative men. If religion 
 before God is another name for polished courtesy and civility in 
 manners and in speech,- — another name for conduct before men 
 irreproachable and blameless (although even by this test many 
 could not stand to be tried), — if religion be another name for the 
 affability or patronizing kindness of our aristocracy, — for the 
 industry and integrity of our merchants, men of business, and 
 farmers, — and for the virtues that find their congenial sphere in 
 the charmed circle and enclosure of a well-ordered and peaceful 
 home, without faith in God by Jesus Christ, without conversion 
 or the birth of the Spirit — without submission through grace to 
 the will and authority in all things of God — without the love of 
 Christ constraining to a life unselfish, holy, and devoted unto 
 God — without that hope which, while it is anchored in Christ 
 within the innermost sanctuary of heaven, shows itself here in 
 progressive imitation and conformity to Christ, purifying the 
 heart and life, as Christ also is pure, — then, these apathetic, easy, 
 courteous, polite men, indifferent to sin and grace, to God and 
 his Christ, to the cross and salvation, are and must be 
 accounted Christians. But let us not be deceived. God 
 will not accommodate the terms of his grace and the 
 methods of his salvation to the lukewarmness and heartless- 
 ness of a polite worldliness and indifference. Be zealous 
 and repent ! " Flee from the wrath to come." What 
 meanest thou, O sleeper ! Awake ! arise ! Call upon God by 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 353 
 
 Jesus Christ, saying, God be merciful to me the sinner; Lord, 
 save me, for I am a perishing and lost man, — perishing and lost 
 because unholy, vile, corrupt, and guilty before God. Religion, 
 if it is anything, is a thing of earnestness. Nothing is, or can 
 be, more fatal to it than that apathy or indifference which is 
 the index of the three most terrible and spiritual judgments of 
 God, — an e}^e blinded, and that will not see or look to Jesus ; an 
 ear deaf, and that will not hear the voice and words of Jesus ; 
 and a heart besotted, fat, fleshy, and heavy, that will not receive 
 the truth and the Saviour in faith and in love. From these we 
 must pray to be saved if we would participate in the grace and 
 blessedness of the kingdom of God, and have our part and lot 
 with Christ Jesus in the glorious inheritance of the saints and 
 saved of God. With six " Aniens," or " Verilys," Christ has 
 assured us that we each man must be born again if we see and 
 enter the kingdom of God. 
 
 But whatever may befall those who make light of offered 
 grace and salvation (and God's anger must be against them 
 because of his good-will contemned by them, because they reject 
 the salvation purchased through the obedience unto death of 
 his only begotten Son), his house and table shall be furnished 
 with guests. A multitude which no man can number shall 
 assemble to sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb. The 
 master of the house said unto his servant, " Go out quickly into 
 the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor 
 and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind." 
 
 THE SERVANTS SECOND MISSION. 
 
 The Lord Jesus expounds here by a parable of his own king- 
 dom what he had said to the Pharisee who had invited him 
 to eat bread in his house, concerning the principles and laws 
 that ought to prompt and regulate his exercise of hospitality. 
 By an illustration taken from God's method of procedure in 
 bestowing upon men the blessings of his kingdom, he would 
 teach us how we should proceed in showing benevolence or 
 hospitality to our brethren of mankind. But more than this. 
 
 z * 
 
354 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 The Lord here indicates that if, when we say, " blessed is he 
 that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God," we really mean 
 to say, Oh that that blessedness were ours here and now ! Then 
 participation in that blessedness is now offered to us in the 
 gospel ; that if we come short of the great salvation, if we perish 
 in our sin unpardoned, unregenerated, unsanctified, we perish 
 without excuse — our guilt like our folly is our own ; for Christ 
 the Son of God offers to each of us a present, full, perfect, ever- 
 lasting salvation. He commandeth us to repent and believe the 
 gospel. He entreats, exhorts, beseeches us by the mercies of 
 God, by the terrors of God, by every argument, if I may so 
 speak, of the divine ingenuity, sincerity, and love, from his 
 cradle, from his cross, from his throne, with tears, with smiles, 
 with compassion, with majesty, from the depths of poverty 
 and abasement, from the greater depths of his infinite pity and 
 lovingkindness, from the agonies of Gethsemane and the mys- 
 terious sorrows of Calvary, as from his seat amidst the light 
 and glories of the eternal throne, and from the bosom of his 
 Father's love, delight, and good-will he pleads, reasons, beseeches 
 us not to sin against God and our own souls, by making light 
 of the mercy, grace, and righteousness now at this hour offered 
 to us with all the sincerity, pathos, and earnestness of God — 
 yea, of God and man in himself united. Why will ye die ? Why 
 perish for hunger ? Why not now eat of the bread of life and 
 drink of the water and very wine of life ? For thus does he 
 speak, " Come ; for all things are now ready." And if argument 
 were needed that there is enough for you, for me, for every one 
 to whom the message of gospel is sent, it is found, not only in 
 the good- will and grace that provided the feast and that sent the 
 servant with the invitation to those that were bidden, but also 
 in the righteous displeasure and anger of the master of the 
 house at the slight put upon his good-will, and the contempt 
 with which his invitation was treated by those who with one 
 consent began to make excuse. The anger and wrath of God 
 against unbelievers are proof and demonstration that ample 
 provision is made in Christ Jesus for every sinner, and that God 
 wills that all men should be saved. Let not, therefore, the 
 sophistry of unbelief, or the casuistry of a suspicious, sin-loving 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 355 
 
 heart, beguile and deceive us. Rather let us believe the word, 
 " All things are now ready;" and let him that heareth " Come;" 
 yea, let him pass on the gracious word, " Come, for the master 
 calleth for thee ; come, for all things are now ready." 
 
 Out of the anger of the master of the house against those who 
 slighted his invitation there breaks forth grace to others. The 
 anger against the despisers gives urgency to the message of grace 
 to others. Leave dealing with the aristocracy of land, wealth, 
 religion, and comfortable respectability — leave the west end and 
 upper ten thousand of society, and " go out quickly into the 
 streets and lanes of the city." There, in the thoroughfares, lanes, 
 wynds, vennels, and sunk in ignorance, destitution, and moral 
 as well as social degradation, you will find those who will wel- 
 come the invitation to the supper, — the invitation spurned or 
 politely disdained by those at ease who, like the full soul, loathe 
 the honeycomb. You will not find there the elated and polite 
 landed proprietor, the courteous and busy merchant and farmer, 
 and the contented, happy, and rejoicing husband. You will 
 find " and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the 
 halt, and the blind." 
 
 Not on a mission of mere attraction is the servant now sent; 
 but on a mission of aggression. Say not merely that men are 
 invited ; that they are welcome ; that they are expected ; but 
 "bring them in hither." They may wonder, and be incredulous. 
 They may be surprised that they, out of their miseries, should 
 be invited to sit as at the king's table, and see the king's face. 
 Too sfood news to be true ! We never heard such words of grace ! 
 They must be for others, not for us How could we be thought 
 of ? It is a mistake : we are too far gone ; we have no hope ; 
 we must die in our misery. These are very different senti- 
 ments from those of the dwellers in the stately west-end man- 
 sions of the social and religious world. But Christ came not 
 to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. The whole 
 have no need of a physician, but those that are sick. From 
 preaching in the temple and in the synagogue to the fashion- 
 ably religious, and to the scribes, lawyers, rulers of the people, 
 and Pharisees, Jesus himself, as the Son serving his Father, and 
 doing his will, went out into the streets and lanes of the city, 
 
356 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 — went down into the depths and dungeons of human sin and 5 
 of human degradation and misery, offering grace, righteousness, 
 salvation, eternal life, to those amidst the social dregs, and 
 reputed the very offals of society; and he brought up with him 
 to faith, life, hope, light, love, honour, liberty, and joy, the 
 publicans and the harlots — the moral and actual outcasts 
 and pariahs of civil and, more especially, of religious and 
 fashionable Pharisaic prudery, formality, and hypocrisy. " This 
 man receiveth sinners," said these Pharisees. He is gone 
 to be a guest with a man that is a sinner. " Behold," said 
 they, " a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, the friend of pub- 
 licans and sinners !" Yes, if, in dispensing mercy to the bodies 
 of men, his congenial sphere was as in the infirmary and lazar- 
 house of the world — among the leprous, the paralytic, the 
 possessed with devils, the poor, the lame, the maimed, the 
 deaf, the blind — among those sick of fevers, or suffering from 
 all manner of intense, varied, and complicated diseases, healing- 
 all manner of sickness and disease among the people ; his con- 
 genial sphere in the moral and spiritual world is among the 
 broken, crushed, bruised, grieved, downtrodden, vexed, sad, 
 disconsolate — the weary in spirit, the heavy laden and bur- 
 dened in mind — among those that are and feel themselves to- 
 be as orphans spiritually — nay, more, as blind, maimed, lame> 
 poor, helpless, friendless orphans, forsaken, despairing, forlorn. 
 To such he was sent : to such he was anointed with the Spirit 
 of the Lord God to preach good tidings, to proclaim the year 
 of grace and jubilee, and to convey righteousness, life, liberty, 
 and salvation. And, faithful to his mission and embassy, re- 
 buking the apathy and unbelief, — the formal religious content- 
 edness of the unbelieving and self-complacent and self-righteous 
 Pharisees, he said unto them, " Verily, I say unto you, that 
 the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God 
 before you." These accepted of the righteousness and blessed- 
 ness of God, which the Pharisees disdained; and, being justified, 
 having much forgiven, they loved much, and they glorified God, 
 believing in Christ Jesus unto eternal life. 
 
 They, like the others, are thus not only historically, but also 
 socially and morally or spiritually representative of men to 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 357 
 
 whom the message of grace is announced, and to whom are sent 
 the servants of God. There is hope when a man begins to feel 
 that his case is hopeless, life when he feels that he is lifeless, 
 grace when he feels that he is graceless, rio-hteousness when he 
 feels that he deserves to be condemned, health when he begins to 
 feel that none but Jesus the physician of God can heal his soul, 
 and that no ointment or mollifying medicine can avail in his 
 case, except the balm of Gilead, applied by him whose name is 
 Jehovah Rophka, who was bruised for our iniquities, wounded 
 for our transgressions, and by whose stripes we are healed. A 
 sense of need, of guilt, of helplessness is the invariable precursor 
 and attendant of faith in the all-sufficiency, completeness, suit- 
 ableness, efficacy of Christ Jesus, the Saviour of the lost. Those 
 thus touched by the Spirit of God, contrite and trembling at 
 the Word of the Lord, are those to whom God from on high 
 looks, and among and in whom he dwells as in his temple and 
 palace, that he may revive the spirit of the humble, and revive 
 the heart of the- contrite ones. For God rejecteth the proud ; but 
 he giveth grace to the lowly. Hence Jesus calls, saying, "Come 
 unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give 
 you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me ; and ye 
 shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my 
 burden is light." While formal and self-sufficient Pharisees wait 
 on Christ's ministry to criticize, to judge him, to pronounce on 
 his orthodoxy, to catch, if possible, something that may give a 
 plausible pretext or colour to their unbelief, or to their accusa- 
 tion of malice against him, and while they go up to the temple 
 ■to inform God how good and religious and exemplary they are, 
 and how generous and benevolent they are, how different they 
 .are from men in general of whom they have a very low opinion, 
 .and especially how far they excel the poor publican who is cry- 
 ing for mercy so far back as if he stood in the court of the 
 •Gentiles, the poor despised publican and the harlot, whose 
 spiritual substance has been utterly wasted, and who have no 
 argument but their need and God's grace, hear Jesus gladly, and 
 wondering at his words of grace, receive them into the heart, 
 believing that God, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 is not the austere, tyrannical, hard, relentless, and merciless 
 
358 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 Being pictured to them by Pharisaism, but is slow to anger, of 
 great mercy, ready to forgive, even that " God who so loved the 
 world as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever 
 believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 
 Moloch is not God any more than Belial. Our God, the God and 
 Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, delighteth in 
 mercy ; he has much more than king David the heart of a father 
 longing to go out towards his banished to bring them back ; he 
 has the father's heart and the king's majesty. He doth not 
 respect any. He is absolutely impartial and just ; yet doth he 
 devise means that his banished be not expelled from him. 
 " Return, ye backsliding children, for I will surely have mercy 
 upon you." This is his voice — this the voice of the Incarnate 
 Son who is ever in the Father's bosom. This is the voice of 
 Christ's atoning blood, crying, " Father, forgive them ; for they 
 know not what they do." It is the voice of him that died and 
 rose again, saying, " Look unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends- 
 of the earth." " Him that cometh unto me, I will in nowise 
 cast out." " He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father." 
 " None is good but one, that is God." " I will surely have 
 mercy upon them." " The blood of Jesus Christ, God's own 
 Son, cleanseth us from all sin." Brethren, it is in the faith of 
 these things that I live. By these things I live ; for this is 
 none other thing than faith in God revealed in Jesus Christ, — 
 faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. 
 But why do I thus speak ? Why ? But, because, as a minister 
 of Jesus Christ, I desire, pray, and labour, that each of you may 
 attain to the faith in God that relies on him, and confides in 
 him, not only as God all-sufficient, but as our Father in heaven 
 who knows what we need, and will give to all who confide in 
 him grace and glory. Sinner vile, guilty, despairing, come with 
 me, and let us be introduced to the Eternal God, by his only 
 Son Jesus Christ, who teaches us to call that God our God, and 
 his Father our Father, because he hath taken us into brother- 
 hood and sonship with himself, through the regeneration of the 
 Spirit and the adoption of grace. He not only invites us to 
 his table, but he condescends to come to be a guest with us who 
 are sinners. Nay, he entreats that we receive his fellowship, 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 359 
 
 saying, " Behold, I stand at the door and knock ; if any man 
 hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and sup with 
 him, and he with me." This is his attitude, this his action, this 
 his voice, although rejected by the lukewarm Laodiceans, to 
 those even in Laodicea who may be brought to feel their need 
 of him, and to feel that their interest, duty, honour, and exalted 
 privilege to sup with Jesus, and to have him in fellowship 
 supping with them. What manner of grace, condescension, 
 love, is this ? " He receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." 
 
 The servant returns from his aggressive mission to the 
 streets and lanes of the city, — returns not, as before, sad, down- 
 cast, and sorrowful, but thankful and full of hope. His 
 language indicates that there came with or were brought in 
 by him numbers not a few from the city streets and lanes- 
 A multitude of the poor, the lame, the maimed, the blind, came 
 up to the door of the banqueting hall. They looked a ragged, 
 wretched company, diseased, despondent, and to man's eye 
 most despicable. But not so despicable in other men's eyes as 
 in their own. They entered by the porch. They were there 
 washed in a medicated bath. They were conducted into the 
 dressing chamber. They were clothed with a change of 
 raiment. Their rags were put away as they plunged into the 
 fount of cleansing and of health. They are robed in the gar- 
 ments of righteousness, praise, and salvation. They enter the 
 banquet room. Each looks a priest or king, a kingly priest, a 
 priestly king, unto God, and unashamed, they, with faces lighted 
 up with joy, the index of hearts transfigured with ineffable 
 grace, they unite in the anthem, " Unto him that loved us, and 
 washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us 
 priests and kings unto God and his Father, to him be glory, 
 and dominion, for ever and ever. Amen." And as Bunyan 
 said, "When I looked in and saw them, and heard their songs of 
 joy, I could wish, I did wish, to be with them. But the 
 Master's will is not yet. Conduct a few more to the Jordan, 
 see them safely cross, and learn from them to trust nry sure 
 word, ' My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee 
 rest :' then thou also, laying aside thy sword and staff, and 
 helmet and shield, shalt, standing in thy lot, put on the victor's 
 
360 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 crown, wave the victor's palm, be clothed in the robes of white 
 linen, clean and white, and sing for ever the loved song of 
 Moses and the Lamb. Amen. Be it so, Lord Jesus !" 
 
 "And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast com- 
 manded, and yet there is room." It is the voice of Jesus 
 respecting his ministry in the days of his flesh among the 
 Jews. Father, "it is done." "I have finished the work which 
 thou gavest me to do. I have manifested thy name unto the 
 men which thou gavest me out of the world ; for I have given 
 unto them the words which thou gavest me : and they have 
 received them, and have known surely that I came out from 
 thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. Neither 
 pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe on 
 me through their word; that they all may be one, as thou, 
 Father, art in me, and I in thee, — that they also may be one in 
 us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." 
 
 " It is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room." 
 Such is the servant's joyful report. It combines in it the ex- 
 pression of gratitude and of expectation. Not a few have come 
 to sit down at the supper table. But there are still empty places 
 there. There is room yet; and surely there is yet work for 
 the servant. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ? For yet 
 there is room. 
 
 " I must," said Jesus, " preach the kingdom of God to other 
 cities also : for therefore am I sent." (Luke iv. 43.) And 
 again, " Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold : them 
 also 1 must bring, and they shall hear my voice ; and there 
 shall be one flock, and one shepherd." (John x. 16.) 
 
 THE THIRD MISSION. 
 
 " And yet there is room," said the servant. " And the lord 
 said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, 
 and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." 
 The hospitality of the master of the feast will not be satisfied 
 till the house be filled with guests. Therefore, seeing that, 
 according to the servant's report, there is yet room, a new com- 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 361 
 
 mission — a new direction — is given to the servant. From the 
 streets and lanes of the city, he is now sent out into the high- 
 ways and hedges. The pagans (pagani) are now included in 
 the administration of the great and divine liberality. The 
 cities have been evangelized. But the country, with its scat- 
 tered villages, and dispersed and perishing millions, must not 
 be uncared for. Jesus came into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. 
 His fame had preceded him. It drew to him a mother who 
 was in sore distress because her daughter was grievously tor- 
 mented. " Lord, thou Son of David, have mercy on me." He 
 seemed neither to hear nor to heed the cry and passionate 
 appeal. The disciples seemed, for the time, more benevolent 
 than their Master. Not so was it in reality. Let me fall into 
 his hands, but not into the hands of the gentlest and kindest 
 of his servants. " It is not meet to take the children's bread 
 and cast it to the dogs," said he to the praying woman ; and to 
 the disciples he said, " I am not sent but to the lost sheep of 
 the house of Israel." The disciples could answer nothing. But 
 the woman, by her faith, entangled and caught him in his own 
 words. For surely, said she, " Thou, the Son of David, shalt 
 not, wilt not, cannot be less kind than the children of ordinary 
 and poor men ; and yet even they grudge not that the little 
 dogs under the table should have the crumbs that fall from 
 their richly furnished table. True, Lord, I am low, vile, base, 
 unworthy as a dog ; yet, is it worthy of thee to deny me this 
 crumb of mercy?" Thus did importunate faith appeal to 
 Jesus ; nor did it appeal in vain. " O woman, great is thy 
 faith. Be it unto thee according to thy faith. And her 
 daughter was made whole from that hour." Type and antici- 
 pating prefigurement this of the harvest of souls to be gathered 
 into the kino-dom of God from the Gentile world— from the 
 highways and hedges. Similarly, when Jesus heard the words 
 of the centurion of Capernaum, saying, " Lord, I am not worthy 
 that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word 
 onty, and thy servant shall be healed. For I, too, am a man 
 under authority, having soldiers under me ; and I say to this 
 one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and 
 to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. He marvelled, saying 
 
3G2 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 unto them who followed him, Verily, I have not found so great 
 faith, no, not in Israel." "And I say unto you, That many shall 
 come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with 
 Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. 
 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer 
 darkness : there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 
 
 In his valedictory words, almost immediately before he was 
 received up into glory, Jesus said to the disciples, "Ye shall 
 receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming unto you, and ye 
 shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and all Judea, 
 and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" 
 
 Christ, by his Spirit, with the Word ministered by his ser- 
 vants, has, for these eighteen hundred years or more, been 
 preaching the good news to those in the highways and hedges 
 of the world. 
 
 In the instructions given on this occasion to the servant 
 there is a word which has been twisted, tortured, wrested, per- 
 verted, to an amazing degree. It is the word "compel" them 
 to come in. Pains and penalties, fines, mutilations, forfeiture 
 of liberty and goods, imprisonment and persecution unto death, 
 because of religion, and in favour of the interests of the king- 
 dom of God, have found justification and sanction in this word! 
 Ultracalvinism and Ultramontanism find a common ground, or 
 basis, in this word of Jesus. But in this word there is nothing 
 to vindicate the exaggerations of hyper-Calvinism — of a Cal- 
 vinism verging on fatalism ; much less is there here anything 
 to give the shadow of a sanction to Ultramontanism, or any 
 form of persecution, because of religion. The temporal sword 
 — physical force — must not have any place whatever within 
 God's kingdom of grace. Nor must it be used for the direct 
 and spiritual objects and ends of that kingdom. Compel men 
 to come to a supper ! Compel men by force, torture, imprison- 
 ment, death, to come to participate in grace ! Compel men by 
 physical force, by physical constraint, by pains and penalties, 
 to enter into communion with God, to 20 to church, to be 
 religious, to believe in Jesus, to go to the Lord's Supper! The 
 idea is abhorrent to religion, to humanity, to liberty, to God. 
 It is a prostitution and profanation of Christianity, and of civil 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 363 
 
 freedom. It is Cain lifting his hand against his brother Abel, 
 because that brother, differing from Cain, was accepted before 
 God. Conformity has more than sufficient or justifiable argu- 
 ment, in every church established in Christendom, by its endow- 
 ments, immunities, prestige, and privileges, without making- 
 participation in its worship and communion the condition of 
 admission to all the rights, privileges, and offices proper to civil 
 citizenship. And yet, in the so-called Protestant and Reformed 
 Church of England, this was, till not very long ago, the law. 
 And to protest against this iniquitous prostitution of the Lord's 
 Supper, and this violation of the primary laws of free citizen- 
 ship, was to be guilty of radicalism, or of seeking to subvert 
 the constitution in church and state ! That church learned its 
 lesson in this matter, as in the court of High Commission, and 
 many others, not at the feet of Jesus, but at the feet of Anti- 
 christ. As an Irish peasant once remarked to me, " Men won't 
 be scolded, much less scalded, out of or into a religion." "Come, 
 now," saith God, "let us reason together;" and his servant 
 Paul says, " I speak as unto wise men : judge ye what I say." 
 
 The words, " compel them to come in, that my house may be 
 filled," reveal the intense and eager earnestness of him who 
 sends his servant out into the highways and hedges to see 
 assembled around him at his table a multitude whose happiness 
 shall be a reflection of the good-will that provided the feast and 
 furnished the table. They are expressive spiritually of the 
 divine solicitude for the felicity of man. At first, no such word 
 was addressed to the servant. And he delivered his message, 
 and reported a polite declinature of the invitation on the part 
 of those invited. The servant does not seem, from the parable, 
 to have used any urgency or vehemency of entreaty, appeal, and 
 persuasion. And one of the penalties of fashionable respect- 
 ability and elevated rank is, that even God's servants often seem 
 paralysed in their presence ; and instead of using great plain- 
 ness of speech, and addressing them as great at once in rank 
 and great in sin, they, speaking to ears polite, give a polished 
 and refined version of the law and gospel to those genteel and 
 aristocratic sinners ; they do not use a becoming directness and 
 plainness of speech. The fear of man has proved to them a 
 
-3G4 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 snare ; and they report failure and disappointment. What else 
 could they report ? And if our finical essays, our pretty theological 
 billets-doux are to be the fashionable and prevailing type of west- 
 end preaching, I need no prophetic vision or revelation to verify 
 this announcement, that not only is the complaint well-grounded 
 respecting a fecklessness in pulpit ministration and eloquence, 
 but that this thing — which is neither manliness nor godliness, 
 neither philosophy nor religion, neither law nor gospel, neither 
 fish nor flesh, neither meat nor drink, neither fit for infants nor 
 young men nor fathers, neither fit for sinners nor for saints, 
 although fitted to entertain on a Saturday or Sabbath afternoon 
 an audience of the gay and thoughtless, who find in it, such 
 regalement as, the scenes and actors being changed, the}?" find in 
 the concert, opera, or theatre — will prove, as it is proving to a 
 very ominous extent in certain circles, the ruin, underminement, 
 and destruction of all serious and evangelical religion and holy 
 living. John Wycliffe said, five hundred years ago, that the 
 downfal of religion begins with a perverted clergy, and that 
 the revival and reformation of relioion begins with a converted 
 clergy. Fearful in this view is our responsibility as ministers 
 •of the gospel and kingdom of God. 
 
 In the instruction to the servant sent into the streets and 
 lanes of the city there was tacitly involved or signified what is 
 ■expressed by " compel them " to come in, for it was said to the 
 servant, " Bring them in." 
 
 Here, however, the language is urgent, emphatic, and most 
 expressive. It is as if it were said : Take no apology. Be not 
 put off by polite and courteous excuses. Plead, reason, urge, 
 entreat. Be instant in season, out of season. Of some have 
 •compassion, making a difference; and others save with fear, 
 pulling them out of the fire. Let them know that you will not 
 give them rest, as you will take none to yourself, till they con- 
 sent to come with you to keep the supper and feast of the Lord, — 
 till, believing through grace in Christ Jesus, they be able to say, 
 " Truly our friendship is with the Father, and with his Son 
 Jesus Christ." 
 
 "And yet there is room." 
 
 Where, it may be asked, is this room ? It is in the house of 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 365 
 
 God, which is not yet filled. It is at the supper and feast of the 
 Lord. There is yet room in that house and at that table for 
 the poor, and the maimed, and the lame, and the blind, for the 
 outcast and pariahs of society, for vilest sinners aud most pro- 
 fligate prodigals. Yet there is room for thee, hearing the word 
 of grace and of the kingdom. Come then, and instead of need- 
 ing violence to bring thee, or to compel thee to come in, use 
 holy violence in entering into the kingdom of God. For it 
 suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. Strive, as 
 one in agony, to enter in by the strait gate into the narrow way ; 
 for wide is the gate and broad the way leading to destruction : 
 and many go in by that gate, and walk in that broad way ; but 
 strait is the gate and narrow the way leading to life, and few 
 there be that find it. 
 
 ROOM YET IX THE MERCY OF GOD. 
 
 Yet there is room where it was first opened and found — in 
 the mercy and grace of God. Mercy is still God's darling 
 attribute, as an old writer speaks. For " Who, says the prophet, 
 is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, that passeth 
 by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage ? He 
 retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in 
 mercy." Often in my musings and in my foolish and silly 
 thoughts did I wonder why God should have been, as it were, 
 at so great pains to commend himself in his mercy to mankind. 
 And I suppose that in these musings and thoughts, I only felt 
 as myriads of my fellow-men think and feel and have thought 
 and felt. For if there is any truth from the opening chapter 
 of Genesis to the closing words of the book of Revelation which 
 the Holy Spirit of God is careful to bring into prominency, and 
 to write in every variety of letter, expression, and form, it is 
 this, that God delighteth in mercy ; that he is good and ready 
 to forgive : for in this way he gives contradiction to the dia- 
 bolical and successful lie that God grudged, envied, or restricted 
 the happiness of man. I ceased to wonder and muse after this 
 sort when very early I observed within myself, as I have 
 
'36G YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 since had ample and frequent opportunity of observing in 
 others, that the most incredible thing to a soul conscious of 
 guilt before God is, that God can or will be gracious and merci- 
 ful. It is, in fact, the last thing that an awakened and anxious 
 soul will receive as true. Hence the fearful agonies through 
 which some of God's dear servants and children have passed 
 and are passing in their transition from nature to grace, from 
 death to life, from the sense of condemnation to the fact and sense 
 of acceptance and justification before God, and from the spirit 
 of bondage to the spirit of adoption, according td which they 
 cry, Abba, Father. The apathetic and the spiritually dead or 
 asleep may find it easy to believe as in dreams or reverie that 
 God is merciful, and that he is too good, benevolent, and kind 
 to condemn them because of their infirmities, frivolities, trivial 
 offences, and sins. But when the law or Word of God comes 
 with divine light, majesty, and authority, revealing God and 
 sin, justice and guilt, then all vain hopes are laid in the dust, 
 and the man dies. He is without hope, because God is just 
 and holy, as well as good. In vain do you, a miserable com- 
 forter, tell him of the universal and paternal benevolence of 
 Deity. The man does not question that. But because he 
 believes it as you do not, and in your present apathy, cannot, 
 he is sunk in despair, for he knows of no goodness in God that 
 is not the outcome as well of justice as of benevolence ; and the 
 cry of his soul, whether it ascend from the college in the wil- 
 derness with Job, or from the halls of modern culture with 
 Wesley and Whitfield and others of recent and honoured 
 name, is, " How shall man be just with God ?" Well, knowing 
 the agitations, heavings, anxieties, and deep, deep necessities 
 of man, when man really begins to consider his position before 
 God, and his relation to him, the Lord has been, like a loving 
 father, solicitous to anticipate the workings of the prodigal's 
 heart, and comes forth to meet the anxious, poor, and perplexed, 
 the self-condemning, God-justifying sinner, declaring his name, 
 and saying, " Jehovah, Jehovah God, merciful and gracious, 
 long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping 
 mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, 
 and that will by no means clear the guilty." This is his name, 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 367 
 
 that men may trust in him. For to him belong mercies and 
 forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him. For saith 
 the same Lord God, " Mercy shall be built up for ever." And 
 in response to this purpose and revelation of God in his mercy 
 and grace, the sinner, rising into the life of faith, and of inci- 
 pient hope, may be heard saying, " I will sing of mercy and of 
 judgment : unto thee, Lord, will I sing." And to the Lord 
 belongeth mercy. There is mercy with thee, God, that thou 
 mayest be feared. Therefore do the sons of men put their 
 trust in the shadow of thy wings. Hence the publican, stand- 
 ing afar off, not venturing to lift up his eyes unto heaven, 
 smiting on his breast, cries, " God be merciful to me the sinner." 
 And as it is written, " Every one that calleth on the name of 
 the Lord shall be saved," it is recorded of that praying, sin- 
 confessing publican that he went down to his house from the 
 temple of God justified. Mercy walks, no doubt, leaning on 
 the arm of Omnipotence, guarded and protected from insult, 
 injury, and wrong by the consuming fire of eternal and inviol- 
 able justice. Yes, justice and judgment are the habitation of 
 God's throne ; mercy and truth go continually before him. 
 
 The grace, or undeserved good-Avill of God to the guilty, and 
 bis mercy or good-will and compassion to the wretched and 
 the miserable, come forth in quest of the perishing and the 
 lost. Grace and truth have come by Jesus Christ. Believest 
 thou this ? Believest thou that there is room for sinners, — 
 room for thee in the amplitudes of the mercy and the grace of 
 God ? O my brother, think well, think generously of God. 
 He is God, and not man. For thus he testifies concerning him- 
 self that we may trust in him — " My thoughts are not your 
 thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For 
 as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways than 
 your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." " These 
 words," says that sainted man of God, the late Dr. Charles 
 Macintosh of Dunoon, " refer to God's ways and thoughts in 
 redemption. The proposition is true, indeed, in the widest 
 sense. All God's ways and thoughts are infinitely higher than 
 ours ; but it is here more especially applied to pardon. The 
 preceding verse contained that gracious command, ' Let the 
 
368 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts ; 
 and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon 
 him; and to our God, for he will abunciantly pardon.' But this 
 assurance of mercy and pardon as ready to greet the penitent, 
 being in itself so wondrous, and so contrary to all that the 
 consciousness of guilt leads the awakened sinner to expect, the 
 Lord, to encourage him to receive the truth, follows up his 
 invitation with the words, 'For my thoughts are not your 
 thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.' Some persons 
 may think that there is nothing in this very difficult to com- 
 pass, and that there is no truth easier of reception than that 
 the Lord is gracious. But what is the secret of the ease with 
 which they believe this great truth ? It is that they have 
 never felt the wound or sting of sin : they have never been 
 brought as justly condemned criminals to God's bar. Their 
 faith in the divine forgiveness is all a dream. The words seem 
 intended to teach not only that there is mercy in God, but that 
 there is mercy enough and pardon enough for the convinced 
 and consciously self-destroyed sinner. They teach that that 
 mercy is real and is infinite. And if it is infinite, is it not 
 enough for you, however great your sins ? None ever perished 
 for want of mercy. Many have perished for despising 
 mercy, many for rejecting mercy ; many have perished for 
 sinning because mercy abounds ; but none ever perished 
 because there was not enough of mercy."* In keeping with 
 these views of mercy, the chaste, earnest preacher, the most 
 resembling Leighton in style and thought among Scottish 
 theologians since the time of Leighton, speaks of God as 
 pardoning freely, fully, heartily, unalterably. This is the 
 gospel of the unsearchable riches of the mercy and grace of 
 God. For this infinite and free, moving mercy and love of 
 God in compassion to guilty man opened room for him in the 
 house of God, a mansion in the heavens, a place in communion 
 with the Eternal Father; and "yet there is room." Why 
 divide between the ability of God to save and the willingness 
 or grace of God the Saviour ? Why say, If thou wilt, thou 
 
 * Memoir and Sermons of the late Dr. Charles Macintosh. 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 369 
 
 canst ? or why again say, If thou canst do anything for me, 
 do it ? Trust at once in the "willingness and the ability of 
 God by Jesus Christ. " Only believe ;" for there is not lacking 
 aught on his part. Come, then, come ; for yet there is room in 
 the mercy of God, — room for thee, poor, halt, maimed, blind. 
 For not by works of righteousness on our part, but by his 
 mercy and grace he saves us, by the washing of regeneration, 
 and the renewing of the Holy Ghost shed on us abundantly 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 ROOM YET IN THE PURPOSE OF GOD. 
 
 Yet there is room in the purpose, or design, and decree of 
 God. It is the fixed and unalterable purpose of God to save a 
 multitude of sinful men by and in Jesus Christ, — a multitude 
 which no man can number, who shall be to the praise of the 
 glory of his grace through the ages of eternity. That purpose 
 is from everlasting to everlastingr It is sure and unchangeable 
 as the nature of God. And because it is so, it lays a sure 
 foundation for faith and for hope. Contingency here would 
 be fatal to faith and to salvation. Contingency in purpose, 
 plan, and design, may belong to man, but cannot belong to 
 God. But, just because man is a creature of contingent pur- 
 poses, he is unreliable. Faith cannot absolutely rest or repose 
 in him. He may propose ; but his purposes may be frustrated, 
 thwarted, and rendered ineffectual. He sees not afar off. His 
 ability is, like his foresight, limited. What is he, that he should 
 be accounted of ? " But I am the Lord ; I change not ; there- 
 fore the sons of Jacob are not consumed." Jesus Christ is the 
 same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. He is not man, or 
 son of man, that he should repent. " My purpose shall stand ; 
 and I will do all my pleasure." This gracious and absolute 
 purpose of God is revealed in the gospel, and takes effect by 
 the gospel. It is in Christ, by Christ, with Christ, for Christ, 
 through Christ. He is all in all in the purpose of God ; and 
 when the sinner takes him to be all in all, then God and the 
 sinner agree in purpose, love, and good-will. Till a man 
 submit to this will of God, acquiesce in this purpose and plan 
 
 2 a* 
 
370 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 of God, and consent to Christ as revealing and executing the 
 Father's purpose of mercy and grace, no man is a new creature, 
 — no man is a regenerate man, — no man is properly a child and 
 heir of God. On the contrary, he is contravening, thwarting, 
 fighting against the grace and purpose of God, — against the 
 method, plan, and principles of his moral government in nature, 
 and his reign of grace in righteousness by Jesus Christ. I 
 enter here into no theological debates ; I touch on no questions 
 of theological casuistry. They are to me, when I come to deal 
 with the question of your or my own personal relation to God 
 and salvation, as so many cobwebs. After having from my 
 childhood, I may say, meditated on the absolute sovereignty of 
 God, and the questions of duty and human responsibility, and 
 holding at once the absoluteness of God's decree, the freeness 
 of God's offered mercy, the all-sufficiency of Christ Jesus, the 
 imperiousness and urgency of the duty to believe in God, to 
 acquiesce in his revealed and gracious will, and the tremendous 
 responsibility attached to having had opportunity of hearing of 
 Christ and his salvation, and of having that Saviour and his 
 salvation pressed and urged on my acceptance, in declaring 
 God's gracious purpose, or expression of his good- will, to guilty 
 men, according to which he commandeth every man to believe 
 in the name of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ — that is, 
 commandeth me and you and all others to confide in Christ 
 with a trust, reliance, or confidence bearing some little pro- 
 gressive proportion to his infinite trustworthiness, merit, grace, 
 and all-sufficiency, — I shall not be guilty, as John Calvin puts 
 it, of plunging through the decree of predestination into the 
 vortex of perdition, or of plunging into the vortex of predesti- 
 nation, when I ought rather to flee to Jesus for salvation from 
 sin and from wrath. It is true I cannot. It is true I must 
 believe. It is true that my " cannot" resolves itself into "I will 
 not." And I am in a strait. I neither find to will nor to per- 
 form. I therefore cry to God ; for in my strait — in my very 
 sense of unwillingness and inability between I cannot and I 
 must — there is room for God graciously to interpose; and I 
 know that there is room in his grace even for me. " Lord, I 
 believe; help thou my unbelief." 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 371 
 
 After all, what is it we have here to deal with ? It is a strife 
 "between two wills or purposes. It is God's will and purpose, 
 God's method, plan, and decree on the one side, and the sinner's 
 will and purpose, the sinner's method, plan, and decree on the 
 other side. Which shall yield ? Eternal destiny hinges on 
 that question or on the answer practically given to it. Shall 
 it be put thus, God wills and the sinner shall ; or the sinner 
 wills and God shall ? Is it or is it not reasonable that God's 
 will should rule the sinner's ? Or must the sinner's will dictate 
 law to God ? Reason, conscience, Scripture, experience, the 
 saved and the damned, say, Submit, O sinner ; submit thy will 
 to God. Salvation is another name for this willing submission 
 of the will to God. 
 
 What is this method of salvation by the decree or purpose of 
 God ? Is it such as precludes the action, free, spontaneous, 
 gracious, here and now, of my Father in heaven ? To say so 
 would be to preach fatalism. But my God, my Father, is free. 
 He is God, and therefore free. His purpose does not supersede 
 my prayer ; not only does it leave room for it, it opens the 
 avenue by which it ascends from my sad and anxious heart to 
 the eternal throne. The " NOW " of God must not be set against 
 the eternal past, nor must the future be set against the same 
 eternal " now." He calleth me to-day. He says, " now," to- 
 day is the day of grace. Believe now on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and thou shalt be saved. Faith, prayer, hope, all climb up to 
 our Father as he now is in Christ. This, my beloved brethren, 
 is one main source of that ineffable tranquillity of soul, which, 
 as some of you know, I have for a time enjoyed. 
 
 Why should it be thought unreasonable that God's will should 
 prevail against and over the will of the sinner ? And as God's 
 plan is but the expression of God's will, and as in nature every- 
 thing is adjusted according toa stupendous plan, — a plan as mar- 
 vellous in its minuteness and microscopic nicety of detail as in its 
 vastness ; so in grace, when the Incarnate Son of God is to give 
 his life a ransom for many, — when this little globe is to be the 
 theatre of the most mysterious and miraculous display of 
 divine wisdom, grace, truth, justice, weakness, and power given 
 to the universe, why should it be thought unreasonable that 
 
372 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 everything in this great interposition of grace from God should, 
 from its grandest outline and purpose, idea and thought, to its 
 minutest and most microscopic details, be governed, regulated, 
 controlled, and determined by the will of that God who is 
 infinitely, absolutely good ? 
 
 In this plan of salvation, or in the salvation from sin and 
 wrath, and in the bestowment of eternal life upon men by 
 Jesus Christ, everything is regulated and determined by the 
 will, purpose, decree of God. For God has not merely in his 
 wisdom and grace conceived and thought out the idea of 
 redemption ; he has not merely given Christ to be the propitia- 
 tion for the sins of men ; he has not merely brought men 
 thereby into a salvable state, or rendered their salvation possi- 
 ble ; he has not merely given promise of the Holy Ghost to 
 quicken, regenerate, and sanctify men ; but he has so ordered, 
 arranged, and provided that what is offered, what has been 
 procured, what is actually and most certainly bestowed is 
 salvation, not salvability. A complete Saviour, with a com- 
 plete salvation, is what is revealed in God's Word, and is what, 
 with lisping and stammering tongue, I have sought and do seek 
 to preach, offer, and, in God's name, commend unto you, as it is 
 in that complete Saviour I myself confide, and in him find 
 wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. God 
 has not here, any more than in nature and in the kingdom of 
 daily providence, set a mighty system of machinery- — means 
 and ends — in motion, and then withdrawn behind the scene of 
 wondrous self-evolving phenomena, products, or events. All 
 things around us in the realms of nature and providence indi- 
 cate infinite wisdom, goodness, and power, in pre-adjustment 
 and adaptation of means and ends ; and in the day by day and 
 continuous evolution of ends there is evidence of the ever- 
 acting, ever-working, constant intervention of a God personal, 
 almighty, wise, good, sovereign, and free. God presides and 
 prevails by his wisdom, goodness, and power, in the execution 
 of his purpose, carrying forward the worlds in their ages, 
 seasons, changes, in their grandest as in their least observable 
 movements, — in pathways of suns and systems through immen- 
 sity, — and in the most delicately and seemingly self-evolving 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 373 
 
 tints that mark the growth of the little daisy, that " crimson 
 tipped " flower, to the end for which he has ordained — namely, 
 that his glory shall be evolved from all, and shall be seen to be 
 the tribute of universal creation to its absolute and sovereign 
 Lord, Creator, God, and King. And in the reign and realm of 
 grace salvation originates in God, is procured by him, is in him, 
 and is dispensed by him. Nothing is here fortuitous. The 
 cross has not been set up contingently or by accident. The 
 end is predestinated by God. The means and end are infalli- 
 bly linked together. To God they are as one. Even as a 
 thousand years are as yesterday, or one day ; and one day as a 
 thousand years. God's will, purpose, decree, God's direct 
 agency, by his eternal and gracious Spirit, prevails in the 
 application of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus as certainly 
 as in any part of the stupendous economy and administration 
 of grace. Hence God is all in all by Jesus Christ. And as we 
 only know and can only do in the world of science, nature, and 
 art, according to the measure of our right apprehension and 
 interpretation of nature and its phenomena, so is it here in 
 grace. And as the law of all natural power and science is that 
 man, the minister and interpreter of God's works, or of God's will, 
 purpose, wisdom, goodness, and power, shall himself attain to 
 natural wisdom, goodness, and power, by discovering and sub- 
 mitting to the will of God, written in the stones and strata of 
 geology, and shining with most splendid illumination from the 
 stars of heaven; so in grace we enter the kingdom, make progress 
 in divine science, enjoy its divine privileges, rise and grow up to 
 its divine holiness and blessedness by humbling ourselves and 
 our will before God and his will. When we cease from our 
 own wisdom, righteousness, life, ends, power, and glory, and 
 accept and acquiesce in God's wisdom, righteousness, life, 
 ends, power, and glory — in other words, when we consent to 
 let God's will, and purpose, and decree become our will, pur- 
 pose, and decree, we are not only in a salvable state, but we are, 
 blessed be God, saved, and become possessors and heirs of 
 eternal life, and are entitled to the most unrestricted use and 
 enjoyment of the charter of our privileges in the eighth chapter 
 of the epistle to the Romans. For now there is no condemnation 
 
374 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 to us in Christ Jesus ; and nothing shall be able to separate us 
 from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
 
 It was in the first temptation the aim and policy of the devil 
 to insinuate the thought and to induce the persuasion that 
 there was inconsistency between God's absolute supremacy and 
 man's felicity or blessedness. For absolute supremacy involves 
 as its correlate, absolute or entire dependence. Man was happy 
 so long as this relationship was practically and consciously 
 admitted by him. Man perished that moment when, listening 
 to the suggestion of Satan the old serpent, he questioned and 
 denied the rectitude and truth and goodness involved in this 
 relationship. Ambitious to be independent of God, and 
 to grasp at the sovereignty of God, man became the slave 
 of his sin, and the vassal of Satan, and the child of wrath, 
 being the child of disobedience. In destroying the works of 
 the devil, Christ Jesus, by his cross and by his grace, restores 
 man to his lost estate — yea, raises him to a state better fortified 
 and secured, and drawing with it greater and better privileges 
 than those lost and forfeited in Adam : but Christ Jesus does . 
 this, first, by becoming himself subject and dependent, obedient 
 even unto death, that atonement for man's sin might be made, and 
 righteousness and redemption for man procured ; and, secondly, 
 he does it by bringing man back to an acknowledgement of his 
 absolute dependence upon God. From beginning to end, if we 
 can speak thus where there is neither beginning nor end, the 
 grace of God is so dispensed that God's will and purpose shall 
 be supreme, and that man's will and purpose shall be none 
 other than acquiescence in the will and purpose of God by Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 If these things be so, why, my soul, should the divine 
 sovereignty or the divine decree be accounted or thought of as 
 a bar and impediment to thy salvation ? Rightly, humbly, 
 devoutly thought of and considered, it is so far from being any 
 bar or impediment, that, on the contrary, it is the spring, source, 
 and guarantee of thy salvation. And yet who has not felt and, 
 it may be, given at some time in life utterance to the words, 
 " If these things are true, I'm a lost man." These were the words 
 of a man of remarkable character and history, — so remarkable, 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 375 
 
 indeed, that when he lived without God, and denied and dis- 
 owned God, the Mahommetan soldiers or troopers of Hyder Ali, 
 who caught him as he was attempting to escape from his 
 imprisonment, exclaimed, when they heard the almost miracul- 
 ous manner of his escape, " This is God's man ! " After a very 
 singular and eventful career, he returned to spend the evening 
 of his godless day near Portsea. There, going on a Sabbath, 
 with his niece, to hear the Rev. J. Giffin, he was so impressed 
 with the sermon that he gave utterance to the words, " If these 
 things are true, I'm a lost man ! " These things Were preached 
 from the text in the eighth chapter of the Romans, " Moreover 
 whom he did predestinate, them he also called," with the preceding 
 words, " Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be 
 conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first- 
 born among many brethren." Listening to the evangelical 
 exposition of these things, the sceptic's scoffing spirit was sub- 
 dued. The big tear rolled down his weather-beaten face, and 
 he said, " I'm a lost man ' " His niece, a godly young woman, 
 rejoiced that her uncle discovered for the first time that he 
 needed a Saviour, and that if saved, his salvation must be of 
 grace by Jesus Christ. He went home to pray over his Bible, 
 and he was not long in meeting with that gracious Lord Jesus 
 who came to seek and to save the lost, and to give his life a 
 ransom for many. And with Paul, now striving to build up 
 what before he had tried to throw and pull down, he offered his 
 services to the London Missionary Society, that had recently 
 been organized, to take charge of any ship they might entrust 
 to him, with missionaries bound for any place in the world. 
 And having commanded the ship " Duff," and landed in Otaheite 
 the cargo of missionaries, the first from the British shores, 
 Captain Wilson died in 1814, a director of the London Missionary 
 Society.* 
 
 Say not, that if God has a purpose of mercy, you must there- 
 fore perish ; but rather because God purposes and decrees to 
 save sinners, and has declared that all things on his part are 
 ready, avail yourself of the offered grace and mercy, and come 
 
 * Giffir.'s Memoir of Captain Wilson. 
 
370 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 to God in Christ ; for yet there is room in God's purpose — 
 room for you — room for everyone who will let God have 
 his way, according to his will, in the matter of everlasting 
 salvation. 
 
 " We preach only to the elect here," was a remark once made 
 to Rowland Hill, when he was making ready to enter a pulpit 
 in an ultracalvinistic congregation. " Very well," said Mr Hill, 
 " and so shall I preach only to them, if you point them out by 
 head-mark, or otherwise, to me. But, in the meantime, I 
 shall preach to sinners, that they may discover and make sure 
 their calling and election of God, by complying with the invi- 
 tation of the gospel, and by their work of faith, and labour of 
 love, and patience of hope in Christ Jesus." 
 
 Referring to the soul-ruining and fatal notions entertained 
 by some concerning their election of God, Luther exclaimed on 
 one occasion, "Lord, deliver me from a congregation of saints!" 
 To save sinners Christ came into the world ; and unto sinners, 
 whether in the west end, or in the streets and lanes of the city, 
 — whether in Judea, or among the Gentiles, Christ gave com- 
 mandment that the gospel should be preached and offered. As 
 a sinner, there is room in God's grace and purpose for you. 
 Come, and welcome. Come, for he calleth for you. 
 
 Why stagger at the word Calvinism? What is it? What 
 does it denote ? It denotes and signifies God's plan of salva- 
 tion. It is salvation offered to every sinner who submits his 
 will to the will of God ; who is willing to accept salvation on 
 the terms according to which God offers it to men. Surely it 
 is meet that we say, " Lord, not as I will, but as thou wilt ; 
 Father in heaven, thy will be done." " Lord, what wilt thou 
 have me to do?" " Come ; for all things are now ready." But, 
 Lord, is there room in thy purpose? Is my name in the 
 Lamb's book of life ? Come, leave that to me. Have not I 
 commanded thee. Come. But, Lord, I cannot reconcile thy 
 mercy, and thy decree, thy sovereignty, and my duty. That is 
 none of thy business : my call, command, entreaty is, " Come ; 
 for all things are now ready." Leave all these questions to me. 
 Only come, and believe, and all things are possible unto thee. 
 Lord, amen. " I do believe : help me against my unbelief." 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 377 
 
 Take away all my iniquity, and receive me graciously. Lord, 
 I come, for thou callest me. Draw me, and I will run after 
 thee ; for thou sayest that yet there is room, — room for the 
 guilty, room for the weary, room for me. No more, Lord, shall 
 I question thy goodness in thy decree and purpose. No more 
 shall I indulge the ambition of being an apologist for thee. 
 Henceforth, for me to live is Christ, in whom is all thy pur- 
 pose, all thy grace, all thy mercy, all thy glory, and in whom 
 is all my salvation, all my desire. For thou sayest, "Yet there 
 is room." 
 
 ROOM YET IN THE MERIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 Yet there is room, where the mercy and the purpose of God 
 meet and intermingle, unite, incorporate, and co-operate for the 
 salvation of guilty and lost men — in the cross of Christ, and in 
 the fountain opened in his blood for the cleansing and taking 
 away of all sin. " For if God spared not his own Son, but 
 delivered him unto the death for us all, will he not with him 
 also freely give us all things ? " He is the propitiation for our 
 sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole 
 world. That cross was set up ; Jesus the Son of God suffered 
 on the tree of cursing ; that blood flowed with water from his 
 wounded side ; that cry, " My God, my God, why hast thou for- 
 saken me," ascended to the Father with the prayer, "Father, 
 forgive them, for they know not what they do." Why ? For 
 this end, that the mercy and the purpose of God might flow 
 forth as from under the throne of eternal justice, with life, 
 righteousness, and salvation to guilty man. Christ Jesus died 
 for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and rose again, that, 
 divine justice being satisfied, the divine law being magnified 
 and made honourable, reconciliation being effected between 
 God and guilty man, an everlasting righteousness being pro- 
 vided through the mediation and merits of the Son of God, 
 the way into the holiest of all might be opened for all who 
 come unto God by Jesus Christ. There is ample, infinite 
 merit, virtue, efficacy, in the obedience unto death of the Son 
 of God. In looking directly to Christ crucified, let not one 
 
878 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 thought about the extent or destination of the benefit of his 
 atonement distract or perplex you. At this stage in your ex- 
 perience, any such thought is not of God : it is of the devil. 
 He is lifted up that, looking to him, believing in him, every 
 sinner may derive from him, and find in him, everlasting life. 
 This is the gospel of the grace of God. Here and throughout, 
 let it be remembered that it is with Christ himself that we 
 have to do. I know of no truth in the revelation of grace ab- 
 stracted from Christ. I know of no atonement or righteousness 
 apart from Christ making the atonement, providing and be- 
 stowing the righteousness. I know of no cross apart from 
 Christ. Christ and him crucified is the person in whom I 
 believe,— the person, and subject, and theme, and topic of all 
 my meditation, and of all my ministry. As a very humble 
 young Christian woman, speaking to her companion, said, 
 " Woman, don't be so concerned about getting peace. You 
 may get peace without himself: but when he comes into your 
 soul he will bring peace along with him," — so I preach, There 
 is room in the merit of Christ crucified for thee, sinner; and 
 as thou lookest thou art healed, justified, saved. Look to me, 
 is his call. I refuse, as I hear him call, and as I look directly 
 to him, to be distracted by any question whatever that would 
 in any way, degree, or measure avert my eye from him, or in 
 any way whatever mar the exercise of a faith reposing and 
 finding rest, righteousness, endless life — all things in Christ 
 crucified, Christ all-sufficient. The devil is the father of much 
 of our theological and distracting controversies. He came into 
 paradise with his " Yea, hath God said?" with his "Thou shalt 
 not," against God's " Thou shalt," and with his false and fatal 
 plausibility. He approached Christ himself in the wilderness, 
 on the mountain top, on the pinnacle of the temple, and on the 
 cross, with his characteristic " If thou be the Son of God." And 
 when I look up to the crucified Son of God, Satan, the 
 tempter, the murderer, and deceiver of souls, comes in the 
 Geneva gown of an orthodox theologian, and whispers, Yea, 
 hath Christ died for thee? What if he has not included you 
 in the merit of his atonement? What if your name is not on 
 the shoulder-plate, or on the breast-plate, of the Great High 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 379 
 
 Priest ? In reply, as I look, for I dare not withdraw my eye 
 from the atoning Son of God, I say, "Get thee behind me, 
 Satan." Here Christ destroys all thy works in my soul. Get 
 thee behind me, with thy stolen Geneva gown. Calvin wore 
 it not. Calvin I know. Christ I see: but thou, with thy 
 stolen gown, and with thy false and lying tongue, art not only 
 an enemy to my salvation, but thou art even here, so near to 
 the cross, the devil that delivered up my suffering Saviour to 
 be crucified. In the name of that Saviour, get thee hence ; for 
 my soul is escaped, not from orthodoxy, but from the devil's 
 orthodoxy. Here I'll stay. And here, my fellow-sinner, come 
 and stay with me ; for yet there is room in the all-sufficiency 
 — in the boundless and infinite merit of Christ, for every 
 sinner that looks to him for righteousness, life, and salvation. 
 
 But you ask me, Are you not a Calvinist ? Yes, I am a 
 Calvinist. Do you not hold the definiteness of the destination 
 of the atonement or redemption by Christ ? Yes, I do. And 
 because I am a Calvinist, and because I believe that Christ, in 
 offering himself to me, or in entreating me to look to him, offers 
 to me, not a possible salvation, but an actual and complete 
 salvation, I refuse to accept Satan's lies and casuistries as the 
 substitute for the Calvinism of John Calvin, or rather of the 
 Spirit of God, just as I refuse to take a general, vague, or in- 
 definite substitution of Christ instead of Christ himself, the- 
 substitute atonement, righteousness, and life of God for me, and 
 for every sinner looking to him and confiding in him. O 
 Calvinism ! my Lord Jesus ! Often hast been wounded in 
 the house of thy theological friends, who have forgotten in their 
 theology that they are sinners, and can play at their theo- 
 logical game beneath thy cross ! My Lord and God, thou 
 Bleeding Lamb, preserve me for ever from this sportful theology ! 
 Are not thine outstretched arms on the accursed tree, are not 
 thine hands lifted up to bless as thou art parting from thy dis- 
 ciples, index of thy relation to the world and to me ? I see 
 these hands wide-stretched to receive me, to welcome me to 
 Calvary, and I see the same hands lifted up to bless me as 
 I look up wondering, while Jesus, the Son of God, that loved 
 me and gave himself for me, ascends to the glories, amidst the 
 
380 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 light and splendours of which he is hid from the eye of blind 
 unbelief. 
 
 The fountain opened in the house of David is a fountain, not 
 a mere reservoir, not a walled-in or dammed-up enclosure to 
 which only a few of the more select of sinners are invited ; it is 
 a fountain for sin and uncleanness, and for sinners as sinners, 
 and the unclean as unclean ; and as a herald in the kingdom of 
 God, my duty is to say to every sinner — myself setting the 
 example, " Come, let us wash and be clean ; for the blood of 
 Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth from all sin." " I saw a multi- 
 tude, which no man could number, stand before the throne in 
 heaven ; they had palms in their hands ; they were clothed in 
 white ; and the song was on their lips, Salvation unto our God 
 and to the Lamb, while they served the Lord day and night in 
 his temple ; and to my question, Who are these 1 and, Whence 
 came they ? I received answer, " These are they who have 
 come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and 
 made them white in the Blood of the Lamb, therefore are 
 they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in 
 his temple." Come, my fellow-sinner, come as we are, let us 
 wash in this blood, and our robes shall be white, and we at 
 length, after a little more tribulation, shall be welcomed to Avalk 
 in white with our Lord Jesus Christ, and with his redeemed, 
 joyful, and triumphant church. We shall then hunger no 
 more, thirst no more ; the sun shall not smite us by day nor 
 the moon by night : want and weariness, sin and sorrow, sad- 
 ness and mourning, sighing and grief shall pass away. For 
 the Lamb, who is in the midst of the throne, shall feed us, and 
 lead us to living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away 
 all tears from our eyes : then, brother, we shall know, as we 
 do not now, the Word that teaches us that Christ Jesus is 
 anointed and appointed to give unto Zion's mourners beauty 
 for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise 
 for the spirit of heaviness. For the ransomed of the Lord, 
 those redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, those washed 
 in that efficacious blood, shall return and come to Zion with 
 songs, and there everlasting joy as a diadem of glory shall be 
 upon their heads. 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 381 
 
 " Wash tliou me, Lord, and I shall be clean ; yea, wash 
 thou me, and I shall be whiter than the snow." 
 
 Sphinx-like figures, and wild, and monstrous theological crea^ 
 tions have been set up at the entrance to this fountain of blood, 
 and venturesome men have dared, as by forms like Gog and 
 Magog, to add to the terrors of poor, polluted, perishing sinners as 
 they draw near the blood to wash and be washed in it. Sus- 
 picions, possibilities, reasonable doubts, hints, inuendoes, huts 
 and if s, — oh, how, if to the ignorant they are but called 
 Amyraldism, do they, in the mists of unhealthy and diseased 
 theological imaginations, attain to the magnitude of lions, bears, 
 wolves, and giants, barring the way to the fountain of Christ's 
 blood ? My perishing and polluted brethren look with me. Is 
 not that the sword as of flaming and fiery cherubim or sera- 
 phim ? Does it not keep the way to this fountain ? Yes, it 
 keeps it, watches it, guards it, as with the consuming fire of 
 our God ; but keeps it, guards it, watches it, that the way may 
 be, as it is, open for you and for me, now that we have said, " Let 
 us wash and be clean." The sum of saving knowledge for you 
 and for me is this, " Go, wash and be clean;" for " God so loved 
 the world as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever 
 believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 
 The revival of an old heresy, or the raising unnecessarily the 
 hue and cry of heresy, is second only to the original begetting 
 or first propagation of heresy. But call us what they will, my 
 brother, let us go to the fountain, wash and be clean. Nay, let 
 us shout and publish, as with the voice of all the trumpets of 
 Zion, Come, fellow-sinners, come ; for yet there is ample room 
 in the blood-merits and righteousness of Christ for every one 
 who will come, using a godly violence against all opposition, be 
 it of what kind, or sort, or decree it may. " Him that cometh 
 unto me, I shall in nowise cast out." 
 
 ROOM YET IN THE INVITATIONS AND PROMISES OE GRACE. 
 
 Yet there is room in the mercy and decree of God, as they 
 stream forth from the foot of the cross, or come to us in the 
 form of gospel invitations and gospel promises, dipped, steeped, 
 
382 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 or sprinkled, each one of them, by the blood of Christ, and per- 
 fumed with the fragrance of the anointing oil of God the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 Here I delight, as you know, to dwell. Yet there is room in the 
 invitations of grace and mercy and good-will from God. The 
 gospel, theglorious gospel of the blessed God,is in one grand aspect 
 the gospel announcing the Saviour, proclaiming salvation, offering 
 to men eternal life, inviting men to come to Jesus, and be saved 
 from sin and wrath, and to sit down for ever in the kingdom 
 and house of God. He does Christ no service who publishes 
 these invitations with any restriction, with any but, or if, or 
 condition whatsoever. The grace offered knows no such con- 
 dition. It is divinely absolutely gratuitous — divinely absolutely 
 free. And the invitations of the gospel are but the expression 
 of that grace. Every invitation of mercy and grace in God's 
 "Word is addressed to me as a sinner. The Lord forbid that I 
 should add sin to sin, evangelical damnation, with the wrath of 
 the Lamb, to the legal condemnation, under which by nature 
 I am already, as by nature corrupt, and a child of disobedience 
 and guilt. An invitation of mercy from God, coming through 
 the blood of Christ, and made by Christ, who died to take away 
 sin by the sacrifice of himself, is a most sacred thing. It is the 
 most sacred of all commandments spoken to the sinner by God. 
 It is mercy, grace, love, in blood and tears, commanding, entreat- 
 ing, beseeching, compelling men to flee from the wrath to 
 COME and to lay hold of Christ, and in him of eternal life. 
 It is as the hand of the angel of God taking the sinner 
 by the hand to draw him out of the pit, and out of the city 
 of destruction, and to conduct him to the city of God, 
 and to the Father's house. My soul, my prodigal-like 
 soul wilt thou, canst thou, darest thou to resist and withstand 
 that infinitely condescending grace and mercy? Na}>-, thou 
 darest not. But rather with the child Samuel, thou sa}^est, 
 " Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth;" with the sorrowful Ruth 
 thou sayest, "Entreat me not to leave, nor to return from 
 following after thee : for thy people my people, thy God my 
 God : where thou lodgest, I will lodge." This is my rest for 
 ever ; and with Saul of Tarsus, when struck down by infinite, 
 omnipotent, exemplary mercy, and frustrated in his purpose 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 383 
 
 and expectations, — for in that day his old thoughts perished, 
 and the old man in him died, — thou prayest, saying, "Lord, what 
 wilt thou have me to do ? " Yet there is room. Blessed be the 
 God and Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
 
 There is yet room in the promises of grace. These are, in 
 relation to the offers and invitation of mercy and grace, what 
 an inner avenue, or hall, or chamber is to one who has passed 
 through the wicket gate with dear Old Pilgrim, whom I joined 
 in early boyhood, having asked my mother whither the pilgrim 
 traveller was bound. She told me, homeward, upward, heaven- 
 ward, by the way of the hill Difficulty, by the way of the valley 
 of Humiliation, by the way through Vanity Fair, by the way that 
 passes near by the castle and seat of Giant Despair, by the way 
 that leads through Beulah land, and over the Celestial Moun- 
 tains, and across the river, up to my home in my Father's house. 
 These promises belong not to us, my dear brethren — brothers, 
 sisters — so long as we continue in unbelief, except thus far, that 
 they are testimonies to the grace and good-will of God, — testi- 
 monies, therefore, against our unbelief, and continued estrange- 
 ment in heart and life from him ; and they are as heavenly chains 
 let down, that we, laying hold on them, may by them be drawn 
 upward into communion and fellowship with God our Father 
 in heaven. In Christ they are ours. Come, then, be the children 
 of the promise. For to those in Christ all the promises of grace 
 and glory belong, and in them they shall all receive accomplish- 
 ment. The gospel is essentially a covenant of promise. Come 
 and serve yourself heir to the promised gift of righteousness 
 and eternal life. Then, for your present doubts, fears, solicitudes, 
 you shall be heard singing, " The lines have fallen to me in 
 pleasant places ; yea, I have a goodly heritage." " O Lord, how 
 great is thy goodness, how great is thy beauty." " Goodness 
 and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life : and I shall 
 dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." 
 
 ROOM YET IN THE CHURCH. 
 
 Yet there is room in the church here on earth. The Lord 
 invites you to come and take your place in his house here 
 
384 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 below. He has need of you ; but you have much greater need 
 of him. Come, then. Be not ashamed to confess Christ before 
 men in the membership, or in the office of his kingdom here 
 below. Had I ten thousand lives, or ten thousand sons, I 
 would ask no more for them than God's grace, and a place such 
 I have in the house of my God and Father. 
 
 Yet there is room in the church above. Heaven's door is 
 open. The house of God there is not yet full. There are places 
 vacant not filled round the table spread above in our Father's 
 house at home. These empty places must and shall be all 
 filled. Are there among you candidates for these vacant offices 
 of kings and priests in the house of God ? The voices of all that 
 have gone home before us, the voices of dear, most cherished, 
 and loved ones, could they be heard, would say to each of us, 
 Yet there is room, come, and welcome : but we need not that 
 our mother or sister gone before us should call to us from heaven, 
 — they, being dead, speak to us by the example that they left to 
 us, and the impressions produced on us in other days, and by 
 the remembrance of their gentle and earnest counsels ; it is 
 enough that Jesus calls us, saying, " Come ; for all things are 
 now ready," and " yet there is room ;" for in my Father's house 
 are many mansions, and in these mansions there is room for 
 you. Will you not then with me say, Come, let us arise and 
 go to our Father, saying, We have sinned, and are unworthy to 
 be called thy children ; yet do thou receive us graciously, par- 
 doning and taking away all iniquity, healing all our back- 
 slidings, and loving us freely ; for thou art God, yea, in Christ, 
 thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and 
 Israel acknowledge us not ? 
 
 In the bosom and on the breast of Jesus in glory many are 
 resting, and many disciples, like John whom Jesus loved, are 
 leaning; but yet there is room for you and for me, my timid 
 doubting child, my brother and my friend. Nor let us say, 
 We cannot climb to that lofty height, or ascend to that high 
 and holy place. Have you not seen the ladder which Jacob 
 saw, and have you not said with him, " This place is none other 
 than the house of God, this is the gate of heaven ?" Yes, for 
 you have seen the Son of Man who is in heaven, and who is 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 385 
 
 by his Spirit in your heart. He is the mystic ladder by which 
 angels come and go, and by which you, my timid believing 
 friend, shall climb from sin and misery, guilt and degradation, 
 from pollution, poverty, and death, to righteousness, life, holi- 
 ness, peace, joy, yea, even to the very fulness of God. Be not 
 like the elder brother, in the parable that tells of the prodigal's 
 return and welcome home, who, as he drew nio-h to his father's 
 house, and hearing the music and dancing there because of 
 the joy of the father and all the servants in that the prodigal 
 had returned safe and sound, was angry and would not go in, 
 so that his father had to come out and entreat him, for he 
 would not go in, and had no sympathy with his father's joy, 
 and the joy of the entire household. Be not like him. Be not 
 offended and angry, because Jesus receives sinners, and eats and 
 rejoices with them. Stand not without in sullenness, with 
 Cain-like fallen countenance, because a brother has been 
 accepted ; do not disown the brotherly bond, saying to the 
 father, "This thy son," as if he were not " This thy brother : " 
 Do not accuse that restored brother, raking up his sins and his 
 follies ; do not wound the father's heart in the time of his glad- 
 ness; be not a kill-jojr, grudge not, envy not the lot of thy 
 restored brother, who is fully sensible of the truth of what thou 
 sayest, and has bitterly wept, because, as thou sayest to his 
 father, he " hath devoured the father's living with harlots ;" but 
 rather come in, for yet there is room ; come in, leaving outside 
 the door thy Cain-like countenance ; come in, make merry and 
 be glad, rejoice, dance, feast, sing, with those who rejoice, feast, 
 sing, dance, and are merry and glad in our Father's house. 
 Come in, for yet there is room in a father's earnest loving en- 
 treating heart for thee, and room in the house for thee and thy 
 restored brother ; but no room for thy self-justifying, malignant, 
 and most unbrotherly thoughts. Come in, and rejoice with the 
 father and the household. For this thy brother, of whom thou 
 hast thought and said so many hard things, — all true, but not be- 
 coming thee to say, — was dead and is alive again, was lost and 
 is found. There is joy in the presence of God, and among his 
 angels, and among the spirits of the just made perfect, when it 
 is announced that one sinner has been brought to repentance. 
 
 2b * 
 
38G YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 Let thy mother and sister there, let thy father there, let Jesus 
 Christ there, have joy over thee. Amen. 
 
 ROOM YET IN THE LOVE OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 "Yet there is room" in the love, mercy, grace, compassion, 
 forbearance, long-suffering, not only of the Eternal Father and 
 of his co-eternal Son, but also, and equally, and undividedly 
 in the mercy, grace, compassion, long-suffering of God the Holy 
 Ghost. The love of the Father is the love of Christ ; and the 
 love of Christ is the love of the Eternal Spirit. Into that 
 name, love, and grace I was baptized. In that love I believe. 
 For had not that love passed far the love of woman, — the love 
 of mother, or sister, or friend, — I should not now and here be 
 proclaiming to my dear fellow-sinners, "Yet there is room." 
 Oh, who can extol adequately, — who can duly magnify, cele- 
 brate, proclaim, and praise the love of the Eternal Spirit of God ! 
 Writhing, tortured, in agony, as at the gates of hell, in very 
 early life the Satanic suggestion lodged itself in my mind that 
 I had sinned the sin unpardonable,— the sin against the Holy 
 Ghost; and yet I could then, as now, challenge the world to 
 stigmatize me with any marked offence. But, O my loved 
 hearers and fellow-sinners, and my brethren beloved in the 
 Lord, the Holy Ghost, much grieved, vexed, resisted, striven 
 against, is slow to anger. He is slow to anger, and of great 
 kindness ; full of compassion ; slow to leave a soul, and to give 
 it up to the tenancy, and occupancy, and doom of the god of 
 this world. He is not willing to say of any, " He is joined to 
 his idols, let him alone." He waiteth, hovering, brooding over 
 our chaotic souls ; waiteth to be gracious. But he will not 
 always strive with man. To-day, therefore, if you will hear 
 his voice, harden not your hearts. Harden not your hearts ! 
 Rather consider well the question put to me, in my boyhood, 
 by a godly minister, in whose family I was afterwards tutor, 
 and one of whose sons is now, and has been for years, a beloved 
 brother in the ministiy — "Have you yet got the new heart ?" 
 Pray, my friends, for that new heart. Resist not the Spirit. 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 387 
 
 Invite him to come into your souls. There is room in his love 
 for you. Let there be room in your hearts for him. Have ye 
 yet received the Holy Ghost ? Or are ye yet sensual, not 
 having the Spirit of God ? Let the room in our hearts be 
 a reflex of the room for us in the heart of the Father and of 
 the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Fain would I conclude without altering the language of en- 
 treaty and exhortation. But I must not, and dare not. The 
 title of the revelation given in Holy Scripture of the will of 
 God is law, grace, truth. For "the law was given by Moses; 
 grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." And I, as a messenger 
 or minister of God, must to you, and to myself, declare law, as 
 well as proclaim grace and truth. 
 
 There is another word of Jesus in another parable which has 
 often moved the hearts of millions of mankind. It is in the 
 parable of the ten virgins. What a parable is that ? Shepherd's 
 exposition of it may be, or ought to be, familiar to you all. But 
 even Shepherd is far from unfolding all the wonders of that 
 miraculous word-picture of Christ, — that marvellous medal of 
 the new creation and kingdom of God. I have heard, with 
 feelings of indescribable sorrow and sadness, the words sung, 
 " Too late ! too late ! ! " And, though supposed by some to have 
 little appreciation of music, my soul has been moved from 
 its profoundest depths by these words, " Too late ! too late ! ! 
 Ye cannot enter now." My Lord forbid it ! Suffer me to come ; 
 draw me noiu to thee. 
 
 The word on which that most melancholy and most 
 saddening and soul-moving "too late" is grounded, was 
 read, in my hearing, on the last Sabbath of the year 1855, 
 by the venerable, childlike, and elegantly eloquent, evangeli- 
 cal, and most polished Dr. Henry Grey, of Edinburgh, 
 when I had the honour, which I greatly esteemed, of 
 being assistant to him in his latter days, — "And the door 
 was shut." All that I remember of that day's service, beyond 
 
388 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 the discourse that I myself preached, is the reading of the text, 
 " And the door was shut," by that patriarchal man of God. The 
 sermon was epitomized in the text. Again, on the evening of 
 Sabbath, the 2Gth of December, 18G9, 1 heard again the same text 
 read by another, with his locks whitened by the snows of years, 
 and very different in colour and aspect from what they appeared 
 to me when year after year I worshipped as a member of 
 his congregation, and enjoyed his highly valued and most prized 
 friendship. The Rev. Dr. Robert Buchanan, of Glasgow, in 
 opening the new Free Church here, at Bowling, which, with 
 the grace and blessing of God, I was honoured to build, read 
 the words, "And the door was shut." Again the words as read 
 were to me more than a dozen of sermons. In the former case 
 the great, almost extreme, age of Dr. Grey gave them peculiar 
 and most impressive significance and weight. In the latter 
 case, the hallowed associations and recollections of a time gone 
 by, and of friendships early contracted, and sorrows early felt, 
 served to bring home to my heart the words, "And the door 
 was shut." The text in both cases was to me the sermon. 
 It sounded in my ears, No more room, no more room, no more 
 room in the mercy or purpose of God, — no more room in the 
 fountain of the blood and merits of Christ, — no more room in 
 the invitations and promises of grace, — no more room in the 
 church on earth, or in the church in heaven, — no more room in 
 the long-suffering and love of the Holy Ghost, — no more room. 
 Room now only in the darkness and depths of despair, — room 
 only in the opening and devouring mouth of hell, in the 
 abysses of perdition, in that place of everlasting punishment 
 prepared for the devil and his angels, where the worm dieth not 
 and the fire is not quenched, where there is weeping and wail- 
 ing and gnashing of teeth. My beloved brethren, let us not be 
 candidates or graduates for a place in outer darkness. Sloth- 
 fulness, unbelief, wickedness, these are the badges of distinction 
 that mark the reprobate. Be it ours to be diligent, earnest, 
 believing, trustful, walking in the truth, looking unto Jesus, 
 departing from all iniquity, so shall an abundant entrance be 
 ministered to us into the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ. For j^et there is room in that kingdom ; and we 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 389' 
 
 shall hear the voice of the Royal Judge saying, " Come ye 
 blessed of niy father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you 
 from the foundation of the world." For " yet there is room.' : 
 Amen. Let us bless the Lord, and let all within us bless his 
 holy name. My soul, bless thou the Lord; " for yet there is 
 room." "Him that cometh unto me I will in nowise cast 
 out." 
 
 Amen. Let us praise the Lord. 
 
 ' ' O greatly blessed the people are 
 The joyful sound that know ; 
 In brightness of thy face, Lord, 
 They ever on shall go. 
 
 " They in thy name shall all the day 
 Rejoice exceedingly ; 
 And in thy righteousness shall they 
 Exalted be on high. 
 
 ' ' Because the glory of their strength 
 Doth only stand in thee ; 
 And in thy favour shall our horn 
 And power exalted be. 
 
 " For God is our defence, and he 
 To us doth safety bring ; 
 The Holy One of Israel 
 Is our Almighty Kiug." 
 
 Hallelujah ! Amen. 
 
f ;'m S iii , IS,? 9 ;?, 3 .' , s?? 1? a : ,-sp W ,.,„„,. 
 
 1 1012 01022 6928